Pheaturing Sarah McLachlan

Hi there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Friday. How are you? You love to see it: the woman who lost her job for flipping off President Trump's motorcade flipped a seat on the board that represents his golf club. Juli Briskman, a Democrat, won a seat on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, one of the many elections that helped turn Virginia into a blue state. Her first famous flip was back in 2017, when she was pictured on her bike giving Trump the finger as he departed his golf club in Sterling, Virginia. After the photo went viral, Briskman was fired from Akima, a government contracting firm. Briskman, a single mother of two, was clearly not at work when she was on her bicycle, the "crude" gesture allegedly violated the company's social media guidelines. She went on to sue the company, and a GoFundMe set up by her friends raised $142,000. Now Briskman's new gig on the Board of Supervisors comes with a salary, and a role overseeing the president's safe space. "Isn’t that sweet justice?" she told The Washington Post, "her cackle suggesting that she knew the answer to her own question." I certainly found it to be sweet justice. Getting elected is the best revenge. Is it too late for her to run to be the Democratic nominee?
Rapper T.I., the guy behind such songs as "Whatever You Like," made himself relevant again with a truly disgusting disclosure. In a podcast interview, T.I. said that he takes his daughter to the gynecologist every year to "check her hymen" and see if it is "still intact." This is not only literally invasive, and but controlling and possessive and creepy and gross. T.I. appeared on the podcast "Ladies Like Us," and when asked about whether he's had the "sex talk" with his daughters, he mentioned his annual check-in tradition. His eldest daughter, Deyjah Harris, is 18 and a freshman in college. T.I. said that after her 16th birthday party, he "put a sticky note on the door: 'Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30.'" "So we’ll go and sit down and the doctor comes and talk, and the doctor’s maintaining a high level of professionalism," T.I. explained. "He’s like, ‘You know, sir, I have to, in order to share information’... I’m like, 'Deyjah, they want you to sign this so we can share information. Is there anything you would not want me to know? See, Doc? Ain't no problem.'" NO , SIR, THERE ARE A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH THIS! People are not only disgusted, but are calling the Hymen Patrol abuse. The World Health Organization has condemned such "virginity testing" as "a violation of the human rights of girls and women." Plus, virginity isn't even a thing. "There is no examination that can prove a girl or woman has had sex... and the appearance of girl’s or woman’s hymen cannot prove whether they have had sexual intercourse, or are sexually active or not," the WHO writes. Even if there were a test (other than a pregnancy test) to determine whether or not a woman has had intercourse, it is NONE OF HER DAD'S BUSINESS! "I will say, as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact," he boasted on the podcast. Dads, LEAVE YOUR DAUGHTERS ALONE!
Kids these days are so sensitive, they have no idea how to take a joke. And by "kids these days" I mean the people who say "kids these days," also known as Boomers. The New York Times recently published a report on a popular phrase among Generation Z, "Ok boomer," which teens have been using to brush off the unfair criticisms of the generation that actually had everything handed to them. "'Ok boomer' has become Generation Z’s endlessly repeated retort to the problem of older people who just don’t get it, a rallying cry for millions of fed up kids," Taylor Lorenz wrote in The Times. "Teenagers use it to reply to cringey YouTube videos, Donald Trump tweets, and basically any person over 30 who says something condescending about young people... and the issues that matter to them." As the prophecy foretold, old people can dish out the condescension, but they can't take it. A now-deleted tweet from talk radio host Bob Lonsberry went as far as comparing "boomer" to the N-world, which is quite the take. People flooded Lonsberry's other bad takes with "ok boomer." "Boomer" isn't just an age, it's a worldview. You don't need to have been born between 1946 and 1964 to be a boomer, you just need to be extremely condescending and argue with young people in bad faith.
There's another blonde mom who has gone viral for being fully unhinged and this one has been nicknamed "Kidz Bop Karen." Remember Kidz Bop? The nightmare of children's voices singing clean versions of Top 40 pop songs? Apparently you can use Kidz Bop to the dull the sounds of your swearing while you stop traffic to scream at a stranger in the back of what appears to be a cab? Without the Internet, Kidz Bop Karen would just have gone back to her car and the woman who posted the video would've just laughed about what a strange experience they both just had. Instead, it was recorded and now everyone (including an edited version of a Taylor Swift song) gets to say in unison, "CALM DOWN, KAREN." Is she putting on some sort of valley girl accent to mock the woman in the backseat? What's with the tongue out? I have so many questions. Of course, nobody wants to put children in danger. The driver apologized, everyone is safe, but Kidz Bop Karen is still not at all okay...
Do you know anybody in New Zealand who wants between one and one thousand chickens? When Steve Morrow from Hamilton, New Zealand entered an auction on the website Trade Me, he thought that he was bidding on only one bird. But when he won the auction, the seller told him to multiply by 1,000. The seller told local site Stuff that his ad clearly stated that it was for the 1,000 hens (also known as 2,000 chicken wings), and "it's pretty bloody hard to get that wrong." Morrow is owning up to his mistake, putting up a social media to help find homes for the hens. He told Stuff that he has already found homes for 700 of them, and that he will take 20 himself. "The reaction on social media has been tremendous and overwhelming. I put out that post because I really want to see the birds live. The ad was worded a bit confusing but I'm happy the birds are safe," he said. The timing couldn't be better: New Zealander Lorde is in the market for a new pet.
I just mentioned Kidz Bops and the new one that is coming out is very surprising...

