Refugee
08-25-2007, 06:01 PM
The obvious question that comes to mind when you hear that actor Billy Bob Thornton will sing at The Big Easy is ... why?
Why bother touring? Why not just do like Bruce Willis, buy a comfy nightclub in Hailey and make yourself the house band?
Posing this question to Thornton is a bad idea.
"Would you ask Tom Petty that?" he responds.
Uh, no. But Tom Petty didn't star in "Bad Santa."
Later in this hour-plus conversation, the question seems to have made Thornton less than thrilled about playing The Big Easy at all ("230 people if we're lucky, he predicts"), not to mention the larger Spokane Big Easy the following night. ("We'll have 200 people in there, too, so it will be even emptier.")
Thornton says that he and his six-piece Americana band pack nightclubs in Los Angeles or in the South, where he grew up. Fans there make them feel like the Allman brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd.
But Boise? Boise has no clue that Thornton moved to Nashville in 1977 to pursue songwriting. That he's friends with Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. That he has toured as the opener for Elvis Costello. That his albums — including the latest, "Beautiful Door" — have been mostly well-received by critics.
Judging from his tone, Billy Bob seems to realize that Boise probably knows more about his fifth and ex-wife Angelina Jolie. And "Sling Blade." Mmm-hmm.
Me: You really shouldn't have booked this Northwest tour at all.
Billy Bob: Probably not.
Me: Your attitude is not good.
Billy Bob: Uh-uh.
Me: You do not have a good attitude about this.
Billy Bob: No. And it all started with your first question.
Me: Great. I ruined your tour. This is awesome.
Billy Bob: Nah. It's not bad. I mean, that's what it's all about. Build 'em up and knock 'em down. That's what we love. We just LOVE being up there on the pedestal. It's the greatest place in the world. I apologize that I had a beautiful wife for a couple of years, too. It was all just — I don't deserve it at all.
Me: Obviously not.
Billy Bob: I just don't. But ... I'll keep plugging.
That's all one can do. Talking to Thornton is fairly hilarious. You just have to grasp dark humor.
While touring, Thornton and his band open for themselves. This group, called the Boxmasters, plays "electric hillbilly music," he says.
"We have a big joke about that," Thornton says. "We actually make the Boxmasters ride the crew bus. We give them one small cauliflower platter a night in the dressing room."
After the opening set, the musicians change clothes and hit the stage for his headlining set, which Thornton describes as "the big rock show."
Thornton plays drums on his CDs and handles guitar well enough to write songs, he says. But, on stage, he only sings. And there is no solo acoustic segment of the evening.
"If I sit on a stool and things get quiet, some idiot always yells something that I don't like," Thornton says. "And then some girl says, ‘Where's Angelina?' and that kind of stuff."
Here's a tip, Boise: Don't do that.
And cheer. Loudly.
"The towns that aren't receptive to us, I can't (expletive) wait to leave, Thornton admits. "So anybody who don't like us when we play? Right back atcha!"
"We give it our best," Thornton promises. "I guarantee we'll be the hardest-working people there. If the audience works hard, it's great. If they don't, it's not. But we haven't had a bad audience on this tour."
Obviously, life is not simple for Billy Bob Thornton.
When not touring, he hangs out with his girlfriend and their 3-year-old daughter, watches tons of sports and chooses film roles that he deems worthy.
That means no stupid action movies.
"I'd have a lot more money than I do if I did all the (expletive) they asked me to do," Thornton says. "But I just can't do it. I'm 52 years old. I'm tired and (expletive), you know?"
Thornton describes himself as a "nervous wreck." Then he starts talking. And talking.
"I'm an obsessive compulsive. I'm dyslexic. I can't read. My eyesight's going. It has been for years. I can't hear out of my right ear. I got kids that I worry about every (expletive) minute of the day. I worry about my mom, my brother, all his kids. I'm a worrier. I worry all the time. But I certainly don't worry if I'm going to be in the new ‘Mission Impossible' movie or something. I just don't worry about (expletive) like that.
"I have to make money just how anybody else does. I make it from movie to movie. I have two cars: a Ford Explorer and a '67 Chevelle that I love. And that's all that I have. I don't have any houses anyplace else. I've got one, and I'm not a (expletive) movie star, and I love music."
Thornton thinks actors have as much right to make music as musicians do to act. Artists, he believes, naturally are capable of multiple forms of art. However, many actors and musicians (especially modern bands) are not artists, he says.
"Let's take Dwight (Yoakam), who's my buddy," Thornton says. "He could take a lump of (expletive) Play-Doh and throw it against the wall, and there's gonna be something cool about it. Because he's a (expletive) artist, you know?"
No matter how Thornton feels about the prospect of singing for a modest-sized Boise crowd, he is looking forward to one thing: He plans to visit Boise State's football team Monday afternoon.
Thornton, a sports junkie, is a gigantic fan of Boise State's Fiesta Bowl victory, which he watched on TV.
