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Jan. 13, 2024 - The Tucker Carlson Show
43:24
Tucker Carlson - Ep. 64 At some point America’s power grid will fail. What happens then? Dennis Quaid on a risk the government seems to be ignoring.
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dennis quaid
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tucker carlson
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tucker carlson
Dennis Quaid is one of the most famous actors in the world.
He's been in about 150 movies spanning almost 50 years, and he is at the same time a really interesting and engaged person with a lot to say who thinks a lot and thinks freely.
He's also an accomplished musician.
But he has a project coming up that you probably ought to know about.
We thought it was definitely worth telling you about, and so we're grateful that Dennis Quaid is joining us on set right now.
Thank you for joining us.
dennis quaid
Thank you, Tucker.
We're so glad to be here.
tucker carlson
I mean, I could ask you a million questions, but I want to get right to the project that's coming up right now about our power grid that you did.
Can you just give us a quick overview of what this is and why did you do it?
dennis quaid
It's called Grid Down Power Up, and it's about an issue which concerned me really for quite some time.
They did a segment on 60 Minutes about this, but basically there is a 100% probability that our son Generating what they call a GMD, which is a solar storm that hits our Earth and the magnetic field that we have around the Earth and can fry everything that is electric above the ground, including our entire grid.
tucker carlson
And this would happen organically, naturally?
That's just what the sun does?
dennis quaid
It has happened.
They call it a Carrington event, which happened in, I think it was 1859. And at that time, basically, we had telegraph lines as far as electricity goes.
And it fried our entire telegraph system that was set up.
It had to be replaced.
tucker carlson
The entire thing?
dennis quaid
The entire thing.
And so imagine what that would do now with a very large storm, which there's a 100% chance of it happening.
That was a 100-year event, they called that one.
I'm not good at math, but 1859. The trillions of dollars that it would take to replace all that, plus we wouldn't even get to spend those trillions of dollars because it would take out not only the electricity, but all of our entire infrastructure and our society runs our electricity.
We don't know how to live without it.
There wouldn't be any water in your tap.
You couldn't get gas for your car because the whole system is broken down.
Everything that we rely upon would be gone.
The food would melt in our refrigerators.
There would be, and they predict within a year, about 90% of the population would be dead from starvation, disease, or, you know, people, it gets back to the stone age again.
tucker carlson
Killing each other.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
Well, that's shocking.
A bit of information.
dennis quaid
It really lifts your day, doesn't it?
tucker carlson
It does!
I mean, I'm adding that to the Armageddon file that's growing.
dennis quaid
Nobody's really talking about it.
In fact, President Trump actually signed an executive order to harden our grid to protect ourselves against an event like this happening.
Obama tried to get that going as well.
It's stuck in these regulatory agencies and lobbyists because money needs to be spent.
Most of our grid power companies are privately owned and you can understand them not wanting to spend money on something that might occur.
But this is definitely going to occur.
tucker carlson
And this is not from a foreign adversary.
This is just a solar cycle.
dennis quaid
Well, we'll get to that in a minute.
tucker carlson
Okay, but we're starting with just what nature might do.
dennis quaid
Yeah, this is not what you call an enemy.
This is the sun that we rely upon every day in these solar storms that happen.
And they happen with frequency.
You've seen, everybody's seen, you know, pictures of the sun where, you know, the storm is happening and these flares come out and they're ejected out into the solar system.
And we just, you know, like in packets.
And we, I think it was 2014, we barely missed one by five days that went across our path of orbit around the sun.
And it's going to happen.
And then, you know, once it hits the Earth, there's a 50% probability of it either being us or the eastern hemisphere.
Who's ever exposed to the sun?
tucker carlson
So is there anything that you can do?
I mean, could you harden our electrical?
dennis quaid
Yes, there are simple things that we could actually do.
That could be built in that would, you know, not only for the military, which we'll get to, but civilian infrastructure to protect it, that relatively inexpensive compared to what it would cost if an event like this happened.
And overall, over time, it'd probably be about $100 billion, about the same that we just gave to Ukraine.
You know, to protect them from the Russians.
And it would be money spent.
Plus, also, in the process of doing this, it's like a space program.
You find out all kinds of other things that actually help society and advance us in our technology.
But it basically relays...
Protective relays that could be put at our substations and transformers that in an event like this happens, kind of similar to kind of a surge protector that you have in your computer.
