Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Tuesday. How are you? An autopsy commissioned by George Floyd’s family has determined that Floyd’s death was due to “asphyxiation from sustained pressure.” This after the tragic incident which sparked several protests across the United States. Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson performed the autopsy, stating there were back and neck compressions which led to a lack of blood flow to the brain. According to the family attorney Benjamin Crump, “weight on the back, handcuffs, and positioning were contributory factors because they impaired the ability of Mr. Floyd’s diaphragm to function.” The 46-year-old died on May 25th after a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, had his knee on his neck for a total of eight minutes and 46 seconds while he was handcuffed on the ground. Floyd was repeatedly heard telling officers he couldn’t breathe, pleading for help. Results of the family’s autopsy differ from a preliminary autopsy report which was described in a criminal complaint against the officer charged in Floyd’s death. That autopsy found “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” Documents suggested Floyd’s existing health conditions, which were hypertensive heart disease and coronary artery disease, combined with being restrained by police officers and any “potential system” contributed to his tragic death. Wilson and Baden stated it appeared that Floyd had indeed died at the scene. Baden stated, “What we found is consistent with what people saw. There is no other health issue that could cause or contribute to the death. Police have this false impression that if you can talk, you can breathe. That’s not true.” Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. He is in custody in state prison and is now under a suicide watch. Three other officers who were on the scene have not yet been detained or charged with any crimes. All of the four officers were fired on the day of the incident.
A New Zealand beekeeper, for some reason, chose to risk having thousands of bees fly up inside his butthole and sting his rectum into oblivion in order to get out of paying rent. This was an objectively terrible idea, of course. Is risking a colostomy bag filled future worth getting out of one month’s rent? No. Not really at all. You should definitely not mortally endanger your b-hole for a week’s worth of wages. There’s a reason this guy is a beekeeper and not working on cost-benefit analyses for some Fortune 500 corporation. Jamie Grainger, a beekeeper in rural New Zealand, imperiled his rectum and, who knows, if there were a determined enough bee maybe his lower small intestine too, all for 1,000 New Zealand dollars (which comes out to about 715 USD). The man risked life and hole in order to get out of one month’s rent which is ironic because the worst case scenario here would have probably had him spending that free month in the hospital anyway. In case you’re still wondering, no, this man did not think this plan through. Also exposed to a thousand angry stingers looking to liberate their home from the smell of a sweaty asshole were the man’s testicles and scrotum. And taint. Maybe even a little dick shaft? Basically this guy just played Russian roulette with all his most sensitive areas for one thousand pieces of New Zealand monopoly money. This begs the question, how else would this man horrifically injure or endanger his well-being for small sums of money? Could you throw firecrackers at his eyeballs for ten bucks a toss? Maybe he could open his mouth wide so that you and your friends could compete to see who could throw the most thumbtacks in his face hole if you gave him a used X-Box? The opportunities are only limited by your access to small amounts of expendable income.
Sometimes I question people’s sanity. It truly terrifies me, how as humans beings, people sometimes do the unthinkable and believe their actions are right. Like this bus driver in Canada, who deserves everything and anything he is getting. You see, a bus driver from London, Ontario, decided it was a good idea to give children candy, laced with his semen. The Ontario bus driver, who admitted to giving the children semen- laced treats, pleaded guilty to 23 charges (previously 78 before confessing), including counts of voyeurism, and possessing, making, and distributing child pornography. The bus driver also confessed to taking cell phone videos of the children eating his own semen-laced treats and uploading them to a child-porn message board on the dark web. The Canadian sex offender is known online as “Steps,” not being identified due to a court-imposed publication ban on his name to shield his employment details that would reveal the identity of the children. “Steps” was caught by a corporal with the RCMP, who was investigating users on a dark web site called MagicKingdom, known as a forum for child-exploitive videos. Authorities traced back the identity of the school bus driver, where they also found four files uploaded to the website in which a man would masturbate on food and then feed the food to children on a bus and have conversations with them about it. Officials also found videos of the bus driver masturbating on the bus while children were present. After searching his electronic devices, it was discovered that “Steps” had uploaded a total of 884 child-exploitive videos and images. Out of those, the driver had created 176 of them on the school bus. During the hearing, the court heard that the driver, who can’t be identified in order to protect the identity of the children he abused, gave the treats to students in kindergarten to Grade 6 over a period of two years. In total, the man targeted 39 children, who were affected by this actions and had to be checked for sexually transmitted diseases. On September 27, 2018, the man was sentenced to five years in prison and has been banned from visiting public spaces where children might be, such as pools, schools, and parks He is also not allowed to use the Internet for 15 years.
