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YourMVP:
How did you get the name Neriah?
Where did it come from?
Neriah:
It's a biblical name. It's from the book of Jeremiah and it means
"light of God."
Were
you taught about religion early in your life by your parents?
<pause>
That's not really pertinent to the interview. It's from the bible, OK?
Oh,
OK. That's not a problem. You are now the St Pauli Girl. How'd |
Neriah
Davis |
you
land that job and what does it entail?
I
got it because they thought that I looked right for the part and I
had done work with their photographer in the past and he thought I'd
be perfect for the job. They were happy that I already had an
established web site they could link me to. The job entails traveling
around the country and promoting the brand. Being the St Pauli Girl,
I get to go and do radio shows and TV shows and do things like golf
tournaments. The people are so nice and it's really a pleasure to do this.
I
always thought you had to be German to be the St Pauli Girl.
I'm
not German but a lot of people think I look German so I guess that works.
Have
you ever been to Germany? Is the company planning on flying you
there for any events?
I've
never been there but I'm hoping that we can go this year because I
think it would be cool. There's a lot of promotion to do over there
and they'd bring somebody here. I might as well go over there and
have some fun.
So,
are you the St Pauli Girl for all of the world or only in America?
I
believe it's worldwide. I know that they have an African-American St
Pauli Girl, but obviously I don't fit that part.
Did
you try out for that part?
No.
What
does a typical day consist of for the St Pauli Girl?
Do
you mean when I'm out representing the brand?
Yes.
Usually
they'll fly me somewhere like say, New York. I'll arrive late at
night and then the next morning I'll get up at six o'clock and I'll
go do a few radio shows and just have a lot of fun. We always have
some sort of skit or something fun that we'll use to integrate the
beer into whatever I'm doing. Sometimes I'll bring some St Pauli
non-alcoholic beer to a morning radio show and I'll say things like,
"This is the beer you give to your driver." Or there are
other things that I'll incorporate into a radio show. I'll basically
schmooze and have a good time. I get to just be myself and sign pictures.
Do
you get to drink the beer when you're schmoozing with people?
Oh
yeah! They encourage that.
Is
there a clause in your contract that says you can only drink St
Pauli beer?
I
think that anybody, with any sense at all, if they were the St Pauli
Girl they wouldn't order a Budweiser, especially if they were with
the people that hired them to be the St Pauli Girl.
But
what if you were out with your girlfriends, on your own and wanted a beer?
I
don't really drink beer, but when I do I drink St Pauli Lager. It's
excellent. My mom actually drinks that as well and that was before
she knew I was the St Pauli Girl.
I
punched in your name on an Internet search engine and it came back
with 1,934 matches. What does it feel like to have 1,934 web pages
devoted to you?
It's
unbelievable to me! It's hard to fathom. It's another reason why I
bought neriah.com about five years ago. A couple of years after I was
a Playmate I entered my name into a search engine just to see what
the public knew of me. There were already about 120 sites at that
time. That blew me away! I couldn't believe it. I didn't understand
it. But that kind of encouraged me to expand and put up my own site.
It's been really, really successful with so many visitors every day.
I mean . . . I'm so thankful. I feel totally like it's just a part of
the plan of my life that that would happen. I've worked hard in life
but these are all just total blessings and I am not going to question
it. I'm going to continue and go day by day.
Do
you run the web site yourself?
No,
I have a temp every weekend and he does all of that for me. But I do
a lot of the HTML myself. I write a lot of the text updates and I
have a diary that I expand on every week. We have a weekly
newsletter. I try to answer my email but it gets to be kind of crazy.
But I definitely read all of my email but sometimes it takes me about
six months to get back to someone. But you know, I love it. It's such
a fun and amazing thing that I really appreciate.
Have
you ever looked on eBay to see how much your stuff is going for?
I've
seen some stuff on eBay. I have a fan who emails me about six times
a day and he knows everything about the Internet. He'll email me web
pages to check out and once I went to a page on eBay that he
suggested I look at. There was this can of soda someone had taken a
picture of me drinking at some convention three or four years ago
that was up for sale. That kind of stuff just blows me away. I can't
believe that I actually have fans like that. It's crazy. I love it
though, it's great! I really, really love it.
