Sicko Review

Licensed to Ill


Sicko
Starring, written and directed by Michael Moore. Rated PG-13. Now Playing.
by Scott Bolohan

The irony in taking health care advice from Michael Moore doesn’t even seem to be lost on the man himself. Where Moore’s past work has relied on his narration, he lets the Americans affected by the current system tell their struggles first hand. Moore takes to the streets of other countries where the residents laugh at the thought of paying for health care. Sicko tries to debunk the common beliefs about universal health care, and comes off rather convincing.

The trademark “ambush interviews” are absent, instead Moore ambushes Guantanamo Bay, trying to get the free health care provided for the inmates for a group of Americans who can’t afford treatment, in a case of “Moore being Moore.”

Obviously, Moore isn’t going to show points that hurt his case, and as such a polarizing figure, he’s probably preaching to the choir. But for a topic you couldn’t pay people to listen to for two hours, Sicko is quite entertaining and thought provoking. | RDW

Chene Park City Beat

City Beat (June 27, 2007) By Scott Bolohan Jun 26, 2007, 09:23

Open Heir
Chene Park

As Detroit’s only dedicated outdoor concert venue, Chene Park offers views unlike any other in the city. But as it celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, the landmark remains among the most overlooked venues in the metro area. Located on the banks of the Detroit River, the underrated concert jewel in Detroit’s near east side is still going strong.

The city-owned Chene Park opened up in 1982. The 6,000-seat amphitheater regularly features around 40 shows a season and has become known for its Wednesday Night Jazz series and Friday Night Classic Soul series. More recently, it added the Hip Hop Legends series, which brought the likes of the Wu-Tang Clan and Ice Cube to the stage last year.

In 2004, the contract to manage and operate Chene Park was awarded to The Right Productions, Inc., a Detroit family-owned company founded in 1996 and run by President Shahida Mausi, the Director of the City of Detroit Council of the Arts under Coleman Young. Now celebrating 25 years of music, Mausi can’t believe the time that’s passed. “The fact that it’s been 25 years astonishes me, because I was here when it started. It was my office that did the first programming here and we started the Jazz series 25 years ago,” Masui said. “The first capacity show that was here was Carmen McCray. At that time, there were no fixed seats. It had threatened rain all day, we didn’t know whether to unload that grand piano or just go home. But the people came, and they came, and they came. They sat on this damp hill that wasn’t covered. That night, 6,000 people came to Chene Park and we knew we were on to something.”

Since taking over the management of Chene Park, Mausi has emphasized bringing the venue up to a more modern and convenient place to see a show while maintaining the established traditions of affordable and positive entertainment. “We really wanted to upgrade the services here, simple things like taking credit cards at the box office. We added valet parking, a wait staff to VIP seating, upgraded the food and added more concessions,” Mausi said. “The sound system here is now extraordinary; it used to be an issue. It’s a first-class sound system that gives you the warmth and clarity for a great show. It’s such a beautiful view, we wanted to make it a more beautiful experience.”

Despite being around for a quarter of a century, Chene Park remains an oft-overlooked part of the music scene in Michigan. “Part of it is so many people who do not live or work in Detroit don’t know anything about Chene Park. It’s just one mile east of General Motors headquarters, in one of the safest downtowns in the country, and people don’t know about it,” Mausi said. “It speaks to some of those major issues that we broadly, as a metropolitan area, need to address.”

Mausi said that Chene Park is always trying to expand to a wider audience, and hopes to attract more of a variety of musical acts and fans in the future. “We are still hoping to do rock shows, country shows, classical music and straight up pop. It is such a great venue and not to bring the other forms of great music here is something we want to see changed.” | RDW

Bjorn Turoque Interview

Dan Crane Is Bjorn Again
Air Guitar Nation Invasion
by Scott Bolohan

Don’t quit your day job. Seems like good advice for a professional air guitarist, such as Dan Crane a.k.a. Bjorn Turoque, star of the documentary Air Guitar Nation. But that’s exactly what he did.

Crane’s previous job probably couldn’t be farther from a rock star. “I was an educational software producer. I think at the time I was working for a pretty small company in New York that was making reading assessment software for schools,” Crane said.

A couple of Crane’s friends were organizing what would be the first air guitar competition in the United States and for Crane, it was something he had to do.

“Everyone said I should do it. I’ve got to do that obviously, I was born to play air guitar.” Crane said. “It was not a tough decision. The only tough decision was what song to play and what my stage name should be.”

Crane entered the New York Air Guitar Competition and finished in second place. After an appearance on Late Night with Carson Daly, Daly hooked him up with a flight to Los Angeles to compete in the West Coast Competition and he finished in fourth. Crane was determined to go to the World Championships and he started a fund raising drive on the Internet and ended up spending about a $1,000 of his own money to fly himself to Finland to compete in the World Championships. Crane won in the qualifying round, but failed to place in the Finals after being given the dreaded opening slot.

Crane said he told some of his co-workers what he was doing. “I was mildly threatened with a job loss like, ‘This is the last time you are going to one of these air guitar competitions.’ Little did they know that I’d be doing this for the next few years.”

His experience with air guitar inspired Crane to pursue careers he has always wanted to do. Crane has written a book about his life as a professional air guitarist, To Air is Human, and has appeared in publications from the New York Times to Esquire.

Crane retired from competitive air guitar in 2005, but remains a leader in the profession. “After my 5th second place win I guess you could say, I went to Finland for the last time in 2005 and I ended up having to go first again, which is just criminal, bad luck of the draw and I was just like, ‘If I can’t beat them, I’ll join them.’ So I just signed up to be the MC of the events. And air guitar is a young man’s game, and I’m getting pretty long in the tooth.”

Crane now is touring the country with other professional air guitarists. “We’re going to 15 cities across the country, we were at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and there were about 1,200 people there, sold out. I think that was the biggest venue.” Crane said. “We’re just going to different cities and putting on air guitar competitions. It started off in the movie just east coast and west coast, now it's full blown national competitions.”

Crane mentioned some of his goals for air guitar as making it an Olympic sport and to have a competition in every state. As for his future, don’t expect to see Crane in a cubicle anytime soon.

“Eventually I’d like to find a life after air guitar. I’m not sure what that’s going to be. I want to keep on writing and playing music and keep on rocking out. Maybe for my 50th birthday I’ll head back to Finland and shred it out again.” | RDW

Air Guitar Nation plays June 21–24 at the Detroit Film Theater inside the Detroit Institute of Arts

Candidates Column

Do candidates care about students?
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

Last week, I participated in a conference call with Sen. Barack Obama, which brought us college students closer to the campaign than ever before, giving college newspapers a chance to talk right to the candidate about the issues of financial aid.

However, after this call, I couldn’t help but feel used. The Obama campaign sent out a press release talking about how Obama had announced his financial aid plan to college reporters before the event had even started. I understand the need to get out the news as quickly as possible, but it seems like the campaign was only using the college newspapers as a publicity ploy to make it appear as if it prioritized college students as an important part of their campaign.

In my experience, this isn’t true. Writing here at The DePaulia, I’ve been trying to attend Sen. Obama’s speeches and other events in the Chicago area. I thought it was a great news story to have someone from our city be a serious contender and I wanted to cover these events and try to bring out the issues relevant to college students from the speeches. You’d think that the Obama campaign would love some press, especially for an audience that has been very much behind him, right?

Well, so did I. However, when I’ve attended the events, I’ve run into the issue of not having "press credentials" to present to the people at the media tables to get media access. I would say I was from The DePaulia and it didn’t buy me anything. Now, I can understand that they don’t want Joe Schmo coming off the street and being granted media access, but for some of the events I was being shut out of because they closed to the public.

The Obama campaign had been very good early on with college newspapers, hosting conference calls with his press secretary Bill Burton, so I thought I could just attempt to contact the press secretaries to be granted media access for his events, but I never heard anything back. I told The DePaulia advisor, Mike Conklin, about this, thinking he might have more power to get me credentials, but he too never heard back from Obama’s people, other than being put on a mailing list that would encourage him to donate money to the Obama campaign.

After the second college newspaper conference call with Burton held on March 8, all contact between the Obama campaign and The DePaulia had come to a standstill, besides the almost daily press releases that I must have been put on a mailing list for. Even an e-mail asking for information about possible future conference calls went unanswered.

And then I got an invitation to participate in the conference call with Sen. Obama the night before it happened. Which makes it seem like college students are really only important to the Obama campaign when we can be used for political purposes.

On top of that, I received a call from one of Obama’s press secretaries, Kate Hogan, asking me for my e-mail account, because the press secretary I called the day before didn’t write it down. She said they had received ‘a million e-mails from me before’ but wasn’t sure what my e-mail address was. They had been receiving all my attempts to contact them, and still disregarded them like they were junk mail.

In the first conference call with Burton, held on March 1, he said, "He’s [Obama] committed to making sure college students and young folks everywhere are an important part of this campaign. If you listen to what he says, he specifically points to the fact that at every important juncture in our history, it was young folks that stepped up and forced the change to happen. He considers this to be another such opportunity and looks forward to all that students have to offer."

These words seem almost comical to me given the events that have unfolded. The Obama campaign is now able to say they have been communicating with college students, even though communication broke off months ago, other than a politically motivated conference call last week. It would appear we were just used for a political tool, something I feel used about, as I thought this campaign really cared about us young people.

But that’s also not to say that the other candidates have been any better. The John McCain and John Edwards campaigns have not responded to e-mails asking for information about their plans for education and plans for the college aged person. This isn’t even counting the interview requests I put in to Obama, McCain, and Edwards. I understand The DePaulia isn’t Time Magazine, but getting no response from any of them, not even a ‘sorry, he’s busy’ response seems like a poor choice to make for a group of people that ‘forces change at every important juncture in history.’

