Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. How are you? Today is Memorial Day... I was thinking about this... There is nothing wrong with saying to someone "Happy Memorial Day" and saying so will get you second looks from nobody. But, if you feel like “Happy Memorial Day” isn't appropriate, maybe you can try saying, “I hope you have a nice/great Memorial Day,” “Are you doing well this Memorial Day? Thanks, I'm doing great too,” or just, “Have a great day!”
The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has reinstated Father Michael Pfleger at St. Sabina Church, amid the sexual abuse allegations made against him five months prior. They concluded that there was “insufficient reason to suspect” that the accusations were true after an independent review board investigated the story that two brothers came forward with about Pfleger had sexually abused them decades ago when they were underage. According to the Tennessee Tribune, a third man had also come forward with allegations of sexual abuse a couple of months later.
Cardinal Blase Cupich explained that Pfleger would be allowed to return to the pulpit on Chicago’s South Side the weekend of June 5th, the Feast of Corpus Christi. In a letter to the St. Sabina parish, he also noted that he asked Pfleger to take the next two weeks to “prepare himself emotionally and spiritually to return” to ministry, but not everyone’s so sure that this was the right decision. Eugene Hollander, who represents the two accusers who made the child abuse claims, explained in a statement about how they are “shocked and deeply disappointed” in the church’s decision. He said in a statement, “Both of the brothers who made these allegations were extraordinarily credible. They provided detailed accounts of the sexual molestation as well as information that only these victims would be aware of. My clients not only corroborated each other, but both clients underwent polygraph examinations and passed.”
Pfleger, however, is ecstatic to return to work, sticking to his truth while also noting how difficult the past few months had been for him. He said in a statement, “I am innocent of the charges made against me and continue to believe that the [archdiocese] Review Board and the Cardinal will see the truth, conclude that these uncorroborated allegations are unfounded, and restore me to the ministry at St. Sabina,” adding, “In the meantime, I know that I cannot emotionally or spiritually continue to remain isolated in an apartment waiting for this Board to do its job. While I hope and pray that the Review Board will work a little harder and more promptly to conclude their investigation, I will no longer wait in silence.” One of the accusers told Vice, “It’s a cover-up because of his popularity. They don’t see that side of him. They don’t know that side when I had bloody underwear. All they see is what’s going on with him now, what he has done since he has been at St. Sabina, the activist that he is now.” This isn’t the first time that the Catholic Church has reinstated a priest that has been accused of sexual abuse, and Vice named many more reverends who escaped punishment. Chicago priest Lawrence Sullivan was reinstated 10 days before Pfleger but was accused of sexually assaulting a woman when she was only a 17-year-old. Kentucky priest Joseph Edward Bradley was reinstated after two years when he was suspended for two reports of sexual abuse against a minor. He’s banned, however, “from entering a primary or secondary school for a period of five years,” according to a letter from the diocese.
The Vatican reinstated Joseph Hart from Wyoming, even against the lack of support from the diocese. Har faced 12 sexual abuse accusations, and although diocese officials found at least six of them credible, he was only rebuked and recommended that he should not, “have any contact with minors, youth, seminarians, and vulnerable adults.”
The list can go on and on, dating well back into the early 20th century. If priests are reinstated with recommendations not to return to places where children are, wouldn’t that mean that officials know that they were guilty? And what’s law enforcement’s role in investigating these potential crimes? Why are there always just “outside investigators” who review these cases? I’m sure these are questions that the victims have asked, just like I’m wondering now.
In 2018, the disgraced comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison for drugging and raping the Toronto woman Andrea Constand. And now, after three years have passed, Cosby has been denied parole for refusing to participate in the state-mandated “sexual predator” rehabilitation program. Doing so, Cosby says, would have been an admission of guilt. Cosby maintains his innocence despite the guilty verdict and accusations of sexual assault from 60 different women. Prior to 2014, Bill Cosby’s sexual misconduct was something of an open secret in Hollywood. In 2005, the former Temple University employee Andrea Constand reported the beloved actor to the police and went filed a civil suit against him. But it wasn’t until Hannibal Burress’s stand-up routine, which acknowledged Cosby’s suspect behavior, went viral on social media that the public became fully aware.
