think my body knew that and sent me this
message loud and clear — “Why don’t you
wait until the restraining order is done?
THEN you can move. forward.”
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painting houses?
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continued from page 22
the bus. I turned to crafts and dying cloth-
ing and stitching crazy patches onto jack-
ets. I was spending my nights going deep
into these art projects when I should have
been sleeping. I was being creative, but
sort of in this zombie state, where I didn’t
really know why I was doing it. But I
remember when it turned into the upward
spiral, which was after my drummer, Matt,
left and our new drummer came in.
Suddenly, it felt like I had support, that
these guys were all there for me; like a fam-
ily. It felt like summer camp all over again.
IE: Then you and Eric finally get together,
and the universe swatted you again when
you had a miscarriage. I am sorry you
went through that.
GP: Thanks. But I think you actually have
to go through a miscarriage to know that
it’s normal, and I didn’t know that at the
time. My body was sending me a very
strong message that my life was still in an
uncertain place. There was court stuff that
wasn’t just to do with my divorce — it had
to do with an individual who was getting
dangerous, and I had to protect myself and
go to court. So I think that was a big con-
tributor to my stress level of trying to have
a baby and make a new life for myself
when things weren’t really resolved. I
player, because our original guy had left. And
this guy named B.P. Fallon — who was the
right hand of Jimmy Page —asked Jimmy if he
knew of any good slide players. And Robert
Plant, specifically, he asked. And Robert said,
“This guy Robbie Blunt is amazing.” So we get
him, we get in a club in Birmingham, which
was where Robert lived, and the club had
eleven people in it that night, and four of them
IE: It took a while, but you finally found
the courage to turn your negative experi-
ences into positive, journal-honest songs.
GP: And people can feel that connection
there, not only in the intimacy of the lyrics,
but the intimacy of my voice, and the way
that we recorded it, organically and really
"in the moment." Studio albums tend to get
over-polished sometimes. But at a certain
point in the process, Eric told me, “This
will all be live, so you need to be your real,
genuine self .” So I sang everything as if I
was sitting next to you in a room, and hav-
ing a very candid conversation. So it’s
inviting that candid conversation with the
listener, as well.
IE: And folks looking for an explanation
on where you’ve been can find it between
the lines in every number on Daylight.
GP: That’s amazing that you say that. I just
had that conversation with my mother this
morning. She said, “Well, anybody that
wasn’t sure what was going on, they know
now, don’t they?” And I think that was my
intention. I didn’t exactly want to explain
myself — I just wanted to explain myself to
myself. I just had to hear myself say it, to
fully understand what had happened.
Appearing 2/7 at The Riviera Theatre,
Chicago.
isn’t just high comedy; he had a lot to say about
politics. He’s just a brilliant guy.
IE: I can’t believe you were in To Sir, With
Love as the ultra-cool kid in shades.
MDB: I auditioned to play the black teacher,
but I ended up with the shades. And Lulu was
there! She was 15 years old; I was 16. It was
great, an incredible moment.
01•2020
were Led Zeppelin. And that was it. We ended
up spending three days and three nights in this
mad, debauched vacation with Led Zeppelin.
But it wasn’t fanboy stuff, like, “Whoa! Wow!
Led Zeppelin!” It was my life, and my job to
make things happen for me. And if you just
believe in yourself, things happen. That whole
‘Wow, Whoa’ thing doesn’t go down well with
the people that you’re ‘Wowing’ and ‘Whoa-
ing’ at. You just have to believe in yourself and
get on with it.
IE: You’ve interviewed tons of people on your
show. Journalistically-speaking, what were
some of your most significant ‘gets’?
MDB: Mary Ann Williamson was really fasci-
nating — she was running for president. Don
Johnson was great, too — he’s lived an incred-
ible life, and it’s his 70th birthday on Sunday,
which we’re going to. He introduced us at Live
Aid, actually, and we did Miami Vice, The
Power Station. And Weird Al Yankovic was
incredible. He's not only smart and really
funny, but he has a full view of what he does. It
26 illinoisentertainer.com january 2020
IE: Your schedule still seems to be continu-
ously booked.
MDB: I’m on the air three hours a day. I do
“MacGyver,” I do a voice in a video game —
which I’ve been doing for a year, hanging off
cables in front of a green screen, playing a
demon. Sometimes everyone will leave for cof-
fee, and I’ll still be hanging there. And I work
out like a slave in the morning, so there’s not
much time for anything else.
IE: What period in your life was the most illu-
minating?
MDB: This morning. I think that you’ve got to
get on with it - in the moment. I never reflect
too much on what happened — I’m more inter-
ested in what’s happening now. So I don’t
think about Live Aid too much. I just like being
here now, hanging with my friends, and mak-
ing music.
Tom Lanham