Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Thursday. How are you? Okay, let's talk about something very, very important. The final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker made its debut and fans have a lot of things to process. One of the emotional scenes in the trailer included a glimpse of C-3PO, saying goodbye to our heroes and fans aren't ready for it. In the minute seventeen mark of the trailer, Poe Dameron asks what C-3PO was doing whilst wires are seen connected to it. The beloved droid replied, “Taking one last look, sir… at my friends.” Although it was only a short clip, fans can’t help but be emotional over C-3PO’s line, indicating that the character could be facing its death in the movie. Anthony Daniels mentioned in a previous interview that this movie would be a “very good bye-bye moment” for him. He also mentioned that his character would play a key role in the movie and a huge responsibility would be placed upon him in order to beat whatever is coming to The Rise of Skywalker. Of course, even in a fictional universe, it is inevitable to witness some of our favorite characters not being able to survive. However, there’s no telling what journey lies for C-3PO and the others. When I watched the trailer I have to tell you, yes, I did shed a few years.
Senator Mitt Romney fancies himself to be the moral Republican foil to shameless President Trump, going as far as to sometimes criticize the president in public, and as we recently learned, secretly "like" tweets that aren't so nice to Dear Leader. In a recent profile in The Atlantic, Romney admitted to having a secret Twitter account he uses "to keep tabs of the political conversation," which follows exactly 668 people. Looking through the followers of Romney's oldest granchild, Slate's Ashley Feinberg successfully identified @qaws9876, "Pierre Delecto," as the senator's alter-ego.
Pierre followed political journalists, NFL players, and Romney 2012 staffers, and was always quick to defend the senator's honor. After Slate published its theory, Pierre Delecto's account went private, then public, then private again, and Romney officially admitted that yup, he and Pierre are one and the same. People on both sides of the aisle united to laugh at the serious man's silly fake name. It's the funniest thing Romney has done since the time he blew out his birthday Twinkies one by one or the time he ironed his shirt while wearing it. That's true... look...
Jumpsuits are all the rage these days, with dozens of women seeking out the piece that Phoebe Waller-Bridge wore during her meet-cute with Hot Priest on "Fleabag." I have no idea what that is. Another TV star going viral for rocking a one-piece is Felicity Huffman, whose outfit isn't at the behest of a wardrobe department but rather the federal Department of Corrections. Huffman reported to prison to serve out her 14-day sentence after she plead guilty to paying a consultant $15,000 to boost her daughter's SAT score. TMZ caught a picture of Huffman "showing off" in the prison yard, sporting a teal jumpsuit and glowing with her... makeup-free look. Prison Felicity Huffman and Pierre Delecto are about to be all over your Halloween parties.
A new documentary about Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's Royal Tour to Africa aired in the U.K. Sunday night, and it was surprisingly raw compared to the usual royal pomp and pageantry (a term that's Olde English for "bullshit.") In one of the interviews, Meghan revealed that she was warned by her British friends not to date Prince Harry. "I had no idea," she said. "Which probably sounds difficult to understand here, but when I first met my now husband, my friends were really happy because I was so happy, but my British friends said to me, 'I’m sure he’s great, but you shouldn't do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life.'" Viewers got a glimpse at how little normal human empathy Meghan experiences in her day-to-day life when, with pain in her eyes, she thanked the reporter for simply asking her whether or not she was is okay. "I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, and that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile," Meghan said of the constant press scrutiny. Prince Harry also opened up about experiencing flashbacks to the trauma of the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and the fear that he could again lose a loved one after they were hounded by paparazzi. "I think that being part of this family and part of this role and this job... every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back," he said. "I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum," he added, which is a heartbreaking thing to hear from anybody, with or without a crown. Meanwhile, Prince Andrew allegedly participated in an orgy on Jeffrey Epstein's Pedophile Island. Now that's royal clickbait worth pursuing, unlike Meghan eating avocado toast. This is a real article that was published.
No wonder they're so upset.