That sense that there's a surge like that and cut it off to protect it frying our transformers.
tucker carlson
Pardon my total ignorance on this topic.
I'm embarrassed.
But would such a solar storm hurt people or just electrical components?
dennis quaid
No, it doesn't hurt people.
It's only like the transistors and anything electrical.
And you can melt it.
These transformers that we have, I think there's...
You remember the blackout that happened in New York not too long ago.
It was trees that were hanging over a power line, just like that, which caused a surge of power and upset the balance.
And it all relies on these transformers that get overheated.
And if you need to replace one, you don't just replace one.
They weigh about...
500,000 pounds to begin with to get them.
If you want another one, it takes two years to get one.
We just don't have them sitting around just ready to replace either.
It's really difficult.
It takes time.
And if you had a situation where your supply chain is cut off, and we get some of them from China, by the way, and it's just tough to do.
tucker carlson
If I can just ask you a dumb question, so an event like this happened in 1859, and it took out our entire telegraph system.
So this has been known for quite some time, and yet we've built a system that's vulnerable to it.
How did that happen?
dennis quaid
Well, the storms come in varying intensities.
That carrying Tingen event must have been upwards of like...
85 volts per meter.
I think that's what the figure is, the way they measure it.
And our system is built to take on, like, 8 volts per kilometer.
I mean, 8 kilometers.
And it won't handle it.
That's what Obama wanted.
What he did when he, by executive order, wanted to harden our system, what it brought up to that.
And the regulatory people, NERC and FERC, took it and wound up just protecting our infrastructure to 8 volts.
And so it's like 10 times less.
There was, because of these other storms that came through, you know, one I think was like 12, another one was this or that.
And so they, it wasn't a worst-case scenario, in other words, that they prepared for.
And that's what you need to prepare for.
tucker carlson
Of course.
Now, you're describing what we used to call, when we believed in God, acts of God.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
Probably our acts of God, but whatever.
But things that no human can control.
dennis quaid
Right.
tucker carlson
But there's a whole...
So there's a whole other category, though, of attacks from adversaries or terrorists.
dennis quaid
Yes, that's the other thing.
What are those?
Another scary thing.
I think, you know, the world as far as...
The danger in the world today is...
Much greater than when I was growing up.
I grew up at the height of the Cold War where we had duck and cover.
I lived in Houston, which was within that circle during the Cuban Missile Crisis of getting hit and probably would have been hit by the bomb.
And it's scarier today than it was then.
At least we had mutual annihilation and we had deterrence based on that.
That we wouldn't pull the trigger because your adversary was going to destroy you, too.
And today, that club has grown to where it's not only Russia, the United States, it's North Korea, that everybody knows, Pakistan, India, Iran, which they...
I believe they already have the nuke.
They just don't have the delivery system for it that could reach the United States.
tucker carlson
Do you believe Iran has a nuclear weapon?
dennis quaid
I think they do.
The Russians have been helping them out.
And if they don't have one, they're going to have one within six months to a year.
And it's really...
We've been approaching it.
Well, they don't have the delivery system.
They don't have the ICBMs that can deliver that all the way to the United States.
They definitely could hit Israel, though, who they're committed to destroying.
But they also have their terror organizations.
And it's gotten to the point now where it's getting so condensed.
You know, these suitcase dirty bombs, whatever they are, you could definitely rig one of those up and hook it to a Scud missile, put it on a cargo ship just off the United States coast, send it up to a certain altitude, explode it, and what they call a super EMP, which is electromagnetic pulse, which is the same thing as a geothermal event with the sun.
If you send up a missile, a nuclear bomb on it, it exploded at 400 kilometers above the Earth in space, basically.
You won't see it.
You won't see the explosion because it's in a vacuum of space.
You won't hear it.
No people will be killed.
But the gamma rays, which are thrown out...
From that, would encompass most of the United States and take out this very same grid, which could cause a power outage all across the United States up to months, even a year.
And we'd have the same scenario that we described before.
tucker carlson
So, I mean, you hate even to game it out, but, like, if that happened, if huge parts of the United States had no power for a year, I mean, that would be an extinction event for a lot of people.
dennis quaid
Yeah, they've done a study, and 90% of the population would be dead within a year.
You know, during this Carrington event, I mean, one thing, we didn't rely on electricity, you know, and everybody had a cow.
