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60 Minutes Live Interview with Greg Page the 'yellow Wiggle' from the Wiggles from 8:30pm AEDT.
Guide_OC_Freia says: We're due to start our interview with Greg Page in 30 Minutes Guide_OC_Freia says: we have moderated the chat. This means you cannot type anything other than in the 'Submit a Question' option above your name. Please use this to ask your questions of our guest. Guide_OC_amicus says: Welcome to the 60 Minutes chat room. Unlike our regular chat rooms, this live interview is moderated. This means that all questions you enter are sent to an Interview Host who decides which questions will be asked our guests. Guide_OC_amicus says: ninemsn in association with 60 Minutes presents a Live Interview with Greg Page following The Wiggles sellout American tour. Guide_OC_amicus says: To ask your questions, please use the Submit a Question option on your top right (just above the room name). This is the only way to submit your questions, you can not ask questions in the open chat room. Guide_OC_amicus says: Greg, welcome to the 60 Minutes live interview, and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us tonight. Greg says: Thank you its great to be here, hope you enjoyed the story on 60 mins and lets talk!! Guide_OC_amicus says: We have had many people waiting eagerly for your arrival, and 100's of questions to try to get through, so lets go to the first question from one of our guests. LoStWuN in NineMSN_Events1 asks: What satisfies you the most about being a wiggle? Greg says: Theres lots of things that satisfy me about beign in the Wiggles. First of all i guess its the satisfaction we get from knowing children enjoy what we do. Secondly, it's very satisfying when we receive feedback from parents of children who are sick or have medical conditions and have shown either recovery or imrovemnt by watching our videos and thats fantastic, and thirdly just the satisfaction of being able to do something that we enjoy instead of beign stuck in a job that you don't enjoy wiggleaunty in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Entertaining children is rewarding but can be exhausting. How do you keep your energy and enthusiasm levels so high? Greg says: I'ts fairly simple we began doing what we do becasue we enjoyed it and thats the reason why we're able to sustain it and we've combined our musical background with our teaching background Lizzie in NineMSN_Events1 asks: How did you decide on the different coloured shirts? Greg says: We all chose our favourite colours pebbs in NineMSN_Events1 asks: my son is autistic and loves the wiggles, to the point of obsessivness....how do i tell him that your just normal everyday guys? Greg says: you just have to keep explaining to him that the Wiggles are just normal everyday people occasionally on our own website which is thewiggles.com.au there will be picutres of us in our every day clothes rather than in our Wiggles outfits and perhaps by seeing these pictures your son will understand that we are just normal, everyday people Doodles in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Greg, how did you all decide to start "The Wiggles"? Greg says: It was Anthony' s idea when we were studying at Uni Anthony had the ideas to write some songs for children and record them so we all got together wrote some songs using our early childhood background recorded them and so the Wiggles was born! KristyW in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Have you always wanted to have a career involving children? Greg says: Not always only towards the end of my high school years did i think about teaching and it was Anthony that guided me towards early childhood in particular I was going to be a primary or high school teacher but Anthony told me about the philosophys of early childhood education and how it closely related to the arts and music and it appealed to my creative side spits in NineMSN_Events1 asks: How has your life changed since becoming a Wiggle? Greg says: The biggest change has been in terms of travelling whereas prior to performing with the Wiggles I travelled only within Australia. Now touring committments take me all over the world which is very exciting but also having a family makes life challenging as well Mumbles82 in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Greg, knowing that you, Anthony, and Murray have education backgrounds, how was Jeff decided to be part of the group? Greg says: When we were recordign the first album it was decided we need someone with knowledge of keyboards and sequencing so Anthony called on his band mate from the Cockroaches, Jeff, and initially it was only for the purpose of recording. However, when we started performing live, we found that we needed Jeffs talents on stage as well. It wasn't easy for Jeff to adapt to the intricacies of performing for children as he didn't share the same early childhood background as the rest of us. Over the years though we have taken great lengths to impart any information we can onto Jeff so that he now understands a lot of the philosophys involved Meggie in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Did all of you dance as youths? Your dance steps are complex especially in the early videos, is that all learned as Wiggles or before? Greg says: The dance moves in our early videos wer primarily our own creations. We actually never thought of them as being complex or complicated