Since 2014, 60 different women have alleged that Cosby assaulted them. Most of their accounts described being drugged by Cosby, who used quaaludes and awaking having been violated. These various incidents occurred over a span of more than 40 years and two involved 15-year-old girls. But despite the overwhelming evidence... and sheer number of accusers Cosby maintains that he is innocent… even after being found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018.
Now that shameless attitude has come back to haunt him. After refusing to participate in the court-ordered therapy for sex offenders, Cosby was recently denied parole. The scandal is now trending again. In December 2015, Andrea Constand filed three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault against Cosby in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. After a mistrial and a new trial, Cosby was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 3-10 years in state prison in 2018. Cosby’s legal team appealed that decision at the state supreme court level in 2019 but the guilty verdict was upheld. He is currently held at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections SCI-Phoenix, near Philadelphia, where he is classified as a sexually violent predator.
Considering the 83-year-old Cosby’s wealth, age, and resources, most expected he would likely serve the bare minimum. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt also appeared on TV pushing for an early release for his client. However, it now looks like Cosby will be serving more of that 10-year prison sentence.
After refusing to participate in the state rehabilitation program, which is mandated for sex predators, Bill Cosby’s petition for parole was denied by the Pennsylvania Parole Board. Reportedly, the decision was influenced by “the negative recommendation made by the Department of Corrections [and Cosby’s] failure to develop a parole release plan.” If Cosby does complete the treatment program, his request for parole will be reviewed again.
It’s been a while since parties were a thing. So when some dude named Adian posted about a birthday party event called “AdriansKickback” on a social media post last Wednesday, around 2,500 attendees decided to show up... including from states as far away as Michigan and Arizona. The viral announcement, whose hashtag was viewed more than 2020 million times on TikTok, was posted by @adrian.lopez517 to invite people to “pop out and celebrate my birthday." He added, “BYOE!! Repost!!”
The beach party was set to kick off on Friday night, with the main event occurring on Saturday night near the fire pits of Huntington Beach in Southern California.
The Hungtingbeach Police Department police were aware of the gathering, but unprepared for its magnitude. In preparation for the big night, the Huntington Beach PD reminded its Twitter followers of its large gathering beach rules, “No alcohol on the beach. No drugs on the beach. No fireworks. Beach closes at 10 p.m.” On Friday and Saturday nights, thousands of partygoers gathered in Hungingback near downtown Los Angeles. TikTok videos from the event show crowds of people dancing, running through streets, scaling lifeguard towers, scampering up lifeguard towers, and setting off fireworks.
“The majority of the crowd was just focused on having a good time,” Jeryn Anderson, who was in attendance, told BuzzFeed News. “We were doing mosh pits, watching people do burnouts, dancing, and running from fireworks.”
“It was lit!” he recalled fondly. Ever the buzzkills (er, I mean responsible law enforcement officials just doing their jobs), The Huntington Beach Police Department denounced the party as an unlawful assembly around 7:13 p.m and instituted an emergency curfew, reports BuzzFeed News. The overnight curfew would run from 11:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. the following morning.
Before 11 p.m., there were reportedly minimal interactions with police officers. But later on, fights broke out on the beach before revelers moved to the downtown area... where downtown businesses, police vehicles, and a lifeguard tower were damaged, say police.
In videos from late in the evening, police officers clas in riot helmets are seen firing less-lethal rounds and deploying some kind of chemical agent at attendees. “As the crowd size continued to grow rapidly, large groups disbursed into various locations throughout the area, throwing bottles, rocks, fireworks, and other items at officers,” Huntington Beach police said in a statement.
As tension began to escalate, police called for backup from outside law enforcement agencies, with more than 150 officers “from virtually all agencies within Orange County” arriving to keep the crowd under control.
On both nights, officers arrested 121 adults and 28 juveniles.