I also would have loved to attend Hilary Clinton’s recent stops in the Chicago area, but her Web site offers no links to contact her press secretaries or any way to come into contact with media access. The same goes for Rudy Giuliani’s and Mitt Romney’s Web sites. So even though I’m upset at not getting a response from Obama, McCain, or Edwards, at least they have been open to contact from the media, while the others have not even made it possible for college media contact.

To be honest, the Obama campaign really has been the best campaign, in my experience, at being in contact with college press. Heck, on the McCain Web site, it doesn’t even mention a word about his plans for education. Perhaps I’m being too critical of the Obama campaign and expecting too much from them. Or maybe I just expected more from someone who so many young people have seen so much hope in.

Perhaps Burton will be right when he talks about young people stepping up and making a change, but that change will come when college students have a candidate that really does care about them, instead of using them for political gain.

Barack Obama Conference Call

Proposing a change
Sen. Barack Obama discusses his ideas of reforming student loans in an exclusive interview

by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) held a conference call with student newspapers to discuss his plan for reforming student loans on Tuesday.

Under his plan, Obama would eliminate loans from the Federal Family Education Loan program (FFEL). Under the FFEL program, Obama said the federal government makes subsidy payments to banks that ultimately costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year, and over $15 million a day in subsidy payments.

"Today I’m proposing the elimination of these subsidies all together, just as I did in 2004. By removing private lenders from the process, requiring that all federal loans are provided directly from the government, we’ll save billions we can use to make college more affordable," Obama said. "This year, my plan would have saved us roughly $6 billion that could have been used to provide us with more than one million new Pell grants and other forms of need-based aid that could have gone to students struggling to pay their college bills."

Recently, the FEEL loans have been a topic of controversy following the uncovering of funds and other unethical practices including bribes paid out by lenders to schools.

Obama’s announcement comes on the heels of former Sen. John Edwards (D. N.C.) announcing he was in favor of eliminating the FEEL loans on May 11. However, Edwards would use the money to start a program he calls the "College for Everyone" program, which would provide two million students with scholarships to cover one year at a public college if they agree to work part-time in college and to take classes in high school that would prepare them for college.

Obama cited the increase in tuition costs in colleges as another reason for the need to reform the student loan system.

"Tuitions and fees to private colleges and universities have gone up 11 percent in the last five years, nearly 6 percent the last year alone, and this is an even bigger problem at public institutions. Over the last five years, the costs at public institutions jumped an unbelievable 35 percent," Obama said. "As a result of these increases, there are at least 200,000 students who were qualified to go to college but couldn’t go because they were priced out of a college education."

According to DePaul’s Web site, $284 million is awarded to DePaul students in the form of financial aid, with 65 percent of all undergrad students receiving some sort of aid. In the last year, the tuition at DePaul will increase 6 percent for next year.

"It seems to me that it’s nice to have the option of choosing a private loan, but I think that putting the $6 billion toward Pell grants can be more beneficial to those who truly need federal aid to attend college," said Patrick Powers, a sophomore philosophy and religious studies student.

Obama said he personally experienced the struggles of paying for college, although things have become worse since his time in school.

"When I went to law school, all my student assistance came in the form of aid and my wife went to law school as well. Just to give you some sense of the magnitude of the debt, our combined loans were bigger than our mortgage for our apartment for eight to nine years," Obama said. "We were lucky, as folks practicing as lawyers, we could afford to service the loan. But had we decided we wanted to go into teaching for example, there’s no way we could have afforded to pay them off. I think that’s a problem for students looking at careers and professions that students have to end up confronting."

Obama also criticized the schools, themselves, for frivolous spending and passing the expenses to the students.

"I think a lot of universities will spend money on state-of-the-art facilities and trying to attract the celebrity professor instead of just focusing on the nuts and bolts of a good education," Obama said. "I think it’s important for students to ask where the university budget is going, and how is it being spent."

Obama cited many reasons for why young people should be interested in the presidential election. There will be challenges that young Americans will need to address, such as the cost of college, federal debt, globalization and sustaining long term progress in economic growth and jobs.

"I think the feeling of many young people is that we keep kicking the can down the road when it comes to these challenges, and unless we step up now and start making some significant decisions…," Obama said.

Nick Swardson Interview

Swardson's sharp humor
Interview

by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

Nick Swardson’s career seems straight out of a movie. And at this rate, he’ll probably be starring in it soon.

After starting as a stand up comedian at age nineteen, Swardson, 30, now has written and appeared movies such as "The Benchwarmers," "Malibu’s Most Wanted," "Blades of Glory"and "Grandma’s Boy." He also makes regular appearances on "Reno 911!" as Terry the roller-skating prostitute. But it wasn’t always that way.

"I used to sleep in my car or sleep in a park when I traveled across the country. I remember one comedy club when I slept in my car and I washed my face and my hair in the sink of the club." Swardson said. "Things have definitely looked up from that."

After Adam Sandler saw his "Comedy Central Presents" special in his bed, he called Swardson up the next day. Now, Swardson is working with Sandler’s Happy Madison production company and is set to star in movies alongside him, and is in the works on his own starring movie. You can catch the rising comedian at the Improv from May 11-13.

The DePaulia (TD): How did you start with comedy?

Nick Swardson (NS): I just started doing open mics in Minneapolis. I’m from the Midwest so I know Chicago really well. I’ve had family live here, and had friends go to college here and all that crap. I’ve partied here many times, I love it. It’s one of my favorite cities.

TD: Where do you usually hang out in Chicago?

NS: I usually spend a lot of time in Old Town. There’s a comedy club there so I spend a lot of time up and down North and Wells. Like the Ale House and all those bars by Second City. That’s probably the area I know the best.

TD: You were the youngest person with a "Comedy Central Presents" special. Why is it so hard for people to break into comedy when they’re young?

NS: I think it’s basically just a relating game, you know what I mean? I think if you're really young, because most comedy clubs are at least twenty-one and up. For the most part, comedy club audiences are in their thirties and forties. I started when I was nineteen, so it was just kind of tough to find common ground with people like that. When I started comedy, it felt like all the comedians were talking about their wives and the differences between men and women, and dating, stuff that was kind of corny. It’s just tough because if you try to be dark and weird you can lose them too.

TD: What’s the hardest part about being a comedian?

NS: You have to really want to be a comedian. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I think a lot of people think because they are funny or their friends think they are funny that they can be funny. But to do it as a career, you really need to commit 100% of your life. You can’t be like, "Hey I’m up here telling jokes."

You have to commit to struggling and not doing well for a long time, and realize there’s no guarantee you’ll be successful. It’s a really brutal business. I don’t think people understand how hard it is.

TD: Yeah, I know what you mean, everyone thinks of it as a dream job, but they don’t really think of how they get to that point.

NS: It’s like the exact opposite. I mean I love my life, but I’ve been working on it for twelve years. I really had to bust ass. It’s not like I just sat back and things came to me. I was trying to write and do every possible thing I could.

TD: Have your movie and TV roles made you more popular as a stand up comedian, or is that a different realm?

NS: No, I think they definitely complement each other. I think the only weird thing for me is I have a lot of stand up fans and a lot of fans from my movies and TV things, and when I do my live shows it’s a mix of old stuff and new stuff, just because I have so many different fans there. It just kind of annoys me sometimes because some of my stand up fans are like, "I’ve seen that joke before," and I’m like, "Yeah, well the other fucking 500 people haven’t, give me a f***ing break."

TD: It seems like if you do movies and you get big like that, like Carlos Mencia or Dane Cook, people will turn on you. Why does this happen? Are you afraid of that happening to you too?

NS: I don’t know, I think that with Mencia he became more of a target because anytime you are in people’s face and trying to be edgy, you are going to draw haters. Especially with that thing about him stealing jokes, I think people turned on him there.

As far as Dane, he’s a friend of mine, I’ve known him a long time. I think one thing that drew haters for him was how fast he arrived, even though Dane has been around a while it was like, boom and Dane was here.

The press was like, "This is the funniest guy in the world." And I think once you put that label on someone, they are going to want to hate you. People who don’t know him are going to be like, "Oh yeah? Then make me laugh." It’s like music, like popular music, they’ll look for any reason to hate it. But I think I’ve had a slower build with it.

I mean I have haters now, but hopefully it won’t be that bad. If people are going to hate me, they’re going to hate me. I do what I think is funny and do my best, and if people don’t think that is funny, then go fuck yourself (laughs).

TD: How did you get started with screenwriting?

NS: Literally, Jamie Kennedy got me doing screenwriting. He had the idea for "Malibu’s Most Wanted" and he talked me into writing it.

TD: Was it something you thought about doing before that?

NS: I mean I had, but I never realistically thought about doing it then. I was 23 or 22 when I started doing it, I was a raging alcoholic (laughs). It was the furthest thing on my mind, but he really forced me and pushed me into doing it. I always thought about it, but I never thought I would do it that early.

TD: Is it easier for you to write stand up than movies, or is it two different things?

NS: They’re really two different things. With movies, I can sit down and focus and write, but with stand up I never was like that. I never sat down for an afternoon and was like, "Today I’m going to write jokes." It was always like, "If I think of something weird, I’ll do it on stage." But stand up is all over the place; it’s stories, it’s one-liners, it’s weird observations, it’s all when it comes to me, not controlled at all.

TD: Do you have a preference between working on TV or on movies?

NS: People do ask that question, and I really do love doing all of them. It sounds so generic, but they are all so different and they all complement each other. I love going and doing stand up now because I have so many great fans and I’m starting a movie, called "Zohan," it’s Adam Sandler’s next movie, in July which I love. We’ve been shooting for a while now.