It's always a hilarious yet dystopian time when Mark Zuckerberg graces congress with his presence. During yesterday's congressional hearing about Facebook's proposed new cryptocurrency, the Facebook founder was grilled within an inch of his life by many members of congress. One such lawmaker was Katie Porter, a first-year California Representative. She made headlines for challenging Zuck to work as a content moderator for a year (on $15 an hour with monitored nine-minute crying breaks to recover from all the gruesome videos) and he demurred. But that wasn't her only legendary moment during the hearing. She opened her testimony with some glorious shade to Zuck about something we all love to roast him for: his terrible, terrible haircut. "Mr. Zuckerberg," she said, "I know Facebook can be sometimes an unkind place, um, both toward my personal appearance and today apparently towards your haircut. But as the mother of a teenage boy I just want to say thanks for modeling the short cut." Porter used Zuck's hair to make the point that everyone is in danger of being mocked and bullied on Facebook, including the founder himself. She then went on to absolutely obliterate Zuck as mentioned above. But let's get back to the hair... just how much of a meme has Zuckerberg's Caesar cut become? Well, there are people speculating about how he achieves this signature look. Some are drawing comparisons to the treatment Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got when she dared to spend a normal amount of money on a haircut just last month. Others speculated it might not even be hair. Or his hair is being abused in some way. Maybe there aren't even scissors involved? Yes, it might be a shallow issue... but we have to take fun when we can find it in this budding cyber dystopia, you know?
A picture is worth a thousand words. Tomi Lahren posted a photo that reveals more about the Trump administration than any 5,000 word piece in The Washington Post or The New York Times can. Timmy Larynx took to Twitter to boast the cool mail she got: a printout of tweets, including one of hers, autographed by the President of the United States and shipped in a fancy envelope.
Timmy was sure to include her manicured hand and her engagement ring in the picture, and it looks like she's announcing her engagement to this piece of paper??? There is a lot going on here. The Sharpie. The signature. The suggestion that the President of the United States has staffers print out tweets from right-wingers that quote his own speeches back to him. Why'd he need the printout? It's not like the president spends any time on Twitter himself, does he? Tammy thinks this photo is a flex, but according to the rest of the Internet, it's more of a self-own... an insight into the fragile psyche of the world's most powerful man. People zoomed in on the specifics of the Tweet Sheet. It's not just the content, but the presentation that questions the brain status of the chief executive. One thing is certain: This is a Norman Rockwell painting. This is the picture that encapsulates this era in American history.
If I had a TARDIS I would probably end up on a train going through the northern plains in 1949 during a blizzard and end up like this...
Yeesh. The White House have now released this photo to prove that Trump never met Jeffrey Epstein...
Did you know there's a new Charlie's Angels movie coming out soon? It's not to be confused with this movie...
I'd see that! A month ago now there were some signs at the Global Climate Strike that gives hope for the future...
There were also some snarky ones...
Haha. Ever go to a museum and see a painting that looks like you? It happened to this guy...
That's crazy, right? I was in the book store the other day and I saw they don't make children's books like they used to.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Falling in love and building a family involves navigating a lot of complex emotional dynamics, one of which is dealing with your partner's family. In an ideal scenario, you'll get along with your spouse's parents and they'll be loving grandparents, but that's sadly not always the case. Setting boundaries with your own family is hard enough, but when it comes to a mother-in-law you have to find a balance between protecting your own emotions and considering how the relationship affects your spouse. This can lead to very precarious on-going tensions, and those only build with time if unresolved. In a recent email to the Phile, a woman asked me if she was wrong for calling out her mother-in-law's unequal treatment of her children.
"Am I wrong for telling my child’s grandmother she isn’t grandma?" For context, she shared that she had her 7-year-old with another man, before meeting her current husband and having their 5-month old baby. However, her husband has been in the older child's life for six years and fully considers both children his. "I have two children, a 7 year old and a 5 month old baby... they don’t have the same dad, my husband has been involved in my eldest child’s life for 6 years and 5 months, he sees my eldest as his child." Over the years her mother-in-law has been adamant about reminding her that she "isn't the grandma" of the older child. "Mother-in-law has told me several times before I got pregnant again... she isn’t grandma to eldest child, she’s disgusted that my son sees 'it' as his child, husband often tries to calm the situation before we argue." Despite the palpable tension, she has put up with her mother-in-law for the sake of her husband. "Despite how much I don’t want her around she is my husbands mother, so we meet while my eldest is at school." Tensions came to a boil when her mother-in-law expressed excitement for "finally getting called grandma" during a recent conversation about her new baby. For years, she has quietly hoped her mother-in-law would accept the older child as family. "Well, we were talking recently about the newborn and she said 'oh I can’t wait for name to call me grandma!' I can see her point that my eldest and her aren’t biologically related and she’s old fashioned but I can also see that this is a child and she should be willing to overlook her 'views.' She put her foot down and said the mother-in-law can't call the new baby a grandchild if she continues to exclude the older child. This call-out made her mother-in-law super angry, and now her husband is also upset. "Husband is upset with me because I told her she isn’t grandma, she has no right to see this one as her grandchild but not my eldest who’s been in her life since she was 9 months old. She’s genuinely upset about this. What do I do?" Well, honestly, I think everyone has mishandled the situation. The mother-in-law for being the way she is. HER for not jumping up your husband's ass to get his mother in line and defending HIS stepson. The husband for allowing this to happen. She treats them equally or she doesn't get to play grandma. Hopefully this will help her stand her ground, and her husband will see that he needs to take action and set a boundary with his own mom. There is no excuse for a grandma to treat a 7-year-old in such a dismissive and manipulative way while cooing over a baby. If you have a problem and want to me to put in my 2 cents email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com.
