‘A lot of fun.’ Dennis Quaid talks acting, concerts and Bill Clinton prior to SLO show
Note: The show has been moved from the Fremont to the SLO Brew Rock. The story has been updated to reflect that change.
Movie star Dennis Quaid doesn’t like to sit idle.
The actor and musician, who will be performing a solo acoustic concert at the SLO Brew Rock in San Luis Obispo this spring, says he has taken breaks before, but usually not for long.
“I’ve taken time off before and they forgot really quick,” said Quaid, who will take the stage in SLO for the first time on May 17. “I’m not a human being. I’m a human doing.”
As an actor, Quaid is best known his roles in “The Rookie,” “The Parent Trap,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and “Far from Heaven.” He played a NASA astronaut in “The Right Stuff,” played former President Bill Clinton in “The Special Relationship” and is slated to star as President Ronald Reagan in the upcoming biopic “Reagan.”
These days, Quaid splits his time between Nashville and Los Angeles, balancing his acting career with live music gigs.
“Yeah, I get nervous before every show. That’s a good thing,” he said. “Fear is actually a really great motivator.”
Once he’s up in front of an audience, Quaid loves the experience of performing live, he said. He plays songs by his musical influences — which include Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Doors — as well as his own tunes.
“My whole point is for everybody to have a really good time,” Quaid said.
Tickets for Quaid’s May 17 concert at the SLO Brew Rock range from $39.50 to $46.50 with the show starting at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Quaid talked to The Tribune via phone from Nashville about his life, career and music. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. What can people expect at your show?
A. People work hard all week and they just want to let their hair down and have a great time. That’s what the shows all about. I do songs from my life growing up that I wrote, and some that I grew up listening to (from known bands).
Q. You played Jerry Lee Lewis in the film “Great Balls of Fire.” What was that like?
A. He was one of my piano teachers when I got that role. It’s all about the left hand, isn’t it? He was looking over my shoulder all the time. Playing his music is an athletic experience.
Q. How do you compare performing live on stage versus acting?
A. They’re similar in the fact that you’re performing and music on stage is more like theater. That’s how I approach it. I am myself and everything, authentic, but I put on a persona a little bit performing live on stage. You can look right in people’s faces. I really enjoy that, connecting with an audience.
Q. You have played Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan onscreen. Did you ever meet either of them, and how do you compare the two?
A. I’d actually met Bill, but it wasn’t to play him. I met him a few years before I got offered that movie. I spent a weekend in the White House. He was a lot of fun, the smartest man I’ve ever met, a very intelligent guy with a photographic memory. I was around him several times and he would see people and remember their names, their family and kids’ names ... When there was an election going on in Ireland, he knew the name of every county in Ireland.
In a way, I felt in a way we got closer to Reagan because there’s so much out there ... You have to be very singular to be president of the United States. You have to have a strong personality.
Q. How has the film industry changed since you started?
A. It’s become streaming now. It’s actually morphed today more like what it was like when I came to L.A. back in the middle of the ’70s. It’s a golden age going on right now. There’s so much content that’s being put out there, which is a little less mainstream. We have some great voices out there. It’s almost a revolution really. A lot more avenues have opened up.
Q. What movies do people ask you about the most?
A. I’m multi-generational in a way. It’s kind of reflected in my stage shows. I have my “Parent Trap” girls, all the way back to “Breaking Away.” But the movie that comes up the most is “Innerspace.”
Q. What was the most fun move to shoot?
A. That would definitely be “The Right Stuff.” I grew up in Houston, which was Space City, and Gordon Cooper, one of the original seven (Project Mercury) astronauts who I played in the movie, was my favorite astronaut when I was a kid. I’m playing him and then it turned out he lived three miles from me in LA, and we became friends. Then I got my pilot’s license and I fly jets now.
Q. Why do you live in Nashville part-time?
A. There are a lot of great things going on in Nashville. Musicwise, 75% of all music, no matter what the genre, is done in Nashville. It’s a great feeling of community here. It’s very collegial. It just has a great energy to it.
Q. How much do you focus your time on music versus acting?
A. I play music every day. It’s hard to do acting by yourself unless it’s soliloquies around the house.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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