Right
now there's a sexy poster of you with a caption saying, "Got
Cookies" on eBay going for a little less than a Jesse Jackson
poster up for auction. Any reason people might be more interested in
a Jesse Jackson poster right now than a Neriah Davis poster?
Well,
because of that whole scandal going on with his wife and his
mistress, that might be it. Scandal makes for a profit. I mean, look
at Darva Conger [former bride from "Who Wants to Marry a
Multi-Millionaire" television show]. HELLO! It's ridiculous. We
live in a world where being infamous actually pays out. I mean, look
at Pamela Anderson after her porno video came out with her
husband--she became even more popular. It's crazy. That's not the way
I want to be famous.
So
you're not planning on being involved in any scandals anytime soon?
I'm
not planning on it! <laughing>
Maybe
you could go meet with Jesse Jackson? Or better yet, you could go
take a picture WITH Jesse Jackson and sell that on eBay.
<groans>
I really don't care. All of those Bill Clinton/Jesse Jackson
cheating scandals, I don't even care. It's so ridiculous. People
should just mind their own business.
Did
you vote in this last election?
Yes,
I did and unfortunately . . .
You
don't have to say who you voted for if you don't want to.
I
voted, but let's just say it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.
I can't believe that George W. Bush is our President. I really can't.
I won't expand on that.
If
you want to, go ahead!
After
a while talking politics gets a little sticky, right?
Two
things you aren't supposed to talk about in polite conversation are
religion and politics.
And
you can't end conversations if you're arguing about that. All you
have to do is say, "Alright, let's just drop the subject."
It's hard to think straight when you're talking about religion and politics.
Then
let's talk about something else going on in the news. It's just been
published that right-handed people live longer than left-handed
people by about three years.
Why
is that?
You
know what? I couldn't tell you. I believe they're doing more
research to pinpoint that down. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
I'm
right-handed, but my ex-boyfriend is left-handed.
Are
you happy about that?
<laughing>
No, I'm only joking.
Is
there a difference between left-handed men and right-handed men?
Umm
. . . <pauses> I've really never thought about that. <starts
to let go of some suppressed laughter> To be honest, I've got
more to do in my life than compare left- and right-handed men.
<also
laughing> I understand.
I
hope that doesn't sound snobbish, but it's true <still laughing>.
A
woman in Russia just grew three new teeth at the age of 104.
Scientists are wondering how that happened. What do you plan to be
doing at the age of 104?
Honestly,
I never thought I'd live past the age of 25.
Why
is that?
I
don't know. I lived such a crazy, adventurous life. I never saw
myself growing old. I DON'T SEE IT! <laughing> But hopefully,
if I do live to be 104 years old I'd want a huge family, and a loving
husband, and you know, hopefully getting ready for a barbecue . . .
and hopefully with some new teeth!
When
and where have you felt most uncomfortable being nude?
<long
pause> Honestly?
Yeah.
|
 |
I've
NEVER felt uncomfortable in the nude.
Good
answer!
I've
never, ever felt uncomfortable being nude. I feel much more
comfortable being nude than with clothes on.
Why
is that?
I
was raised to have a very open mind and to think that it's not
something that is negative. It's a very positive, beautiful thing.
And you know, everybody's |
naked
underneath their clothes, it's just that a lot of people don't look
good naked. That's why they have to wear clothes.
Do
you ever still feel lonely at times with all of this success?
I
used to and then I had some big changes, I developed what they call
"faith." And then I began a relationship with the things
that I believe in . . . whatever God is to me. It's helped me not to
feel lonely . . . even if I'm all alone in a hotel room in the middle
of nowhere I still feel like I'm OK with myself, you know? I'm happy
with the person I am and so I'm never really lonely.
When
did you make this conversion?
This
happened to me when I was about 20 years old.
You're
about 28 right now?
Yes,
I'm 28.
Didn't
you also begin modeling at the age of 20?