Arrestees were booked for a number of offenses, including vandalism, the firing of dangerous or illegal fireworks, failure to disperse, and curfew violations. On Sunday, people were seen cleaning up the area. A local store owner, Kandie Gonzalez of Peace Sol & Succulents, said she found a lot of her inventory missing after the chaos, she tearfully told KTLA5.
“These kids that ran through, no remorse,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve seen kids driving by, saying ‘so funny.’ It’s not funny guys. It’s not.” “The crowd size wasn’t the problem and the crowd wasn’t the problem,” Huntington Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Carey said in an interview with Orange County Register, “until they started throwing fireworks at officers. That’s when dynamics changed... when that started happening, we declared an unlawful assembly.”
No significant injuries have been reported.
Wedding traditions are a favorite part of many people’s nuptial celebrations... the first dance, the father-daughter dance, the throwing of the bouquet, and of course the cutting of the cake, occasionally followed by a “cake smash” in which the happy couple inexplicably smears each others’ faces with wedding cake.
Well, one eager groom took the cake-smashing tradition to the absolute extreme when he responded to the small bit of cake his bride delicately brushed across his mouth by picking up their wedding cake and chucking it into his new bride’s face. The video went mega-viral on TikTok and several astonished viewers saw red flags and called for the frosting-coated couple to divorce at once. The TikTok video was actually posted by the beautiful bride Kelsey Carson, who goes by kelsboyd3 on TikTok. She and her husband Tony married in Kingston, Tennessee and the video was posted on January 8th, 2021. The beginning of the video seems to capture a typical wedding cake cutting moment with Kelsey picking up a small bit of cake and smearing it on her new husband Tony’s face. Tony’s reaction, however, comes as a shock: he quickly picks up the whole cake, yes, the entire three-tiered wedding cake, and slings it into the side of the bride’s head. The heavy cake appears to send Kelsey stumbling into nearby chairs. The always-intense emotions of people on social media instantly erupted, with some shocking commenters calling the move too aggressive and offering a slew of reactions ranging from “Ohhhhh HELLLL NO!!!! Major RED FLAG” to “Divorce on the next level” to “’RUN GIRL. Anger issues hell no” to “That’s not just aggressive but so embarrassing??? If he’s comfortable doing that in front of all her friends and fam… scary.”
Kelsey Carson, for her part, seemed to find the prank funny, changing her TikTok bio to read “A CAKE never hurt anyone” as reported by the Daily Mail. At the end of the day, it’s probably not up to the Internet to judge how a couple celebrates their wedding day, but it’s pretty unlikely that this sort of aggro cake smash will become a common sight at other 2021 weddings.
The phrase “9/11” has a haunting tone whenever it’s heard, and when people do hear or say it, everyone knows that it refers back to the horrific events that happened on September 11th, 2001. Along with the many memorials that are still had in remembering the nation’s darkest day, monuments have also been permanently erected all over the United States in commemorative favor as a reminder of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers that killed almost 3,000 people that day. But in the midst of those who appropriately pay tribute to the tragic day, one restaurateur in Fort Worth, Texas, stunned the Internet when he started a 9/11-themed bar called Bar9Eleven. Owner Brent Johnson took it upon himself to enshrine the disaster in the form of a lounge, and although it’s been there for years, online users don’t know how to feel about it.
The bar picked up traction on social media when Twitter user Jesse Tyler shared pictures of the establishment, captioned with details of his experience. His tweet shows framed photos inside the place that explain a timeline of what happened on 9/11, saying, “Drove by this bar and thought huh I wonder what that’s about. Turns out it’s about exactly what you think.” However, the framed photos recall the owner’s point of view of what that day was like for him instead of the events themselves. The responses to this viral tweet were mostly horrified that anyone would seemingly use 9/11 as a theme for their business, as Unilad reported that many argued how, “the bar is in bad taste.” Yet, according to Texas Monthly, the Tex-Mex restaurant was created because Johnson didn’t want anyone to forget the day, and he thinks that he’s doing his part to honor and help people never forget what happened.