because none of us are actually dances and do not have a dance background. In recent years, we have made an effort to ensure that moves that we perform are able to be copied easily by most children. daniel in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Do Anthony and Jeff think being a wiggle better then being a cockaroach Greg says: Quite often they have commented they prefer performing during the daytime rather than having late nights and putting up with smoky, smelly pubs and clubs. GreerLovesAnthony in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Greg: have you ever written a song for The Wiggles with your own children as the inspiration? thank you Greg says: Not directly. I guess there have been times where I will have thought of something that applies to my own children and then taken that idea and adapted it to be suitable for the Wiggles. I can't think of a particular instance where i have sat down and thought that i will write a song inspired by own children. It is more about writing for children in general. Liz in NineMSN_Events1 asks: I have an old ABC video which has 5 Wiggles in it - what ever happened to the other Wiggle? Greg says: Shortly after we commenced performing The 5th Wiggle, Philip Wiltshire, decided to leave the group and that performing with the Wiggles was not what he wanted to do. He is more of a classical performer and a great pianist. Meggie in NineMSN_Events1 asks: What is the history behind the song "Hoop Dee Doo"? Not a Wiggles original? If not, where'd it come from? Greg says: It's an old polka song and was originally recorded by Frankie Yankovic, who is the father of weird Al Yankovic. It has also been recorded by Perry Como. Davie in NineMSN_Events1 asks: The Wiggles have achieved a lot through collaboration with other entertainers. Are there plans for further team ups with other celebrities? Greg says: I don't think theres any firm plans at this stage. However, now that we are doing fairly well in the USA i guess we would like to collaborate with some of our idols from the US, like maybe John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones robin in NineMSN_Events2 asks: No offence, but do you ever feel a bit of a "idiot" doing wiggles? Greg says: Never! When you are an early childhood teacher it is like you're a performer your class the audience. You have to lose all inhibitions and capture their imaginations and their attention because this is how children learn So naturally as a childrens entertainer, you must lose all inhibitions and self consciousness. Guide_OC_amicus says: Greg I want to show you a couple of comments that we have received that are all related.. julz in NineMSN_Events3 asks: Greg I want to thank you guys. My 2 yo son has severe language delay. Someone recommended the Wiggles...and sure enough he is coming along in leaps and bounds.....when are you coming back to do concerts over here GratefulMum in NineMSN_Events1 asks: My daughter with special needs, started to talk largely through watching the videos. Do you work with any children specialists to get material for your songs? We saw afew concerts and you were kind enough to come and talk to her, thanks Shauna in NineMSN_Events1 asks: When The Wiggles started did you have any idea of the impact that they would have on children with disablities? Greg says: We don't work with any childrens specialists however we do stay very much in contact with some of our former uni professors. We consults with them on a fairly regular basis about many of the projects that we undertake. This is jsut to make sure that we stay on the same track that we embarked on initially and stay true to our early childhood philosophys. I'm glad to hear that your child began to speak and even more thrilled to know that the Wiggles had a part in that. Thank you. Erksome in NineMSN_Events2 asks: Don't the Kids and their reponses just Blow you away? Its so much Fun that how I find it. Greg says: Yes it is very overwhelming to see the children respond in such a positive way. When we began the Wiggles 12 years ago, we never imagined that it would have been such a huge success. However, when you look at the fact that what we do is based on early childhood education fundamentals we can now see why it has been so successful Hill in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Greg, you and your family have just gone through a very difficult time. You've been in our prayers. Is it going to be particularly hard to rejoin the Wiggles next week in USA? Greg says: Thank you for your prayers and support. It will be hard on a personal level to join the Wiggles at the end of this week But i know life must go on and healing will take some time. But healing will occur with life going back to normal Leanne in NineMSN_Events2 asks: I just wanted to thank you for keeping your ticket prices affordable to all children, our whole family went & my husband thought it was one of the most entertaining shows he has seen. Is it important to you to make your concerts accessible to many? Greg says: Thank you for your comments and we do try to maintain a level of economic accessability to all people. It has been one of our priorities over the years to ensure that whatever we do is delivered at the most affordable price. darf in NineMSN_Events2 asks: Do your familys including your kids tour with you guys in the U.S.? Greg says: Not very often. Touring in the US is very difficult because a lot of our shows are