Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Wednesday. How are you? Better than Mitch McConnell I hope. Ninety-seven percent of Americans support requiring background checks for gun sales, but one turtle man from Kentucky gets $1.26 million from the National Rifle Association. Back in February, the Democratic-controlled House passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which is exactly what it sounds like: a bipartisan bill requiring background checks. Senate Majority Leader and Expired Jar of Marshmallow Fluff Mitch McConnell refuses to bring the bill to the Senate floor, because if he brings it up, it passes, and if it passes, his handlers will make less money giving rifles away like candy. The recent one-two punch of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton have put the governments' actions (and inaction) in stark relief. The El Paso shooter quoted his favorite president... no, not Woodrow Wilson... and cited Trump's rhetoric of an "immigrant invasion" as his reason to target Hispanics. The Dayton shooter was a violent misogynist who kept "rape lists" and "kill lists" since high school, waving every red flag. Under these circumstances, you would think that a person as powerful as the Senate Majority Leader would cool it with violent imagery and grievance-motivated stunts, but alas, Mitch McConnell is having a time. Here are some of his finest moments of callousness for from the past few days. McConnell erected a fake graveyard "mourning" his "enemies," pronouncing his Democratic opponent Amy McGrath dead.
On Saturday, hours after 22 people were murdered in El Paso, McConnell's Senate campaign installed headstones celebrating the deaths of "Socialism," "Merrick Garland," "The Green New Deal" and "Amy McGrath" at a Kentucky picnic. Seems like a weird time to celebrate the deaths of your enemies, eh? Oh, and what kind of medieval death cult erects art installations to celebrate the deaths of their enemies? At the same picnic, "Team Mitch" thugs posted a picture of themselves choking a cardboard cutout of AOC.
When AOC put Team Mitch on blast, the McConnell campaign responded in traditional, trollish fashion, mentioning a time when Obama staffers were gross with a standee of Hillary Clinton. While the campaign may not condone the photoshoot, it begs the question: were they the ones who printed out the cutout? What high school students commission life-size prints? Team Mitch has proceeded to play the victim, mentioning that McConnell had protestors outside his home. Much like the Senator himself, some of the chants fantasized about murder. The campaign categorized the protest as "an angry left-wing mob" "storming" the house. Sure, Jan. Well, thanks to McConnell, these protestors are able to go out and legally buy machine guns! Speaking of guns, doctors are pointing out that guns are to blame for gun violence... not video games. Emergency room doctor John Jiao went viral calling McConnell a "lying coward," condemning the anti-video game crusade as a baseless excuse for not acting on guns. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also identified McConnell as the sole reason why there hasn't been legislative action. "That's what's holding it back. That's it." It's that easy. Unless you are a gun or gun manufacturer, this guy sucks.
Crowds gathered in front of the hospital where Trump will be meeting with some of the victims, where he is certain to show grace and tact and not use the tragedy to attack Elizabeth Warren. Unlike the El Paso terrorist, the Dayton shooter did not echo Trump's racist rhetoric directly. However, the fact that he was able to acquire an assault weapon and murder ten people in thirty seconds can be traced back to Trump and the Republicans' refusal to enact gun safety legislation, and people are pissed that the president is blaming gun violence on everything but the guns. Trump also made it easier for dangerous, mentally ill people to get guns when he rolled back an Obama regulation as soon as he took office. Protestors mocked Trump for his careless mistake in his attempt at a solemn address on Monday. Reading off a teleprompter, he finished his speech with, "may God bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo," which was not the site of the massacre. Yet. The signs were cathartic outlets of creative energy, with one Ohioan summarizing the day as, "We suffered a mass shooting, now we have to suffer you?" There are also Trump supporters, of course, welcoming their idol to town with extremely un-creepy mobile homes.
The White House Director of Social Media, Dan Scavino, insists that the president was "treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital," because that's what a hospital visit after a mass shooting is all about! The President is en route to El Paso, and indeed taking his responsibility as Consoler-in-Chief seriously, solemnly attacking Joe Biden from Air Force One. Congratulations to the president on finding something more ridiculous to tweet than "thoughts and prayers."
Ivanka Trump is getting called out and fact checked after claiming seven people were killed and fifty-two were wounded in Chicago over the weekend. In response to the massive outpouring of grief and debate following the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ivanka urged Americans to direct their attention towards the gun violence that took lives in Chicago over the weekend.
