Pheaturing Joe Skinner From Funky Blues Messiahs

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I am your host, Jason Peverett. President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to be the next Supreme Court justice, against the advice of Joe Biden, who wanted Iron Man. A porn star from Poland claims that she has been having an affair with Mel Gibson. I thought Mel would have gone for a German. Oprah did her show from New York to celebrate the 10th anniversary of O magazine. Dr. Phil allowed them to shave his moustache, which is currently being used to sop up oil in the Gulf. Bobby Brown got engaged over the weekend. They say it’s the first time he’s been on one knee without the help of a police taser. Tyra Banks, who I once saw at Epcot, is writing a new series of kids’ books. She is the first supermodel to write a kids’ book since Kate Moss wrote “Green Eggs and Crack.” I wonder if I can get Tyra to be in the Phile Book Club.

The great company, and home of the Phile, Google’s new Droid phone is outselling Apple’s iPhone. I don’t know what an Droid can do, besides dance the robot or become the governor of California. A new study says that 77 percent of people admitted using their phones while driving. The other 23 percent are lying. President Obama said that we rely too much on gadgets. He gave a passionate speech about technology, but he had to stop when the teleprompter broke. There is a God: the June edition of Playboy magazine will be printed in 3-D. Haven’t we had that for a while? It’s called a strip club. Tiger Woods’ swing coach announced that he is quitting. Apparently he discovered that Tiger had 19 other swing coaches around the country. The swing coach quit by text message, which is like karma shooting a hole-in-one. You guys know I like inspirational posters, right? Check out this one.

Now that "Lost" is almost over, they are gearing up for a bunch of spin-offs. Check it out.





Iron Man has a lot on his plate this time around. He has to battle anti-hygienic bad guy Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke, with hilariously gross 90's jam band hair) and his dual super-electro-metal-shredding flogging devices. He also has to deal with sleazy weapons manufacturer Sam Rockwell. He's got a disgruntled Pepper Potts and an enigmatic assistant vixen named Natalie who won't get naked like he wants her to. Meanwhile his blood toxicity is on the rise, his chest-plug battery thingy is failing him, he's emotionally collapsing, dealing with daddy issues and Sam Jackson keeps bothering him about Shield. You'd break down too. I didn't like it as much as the first one. First because I think it's really difficult to recapture the impressive BANG! POW! of a first punch. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, just that I wanted the ante upped and what I feel I mostly got instead was a lot of connective tissue stretching out to the eventual Avengers movie. In the land of sequels it's no Temple of Doom or Empire Strikes Back, but it's also not Rise of the Silver Surfer. Me and my son, we still had a good time. The best stuff was Downey rattling around at a hundred miles an hour, talking faster than most human beings can keep up with while sparring with Paltrow (who holds her own thanks to great chemistry with Downey. Her new mandate should be to only take film roles that let her banter back petulantly until she's screaming); Scarlett Johansson's impossible cat-suit, Rourke's gnarly tattoos and the bowel-shuddering sound effects. What was weird about it was watching Downey go through a hitting-bottom process, especially during the mind-scrambling scene in which he's using his Iron Man suit as a party prop to drunkenly blow up watermelons while the unfortunately now-deceased-from-a-real-life-overdose DJ AM stands off to the side ready to "give [him] a fat beat" as an accompanying soundtrack. It's one of those moments that underscores the movie's plot and pulls you right out of it at the same time. And it suffers from the one villain too many syndrome. Sam Rockwell, who was so cool in last year's Moon doesn't have a lot to do here. It's not his fault. The part is written in a way that seems satisfied for him to be a generic corporate bad man. Rourke gets a better shake but even he has to spend a lot of time sitting around a lab tinkering with machines. You keep hoping he'll just bust out those murder-whips. And aside from the saddening presence of DJ AM, there's Christiane Amanpour as herself, a blink-and-miss Stan Lee as Larry King, one nice bit of musical punctuation via Daft Punk and an appearance by the famous Randy's Donuts sign. From 1 to ten, it gets an 8, and I will buy it on blu-ray unless Jen buys it for Logan first on DVD.

Lena Horne
June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010
Please forward all mail to The Cabin in the Sky.
Robin Evan Roberts
September 30, 1926 - May 6, 2010
In his 19-season career, Roberts compiled a 286-245 record with 2,357 strikeouts, a 3.41 ERA, 305 complete games, 45 shutouts, and 4,688 innings pitched in 676 games. He holds the Major League records for home runs allowed by a pitcher (505) and for most consecutive Opening Day starts for the same team with 12, between 1950 and 1961. Also: he's dead.


1913
The latest brainchild of Russian aircraft design genius Igor Sikorsky embarks on its maiden flight. The Grand, easily the world's most luxurious passenger plane, includes such innovations as upholstered seats, a balcony, and even a lavatory.
1917
Three small children in Fatima, Portugal receive the first of six visitations from the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Over the next five months she lays some pretty heavy shit on the kids, including a three-part secret: a vision of Hell, a prophecy of war with godless Russia, and a third secret which remains classified until Y2K.
1972
Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and nonfunctional elevators cause 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their death.
1981
A delusional Turk guns down Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. Mehmet Ali Agca believes that the Vatican is an abomination before God and must be destroyed. 19 years later, the Church will disclose that the assassination attempt was foretold in 1917, as part of the third secret of Fatima.
1985
After attempting to serve arrest warrants at 6221 Osage Avenue, police in West Philadelphia are sucked into a 90-minute gunfight with members of the MOVE organization. Later, police drop a bomb on the house from a helicopter. The bomb misses its target and ignites a fire which consumes the entire city block. 61 houses are destroyed in the conflagration, killing 11 MOVE members -- including five children -- and leaving hundreds of neighbors homeless.

