Friday, Sept. 23, 2005 | 6:30 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
Sept. 24-25, 2005
My all-time favorite Q&Accent headline was atop an interview that Spencer Patterson conducted with David Lee Roth. The headline read, "Tactical Spandex," and if any term could describe Diamond Dave, it is that. The term always drew a round of laughter among Accent staffers.
Memories ...
For nearly six years the Q&Accent has been a favorite component in the Sun's entertainment coverage. Over the course of nearly 300 Q&As we have spanned the celebrity universe, interviewing personalties as diverse as Robert Goulet (our first subject in January 2000) to Carrot Top.
Today the Sunday Q&Accent makes its final appearance; a week from today the Las Vegas Sun will be a new morning paper. To send Q&Accent off in style, members of the Accent staff collected some of their favorite exchanges. The highlights follow.
Enjoy!
Las Vegas Sun: What kind of music do you sing in your nightclub show?
Regis Philbin: Well, it's some of (Dean Martin's) songs ... You know, the music today is not what I'm gonna be singing. Not the rap. I don't do rap ... No rap! No rap for Regis! Regis is not a rapper!
Sun: Do you get any grief for your commercials?
Car-commercial pitchman John Barr: Most people are very nice because they understand it's purely humor. Every now and again I'll get someone who says, "John Barr, I think your commercials are stupid." I'll say, "Well that's fine, but you remembered them."
Sun: What is the biggest misconception about Tommy Lee?
Tommy Lee: Um, I think there's a lot. The biggest one? It would be interesting to go around to a few people who aren't music fans and ask them, 'cause really, I don't know. I'm just sort of guessing when I say this, but I would just imagine it's, "some sort of crazy party dude who's totally irresponsible." God, if people only knew.
Sun: You sang background on Pink Floyd's "The Wall." How did you hook up with them?
Toni Tennille: Bruce Johnston, who took over for Brian Wilson with the Beach Boys, and I used to sing backup for groups. Bruce called me and said, "Pink Floyd is in town. Want to do some back-up work for them?"
KP: Were you familiar with the group?
TT: To be honest, I knew the name, I had just not heard the music.
Sun (from Oct. 19, 2001): Being a stand-up comic, how are you handling Sept. 11? Is it off-limits in your routine?
Dave Chappelle: I think you have to address it somehow. Not necessarily as a joke, people have to know you're from this planet. It's like this big thing you can't talk about. It's kind of crazy. I think everyone will have to start joking about it. Otherwise, it'll be overwhelming.
Sun: Happy New Year.
Lewis Black: Oh yeah, happy, happy. Things have really changed. I never understood the concept of New Year. You know, it's like, "You think it's going to get better? How delusional are you?" It's a fake demarcation of time.
Sun: Were you stressed out by the holidays, then?
LB: I kind of ignore them. I'm Jewish, so I don't have to deal with a lot of what the Christian end of the community is going through. I'm not stressed out, but I get tired of "Little Drummer Boy." How many times can you hear it? And every year, Christmas just takes longer. I don't know how long it takes you Christians to shop, but it's out of control.
Sun: When you're on a romantic date, what CD do you play?
Chris Isaak: Usually John (Philip) Sousa, but I have a different kind of lovemaking. I love that march music, boy, that works for me. "Ba-badump-ba-ba-badump-badda-bump-a-badda-bump-a-badda-ah ... work with it baby!" (laughs).
Sun: There was a movie on television recently about your life.
Little Richard: I had nothing to do with that. They did an unauthorized version. It wasn't done like we would have done it. We would have shown how the Beatles came from us and how James Brown started with us; he was my vocalist. They didn't show no history. They played up on sex and all that mess, you know. It was horrible.
Sun: The script suggested you were bisexual.
LR: What it did, it just brought the devil to life. We disagreed with it, disagreed with it totally. So, what I need to do now, I have another person (reporter) in Kansas City (waiting for an interview) but let everybody (in Las Vegas) know I will be there and I love you and I love you for talking to me, OK? God bless you.
Sun: I've read where you said Viagra changed things for you. Did it make that much a difference in your life?
Hugh Hefner: Well I've got six girlfriends, so, yes, it helps. It definitely helps. I'm also the living embodiment that age is just a number.
Sun: Have you ever been approached about appearing in a Viagra commercial? A Hugh Hefner testimonial could only help sales.
HH: No, but as soon as I started using it I bought some stock. I saw the future.
Sun: Monty Python fans can be a bit overzealous in their devotion. What's been your strangest encounter with an admirer?
