Hey there, welcome to the Phile for a Friday. It's not just any Friday, today is my birthday. It's not a regular birthday though, it's a milestone birthday. I am now 50-years-old. I'm now retro. I reached an age where I wake up at the time I used to go to sleep on a Saturday. I'm at the age where I get sore from doing nothing. You know, getting older is mainly just adding to the lists of foods I can no longer eat. Today is also Black Friday in case you didn't know. My condolences to anyone who has to work at a retail store on Black Friday or any other day of the year. If you're going Black Friday shopping today be a decent human being and turn your phone horizontal before recording any fights. Actually, by now everything should be settled down in the stores. I hope.
Mark Zuckerberg is facing new calls to resign as chairman of the company he created to rate girls in college. Last week, a New York Times exposé revealed that as early as spring 2016, the company knew that Russian trolls were using the platform to share hacked Democratic emails and interfere with the 2016 election. They also feared Trump supporters, and thus failed to act on the president-to-be using the site to push for a Muslim ban. Facebook also launched a fancy lobbying campaign to shield themselves from accountability from lawmakers, and also worked with a right-wing public relations firm to push their own fake news, smearing critics as anti-Semites. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Zuckerberg has declared to staffers that "Facebook Inc. was at war and he planned to lead the company accordingly." Eight parliaments from all around the world want to hear from the General, but Zuckerberg so far refuses to engage. On top of all the bad optics and functionally enabling the death of democracy, Zuckerberg also lost $17.4 billion this year. Apparently playing a role in the Rohingya genocide is bad for business.
Locker her up? Lock her up? The Washington Post is reporting that Ivanka Trump used a personal email address to conduct government business... and the scandal is twofold: A) That Ivanka Trump used a PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS after her father's bashed Hillary Clinton's email practices right up there with Muslims and Mexicans AND B) That Ivanka Trump conducts government business at all. "Some aides were startled by the volume of Ivanka Trump’s personal emails... and taken aback by her response when questioned about the practice," according to The Washington Post. "She said she was not familiar with some details of the rules, according to people with knowledge of her reaction." Okay... now that excuse takes chutzpah. Ivanka saying that she didn’t know the government email rules after the 2016 campaign is like saying you haven’t heard of cocaine after bingewatching "Narcos." The New York Times adds that "current and former White House officials have said it was characteristic of a repeated blurring of the lines between her government work and other aspects of her life, which used to include her namesake licensing and apparel businesses." The complete, utter hypocrisy is making heads explode. Watchdog groups have already asked Congressional Democrats to investigate Ivanka's email use, and a Democratic House committee just might be able to get it done. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is laugh-crying. Just another day in Washington!
There are so many reasons to miss Princess Diana, but finding out she had a wicked dirty sense of humor, cuts right to the heart. A saucy card she sent to an accountant is currently up for auction at Julien's Auctions...
Imagine if Princess Diana was still around and was as addicted to Twitter as the rest of celebrity-kind? We can only imagine what sort of dry, witty, dick jokes she might have doled out. What the world needs now is someone to find the rest of the cheeky notes, cards, sick burns, and Prince of Wales puns Diana penned and share them. The "people's princess" would want that for us!
Arthur Posey was arrested at a Willie's Chicken Shack in New Orleans after threatening to "blow" the place up. According to the warrant, the police were called, and in a heated exchange, Posey insisted that he was speaking of metaphorically bombing the place with a big-ass bowel movement. NOLA.com reports that Posey claimed to have told a Willie's Chicken Shack employee that he was going to "blow the bathroom up" by pooping, but the employee insists that "Mr. Posey never told him anything about a bathroom." Posey's imminent diarrhea failed to be corroborated with employees, and he faces two counts of communicating of false information of planned arson. While talking about your poop might seem undignified, NOT explicitly mentioning poop can get you sent to jail.
Police in South Carolina are asking every-bunny in their community to hop to it and identify this dude in bunny ears, because he's a person of interest in a case of stolen cameras.
The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office is crowdsourcing the identification of the mystery bunny. Here's hoping the ears are as effective a disguise as Clark Kent's glasses.