It's all your kidz can hear! Hahahaha. Almost two months ago at the Global Climate Strike, yeah, I'm still talking about that, there were a lot of signs that give us hope for the future...

If you can't read that sign it says "The ice cream is melting, so are we." Some signs were pretty snarky...

Haha. Ever see those panhandlers on the side of the street? Some of them have signs that you would not expect.

He hates Jesus I guess. They tell me at Walmart I would see some odd sights. I did not believe it until I saw this...

So, if I had a TARDIS I would like to go and meet Winston Churchill. But knowing my luck I'll meet him in 1895 when he was a second lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars regiment of the British Army.

He looks hardly like a "bulldog" there, right. So if you're thinking of cheating with your loved one you might wanna think twice after seeing this...

Uh oh. A black cat went viral during Monday night’s Cowboys-Giants game, running onto the field during the second quarter, needing to be chased off by staffers. Well, that cat now is a member of a team.

Haha. That's fantastic. Hey, kids, wanna play a game?

So, is it Danzig or Sigourney Weaver? Okay, you know I live in Florida, right? Well, there's stuff that happens in Florida that happens no where else in the universe. So here once again is...

This weeks story is about a Jacksonville man named Chad Ponce, who faces a year in prison and a $50,000 fine for messing with the wrong species. Ponce plead guilty to killing the endangered sawfish by introducing it to its namesake when he was fishing off the coast of Ponte Verde Beach. He sawed the nose of an endangered fish. Next time you go fishing, be sure to you don't kill anything endangered, or you'll endanger yourself.

If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, it's time to talk football with my good friend Jeff.

Me: Hey, Jeff, welcome back to the Phile. Man, we have lots to talk about. How are you?

Jeff: Hey, Jason, glad to be back on the Phile. Doing all right. How about yourself? Yeah, it was a busy week wasn't it?

Me: I'm good. Soooo... the Jets beat the Cowboys, the Dolphins beat the Jets, therefore, baaed on science the Dolphins are better than the Dallas Cowboys, which means.... never mind. Moving on...

Jeff: That's a whole lot of science talk right there that I can't really argue with!

Me: Okay, this is something that I saw, and I wanted to get your thoughts...

Me: The NFL has discussed the possibility of moving the Chargers to London. Me, as a Londoner, hates that. It's AMERICAN football... there's no point moving the team to another country. What do you think? This really irritates me. Maybe they read the Phile last year when I joked about the teams moving to England... uh oh!

Jeff: First off, no. Second off, hell no. The Chargers just literally moved and thirdly fuck no. It's got to be tough to fly across the ocean to play a football game. We seem to send them shitty teams to begin with. I'd like to know how many times the Jags have played in London. I have no problem with the plans as they are, but I don't think a team out of London is a good idea. Hey, if it happens it's totally your fault!

Me: Did you see the black cat that ran on the field during the Giants/Cowboys game? This black cat has spent more time in the MetLife Stadium endzone than the NY Jets.

