Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. How are you? Happy Seis de Mayo. Well, Joe Biden's previous two campaigns for president didn't work out, but he's currently polling ahead of every aspiring nominee... and Bernie Sanders is trailing him by thirty points. Whether or not he's your first choice, he's undoubtedly the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. But Cup o' Joe has a habit of misspeaking and now one of his foot-in-mouth-moments is circulating widely on Twitter. It comes from a January 2018 stop on his book tour, where he spoke with Patt Morrison of the LA Times. Biden said, “The younger generation now tells me how tough things are, give me a break... I have no empathy.” Oh, Joseph. So many millennials are already suspicious of your centrist ways... not to mention your hair-sniffing and mistreatment of Anita Hill. Not a smart move, dude. Biden's comments are getting him dragged to hell online. But mostly, people were pissed and eager to drag someone out of touch with sociopolitical reality.
Youth slang is a fascinating look into contemporary culture. People's speech provides insight into how society operates, and young people are often on the cutting edge of verbal expression. Needless to say, Sociology teacher James Callahan of Lowell, Mass., understands this phenomenon well. He's been compiling a list of Generation Z terminology based on his students' slang usage, which is organized in alphabetical order. After a student shared snippets of this "dictionary" on Twitter, the post went massively viral. People were tickled by his diligent documentation of words and how he defined them. So he shared his list with the whole Internet. How lucky are we? And how lucky are his students, who get to learn from someone who's genuinely curious? James is setting a great example. Instead of condescending to his students, he's invested in learning more about them and their brand of youth culture. In return, they seem to appreciate and respect him, which makes for an environment conducive to intellectual growth. Kudos, James... your teaching high key slaps! If you're curious here's the link...
drive.google.com/file/d/1yrJmMHPkZzrxfWbUb4jALN0neE1tbkgH/view.
Since Trump's election, a distinct class of pseudo-political personalities has arisen online, the most frustrating of which are white supremacist trolls. Twitter won't censor or deplatform white supremacists, so their dangerous rhetoric is allowed to pervade the Internet... the same kind of rhetoric that's motivated fatal hate crimes against women, Jews, and racial minorities. One of these hateful douchebags is Nicholas J. Fuentes. Tricky Nick's a self-described "American nationalist media personality" which means he uses racial prejudice in the U.S. to promote himself and his anti-social values. Exhibit A: the below sentiment, which seems designed to do nothing but piss people off and get his name broadcast across Twitter.
It worked, but it also got him raked over the coals. The tweet has since... wisely, in my opinion... been deleted, but screenshots are forever. People had some choice words for Nick, including some that I'm sure he'd label "bad" no matter the source's gender. Tricky Nick got shut down in a big way. I bet he'll consider his choice of words more carefully in the future.
How do you do, my depressives friends? In these strange times we live in, corporations have been battling it out to represent themselves as the Wokest Company of Them All. Remember the time Gillette condemned misogyny to sell razors? Everyone remembers where they were when Kendall Jenner and Pepsi ended police brutality forever. The latest multi-million dollar company to present itself as an ally to the masses is Burger King, which is doing a special promotion for Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
Why go to McDonald's when you can get a free toy with a Happy Meal, when you can go to Burger King and get a Blue Meal, a Salty Meal, a Yaaas Meal or a DGAF (Don’t Give a Fuck) Meal. Each emotion comes with a Whopper, fries, and a drink. The campaign is called #FeelYourWay, a reference to Burger King's slogan "Have It Your Way" the other eleven months of the year. The fast food chain put up a PSA-style commercial, featuring a sad man in a dark room, another sad man complaining about his student loan, a teenage girl bulled at school, a young mom saying "Suck it, world"... all problems that can be solved by going to Burger King!!! While the head honchos at corporate likely expected everyone to say, "thank you, Burger King, for acknowledging my human emotions," the backlash is less "Yaaas Meal" and more "Blue Meal." Do you practice what you preach, Mr. Burger King? How generous of them to accept money from people with mental illness. Thanks, Burger King, but people I'm sure will stick to Prozac.
