John Schneider

All photos: Alan Mercer    Lighting: Eric Venturo

John Schneider is best known for his portrayal of Bo Duke in the 1980s television series 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' along with Tom Wopat, and as Jonathan Kent on 'Smallville.' Along with his acting career, John performed as a country music singer in the 1980s, releasing twelve studio albums and a greatest hits package, as well as eighteen singles, all of which reached the top of the Billboard country singles charts.

John Schneider can be seen on several episodes of the FX Network show 'Nip/Tuck' as Ram Peters, the CEO of a company. He has appeared in many films and TV series, including his recurring role on 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman' and he's guest-starred on such shows as 'Diagnosis Murder,' 'Touched by an Angel,' 'JAG' and 'Walker, Texas Ranger.' John has directed episodes of 'Smallville,' and some episodes contain references to his work in 'The Dukes of Hazzard.'

John Schneider has been mentioned in the 'South Park' episode 'Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow,' in which an episode of 'Terrance and Phillip' was aired in place of the popular fictitious show 'The John Schneider Variety Hour,' causing outrage. In 2008, John portrayed a villain, a rarity for him on the series 'CSI: Miami,' in the episode 'Tunnel Vision.' John also appeared briefly in an episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.' In 2008, he performed as Billy Flynn in the Musical 'Chicago' on Broadway.

I have always liked John Schneider for his acting, singing and the good work he does for others. Eric Venturo and I met up with John at the Woodland Hills Country Club after his golf game for some quick and casual shots and a little conversation.

AM: How long have you been playing golf?

JS: Since half way through 'Smallville."

AM: So you're kind of new at it.

JS: Yeah, but it's like being new to heroin! (laughter) The addiction hits you right away. It doesn't feel new. It's the most addictive thing in the world!

AM: I hear that all the time.

JS: It's all you can think of.

AM: So this is your newest addiction?

JS: Well yeah! Sex and cars were my oldest addictions and golf is the newest one. I guess I've been playing golf for seven years now.

AM: You're one of the handful of actors that has had two hit shows.

JS: You could argue I've had more than that because I've been on 'Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman' too. Great show.

AM: Oh I forgot about that! So you've had three hit shows!

JS: Yes me and Bill Bixby! I haven't been in control of any of them and that's my goal. Being a hired hand on a show is great because it's great to have a job. But ownership is important.

AM: Have you produced before?

JS: Yes I did a pilot for Spike TV but they didn't pick it up. It did great. There's no rhyme or reason to it. What is that all about? Back when I was on 'Dukes' I produced some TV Specials. I pitch shows all the time.

AM: So you're very interested in staying on TV?

JS: Yes but I want to have some ownership in the show. I've been trying for ownership since 1979.

AM: This reminds me of when the producers of 'Dukes Of Hazzard' brought in different actors to replace you and Tom Wopat. How long did that last?

JS: Eighteen episodes so almost the whole year.

AM: They learned there lesson didn't they!?! (laughter)

JS: They were saying the car was the star!

AM: But that wasn't true.

JS: No it wasn't, the ratings really fell.

AM: That must have felt good for you.

JS: It felt good in a way but we had a dispute over a legitimate contractual issue. It was not a financial dispute it was about merchandising and it didn't turn out well.

EV: I had the lunch box.

JS: You had the lunch box. Good for you. I see those a lot, they're great.

AM: I'm sure they are worth some money now.

JS: Yes they are. We had a lot of experts around us who's advice we took and I think we played it incorrectly.

AM: If you could go back in time you'd handle it differently now?

JS: Absolutely I'd do it in a different way.

AM: Did you handle your contracts differently with 'Dr. Quinn' and 'Smallville?'

JS: As much as you can, yes. You handle negotiations with whatever power you currently have. It increases sometimes. It's the old ebb and flow. When you have the ability to negotiate that's when you should do it. Often times people will try to hardball negotiate when they don't have the power. That's a bad mistake. I haven't had that power again but I believe I will. I believe my best days are ahead of me.