Theatre without gays is like cooking without spices. It's Thursday, kids. You thought I forgot... you were hoping I forgot. It's time for...
What the fuck? Moving on... its time to talk football with my good friend Jeff.
Me: Hey, Jeff, welcome back to the Phile for week 8. How are you?
Jeff: Hey, Jason. It's always good to be back on the Phile. I'm doing alright. How about yourself?
Me: I'm good. So, first things first, did you see the trailer during "Monday Night Football"? What did you think? It was soooooo much more compelling than the game.
Jeff: Now that's a real stupid question. Of course I saw the trailer! It was awesome. I will say this and I've said it a few different places but it's true. C-3PO isn't supposed to make me cry. But he did damnit! He did! That's not saying much. That game was a stinker!
Me: Did you get your tickets for the movie?
Jeff: Yes I did! As soon as they became available I grabbed a ticket. I'm going on that first Saturday. Did you get your ticket?
Me: Yeah, I did. I'm going Thursday night so I will have you on the Phile on Friday that week. Man, I hate to say it but those Patriots are good. I think Bill Belichick is a fuckwad though. He had the Patriots intentionally commit penalties just to mess with the Jets. What do you think of this?
Jeff: I think Bill Belichek is a piece of shit for that. I did hear he committed penalties for no reason. There's no place in football for that. But this is New England. We shouldn't expect anything less than that.
Me: The Patriots have added another weapon. After blowing out the Jets 33-0 and moving to 7-0 on the season, a forever non-complacent Bill Belichick got to work on getting better. The Patriots added Falcons WR Mohamed Sanu via a trade with Atlanta in exchange for a second-round pick. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? God, I hate the Patriots.
Jeff: Yeah, the rich get even richer. I did see about the Sanu trade. It's good for both teams, I suppose. The Falcons are a dumpster fire and will probably be trading several players before the deadline. They get a former pro bowl player for a small fee of a 2nd round pick, which Atlanta can use to still not be a good team.
Me: Here's something you might get a kick out of, Jeff. Sam Darnold had a rough game against the Patriots, and it affected him mentally, as well. The Jets quarterbacks after throwing his second interception of the evening, admitted to “seeing ghosts” on the field. What does that mean? What do you think of him?
Jeff: "Seeing ghosts" means he saw people coming at him that weren't there. He was so panicked out there that he thought he was being blitzed when he wasn't. I like Darnold. he's young, he's inexperienced. But when he's on, he's very good. Look at what he did to Dallas last week, especially in the first half.
Me: Not exactly what you want to hear from your starting quarterback though. This I thought was really funny... Giants RB Saquon Barkley was caught liking porn on Twitter. I would post the link but you have to pay to see the video. Trust me, I tried.
Jeff: Well, at least Barkley was back this week? He played all right when he wasn't liking porn. Because watching the Patriots fuck the rest of the league wasn't enough for him? Sorry you weren't able to look at the porn Barkley is into. I will admit I am intrigued though.
Me: What NFL news do you have, Jeff?
Jeff: Of course the biggest news is yet another franchise QB. Patrick Mahomes from the Chiefs went down with a dislocated kneecap. He is expected to miss anywhere from 3-6 weeks, possibly more. This year we have seen a rash of QBs going down, but we are also expected to have one of them return this week. Drew Brees is hoping to start this week for the Saints. We've seen a few other smaller trades as well, including another undefeated team getting more help. The 49ers, the only other undefeated team, also gained another WR in the Broncos Emmanuel Sanders. There are rumblings that the Falcons will fire their head coach before the end of the season.
Me: America has taken back another team from Britain and changed the logo and name to make it more patriotic...
Me: That's for you, What do you think?