TD: What is Adam Sandler like?

NS: He’s great. He’s the most down-to-earth guy you’ll ever meet. He’s just like a normal guy. After a while I don’t even think of him as Adam Sandler, I just think of him as one of my buddies, I mean not 100 percent but still. Literally he’ll call me up and we’ll go eat or play basketball. He’s just really down-to-earth. It’s not like he’ll call me up and be like, "Hey, do you want to go juggle diamonds?"

TD: A lot of those big guys seem like they could be jerks.

NS: I’ve never met anybody who was a jerk. The only person who was an asshole was Dennis Miller, who was a raging a**hole. Everyone else, I’ve met some pretty big guys, and I know everyone in comedy, they’re all great. I also kind of feel bad for those people. I was in a cab and this guy has pictures of all the celebrities that were in his cab and he goes, "You know who was an a**hole? Steve Martin. I took him to the airport and I wanted to get a picture with him and he was like, ‘No, I’m late for my plane,’ and I was like ‘F*** you.’"

And that’s not his fault. I’ve had people come up to me and say weird shit and be weird and I’ve been like, "Can you just leave?" and they’re like, "What a fucking a**hole." It’s just weird. If you are any kind of celebrity you are always a target.

TD: Is it hard for you to always try to be the funny, cool guy and not get to be like a real human around people?

NS: It depends on my situation. I’ll take pictures with anybody anytime, I’ll do anything. The only problem is sometimes in interviews is when it gets weird. I’ll do radio interviews and people will be like, "Ok, be hilarious." Sometimes I just want to answer a question serious, and they’ll be like, "Oh no, be funny." And I’ll be like, "But you just asked me a serious question." But I’ll go out drinking and I’ll be crazy in public, there’s a time and a place.

TD: Do you get complaints from the gay community for some of your characters?

NS: No I don’t. The only gripe I’ve ever had was the character of "Gay Robot." I had a waiter who was gay when we recorded the sketch for Sandler’s album and he heard it and pulled me aside at this club and said I set the gay community back 20 years and I just went off on the dude. Terry has got no flack at all.

TD: What are you most proud of accomplishing in your career?

NS: Honestly, probably this thing I just did, this movie with Sandler that I helped write and produce and act in, "Chuck and Larry." It was a big accomplishment because I was a writer/producer on this huge budget movie with Adam and it was a lot of pressure and I felt like I did a great job. Working side by side with Adam on one of his huge movies was a challenge and I’m just glad I survived that.

TD: What are your goals for the future? What do you want to accomplish still?

NS: I want to go to the moon. We’re working on my starring movie that I’m writing. I just want to move into stuff where it’s my starring vehicle. I’m still developing a handful of movies, and "Gay Robot" animated on Comedy Central, more stand up tours, everything. So basically I just want to not die, that's my goal for the future.

TD: I've got to ask this one last question, it just seems out of place on your Wikipedia page. It says you are an excellent ping pong player. Is that true?

NS: I’m pretty good at ping-pong. I’m not like Chinese good where I stand a mile behind the table and hold the paddle upside-down, but I’m pretty good at ping pong.

The Actual Interview

Actual rock stars
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

"I’m doing a crazy driving maneuver here, I keep forgetting I have a trailer on the van, and I’m trying to navigate L.A. traffic here," said vocalist Max Bernstein. "I have to make an ‘I’m sorry’ face to the car behind me."

When Bernstein is not actually driving though crowded highways, he’s the driving force behind the power pop band The Actual. Bernstein, the son of Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein and screenwriter Nora Ephron, is embarking on the biggest musical journey of his life.

The Actual will begin a trek across the U.S. opening for Velvet Revolver after being picked by lead singer Scott Weiland to be the first band to sign to his new Softdrive Records label. Weiland, who also co-produced their album "In Stiches," which will be released on May 29, has called The Actual "the smartest sounding band in punk-pop in a long time."

"I’m very excited, a little bit nervous, but very excited," Bernstein said of the tour. The Actual will appear at the Riviera Theater on May 10 with Velvet Revolver.

The DePaulia (TD): How did you form?

Max Bernstein (MB): I recorded a few songs with me just playing all the instruments and went out and tried to get people interested in playing them. I found Jeremy Bonsall, our bass player, through an advertisement then we got his brother, Aaron, to play drums. I’ve known Ben Flanagan, our other guitar player and singer, for nine years. When his band broke up, we were all very excited because we wanted him to be in our band. We said, "Hey it’s great your band broke up, you are joining ours, you don’t have much of a choice."

TD: When did you know you wanted to do music?

MB: I’ve been playing guitar since I was five; I’ve always been pretty serious about it. There wasn’t much of any time when I thought I wanted to do anything else. I’m not one of those people who is like, "Music is everything in the world, and if I can’t play music, what will I do?" This is what I want to do and always has been.

TD: How did you meet Scott Weiland?

MB: We were working with his engineer and co-producer Douglas Grean who works on a lot of stuff with him. We got hooked up with him when Scott was on tour. We started making this record and when we had done three songs, Doug played them and he said, "This is the band we’ve been looking for." Because they had always said if they found the right band they’d like to start a label. Since then it’s been really been smooth and organic, we’ve really got to know him well. It’s been a really great partnership.

TD: When you open up for a band like Velvet Revolver do you try to do anything different than you normally would?

MB: Not really, except talk less. We don’t really pander the set too much. There’s a song or two that we play sometimes that we wouldn’t play for Velvet Revolver, but we pretty much play our regular set. When opening for someone like that, we like to keep the set moving really fast and maybe stop once or twice for a quick chat. We try to impress the crowd quickly and not overstay our welcome.

TD: I’ve always thought that opening for a big band would be one of the hardest things in music because no one knows your stuff and everyone wants to get to the headliner.

MB: It depends who you are opening for. We opened up for Velvet Revolver a long time ago and the circumstances were pretty different than these shows coming up. For them, these shows are all at small clubs, for us these are gigantic. These are now all sold out shows for die hard Velvet Revolver fans. On one hand, people who know about our relationship with Scott might be more inclined to give us a chance. For those who are not, they might be like, "Why is there a power pop band opening for Velvet Revolver." These are people who want to see Slash rip. I think it’s going to be interesting, it’s not going to be like opening for Slayer, which is notoriously difficult. I think if you have an opening slot for a band with a young following, like Bowling for Soup, that’s got to be a piece of cake. But we’ll find out in about 11 hours.

TD: You described yourself as a power pop band, but there’s also the hint of punk and maybe even emo. It seems that if you get labeled that as a band, you turn off half the listening population. How do you go about saying what kind of music you play without offending anyone?

MB: First off, I know a lot of people who are in bands and you ask them what kind of music they play and they say it’s such a hard question, and then I listen to them and I’m like it’s not a hard question, you guys are an emo band. I think that for the sake of convenience and not being pretentious, I just say we are a power pop band. I think that works fine for us. I think that when some bands insist on being described in more than 15 words just have it coming to them.

TD: When you write songs, what do you want the listener to get out of the experience?

MB: I would say I’d like them to think that the song has said something to them that they already thought, in a new way. I feel like all the songs that I really like, there’s a lyric in there that I think is a new way of saying something that I have heard that makes me feel different about it. That’s what I think really great pop songs do. I’d like them to feel bowled over especially live, because live we are a really loud band, not just a catchy radio band. For our songs in particular, I’d like them to feel like they got something that was packaged a little differently. I hope we present these radio-friendly songs with intelligent lyrics in a much more aggressive and glassy package. I want them to walk away bowled over and a little sentimental as well.

TD: What is your writing process like?

MB: The chorus arrives all at once, and with the title as well. The title often comes first. I’m not into those songs where the title has nothing to do with song which are very popular in the hardcore community. So the chorus arrives at once, title, lyrics, melody, and if it’s good then I’ll write the rest of it. I’ll bring it in about 75 to 80 percent finished to practice and we'll finish the rest of it. We put the last stage on together.

TD: When you write, do you focus mostly on the chorus and the catchy hooks?

MB: I focus on them, in that I think it’s the most important thing, in that if I don’t have a good one, I don’t even bother writing the rest of it. That’s always the first thing I write. Let me put it this way. You know when you are writing a term paper? If you have a thesis, the rest of that paper is going to be good because you are going to be able to find some points to support it. But if your thesis sucks, the rest of your paper is going to suck because you're just going to be washing around trying to find something to focus on. A good chorus is like a good thesis for one of those papers when you're saying something that is really interesting. If you got one of those, then the rest of the paper is going to be really good and it’s worth writing.

TD: When people mention you in articles, your parents are always brought up. How do you feel about that?

MB: It doesn’t really bug me because I’m a pretty big fan of what both of them have done. My dad has a book coming out and I haven’t read it yet and I’m pretty excited for it, I know he’s worked really hard on it. And I relate to my mom’s movies. I think it’s really cool to be related to that. It’s fine if people bring it up. As far as I’m concerned, bringing down Nixon, good thing, "When Harry Met Sally," good thing. My stepfather wrote "Goodfellas" which is a really good thing. I’m totally down with that, I’m not ashamed.

TD: Do you think it might even help you draw in fans to an extent?

MB: I think it does not at all. I think that the number of kids who are listening to punk and emo who care about romantic comedies from the early ‘90s or American history is pretty slim. I don’t think it makes a bit of a difference. Sometimes it’ll get a press piece in a magazine that people who are into that type of music again don’t read. I don’t really think that it has that much cred in that world, and that’s fine by me.

TD: What are your goals for the future and where do you want to end up?

MB: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but that’s an unrealistic one there. I would just like to end up to keep going, to keep playing as long as possible in this format. We hope to keep playing enough to get a reputation and a solid and original band. That’s good enough. Anything on top of that is a treat.

