Mr. Media Interviews by Bob Andelman

Today's Guest: Billy Bob Thornton, actor, Bad Santa, Monster's Ball, Sling Blade, singer, "Beautiful Door" Order by clicking the CD cover above (JULY 2007) You just can’t pigeonhole Billy Bob Thornton. Think about the movie roles he’s most famous for and see what, if any, connection there is: Carl in Sling Blade; Hank Grotowski in Monster’s Ball; Morris Buttermaker in Bad News Bears; Coach Gaines in Friday Night Lights, and my favorite, Willy in Bad Santa. Who would figure that the guy who portrayed so many varied and somewhat disturbed characters had a musical soul too? But, this month, Billy Bob Thornton’s fourth CD, Beautiful Door, will be released. It’s a collection of original, contemporary songs with a touch of country, all written and sung by Thornton. He also is the drummer on the album’s tracks. And just like his choices as an actor, no two songs on the album are easily matched and categorized. You’ll recognize his deep voice instantly on the somber opening ballad, “It’s Just Me,” but be surprised that it’s also him on the rockin’ “Hope for Glory.” BILLY BOB THORNTON audio excerpt: "Probably the funniest story that ever happened on any movie was on a movie called Pushing Tin that I did with John Cusack up in Canada. The story is way too long to tell here, but let’s just put it this way: we played a pretty decent practical joke on John, who has a weak stomach, and we got him good. It was a very elaborate plan, and about two weeks later, he got me back. We’ll just say it involved a sheep, a real live sheep, and some lingerie."  BOB ANDELMAN/Mr. MEDIA: Billy Bob, this was my first exposure to your music, and I’ve got to admit, I was a little surprised at how gentle and calm most of it is. BILLY BOB THORNTON: Yeah, it’s kind of a vibey record. When we play live, we’re a little bit more of a big rock show. On the records, we tend to do kind of somewhere in between J.J. Cale and Johnny Cash kind of stuff. But I’ve always been into real moody records, and that’s what we try to do. Like you said, we’ve got a couple of tunes that are a little more raucous, but for the most part, it’s a real vibey record. ANDELMAN: It was a little against type from what I was expecting, I guess, or what I thought the type was. Obviously, I was wrong. Is this album very different from the three that preceded it? THORNTON: Well, it’s pretty similar to the first one, Private Radio, as well as the third one, which was called Hobo. But the second record we did was called The Edge of the World and it was kind of all over the map, that record, our second one. It had everything from rock songs to country songs on it, and you can’t do that anymore. These days people want records that kind of sonically and lyrically all fit the same vibe like it used to be in 1968 or 1970. You could have a record with all types of songs on it, but I’m not sure if it’s the people or record labels, but they want to put it into a category. I suppose a lot of that is because of the radio. When I was a kid, you would hear James Taylor and Black Sabbath on the same station. There’s the contemporary country station, and then there’s the pop station, and everybody has to be in a category. ANDELMAN: Plus, with the downloading of music, people can just pick the songs that they want, so if it’s not all of a type, they may pick one particular song that they like, but if the next one doesn’t sound like it, they’re only going to take that one song. THORNTON: Right. Exactly. ANDELMAN: I guess the Billy Bob I was expecting was the one in the song “I Can Tell You,” the guy who says, “I can tell you some crazy stories, I bet they’d make you run away.” Not so many of those kinds of stories in there. THORNTON: It’s funny when people say something seems to be “a personal record” or “Is it autobiographical?” It’s always a little of both. Most things you write about, they’re stories that either you’ve observed or been involved in or are yourself. I think the best way to write is from...

