Pheaturing Jeff Lynne From Jeff Lynne's ELO

 

Rabbit. Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Tuesday... it's June 1st already. Only three months of the Phile left. Don't be sad. Happy Pride month, y'all! For those of you who don't know, the month of June commemorates the Stonewall riots, which were started by a black, trans woman named Marsha P. Johnson. Pride is a celebration that honors rebellion and revolution, but nowadays that message has gotten somewhat lost among the clutter of rainbow stamped t-shirts being sold by every major brand. The irony here is that these big companies are using this month as a way to make money off a community they have historically... and often presently... ignore, neglect and actively harm. Plus, many of these corporations will spend all of June selling Pride merch, and then taking that money and using it to fund the GOP and other conservative organizations. In short, big corporations and brands are trying to hijack Gay Pride and it's total BS. End rant.

Did you go to your 10-year high school reunion? How about the 20 year reunion? The 50th reunion?! Well, the Elkhart High School class 1941 just celebrated their 80th... yes, 80th... reunion and the turnout was inspiring! Elkhart High School (EHS) was a school in Elkhart County, Indiana near the Michiana border. In 1972, it split into Elkhart Memorial High School and Elkhart Central High School but there’s still a large batch of grads who fondly remember the original school district. And some of them still get together every five years. The class of 1941, specifically, had a special bond and these old friends always make it to the recurring reunion event. But they never expected to successfully reunite in 2021. With the deadly COVID pandemic resulting in the cancellation of so many events, getting together a group of at-risk 98-year-olds seemed out of the question. But thanks to the vaccine rollout, they were able to meet up in person... and just in time for the end of the school year! The surviving high school alumni successfully attended an, albeit small, 80th class reunion lunch on May 19th, 2021. The sweetly historic event was covered by local news stations, which allowed for specific alumnus to offer their thoughts publicly. One attendee, Paul Thomas, was called “the personification of pep” in the Elkhart High School yearbook and that still rings true today. He oversaw the event, megaphone in hand, and spoke about the deep bonds shared by everyone there, “We went through rationing, tire rationing, sugar rationing, or meat rationing, and yet we survived it. We’re all 98-years-old and we survived it,” he told WNDU but admitted that time takes its toll. “When people say you’re 80, 90, 98 years young, they’re nuts, you’re 98-years-old,” he joked. But don’t worry. Even if they’ve slowed down a bit, Thomas and friends already hard at work planning the next reunion... for 2026.

It’s not very surprising when we see a viral of some sort of brawl on the Internet. But that doesn’t mean the content isn’t refreshingly outrageous, even when we know what to expect when we hit the play button. And that’s exactly what you can expect in watching these two women absolutely throw down in a Little Caesars pizza shop. In Augusta, Georgia, 25-year-old Brittany Breann Kennedy has been arrested on charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping and criminal damage to property, according to the NY Post, for beating the absolute crap out of 22-year-old Emily Broadwater. The video went viral after a cellphone recorded Kennedy pulling Broadwater’s chair from beneath her and landing punches while violently holding Broadwater’s hair. What’s even more shocking is a toddler is seen crawling into the mess, and you hear a voice tell someone to take the baby out of the way. Broadwater is then dragged out of the fast-food chain by Kennedy pulling her by her hair, and Kennedy lands one more kick in the face before she walks away. Broadwater is screaming and asking about “her baby,” which presumably is the toddler that was pulled away from the altercation. According to Sgt. William McCarty of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, although a motive is still not clear, the fight apparently started at a home and moved to the restaurant. Allegedly, Broadwater and Kennedy were fighting because Broadwater was in contact with the father of Kennedy’s children. A Little Caesars spokesperson to the Post, “The safety of our crew members and customers is the most important thing to us. In any case, where a customer or employee is in danger, we advise our crew members to call the police immediately.” Some of the comments on the video that surfaced on social media were caught in between wondering if Broadwater had said something to Kennedy that led to Kennedy’s actions, but others were concerned that no one was actually helping separate the two. Instead, people were standing back, filming, getting ready to post what they had witnessed on what they probably thought was going to be a normal day. In the midst of cancel culture, is there a way we can cancel being a bystander? 

