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THE POP CULTURE ADDICT ANSWERS 60 INTIMATE QUESTIONS If stranded on a desert island - what book, movie and album would you bring if you could only choose one of each? Book - It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken by Seth. Movie - It's a Wonderful Life Album - Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. If you could have a dinner party and invite six people - living, deceased or fictional, who would they be? I've done a lot of thinking about this and changed my mind over and over again. It's not fair only being able to invite six people. However I think the guest list would include singer Frank Sinatra, B movie director Ed Wood, artist Yoko Ono, 70's sex symbol Erik Estarda, the Fantastic Four member The Thing and horror film host Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Okay. My dinner party would be like an episode of The Surreal Life but I bet it wouldn't be dull. Who are some of the celebrities that you have encountered? I've had brushes over 100 notable musicians, actors, directors and comic book artists and writers but just to name a few - Kevin Smith, Julie Newmar, Anthony Stewart Head, the Village People, Neal Adams, Billy Dee Williams, Chris Claremont, William Shatner, Weird Al Yankovich, Marta Kristen, the Barenaked Ladies, Paul Dini, Tura Satana, Ruggero Deodato, Peter Noone, Henry Winkler, Air Supply, Tony DeFranco, Nicholas Brendon, Bruce Campbell, Margot Kidder, Air Supply, Anthony Daniels, Leonard Nimoy, Ray Parks, Erica Durance, Joe Kubert, Elvira, Frank Gorshin, Kevin Sorbo, Angela Cartwright, Nichelle Nichols, George Romero, Peter Davidson, Lou Ferrigno, Ernie "Mr. Dressup" Coombs and many others. What's up with the fedora? When I first got out of elementary school and first began to watch classic films and get interested in nostalgia I saw the fedora as the ultimate status symbol of the male wardrobe. Guys like Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Frank Sinatra wore them and I wanted one too. After much pleading my mother finally bought me one when I got into grade nine. However, I'm going to finally admit that despite all the jokes I've gotten in the nearly two decades that I have been wearing a fedora, that Degrassi Junior High's Joey Jeremiah DID have an influence in me wanting to wear a fedora. I liked Joey Jeremiah's and thought it was kind of cool. However, looking back at old Degrassi re-runs I was, and I remain, a far better dresser then Joey Jeremiah was. At this point, I don't think I look right without the fedora and I don't ever see me leaving it behind. At this writing I've made it an essential part of my wardrobe for seventeen years. What is the biggest misconception about you? People seem to always be assuming that I am a Trekkie and no matter how much I try to tell them that I don't watch Star Trek they don't seem to listen. I think the reason for this is because people who are interested in pop culture like I am always seems to be Trekkies. It doesn't help that I have met nearly the entire cast of the original Star Trek series in my pop culture journey. However, I have very little interest in Star Trek and have not watched much of it in my lifetime. The only series I know well at all is the original because of the way it is ingrained into our popular culture. However, I have only watched a little bit of the second series and have never seen any episodes of any of the later series. I don't know the characters or the actors or even what they are all called. I have very little, to no, interest in these series at all. Star Trek is not much of a point of interest to me. What is your favorite film? Now it's not great movies that capture my imagination the most. I am a far bigger fan of B films. The more bizarre the better. The two films that have captured my imagination the most and have lasted the test of time with me that I can watch them over and over again are Tom Laughlin's Billy Jack and Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Who are some of your favorite film stars? Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jimmy Stewart, Myrna Loy and William Powell, Gregory Peck, Soledad Miranda, Cary Grant, Orson Wells, Lee Marvin et. al. What is the worst movie you've ever seen and why? Oh god! The horror! THE HORROR! Why do you make me think of these things! The worst film I ever saw was Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep and Gloria Estefan. It was horror director Wes Craven's attempt at making an "inspirational" chick flick, but it had "crap" written all over it. My mother brought it over to my home one night when I invited her over for movies and dinner. I wanted to put a fork through my brain to end it, but I had to lie and say I liked it to save my mother's feelings. It was dreadful. Meryl Streep plays a woman who goes into "the hood" to get kids off of the streets and out of gangs by teaching them