Ravi Shankar Interview

The sultan of sitar
Interview

by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

In the history of popular music, it would be hard to come up with people who have had more of an influence than Ravi Shankar.

Shankar, who turned 87 on April 7, began performing in 1939 and rose to prominence in the 1960s following Beatle George Harrison’s interest in Indian music. Shankar has since become the world’s most famous sitar (a large, 19 stringed classical Indian instrument) player. The instrument was made famous in America when used in rock songs such as the Beatles "Norweigen Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," and The Rolling Stone’s "Paint it Black."

In Shankar’s almost 70 years of performing, he has played some historic shows, such as the Monterey Pop Fest in 1966, Woodstock in 1969, and The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. For many of the attendees, it was their first time seeing a sitar played.

"It was the first time that a large audience became conscious of my music," Shankar said. "But I started performing ten years earlier, in 1956 actually, performing all over, in Carnegie Hall and Orchestra Hall as well. From these fantastic music festivals, like Monterey and Woodstock, and even Bangladesh for that matter, the younger generation became attracted to our music. It was mainly because of George Harrison, who became my student."

Shankar was very pleased to be spreading Indian music to the West, but was unhappy with how it became associated with the hippie drug culture, which he opposed. Today he feels Indian music is reaching a new and more appropriate audience.

"Now you may know that I had a problem with that period, with the drug situation and the hippies and their loud behavior and things like that. But those are all gone now, so now I think we have a fantastic period for Indian music," Shankar said.

Shankar’s Chicago concert on April 14 at the Symphony Orchestra Hall will feature his daughter, Anoushka, who is also an acclaimed sitar player.

"The first half will be my daughter Anoushka. She will be playing with a fantastic flute player from India, who is learning from me also. After the intermission I will join. There will also be a wonderful shehnai player, which is an instrument like the oboe, a reed instrument," Shankar said. "And of course, I have accompaniment on drums, the tablas. Of course I will be playing a lot of new things. New things in the sense that the ragas are of new meditative forms or things that I didn’t play last time."

Even though he has played countless shows over his 68 years of performing, he still finds inspiration to perform.

"The music itself is an age old form. They go on adding in the form because most of it is improvisation. Personally I do more improvisation than others. So it is something which has an old format, old system, but we always give it new life, so it is such an exciting thing and inspiring as well."

Soon after Harrison took up an interest in Indian music and famously featured a sitar on "Norwegian Wood," he was introduced to Shankar. Later Harrison became Shankar’s student and frequent collaborator until his death in 2001. However, Shankar was surprised the first time he heard the Beatles fuse rock and Indian music on "Norwegian Wood."

"My nephews and nieces told me about it. I had no idea about it, but when I heard it, it was alright. It was something different. Even then it sounded really strange because George never learned properly and had no experience," Shankar said.

Even though this fusion of Western and Eastern music brought Shankar and the sitar to prominence, he never intended for the two to be combined.

"I never had anything in my mind like that. I was only anxious to give our music to the listeners in this country and it was such a great success that there was no need for me to think along those lines at all," Shankar said. "Of course, I have done a lot of experimental things myself, like recording with [violinist] Yehudi Menuhin and Jean Pierre Rampal playing the flute. And I have written two sitar concertos with a symphony orchestra. But it was more with Western classical music. I never attempted anything with rock or pop."

Shankar became interested in sitar at a young age, when he was a dancer. "I got involved when I was ten. I was a dancer touring with my brother, Uday, touring all over the world. When I was 15, a great Indian musician joined my brother’s group as a soloist. After that I seriously started practicing sitar from him."

Although it is often thought of as related to the guitar, the sitar is much more difficult to master.

"Just like the violin or cello, or any other Western classical instrument, it takes a minimum of 8-10 years to get a good control on the sitar. Becoming a master and all that depends on your luck and how much talent you have," Shankar said. "It takes many, many years of practice and learning and hard work."

His respect in the music community has resulted in many titles, including "The Godfather of World Music" by Harrison. However, he does not seem to have let his fame go to his head.

"Well I’ve been given so many titles at so many times, ‘The Ambassador of Indian Music,’ ‘The Godfather’ by George. It’s nice to hear but it doesn’t change me or my music. I might feel happy to hear it but the main thing is that I’ve been able to bring the music to this country and that makes me very happy."

As one of music’s pioneers and most respected performers, he is happy with his accomplishments and his place in history.

"My greatest accomplishment is so hard to tell you myself (laughs). I think I feel that I have been able to translate, or bring Indian music into this country and the Western world and was the first person to be able to make people understand it. And that makes me very happy."

Barack Obama Article

Obama speaks in hometown
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was in Chicago last weekend to discuss the Israeli conflict in a regional forum and also spoke at a labor rally.

Since announcing his bid for presidency, the Illinois Senator and Chicago South Side native, Obama has been everywhere from Austin, Texas to Iowa.

On Friday, he spoke at the Sheraton Hotel downtown to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s regional forum, discussing his pro-Israel stance and also discussing the war in Iraq.
Obama had been quiet on the issue of Israel before, but was very staunchly pro-Israel in hopes to impress the forum and gain support.

"Our job is to renew the United States’ efforts to help Israel achieve peace with its neighbors while remaining vigilant against those who do not share this vision," Obama said. "Our job is to do more than lay out another road map; our job is to rebuild the road to real peace and lasting security throughout the region."

Obama discussed the Iraq War and reiterated his opposition of the war from the beginning. He also outlined his plan for a withdrawal of troops beginning in May and with hopes of all troops removed by March 2008.

"Now our soldiers find themselves in the crossfire of someone else’s civil war," Obama said. "This war has fueled terrorism and helped galvanize terrorist organizations. And it has made the world less safe."

Obama said the Iraq War has endangered the U.S. and its ally’s position in the Middle East.

"But a consequence of the administration’s failed strategy in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran’s strategic position; reduce U.S. credibility and influence in the region and place Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril," Obama said. "Iranian nuclear weapons would destabilize the region and could set off a new arms race…That’s not just bad for the Middle East, but bad for the world, making it a vastly more dangerous and unpredictable place."
Obama also spoke on Saturday at the Hyatt Regency downtown before about 1,500 people at an American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) worker’s union rally.

The rally was in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act passed last week by the House of Representatives. The act grants employees the right to form a union against the wishes of the company. The measure will most likely face tougher opposition from the Senate and Bush has threatened to veto it.

The rally also spoke out against Resurrection Health Care, one of the largest non-profit health care systems in Illinois because they have refused to allow their workers to unionize.
Other speakers at the rally included Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D), U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D) and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

Obama’s speech was interrupted by two people protesting against Obama’s remarks about Iran the day before. Obama appeared flustered and said that dissent was welcome, but perhaps they were not aware of his anti-war stance.

Obama also referenced Martin Luther King’s fight for workers and was also very supportive of the workers’ fight for the ability to unionize.

"If some workers are being oppressed, then all workers are being oppressed," Obama said.
After Obama’s speech, the crowd swarmed around him, snapping pictures, shaking hands and getting autographs. His departure stopped the rally for around 10 minutes. Most of the people in attendance did not stay for the remainder of the rally following Obama’s speech.

The DePaulia also participated in a conference call with Obama’s National Press Secretary Bill Burton. The conference call was intended for college newspapers and radios across the country.
Burton said that Obama was running because Obama believes that to change America, the nation’s politics need to change. He said that the failure of leadership is the reason that America has now been able to meet its challenges.

Youth has played big role in support for Obama’s campaign, and Burton said the younger population are going to continue to play a vital role in the campaign.

"He’s committed to making sure college students and young folks everywhere are an important part of this campaign. If you listen to what he says, he specifically points to the fact that at every important juncture in our history, it was young folks that stepped up and forced the change to happen," Burton said. "He considers this to be another such opportunity and looks forward to all that students have to offer."

Burton said that Obama was dedicated to making a college education available to as many people as possible.

"He doesn’t think you should be denied college education just because of where you were born or how much money your folks made. It should be based on whether or not you want to go and whether or not you’re committed to going," Burton said.

Recently Obama has been criticized for his low polling numbers and disconnection that many African American voters are feeling toward his candidacy. Although Obama is considered by some to be the first viable black candidate for the presidency, Burton says that race should not play a role in the outcome.

"He’s always fought to make America a place where you are what you are, and there should be no barriers to your success based on what your race is," Burton said. "I don’t think anyone expected that African Americans, as a group, would vote in a monolithic fashion."

When asked about the Democrat with the highest polling numbers so far, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Burton said Obama was unconcerned with beating a specific opponent.

"Sen. Obama doesn't consider this a race against any one individual or even a group of individuals," Burton said. "He's not just running to win; he’s running because he wants to change business in Washington."

Autumn Defense Interview

No Tweedy, no problem
Interview
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

When your other band is one of America’s most popular, people are bound to slap the dreaded "side project" label on any work you do outside the band. But The Autumn Defense, consisting of Pat Sansone and John Stirratt, is a rare band that has been able to establish itself with its own style and sound separate from their day jobs with Wilco. On their third, self-titled album, The Autumn Defense’s lush soft-rock sounds straight out of the 60’s or 70’s. The Chicago based band is coming home for a show at Park West, joined by a string quartet on March 3.

Stirratt is the founding bass player of Wilco, while Sansone joined the band recently to replace multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach. Sansone already knew most of the band through Stirratt and said he felt like he was already "part of the family. I was a natural person for them to ask [to join the band]." Although Wilco has now taken over much of his schedule, he doesn’t write off The Autumn Defense as just a side project.

"We’ve been doing The Autumn Defense for eight years. When we were making our first record, we were just making a record. It never felt like a side project to us, it just felt like a project," Sansone said. "When we’re making the record and singing the songs, it doesn’t feel like there’s anything ‘side’ about it."