AM: Why not, you're still young and look great!

JS: (laughing) Yes I'm very young! And you need corrective eye surgery!

AM: You are young and you got into the business so young.

JS: True!

AM: You started singing right away also didn't you?

JS: As far as people knew yes. I really started singing ten years before 'Dukes.' I recorded my first album in 1979. It came out in 1980, but I recorded it in 79. I still have the highest charting 'Elvis Cover' with 'It's Now Or Never.' Still to this day. I got to number four on both Billboard and R&R.

AM: It's a great rendition of that song. You've had a pretty good run of hits in Country Music in the 80's. Are you still interested in recording?

JS: Oh yeah. Phil Redrow writes these songs and I sing a lot of his stuff. I've got a song out right now on i-tunes called 'The Promise.'

AM: I LOVE IT! I was going to ask you about that. It's an amazing song! I can feel your passion coming through in your performance.

JS: Thank you. Phil writes great songs. We want to do 'The Job Fair Tour.' We want to attack the problem of unemployment in this country. People still need work to be done but nobody's hiring anybody.

AM: Are you working on any other music?

JS: I actually just recorded the 'Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard.'

AM: How did it feel to cover Waylon Jennings?

JS: Great! Waylon came out and sang with me on a song I did called 'A Better Class Of Losers.' It was Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and me.

AM: You were friends with Johnny Cash weren't you?

JS: I lived with Johnny Cash and I knew Waylon from 'Dukes' so I probably met Waylon in 1979. I honestly feel that if Waylon were still around that I'm the one he would want to have covered that song. Even more perfect would have been Tom and I, but Tom's doing Broadway. It's available on i-tunes right now. I play the guitar on it and do a lot of Waylon like stuff. I'm very excited by that.

AM: I have to get it and hear it.

JS: The music business is entirely different now. It's kind of gone....and yet it's there bigger than it ever was before. I think the music industry is actually bigger than it ever was but you have to understand it. The communication industry is bigger than it ever was before, just not for Bell South. We just have to figure out what the new animal is.

AM: What about re-releasing some of your older music again?

JS: I do some of that through my eBay store. They are called my favorite hits not my greatest hits. They are songs that I think would have been number one or top ten had they seen the light of day.

AM: I'm sure you could do something with all that material.

JS: I'm pitching a show to CMT that Phil and I developed together called 'The Job Fair Tour.' Basically it would be going around to little towns in the United States, the heart and soul of the country that has been hit the most by what's going on with the economy. We want to identify a need and do a benefit concert for that need in the area and then move on to the next town. Shane with a guitar, righting the wrongs of an evil society. If that were to work then there would be a desire to hear my older music. I'm a realist. Not a day goes by where I don't sing somewhere and somebody comes up to me and says, "Hey I didn't know you sang?" I should have done the fourteenth album I guess because thirteen just wasn't enough! (laughter) I should have had more number one songs. It's a weird thing that I don't understand.

AM: I think it's because your acting career is so big that it eclipses the singing.

JS: I'll go with that. OK I'm so versatile people don't realize it's me. How about that?

AM: If you weren't such a big talented star more people would probably know you sang.

JS: Maybe so, sometimes people don't like you to do two things, let alone four or five things. I really love the music and when I'm on stage with it I just love it. You can tell I love it right?

AM: Yes you were amazing the other night. Anyone can tell you love it. You're full of passion and you are just GOOD!

JS: That's what Phil and I want to do with him as the other guitar player for CMT because it just works.

AM: I'd like to see a concert DVD.

JS: If the CMT show goes and there's a belief in the general populations mind that I actually do sing then I think that could work great.

AM: Don't they show the reruns of 'Dukes?'

JS: They just started a little over a month ago.

AM: What did you think about the movie they made a couple of years ago?

JS: Awful! They missed all the heart and soul of the show.

AM: This is my Thanksgiving blog.

JS: I'll be on 'Desperate Housewives' by then.

AM: See you are a big TV Star! You're on all the hit shows!