the magic of music through violin! It had every bad movie cliché in it that you can even imagine. I will honestly put my head in the oven if I ever have to watch that monstrosity again. Who would play you in a movie based on your life and what would the title be? If I could cast anybody in a movie of my life I would cast a younger Kyle MacLachlan. I feel he is quirky enough to capture all things that are me. However, considering that I am too ugly to be played by Kyle MacLachlan I'd probably be played by Steve Bescumi. I think I could deal with that. The title would be, of course, Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict and with Russ Meyer being dead it would probably be directed by Rob Reiner but only because Tim Burton would be too busy (which is also why Johnny Depp would not be playing me). Is Roger Corman still alive? Maybe I could get Roger Corman to film it, but then I'd want to be played by Dick Miller...but a young Dick Miller. The romantic lead would be Michelle Trachtenberg. Eric Idle and Joanna Lumley would do the voices of my go go action cats. If you were King Kong would you take on Godzilla? Only if we were on my own turf. I wouldn't want Godzilla to call on Rodan for back up. If you were John Travolta's glam-rock boots in Battlefield Earth, would you be uncomfortable? Yes, but only because he's a scientologist. "Dance in these Tony!" TV shows made into movies: If any, which were done well? Generally making a TV show into a movie is a terrible idea. However, I am a big fan of The Brady Bunch Movie. It was a great parody of the original series being juxtaposed in our modern real world. The cast, costumes and even the musical numbers were perfect. They fit so much of what makes me love the original show into two hours. Both a loving tribute and a clever film. People are surprised when I hail "The Brady Bunch Movie" as being a remarkably brilliant film and one of the best overlooked comedies ever made. The reason it's not a classic is that it was marketed wrong. The kids who went and saw it didn't get it and the adults who would have gotten it didn't see it. What was the first TV show you remember watching? My earliest memories of television are the shows my parents watched. I know they liked to watch a lot of the variety shows on at the time - so we used to watch Donny and Marie, Sha Na Na, and Hee Haw. They also used to watch shows like All in the Family, One Day at a Time and Alice. My dad used to like Flo and my parents adopted the phrase "Kiss My Grits" in their everyday life for a while in the late 1970's (although I don't think I've heard either of them use it in decades). Mainly I just remember the characters from the seventies - Fonzie and the Muppets and Mr. Kotter and such. What are some of your all time favorite TV shows? The Twilight Zone, Doctor Who, The Avengers, The Fugitive, The Mod Squad, CHiP's, Degrassi Junior High/High, The Wonder Years, Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Six Feet Under and Dead Like Me. What television shows do you currently follow? Lost, Greys Anatomy, Dexter, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Private Practice and Doctor Who. What is your favorite animated program? People are usually surprised to hear this, but I love the stuff that Matt Stone and Trey Parker do on South Park. There is some great satire and social commentary going on in that show and Stone and Parker's ability to take a "no holds barred" attack on the subjects that people are scared to laugh at is the kind of shocking humor that appeals to me. Stone and Parker are doing now what Norman Lear was doing in the 1970's. Also, I love Eric Cartman. I don't care how trendy and then passé the character gets, that selfish and evil little bastard makes me laugh. Besides that, I have a certain place in my heart for Sailor Moon. Some of my favorite vlassic animated series include Defenders of the Earth, Battle of the Planets, She-ra and, most of all Josie and the Pussycats. Gotta dig girls with ears for hats. What was your favorite childhood TV show? The first show I got obsessed with as a small boy was Doctor Who. Although I watch the new Doctor Who now I still think of the original series as an important part of my childhood. Who is your favorite actor to play Doctor Who? Well that's a tough one. My Doctor (as in the one playing him when I was growing up) was fifth Doctor Peter Davidson so I have the most nostalgia for his run. He also had a great supporting cast. However I am a sucker for classic Who from the sixties and, well, Tom Baker is THE Doctor. Yet, these days, the only Doctor Who I can actually watch and stay interested and I think David Tennant is just amazing. These days I'd have to go with Tennant, although I think every actor to play the Doctor was good in their own way...except maybe Colin Baker. Nobody loves Colin Baker.. What is your favorite sitcom? I am a man who hates sitcoms. I feel that, for the