Pheaturing Kevin Bacon

 

Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Friday. How are you? Yes, I still work for Walt Disney World... no, I haven't been laid off. It's October and this month we'll find out "My Little Pony" is real and they eat humans too. I applaud news anchors for being able to keep a straight face on live television when things don’t go as planned. It would’ve been very difficult for me to do so in this situation, but this is also too adorable for anyone not to address while speaking to millions of people tuning in. During a live MSNBC interview, pediatrician Dr. Irwin Redlener was interrupted by his toddler grandson in the cutest way. He was on “Deadline: White House” to seriously talk about the coronavirus pandemic and the recent spike COVID-19 cases in New York City. But as he was trying to keep a straight face to obviously talk about the severity of the issue at hand, Redlener’s grandson was simply not going to leave him alone to do so peacefully. As Dr. Redlener is attempting to explain more about the coronavirus cases on the MSNBC coronavirus segment, he’s seen trying to keep his grandson at bay. Take a look...

Anchor Nicolle Wallace kept it cool by saying, “This is what remote learning looks like,” jokingly as she also watch Dr. Redlener try to calm the little boy down. The doctor’s adorable grandson continues to appear all over the screen, trying to climb on his grandfather, serving the kind of innocent comic relief viewers probably didn’t realize they needed. While his grandson started to speak up as well, the pediatrician was saying, “The issue is that we’re gonna see big upticks all over the place, in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world,” he continues, “We’re not gonna be free of the COVID-19 pandemic for the next couple of years and we need to get used to that fact… So I’m not the least bit surprised about what we’re seeing in New York.” The seriousness of his commentary continues, but you can’t help but laugh. As Dr. Redlener continues explaining about how he was “very worried” about another point he was making, his young grandson shamelessly crawled up behind him on his office chair and stuck out his tongue to the camera. Wallace laughed and said, “This is the best thing I’ve seen,” just as someone finally retrieved the babbling, mischievous young boy. This reminds many this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Back in 2017, a video was circulating social media when a professor’s two kids also crashed his interview on-air with BBC about South Korea. Information like this is important to listen to especially with more people testing positive for COVID-19 in the United States. However, you can learn to appreciate things like this, especially if you do test positive, because it reminds us to pay attention to the more playful innocent aspects of life sometimes. 

A 7-Eleven clerk in Long Island, New York has been charged with manslaughter for killing a shoplifter with a box cutter after following the alleged thief out of the store with the knife. Surveillance footage showed that 29-year-old Conroy Jarman first confronted the alleged thief, 31-year-old Raquan Jackson inside the convenience store and chased him out onto Broadhollow Road. Jarman then followed Jackson to a parking lot on Walt Whitman Road in Huntington Station. I know where that is! Now well away from his post at the cash register Jarman stabbed Jackson with a box cutter from the 7-Eleven store after their altercation turned violent. According to police officers from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office the victim, Jackson, had taken a few food and drink items from the store. Detective Lt. Kevin Beyer of the Suffolk County Police Department described the altercation to local news station ABC 7. “The clerk and the subject got into an altercation which turned violent. The subject was stabbed with a box cutter, which the clerk had in his possession which he was using at the store.” It does not appear Jackson was armed so at no point was this an armed robbery. Jarman was the only participant in the altercation with a weapon. Jarman was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Typically I like to say that if a 7-Eleven or gas station or whatever is getting robbed that the clerk should just let it happen because a bag of Doritos and forty dollars isn’t worth dying over. Yeah, sure, it’d be awesome to pull a Fast Times at Ridgemont High and nail a robber in the face with hot coffee. That would make a great social media post! Lots of likes coming your way. But it’s worth noting that all of that stuff also isn’t worth killing over. Sheesh. In all seriousness condolences to Jackson’s family. 

