Q: Any other musical on your wish list?

HC: There musicals out there. But putting all that stuff together is a nightmare. You can’t imagine. We all have our favorite musicals and you say I would like to do this particular musical. Then you have to go and put it together, get the rights. It is really a complex process. There is nothing specifically on my list but I am definitely going to do it again.

Q: Is there any musical you think should be made into a film?

HC: I think there is a lot of them. But you have to understand, I don’t think I am necessarily the first person they are going to come to to do it. I know I would like to have that experience. But obviously Tim Burton thought Johnny Depp would be the guy to play that. And it is great. Rob Marshall wanted Richard Gere to play the guy in “Chicago.” I applaud those guys and I think it is great. Gerry Butler is a singer and does all that stuff too. So there is a lot of people out there and a lot of people have ideas about what they want. And I don’t know if they want me per se. But it is something I would like to do. I think it is going to depend on me kind of getting the project started myself as opposed to waiting for it.

Q: Even though you didn’t perform for this movie, there is a lot of musical talent on this set. Do you relate to actor/musicians in a different way?

HC: Not really. We didn’t really talk about it much. There was a piano on the set one day. I just  felt like playing. I hadn’t played in awhile. I went and played. And everyone gathered around. It was one of those kind of corny moments. I was kind of playing myself, then you look up and there are people standing around. That was fun. I have known Nelly for awhile. We didn’t talk much about it. And I have even talked with Gerry about it too much. We were joking about it in an interview before. But, not really.

Q: Have you been asked to contribute a large amount of your music to soundtracks?

HC: Not really. I have done songs here and there. But I have never scored a film. That is something I would like to do at some points.

Q: When “Harry Met Sally?”

HC: I sang a couple of songs in the movie. To make a long story short, there were 15 different artists who were used in the movie who could be, for whatever reason, a part of the soundtrack album. So I ended up with the whole CD. So that is what kind of launched my career. Because I probably would have had two or three of those songs. But Ella and Frank and Ray Charles didn’t want to be on the record for some kind of contractual reasons. So they said “Harry do you want to sing this song? Do you want to sing this song?” Before I knew it I had the whole ...

Q: I am surprised they didn’t have you sing a lone song on this soundtrack. Was it ever discussed?

HC: I never heard about it. Never did.

Q: Has the writer strike affected you?

HC: It really hasn’t affected me. I am doing a movie in January called “Chilled in Miami” with Renee Zellwegger. That will take us through the end of March.

Q: Can you talk a little about the character you play?

HC: Yeah (laughs), I play, it is kind of like “Pajama Game” in reverse. I play the union head at a dairy factor in Minnesota. And some high, powerful woman - that’s Rene — comes from this big agency who is trying to mechanize the factory. Shut it down and get rid of all the people there. Arguments ensue and then we fall in love.

Q: So it is a romantic comedy?

HC: Yeah. It better be.

Q: Are you going to tour again?

HC: We just came back from Europe about a week ago. And then right after I do that movie with Renee we will be in Asia. We will be all over Asia.

Q: Do you still think of yourself as a singer who acts?

HC: I really don’t think of it like that. People ask me that all the time. What comes first? To answer your question, I guess that is what I am. But I don’t think about it that way. When I am on a set doing a movie, I am not thinking about music. And when I am on stage I am not thinking about acting. But I just like to do them both.
I started with music. That is sort of what brought me to the table.

Q: Someone who doesn’t know much about the great music of New Orleans. Who should I go listen to?

HC: Just go down there. There is a paper called Gambit. It is kind of a weekly paper. It is unbelievable the types of music you will hear down there. They have traditional jazz and r&b and people like the Nevilles and the Meters. Young and old there is a tremendous amount of music down there. And the city needs that more anything else.

Q: What percentage is New Orleans back?

HC: You mean population? It is slow. They have about two-thirds of the people who have not come back to live there. The infastructure is really suffering because there is no tax base there now. If you went downtown. If you stayed at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans and you kind of hung around that area you would say “What’s the problem?” Because that area is fine. It is the other 80% of the city where people live that was sitting underwater for six weeks. So it has a long, long way to go.

Q: What became of that club that it is off Bourbon?

HC: Preservation Hall. It is still there. It is one of the great ones. I know I am getting old because members of my band played at Preservation Hall. I need to be like Menudo and cut everyone loose when they are 20.