most part, they insult my intelligence. However, my favorite sitcom of all time is All in the Family. It was easily the most daring sitcom ever made and was produced during a time when the world was open enough to accept it, but not politically correct enough to ban it. Carol O'Connor was not only a superb actor but a master of comic timing and had these looks on his face that could slay you. His eyes could say more than his mouth could at times! All of the characters on "All in the Family" - Archie, Edith, Mike, Gloria, Lionel, George Jefferson and the rest of the neighbours on Hauser St had many dimensions that, as seasons went by, changed and grew. All in the Family also was a masterpiece of social commentary. It often seems a bit forced and trite when watched today but in the 1970's it was unlike anything seen before. "All in the Family" also has a lot of heart. Sure, it may look like four people yelling at each other for a half an hour but the dialogue has a lot of passion. Finally, no television characters in the history of television have been able to make me laugh to the point that tears appear than Archie and Edith Bunker. Other sitcoms I enjoy include I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Patty Duke Show, Petticoat Junction, The Brady Bunch (the Ed Wood of sitcoms), The Partridge Family (better than you probably remember), Happy Days, WKRP in Cincinnati, Cheers, and, my runner up for all time favorite, Friends. What is the best TV commercial you've ever seen? Paul Anka's "Molson Canadian" beer commercial from the 1960's. Best beer jingle ever. If you were a "celebrity" guest on "Acting Crazy" or "the New Liars Club" who would you be: Jimmy Walker, the guy with the weird Vulcan haircut, Shannon Tweed or one of the Chrissy replacements from "Three's Company"? Shannon Tweed was on those shows? That would have been long before she met Gene Simmons. Damn. Anyways... wasn't Dennis from Polka Dot Door a regular on Acting Crazy? I think I'd be him. Which series was better, Degrassi Jr. High or Degrassi High and why? Well, Degrassi High had more mature plots but I'll still have to put my money on Degrassi Jr. High - especially the third season which had a lot of the classic episodes. That's the season when Wheels' parents died, Shane took acid and jumped off a bridge and Joey Jeremiah and Caitlin got together. Also, it was the final season for my favorite Degrassi kid, Melanie. Melanie didn't transfer over to Degrassi High. If you were Charles from "Charles in Charge", which kid would you beat first? Does Willie Aames count? Because it would definitely be Willie Ames. That guy needs a good beating. If you were Vicki the robot girl's "brother" on Small Wonder, how much counseling would you require as an adult: a little, some, a fair bit, extensive, or straight jacket? I wouldn't require any counseling as an adult because I probably would have hung myself in my fathers work shop as a teenager - if not because of the robot, then to get away from the non-stop advances of that ugly red headed girl that lived next door. She made Margaret from Dennis the Menace look like Cindy Crawford! Is there any truth in the rumor that you played the Polkaroo on the final season of Polka Dot Door and that your torrid and scandalous affair with Cindy Cook was practically responsible for the cancellation of that show? There was never an affair with Cindy Cook! That was a lie that was created by Aunt Agnes when I revealed that she and Harriet of Harriet's Magic Hats were the same person. That and because I rejected her sexual advances. If you were Tony Danza, how soon would you kill yourself? I would have done it sometime between the fourth and fifth season of Who's the Boss. Definitely before they brought the cute kid in as a last ditch effort to save a show that couldn't ever have been saved from the pilot episode. If I didn't do it by then I would have definitely done it before I tried to do a talk show because, I mean, Tony Danza can hardly string a sentence together so how could he ever actually interview anybody? Favorite villain on the 1960's Batman TV show? This may not be the answer you'll expect. My favorite villain was probably when 1960's pop singer Lesley Gore (It's My Party) put on a pink leotard and little pink ears and played Julie Newmar's teen sidekick Pussycat. It's kind of funny watching sweet and innocent Lesley Gore try to talk tough. Furthermore, she sang California Nights which remains to be one of my favorite forgotten hits of the decade. My favorite reappearing villain would have been Anne Baxter's Olga, Queen of the Cossacks. What's the first comic book you remember reading? There are really two answers for this. The first comic book I remember reading was an issue of DC Comics Presents featuring Superman and Aquaman. On the cover the two of them were being attacked by a giant squid or something. The back up story was "Whatever Happened to the Black