Would you commit the rest of your life to becoming a farm owner to make extra cash? How does $314,000 sound? If that sounds good, then you better also consider that you would’ve been moving to the Chumphon province in Thailand! Turns out Thai multi-millionaire Arnon Rodthong is looking for a man to marry his 26-year-old daughter Karnsita. Yes, this is totally real, I looked it up, I promise. Rodthong has a life pretty much anyone could dream of, a lot of money, a successful business, health, and a loving family. But according to him, he is missing the wonderful love of a son-in-law. Karnsita Rodthong speaks fluent English and Chinese, is single, and works for the family business. The father wanted to find her a husband because well, he wanted her to be happy of course, and he wanted someone to take over the durian fruit farm business. Offering dowry in Thailand is actually a tradition, and is often something a man pays to his fiancé. But, Rodthong was happy to just give the money to the perfect prince charming. What exactly was the fruit farming mogul looking for? Well, he wasn’t too picky, he just wanted his future son-in-law to take care of his business and make it last, didn’t want a man with a bachelor’s, masters, or philosophers degree, rather prefers a “diligent man." So basically, he wasn’t someone with a hard working mind and attitude. The best part of the deal? The 58-year-old stated that as soon as he has a son-in-law, he will give all his assets to him. Rodthong owns the largest durian fruit farm in the region, processing around 50 tons of fruit per day. Durian is known for its pungent smell and earns its nickname as the world’s smelliest fruit. I don’t know, sounds to me like this man only want someone for his business and not his virgin daughter, but sure. As for Karnsita, she was surprised about her dad’s offer but is pretty cool about it. Karnsita stated, “I first found out about my father’s post when my friends showed me. I was surprised but I can see the funny side to it, too. It is true that I am still single. If I have to get married to someone, I only want him to be a diligent and good person who loves his family.” Karnsita added that she really doesn’t care what her future husband looks like, which I call bull but okay, nothing that she only wants a man that she can take to social events and take selfies with. Do you think you have what it takes? All you have to do is fly to Chanthaburi, Thailand, to go to Rodthon’s business or message him on Facebook. Honestly, I am pretty surprised she didn’t stop talking to her dad for this. I mean, he’s basically offering her as part of a business exchange and somewhat of a bribe.
Seth Rogen is not holding back his true feelings when it comes to supporting the recent protests across the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of police. The comedian and actor has posted two graphics on Instagram expressing support for nationwide protests, and he's responding to people who criticize his stance. The first post, posted on Thursday, May 28th, shows George Floyd, the unarmed black man whose death at the hands of police was recorded and went viral online, sparking outrage. Floyd's last words are superimposed on the graphic.
And the second post shows the words "BLACK LIVES MATTER" in yellow and black. The caption says, "If this is a remotely controversial statement to you, feel free to unfollow me." Despite overwhelming support from his followers, some people started responding, "All lives matter." Rogen immediately jumped in and started telling them to eff off. He even told one follower not to watch his movies anymore. He started trending on Twitter as people took notice. People pointed out the sheer volume of responses was insane and fans are taking notes and watching proudly. One fan even made a collage out of some of the responses...
If Seth Rogen can confront eight million frat guys about race, you can confront your 4 "basically good" grandparents about race.
People across the nation and across the nation and around the world are protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. Many celebrities are using their platforms to speak out against the injustices, and others are really struggling to read the room. Like Ellen DeGeneres who tweeted and deleted "for things to change, things must change," which is neither eloquent nor helpful.
Here is another creative measure that a business is taking to maintain social distancing out in the world...
Man, some of the lock down protestors really bother me with their signs...
So, once again grads are getting creative with their yearbook quotes...
I don't know what manscaping is, do you? If it's something like this then I'm not interested...