Jeff: I did see the black cat. It definitely seemed to change the tide of the game. And you better be careful with all these Jets jokes. Remind me again who the Giants are playing this week?

Me: Yup. The Jets. Sigh. The best part of the game was WR Golden Tate making an amazing one-handed catch. Can’t remember the Giants had a wide receiver capable of making amazing one-handed catches against the Dallas Cowboys like this... Literally, drawing blank! Help me out, Jeff. Hahahaha.

Jeff: One handed catches by a Giant? Sounds familiar... wait... I know... former WR Phil McConkey. Just kidding, but it is fun to say. McConkey… McConkey…

Me: Okay, let's talk about the Cleveland Browns cutting Jermaine Whitehead after threatening to kill a fan following a loss. For the readers who are like what the fuck, here's the story... a Twitter account allegedly owned by safety Jermaine Whitehead was seen going after reporters, fans on Twitter, using racial slurs and threatening violence...

Me: If only Jermaine Whitehead played football as well as he tweeted. Anyway, what do you have to say about this?

Jeff: I had never heard of Whitehead before, and chances are we won't hear of him on the football field. He went full Antonio Brown and you never go full AB. But seriously, he lost it. I know the Browns had all the hype this offseason and they have failed to live up to it. But what he did was completely uncalled for. He got exactly what he deserved by being cut. He got torched on a play, the Browns continue to lose and he takes it on on Twitter like an entitled punk. I hope Jermaine reads this. I still have a few more choice words to say to him but I'm going to move on.

Me: Did you see the Dolphins trolled Sam Darnold by playing the Ghostbusters theme song? Is every team gonna do this now? He will never be able to survive this.

Jeff: Darnold is starting to see ghosts of his ghosts. He had one of the ugliest interceptions I have seen in a long time against the Dolphins. I told you though that after they made a decent move at the trade deadline they would make an effort. Just is too little too late.

Me: Have you tried the Popeyes chicken sandwich yet? I haven't, but Deshaun Watson said the Popeyes spicy chicken sandwich helped heal his injured eye. What the hell?

Jeff: We have a local Popeyes at home in Connecticut, but they are a terrible location. The staff has no manners and they tend to run out of everything, not just what the rest of Popeyes's runs out of. So honestly I try to avoid that place or else I feel like Jermaine Whitehead after a loss.

Me: Ha. Then for Sunday’s game in Kansas City against the Chiefs, Stefon Diggs wore these awesome custom made Popeyes chicken sandwich cleats in honor of the return of the famous sandwich...

Jeff: I mean there's liking Popeyes chicken then there is wearing Popeyes chicken shoes that take it to a whole new level! That's crazy. Too bad it didn't help the Vikings get a win or anything!

Me: Okay, so what NFL news do you have?

Jeff: There's not a lot of news. Patriots no longer undefeated, the Dolphins no longer winless. Everyone in the NFC lost in the same the same week. It was a very weird week indeed. The Bengals have benched long time QB Andy Dalton. We could be looking at a repeat of what happened with the Giants and Eli. The Broncos won a game with a rookie QB who hadn't even taken a snap in the NFL. Luckily he was playing the Bengals so it was like a bye week. And on Tuesday it was announced that the Panthers have placed QB Cam Newton on the IR, ending his season. The Panthers have played well under Kyle Allen, so it's no surprise. Speaking of QB news, the Jags will start Nick Foles after their bye who has been out since week 1 and will instead bench the greatest mustache in football history Gardner Minshew. 

Me: Another football team now has a more patriotic logo and name...

Me: What do you think?

Jeff: I like that one. Maybe the Hamiltons will do better than the Bengals have lately.

Me: Okay, so, I hate to ask this but how did we do with our picks?

Jeff: Well, I didn't get 2-0 this week. So there's that. But you also didn't go 1-1. Enough with the riddles, I went 1-1 with a Steeler win (.500 baby!) while you went 0-2 with a Giant loss. My lead over you is now 10 points! But you face the Jets and I have the Rams this week. Remember that Owen Wilson joke you did weeks ago... How many games has the Giants won since then? Ha ha ha ha. Laughing at your expense.