Ivanka's tweets were quickly fact-checked by Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago during a press conference on Tuesday. "She got the numbers wrong, she got the location wrong, that's the danger of trying to govern via tweet. Well, that's the danger of somebody with a platform and audience of that kind that doesn't know what they're talking about and getting the fundamental facts wrong. It wasn't a playground, it was a park. It wasn't seven dead, it wasn't 52 wounded in one incident, and it's misleading. It's important, when we're talking about people's lives, to get the facts correct." According to The New York Times, there was not one mass shooting but 32 separate shooting incidents in the city across the entire weekend. This includes one two hour window on Sunday during which 17 people were wounded on the West Side. Despite being corrected by the mayor, Ivanka's tweets are still posted, and people have been piling on her for feigning concern without fact checking. Many think her wording is intentionally manipulative, since it causes readers to think there was one mass shooting this past weekend in Chicago. People were quick to point out the fact that Ivanka is using Chicago as a prop to distract from very real discussions about necessary gun reform, and the racist influence of her father. The White House published an official statement in response to the backlash and Lightfoot's fact-checking: "Ivanka has appreciated getting to know Mayor Lightfoot, respects her commitment to addressing this issue and looks forward to continuing the conversation around this issue, workforce development and economic opportunity for all." "To the extent that her quote was misleading in implying that all of the shooting incidents occurred in one location, it remains important to note that there were 7 deaths and 52 wounded across the city, resulting in one of the deadliest weekends in the city this year." "Her point remains the same, we cannot ignore the gun violence that happens in cities across this country on a daily basis."
Known homophobe Mike Pence delivered a glorious rhetorical gift to the Internet yesterday, advising some people at a talk to "spend more time on your knees than on the Internet." Yes, he said these words out loud! The sentence was uttered at a talk hosted by by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that supports discrimination against LGBT people under the guise of religious liberty, according to the Advocate. So why was Pence compelled to say this? Because the CEO of the group asked him how members of the group could deal with backlash for... you know, being homophobes. “Number 1 is, spend more time on your knees than on the Internet,” he said. He then added, “Forgiveness is a great gift.” Naturally, his words lit the Internet on fire. It was apparently lost on Pence that what he's suggesting sounds an awful lot like givin' a beej. Some are sarcastically applauding his newfound sex positivity. Then there's the other elephant in the room: Pence actually isn't that big of a fan of people getting on their knees for non-sexual reasons. He once walked out of an NFL game after players kneeled during the national anthem. But anyway, let's be serious: despite all this kerfuffle, we're probably still gonna spend the majority of our time on the Internet.
On a lighter note, there's a love triangle brewing between two reality stars and a supermodel, the other fixtures of American culture after mass shootings. Hannah Brown's season of "The Bachelorette" may have officially wrapped up on ABC, but the drama is ongoing. Brown broke up with the winner, Jed Wyatt, after it was revealed that he had a girlfriend back home and went on the popular dating show just to promote his music. He was there for the wrong reasons, if you will. Brown tried to salvage things with the runner up, dreamboat Tyler Cameron, by asking him out on live TV, and Tyler C. was later spotted leaving the bachelorette's home. A few days later, Tyler C. was seen with GIGI FREAKIN' HADID (Yes, her middle name is "Freakin." It's Dutch). Page Six reports, "On Sunday, the Florida native, 26, was spotted at Brooklyn’s Dumbo House with the supermodel, 24, before leaving together to go to Hadid’s Manhattan apartment. “She came out of the main entrance by Almondine bakery. He walked around to alley on the left by Smile to Go. Her car picked him up there. They then went into the garage at her apartment,” a spy told Page Six on Monday, noting they were hanging out until at least 2 a.m. "What kind of person would date two people at the same time???" said the bachelorette.
So, if you're thinking of cheating on your loved one you might wanna think twice after seeing this...
Da-amn! I was thinking, if I had a TARDIS I would go to Woodstock. But knowing my luck I wouldn't see any bands, I'd just see these two making out the whole time...
Making out and getting high probably. You know who does have a TARDIS I think? Ivanka.
The other day if you remember Trump claimed he was "down there" with the 9/11 first responders. He might've been. He also went to space once. Did you know that? No? Here's proof...
When he was in England a fee weeks ago my fellow Brits sure had some clever anti-Trump protest signs...
When he was in Ohio today people in Ohio also had clever protest signs...