Sansone said the band formed because of their similar musical interests in bands such as The Zombies, The Byrds and David Crosby.

"We’ve known each other for a long time. We just all knew each other from being around the Mississippi music scene back in the late 80’s and early 90’s," Sansone said. "I reconnected with John when I moved to New Orleans around ’97. John was living in New Orleans as well, so we just started hanging out and listening to records and we realized we had the same tastes at the time and we started strumming and singing and realized we had a real great vocal blend, which was really the reason we started the band."

The new album was recorded in Chicago and released on Stirratt’s Chicago based Broadmoor Records. Sansone said that Chicago definitely had an influence on the album.

"I think that Chicago kind of lends itself, especially if you’re recording in the winter time, which we did; it lends itself to locking yourself inside because it’s so cold outside. It’s kind of easy to focus and concentrate because you want to be inside. I think that probably did influence this record in trying to make it warm sounding."

The Autumn Defense managed to create a distinct sound from Wilco, although it wasn’t necessarily a goal of the band.

"We certainly didn’t make a conscious effort to make something different from Wilco or different from anything else. Neither of us have the kind of voices that are made to fight against loud guitars. The way that we sing lends us to softer guitars and softer arrangements. I think that’s really what dictates what kinds of instruments that we use, the kind of arrangements we do."
Sansone has also made a name for himself producing and playing with other artists such as Ryan Adams, Andrew Bird and Josh Rouse, as well as producing all three of The Autumn Defense’s albums.

"I think I come to every project that I produce on its own terms. I’m sure I do have a style, but I don’t see it myself," Sansone said. "On this record I was really excited about doing some real string arrangements because I hadn’t really done that before. That was definitely a challenge for me on this record to do something new."

One of Wilco’s strengths is the ability for the members to work on other projects when they’re not working on Wilco, Sansone said. "I think it can only help the whole situation. I think it makes Wilco better."

Unlike the world famous Wilco, Sansone has some modest goals for The Autumn Defense.
"I think one thing we really want to do is get the record released overseas," Sansone said. "I think the other goal is to not have it be three years between releasing records."

The new Wilco album, "Sky Blue Sky," will be the first that Sansone recorded with the band.
"It was great. It was just kind of an extension of what we do live, just the six of us sitting in a room making music," Sansone said. "A lot of the stuff was recorded live. It was really easy, actually."

Sansone said he wasn’t really allowed to talk about the new Wilco record, scheduled for a May 15 release date, but he did give a little hint.

"It’s going to be good, I can tell you that."

Ben Kweller Interview

The evolution of Ben Kweller
Interview
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

After signing with a major label at 15, Ben Kweller has spent 11 years of his life in the music business. Now 26, Kweller is married, just welcomed his first child, and has released his most personal album to date, simply titled "Ben Kweller," which brings his 60s influenced pop to a deeper level. This doesn’t mean that Kweller is ready to grow up. He still collects baseball cards and his shoulder-length hair could allow him to pass for a high school student. But Kweller’s catchy rock sound has established him as one of the leaders in his genre. As a testament, his song "Penny on a Train Track" was named one of Rolling Stone’s "Top 100 Songs of 2006." He brings his energetic show to the Vic March 1 and 2 with Gomez. Kweller spoke to The DePaulia with a soft southern accent about growing up, the state of the music business and hanging out with Brian Wilson.

The DePaulia (TD): How’s the tour been going?
Ben Kweller (BK): It’s been going good, man. First, I want to say I had a good gig at DePaul University a while back. I remember I played there last year or something. I’m out right now as a trio. It’s called "The Trio on the Train Tracks Tour" and its f**king really cool, man. I haven’t played as a trio in years. It’s really fun to hear these songs stripped down. The band that I have is so f**king good. This bass player that I have is Chris Morrison and the drummer Mark Stepro from Ohio. They’re just blowing my mind.
TD: What’s the best concert you’ve attended?
BK: One of the best concerts was Weezer when I saw them back in 1996 on the "Pinkerton" tour in Dallas. It was great.
TD: It seems like the new album is commonly described as a more grown up record in reviews. Were you trying to make more of a grown up sound?
BK: No, I just record my songs the way that the songs want to be recorded. Basically, the first song I wrote for the album was "Run" and I heard all these bells and piano and snare drum with reverb on it and I wanted to make a more layered sound. I guess since it’s more raw and loose than "On My Way" and a little more focused on detail, people think that means it’s a little more grown up. I am growing up, but everybody is. We’re all getting older every year and we all get another birthday. I hope that my music is growing somehow. I would never want it to stay the same. But I don’t think about it one way or the other because the media, they say so many things. Like I could go put out a noise record with electric guitars with feedback and they would be like, "Woah, he’s regressing to being 15 again. So maybe he didn’t grow up."
TD: Was playing all the instruments on the new record more of a challenge for you?
BK: It was a challenge. It wasn’t my idea actually. It was the producer, Gil Norton’s idea for me to do all the instruments since the songs were so personal and autobiographical. He was like, "If you put your fingerprints on every track, it will be 100 percent Ben Kweller and it will be really honest." So I thought that was a good idea, so I went for it. I’m glad I did, but I think I’m going to go back to playing with a band in the studio. I don’t want to try to compete with this one right away.
TD: What’s it like having your songs played live by other people?
BK: I’m not such a stickler for parts. There are certain parts in songs that I want them to play. I let them do their own thing. The live show is different from the album. With the trio, we’ve really had to pick the most important hooks because we can’t get every bell and tambourine in with three guys. You get a real simple, focused version of the songs, but I think it’s still really powerful.
TD: You’ve been in the music business for over 10 years, how do you see the business differently than you did when you entered it?
BK: It has changed completely, 100 percent. I feel really bad for so many people in the business. I feel bad for the record companies especially because they don’t know what to do. We’re dealing with computers and technology so quickly. More than ever, it’s important for a band to be as self-sufficient as possible and not rely on backing from a record company. Now it’s so important to build a fan base organically and be able to tour. Record companies aren't making enough money to spend money like they used to. It’s just really hard, you have to do it all yourself. The flipside is there’s MySpace and YouTube that are making it easier for your band to be self-sufficient, but then the double edged sword of it is there’s millions of more bands, so you have to sift through a lot of s****y bands. (Laughs) It all kind of evens out. It’s hard to be successful in this music business. It was hard in the 60s and I think it keeps getting harder.
TD: Do you feel like you’ve "made it" in your mind?
BK: I have been very successful, but I think that as an artist, you can’t ever be totally content. You always have to strive for more. I still have the fire burning in me to get my music out to as many people as possible. There’s always goals. I don’t even have a gold record yet.
TD: What has been the biggest thrill of your career?
BK: I’ve met some really great people. I got to go to Brian Wilson’s house. That was really cool, hung out with him. That was a big deal. I played him some songs on the acoustic guitar and he played me "God Only Knows" on the piano. That was probably one of the biggest thrills.
TD: You covered "Wait" for the "This Bird has Flown" tribute album to the Beatles’ "Rubber Soul." Why did you choose "Wait"?
BK: Well first of all, because there were only two songs left. I love that song "Wait." I’ve always liked the last half of "Rubber Soul," I think it’s got some real interesting songs on it. The harmonies are really funky. It’s got a cool vibe to it. I love the Ringo drum fill. (Makes quick drumming noise) Wait!
TD: Why do you have a Pete Rose rookie card on your MySpace?
BK: Pete Rose is one of my favorite baseball players ever and I’ve always wanted his rookie card. That’s one of my dream rookie cards. I can’t afford it, it’s like $800. It’s like $1,000 in mint condition, there is no way in hell my wife is going to let me spend that money on a piece of cardboard. But maybe one day.
TD: Do you have any goals for the future?
BK: I have a goal that I’d like to buy some land down in Austin, Texas and I want to have a barn and build a studio and just start making my records down in Texas and get out of New York for a little bit and be creative. Another goal is to start touring in South America and Mexico.

Ralph Nader Interview

Nader critiques political apathy, personal values
Nader discusses his childhood in new memoir in relevance to today's youth
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

He is either one of the most heroic or villainous figures in America history, either loved or hated by Americans. But no matter how divisive, some feel Ralph Nader has made an impact.
Since his 1965 book, "Unsafe At Any Speed," that looked into the safety of the auto industry, Nader has dedicated his life to becoming a consumer advocate.

Lately however, Nader has been viewed in a less favorable light since his 2000 presidential bid that many believe cost Al Gore the presidency.

Either way, Nader’s importance cannot be denied. As a testament to this, he was named one of Atlantic Monthly’s "100 Most Influential Americans (Ever)," one of only three living people on the list.

Nader, 72, continues to be active with his new documentary, "An Unreasonable Man," premiering March 2 at the Music Box Theater. He has also released a new book, "The Seventeen Traditions," about the traditions and values that were instilled in him as a child. He will be appearing at the Borders on Michigan Avenue on February 21st to sign copies of his book.

For a man who made his career on investigative work, writing a memoir was a change, but he feels just as strongly about it.

"That is something I haven’t done before. I thought putting down the different ways that my mother and father raised their four children in a factory town in northwest Connecticut…would be of interest and helpful to a lot of parents today," Nader said. "A lot of the ways they raised us are very adaptable. It’s got a lot of relevance today," Nader said.

Nader decided to release the book because he is very concerned with the current state of American families, whom he feels are moving away from the very values that he cherishes.

"I think we need more self-consciousness from families around the country, so they preserve their generational experience and insight," Nader said. "This is not just sentimental, believe me. This is very important for nurturing children and giving them their own self-confidence and not letting external influences shatter the family the way they are at the present time."