If you wanted milk and you had a horse, if you wanted to drive, your car wouldn't work.
What do you do?
Your telephone doesn't work.
There's no way to inform the public about, you know...
tucker carlson
Anything.
dennis quaid
Anything.
So, you're kind of messed up.
tucker carlson
So, I mean, that in some ways seems far more effective than nuclear weapons.
dennis quaid
Not only that, you're not killing people.
And so...
That makes the decision to use them a little, you know, it's not easier.
You don't have to wrestle with your morals.
Right.
tucker carlson
There's no smoking hole at Hiroshima.
dennis quaid
Yeah, exactly.
And just like, because there are so many actors doing this, and there are terrorist subgroups as well, who do you retaliate against if it's...
If it's done from a cargo ship, you don't even know where it came from.
So who was the perpetrator?
And who do you retaliate against?
And yes, the military has hardened most of their infrastructure when it comes to this.
But they get their electricity, 90% of their electricity comes, 99% of their electricity comes from civilian infrastructure.
So how long is that going to last?
tucker carlson
So do you think magnified EMP attacks would take out a lot, I mean, like most civilian power plants?
dennis quaid
Yeah, just one, what they call a super EMP, and that has to do with the altitude where it is exploded, you know, from the center of that covers...
Certain area whereas if you were lower down you would only be able to cover that much area because it spreads out in a circle So and just fries everything so why I mean I know there are a lot of things to worry about yeah a lot of things are failing at once obviously but This seems like you might want to move it toward the top of the list of things to worry.
Yeah, I would I would think so I really would think so but it's And indeed the You know, the Russians and the Chinese have done so much more to harden and to protect their infrastructure than we have.
And so it gets down to that whole thing about survivability, you know, being able to survive an attack and to attack someone and then being able to survive when they retaliate.
And they've got that going for them.
Make somebody like, you know, Iran, who, it's a fraction of what their military budget is, and they know they can't defeat the United States, but, I mean, even a simple terror group, if you get their hands on a Scud missile and a nuclear device, you can really do some damage.
And I don't know why that our government has not been informing us more about this.
Back during the Cold War, when I was a kid, I was, you know, in the fourth grade, we kids were informed about what could happen, what to do if something happened.
At least that.
And also, let's get something done.
tucker carlson
I mean, I don't think the average person has any idea that this threat exists.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
No, they don't.
The vast majority of the people don't.
tucker carlson
Where is the climate lobby on this?
I mean, they're very involved in trying to remake the grid and change our sources of energy, and they're energy experts.
But is this something that they're taking up?
dennis quaid
No.
Not to my knowledge, no.
But this really definitely...
Well, they would be affected, too, of course.
You know, that's all about the fuel that comes to the power agency, whether it be coal or wind or whatever it is.
But if you knock out these relay stations, the power can't go anywhere.
It just fries everything.
tucker carlson
So this does suggest, I mean, our country's population is clustered in cities.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
Those probably aren't going to fare as well.
dennis quaid
No.
It would be easier to live in the country, of course.
And people who live in the country, you know, Would probably have better ideas, better knowledge of how to survive after an event like this.
But it's a scary proposition.
I mean, there needs to be education and there needs to be something done about it.
And done about it pretty quick.
I mean, these protective relays that could be installed in the Transformers, starting with that.
I mean, we have the technology.
We know how to do this.
It's not something mysterious that we have to get involved in.
What we do need is something like a Manhattan Project that we had back during World War II, where the Germans, we knew that the Germans were trying to develop a bomb, and so we got there quicker.
And somebody to cut through all the bureaucratic red tape and be vested with the authority to...
Just to get this done.
We could do it in a couple of years.
tucker carlson
So you mentioned FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission?
Yeah.
Wouldn't that be the agency that would be thinking about this?
dennis quaid
Yes, you would think that, but that's not the way it works.
Obama sent this to Congress to get it done, and then it gets caught in FERC and NERC because they're controlled by...
The lobbies of the energy lobbies, they'd have to spend money, which they don't necessarily want to do, because it costs a lot.
Yes, it would cost a lot.
I think the government should help in this.
And there's so many of them, too, scattered across the United States.
They're locally owned, most of the energy companies.
There's an energy company in South Carolina that is really doing something about it.
And there have been some cases where, you know, we've had energy companies that are making moves to protect the grid, but that's only one little part of the grid.
