Hey there, welcome to the Phile for a Thursday. So, before we start I have to say something.. today is the 19th anniversary of my dad passing. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about him... his stage persona and music or him as a father. We had a lot in common and he was my best friend. My sisters, and my son and I and all who loved and knew him are so bloody lucky to have videos, music and pictures to keep him “alive.” I sometimes wonder what he would think of this stupid little blog. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of some of it. Miss you, dad. I’ll see you again one day. Alright, now I got that outta that way...
On Friday, it was reported that Governor Ralph Northam's page in his medical school yearbook is an astonishingly racist spectacle featuring blackface and a KKK costume. Well, I hope it's a costume. Take a look...
At first, Northam apologized for the photo, acknowledging that the yearbook page is authentic but failing to specify whether he's the guy in blackface or the KKK hood... the worst episode of "The Masked Singer" ever. By Saturday, he switched gears, saying that he's neither the minstrel show character or the klansman in the picture, and reportedly contemplated using facial recognition software (???) to prove it. While he denies being in the yearbook photo, Northam admitted that he did once experiment with blackface in 1984 to dress up as Michael Jackson, but at least he won the dance contest with his moonwalk. Everyone wants Ralph Northam to resign, except for Ralph Northam. Despite losing the trust of his constituents, and reportedly (and understandably) not getting along with his African American lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, Northam is still refusing to vacate the governor's mansion. Democrats are pissed that Northam is still insisting on being relevant, compromising their attempts to brand themselves as the non-racist party ahead of the 2020 election. Hey, governor... Heal the world. Make it a better place. For you and for me and the entire human race.
I regret to inform you that Liam Neeson, of Taken, Star Wars and Schindler's List fame, spent a week and half with a weapon, planning on killing any random black guy after a close friend was allegedly raped by a black man. Granted the opportunity to say literally anything else, Neeson used an interview with British newspaper The Independent as an opportunity to talk about his brief foray into racist rage that almost ended in homicide. Discussing his latest action film about revenge, Neeson mentioned a time in his own life where he sought to murder a black person, whoever the nearest black person was. Neeson added that he is ashamed of that impulse, but not ashamed enough to never talk about it ever again. It's a good thing that Neeson ultimately decided not to commit a racially targeted murder, but did he expect applause for not coming to that conclusion? Liam Neeson has clearly seen too many Liam Neeson movies.
It's hardly news when First Son and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast If He Fell In A Bucket of Toxic Waste Donald Trump Jr. tweets something dumb, but it's still hilarious. Don Jr. was in Washington Tuesday for his boss's big speech, and because it looks he wasn't invited into the Oval Office, he made sure to tweet attempted smears against Democrats so his dad loves him. Little Donny Jr. thought he struck gold when he posted a meme that shows Democratic Congresswomen, many of them women of color, with "NOT ONE AMERICAN FLAG PIN AMONG THEM" in a big, font. Here it is,,,
Don Jr., of "meeting with a Kremlin agent for dirt on Hillary Clinton" fame, appears to be equating pins with patriotism, accusing these Members of Congress of treason for having the wrong accessories. If that's the case, then it's a massive self-own, because, uh, where are these peoples' pins of pride?! A pin is almost redundant when you're an elected public servant, serving the public. There was also another very obvious joke that was made. Don't take patriotism lessons from Don Jr. Don Jr. should... wait for it... stick a pin in it.
In our era of polarization, it's nice to see that people on both the Left and Right have something in common: they're all obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The freshman congresswoman from New York attended her first Trump rally State of the Union, and was not impressed with the president's performance. AOC's reaction when Democrat-in-name-only Senator Joe Manchin applauded fossil fuels became an instant meme.
There was more to AOC's look than just her bold-lipped stare. The Democratic women in the House of Representatives all wore white to pay tribute to the suffragette movement that gave them the right to vote. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, along with her fellow progressive congresswoman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, wore pins with the face of Jakelin Caal, one of the migrant children who died in the government's custody. She also brought as her guest Ana Maria Archila, the activist who confronted Jeff Flake in an elevator over his support for Justice Accused Sexual Assaulter Brett Kavanaugh. Conservatives, in their obsession with her every move and dance move, were absolutely AGHAST that the congresswoman dared not to smile as the president lied about immigrants, threatened women's bodily autonomy, and pretty much threatened war if the Democratic House investigates him. When not photoshopping her white outfit to look like a straitjacket, conservative pundits decried her lack of joy, basically saying that she should "smile more." Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said that Ocasio-Cortez "had a rare bad night, looking not spirited, warm and original as usual but sullen, teenaged and at a loss." The congresswoman responded, "Why should I be ‘spirited and warm’ for this embarrassment of a #SOTU? Tonight was an unsettling night for our country. The president failed to offer any plan, any vision at all, for our future." This pretty much sums it up.