I said this before, sometimes people get their asses saved by a total stranger. Not all humans are the worst. Like this cashier who helped a man with a new language...
Do you love dogs? I do, but sometimes they can be such jerks.
I think he's thinking, "Sorry, this is mine, not the cat's." Hahaha. If I had a TARDIS I wish I could go back in time when I was just a kid in the 1800s.
Hahahahahaha. Yep, the Peverett family. Good times. I was thinking of getting a new tattoo for my birthday but someone had the same idea as me.
Hahaha. Do you know what really makes me laugh? Old people wearing inappropriate t-shirts.
Haha. No it's not, old lady. Are your kids in school as witty as this kid?
Okay, so, they told me if I go to Walmart I would see some strange things. I didn't believe it until I saw this...
You also can see some strange things at Best Buy as well...
Disney and Marvel both said the new Avengers movie's title is gonna be something that was said in the MCU movies in the past. I think I know what it is...
Speaking of pro, one of the best things about the Internet is you can see porn free and so easy. I don't want you to go to another site so I thought I'd show a porn pic here. I don't wanna get you in trouble so I came up with a solution...
Wait, it's my birthday, and I'm giving you guys the gift. Haha. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York...
Top Phive Signs I Know I'm 50
5. I knew when the Dead Sea was only sick.
4. When I go to the beach and turn a wonderful color... blue. It’s from holding my stomach in.
3. When people tell me how good I look.
2. When almost everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work.
And the number one reason I know I'm 50...
1. When the candles cost more than the cake.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, it's time to talk football with my good friend Jeff.
Me: Hey, Jeff, welcome to the Phile for my 50th birthday entry. How are you?
Jeff: Hey, Jason. Always glad to be back on the Phile. And even more glad to help you celebrate! I'm doing alright, how about you?
Me: Not too bad. Did you have a good Thanksgiving?
Jeff: My Thanksgiving was good. The usual family stuff. Food, family and football. With a side of gambling thrown in because it's my family. DUH.
Me: So, how long have we known each other? Do you have a favorite story about me?
Jeff: We're going on nearly twenty years if you can believe that. Favorite Jason story? There was that one time in Vegas.... wait, this is a family friendly blog (mostly) so I will just say it was probably the time you gave a small child a concussion at Walt Disney World.
Me: Hahaha. Man, I felt so bad for that kid. Okay, let's talk about football... so, here's breaking news... The NFL canceled the rest of the season, will play best of five Super Bowls between Chiefs and Rams. Hahahahaha. That's a possibility, right?
Jeff: No, that's not a possibility! The best team doesn't always make that far. Hell, the Jags made it to the AFC championship game last year. And look at them now...
Me: How about this? The Buccaneers recorded more yards in a game last week than the Rams did on "Monday Night Football," scoring 51 fewer points. Whatcha think of that?
Jeff: Football is a funny game that way. Because sometimes you can get offense from your defense. I mean just look at how many times the Bills offense has allowed their opponent's defense to score. Or the Bucs for that matter.
Me: I thought this is weird... Joe Theismann and Alex Smith’s injuries happened on the same day, on the same yard line, with same final score. Doesn't that make you creeped out? It does me.
Jeff: That is very creepy. It was such a bad hit too. I cringed when I watched it.
Me: What NFL news do you have?
Jeff: There isn't a lot of news this week other than the shoot out on Monday and Alex Smith's injury. I mean it's sort of big news when the Giants have won two games in a row? The Ravens started a rookie named Lamar Jackson. And all he did was set an NFL record for most rushing yards by a QB in his first start. That's impressive!
Me: Britain has taken over another team, Jeff...
Me: Whatcha think?
Jeff: Now that logo makes the most sense! I like it!
Me: So, how did we do last week? It's my birthday so I'm in the lead, right?
Jeff: This is sad. We both went 0-2 last week! With both of our teams winning. So I maintain a one point lead. I will give you a birthday point which disappears at the end of your birthday. So we're tied. I mean if you just keep making up rules like "it's my birthday so I'm in the lead" and "we're cancelling the rest of the season and doing a five game Super Bowl" I can make up rules too!
Me: Hahahahahahahaha. Let's pick the next games... I say Jags by 4 and Colts by 2. What do you say?
