Tag Archives: Abbey Fox

December 27, 2010

What’s Up with Green Day and “TOP 17 QUESTIONS THAT *AbbeyFox* WOULD ASK BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG ON JAN 9TH THAT @PatrickHealyNYT WON’T”

By Green Day Mind

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, you Green Day fans, you!

Green Day's Pink Bunny! - From GreenDay.com

I realize that I haven’t posted anything since December 5th when Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits came through NYC and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, the holiday season did me in mentally and physically from Thanksgiving to Christmas and I had to take a little break from writing. I’m happy to report, though, that I saw Bobby Joe Ebola’s Corbett and Dan as well as Honah Lee in Trenton and was able to catch all of Bobby Joe Ebola’s NYC and Brooklyn shows. They are the nicest guys ever and made it back to the East Bay safe and sound after the tour. Good Times and Good News! They are releasing more music mayhem in the coming year, I’ll keep you posted.

There’s not that much news-wise going on with Green Day at the moment since their tour ended, but Mike Dirnt and his wife Brittney did have a baby daughter in November by the name of Ryan Ruby. Congrats to them! I also heard that Billie Joe and Tre played a club somewhere in California, but I really didn’t pay that much attention to it. News leaked through a Chicago blog that Billie Joe was in town talking with producers about a Chicago-based run of American Idiot, but, it’s a blog and those are rumors, so take it with a grain of salt. I post off-the-beaten trail news items on my GreenDayMind Twitter, so go and follow me for Green Day and American Idiot items as well as news of other bands. Other than that, it’s been pretty quiet mostly, and you can read up on any other information about the band on their official site, GreenDay.com and of course, the GreenDayAuthority, as well.

Yes, it is Awesome as Fuck – Live CD/DVD, March 2011

Amazon.com put up a pre-sale announcement regarding Green Day’s upcoming live CD/DVD called “Awesome As Fuck,” or… AAF for short. As you may know, the title comes from signs made by fans that morphed from a “Thanks” to Green Day in Paris to letting Green Day know that they were “Awesome As Fuck” in Denver and a simple, “Welcome Home” in San Francisco. If you’d like to read more about the signs, you can read a post I wrote back in September that explains both the origin of the signs and the Awesome As Fuck phrase Punknews.com linked to it recently, and that kinda made my day! But don’t read the comments to the Punk News posting, because of course “punks” hate Green Day and take every opportunity to slag them off that they can take. They are arses.

Green Day’s Youtube Channel briefly posted a banner announcing the album, but it was quickly taken down. Fortunately, someone at the Green Day Community snagged it before it disappeared:

Awesome as Fuck Live CD/DVD Banner

It’s a great logo and amazing that Green Day’s Pink Bunny will possibly be the artwork for the album. There’s no official details on the nature of the recording yet, but word on the street is that the DVD portion of the set is from a show in Japan and that the live album CD will be from Green Day’s North American Amphitheater Tour from this summer, but nothing is confirmed yet. I repeat: Nothing is Confirmed Yet, so don’t ask me because I don’t know! All we really know is that the title of the live album will be Awesome As Fuck and that the release date as of now is March 15, 2011, so stay tuned until further notice!

Billie Joe on Broadway Returns for January/February Run and New York
Times Interview with Michael Mayer and Patrick Healey

Billie Joe at St. Jimmy - Photo by Getty?

Billie Joe returns to Broadway in January and February, and Green Day Land is abuzz with excitement. Fortunately fans from around the world will be coming in for it, but unfortunately, those same fans have to be prepared for bad weather that may get them stuck coming in and out of New York City. In fact, as I write this, I’m stuck in Detroit (my hometown) after my flight back to New York was cancelled on Sunday due to a snow thunderstorm/blizzard that hit the East Coast and shut down travel from trains, planes and automobiles. If you’ve ever been stuck in Detroit, you know that I’m miserable, but, I’ll get out eventually. I hope. All I can say is be prepared for winter weather. I remember when I went to see Pinhead Gunpowder back in February when a winter storm caused major havoc and I had to scramble to get to Berkeley for the once-in-a-lifetime chance of seeing the mercurial Pinhead Gunpowder play a benefit show at 924 Gilman for their friend, Anandi. It was well-worth it, but nerve-wracking nonetheless. We are all going to pretend that the weather will be lovely from here on out and everyone coming in from the nether regions of the world to see Billie Joe on Broadway will encounter only good weather and good times. Prayers to the Lushie Gods are certainly in order for that one! Billie Joe will be back starting this weekend, January 1st, and though he will have two weeks off during the two months, there will be a total of fifty performances with him staring as St. Jimmy. The schedule for Billie Joe’s performances can be found at the American Idiot on Broadway site. Tony Vincent, who originated the role of St. Jimmy that Billie Joe will be doing, leaves the cast as of December 30, 2010. I was going to see Tony again in the show this week, but sadly, Snowpacalypse 2010 will now prevent that.