The endless nightmare of the newscycle in recent months has been surprisingly lacking in Kellyanne Conway appearances. The counselor to Trump used to be a media mainstay, with her invention of "alternative facts," her memory of the tragic fictional Bowling Green massacre, and the surfacing of her cloaked glamour shot. Well now, Conway's infamy has been reignited by a resurfaced clip of her threatening to give feminists abortions with a gun. The clip was recently republished by MediaITE and shows Conway giving an impassioned speech to the College Republican National Committee back in 2007. In the middle of her speech, Conway harps on "gender studies feminists," joking that if she heard them talk about reproductive rights or gun reform once more, she'd perform an abortion with a gun. "I always love to say to those gender studies people if you say ‘abortion’ or ‘stem cells’ or ‘guns’ one more time, I’m going to perform one of those on you because, with a gun, because you, by implication, are suggesting that women can’t do the math," Conway said. The clip was quickly made the rounds on Twitter where people are unpacking the villainesque quip. Several people pointed out the irony of the video, considering Conway's demands for civility from the left. There's also, of course, the obvious irony of an anti-abortion politian threatening women she dislikes with a violence abortion. Unfortunately, given how far gone the Trump administration is, it's unlikely Conway will face any real life consequences for this style of threat. Nonetheless, sometimes the only way to stay sane is to remind ourselves we're not the crazy ones.
Man, there were some shady looks at the State of the Union by Democrats... Look at Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
Haha. And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez...
If I had a TARDIS I would go back and see my dad and Foghat in concert on their first tour in 1971...
One if my favorite animals is raccoons... you'll never know when they are gonna appear...
Yikes. Do you know your neighbors? Ever get a note like this from them?
I am so glad I have my own washer and dryer at my apartment. So, someone told me the other day that if I want more people to like the Phile I should show pics of cute animals. Everyone loves cute animals. Okay, I will. How's this?
Haha. You know, you might be cool but you'll never be as cool as Freddie Mercury riding Darth Vader cool...
Hey, did you see Nancy Pelosi had written a book? No? Take a look...
Hahahaha. Hey, it's Thursday, kids, you know what that means...
Hmmm... this one is not too bad. Okay, it's time to talk football one more time this season with my good friend Jeff.
Me: Hey, Jeff, welcome back to the Phile for the last time this season. How are you?
Jeff: Hey, Jason, it's always good to be back here on the Phile talking a little phootball.
Me: So, what did you think of the big game? I thought it was the most boring Super Bowl ever.
Jeff: Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and agree with you. That was pretty terrible.
Me: Did any commercials stick out that you liked? I like the Avengers teaser and the Mercedes Benz commercial. I also noticed a lot of robots were in commercials this year.
Jeff: Obviously the Avengers one. Though I wanted more! For me the other best ones were the NFL 100, the Budweiser "Game Of Thrones" crossover and the Harrison Ford Alexa commercials were the most memorable. But honestly, even the commercials were kinda weak.
Me: I liked the NFL 100 one as well, Jeff. What did you think of the halftime show? It wasn't that great I thought. What was with the five seconds of Spongebob? I thought there was a glitch in the system.
Jeff: I didn't even bother with the halftime show. While I like some Maroon 5 songs, that's not who's going to get me pumped for football. Neither are two rappers. Neither is Spongebob!
Me: The halftime show should have been Chiefs versus Saints. Any highlights for the game for you?
Jeff: Highlights? Um, Brady's first interception was a highlight. But seriously, watching Edelman shred the defense was probably the highlight. Plus we saw the longest punt in Super Bowl history. That was one Hekk of a punt. His name is Hekker. Get it? No. Moving on.
Me: Hahaha. Imagine paying $7,000 for a Maroon 5 concert and a punting contest. Do you think Gronk will retire now?
Jeff: I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Gronk retired. Think about it. What else is there for him to accomplish?
Me: So, Great Britain took over one more team this year...
Me: There you go. Whatcha think?
Jeff: I have no idea what team that's supposed to be. Why do they have their arses greased? On second thought, I don't want to know.
Me: The Steelers! Okay, so how did we do with our Super Bowl picks?
Jeff: You won the last week. You picked that they would win by eight and they won by ten. So it's a small victory.
Me: Yay! So now I will officially congratulate you for winning this season of Phootball Talk. Well done. We'll do it all over again with season 9... The Whole 9 Yards. Jeff, good job keeping everything organized. I'll see you back here soon.
