I ran into Benicia Council Member Terry Scott some months ago and asked him if he would answer the Colbert Questionnaire for this column. A regular segment on “The Late Show,” the Questionnaire reveals aspects of a celebrity’s personality that otherwise would be unknown. George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, and Robert De Niro are among those who have taken it.
Terry and I sat down at Cafe at the Inn Friday, less than a month before the elections.
Are you familiar with the Questionnaire? We were fans of Colbert, but by midnight we would be asleep. By the time of the interview, we were done. So, I know of it.
Did you do any preparation for this interview? No none at all.
Me: “I admire you for not rehearsing ahead of time. This may reveal more than you want to in a family newspaper.”
Terry: “No, fire away. I don’t cheat. I’m a politician.”
Me: “Right! What was I thinking? Let’s get started.”
1. The best sandwich? A thick, corned beef, lean, with fresh, warm rye bread, a kosher pickle, and a Brown’s soda to wash it down. But I can’t eat them anymore. And only from Katz’s Deli in NY.
2. One thing you own that you ought to throw out? I have a bucket of staples. When you open a box they are in a perfectly pressed packed of 1000. Then they start separating, and you can’t get them back in the box. And I can’t use 1000, so I put them in a bucket. I now have a bucket full in different sizes for different staplers. So I go steal my wife’s stapler. I couldn’t throw them out, they’re a part of me.
3. The Scariest animal? Is a reptile an animal? I hate snakes. They might be good in a garden, but they slither and are slimy. My granddaughter has a snake, and they’re very careful to put a blanket over it when I come over or bury it in the sand. Yech!
4. Apples or oranges? I like a tequila sunrise, but Fuji apples are sweet with a bit of tang, and they’re only out a limited time and beautiful to look at.
5. Ever asked someone for their autograph? I’m not an autograph kind of guy. However, in 1972, I was the Editor of the “Kent Stater” and part of the press pool. Believe it or not, I still have the badge for “Nixon for President,” his tour of NE Ohio. I was on the tarmac and watching the Presidential plane land. I was a hippy and had been arrested several times for closing down the government.
Something overtakes you in the face of power. Nobodies gonna believe this. Nixon is two feet from me. Suddenly I ask him for an autograph. Only a couple of feet away, Nixon takes one look at me, my hippy attire and bushy long hair, and gives me a blank stare. No autograph. Later, when I gave Ken State’s 40th anniversary keynote, they asked me to donate the press pass to the University. I said “No. I’ll put it in my will.”
Where is it now? Sitting in a cigar box with a bunch of other crap.
With the staples? Next to the bucket.
6. What happens when we die? Tough question. Not quite sure if there’s a heaven or hell, and I am religious person. I think you return to the earth where we came from, and our soul is part of a memory, and hopefully gets passed on. There is a life force that becomes part of spirit and memory, and it’s what you leave behind as part of your legacy. I want to be cremated but also thinking about doing a green burial.
If you did come back? I would like to come back as one of my dogs, they live much better than I do.
Me:“I would be allergic to you.”
7. Favorite Action movie? “Top Gun” — the original. The music track is wonderful. There’s a love story; boy meets girl; boy falls in love; boy loses girl. Love those battle dog fights. Yeah!!!” (Terry makes like he’s a machine gun, “rat a tat a tat.”)
”Me: “I never figured you as macho.”
Terry: “I like to believe that I’m a macho, macho man. (He breaks into song.) But maybe not.”
Me: “Let’s move on.”
8. Favorite smell? Lilacs. I grew up in my grandparents’ house and right outside window was a lilac bush. The scent would drift in, and I’d wake up to the smell of lilacs. Even now, with the first scent, I’m taken back to my bedroom and twin beds with my brother. It evokes my happy childhood in Cleveland.
9. Least favorite smell? Again, going back to childhood, every Friday morning my grandfather and I would walk down Coventry Street and get a live chicken and fish for the week ahead. The combined smell was horrific. To this day, all I can eat is lobster.
Me: “Sad.”
Terry: No rotisserie chicken either. Give me some KFC or fried chicken wings or chicken marsala or even chicken salad.
10. Exercise, worth it? Absolutely. I walk three miles-a-day — walking and on a stationary bike. I have to keep my heart rate up after having them it out of my chest and cram it back in. It’s the only time I get to be totally alone. I put in my earbuds, turn on the music as loud as it will go, and walk. Don’t take telephone calls except from the Mayor and my wife. Groovin’ with the music, no one can bother me and ask what my favorite action movie is.
Me: “Duly noted.”
I’m stuck in the Beatles, Springsteen, the Eagles. If I really want to space out I listen to 17 minutes of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly. Wow! That drum solo!
Me: “Huh? Sing a bar.”
Terry instantly changes persona. With squinty eyes and furrowed brow and shaking his head he belts out the lyrics in a slurred, husky baritone —“In a gadda da vida babee. Don’t ya know that I luuuv you.”
Me: I’m nonplussed, but manage to say “You actually have a very good voice.”
Terry: “Thank you!”
Me: I still didn’t recognize the song, but kept quiet.
Note: The lead singer who wrote the song was stoned at the time and slurred the title which was “In the Garden of Eden.” His partner wrote it down phonetically — “In a gadda da vida.” When the singer recorded it he sang it like it was written and —voila. It has since sold over 30 million copies. Check it out on You Tube— or not.
Next time — the rest of the interview. Terry further bares his soul.
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