Breaking news Playboy bunny fans… it is hopping back into the stock market! Playboy Enterprises Inc amounted its merger with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., which is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC,) or a blank check company, in a deal that is valued at $415 million. The iconic men’s magazine was founded by the legend himself, Hugh Heffner, back in 1953. It stopped printing its quarterly glossy earlier in 2020 after facing financial hurdles. The Playboy Enterprises was pulled off the market in 2011 for a whopping $205 million by Hugh Hefner himself, who died in 2017 at the age of 91, and private equity firm Rizvi Traverse. While it was privately owned, the publication began covering street fashion and built out its e-commerce business. Earlier in 2020, Playboy during the first quarter, it acquired online adult apparel and accessory brand Yandy.com. The brand, which is led by chief executive officer Ben Kohn, is said to focus on “creating a lifestyle of please,” and is aimed to focus on sexual wellness, apparel and style such as lingerie, beauty and grooming, and gaming and lifestyle brand. through a statement, The CEO Ben Kohn noted, “Our mission... to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure... is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure,” Kohn said in a statement. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct-to-consumer capabilities.” Kohn also stated that Playboy’s e-commerces sales of consumer products, such as accessories and apparel, has seen a surge as a result of the coronavirus pandemic related lockdowns. He noted there was a spike in April and May, stated the company had a new baseline and that it is almost double that what the company had before. He noted, “We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct-to-consumer capabilities.” Sex toys and sex dolls spiked in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, with several sellers seeing an uptick in their consumer demands during the stay at home orders. Big retailer, Adam & Eve, known for selling sex toys among other sexual related products, reported an increase of sales of over 30 percent over 2019 during the high of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. In April, WOW Tech Group, owner of sex toy brands Womanizer and WeVibe stated that its brands went over their month sales projections by more than 40 percent as of March. Playboy itself has over $400 million in cashflow contracted through the year 2029, and sexual wellness products available for online sale and in more than 10,000 major retail stores around the United States, in addition to a variety of branded lifestyle and digital gaming products and clothing. Once the deal closes, Mountain Crest will trade on Nasdaq under the new ticker “PLBY.” Founder Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe would be proud! 

An Australian woman was out on a walk in Brisbane, Queensland when she was reminded that she lives in Australia, the continental equivalent of a “Hell Mouth," after stumbling upon a massive coastal carpet python scaling a fence. The terrifyingly big snake could be seen fully extended upward as it scaled the net-covered fence, apparently climbing it with relative ease, because pythons are made entirely of muscle and evil. Undoubtedly this massive snake reached its size by feeding on all manner of small mammals like possums, new puppies, and toddlers. Juliana Lima da Silva, who spotted what has to be easily both the longest snake and largest snake she’s ever seen, posted the video online and it soon went viral. Despite the fact that these Australian pythons are common across the continent in south Australia, eastern Australia, and western Australia as well as Papua New Guinea, everyone watching the snake seemed to be in awe of both its size and what it was accomplishing. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Melbourne, Tasmania Sydney, New South Wales, Northern Territory, or even a place that sounds as Gold Coast. These snakes, also known as Morelia spilota or the diamond python, are there. The only place they aren’t is The Outback but don’t worry there are plenty of other animals out there more than capable of horrifically murdering you. Every part of Australia has that base covered. It’s always kind of funny to see Australians reminded that they live in Australia, though to da Silva’s credit she wrote, “Another normal day in Australia,” when she posted the video. No word on if a Brisbane snake catcher was called to throw this thing into an incinerator (don’t worry these pythons are the exact opposite of endangered). But hopefully? Pretty much every spotted python in Australia should be reported and burned but that’s just one writer’s opinion. 

Many countries would argue and say Americans aren’t taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously because of how quickly we reopened bars and restaurants. Still, I’d argue and say this is a good example too. I present to you the coronavirus mask Halloween costume. 

Shout out to this Etsy seller who decided to make a Halloween costume out of cloth masks. Forget pumpkin patches, hayrides, scavenger hunts, and other social distancing Halloween activities. This Halloween’s all about this edgy costume. I can already tell that this face covering costume is going to be a hit with college students. I’m sure the CDC is rolling their eyes at this. C’mon, it’s a little funny. The cloth face mask costume is available on Etsy for only $24.99. I can’t believe I thought the coronavirus pandemic would be less of a problem by the time Halloween came around. However, I also can’t believe the coronavirus pandemic inspired sexy Halloween costumes. The more I think about it, I’ll probably just stay in and watch Disney movies like Hocus Pocus this Halloween. If I actually see this costume out in public, I might cry. Why is 2020 so weird? You can always recreate this look at home for your household member-only or work costume parties. Okay, maybe not work-related potlucks. Head over to Amazon and buy some masks and put together a “mask bra.” No, but really. Buy some masks to protect yourself and others. Whether you decide to stay in and watch spooky movies or take your children out to trick-or-treat, be safe. Social distance at high-risk activities (like indoor haunted houses) when possible and wear a breathable cloth mask or reusable bandana. And of course, hand-washing and hand sanitizer are a must. By the way, I have my costume picked out this year already. You'll see it on the Halloween entry of the Phile. 

