Keith’s still going country strong
Country superstar Toby Keith knows from hits: His new album, “That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy,” yields his 14th No. 1 single of the new millennium.
To noncountry fans, the 47-year-old Oklahoman is best known for “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”
That post-9/11 anthem prompted a war of words with the Dixie Chicks that Keith says now, “blew up in my face; when I reared up, I became the bad guy.”
Question: On the title track of your new album you sing, “I’m only as good as I gotta be/ That don’t make me a bad guy.” Autobiographical?
Keith: I would say so, yeah. But it’s tongue in cheek. It’s just a bunch of little things – like drinking cheap whiskey in a paper cup, feeling clean in a dirty shirt, being dangerous, cantankerous – that might be controversial but don’t make me a bad guy.
Q: Does the perception of who you are match the reality?
K: It depends on who you ask, I guess. Down in Hollywood, I’d be a warmonger; among the military, I’d be a hero. I speak my mind and stand by it.
Q: The media reports that you were supporting Barack Obama weren’t accurate, were they?
A: No. I said he had a chance to win as the party’s best candidate since (Bill) Clinton. I’m a lifetime Democrat, but I just jumped ship on the Democratic Party. I went down and registered as an independent. I’m not saying that Obama isn’t qualified and can’t do a great job; I think both candidates are the best choices we’ve had in years. I’m just embarrassed that the Democrats are embracing the assault on Sarah Palin instead of denouncing it. It makes me pull for her because I’ve seen them attack me. But it doesn’t bother me when they do it to me because it makes me more money and makes me more famous.
Q: When I saw you performing at Nissan Pavilion, I just about spit out my beer when you raised your arms and revealed a pair of clean-shaven pits. Manscape much?
A: (Laughs.) On those summer tours, you get so hot and sweaty. When I come off the stage, I have to dump water out of my boots. You just want to shave your head and get down like a swimmer, you know what I mean? I think it’s funny that you noticed that. You don’t have a man-crush, do you? You want to know if I shave anything else?
He can skip over little ones, though
He may be 78, but former “Lou Grant” star Ed Asner says he’s still going strong. Star of the Hallmark Channel flick, “Generation Gap,” Asner told the Hollywood Reporter, “I feel very strongly I have not lost it. I’m a better actor now than I’ve ever been, though I can’t leap tall buildings.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Stefanie Powers is 66. Keyboardist Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer is 64. Drummer Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band is 51. Singer k.d. lang is 47. Bassist Bobby Dall of Poison is 45. Actor David Schwimmer (“Friends”) is 42. Singer Alvin Chea of Take 6 is 41. Singer-guitarist John Hampson of Nine Days is 37. Rapper Nelly is 34. Guitarist Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie is 33.