Me: Ugh! Let's pick for week 10... Cowboys by 4 ad Bucs by 6. What do you say?

Jeff: I'm going to go with Bills 10 and Saints 7.

Me: All right, I will see you back here next Friday with the Walt Disney World entry. Did you see the clue who is gonna be the guest next Friday?

Jeff: Well if we're talking Pooh the first name that comes to mind is Jim Cummings, but he was Tigger, not Pooh, right?

Me: You are right! He’s Tigger and Pooh!!! Well done!!!

Jeff: Not bad considering I don't have all the Disney knowledge I used to have. Six years removed, I'm going to forget stuff. But good, I don't have to say, "Oh bother."

Me: Someone emailed me actually asking if it was gonna be A.A. Milne. Hahahaha. He died in 1956.  Have a good week, Jeff, see you back here next Friday.

Jeff: See you next week.

People in glass houses...

While the House of Representatives is looking into the president's actions to try and cheat at the 2020 election, prosecutors in New York are looking at his (successful) efforts to cheat the 2016 one. The Manhattan District Attorney is investigating the hush-money payments Trump made to porn stars, and Monday, a federal appeals court rejected Trump's plea to shield his tax records from scrutiny. Last week, Trump's private attorney argued in court that a sitting president couldn't be investigate, even if he actually did shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals did not find that argument convincing, and ordered Trump to hand over his tax return, as all recent presidents did during their campaigns. The case is almost certain to go to the Supreme Court, which sounds depressing because it is packed with conservatives like a Vineyard Vines store. SCOTUS, however, has ruled against this president before, so there's still a chance they won't rule that Trump is king thou shalt not scrutinize. The battle over the secret tax facts is just one of Trump's many legal troubles at this very moment. E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 90s, is suing him for defamation. "I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled," Carroll said in a statement. "No person in this country should be above the law... including the president." Carroll is not alone... more than a dozen women have accused him of sexual assault. Of all the problems he faces, the one that likely consumes him the most is the fact that he was booed by people at a UFC event on Saturday, his second awkward encounter with civilians in a week. The sentient balls of hair grease known as Don Jr. and Eric Trump insisted that the boos you are hearing are not real, and that the Fake News is pushing Fake Boos. Is it possible that a large stadium like Madison Square Garden had different people making different sounds? Or is that too nuanced a take for these times?

And as Jeff guessed it correctly the guest will be Jim Cummings. And yeah, a reader actually did email me asking of the guest will be A.A. Milne. That would be kinda cool, if he WAS ALIVE! Haha.

The 108th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...

K.K. will be the guest on the Phile in a few weeks.

Phact 1. In 2014, only 7 humans were killed by sharks while at least 63,000,000 sharks were killed by humans.

Phact 2. Yugoslavia spent 6 billion dollars constructing an underground airport that can withstand a direct strike from a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead.

Phact 3. The ancient Greeks had a wine glass to ensure the drinker’s moderation. If wine was poured above a certain level, the cup spilled its entire contents out of the bottom.

Phact 4. Mongols had rules against spilling noble blood over the ground. Instead they used loopholes like making them bend backwards until the backbone snapped, pouring molten silver into eyes and ears, and being rolled up in a rug and trampled to death by the Mongol cavalry. \

Phile 5: Joni Mitchell contracted polio at the age 9, and it was during her recovery in the hospital that she began performing and singing to patients. After teaching herself how to play the guitar, she emerged as one of the leading folk performers of the late 1960s and ’70s.

Today's pheatured guest is a Canadian singer-songwriter known for her emotional ballads. Her music is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Sarah McLachlan.

Me: Hello, Sarah, welcome to the Phile. How are you?

Sarah: I feel wonderful actually, it's my pleasure.

Me: I have to say congrats on receiving the Global Inspiration award at the 2018 SOCAN Awards.  What is the award exactly?

Sarah: Thank you. I was recognized for my contributions to the music industry, for my profound impact on music education for Canadian youth through my School of Music, as well as for my acclaim as a songwriter in a career that's spanned 30 years.

Me: Nice. So, you also have won a three Grammys and eight Juno awards. What do you think of winning all these awards?