So, did you know there's a new movie with an all-star cast coming out? No? It comes out August 17th... here's the poster.
Hahaha. Ever go to a museum and see yourself in a painting? It happened to this guy...
So, they say video games is a cause for gun violence... seeing this they may have a point.
Okay, wanna laugh?
A mother-in-law said to her sons wife when the baby was born, "I don't mean to be rude but he doesn't look anything like my son." The daughter-in-law lifted her skirt and said, "I don't mean to be rude either, but this is a vagina, not a fucking photo copier!!"
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know.
He’s putting her in a sleeper hold but joke’s on him: she WANTS to go to sleep!
Okay, this is pretty cool. The 103rd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Yes! Phil Collins, who I thinks great no matter what you say, will be the guest on the Phile in a few weeks. I'm so excited! Now for some...
Phact 1. Half of the Irish Travellers (i.e. Gypsies) do not live past the age of 39 and unemployment among male Travellers is 73%.
Phact 2. Alan Turing the father of computer science, artificial intelligence and who helped break German WW2 cyphers, committed suicide after being forced to undergo hormonal treatment for homosexuality and barred from continuing his cryptographic work.
Phact 3. When helium is cooled to almost absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible, it becomes a liquid with surprising properties.
Phact 4. Chardakhlu, a small Armenian village sent 1250 able bodied men to fight in WW2. About 853 of them received orders and medals, 2 became Grand Marshals of the Soviet Union, 12 became generals and 7 became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
Phact 5. An atomic bomb cameraman ripped his safety goggles a split second before the bomb exploded. Everyone was supposed to wear special glasses to block the intense light emitted by what was anticipated to be a six-megaton explosion. Those glasses failed. His reaction was to block his eyes with his right forearm and crook of his elbow. “I saw the blood running through my arm,” he said. This frightened him, so he dropped his arm. That revealed an even more chilling sight. He said “The man standing in front of me was a complete skeleton.”
Today's pheatueed guest is the lead singer for the Glasgow band Travis, whose latest album "Live at Glastonbury ‘99" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Travis Healey.
Me: Hello, Fran, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Fran: I'm good, Jason. Great to be here on this fun blog.
Me: There's no one in the band named Travis. Where did the name come from?
Fran: The Harry Dean Stanton character Travis Henderson from the film Paris, Texas.
Me: Ahhh. You guys have been around for so long, I can't believe it. I heard of you guys but not really your music. Last year you guys went on the road and played the whole "The Man Who" album that came out in 1999. What made you do that?
Fran: When you play an album all in its order it's really cool for us to play it first of all because it's the way it should be listened to as an album. Also because the album was such a big record it's touched a lot of people. Music is probably the most powerful thing humans have got. Shake up the sentiment kinda thing in their memories. I think it's good both sides, we really enjoy this, the songs are all fresh as they were years ago.
Me: That album had four hit singles from it, which is cool. Did you get on a roll, writing all those songs?
Fran: No, because those songs were written in a long period of time. I maybe get small little flurries. "Writing to Reach You" was written 20 minutes after "The Line is Fine" which is on "Good Feeling," the first album. If you look at those two songs they are literally written back to back within minutes of one another, like their twins, but their completely non-identical twins. Maybe it'll be interesting to listen to the two songs side by side. Both were recorded differently with two different producers and both songs are very different with the rock and rollness of "The Line is Fine." I don't know, there's not any cohesion other than my voice, and possibly the way I play the guitar which makes the same type of songs.
Me: Travis though has a certain kind of sound, right?
Fran: Yes, but maybe there's two sounds of Travis. Maybe there's more than two, but there's really a famous one and that's the one everyone knows which is the gentle acoustic ballad sound. Then there's the good feeling sound, which is when we are more slightly annoyed or something. Maybe it's just different moods. Whatever mood we were in when we made it. The first one we were like "come onnnnnn!" Doing the whole Liam pose... "fuckin' have it, man." Then "The Man Who" is all depressed when that fucking didn't work out. Hahahahaha. Then you got depressed Travis on "12 Memories." Then you got the "I've just become a dad Travis" on 2006s "The Boy With No Name." Then there's "Ode to J Smith" which is the one after that one, the I want to kill myself. Hahaha.
Me: I listened to "The Man Who" album and really liked it. I love the opening song "Writing to Reach You." It sounds a little bit like "Wonderwall." Was that on purpose?