Welp, she's at it again. Tomi Lahren is feuding with another celeb on Twitter, because apparently being dragged online is her only hobby. A bit masochistic, but okay, Tomi. This time the celeb taking her on is feminist icon Alyssa Milano. Milano pointed out that a tweet of Lahren's didn't have all of the facts (classic), and Lahren was not charmed, I'm sure. Lahren's tweet implied that because Australia has more guns than they did before they enforced their stricter gun laws in 1996, this means that more guns equal more safety. Hm. Then, Alyssa flew in and pointed out that the safety actually came from the stricter gun laws. So, when a country enforces gun laws, their citizens can feel safe and still be allowed to own guns. This is the whole point of gun regulation: implementing rational safety laws, not banning all guns. It's a win-win; people can keep their guns, and the community at large experiences less gun violence. Also, Milano called Tomi Toni, which she claimed was a mistake, but would be a pretty sick burn if it wasn't. Lahren responded by simply ignoring Milano's point and moving forward with her "guns don't equal violence" argument. It's almost like she's purposely avoiding the larger context, repeating her previous point that had already been debunked, and then tossing in some anti-immigration rhetoric so her fan base won't be able to see the whole truth? Unfortunately for Tomi, she wasn't able to fool everyone. Did Alyssa Milano just dog walk Tomi 'Toni' Lahren? Yep, looks like it.
So, instead of doing this blog thing and wasting time maybe I should be just relaxing and listening to this record...
Maybe not. If I had a TARDIS I would go back and see how what it was like when it was just horse and buggies, before cars were invented. Knowing my luck though I'll end up back when it was hippo and buggy.
About 80 pounds of fruit and grass fed to your private hippo could get you 6 miles to the gallon at about 14 mph. I don't know if you know your neighbors but I hope you never get a note like this...
Hahaha. Did you see the new Avengers movie? Man, I was surprised when I saw Spider-Man in it. Take a look...
Hahaha. That's so stupid. That's as stupid as...
Get it? Ever see those homeless people on the side of the road with signs? Some of the signs just tell you how it is. Like this dude's sign...
That's not very nice. So, do you kids like Hot Pockets? Once again they released a new flavor. Check it out...
Yum? Maybe. Propane and pine cones! Haha. Okay, wanna laugh?
This is a hard one but if you spot the Mindphuck let me know. So, there's this guy that tends to get into fights all the time. He got into a fight yesterday apparently and wanted to come on to the Phile and tell us what happened. So please welcome to the Phile once again...
Me: Hey, Pork Chop, how are you?
Pork Chop Eddie: I'm terrific, Jason.
Me: Okay, good. So, what did you get into a fight about this time?
Pork Chop Eddie: After a looong day, I stopped at the only bar open, sat there downing a beer and a huge biker man asked me if I was staring at his girlfriend, I asked who his girlfriend was, after he pointed her out, I responded with a heeellll no.
Me: Haha. So, what happened then?
Pork Chop Eddie: He hit me once and fell, got my ass up and hit him and he fell... and never got up.
Me: Helllll yes. Hahahaha. Good job, I guess. Pork Chop Eddie, kids.Man, he's tougher than I'll ever be!
Baloney
Where some hemlines fall.
Ain’t so tough now, are ya, dad?
Taking a nap to get rid of a headache is the biological equivalent of "turn it off and then on again."
May 19th, 1944 — April 30th, 2019
Chewed up.
The 98th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Justine will be on the Phile in a few weeks.
I don't know what dates yet but I will let you know soon. Now for some...
Phact 1. Tennessee Aquarium has a Twitter account that sends out tweets powered by an electric eel.
Phact 2. Mobile phones often have two completely different phone numbers attached to them, which are both usable. One is the one you think your number is and the other is called a Mobile Identification Number (MIN), a number your carrier uses to identify you.
Phact 3. In 1999, Norway granted refuge to a U.S. drug smuggler because the Supreme Court declared that U.S. prisons do not meet “minimum humanitarian standards.”
Phact 4. Due to rats and mold, Pablo Escobar lost 10% of his money per annum, amounting to $2.1 billion.
Phact 5. A study was performed that distributed free birth control to young women. Over the next few years, the women had approximately 72% fewer abortions and 80% fewer teen pregnancies than the national average.
Today's guest is the lead singer and guitarist for the rock and roll band Salems Lott whose latest CD "Mask of Morality" is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. Please welcome to the Phile... Monroe Black.
Me: Hey, Monroe, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Monroe: Pretty good, man, how're you doing?
