Thursday, March 5, 2020

Pheaturing Keith Urban


Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Thursday. How are you? Alert, alert! This is not a drill! Time to stock up on packets of condoms, ladies, and gentlemen. Not only do they prevent unwanted pregnancies, oh no, but now they also prevent the coronavirus! FDA, if you are reading this you can stop all the testing to find the cure. I have found it for you, it’s condoms. All you have to do is put one on each finger and then touch whatever you want because you are protected! Goodbye, Covid-19! Kidding, totally kidding. This is dumb, and anyone who is doing this should seriously get a slap on their head because it’s ridiculous. But, here we are. Let me give you a little background about this whole mess. Basically, condoms are selling out (mostly in Singapore) because people are reportedly using them as a “protective measure” against the coronavirus. So dumb and unnecessary. According to the Daily Mail, the “problem” was brought to life on a Facebook group called Ryde District Mums by Thanh Tahi from Sydney. They shared a picture of an empty Durex stand, asking “Can anybody please tell me what happened?” Several comments stated that people are trying this “method” and putting the condoms on their fingers to protect themselves against the virus when pushing elevator buttons in buildings. Because well, using your elbow or your wrist to push a button is so 2019. So is this actually happening? Well, I’m not sure, don’t quote me on this, but it has been proven that people all over the world are pretty much doing everything they can to prevent themselves from getting sick. And now this apparently includes using condoms for everything but what they are intended to do. I can’t be the only one that thinks this is stupid, right? Can’t you just buy regular gloves like a regular human? What a waste of a condom, man. Save it for people who actually intend to use it the right way, am I right? In all seriousness, I get you want to be protected and you’re scared, we all are. I mean, the coronavirus outbreak is no joke, there have been reported deaths from it. But condoms? Really? Be like everyone else and just stock up on hand sanitizer, face masks, water bottles, and toilet paper!
A Louisiana science teacher ended up with exactly the results she should have expected after an experiment gone horribly predictably. Thirty-four-year-old Northwestern Middle School science teacher Ellarea Silva turned herself in to police after allegations surfaced that she was carrying on a sexual affair with a 15-year-old student. Silva and the student had sex eight or nine times, according to the allegations, all at Silva’s home, and all while her child was present in the home. Silva is also accused of sending the student nude photos and videos of herself, as well as possibly providing him with a vaping device for smoking THC (marijuana). Northwestern Middle School, which is located in Zachary, Louisiana, placed Silva on administrative leave on January 24th. At one point, presumably because he felt like a god-king and wanted to let the pathetic underlings at his school masquerading as his peers to know their true place... at his feet... the student told Silva that he wanted to go public with their relationship. Silva, on the other hand, was like, “You know what? I’m just now realizing that all of this has been an unspeakably terrible mistake PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT.” One way or another, however, the news did find its way to the school’s administration and, then, the police. Because it always does. Silva is now facing charges of indecent behavior with a juvenile, felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and oral sexual battery. A couple things here... At home? With your kid there? Good God, say goodbye to any potential sympathy from a jury or judge. No one is going to feel bad about a backstory you and your lawyers crafted to make you seem more sympathetic when you left one kid alone to finger electrical sockets while the other one did the same to you. The kid wanting to go public with their relationship is truly hysterical.
The state of Colorado has suffered its second pediatric flu death this year. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health, a 4-year-old boy from Pueblo passed away after the mother ignored a doctor’s prescription and tried alternative methods that were recommended by an anti-vaccine Facebook group. Authorities say that the mother of the boy posted on a Facebook group called Stop Mandatory Vaccination after her four children had been diagnosed with the flu. A third child, who was the woman’s 4-year-old son who passed away, had not been diagnosed with the flu at the time but did show symptoms of fever and had a seizure. Nevertheless, the boy’s mother ignored the doctor’s orders to give the boy Tamaflu. Through the Facebook post, the woman, who has not been identified, wrote on social media she had been treating her four children with vitamin C, lavender, and peppermint oil. She stated those methods were not working and asked for advice from the members of the group which more than 178,000 anti-vaxxers. Some of the suggestions the mother received included thyme, breastmilk, and elderberry, which are not recommended by doctors to treat influenza. Another group member then suggested the mother put sliced cucumbers and potatoes on the child’s head. After his death, the mother posted a Gofundme page for Najeewhere it has raised more than $11,000 of it’s $10,000 goal. The description reads, “I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has donated money for me son Najee! It is my deepest sorrow to inform those of you that don’t already know that my son has been taken off of life support