Sarah: Well, they're all equally meaningful to me. It's not why I do it, I do it for the joy and the love and the passion of it but to be recognized in that way is always flattering.

Me: I think I first heard about you when the song "Building a Mystery" came out. What was your life like when that song came out?

Sarah: It's good. It was so much fun, it was such a magical time. There was so many things happening and I was young and hungry and had endless energy and yeah, it was a pretty amazing time in my life.

Me: You put together and arranged Lilith Fair, which I actually wanted to go to. The music business was so much different then, am I right?

Sarah: Yeah, I would argue it's got a lot better in the music industry but I would argue it hasn't gotten a lot better in other industries. I'm terribly proud of anything that I was apart of and had a hand in that. I do feel like the success of Lilith really did force that hand with changing a lot of the old school attitudes.

Me: Did you have a sense back then that that music festival would change things?

Sarah: I think but not certainly at the beginning. But as we went along I was constantly defending it on a daily basis. I was either not feminist enough or too feminist depending on who was having the interview with me or having a discussion with me. And I think watching the news unfold and watching all the covers of magazines and just all the conversations that started happening I slowly realized this is powerful.

Me: What was it like touring and working with all those other female artists?

Sarah: I felt it instantly in sense of the camaraderie with the women and all of us together we talked about how "this fells so good, so fun and so joyful. We want more of this. I don't think I'm in competition with you." We didn't, we all brought something unique to the table. The industry was sort of pitting us against each other saying, "You can't add this artist this week because we added this other female artist." We don't sound at all alike. Like I said it was a slow reckoning but by the end of the first year I thought it was incredible, I was having so much fun, we have to keep doing this.

Me: I think mostly women went to the festivals, am I right? Was that the purpose of it?

Sarah: Absolutely. We created a safe environment for woman in particular, because most of the summer festivals were very male dominated and quite frankly some of them were kind of aggressive. I think a lot of women didn't feel comfortable with themselves in the center of that because you hear all the time about women getting raped, getting molested, getting touched inappropriately and it's sort of this common theme because they are all in this scrum together and it just happens. Well, they didn't have to worry about that at Lilith and also I think all of us, one of the biggest successes for me was we all got to feel that we were of something bigger than ourselves, in a really nurturing loving environment.

Me: Do you still have people coming up to you and talking about going to those shows?

Sarah: Yeah. Actually just a few years ago at the Junos a young woman maybe 38 or 39 came up to me and said, "You know I'm running a company now, I'm the CEO of a company that's pretty successful and Lilith Fair in 1997 was my first concert and you showed me that I can do anything." 

Me: How does that make you feel?

Sarah: Swear to God I nearly cried. I was already pretty high just from the evening, it was such a beautiful evening for me and she walked up to me right at the end just as I was leaving and told me this story. I was like "thank you so much for sharing that with me." It's a beautiful validation knowing I had an impact and I tried to create a positive change in the world and there it is right there, her story. I'm sure it wasn't just that event but if I had a hand in that in changing he mindset of a woman who thought maybe thought couldn't do something and then saw all of us up there living our passion and enjoying ourselves, doing something we loved and we were proud of and successful at she thought, "I can. I can dream a lot better than I thought I could." That's powerful.

Me: Do you have any good stories about being on the road with all those women? I bet you do. 

Sarah: I have so many stories and I'm not sure I'm willing to share them with you. LOL.

Me: Damn it.  Hahaha. I don't blame you, Sarah. Okay, pick one of the other artists and tell me about that person.

Sarah: So, Chrissie Hynde was on tour with us and she came in at the beginning, she was there for two weeks, and she had her collar up and was like, "I don't know she was in this feminist business, I've been in the rock business a long time and I know what I'm doing so don't mess with me." Slowly we wore her down and at the end she said, "Okay, I get it, this is a lot of fun." I remember every night I'd go out and dance to "Middle of the Road," I'd go out there and so some ridiculous dance because it made her laugh and I liked making her laugh. The last night I went out and I had this little sequined tube top on and I went out and did my dance and I flashed her and without thinking I didn't realize I flashed her entire band. The drummer dropped his sticks and Chrissie Hynde dropped her guitar and basically said, "I can't believe you just did that." Anyway, I brought Chris Hynde to her knees so I was okay, that was good day.