October is breast cancer awareness month, so if you’re naturally a lover of pink, you’re probably all set to support breast cancer awareness. While many organizations sell breast cancer awareness month t-shirts, some are beginning to sell breast cancer awareness masks. I love this idea so much! I think this could speak volumes to many people who aren’t fans of masks. Someone just a few feet away from them could be battling cancer or know someone who is. Keeping the vulnerable safe is something we’re all capable of doing. All it takes is a mask. Check this one out...

This fabric face mask is breathable, simple, and cute. For only $9.99 on Amazon, you can sport a breast cancer awareness face mask for the whole month of October. A customer review says, “Wife loves it, fits perfect and came really fast.” It's pumpkin spice season and some companies are taking it a little bit too far with their brands this year...

I might use those. Keeping up with the youngins and their lingo is tough. Kids these days like to use "emoji," which use small pictures to communicate how they're feeling—kind of like hyroglyphics. When using emoji, it's easy to confuse laugh-crying for just regular-crying, and these boomers and old folks made the unfortunate mistake of using the wrong face at the wrongest possible times. 

Thoughts and prayers. Hahahahaha. If I had a TARDIS I would like to go meet Robert Kenndy. But knowing my luck Attorney General Robert Kennedy would be busy being comforted by two of his children on the lawn of his home, after he had been notified of the assassination of his brother on November 22nd, 1963. 

Robert Kennedy would be assassinated in 1968, just as he was working towards becoming president himself. There’s an interesting story about the day of his death. His son, David Kennedy, almost drowned while the family was at the beach. Robert saved his life. That night, after making a speech to his supporters, Robert was shot and killed in a kitchen hallway. David was watching his father’s speech and saw his father’s death reported on TV. Additionally, when Robert’s body was transported by train to New Jersey, people lined the tracks to see it, and two spectators were struck and killed by a parallel train. David too would fall victim to the Kennedy Curse and die in his 20s of a drug overdose. The Kennedys were a bit of a train wreck (no pun intended). Today's guest, Kevin Bacon was in Footloose. This was the original idea for that movie...

This is so stupid, this is as stupid as...

I had to because Kevin Bacon is here on there Phile. Hahaha. Talking to family about boundaries can always get pretty awkward, especially when your ex-partner's mother has no idea that it's completely inappropriate to enter someone's home whenever you want just because you have a key... There are always warning stories about "the evil mother-in-law," but things can get extra messy when a relationship ends and the mother-in-law in question still has to be in your life because of children. Entitled or bitter people who don't respect your reasons for ending the relationship, or people who will always take their family member's side even if they were objectively awful can be particularly difficult to deal with after a break up or divorce. When kids are part of the equation, coming up with a visitation schedule that puts their needs before the tension between the adults is always a priority. However, when a mom decided to consult the the Phile about a unique conflict she got into with her ex-husband's mother repeatedly violating her privacy and entering her home. This situation sounds like a messy nightmare, but this mother-in-law is so ridiculous she should probably have her own reality show. 

