aplastic anemia treatment

The following are excerpts from that conversation:

OHR: After all of the success that you’ve had, I mean stand up comedian, tv star, musician, academy award winner… In what form of art do you find yourself most comfortable?

JAMIE: Oh, I just think for whatever we’re doing, like right now we’re doing this tour, and being able to do the music and the stand up comedy and the characters, man, it's just great. You know, everyday day it’s satisfying. It’s a good ... to get people to respond right there, you know? It's not like doing a movie or a song where you have to wait ... for the reaction. This is what I was born to do so, you know, right now this is what is most gratifying.

OHR: So you like the live interaction better than even being on movies?

JAMIE: Right now, yeah, cause it's so much energy, you know?

OHR: A lot of our readers are young aspiring artists, so a lot of my questions are aimed towards that. What would you recommend to young people that want to do what you do?

JAMIE: What do I recommend?

OHR: Yeah.

JAMIE: Well they should do it, man. I’ll put it to you this way, and here’s a loaded answer to your question…we live in the most opportune time in America, by being in America. Sometimes I think we kinda take it for granted. But being a young kid from Terrell, Texas, population 12,000 people, and to go and be able to do and meet the people that I’ve seen and do the things I’ve done. Opportunity is there. You just have to pop that cap off ... That restraining cap – "I don’t think I can" or "I’m afraid to fail". This is the most opportune place in the world to be so there’s really, really nothing holding you back except for yourself. So you gotta go get it.

OHR: How did you handle nay-sayers when you were starting out on the track to being a performer?

JAMIE: Come on man, nay-sayers? Why even give them energy, you know? All you wanna do is streamline and control your destiny. Concentrate on what you’re doing. Cause if you concentrate on anything else, especially the negative things you won't be able to get to it.

OHR: Speaking of the negative, did you ever think that you had a huge mistake? What was the biggest mistake you ever had as a performer starting out?

JAMIE: I don’t think that there were any big or small mistakes. I mean, the mistakes were mistakes, but I think you need those in order for you to evaluate. Like, "Hmmm, let me make sure I do THIS this time and not THAT this time." And I think in performing and coming up with art, always stay artistic. And sometimes the mistake you make is, like, trying to manufacture something that you think people want to buy as opposed to doing what’s gonna come from inside of you. And once it comes from inside you, it may not always work, but at least when people look at it, it will be something that you were happy to do and that really came from you, you know?

OHR: So it’s not about marketing to other people, it’s about doing what you really believe.

JAMIE: It’s both. It’s trying to figure out how to do both. But whenever you DO do it, you want it to come from you, even if the marketing is coming FROM you. You know what I mean? Because you have to make it appeal to the masses, but how you appeal with your artistic muscle completely flexed.

OHR: Gotcha. What do you think of the state of stand-up right now?

JAMIE: Oh, stand-up’s always gonna be great.

OHR: (laughter) It’s always great?

JAMIE: Yeah, man. There’s guys out there going to get it, man… I look at people, you know, like the cats that go out with me and everything like that… You know, they’re really trying to push the envelope now …There’s people out there trying to go get it.

OHR: With all the controversy saying that it’s detrimental to young artists, what do you think of shows like American Idol and shows that really promote these young artists?

JAMIE: I think it’s great, man. I think it’s great. I mean you know, and we had Star Search back in the day. It is what is it. You know, I mean entertainment, it is what it is. It’s gonna change, it’s gonna be reality shows ... you know you’re not gonna be able stop that. And people WANT that, you know? I think American Idol is a great thing: to be able to see talent all over the world, see the drama of it, see the funniness of it, you know? It just is what it is.

OHR: Excellent. Well I look forward to seeing you when you come down in the Hampton Roads area. Thank you very much for the interview.

Jamie Foxx performs at the scope on March 22, 2007 and there will be an after show party held at the Granby Theatre with Jamie.