Fran: I was trying to learn "Wonderwall" and thought they were nice chords. I've also was learning a song called "'74 - '75" I think it's "'74 - '75" plus "Wonderwall." Then it makes me think about melody then and going how different that sounds. It doesn't have to be a different melody, it just has to be something different. There's a song by Shostakovich, the famous one that's in the beginning of Eyes Wide Shut, the first five notes of that are a complete utter left from Tchaikovsky I think. Then Shostakovich comes along and says, "I like that melody, I'm gonna take it. If I can just change the rhythm of it its completely different, even though it has the same notes." It's such a cool thought that all these different influences come in. Everyone does it with everyone else. I do it when I actually cynically lift it and go ahhh, that a great melody, I'm going to nick that. If I do that and don't change it or I'm clever enough then it'll be annoying.
Me: You do sing "what's a wonderwall anyway?" Haha. I read that "The Man Who" is a break up record. It doesn't sound like that though. Is it?
Fran: Yes. It is a break up record but the writing of that record is in different segments. There is the me in Glasgow segment, there's me in London segment, then there's me almost finished that album and the manager came around and said they need me to write some more songs for this because they need another single because it's a bloody miserable sounding record so I need to do that. Then I wrote another two songs. I wrote "Driftwood" and "Blue Flashing Light." It was in January 1999 or right around Christmas time, '98. The Glasgow songs o that album are "She's So Strange," "Writing to Reach You," "The Fear," "Turn." I think those are the four Glasgow songs. The four London songs are "Why Is it Always Raining On Me," "The Last of the Laughter," "Slide Show" and two other things. "Driftwood" was written at the time I met my now wife. I was in the house and the managers came around and said they need two or three new songs and that was one of them that came out of that.
Me: Were you surprised that that album was a huge hit?
Fran: We were really lucky to get on the radio with any of that record because it really was in congress with everything that was going on with music at that time. We just got dead lucky with a good record as well.
Me: Did you write most of these songs on the guitar?
Fran: Yeah, yeah. I think there's something about that guitar that has something about the overtones that fit with my voice quite well. I pulled so many melodies out of it. I think there's something to do with the sound of it and my voice.
Me: I like the song "Radio Song" from the last album you guys released, "Everything at Once." You don't have to write a song about getting on the radio, you know. Hahaha.
Fran: Everyone was dead cynical about that song quite honestly saying, "you had to write a song about getting on the radio." It was never going to be a single... ever to begin with anyway.
Me: I purchased the CD "Singles" from Amazon which is your greatest hits album. I love the opening track "Sing." The banjo sounds really good on that album. Was the song written with a banjo in mind?
Fran: The banjo was never supposed to be in "Sing," it was for another song. We were in the studio and I played "Sing" for everyone. We made a little demo of it, and we had this banjo for another song that day, and I suggested Andy play it along the track. I like that sound.
Me: When you sit down to write a song do you have a general plan in mind?
Fran: No, never. I never start with any ideas. Ever. Songwriting is like water dividing, I just sit with my guitar or whatever instrument I'm doing with it and I just try and disappear. I line of something and go... oh. If I was going to sit down, first of all, even if I was thinking anything, it's very hard to find a new melody. So I got to completely clear my head, get everything out of my head and stuff. Thinking about myself and stop judging things. Even before that if I would go into it with an idea, like I'm going to write about Margaret Thatcher in the 80s during the miners strike, and make a comment on what I thought of the unions actions to her. If I go into that then forget it. Maybe I'm going to write a song that some journalist might like, but if I'm going to write a song that appeals to everyones little quite emotional thing, then I can't think. I don't ever think. It's good, I've got ahead start on most people.
Me: I love your lyrics on your songs, Fran. Do they come first?
Fran: No, the lyrics always come second with me. It's not about the lyrics. The line melody is the absolute core of everything that I write is always about the melody and the tone of it. Then the lyrics come second. I have to find lyrics that sit on the top of this melody like an invisible cloak. I almost don't see the lyric unless I really concentrate on it. It's like the bass line of a song. People are not generally aware of the bass line in a song until I point it out to them. I treat lyrics the same way as bass line but everyone listens to the lyrics. If they mean something then it resonates. But it's the melody that is resonating, not the lyric.
Me: You'e from Scotland, do you still live there?