"Am I wrong for changing the locks when my ex-husband gave his mother his key to my place? My ex-husband and I have 2 sons (ages 3 and 6) and a daughter (10 months). We split up just over a year ago, and during proceedings he got 1 weekend a month with our sons, and no custody of our daughter. He has to drive to the house to get the boys on his weekends. Because sometimes I'm on work calls or dealing with the baby, and the boys always forget things at my place, we agreed that he could keep his key to the house so he could run in and grab stuff or come get the boys without disturbing me/the baby. Two months ago, I found my ex's mother in my living room, playing with my daughter. I asked her how she got in, and she said that ex had given her his key so she could pick up the boys for him. I told her that as ex is meant to be the only person collecting the boys, I'd rather ex came for them in future. She said she understood and would relay my message, then took the boys to ex, and all was fine. A month later, she just let herself into my home to pick up the boys again. I was a lot sterner this time, saying this was my home and she couldn't just let herself in. She responded that this wasn't just my home, but also the home of her grandchildren and it used to be her son's home, too, and she has a key, so she shouldn't need to request my permission to enter. When she left I called my boyfriend, who then said he'd pick up a front door lock and come over and fit it, if I wanted. I agreed, and within an hour the lock was changed and a latch was added. On Sunday, someone started knocking rapidly and forcefully on the front door. I saw it was my ex's mother and she had my sons with her, so I let the boys in, and she began to tell me that her key wasn't working so she'd need a new one. I said her key wasn't working because I changed the locks, and she wouldn't be getting a new one. She told me that I had to give my ex a new key so I might as well give it to her to give to him, and I refused, saying that clearly my ex can't be trusted with my key so he won't be getting one either. Since this conversation, I have had non stop calls/messages from both my ex and his mother, saying I need to give one of them a key because them not having access to the house means having to rely on me to give them access, and that I am making things extraordinarily difficult for the both of them. They say that they need to have a key for the reasons in the first paragraph, and I've said that they need to start letting me know when they'll be coming so I can let them in. They say that I am restricting access to the children as they'll now have to work to my schedule, but I checked and I'm well within my legal rights. Morally, however, I am unsure because technically speaking I am restricting access to the kids, and making life harder for all of us over two incidents." I need more information. Ma'am, why doesn't your ex have custody of the daughter? Send me the answer and I will help you. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you have a problem you want me to help with then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. 

Oh, boy. If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...

Top Phive Things Said During Tuesday's Presidential Debate

5. The only winner in tonight's debate is the liquor industry.

4. This is a 90 minute commercial for Canada.

3. Debates starting at 9 p.m. like the candidates aren't in their 70s.

2. Just so everyone know that right now you could watch three episodes of Halloween themed "Chopped" instead of the debate.

And the number one thing said during Tuesday's debate was...

1. At this point these debates are 100% just for the writers of "SNL."

At age 30, you’ve spent a month having birthdays.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, he said Friday. The positive test comes a month until the election and after the president has spent the year largely downplaying the threat of the virus. Trump’s positive test comes just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week. Trump was last seen by reporters returning to the White House on Thursday evening and looked to be in good health. Trump is 74-years-old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 205,000 people nationwide. In a memorandum, the president’s physician said that the president and first lady “are both well at this time” and “plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.” “Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering,” he added. Trump had announced earlier in an interview with Fox News that he and the First Lady were awaiting their results. The diagnosis marks a major blow for a president who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them even as cases continue to rise just weeks before the November 3rd election. And it stands as the most serious known public health scare encountered by any sitting American president in recent history. Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough and breathing trouble. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday, Trump said he was awaiting results of a COVID-19 test. “Whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don’t know,” he said, adding that First Lady Melania Trump was also awaiting results. Hicks traveled with the president multiple times this week, including aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and on Air Force One to a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday, and aboard Air Force One to Tuesday night’s first presidential debate in Cleveland. Trump had consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, even after White House staff and allies were exposed and sickened. “I felt no vulnerability whatsoever,” he said told reporters back in May. He has instead encouraged governors to reopen their states and tried to focus the nation’s attention on efforts to revive the economy... not a growing death toll... as he seeks another four-year term. The news was sure to rattle an already shaken nation still grappling with how to safely reopen while avoiding further spikes. The White House has access to near-unlimited resources, including a constant supply of quick-result tests, and still failed to keep the president safe, raising questions about how the rest of the country will be able to protect its workers, students and the public as businesses and schools reopen. Senior staff have been tested for COVID-19 daily since two people who work at the White House complex tested positive in early May, prompting the White House to step up precautions. Everyone who comes into contact with the president also receives a quick-result test. Yet since the early days of the pandemic, experts have questioned the health and safety protocols at the White House and asked why more wasn’t being done to protect the commander in chief. Trump continued to shake hands with visitors long after public health officials were warning against it and he initially resisted being tested. He has been reluctant to practice his own administration’s social distancing guidelines for fear of looking weak, including refusing under almost all circumstances to wear a mask in public. Trump is not the only major world leader known to have contracted the virus. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in intensive care, where he was given oxygen and watched around the clock by medical workers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel self-isolated after a doctor who gave her a vaccination tested positive for the virus, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked from home after his wife fell ill. The White House got its first COVID-19 scare in early March when at least three people who later tested positive came in close proximity to the president at his private Florida club. That included members of the Brazilian president’s delegation, including the Brazilian chargé d’affaires, who sat at Trump’s dinner table. In mid-March, as the virus continued to spread across the country, the White House began taking the temperature of everyone entering the White House complex, and in April, it began administering rapid COVID-19 tests to all those in close proximity to the president, with staffers being tested about once a week. The frequent tests gave some staff the false impression the complex was safe from the virus, and few, as a result, followed recommended safety protocols, including wearing masks. But then the bubble broke. On May 7th, the White House announced that a member of the military serving as one of the president’s personal valets tested positive for the virus, followed a day later by a positive diagnosis for Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary. Even then, Trump said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. But officials again stepped up safety protocols for the complex, directing everyone entering the West Wing to wear a mask. “I think it’s very well contained, actually,” Trump told reporters on May 11th. But by June, concerns at the White House had dissipated once again, with few staffers bothering with masks even as more and more people tested positive for the virus, including campaign staffers preparing for a Tulsa rally and Secret Service agents. On July 3rd, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is dating Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., tested positive in South Dakota before an Independence Day fireworks show at Mount Rushmore. Guilfoyle, a former Fox News personality who works for Trump’s campaign, had not flown on Air Force One and had not been in direct contact with the president, though she had had contact with numerous top GOP officials. In July, Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, tested positive. While there is currently no evidence that Trump is seriously ill, the positive test also raises questions about what would happen if he were to become incapacitated due to illness. The Constitution’s 25th Amendment spells out the procedures under which a president can declare themselves “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the presidency. If he were to make that call, Trump would transmit a written note to the Senate president pro tempore, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pence would serve as acting president until Trump transmitted “a written declaration to the contrary.” The vice president and a majority of either the Cabinet or another body established by law, can also declare the president unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, in which case Pence would “immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President” until Trump could provide a written declaration to the contrary.

Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jeff, shall we?

A beautiful day there it seems. Now for some sad news...

Helen Reddy 

October 25th, 1941 — September 29th, 2020 

Not ready.

The 137th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...

Lamont will be on the Phile in a few weeks. He's a bloody legend. 

Today's pheatured guest is an American actor and producer. His films include musical-drama film Footloose, the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller JFK, the legal drama A Few Good Men, the historical docudrama Apollo 13, and the mystery drama Mystic River. His new series "City on a Hill" is available on Showtime. Please welcome to the Phile... Kevin Bacon!

Me: Hey, Kevin, welcome to the Phile. I'm glad to say I'm one degree to Kevin Bacon! Ha! How are you? 

Kevin: And I'm one degree from you. I'm good, Jason. 

Me: So, you have a new Showtime series called "City On a Hill" which I heard was fantastic. What can you tell us about the show, Kevin, and who do you play? 

Kevin: It's set in a gritty, '90s-era Boston... I play Jackie Rohr, an FBI agent with questionable morals. 

Me: You have done so many movies and stuff in Boston. Why is that? 

Kevin: The first thing I ever did was I met my wife, so I have a lot of fondness on the city just based on that. When I'm there, and I see the Charles River I think about falling in love with her. Then it just kept happening, I kept finding myself back in Boston. 

Me: I read a story that when you were there you were walking down a street and some called out to you from a cab or something, is that right? 

Kevin: When I arrived in Boston I had my dog with me and I was taking her for a walk in a public garden and a guy sitting in a car said, "Hey, why do you play all the Boston cops?" I said, "What? What?" "Why do you get to play all the Boston cops?" He was kinda joking but he was serious and I found out later he was an actor and I was like, "I don't know exactly why." It was very Boston because first of everybody knows everything about everybody. And also Boston has a reputation with screwing with people, the wise ass comments and stuff so he got the mold perfectly. 

Me: How early in your life did you know you wanted to be an actor? 

Kevin: Many, many years before I was in Animal House. I knew I wanted to be an actor before I knew what an actor was. I wanted to be scene when I walked into a room, I wanted people to watch me, I wanted to make people laugh. I didn't know what acting was, I just wanted to be the center of attention and I think the acting was just the natural extension of that. But also once I was a pretty young teen I really wanted to be a pop star. It's just a cliche but I wanted the things that came along with that. 

Me: Like who? 