Jeff: I'll go with Ravens by 3 and New England by 8.
Me: Okay, I'll see you back here next Thursday. Have a good week.
Jeff: Once again happy birthday and see you next week! Okay, a friend of the Phile wanted to come on and say something about me, so I thought why stop him. Haha. He's a singer, patriot and renaissance man. You know what time it is...
Today is the birthday of a good friend of mine. I am just as much an admirer of this man's work as he is of mine. A talented writer, a great father, a good friend... and the type of fella that knows what it's like to walk in the large footprints of his late father. His father was the great Lonesome Dave Peverett.., lead singer of Foghat. Happy birthday to my dear friend... Jason Peverett.
Having frequent sex can boost brain activity in people over 50.
Two babies born at the same time but on different sides of the world means they have different birthdays.
Me: Hey, David, how are you doing?
David: Not good, Jason.
Me: Why? What's wrong?
David: Well, last night I was doing a show and I said to one guy, "Please hold out your hand and take this card." The guy held out his hand. I said, "No, the other one." Then he took his arm out of his jacket pocket to reveal a stump where his hand used to be.
Me: Oh, man, that sucks. So, wanna do a trick here for us?
David: No, I'm too depressed. Bye, Jason, happy birthday.
Me: Bye, David. The real magic for David is that he didn't subsequently hide under his bed forever. David Coppafeel, the world's worst magician, kids.
Phact 1. An article in 1968 revealed widespread marijuana use among U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. As a result of the media uproar stateside and subsequent crackdown by the army, soldiers shifted to heroin, which was odorless and harder to detect. By 1973, up to 20% of the soldiers were habitual heroin users.
Phact 2. Snoopy is NASA’s official safety mascot. Every astronaut since 1968 has worn a silver Snoopy pin into space; upon return, the astronauts present the pin as a special recognition to a civilian team member who helped keep them safe.
Phact 3. China experienced an episode of mango hysteria in 1968. Upon receiving them as diplomatic gifts, Mao had them distributed across the country where songs, poems, rallies, and altars were built in the mangoes’ honor. A dentist was even executed for comparing a mango to a sweet potato.
Phact 4. In 1968, an astronomy student, a dental student and a bass player formed a band called Smile. By 1970 the Smile faded, and in 1971 they renamed the band to Queen.
Phact 5. In 1968 there were four mysterious submarine disappearances. The U.S.S. Scorpion, the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, the French submarine Minerve and the Soviet submarine K-129 all went down.
I'm soooo excited! Today's pheatured guest is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Along with Ed Robertson, he was a founding member, lead singer, guitarist, and a primary songwriter of one of my favorite bands... Barenaked Ladies. How new solo album "Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile one of my favorite singers of all time... Steven Page!
Me: Hi, Steven! I'm sooo freakin' excited you are here for my birthday entry. How are you?
Steven: I'm going well, I'm feeling fine, Jason. Happy birthday.
Me: So, I love your new CD and the single "White Noise." It's funny that there's a swear word in it.
Steven: Yeah, for some reason they decided THIS was the single. The one with the swearing in it.
Me: Ha. So, what is it about?
Steven: I wrote it after the Charlottesville, Virginia demonstrations violence nonsense tiki torch carrying that happened last year. I'm living in the United States and particularly was struck by the scene of young men matching and saying "Jews will not replace us." I am Jewish and I grew up understanding that my grandparent's generation, my grandparents grew up in Canada but a lot of people of that generation was exterminated in Europe simply for being Jewish. And to hear that kind of language again all of a sudden drove home the urgency of what's going on, not just in the United States but in Europe and in Canada honestly. I'm not normally compelled to write a protest song every time I see something that enrages me but that was like it just came out.
Me: Otherwise do you think you'll be writing nothing but protest songs?
Steven: Yeah, that's true. They get pretty tedious.
Me: So, how long have you been living in the states?
Steven: About ten years.
Me: So, how do you like living in the U.S.?
Steven: I'm a Canadian citizen living in the United States with the ability to vote nowhere. I'm living with Green Card status in the states, but that means I can't vote there. And they took away the right to vote for Canadians who've been away for longer than five years... I have no right to speak up at all with my vote, so I used a song instead.