You know, when it comes down to it, they depend on the one next door to them and the one next door to them.
tucker carlson
It would cure the AI problem pretty quick though, right?
You'd have no AI within electricity.
dennis quaid
Yeah, exactly.
tucker carlson
But you wonder, there's all these...
I mean, a huge part of the American economy is based on digital commerce, digital innovation.
I mean, this is being...
unidentified
Right.
dennis quaid
Financial system is going to break down.
tucker carlson
Exactly.
dennis quaid
Transportation breaks down.
Your water doesn't work.
Food delivery is gone.
Your telephones don't work.
You go back to...
Basically, we go back...
Through that current event, the world goes back to 1859, and we're all in the dark, and the lights are out.
tucker carlson
So you would think that all these other sectors of the economy would be lobbying, because they all are dependent on electricity.
Everybody's dependent on electricity.
So if I'm Google, or if I'm Microsoft running AI or whatever, I would be lobbying for this.
dennis quaid
Yes, especially you.
You've got to have that.
Plus, also, just the effects of the gamma rays upon these microchips.
They're melted.
Actually, you know who the largest manufacturer of vacuum tubes is?
Russia.
tucker carlson
Vacuum tubes?
dennis quaid
Vacuum tubes.
Russia and China.
They are still in the business of manufacturing vacuum tubes because they are far more resistant.
They are far more resistant to these gamma rays.
tucker carlson
Are you serious?
dennis quaid
Yeah.
Than the microchips.
The old analog technology would work with internet dial-up.
Are they making horse carriages too?
tucker carlson
They probably should be.
dennis quaid
They probably should be, yeah.
tucker carlson
Okay.
Well, you just blew my mind.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
I want to go out and join the cavalry, I guess.
tucker carlson
So what kind of reaction are you getting when you tell people this?
dennis quaid
Mal's agape, kind of like you.
tucker carlson
Yeah.
dennis quaid
Yeah, because nobody hears about it.
And it's something we don't like to think about.
But I think people think of it in terms of an asteroid, which is on its way to destroy the Earth.
unidentified
Right.
dennis quaid
You know?
That seems like a very remote, in fact, is very remote.
But this is, you know, whether from the sun or a bad actor, this is something that 100% chance it's going to happen.
And we are just nowhere, no way prepared for it.
tucker carlson
That's absolutely terrifying.
So of all the projects you've done, 150-ish.
I mean, this has got a rate among the most significant.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
David Tice, he was a producer.
He produced Soul Suffer.
tucker carlson
Yes.
dennis quaid
And he's a patriot and a really smart individual.
And he called me up because he created this movie, Grid Down, Power Up.
That's the name of it.
Asked me if I wanted to be involved, and I'd seen that 60 Minutes episode about the geothermal event happening like that.
And I just said yes, because I remember it really frightened me when I saw it.
And I, like everybody else, had just gone on and forgotten it, because we have so many threats that are right in front of us that this gets pushed to the background.
tucker carlson
It seems like a pretty obvious one, though.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
And it's always the one you don't see, you know, that gets you.
It gives us feet of clay, basically.
You know, we may be the big, bad, great, greatest nation on Earth, the United States, but in some ways, all of this technology, this highly industrial complex that we've built has feet of clay because of...
This little simple thing.
tucker carlson
It's kind of perfect, though, isn't it?
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
I mean, it is Tower of Babel stuff, like people build this...
dennis quaid
Yeah, it's the Trojan horse, you know?
tucker carlson
Yeah, this massive thing, and it's horrible.
Looking back on all we were talking off air about all the movies that you've done, what are the ones that you remember most vividly?
dennis quaid
Well, The Right Stuff is my favorite.
tucker carlson
Why?
dennis quaid
Period.
Because it was, when I grew up in Houston, I wanted, you know, John Glenn went up.
I was in the second grade that rolled the TV and everybody that replaced wanting to be a cowboy, everybody wanted to be an astronaut back then.
And so I grew up wanting to be and then along came the book and I read it like in two days and wanted to play Gordo Cooper because he was my favorite astronaut back then.
He was the youngest one.
He was like the rock and roll astronaut.
And then I couldn't believe it.
I got the part.
And then it turned out Gordo Cooper lived three miles from me in L.A. No way!
So I called him up, and we became good friends.
And he turned me on to a flight school, and I learned to fly.
I got my pilot's license from that.