Johnson told Texas Monthly that he head a survey one September that found that “80 percent of Americans” didn’t realize when the anniversary was approaching, although admitting that he wasn’t sure about the survey’s details nor providing evidence of the truth behind this statistic. Nevertheless, the bar has been open for a significant amount of time, and in fact, Johnson remembers the day so well because coincidentally, September 11th, 2001, is also the day he opened his other successful restaurant Rio Mambo Tex Mex Y Mas. It now has four locations across North Texas.
Instead of doing this blog thing I should be listening to this album...
Maybe not. Any stroll through a store would have you believe that "pink is for girls" and "blue is for boys" are the associated gender roles are the very backbone of our society. Products from nail clippers to hand lotion are assigned genders when last time I checked, inanimate objects don't have gender identities. Like this make-up for example...
If you're looking for a graphic design job, you may want to contact whoever employed the people responsible for this following design fail. They are most likely hiring.
Since Prince Philip passed away the Queen hasn't been herself.
When it comes to making ignorant and delusional comments online, American Exceptionalism is undeniable. So, here's a new pheature on the Phile called...
On measurements in space...
You know what they say: you don't really know how many movies and TV shows include child actors until you decide to boycott all properties with children in them.
A woman who is serious about ethical consumption has decided to stop watching any show with kids in it as a way of taking a stand against exploitation. It's commendable, but limiting... and her boyfriend is getting frustrated.
The boyfriend wrote to the Phile to both explain her manifesto and how he's upset her since her boycott began.
"My girlfriend is the type who'll really make choices in her life based on her beliefs. She became vegan, she quit a job over ethical concerns, she sold her car to get a bike, etc. She buys nearly nothing new, only secondhand or homemade.
This is something I always admired about her but recently we had an argument about a new choice of hers. Which I kind of understand but also kind of find frustrating.
She decided to stop watching any media with child stars or child actors in it. Including reality TV, family YouTubers or any YouTubers that have their kids in their videos, and fictional movies and TV.
She said it was because that industry is too exploitative and puts kids in the public eye and under so much attention for the rest of their life and they aren't developmentally prepared to understand what they are getting into. If they even were given a choice at all. And that just like we shouldn't let a 5-year-old 'decide' to go into a factory because they want to play at being a grown up, or a 10-year-old drive because they want to be a trucker when they grow up, we shouldn't let kids 'decide' to start a career in acting. I get it, I know some of the stories coming out of Hollywood are really bad. But I felt frustrated because one of the big things we do together, especially recently when everyone had been stuck at home, is chill at home and watch TV or movies together.
And you don't really realize how much media has kids in it. She drew the line at significant character roles, so if there are extras or a kid in a shot who isn't a meaningful / recurring character that's fine but if they are playing a character she gets put off immediately and doesn't want to keep watching.
It was also frustrating when we wanted to host some backyard movie nights with a projector, she wasn't interested in joining for any of the stuff the group wanted to watch. When that used to be something social that we all used to do together. I got so frustrated with her that I told her she was overreacting, that it was stupid of her to put her feelings about kids who are ending up with sometimes millions of dollars over stuff like her relationship or social life. And that sometimes I and our friends just want to watch a movie and not think about how it's making might be problematic.
She got upset with me for the 'stupid' comment and said that she just didn't want to see that shit anymore, I could if I wanted but all she wanted was to not watch something that disgusted her without being made to feel stupid.
I feel kinda bad because she isn't telling me or my friends they have to do the same, she's just making a choice for herself. But I also feel upset because that choice for herself is affecting our friendship and social life. Am I wrong for getting upset with my girlfriend because she wants to stop watching media with child stars?" Yes. You always admired your girlfriend's morality and humanity... until it inconvenienced you. Now you are pressuring her and trying to guilt her into going against her beliefs, because you and your friends would really rather not think about problematic things. She has taken a somewhat unusual position, but she is entitled to make that choice provided that she doesn't try to control what you watch. She seems to be a bit of an extremist to the point where it's likely you two aren't compatible. If she really wants to live a 100% ethical life, she won't be able to do much of anything anymore. Human beings existing causes damage to the planet and society, it's just inevitable. You heard it here first, folks: damage is inevitable. If you have a problem you want my advice on then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jefferson, New York shall we?