and has passed. Myself and all those who love Najee are devastated and broken.” KKTV reported state health officials did confirm the boy’s death, adding that there were no influenza vaccination records for the boy. Through a statement, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed the boy died from the flu. “The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment can confirm that a preschool-aged child in southern Colorado has died of flu. The death is the second pediatric flu death in Colorado this season. The department does not have any records that show whether the child was vaccinated against influenza.” Najee’s mother told the station she feels as is she “failed her son.” She noted, “I’m hurting so bad right now and so is his dad and brothers. Our whole family is hurting and it feels like we failed him because we did what we had to do.” According to preliminary estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, influenza caused anywhere between 12,000 to 30,000 deaths in the US between October 1st and February 1st.
Well, it looks like PETA is at it again. A representative for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals explained why the organization wants people to change the way they speak about their pets. Jennifer White, a senior media officer at PETA, spoke on "Good Morning Britain" with Piers Morgan and co-host Susanna Reid about using the term “pet” to refer to one’s domestic animals. According to White, the animal rights organization feels “pet” is a derogatory term and suggested people should stop using it since it is not animal-friendly language. She stated, “A lot of people at home who have dogs or cats will call them ‘pets’ and refer to themselves as ‘owners,’ and this implies that the animals are a possession, like a car, for example, When you refer to animals, not as the living beings they are, but as an inanimate object, it can reflect our treatment on these animals.” The hosts were definitely not buying into the attempted social movement and a debate over various phrases that PETA want to change erupted. This isn’t the first time PETA suggests using a new word or phrase for it to be less animal-centric. PETA argued words and idioms that involve meat products are offending vegetarians and vegans. For example, instead of saying “flogging a dead horse” or “killing two birds with one stone,” the organization wants people to say “feeding a fed horse”, or “feeding two birds with one scone.” Still, in regards to the “pet” situation, White stated that PETA doesn’t necessarily hate the word, but is only encouraging people to use “companion” instead. Fighting back, Morgan stated PETA would have to change the name of its organization since the title contains the word pet, but White noted that it doesn’t apply to the company’s name since Peta is an acronym. She stated, “[The word ‘pet’] is not offensive, we’re not telling anyone it’s offensive. Animals aren’t offended by it, we’re not offended by it.” PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk also suggested that our language be adjusted when we describe certain animals, indicating that domestic animals are a “call individual, with emotions and interest.” “Animals are not pets... they are not your cheap burglar alarm or something which allows you to go out for a walk. They are not ours as decorations or toys, they are living beings. How we say things governs how we think about them, so a tweak in our language when we talk about the animals in our homes is needed.” Seems to me like PETA has too much time on their hands, and are trying to change the impossible. I get you’re trying to save animals, and I’m totally in your favor, but honestly, pet is just a word. I really don’t see how you are connecting the dots here.
Move over, matching tattoos. There’s a new sign of commitment for poor decision-makers who happen to love each other and it’s way more painful and body-altering (and thus a deeper expression of love) than some ink. Because nothing conveys love like paying someone to stab you in the ring finger, finger piercings have become an actual, real alternative to the engagement ring and wedding rings. It’s somehow a quasi-legitimate beauty trend. As far as body piercing ideas go, this looks like one of the most painful options possible. The engagement ring piercing basically embeds some or all of an engagement ring beneath the surface of the skin in order to show your partner that your commitment is more than just skin deep and also that you’re insane. Engagement piercings are basically just dermal piercings, as whatever you decided to have a body piercer shove into your finger... usually a dermal anchor... just goes right under the skin. Diamond dermal piercings and micro dermal anchors are also available. If you can dream up a way to mangle your ring finger in the name of love, the engagement ring piercing trend will find a way to make it happen. By far the most upsetting engagement ring piercing image I’ve seen is the one in which the engagement ring is just straight up embedded in the ring finger and a circle of skin is just sitting there, elevated and gross like the hand has ringworm. According to experts, the ring finger takes roughly a year to (maybe) accept the embedded ring. Risk factors include HORRIFIC ACCIDENTS IN WHICH YOU CATCH YOUR HAND ON SOMETHING AND THE RING IS RIPPED OUT OF YOUR SKIN. I’m no doctor but I’ve lived long enough to have gleaned that hands are important to humans and thus not an ideal place to suffer totally preventable, massive, crippling trauma. Please just buy a normal diamond ring. Jeez, people.
If I had a TARDIS I would probably end up in the middle of tis crowd in Iran where women are protesting the forced Hijab, days after the 1979 Revolution.


