Rabbit. Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. Congratulations, you have successfully made to the end of May! Welcome to Level 6 of Jumanji. It's June, kids. Let's recount the year so far... January Australia was on fire, February Kobe dies, March COVID-19 is coming to kill us, April the economy tanked and UFOs are real, and May the giant Murder Hornets and riots. June there's going to be underground crab people that will be discovered and they will eat humans. With everything going on, you'd think America is cursed or something. Like it was built on an ancient Indian burial ground. Oh, wait... So is coronavirus over? Or is it halftime? What happened to the Murder Hornets? I guess that was filler episode. I have to say this, something about the President of the United States threatening to shoot his own people in the middle of a global pandemic because they are protesting racial injustice and systematic murder should definitely bother you.
I better mention this now or someone will send me an email saying I didn't mention it... I'll talk about masturbating with bananas in a minute... Derek Chauvin, one of the four Minneapolis police officers connected to George Floyd’s death, has officially been arrested. Chauvin is the former officer seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck. He had worked with the Minneapolis Police Department for nineteen years. Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington confirmed the news, stating Chauvin was taken into custody by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The officer’s arrest came after three days of protests, which escalated as protesters set several fires inside and outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct building. Chauvin was charged with murder and manslaughter. The three other officers who witnessed George Floyd’s killing are expected to be charged as well.
Murder. Brutality. Reprehensible. Indefensible. Police nationwide, in unequivocal and unprecedented language, have condemned the actions of Minneapolis police in the custody death of a handcuffed black man who cried for help as an officer knelt on his neck, pinning him to the pavement for at least eight minutes. But some civil rights advocates say their denunciations are empty words without meaningful reform behind them. Authorities say George Floyd was detained last Monday because he matched the description of someone who tried to pay with a counterfeit bill at a convenience store, and the 46-year-old resisted arrest. A bystander’s disturbing video shows Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on Floyd’s neck, even as Floyd begs for air and slowly stops talking and moving. “There is no need to see more video,” Chattanooga, Tennessee, Police Chief David Roddy tweeted Wednesday. “There no need to wait to see how ‘it plays out’. There is no need to put a knee on someone’s neck for NINE minutes. There IS a need to DO something. If you wear a badge and you don’t have an issue with this… turn it in.” The reaction from some law enforcement stands in stark contrast to their muted response or support for police after other in-custody fatalities. Sheriffs and police chiefs have strongly criticized the Minneapolis officer on social media and praised the city’s police chief for his quick dismissal of four officers at the scene. Some even called for them to be criminally charged. “I am deeply disturbed by the video of Mr. Floyd being murdered in the street with other officers there letting it go on,” Polk County, Georgia, Sheriff Johnny Moats wrote on Facebook. “I can assure everyone, me or any of my deputies will never treat anyone like that as long as I’m Sheriff. This kind of brutality is terrible and it needs to stop. All Officers involved need to be arrested and charged immediately. Praying for the family.” Typically, police call for patience and calm in the wake of a use of force. They are reluctant to weigh in on episodes involving another agency, often citing ongoing investigations or due process. “Not going hide behind ‘not being there,'” tweeted San Jose Police, California, Chief Eddie Garcia. “I’d be one of the first to condemn anyone had I seen similar happen to one of my brother/ sister officers. What I saw happen to George Floyd disturbed me and is not consistent with the goal of our mission. The act of one, impacts us all.” But Gloria Browne-Marshall, a civil rights attorney and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said she wouldn’t be a “cheerleader” for a “handful” of chiefs who harshly decried the officers’ behavior. “Any minute progress is seen as miraculous because so little has been done for so long,” she said. “It’s nothing close to progress or what outrage would be taking place if it was a white man as the victim of this assault.” Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, said she wasn’t “particularly moved” by the relatively few police who voiced outrage. Abdullah said the three other officers who witnessed Chauvin’s actions and did not intervene contributed to a long-standing system of police racism and oppression against people of color. “We’ve got to remember that it was not just Officer Chauvin who was sitting on George Floyd’s neck,” she said. Abdullah and hundreds of others protested what she called Floyd’s lynching on Wednesday night. Some blocked lanes of a freeway and shattered windows of California Highway Patrol cruisers. Minneapolis is bracing for more violence after days of civil unrest, with burned buildings, looted stores and angry graffiti demanding justice. The governor on Thursday called in the National Guard. On Thursday night, protesters torched a Minneapolis police station that the department was forced to abandon. The heads of the Los Angeles and Chicago departments... both of which have been rocked before by police brutality scandals... addressed Floyd’s death and its potential effect on race relations between law enforcement and communities of color. Even the New York Police Department weighed in. Eric Garner died in the city in 2014 after he was placed in a chokehold by police and uttered the same words Floyd did, “I can’t breathe.” It took city officials five years to fire the officer, and no criminal or federal charges were brought. “What we saw in Minnesota was deeply disturbing. It was wrong,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea wrote Thursday. “We must take a stand and address it. We must come together, condemn these actions and reinforce who we are as members of the NYPD. This is not acceptable ANYWHERE.” Before he was commissioner, Shea spearheaded the NYPD’s shift to community policing that moved away from a more confrontational style favored by other commissioners after Garner’s death. Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, who also spoke out online, told The Associated Press that law enforcement agencies keep promising reforms in the wake of fatalities, but they are “not delivering it on a consistent basis.” “When bad things happen in our profession, we need to be able to call it like it is,” he said. “We keep thinking that the last one will be the last one, and then another one surfaces.”
