Found myself thinking earlier about some of the famous people/public figures I interviewed as a journalist. Among them were Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer; guitarist Steve Morse (founder of the Dixie Dregs and, for a short time, member of Kansas); singer Jeannie C. Riley, who had the mega-hit `Harper Valley P.T.A.; Rudolph Wanderone; and jack-of-all-trades gadfly Dennis Miller. But the infamous interview was with Dan Seals, former member of the rock duo Seals & Crofts. I was interviewing Seals by telephone and asked him if he thought his current album -- at that time -- would have crossover appeal. He asked what I meant, so I said something like, `Well, in my case, Im not a fan of country music, but some crossover stuff appeals to me, like some albums by Jimmy Buffett and some Steve Earle. He immediately said something along the lines of, `Well, why are you doing this interview, then? He had become cross (cross, not Crofts). I told him it was my job and because I was a professional. Theres no way to ensure or require that every journalist be a fan of every topic he or she covers, I tried to explain. Seals turned abrupt and said he had to run. I bemoaned I only had a couple of minutes to talk with him. He said: Youve got the press kit there. Use that. But, but, I responded, I was hoping to get some unique material and quotes. My appeal fell on deaf ears. And thats sad when a musician has deaf ears -- considering hes a musician and not Beethoven in particular. Thinking back, its good the interview wasnt of the musician Tiny Tim or comedian Bob Saget. Likely, we wouldnt have found anyone with the prerequisite qualifications to do the interview.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 02:18:35 +0000