Pheaturing Debbie Harry

 

Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Wednesday. How are you? If the schools are closed for too long, the parents are gonna find a vaccine before the scientists. It's the moment we've all been waiting for... or a very, very long time (has it been years? Decades? Light years?). Finally, Joe Biden has announced his running mate will be Senator Kamala Harris, Demoratic Senator from California. Harris will be the first black woman and first woman of Indian descent running as a vice presidential ticket of a major party, making this a historic pick. 

If you live in Bend, Oregon, then you have the opportunity to take a trip down memory lane with the “End of Summer Sleepover at the Last Blockbuster” Airbnb. Held only for the residents of Deschutes County, you can have a summer sleepover at the world’s last Blockbuster store. Say goodbye to physically renting movies forever. Sandi Harding, the owner of the store, wanted to celebrate managing the last standing Blockbuster in the country by thanking the loyal customers in Central Oregon who had religiously and amazingly kept the store going before the coronavirus pandemic hit. She wrote, “As the last standing location in the world, our Blockbuster store is an ode to movie magic, simpler times and the sense of community that could once be found in Blockbuster locations around the world. Over the past few months, we’ve been missing the regular visits from friends, neighbors and tourists from around the world. So, we’re opening our store to three quarantine pods of Deschutes County guests for a socially-distanced movie night, just like those of decades past!” The listing offers movie lovers the chance to book a one-night stay from September 18th-20th, with up to four guests per night. The residents of Deschutes County can start booking next Monday, on August 17th  at 1:00 p.m. PT, and will have the entire place to themselves during their one-night reservation for only a whopping 4 dollars, which is notably only a penny more than the standard $3.99 movie rental price. The Airbnb listing description reads, “Hey Deschutes County residents! Dust off those membership cards for a sleepover inside the world’s last Blockbuster. When you call dibs on this stay, you’re booking a night back in the 90s, but this time you won’t have to beg your parents to rent the latest horror flick... we’ll give you the keys to the entire store!” Harding plans to clean the store accordingly with Airbnb’s cleaning protocol as a result of COVID-19 per CDC guidelines. She will provide disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, and a pack of face coverings, while guests will have the entire store to themselves from check-in to check-out. They get unlimited access to all the movies inside the store, a pull-out couch and bean bags, and snacks galore with butter popcorn, Raisinets, and Nerds for the ultimate Blockbuster experience. On September 21st, after the final guests have finished their stay, for a limited time, people can still come and visit the living room space during store hours. Customers should call in advance for any movie suggestions and can grab Blockbuster merch and swag to support the local community and store staff. According to Variety, Airbnb will also be making a donation to a longtime partner of the store, the Human Society of Central Oregon. If I had a chance to stay at the world’s last remaining Blockbuster for under 5 dollars, I would seize the opportunity immediately. It’s almost unfair that I don’t even get the chance to have a nostalgic, intimate slumber party that would take me back to pre-Netflix days, when physically going to a video store to pick a movie was an actual event. We would monitor when new releases were dropped so that we could go rent them before they ran out. Streaming services really have taken the fun out of all of that. I mean this is the ultimate unlimited movie marathon here.

If there is anything I have learned during this global pandemic is that people are really freaky. Apparently, one industry that has benefited from this COVID-19 pandemic, sis the sex industry. Why? Well, people have nothing to do while they are social distancing so they rely on the only thing they can do by themselves which is yes, masturbate and have sex with whoever they quarantine with. With most of the country being under strict government instruction to self-isolate in their own home, apparently people are now ordering an insane amount of sex dolls. According to Vice News, a number of Australian sex doll manufacturers and distributors confirmed that sales have indeed gone up since the lockdown measures where enforced around the world. Several vendors are now reporting twice as many weekly purchases, compared to what they used to have before this whole mess started. According to Matt, who works for an online sex store called Cherry Banana, “Since COVID, we have noticed a considerable increase in sales or our sex dolls. We’ve doubled our Cherry Doll sales since March, and now we sell four to five a week... or 20 to 25 a month.” Yep, as I said, people are getting really bored out here that they maybe just want a companion to spend some time with because they are lonely. Nothing wrong with that, you do what you want to do on her downtime, but this to me is hilarious. According to Andrew, who Sex Doll Australia, since the lockdown, they have been experiencing an increase in sales of about 30 to 40 percent increase. He also noticed that more couples and partners are buying dolls for themselves and each other. Because nothing says I love you like a good ol’ sex doll. Apparently Cherry Banana customers are also requesting dolls without any genitals, dogs with three breasts, and dolls with a tail. As I said, people are freaky. And in case you’re wondering, no it’s not just in Australia. Florida-based company, Sex Doll Genie, also said their orders spiked more than 51 percent during February and March when the lockdown began. Fifty-one percent… only for those two months, can you imagine what the percent is now that we’ve been under lockdown for more than 3 months? According to the company’s co-founder, Janet Stevenson, the company has a lot of products in stock but can’t work fast enough to keep up with the said demand. The company is hiring as quickly as they can and have created new roles and fulfillment management and customer support both in Europe and the United States. The company is known to sell realistic-looking made-to-order dolls. Yes, the sex doll sales and orders are coming in left and right which means that these companies have to hire more people because the orders are getting way too much for them to handle. Yep, this is the world we live in now. Where people buy sex dolls so much they will probably be a shortage soon. I don’t even want to begin talking about sex toys. That being said, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay freaky my friends.