To learn more about John Schneider visit his web site http://www.johnschneideronline.com/bio.html

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Nikki Haskell: A Force To Be Reckoned With

All Photos:  Alan Mercer    Lighting: Eric V.

Nikki Haskell is an internationally recognized socialite hosting parties in New York, Los Angeles, Cannes, Miami and other international cities, and best known for her 'StarShapes' diet system which has taken over all of Hollywood. She divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.

Nikki was one of the first female stockbrokers on Wall Street working for Drexel Burnham Lambert and was named "Stockbroker of the Year." She then moved on to the entertainment industry creating 'The Nikki Haskell Show,' which she also produced and hosted for 300 episodes on early cable television and is considered a forerunner to shows like 'Entertainment Tonight' and 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.' The show was on location in countries around the world covering Carnivale in Rio, where Nikki danced with a massive headdress high atop a float in the Samba School Parade, the Cannes Film Festival, and was one of the first shows to cover the fashion shows of Carolina Herrera, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Calvin Klein.

Nikki also interviewed dozens of celebrities and international figures including Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, Liza Minnelli, and Joan Collins to name a few. Many episdodes were shot in the world famous 'Studio 54,' 'The Nikki Haskell Show' was the only show ever allowed to shoot at the club, where Nikki hosted many parties including ones for Michael Jackson and Liza Minnelli.
Many articles have been written about her including the front page of 'The Wall Street Journal,' articles in 'The New York Times,' 'Time Magazine,' 'People,' 'Newsweek,' 'The Los Angeles Times,' and many tabloids. Nikki is a frequent talk/entertainment/news show guest on shows like 'David Letterman,' 'The Joan Rivers Show,' '20/20,' 'Extra!,' and 'Access Hollywood.' She has made many appearances on 'The E! True Hollywood Story' series speaking on a variety of topics including Studio 54, Donald Trump, Robert Evans, The Village People.

Nikki Haskell is the author of the 'Star Diet Book,' now in its third printing. She is also well known for her billboards touting 'StarShapes' on Sunset Boulevard which have been a staple of the Sunset Strip since 1991. The billboards feature Nikki sitting atop the StarShapes letters which are spelled out to look like the Hollywood Sign. She won the 2001 Sunset Strip Star Billboard Award.

Eric Venturo and I LOVED working with Nikki! She is fascinating and fun, fun fun! I really could have talked to her all day and night! Her beautiful Sunset Strip Highrise made a perfect setting for the glamorous photos you see here. Nikki's home is filled with lots of photographs and art, including some of her own, along with several LeRoy Neiman originals. She also has this amazing view of Los Angeles following Sunset Blvd. all the way downtown.  Nikki Haskell is charming, full of life, love and laughter...and she's a world class beauty.

AM: Nikki you are the queen of Sunset Strip Billboards aren't you?

NH: I am. This is my twentieth billboard! You know people all over the world actually stop me and ask where my billboard is. I'm just expected to have a billboard on Sunset.

AM: You mostly do have them don't you?

NH: The first one I had was in 1991. Whenever I get inspired with a new product or a new photo shoot or whatever it is, I get a billboard!

AM: Well how fabulous is that?

NH: I won the Sunset Strip Billboard award and I got a call saying they were going to throw it out one day and I said, "No, no, can't we keep it?" They told me it was all torn up....Wouldn't it be great if I had a huge piece of property and I could stick the billboards all over the property? That might be too much, but you never know. Too much is never enough! (We are all laughing)

AM: I love your famous quote!

NH: "If I can't do it in high heels I'm not interested."

AM: I love that!

NH: That's always been my motto.

AM: I knew Andy Warhol a tiny bit. Can you tell me about your relationship with Andy?

NH: My relationship with Andy started long before I met Andy.

AM: How is that?

NH: I was an art major and I was totally influenced by Andy Warhol. You see most of my paintings are very pop art-ish. I always do something and think to myself, "Would Andy have liked this?" I always had a lot of fun with Andy.

AM: Did you like him immediately?

