Bailey sends us this report from the University of Southern California and last night the fabulous James Earl Jones spoke for Student Senate Elections week:

There was a fairly good line for it and the majority seemed to be there to see him, not to hear the candidates speak. He gave a lecture on the "Culture Quest" of which he talked a lot about culture and tradition and heritage. One funny item he discussed was when he was offered the role of Shaft and he turned it down and was amazed by the fact that because he was African-American, the producers just assumed he could be Shaft. (He is from a very small town). He also told a funny story of when he was in Thailand (or perhaps it was Taiwan), he went to a store and they had Sambo Toothpaste with a black guy with big pearly white teeth on it. He bought all of them because he thinks they'll be collectors items one day. A Q&A session was after that.

One guy asked him if had a want or desire to share something through acting. He said that he has had a speech impetement all his life and still stutters some. Not something you would have picked up on. The man could read the phone book and make it interesting. He also said he became an actor in a revolutionary time and it was better then picking up a gun.

Of course, one brave soul asked him about Episode 3 and he joked that he knew that question would come up. He said a few years ago he ran into Lucas and asked him if he would ever work again. Lucas said there was the possibility he will need him at the end of Episode 3, like for the last few minutes but really had no idea at that point. To which Jones replied that he would take anything he could get. Basically a really interesting evening and a blast to see him in person, though he did not sign anything.