Photos by Ty Joseph
Charan: ‘Sup Levi?
Levi: How’s it goin’? Alright, well let’s start this interview. Are you a rebel without a cause… or with a cause? … Well, James Dean didn’t really have it figured out and I haven’t figured it out yet either. So you don’t have a cause then? No. Not at the moment. I guess I’m still figuring it out.
Charan: Alright. Well if there was no whiskey, what would your favorite drink be?
Levi: Mezcal. Ahhh… Smokey. Yeah, alright.
Charan: What’s the most attractive part of a car?
Levi: Hmm… the feel of it. For sure. Yeah. Do you have a favorite car? I have a lot of favorite cars. But I would say one of my very favorites is the 550 Spyder, which is the one that James Dean passed away in. Oh, alright. That’s like the Speed Racer car. But it has a lot of history because after the accident, I believe the city or something purchased the wreckage and then they would shop it around and and take it around to show people that speeding is dangerous and everything. But there was all these deaths and weird, odd things that happened with that car at those locations. It’s crazy… Oh so the car’s cursed? Yeah, I could talk about it forever. Aren’t you planning to get one? A replica. I don’t have 6 million laying around yet… Well that’s gonna be awesome. You’re gonna get ALL the babes in that car.
Charan: So, do you have a motorcycle gang name?
Levi: Well the film I just wrapped has Black Orchid Motorcycle Club. Thats… the name of our club. Nice, thanks for that little tidbit.
Charan: Oh, so you were that Britney Spears video. How was it working with Britney, and did you guys exchange numbers?
Levi: Hah… Didn’t exchange numbers. She’s really sweet. Um… Yeah, just a shy, down-to-earth girl. She’s really nice.
Charan: Is there any modeling jobs that you regret doing?
Levi: No – I mean, there was a situation where I showed up to a job not too long ago where it was for a well-known model, I’m not gonna mention her name, but they did not tell me what I would be wearing for the shoot. So I show up and then on the bed, the stylist is like “Hey, you’re outfit is on the bed.” and I’m like “Well, where is it?!” And it was this little like mankini-type thing, or whatever, that I didn’t sign up for. Lil’ banana hammock? Yeah. That was one where I feel like if I would’ve done it, I would’ve regretted it. Yeah well, I mean you never know, you could’ve been the front of your comp card.
[Both laughing.]
Charan: What living musician do you really want to meet?
Levi: Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. He’s my favorite blues guitarist. Yeah, he’s amazing. Billy’s the man. Get some beard-grooming tips. Yeah, he’s had a beard for a long time. Yeah his beard’s older than I am. Same here!
Charan: So, do you think the LA nightlife is special in any way, and why?
Levi: Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of cool stuff going on now that the Houston brothers have started a whole cool thing. I always loved all the clubs and bars in New York more, but it’s really neat to see us getting those kind of bars here. And, yeah, I think that they’ve completely turned it around ’cause they’re themed bars… Yeah they have a really New York vibe. It’s very ‘speakeasy,’ their places are amazing. Yeah the jazz nights are cool too. They’ve definitely changed the LA nightlife.
Charan: So I guess, with that, what’s your favorite place in LA to go out to? I guess it would be one of their places?
Levi: Probably. And I like Thirsty Crow in Silver Lake a lot. Their whiskey list is amazing. And every once in a while they have Pappy’s in there. Ohh, yeah, when you have a good job and wanna get yourself a $100 shot of Pappy’s. Pappy Van Winkle. I’m gonna name my first child Pappy Van Winkle. It’s a good name.
Charan: So what’s your favorite place you’ve traveled so far?
Levi: I mean overseas there’s a lot of cool places, but there’s nothing like Marfa, Texas. Yeah, I’ve been to Marfa. Have you see the Marfa Lights? Uh-huh, the Marfa Lights, and then I shot with American Crew a bunch of times. Then we shot at the “I Love Dick” house with Kevin Bacon, they shot that. Wait, what? The Netflix series, “I Love Dick” with Kevin Bacon. That was all shot at that house so they actually rented out the house, that’s where we shot, so it’s really cool. That’s awesome! And isn’t that Prada store out in that area, the one that’s in the middle of nowhere? Yeah it’s like 20 miles, I think, from town. It’s weird. You fly in to El Paso when you’re coming from LA and you get in the car and you’re just cruisin’ by and all of the sudden there’s just that random Prada shop there. Funny story is, they were actually getting knocked off because they would keep two pairs of shoes there and people kept breaking in and stealing the shoes, so now they only keep one. Yeah, I heard that it kept getting vandalized. So yeah, any of you Prada thieves out there, they only have one shoe there now. Yeah so all you one-legged Prada thieves out there, go get ’em.
Charan: All right, well I guess that wraps up for today. Thank you for Mr. Levi.
Levi: Mm-hmm, thanks for having me.
[One final fist-bump, both laughing.]