Me: Pretty good. You guys all seem pretty young, and you're a pretty good guitar player. How did the band get together?
Monroe: Well, Jett and I played in bands prior to Salems Lott before. I think everybody did the studio musician thing, playing band to band and all that stuff. I was planning to go to Julliard to study classical composition and classical guitar and music but I opted out and decided to focus and start a band. Jett and I formed the band together and I knew Tony from a previous band I was in that was a black death metal band. We recruited him on drums and Kay came to us from a recommendation from the Musicians Institute. He was staying there and we recruited him on bass. That's pretty much how Salems Lott started. We all like the same thing and have the same mindset.
Me: Your band sounds just like it came off the radio in the 90s... it's very early 90s metal. A lot of people your age wouldn't have heard this kinda music on the radio, so how did this kind of influence came to be for you?
Monroe: Yeah, I explained this a lot but like you said we didn't grow up with this kind music. We kinda had to find it or it found us... for me anyway. It's hard because in my teenage years I didn't like music for the matter. I didn't like what was going on around me. It was all emo bands at the time and hip-hop, and it just didn't jive with me at all. I didn't understand it and I didn't like it. I especially couldn't stand rock music because I thought rock bands were emo bands and all that kinda stuff, I thought that's what represented the genre so I didn't like it at all.
Me: Okay, so, what bands were you into?
Monroe: Long story short I discovered bands like AC/DC and Zeppelin. That's how I got into it. I was like what the hell is this then I remember hearing "Thunderstruck" and I thought to myself "shit, what is this?" This music was new to me. I Google them, get on YouTube and felt like I was twenty or thirty years late to the party. From there I kept going and diving deeper and deeper and discovered bands like early Crüe and Ratt and then Racer X later on as my tastes started to grow. Then I got into heavier stuff and so on.
Me: You sing and play guitar, so what came first for you, Monroe?
Monroe: Guitar. It was never my intention to be the singer. The reason I became the singer is because we couldn't find the person with the sound that I had in mind. I didn't want the prototypical singer.
Me: Do people ever think the band is a throw-back retro band?
Monroe: Yeah, throw-back or vintage or stuff like that, which I think is a lot of crap, they're just focused on the image. Of course there's things we borrow from that era no doubt about it and our soul, but as much as we do borrow from that era we're invigorating an old sound for a new era and pushing forward in my opinion.
Me: So, let's talk about the look of the band... is this something you and Jett wanted to do or did it evolve over time?
Monroe: With the image I always found when I'm a performer I'm not JUST a musician. When I get up on stage I'm not JUST a musician, I'm a performer and an artist so the image is essential to the music.
Me: Did you think of it beforehand and decide that's how you're gonna look?
Monroe: Not really. When we auditioned Kay it all just fell in line, we were just so tired of seeing these like "roadie-rock bands." Guys that got up on stage with no effort, they looked like crap. They might sound good but when they're on stage it's not just about the music anymore. If they want to be just about the music they can just perform from behind a curtain. We just wanted to embody that rock star image with the long hair and style. It's also an extension of the music, it's not just like a character based thing like Kiss but extension I guess of a lost form of masculinity.
Me: I have to admit when I first saw the promo pic of the band before I heard you music I thought you were a bunch of chicks. Did anyone ever bring that up or just me?
Monroe: If you think we look like chicks then honestly you have to get your head checked. We're all like 6'2 plus and like not gonna happen. It's an extension of a form of masculinity that we perform on stage, it's like a decadent form of masculinity. It's an expression of aggression in the music, so it just takes the aggressive look of big pokey hair, the leather and chains and all that.
Me: Fair enough. So, what do you think other bands are like that are coming up like you guys?
Monroe: A lot of bands I think, I don't know what they're thinking to be honest. Maybe they're petrified to do something what they really wanna do so they just stay safe and go up the way they look. Personally I don't really care but I have an idea, they're growing their beards, looking like Vikings and they look tough, but they're ain't tough, they're not fooling me or anybody. It's a false sense of masculinity, more or less I contribute it to the fact that there's a king and there's the neanderthal that serves the king. Those are two types of masculinity. I think we embody something else entirely. It's hard to explain but I'm not gonna get into it too much.
Me: Sure. Okay, so, when you were learning to play the guitar who are some of the guys that inspired you?