That's a lot of angry women right there. Journalists make mistakes sometimes which leads to very interesting editorials.


Yeesh. Last year there were soooo many memes which became popular. One of my favorites is
the lady yelling at cat... those memes do not get old.


In a hurry that's the best one I was able to pick. Maybe I'll find a better one for Monday's Phile entry. Remind me. Do you like Little Debbie snacks? Well, they recently changed the name of the company...

That is really lame. I apologize. I was at a book library recently and I couldn't it when I saw this children's book...


That's so sad. Do you know what an Influencer is? You'll see them out in the wild like this...


Hmmm... Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...


Top Phive Things That Was Said About The Coronavirus Just Today
5. This outbreak has me feeling real proud of the fact that I never planned for my future.
4. My coronavirus strategy is to infect myself with measles. You can't have two viruses at once, that's double jeopardy.
3. I just want to add, also, that you should consider washing your hands when there's not a global virus panic.
2. I love your perfume, what is it? Hand sanitizer.
And the number one thing said was about the coronavirus just today was...
1. I really feel like 2020 is gonna be my year... to be quarantined.



The President of the United States misnaming the virus, giving false statistics, and telling sick people to infect their coworkers. Sad!


Hey, kids, it's Thursday... you know what that means.



Yuck! Haha. You know I live in Florida, right? Well, there's things that happen in Florida that happen nowhere else in he universe. So once again here is...


A Florida woman may have her fiancé rethinking things after she shoved a handful of dog crap in his face to put an exclamation point on whatever point she was trying to make during an argument the two were having. Forty-one-year-old Jane Marie Faulkner was charged with domestic battery for her poop attack on her fiancé. Police were called to her and her partner’s St. Petersburg, Florida home and, unsurprisingly, found that Faulkner was intoxicated. She admitted pretty quickly to shoving dog poop in her fiancé’s face but the pair refused to tell the cops what they were arguing about. Considering Faulkner has previously been arrested for... grand theft, disorderly intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia, careless driving, battery, disorderly conduct, marijuana possession, resisting an officer with violence, theft, and narcotics possession there’s a decent chance that their argument was about some super illegal stuff. Faulkner was released after posting a 2,000 dollar bond. A judge has ordered her to have no contact with her fiancé for the time being and she has been fitted with an ankle monitor that detects alcohol intake. A few thoughts... Having dog poop angrily smeared in your face by your partner has got to be a dealbreaker, right? There’s no coming back from the memory of what a dog’s fecal matter tastes like every time you look at your significant other. I said it already but there’s no way these two weren’t arguing about, like, what to go pawn in order to buy fentanyl or whose turn it was to hit the meth pipe next. It seems unlikely they were having an argument over free market economics or, say, anything involving a book. Unless, of course, that argument involved who smoked all the meth they hid in the Bible they cut the middle out of.




If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, there's a pretty famous singer who is in town and wanted to stop by and say hello again. So, please welcome back to the Phile...


Me: Hello, Harry, welcome back. How are you?

Harry: I'm good. I wanted to say hello again before I went back to England. And I want to tell you what happened this afternoon.

Me: Cool. What happened?

Harry: This guy sits next to me and shows me his phone with pictures of me. He said, "Is this you?" I said, "Yes, but some are less than flattering." He said, "I'm gonna tell my wife." And I replied, "That you did a Google search?"

Me: Ha! That's very witty of you.

Harry: I thought so. Well, I have to take care back to the airport. I'll see you next time I'm in the states. Bye for now. Cheerio.

Me: Harry Webb, kids!



It looks like President Donald Trump is also trying to help Americans stay safe from the deadly coronavirus. According to the White House, the President of the United States has donated his fourth-quarter presidential salary from 2019 to the Department of Health and Human Services to help and fight Covid-19. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham announced it to the public by tweeting a photo of the check, which was dated January 29th, 2020, and payable to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. The check is officially signed by President Donald Trump.