Me: What do you think the people in the United States feel?
Steven: It's a weird thing, really. I think the people in the United States feel like it's getting better. Things are getting great now. Because America was "terrible" before and now it's getting great, they can't really back it up with anything empirical but the feeling's good. It seems absurd to us as Canadians when you think about that, that's insane then they reelect Doug Ford.
Me: How has your perspective on Canada changed since you lived here in the U.S.?
Steven: I think that Canadians... and this is said with absolute love and a passion for Canadians to be the best Canada that they can be... but I think we get lazy with our feeling of superiority to our American neighbours. I think that there is a certain sense of anti-Americanism that we grew up with here: that we're somehow better informed, we're better educated, we are more sensitive, we are more humanitarian. And I think in a lot of ways that's a falsehood. In other ways, it's an ideal that we're in jeopardy of completely losing and I think we've got to be careful. It doesn't take much for for those values to be eradicated. We think that those things get eroded over time, but I think as we saw in the United States, very quickly after 2016, things changed and things are changing there as well.
Me: Do you think a lot of people are writing protest songs now, Steven?
Steven: I think a lot of people are afraid to. I address it in the song: "I'm a little bit nervous about singing this, because what are they going to do, send me back?" Which they would send me back to would not be half as awful as it would be for a lot of other immigrants. I know that my immigrant experience is highly privileged compared to to others who don't have the same kind of opportunity to express themselves that I do. So I kind of feel an obligation that way, but I don't know. I think it seems so absurd that there's so much chaos in the culture right now that it's hard to nail down what to protest.
Me: Do you think an artist has a responsibility to write topical songs?
Steven: No. I don't think so. I think it's part of my value system, but I don't think every artist has to think the same way I do. I would love it if people would pick on Taylor Swift for not taking the opportunity she has to promote causes. What people are picking on her to promote are THEIR causes. You don't know where she stands. How would we like it of all of a sudden we found out she wanted to promote all kinds of things that we disagreed with? But we are in an era now where we are beginning to decide that we must judge the art along with the artist. That's a scary proposition for a lot of artists. They're afraid that they are going to come down on an issue that's opposite to something that their fans or their parents or whatever else agree on. They think they can lose that fan base.
Me: So, people are scared?
Steven: Right, I think they believe they are going to alienate somebody and they want to be everything for everyone, as my old band once said. That's a fear and the fear that I have is some musicians are dummy's. That's okay, they don't have to be the greatest political mind. They could be one of the worst political minds and still get elected to public office. I think the artist should have the right and the opportunity to be heard. The same way that we listen to bankers and small business people and plumbers and whatever else, the average guy and big CEOs. Except unless you're in sports and or the arts then you're not supposed to. They're like what do those people know. Honestly I could pull I'm a small business man and I empty these people and I do this and I pay these taxes and have these corporations, I can pull that but I don't even care about that. I'm just a person. And I happen to try and be engaged and I have a pretty god sense of what my value believe system is.
Me: You have always been that way I think, right?
Steven: I've always put my struggle with what's my role as an artist. How much of myself I should give a way. I struggle with my songs and I struggle with it openly as a topic for a lot of songs.
Me: Barenaked Ladies had a few topical songs and I remember after 9/11 you guys did a concert for 9/11 am I right?
Steven: Yeah, there was a big concert right when troops started going to Afghanistan. We were making sure people were aware of the landmine issue and so on. Ed and I wrote a lot of political songs in that era. The albums "Everything for Everyone" and "Barenaked Ladies Are Me" both have a lot of pointily political songs and it's a part of our nature.
Me: Okay, so, fans of my blog know I'm a HUGE BNL fan. I had Kevin Hearn on here a few times and I'm glad you're here now. I was so excited that you guys all reunited at the Junos this year. What was that like?
Steven: It was surreal and also kind of oddly peaceful. Almost blissful. I kind of felt like I was floating a little bit when we were doing that thing. Not just with the guys on stage. Everything from the technical elements... like I haven't worn in-ear monitors in years, like I'm kind of back in the big show... was one element. Seeing all the road crew from Barenaked Ladies that they still have with them, I mean it really is a family in that organization. It's the same guys. So being able to reconnect with them earlier that weekend seeing the guys' kids, and see how everybody's grown into young adults and so on. That's been really exciting.