A wildly enthusiastic anti-mask proponent in Tuscon, Arizona was filmed going full angry toddler on store employees and other customers who weren’t man enough to walk around with their faces uncovered like this tough guy. The man, who was accompanied by at least one son, has maybe hated face masks more than any other face mask truther ever caught on film. Just look at this guy. 

He was so furious he had to be carried out of the store by his kid. Real “World’s Best Dad” material, here. Here are a few choice quotes from the man: “You’re a bunch of idiots wearin’ masks you know it’s not real.” “Look at your fools you got a fuckin’ doily on your face, retard!” “You’re the child!” “You’re a dork! Look at you you giant fuckin’ dork.” “I’ll beat that fuckin’ mask off your face like a fuckin’ retard.” “Fuckin’ pussies! You’re all a bunch of pussies wearin’ masks!” “Losers!” You kind of wonder if he’s going to get fired if his employer sees this. Not because of the bad language or threats of physical violence, but just because who would want to employ anyone this dumb. Feels like a bad move. “Hey boss, Dave is pooping in his hand and throwing it at customers again because one of them is wearing a Woodstock t-shirt and he hates hippies.” It’s also worth mentioning that COVID-19 is very real. And masks are not an inconvenience. Every single day I have my mind blown by people who act like putting on a mask is basically the same as a mob throwing them into a jail cell to await a sham trial and subsequence execution at the guillotine. What if nudists did this about wearing clothes in public? Wait. I now want nudists to do this about wearing clothes in public. Just walk into a grocery store, start calling everyone fabric slaves and threatening to fight store employees while their stuff flops around. Let’s get that going. 

A Long Island, New York woman was filmed losing every ounce of her mind after being confronted by an employee for not wearing a mask inside a King Kullen grocery store in Massapequa. The woman, who for sure could not define what an actual communist is, was filmed shrieking things like, “Don’t pull your communist bullshit on me” and, “Shut the fuck up you fat bitch,” and “I’ll beat the fuckin’ shit outta you,” at the employee, who was simply attempting to get the woman to comply with the most basic of safety measures. The video was taken and posted by @davenewworld_2 on Twitter. Good Lord. The only thing thicker than this woman’s Long Island accent is her skull. I guess this woman is kind of using communist and fascist interchangeably here but I’m not quite sure she knows what either means. Regardless, wailing about being asked to put on a mask on is tantamount to calling a pediatrician Hitler for trying to vaccinate your kid. The store employee... just like every other employee who has to deal with this... is a saint. How are people still freaking out about masks? It’s old news at this point. It’s just life now. If we were still in May I’d maybe get it at least a little bit. It’s new and annoying and change is scary! That’s fine. But it’s August, lady. You gotta just get outta here with this nobody puts Baby’s mouth in a corner crap. It’s over. Masks are here now. You’ve had time to adjust. At this point you’re just a lunatic. The only rational reason to not wear a mask is to hope the pandemic spreads and social distancing and lockdowns continue so that Taylor Swift will write another quarantine album. That’s the whole list.

So, I think Trump is mad at the Statue of Liberty or something...

Hahahaha. Now, this is something I can get behind. 

There's never been an easier time to help save lives. You don't need to be an essential worker (but if you are, I salute you!!!), you just simply have to put some fabric on your face when you go out. While face coverings are a simple (and even fashionable) solution to help slow the spread of a deadly disease, many people remain stubborn. Shopowners and neighbors have taken to creative and catchy ways to remind people to hide their mouths and noses away. Like this one...