Kevin: Like the Monkees. That Monkees were very, very popular and formative along with the Beatles. It wasn't just always about acting. I just knew I wanted the girls and the money and the fame. When I took an acting class for the first time I realized that it was a really good fit for me to they to get out of my self and become somebody else. Step into somebody else's shoes or an animals shoes. When I started acting classes I was doing all these animal exercises, running around like a monkey or something like that, or a dog. All of those things were not only fun but they were very profound and almost therapeutic for me. 

Me: So, once you got the girls, money and fame how was it? 

Kevin: I wasn't comfortable with the exposure. Also, I was really uncomfortable with not being taken seriously as an actor. I had an idea about what a real actor was, you know? A respected actor. There was a whole bunch of stuff, stories that I had made up, that in retrospect, probably weren't that realistic. But that was my journey, and I wouldn't change it. 

Me: Do you think you took yourself a little too seriously back then? 

Kevin: Listen, I cannot make a passive judgment that I took myself TOO seriously. I definitely took myself seriously and I still do. I mean I'm able to make fun of myself when it comes to the work I take it seriously. 

Me: What about acting that made you want to do it as a career? 

Kevin: When I was a kid I went to the movie house around the corner from where I lived and they had a dollar second-run movies and they would take a theme or something and line a couple of movies up together. I remember sneaking in to see Midnight Cowboy and saying, "Holy fuck, there's a cowboy and a homeless guy. Where did they find that homeless guy to be in the movie?" Then the next movie was The Graduate and I said, "Wow, wait a second. That's the same guy. Now he's a preppy college kid." So I thought to myself so that's what I want to do. I just don't want to be just a personality, I want to be somebody that could play different kinds of people. 

Me: Did you have a turning points in your career? 

Kevin: JFK was a turning point for me. I don't really think there was that many other milestones, I guess probably Footloose. I'm sure there was another one, but JFK was definitely a turning point. 

Me: Why not Footloose? That's when I first heard about you, and I'm sure many of my readers as well. 

Kevin: I was at a point where Footloose had come out and I was really spinning my wheels. I was in a bunch of movies, like them or not, were not successful. Quicksilver and He Said She Said and The Air Up There and She's Having a Baby. There were a lot of movies that I was the lead in that were just kind of not working. I started to see the tide turning certainly in terms of my career and I was working with an agent at the time who said, "I remember you from the work you did on stage when you were a young man." I did a lot of Off-Broadway and a lot of Off-Off-Broadway and they were all character parts from different parts of the world. Scotland, England, the south, all edgier sort of stuff. She said, "Maybe you should try to get back doing stuff like that." And it was really an epiphany, because one of the first things after we had that conversation she sent me on was an interview with Oliver Stone for JFK. It wasn't an audition but basically he said, "I got this part, will you bed transformational?" I remember him saying and I said, "I'll be transformational." And he said, "Okay." That was it... I was cast. 

Me: What did he mean by can you be transformational? 

Kevin: I think he meant I had to walk and talk and act and be different than what people's image of me was, whatever that happened to be. Rarely in a career I go things have changed, maybe if I wake up and have won an Oscar I could say things have changed, but this was one of those moments when the movie came out, and I mean within a couple weeks things were like back on track. But now they were on track with me doing character parts. As a direct result of that there was Murder in the First and A Few Good Men and The River Wild. Good parts. 

Me: Was it liberating to get that kind of permission from a director? 

Kevin: It's very liberating and I will tell you why. In Hollywood, we don't like people to do something we haven't seen them do before. You'd think that we did, but they really don't. Especially the people who are writing the cheques. If you've been associated with something that was a hit, that's what they want to see you do. They wanted to see me do Footloose again, to dance like a little kid. To push back against that is a very difficult thing to do as an actor. 

Me: Why is that? 

Kevin: Because we get comfortable with someone and we know when we go to see an actor or actress in a movie we know we're going to get a certain thing. He's great with the gun and the girl or she's bubbly and funny. So to challenge people's ideas about that is a hard thing to do. Then there's also the fact that many we don't really have that many performers in us. Maybe we have some version, maybe the one thing we do well and we have some version that we're just kind of recycling. My wife and I have a joke that is that performance is a lot different because he wore glasses. But really we go that's the same performance that I've seen, it's just now he has glasses on. So I think the industry doesn't really want that and I think it's learning the skills to try to be transformational. 