A CNN reporter was arrested while giving a live TV report Friday morning in Minneapolis, only to be released an hour later, as the CNN crew was covering ongoing violent protests over the death of George Floyd. Around 500 National Guard troops had been called to the area following several violent riots across the city. State Police detained CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez, and his camera crew shortly after 5 a.m. Jimenez was reporting live from the street south of downtown, near the police precinct building which was set on fire. Jimenez, who is an African American, could be seen holding his CNN badge while reporting, identifying himself as a news reporter, telling officers the CNN employees would move wherever officers needed them to. That’s when an officer decided to grab his arm as he was talking, and put him in handcuffs. The reporter had just shown a Minneapolis protester being arrested by police, and about half a dozen police officers in gas masks quickly surrounded him. Jimenez can be heard saying, “We can move back to where you like. We are live on the air here. Put us back where you want us. We are getting out of your way... wherever you want us (we’ll) get out of your way.” Police told the CNN crew they were being arrested, and one member of the crew relayed to the network. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz apologized to CNN President Jeff Zucker saying he would work to have all the men released immediately. The reporter, producer Bill Kirkos, and photojournalist Leonel Mendez were taken to the city’s downtown public safety building. After his release, Jimenez reported live outside from downtown saying that he’d been treaded cordially after being led away. The Minneapolis State parole release statement about the incident, reading, “In the course of clearing the streets and restoring order at Lake Street and Snelling Avenue, four people were arrested by State Patrol troopers, including three members of a CNN crew. The three were released once they were confirmed to be members of the media.” CNN did respond to the incident, disputing the state police character station through Twitter. The network thanks Governor Walz for his actions to aid the release of the crew but noted that the men did no wrong since they indeed had identified themselves on live television as journalists.
Did you know that octopi are surprisingly smart? So smart that they’re potentially even self-aware, actually. Did you also know that octopi are living animals and thus are naturally disinclined to be killed or eaten? To an extreme degree, in fact. They’re not into it. Unsurprisingly, a person who makes a living filming the inanity of their lives was unaware of this and suffered the well-deserved consequences of having their face attacked while trying to eat a living octopus for extra likes and views. Naturally, there’s a video of it and, of course, it’s wonderful. Here's a screen shot...
The Influencer is Chinese and posted the video to China’s version of Twitter, called Weibo, so there’s a decent chance her national social score took a hit because she was easily defeated by a cephalopod in front of a large audience, bringing immeasurable shame to herself and, therefore, The People’s Republic. It certainly doesn’t help that there are millions of Americans now laughing at it too. As if one of our own Influences isn’t going to get eaten by wolves in an ill-advised attempt at a "Game of Thrones" parody post. Either way, it’s off to the battery factory with you, octopus eater! I’m not exactly PETA when it comes to humans vs. animals but the octopus was completely in the right here. It was being tortured in the actual worst way possible. Humans are so scared of being eaten alive that we have an entire... and oversaturated... horror subgenre about it in zombies. Two if you count vampires! That’s how awful being eaten alive is. She’s lucky that thing didn’t mosey its beak on up to her eyeball and eat it like a grape. Again, it would’ve been deserved considering that she was trying to eat it alive. I hope this teaches every social media influencer and vlogger a lesson. That lesson? You’re all terrible and deserve to be attacked in the face by an octopus.
