Hello Beautiful People,
Jared Weiss is a an actor. A singer. A writer. An artist. A graduate of New York University. A member of Joe Iconis & Family. And, quite the comedian. He was kind enough to participate in this Q&A when he was feeling under the weather, and I truly appreciate it. His responses are…different. Clever. And they will make you laugh. That much I promise.
Ladies & Gents, meet Jared Weiss…
TWT: Did you always want to be an actor/singer/writer?
JW: Yes, always. And a Rockstar. I suppose “NEED” would the proper term. I have no other marketable skills. Actually, that’s not true, I’m a spectacular liar; so I guess I could be a politician, but that would never happen. The Arts chose me, not the other way around. Although, I’ve always wanted to be the Captain of the Starship Enterprise, but at the age of five, I realized that was an unrealistic goal. I’ve always thought of myself as a folk singer… or a song and dance man.
TWT: Of all the roles you’ve played, which ones are most memorable?
JW: Harold Hill, in my middle-school production of Music Man… and Roger in RENT, two summers ago. I was 11 when I saw RENT. I looked at Adam Pascal intently for two hours, and said to myself “Ok. THAT’s what I want to do.” I had already lived the role off-stage for a few years if you know what I mean, (minus the AIDS and dead girlfriend), so it was really just a matter of time before the dream came true.
TWT: Just for fun, if you were stranded on a desert island, what movies and television shows would you want to have with you?
JW: This might take up a lot of space: Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady, Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and Seven Samurai. Fight Club, There Will Be Blood, every movie Steve McQueen made from 1960-1980 (particularly Bullitt and the Sam Peckinpaugh directed: The Getaway.) Ingmar Bergman’s Through A Glass Darkly, The Seventh Seal, Shame, Persona and Scenes From A Marriage. Renoir’s Grand Illusion. The Sound of Music. The Music Man. The collected works of Quentin Tarantino. North By Northwest. Psycho. Spartacus. 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Shining. Love and Death. Annie Hall. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (A truly underappreciated film by Sam Peckinpaugh). The Lion in Winter. The Ruling Class. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Empire Strikes Back. All That Jazz. Mary Poppins. The Life Aquatic, Butch & Sundance, Apocalypse Now, and The Wild Bunch… I’m a bit of a ciniphile. BAM is a ten-minute walk to my house, and I’ve got a lifetime membership. I enjoy watching movies by myself. I had a girlfriend who, (bless her heart) would fall asleep on my lap, no matter what film I put on. Suffice it to say, when I watch a movie; I am fully engrossed in that movie, and nothing else matters. (Whew). As far as TV goes… Does New York Yankees Baseball count? It IS on television every night. I’d rather watch the Yankees lose than watch anything else on TV. I guess I’d need to build a satellite hook-up out of coconuts, floating debris, and electric eels. Well… I guess I’d take Star Trek the Original Series with me too.
TWT: Just for fun, what books are permanently on your bookshelf?
JW: Again, this might take up a lot, because I actually enjoy reading. Not enough people read anymore. That being said, Nine Stories, Raise High The Roof Beam Carpenters & Seymour an Introduction, Franny & Zooey (for the record, it is pronounced ZOO-EE. Salinger said so himself, and if this interview does anything at all for the masses, I hope it raises awareness of how to correctly pronounce the youngest Glass boy’s first name). Junky, Queer, Naked Lunch, Exterminator (all by William S. Burroughs), The Stranger (Camus), The Wall (Sartre), Metamorphosis (Kafka), Book of Five Rings (Musashi Miyamoto), Ariel (Sylvia Plath), The Koran, The Upanishads, Kerouac’s On The Road, Dharma Bums and Mexico City Blues. An Actor Prepares (Stanislavski), every play by August Strindberg, the collected writings of Gandhi, Stieg Larson’s Millenium Trilogy, Under Milk Wood (Dylan Thomas), The Old Man and The Sea (Hemmingway), The Sandman Collection (Neil Gaiman), Sometimes a Great Notion (Kesey). I could go on. I’ll send you a picture of my homemade book/record/dvd shelf to prove it.
