JB-  So how has being openly gay affected your career both positively and negatively?  Has anything really bad happened?

Jim- Nothing really bad.  It's just become very gay-focused.  I signed to my record label in August of  '04, they were going to capitalize on the gay market and "we're going to get you in the gay clubs and we're going to do it gay, gay, gay."  And I was like, "My album isn't really all that gay and it's totally mainstream, top 40.  A lot of girls will dig it too.  So that's kind of stupid but just do it."  And my album didn't sell like 300,000 copies.  It's an independent record label, it's a word of mouth record.  All I can hope for is that it will catch on like wildfire.  And then I did this movie called "Eating out", which actually played in Toronto, I think.

JB-  Yes it did.

Jim-  That's done really well.  The guy from "Desperate Housewives" is in it with me and I had some songs on the soundtrack.  And I'm filming the sequel to that in April.  But I don't have an entourage.  You know, I take a shit just like everyone else.  I'll go to some kind of diner at 4 o'clock after drinking and totally being wasted, you know I don't understand the whole, well, people will write me an e-mail and say, "I don't expect you to read this, but when you get a chance…" or "You're a huge star", well, no I'm not.  I check my bank account and I'll be in the negative too.  But that's just reality though - you work and you do things to get to where you need to be.  The media frowns upon that.

JB-  You said the record label was trying to focus on the whole gay angle.  Is that who you are though?

Jim-  No.  It is not, not at all.  It isn't.  I didn't "come out" to get more press.  Some people think that and that isn't the case.  I just felt like, "Who is representing us right now that's in our age bracket?"  Who really steps up to the plate for us?  Who really does that?  No one does that here.  Everyone is so afraid of losing it all.  I just did it because I wanted to let kids… you know, I was thinking to myself that I could have killed to have someone that was like me around when I was 16 or 17.  I want to tell these kids who are 14 or 15-years-old who are about to "come out" and feel, "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?  I'm gay.  I can't do that because I'm gay."  And that's bullshit.  It has nothing to do with sexuality.  Gay should never come first.  If you're an actor, you're not a gay actor, you're an actor who just happens to be gay.  I think the mainstream society here puts that focus on being gay.  They stereotype you and the pigeonholed you in characters.  You know, Jack from Will & Grace, he's very pigeonholed.  And that's kind of why I think actors and musicians don't talk about it.  And the only way they can avoid it is by not talking about it.  If that's the way you want to do it, that's cool.  I understand, but at the end of the day, 20 years from now people are going to look back and say, "Who did this when they were gay?"  "Oh yeah, Jim Verraros did.  Yeah, he's cool.  He's really cool."

Jim-  I talk a lot, sorry.

JB-  No, it's good that someone else is doing all the talking for once because usually it's me.  So we're OK on that.

Jim-  OK

JB-  Would you want to be looked at as a gay role model for younger people?

Jim-  Yeah.  The thing is when I "came out" I wasn't expecting that and it just kind of happened so I embraced that completely.  I'm not scared of that title.  I think that's a great title.  I think that so many people who are carrying around their $1300 purses don't really have a platform.  They don't really talk about things for young adults.  But you have this voice and you have so much power (so) use it.  It's totally going to waste.  And then there's Paris Hilton who we won't even get into, I don't wanna rip that girl apart…

JB-  (laughing)

Jim-  If you're young and you've been through a lot in your life and you think, "Who is buying your record or movies?"  Or "Who is renting them or who is going to the theatre?"  Those kids are going to listen if you talk.  You could be doing so much good.  For right now, those teen queen stars are young and whatever.  If you reach a certain point in your career where people start listening to you, you need to start talking about issues because we are just going to perk up and listen.  And I think it's lame they don't use it (their voice).

JB-  Looking back now at your career, if you could do one thing differently or if you could change one thing, what would it be?

Jim-  Oh, that's a good question.  Um, what would I change?  You know, I would have had an answer for this maybe like a year ago but I think where I'm at right now… nothing.  There's nothing… I don't have any regrets.  Everything is what it is.  If I did something or if I acted on something it was based on instinct.  Do you know what I mean?  I don't know what I would change if I change something because everything leads to something.  I just wish that people… when my album came out it was a very drastic change, like an image change and people didn't know how to handle it.

JB-  Jim, you're answering all my questions before I ask them!

Jim-  I know.  But people need to realize, and I think that's what I was so frustrated with.  To be in this business you have to know when to reinvent yourself.  And I was four years older than when I was on the show.  People are going to change in that amount of time.  No one looks the same in three or four years.

JB-  Did living in L.A. have any influence on that?

Jim-  No, it wasn't my plan.

JB-  So there's the new album underway… anymore film in the future?

Jim-  Yeah I'm shooting the sequel to "Eating Out" in April.  It's called "Sloppy Seconds".

JB-  Wow.  Any tidbits about what's happening in that?

Jim-  I can't really say but most of the cast is back for the second installment and I will also be contributing more for the soundtrack as well.  It's just going to be more of the same.  I hope people like it.  It kind of happens to be a cult following for the film, that's for sure.  And people loved it so much that the director said we've gotta do the sequel.  We joked about it during the filming of the first one and it'll be funny and it'll be crazy and it's just laugh-your-ass-off ridiculous comedy.

JB-  I got an e-mail on the SpeakFree website that someone wrote in and said, "I don't get this, "it's trendy to be gay thing"."  Like you mentioned Jack.  There are all these characters on TV shows that are gay because it's acceptable now, so every show has the token gay character.

Jim-  Yeah, they're very stereotypical.

JB-  Right.  Do you think that's painting gays in a negative way or not so accurately?

Jim-  I think that you're not going to please everyone.  If at least people on mainstream television are opening up to gay characters, that's a good thing.  I mean, it's a good thing if Brokeback Mountain is leading the Oscar pack.  I think that's a good thing.  Any kind of light that is shined upon us to the mainstream is awesome.  You're never going to please everyone… especially the gay community, they're some tough cookies.  You just have to go balls out, all the way, you know, you can't half-ass a gay character.  (Those characters) tend to be comic relief.  What are you going to do?