Continued from page 10 could turn it into a song . And then we turned it into a song .
IE : How was it doing John Mulaney ’ s Everybody ’ s In L . A . program , with the fab Fred Armisen hosting ? EC : Well , it was super fun because we were all there for twelve hours , and we all got to just
I practiced with friends , and I practiced every day with that . And you know , I threw that ball pretty good ! But we didn ’ t have organized sports where I grew up , in rural Illinois . We didn ’ t have any sports , especially for girls , in the early ‘ 60s . There was no baseball , I didn ’ t have Girl Scouts , I didn ’ t have Brownies . I had the backyard , as far as my legs could carry me into a
14 illinoisentertainer . com october 2024 hang out and talk to each other . And they only used two seconds of our twelve hours . But we played music together , just jamming for forty minutes , and it was super fun being with Penelope ( Houston , from The Avengers ) and ( FEAR anchor ) Lee Ving . And they were just made-up songs — we all just made up stuff to sing and play , and I ’ m so glad we got to do it . And Fred and those guys were there , too , but that wasn ’ t the point . The point was that we all got to hang out together , and there was all this time to sit around and talk and do things . And they only wanted to use five minutes , and that ’ s fine — I don ’ t care how much they used because they were just facilitating our group of people getting together . So they gave us a really big gift , and I ’ m really , really grateful for that .
IE : Did you learn anything from any musicians you interacted with then ? EC : I always learn everything from everyone , every day . But we were just hanging out and there was a lot to talk about . But it wasn ’ t like , “ Oh , remember that time ?” So we were just talking about life , not too much about rehashing anything .
IE : Well , I would be remiss if I didn ’ t ask … how was it recently throwing out the first pitch at the Dodgers game ? And then singing the National Anthem with John ? EC : NOW we ’ re talking ! That is like my second favorite day of my life . The first was the day my son was born , and the second was throwing out that first pitch . Because you know what ? We were playing the White Sox , which is my childhood team , and I always wanted to be a baseball player . I always wanted to be a pitcher for the White Sox , and I had that bond with my dad . And when I found out we were having Dodger Day , X Day at Dodger Stadium , my first question was , “ Can I throw out the first pitch ?” And hey said Yes , and then it was only a month later that I found out it was against the White Sox that we were playing . So I felt that stuff like that was my dad kind of being involved in that whole thing . Talk about magic ! And we ’ re talking about politics . But what a waste of time to talk about politics when we can talk about baseball !
IE : Did you have a strong throwing arm ? EC : I practiced for three months . I got one of those where you catch the ball , like kids use . I taped off in my driveway the exact number of feet from the pitching mound to the catcher , and field , and that was it . And I had a bicycle , so those were my activities . So , my baseball playing was limited to throwing the ball against the garage door and catching it while imagining that I was on a team . So I ’ d throw the baseball up in the air and then try to run to wherever it was coming down to field it . That was the limit of my baseball experiences .
IE : Well , you guys all look physically fit . EC : Yeah . We ’ re hanging in there pretty good . I think we have plenty of shows left in us , so I think we ’ re gonna do some club tours until the end of the year and then give that a break , like , “ You know what ? We ’ re done with that .” And we ’ re doing the Little Steven Cruise next May , so I ’ m really excited about that . I think Little Steven must be a really good person , just from listening to his show and seeing what he ’ s done with music . And then we have another plan for probably next summer , God willing , so we ’ ll see . And you know why Rod Stewart does those endless amounts of residencies in Las Vegas ? Because he has to still play , and he wants to walk from his hotel to the stage every night and not have to unpack his suitcase .
IE : So what other irons do you have in the fire right now ? EC : Well , John and I did a tour as a folk duo opening for Psychedelic Furs , and that was super fun . And we ’ d done that before with Blondie and Garbage , too , so I ’ m hoping we can keep doing that , whether X keeps playing or not . And we call those shows just John and Exene , and they ’ re really fun , really great . And I ’ m doing art shows again , where I do my collage stuff . I just did one , and I have a couple more coming up . So , that came out of the blue , and I just decided to start focusing on that more . But I ’ m looking forward to having some time off in November , and I ’ m actually taking a weeklong vacation with a friend of mine . And I ’ m super excited about it ; I ’ ve been plotting it out , and we ’ re going to Indiana if you can believe that .
IE : Wait ! What ? Why ? EC : Well , because it ’ s beautiful there . So we ’ re going to Columbus ( OH ) to see the architecture , and we ’ re going to Martinsville , and we ’ re going to the famous cafeteria , Gray ’ s . We ’ re also going to Bloomington . It ’ s gonna be so great !
Tom Lanham