Nader is also disturbed by the political apathy of many college students—people who were among his biggest supporters in his 2000 run for president.

"It’s more than just getting out the vote, it’s getting out smart votes, where students and young people do their homework and not just knee-jerk their way because their grandparents were Democrats or Republicans," Nader said.

Nader also feels that students should not only become more informed about politics but should be directly involved with the political process.

"I think it’s also important for students to think of running for election themselves in a few years at the local level. The political system is so corrupted by big money that it pushes out good candidates who don’t want to go through the dirty grind and compromise their soul," Nader said.

Nader, who has run as a third party candidate for the presidency in the last three elections feels that there is hope for third parties in America, in particular at the state and local level.
However, it may be a longer time before there is a third party president.

"If you’re asking about the national level, the system is terribly rigged against third parties right now with huge ballot access barriers and one or the other party can sue or harass and delay or get their own political judges to disqualify thousands of signatures on the petitions. Illinois has got a problem like that," Nader said.

Nader has been a vocal critic of President George Bush since his election, going as far as to suggest his impeachment. While he admits it does not appear that Bush will be leaving office before his term is over, he feels that American citizens should still take some steps to change the president’s political agenda.

Nader suggested supporting the organization, The World Can’t wait, which is demanding the resignation of Bush and Cheney.

"There are so many principles of impeachment that can be applied to him and have been written up by the Center for Constitutional Rights," Nader said.

He also suggested putting pressure on the presidency through the polls, demonstrations, student newspapers or student radio stations.

"The pressure is increasing and increasing, they are starting to feel it in Washington. Their polls are plummeting, and they know they are going to face a lot of subpoenas from the Democratic committee chairs in the next few weeks," Nader said.

In recent interviews, he criticized 2008 presidential candidate and current Democratic frontrunner, Hilliary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer." When he was asked about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, he took a more apprehensive approach.

"Well we have to wait and see. He’s obviously got great capacity, and he knows what the score is and he knows where the powers that be are," Nader said. "But in the two years in the Senate, he’s been reluctant to take strong stands against corporate power and I think that is the key measure of a presidential candidate because corporations dominate our politics, our elections. So we’ll give it some time and see how he does."

Nader has been an opponent of the Iraq War since it began. He feels that immediate action is necessary to deal with the war.

"I think there should be a six-month withdrawal, and during those six months, it will knock the bottom out on the insurgency because their only rationale is our military occupation and commercial occupation over their oil in Iraq," Nader said. "Ten officials in the Bush administration, at least, have said our military presence is fueling and attracting more and more people to train in terrorist areas. So it’s quite clear that it’s only going to get worse if we stay there."

Although Nader appeared on "The Daily Show" earlier this month, he feels that the show is not a viable news source and displays unease with the younger generations in America who have gravitated toward "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" at the expense of more credible news programs.

"They are better than nothing, but certainly not serious enough—not detailed enough. You shouldn’t have to giggle to get news," Nader said. "It’s nice to watch them, it’s very clever. But I think we have to ask young people to get more serious. They’re spending too much time in a world of entertainment and music, iPods, gossiping on cell phones, watching screens."
Nader feels that the youth of America should look to the past for inspiration in how to live their lives.

"It’s their country, it’s their world, and they should allocate more time to serious pursuits and do what their forbearers did in the 1960s against the war and for civil rights and the environment and so many other things that students today forget about," Nader said.

Greg Giraldo Interview

Giraldo’s world
Interview
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

Greg Giraldo’s path to comedy is one filled with unexpected twists and turns, and law degrees. After attending Columbia University for his undergraduate degree, he went to Harvard to get his law degree. After a brief stint as a lawyer, Giraldo has become a socially provocative comic, appearing regularly on "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn" and on Comedy Central Roasts. He can also be seen on the annual year end "Last Laugh" specials. This summer, he provided the vocals for the spoken word track "Underwear Inside the Pants," which reached number four in Australia and topped the iTunes download chart. He released his first CD, "Good Day to Cross a River" in the fall, and will bring his act to the Chicago Improv from Feb. 14 to the 18. Giraldo spoke to The DePaulia in his usual sarcastic and self-depreciating manner on topics covering love, not being a superhero and his international rock star status.

The DePaulia (TD): Are you taking any different approaches to performing on Valentine’s Day?
Greg Giraldo (GG): (Laughs) Yeah, I’m going to bring the love. I see my role as a Valentine’s Day performer as an opportunity to bring people closer together.
TD: Do you have any love advice?
GG: You’re talking to a guy who’s married with three kids, so clearly I’m not the one to give advice on how to live a happy, fulfilled life.
TD: What were you like in college?
GG: I had long hair, I was in a band, I was drunk a lot. I was an English major, so I did a lot of writing and I did okay. I was at Columbia, so it’s not like there were any hot chicks to chase. Pretty much get drunk and study.
TD: Why do you think a lot of comedians go to some really good schools?
GG: I don’t really know. I think there’s a lot of comedians going to a lot of shitty schools too. But I think you hear that comedians are generally above average intelligence. That’s not true though. But you hear it.
TD: At what point did you decide that you should try comedy?
GG: I didn’t do stand up really, but I did little sketches. I was always kind of screwing around with comedy type of performances. I don’t really remember that final decision. I was just writing down a lot of stuff, keeping notes and starting to think about what I would do with it, kind of write some kind of show. Then I decided to just do an open mic. I just went onstage and did the open mic and that was it. Once I did that first open mic, my career skyrocketed. Overnight.
TD: How do you like playing college audiences?
GG: I like it. I mean sometimes in the past, I’ve said I didn’t love them as much. It depends on the college and your level of success. There were times when I didn’t love doing colleges because there were a lot of things about doing colleges because of the student activity fee payment, you can’t really tell if the show is going to be good or not based on what you’re getting paid. Sometimes you’re getting a decent check and you think its going to be a great show and you show up and it turns out it’s in the cafeteria and there’s six kids there, foreign exchange students that don’t speak English. So that kind of thing would happen early in my career, but now with more and more people coming out that know me, it’s usually really great. Obviously you’re dealing with a homogenous group of people, everyone is the same age, everyone is going through the exact same experiences, and as I get old, it starts to get more pathetic trying to remember my college days to relate on some level.
TD: In the last episode of "Tough Crowd," Colin Quinn went on an angry rant about the shows cancellation. How did you feel about it?
GG: Well, I mean it sucked. With TV they do all kinds of horse***t all the time. It was frustrating, it was very annoying and it was the first really great thing that I’d been a part of that I really loved doing. So it was enormously frustrating. The show had been floating around on the brink for a long time. Nobody does you any favors on TV. It’s a miracle anything stays on at all, so anytime you’re on it, you feel like a big deal. It was frustrating because it felt like that show could have really worked, and the fact that it didn’t become a smash was annoying. But what are you going to do?
TD: What was your relationship like with the other regulars on the show?
GG: Hostile and fraught with sexual tension. (Laughs) That was pretty much it, depending on what guests were on. We were all pretty friendly. Basically you saw the dynamic that was our everyday existence.
TD: What about the whole Dennis Leary incident, when you called him out on the show for not being funny?
GG: Try to put yourself in my shoes and imagine answering this question, two years after the fact when Dennis Leary is the star and creator of one of the best TV shows ever on TV. It’s a little pathetic for me to be dwelling on the glory days of my big f**king clever rhetoric, one time two years ago. It was one of those moments. I don’t really feel like f**king dwelling on it. (Laughs)
TD: When you do roasts, are you ever afraid about going too far?
GG: Yeah, I mean you always write a bunch of jokes for your own amusement that are way extreme and ridiculously over the top and then you think, "Well are they? Maybe I could do this one." It’s a very fine line. I don’t worry about going too far if it’s funny, you worry about what exactly is going to kill. You’re trying to kill, you’re trying to be as funny as possible. Not to hurt anybody’s feelings, but the roasts are mean by definition. So if it’s too far, and by too far, I only mean too far in the sense that it wouldn’t get laughs, or they would get bad groans as opposed to good groans. Sometimes you just go for groans, not horrified groans, just kind of amused groans. It’s pretty easy to see in any given situation what too far would be.
TD: Do you feel like anything is really off limits anymore in comedy?
GG: There’s never been anything that’s been off limits specifically. Everything depends on context, how you’re doing it, why you’re doing it. But there are plenty of things you could say that would get you in trouble depending on the context. But then when you’re saying anything off limits, there are plenty of things that can be discussed. There’s nothing that you can’t, no area or topic that you can’t in some way make funny. But then again, you have to make it funny. Michael Richards found out there are certain things off limits.
TD: After being a panelist on "Tough Crowd," how do you like switching the roles and hosting "Stand Up Nation?"
GG: When I first started doing it, it was a very different thing. It was kind of a bulls**t, throw away thing I was doing for a little while until I could figure out what else I wanted to do with Comedy Central. Basically, it was supposed to be me hosting the whole night, which already existed in its current state and they tried to do some kind of wraparound show. Actually, shooting the show was fun and the segments we actually got to do were really funny given the budget and the time we had to do it all. It was never going to be like, "Here’s my show." It was frustrating in that sense.
TD: "Underwear Inside the Pants" went to number four in Australia, do you feel like you’re a rock star?
GG: (Laughs) Yeah. Whoo! I feel like a rock star! (Laughs)
TD: Do you have a lot of Australian groupies?
GG: I’m told I should go to Australia and capitalize on my big rock star status out there, but I think the nation still needs time to grieve Steve Irwin. Maybe when that whole thing has passed, I might go over there. I heard I could be the new Paul Hogan. I could be the new Yahoo Serious.
TD: What were the interactions with the other comedians like on the bus on the Insomniac Tour?
GG: (laughs) Man, it was wild! (laughs) I actually didn’t go on the bus, I drove around, I rented a Harley out on the West Coast with a friend of mine who has a bike and we just rode motorcycles.
TD: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the students of DePaul University?
GG: Drop out, man. College degrees are overrated. Take that loan money and invest it. In 20 years at 7 percent, get one of the young Asian kids to help you do the math on that one.