In many places, masks are mandatory, so you as well make it your own. There's a mask for every fashion and fandom, and there can also be a mask for every face. People order custom-made masks with photos of their face on them to try and achieve a realistic look. Try being the most important word. This is funny...

Hahahahahahaha. If I had a TARDIS I would like to go to Daytona Beach in 1957...

Finding the lines of what you do and don't tell your ex about the kids when you're co-parenting can be very tricky. While keeping your ex looped might seem like the best way to create a united front in parenting, it's also important to build trust with your kids, even when that means keeping secrets from their other parent. When it comes to sexuality, trust is extra important, since not all parents respond the same to the news that their child is LGBTQ. There can be a difficult balancing act between not outing a child to others before they're ready, while also remaining honest with their other parent. In a recent email to the Phile, a mom asked if she was wrong for not telling her ex-husband their teen son is bisexual. 

"Am I wrong for not telling my ex-husband that our son is bisexual?" She split from her ex when their son Leo was four, but they still respectfully co-parent. "My ex and I ended our marriage when our son was 4. We didn’t want the same things, but we remain respectful and co-parent our son. As Leo grew older, she supplemented the initial sex talk with a broader talk about the LGBTQ community, safe relationships and boundaries. "My ex gave our son 'Leo' the sex talk when he was younger, but forgot the whole talk? Yes, he learned about sex, but he left out the LGBTQ+ community, safe relationships, boundaries etc. So I explained that to him after and we’ve touched on the subjects as he’s gotten older." Last summer, at age 17, Leo came out to her as bisexual, and shared that he was attracted to his close friend Nate. "Last summer, my son came to me and said that he’s bisexual. Specifically, he was attracted to his friend 'Nate' who came out a few years ago as gay. Leo was nervous about telling people. I told him I support him and explained that if he felt he didn’t want to tell anyone he didn’t have to, or if he wanted to he could tell whoever he wanted and that I would always be there for him and support him." A few months later, Leo and Nate told her they were a couple, which she loved. "Well, in February, Leo and Nate came to me and said they were together. I’m so happy for them, they’re great together and they just seem happy! Now, I felt that if I suddenly said 'no sleepovers any more' and 'no closed doors' I would be hurting them and driving them to rebel. 'Strict parents equal sneaky kids' type thing. They’ve been friends for so long and I felt like if they trusted me to tell me, they would respect my rules. And they have, they’ve been great!"   While Leo and Nate have been free to be themselves in her house, Leo still hasn't come out publicly and has yet to tell his dad. "Since they told me, Leo still didn’t feel comfortable coming out to certain people, like his dad. He felt that his dad wouldn’t accept him because my ex is 'traditionally masculine.' He came out to me and some friends." A few nights back, she received an angry call from her ex after he walked in on Leo and Nate kissing. "Now: My ex called me two nights ago screaming that he walked in on Leo and Nate kissing in Leo’s room. I told him to calm down before Leo heard and pushed him away for not feeling accepted." She tried to get her ex to calm down and said he should check his attitude about Leo's sexuality, otherwise he'll lose connection with his son. "Ex didn’t listen and was screaming that I should have told him Leo was gay and that he was dating Nate. He said that if I knew, I should have told him so they wouldn’t be alone together. I tried to explain to him that it’s about trust and he hung up on me." Leo ended up calling her and asking to get picked up, he was in tears over how his dad reacted. "Leo called me to pick him up so I did. Nate had left after my ex saw them together. I called him to check in when we got home and he said he was okay. Leo was in tears the whole way home and he’s been upset since." Now, she is unsure of whether she did the right thing by keeping Leo's secret, she didn't want to out him but also wonders if her ex would've reacted better if he knew ahead of time. "Now here’s MY issue: I don’t know if I‘m wrong in this situation. My reasoning is that if I told my ex, I would be betraying Leo’s trust and that he needed to come out to his dad on his own terms. I would be forcing him out of the 'closet' if I had said anything. I trust my son not to do something he shouldn’t, he’s never given me a reason not to. Obviously they’re in a relationship and they’re going to kiss. I don’t think an innocent kiss is a big deal."  Her ex thinks it's a massive breach of trust, while Leo shared that it was just a single kiss while playing video games. "My ex thinks it was a breach of trust on my end for not telling him so he could have made his own rules regarding their relationship. Ex is still angry, not talking to me and has said nothing to Leo yet, either. Leo said that it was just a single kiss while they were playing video games and then his dad walked in. Am I wrong for not telling my son’s dad?" I did you did the right thing by not outing Leo. Your son’s sexual orientation is his to disclose. You were respecting his autonomy. Not outing your son when he trusted you with this info is a sign of good parenting. Especially since he hasn’t talked to Leo yet, your ex has some shit to work through on his own. That’s an extremely negative response and it doesn’t sound like the problem is the closed doors. Help Leo work through that as much as you can, destigmatize counseling, and if he wants it, help him get that support... negative responses can have long-lasting effects. Also make sure if counseling comes up that you’re not questioning/asking him to examine his sexuality but because you can understand if he’s feeling hurt by his dad’s response. Your son was entitled to deciding who to tell and when to tell them about his sexuality. Period. It's not your place nor your responsibility to tell your ex every single detail about your son's life behind his back, especially since your son specifically asked you not to tell him. The biggest obstacle at hand is your ex's homophobia, and whether he'll move past that to accept Leo. Or more importantly, if Leo will even want to create space for that. If you have a problem you want my help with then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. 