Patrick Healey, an Arts and Entertainment writer at the New York Times, will be interviewing Armstrong and Michael Mayer coming up on January 9th at the Times Building on 43rd and 8th Avenue. (Information on the sold-out event can be found here.) If you remember when Jordan Roth interviewed Armstrong and Mayer at the 92 Street Y back in September, the questions were pretty run-of-the-mill and, well, tame. Of course, at the American Idiot talkbacks, there were a lot of good questions as well as uninformative ones such as “Can I give you a hug, Billie Joe?” but I have a feeling that Healey just won’t be asking the questions that are really on the minds of fans, and with that in mind, the ever-funny Abbey Fox has written up a Twitter-based list of 17 questions that she would like to ask Billie Joe.

I don’t really want to see Billie Joe’s feet (though if the opportunity arose…), but she has composed some classic and funny rejoinders that will unfortunately, never be asked, but are on the minds of many Green Day fans – or, at least the Mind of Abbey. I asked her if I could reprint her questions below. Here’s the list, and let’s hope that Healey will get the message and ask at least one question. After all, Jordan Roth did use one of Abbey’s questions at the 92 Street Y. I hope you are reading this, Healey!

***** @GREENDAY SPAM ALERT WARNING*****

TOP 17 QUESTIONS THAT **@AbbeyFox** WOULD ASK @GREENDAY BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG ON JAN 9TH THAT @PatrickHealyNYT WON’T

1) Can we see your feet? @greenday

2) Tom Fucking Kitt. Have you licked his face? @GreenDay

3) What can you tell us about AI the movie project. And no bullshit, you gonna play St. Jimmy or what? Cuz you should. @greenday

4) You said you felt like a goddamed Bway rookie & you fucking loved it. What might you look to next to feel like a rookie again? @greenday

5) Your Steve Jobs rant in South America. WTF? @greenday

6) In 2010 @GreenDay gave us the summer USA HO AS HELL TOUR. Any chance Reverend Strychnine Twitch launches a 2011 HOS IN HELL TOUR?

7) When are you going to create a line of mens and womens socks? Discuss. @greenday

8. What was the best gift you got or gave for Xmas? Worst? @greenday

9) Tell us about creating a distinctly different St. Jimmy than Tony Vincent’s. @greenday

10) Rodeo Queens: future plans? Or just drinky time fun? @greenday

11) Tell us about AWESOME AS FUCK and the live cd/dvd. Do you realize how much fans shit themselves when they saw the AAF title?

12) Of all your side projects, which one, if any, are you itching to get back to next? @greenday

13) As AI comes to a close how will you keep these amazingly talented people tangled in your @GreenDay web? Where does the show go next?

14) We’ve heard you have a lot of new shit written. Any connected theme thru it? Tell us about it. @greenday

15) What’s the status of getting a new @GreenDay man cave? Where do you go when Mrs. Armstrong tells you to get the fuck outta the house?

16) Whats the fucking deal with dropping twitter like a bad pit stagediver? @greenday

17) The audience heard you shrieking backstage before your St. Jimmy entrance. It got the audience pumped too. Tell us about that. @greenday

And with that, I’m going to go back to my Mom’s house in Detroit and be stuck some more until I can manage to make it to NYC. I hope you all had a lovely holiday and an excellent upcoming New Year’s Eve.

Best, Green Day Mind

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September 21, 2010

Happy Anniversary American Idiot and Billie Joe Armstrong at AI Idiot University

By Green Day Mind

First of all, Happy 6th Anniversary today, American Idiot! The album was released on 9/20-9/21/04 in the UK and US, so take some time to revisit the album and say, happy anniversary to it!

Billie Joe Armstrong, Michael Mayer, and some cast and crew of American Idiot on Broadway held a series of “talkbacks” last week at the St. James Theater, moderated by David Cote of Time Out New York, after the show happened from 9/14-9/19. I was lucky enough to attend three performances of the show (thank you Jenne and David! much love to you!) and all five talkbacks (two of which I…uh… just walked in on), and I have to say, it was a special and wonderful time to not only see Billie Joe talk about the show, but to hear great discussions regarding the creative processes of the show itself.