Every day we stray further from God’s light. Guys are basically having sex with actual garbage now, apparently. And, on top of that, they claim its pretty rad. One peel pounder even claimed it’s the closest thing there is to getting an actual blow job. The trend of masturbating with a banana peel, somehow, despite a seemingly infinite amount of rational reasons why it shouldn’t, has been catching on lately and doctors are not into it. Having sex with a banana peel can cause rashes and, if you have a fruit or especially a banana allergy, the irritations could be even worse. But that’s absolutely not what is important here. Forget the doctors. Forget the potential penis rashes that may be incurred by laying with a banana peel. What about the rash that’ll be left on your soul? You can never un-fuck that banana peel, guys. After you stick your dick in that peel you will have to carry that knowledge with you for the rest of your life. The knowledge that you diddled fruit. And that shame is going to pop up constantly. Like when you remember something awkward that you said in a group ten years ago and immediately start hating yourself all over again for that, except it’ll about having sex with a banana peel instead. Is that worth it? Is it worth it, really, to one day find yourself standing in line at the grocery store with nothing but a bunch of bananas in hand, looking around nervously, wondering if someone knows? Knows your secret. Anxiously wondering to yourself if the cashier knows? “He’s looking at me weird, man. I bet he sees people do this all the time. Oh God, he knows I’m a freak. He knows I’m sick. Jesus, what is wrong with me? Why am I doing this?” Is it worth it? I suppose I can’t truly judge until I try.
Instead of doing this blog thing I should be listening to this record...
No, it's okay. Never mind. Man, those coronavirus stay at home protestors really bother me with their signs...
Once again graduates are getting clever with their yearbook quotes...
I got a little red yesterday from the pool, but nothing like this...
Here is another creative measure that a business is taking to maintain social distancing out in the world.
The face you make when you leave Earth in 2020...
Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...
Top Phive Things Said By People In The Service Industry About Getting Back At Rude
Customers
5. A customer was so rude I left the security tag on her clothes.
4. Rude customer walks around the store putting down our hick town and our hick clothes and our hick hickness. And then walks up to me and demands, "Where around here can you get wi-fi?" And I look at her with wide eyes and say, "What's wi-fi?"
3. A customer complained to my manager about how I didn’t greet her when she walked in the store. Bitch, I’ll rip your fuckin' face off. WHY are people so entitled and rude?
2. This sucks for sure but there’s no better way to get back at a rude customer than giving them decaf.
And the number one thing said by a person in the service industry about getting back at a rude customer is...
1. How to get back at a rude customer with long nails: put the change on the counter.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Most people would agree that children's medical decisions should be both parents... but what about when one of the parents is staunchly anti-vaccine? A woman recently emailed the Phile about just such a situation, and she's looking for advice on whether she should jab her kids without telling her ex. The woman and her husband had an ugly divorce...
"I have two kids, 3-year-old and 1 month. When I got divorced, it was horrible. We couldn't work with joint custody, and in the end I was awarded sole custody of both our kids. My ex-husband can still visit the kids, but he doesn't have any say in any education or medical decision regarding them." She wants to vaccinate their two kids, but she knows her ex won't like it. "Neither of them are vaccinated. I want to get them vaccinated now, but I know ex-husband will loose his shit if I do. I know I will legally be in the right. But would it be an asshole move to make a medical decision regarding our kids without at least telling my ex simply because he won't like it and I don't feel like dealing with him?" She has set a precedent of clearing other medical decisions with him. "He loves the kids, and I have discussed other medical decisions regarding them with him before even though I didn't need to. I just know he'll react very badly to this one." She clarifies that she will vaccinate her children either way, she just wants to know whether it's okay to hide it from him. "Still going to vaccinate the kids no matter what, I just want to know whether it is an asshole move to not let him know beforehand. Sorry if that wasn't clear." I agree that she should vaccinate her children without guilt, but I disagree over whether she should tell her ex. The court obviously thought you were the logical choice to make these decisions. The fact that your ex was not granted joint custody, which is the court's general preference, means that the judge found something lacking in his character. Considering his preference to not vaccinate your children, it seems the court decided correctly, because he is obviously mentally unfit. I suggest disclosing it to him afterward anyway. Before next time he sees them after they are vaccinated tell him, very matter of factly "we went to the doctors and got their well checks done and vaccines up to date. If he wants to freak out remind him he has no legal say in their medical care. That the courts/you guys decided he doesn't have that right. That's it. He has no say in medical decisions regarding your kids. End of story. If you have a situation you want my opinion in then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com.