NH: When I first met him I was so impressed with his ability as an artist, much more so than most people were. Most people took him as a socialite that painted. I always knew that Andy's works would be worth millions and millions of dollars. Unfortunately in those days I couldn't really afford it. There was another problem because Andy had a show and I had a show.

AM: Yes I remember them well.

NH: His show was called 'Famous For Fifteen Minutes.' It wasn't very popular. It was very avant guard. My show was about parties in the South of France and Carnivale in Rio and things like that.

AM: So you and Andy were a natural pair of friends.

NH: The Andy Warhol Camp really didn't like me. They felt I was infringing on the fact that we both had shows, but Andy loved me. He used to call me and say, "Gee I saw your show on Rio De Janeiro." I always thought, "Wouldn't it be great if Andy and I could do a show together?" Of course that never did materialize.

AM: When was the last time you saw him?

NH: I gave a party in New York for Dionne Warwick when she launched her perfume and Andy came to the party. The next day he went into the hospital and died so this was the last party he was ever at.

AM: But you really liked him as a person didn't you?

NH: He was great. I found him very inspirational. Now people look at his work and it's so "of the time" but most people didn't respect him as an artist the way they do now. You could buy two portraits for $25,000.00 back then.

AM: Do you think that Artists have to die to be appreciated?

NH: Yes, I hate to say this because it sounds so cliché. The sixties, seventies and eighties produced the best artists, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy and LeRoy Neiman, who is still alive.

AM: You are obviously a big fan of LeRoy Neiman.

NH: I love LeRoy! He is one of my closest friends.

AM: How did you meet him?

NH: When I quit being a stock broker I went to a head hunter and they asked me if I wanted to be LeRoy Neiman's assistant. I went to meet him and he was signing these South of France paintings he had done. I sat with him for about two hours and three weeks later Prince Egon Von Furstenberg and I decided to do a television show and LeRoy came on as my first guest. He used to come to all my parties. I never gave a party that he didn't come to. We always had the most hysterical times. We went to Rio De Janeiro together when he did his Carnivale book. He's done quite a few paintings of me in my Carnivale costumes. He's painted my birthday invitations every year since 1980.

AM: Since you are such an artistic person, I'm curious how you ended up being a big shot on Wall Street?

NH: OK, I'll give you the whole story. I was born in Chicago and brought up in Beverly Hills from the time I was twelve years old. We originally came out here after my father was in an automobile accident, to visit friends of my parents. On the first day of school in the Eighth Grade my father drove me to school in the morning and died that night.

AM: Whoa! Talk about a new life!

NH: So hear I was in a totally different environment living in Los Angeles, but it was really great. You know I see all these movies where kids start in a new school and they are being harassed. They never did that with me. We used to go to the Beverly Theater every Saturday and the first day that I went, they were chanting my name. The word had gotten out that I was this new hot kid from Chicago. I was popular immediately.

AM: I don't think I've ever heard anything like this before!

NH: I was very lucky. My first best friend was Barry Diller. I had great friends and I'm friendly with almost all of them to this day. A few of them have fallen by the way side, but basically I'm friendly with all of them. I went to Beverly Hills High School. I was just going to grow up, get married and live happily ever after so I was never really equipped to do anything. I was an artist looking for a husband.

AM: Were you a little different than your friends?

NH: All my girlfriends were married by the time they were eighteen. I was the last one to get married and I got married and divorced twice to the same person. He was in the real estate business, but I had my real estate license by the time I met him. My ex-husband developed Lancaster, California. Then we got divorced and I took $18,000.00 and I ran it into millions of dollars in the stock market. Then we got married again and I gave him the money which was the dumbest thing I ever did.

AM: Why did you do that?

NH: I didn't realize how hard it was to make two million dollars! It seemed easy at the time. Oh this is a piece of cake. I could do this every day. So we moved to New York and my husband was writing a book. He said, "Why don't you get a job? I thought, "Get a job!?! Why would I want to get a job!?!" I got married so I would never have to work. Then I thought I would become a stock broker. A friend of mine owned a brokerage firm and I went to them. It never entered my mind there were no women on Wall Street.

AM: You really didn't know this?

NH: I just never really thought about it. It wouldn't have made any difference to me one way or the other. They sent me to school and I passed my exam. I got divorced and worked on Wall Street. I went from living on Park Avenue to making seventy-five dollars a week as a trainee before I became a stock broker. I did that for ten years. I hated it and left and started my television show.

AM: But you were applauded as a Star on Wall Street weren't you?

NH: Absolutely. I was a force to be reckoned with.....as I always am. I was really ahead of the curve because there were no women on Wall Street. I went to restaurants where they didn't let women in. That never affected me.

AM: Did you have any problems being a woman on Wall Street?

NH: Well first they embraced me as a mascot who was nice and fun to be with, then when I started getting all the business with million share orders, they didn't like me so much.

AM: Well that isn't very nice.

NH: They kept accusing me of doing business on my back. They'd say things like, "Who did you have to sleep with to get that order?" After a while I said, "I've had enough of this."

AM: Were you ready to not be working anymore?

NH: The problem is I like to get up every morning and be responsible for my life. I'm very creative. When you're a stock broker you're at the world's mercy. I was also running millions and millions of dollars of other people's money and I didn't want to be responsible for that anymore.

AM: That's too much responsibility.

NH: I did make a lot of money for a lot of people, but there were people who lost money too and I don't like that. I'd much rather do something that is creative. When I got the opportunity to have a television show I jumped on it. I wanted to shoot at Studio 54.

AM: You're the only show that was ever allowed in there right?

NH: The only show was me. There were no other shows. My show was every Friday night where I would give a party at a club and they would pay me $5,000.00 for something like a Movie Premiere or a Record Launch or like when Whitney Houston's album went triple platinum I gave a party for Clive Davis.

AM: Your show also featured fashion designers didn't it?

NH: I was shooting the fashion shows and putting in a different designer. I was the first show that ever did that. The great thing about my television show was that I created my own events.

AM: Tell me about some of your legendary parties.

NH: I gave a party for Eric Estrada one time and Harley Davidson gave me twenty Harleys and we hung them from the ceiling into the middle of flower arrangements. Another time I gave a party for Allan Carr for 'Where The Boys Are' and we totally redid the entrance to Studio 54 with a boardwalk and body builders, boats and sand, it was fabulous!

AM: Do you have a favorite party?

NH: The best party I ever gave was for Yul Brenner...and Michael Jackson came. That's when I became friendly with Michael Jackson. We launched 'Thriller' on the bridge of Studio 54. I gave a party for Cher. I gave a lot of parties in the South of France. I gave parties all over the world. That was fun, great fun. It was a lot more fun than just hanging out in Beverly Hills.

AM: Do people still party like that now?

NH: Everything runs in cycles. There will never be another Studio 54, but there'll never be another Copacabana. I'm doing a documentary on the Sunset Strip.

AM: This is one of your current projects?

NH: Yes but it's not my creation. They brought me in because when I grew up in Los Angeles, I was going to nightclubs since I was three years old. My parents took me out ever single weekend with them. I guess they didn't have a babysitter, so I was used to going out.

AM: What is it like when you are five years old to be out clubbing?

NH: I used to see Carmen Miranda, Jimmy Durante and Milton Berle all in Chicago at the Chez Paris or Mr. Kelly's where all the comediennes played. I've known Don Rickles, and Shecky Green, all of them, since I was six years old!

AM: That's remarkable!

NH: Allan Carr gave me a birthday party and my dear friend Suzanne Plechette said she'd known me the longest and Jill St. John said , "I've known Nikki since she was in High School'" and then Milton Berle said, "I've known Nikki since she was six years old." I got an early start. That's why I know so many people.

AM: Were your parents in show business?