Me: What was the rehearsal like? I bet it was weird.
Steven: Before our rehearsal, I remembered, I don't know how to play "One Week." I had suggested "One Week and "If I Had $1,000,000" because they were the two BNL songs that I don't play, because they're duets. For me, those are Ed and Steve duets. And so I thought, I don't remember how to play "One Week" on the guitar. I'm not sure what the chord shapes are... they're very Ed Robertson chord shapes... and I was like looking them up on YouTube and stuff. I'm thinking that's not right, I'm looking at Ultimate Tabs and I don't have the full subscription. And I'm starting to freak out a little bit. We go to the rehearsal, I put the guitar on and it's just there. Like it's in my hand, this muscle memory comes back. So being on stage was super easy, like no time had passed in a lot of ways, but the energy in the room was so positive. It was like it was buoyant. And it was sheer joy.
Me: Would you do it again?
Steven: No. The hell with that, I've did it once! It'll just be a let down now. There hasn't been any talk of it. I'm definitely not getting my old job back. If it was up to me and there was opportunities to do one offs or something like that sure, give me a call.
Me: When you got the call for the Junos how did you feel?
Steven: Pretty awesome. I think they had to feel us out a little bit.., "would you be okay of this would ever happen could you go and be there in the same room?" I think they went to the other guys and said, "Could you be in the same room?" This was like what's the dynamic? Thankfully they all said, yeah, sure.
Me: Did it feel a little weird?
Steven: Oh, yeah, terrifying. I was like this is the first time I will be in the same room with those guys in nine years.
Me: Like I said I'm a big fan and I bet all the fans loved that you guys got back together for one night. Am I right?
Steven: Yeah, the general populace... the fact that they remembered us and have fond memories of all of us together. Some of them have gone on to follow us on our paths since I split.
Me: Do you remember when you first met Ed?
Steven: I knew Ed shin I was in grade five and he was in grade four. I saw him as a kind of tough guy. He has the dirty jeans and the Rush t-shirt, big curly hair and he used to play "Fly By Night" on the guitar. I was very quiet and very loft and shy and he was out going. So, we weren't friends, but we were aware of each other. He was definitely Mr. Music, Mr. Rock. When I was in high school he had a cover band. They did some standard Canada rock covers, then they would do a Max Webster song, and then do a Peter Gabriel song, then do a Talking Heads song. I love Taking Heads and I was like he likes that stuff? So I realised I had underestimated him.
Me: When did you first start to song write?
Steven: We worked together at Scarborough Music Camp and I had made a tape with a friend of mine, Geoff Pounsett. Everybody else would have parties if their parents went away on weekends. What we would do is rent a four-track recorder and get a bucket of KFC and laugh and make up songs. So we had these songs and we would pass them around the school and one day at this camp Ed walked up to me singing one of the songs I had written with Geoff.
Me: That's cool. What was the song?
Steven: I think that might've been the song "I Really Don't Know." We did it with BNL for years as well.
Me: When did you and Ed start performing together?
Steven: Well, we started singing it together and of course I was totally flattered he knew my stuff. But the second we sang together the harmony was perfect, like it was being dudes, no one wanted to go "oh my god!" We could see it kind of lock. So we enjoyed singing together but he had a band on the go but that summer we started hanging out talking about this fake and that we were never going to have. I remember once we sang at this party and I had tickets to see Bob Dylan at the Grand Stand and I said, "Do you want to see Bob Dylan?" He said, "No." And I said I already have the tickets, they're free. "Okay, fine." We go and we were in the second last row at the Grand Stand, pretending to be rock critics. At Woodstock before the cameras started rolling a lot of people didn't realise this band Barenaked Ladies went up. There was two guys with hip waders and they sang these songs about tomato soup. They were really good but just never caught on. That was a great misfortune, that the cameras weren't rolling yet so no one really remembers. Fast forward to about three weeks and Ed calls me and says, "I was supposed to do a battle of the bands for a food bank down at Nathan Phillips Square and my band broke up. Would you do this with me?" I said, "Sure, Why not?" He said, "Good, I told them we were going to do that and I told them we were called Barenaked Ladies." "You told them what?" Okay, we were the Barenaked Ladies and we kept on saying we were going to rehearse which we never did. And we showed up and said to the people running it we're not really prepared to be in the battle of the bands but if they want to have us on while the other bands are setting up we could go up and entertain between and sing or whatever. They said that's fine. We went up and did that and we won anyways.
