Illinois Entertainer March 2017 | Page 35

Continued from page 12

Ann that first thing in the morning ? I ’ m like , “ Okay . I can get out of bed today !”

IE : Well , you easily could have lost your gift . But now you ’ re stronger than ever ,
IE : Iggy Pop recently told Anthony
Bourdain on his travel show that curiosity
was the most important factor in being an
artist .
And
Bourdain
wholeheartedly
agreed .
AW : Yeah . That ’ s a really good point . And I think that curiosity and fear may be enemies . So if you ’ re scared – like we were saying before – and you ’ re scared to go to that dark edge and look over , you ’ re sure as hell not going to be an artist . Like Iggy Pop . Or Anthony Bourdain . And of course , food is an art now . And it ’ s great that the whole idea of food and place has become more mainstream now , because that is real – it isn ’ t some yuppie in their kitchen watching some Food Network competition show , trying to singing duets with James Hetfield (“ Beautiful Broken ”) and even Robert Plant ( on “ Stairway to Heaven ,” at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012 ). AW : Well , I think if you hang around long enough , you are going to see some amazing things , things that you never would have been able to accept when you were younger . You just get more … more fluid . You just get more accepting , I think . Except for those people who get more crystallized and hardened , But I am certainly not one of those .

03 • 2017

Heart promo photo , 1975 outdo them . It ’ s to the place itself and seeing how the people live and how they cook .
IE : So how awesome was it to get the call from John Oliver to track that hilarious “ Don ’ t Use Our Songs ” video , alongside Josh Groban , Cyndi Lauper , and Mellencamp last year , with its message to Republicans about unapproved campaign song usage – “ It might seem appealing / But you ’ re just stealing ”?
AW : Ha ! Yeah , that was awesome . And back then , at that point in the election , we sort of thought , “ Well , maybe this will help . In some kind of sill way , help to take some of the pressure off all of this , and we could giggle about it and not be so divided or polarized .” But it was a really fun experience to do – we did the whole thing in front of a green screen , and they ( HBO ’ s Last Week Tonight ) just filled it in .
IE : What ’ s the most important lesson you ’ ve learned through all this ? AW : I think the most important lesson , as of today , that I learned from all this is that it ’ s not always what it seems . There is always room to pause and wait and let something unfold . Let something unfold before you freak out .
Tom Lanham
march 2017 illinoisentertainer . com 35