Of all the bodily functions that could be contagious, thank God it’s the yawn.
This person who is wearing a hazmat suit to protect themselves from a disease that does not exist.
Okay, you know I live in Florida, right? Well, here's a story from...
A Florida Highway Patrol Trooper ended up in the hospital after a freakish series of events that ultimately ended with him pushing a civilian out of the way of an out of control car and taking the impact himself. Thirty-one-year-old Florida Trooper Mithil Patel was hospitalized with serious injuries. Patel’s heroics were actually caught on video by the local West Palm Beach CBS affiliate WPEC, who were on the side of I-95 north of West Palm Beach, like Patel, because of another car accident that had already occurred. In the video, Patel is seen speaking with Rony Bottex, a victim in the first accident. As they’re speaking on the side of the road, the video shows a black Audi being struck from behind by a Chevrolet Express before spinning out of control directly toward Bottex and the Florida State Trooper. Thinking quickly, Patel pushes Bottex out of the way and is thrown into the air after being struck by the spinning car. Here’s a screen shot...
That is peak protecting and serving. It’s a big country but Patel earned himself Police Officer of the Week honors here, I think. Bottex survived his second Interstate 95 accident of the day with just an injured knee. He says Patel saved his life. Patel, meanwhile, was in good condition at St. Mary’s Medical Center, though his injuries are serious. A big expression of appreciation to Patel is due here. He literally sacrificed his body to save someone’s life. You literally cannot ask more of a police officer. Imagine having the balls to willingly stand your ground in front of a couple thousand pounds of death hurtling right toward you. That’s what Patel did. Nicely done, trooper.
Twitter has taken action against Donald Trump and the White House's official account after the president made posts violating the site's rule against glorifying violence while tweeting about the Minneapolis protesters. Two tweets were affixed with a warning label Twitter calls a "public interest notice" that readers click through before seeing the posts. Neither of them can be immediately viewed while scrolling the timeline, or responded to directly, but people can still quote tweet with a response after click through the Twitter warning. While the tweets aren't fully removed from the site, flagging and removing their visibility from the general timeline is a big step for the company that has previously let Trump tweet unchecked. The label reads, "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible." Trump's tweets were posted in response to people in Minneapolis protesting the death of George Floyd. Protests broke out all over the city after a video of Floyd's death at the hands of police made the rounds online. In his tweets, Trump ordered authorities to start shooting protesters breaking into buildings...
People react to Trump's tweet threatening protesters getting a "glorifying violence" label. People online were quick to point out how scary it is for a president to call for this level of unchecked violence. Others pointed out that Trump's turn of phrase was first used by the Miami police chief in 1967, who openly opposed civil rights protests in the 1960s. The company's decision will likely grow tensions with the White House during an already strained week. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that addresses "censorship" by Twitter and other social media companies, following Twitter's earlier decision to add fact-checking labels to two of his posts about mail-in voting ballots.
If you or someone you know is experiencing substance abuse, call the National Drug Helpline at 1-844-289-0879. Okay, let's look and see what is going on live in Port Jeff, shall we?
Looks like a very nice day there today. Okay, let's try and make you laugh...
A blonde was walking her dogs when a man walking in the opposite direction says, "Oh my, you have such beautiful dogs. What are their names?" The blonde replies, "Well, the taller one is Timex and the shorter one is Rolex." The man responds, "Huh, that's interesting. Why did you name them such names?" The blonde sighs and shakes her head, "Everyone keeps asking me the same thing... duhh, what else would you name your watch dogs?"
Oh my God, this is so freaking cool. Today's guest is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. His latest album "What's My name" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify and his book Another Day In The Life is the 126th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. Please welcome to the Phile... Ringo Starr!!!
Me: Hello, sir, welcome to the Phile! I'm so excited! How are you?
Ringo: I'm here. And you, brother, what a thrill.
Me: Glad to hear it. So, after this interview I might as well quit the Phile... I interviewed Paul and now you... so I could say it doesn't get any better than that.
Ringo: Sure it does. So, where are you from, Jason?