It’s been quite the month for the co-hosts of "The View," so much so that producers had to step in after their multiple feuds. Apparently, the president of ABC is now demanding that the TV personalities “relax with their toxic personal attacks” before someone has to get fired. This after Joy Behar and Meghan McCain got into a very heated debate on Monday, May 24th, over antisemitism. ABC News President Kim Godwin called a meeting with producers and the hosts in order to improve the culture behind the scenes of the show. The last-minute meeting was allegedly prompted by several complaints against Meghan McCain herself. According to a source, ABC has been getting several overwhelming amounts of pleas to fire her after her vicious attacks against Behar and her latest rants. Godwin, who became the ABC president this month, told the ladies that the attacks against one another are now getting too personal, which is coming off as toxic to the viewers. According to TMZ, McCain didn’t like what Goodwin had to say and apparently stormed out of the meeting because she felt that she was the one being attacked. This isn’t the first time a morning talk show host is at risk of her job. Recently, "The Talk" fired host Sharon Osbourne after a controversial on-air battle with co-host Sheryl Underwood. Osbourne openly defended Piers Morgan’s comments about Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah. McCain is the only conservative co-host of "The View" and often gets into it with Behar. The week’s episode in question that brought the meeting began with the co-host discussing Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene after she compared the mask mandate to the Holocaust. McCain shared her distaste for Greene, noting that Republicans have done more to strip her of her power than Democrats did for Ilhan Omar after criticizing Israel. She also questioned why this matter was being discussed in this week’s Hot Topics segment when several antisemitic hate crimes took place the week before. As she was ranting on, Whoopi Goldberg tried to cut to commercial break which was met by an angry McCain. She screamed, “Why are you cutting me off?” as Golberg snapped back, “I’m cutting you off cause we have to go, Meghan! Why do you think I’m cutting you off?” After the commercial break, she wrapped up her sentiment concluding that Democrats have done little to strip Omar of her power. That’s when Behar pushed back on McCain’s statement saying that she resented her comments. McCain stated, “Well, I resent a lot of things, so we’re even.” To which the 78-year-old told her, “I’ve been talking about antisemitism on this show for 25 frickin’ years. Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to be saying, Meghan, okay? You do your thing, we do ours.” Mccain responded, “I’m not telling you what you’re supposed to say. I’m well aware we do separate things on this show, Joy, okay? And I know you’ve been here 25 years. I’ve been here four times.” Behar ended the argument, saying, “That’s right. That’s right. You should have some respect for that, once in a blue moon.”

On May 21st, dozens of people woke up to a nasty surprise: an email from Walmart containing a racial slur. According to a Walmart spokesperson, the “racist emails” were sent from an “external bad actor." The individual(s) behind the attack created a series of fake Walmart.com shopping accounts using different emails. As the retailer said in a statement to CBS News, these emails did not belong to people who had been previously registered as Walmart subscribers or user account holders. Creating phony Walmart accounts automatically generated a “Welcome to Walmart” email from the address help@walmart.com. In these emails, the recipient’s name was replaced with the N-word. After discovering the racist auto-generated email in their inbox, a number of receivers posted screenshots of the email on social media. “We discovered that an external bad actor created false Walmart accounts with obvious intent to offend our customers,” Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman told People. “We were shocked and appalled to see these offensive and unacceptable emails.” “We’re looking into our sign-up process to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” Blakeman added to CNN. Walmart has said that its internal systems were not breached and that it was able to stop further of the emails from being sent. The company has declined to state how many of the racist emails were delivered. 