night time shows in the USA. We travel after the shows have finished which means that quite often we don't get away from the venue until about 11pm. We then travel up to 5 or 6 hours and get into our hotels at about 4am or 5am and this type of travel is not ideal for a family. Thats why our families tend not to travel with us in the USA GreerLovesAnthony in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Greg: do you plan on doing any songs "acapella" during your solo tour? thank you! Elizabeth Greg says: If you are asking about my upcoming shows in Las Vegas then I won't be doing any songs acapella because i intend to make the most of using Elvis Presleys band as my backing band Rachel in NineMSN_Events1 asks: What do you think of people trying to copy groups like the wiggles & hi5? Greg says: So long as what they do is good quality and good for children, then we don't have a problem with people adopting the same formula as what we did. We have no problem with "competition" so long as the children gain some benefit from what these people are doing originalno1fan in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Solo tours????I hope the wiggles are secure.....My children and I would be devastated if anything happened to you all!!! Greg says: I have no intentions of leaving the Wiggles. I do however enjoy singing others styles of music as well and that is just a hobby for me. I enjoy performing with the Wiggles and I always will Kirk in NineMSN_Events2 asks: Why is Jeff always falling asleep or pretending to? Greg says: Jeff likes dreaming therefore to dream the best thing to do is to sleep. So thats why he always falls asleep tank in NineMSN_Events1 asks: What is the Wiggles' most requested song? Greg says: It would probably have to be Hot Potato Magenta in NineMSN_Events2 asks: Greg, Captain Feathersword seems important to the show now, when did the increase in his role happen? Greg says: I guess it happened with Paul Paddick took on the role. Paul is a very talented and versatile performer and very comedic in his nature. We decided that to enhance the Wiggles experience that we should give more performance scope to Capt Feathersword and his antics sam in NineMSN_Events2 asks: What's the funniest moment you have hade on stage? Greg says: We've had a few funny moments on stage. I guess most of the funniese monents occur because of children and their honesty and what they see What comes to mind immediately is one child who called out during a show to Anthony "You're ugly!" GreerLovesAnthony in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Hi Greg...we will be seeing you in Las Vegas in March...wondering what your current fav. song is off your CD? thanks Elizabeth Greg says: There are lots of great songs on that CD and i guess my favourite would have to be "I just can't help believing" which we will be doing in Las Vegas CamilleB in NineMSN_Events1 asks: Did you ever imagine (in you wildest dreams) how popular you'd be? Greg says: No we never imagined the success the Wiggles would have. Nor did we imagine that 12 years after recordign our first album that we would be travelling the world and performing for millions of people. It has been the most fantastic adventure one that we are very grateful for. One that we are enjoying and will continue to enjoy for years to come. Cackle in NineMSN_Events2 asks: How do you switch off from wiggling? Greg says: It's very hard to switch off because who we are as Wiggles is very simply an extension of who we are in real life. So, sometimes the lines between the Wiggles as individuals an entertainers become fairly blurred and we have lots of family photos with us doing the famous Wiggles fingers molly in NineMSN_Events1 asks: thankyou Greg my sister is intellectually disabled and a couple of years ago at one of your concerts you said hello to her! then u sent us a note home! my sis now 10 loves it!thankyou very much!have u got anymore concerts planned for australia this year? Greg says: I'm glad that we were able to meet your sister and she enjoyed the experience. We will be doing more Australian shows half way through the year and certainly at the end of the year we will be doing our annual big show tour darf in NineMSN_Events2 asks: Do you have a Wiggles club for kids on the net, if so, could you give us the Address? Greg says: We don't have a wiggles club as such but we do have a fantastic website with great activities etc that kids can enjoy on the internet. The website address is www.thewiggles.com.au robin in NineMSN_Events2 asks: Do you ever think of saying this is enough? Greg says: Not yet. There will probably come a time when we will say that But not until we stop enjoying what we do. When that time comes, then it will be time to say enough. But until then, we'll just keep Wiggling! Guide_OC_amicus says: Greg unfortunately, we have run out of time, do you have any last words you would like to say before we finish up tonight? Greg says: Thank you everyone for joining us in the chat room tonight. I enjoyed answering your questions and i look forward to seeing many of you in the coming year on tour in Australia and the USA. Thank you and keep Wiggling Guide_OC_amicus says: Greg, thank you for taking the time to join us tonight and answer so many questions for us. Goodnight. Greg says: Goodnight Guide_OC_amicus says: This concludes our Live Chat with Greg Page, 16 February 2003 Produced by ninemsn.com.au in Sydney, Australia |