Today's Guest: Kate Moretti, novelist, The Vanishing Year, Binds That Tie, Thought I Knew You, While You Were Gone   Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Kate Moretti by clicking on the video player above!  Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience full of women who are in the midst of Kate Moretti’s latest book and—while fearful for Zoe—can’t bear to put it down … in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti. Order your copy now by clicking on the book cover above! Zoe Whittaker is not who anyone thinks she is. She may not even be who she thinks she is. KATE MORETTI podcast excerpt: "I don't think the average person has faced the amount of tragedy and bad decision-making that Zoe has faced. If anybody tried to write about the bad decision-making of the average person, you'd wind up with a really boring book!" And identity issues aside, there seems to be something sinister in not just her past, but in her present. The danger in her past seems to be creeping into her present, but is it related or something new? Kate Moretti’s latest novel, The Vanishing Year, is a page-turner in which the reader quickly gets caught up in both the luxury of the heroine’s life and something frightening that appears to be lurking around every corner. If you’re looking for a suspenseful, woman-in-danger story, you’ll want to take a ride with Moretti’s latest. And then, like me, you’ll find yourself reaching for her previous bestsellers, including Binds That Tie, Thought I Knew You, and While You Were Gone. KATE MORETTI podcast excerpt: "The pharmaceuticals company I work for is Johnson & Johnson and the area I work in is biologics. We make drugs derived from biologic material. It's nothing you can take over the counter; it's all injected or infusions. They're for people with pretty debilitating illnesses. I work in a large molecule lab. I had to do a lot of research (for 'The Vanishing Year') because I don't actually take anything. Except for the occasional Advil." Key interview moments: • 5:00 Novelist Kate Moretti says real life isn't as interesting as that of her heroine's; • 15:50 In her day job, Moretti is a scientist for Johnson & Johnson; • 27:45 Moretti avoids reading other authors while she is writing her own books. Kate Moretti Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Goodreads Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life As A Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom by Ritch Shydner. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above!   The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Legs McNeil, co-author, I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir   Order I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir by clicking the book cover above! Order Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by clicking the book cover above! (MAY 2010) Joey Ramone wasn’t really Joey Ramone. Most people know that the “Ramones” name was for the stage, although few sought out and became their stage persona more completely than the former Jeffry Hyman, a spindly, troubled boy from Queens. If you’re a Ramones fan—or just fascinated with stories of familial disfunction—you’re going to find the new book, I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir, an irresistible attraction. LEGS McNEIL AUDIO EXCERPT: "All along, Mickey was writing songs with Joey and never credited. Years and years of frustration came to light when Bud Light used 'Blitzkrieg Bop' in a commercial. I don't think he wanted a lot of money; he wanted recognition. He was there in the studio (when the song was originally recorded), harmonizing with Joey because their voices were almost identical. It was kinda like The Beach Boys, with Carl and Brian Wilson harmonizing with each other." The story was written by Joey’s younger brother, Mitchell Hyman, a.k.a. Mickey Leigh, with help from Legs McNeil, a long-time friend of both brothers and the author of the classic music history, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk. Legs, today making his second appearance on Mr. Media, got to know Joey and Mickey in the late ‘70s when he and John Holmstrom co-founded the legendary Punk magazine. I got to know Legs through his later contributions to Spin magazine. His writing always comes with a twist; he’s never dull. Legs McNeil Facebook • Twitter • MySpace • PunkMagazine.com • Please Kill Me website • Legs McNeil's 2008 interview with Mr. Media Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Legs