Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday... it's Labor Day. Let's get to work. Take comfort this Labor Day in knowing the pressure to have fun this summer is practically over. This Labor Day try not to think about how your next holiday isn't until Thanksgiving. Okay, let's get on with this so I can rest this Labor Day.
In what can only be called an incredibly on-brand moment, Eminem has come under fire for homophobic slurs in a new diss track. Slim Shady's newest album, "Kamakaze," was released Thursday night as a surprise to fans (14-year-old boys who call their mom a bitch) everywhere. The title track serves as a classic diss track, and specifically comes for Tyler the Creator at one point (which is hardly surprising given Tyler's past criticism of Eminem). However, Eminem's lines roasting Tyler the Creator include a bleeped out homophobic slur, which did not sit well with many. Given Eminem's library of lyrics, this choice is hardly surprising, but that doesn't make the normalization of using gay slurs okay. Keeping this language "normal" is what fosters cultures of bullying and homophobia, it keeps people in the closet and fuels violence. To add insult to injury, Tyler the Creator has been thoroughly punished for some of his graphic content while Eminem remains unscathed. Still, some people defended Eminem, claiming the use of the slur is a normal part of beef culture and is deeply unlikely to actually hurt Tyler the Creator in any serious way. Unsurprisingly, Eminem's defense of the slur rides on the predictable argument: that the word somehow doesn't carry its own meaning. At this point, I think it's safe to say Eminem won't change, he thrives off this type of backlash because it keeps it relevant. By the way, last year Tyler the Creator was at my work and I had no idea who he was, but my Cast did. I was like Tyler the Creator? What did he create? Anyway...
New reports suggest that when journalist Ronan Farrow was working at NBC, the company's highest level executives threatened to launch a smear campaign against him if he published details about Harvey Weinstein's past alleged sex crimes. The first evidence that NBC tried to squash the story came out back in October 2017, right after Ronan's reporting was published in The New Yorker. At that point, HuffPost reported that NBC executives had refused to allow Farrow to publish the Weinstein story on NBC platforms, saying he didn't have enough evidence. New information came out Thursday alleging that NBC's lawyer, Susan Weiner, called Farrow and threatened a smear campaign against him several times, according to the Daily Beast, which broke the story. NBC has maintained that it passed on Farrow's story initially because the story wasn't ready yet... none of the women was willing to be named, NBC said in a statement. As for the smear allegation, NBC is calling this new information an "outright lie." Journalists are livid that NBC might have engaged in a cover-up. Rich McHugh, the journalist who worked with Farrow on the story at NBC, released a statement calling NBC's alleged actions "unethical" and "a massive breach of journalistic integrity." "Something else must have been going on," he added. Journalist Greta Van Susteren tweeted that NBC should release the name of whoever gave its statement alleging that the claims were "an outright lie." "News orgs should be the last ones to be making anonymous statements," she wrote. Podcaster Jon Lovett tweeted that NBC News' story isn't adding up. People are pointing out that NBC's journalists were doing good work, while NBC itself was allegedly engaging in the cover-up. And of course, people couldn't resist drawing parallels to NBC's behavior and the allegations against its former star morning anchor, Matt Lauer. The New York Times was the first to publish allegations against Weinstein last year, with Farrow's report coming out in The New Yorker a few days later. Racists are so desperate to find a reason to support their disgusting ideas they’ll believe just about anything. Case in point was a fake story that started on Facebook and wound up threatening the lives of several Starbucks employees. Back in January, someone created the fake Facebook profile of an African-American woman named Shanell Rivers. They then used the profile to make it look as though a black woman was doing disgusting things to white Starbucks customers.
A Starbucks store in Brookhaven, Georgia began receiving threats and closed a few hours early. A heavy police presence was sent to the area to stop any potential violence. A bunch of racist white people saw the post and flipped out. Starbucks tried to squash the rumor on Twitter. Starbucks released a statement saying they do not have an employee named Shanell Rivers. “Nobody by the name of Shanell Rivers works for, or has worked for, Starbucks,” a company spokesperson said. “These posts are fake and were created with malicious intent. We are working with local authorities to determine how these fake posts were created and circulated.”
Last year, the Ta-Ta towel changed the way that women thought about bras, especially the well-endowed. Here it is ICYMI...