Me: Jealous. Haha. So, how much did you end up raising because of these tours?

Sarah: Seven million dollars over three years, typically for various women charities.

Me: How did you pick the charities and where the money was going to?

Sarah: Well, I think because it was a festival celebrating women. My obvious choice was women's charities, women centric charities. So I remember in Minneapolis I think it was 34 thousand dollars in one day because that's how many people we had come and buy tickets. It was so amazing for me because the best part of the press conference I get to give the check presentation to the local women shelter. Sometimes that was the biggest single donation they had all year.

Me: Okay, so, I have a bone to pick with you, Sarah. Every time I hear the song "Angel" I tear up. When my dad passed away in 2000 from cancer at the end of the year Fox News or maybe it was CNN had this montage of famous people that died throughout the year and that song played over the montage and my dad, who was Lonesome Dave in Foghat was part of the montage. I know for a fact I'm not the only person that might cry or tear up when they hear that song. What is your take on that song, Sarah? Does it make you tear up or cry when you hear it?

Sarah: Awe, sorry about your dad, but I haven't done my job unless you're crying. LOL. It's interesting, because I never hear the recording of it, it just doesn't often happen. But it moves me.

Me: What was it like when you wrote that song?

Sarah: That to me is one of my great songs, if not the best song I've ever written, because A) it came out very easily. I channeled that, it came through me. I don't know how else to say it because usually for me writing songs is like extracting blood from a stone especially lyrically and that song just happened over the course of a week.

Me: What was the inspiration behind the song?

Sarah: I've been on the road for close to two years and was pretty exhausted emotionally and physically and was just recuperating and of course trying to write the new record and I read a Rolling Stone article about the keyboard player from Smashing Pumpkins, who had OD'ed on heroin in a hotel room and it broke my heart. They're a great band and I was oh, my God, there's another story and I think it's so poignant for me because I was in that situation myself so many times, in another hotel room, by myself, on the road exhausted, wondering, is there an end to this? I was at the end of that tour and I don't think I was even enjoying myself playing anymore. When I stop enjoying the thing that's my purpose in life it's kind of a scary hollow feeling. And so I felt great empathy for what I felt a bit what he was going through. I've never done heroin in my life and never will, but I could relate to that feeling of emptiness and needing desperately to find something to fill up the void.

Me: Did you like being on the road then? I think I would love it myself.

Sarah: It's a lonely existence being on the road for that period of time and it is a life of extremes in a certain way from these massive highs. Especially I may be having a horrible day, a horrible week or a horrible month and I've got 10,000 people screaming and saying they love me. I'm like what possibly can you love about me, I hate myself right now. LOL. It's almost worse in some ways. I digress but... 

Me: Okay, so, when you sing that song now how do you feel?

Sarah: It moves me every time I sing it. I feel grateful and I feel this flood of this kind of quiet joy when I sing that song. Again a part of it it because I don't even begin to understand how it moves me but perhaps in the similar way it moves so many other people because that's part of the beauty of that song. So many people over the years have stopped me on the street or wherever and said, "That song in particular has really helped me through a tough time," or "I played it at my mother's funeral," or "when my father was passing it was our song." There's just such an intense and emotional connection to people's personal lives. That song is such a gift for me as an artist to hear those stories.

Me: That song became kinda the anthem for loss around 9/11. Were you aware that was happening? 

Sarah: I think I became aware of it after the fact. I was on a little island in the Caribbean in March on Spring Break and I figured I'm in the middle of nowhere and the people on the island all knew who I was because they had gone through this hurricane and it was the song that everybody attached themselves to when they lost their loved ones. So I was kind of a celebrity.

Me: Do you think you can intentionally write something like that? I write songs and I'd love to write a song a that hits people in that way.

Sarah: No. Believe me I've tried. LOL. Haven't we all? Like I said, that came through me, I was lucky enough to channel that thing. Whatever stars had to align to make that happen I'm just incredibly grateful for.

Me: That song was also used for years for a very famous TV campaign for the ASPCA. You were in that campaign as well sitting to some very sad looking dogs. What was it like making that ad?