It's no secret that Star Wars' sequel trilogy wasn't able to captivate avid fans of the franchise and although The Force Awakens showed a tremendous amount of promise, it still relied on the old formula instead of creating something that was entirely new. There's no gentle way to say it but it was a colossal failure that was doomed from the start. Still, Disney is sticking to its guns by keeping the sequels canon to the Skywalker saga despite clamor from fans to rehash it completely. Thankfully, Lucasfilm found gold in "The Mandalorian" but despite the fact that the hit Disney+ series was somehow able to remove the bitter taste the sequels left in a lot of fans' mouths, let's face it, the Mandoverse can't exist forever and whether fans like it or not, it will still lead to the divisive trilogy. However, a new report suggests that Lucasfilm is determined to turn things around and current plans call for George Lucas to make his Star Wars return and work on a brand new trilogy. Overlord DVD's Doomcock, Lucas recently met with Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, Bob Iger, and Bob Chapek to discuss a potential project, presumably when the Mandoverse finally concludes. With the Skywalker saga finally coming to an end in 2019, it'll be interesting to see whether this new trilogy will pick up where The Rise of Skywalker left off or they'll create a new universe altogether. I believe the best move right now is to just acknowledge the existence of the sequels and do a redemption story for characters like Rey and Finn who were pretty much victims of bad writing. 

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.  

Fathering a child? Sounds pretty girly to me. If you're looking for a graphic design job, you may want to contact whoever employed the people responsible for this following design fail...

I am hoping to get Joel McHale on the Phile. When it comes to making ignorant and delusional comments online, American Exceptionalism is undeniable...

On cars...

Your partner's bedroom history should remain just that: history. But what if it turns out that your spouse used to be "friends with benefits" with your sibling? And neither one of them told you about it until after you were married? That's what one man has emailed the Phile to ask. He used to have a thing with his sister-in-law... before she met his brother. And the brother recently found out, and is furious. The man specifies that he met his brother's wife in college.

"Me and my brother's wife have known each other long before they started dating. We met in freshman year of college and almost immediately became friends with benefits, this went on for about 3 years maybe every other day. We weren't compatible at all so we never dated, just sex. During that time both of us have gotten into relationships but nothing serious so we didn't stop. Three years ago they two of them met at a party I hosted and they hit it off, fast forward a year and they're married. During that time they were dating we didn't have sex at all out of respect for my brother. She recently got drunk, and... a couple of days ago they got drunk, her way more than him, and she mentioned it. He was absolutely furious. He called me to confront me about it and I didn't think it was that big of a deal and since it was before they started dating, none of his business. He started screaming at me, packed his bags and went to stay with a friend. I didn't know he would be so mad about it and he hasn't been answering any of ours calls or texts. So, am I wrong? Not telling his brother about this was a mega-weird move, and yes, you're wrong. Your brother started dating a girl you boinked... multiple times. Then he got engaged and you didn’t tell him Then he got MARRIED and you still didn’t tell him!!! You and the wife are both wrong. Nobody wants to find our their spouse and sibling kept something like that hidden for years. Yes, you should have told him. She ALSO should have told him. The other thing that got me is you two stopped purely out of respect for him, but not because she wanted to stop? Because she would have cheated on another dude with you, but oh not your brother? You both should have said something, before they stared dating. This marriage never should've happened. This wasn't a one-night stand. This was 3 years of screwing. She should never have even entertained the idea of dating him, knowing he was your brother. There are plenty of fish in the sea. And you should have mentioned it as soon as you heard even a whisper in the wind that they might get together. It doesn't matter that she wasn't your "current" FWB at the time. So there you go. If your sibling starts dating your friend with benefits, a little heads up would be nice. Jeez. If you have a problem you want my advice on then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. 

If you spot the Mindphuxk let me know. Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jefferson, shall we?

It looks nice there again. Okay, here's a story from...