Jeff: The Leaders! I like it! It's almost as creative as what I call my fantasy football team. Since I'm a huge fan of movies, I named them the Lumbergh Steelers after Bill Lumbergh from the movie Office Space. "If you could go ahead and win the game, that'd be great."
Me: Hahahahaha. Okay, so, how did we do last week?
Jeff: It's rare that I can say this. You went 2-0 last week! Congratulations. I also went 2-0. Congratulations to me. The Steelers had a bye week while the Giants were watching porn and losing.
Me: Ha! Let's pick for this week. I say Colts by 7 and I have to pick the London game so Rams by 10. what do you say?
Jeff: My picks for the week are the Saints by 6 and Vikings by 9.
Me: Okay, I will see you back here next Thursday on Halloween for the Phile's Halloween entry. Should be fun. Have a good week.
Jeff: Talk to you next week.
From finding yourselves to finding Nemo.
Hahahaha. That's really funny. What happens when you play country music backwards? You get your job and wife back. Haha.
The 107th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Butch will be the guest on the Phile a week from today on the Halloween entry.
A butcher in his shop, and he's real busy, and he notices a dog in the shop. He shoos him away. But later, he notices the dog is back again. So he goes over to the dog, and notices he has a note in his mouth. He takes the note and it reads, "I need 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please. The dog has money in his mouth, as well." The butcher looks inside and, lo and behold, he finds the money for the order there. So he takes the money, and puts the sausages and lamb in a bag, placing it in the dog's mouth. The butcher is well impressed, and since its close to closing time, he decides to shut up shop and follow the dog. So off he goes. The dog is walking down the street, when he comes to an intersection. The dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the button for the walk signal. Then he waits patiently, bag in mouth, for the lights to turn. They do, and he walks across the road, with the butcher following him all the way. The dog then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable. The butcher is in awe at this stage. The dog checks out the times, and then sits on one of the seats provided. Along comes a bus. The dog walks around the front, looks at the number, and goes back to his seat. Another bus comes, again the dog goes and looks at the number, notices it's the right bus, and climbs on. The butcher, by now open-mouthed, follows him onto the bus. The bus travels through the town and out into the suburbs, the dog looking at the scenery. Eventually he gets up, and moves to the front of the bus. He stands on two back paws and pushes the button to stop the bus. Then he gets off, his groceries still in his mouth. Well, dog and butcher are walking along the road, and then the dog turns into house. He walks up the path, and drops the groceries on the step. Then he walks back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself... Whap!... against the door. He goes back down the path, runs up to the door and Whap!... throws himself against it again. There's no answer at the house, so the dog goes back down the path, jumps up on a narrow wall, and walks along the perimeter of the garden. He gets to an open window, barks several times, walks back, jumps off, and waits at the door. The butcher watches as a big guy opens the door, and starts laying into the dog, yelling at him and swearing at him. The butcher runs up and stops the guy. "What the world are you doing ? The dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for heavens sake!" To which the guy responds, "Clever my ass! This is the second time this week that he's forgotten his key."
Today's pheatured guest is an American singer who sang the hit songs "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts." His latest single "Audio Graffiti" is available on iTunes and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Robbie Dupree.
Me: Hey there, Robbie. Welcome to the Phile, sir. How are you?
Robbie: Thank you, Jason. I'm good.
Me: I first heard of you when I got the "Hot Rod Hearts" 45 in the 80s I think it was. I still have that record. I love that song. Most people might know you more from the song "Steal Away" though which I didn't realize was the flip side of the single. How did that song come to be, sir?
Robbie: Well, I moved to California in 1978 pursuing a couple of musicians who I knew back in Woodstock, actually a band. I loved them, I loved their music. We did a lot of work together in those days. I followed them to Los Angeles and one of them become a very important co-writer and co-producer of then my soon to be solo career. He was in charge of writing most of the music and that was one of them, except the things I brought with me from New York. That was one of the pieces and he came up with the music and I was just charged with trying to write a melody and lyrics or it. I will tell you I had no idea that I would have to play that song for the next forty years.
Me: Was that song the reason you got signed?