The donation comes after the President faced heavy criticism for his initial response to the outbreak after he appeared to contradict health officials. During a rally last week, the president described the concerns about the now global warning virus as a “hoax,” but later retracted his statement saying he was only referring to the Democratic response to the outbreak. While running for office, Trump had initially pledged he wouldn’t accept his $400,000 annual presidential salary if he were elected. But, since he had to be paid under law, Trump has been donating his payment to several different areas of the federal government. These include the Office of the Surgeon General to help combat the devastating opioid epidemic, the Department of Homeland Security to help build a wall along the southern border and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism help and combat alcoholism. As far as the coronavirus outbreak, as of today, March 5th, 2020, it has killed nine Americans, all in Washington state. More than 100 Americans are said to have been tested positive since the outbreak was confirmed in the U.S. back in February. Worldwide, there have been more than 91,000 cases reported, including more than 3,000 deaths.



The 116th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...


Dan Aykroyd, who wrote that book, will be on the Phile in a few weeks. Also in a few weeks...


That's March 23rd and 24th if you can't read the text. I did a horrible job with that graphic. Haha. Anyway, now for some...


Phact 1. In the movie Captain Phillips, in order to build tension, the actors playing crew members on the ship did not meet the Somali pirate actors until filming the scene when they stormed the bridge. Tom Hanks said they were “the skinniest, scariest human beings I had ever come across."

Phact 2. Hydraulic pressure resonance suppressors used in airplanes were developed by Bill Nye.

Phact 3. Your nose is always visible to you. Your mind ignores it through a process called Unconscious Selective Attention.

Phact 5. In Switzerland, a group of citizens may challenge a law passed by Parliament, if they are able to gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. A national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law.

Phact 6. Rats experience feelings of regret like humans.



I think this is really cool. Today's pheatured guest is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer well known for his work in country music. His most recent album "Graffiti U" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Keith Urban!


Me: Hey there, Keith, welcome to the Phile. I have been wanting to interview you for a long time. How are you?

Keith: You bet. I'm good.

Me: So, you're a busy man, Keith, how do you have time to write for your albums?

Keith: I write in the studio, and feel very creative in the studio. Probably if I could I'd probably write in there. I think that's the way songs get written now, especially for me working with track guys and things like that I'm creating the record when I'm writing anyway a lot of the time. I mean the studio is the laptop these days. The record in a lot of cases is getting made as we write the songs.

Me: I was surprised that you had Nile Rodgers playing and helping on the album "Ripcord." I had Nile on the Phile in April last year. What was he like?

Keith: Very spontaneous and I want to catch his stuff when it's fresh. The great thing I like about Nile is I could use a lot of the demos, even if I even do a demo of a song. I could use a lot of those elements. With a song like "Parallel Line" that Ed Sheeran had written, he did a demo of it playing the acoustic and singing and everything, When they sent me the track I loved the way he was playing acoustic guitar so I used the acoustic track of the demo. A lot of the rhythmic part of the track that Benny Blanco had done was just great as it was and I added guitars and a few other things. That really became the record.

Me: Back to Nile, what was it like working with him?

Keith: He literally showed up with his Hit Maker, the Fender Strat. He carries it with him, nobody takes it from him and whips that thing out of the case and just goes to town.

Me: What do you think of his guitar playing? It's very unique, right?

Keith: The thing I noticed about Nile is I always thought it was the wrist, right. This rhythmic thing that he does which is so magical. When we sat down to jam the very first time I suddenly realized it's the left hand that he's doing chords with but he's sort of palming, lifting and muting the strings. There's this enormous amount of magic that is happening in his rhythm with his left hand which is so crazy. There's nobody like him.

Me: As well as playing guitar, you also play banjo, right?

Keith: Yeah, I've been playing six string banjo since the mid 90s and I discovered quick its like a sequencer. When I get a banjo rolling that's a sequencer. So that and a drum machine are going together really, really well. Probably since the mid to late 90s I've written so many songs with my six inch banjo and my drum machine. It's crazy.

Me: So, when you write with someone else how does it feel?

Keith: Well, there's the muse, the ethereal entity that has to be present or I'm going to end up with "craft" but no "magic." I had plenty of those situations where the muse doesn't show up. I get a nice little rhymey song but its not special. I just have to suit up and shut up and do it over and over again. 

Me: So, who is someone you look up to musically, Keith?

Keith: Jimmy Webb, I met him backstage at an award show and said, "Here comes 13 chords and the truth." They always call country three chords and the truth and Jimmy Webb is 13 chords and the truth.