And still flying.
Fly jets now, in fact.
But it was like the ultimate boyhood fantasy, that role.
And it took nine months to do it.
Chuck Yeager, legendary Chuck Yeager, was on the set every day.
So it was a great time.
tucker carlson
It sounds unbelievable.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
So you were saying off camera that when you started, I think your first movie that you were in or around was 1975. How long did it take to make a movie then?
dennis quaid
It was at least three months to make a movie back then.
Because of the cameras, you know, you shoot one side of a scene, then you've got to, what they call, turn around and shoot the other person going the other way and seeing the background the other way.
And the lights and the cameras that we had at the time meant that it was at least, you know, a two to four hour turnaround.
So you just sit in your trailer and wait for that to happen.
Now all that happens like in 15 minutes.
And so movies just move really quick.
tucker carlson
But if you're on, if you're taking, you know, months out of your life to go to a location far from your home and you're in this, like, biosphere with the other actors, I mean, that's like its own world, right?
dennis quaid
Yeah, that's, exactly.
And it, you know, it's real time-consuming.
That's the reason, I mean, now you see actors, you know, doing maybe, like, three, four movies a year because it doesn't take that long.
It's not that they're so picky.
tucker carlson
You must get to know the other people on set pretty well.
dennis quaid
Yeah, you do.
Yeah.
It becomes your world.
It's a gypsy life, basically, being an actor.
And I still work a lot, but I spend a lot more time at home now.
Which I like.
tucker carlson
For decades, you must have spent no time at home.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
But that's your life.
tucker carlson
What's the most fun location?
dennis quaid
It's better than working for a living.
Let me put it that way.
tucker carlson
What are the coolest locations to shoot a movie at?
dennis quaid
Oh, I've been everywhere.
I did one in Svalbard.
This was a television streaming series.
Svalbard has the northernmost airport in the world.
It's up there, Long Yardin, where Admiral Perry is last stopped before the North Pole.
It's above Greenland.
It's 400 miles from the North Pole.
Like, the North Star, which...
If you're, you know, here in our, where we are in our latitudes, you know, it's about like right there, about 45 degrees.
There, it was up here.
And we were inside the Arctic Circle, which means the Northern Lights, you see a complete circle of it.
It was like being on another planet.
tucker carlson
So the Earth is round, you're confirming?
dennis quaid
The Earth is completely round.
tucker carlson
Okay, but you know that.
dennis quaid
Yeah, yeah.
Yes.
Where were you staying there?
I can confirm that.
They had a great little hotel there.
It's kind of a tourist spot for people to come.
There were 1,500 people there and 3,000 polar bears, they like to say.
And that's an interesting community, actually, because it was started by an American, which is Goodyear.
Goodyear Tires?
Yeah.
That guy went over there because they had A lot of coal there on that island.
And he started a coal mine.
And people from all over the world came there because it was guaranteed work.
So it was extremely diverse within that.
And it still continues to be that today.
It's where a lot of people would come there to get like...
An EU passport.
So he had like, at the time that I was living there, there were like 800 people from Thailand there.
And you can only stay there like two years.
And you're not allowed to die there.
tucker carlson
Really?
dennis quaid
You can't be buried there.
tucker carlson
They're pretty strict.
dennis quaid
There's no such thing as, yeah.
It's supposedly kind of owned by Norway, but it's also...
The same place where we had our listening post, observation post during the Cold War, if the ICBMs were coming over from Russia because they'd come over.
And then two miles from where we had ours, the Russians had theirs.
And that little town is like a ghost town.
That's another little tourist spot there.
It's a fascinating place to go.
tucker carlson
And no dying.
dennis quaid
No dying allowed.
tucker carlson
It's a death-free zone.
So you brought a guitar.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
Tell us about your interest in music.
dennis quaid
I've been playing guitar.
Music was first for me, really, you know, from the time I was 12. You can't act alone in your room.
I guess you can.
tucker carlson
Many have tried.
dennis quaid
I guess you can, but there's no one to act with.
Acting is reacting for me.
But music is, you know, is a thing that your friend, as a kid, that was, I was kind of like music, acting, music, acting.
I didn't know.
And it became acting.
But music has always been laced in there, and I've always had a band.
And I knew I was never going to shred a guitar, so I took up songwriting to go with that.
tucker carlson
How hard is that?
dennis quaid
Songwriting?