Me: How did you win and what did you win?
Steven: I don't know. We kind of disqualified ourselves in the battle of the bands and then won.
Me: What made you guys keep the name Barenaked Ladies?
Steven: The prize was to open for the Razorbacks at the Horse Shoe so we did that and thought we can't change our name now because people liked us and how are people going to find us if we change our name, the five people who liked what we did. We were stuck with it from then on.
Me: Did you guys plan to be in a band together?
Steven: Everything was a joke, it was never intended to be OUR band. It was a thing when we were in university to make each other laugh, we loved hanging out together, and people started coming to the shows. Then the first show we did together with Jim and Andy Creeggan from the first note we just knew. Ed and I looked at each other and were like this is it, there's no turning back. It was magical, and the fact they found what our groove was and solidified it and redefined it, and the fact they sang we could have four part harmonies and stuff. We were a band where everybody sings.
Me: Did you guys take it as a joke back then?
Steven: As soon as we were playing together and we started doing gigs we were super serious about it. When we came back to Toronto and had Jim and Andy, and later Tyler joined the group we did everything we could to get in people's faces. It was the same thing, CBC had speakers corner inside of it, which was usually used for they had a weekend compilation show. We went on and were like, "Hey, how are you?!" Then we did our song, which was "Be My Yoke Ono." We had to cut it down because we had exactly a minute, so we figured out how to cut to down to a minute. It was one take and we just thought it was just to promote a show. The people from MuchMusic called us and said, "We'd been waiting for somebody to do this, this is genius." And they actually put the thing into rotation.
Me: When did you guys notice that all that work you were doing was starting to pay off, at least in Canada?
Steven: The "Yellow Tape," when it came out that was purely a demo that we weren't even intending on selling. The basement one we sold a fair number of then "The Yellow Tape" we sold a hundred thousand copies.
Me: I have a copy of "The Yellow Tape" I got from eBay. Was the tape sold in stores?
Steven: We went down to South by Southwest and came back with a box of them and started selling them off the stage. Then we got a call from Sam the Record Man and said we they were getting requests for our tape, can they sell it in the store.
Me: What was it like when you guys got really big in Canada?
Steven: There was a few moments like that. There was a few years when people would say to us "that Mayor June Rowlands really did you guys a big favour by banning you from City Hall." There was a whole big deal where we had booked a new years gig to play at City Hall in Toronto and somebody from the mayor's office said our name had objectified women and we were not welcome at City Hall and kicked off the show. We knew this like a month and a half in advance. We got another gig, we played at McMaster University for new years and we didn't think about it until just a few days before new years The Toronto Star called and said do we want to come down and take a picture outside City Hall, and they wrote an article about it and it blew up. We thought we were already famous because we had this tape we were selling and the Bruce Cockburn cover that was becoming a hit but that still was bunch of different niches. But now Peter Mansbridge was saying our name on "The National," it's a big difference of how people who knows who we are and it made people curious about what out music was and who we were.
Me: Did you think it was enough that Canada knew who you guys were or did you want to be famous in America as well?
Steven: It wasn't enough because Canada was done with us in a way. Our success arc is very cyclical. We got popular on the indie scene then got really popular on the mainstream level then "Maybe You Should Drive" our next record it was still double platinum. It was a great record, it had "Jane" on it and "Alternative Girlfriend." But when you compare that to a million copies of the previous record it was considered a failure.
Me: I remember buying "Gordon" at a record shop just because of the album cover, the one with you guys on it, and the song titles. I had no idea you guys were from Canada or what at that time and then became a HUGE fan since. I interviewed Kevin a few times like I said and last time he was here I said I could tell which songs he wrote and which songs Ed wrote. The same goes for when you were in the band, I knew what songs you wrote just by the subject matter. Anyway, you had a lot of happy songs and a few sad songs back then. I think "If I Had A Million Dollars" is almost a sad song, do you agree?