Me: Originally London, England, grew up on Long Island and now live in Orlando, Florida here.
Ringo: I'm sorry. I live in Los Angeles.
Me: So, do you remember coming to the United States for the fist time?
Ringo: As far as I'm concerned we left London and we landed in New York.
Me: Hmmm... okay. So congrats on the knighthood by the way.
Ringo: Oh, thank you.
Me: Sir Ringo has a good ring to it, right?
Ringo: That's what people call me but the Prince called me Sir Richard Starkey. It's got to go for the real name, not the personality.
Me: Ahhh. Okay. So, I want to talk about your latest album and your book Another Day In the Life is the 126th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. How many solo studio albums have you put out, sir?
Ringo: This was my 20th, not a lot of people can say that.
Me: You have a lot of cool players on the album, right?
Ringo: Yes, Dave Stewart, Edgar Winter and Joe Walsh from the Eagles who is also my brother-in-law. This was all recorded in my home studio.
Me: That's cool. You're Ringo Starr though, you could have recorded the album in any studio you wanted. What made you decide to record it at home?
Ringo: Well, I live there. I just decided to put stuff inside it. We have all the equipment in the living room, it's a one bedroom. In the bedroom there's two drum kits and three amps. That's how it's been. We have lots of synthesizers in the living room with the equipment. So it's there and we mainly need the space for the drums. Its far out because we can't plan it, there's no baffle boards, there's no studio stuff... and this bedroom gives me the greatest sound on my kit. It's far out. I just didn't want to go into studios anymore. I haven't been in the studios much in the last ten years. I did a few studio gigs with Joe Walsh and the last one I did was for Jenny Lewis. I went to play in what we like to say... a real studio.
Me: I love the song "Grow Old With Me." What can you tell us about it?
Ringo: I don't know, I never heard of that song before. Is it by the Eagles? Actually, I don't think so, it's too good for them. Ha ha ha.
Me: Ha! So, did you write that song?
Ringo: No, it was written by John Lennon.
Me: That's cool, how did you get that song?
Ringo: The story is far out because I bumped into Jack Douglas, the producer who produced some of John's records. Out of the blue he said, "Have you ever heard that cassette?" Because in those days it was on cassette. I said, "No, I don't know what you're talking about." He said, "Well, I'll send you a copy." He actually dropped it down into a CD and sent to me.
Me: Wow. When you first heard it how did you feel?
Ringo: It was very emotional. It was like eleven tracks on it and John had done all of the tracks but this one. More emotional was the very top of this CD was John was in Bermuda, they call it the "Bermuda Tapes," he said, "Ooh, this would be good for Richard Starkey. This would be great for you, Ringo." I thought oh my god, it's so great to hear his voice and calling my name. The only one he didn't get to finish, he only did the demo was "Grow Old Along With Me." I thought I'm going to do it, John had written several songs for me over the years and this one is just perfect for me.
Me: Did you get Paul to play in it?
Ringo: I did most of it with Joe Walsh, he's the guitarist. And I thought what would be great if Paul played on this, and Paul's on the last record. It's not like I brought him out especially to do this, he's been on like six of my CD's along the way and he was on the last one. I called him and he was coming in to L.A. and I asked him, "Do you want to come over and play bass on this song that was written by John?" And he said, "Sure." So, that's how that happened. He's the only man who I wanted to play on this track because it's a very emotional track to me and he's the most amazing bass player and he has known me longer than anyone else.
Me: What do you think of his bass playing in one sentence?
Ringo: He's the most melodic bass player in the world and he's also the grooviest.
Me: There's hint of the Beatles in the song "Grow Old With Me" as well, right?
Ringo: Jack didn't tell me, that was what was great. I was in the studio while he put the strings on, I was there just to support Jack. Jack wanted to out a full orchestra and I said, "No, let's just put a quartet on." That's what he did. I'm listening and I hear there's a line or a title from a George Harrison song on there. And it blew me away. He said, "I put that in specially." So in a weird way we're all on this record.
Me: I just had a thought, I heard somewhere that John Lennon was thinking about you when he wrote "Nobody Told Me" which came out posthumously in 1984 on the "Milk and Honey" album? Is that true?
Ringo: I never heard that. Never heard that and never heard him say that. It seems every record he was thinking about me.
Me: So, when you first heard him mention you on "The Bermuda Tapes" how did you feel?