Hmmm... if you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jeff, shall we?

It looks like a nice evening there. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...

Top Phive Reactions To Joe Biden Announcing Kamala Harris As His Running Mate

5. The Democratic Ticket. Now with 50% less white men.

4. Thank fucking god we don't have to wonder about this fucking shit anymore more the fucking relief.

3. Kamala Harris is a spectacular choice. And Mike Pence just melted into a tiny puddle of mayonnaise.

2. The real winner today is Maya Rudolph.

And the number one reaction to Joe Biden announcing Harris as his running mate is...

1. Wow. I guess I just really thought it was gonna be me. 

A former prosecutor trying to hide her crime-fighting past... who is also weak on crime. The most radical pick for vice president ever... but too moderate to energize the Democratic base. President Donald Trump’s campaign is struggling to define Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat Joe Biden’s newly announced running mate. Biden’s decision to choose Harris... who ran for president last year in the same pragmatic vein as Biden did and is now the first Black woman to compete on a major party’s presidential ticket... has further complicated the Trump campaign’s crude efforts to depict Biden as out of step with the country as Trump continues to lag in the polls. Less than 90 days out from Election Day, Trump’s team faces a pivotal choice in how it tries to define the Democratic ticket, as it looks to reset its strategy and recover from a coronavirus-induced summer slump. Do they attempt to fire up their own base and scare off moderates by painting Biden and Harris as radical socialists? Or do they aim to depress enthusiasm among the Democratic base by arguing Biden and Harris are opportunistic and insufficiently liberal? Biden and Harris can’t be both. But that hasn’t stopped Trump’s team from trying to make the incongruous portrayals stick. “Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party,” senior campaign adviser Katrina Pierson said in the Trump’s campaign’s first statement responding to the news. Further, as Trump’s team and his allies tried to present Harris as the “most radical running mate ever,” in the words of Fox News host Sean Hannity, the Republican National Committee sought to frame her as insufficiently liberal, gleefully declaring: “liberals revolt against Biden, Harris ticket.” “So to sum up: Kamala Harris is a cop... who is an anti-police extremist. A radical leftist... who is causing a ‘revolt’ among Bernie voters. A phony... who was too nasty to Joe Biden. Got that?” wrote Tim Miller, who previously served as senior adviser to an anti-Trump political action committee and an RNC spokesperson. In his own response, Trump, who saw Harris as a potentially formidable challenger had she won the Democratic nomination, has reverted to his usual playbook, resorting to sexist and racist attacks aimed to stoke white grievance. He repeatedly called Harris “nasty” and has leaned into appeals that appear stuck in a fictionalized version of the 1950s. “The ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me. They want safety and are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge!” he tweeted Wednesday, referring to Sen. Cory Booker, the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, who is also black. Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates pushed back. “As he struggles in vain attempts to tear the American people apart and distract the country from his devastating mismanagement with clumsy, bigoted lies, he’s only further discrediting himself... and proving that he’s dumbfounded after Joe Biden’s selection of a strong running mate who he himself said not two weeks ago would be a ‘fine choice,'” he said. One Trump campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy said the mixed messages were aimed at different audiences... the political equivalent of Trump’s campaign trying to have its cake and eat it, too... as it looks to animate its own supporters against “radicals” and sow apathy across the aisle. But the lack of a clear, consistent message... as Trump deployed with devastating effect against “Crooked Hillary” Clinton in 2016... could portend trouble closer to Election Day. Trump’s campaign has been plotting for almost two years to characterize the Democratic nominee and running mate as beholden to the “radical left,” though that met its greatest test with Biden, who remains well known and relatively well liked among voters after a 40-plus-year career in Washington. Harris, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary in December, ran her own race as a relative moderate in the field. The former California attorney general also served as district attorney in San Francisco, and her record in law enforcement came under scrutiny and turned away some liberals and younger black voters who saw her as out of step on issues of racism in the legal system and police brutality. Yet on a conference call with reporters responding to the news Tuesday evening, Trump’s campaign continued to push the narrative that Harris is a “leftist” pushing a “radical agenda.” “This has completed the leftist takeover of the party and of their radical agenda,” said Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who claimed Harris “will be the most liberal leftist nominee for VP that our country has ever seen” and cited her support for the Black Lives Matter group. “With this move to left,” she predicted, “what you’re going to see is a lot of security moms that are all across this nation who are going to say, ‘You know what? Law and order is important to me. And I don’t want a vice president who is out there marching in the streets with the BLM organization.’… Security in our communities is important and I don’t want someone who says that they are not going to be tough on hardened criminals.'” On the same call, Pierson went after Harris’ record as attorney general, saying that “she fought to keep inmates locked up in overcrowded prisons so they could be used for cheap labor” and that she “championed laws that put parents in jail and prosecuted the mentally ill.”