Robbie: No, it wasn't the reason I got signed. Actually I don't know how to not go out of sequence with the story but most of it was just done. We were just trying to put together a five song demo. I had three songs with me and when we finished the five song demo which included "Steal Away" we were unable to get a deal. Every single stone was unturned in Los Angeles. It was kind of sad because I was so happy with everything and the way it came out and working with these guys and so I went back to New York. I was doing a job loading carpets on trucks in Long Island and my drummer and co-producers brother had ran into somebody from Elektra. I guess it's worth telling the story because it changed my life but he had this guy, Al Bunetta hadn't really had nothing to do with career ever but a guy named George Steel from Elektra Records was going back to England to his father's funeral and he stopped by Al Bunetta's house and they hung out and they were playing music and talking about everything and all of a sudden Al put in this cassette. Again he had nothing personal to do with me or my music but George immediately asked, "Who is this? This song reminds me of my father." Not "Steal Away," another song, "It's A Feeling." Al said, "I don't know anything about it, I think he's back in New York working." George said, "Well, I'm leaving tonight, I'll be back next week. Have him call me and I'll get him a deal at Elektra." So after fifteen years of gigs and showcases and press kits and all that it wound up in just a coincidence that somebody heard a different song on the record and loved it and had the power and got me a deal.
Me: That's crazy. So, what was the inspiration for the song "Steal Away"?
Robbie: To be really honest I didn't really have an inspiration. Sometimes I write deeply and sometimes I write with craft. This was really the basic rhyme scheme simple "I like you, let's run away" kind of song. I never imagined the legs it would have, I don't think I could've.
Me: Your co-writer and friend and producer was Rick Chudacoff. How did you first get to know him and did you think of becoming a duo act with him like Hall and Oates or Simon and Garfunkel?
Robbie: No, I'll tell you exactly what it was. We all arrived in Woodstock, New York from different places around the same time, in the early part of the 70s. We all showed up for different motivations. He was in a band and the band was called Crackin'. The band, when I first met them, I just liked all the guys. I just liked what they were doing. I tried to go visit their shows as much as possible and sit in with them. I don't know, there was an attachment there. Rick was one of the original members of that band and there was a greta connection between us. Then after a couple of years we did an amazing, my band and that band, did an amazing tour of all the maximum security joints in New York. We were doing two to three prisons a day. We were two crazy hippy rock bands in these tough Attica, Comstock, Sing Sing, unbelievable. I kind of talked this guy into it. He had a company called Hospital Audiences Incorporated and they used to do stuff like puppet shows for kids in hospitals but I conned him into this full blown rock thing, which he probably got fired for.
Me: That's very Johnny Cash of you. Haha. What did the prisoners think of you guys?
Robbie: They loved it. I don't know how much I can say on this blog, but we were giving out joints. They were carrying our equipment, we weren't allowed to carry anything, so we were getting them high. It was hilarious. That was really the bonding thing for me and Crackin'.
Me: So, what made you move from New York to California?
Robbie: They moved away to California and I continued and that band changed and evolved and we stayed in touch. Finally move up to 1978 that had been in the Bay Area but they moved to L.A. and I decided that this was the perfect time to go there. I actually walked out on my own record deal on Mercury to go there. I had a band and things weren't working out with the band and creatively it wasn't working any more for me. I thought do I want to get involved in a record deal for years with something that is not working. I decided to leave them with the deal and get my songs back and to go.
Me: I know a little bit about Woodstock, I went there when I was a kid because my dad's band Foghat was on Bearsville and that was based there. I know a lot of musicians live there and still do. What was it like living there back in the 70s?
Robbie: The music I was doing had very little with the kind of music that was so-called indigenous Woodstock music, which you think about with Dylan and the Band and things of that nature, the folk scene that was there.
Me: What made you decide to move from New York City to Woodstock then?
Robbie: I left New York, I was in a band when I was young, my first really good band was with Nile Rodgers. When that part came apart it didn't break up for problems, it was just economically. We were a mixed race band, it was hard to get work. We were two white for white and two black for black. It was kind if a rough time in the 60s. When it come upon for me to decide to leave and go to Upstate New York where I knew a lot of things were happening. Even though it was a small town I knew a lot. There were several big recording studios. Paul Butterfield was there, Jesse Winchester, and tons of great artists. I thought I would go there because they'd be great musicians in the neighborhood and it would be easier than New York. You cold imagine how hard it was in New York trying to move gear around and get jobs that paid a lot. It was just tough. So Woodstock was very vital, although I considered myself more of a tourist in the beginning. They were really set, all these people had interfaced. They'd come to be with Albert Grossman's Bearsville Records, like you said, so there was a codery of Butterfields and James Cotton and the Band and Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary and that whole ensemble. It took me a really long time to integrate into that scene and I never really did integrate into it. But I was the recipient to some of the good things that were happening around it. There was lots of work in the area because of them, there were a lot clubs.