Me: Kevin, you're deeper than I thought. So, is it true you pay off wedding DJs to not play "Footloose"? 

Kevin: Yeah, it's been a while since I've been to a wedding but I'll tell you, it sounds obnoxious and self-involved, but I'll tell you the reason: a wedding is the one time in most peoples' lives when they are number one on the call sheet. A wedding is the one time in most peoples' lives when they are the stars. Nobody else is supposed to be the star at the wedding. So when we enter into that world, and a situation is created after 10:30 p.m. with a lot of alcohol involved, where people want me to get up and dance... it's just not my day. It's their day. I don't want to take the focus from them. 

Me: That's fair, Kevin. So, is Jackie Rohr from the new show a character that's fun to play? 

Kevin: Yeah, it's a great part. Sometimes I have to figure out who the guy is and sometimes with the case of Jackie I just hear it. I hear his voice, I see it, sometimes I feel its playing itself and I feel grateful. Listen, I feel grateful to be able to get anything at this stage. 

Me: You're in the early 60s, right? 

Kevin: Yeah, 63. 

Me: You still have a lot of years I think ahead, Kevin. You're Kevin Bacon.

Kevin: No, I don't mean it's over. I don't think it's that. I only mean after all this time i've seen a lot of people come and go who have had the same kind of early success I had. Hanging in there is the thing that's difficult. Also, trying to establish that I'm interested, able and willing to play different kinds of parts. That's a difficult thing to try to establish as an actor. 

Me: This character is not supposed to be liked very much, right? Is it hard to play an unlikeable character?  

Kevin: I'm not afraid of that for one thing. 

Me: What do you mean? 

Kevin: Because some people I think are afraid that the public, the viewers, are going to look at the characters they play and then pass judgement on them personally, because that will be reflected of the characters that they played. That's never even crossed my mind. I just don't think that way because I got to wake up and be with my wife, be in in this world, be with my children, be with my friends and family and do the things that I want to do for the people I care about for the planet... that's one thing. Work is a completely different thing. All I want to be judged on is the actual work itself. So when it comes to exploring the darker parts of the human condition I just don't want to limit myself he's a slightly troubled hero. It's too narrow. 

Me: You actually dealt with some "evil" people, Kevin, losing money to a Ponzi scheme to Bernie Madoff. Did it change the way you look at the world after that? 

Kevin: It didn't change the way I looked at the world that as in there's bad people out there. I knew that a long time before Bernie Madoff ever came along. But it certainly made me adjust my thinking in terms of like if it seems to good to be true it's to good to be true, And that's an important lesson to learn. The truth is is that The truth is this happened, it sucks, people have bad things that happen to them, most of what happened in our life has been good. We looked around and we looked at each other and said, "Are you okay? Yeah. Kids okay? Yeah." He we go. Well, lets just keep going. What else are we going to do? We live a life, and we'll eventually come to a fork in the road. One direction is bitterness and the other direction is gratitude. We can choose which road we're going to walk down. 

Me: I think, and correct me if I'm not wrong, you're a very grateful person. Am I right? 

Kevin: I think I can go both ways honestly. I'm not truly sure why I was able to survive that. When I think about some of the people I've known in the course of this career whose careers I've been envious of or lost out to parts to or worked with and seen, it hasn't worked out for one reason or another. There's a lot of pitfalls along the road, substance abuse and scandal and alcohol, and mental issues. There's a lot of things that can knock me down. The one thing I will say how I was able to keep going is that even when I was young and crazy and experimentational and fame and all those kind of things, I never took my eye of the prize. Nothing was never more important to me than the drive to reach goals or dreams or to make it. I never put anything in front of that. I think that served me well. 

Me: Do you ever think you'll end up unemployed, unable to get a role? 

Kevin: That's always in the back of my mind. People laugh at me when I say when I come to work, people say "how're you doing?" And I say, "I'm just happy to have a gig." Everyone laughs thinking I'm kidding, but I'm really not kidding. I'm just happy to have a gig. 

Me: Kevin, thanks so much for being on the Phile. Please come back again soon. You're one of my favorite actors. 

Kevin: Thank you, man.

That about does it for this entry. Thanks to Kevin for a great interview. The Phile will be back on Monday with musician Johnny Marr. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Kiss your brain.

I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon