Gary James' Interview With
Author/Journalist/Film Maker
Staci Layne Wilson
She's an award winning author, journalist and filmmaker specializing in Rock Music history. She is the center of the Rock And Roll Nightmares book series and she directed the music documentary The Ventures: Stars On Guitars. She's interviewed countless celebrities, including Jimmy Page, John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell and Gene Simmons of KISS, to name just a few. We're talking about Stacie Layne Wilson.
Q - Aren't you a little young to be so interested in a group like The Ventures?
A - (laughs)
Q - But then I looked at your last name and started to put two and two together. Are you related to Don Wilson of The Ventures?
A - Yeah. He's my Dad.
Q - Now it all makes sense. I interviewed your father a number of years ago.
A - Oh, he was awesome. He was a great guy.
Q - He was a pioneer, as they say. He was a legend.
A - He sure was. I really learned that in making the documentary, how influential The Ventures were. Even though he was my Dad, hearing all these great stories from famous musicians to musicians whose music I loved, to hear how much they loved The Ventures was really so humbling and interesting and fascinating to me. In making the documentary I even learned a lot about The Ventures.
Q - Are you a musician yourself?
A - No, I'm not. I can play the radio. (laughs) That's it.
Q - Well, it's a start.
A - That's true. I have a few guitars. I just love guitars. I collect guitars because I just think they're gorgeous, but I do not play. I took one lesson and thought, "Man, this is hard! I think I'll stick to writing and directing."
Q - Do the guitars you have belong to your father?
A - One guitar is a Sharp Five, Japanese prototype. A Ventures model that my Dad gave to me when I was 16. And then the other two, I bought an acoustic guitar just to have around. When people come over they can play it. And then I recently acquired an Airstream, kind of like Jack White, iconic red and white guitar because I just love that. I love the look of it and I'm a huge Jack White fan. So, it's great to have that.
Q - You say that you had an unusual upbringing in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s. What did you mean by that? Did you go on the road with your father? Did you go to Hollywood parties?
A - Some of that, but mainly my Mom raised me because my parents split up when I was only two. So, my Mom got custody of me and she was a very wild, party girl in the '60s and she was a pinup model and became a more serious writer in the '70s. Back then people would have big house parties with all kinds of intellectual and unusual people. So, as a little kid, I preferred the company of adults to kids because they would talk to me like I was a real person. I learned a lot. It was just an interesting time to grow up. Being a kid wasn't a liability at all. They treated us kind of like little adults. I'm Gen-X, so I was sort of allowed a lot of freedom to come and go as I pleased. I had my own key to the house. It was just a really different time to grow up and I'm glad it was the time that I was young.
Q - Do you remember any famous people you spoke with in the '70s and '80s, or were you too young to comprehend that?
A - Yeah, when you're a kid it kind of bounces off you, especially when your parents are celebrities. It's kind of a part of growing up. I do remember my Dad lived across the street from Glen Campbell and he would come over. When I was super young my Mom knew Bobby Kennedy and he would come over. She said he held me, but I was only two so I didn't realize who he was. So yeah, there were a lot of celebrities coming and going, but it was all just a part of everyday life.
Q - I'm impressed. Bobby Kennedy. Glen Campbell.
A - Yeah. My Mom has a really wild tell-all memoir called Legends and Lipstick. Her name is Nancy Bacon. Her life story is really just out there. Just having her raise me is a unique story to say the least.
Q - Considering the fact that your parents were so well-known it must have been easier for you to get to interview Jimmy Page and Joni Mitchell.
A - Part of it is I was working as a entertainment reporter, so I did a lot of red carpet interviews and junkets. While I was making the movie, if I happened to be interviewing someone for another project, I could slip in a question about The Ventures and be able to ask that. I also interviewed David Crosby, but unfortunately my documentary had just wrapped up, so I couldn't get him in the documentary. He was really one of my favorite people to interview and then he passed away shortly after that, maybe a year later. I felt just so honored and lucky to be able to have interviewed him about his documentary.
Q - You're talking about on-camera interviews, right?
A - Yes.
Q - Who did you work for, Entertainment Tonight?
A - Actually I worked for the Sci-Fi Channel for a long time and you'd be surprised how many different facets of the industry I could cover working for the Sci-Fi Channel. I did Comi-Con and so many different celebrities showed up there. I remember one weekend; it's a four day event, I interviewed over four hundred people (laughs) that weekend! So, it's crazy. But they would let me ask other questions too. In fact, I was allowed to come up with my own questions. So, if there was something I could be able to use for the documentary I was able to do that. I'm a freelancer, so I worked for all kinds of different companies. I worked for Yahoo Movies and I worked for Horror.com. I had a talk show called Inside Horror on Camera Talk Show. So, I've been able to interview a lot of really high, A-list celebrities.
Q - You're known as a Hollywood historian. How did you get that title?
A - I was on quite a few of the Bravo shows like 13 Of The Scariest Movies and I'm also called upon to do commentaries for DVDs. So, that was something that was bestowed upon me because of my experience in the industry.
Q - You have investigated Hollywood mysteries. What are the the biggest Hollywood mysteries you've looked into?
A - Well, that's something I'm going to be doing in the future with a series of books. But, I've always found one of the most fascinating Hollywood mysteries to be that of Lana Turner and her daughter, Cheryl. There's always been controversy as to who really killed Johnny Stompanato. Some people say it really wasn't Cheryl, that Lana did it and Cheryl took the rap for her because she was young and got a very light sentence. So, there war a lot of stories like that back in the day before social media and digital tracking and ringing doorbells, so you could really get away with a lot back then. I always find those stories quite fascinating.
Q - How many books do you have left in you that you can write about Hollywood or L.A.?
A - I have quite a few. I'm really focusing on the Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare book series right now. There are twelve books in the series and I have at least seven more planned. I have outlines and I just have to shackle myself to the computer and write them. But yes, there are quite a few different facets of the Hollywood life or the music life, the dark side that can be covered.
Official Websites: www.StaciLayneWilson.com
Rock-n-Roll Nightmares.com
TheVenturesStarsOnGuitars.com
© Gary James. All rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed by individuals interviewed for this web site are the sole responsibility of the individual making the comment and / or appearing in interviews and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone associated with the website ClassicBands.com.