Ringo: I actually cried. I'm an emotional person so it was just a very emotional moment to hear him saying, "That would be nice for Richard." That's the John I know.
Me: You never did record "Nobody Told Me," right?
Ringo: No, I never heard it. Nobody told me, brother!
Me: Well, I'll take ten percent if it gets on the next record. Haha.
Ringo: You know what? You won't. Ha ha ha.
Me: "Right a word, get a third," that's what my dad always said, Ringo.
Ringo: Well, in these days whats it mean?
Me: I have to tell you that I LOVE the song "Photograph." It makes me smile and tear up all the time. What can you tell about it?
Ringo: It's from my 1973 album "Ringo" and it was the single.
Me: Hmmm. You wrote it with George, am I right?
Ringo: Yes, well I wrote it and I used to always go to George to help me the end the song. I didn't have the talent to end the song. I actually have one song that had forty verses and I gave it to Harry Nilsson and he got it down to eleven. Ha ha ha. That's how that started. And "Back Off Boogaloo" I went to George and he helped me finish it and he also produced it, he said, "I'll produce it." So, that's how that started.
Me: So, my dad who was supposed to be part of your All-Starr Band once, but scheduling conflicts made it not happen. It was the year with Joe Walsh and Dave Edmunds. For the readers that don't know what the All-Starr Band is want to explain it?
Ringo: It's just a touring band that is made up of a rotating cast, all hit makers, all playing big songs.
Me: So, when you have a new album out how do you balance out the new stuff with your large catalogue of music?
Ringo: Usually we take one track from the new album. I always say I like to thank the five people for buying the CD. We normally do one. On the last album "Give More Love" we did give more love because we actually opened in Vegas and it was a couple weeks after they had their horrific madness there. The shoot out. It depends.
Me: So, why is this new album called "What's My Name"?
Ringo: I think with this record, it is called "What's My Name" when I introduce the band like Colin Hay and and Hamish Stuart and Warren Ham I say so I don't feel left out I say "what's my name?" And the audience of course goes "Ringo!" I didn't know making the record in my studio and Colin Hays was in the band, he was in the band six years ago. Somebody said, "Did you ever hear that song Colin Hay wrote called 'What's My Name'?" I said no, Colin never played it to me. Anyway, I called Colin and said, "I hear you have a song called 'What's My Name,' why don't you come over and let's have a listen to it?" Which he did and I loved it, and we put down the backing track, I did the vocals, he came back and played more guitar and sang harmony and it's the title of the album now.
Me: That's cool. I had Colin on the Phile a few years ago. So, last year was the 30th anniversary of the All-Starr Band and also 30 years that you've been sober. Congrats. Are those two events linked in some way?
Ringo: Yeah, they're actually linked together. I actually ended up in such a mess, I ended up in rebab and seven months later I hadn't had a drink since. Seven months later I put the first All-Starrs together because out of the blue someone I didn't know got to someone I did know who got to me and said would I like to go on tour. I just said yes. I just had a phone book, we just had phone books in those days. I went through the phone book and called Joe and Joe said yes. I called Levon and Levon said sure. Everyone I called, Dr. John said yeah and Nils was with me. So I had to stop calling people. Ha ha ha ha. There would've been forty of us on that stage. I wanted Clarence who was with Springsteen for a long time. I just wanted a big guy who I could lean against and he plays great sax so that was good. We put it together and we opened in Texas and I've been doing it since for 30 years.
Me: I take it you weren't the only one on the tours who had to deal with addiction, right?
Ringo: No, I don't think so. The only thing I have to say is I don't have to deal with it anymore.
Me: I love Harry Nilsson and last year new unreleased music came out from him and that on one song he sings about you. What do you think of that?
Ringo: Well, there's no more oyster bar. Ha ha ha ha. He ended up very lonely on his own but that's how it was. That's pretty moving actually to hear the song. It's a song called "UCLA," with a new verse.
Me: Yeah, it's the last verse, right?
Ringo: Yeah, well, it didn't have the last verse when I first heard it.
Me: So, for the readers that don't know who Harry Nilsson was, can you tell them? My mom loved him and I got to know him through her and the Popeye movie.
Ringo: Harry in the 70s had the finest voice in music and he was an emotional singer. He put a lot of emotion into his songs.
Me: I wish he was alive and I could interview him.
Ringo: Yeah, we lost a lot of greta players. You know that from personal experience. We don't know why some live, some survive, and some leave.