Fran: No, I moved to L.A. from Berlin two years ago. I moved to of my studio, it was the best move I ever had. I had this great room in Berlin, and it was huge and I could put everything in it. But everyday I just sat in a tiny almost metre square area in this giant big nice room. I don't need a big room. I'm out here in Joshua Tree, I'm mobile, I could go anywhere. It's all good.
Me: Do you plan when you're going to write?
Fran: No, I generally just potter around. I need to be alone though. I need to be like where nobody can hear. Not that I write really loudly. It's like going to the toilet or something. You know, when you're sitting in a cubicle having a shit and some guy walks in and you'e like "for fucks sake!" Hahahaha. You have to take a bit of toilet paper so the splash doesn't make too much of a loud noise, so he doesn't know you're there. As if he doesn't know you're there. Oh my god, I had some nightmares in those situations. The thing is some people don't care about those situations. They're like not even aware of them. I will probably never know anyone like that but... I saw a guy do a speed shit once. This guy did a speed shit across the road where my friend worked. I was waiting inside his office and there's a really little street in London and a guy with blue overalls. He was a dude with a hard hard kind of guy, but he didn't have a hard hat. He was just looking around and I was bored... I'm getting sick just thinking about it. This guy did this really amazing fucking move, he's like standing and he just went plop plop plop plop! Pulled his trousers back up and just walked off. It came out fucking fast! It wasn't embarrassingly slow. It was over and he walked away and I was like gasping. Then my mate came out, then we went away and we came back and someone put a traffic cone in top of it. Hahahahaha.
Me: That's funny. I'll tell you my story. I was a driving to work years ago and almost got there when I had to shit. I pulled into a Hess gas station and got out the car as I shit in my work pants, through the fucking parking lot, into the gas stations shop, to the restroom... leaving a shit trail. I didn't lock the door to the restroom and this guy with a mop opened the door, and saw me with my pants and boxers down and shit down my leg and on the floor. He said, "Oh, man" and closed the door. Needless to say I didn't go to work that day. Hahaha. I can't believe I just told that story here on the Phile.
Fran: Haha. How did we get on with speed shit?
Me: I don't know. Haha. Moving on... I love the Killers, and you wrote with Brandon Flowers, right?
Fran: Yeah, but it wasn't planned. I walked into the back of his bus and he was sitting with his keyboard writing a song and it got to this bit and I was like "why don't you do this?" I was just helping him write the song he was doing and he very kindly credited me on it because I think I wrote the chorus.
Me: And what's this you worked with Paul McCartney? With what? How? I got to interview him on the Phile in October last year.
Fran: We were doing this TV show and McCartney came and sat with us for a couple of hours. It was fucking amazing. We played his songs and we were like wow. Then I played him the song "Flowers in the Window." When I sang the chorus at the very end he finished it. He knew the words already. He started to sing it at the end. McCartney's fantastic. What a guy. I need to read the interview you did with him.
Me: So, I have to ask you about the film about the band called Almost Fashionable. What prompted the making of that film?
Fran: Well, I think it was a combination of a couple of things. I've just done a film, the last thing we did for Travis, and I've been just getting more confident in film as a certain thing to do. I remember when Photoshop came out I was like "fucking hell, this is amazing." I thought that it'll be good to take a picture of us now, a portrait of us. It's just another thing like another reflection of us as a band. No one has ever done it properly or anything I thought I've seen, or heard, or read ever got over. When people meet us they're like affected by it. The combination of our personalities, the feeling of it is a really positive type of thing. It's just a nice thing to see. I thought we need to record it, I might not get it, but let's just bring a cameraman out, the cameraman who shot the last thing for Travis who is a brilliant cameraman, and Wyndham Wallace, a journalist who doesn't like Travis. It's really good, everyone who has seen it has been like it's great. Documentary's are all abut editing, so I have to sit there with the editor, who is almost like telling a story. I'm like the goal keeper, trying to block all the bad stuff.
Me: Cool. I definitely want to check it out. Fran, thanks so much being on the Phile.
Fran: Thanks a lot. It was really nice to talk to you.
Me: Cool. Come back again when your next CD comes out. Take care.
That about does it for this entry. Thanks to Fran Healey for a cool interview. I can't believe I told that shit story though. Hahahaha. The Phile will be back next Monday with actress Amanda Brugel from "The Handmaid's Tale." Not to be confused with "The Handjob's Tale." Okay, that was stupid. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let alligators and snakes 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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