Steven: I think with "If I Had a Million Dollars" when you look at it it is sad but we didn't mean it at the time but yes it was melancholy, and the mixing of bright and major sounding arrangements and melodies with dark lyrics, that's kind of my shtick.
Me: Do you think people thought your stuff was sad?
Steven: No, it wasn't at the time, but it is now. I think people like it.
Me: So, what about "Jane" and "Brian Wilson"? They were sad songs, right?
Steven: With "Jane," that was wistful I think. "Brian Wilson" was a song about depression. That's what it's about.
Me: What do you think when you sing a song like that and people are dancing and smiling? Haha.
Steven: My feeling is it's for them. It's their song. The fact they want to hear it and want to sing it with me and sing all your memories of that song with me I don't care what they think it's about. There is joy in it too, it's not the power of that song, it's about the power of music to help pull them out of the worse times.
Me: So, every since I interviewed bands and musicians from Canada I asked them if they're fans of Barenaked Ladies... are you a fan? Haha.
Steven: I'm proud of it. If I just thought about the end of it or my frustrations with it, or the way it didn't go exactly the way I would;d've planned it I'd be miserable all the time. I love what I do now in a way I never thought possible.
Me: You left the band nine years ago. Do you reflect on why you did leave the band?
Steven: Yeah. And I think less about the why. I think more about that I've done since. I think about how I've grown since.
Me: So, why did you leave the band? I was there at the bands first show without you at Universal Studios in Orlando and it was weird.
Steven: It was a lot of things. We weren't on the same page with what we wanted to do next. And you know, I don't think any of us wanted to do it together. The part that hurt the most was it was like I was totally by myself and they were unified as the four of them. And it's like, you know, they're brothers, and… you would not expect to be in that situation. But to make the break was the only option for us. I was like I'm going to go to work right now and I called my agent and got him to book me at every folk festival possible. It's amazing to work with all kinds of different people and know the reason I'm able to do this is because what I did in Barenaked Ladies.
Me: You had a rough time at that time though I think, am I right?
Steven: Yeah. I had just gone through a divorce the year before, so it was like two divorces right in a row.
Me: They sing the old songs, Steven, like Ed sings "Brian Wilson" and "Old Apartment." How does that make you feel?
Steven: To be completely honest, I have not watched any of it. I mean, I get it. And I'm not a superstitious person, I don't have any grudge, but I guess it's like, do you want to watch your ex-girlfriend's sex tapes or something with somebody else. I'm happy they're doing the songs, honestly, and I'm happy that they do the songs that I was part of.
Me: I hope so. So, are their any BNL songs you could change if you could?
Steven: Yeah, "Brian Wilson." It's one of the few where I still haven't figured out, for better or for worse, haven't figured out how to write songs yet. So it's too wordy, I remember actually my impetus for writing the song "It's All Been Done" was in fact the live version of "Brian Wilson" was on the radio, when it was just getting popular in the United States, I was in a hotel room and I had the radio on and heard it and thought this was so wordy. I've go to write something that almost has no words. So I wrote "It's All Been Done" with the chorus that says "whoo hoo hoo" as a response to it. What I do love about this song is first of all in fact it has two bridges and the chords kind of make no sense. All I was doing was writing chords that followed the melody. I wasn't thinking about that a chord sequence was supposed to do. I kind of love that about it. I wish I knew how to do that now.
Me: Do you ever get screwed up playing that song?
Steven: Yeah, I always think did I already do that bridge?
Me: Haha. Okay, so, BNL has been around for thirty years, and I have been a fan for all those years! I am so glad that you got to be on the Phile. Please come back again soon, Steven, you are one of my favorite singers ever.
Steven: Thanks, Jason, and happy birthday.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Jeff Trelewicz, Laird Jim and of course Steven Page. The Phile will be back on Monday with Marq Torien from BulletBoys. Spread the word not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you, bye love you, bye.
Not if it pleases me. No, you can't stop me, not if it pleases me. - Graham Parker
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