TWT: Can you describe to our readers what it’s like to be a part of Joe Iconis & Family?
JW: No. Well, yes. It’s a mixture of pure ecstasy and heartbreak. There is NOTHING more fulfilling and joyous than performing with Joe and the gang. It is truly the greatest natural feeling I’ve ever had in my life. When we’re up there, we’re truly a family, intertwined and unbreakable. We feel like musical theatre punk rockers, doing something very important, something unique, that no one else in the world could ever do. The heartbreak comes, when the show’s over, and you realize that no other performing experience will ever come close to that feeling. It’s very much like being giving a brand new puppy for a month, then having it slaughtered in front of you. But as Joe says, “there will always be more shows.” So I guess there’s another puppy coming my way sometime soon. It’s a large family, the nucleus is intact, but as we all get older, and start getting more work, it gets difficult to wrangle everyone together. If it were up to me we’d be doing a Jamboree every night, for free, as long as someone were there to feed us and pour whiskey in our bellies. What else can I say… it’s a bit like what I imagine the feeling of Pure Nirvana is: Feeling No Thing, and Every Thing. Everything is right, everything makes sense. The world seems simple and wonderful for those two hours up on stage with the gang.
TWT: What words of wisdom would you offer to aspiring actors/singers/writers, specifically those who are in high school and/or college?
JW: Um… follow your dreams? It sounds silly, but it’s true. This is a hard, fucking business to be in. (I hate the fact that it’s ACTUALLY A BUSINESS). If you want something, go and get it. It may be extremely hard. But if it weren’t hard, it wouldn’t be worth doing! The Hard is what makes it great. Accept failure as a part of life. You are going to fail a lot. But my advice is; get the hell over it, learn to not give a shit what other people think of you, and don’t do anything for anyone else’s approval, just your own.
TWT: Just for fun, what sound do you hate and what sound do you love?
JW: I hate being awoken by screams. I love the sound of the late Bob Sheppard saying, “Now batting for the Yankees, Shortstop, Number Two, Derek, Jeter, Number Two.”
TWT: What character in musical theatre is most like your personality? Least?
JW: Eek. Well, I’d say I’m a mix of the wannabe rockstar, recovering addict, and hopelessly romantic Roger from RENT. The consummate Con-Artist/Snake Oil Salesman Harold Hill, who (whether he knows it or not) just needs the right woman to set him straight. (Seriously, I could talk you into giving me your house.) And of course there’s Henry Higgins, the misogynist who’s ALWAYS right. To further my Higgins-esque comparison: at the moment, I find that women (in the sexual sense) are a distraction. If I were gay, I’d probably say men are a distraction. It’s not a sexist thing; but sometimes in this crazy business (hate that word), you have to focus on yourself and your career, and not let anything else get in the way. Sometimes celibacy is the key… and sometimes, after several months, you need a slump buster. On second thought… maybe I’m more of an Eliza Doolittle.
TWT: In today’s economy, arts programs are being cut. What reasons would you give to a politician for preserving the arts?
JW: It sickens me that this is even a topic that bears discussion. Politicians are all liars and crooks. Gah. Artists have always been about 50 years ahead of the curve. We see socio-economic-political change before it becomes apparent. The reasons should be apparent to them. We create, we bring happiness to others. I would advise everyone to look up Fred Rogers 1968 (not sure about the year) Senatorial (or Congressional?) testimony, on why the government should not cut funding for public television for children. There’s more to life than money. Unfortunately, the game is rigged. And we’ll always be on the short end of the stick. Why should politicians need reasons for preserving the arts? The Arts are just as necessary as food, water, and shelter.
TWT: Who is/was your greatest teacher?
JW: My Father, who taught me about morality, and my Mother who gave me the righteous indignation I need to survive this crazy world. Jock Montgomery, (my High School professor, who taught me that there’s more to life than what you can see, hear or feel). My godfather, David Seivers (who died of AIDS when I was quite young. I still hear him in my head). Joe Iconis and the Gang (I always learn how to Love, when I’m with them) John Simpkins, who’s the greatest director/mentor/professor I’ve ever had. And, Gandhi.
Thank you, Jared!
Live, Love, Learn,