NH: No my father was in the millinery business. He made Nikki hats and Stanley hats, but they went out...and took me with them. Mother was very fashionable and always as chic as can be. As soon as I was her height I whipped into her dresses immediately. So when I came to the Sunset Strip at clubs like the 'Cloister' where Bobby Darin and Tony Bennett and a lot of great stars performed, I was already used to it. That's how I met all these people when I was young. You have to start young.

AM: Your show was the predecessor to all these shows like 'Entertainment Tonight.'

NH: Everything! What I don't understand is I had a show when nobody else had a show and now everybody has a show and I don't.

AM: That is weird isn't it?

NH: Isn't that the pits? I hate it.

AM: It's not to your advantage to be ahead of your time.

NH: I've always been ahead of my time. I'm always, always on the cutting edge.

AM: What about writing a book?

NH: I wrote a book called the Star Diet and I just wrote a screenplay called 'Over Dressed When Naked' which is autobiographical. It's a chunk of my life that runs from 1962 to 1977 just before Studio 54 opened. It was during my stock broker days.

AM: Is it a comedy?

NH: It's very funny. I have a very amusing life. Do I think the clubs are over? I went to 'Trousdale' the other night and had the best time of my life! None of my friends want to go because they think it's awful and loud. They didn't really like it that much to begin with. You see I used to like to go dancing every night. That's why I started my television show so it would be my job to go dancing every night. I love it. I could go dancing every night. I do my best thinking on the dance floor.

AM: I love that! How did you get into diet pills?

NH: You never know what I'm going to come up with next! I've been all over the place. I have always been on a diet. My mother put me on a diet from the day I was born. The truth of the matter is if you're not taught to eat properly as a child you're never going to eat properly as an adult. Sixty-seven percent of Americans are over weight. It's because they are eating pizza, pasta, candy and that's what it's all about. They don't know what's right. My mother never gave me anything fattening as a child. We never had a potato or a pizza, nothing.

AM: What did she feed you?

NH: Vegetables, fish, salads, chicken, meat, the things you are supposed to eat.

AM: So you grew up educated on nutrition.

NH: Right. I always ate properly. I am a big cookie, candy, ice cream person but I never have them in the house.

AM: You don't ever over indulge?

NH: The other day I had some candy in the house and I had to throw it down the toilet. I have no control.

AM: What do you think is ahead for you? Do you live life on a day to day basis or do you plan ahead?

NH: Ironically enough I never planned anything. I didn't plan on being a stock broker. I planned on being a wife and of course that never really came to fruition. Then I invented my exercise equipment called the 'Star Cruncher' which I still haven't finished with because I had all this trouble with the football players. I'm doing a dance exercise video called 'Dance With The Star Cruncher' that I invented dancing on the floor of Studio 54! I wanted something that you could exercise with and not have to go to the gym because I hate going to the gym. It's beyond boring.

AM: But you do exercise?

NH: I use my Star Cruncher. I have a trainer and I work out every day a little bit for about a half an hour. I don't kill myself at it. I have to be careful because I have a tendency to over do everything. There's certain things that I planned out in my life.

AM: What creative project are you working on now?

NH: I'm doing a hip hop musical called 'The American Dream.' I discovered this very talented boy by the name of Sayla. He wrote the screenplay and then we worked on it together. He wrote all the music but I directed him, telling him what kind of songs I wanted. There's one song called 'Superstar' where we drop every name like Gucci, Pucci, Ferrari, and all that stuff. It's going to be the next 'West Side Story.' I'm excited about that. I'm working on a lot of different projects. You have to do fifty different things because you never know what's going to click.

AM: You enjoy the internet don't you?

NH: I've been on the internet from the beginning. The first year we were in business with Star Caps we did $35,000.00. The last year we did two million.

AM: Do people ask you for advice?

NH: People ask me for advice on everything!

AM: Do you give it?

NH: Of course! I have an opinion on absolutely everything. Anything you want to know I'll tell you about! (much laughter)

Follow Nikki on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/NikkiHaskell
Check out the StarShape site here www.starshapeproducts.com

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The One and Many Jimmy James!