Actually, I could look good with that. Haha. Accusing someone of being a bad mom is no small potatoes. Moms face criticism from every corner no matter what they do. If they work, there are naysayers that will claim they don't spend enough time with their kids, if they stay home... they'll be expected to keep an impeccable home, despite the destructive nature of young kids. Sadly, some of the worst calls come from inside the house, and the judgement of other parents or childcare workers can compound the impossible pressure moms already face. Having a partner who backs you up can make a world of difference in the world of parenting. In a recent email to the Phile, a man asked if he was wrong for writing a negative review of a nursery worker who shamed his wife.
"Am I wrong for making a complaint against a nursery worker due to how she reacted to my wife picking our kid up?" He shared that his wife is a doctor, and she's been working long hours during COVID, so he's been homeschooling their daughter and picking up their son from daycare. "My wife and I have two kids, a daughter (8) and a son (3). My wife is an essential worker as she’s a doctor. She works extremely long hours with hardly any days off whilst I work a typical 9-5 job so I’ve always taken care of arranging the kids for school and care etc. Well, with lockdown, I’ve been able to homeschool my daughter but since my wife is an essential worker, my sons nursery has still been able to take him in so I have dropped him off there as normal as even though I’m homeschooling my other kid, I’m fitting that around me working from home. It makes it easier for my son to still have his routine and so I can do my work and so on." After one of her recent shifts, his wife offered to pick up their son for the first time in a while. "Anyway, I was going to pick him up like normal but my wife chose to do it as she was off at that time and could actually get him. The people at this nursery know my wife as do the parents even though she’s rarely there. She was actually happy to be able to pick our son up from nursery for once and I thought it went fine until she came home in tears. When she went to pick up their son, a new nursery worker didn't believe she was the mother, and accused her of being a 'random woman.' She told me this nursery worker who has just started there didn’t believe that my wife was our sons mother as this worker had only ever seen me. The other workers and my son told her that my wife was in fact the mother and that she wasn’t a danger to my son. The new worker still didn’t believe it and said that she didn’t feel comfortable with letting a 3-year-old go off with a random woman she’d never seen before." Other parents and long-time employees came to her defense, but the nursery worker persisted in their accusations, claiming his wife would be recognizable if she was there "more often." "My wife got really upset and it in then upset my son as everybody was practically saying there was no danger as my wife was a mother. A few other parents got dragged into this and backed up the other staff and it was only through relenting that the new worker gave up but she made a really angry comment along the lines of, 'maybe if you were here more often, I wouldn’t have to verify your identity.'" Outraged by how his wife was treated, he reported the new nursery employee's behavior to the woman in charge. "My wife wants to forget it happened but I am very angry so the next day I picked up my son and asked to speak the woman in charge about the new worker. She wasn’t there when it happened but I complained and said that how my wife was treated was ridiculous and that the coworker was out of line for her snide comment at the end. The woman wasn’t happy and I’ve now learnt the new worker has been given a severe warning and that her behavior is being watched." Now, his wife and others are claiming he took it too far... since the nursery worker received a warning and is at risk of losing their job. "The parents who backed my wife up are torn. Some think I did the right thing as the woman didn’t act professional whilst others think I’m wrong for interfering. My wife is annoyed as she thinks I shouldn’t have said anything. I really don’t know if what I did was right or wrong, so am I wrong?" Any half decent daycare must have strict protocols how to handle this situations and apply them correctly. Why wasn't she properly ID'd and her name checked on the list of authorised persons to pick up a kid? This is the correct procedure, not having other people vote in who saw this person and when. She could have lost the custody and still take the child because she was recognized as the mother. And lastly: who shames a mother for not picking up their child more often? This worker was in the wrong and should have apologized instead of making such accusation. This is not 1950s, women are working now, some of them work afternoon shifts. Wow. Hopefully, the employee learns their lesson and IDs parents instead of shaming them. While it's important to keep kids safe, it's certainly not necessary to make moms feel guilty for working, no less working in a hospital during a pandemic. If you have a problem you want my opinion on then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com.
Hahaha. If you spot the Midphuck then let me know. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...
Top Phive Things Said About Trump Hiding In A Bunker During Protests
5. Trump turned the lights off like he ran out of candy on Halloween.
4. Okay, Mr. President, it’s 2025 now, you can come out when you’re ready.
3. I have a feeling Donald will never be able to shake his new nickname on the golf course... Bunker Boy.
2. AWOL... Absent WithOut Leadership.
And the number one said about Trump hiding in a bunker is...
