Chapter 1: What does John Mellencamp reveal about his relationship with his own music?
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Chapter 2: How did growing up in Seymour, Indiana shape Mellencamp's identity?
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Guess what? I do the same thing.
Chapter 3: What insights does Mellencamp share about celebrity activism and Farm Aid?
Well, you just said you didn't carry money, you liar. That's exactly right. You look good. I do? I mean, you know, I always say at our age, when people say you look good, there should be a chyron for your age. Yeah, I know. It should appear underneath that. But what else can you do? If you look good for your age, you can't, you know. You were never a druggie, were you? Yeah, I was.
Like I say, you were a druggie at a time.
In 1971 was the last time I took drugs. 71? 71.
Then you're not a druggie. I mean, that's a long time ago.
Chapter 4: What surprising stories does Mellencamp share about his encounters with Donald Trump?
Well, let me tell you something. You didn't want to be around me. Why? Mean? Total. Mean? You were a mean drunk?
Yeah. Got in a lot of fights, got the hell beat out of me a lot, had a big mouth. I heard you had a problem with authority. Did you hear that? Well, I mean, I don't like cops. I don't like cops.
I don't like... Well, that's a broad brush to say you don't like cops. You don't want to live without them, trust me. You don't want to live without them.
Here's the way it is. One or two together are all right, but you get a whole bunch of them, things get weird.
Well... That is part of it. I mean, look, I've done many pieces about my issues with the cops. I try to keep it fair and balanced, but here are my issues. One, whenever there's any trouble, Their attitude is, make sure we don't die. Now, I get it. You don't want to die. But it does say protect and serve on the car. And that refers to us, not you, that protect thing. That's about us.
And I get it. You're nervous. And it is a nerve-wracking job. You're dealing with the dregs of society.
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Chapter 5: How does Mellencamp feel about performing his classic hits on tour?
Anybody could have a gun. And sometimes they do. But the attitude can't be, well, At the least prospect that I'm going to get heard, we just completely empty our clips into this guy. I'll tell you a funny story.
I'll tell you a funny story. I was in South Carolina, and I was with a girl. And we kind of wanted to know where the park was, because we wanted to go to this park. And there was a cop sitting there, and we kind of knocked on his window. He was on the computer. And he went back. Finally, the girl I was with kicked the fucking door and said, hey, serve and protect. You did? She did.
Hey, serve and protect. And I went, whoa, we're fucked now. But... She was famous. So you celebrated your way out of it. Yeah, she did. She did. Hey, servant, protect. I thought that was pretty funny.
So luckily, the cop was a fan. Is that what you're saying? He knew who she was. And that got you out of it. Yeah. Some places, that'll get you into it.
Yeah.
Yeah. They like that. I mean, they like getting scalps. Scalps. They like it. Well, you know, so does the press. Well, the press, you know. People like getting scalps. People are unhappy. A lot of people are unhappy.
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Chapter 6: What does Mellencamp mean by 'A writer writes to what he aspires to be, not what he is'?
And what animates their life is getting somebody else unhappy. I mean, the problem with the cops is that it attracts the wrong kind of person, which is the kid who got stuffed into a locker in high school and knows, oh, you know what? You give me this badge. Suddenly everyone is respecting me big time. Oh, you better. It attracts bullies the same way the priesthood attracts pedophiles.
Well, you know, in the town I grew up in, There were 18,000 people and four cops. So I never had any trouble with the cops, because there wasn't any. But now, if you went back to that town, there's still 18,000 people and must be 400 cops.
Yeah. No, we definitely have a lot of people with guns. If you travel from- Hey, what's your new ring? I noticed you had a- That's an aura ring. It yells at me when I don't sleep well. Do you have trouble sleeping? Trouble? I'm not looking for trouble, but sometimes I get it, yes.
Chapter 7: What reflections does Mellencamp have on aging and personal growth?
I mean, I would say I get enough, but not every night. It's not easy to fall asleep. I get up at least once during the night. It's not easy to fall back to sleep. We all know it's harder to sleep as you get older. You don't find that? You're a different dude. I mean, I can't believe you haven't lit a cigarette yet. Oh, I just had one before you came in.
Oh, you know, I'm not encouraging you, but you're more than welcome, of course. But you're just different. I mean, very few people your age find it easy to sleep. I can fall asleep that quick. Really? I'll try not to bore you then.
If I have to get up in the night, which, you know, sometimes you do, I can be back to sleep in two minutes. Really? Yeah. I don't have trouble like that, sleeping. Matter of fact, I hate going to fucking bed. I hate going to bed, and I hate getting up. What time do you get up?
Chapter 8: How does Mellencamp view the current political climate and its impact on America?
Well, my ring would yell at me and say that you're not at any fixed time, which is the problem. I stay up too late, so I get up too late. I feel like it's more important to get a full complement of sleep than it is to sleep in any particular hour. So if I don't actually fall asleep until 4 a.m., I'm not going to want to get up until noon. Right.
You know, The Ring, again, has a problem with that and yells at me for not sleeping at the right times. And I just want to go, what if I had a job that made me work these hours? Okay, shut up, Ring. Yeah, well, that's exactly why I never wanted to get married.
The Ring. That's exactly what it is with me, Bill. You know, I don't get off stage until 11, 11.30.
And then- I remember being with you when you got off stage, there drinking your milk with your cigarette. Yeah. In your trailer. Yeah. Do you remember that when I saw your amazing show? Yeah. By the way, you're back on the road. Look at me remembering to do the plug. That's a first. Oh my God, all through July, And August, great time to be out.
Summer, we want to see an iconic star who's still great. Grand Rapids, July 10th. Just trust me, these are all July. Tinley Park, Illinois, Kansas City, Shekopee, Minnesota, Clarkson, Missouri. Michigan, Noblesville, Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, Cuyahoga Falls, Mansfield, Massachusetts, Holmdel, New Jersey. That's my home state. I remember that's the Garden State Art Center.
Wontar, New York, Bristol, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina, Alpharetta, Georgia, Tampa, Houston, Phoenix, Hollywood Bowl on August 10th, ending with Mountain View. Oh, I played there, too, the Shoreline Epitheater, August 12th. Yeah, I mean, you are still. You didn't have to do that, Bill. I'm thrilled to do that.
People are thrilled to hear it and know it because like this, I've been told this is, you're somehow, I didn't get this because they said, well, he's doing his hits. I said, I saw him and I saw plenty of hits. I totally saw you do plenty of hits.
In fact, I remember you saying to the audience specifically before you went and did Jack and Diane, you said, you know, I wrote this long, you know, it's a little ditty and it's like, it never was my favorite song, but people love it. And of course I'm going to play it for you.
So, yeah. Okay. Listen, but you know, uh, for the last 17 years, I may do four or five hits. But I'm very smart, see. I kind of plat out the show so I'll do a couple new songs, then throw in a big hit, then, you know, Same thing.
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