Pirate?" However, the first comic that I bought that started over twenty years of obsessive collecting was an issue of Batman featuring Batman and Robin fighting Catman. It was bought at a Becker's store by my father after I watched the Adam West and Burt Ward Batman movie when I was in the third grade. I still have it. Who is your favorite comic character? Ever since I was a boy my favorite comic book character has been the Black Canary. I am an obsessive Black Canary collector who has corresponded with the writers that write her and even have a tattoo of her on my leg. Who would you cast as the Black Canary? Mira Sorvino Did you like the non-fishnet, headband wearing Black Canary costume from the 80's? Let me tell you, the 1980's had a lot of bad ideas and that was one of them. The Canary looked like a fugitive from a Shelia E video. Taking the Black Canary out of fishnet stockings is like taking the "S" symbol off of Superman's chest. It should just never be done. In an issue of "Action Comics Weekly" the Black Canary actually threw that costume into the fireplace. However, what was even worse was the Black Canary's very short lived (thank god) angry leather butch look from the mid 90's. GAH! That was just awful.. If you could have any superpower what would it be? Super hypnosis. That way I could get anything I want. For instance, I could get people to make me pie and muffins. Not enough people make me pie and muffins. However I don't know if I'd always use it for good... What is your "Pre-Crisis" origin? Pre-Crisis Pop Culture Addict doesn't wear a hat. If you cast anybody you know in real life as a comic book character who would it be? When I was a teenager I worked at a fast food joint with a dumb kid named Joey. Joey looked a lot like Jesse Custer's boyhood friend Billy Bob from Garth Ennis' brilliant comic odyssey Preacher, only with two eyes. Yet Joey was so dumb and ugly he could have been inbred like Billy Bob though. It wouldn't surprise me. If I had to cast a real life person as a comic character I'd seek Joey out and give him the job. Also, I think my former roommate Yvonne would make a great Lucy Van Pelt. Betty or Veronica? Veronica. Definitely Veronica. I dig the dark haired girls and Veronica kind of looks like Bettie Page. Now everybody goes on and on about how evil and manipulative Veronica is. Thing is, perhaps Archie shouldn't have been such a pushover. He should have stood up to her once in a while. And Betty Cooper? She comes off as being co-dependent and needy. Why would I want that? Betty's the type that would go all Glenn Close and get really creepy and stuff. It just wouldn't be worth it. What comic character do you relate the most too? Charlie Brown. I'm a lovable loser too. Good grief! Who are your favorite musicans? The Velvet Underground, The Doors, The Beatles, KISS, The Osmond Brothers, The Shangris-Las, Amy Winehouse, Frank Sinatra and Kylie Minogue What musicians do you listen to that nobody else does? One of my all time favorite albums is by a one hit wonder Canadian acid rock band from the 1960's called Mashmakhan. Their hit, As Years Go By is only mediocre compared to the psychedelic groove on the rest of the album. I wish more people could hear that album. Mashmakhan was featured far to briefly in the documentary "Festival Express". I also really love a Toronto band called The Golden Dogs who's first album is probably the best album I bought last year. However, I'm the only one listening to them... right now. These guys are going to get really big. Believe me. I am also a huge fan of the smooth folk sounds of mass murderer Charles Manson. No, I am not kidding. Don't judge it until you download it and listen to it for yourself. Beatles or Rolling Stones? That's an easy one. Definitely the Beatles. I mean, the influence of the Rolling Stones is undeniable but if there is proof in this world that there is a God it's the Beatles. Think about it. Alone John, Paul, George and Ringo were okay musicians but together they became the greatest rock band in the history of music. Just look at the sheer magnitude of work they put together in a short span of time! They redefined rock music and saved it from the post Elvis bubblegum industry created by the likes of Paul Anka and Pat Boone! Furthermore, no band since has equaled the importance or the majesty of the Fab Four. I truly believe it was something from beyond that shoved those four lads from Liverpool together. I mean they aren't my favorite band of all time, but they are head and shoulders above all others - the greatest then, now and forever. However, these days the British band I've been digging the most is Eric Burdon and the Animals. Really great overlooked blues. How do you feel about being compared to the Beatles? I may have moments of genius but I am hardly a miracle. Elvis or Gene Vincent? Now you can't deny the legend and majesty that is Elvis Presley. However, I think Gene Vincent is