Dora calls herself an “explorer,” but travels exclusively through mapped territories.

A girl walks into a grocery store and asks the stock boy if he has any nuts. The guy says, "No, ma'am." She says, "Well, do you have any dates?" And he says, "Ma'am, if I don't have nuts, do you really expect me to have dates?" 

Today's guest is an American singer, songwriter and actress, known as the lead singer of the band Blondie. Her recordings with the band reached number one in the U.S. and U.K. charts on many occasions from 1979 to 2017. Her book Face It is the 133rd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. Please welcome to the Phile... Debbie Harry. 

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

Debbie: Great to be here, Jason. 

Me: So, your memoir Face It is the 133rd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. You said in the book that you cried every time a certain song came on. Tell the readers what that song was. 

Debbie: "Swanee" by Judy Garland. 

Me: I don't think I know that song. What about it made you cry? 

Debbie: It was very moving. 

Me: Why is that? 

Debbie: Because of the quality of her voice and the depth of feeling I got from it. I think she had that bit of heartbreak and voice. 

Me: I got into Judy Garland through The Wizard of Oz. I am surprised she made you cry. 

Debbie: The vibrato alone. I don't know, there's something so full and so bare. It's just her. But she was able to express a lot. 

Me: Did you want to be a star when you were a kid? 

Debbie: Yeah, even though I had no idea what kind of art I wanted to make. 

Me: What made you want to be a star then? 

Debbie: I think when I was a little kid, I was fascinated with the silver screen and television, and would sort of dance along with the dancers on "The Ed Sullivan Show," or something like that. I mean, I think all little girls do that... or not all, but many... dress up and want to become a character, or a movie star, or they envision themselves on Broadway. So I was one of those. 

Me: Were your parents into you wanting to be an artist? 

Debbie: I think not. The world of professional show biz people was foreign to them and kind of scary. They didn't want me to hurt myself or for me to be terribly disappointed if I didn't make it. They were very protective parents. 

Me: What did they do for a living if you don't mind me asking? 

Debbie: My dad worked in sales. My mother was mostly housewife and mother. 

Me: So a long way from nightclubs and performances? 

Debbie: They did like when they were young and courting and going out I think Big Band music was a real love of there's. They liked doing the jitterbug. They weren't as cool as your parents though, Jason. You had one of the coolest dads. 

Me: I think so too. Haha. So, when did you start making music? 

Debbie: I moved to New York from New Jersey and started making music myself. 

Me: What is the first song you ever sang lead vocal on? 

Debbie: A song by the The Wind in the Willows called "DJini Judy." 

Me: What do you think of that song? I have no idea what that is. 

Debbie: It doesn't sound too bad actually. I was recently talking about it with Chris Stein and he paid me a complement saying, "It really sounded like me." I always felt, or always wanted a recognizable voice and I guess I do. 