Eric Idle: They're always kind of nice. They're kind of bright people, by and large. Some of them come (to "Spamalot") in costume -- we do encourage people to dress strangely. The other night somebody came to the front and he was dressed as the Spanish Inquisition. So I dragged him onstage and played with him. That's the other nice thing about doing this show is that I can play. If something happens, I can talk about it.
Sun: You've been divorced four times in your life. Do you have any regrets about the marriages?
Tony Curtis: Every one. I shouldn't have gotten married, I should have stayed single. And I had children. But I now think back and realize that getting married at an early age while you're still trying to strive for a career, while you're still trying to create an environment that you're happy to be living in, it needs all your attention. It's easy to say that.
Sun: How's it going?
David Lee Roth: Good. I've got a big crow sitting on my balcony (bird squawks in background). It's like an omen or something, like I'm going to become a kung-fu warrior.
Sun: Like "The Raven" ...
DLR: Exactly. Yo homeboy! Nevermore! (Bird squawks again.) Hold on. Let me get rid of this thing. (In the distance, Roth rushes to the balcony and curses at the bird, which squawks back and flies away). Sorry, I walk and talk with the animals.
Sun: What are your thoughts about the recent presidential election?
George Clinton: To me there should be some kind of way to verify it. And they're too close to the CIA. There's enough technology in this world for ... you know "Mission Impossible" was not a fantasy. That was some real possibilities.
Sun: What do you think your legacy will be?
Bo Diddley: I came in with that "booma da booma da boom da boom boom" (beat) and changed everything. And they run around talking about how Elvis did it. Elvis didn't do a damn thing.
He came along 2 1/2 years after me, and he did great, and I'm happy that he did what he did. But he didn't start it. That's another thing America's gotta get off of. Give me credit for what I did.
Sun: Elvis is pretty revered here in Las Vegas.
BD: I worked Vegas too, but I couldn't make the money in Vegas that he was drawing. And now they're treating him bigger than God, and I don't like that. But I'm not bitter about it.
Sun: When do you expect you'll release new material?
BD: I don't know exactly. I'm having some personal problems right now. I'm going through some wife problems (laughs).
I married (my fourth wife) in Las Vegas, and I need to bring her back to Las Vegas and get rid of her. I'm gonna go back there and tell them, "Y'all messed me up."
Sun: Do memories of your father flood back when you listen to "Somethin' Stupid?"
Nancy Sinatra: I have trouble listening to anything to do with my father now, since he died (in 1998). It's really hard for me, really emotional. But it's a beautiful record. It tugged at your heart strings.
Sun: I've read that you feel Jerry Garcia's spirit communicates with you.
Bob Weir: When you spend 30-something years with somebody living in your head and in your heart and you living in their head and heart, you can see where the physical body might leave, but the spirit doesn't.
While I'm playing onstage there are times I know he'd be hating what I'm doing, that it's not the way he would want to do it. And there are times I'm sure that he'd be loving it. I can hear him, sort of, kicking me in the head or flagging me on, the same as when he was around.
Sun: Your website lists a Vegas show on New Year's Eve. What can you tell us about that?
Richard Cheese: The way I see it New Year's Eve is a night that I can really raise our price. We're either going to charge something like $30 a ticket and let in 100 couples or $300 a ticket and let in 10 couples or -- and this is my favorite -- $30,000 a ticket and let in one couple.
Sun: You've become a target for people who don't like smooth jazz. Does that bother you much?
Kenny G: I read a cartoon about a guy who comes into a music store and asks the guy behind the counter, "Do you have any Kenny G music?" The guy goes, "Well, that's under difficult listening." And the other guy goes, "Don't you mean easy listening?" And the first guy goes, "Well, to each his own."
I thought that was very funny. It doesn't bother me.
Sun: President Bush has enormous appeal for millions of Americans. How do you explain that?
Bill Maher: A lot of it is all about how you frame an issue linguistically. When the president appears on TV he always has three words written behind him -- Making America Stronger, or something like that. It's quick and easy to understand. If Clinton had a banner saying, "Me No (Fornicate)," he would not have been in so much trouble.
Sun: You have a chapter in the book titled, "Not New Age." Explain your distaste for that term.
Yanni: I feel it was a very unfortunate choice of words because it's a loaded term, not a musical term. My objection to the term is that for people who have never heard my music, they assume I burn incense and meditate a lot (laughs).
Sun: Might we ever see you throwing craps at the Golden Nugget or anything like that?
Wayne Newton: (Laughs) I've never been to any of the tables. In all the years I've been in this town, I've never played the tables. I've never been to a slot machine, either, come to think of it.
archive