It's not a question of being hard.
I think if you ask any songwriter, it's like an affliction.
It's something that you either have or you don't.
And you get an idea that's a song or whatever, and you, it just, It's going to bother you until you finish it.
tucker carlson
Do you have some working their way out of you right now?
dennis quaid
Yeah, at this moment.
tucker carlson
Can you play one?
dennis quaid
It has nothing to do with EMPs.
tucker carlson
I need a respite for that.
That was dark, man.
dennis quaid
Play a song.
I'll tell you what.
I'll play you a song that I think probably applies to you, Tucker.
tucker carlson
All right.
dennis quaid
As well.
I wrote this because of Chris Christofferson, He and Kenya Tucker and Randy Carlisle did a song of mine that's going to be out.
tucker carlson
Did you know Chris Christopherson?
dennis quaid
Oh, yeah.
He's a great guy.
Fantastic.
But his wife said that nobody calls Chris because they think he's such a legend.
Oh, yeah.
He wouldn't take the call, you know?
tucker carlson
But does he want people to call?
dennis quaid
He wants people to call.
So now in my act, when I get up to playing this song, I call his wife, Lisa, and...
And we all leave a message where the entire audience says, hello, Chris.
It's good.
But I found that myself, it's about me as well, because when you get to after a certain age, after 60, people start giving you undue respect for things.
tucker carlson
I look forward to that.
dennis quaid
Yeah, by calling you legend, right?
Legend.
So I wrote this song for that.
unidentified
Please don't call me legend.
My humble life's not through.
dennis quaid
It's got a beginning, a middle, but there still ain't no end to what I might yet do.
I might just climb all the Himalayas, plant a flag on a planet or two.
But if you call me legend again, please wait until I'm in my tomb.
unidentified
Oh, and please don't treat me special.
dennis quaid
It makes me feel alone.
How can I be the simple person I've always been if you put me up on some throne?
I'm quite capable of making my own mistakes and I'm not afraid of failure.
So if you call me a legend again, I might just have to see you later.
unidentified
One more verse.
dennis quaid
Please don't call me legend.
It makes me feel like I already died.
That's just a squat, a third-hand story about some has-been and it's probably a lie.
So I'll just keep on keeping on trucking year after year.
And if you call me legend again, I might just have to box your ears, you know I will.
I might just have to see you later, bye-bye.
I might just have to see you later.
unidentified
Excellent!
dennis quaid
That was awesome!
You're welcome, Tucker.
tucker carlson
I love that!
I love that kind of music.
How would you describe that?
dennis quaid
That, I don't know, Americana, whatever.
Good old summertime, that one.
tucker carlson
That's amazing.
When did you write that?
dennis quaid
About two years ago.
Yeah.
tucker carlson
In Rage?
I mean, there are threats of violence in the song, I'm just saying.
dennis quaid
That was after meeting Chris, that episode.
Kind of sparked that idea.
tucker carlson
Who are your favorite musicians?
Who do you listen to?
dennis quaid
Oh, he was definitely one of them.
Currently, I'm going through the Frank Sinatra songbook.
tucker carlson
Really?
dennis quaid
Yeah.
Because nobody could sing like Frank.
I mean, just as a musician, you know, the voice is an instrument, and it's phrasing, and incredible.
You know, Jerry Lee Lewis was like, he was one of my piano teachers when I did The Great Balls of Fire.
tucker carlson
You knew him?
unidentified
Yeah.
dennis quaid
He was, the whole time we were doing the movie, he was right over my back going, you're getting it wrong, son!
He was really quite an amazing human being in all kinds of ways.
tucker carlson
He was an animal.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
What was John Prine like?
dennis quaid
John Prine, yeah, he was just a sweetheart of a person.
Really extremely talented and such a pure musician.
It wasn't about the fame and fortune for him as much as it was about the music.
And as a songwriter, I mean, nobody could turn a phrase like him.
tucker carlson
Kind of by himself in that category.
But he never really became a household name.
dennis quaid
Yeah, but a lot of people know him.
And his music will go on.
I mean, take somebody like Chris Christopherson.
I think that's really kind of the measure.
I take a song like Bobby McGee.
They'll be singing 500 years from now.
100%.
tucker carlson
But everyone thinks Janis Joplin wrote it.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
But it's okay.
tucker carlson
She didn't.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
I particularly like songs that sound like they were written by Anonymous.