kinda cooler in songs like Catman and Red Blue Jeans and a Pony Tail. That's a tough one but I might have to go with Gene Vincent these days. Do you feel threatened by the success of Kajagoogoo? Considering that I had to do a Google search to find out who they were, the answer would be no. Is it true you once tried out for a boy band? Yes! A number of years ago I auditioned to be a member of O-Town. The audition went really well and they said that I was a great singer. However, they said that they couldn't use my talents because I was ugly and couldn't dance. They didn't want singers - they wanted sex appeal. Thus I had to take my shattered dreams with me and I didn't become a member of O-Town. However, later when I saw that O-Town was being featured on the front of a cereal box for a competition where they would come and perform at some lucky winners school I realized that I was far better off. I mean, come on! Where is O-Town now? Anyhow, that would have just gotten in my way of getting Al, Holmes, Randy, Sean and I to combine our talents in something I'd like to call "Manudo." I've just gotta convince the rest of the guys that it's a great idea. How important have music videos made in your career? Very little importance actually. I don't really watch music videos and feel that they are what have helped destroy popular music in the last twenty five years. Back in the 1960's a good song would become a hit because it was a good song. Now a good video will make a song a hit. Also, image has become more important than talent. Let me put it bluntly - Mama Cass, Janis Joplin and Karen Carpenter weren't what you would call beautiful but, dammit, nobody could sing like they could. Today they probably wouldn't have a career because they don't look like Britney or Christina. Videos did that. Friends, video did kill the radio star. Are the rumors of a collaboration between Andy Warhol and you true? Sadly they are not. I approached Andy about a little project I wanted to call A Very Nico Christmas. Nico was on board for it, but then at the time she would do just about anything to pay for the heroin she needed. Her version of O Holy Night was like nothing you've ever heard before. However, Andy showed little interest in the project and it sort of fell apart. If you could go back in time and warn a celebrity of a horrible mistake, who would you warn and what would you warn him/her of? I think I would have gone back to the 1950's when Sammy Davis Jr. was at his coolest and tell him about a horrible decade called the 1970's. I would have told him to not make all the TV guest spots and commercials and try to remain inaccessible, that his talk show would be a giant laughable failure, that drugs are bad and to stay away from the nose candy, to okay everything he wears with Frank Sinatra before he puts it on and not to record crap like The Candy Man or The People Tree. Perhaps then people would remember him for the brilliant entertainer he was and not the kitchy joke he became. While I was in the 1950's I would also mail a letter to James Dean to encourage him to wear his seatbelt and a letter to Bob Denver to tell him to stay clear of Gilligan's Island because it would kill his teen idol status. If you could go back in time and stop an actor's parents from having sex and conceiving him, what actor's parents would it be and why? That one is easy. Adam Sandler's parents because I truly believe this world would have been a far better place without him. If you could go back in time and be Yvonne Craig's bat suit, how weird would that be? Yeah... uh... that would be pretty weird. Who was your first celebrity crush? I'm not into puppets or bestiality but it would have had to be Miss Piggy when I was five. However, the first human celebrity I had a crush on was 1980's Doctor Who star Sarah Sutton who played Nyssa of Traken. I met Mrs. Sutton a number of years ago and in a moment of tongue tiedness I told her that I was in love with her as a kid in which she replied "well I certainly hope you got over it." Current celebrity crush? Alive - Michelle Trachtenberg. Deceased - European scream queen Soledad Miranda. Would you ever date one of your fans? Definitely... and that could mean YOU girl! Sources say that Bettie Page has gotten wind of the fact that you chose Black Canary for your first tattoo instead of her and that she has now come out of her reclusiveness to stage a full-on media blitz boycott of you and your website. Your reaction? Awwww... Bettie. Why do you break my heart so? Don't you understand that I'll love you forever? Send me your address and I'll send you a free "Eric Braeden Says: Tonight I'll Eat Your Soul" t-shirt, and I PROMISE that you'll be my second tattoo. But remember Bettie, just as the New Kids on the Block once sang, I'll be loving you forever! Who was your first kiss? Gee - I haven't thought about that in decades. Her name was Angela and she was in the first grade when