"I was beside myself," Thornton says. "That was a series of (expletive) that, like, don't happen. If you put that in a movie, people would laugh at you."
Why bother touring? Why not just do like Bruce Willis, buy a comfy nightclub in Hailey and make yourself the house band?
Posing this question to Thornton is a bad idea.
"Would you ask Tom Petty that?" he responds.
Uh, no. But Tom Petty didn't star in "Bad Santa."
Later in this hour-plus conversation, the question seems to have made Thornton less than thrilled about playing The Big Easy at all ("230 people if we're lucky, he predicts"), not to mention the larger Spokane Big Easy the following night. ("We'll have 200 people in there, too, so it will be even emptier.")
Thornton says that he and his six-piece Americana band pack nightclubs in Los Angeles or in the South, where he grew up. Fans there make them feel like the Allman brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd.
But Boise? Boise has no clue that Thornton moved to Nashville in 1977 to pursue songwriting. That he's friends with Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. That he has toured as the opener for Elvis Costello. That his albums — including the latest, "Beautiful Door" — have been mostly well-received by critics.
Judging from his tone, Billy Bob seems to realize that Boise probably knows more about his fifth and ex-wife Angelina Jolie. And "Sling Blade." Mmm-hmm.
Me: You really shouldn't have booked this Northwest tour at all.
Billy Bob: Probably not.
Me: Your attitude is not good.
Billy Bob: Uh-uh.
Me: You do not have a good attitude about this.
Billy Bob: No. And it all started with your first question.
Me: Great. I ruined your tour. This is awesome.
Billy Bob: Nah. It's not bad. I mean, that's what it's all about. Build 'em up and knock 'em down. That's what we love. We just LOVE being up there on the pedestal. It's the greatest place in the world. I apologize that I had a beautiful wife for a couple of years, too. It was all just — I don't deserve it at all.
Me: Obviously not.
Billy Bob: I just don't. But ... I'll keep plugging.
That's all one can do. Talking to Thornton is fairly hilarious. You just have to grasp dark humor.
While touring, Thornton and his band open for themselves. This group, called the Boxmasters, plays "electric hillbilly music," he says.
"We have a big joke about that," Thornton says. "We actually make the Boxmasters ride the crew bus. We give them one small cauliflower platter a night in the dressing room."
After the opening set, the musicians change clothes and hit the stage for his headlining set, which Thornton describes as "the big rock show."
Thornton plays drums on his CDs and handles guitar well enough to write songs, he says. But, on stage, he only sings. And there is no solo acoustic segment of the evening.
"If I sit on a stool and things get quiet, some idiot always yells something that I don't like," Thornton says. "And then some girl says, ‘Where's Angelina?' and that kind of stuff."
Here's a tip, Boise: Don't do that.
And cheer. Loudly.
"The towns that aren't receptive to us, I can't (expletive) wait to leave, Thornton admits. "So anybody who don't like us when we play? Right back atcha!"
"We give it our best," Thornton promises. "I guarantee we'll be the hardest-working people there. If the audience works hard, it's great. If they don't, it's not. But we haven't had a bad audience on this tour."
Obviously, life is not simple for Billy Bob Thornton.
When not touring, he hangs out with his girlfriend and their 3-year-old daughter, watches tons of sports and chooses film roles that he deems worthy.
That means no stupid action movies.
"I'd have a lot more money than I do if I did all the (expletive) they asked me to do," Thornton says. "But I just can't do it. I'm 52 years old. I'm tired and (expletive), you know?"
Thornton describes himself as a "nervous wreck." Then he starts talking. And talking.
"I'm an obsessive compulsive. I'm dyslexic. I can't read. My eyesight's going. It has been for years. I can't hear out of my right ear. I got kids that I worry about every (expletive) minute of the day. I worry about my mom, my brother, all his kids. I'm a worrier. I worry all the time. But I certainly don't worry if I'm going to be in the new ‘Mission Impossible' movie or something. I just don't worry about (expletive) like that.
"I have to make money just how anybody else does. I make it from movie to movie. I have two cars: a Ford Explorer and a '67 Chevelle that I love. And that's all that I have. I don't have any houses anyplace else. I've got one, and I'm not a (expletive) movie star, and I love music."
Thornton thinks actors have as much right to make music as musicians do to act. Artists, he believes, naturally are capable of multiple forms of art. However, many actors and musicians (especially modern bands) are not artists, he says.
"Let's take Dwight (Yoakam), who's my buddy," Thornton says. "He could take a lump of (expletive) Play-Doh and throw it against the wall, and there's gonna be something cool about it. Because he's a (expletive) artist, you know?"
No matter how Thornton feels about the prospect of singing for a modest-sized Boise crowd, he is looking forward to one thing: He plans to visit Boise State's football team Monday afternoon.
Thornton, a sports junkie, is a gigantic fan of Boise State's Fiesta Bowl victory, which he watched on TV.
"I was beside myself," Thornton says. "That was a series of (expletive) that, like, don't happen. If you put that in a movie, people would laugh at you."