Adrienne Armstrong Q&A Preview

Just to tide you over until Thursday, here is the introduction to the Adrienne Armstrong Q&A, and also a couple of questions and answers.
I hope you'll read the whole thing Thursday. She was very open and gave great answers. Also, be sure and read the accompanying story that runs Thursday for an announcement on Campaign Green Day.

The first lady
Adrienne Armstrong, wife of Green Day frontman, talks about her life in Mankato and what came next

By Amanda Dyslin
adyslin@mankatofreepress.com
Adrienne Nesser, living in Mankato in her early 20s, had a long-distance friendship and flirtation with a guy so interested in her, he and his band planned two tours around Minnesota just so he could see her.
Green Day wasn't famous at the time. In Adrienne's own words, they were just another band she had seen a couple of times in the Cities.
They were both also seeing other people. But there was something pretty powerful that must have connected them over a distance of thousands of miles. There had to be. Otherwise, she never would have agreed, on a whim, to leave her home state of Minnesota to move to California to be with him.
Just weeks later, they were married July 2, 1994, Adrienne was pregnant with the couple's first of two sons, and Green Day's album "Dookie" became a household name. All of this seemed to happen over night.
Finding Adrienne and talking to her about all of this was a big part of our Campaign Green Day mission. Today, we accomplish that goal as Adrienne talks to us about life in Mankato,
including her favorite Pagliai's pizza toppings, how quickly her life changed when she headed West, and also the big question we've been pursuing for weeks: Would Green Day ever come back to Mankato to play a show?


FP: I couldn't get anyone to clear this up for me: Was it because of you that Green Day started coming to Mankato and playing shows? Or was Mankato a part of their early touring locations?
AA: Umm ... probably. : )
He booked a mini tour that started in Sioux Falls, S.D., and then came through Mankato, Minneapolis, to Beloit, Wis. So yes, to see me. Very Romantic ... .

FP: A few people who knew you said your decision to move out West to marry Billie Joe happened quickly. It was like one minute you were here and then you were gone. Was that how you remember it, too? Were you scared?
AA: Billie Joe had asked me to move out to California and give us a try. I was Totally scared. But super excited. It was a new adventure, and I was ready. I had a big garage sale -- sold as much as I could, including my favorite blue creepers, packed a mini U-Haul and drove out with my 15-year-old brother and my friend, Holly, who was already making the trip. I figured I'd give it the summer and see what happened.

More on Thursday!

Adrienne came through for us

Adrienne answered all of my questions today! (After she took a break to rollerskate beside Billie Joe while he went for a run. I thought that was pretty neat.)

She was honest and thoughtful, and I think all of you will love reading about her life here in Mankato and afterward. I'll tease you with a couple of questions and responses tomorrow.

To read the whole story, with all 16 of her answers, visit http://www.mankatofreepress.com/ on Thursday, scroll down to the Currents section and click on the story link.

Thanks!

Hurray! New word from Adrienne

I know many of you are checking back to see if we've gotten word from Adrienne, so just to let you know ... WE DID!
Adrienne left me a voicemail on Friday, and I didn't get it till this morning because I was out of the office.

Here's what she said:

Hi Amanda. This is Adrienne Armstrong calling. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. I've been trying to just enjoy these last couple of weeks with our family before Billie Joe leaves on tour next week.
I have not forgotten about those questions, so I will work on those. I'm in San Diego right now for preproduction for the tour, and I'll be back to a computer this weekend and early next week. So I will try and get you those questions answered as soon as I can. And hopefully by like Monday or Tuesday.
So, I will try you back again another time. But, yeah, I hope you are well. It's so crazy to talk to someone from Mankato. It's been a while.
All right, I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

Prison, Nirvana and Meat

A little break from Green Day to talk about the Meat Puppets.

I interviewed Cris Kirkwood today to write a preview story of the Meat Puppets show at the What's Up. What an interesting guy. Funny, too. Kind of a smartass, actually. My first question had something to do with the fact that the band has played Minnesota numerous times in its 28-year career, but only in the Twin Cities. So I asked why they decided to venture outstate this time. He said something to the effect of: "Because that's what we do. We get tired of playing in our living rooms. So they have these amazing new inventions called cars, and if you get in them and push the pedals and buttons, it takes you different places. Pretty amazing." I was like, "Yeah, I guess I should try that some time. Moving on ..." Heehee.

The bulk of the interview, I must admit, had to do with their relationship with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana and the MTV "Unplugged" concert. It was cool getting some insight into that concert since it was so close to the time when Cobain shot himself. So many rumors and myths have swirled around about whether Cobain planned the show to appear like a funeral, like maybe his own funeral. Cris was able to put some of those to rest, I think.

He was surprisingly candid throughout, even joking about his recent two-year prison stint for assaulting a security guard with a "deadly weapon," also known as a baton. (The same security guard that ended up shooting him in the back!) He's definitely been through some stuff. His wife actually OD'd, and he suffered from addiction for a number of years, himself.

Anyway, fun interview. Be sure and check out the story. It will run Friday, July 3, and the Meat Puppets show is Thursday, July 9, at the What's Up. I'll totally be there. Should be fun.

Nothing wrong with that

Still no word from Adrienne, everyone. Thank you for all the e-mails, though! I know that’s what everyone is waiting for. And I promise to run to this blog and update as soon as I hear anything. I mean, her fella is heading off on a long tour pretty soon here. She’s got much more important things to do than answer 16 loooong questions.