Me: Ha. You started off as a country singer but your last two albums have been crossover albums, with samples and stuff. I'm sure a lot of your country fans might not like it, but I like it. Do you see it as changing music styles?

Keith: I don't know. The great thing about Jimmy was his sense of melody. Gorgeous, gorgeous melody and I love melody and there's a lot of music today that doesn't;t have a lot of that. It's all very linear, but I'm always a sucker for a great melody.

Me: Do you think your lyrics are still "country"? Does that even make sense?

Keith: Yeah. I think the thing that always glues it together for me is a sense of rhythm and that to me is the connection between all of it, whether it be hip hop or R&B or trance, or EDM, or just any of that. Even punk. There's a strong rhythmic thing that happens and that speaks to me right away. My dad was a drummer and obviously rhythm was where I started. I think that rhythmic thing is what grade me, almost always.

Me: So, the music comes first then the lyrics?

Keith: Yeah, always the rhythm. Some sort of grove, I love writing with any kind of groove.

Me: Do the songs come from stories of your own life or is it characters and fiction?

Keith: I think the music is trying to say something. And so for me letting the music drive the lyric. For me that's why there are so many songs just feel so complete and why the words go so well with the melody. I did a little collaboration recently with Barry Gibb and I was asking about some of that songwriting process and a lot of the stuff they did was they wrote the music and recorded a full track before any lyric. They were just singing gibberish over the band track then they would go away and write the lyric with the track and then come back and put the lyrics on. So the music is driving the lyric, of course they go together because they're born of one and other.

Me: Hmmm. I love the song "The Fighter," Keith, was it inspired by Meatloaf's "Paradise By the Dashboard Light"?

Keith: Well, the call and response between a guy and a girl. I always loved it in that song with him asking a question and her asking a question and them answering each other. Even a little bit of "Baby It's Cold Outside," he conversation between two people in a song was really interesting to me. That was the embryo of what became "The Fighter."

Me: Where did that "conversation" come from?

Keith: A conversation between Nic and myself. We were in a hotel in California early in our dating and things were getting very serious and she had a lot of fear. I was trying to assure her she had nothing to be afraid of. But I didn't have time yet to prove it, I just had just words and it felt so frustrating and limited sometimes just to have that, to go "trust me, I know you heard that a million times before but what can I do to have you feel confident about all of this?" I remember that conversation very well.

Me: I have to admit your choruses always are great, why do you think that is?

Keith: Most of the time when I write I tend to start with the chorus. That's the place I spend the most amount of time on.

Me: Why is that?

Keith: Because to me I look at the chorus like a destination. That's where I'm going to take everybody, how we get there we can go infinite ways. Where are are going? I can take you anywhere you want but how we get there it better deliver for all the effort I took for me taking you and you trusting me. That's why I'm a big sucker for strong choruses. The first verse is for them and the second verse is for me. Most people don't know the second and third verses of songs, they sometimes know the first one but after that they are like "I'm sold. The first verse was interesting, the chorus paid of, say whatever you want in the second verse, I'm just looking forward to the chorus again."

Me: So, I think you're a great guitar player, one of the best in country music. Do you ever write with the guitar?

Keith: Well, when there's a good groove happening, all those songs, "Walkin' the Country" particularly is such a groove driven thing. If a groove is happening I pick up the guitar and I play something. Something is going to come out, whether it's a keeper or not. It will always inspire some kind of riff.

Me: In the last few albums there's no guitar solos, Keith. What gives? Is that a conscience choice? 

Keith: That's a good question. I don't know. One of my long time producers is a guy named Dann Huff, he's a great guitar player and we've done maybe nine albums together over the years and Dann bought that up to me. He said, "You don't seem to have as many solos on your records as you used to." I said, "There's a lot of guitar playing on there, it's just more textual more than solos." He said, "Why are there not so many more solos?" I said, "Well, the way I play is just reactionary to the track so I don't think a guitar solo has to go 'here,' it's just the track just starts to happen and it seems a guitar solo would be good here, that's always it." It's never gonna put one here, it's just the track wants to put one here. But a lot of the times when I hear the tracks of the last few records I don't really feel guitar, I feel something else. Maybe keyboards, or a musical break or a rhythm break or maybe some backing vocals or something. I don't really feel guitar there, so when you ask if it's a conscience decision the track always tells me what it wants or doesn't want. What was interesting I told Dann, "I haven't felt inspired to play on some of these tracks. If I pick up the guitar and hit play on the track either something is going to come out or it's not going to come out." I said, "I'm not going to force something if it's not being drawn out naturally. I just haven't been drawn out to play something naturally, buddy. That's why there's no guitar solo." And he said, "Why doesn't the track make you play?" I said, "Well, that's a different question." But it started me thinking about that as I start to go in and write songs. Why wouldn't the track inspire me to play more guitar? So there's more of that happening on the next record.