The bra is basically a towel that hangs around a woman’s neck. Ta-Ta towel fans love it because there’s no strap digging into their backs and the material is great at preventing boob sweat. It’s detractors think the Ta-Ta towel is an unattractive undergarment. Now, online clothing retailer SheIn, has sexified the Ta-Ta- towel by applying the same design concept to lingerie. The open-back embroidered rose lace bralette has a beautiful floral pattern on top of see-through black lace.
Although it’s definitely a different look, women who’ve purchased it seem to like it. It has a 4.5-star rating on SheIn’s website. If you get one, ladies, send pics.
They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. As does the devil. A woman in Denham Springs, Louisiana was arrested for setting her couch on fire to "get the devil out," which, if I were the devil, is totally where I'd chill, too. The fire then spread to the rest of her trailer, which likely reminded the devil of his hometown. The firefighters took the arsonist to the hospital for treatment before escorting her to jail, which is really nice of them. I guess Satan is a couch potato.
So, instead of doing this blog thing I should be listening to this record...
Ummm... maybe not. That woman looks attractive though. Someone research them. So, some people out there are petty AF. Check this tweet out...
Be a little petty today, you deserve it. So, did you read those "Sweet Valley Twins" books when you were a kid? I didn't obviously but I wonder what this one is about...
You know Thanos from Infinity War, right? He was supposed to have a different look. Check it out...
Ummm... I don't know what to think. He looks too much like that guy from "Myth Busters." So, I know it's hot, that's why I wanna show you a cheap thing to help you stay cool during the hottest damn summer ever. You know you do it, why not admit it? Pick up this "I Pee in Pools" black and yellow can cooler.
People respect honesty. So be the most respected man or woman at your next pool party by bringing this special "I Pee in Pools" beer cozy. Even if it doesn’t earn you any respect, it’s sure to give you the hot tub all to yourself. It’s on Amazon for just $8. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York, here is...
Top Phive Ways To Celebrate Labor Day
5. File for another extension on your unemployment insurance.
4. FaceTime with yhr guy from Bangalore who took your tech job for half your salary.
3. Go into labor (Pregnant woman only).
2. Throw some dogs on the grill, crack a cold one and calculate how many more decades you'll have to work to pay off your student loans.
And the number one way to celebrate Labor Day is...
1. Grow a pair and quit your miserable, soul-crushing, dead-end job writring one-liners for a humor blog.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. So, not long ago a local lawyer wanted to come onto the Phile and advertise his law firm. I said why not, and he did. Well, he wanted to come back today and drum up some new business. So, thought why not. So, once again here is...
Me: Hey, Mr. Buggerz, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Bill Buggerz: I am freakin' good, Jay, how're you?
Me: Not too bad. So, what's new?
Bill Buggerz: I wanna tell your readers something to look out for if you're going through a freakin' divorce.
Me: Sure. Go ahead.
Bill Buggerz: You wouldn't believe how many people submit nude pictures of their soon-to-be exes into the court record as evidence, not because the pics are relevant in any way to the divorce proceedings, but simply to humiliate them... court files, unless sealed by the judge, are public record so anyone who cares to look can access the court file and all the exhibits. Family court is the most depressing division. Don't send nudes to people... except for me, I'm totally trustworthy.
Me: Ha. Sure. Is that it?
Bill Buggerz: Yup. Happy Labor Day, everyone. Call Suetha, Buggerz & Wynn if you need a lawyer. Piece out.
You don't have to be British to laugh at this meme list, but it will bloody well help.
Hmmm... I don't get it. Maybe I'm not British after all.
Kida are more likely to cheat if they think they have a reputation for being smart. Studies show that when children are told they're really smart for doing well on a test, they're more likely to cheat in the future so that you'll keep thinking they're really smart. However, if you praise them by saying they "did really well this time," they're more likely to keep working hard so the can "do well" again the next time.
Hahahahahahahaha. I think that's funny. It's important to remember that we're all just little bumbling flesh bags struggling to get there (whatever that means). So, if you wanna see a movie today on your day off a good friend of the Phile has a movie review he'd like to share. He's a singer, patriot and renaissance man. You know what time it is...