You know, a lot of those American songs that are written on the frontier.
tucker carlson
Yeah, just as traditional on it.
dennis quaid
Yeah, exactly.
tucker carlson
Did you ever know Willie Nelson?
dennis quaid
Yeah.
Yeah, I've played with Willie Nelson, in fact, on stage a couple of times.
tucker carlson
What's he like?
dennis quaid
He's a very generous man.
And I mean, gosh, what his contribution to music.
And he's still doing it, man.
unidentified
He's still doing it just as great as ever.
tucker carlson
Yeah, he's like 90 years old.
unidentified
Yeah.
tucker carlson
In the end, looking back on your life, are you more excited about making movies or playing music?
dennis quaid
Living life.
tucker carlson
Yeah.
dennis quaid
That's what it is for me.
You know, it's like...
My autobiography is going to be called My Lucky Life because I've really gotten a chance to do so many kinds of things that I never would have thought I could have done.
And at this point, you know, my movie career, which has been so fantastic and so fulfilling, really, I enjoy it so much more now, making movies, because I'm not trying to get anywhere.
I'm not trying to...
Attain something.
I'm just doing the things that really interest me.
And, you know, that keeps the joy in life.
tucker carlson
Of course.
dennis quaid
You know.
tucker carlson
Do you think that, you know, in 30 years, Hollywood will still be a creative force?
dennis quaid
I don't know.
I really don't know.
It seems to be spreading out.
tucker carlson
Yeah.
dennis quaid
You know, we're trying to get Hollywood started in Texas, actually.
We're trying to bring filmmaking.
There is as an industry, not just as a destination for Hollywood, you know?
And I mean, the way it is now, not so many movies are made in California anymore anyway.
And a lot of the ones that I see in the previews, they all look like the same movie.
tucker carlson
Yeah.
dennis quaid
You know, a few really sneak by there every once in a while.
tucker carlson
Occasionally.
dennis quaid
Yeah.
tucker carlson
So I just, I gotta ask, gotta...
End it with the question I ask everybody, but I'm just interested.
Where do you see the country in a year?
dennis quaid
In a year?
tucker carlson
Yeah.
dennis quaid
Well, I'm really tense about next year, the election year.
It seems that more than any other time, everybody's got to pick a side.
tucker carlson
Yeah.
dennis quaid
And it's both...
Democrats and the Republicans.
I'm an independent, by the way, and always have been.
I voted both ways, you know, according to what the pendulum I thought the country needed.
But both sides seem to think that our country is going to be doomed, that democracy is going to be over if one or the other wins.
tucker carlson
Yes.
dennis quaid
And so how do we get to that place where we can have that transition of power?
Like we did not so long ago where at least people could tolerate it without having to, you know, basically have a coup in one way or another, a military coup.
We really are, I'm afraid of us becoming like a banana republic like that.
And we're the United States of America.
We're Americans.
tucker carlson
Yes.
dennis quaid
And I do believe...
I mean, things are a little bit more...
They're scarier than the word 68. I mean, Kennedy...
Bobby Kennedy was shot.
Martin Luther King was shot.
All the riots, you know, cities were burning.
We knew who the leaders were back then.
Now it's just this kind of underground, simmering rage on both sides.
I, you know, setting aside who's right, who's wrong, or whatever, I just think we need to find ways to unite.
And America's always found a way to unite.
I mean, things, back when they were forming the Constitution, you know, there was a guy, there was...
Who was it that came?
The other senator, in fact, in the chambers.
It got really bitter.
It was always about to fall apart.
It's fragile.
And Reagan is right.
Our democracy can be lost in a generation.
It only takes a generation to lose it.
I think we need to educate our kids what a great country this is, and that we're, in spite of our way we don't agree, that we agree that we're Americans.
And so, God bless us, and, you know, I just like to see cooler heads prevail.
tucker carlson
Do you feel that there are cooler heads out there?
dennis quaid
Yeah, I think.
As individuals, we can be.
In general, we have cooler heads.
I guess it's the mob that, whether it be on the right or the left or somewhere else, it gets confusing.
It gets really confusing.
tucker carlson
I hope I see you in a year.
dennis quaid
I think I will, Tucker.
tucker carlson
I think so, too.
dennis quaid
Either here or in Maine.
Here or in Maine.
tucker carlson
It's great to see you.
Thank you.
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