Okay, kids, this is really cool. Today's guest is the drummer of the Central Florida band Funky Blues Messiahs and good friend of mine. Their third CD release "Crawzilla" is now available on iTunes. Please welcome to the Phile... Joe Skinner.

Me: Hey, Joe, what do you know? Welcome to the Peverett Phile. So, how have you been? I haven't seen you in awhile.

Joe: Been great!!!! Busy with my band and teaching college... Developing a few new acts.

Me: Before we get down and talk about the Funky Blues Messiahs, I have to talk to you about dad. We have known each other for about 20 years, right? Where did you first meet my dad? Did you recognize him right away?

Joe: Yes, actually I did recognize him immediately... I was a big FOGHAT fan I had seen them with J. Geils and than with Black Oak and Montrose. He came into the music store I was working at and we struck up a friendship almost right away. I remember talking to him about the local music scene and offered to help him if he need any interfacing with musicians, studios, and rehearsal studio. Your father was so nice... I really was fond of him. The hours in my truck traveling with him to gigs and listening to the stories of the road... AWESOME!!!! You know I'm the one that has been leaving the Mardi Gras beads at his gravesite. Its my tribute. If I'm in the area I stop by to pay my respects.

Me: Okay, how long have you been into the New Orleans sound? Did you grow up listening to Dr. John and people like him?

Joe: Funny thing is my partner is from New Orleans but he played in rock bands. He had the New Orleans styling but I'm the one that loved cajun and Zydeco. I grew up in Winter Park, Florida and just dug the New Orleans feel.

Me: How and when did you put the Messiahs together? What is hard or easy to find good musicians?

Joe: We got together with this Cajun Kid from Louisiana named Evan that used to come jam at the music store. He was the real deal as far as the blues. We jammed and wrote a song right on the spot. After realizing we had something magical we decided to do a record. The funny thing is the Kid disappeared in the middle of recording so I had long time friend and Johnny and Edgar Winter guitarist Floyd Radford finish off the record. After receiveing much kudos we put together a touring band that included Liberty Devitto (while he was on hiatus with Billy Joel). It really isnt very hard to find good musicians there are alot of talented people in this area.

Me: The band has three albums out, right? "The Further Adventures of Reverend P.P. Pettibones Traveling Tent Revival", "Lost In Mississippi" and the latest came out in 2008 called "Crawzilla." The first two were parts of a story, but does the third continue that story?

Joe: Actually no, it doesn't, this record has more serious content. We split for three years so when we decided to regroup and write I personally had a writing frenzy and wrote about things that were on my mine at that time.

Me: How come there's no hot chick in the cover of the last album?

Joe: Funny thing is the chick on the front cover of our first CD got in touch with me recently... she's livin in Seattle. I don't know why no chick, I just wasn't in the mood to rehash the old ideas... it was like a new band. We found another awesome blues guitarist that plays slide so we kinda went back to the beginning. BTW that "Crawzilla" cover is designed by ME!!

Me: Years ago there was one of your songs on "The Real World in New Orleans". How did they find your music, and has the Messiahs been placed in any other shows or movies?

Joe: Wow. "Crawdaddy-O" payed off handsomely for us but no others yet... and I say yet because we wrote a Gator fight song on "Crawzilla". I guess the "Real World" people saw one of our reviews that was in a national Blues publications. I think a guy at Virgin New Orleans pointed them in our direction also when they visited the Jax Brewery Location... scouting locations.

Me: Do you still teach music? If so, where and what ages? You teach drums, right?

Joe: No, I did for a while but got frustrated when Little Johnny doesnt practice sooo I kinda give Master classes once in a while about my technique and influences... you know??? It's all about listening.

Me: You're the Messiahs' drummer, but who else is in the band?

Joe: I played on the first 2 records but not on the last. The drummer on the last record quit before our new years gig so I now play drums. Before that I was playing Congas, Timbales and Frattoir (Cajun Washboard). Doug Bare plays keys, key bass and lead vocals and Danny Archer is our awesome slowhand slide guitarist. That's it 3 piece!!!! Nobody wants to pay a decent wage anymore so we at least get the monies that we are looking for being 3 piece.

Me: Joe, do you have a favorite Foghat song, and if you were going to cover a Foghat song and make it fit with the New Orleans style music, what would it be?

Joe: I always loved "Honey Hush" and I think I could energize (no pun intended) "Home In My Hand" with a New Orleans Rumba. I got to play drums on "Slow Ride" and "Fool For A City" at one gig for a monitor sound check because the drummer hadnt showed up yet. That was a milestone in my life. I was doin' sound and road managing on that gig.

Me: I have to ask you about your record label called Trackspotting. Do you still put together compilations of local bands?

Joe: No buttttt there's something in the works with the label. I have so many talented students that I could call upon that an idea I have may just fly.

Me: Did you play Universal Studios this year for Mardi Gras?

Joe: No, they don't do it but on Saturdays now. Back in 2000 and 2001 we played 5 days a week and 12 weeks.

Me: Joe, thanks for doing this interview, and being a friend over the years, and especially a good friend of my dad's. Go ahead and plug your website and let the Phile readers know when and where you'll be playing.

Joe: Thanks, J. Myspace.com/funkybluesmessiahs.

There, that's it for another entry of the Phile. Thanks to Wikipedia and Joe Skinner, and of course you readers. The Phile will be next week with not one but two guests... Dave Barclay and Maria De Aragon from Star Wars! I will also reveal the 9th book in the Peverett Phile Book Club, and then in two weeks it's the biggest star ever to grace the Phile, kids. All will be revealed next week. So, spread the word, not the turd, and don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye love you bye.