Our conversations at some point turned to politics and the entertainment industry. We did speak of politics alot, but I will not elaborate too much as I think politics is something very personal. He did say that there are very spirited, stimulating conversations at work, but they are never nasty. He talked with Valerie about how tough Chris Matthews is on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Then he started to laugh as he spoke of a skit on SNL that had been done with him. I actually just happened to catch that skit on late nite on a special on MSNBC, with Chris Matthews interviewed, saying he actually thought they had captured him pretty well. He also doesn't like Dru Hammell's impressions of Gore as much as his Clinton or Dana Carvey's impression of Bush Sr. I actually LOVE the impressions, with my favorite line being "sum your candidacy up in one line, and Dubya saying "Strategery" ROFLMAO even as I write it. I thoroughly enjoy the Gore/Dubya skits that Will Ferrell and Dru Hammell have been doing. The one with them being "The Odd Couple" is just hilarious. But I do agree that Dru Hammells impressions of Clinton are some of the best, with my favorite being the ones with him and Janet Reno climbing in the window. We also talked about Jesse Ventura on 'Meet the Press' and how he would not commit to who he would vote for, but would commit to 'who would you have a beer with?' his reply 'both so I could bash their heads together'
Can you imagine Vincent on Politically Incorrect??? Oh I so would love to see him on the show since he was passionate and educated, and articulates his points well. He thinks Politically Incorrect is always a little too lopsided in the views.
He said he does not usually watch nite time soaps. He spoke of how he was sitting with David Beecroft one day and an old Falcon Crest was on with David, they heard a voice and looked up, sure enough it was Jennifer Bassey. Right after the episode, what happened to be on was Hotel, with him, Heather Langenkamp, and Dee Wallace. He doesn't usually watch himself on TV. He finds he watches movies differently than Avalon since he is thinking of camera views, editing, writing etc. He doesn't play the piano too much any more other than to relax or accompany while singing. I asked him a question (which had been in a letter I wrote, that I never got a response from) about where acting comes from. As a musician, I feel music, feel it is part of my soul, from a place deep within me, and I was curious if acting comes from that same place? He said absolutely, He gave an example of how on Broadway you get an instant gratification, that is not there with television. BUT when on Broadway, you sometimes feel you have given a deeply great performance and no one there may really feel it, and it is not captured, like on television/movies.
He did speak of opera and getting to meet Placido Domingo. He would like to get him as a guest appearance on AMC. He spoke of the 1st act of the opera they had seen him in was 1 hour and 45 minutes long and is VERY dark. He called his friend and sang him a deep dark satire of his version of the 1st act. (He started singing it right in the restaurant for a few lines, it was very funny) He prefers operas in their native language. I spoke of how I met Pavarotti (My father-in-law is a horse vet and helped him purchase a few horses) What I really remember about him was he was a large man, but he sure had a large bevy of beauties with him. Vincent told a story of seeing him in an opera from a standing room only view.
Our conversation many times turned to children, since my daughter is only about 2 months older than his daughter Aria. We spoke of how you think Age 2 is horrible until they hit Age 3, trying your patience and testing their limits all the time. They had recently seen the Rugrats Movie, he asked Siena who had already seen it if there was any "toilet humor" in it. She said NO, but then on the ride over she was like, well there is a little bit. I am very strict with what I let Samantha see, so we discussed various shows, like the Simpsons, which he thinks is fine because it is physical humor. (I just think Bart is plain old fresh!) Aria's favorites are Blues Clues, Teletubbies (which he thinks is mindless), Sesame Street, and Veggie Tales. He gave an example of a show he didn't like - Ren & Stimpy. He described the characters animatedly and then described the scenario of the one character making fun of a kid who still wet the bed. He thinks it is cruel for kids who may still be suffering from this problem.
He told a story of Siena cutting her own bangs when she was little and I am sure she does not like those pictures now!. Val asked if we would ever get to see pictures of him in banana curls. He said some things are meant to stay private, like his 1977 graduation picture, with his hair "that 70's" style, parted in the middle. He spoke proudly of Siena, saying she is incredibly mature for her age, very serious and very smart. When she was like 15 months she already knew her alphabet and words that went along with them. She wants to be an ecologist on a TV show, and loves to act scenes out. We discussed Santa, and how she was literally crying just to see him, people in line thought Vincent was being cruel torturing her to see him, but she wanted to see him. THEN, when they finally got up to Santa, she freaked out. (I totally relate since Samantha won't go near the section of the mall where Santa is)
We also discussed how impressionable little ears are. He told us he was watching "The Sopranos" one nite, when he looks to see Aria walking in the room with her blanket. Avalon quickly took her back up to bed. Weeks later, as they were in the car, Aria was playing with some Sesame Street cards, and started to mutter "f****" mumble mumble, and He and Avalon just looked at each other. Then it hit him the scene in the Sopranos was a foul mouthed scene with gambling and cards.