A Florida distillery says that its request to promote a Back the Blue through a paid advertising on Facebook has been denied several times by the social media platforms. Loaded Cannon Distillery, which is located in Lakewood Ranch in Bradenton, Florida, is preparing to launch a new line of spirits that are dedicated to different groups of First Responders. Loaded Cannon Distillery Marketing and creative director Michelle Russell told Fox News through an interview, “We’re launching this Lost Legend series because they are legends, all of them. First responders, EMTs, police, firefighters, anybody that wears a badge, and they deserve some recognition.” The free event was set to take place at Loaded Cannon Distillery on May 29th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event featured live music, other vendors, free drinks samples from Loaded Cannon, and food trucks. The majority of the profits from the events went to supporters of law enforcement, also known as SOLE, which is a nonprofit dedicated to providing support to law enforcement in times of Crisis, injury, or illness. In addition, 2% of each of the five bottle sales will also be given to the respective first responder group being honored. In an effort to promote the free event to a larger audience, Russell sent a series of requests to Facebook in order to place multiple $200 ads. But, each of the requests were denied by the social media platform, according to Loaded cannon Distillery. Facebook’s rejection read, “Your ad may have been rejected if it mentions politicians or sensitive social issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.” Despite Facebook’s reason for the rejection, they also argue that there is absolutely nothing controversial about the event. She noted, “We’re just trying to support our community because during this hard, trying year that everybody has gone through.” For those of you who are interested in supporting the distillery, The Lost Legend series will be available for purchase outside of the Loaded Cannon Distillery’s Tasting Room located at 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd starting in June. 

The 152nd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...

Jake Tapper will be on the Phile in a few weeks. 

Today's guest is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist who co-founded the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). His latest album From Out of Nowhere is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile the great... Jeff Lynne!

Me: Hello, sir, it's a great honor to have you here on the Phile. I've been a big fan for a long time. How are you? 

Jeff: I'm grand, Jason. Thanks for having me. 

Me: I love ELO's latest album "Out of Nowhere," which kinda did come from out of nowhere. Hahaha. Where did the title come from? 

Jeff: It was a surprise for me. That's why I called it that. The opening song came to me, all the chords came all at once and just came straight to me and I laid out down on my phone I think and it was there to work on later on and it was good for melody and it was good for harmonies as well so I really enjoyed that one. It came to me quick and I got it done and it's called "From Out of Nowhere." 

Me: Do you love to write songs, Jeff? 

Jeff: Yeah, and when they come quick and easy it's even better. 

Me: You have written so many classic songs and catchy songs, Jeff. What's your secret? 

Jeff: I just strive to get some quality to the sound and maybe a solid chord sequence and a solid melody. That's about it really and if I got that I'm laughing. As long as I don't mess it up with the mix. 

Me: When I write lyrics sometimes I start with the chorus, how do you start? 

Jeff: It depends really. With "Out of Nowhere" I started with the verse and it gradually flowed into the chorus, it gradually became the chorus. 

Me: So, what kinda music did you listen to growing up? 

Jeff: Richard Rogers was one of my favourites in my dads collection. And Rodgers and Hammerstein. 

Me: In your music you used a lot of orchestra kinda stiff. How did you write music like that? 

Jeff: Well, quite easily. I would just whistle it to the conductor. I'd play it on the guitar or piano to show what the rhythm was. I don't have to read the music see so it doesn't matter to me. I don't have to do a lot of thinking. 

Me: Do you have a collection of songs or pieces of songs that you worked on over the years? 

Jeff: I must have about 2000 cassettes that I haven't listened to for about 20 years. I just haven't listened, I haven't a cassette player for start. I',m going to get one and I'd would love to check some of them out because they could be some of them I might really love now. 

Me: An early band you were in was the Idle Race, Jeff. What do you think when you listen to that music from back then? 

Jeff: I'm half and half when I think of the Idle Race. I like some of them but they're a bit jokey with the words. I could never do serious words, I always felt like an idiot doing "I love you will you love me?" I couldn't do them sort. 

Me: I love that old stuff, Jeff. So what comes first, music or lyrics? 

Jeff: Words are always last. 

Me: Do you spend a lot of time in the studio? 

Jeff: When I was working on those ELO albums I would put in 12 or 14 hours a day. That was the time when I needed the studio time. I had to make sure I maximized it. But now I have me own studio and it's a nice set-up and I really enjoy it. 