Good morning, humans. Laird’s No Spoilers Movie Review: The Happytime Murders. The Muppets take meth... Puppet porn... Sick and twisted... Yeah, yeah, I know... everybody is panning this flick. You know what? I loved it. You have to be a fan of outrageously irreverent humor to like this over the top shock fest. Puppet detective teams up with everybody’s favorite fat annoying twat, Melissa McCarthy to solve a string of puppet murders. Some pretty fucked up shit going on in puppetland. Three things... 1. Don’t take the kids, 2. I always wondered what purple puppet poontang looked like, 3. I am certain that Jim Henson is doing BACKflips in his grave. Nine out of a possible ten.
I wanna see that movie. Okay, so, the 86th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Freddy will be on the Phile next Monday.
An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman each order a Guinness in a pub. Upon being served, each finds a fly in their beer. Repulsed, the Englishman sends his back. The Scotsman gently flicks the fly out of his mug and begins drinking. The Irishman, carefully lifts the fly up by its wings and screams, "Spit it out! Spit it out!"
This is freaking cool... today's pheatured guest is an English rock bassist and vocalist, who currently fronts the supergroup Black Country Communion. Their latest album "BCCIV" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Glenn Hughes!
Me: Hey, Glenn, welcome to the Phile. It's an honor to have you here. How are you?
Glenn: I'm fine, my friend. It's my honour, my friend.
Me: Man, Black Country Communion is such a super group with yourself, Joe Bonamassa, Derek Sherinian and Jason Bonham. How did you put this band together?
Glenn: I started working along with Joe in 2009 and we got together about half a dozen times in his studio in North Hollywood. I met him at the NAMM show in January '09, he's a young man and knew about my work from the '70s and I heard about him as my friends talked about Joe. I thought let's get together and see what happens. We did and slowly and surely began to come up with some ideas that might fit. We didn't know where we were going with it with a rock band. Were we going to Nashville, Memphis, Deroit? We didn't really know that we were gonna be called Black Country Communion.
Me: After a few albums and a live album you guys did Joe decided he was going his own way. What made him decide to come back to the band?
Glenn: What happened I think the facts are this... when we were notified there was not going to be a tour after "Afterglow" came out, there was just going to be one show. We just basically took it off the back boil. It wasn't a case of who left and who didn't stay. It was pretty obvious that if we were not going to tour it was impossible to continue. I just sort of walked away in September of 2012, I didn't go public with it, I just walked away because I was worried that we were unable to tour. I thought it was best to just go my own way. Then the next year the band broke up.
Me: I love the new album "BCCIV," which has a little bit of rock, a little bit of blues, and a few other genres. Did you have any plans of changing things up going in?
Glenn: Well, when we got together to do this I was getting inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Joe called me from New York in 2016. We then got together in L.A. and discussed what we should do, and how we do it and what the songs should sound like, what direction we should go in. It was very obvious where we should go. My concern is I just wanted it to be a very, very memorable album to compete with the other ones. The first three albums are pretty stellar. The new one, if you don't mind me saying so, I wanted it to be epic.
Me: The opening song "Collide" has a very Led Zeppelin feel, Glenn, Was that your intention with it?
Glenn: You know, to be be honest with you when writing these songs there's never a moment where Joe and I are going out of the box to sound like Zeppelin. I'll just say this, and this is a real honest statement... when Joe and I brought the songs into the studio and played them for Jason and Derek, when we have Jason Bonham playing drums with us it sort of guides its way into that territory when we are writing songs in the ilk of what these songs are. Let's just say we didn't want to make a record like a modern rock record, we wanted to make a record that sounded like it came from the 70s.
Me: Why do you think it has that classic 70s sound? Which I love by the way.
Glenn: It's kind of what this band is. It's for the fans that never got to see Zeppelin or Purple or the classic rock of the giants of the 70s. I am from that generation as you know, I'm in my 60s now, and that's where I saw this band should be. A lot of new bands wish they could write and play in that genre. When we are writing these songs there's definitely a tip of the hat to Zeppelin. We knew we were stepping into that territory. We are not trying to be that band, I don't sound like Robert.
Me: That's the only track I had that feeling about. It's a very varied album, Glenn. What was the first song you wrote for the album?
Glenn: That one... "Collision." When we played it to Jason we knew how he was going to play it. It's funny, the song was written knowing full well that of we came up with this rift we knew where the drums would stop... and that's kind of Zeppelinish,
Me: I love the song "Over My Head," which is my favorite song on the album. How did you come up with that song?