It's wet and chilly there today by the looks of it. Okay, now for a story from...
Under the cover of the towering trees of the Ocala National Forest, a Florida married couple was able to film a series of cruel social media videos featuring hungry black bears and a pack of aggravated dogs. As the Ocala Star Banner reports, Charles Scarbrough and his wife Hannah Weiner Scarbrough were part of a group of at least seven others who lured bears using donuts, pastries, drums of dog food, and gallons of peanut butter in the national forest.
Once the animals were within range, the group would sic a pack of trained dogs on the unsuspecting bears.
The gruesome videos show bears being chased up trees in an attempt to escape the packs of dogs, only to be attacked if they fell to the ground. In some of the videos, the dogs appear reluctant to attack the bears, but the suspects removed their leashes, laughing and goading them on. In one instance, a member of the group shot and skinned a bear, according to prosecutors.
In a press conference at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that some of the bears were less than a week old. At least two bears were confirmed dead from the attacks, though Bondi suspects that there were more.
Bondi said that the couple was using the videos to “drum up business” for their training school for hunting dogs. “It was for profit, but I believe it was for their own sick pleasure,” she said. The 11-month investigation began when social media users began to report the videos online, which were being used to advertise around the country. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agents then set up surveillance video at a Krispy Kreme and witnessed some of the suspects taking bags of stale doughnuts from the dumpsters to use as bait. Charles Scarbrough pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering, animal baiting and fighting, unlawful use of a two-way communicating device, and unlawful taking of a black bear, the Ocala Star Banner reported.
Meanwhile, his wife pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful taking of a black bear and unlawful use of a communication device. Charles faces more than two years of incarceration, but his sentencing was delayed under the terms of his plea deal, in which he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against his co-defendants, according to the Associated Press.
His wife Hannah faces five years of probation. Hannah must also pay $27,000 to cover the investigation and prosecution costs and is prohibited from training and breeding dogs.
Today's guest is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His memoir Beeswing: Losing my Way and Finding my Voice, 1967-1975 is the 151st book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. Please welcome to the Phile... Richard Thompson.
Me: Richard, sir, welcome to the Phile. My dad was a huge fan of yours. How are you?
Richard: I'm great, Jason. Great to be here.
Me: So, what was the first song you remember hearing when you were a kid?
Richard: Les Paul's version of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" which is one of the first jazz records my father plated for me.
Me: Oh, wow. Different than I thought. How old were you?
Richard: I was five.
Me: Damn. So, what went through your head when you heard that song?
Richard: Well, I thought it was weird. Like outer space music. Something that was on radio or TV that they produced what was weird as possible to invoke aliens. I was absolutely fascinated by Les Paul's records. At the age of five I was wide open to music impressions.
Me: What do you think got to you about it?
Richard: It doesn't sound like anything else. Plus it was the guitar, guitar music was appearing everywhere with the birth of rock and roll. So I hear my sisters rock and roll records coming through my bedroom wall. Plus my dad had Django Reinhardt records and Les Paul records and Lonnie Johnson records so I had all that stuff as well. So I think I was being painted into a corner in terms of which instrument I was about to pick up and it turned out to be a guitar.
Me: My dad loved Fairport Convention, which I have only heard a little bit off. What was it like being in that band back in those days?
Richard: We wanted to be different from other bands. I think the way we achieved that was by from the very beginning our interest in roots based music. so we loved bands like the Byrds, the Lovin' Spoonful. There wasn't really anybody else in London on the scene doing that kind of thing. It was more of a Los Angeles thing at that time in fact. I think that made us different from loads of blues bands, loads of R&B bands, and loads of soul bands that were around the London scene. Then of course all the psychedelic bands appeared... Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and London became a wide open thing with audiences with generous and hope whatever we played. So Fairpoirt was able to piggyback onto that scene.
Me: Is it true Jimi Hendrix was a fan of the band?