McNeil, co-author, I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir   Order I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir by clicking the book cover above! Order Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by clicking the book cover above! (MAY 2010) Joey Ramone wasn’t really Joey Ramone. Most people know that the “Ramones” name was for the stage, although few sought out and became their stage persona more completely than the former Jeffry Hyman, a spindly, troubled boy from Queens. If you’re a Ramones fan—or just fascinated with stories of familial disfunction—you’re going to find the new book, I Slept With Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir, an irresistible attraction. LEGS McNEIL AUDIO EXCERPT: "All along, Mickey was writing songs with Joey and never credited. Years and years of frustration came to light when Bud Light used 'Blitzkrieg Bop' in a commercial. I don't think he wanted a lot of money; he wanted recognition. He was there in the studio (when the song was originally recorded), harmonizing with Joey because their voices were almost identical. It was kinda like The Beach Boys, with Carl and Brian Wilson harmonizing with each other." The story was written by Joey’s younger brother, Mitchell Hyman, a.k.a. Mickey Leigh, with help from Legs McNeil, a long-time friend of both brothers and the author of the classic music history, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk. Legs, today making his second appearance on Mr. Media, got to know Joey and Mickey in the late ‘70s when he and John Holmstrom co-founded the legendary Punk magazine. I got to know Legs through his later contributions to Spin magazine. His writing always comes with a twist; he’s never dull. Legs McNeil Facebook • Twitter • MySpace • PunkMagazine.com • Please Kill Me website • Legs McNeil's 2008 interview with Mr. Media Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! Please Kill Me; The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil. Order your copy today by clicking the book cover above! Today's Guest:Legs McNeil, author, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, I Slept with Joey Ramone (MAY 2008) When Spin magazine started, its staff included two fascinating characters. First was Bob Guccione, Jr., the magazine’s founder and namesake son of the publisher of Penthouse. And then there was Spin’s senior editor, Legs McNeil. Legs McNeil!?! What the hell kind of stupid name was that for a journalist? I mean, I grew up with kids named "Plinky," "Jiggs," and "Doine," but "Legs"? Well, let me tell you, that guy Legs McNeil could write. Some months, the only copy worth reading in Spin was under his byline. It wasn’t until years later that I learned that in the early 1970s, McNeil was a co-founder, with John Holmstrom and Ged Dunn, of Punk Magazine, which gave name to an entire musical generation. McNeil has since written two remarkable non-fiction books, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, and The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry He’s also involved in a new documentary series unspooling across VH1, Spike, and the Sundance Channel in May called "SEX: The Revolution." Because of the nature of these topics, if you’re easily offended – or under 18 - stop listening now. Thank you. Legs McNeil Website • Facebook • Twitter • MySpace • PunkMagazine.com • Please Kill Me website Order The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil, available right now at a great price by clicking on the book cover above! Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! Please Kill Me; The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil. Order your copy today by clicking the book cover above! Today's Guest:Legs McNeil, author, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, I Slept with Joey Ramone (MAY 2008) When Spin magazine started, its staff included two fascinating characters. First was Bob Guccione, Jr., the magazine’s founder and namesake son of the publisher of Penthouse. And then there was Spin’s senior editor, Legs McNeil. Legs McNeil!?! What the hell kind of stupid name was that for a journalist? I mean, I grew up with kids named "Plinky," "Jiggs," and "Doine," but "Legs"? Well, let me tell you, that guy Legs McNeil could write. Some months, the only copy worth reading in Spin was under his byline. It wasn’t until years later that I learned that in the early 1970s, McNeil was a co-founder, with John Holmstrom and Ged Dunn, of Punk Magazine, which gave