Glenn: My wife woke me up in the middle of the night and asked me, "What's over my head?" I was like what? She said, "You've been singing 'over my head.'" I was like ohhhh... then I left my bed, went up to my studio and kind of mumbled into the machine a couple of things. When I got up the next day I played it back and there was the melody. It just came out. I never wrote a song in a dream state before but there's always a first I guess.
Me: The song "The Last Song For My Resting Place" has a fiddle in it, which was a surprise. How did you come up with that idea?
Glenn: Primarily Joe came up with that song and I finished it with him. When we were putting it down in my studio we had no idea there was going to be a fiddle there. We didn't know where we were going. We knew there was going to be an acoustic guitar and mandolin on the song of course. When the track was recorded we sent it to Ireland and one of the guys from the Dubliners played the fiddle on it. It sounds different than anything on the album. Its a timeless piece of maid that will sound as good in twenty years time so this is the kind of thing I like, this kind of song on this type of album.
Me: Did you plan that that song was going to be so different?
Glenn: Yeah, we knew. In fact some of the other songs wrote for the other albums sound just a little bit different to the rest of it. But this one is definitely something completely different. I say different but it's grand and glorious but though it's different it definitely fits this album. There's definitely different energies on this album, different moods and like I said, Joe and I wanted to explore all territories on this album.
Me: When you first met Joe he was more into the blues, sir, did it take him long to get more into rock like how you play?
Glenn: No, man, the crazy thing about Joe and I say this out of love, when I got together with Joe nine years ago I was quite impressed of his knowledge of the band Free. Joe is forty and Free broke up forty-three years ago or so. He loves Free and he loves Paul Kossoff. How tip of the hat to that band and that guitar player is very obvious to people that know. So, when I started to work with Joe we started to dig into that territory a little bit, that less in time gore temp stuff. His knowledge of early British rock music is quite incredible. When we started Black Country I think Joe was more influenced by Free than he was by Zeppelin. I think you could hear that on this album.
Me: How do you and Joe write together? Does one come up with the lyrics and the other the music?
Glenn: On the first album Joe came to my home and we wrote three or four songs. I came up with couple of ideas and Joe finished them. I do write a lot of music, I write daily, every day of the year, which is what I do most of the time. On this particular album I thought it would be really great to write all the music together in my room. We were facing each other on a couple of chairs. On the lyrically part most of them are mine. I write a lot of the lyrics as that's what I like to do. Joe wanted me to be happy to do what I do and I wanted him to be happy. I just wanted him to write music with me on this particular album.
Me: This album was a big passionate album for you, am I right?
Glenn: Yeah, I knew this album was important or the brand and the band. This album needed to be as good as the first three, in fact its probably better than the first three.
Me: Am I right to say that this type of band does better in Europe than in the U.S.? Or am I wrong?
Glenn: You know I got some theories about that but I'll keep them to myself. I think the promotion in Europe is a bit more extensive than it is in America. Its difficult for me to go into detail. I don't know.
Me: Do you play more in Europe or over here?
Glenn: Europe. I'm not sure if it's a rock versus music thing or fan base or whatever it is, I'm not sure. I'm not saying anything than we just make great records. We just simply have to make great music.
Me: There's not a lot of rock albums in the charts anymore, is there?
Glenn: You might see on Billboard, the Foo Fighters or Chili Peppers, or someone from my era like Roger Waters or whatever. You won't see a lot of rock albums like we used to see in the 70s and 80s in the top twenty. It's just not going to happen. Rock music is taking more seriously in Europe than it is in America. But the amazing heritage of rock music is huge here. Its a shame that we don't see so much coverage of the genre we love. It's kind of been like that for awhile though.
Me: It is sad. Okay, so, after a long time Deep Purple was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Was that a big honor for you?
Glenn: It was. I think the work we did on "Burn," and the three albums we did together as a band I just think of the success and the fails that album had. "Burn" is like one of the top three selling albums that Purple ever made. It was very enjoyable to stand on the stage in front of our peers and our families on a televised event. It was a thing I'll never forget, it was a wonderful achievement.
Me: Cool. Glenn, thanks so much for being on the Phile. This was so cool. Please come back again sometime. Continued success, Glenn.
Glenn: Thanks, Jason, and I loved your dad. Keep up the good work with this blog.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Laird Jim and of course the great Glenn Hughes. The Phile will be back on Thursday with singer Nell Bryden. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you.
Not if it pleases me. No, you can't stop me, not if it pleases me. - Graham Parker
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