Jeff: Sounds like a plan. But I'll be back before that, I hope. I will have another book out this year! Good job this season and I'll talk to you later.
Me: Yeah, I'll have you back when the book comes out. Take care, Jeff.
Is that even the same woman? I want to see more pics of her. So, there's this magician who likes to come on to the Phile and tell us about his last show. He did a show this past weekend and I'm hoping it went well for him. Please welcome back to the Phile...
Me: Hey, David, how are you? Welcome back to the Phile.
David: Great to be back, Jason.
Me: Okay, so, how did your last show go?
David: I called this 9-year-old kid up to the stage. I had a mesh bag of lemons and a twenty dollar bill. I told him to sign the bill and I would make it appear in one of the lemons.
Me: That's a cool trick. So, what happened?
David: He reached into the bag and tried to grab one from the middle, but it was sewn in a way so that all the other lemons in the bag were in their own compartment and he could only physically grab one lemon. He looked me in the face, and into my microphone, he loudly asked, "Why can I only grab this lemon?"
Me: Hahahahahaha. So, what did you do?
David: I quickly finished the trick and ushered him off stage as quickly as possible.
Me: Oh, David. What a bitter, acidic, puckering tale. Better luck next time.
David: Thanks, Jason.
Me: David Coppafeel, the world's worst magician, kids.
Ummm... this makes no sense. If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York, here is...
Top Phive Things Overheard At The State Of The Union Address
5. Weird to see half the chamber all white, and then the Democrats on the other side.
4. Trump talks about sex trafficking like only Hispanic people are behind it, and if that isn't racism, the sky isn't blue.
3. The response to electing a racist, misogynist, xenophobic president was to win back the House by electing progressive, diverse, bold women and making history. I guess Trump can kinda take a lil credit.
2. Trump taking credit for there being more women in Congress is like the Fyre Fest guy saying, "You're welcome for the documentaries!!"
And the number one thing overheard at the State of the Union address was..
1. They forgot to thank Stanley Kubrick for the moon landing.
Jann will be the guest on the Phile in a few weeks.
Three travelers, an American, a Russian, and an Egyptian, were circumnavigating the globe a la Jules Verne. The Russian man put his hand out and reached down into the clouds. “Aaah!” he said, “We're right over my homeland.” “How can you tell?” asked the American. “I can feel the cold air.” he replied. A few days later the African man put his hand through the clouds. “Aah we're right over my homeland.” he said. “How do you know that?” asked the Russian. “I can feel the heat of the desert.” Several more days later the American put his hand through the clouds. “Aah, we're right over New York.” The Russian and the African were amazed. “How do you know all of that?!” they exclaimed. The American pulled his hand in and held it up for them to see. “My watch is missing.”
The guest will be legendary Disney animator Floyd Norman.
Today's pheatured guest is an American rock musician known for his work with the Iron City Houserockers in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and for his works since the late the 1980s with his act Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, whose latest album "More Yesterdays Than Tomorrows" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile from Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers... Joe Grushecky.
Me: Hey, Joe, welcome to the Phile. How are you doing?
Joe: I'm great, Jason, how are you?
Me: I'm doing okay. I love your new album "More Yesterdays Than Tomorrows." What was the inspiration behind this album, Joe?
Joe: Well, it's one of those records that takes a little bit of living to write. I reached a certain age and realized the road is not going on forever, there's an end in sight and my time is finite. I have so many days and hours left, but not to be morbid, I get up everyday and try to make best what is in front of me.
Me: You have released a lot of CD's. Have you always been a rocker like this album?
Joe: Rock and roll is the music of our generation. A lot of people my age start losing track of that and just full back and listen to the same thirty songs then segue over to country or even the blues thing. They forget there's a lot of guys out there that make really good music. I've been doing to for years. I'll get off my soap box but I wanted to do a really good rock and roll record.
Me: I have to say I'm jealous of you, Joe. My dad was Lonesome Dave from Foghat and he passed nineten years ago today, but I wish when he was alive I would've learnt to play the guitar or something and record with him. That would of been so fucking cool. You are lucky to have your son in your band... what is that like? Do you work well together?
Joe: Well, I started out doing a blues record believe it or not, and my son heard me mess with a bunch of covers and somewhere along the line it was a combination of losing interest with it because so many guys have done blues records. I wasn't really writing good songs, I think I was just cursing. My son came up to me about a year ago and said, "How's your record coming along?" I said, "It's good." I played it for him and he said, "I've got news for you. It sucks!" He said, "I expect more out of you than this. Your songwriting is terrible on this, pick it up."
Me: Ha! I was surprised there's a song on this album with Bruce Springsteen. How did that happen?