Me: Was being in a band everything you hoped it would be? 

Debbie: Well, it's been a great exploration, right? Coming from the dream world into the world of real is quite an eye opener. There's a lot of technical things I had to learn to incorporate somehow and still make it seem like some kind of performance. There's some kind of magic involved so it takes a little bit of time to pull it together. Well, it did for me. There's people that I admire seemed to stepped off the bus and stepped right into it. 

Me: So, when you left this band what did you do? 

Debbie: I was in New York just at the time most people are romantic about now. Punk's really taken off, I'm hanging out with the New York Dolls, I'm performing at CBGB's, I'm waiting on tables at Max's Kansas City, like really famous iconic clubs at the time. 

Me: That's so cool. Did it feel special at the time? 

Debbie: Well, it was fun. We were all going out after the golden fleece or whatever you wanted to call it. The dangling carrot. We were all sort of wide eyed to some degree and inspiring and people were trying out their new music. I have to say very creative people were writing their own song. Nobody was really covering the Top 40. It was exciting. It was a lot of fun. 

Me: I love the song "Platinum Blonde" from your first album with Blondie called "Blondie." 

Debbie: I don't. 

Me: Really? Why is that? 

Debbie: It's my first song I recorded with the band and the first song I wrote. 

Me: So, when you met the band and recorded that song or the album did it click right away? 

Debbie: Definitely. Definitely. That happened when I met Chris. When we auditioned for drummers and Clem came into the room it was an automatic recognition of this person having star quality. And being obsessed clearly. LOL. Obsessed with music and pop culture. It was a foregone conclusion, let's put it that way. There was no doubt in my mind. 

Me: So, were you Blondie or was the band called Blondie? 

Debbie: Blondie was a persona for me. 

Me: So, who was Blondie and who was Deborah Harry? 

Debbie: I think they're basically one in the same, but when I become a front person for a band, and I was representing my guys as well because they wrote some of the lyrics, I have to sort of stand with one foot in one world and the other foot in another world. So I think that's what I was trying to say. Initially I think anybody who sings in front of a band has looked at other bands and watched other singers. So there is a certain stylization to rock performance. I think that in early stages, we all adopt some of that. Also, with the name of the band, Blondie, and my affection for cinematic blondes, I sort of wanted to bring that... that was something that I could clearly do that wasn't being done. So I did it. 

Me: How quick did Blondie become a big band? 

Debbie: Blondie was making music for about five years before the band broke through to the mainstream. 

Me: Was there a moment you realized things were starting to change? 

Debbie: I guess it was a progression doing that first album and having the interest if Alan Betrock who was considered a good writer. There were incremental little steps, little stages. I don't know if there was one big swooping hand that came down from the sky and swept us off. 

Me: Did you notice things were changing and more people were going to the shows? 

Debbie: One of the funny things that happens is when we're starting out in a club and we gain a following of sorts... it can't be more than like 25 or 30 people... they support us and they come to our shows. When we start to become a bigger name and more people start showing up, they become a little bit possessive. They feel like, oh, we're losing you. So, it's like having lovers. But part of the reason I included in this book that was important was the participation and support of the fans and I included the fan art which I honesty have been saving for quite a long time. 

Me: What do you get from seeing these photos of you reinterpreted by your fans? 

Debbie: Well, it's very sweet. I don't know, for me, if I were to sit down and put on some music of an artist that I really like and then started drawing a picture of them... I think it's heartwarming. 

Me: That's true. Okay, so I have to talk to you about "Heart of Glass," Debbie. That was your first number one song. It wasn't the single, it didn't get a big promotional push from the record company. What's your relationship with that song now? 

Debbie: Oh, it's one of my favorites. It was a song we had for a long time before we recorded it. We had it for about five years. Finally, when we were recording with Mike Chapman for the first time, we were running songs and running ideas in rehearsal and we got through all of this stuff and he said, "Well, do you have anything else that you used to play? Have you got any hidden tracks?" And so we said, "Well, we have this one," and we started to play. He got very excited and he wanted to record it. One of the problems with this song was getting the right feel for it, putting it in its true perspective. 

Me: What do you mean by that? Putting it into its true perspective? 