Scott Ellis Interview

A multitalented man
Interview
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

Since walking out of the Theater School in 1978 in his cap and gown, Scott Ellis was a determined actor with a dream. Now Ellis, whose play "Twelve Angry Men" runs through Feb. 11 at the LaSalle Bank Theater, returns with over 20 plays under his belt, four Tony nominations and as one of Broadways most respected directors. But Ellis is quick to attribute his success to his experiences at DePaul’s Theater School.

"I had great teachers and I was able to learn to get a backbone for having a career in the theater and that all came from the teachers and the classes and what they taught. I was able to walk away with that backbone that was able to serve me over the years. It’s a tough business and there are a lot of ups and downs, but if you have a strong base, which I got from going to DePaul, it makes things a lot easier," Ellis said.

Ellis grew up in Washington, D.C., but he was drawn to DePaul because of its prestigious theater school.

"The theater department was considered one of the best in the country and I auditioned for several schools. I went there for a day and I loved the audition and working with the instructors. With the school and Chicago, I thought that would be a great place to go," Ellis said.
As a student, Ellis described himself as being "very work-orientated." After graduating and working as an actor for about 10 years, he switched to directing.

"I got an opportunity to direct something in New York, something that I wanted to do, and it was successful. So I thought this would be something that I would be interested in exploring. I’m fortunate that what I learned as an actor served me well as a director, and hopefully a better director by understanding what actors go through, what the process is. I love actors and I think that is one of my stronger points."

As the associate artistic director of Roundabout Theater Company, Ellis has directed other plays such as "1776," "She Loves Me" and "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" starring Alec Baldwin. He says that his time at DePaul also helped him form his approach to directing.

"Part of it, I very much learned from the Theater School, which is really starting from the beginning and trying to find the truth of the character and the situation that the character is at. That’s the base of all good work and all good acting, and that’s where I always begin."

"Twelve Angry Men" was originally on Broadway, and earned Ellis a Tony nomination for Best Director. He is now touring the country with stars Richard Thomas from "The Waltons" and George Wendt from "Cheers."

Ellis was faced with a number of challenges bringing the classic story to life.

"It was a challenge to direct the play for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest was that I had to do it in a single room sitting around a table. So how do you get 12 people in one room and stage it in a way that is still interesting? A large part of the challenge is to explore that and find how to move 12 people in a room that still makes it theatrical and interesting…I think with something like ‘Twelve Angry Men’ there is certainly some expectations, whether it is from the film or a production of it that someone has seen, or an idea of what it is or should be. So you have those challenges too, to make it fresh and seem like you are not repeating something from another production."

Over his career, Ellis has also directed for television, including such shows as "Frasier," "30 Rock" and "Hope and Faith."

He says directing for television is a different world than theater. "Television is very, very different. First of all, it’s extremely fast. The storytelling is all out of order. You can shoot the final scene on the first day and the first scene on the last day. I think the biggest part is you don’t have the time to make strong choices about the characters and inspiration, you have to just hope they are right."

"Also, dealing with cameras, you learn that the camera can help tell a story. You’re going to tell the audience where to look. On stage, you don’t have a camera telling you where to look. It’s how you light it, it’s how you stage it, how you focus it."

Ellis is currently in rehearsals for "Curtains," a new Broadway musical opening on March 22 starring David Hyde Pierce. It was one of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s last musicals, who also wrote "Cabaret" and "Chicago." He also says that he’ll be doing more television, working on a film and then opening "Twelve Angry Men" in London before fall. However, Ellis says that he’s not overwhelmed by his projects.

"You realize when the work comes, you take it if it’s something you want to do. You have to balance a lot of things because that’s what you do in the profession. I’ve become involved with the DePaul Theater School because I’m very passionate about helping them and helping the students that are coming after me. I would like them to build a new Theater School because I think it’s a great school and a great university and I want them to get a better environment to create in a building. I’m very passionate about trying to make that happen."

Although Ellis has been nominated for four Tony Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, and was the winner of a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Choice Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical, the accomplishment he is most proud of is much more humble.

"I think I’m most proud of continuing to work. I’m still doing what I love to do. I have this thing where I sometimes wonder about my career like, ‘What am I doing?’"
"Not in a hundred years would I believe that would have happened. That would have been beyond my wildest dreams as that kid walking out of that school. When I remind myself of that, I’m very grateful of the opportunities I’ve had, and I’m still happy to have the opportunities to work and do what I love to do," Ellis said.

As a famed graduate of the Theater School, Ellis offered up some advice for current and future theater students.

"There’s absolutely no guarantee for anybody for success or failure. No one knows who’s going to succeed and stay in the business. I remember when I auditioned for DePaul, the one thing that was said was that if you would be happy doing anything else, then you should go do it. I didn’t quite understand that at the time, but I do now. It means that it takes so much passion and work to have a career that you have to want to do it more than anyone else. I always tell students you should do it until you are not happy doing and if you want to do something else, you should go do it. The main thing is, it takes a lot of perseverance and it’s a lot of work. There are many highs and many lows, and you can’t look at it like that, you have to look at it more as the whole picture."

Christian Finnegan Interview

Best interview ever
Interview by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