I was in the third. She moved into my neighborhood and I was assigned by my teacher to make sure she got on the right school bus. One afternoon she rewarded me by kissing me in my garage to the laughter of my neighborhood chums. Mind you, back then girls were still icky so I pushed her off of me and ran away. I didn't play with her anymore after that. She moved away but a number of years later she ended up back in my school. By that point I didn't feel that girls were icky anymore and, well, she made my brain go VA-VOOM! However she was too "cool" for a "geek" like me by that point. I guess I was too young to realize a good thing when I had it back then. What was your favorite kids book? As a child I loved Curious George, but I have to say that my favorite kids book is still The Monster at the end of this Book starring Lovable Furry old Grover! What is the worst catch phrase/slang of all time? "Have a good one." Have a good what? I want to know! A good day? A good drive? A good dinner? A GOOD WHAT? Don't be lazy just tell me what "one" defines. If you mean a good day say the word "day". It's the same amount of syllables you lazy jerk! When angels dance on the head of a pin what kind of dance do they perform? The lambada. Definitely the lambada. They also dance to a healthy dose of James Last playing Gwen Stefani covers. What is the purpose of the mullet hairstyle? The purpose is so we can separate the assholes from the rest of us easily. If you were a cult leader how would you get your followers to kill themselves? I would get them to sit down in front of continuous episodes of Reba until they completely lost the will to live and took their own lives so that they didn't have to watch any more. Oh God. What a terrible way to go. It's scaring me just thinking about it! Lets go to the next question... If you were a goldfish what would your favorite colour of crayon be? What kind of retarded question is that? You've seriously got to stop smoking drugs! If you could score the impossible interview, who would it be with, how do you see it take place, and why would it be that particular person? This may go against what I said about Star Trek above and I don't know how impossible this might be, but if I could really sit down and pick somebody's brain for a few hours it would be Star Trek star George Takei who played Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek series. I've actually already met George Takei and he is one of my favorite celebrities that I've met thus far. However, if you take a look at Mr. Takei's acting resume he's done more guest spots on the widest range of television programs than anyone in Hollywood. Everything from Bonanza to the Twilight Zone to the Young and the Restless. The reason for this is because in the 1960's he was pretty much the premier Asian working in Hollywood so if a script called for an Asian actor you called in George Takei for the job. Now I have little to no interest in Star Trek. I'd probably try to avoid talking about Star Trek. I mean I'm sure as an actor that has such a huge body of work George Takei is probably sick of talking about Star Trek anyway. However the people Takei has worked with in other shows and the stories he could tell are probably innumerable. There would also probably be an interesting discussion about race and stereotyping in Hollywood as well as alternative lifestyles. I'd love to just sit down with George Takei one on one with a bottle of bourbon and no time constraints and get all of his Hollywood stories. I think it would be the most interesting conversation I could have with an actor. It's not the legends that have the stories to tell, it's the guys who have made their rounds in the industry. Guys like George Takei. For similar reasons, I'd love to talk to Young and the Restless star Eric "Victor Newman" Braedan. Eric Breadan played the bad guy in every television show in the 1970's. He shot Steve Trevor down off the coast of Paradise Island on Wonder Woman, shot down Cornelius and Zira in cold blood in Escape From the Planet of the Apes and even gave Mary Tyler Moore a run for her money. However, my current interview obsession is former teen idol Tommy Page. Tommy wont return our e-mails. I'm not sure why. Tommy! Dude! Call us!
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Whether
he's checking out films at the local independent video store, reading
comic books at a trendy cafe or standing in line for an autograph,
lovable Pop Culture Addict Sam Tweedle is always ready with a celebrity
story, a "no holds barred" opinion or an obscure pop culture
fact. However, how much do we really know about the Pop Culture
Addict? We recently caught up with Sam Tweedle in his quaint
memorabilia filled apartment a few hours away from Toronto, Ontario,
Canada and got him to reveal his most intimate secrets and private
thoughts by answering the questions that YOU wanted to know. Lets
begin to unravel his mystery as