Me: So, do you still live there and what's the difference about Woodstock today and back then? A good friend of mine lives up that way.
Robbie: I still do live there. The answer to that is that when I came here everybody came here to find their dream. Now in order to come here you already should have your dream. You can't come here anymore like I did with fifty bucks in your pocket. It's not that world anymore.
Me: So, who were your influences when you started out, Robbie? I think I read that Michael McDonald was but I could be wrong about that.
Robbie: Well, there are a couple answers to that question, I think. Yes, Michael McDonald was an inspiration to anybody, but was not the impetus for "Steal Away" or any of my stuff. I was in the game a long time before him and I'm still in the game and I'm still doing my stuff. In terms of him being an influence, he was the voice of the 70s and the 80s. If you ask me there's nobody that came close with what he'd achieved in that genre. And the crossing over, he has a huge black following on urban radio, at least at the time. So yeah I was definitely influenced and so was the groups like Ambrosia and David Pack. He was always there.
Me: So, were you a Doobie Brothers fan?
Robbie: Frankly I was never a Doobie Brothers fan and his moment in the band was the only time I have ever paid attention to them. "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus Is Just Alright With Me," that was never my bag.
Me: I saw them at a music festival in Orlando in 2010 and I thought they were pretty good. So, I have to mention the song I loved of yours back then... "Hot Rod Hearts." I knew all those lyrics by heart and played that 45 over and over again. "Hot rod hearts out on the boulevard tonight..." You had two hits back to back, what were you thinking? You must have been so happy, am I right?
Robbie: Yeah. I was kind of numb, I couldn't believe it. When I've been on the outside and like a bar musician for fifteen years and been through it all and did a million gigs the fact that this happened just it always seemed unreal in a lot of ways. I think going to the Grammys and I just felt like I didn't really fit. I didn't feel like I was part of that click. I was not an industry guy, we made all these records completely outside the industry just so you know. Everything that we did was in a little home studio called Alpha. Alpha was in North Hollywood and Alpha was in a house. This is before ProTools, this was a real analogue studio in the engineers house and it was very affordable. This was in 1978 and in the nighttime there was Prince and in the daytime it was me. That's all their were, two clients. When all this happened we just back in the studio and had more songs to record to fish the album out.
Me: So, what's the story behind "Hot Rod Hearts"?
Robbie: It was an afterthought. The record was done and Joe Smith, the president of the label had come to this little out of the way studio and even made some little back handed remark about it like "I see you're on Music Row." Meanwhile we've got a giant hit but we didn't have an album because I didn't sign an album deal, they wanted to give me so little to do an album. It wasn't really their idea, it was this guy George Steel who fronted for me. This wasn't like a bidding war, this was like they were doing George a favor. And so what happened was Joe Smith came to the studio for the one time ever and just started complaining how we're losing album sales, we've go to get this album done. So he came on a Friday morning to the studio and he said we are trying the record in on Monday. I was relieved, we were finishing up, I was listening to it, he's gone and everybody is sitting around the console listening to the final and I'm like wow, great job, everybody. All of a sudden Gary Grant, the engineer turns around and says, "I'm sorry, Robbie, we don't have another single." I said, "Look here, I just saw Joe Smith here 24 hours ago. We're turning that album in on Monday. I'm going to take it myself and do it." That's over with, forget about it, we don't have another single. Then all of a sudden Rick and Peter, my producers and rhythm section, they started to side with him a little bit. I asked what is the option here. He said he knew this song that Bill LaBounty wrote and he can call him up and have him come down. I was so pissed off. I had 36 hours left to turn in my album and they're talking about doing another song. I said okay, rather than having a war I said the the guy to come down and he can play me the song. Mind you I didn't give a shit what it is, I wasn't going to do anything about it. This guy pulls in and he sits at the piano and he plays like two thirds of the song. He said he didn't have a bridge yet and I said A) I didn't like this song and B) It's not finished. So I wasn't going to do it. They really got on me so I went in and helped him and we finished the bridge and then I said I'll make a deal with him. If we could record it all on Saturday, mix it all on Sunday, I'll go along with this. But if we can't then I'm not going along with it.
Me: If that song wasn't on the album do you think they'd just shelved the record?
Robbie: I could have put out "The Star Spangled Banner." They just wanted an album out, they didn't care creatively. They never once looked in what we were doing. What happened was, this was internal. I'm talking about just the producers and the engineer. But these are my brothers, these are just people.
