Danielle Brisebois: Stephanie from "All in the Family" goes pop
by Todd Matthews

Have you been watching the O.J. trial? Uh huh. I don't think it's on television enough. I don't think it's on today, but it was on, I mean they're on break until later this month, I think. Do you think O.J. did it? I don't know. What does your gut tell you? My gut tells me not to say anything. [chuckle] Good answer. I noticed you were in the original broadway production of 'Annie.' Which part did you play? I played Mollie, the littlest orphan. Aww, that's cute. What year was that? I did it from 1976 to 1979. You were also in the New York City Choir Children's Choir. What year was that? I did that for the same time. You were busy. I was quite a busy little kid. When did you decide to become a professional musician? Umm. . .Well I don't know if I ever decided to professional musician. I have always loved singing. And I was always doing it, and the acting kind of fell in between that. And I kind of just went back to my roots. Do you have any plans to go back to live theatre? Umm. .no. You say that like you had a bad experience. No, I just find musical theatre to be extremely boring at this point. I mean, I haven't seen 'Tommy' yet. I hear that's good. But that's rock n' roll anyway. Have you ever had a crush on a musician, like say Jon Bon Jovi? I used to love John Taylor from Duran Duran, when I was like 12. But I thik as you get older, you don't really get crushes anymore. Has the status you have acheived now, allowed you to meet John Taylor? No I met his wife though. That must have been quite an experience. To meet his wife? Yes. She was mean to me. What happened? I went to the Duran Duran concert and I was so excited I was going to finally meet John Taylor. And I go backstage and I just wanted to say 'hi, nice to meet you and bye.' Nothing more than that. And his wife was there, and she said, "I'm his wife, he has a baby." So I said, "Oh, okay, bye." So I never got to meet him, but I met his wife. So tell me, what does Danielle Breisbois do for fun? Smoke clove cigarettes? I don't smoke, I love to shop. And um. . .what else? I don't know. I just like to go out and have fun. I mean I like to read a lot. I like to watch the O.J. trial. Like most of America, you're glued to the set. Well, for some of it. Do you go to clubs and slug down Mickeys on the dance floor? No I don't really drink to much. Not really a drinker. You're a very clean cut kid. No, I just don't really find that I need alcohol to freak out. I can do that without it. What types of music do you like to listen to? I like Bowie, The Cure, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Prefab Sprout, all kinds of stuff. Do you loathe any type of music? I don't really loather a particular kind of music. I just don't like necessarily, stupid songs. I just don't like bad song writing. Speaking of stupid songs, did you go to see Barbara Streisand while she was in town? No. Of course not. Is she on the list of people you loathe? No I don't loathe her at all. I think, I mean she's obviously a super-talent of some sort. I just personally don't think I would. . .I would. . .you know. . .enjoy a whole show. I don't get the whole Streisand phenomena. Why people would pay a thousand dollars. . . She's a legend in her own way. I mean she's definitely a legend, but to me, it just doen's turn me on. Do you know what I mean. I'm with you 100%. Some people really dig her. The tattoo on the back of you neck, is the same as the picture on the cassete single of "What If God Fell from the Sky." Did you design that yourself? Um hm. What's the significance of it? Well see, I've just always liked the symbol of Sun with a face in it. And I just think the sun is like fertility and life and hope. It's kind of all the good things that we need to survive. Are you religious? Not, not religious [I'm] spiritual. Do you draw often in your free time? Sometimes yeah. I like to draw. I like to paint more than draw. Do you have any other tattoos, we can discuss in a family magazine? Just that one. As a child, did you play with Barbies? Of course (laughs). Slinkies? Um hm. Do you eat cereal like normal people, or are you one of those flower power, freaky deaky, bran-blowing vegemites? I'm a vegan. A true vegan? Um hm. No meat at all? No meat at all. Chicken? Nope. Fish? When were chicken and fish vegetables? Uh. .Didn't Reagan declare them vegetables in the 80's? Maybe that was ketchup. Reagan declared a lot of things but I don't think he knows what he was talking about. Are you a conservative? No. Liberal? Well, I don't think I'm a liberal or a conservative. I think there are things in the conservative party I agree with and things in the liberal party. I think going to far to either one side, you really lose sight of the big picture. Who got your vote in the last presidential election? Clinton. And are you happy? I guess I'm happy. I don't get too wrapped up in politics. I mean, I think it's out of my control. No, your vote counts. My vote counts but I think that, actually it's out of my control. I mean, how do we know what the truth is, you know? We're just being spoon-fed all this information. I think the media just clouds the vision now too. I think it makes it all crazier and nobody knows what to believe now. I'm working on a theory. Every six months the media has to blow a really dumb story way out of proportion. The Tonya Harding thing, now it's O.J. It's been incredible the past three years. On the list of people I wish to thank, I didn't see Carrol O'Connor's name. I was wondering if you have contact with people from the old show? Yeah sometimes. When I was doing my thank yous for this record, I didn't think Carroll O'Connor was appropriate, because he really didn't have anything to do with my record career. And I was thanking people who I thought helped me, or influenced me in music. Was the transition from television to music an easy one? Well I didn't really make a transition. I just stopped acting. And then I went and, you know, I just completely stopped and then I went and did my music. I wasn't trying to bridge a gap or anything. I wasn't trying to bridge my two careers. You don't think you'll have the acting bug again? I couldn't guarantee that. But I would want to do more film than I would, like TV and stuff. How do you think the show affected your career? I don't know. Well I think it definately opens up some doors, I guess. Do you have a favorite episode of All In The Family or Archie's Place? Do I have a favorite episode of All In The Family or Archie's Place? I guess I'd say the one where I got Bat Mitzvah'ed. Because I got to learn Hebrew. That was fun.

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