name to an entire musical generation. McNeil has since written two remarkable non-fiction books, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, and The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry He’s also involved in a new documentary series unspooling across VH1, Spike, and the Sundance Channel in May called "SEX: The Revolution." Because of the nature of these topics, if you’re easily offended – or under 18 - stop listening now. Thank you. Legs McNeil Website • Facebook • Twitter • MySpace • PunkMagazine.com • Please Kill Me website Order The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil, available right now at a great price by clicking on the book cover above! Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Today's Guest: Rolonda Watts, novelist, "Destiny Lingers," former syndicated TV talk show host, "Rolonda"  Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Rolonda Watts by clicking on the video player above!  Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience full of white, Southern sheriffs whose first thought upon encountering a beautiful African-American woman on the beach these days may not always be the prospect of an illicit affair -- unfortunately… in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! Destiny Lingers by Rolonda Watts. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! If you’re in the public eye, folks love to read deeper meaning or intent into everything you do or say. That’s why I’m betting that Rolonda Watts never seriously considering writing a romance novel during the years she was best known as the host of the Emmy Award-nominated, syndicated daytime TV talk show cleverly dubbed “Rolonda.” ROLONDA WATTS podcast excerpt: "Once you give your characters flesh and bone and little tics and blonde hair, they become real! I had a lady one time at a a book signing say, 'I got everything you were telling us about writing, but when you got to the part about the characters talking to you, you lost me!'" Her millions of viewers might have looked at her a little differently if she wrote the following paragraph back then: Garrett gently kisses me on my forehead, my eyelids, my temples, and my cheeks. He caressses my hair and begins to press his strong hard body against mine. He becomes aroused, his muscular thigh rubbing in between mine. First of all, they’d wonder: “Why does Garrett only have one muscular thigh? What’s wrong with the other one? Or—is he an amputee? Not that there is anything wrong with that – it’s probably a genre of its own!” But, I digress: He dives his hot tongue into my mouth, and I am so hungry for his kiss that I nearly swallow it… So you get the idea. That would likely become a little distracting from the day’s talk show topic, whether, “Where Are All the Good Black Men?” or “I’ve Been Stood Up 26 Times” or “Beauty and the Breasts.” ROLONDA WATTS podcast excerpt: "Writing has been a hobby for me since I was a little girl. During my talk show, in 1996, Hurricane Bertha slammed Topsail Island, where 'Destiny Lingers' takes place, and I had a home there. Dumb me wanted to stay there and cover the story for 'Inside Edition.' By the time the TV production truck got to the island, it was too dangerous to let the truck on and too dangerous for me to get off. I was one of 11 stubborn stragglers left on the island. This is what started the story." I Think My Soulmate is Rolonda Watts. Order yours today by clicking on the t-shirt above! Actually, maybe a romance novel would have been a perfect companion. Rolanda on TV was fearless and funny, sassy and a bit silly at times. With Destiny Lingers, Rolonda Watts takes all that personality once squeezed into the tube and lets her love flow across 255 pages of fiction. How much of it is romantic fiction and how much is real life? We’ll find out next, on Rolonda! Key interview moments: • 4:55 TV talk show host turned romance novelist Rolonda Watts explains how Hurricane Bertha inspired her to write Destiny Lingers; • 23:50 Fictional characters talk to Watts, believe it or not; • 37:25 The day Bill Cosby was a guest on 'Rolonda'--and what he apologized for. Rolonda Watts Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • LinkedIn • Wikipedia • IMDB • Goodreads • Pinterest       Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life As A Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom by Ritch Shydner. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above!   The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