All Photos: Alan Mercer      Lighting: Eric V

Jimmy James is a sensational entertainer who was born in Laredo, but raised in San Antonio, Texas. He is a vocal impressionist/illusionist/ performance artist and former drag artist. His early performance career was very successful for his vocal impression and visual illusion of Marilyn Monroe.

He retired performing as 'Marilyn' in 1997. Currently, he performs voice impressions of female singers such as: Cher, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Eartha Kitt, Patsy Cline, Bette Davis, Macy Gray, Stevie Nicks, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli.

His recent self-penned dance music album "JAMESTOWN" has garnered 4 & 5 star ratings on 'iTunes' and 'Amazon.' The concept album spawned a hit song entitled 'Fashionista' which has been used or licensed to television, film, fashion shows and more.

After 15 years in New York City, he recently moved to Los Angeles, CA where we did our photo session and talked about what is going on right now. Eric Venturo and I had a great time working with Jimmy on his new photos. I have loved Jimmy James since he started his career so it is with real joy that I share this blog with you!

AM: Jimmy, what brought you to Los Angeles?

JJ: Well, after I recorded my latest album 'Jamestown' and 'Fashionista' hit the world I wanted to be here for the media in Hollywood. I shot a reality show and they're shopping that around. But besides that I wanted to be back in California where all show business happens.

AM: How did 'Fashionista' come about?

JJ: I wrote this song and I thought it was weird. I played the song for the music producers I was working with over the phone and they said come down to the studio tomorrow and that's how it happened. I thought it would never see the light of day. It turned out to be the hit of the album. I can't judge what will be a hit. I have no idea.

AM: Jimmy don't you think you're 'ahead of your time' most of the time?

JJ: When I was doing Marilyn I started this look-a-like stuff and then I invented 'Beverly the Slut' who was a woman who knew her own sexuality and she was not afraid to show it. It was a little too ahead of it's time because it was 1992. Many years later we see Britney and Paris Hilton but I was showing my vagina long before they were! (much laughter)

AM: What was growing up in Texas like?

JJ: It was great, but I wanted to be in show business so I wanted out of Texas. The other thing is my physicality. Everywhere I went people thought I was a girl. That was hard for me to deal with. I wasn't exactly transgender. I didn't exactly want to be a girl. It was kind of annoying for people to always think that I was a girl. Today it still happens but I'm acclimated to it now. I'm fine with it. It's actually funny. At the time it was hard because I was a teenager and I looked like a girl.

AM: Do you think there are more transgender people today or are we just more open minded and aware now?

JJ: I think God has no sex. I think God is a combination of both male and female. That is my theory. He obviously loved women and men. He made the two. I think if you feel more comfortable in the opposite sex then you should do it. I always wanted to fit in. I wound up looking like a girl not because I wanted to, it's just the way I was born. Talk about creation, that's the way I was made. I understand the struggles people have. If you're a boy and identify more as being a female then you should be female. I don't think there's any big deal.

AM: I don't either. What do you think about this horrible trend of teenage suicides going on?

JJ: There's a campaign going on right now that it gets better and you know what, it does get better. I was made fun of in school for my voice being too high but it's the one thing that's brought me all my gold. As a voice impressionist who does voices of famous ladies that's the one thing that made me a huge success. It does get better and all those people who were bullying you are going to be the idiot dorks later in life because they are so full of themselves right now. You stay humble. Keep your eye on the prize. Move forward and you go out to live your dreams the best you can. These people who bully you are going to fall by the way side. I've seen it a million times with the people from school who made fun of my voice who are nothing now and I'm out living my dreams. It does get better. High school and teenage years are very difficult. Even nineteen and twenty year olds. You'll find yourself.

AM: Was it like this for you as a teenager or was it easier?

JJ: I did have thoughts of suicide when I was younger. I did because I felt like I was born a boy but I look like a girl. That was not of my own design. That was just nature that made me that way. Knowing that killing yourself was a sin, I couldn't do it. I came from a very strict Catholic family. Suicide is not an issue but I did think as a teenager that I wanted to kill myself.