Me: Do you have a real cool guitar collection?

Keith: I love the fact that I've been able to acquire some guitars I love so much. Do you play?

Me: No, I don't. But my son plays really well. What guitars do you have that you like?

Keith: I have a '64 Strat that I had for a long, long time and I use it a lot. And I have a '51, affectionately known as a "Nocaster." In 1950 was the Fender Broadcaster. Leo Fender created that shape and design and called it the Broadcaster then Gretsch had a drum kit called the Broadkaster, although spelt with a "k," nonetheless they said that was confusing in the marketplace they couldn't use the word "Braodcaster." But he said, "I already started mass producing. what am I going to do?" They said, "Well, you got to come up with another name." So he stopped called them Broadcaster and for one year he made them with just the Fender logo with no model name at all while they were trying to come up with a name. That's why I love that guitar so much, it's in between a Broadcaster and a Telecaster. So they affectionately call it a "Nocaster." He did it for one year.

Me: That's cool. I didn't know that. So, do you have a lot of unfinished pieces of songs laying around?

Keith: Sadly, a lot of unfinished bits and pieces floating around. The thing is I'm very, very aware of is to not subconsciously take some of those ideas into the next writing session with somebody else. It's tricky. It might be my under from that previous song that is unfinished but if I'm writing it with a couple of other people then the idea of the next song could be a bit tricky from a copyright standpoint so I try to be careful about that.

Me: Are you always writing down ideas?

Keith: I wish I could just write in long stretches because I think it gets more greasy and fluid if I'm doing it regularly but I haven't figured out how to do that and still play live and do the other things that I get to do.

Me: So you schedule time?

Keith: Yeah, and I stockpile ideas. I put them into my phone all the time. Its great because inspiration comes when it comes. For me its like a jar where I catch a lighting bug and keep it in there. When I go to a writing session I bring all these jars with me because if inspiration doesn't show up on the day I've got jars with inspirations from other days that I can open and see if it'll get us going.

Me: I hate not having something finished, do you feel that way to?

Keith: Yeah, Nic is really great by helping me finish things. She says, "Just finish the damn song." 

Me: How old were you when you got your first instrument?

Keith: I was four when I first got my little ukulele. I guess all ukulele's are little, aren't they? He said I could play it in time with songs on the radio. I was just hacking away and when I was six I got a proper guitar and a guitar teacher.

Me: When did you first start to write songs?

Keith: Pretty much right away. I don't remember what I was playing at the time. Some little juvenile song that I started with. But I really wanted to get into the stuff I heard on the radio and play those songs. I didn't want to play this tutorial guitar based crap, I wanted to play songs on the radio.

Me: When did you start to write full songs?

Keith: I started writing poetry when I was in school. Probably basic love letter to my girlfriend type of stuff. And it became kind of poetry and I thought I'd try to write some sort of melody for this poetry. That's how it kind of started. 

Me: Who were your songwriters that you were inspired by?

Keith: I don't know if I was inspired by songwriters at that time. I don't know why that didn't occur to me to keep going along that path. I think I just got into playing cover bands and trying to get into better and better cover bands. It's weird, I was writing my own little songs in school like when I was 12,13, 14, 15, whatever then I quit school when I was 15 and started to play in cover bands. I didn't think of writing songs until I was up to 20 or 21. I thought this cover band thing is a bit limited. I'd like to do my own songs. I was touring with a band and of course I was stuck in a hotel all the time so instead of going out and partying and all that stuff I'd just stay in my room and write songs all the time.

Me: Keith, this was so cool having you on the Phile. I hope it was fun and I hope you'll come back again.

Keith: It was my pleasure, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.




That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Keith Urban for a great interview. The Phile will be back on Monday with opera singer Renée Fleming. 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

No comments:

Followers