ET: So how are you holding up with your schedule?
Ricky Martin: It gets better and better every day. I'm talking about the tour here in America, where we started in Miami, and we've done already nine shows. The show is mine -- what I'm trying to say is that it belongs to me now! When you're rehearsing the first night, you're a nervous wreck. It's been an amazing tour.
Ricky: I think it is the rhythms that I'm presenting. Once again I want to say that my concerts aren't all about Latin sounds, because then I'd be a big liar. You will find a romantic sound, rock sound, and Latin sounds. These are very happy, joyful rhythms that get in touch with your heart and your soul.
ET: Well, you're certainly teaching us a little Spanish, and how to shake our "bon-bons..."
Ricky: Shake your bon-bons..(laughs)
ET: By the way, don't take me wrong -- you shake that fairly well out there! I've seen clips! Are you going to start a trend?
Ricky: The first thing I say when I am onstage is that you have to leave your egos at the door. Be yourself tonight. Forget about what people think of you, and let go of fear and enjoy the show.
ET: I can imagine everyone wants you to do this interview, or that...does the push and pull ever get to you, where you just want to pull back?
Ricky: Not any more. It used to be that way. At this point, I've learned how to divide and how to challenge priority. Right now the biggest priority is the show, and for the audience to be happy with the show. That means I have to be disciplined. I have to sleep, I have to rest my voice, and rehearsals are very necessary.
Ricky: Can we talk about that?
ET: Absolutely!
Ricky: Well, we're doing a TV special, and they asked me what I would like to do. I said I had to go to Puerto Rico, I have to talk about my people. I guess that is a perfect way for the audience here in America, or in Europe, to know what I am made of. So I walked down the streets, and I talked about not only music but art galleries, great restaurants and, the most important thing, my people. I started singing typical songs that people knew from our country, but never expected the five-year-old kids to know these songs. But they were born with the sounds and the lyrics.
ET: You were so comfortable around them. You're playful. It was a side I had not seen of you. Is that a side that you guard, that you want to save for your own children?
Ricky: There's a saying in Puerto Rican that translates like this: "Don't go back, not even for an impulse." For me my medicine is to go back, to go back to Puerto Rico and to think about Ricky, when he was a little kid. Let's ask Ricky if he is proud of who he has become. So what I am trying to say is that it is very important for me to go back to my street, goback to my school, to go back to the park where I used to play hide and seek, in order for me to be in touch once again with my emotions and my feelings. I had a beautiful childhood. I go back to Puerto Rico and I play with my nieces and cousins. They remind me of the beauty of my childhood.
Ricky: It didn't affect me at all. I think it's worse to live with parents that don't love each other anymore. To grow up listening to your parents fight all the time must be a nightmare. My parents were divorced when I was two years-old, and I got to do anything I wanted. If I wanted to stay with my father, I stayed with my father. If I wanted to stay with my mother, that's the way it was. My father was always there; my mother was always there. The communication between them was amazing.
ET: Were you closer to either one of them?
Ricky: I was very close to both of them. So I can't say that the father figure wasn't there or that the mother figure wasn't there. They were both there.
ET: Is there something that you want to be able to give your children that maybe you didn't get from your upbringing?
Ricky: I really don't have a problem with the way my parents raised me. The advice was, and still is, always there. Morals were always very important. Self-esteem was something that was always there, coming from my parents. What I'm trying to say is that... I have amazing parents.
ET: If you didn't have what you have now, if "Ricky Mania" hadn't of been a hit at the Grammys or in the States, would you be a father right now, a parent, walking in different shoes?
Ricky: I've thought of that many times... and maybe, yes. Let's put it this way -- if Ricky Martin didn't choose in 1984 to become part of show-business, maybe today I would have... a bigger belly [laughs], married with kids, because that's the way it is in my culture. I'm 27 years old, it's probably about time for me to have a family. But in this case, it's different. Yes, I do want to have many kids. I can't wait to walk in my house and trip over a toy. That's something that has to happen.
Ricky: I'm ready for it tomorrow, but I just gotta find "momma."
ET: Any plans for the millennium?
Ricky: My family in Puerto Rico.
ET: Quiet evening?
Ricky: That depends. I have offers to perform in Las Vegas. So we'll probably be in Vegas on the 31st, but 1st and the 30th, I'll be in Puerto Rico.
ET: Will you bring your family to Vegas?
Ricky: I will definitely bring my family to Vegas.
ET: Will you be on stage at the strike of midnight?
Ricky: I don't think that's the way it's been planned. I think it's from 9pm to 11pm.
ET: At the strike of midnight, what do you want to be doing? It's a new century and a big moment.
Ricky: I guess I want to be with my family and my friends, maybe everyone holding an instrument, singing.
Ricky: I doesn't matter. Maybe typical songs of Puerto Rico. Maybe a little bit a Rock 'n' Roll in there -- why not?
ET: I was reading some information, and I saw that there's a long line of Enrique's in your family. Will you name your son Enrique?
Ricky: I will definitely name my son Enrique. I'm Enrique the fourth, so he'll be Enrique the fifth. Enrique Martin.
ET: Obviously there's some family history, but is there something special about the name, other than that it's been carried on for years and years?
Ricky: No.
ET: The very first thing I heard about you was, "this guy's like ELVIS." What a compliment. Then I thought, are we gonna see this guy doing movies like Elvis did?
Ricky: I would LOVE to do film -- again. I guess whenever I decide to be in front of the camera as an actor again, that is going to be my priority and I'm not going to be thinking of anything else. When I'm taking care of acting, I hope I'm not thinking of what sound I'm gonna be working with for the next album. For at least the next two years I'm gonna be really focused on music, being on stage, and growing as an entertainer. Then we'll think about acting again.
Ricky: I guess what I did on "General Hospital," "Les Mis," and in Mexico on my soap operas and plays over there was enough for a while. Maybe in five years I'll do something different as an actor. I admire Elvis so much. I admire BETTE MIDLER and BARBRA STREISAND because they are real entertainers. When they do acting, they do it right. When they do music, they do it right. I want to follow in their steps and do it right.
Ricky: For the last couple of years I've been working with [Giorgio] Armani and it's really an honor during the "Living the Vida Loca Tour" to be able to wear Armani. Not only me, but my dancers, my band, everybody. I think he's amazing. He knows the beauty of formality with a casual aspect as well. I respect him a lot not only as a professional, but also as a human being.
ET: Tell me about the CBS special that's going to take off November 26th.
Ricky: CBS gave me the opportunity to talk up close & personal to my audience and to people who don't really know who Ricky Martin is.
ET: What do you want to say to those people?
Ricky: This is me. This is what I'm made of. This is what you know, the "Ricky Martin" album, but "Vuelve," which is the album that won the Grammy, and a couple of albums before that. So we'll talk about Latin culture, the beauty of music & sounds created by legends today such as CARLOS SANTANA and JOSE FELICIANO. They'll be on stage with me.
ET: Will you share your dreams, your desires, and the personal side of Ricky, or will we see the music side?
Ricky: You'll find that I shed a couple of layers in this special in order for people to understand who Ricky is.