Anyway, I periodically Google “Green Day Mankato” to see who’s buzzing about our campaign on the Web, and I often come across a great Green Day fan site at www.nothingwrongwithme.com … They’ve been so kind to be supporters of our mission. So I thought I would give them a plug as well. Here’s one of the latest posts they made for us. : ) (Oh, and there will be more of those Mankato Green Day stories to come that everyone seems to like reading about, including the lovely Delfina below.)

Mankato’s Green Day Stories
Posted by Delfina

I don’t know why I’m so tickled by this, but it’s just so damn cute! It’s like a punk rock fairy tale.

As you know (I posted about this a couple times in the sidebar, and here’s the full story if you missed it), the Free Press of Mankato, MN has launched a campaign to bring Green Day to play in their town, where Green Day has a cool little history. They played there in their early days, before Dookie, and they went there primarily, it seems, because Adrienne lived there at the time, and uh, one of the boys just couldn’t stay away. I remember Tre mentioning this in Behind the Music (I think that’s where it was). He said Billie Joe kept suggesting that they should go on tour to Minnesota, and Mike and Tre were like, “Why Minnesota? Hmmm…? Oh… Adrienne!”

I’m nowhere near Minnesota so it doesn’t affect me personally if Green Day play there or not, though I’m certainly rooting for the folks in Mankato and hope they get their wish. What I think is just so sweet and interesting are all the stories that people have been sending in to the Free Press reminiscing about Green Day’s times in Mankato. You can read them all on Amanda Dyslin’s blog. One of my favorites is this one:

I guess my big Green Day story involved playing on a street corner with Billie Joe once while he was in town. I was actually playing Green Day songs with a few of my friends in front of the Barmuda Triangle trying to make a few bucks off of drunk people when he came out of a bar with Adrienne (who I only casually knew) and he jumped in and played along. He was so drunk that he couldn’t hit the high notes in the chorus of “Christie Road” — that was funny.

I can imagine Billie Joe doing that even now if he got the chance.

There are also some terrible-quality videos (hey, it’s more punk rock that way, right?) of a show Green Day played at a farm in 1992, and stories about that event as well. You can see enough to tell that the crowd — and it was quite a crowd — is absolutely loving it. The videographer tried to take some close ups of Tre, but all you can see is a funny halo of green hair.

And in the latest post, Amanda Dyslin got an email from Adrienne. Keep up the good fight Mankato!

Adrienne Armstrong Questions

Here are the questions I e-mailed to the lovely Adrienne Armstrong yesterday. No word yet, but she's obviously very busy, and I told her no rush.

The focus is heavily on Mankato, because that's where I am, of course, and that's where The Free Press readership is centered around. But don't worry, far-away GD fans. There are a couple of questions about the band in here, too. (No, I did not send the questions to her in alternating purple and blue lettering. That is solely for your benefit.)

1. Tell me a little bit about your college experience at MSU. Were you a studier? A partier? On the student senate?
(Also, what year did you start here, and what year did you graduate?)


2. Why sociology? What interested you about the subject and what career did you have in mind?


3. You seemed to have a ton of jobs while you were here. Your Mankato friends have listed Pier 1 Imports, the Piercing Pagonda, Pagliai's and The Jungle among them. Am I missing any? Any favorites among them?


4. Do you have any favorite moments in Mankato? Any night or event or time that really stands out for you when you think about your colleges years here?


5. I read you met Billie Joe in 1990 at a show in Minneapolis. Had you heard their music before that show? How famous would you say they were at the time?


6. Was it difficult having a relationship long-distance when Billie Joe was on tour after you'd first met? Especially being such a pretty girl in college with so many boys running around? : )


7. I couldn't get anyone to clear this up for me: Was it because of you that Green Day started coming to Mankato and playing shows? Or was Mankato a part of their early touring locations?


8. Talking to people around here now, it seems like the band was playing shows everywhere here in town: garages, basements and that show on a farm
near St. Peter. Was it really like that? Or was it just a few shows that just sort of popped up when they happened to be here?


9. Did you have any idea in the early days of your relationship that Green Day was going to hit the big time?


10. A few people who knew you said your decision to move out West to marry Billie Joe happened quickly. It was like one minute you were here and then you were gone. Was that how you remember it, too? Were you scared?


11. It seems as if shortly after you were married, "Green Day" and "Dookie" became household names. What was that time like for you? Was it strange to suddenly be living the life of a celebrity? Is it still strange?


12. What's your life like now?


13. What are your roles at Atomic Garden and Adeline Records? Does that keep you pretty busy?


14. Do you still keep in contact with anyone from the Mankato area?


15. And now for the $65,000 question. What do you think our chances are of getting Green Day to come back to Mankato to play a show some time? Are small markets like ours pretty much out of the question at this point?


16. Also, what are the chances we could get you to come back some time? We'd throw a big party in your honor, catered by Pagliai's. It'd be like a college reunion. I've got dozens of e-mails here that prove a lot of people would definitely show up to see you.

Update: Adrienne Armstrong interview

Adrienne e-mailed back and said she's flattered and would be happy to do an interview. I e-mailed her a list of questions, and she's going to squirrel away some time this week to answer. She's apparently having some family time during the next couple of weeks before Billie Joe goes on tour. I'll update more if I hear anything else.

: )