Me: So, what was the recording of the song like?
Robbie: So I finally went along with it, they called up, Brian Ray came down and played the guitar, Bill Elliott came in, the usual crew all came in on a Saturday. We started in the morning and finished the next morning on Sunday morning. Mixed and done and only then did I understand that it was really great. It was a great song and they did a great job on the production. I was happy about it and so was the label when they finally heard it. It was my apprehension on missing the deadline. From that point on no one ever came in from the label to see us or talk to us about anything.
Me: So, what was it like doing the second album "Street Corner Heroes"?
Robbie: I never saw anyone from the label. On one hand they had a bigger fish to fry. They had the whole Warner Bros. scene at that time which was huge, it was California music. So they're worried about all of those things that were going on, all those projects. They weren't really concerned and we turned everything in independently. That's how it was.
Me: After the second album there was six years before the next album came out and then another six years before the fourth album came out. Was there a reason for such big breaks?
Robbie: Well, that wasn't the last record for Elektra, that was the last record that came out. I had done also the first album I also recorded that in Spanish. I did some promotion in South America and that led into "Street Corner Heroes," then after the mess with the whole independent thing we had a third album contracted. I went in and recorded a bunch of that and then got dropped. It was like '83 I guess now or something and what happened was I remember my attorney came by my apartment and said we got dropped. I said to him, "Well, did you go play them the stuff we have so far?" And he said, "A guy told me it's not about music." That was a big, big thing. It was about politics and the crap that was going on at the time. Then I came home and probably in the first couple of years I just did live shows and kept thinking that something would pop, that something would come back up. But nothing did then finally I met somebody from Seattle who came to produce a project in Woodstock and we met and I recorded a song called "This Is Life." He said he was going to Japan and did I mind if he brought it with him and see what I can find out. I said of course, take it. He came back and said, "I got you a deal in Japan, it's not a big deal but we got to start over someplace." He became my partner, manager, mentor, and he taught me about going about following where I'm happening, not where I'm aren't happening. I was still popular in Europe and Japan, I still had legs to do my thing, and we'll find small license deals and put it together in France, Germany and so forth. We'll rebuild this thing one brick at a time.
Me: So, what are you doing today, Robbie?
Robbie: Still doing what I do, I have a sort of network that I can filter the music into. The Internet has been a big tremendous help. All of a sudden I have outlived these sons of bitches and got back all my records.
Me: So, what do you think of this yacht rock label acts such as you, Christopher Cross, Stephen Bishop and others get labeled with?
Robbie: The whole yacht rock came about almost like a lark. My friend Brian Ray started with me when he was very young. He was on all those early records on Elektra. He's been with Paul McCartney now for seventeen years. If you see the McCartney band, he's the blond guy on the right of the stage. Brian called me five years ago maybe and said, "I just got back. I went on a cruise with Weezer, they're my friends. We were out having fun. You know what the thing was, they saw on the whole cruise was this band called Yacht Rock Cruise out of Atlanta." I never heard of them and he said, "Well, interestingly enough they know everything about you. All they wanted to talk to me about was you, your music and what was it like. They were totally dedicated to the music. I'm going to give you the guys number and if you get around to it just shoot the guy a call." This was coming from Brian and Brian knew me at that point for like thirty-five years. I thought let me give him a call, so I called him up and they said the right things and were very sweet guys. They said they were going to play their very first gig in New York City in a little place called the Canal Room, and why don't I come down and see them. If I want I can sing "Heart Rod Hearts" and "Steal Away" if I wanted. I went there and there was like thirty people and they played them flawlessly. From that point they and I built a relationship and then I said, "Would you like me to spread the word and get my friends from those days to come out and do shows?" They were like oh, yeah, we'd love that. So I brought in Peter Beckett, Matthew Wilder, Stephen Bishop and on and on, all these guys like Christopher Cross, all these different people. The thing just took off, and I'm not saying it took off because of the guests, I'm saying the thing took off because they were great.
Me: I know who Brian Ray is. So, do you think you guys are all benefiting from this yacht rock?
Robbie: Yeah, and here's the funny thing... we'll play at a place with 2000 seats and it'll be packed and sold and every single person in the audience is under thirty. We played in front of 3000 people in Atlanta and it was three balcony full. They built such an exciting career for themselves it's amazing. That jumped me up for a second thing to do.