TODAY’S GUEST: Ina-Alice Kopp, actress, “Flytrap"

INA-ALICE KOPP podcast excerpt: “Even though my character appears to be very simple-minded — and very mechanical at times — I do feel that, in the end, we’re telling a very touching, human love story.”

Key interview moments:

• 5:10 Actress Ina-Alice Kopp explains that even though her character, Mary Ann, seems focused only on sexual reproduction at the start of Flytrap, she does evolve by the end;

• 15:00 Kopp says she and her love interest in the film, played by actor Jeremy Crutchley didn't feel like they were pretending on screen;

• 23:45 How does an Austrian-born actress becoming big in China? Hint: it doesn't hurt to speak seven languages well.

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What is Mr. Media® Interviews? The calm of Charlie Rose, the curiosity of Terry Gross and the unpredictability of Howard Stern! Since February 2007, more than 1,000 exclusive Hollywood, celebrity, pop culture video and audio comedy podcast interviews by Mr. Media®, a.k.a., Bob Andelman, with newsmakers in TV, radio, movies, music, magazines, newspapers, books, websites, social media, politics, sports, graphic novels, and comics!

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Today's Guest: Novelist Tim Dorsey, author of Hurricane Punch. (ORIGINALLY POSTED APRIL 2007) Order Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey, available from Amazon.com in print or ebook by clicking on the book cover above! The first time I tried my hand at fiction in high school, it was a way of dealing with people and issues that I couldn’t handle in real life. My friends thought it was hysterical and that I was a little twisted. In college, I again used fiction writing for my personal aims, this time to deal with my frustrating inability to get laid as a freshman at the University of Miami. I thought it might be a way of leveling the playing field. It didn’t change my virginal status, but as the manuscript was handed around the dormitory, I earned a different kind of reputation. I was the guy who remembered and chronicled all the stuff that happened when everyone else was falling-down drunk, and I was the guy who, if you messed with me, would get even with you at the typewriter. My father once said to me, “Nothing bad will ever happen to you because you’ll just write about it and get even.” And isn’t that what the power of the press is all about? Twenty-five years later, I read the latest novel by Florida writer Tim Dorsey. Hurricane Punch reminded me of, well, me. As I turned the pages and read about people being barbecued by military meals-ready-to-eat lasagna or being fried by the world’s most powerful guitar amp, I remembered the thrill of brutalizing the people I thought were idiots or who had done me wrong. Dorsey, who’s joining us today (April 12, 2007), is a former journalist who made it out alive, having worked at the Tampa Tribune from 1987 until 1999. Hurricane Punch, which was published in February 2007, is Dorsey’s ninth novel. It’s an all-too-funny story about life in the world’s emerging media capital, Tampa Bay, during hurricane season. It skewers the media left and right, which made it perfect for discussion here. Tim Dorsey Website • Twitter • Facebook • Order Hurricane Punch from Amazon.com BOB ANDELMAN/Mr. MEDIA: Not to make your interview all about me, Tim, but am I the only one who thinks fiction writing is a great place for vengeance? Novelist Tim Dorsey, author of Gator a-go-go TIM DORSEY: Umm, actually, I think maybe that’s the chord that I struck. It’s a lot broader than I think even my publisher or my agent thought. Originally, I guess it was presumed that these would be more of a cult or underground type thing, but just if you look at my Web site, the pictures of my audiences, they look the local neighborhood association. Well, I have a theory about that, and that is that even more so than your background and mine, I think out there there is this kind of untapped reservoir of this feeling that all the people that obey the rules and are good pillars of the community, there is a growing resentment that the people who are breaking the rules are winning. Maybe vicariously, through Serge and the books, they see these miscreants who are getting their just desserts. ANDELMAN: I was kind of reminded of the Zach Braff character on “Scrubs” who is dealing with real life, and you always see what’s actually going on in his head and what he’d like to do and how he’d like to deal with the person. And that’s pretty much what Serge does. I mean, he just deals with it the way he wants to. He doesn’t seem to filter things like the rest of us do. DORSEY: That’s the best part of doing this, it’s a matter of not censoring your imagination, and I think we all have this sort of stream of consciousness to one degree or another where, as we go through the day, we have this internal dialogue, and it’s basically, he is just externalizing our collective internal dialogue, I think. I don’t mean to be so heavy about it (laughs), but really, we all have these little voices and these little things going on as we drive around and curse at people on the highway, anyway… ANDELMAN: Oh, absolutely. Well, I was going to ask you, I mean, it...

Today's Guest: Josh Alan Friedman, singer, “Sixty, Goddammit”

On today’s show he performs two songs LIVE, “This Radio Don’t Play Nothin’ But The Blues” and “Deep River Blues II.”

JOSH ALAN FRIEDMAN podcast excerpt: “I played thousands of nights in honky-tonks across Texas, so I played ‘I Got A Woman’ every night, a rockabilly version of it. I would do ‘Georgia’ in Ray Charles’ style. But ‘What ‘d I Say’ — I almost feel like it’s mine.”

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What is Mr. Media® Interviews? The calm of Charlie Rose, the curiosity of Terry Gross and the unpredictability of Howard Stern! Since February 2007, more than 1,000 exclusive Hollywood, celebrity, pop culture video and audio comedy podcast interviews by Mr. Media®, a.k.a., Bob Andelman, with newsmakers in TV, radio, movies, music, magazines, newspapers, books, websites, social media, politics, sports, graphic novels, and comics!

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