Sarah: Oh, those dogs were brutal to work with I have to tell you. I was like, "Can I please bring my dog? I know they're not ASPCA dogs but they're very well trained." Dogs when they're nervous or anxious they pant, and these dogs, they're rescue dogs and they're beautiful sweet animals, but they were nervous as hell, being forced to sit with a stranger under these hot lights for a significant period of time. You know when actors say don't ever work with babies or dogs? There's a reason. LOL.

Me: You saved like 30 million dogs though, right?

Sarah: Yeah, it worked like a hot damn! I think it changed everything. I think there was a piece in The New York Times about it because everyone was so shocked by the money that it generated, myself included and I think the ASPCA as well.

Me: You have a good sense of humor about it, am I right? Have you seen these memes?

Sarah: Oh, I have to. I have to make fun if it, I make fun of myself all the time, I don't take myself very seriously at all. I think because there's so many memes and Debbie Downer... "Hi, I'm Sarah McLachlan and I'm about to wreck your day." It makes me laugh! I'm like, I know, I can't watch it... it's brutal! But it does work.

Me: So, when did you actually start to play music?

Sarah: I started taking ukulele lessons when I was 4-years-old. I wanted to be Joan Baez. My mother was heavily influenced and listened to a lot of Baez, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel and I just connected with Joan and I knew that's what I wanted to do. I had teensy little hands and they started me on ukulele and we moved on to the big city of Halifax and I started taking classical guitar at the Royal Conservatory of Music and I took piano and voice and lots and lots of theory and it was a really great foundation for me.

Me: What was your first and or when did you start to sing on stage?

Sarah: When I was just passed sixteen I met these guys who eventually became the October Game and they wanted me to be the keyboard player. Then they heard me sing and said no, no, I need to sing. I was like no, no, no, I'll be the keyboard player. They pushed me up front and I think we had three gigs in the two years we were kind of together and we practiced probably ten times. We went into the studio and recorded a song called "Grind."

Me: So, tell me about your school, Sarah.

Sarah: I started my music school, I have a free after school music program, in fact it's not just after school anymore but we've been running it almost eighteen years in Vancouver. We serve at risk underserved children and youth. It's free of charge, we have a great quality music education, we have senior youth choirs, we have music fundamentals for babies and tots.

Me: Why did you start the school?

Sarah: For me it was this combination of watching music programs being pulled from public schools. It was coming off the hills from Lilith Fair and being part of this huge movement of giving. And being reminded every day of the beauty and joy of making music together. I couldn't stand the thought that kids wouldn't have that because for me whether it was playing music in school or playing it at home it saved my life. I had a pretty rough adolescence. I got beaten up quite a bit and picked on all the time. I was super sensitive and didn't fit in and music was the one thing that I attached to that I knew I was good at. It fed me, it gave me a sense of my self worth, it gave me an emotional outlet. I so desperately needed that because I had no place to put all this angst and pain.

Me: If you could talk to a young songwriter that's just starting out what would you say?

Sarah: Ummm... well the easy answer is follow your passion but find people and surround yourself with people who understand what it is what you really want to do and can support you in that and you can be free to pursue the thing you need to pursue. Be kid to yourself, be easy on yourself. That's certainly advice I would give my 25-year-old self. I was so serious and so caught up in always doing the right thing. Certainly that's important but I didn't cut myself much slack when I did mess up. I was extremely hard on myself and that's part of why I got myself where I am today. The health dose of self loathing isn't always the good thing. LOL. It could be of service especially in songwriting but I think I would suggest I'd be kinder and gentler with myself.

Me: Okay, so before you go I have to tell you I always ask my Canadian musical guests if they are a fan of one of my favorite bands ever... Barenaked Ladies. You are I know as you have recorded with them. Right?

Sarah: Yeah, and in fact Jim Creegan plays bass on "Angel."

Me: Wot?! I never knew that. Wow. Sarah, thanks so much for being on the Phile. Please come back again soon.

Sarah: Thank you. Thanks so much.

That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guests Jeff Trelewicz and of course Sarah McLachlan. The Phile will be back on Monday with Lance Bass. Then on Friday, a week from today the Phile will be from What Disney World with Jim Cummings... not A.A. Milne. 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