Debbie: We tried it as a reggae song, we tried it as an R&B song, we tried it as a rock song, we tried it with a lot of different feels and it didn't move right. So the guys went to the music store and they came back with this little rhythm machine. It was sort of one of the newer pieces of technology, which, nowadays looks like a wind-up toy. So they were fooling around with it and started getting all these different sounds, different feels going, and then they got serious about it and put it together. 

Me: That song is always playing somewhere, Debbie. Do you ever hear it out in public? 

Debbie: Absolutely. And a lot of times when I walk into a place if they have background music on someone would slip the song on or something. 

Me: That used to happen to my dad a lot. He would walk into a record store like Sam Goody's and someone would play "Slow Ride." I remember one time in the store at the mall the manager announced over the P.A. my dad was there and played "Slow Ride." He was pissed and we had to leave the store. He called his manager to call the store and told them not to do that again. When this happened to you how did you feel? 

Debbie: Sometimes it feels great and other times it makes me want to run away. But most of the time it's very flattering. 

Me: Tell the readers what you say about success in the book, Debbie. 

Debbie: Success is a paradox with no easy solution. 

Me: I love that, how did you come up with that? 

Debbie: I have no idea in hell what I was talking about. There you go. But it is a paradox. 

Me: Why do you think so? 

Debbie: Because all the times I think I'm famous I have self doubts as well. It is some sort of a paradox. 

Me: It doesn't patch up all the holes, does it? 

Debbie: No, no. It's public and it's about business as well as personal success and I think growing into bigger feet or bigger shoes is not always easy. 

Me: Recently I had Fab 5 Freddy on the Phile and he said, "Basically in New York a lot of things were polarized around racial lines, like sections of the city where different ethnic groups lived, people didn't move around in and out of those neighborhoods so particularly even on the downtown scene it wasn't like a mixed scene but when the powers that be, the people I connected with were open to these ideas, when they heard this music people just started moving. They were curious about things, those open minded creative types I was able to connect with and they got it early on. That sparked people connecting and things coming together and enjoyed being around different people. That happened in New York spurred on by the hip-hop scene and helped a lot of other things jump off. Blondie made a record called 'Rapture...'" What was it about hip hop that made you want to give it a try? 

Debbie: I felt that it was very exciting and stepping away fro the traditional "black music." It was very young and very driven and I felt that it was kin to the punk movement. It was rash, people were saying what was on their mind. It was also at that point a change in society, the change of love and loving a lot of people. This was a limited technology, all they had was a couple of turntables and an album, they did some scratching and got up and rapped what was on their mind. 

Me: Did you ever predict that rap would become the most popular genre in the entire world right now? 

Debbie: I don't think I'm the predicting type really. I like what I like and damn the rest. I'm glad, I'm really glad. 

Me: We've talked a lot about the high points in your career, but there were some hard times too: disagreements with the label, disagreements within the band and at points you were broke. But you never gave up on Blondie. Why? 

Debbie: I don't know, it's part of my heart and soul. What else would I do? I mean, I like real estate, but would anybody take me seriously? Would anybody buy a house that I was selling? 

Me: Ha! I would I think. 

Debbie: Really? Maybe I'll do that then. 

Me: I think I'd probably do that for the story. I brought a house from Debbie Harry from Blondie. I think you have an untapped market here. Hahahaha. 

Debbie: Okay, but it's unfortunate all the walls inside the house were covered by graffiti. 

Me: But it's probably Basquiat's graffiti so I could probably sell it for a bunch of money. I love the fact that you believe in art and believes in the music you're making. Am I right? 

Debbie: Well, I've said this a lot of times, and I'm going to knock on wood right now, but we've had luck and perseverance. I think they sort of go hand in hand. You make your own luck, but you have to work for it. And that's basically what we did. 

Me: How does it feel that you meant a lot to a lot of musicians? 

Debbie: Ah, other musicians meant a lot to me so its part of what we do. We always say there's a ten year swing, but I think it's a shorter period of time now. As time gets shorter and communications get quicker, now I'm sort of feeling that decade goes into decadence. It just sort of happens faster and it's pretty exciting. 

Me: "Decade goes into decadence," I'm going to take that. 

Debbie: Okay. 

Me: Debbie, thanks for being on the Phile. This was so cool. Please come back on the Phile again soon. 

Debbie: Thanks. Nice talking to you.

That about does it for his entry of the Phile. Thanks to Debbie for a great interview. The Phile will be back on Monday with Shawn Mendes. Spread the word, not the turd or virus. 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