While in the Big Apple for a series of impromptu performances at Penn Station, Times Square and random subway stations to promote the latest album by his rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, actor-musician-activist (and devoted Gucci guy) Jared Leto popped in for a chat on On Air With Ryan Seacrest on Monday. The group’s fifth album, titled America, will officially debut on Friday, and the theme has apparently prompted Leto to hitchhike from coast to coast, Jack Kerouac-style.
“It’s a pretty big adventure,” Leto announced to Seacrest. “I’m going to hitchhike, among other things, across the country from New York City to Los Angeles. I may jump on a donkey in the Grand Canyon or take a hot air balloon. I got the gear. I got the gear.”
Can we assume that gear is by Gucci, given that designer Alessandro Michele is Leto’s bestie?
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While on set with Seacrest, Leto wore a long-sleeved cobalt T-shirt and matching beanie hat paired with $1,200 Gucci floral-print jogging pants. Later, Leto donned another version of his offbeat take on all-American style: a Bengal tiger-print Gucci puffer jacket paired with $1,095 canary-and-cobalt color-block Motocross track pants by Fear of God and red-and-white-checked Vans slip-ons.
Speaking of beats, we envision Leto hitchhiking in his on-the-road Gucci garb to the tune of some sick howling music. Aside from the obvious “Walk on Water” and “Dangerous Night” from the new 30 Seconds to Mars album, might we suggest that Leto intersperse some of the ‘40s jazz rhythms described by Kerouac in On the Road such as “the wild humming night of Central Avenue,” a.k.a. the tune “Central Avenue Breakdown” by Lionel Hampton and his orchestra? Maybe he could tune out to “Ornithology” by Miles Davis and the Charlie Parker Septet, or Red Norvo’s “Congo Blues,” the record a girl breaks over Dean Moriarty’s head at one point in the classic novel?
Wait a minute, could this be a Gucci campaign-in-the-making?
During the Seacrest interview, Leto also acknowledged that he’s a smooth and seasoned hitchhiker: “When I was a kid, I used to hitchhike quite a bit,” he said. “I guess you always have to trust your instinct. You know if you get that look, that thousand-yard-stare, no blinking, you probably should just steer clear. But you meet a lot of interesting people and a lot of really kind people. As I tour across America, as we’re going to be doing in June and July, you see a lot of unity. You see a lot of things that are very different than what you might expect because of what we hear on the news. You see a lot of people getting along. You see a lot of beauty and inspiration.”
Oh, yeah — and he also pledged to shave his beard if America tops the charts. “I will shave my entire body!” said Leto. “I take that back, I’m not going to cut my hair off, but I’ll shave my beard. It’s been a long time, but I have kind of trimmed the hedges, so to speak. It was very, very long, not too long ago. But if this is a No. 1 album, I will shave my beard. If you see me and it’s this long [gestures to his chest], we were No. 2.”
We’re waiting with anticipation to see how middle America reacts to the roadside flash of Leto’s standout ensembles: Will he score myriad fast rides or prompt pedals to the metal passing him by? And will he opt for a cheeky written sign or a thumb’s up? Deep thoughts. And he’s also offered to be Seacrest’s “guy on the road” and call in from whatever Mack truck picks him up. To be continued…