Richard: Yeah, he used to jam with us. I don't think he was a fan of me, I think he liked the band. he used to sit in with us at this late night drinking club we used to play at. It happened a few times, he would get up and play with us.
Me: That's great. What was he like?
Richard: He was nice guy, a bit shy, wonderful musician. Jimi was at that time just a guy we would see around the clubs. He wasn't a legend yet. But he certainly became one.
Me: Richard, your guitar playing style is very unique. You were like that from the get go, do you know why that is?
Richard: I think I had a wide range of influences. I was also determined to be unique. I think that helps a lot. I also obviously started copying people, and you might hear on my old records I am playing a bluesy kind of scale.
Me: What kinda music do you think Fairport Convention played?
Richard: A lot of country music, which really was not hip at the time at all. We listened to jazz, we listened to classical music, lots and lots of different styles. As I said I think out was the Les Paul or the Django Reinhardt from my dads records made me play a little bit different from pother people. That's what I wanted to be, I wanted to be different.
Me: How do you think wanting to be a little bit different shaped you as an artist?
Richard: As an artist I'm supposed to be a little bit outside. I'm not on the rim of society which is a dangerous place because if I go too far out of the rim then I'll fall off the edge as many artists do. It's out on a rim where I know I can get a perspective on everything. If I'm in the middle of it then I don't really see it.
Me: Is it lonely being on the outside?
Richard: I think it is lonely, yeah. It can be solitary. Sometimes solitary in the sense when I'm with other people I could feel like an outsider, like a loner. Maybe I have to be like that.
Me: What's the story where you were invited to Paul McCartney's birthday party and you didn't want to go?
Richard: I was a bit of a snob at the time. If he asked me now I would go. I would go to his 80th if he invites me.
Me: Were you a Beatles fan? I am sure you were. I was lucky enough to interview Paul and Ringo and Ringo will be back on the Phile soon I hope.
Richard: We were just snobs really. I think we saw the Beatles as not really our influence. I think we saw the Beatles as an older generation. As much as we loved their records and all the technical advances we hear on a Beatles record we were more interested in a singer-songwriter like the new Leonard Cohen record.
Me: I'm a fan of the Band fan... and you said they're an influence on you, right?
Richard: The Band's "Music From Big Pink" was a strange watershed for Fairport Convention as I said in the book.
Me: What do you mean?
Richard: It sort of killed us really. It's such a good record. And if Fairpoirt was an American band we would have given up right there.
Me: Really? Why?
Richard: Because it's such a perfect achievement. The first few Band records managed to fuse so many American styles. Styles of root music, there's gospel in there, there's jazz in there, there's rock and roll in there, there's R&B, there's everything, country is there as well. In a sense Fairport had to look at ourselves and say we should stop being influenced by America. We should start looking at our own culture. We should start looking at the traditional music from the British isles, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and base our music much more on that. We'll still play rock and roll, we'll still play as amplified music with drums but our roots are going to be different. When we write music our roots are going to be different. Really that was the big watershed for Fairport, and for me personally I had really never gone back. I still write music in that kind of fusion of traditional and contemporary.
Me: Fairport Convention sang songs from the 16th century, sir. Why do you think songs from hundreds of years ago had power in the 60s?
Richard: Originally these songs would've been sung sitting around the fire at home or sitting in the pub. It was entertainment, it was almost like telling the news. There's been a local murder, so here's a song about it. There was a battle last year, let's sing a song about that. The lyrics are very powerful, we we have a song that gets handed down through old tradition which "Matty Groves" certainly was the bad verses get whittled away and we are left with a really powerful song which is really easy to sing and has a really beautiful language. If we combined that power with the power of amplified music we really got something. We got something which will really maker the audience think. Maybe make the audience dance maybe as well. So we really thought we hit on something.
Me: Okay, so tell me a fun story about Sandy Denny, who sang with Fairpoint Convention. What was she like?
Richard: Sandy could be moody. She could be one thing or the other. She could be angry, she could be despondent, she could be insecure and she could be funny. I have so many fond memories of Sandy just cracking up the room just making everybody fall about laughing. One of the nicest things about Fairport as a band we were basically friends and we really did a share a good sense of humour. Very British and sarcastic and very ironical sense of humour. Sandy was a master of that.
