Q and A With Jay - Travel Memories

When you are away from your wife and boys, what silly little things do you
miss about them?

I think it's just being around them, hearing their voices, and laughing at all their silly, crazy antics...are some of the things I miss about them.

What's the funniest memory of being in a place you were not familiar with and didn't know the customs, and it ended up being either hilarious or embarrassing (and you can laugh about it now)?

I still think that time in Japan is one of the funniest memories. We were doing an interview, where Merrill was asked, "What instrument do you spend the most time working on?" Merrill replied, "The banjo." The interviewer thought he said "the benjo" (which means the toilet)!

We know that you and Kandilyn visited Holland for your honeymoon. Was that because of the memories you had from touring, or something that just spoke to you about the country?

I fell in love with the people and the country. I had told Kandilyn about the fun times we had there back in the 70s. It seemed to be a perfect place to start out our life together.

Which hotel around the world is your favorite, and what item on the room service menu is YOUR usual favorite no matter where you are?

It's funny, but no matter where we go, I always look for shrimp on the menu. As far as a hotel is concerned, that's a hard one. Sometimes when I am in a hotel, I pretend I am in my room at the house. Kandilyn and I have arranged our room to look and feel like a hotel room, so whether we are at home or on the road, it's a comfortable feeling. Isn't that crazy?

Which is your favorite foreign LDS Temple? Have you been there?

The only foreign temples I have been to are the ones in England. I would like to visit all of the temples if I could. They are all beautiful! Maybe someday.

You are very lucky to have visited so many wonderful places on this beautiful planet. I remember reading that you and your brothers were into science fiction when you were younger, which lead me to wonder...when tickets for space flights go on sale, would you join the queue?

No, but the four of us (the original group) did have an encounter of a very different kind. We were in Wayne's plane, flying over the Nevada desert. We were flying home from Vegas after seeing the Jackson 5, when off to the side of the aircraft came two big lights. We weren't sure what they were at first. I thought maybe they were helicopters, but then they rotated around each other. Then as quick as they came, they faded out into nothing. We asked for radar checks from the control tower people, but nothing came on. We were asked if we wanted to report a UFO. We thought we better, but then for some reason we decided against it. Now, you may think this sounds crazy, and back in the 70s it did too, however, to this day the four of us have the same story, and we are sticking to it! (I don't think any of us are crazy...well, then there's Wayne. Ha!)

Do you have any special memories about traveling in Japan, particularly any experiences related to the wonderful culture there?

We were invited by one of the big magazines over there to do a photo shoot of how Americans, like us, can enjoy a "day in the life" of the Japanese people. My particular spot was to teach English to kids my age. Now this was 1967, so I was only 12. I remember wearing the school uniform, playing a ball game of some kind on top of the roof, and then (along with the instructor) taught these cool kids English. It was a great day.

I know you've been to Florida "several" times, but was wondering if there was any special place or memory from the "sunshine" state that you hold near and dear?

I'll never forget The Diplomat Hotel just outside Miami. This was the first time our family spent Christmas away from home. My mother tried so hard to make it fun. She woke us up Christmas morning with dogs barking "Jingle Bells" on a tape recorder. To this day, we laugh at all the ways we tried to make it fun, celebrating Christmas in a hotel suite. By the way, this is where the story comes from...a couple of girls tried to lower themselves on ropes onto our balcony, attempting to climb down.

Have you learned to speak any languages fluently during your foreign travels?

We sang and recorded in Swedish and Japanese. Wayne learned quite a lot of words in both languages. Jimmy became very fluent in Japanese. As for myself, I am still trying to get English down. :-) However, I would like to speak Spanish fluently someday.

I would like to know the sort of things you and your brothers got up to while stuck in a hotel room with not a lot to do back in the 70s ?

Donny and I played a lot of pranks on the band, especially our manager, Jim Morey. I'll never forget the time when Jim told us he was afraid of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "Psycho." It scared him to death. Well, Donny called ahead to the hotel and ordered a mannequin into his room. When we got there, Donny and I found a way to delay Jim, and we snuck into his room. We attached a knife to the hand of this dummy, and put it behind the shower curtain with the water on. Then, we waited as Jim went into his room. Donny and I listened outside his door, with a big pan of water. We heard this blood curdling scream, and then Jim opened his door ready to run. We then drenched him with water. To this day we have not heard the last of it!