My blog was mentioned at the talkback! Woot! David Cote referred to my interview of Afghan war vet and hardcore Green Day fan, Dawn71, using it as a basis to relate how the show of American Idiot (see video below at 1:01-2:32) reflects real life in terms of war and the impact that it has on life. In the clip below when Green Day Mind is mentioned, Billie Joe kind of shrugs and laughs, saying that “He had never heard of the blog,” but it was pretty amazing for me to sit in the audience and have David refer to the blog in a very serious manner. My blog is kind of strange — a personal journey of sight, sound, performance and life — all from the viewpoint of this past year following Green Day. I’ve put a lot of work and love and rage and time into this crazy blogging project, and though it was a bit strange to have him chuckle at first, it was awesome to hear one of my more serious blog posts used to highlight one of the serious themes of American Idiot. Dawn71 was hella happy to know that her love for the band and a story of her life was mentioned as well. Watch the video below to see!

David Cote mentions “Green Day Mind” at American Idiot Talkback (1:01-2:32)- American Idiot on Broadway — 9/15/10 — sundaymorning6am

The talkbacks themselves, minus the impromptu audience questions, were pretty awesome. I heard some things about the creative process of the show, particularly from the designers, that I had never heard before, and it was pretty great to have the mix of actors come into the talks to discuss the show from their viewpoint. It was all about Billie Joe, though, who was at the center of the maelstrom, and as the week of talkbacks wore on, questions from the audience stopped being serious ones asked about the show, but devolved more into, “can you sing ‘happy birthday’ to my daughter, ‘can I have a hug,’ and ‘can I give you something, Billie Joe?'” It was cool, though. Most folks never get the chance to meet Billie Joe in person, and hey, if you have the opportunity, you have to go for it!

Though American Idiot itself is more of a personal journey and not necessarily a political one (I’ve always looked at it politically moreso than personally, but the album itself is as much personal as anything else), I have to say, that the album literally dragged me through the latter years of the Bush Administration. I truly don’t know what I would have done without it. Thank you, Green Day, for being one of the few bands of the day that dared to speak out against what Billie Joe referred to at one point as the “regime of the Bush administration.” Billie Joe refers to the time of the album being written and the political and social happenings of those dark days after 9/11, below:

Billie Joe, John Gallagher, Jr. Talks About the Depiction of War in American Idiot on Broadway and the Response of War at the Release of the album, American Idiot— bwaddel996

All in all, it was a great time spent with Billie Joe and the people involved in the musical. I was very happy that I had the opportunity to witness the talks. I also went to see John Gallagher, Jr. perform at Rockwood Music Hall on 9/19, and he’s such a nice guy that he talked with a bunch of us crazy fans after the show. He really is a sweet kid! My friend Michelle, of Lucky17 Photography, took a bunch of great pictures at both the final talkback and at John’s show, and when she posts them on her blog, I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, I have a few blurry photographs that I took, but a couple of them I just absolutely adore.

Billie Joe with PBR Cans for Autographs - Photo by Green Day Mind

I have never asked the band to sign anything — I sorta hate getting autographs — and the only two pictures I have of me with members of the band were taken by other people (Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt, which was actually taken by Dirnt himself without me asking, good times!), but I just felt that I had to get at least one thing signed, so I did… a new variation of “AWESOME AS FUCK” that Abbey (who Billie Joe tweeted at that he loved, lol, good for Abbey!) came up with, “IDIOT AS FUCK.” Thanks, Billie Joe! UPDATE: Abbey asked Billie Joe and Michael Mayer a pretty long and intense question at the talkback, and I loved the answers given by both men regarding the show. See the video below:

Idiot as Fuck Signed by BJA

Abbey Fox (aka abbie) Asks Billie Joe and Michael Mayer a Question — Whiting1ful

All in all, these talkbacks, combined with Billie Joe and Michael Mayer interviewed by Jordan Roth of the Jujamcyn Theaters at the 92StY on 9/19, were… how shall I say… awesome as fuck, and at times, Idiot as fuck as well. Thank you, American Idiot for the good times! Billie Joe left New York on Monday, to head back to the Bay. Have a great vacay before you head off to South America, and say hello to Mike and Tre for us! I missed them.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day's American Idiot (Musical), Politics, Society