Me: What did you think you learned from her as a musician and as a songwriter?
Richard: As a songwriter she was hard to follow. So I didn't try to take so much from Sandy because she really was a very individual voice. Having said that I know a lot of writers were influenced by her. Kate Bush was very influenced by Sandy. It was very unique to her the way she played the piano and the way she wrote as well on the piano. She was just a wonderful individual voice and I think as the years go by I think more and more people are discovering Sandy and realising she was truly great and an absolutely phenomenal singer. I don't think I worked with a singer as good as Sandy.
Me: Do you listen to her singing a lot?
Richard: I listen to her frequently. It's good stuff and for me it's kind of timeless so I don't listen to a Sandy record and think that sounds like the 70s or something, I just think it sounds like it could have come from any era and I think that's another great testament to Sandy's music.
Me: I like your Richard and Linda records you did with your ex wife. What is it writing with her about your lives good or bad?
Richard: Well, I don't think we ever consciously wrote about our own relationship to tell you the truth. I'm sure it's in there but whatever difficulty or joys we had I'm sure it's in there somewhere. We were really writing about other things, other people, different kinds of life situations really. We made like five or six records together and I don't think any point we were consciously saying this is about the argument we had last week or anything. Our marriage is about to break-up, let's make an album documenting it. There's nothing conscious about that at all as far as I remember.
Me: How is then to have that mischaracterized?
Richard: It's amusing really. Nothing more than that. People speculated from the time "Shoot Out the Lights" that album people said at the time and they said ever since "this is a break-up album. How can we they can get through that?" The suffering, etc. We weren't thinking that at all. The songs were written a year or two years before we recorded them. We just wrote an album of songs and I think our attitude was if it it's a good song it doesn't matter what it's about. It's all about how the song translates to other people. How the song communicates to people.
Me: Your children are very talented musicians themselves, Richard. Is that cool for you? Were you happy for them or were you thinking stay away from the music business? Haha.
Richard: I think originally I would say I don't think I discouraged them but I tried to give them a realistic idea of what being a musician was. If that was what they were going to do. I tried to recommend other jobs like accountancy or work in a bank which is far more secure. That's probably my biggest concern as a parent is security. It's a very uneven lifestyle, it's like being an actor or something. They work then they don't work, there are fat times and there are lean times and they have to be flexible and have to be prepared for that. Sometimes they have to have a second job, they have to become a truck driver or something in case it all goes pear shaped. It's a very joyful thing for a parent, I feel so proud of my kids especially when they're really good and I don't have to make apologies for them because I love the work that they do. It's the family business at the end of the day. "Are you going into the family business or are you going to strike out and do something fairly different?" Some of my kids didn't take that path and some did and it's a wonderful thing. Perhaps their children will take it up as well. My grandson is a fantastic guitar player, he's better than me at this point. Stole all my licks of course but he plays them better than I do.
Me: Haha. My dad was a great singer and guitar player but I play the kazoo. My son though is a really good guitar player. So, what was it like writing this book for you, Richard, looking back at your life?
Richard: Interesting. In some cases harrowing. I think mostly enjoyable actually. But once I start writing more and more things pop up in my memory that I had forgotten about. So it's an interesting process to do that. Once I start it keeps on going and keeps on going. I think somewhat cathartic and somewhat awarding for me as well. And there are definitely things I did not deal with at the time and having to look at them for the purpose of writing a book was an awarding thing ultimately for me. Things I could now put away and not have to trouble over if you like anymore. It was a hard process but I'm glad I got through it.
Me: Richard, thanks for being on the Phile. My dad would've loved the book and this interview. Thank you.
Richard: You're welcome, Jason, it was my pleasure.
Give me some rope, tie me to dream, give me the hope to run out of steam, somebody said it could be here. We could be roped up, tied up, dead in a year. I can't count the reasons I should stay. One by one they all just fade away...
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