Me: So, what was your life like before you became a musician?
Ringo: This woman with come in when I had tuberculoses and laying in bed because they believed that was good for us in those days. To keep us busy, she came in with percussive maracas, triangles, little drums and sticks, and she would point to the red dot and you'd hit the drum, and she pointed the yellow dot, and you'd hit the triangle or the maraca, whatever it was. That's when I fell in love with drums, and at thirteen I loved that drum and I only wanted to be a drummer from then on. But of course I had to work on the railways, I had to work on the boats, and I had to work in a factory for several years before it all came true.
Me: Did playing drums feel like therapy?
Ringo: Well, my mother always said, "Son, you're always at the happiest when you're playing your drums." So it's a lot of joy when I play in my heart. Do you play an instrument?
Me: Yeah, I play kazoo. So, do you still like play and do shows?
Ringo: Yeah, the dream is still unfolding and I'm still playing with all these great guys in the All-Starrs.
Me: So, I read that you meditate. Is that true?
Ringo: I do. I mediated this morning. That's why I'm so calm.
Me: I could never do that, what does that do for you?
Ringo: It gives me a break from me, that's what it does.
Me: What do you mean?
Ringo: Ever open your eyes in the morning and it's like a Ferrari goes off in your head? You can meditate and put it into first gear.
Me: Was it in India where you first started mediating?
Ringo: It was. In 1968. I started mediating and that lasted a couple of years, and then I didn't meditate, then I meditated again for a couple of years then it ends. I've been mediating very day since 1992 this route, this time.
Me: It's interesting you have never written an autobiography, Ringo. I'm sure you had a lot of offers for it. Why haven't you written it?
Ringo: Because I tell my story through songs.
Me: Okay, so is there a song on this new album that tells us your story?
Ringo: "You Got to Get Up to Get Down." You got to get out of bed, you got to get up, you got to do it. It works.
Me: Okay. So, your book Another Day In The Life is the 126th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club like I said. You love photography, what does it do for you?
Ringo: Well, I love taking pictures. I started in the 60s and I got some good cameras because we could afford them. The family I lived in, we never had a camera. There's very few pictures of me as a young guy. I got a camera when I was in the Beatles, I got a an 8 mil movie camera and then it went to super-8. Wooo. I just find a lot of joy in taking photographs.
Me: So, what made you decide to put this book together?
Ringo: This is like part two. It's called Another Day In The Life. We had one book out already. At least 75% if not more of the photographs in this book are taking on my iPhone.
Me: Your iPhone? Why is that?
Ringo: Because I can carry a camera, I pull the iPhone out and I start shooting.
Me: So, what kinda stuff do you take pics of? I do the same thing.
Ringo: It's like a total mixed bag, it's what happens. Its like another day in the life like I said. On this day I was shooting these things, things that look like animals. I was shooting spoons on my table on tour, I was shooting the half eaten food on the table on the tour. I woke up on Malibu, I looked out at the beach from the balcony and on the beach was a big boot that had come in on a wave. I ran down and though oh, man, how great is that. I just took a photo of it and now everyone of course calls it "the Beatle Boot." It's just what's going on in the day is what I shoot. I also paint with beetroot juice, because I have that every night on tour.
Me: What does that do to you?
Ringo: It does a lot, brother. Believe you and me. It does a lot. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Me: I've never drank beetroot juice before.
Ringo: Well, you should try it. It's al healthy. I mean I have a full fruit veggie drink as my meal before I go on stage. Anyway, I just started with the dye in the beetroot I just started pouring it on a side plate and got the images and they were very weird and I took some photos of them.
Me: So, a lot of people probably first heard about you through Thomas the Tank Engine. Does it bother you they know you through that and not the Beatles?
Ringo: No. I love that. People held kids up to me and said, "He loves Thomas the Tank Engine." My plan was in England where we first started and I narrated the stories I thought these children will grow up talking like that, with a Liverpool accent and some of them did according to their parents.
Me: Haha. Ringo, sir, this was so cool. Please come back again sometime. Take care.
Ringo: Thanks, brother. Peace and love, peace and love.
Ha! That was so cool and so odd. Hahaha. So different than the Paul McCartney interview. Thanks to my guest Ringo. The Phile will be back tomorrow with Saul Williams. Spread the word, not the turd... or virus. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Stay safe and mask it or casket.
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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