I
started modeling when I was 18. I posed for Playboy when I was 20.
What's
the oddest job you've ever held?
Hmm
. . . Damn . . . Well, my first job ever was I taught people how to
pan for gold . . . No, wait a minute . . . That's a lie because that
was my second job. My first job ever was in the town I grew up in.
It's called Angels Camp and they're famous because every year the
third week of May they have this thing called the Frog Jump.
The
what?
The
Frog Jump. It's a jumping frog jubilee. They always have concerts
and country bands and a rodeo and stuff like that. But the big
attraction on the main stage is people coming from all over the world
to jump frogs. The frog that jumps the farthest in three leaps wins.
They compete for money and other stuff. So, my first job when I was
15 years old was being the frog ringer. I grabbed the frogs out of
the barrel to give them to contestants. So, that's pretty odd
<laughing>. In my town it was normal but it's pretty odd to the
rest of the world.
<laughing>
So you're not afraid of frogs, is that what you're saying?
No,
I'm not afraid of frogs.
Have
you ever licked the back of a frog?
And
hoped it would turn into a prince?
No.
It's supposed to be like a drug. You're supposed to be able to get
high if you lick the backs of certain types of frogs.
No!
<clearly disgusted> I've never licked the back of a frog! I'll
go smoke some weed if I want to get high. <laughing> I mean,
come on!
<laughing>
I was just out visiting a dairy farm in Illinois and I heard the
statement, "Fine as frog hair." Have you ever seen frog hair?
Frogs
don't have hair.
And
that's what they would say to me, "Have you ever seen frog
hair?" I'd reply, no and they'd say, "Well, there you go."
Fine
as frog's hair would mean . . . I mean . . . no, frogs don't have hair.
<mimicking
a couple of hillbillies> "How ya doin'? I'm fine as frog hair."
<again,
clearly disgusted> Where are you from?!
<laughing>
I was vacationing when I heard that.
Where?
In
northern Illinois, near Wisconsin on a dairy farm.
Why
were you vacationing on a dairy farm?
My
good friend owns like, 300 acres of land and he doesn't have a
television. He's got this big pond in his front yard and he has a
nice fireplace. It's just kind of the perfect place to get away.
That
sounds kind of like where I grew up.
Where'd
you grow up?
Up
in northern California. We lived on a hundred acres and we didn't
have a TV, we didn't have electricity, we didn't have . . . anything,
really. We had lots of love but we didn't have all of those modern amenities.
Do
you have a television now?
Yes,
I do. I went from having no TV, and now I have a huge, big screen.
My boyfriend just moved it into my house. It's HUGE! I can't believe
it. It's hard for me to watch because it's so big. It's crazy.
How
long have you been dating your boyfriend?
We've
been together about a year.
How'd
you meet him?
I
met him through mutual friends. The way it's kind of always been for
me is I never really dated. I just make friendships. He and I were
friends first and then it evolved into love.
What's
in your CD player right now?
Let's
see . . . I have the soundtrack to "Save the Last Dance."
Was
that a good movie?
It
was cute. I liked it. My sister told me to see it, she's 14. I also
have Erykah Badu's new album. I have "Gladys Knight and the
Pips' Greatest Hits." I have Jill Scott and I also have Ice Cube.
Which
Ice Cube CD?
I
forget which one it is. I'm really into hip-hop and rap, they're my
favorite kinds of music.
So
if you go to Germany for this job, would you be able to polka if
they asked you to?
I
can play the accordion.
Can
you really?! <laughing> Where'd you learn to play that?
I
learned when I was growing up <chuckling>. We were very
artistic and into a lot of instruments.
Wow.
You said you have a younger sister. How many siblings do you have altogether?
I
have two sisters and a brother.
Are
your sisters also thinking about following in your footsteps?
No.
They think what I do is pretty goofy.
What
do your parents think?
My
parents love me. They think I'm awesome. They just want all of us to
be happy and whatever we choose to do with our lives, as long as
we're pursuing happiness, then it's all good. It's not about the
destination, it's about the journey.