AM: Was it because of religion that you didn't kill yourself?

JJ: No, it was Joan Rivers on 'The Tonight Show.' She had a hard time growing up and I remember her saying, "It gets better. It will all turn around later. Just hang in there." So I remember that. It had nothing to do with religion. Years later as fate would have it I was a guest on her talk show.

AM: Did you tell her this story?

JJ: No I didn't have a chance because she was so amazed by what I was doing she wanted me to do more impressions and more impressions. She wound up kicking off Rue McClanahan. Poor Rue, this was 1991. That was an important part of my life because it took somebody like that to say, it's going to be fine, and it is...going to be fine. You're going to pull out of it. Don't kill yourself. Your life is precious. You were made and your life is precious.

AM: Since you grew up Catholic did you have any religious conflicts?

JJ: Well you see a lot of sin in the Catholic Church! You see Priests who fall short of the Grace of God! I don't put much credence in that.

AM: You never did?

JJ: No, eventually....no.

AM: What are you doing now?

JJ: I'm in Los Angeles writing songs. Working with new producers and hopefully to put my own music out there. My own music is what I want to write, it's not voice impressions. I still do the voice impressions and I love the voice impressions, it's fun. I still have shows where I do that, but there are some clubs who hire me just to do my own music which is great and I love that.

AM: You write all your music correct?

JJ: I write all my dance music. It's all mine.

AM: Your lyrics are personal aren't they?

JJ: My lyrics are very personal. Even 'Fashionista is personal. Everything I mention in the designer rack are all designers I've been fascinated with at some point or another. I wanted to fit all the people I love in there but I couldn't do it. 'Kissing A Fraud' is a part of my life. Something tragic happened with an affair I was having and I wrote about it. 'Famous' is another one of mine. It's about the game of fame, not necessarily lusting for fame, but the game of fame. You have to have a certain amount of fame to continue doing what you love to do. There's a bit of a trade off. I'm essentially a very private person.

AM: I remember you on all the shows! I've seen you everywhere.

JJ: I did 'Geraldo,' 'Sally,' 'Joan Rivers' and 'Donahue.' A lot of talk shows because back then you only had four channels. Those were the variety shows because there really weren't even that many variety shows anymore. The talk shows were "it" to get on so I could get on those shows. Then it changed from impersonators to who beat up your cousin or slept with your brother. It got real messy so then I couldn't be on those shows anymore.

AM: You had to refocus.

JJ: I always kept my eye on music. Music was the most important thing. I wanted to evolve. I didn't want to be stuck. How sad would it be if I was still doing Marilyn at sixty or seventy? It's impossible. She died at thirty-six so there are no photographs of me past the age of thirty six performing as Marilyn. I stopped it then. Once I got on the billboard in Times Square with Linda Evangelista...in the center of Times Square under the Sony Jumbotron, I'd done it! That's as far as I want to take the look-a-like thing. In the real scheme of show business it's not that well respected, but if you can write and sing your own music, you have it published, anytime a TV show wants to use my music they have to pay me. It feels really good to "own" your own music.

AM: Your own anything, your own art.

JJ: Your own art.

AM: You certainly are a good musician. Do you think your flamboyance gets in the way of the music?

JJ: Not in dance music. I like dance music because there is a flexibility with all kinds of images that you can present to an audience. It suits me better.

AM: Yet the ballad version of 'Kissing A Fraud' is one of the most powerful vocal performances I've heard by any artist.

JJ: A lot of dance music starts as a ballad and turns into a dance mix. This started the other way. The dance song came first and I went and made the ballad because I didn't think the label would like it. They did like it so they put it on the single. It's a true story that is very dark.

AM: I think darker than any of your other lyrics.

JJ: What I went through emotionally was very dark. I needed a way to express it and pull through. I should have gone to a shrink but I used my music to work through it.

To learn more about Jimmy James visit his web site http://www.jimmyjames.com/