You may not recognize the name, but Christian Finnegan is everywhere. He is the guy on VH1’s "Best Week Ever" that does the segment "What Your Purchases Say About You." He appears regularly on "The Today Show." He has his own "Comedy Central Presents" special. He hosts a game show on TV Land on Monday nights. And yes, he is Chad, the only white roommate from the infamous "Chappelle’s Show" skit, "The Mad Real World." But upon the Oct. 24 release of his first CD, "Two for Fliching," Finnegan established a firm identity as an up and coming comedian. He will appear at the Ryan Auditorium at Northwestern January 27. Finnegan called The DePaulia from a noisy New York Deli and talked about everything from his hatred of Star Jones to getting hit on by Katie Couric.
The DePaulia (TD): Are you excited for the tour?
Christian Finnegan (CF): I’m really excited about it. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I don’t get to travel with other people very often, so I’m actually looking forward to that aspect of it as well. That, you know, I won’t just be by myself, which is usually the case.
TD: What were you like in college?
CF: I think college is a very evolutionary time for every person. It’s the last time in life when you get to reinvent yourself. In high school you might have been a band geek or you might have been this or that. But in college everyone tries to reinvent themselves as something different. Usually, after a semester or so you’ve given yourself up and people realize you really actually are a dork. That first semester of college is great when you are pretending you’re really deep or really athletic or whatever. I spent a lot of college trying to figure out who I was. That’s in a lot of ways what college is for. Most people haven’t ever lived away from home before and it’s only then they find out, "I am sort of a clean person" or "I guess I am a messy person" or "I guess I am a p**n hound" or "I guess I am an alcoholic." It’s kind of like at Chuck E. Cheese. The ball crawl, you know that big pit where they have all the balls? You can fool around and be an idiot and not worry too much about getting hurt in the safe environment. Once you get out of college, you can’t. You have to be a little more thoughtful about how you can hurt yourself (laughs).
TD: Do you think college crowds are different from your typical comedy club crowds?
CF: Yeah, they definitely are. The best audiences in the world are college audiences and the worst audiences in the world are college audiences. Sometimes you go to a school and they’ll have a beautiful theater with a really good sound system and other times you’ll go to a school and they’ll have a riser set up in the corner of the cafeteria. You’ll be performing and there’s people eating Quizno’s sandwiches during the show. Those audiences don’t tend to be very good, but it’s not their fault. Comedy requires a certain amount of ambiance. There’s a reason why the lights on the audience go out. There’s a reason why a theater has certain acoustics. Cafeteria shows just tend to be awful. But when a college crowd is great, there’s never going to be a more enthusiastic crowd. Which is great, but sometimes you have to change what you do for a college crowd. They’re kind of there for a party. They want to hear jokes and stuff, but they also want to scream "whoo." They don’t want your subtle stuff, they want you to kind of hit them in the balls.
TD: When did you know that you wanted to become a comedian?
CF: Any day now (laughs). It’s one of those things where I’d love to say I was not one of those kids who fantasized about it since I was 5 years old. Although I realize looking back, that I had all these comedy albums when I was a kid. I never really thought I should start doing it. Much more than my friends, I had Steve Martin albums and Woody Allen albums, and Eddie Murphy’s "Delirious" and all these things I was obsessed about. But I never really thought, "Hey, I want to do comedy." It was just something I liked doing. I hated stand up comedy when I was in college. My reinvention of myself in college was as a pretentious bastard. I was wearing black turtlenecks and reading philosophical books. In a lot of ways comedy was a perfect fit for me because you’re performing, but it’s your own stuff, it’s your own thoughts. I always felt that stand up comedy is a great career choice for someone who is egocentric, but has a short attention span.
TD: Do you feel pressure to be funny all the time? Do people expect you to be funny when they meet you?
CF: Only unlikable people. It does happen and I understand that. I understand that everyone likes to laugh, everyone wants to have a good time, everyone wants to hear a good joke. Everyone loves that. And so when they find out you do that for a living, I think it’s a natural impulse to want to see it in action. Like, "Come on, dazzle me!" If I told people I was a tax assessor, nobody would say "Hey, value my property." That said, it can be really fatiguing when people just want you to be funny. I can’t stand people who need to be funny all the time. A lot of people feel like they need to be the center of attention all the time, and they’re annoying ... Not everyone is a Robin Williams-type person, thank God.
TD: What do you think is the best and worst part about being a comedian?
CF: I would say the best thing is that there’s a feeling that you get; the feeling you get when you come up with an idea that you just know is going to work. When you just stumble on to a line or a premise, and it usually just happens when you're at home, at three in the morning when you’re flipping channels, or you’re on the subway and you pull a piece of paper out of your pocket and you write something and you’re like, "Oh my God." You just can’t wait to get up on stage and try it. I can’t even tell you how great a feeling that is. And secondly, the feeling that you get when it’s going well on stage, it’s so intoxicating. You really feel like you’re completely in control. I always equate it to the scene at the end of "The Matrix," when all the sudden you can see the matrix and you can stop the bullets and all that cr**. But then there’s other times when you’re on stage and you’re like, "Where am I? Who am I fooling? Why did I think people would think I was funny?" Those moments happen too. They both happen a lot.
TD: Is it tough for you to come up with jokes every week for "Best Week Ever?"
CF: It really is. I don’t mean to make it sound like it is rocket science, because it certainly ain’t, but it can be exhausting. It can be difficult, like what more do I have to say about Tara Reid? What could I possible say about the show "24" at this point?
TD: What was your favorite news story of the past year?
CF: I loathe Star Jones with such a burning passion, and so anything Star Jones-related I tend to enjoy. Not even necessarily making jokes about her, I just found it hilarious to watch. So I would say probably the whole Star Jones thing. And the Mel Gibson thing, just because it was so hilarious and weird, not just the whole anti-Semitism thing.
TD: Along the same lines, how did you feel about the Michael Richards thing as a comedian?
CF: I was troubled by this and I actually wrote about it on my Web site, which I do sometimes to figure out how I feel about something. I don’t remember who this quote is by, but I’m going to totally embarrass myself by misquoting this person and probably getting the person wrong. But I think Thoreau (note: actually E.M. Forster) had this quote, "How will I know what I think until I see what I say." The whole Michael Richards thing bothered me in a sense that, as a comedian, my initial impulse is to always defend the comic to always have the right to say what they want to say and to assume that an audience just isn’t getting it. But, in Michael Richards’ case, no. I think in the end what makes me feel like I do not need to defend him is that he is not a comedian. He’s a TV star biding his time until his next wacky neighbor role comes along. I think he was pissed and thinking people shouldn’t be talking during his set, and no comic likes it when people are talking during their set. There’s ways to deal with it and ways not to deal with it. But I thought he threw that out and that he was going to be able to get to the other side of it and make it funny. But he couldn’t because he doesn’t have the ability, because he’s not a comedian. He’s not a writer at all ... I’m not even saying that insultingly. But just because you’re good at prat falls doesn’t mean you’re good at stand up. I don’t feel like I need to defend that guy. For me, it just wasn’t him throwing out the N-word, just saying the N-word is so craven, it was all the other stuff that really was ugly ... There’s no joke there, that’s just ugly, that’s just vile, pure vile. So screw that guy, I don’t feel the need to defend that guy at all.
TD: Do you find yourself rooting for celebrities to do stupid things?
CF: What you find is you don’t have to. What I get excited about is when there are new kinds of scandals. That’s what was so great about the Mel Gibson thing, it was just so different, so weird. It’s hard to constantly make jokes about somebody getting into a catfight at a dance club. That sh** happens all the time. Sex tapes, things like that, those are done. They’re just over. But something like the Mel Gibson thing, or even something like the Michael Richards thing is just so "Wow!" and weird and out there. Those are the ones I get kind of thrilled with.
In a lot of ways, comedy can be just about button pushing. If you push the right button, people will have the physical reaction of laughing, and that’s great. You can get up and do 20 minutes of fart jokes, and Lord knows, I’m not above a fart joke. But I love a fart joke you remember two weeks down the road. That, I think, is the end goal. (Laughs) (Baby crying in the background) This baby totally needs a punch in the face.
TD: In your act you always talk about being a dork when you were younger. Do you feel that you are less dorky now that you are a comedian on TV?
CF: My life is not particularly exciting. I think a lot of times, especially in college students, you guys, and I don’t mean to sound condescending or anything, but you guys don’t remember a time before basic cable, when there was just NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. So to me, I look at what I do on VH1 as being like AAA ball. The people who are on "CSI," those people are playing in the major leagues, and I’m basically a pickup softball game. A lot of times, college students, when you’ve grown up and had MTV your whole life, TV is TV. To a lot of you students, I might as well be on "CSI" or "Seinfeld" because they just don’t understand I’m standing in a conference room in front of a piece of colored construction paper, and not getting paid particularly well to do it. (Laughs) Of course I had some issues growing up. My story was the story of a lot of kids though. Nobody is in third grade thinking, "Man, I am so popular."
TD: Did you think the "Chappelle’s Show" skit "Mad Real World" was going to be as big as it was?
CF: I had no idea it was going to be that big. I knew it was going to be that funny. When I read the script I was just blown away. I was like, "Aw, God, I can’t believe I get to do this." A lot of "Chappelle’s Show" is like when you see one of those really great episodes of "South Park" and you just wonder, why isn’t everything this funny? I remember reading the sketch and thinking, "I can’t believe how funny this is." I got really fortunate because I bumped into Neal Brennan, who is Dave’s writing partner, when he was in the process of editing the piece before it was on the air, and at that point it was 23 minutes long.
There’s a lot of stuff that was on the cutting room floor that I wished they would put out on the DVD because it was very funny. I’ll be honest with you, that part really isn’t that far from me anyways.
That character is probably me at age 15, in terms of I certainly didn’t have a lot of experience knowing a whole lot of black people growing up in suburban Massachusetts.
I mean, I wanted to. I loved the idea of knowing black people, but I didn’t actually have any experience with it. So I was able to tap into that very easily.
TD: Do people still recognize you as Chad from the sketch?
CF: It used to be insane, not a day would go by. For a while, it was probably five times a day. And it’s never like "hey." They’ll just either yell "Chappelle" or "white boy" or "you stabbed my dad" ... There are just so many lines, "What’s the square root of this apartment?" That’s the amazing thing about that sketch is there’s probably 20 lines that people can quote that most people would know what they’re quoting. I don’t even think Dave or Neal even knew it was going to be that big.
You can never predict a pop culture phenomenon like that. I can’t even fathom it. Sometimes you’ll get people who will recognize you half way through your set and they’ll start yelling, "You stabbed my dad" or "Chappelle" and it just brings everything to a grinding halt. If anyone is coming out to the show at Northwestern, please don’t yell out "Chappelle" things. What I always tell people when I’m off stage is when they tell me, "Hey man, I was the one who yelled out ‘Chappelle,’" I’m like, "In your mind, what did you envision happening? When you yelled that out, what was the best case scenario?
What was I going to say? You know what? You’re right, "Chappelle." What then? I can’t believe you’ve actually seen ‘Chappelle’s Show.’ You must be a special person." The thing is, I don’t take it lightly ... I can’t even fathom what it was like for Dave.
Dave Chappelle is not one of those people who did stand up so he could break into the acting game. He’s a stand up who happens to have had a TV show and has been in some movies. Chris Rock is the same way. So I think that’s one of the things that really contributed to Dave just wanting to pop that balloon.
People were not letting him do what he loved to do, which is to do stand up. I can understand the urge to be like, "You know what, f**k this. I’m going to go on the lam for a year, kind of start over again and make it smaller."
I’m not saying I would have done it. I probably would have stuck with it because I’m a p***y, but I can understand why someone would want to do that.
TD: Do you have any good Matt Lauer stories?
CF: I will say that Matt Lauer is a funny dude with kind of a dark sense of humor. Off camera, he’s kind of biting. He’s a little bit of a d**k, like in the best possible way. I remember the first couple times he had a couple of insults and I was like, "Wow that was a zinger."
It’s so funny, you see these people that do these shows and you’re watching these people on TV, and you’re like, "Who are these people? They seem so dumb and so easy." If you ever are on the set of "The Today Show," I’m amazed that they’re able to do what they do. It’s really like juggling in a lot of ways, so I admire the ability to do that.
I remember one time when he interviewed Britney Spears, who was chewing gum the whole time. He was wearing loafers without socks and we were on "The Today Show" the next week. And we, especially Sherrod Small, were giving him the business about not wearing socks and how awful his ankles looked and apparently we heard back from the producers that he was a little bit insulted by that.
There was also a moment where Katie Couric sort of propositioned me sexually. It was joking, but it was a little bit creepy. They were doing a segment about mammograms, the screening for breast cancer, and Katie had a mammogram and they were showing footage from it and we were the next segment.
And Katie said something like, "I know you guys have always really wanted to see my breasts." And I made some joke like, "Oh yeah Katie, I know, it’s been weeks." And then she just looked at me dead in the eye and completely without smiling or anything was like, "Well come on up to the dressing room afterwards and we’ll see if we can change that."
She was joking, she was just being silly, but she really just held the eye contact for an awkwardly long time. And she walked away and I thought, "Oh my god, Katie Couric just invited me to go upstairs and look at her boobs."
TD: Do you hear from a lot of celebrities who were offended by what you said?
CF: Well, never to your face. And to Matt Lauer’s credit, it’s not like he was a d**k about it.
A lot of time the people working around the celebrities are the ones who take that stuff personally because they’re all trying to justify their job and trying to anticipate potential issues. Celebrities are just like anybody else,.Maybe they’ve been skinned in their own way, and of course being on camera all the time probably makes you more vain than other people.
The way you look physically is important to your career, it’s something that’s in focus, so by sort of insulting Matt Lauer’s ankles it may have meant a little more to him than if I insulted my dad’s ankles in public.