Me: Why do you like to so much? I loved it when my dad had his own home studio. 

Jeff: I've got an 80 track analogue and probably a 300 track ProTools so there's enough tracks now. I think there are anyway. 

Me: So, when you go into the studio what do you do? How does it work? 

Jeff: I sit and play a bit and if it don't come immediately I just get up and go and do something else for a bit and then go back again and try again. Having my own studio it doesn't matter if I'm using it or not, it's still deprecating at an alarming rate. Ha ha ha. 

Me: Has any of your songs you've written came quick to you? 

Jeff: "Evil Woman." That was a six minute one. That was a bit like "From Out of Nowhere" the main chords in that. It came really quick and it felt really natural and good already without having to do anything. "Evil Woman" was amazing because it was just too quick. We still do it, we still play that one. It's still one of me favourites really even though it's so simple. It's the most simple one I've ever done I think. 

Me: "Mr. Blue Sky" I think is one of my favorite songs of yours. What's the story behind that one? 

Jeff: "Mr. Blue Sky" itself is quite simple. There's quite a few chords in the verse but obviously the chorus is very simple. Just a semi-tone rundown. 

Me: Okay. So, what do you write on, Jeff? A piano or guitar? 

Jeff: When I'm writing stuff it's always on piano or guitar. 

Me: I saw a documentary with you and I think I remember you playing ukulele... am I right? 

Jeff: The ukulele I got into because of George Harrison because he started to corner the market, he was getting them from all over the world. "Look, another set of ukulele's just arrived." They'd come from everywhere and he knew all the names of all the best ones. George could play it really well. I learnt pretty well, I could play pretty good but he was really good. 

Me: Did you ever use the uke as a writing tool? 

Jeff: I don't think I have, no. 

Me: Okay, I have to mention the Traveling Wilbury's. My dad and I loved those albums. What was it like being a part of that and how did it come about? 

Jeff: The weird part about it I've been doing "Cloud 9," George's album producing that for only a month or six weeks and he said, "You know what? You and me should have a group." He really fancied having a group again. I asked who should we have in it and he said Bob Dylan and I said of course, yeah. "Can we have Roy Orbison?" I said. He said, "Yeah, of course. I love Roy." And we both loved Tom Petty so we said we'll have him as well. It wasn't with George we had to send a formal request over to the office of the superintendent, he just phoned them up. They all wanted to be in it right away. Then we made the album. 

Me: What was it like writing the lyrics for those songs? 

Jeff: We used to write all the words over dinner. The first record we made, "Handle With Care," we recorded it in Bob Dylan's garage. If we were going to do it be stupid about it. 

Me: My dad was jealous he wasn't invited to be a member... hahaha. What was it like working with Roy Orbison? 

Jeff: Roy was the sweetest guy I had ever met. 

Me: So, what was it like working with Tom Petty who I am a big fan of? 

Jeff: It was such fun wiring with Tom. I loved Tom, he was such a great guy. 

Me: What was it like writing with him? 

Jeff: It'll be me and Tom on acoustic and we'd all play different bits. Those songs came real easy. The first one we did was "Free Falling" and then "I Won't Back Down" was the second one. 

Me: I wish I could've interviewed Tom. So, what was it like working with George Harrison? 

Jeff: He asked me if I'd like to go on holiday and we had only just met like a few days or something. I said where to and he said Australia. That's George for you. He said, "Meet me in Hawaii then." It was like a bit of a weird novel or something. Is this really happening? What's going on here? 

Me: My dad's manager at that time wanted you to produce my dad's solo album which never happened. Jeff, thanks for being on the Phile. I hope this was fun. Take care. 

Jeff: Thanks, lad.

That about does it for the entry of the Phile. Thanks to Jeff for a great interview but I wish it could've been longer. The Phile will be back on Monday with actor Carlos Alazraqui who is Rocko from "Rocko's Modern Life."  Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.

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...