Joe: We did a single and I decided to put it on this record too.
Me: Ummm... okay. I love that song. When you write a song what do you think or do, Joe?
Joe: When I write I try to come up with a point of view like I'm writing a little novel or a movie and I usually have a thread running through my narrative. Sometimes it's more obvious than others but more than often it makes sense with me.
Me: Did it take you long to to write these songs and record the album?
Joe: After the title track "More Yesterdays Than Tomorrows" I was on a kick and wrote about eight songs in a short period of time. Then my son got involved with the production, and I've been doing work with Rick Witkowski at his studio for a long time, but we switched up a little bit. I got my son and Brian Coleman in the mixing and production and my son involved in the arranging and production. Then we mastered it at a different place. We tried a few different things but I'm real happy with it. It's a real rock and roll record.
Me: Are you glad you made this record?
Joe: The blues guys and the jazz guys take it as far as they could go. This is definitely my music. I'd be lying to myself if I said it wasn't.
Me: You're from Pittsburgh, right? You must of grew up surrounded by lots of great music. Am I right?
Joe: Well, when I grew up in Pittsburgh I was surrounded by lots of independent AM stations that tried to out obscure each other so I grew up in a very rich musical time. Bands played everywhere, everybody played soul and R&B and blues and rock and roll, Chess and Stax and everything in between, even some country. So we had that great pallet of musical stuff we listened to when we were kids. I absorbed some of it and I heard people say to me, "I never heard you play songs like this before." They were always a part of my DNA, maybe I never recorded them.
Me: A lot of bands nowadays don't think when they release an album to make an album that people will listen to all the way through. This album is great when you listen to it from start to finish, Joe, it sounds like a record someone would of put out in the 70s. Was that your goal?
Joe: I'm glad you say that, Jason. My son and I worked hard on the sequencing and we threw a bunch of stuff out that didn't quite fit on what we were doing. We wanted to 100% the whole thing as a cohesive piece. You're smart, Jason.
Me: Ha! What do you think of the way people listen to music now or the music industry?
Joe: Well, people are in a hurry nowadays to listen to whole records. Vinyl is coming back and I guess some people are paying more attention to the way to sounds. I kid with my producers that they take days mixing a particular song but people are going to listen to it on earbuds or cell phones and it doesn't matter what it sounds like. It's not gonna sound good on there... period.
Me: You have released a lot of albums, Joe, and no one makes money from albums... what is your drive to keep making albums?
Joe: It's what I do. It's my creative thing. Why do painters paint? It's just what I do. I enjoy the process of making a cohesive piece. This last album is my seventh studio album so I've been pretty consistent. I like the whole process, but it takes awhile. Obviously it's expensive to do on my own these days but I'm glad people are still coming to see me play because it's not just me in the basement with a couple of my friends playing. I just love music and I love playing it. To me the craft of making a record is probably the epitome of hat particular art form for me.
Me: You and the Houserockers were on major record labels... do you prefer it now doing your own thing or being on a record label?
Joe: We had our time of record companies breathing down our necks and in retrospect I would of done things a lot differently. Maybe I wouldn't have done certain albums... period. Theres a few far between. Basically through the whole 90s and up to the present day I just recorded what I wanted to hear myself. I never sold a lot of records or got on radio that much but I'm creating music that I want to hear.
Me: That is cool. What do you think of bands like Foghat and classic rock bands playing shows today or making records today?
Joe: Most of them are still playing the same songs they made in 1982. Unfortunately that's what people want to hear a lot of times. Not that there's anything wrong with that but that doesn't suit me or the guys. We like to move forward. The best days are still ahead, not behind.
Me: I have to ask you about Johnny, your son. Are you glad to be working with him?
Joe: Oh, yeah, yeah. He has a very youthful passion of rock. He always wanted to play music and perform with me. I remember when he got old enough to play with my band he just learnt a few songs, then a few more, then about six, then he started to play with us full time. That's why he started playing music in the first place. He was so passionate about it, so excited about it. It's easy to lose that passion and excitement. For very gig over the years I look over to him and he's giving a 110% so the old guys got to keep up with him. It's fun though.
Me: That's so cool. Okay, one last thing... what's this that on March 21st it was Joe Grushecky Day in Pittsburgh? Congrats. How the hell did you get a day? Haha.
Joe: Well, I don't know, I was very honored.
Me: Joe, thanks so much for being on the Phile. I love the CD, sir. Please come back on the Phile again. Take care.
Joe: Thank you, Jason. Our album is on vinyl as well.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Jeff Trelewicz and of course Joe Grushecky. The Phile will be back Monday from Walt Disney World with Floyd Norman. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon
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