Me: That's cool. So, your first two albums were finally released on CD... they weren't before?
Robbie: No, Warner Bros. ever released them on CD. That's like nothing I can do about it. A big part of me getting back the music is that it finally gets an opportunity for it to be in the public again on some level. Blixa is the label that has done all this. They could have sold a lot more of it over the years if they had not been the way they were.
Me: So, you have a new single out called "Audio Graffiti," am I right? Is this a song from a new album or just a single?
Robbie: I have a couple of things, think it's nice to put out singles just on line. What I'm hoping to do is several more recordings which are in various stages right now, then maybe putting out an EP. It's very expensive to work on that level. On "Audio Graffiti" you can hear the expense. I paid for it, so to do a whole album at one time is just hard financially.
Me: So, how did you meet Nile Rodgers? He was on the Phile back in April.
Robbie: Well, I was playing with some guys in Brooklyn where I grew up. We had a little blues band and we were doing few gigs but we weren't really getting any work. Except for "Steal Away" in that brief moment I was never really a pop guy. We had this cool blues band and it kept on to being right exactly. The two people I was happy with was Johnny Ace, who was great and a guitar player named Frank. Then Frank quit and then John and I answered an ad in The Village Voice which was a very important undergroundish newspaper in the 60s. We saw this thing which was a drummer looking to put together this band, blah, blah, blah. So we jump on the train and showed up at this guys house. He obviously had a lot of money and the other two guys that were there was Nile and his cousin Tom Murray. We hated the drummer, he was terrible. So we went to this audition and then we went outside and thought it was horrible. But we dug playing together so we thought why don't we try to find a drummer and why don't we try and get together and see what happens. That's how it began. Nile was living in the Bronx, Tom was living in Harlem, and John and I were living out in east New York, out in Brooklyn. When I met Nile and Tom they were both Black Panthers and we were like Brooklyn Hitters. There was this funny chemistry that happened between us right away but it all worked out, it was cool.
Me: What was the bands name then?
Robbie: It was called New World Rising, and we did that for two years and then the wheels came off, the work was hard to find. That was the end of my New York City thing.
Me: So, what was Nile like back then?
Robbie: The story about Nile was Nile was completely different than he is now. Nile wore overalls like bib overalls and he was like dirt poor and he used to have an afro pick stuck in his big afro. Now cousin Tom was like the most outrageously funky guitar player that you could believe. So we wound up with this really cool blues fusion kind of weirdo band. Wherever we went most people just didn't get it. It wasn't dance music, it wasn't top 40, it wasn't pop, so we had a lot of trouble but yet it was what we all dug. Years later after Nile had gone to Berklee and all that and Nile came with Chic. Then I did a benefit for Jerry Brown in New York City and Nile was on it, he was actually playing with the B-52s. We kind of talked in the hallway and he said, "What are you doing?" I said, "Well, the big time is over but I'm doing another record now called 'Walking On Water,' what do you say, would you play on it?" And he said yeah.
Me: I was looking at videos of you on YouTube and saw you were on "American Bandstand." I have to post a screen shot...
Me: What was that like, Robbie?
Robbie: Yeah, I got a call to do Dick Clark's "American Bandstand," it was in L.A., it left Philadelphia years before, and so we were going to go on and do "Steal Away" and my birth name, my last name is Dupuis, which is French. But in Brooklyn no one could ever pronounce it so I became Dupree sixty something years ago. When I got to do the show I called my mother and father and told them I was going to be on "American Bandstand," I knew they would know what that was. I said tune in, it would be on this particular Saturday. It turns out they have a bullpen of different artists that do the show, like six different people doing three different shows one after another. I saw Jermaine Jackson was there that day and the Pointer Sisters were there. It was so cool and I thought this would be great. But no, that's not what happened. The thing was they paired me with Johnny Rotten. Here's the funny part of it, I was waiting to go on and he's just spitting at the cameras and was being just a complete maniac. My mother had called back to Brooklyn and told everybody back there, "Oh, my son is going to be on 'American Bandstand' but he changed his name..." So all these Italian women in Brooklyn watched that and that thought that was me. Hahahahahahaha. How crazy is that?
Me: That's fantastic! Robbie, thanks for being on the Phile. I hope this was fun. Please come back on the Phile again one day.
Robbie: It was, Jason, thank you.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Jeff Trelewicz and of course Robbie Dupree. The Phile will be back on Monday with Howard Jones, one of my favorite singers! Spread the word, not the third. 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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