Monroe: Oh, man, I hope I don't forget anybody but if I do I'm gonna kick myself afterwards. I started what I think got me into the more technical playing was Yngwie, then from there Racer X. I learned the two albums back to back literally. Jake E. Lee, Vinnie Moore, Eric Johnson, Al Di Meola... I just started growing and growing more into it, discovering new players, adding some neo-classical, some fusion, heavy metal style, all that stuff I was playing, trying to find my own voice.
Me: What's the difference between your guitar playing style and Jett's? How do listeners know who is doing what solo's?
Monroe: Well, the first thing if you bought the CD you'll know if you look at the lyrics who plays what solo, so that helps. In terms of style it's hard to say. I think Jett has more soulful rhythmic style of playing. We're both very similar, maybe I'll take more of the technical side of things. Its really hard to say because we both exchange, he does something like I cannot do and I do something he can't do, or vice versa. We combine it both because when we reach a certain point on any instrument, we've been playing both of us for over a decade now, I think we kinda in a sense master the instrument by practicing certain licks to push ourselves, to keep challenging ourselves.
Me: Do you guys compete with each other? I'm sure you have a big ego, and if he does how do you guys get along?
Monroe: I think it's extremely straightforward, we just cut the bullshit out. I'm not going to say we both have pretty big egos, I think it comes with the territory, I think it's pretty normal. Any musician who tells you otherwise, especially guitarists or singers are full of shit. We have an ego but I think we're very honest with each other. I remember coming up with some parts that are great and technical and he's like, "Look, you gotta calm the fuck down, this song is a little bit too much. People don't give a shit." The other times I try to wish him more and vice versa where we're always on each others ass. I don't know, it's hard to describe. I guess for a lack of a better term we don't get "butt hurt," we're just extremely honest. We do argue and say some nasty things but I think that's healthy. We get it out there in the open and then we get past it because there's bigger fish to fry.
Me: When you write a guitar solo how do you come up with it?
Monroe: With every solo we approach there's a melodic sense. When you listen to the whole album you can tell it's thought out. Some parts may be improvised but it's also thought out because it's like we're telling a story. We're not aimlessly shredding away and thinking I've got to try this scale or this lick. It's not lick based, it's more melodic based.
Me: Do you like do play a lot of long crazy solos on stage?
Monroe: If you notice a lot of those guys who came off Shrapnel Records and all that stuff, no disrespect to them whatsoever but they're amazing players but of you notice they didn't do that well in big bands. Once they've become a musicians musician like a real for lack of a better term... nerd on their instrument they get so deep into it they think something their playing is so simple but for the average listener they'll be like "whoa, what the hell is that?" Its crazy, it's too much, what is he playing, but to them it's like they're using this chord and it's so cool and wacky and off-temp rhythm. But people don't care about that stuff. They want to just hear a good rocking song.
Me: I should asked this question at the beginning of the interview... where is the band based out of?
Monroe: We're based out of Los Angeles.
Me: Okay, cool. So, when you go and play a show at a club or something what has been the reaction like?
Monroe: I'l tell you this much, we haven't been booed off or anything. It's surprising because we've all been in thrash bands or death metal bands and all that stuff. I look forward to that kinda hostility because it's at least natural. I know I get off on that when somebody flips me off on stage. Its cool, I'm getting a reaction out of someone, instead or complete and utter indifference. It's either people don't know what to expect or they think they expecting something like Poison or something as then we just come out with a song like "Higher Anguish" or whatever and people are like "what the fuck?" Really a curveball really.
Me: Yeah, I can see that. Okay, thanks so much foe being on the Phile. continued success and come back again soon.
Monroe: I appreciate it, thanks a lot, man.
Well. How about that? That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guest Monroe Black from Salems Lott. The Phile will be back tomorrow with Phile Alum Ray Parker Jr. 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
1 comment:
You must know they cook the books. Plugz (Biden) is not popular with anyone. Those polls you refer to are the same ones that projected the Hildabeast winning in a landslide. The notion someone is anointed by the Obamessiah and will carry on his "legacy" is a dream. RE: Your comment about Twitter & white supremacists not being censored. While I am not a white supremacist, nor white racist, I am native american and white, I am not ashamed of being white, or male, but I am often suspended, censored, and they demand I give them a phone number which I will not do.
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