Green Day taps Tony Vincent - Tony Vincent's MySpace Blog |

It's 113F. I forgot just how hot that temperature felt until today-- it's the hottest it's been since I arrived in our new home-base city of Las Vegas, Nevada. We successfully got our New York apartment purged and packed up within a week while we tried to enjoy our last moments as "locals" in the place that's known as "the center of the world". As I type this newsletter, I still can't really believe that I've left the city that I love so deeply. At the moment, I kind of feel like I'm on tour or on some sabbatical of sorts. Ever since I was a little boy, NYC is where I always wanted to live, and for the last 13 years, it's been the place that I've felt honoured to call "home". That being said, New York summers are even more brutal than the ones in Las Vegas, in my opinion. The memory of standing on a subway platform with 98F temperatures combined with 90% humidity makes me feel blessed that I'm in the dry heat of Vegas. And the idea of having a relatively mild winter is a welcomed thing after spending the last one performing in Chicago and Boston. Even those cities' locals said that the winter we experienced was totally brutal-- the worst they had seen in 12 years. So, in light of the weather comparison, it makes moving here a bit easier. Also, Aspen and I have wanted to have the opportunity to plant roots here for quite some time-- as we really dug our time here during the US run of "We Will Rock You"

The beautiful Red Rock Canyon
just a stone's throw from our new home in west Las Vegas.

If you received the last newsletter, you know that I spent the month of May in the brilliant country of Estonia. It was an amazing time. I had the opportunity to perform with some very talented musicians, dancers and singers. Also, we had the privilege of having Estonia's Prime Minister and President in the audience. The concert theme was built around a futuristic love-story, nodding a bit toward the "We Will Rock You" story line. It was two acts of Queen music-- telling a story of love fighting against the demise of humanity. It was really a great experience-- singing some of the best songs ever written and holding court with 15 straight sold out shows.

While Aspen and I were packing up our apartment in NYC, I got a phone call to come in and be seen for the new Green Day opera-- based on their record "American Idiot". At that point I was completely unaware that Green Day had teamed up with Tony Award winning director Michael Mayer to develop a stage production of their Grammy Award winning rock record. For those who don't know the "American Idiot" record, Green Day took inspiration from concept records byThe Who, as well as musicals including "West Side Story" and "Jesus Christ Superstar". It was a bold move by the band to do something in that genre, but boy did it pay off-- selling over 14 million records worldwide. Anyway, the creative team had done two workshops of the "opera" over the past year-- and decided to put it on its feet this fall at The Berkeley Rep beginning September 4th. From what I understand, the entire show had been cast for quite some time-- apart from this one character called "St. Jimmy"-- an alter ego of the principle male "Jesus of Suburbia". The storyline nods to the likes of the film "Fight Club", where a man (played by Edward Norton) has a psychological melt-down against the consumer-based machine of America. Mr. Norton has an alter ego (played by Brad Pitt), who encourages him to create this underground "boys club", in which the members take an oath and sign-up to be part of an army, whose goal is to take down the credit card companies and erase the debt that is owed by basically every single individual on the planet. I'm not sure if the Green Day opera's theme is as carbon copied as the film's, but the main role relationships (Edward's, his alter ego and their girlfriend, played by Helena Bonham Carter, are very similar in nature from what I'm told.

So, long story short, I had 3 auditions in New York and 1 in Los Angeles... and I received a call that Billie Joe Armstrong (lead singer and lyricist of Green Day) and Michael Mayer had tagged me as the man for the role of St. Jimmy. I'm thrilled to get an opportunity to work with the band and Michael on this project-- and to experience this process from its beginning stages. Green Day has been publicly talking about this project for quite some time, and there is great anticipation for the show-- due to the current high-profile status of the band and the history of success stories associated with director Michael Mayer ("Spring Awakening", "Thoroughly Modern Millie"and "Side Man").

The show begins previews on Friday, September 4th at The Berkeley Rep Theatre. It's set to close October 11^th, with a possible 4-week extension. If you wanna see this show, I'm thinkin' ya best get your tickets ASAP. If this production explodes like Duncan Sheik's Spring Awakening did, this is going to be the hottest show to see on any American stage this year. (Tickets will be available from the Berkeley Rep Theatre web site at berkeleyrep.org closer to the dates of the performances.)

It feels very strange to be leaving the new "home" that we've JUST established, but duty calls and I'm chomping at the bit to participate in a full-on rock-opera. I leave Monday for a two-week creation-period at Vassar College's New York Film and Stage school. We'll be working with the band and Mr. Mayer during these initial two weeks-- solidifying the complete production before moving the show to Berkeley, CA.

I hope you all get an opportunity to come out and see the production-- and, hell, Berkeley is so close to Napa you have no excuses not to make a weekend out of it! (Who can go wrong with Green Day and nice California Cab!?)

And, just so you don't forget, you can still get all records of mine at cdbaby.com (www.cdbaby.com/artist/tonyvincent) for ONLY $5/CD (if you purchase ANY 3 CDs on the cdbaby.com roster!) Keep in mind that we won't be manufacturing any more physical discs-- so, once they're gone...

Best to you all-- always,