1. Like all other strong men, Donald Trump is a coward and soft and terrified. Hiding in the White House and turning off the lights is all on brand. These are insecure, sad little men who build themselves up with the iconography of fascism to hide their fear.
This person who is "pro-life" but also "pro-deadly virus."
Oh, the irony. Okay, here's another story from...
The Great Dane is a majestic dog breed, hence its physical stature and name. And since it looks exactly like what its name illustrates, one can assume that the Great Dane can perform great tasks. Or maybe I exaggerated a little bit, but I consider delivering pizza a job with great responsibility for special guys only. And Max the Great Dane proved that he could take on the task. Max was a beautiful, white-and-gray Great Dane, but that’s not all that was great about him. Max was special because he was also a deaf Great Dane. He was also incredibly smart. Because this adorably, smart guy was hearing-impaired, his owners taught and trained him with sign language. In fact, Max can read facial expressions and lip movements! Max’s owners even taught him how to deliver pizza! Remember how I just said that Great Danes are made for great tasks? This screenshot kinda shows how smoothly the deaf Great Dane delivers pizza.
Looking intently at his owner, this canine pizza delivery guy obediently delivers a box of Freschetta Pizza to the Casa Bella Estate in Florida. Max knew what to pick up, where to go, and where to deliver by reading the signs from and facial expressions of his owner. If we could teach more of man’s best friends to do this, then it would keep our pizza delivery guys safer during these times! With everyone social distancing because of the coronavirus, ordering food and groceries has skyrocketed, putting delivery workers more at risk. Maybe if we had more animals working like Max, transactions would be safer. As much as we wish that Max could start a new revolution for that concept, he unfortunately passed away back in Spring 2018. His legacy is found on social media, with a Facebook page and YouTube channel following his adventures with the other Great Dane in the family, Katie. She also passed away six weeks within Max, and together, these two probably have the world’s largest collection of funny Great Dane videos.
President Donald Trump yesterday derided many governors as “weak” and demanded tougher crackdowns on burning and stealing among some demonstrations in the aftermath of another night of violent protests in dozens of American cities. Trump spoke to governors on a video teleconference that also included law enforcement and national security officials, telling the state leaders they “have to get much tougher.” “Most of you are weak,” Trump said. “You have to arrest people.” The days of protests were triggered by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. The demonstrations turned violent in several cities, with looting and mayhem, and fires ignited in historic park Lafayette Park across from the White House. The president urged the governors to deploy the National Guard, which he credited for helping calm the situation Sunday night in Minneapolis. He demanded that similarly tough measures be taken in cities that also experienced a spasm of violence, including New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. “You’ve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again,” said Trump. “We’re doing it in Washington, D.C. We’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before.” The president told the governors they were making themselves “look like fools” for not calling up more of the National Guard as a show for force on city streets. Attorney General Bill Barr, who was also on the call, told governors that a joint terrorist task force would be used to track agitators and urged local officials to “dominate” the streets and control, not react to crowds, and urged them to “go after troublemakers.” Trump’s angry exhortations at the nation’s governors came after a night of escalating violence, images of fires and looting and clashes with police filling the nation’s airwaves and overshadowing the largely peaceful protests. The protests grew so heated Friday night that the Secret Service rushed the president to an underground bunker previously used during terrorist attacks. On Monday, Trump also spoke of trying to criminalize flag-burning. The Supreme Court has conservative new members since it last ruled on that issue, and Trump said that “I think it’s time to review that again.” He continued his effort to project strength, using a series of inflammatory tweets and delivering partisan attacks during a time of national crisis. As cities burned night after night and images of violence dominated television coverage, Trump’s advisers discussed the prospect of an Oval Office address in an attempt to ease tensions. The notion was quickly scrapped for lack of policy proposals and the president’s own seeming disinterest in delivering a message of unity. Trump did not appear in public on Sunday and was not scheduled to on Monday either. The demonstrations in Washington appeared to catch officers by surprise. They sparked one of the highest alerts at the White House complex since the September 11th attacks in 2001. Secret Service protocol would call for all those under the agency’s protection to be in the underground shelter. Trump has told advisers he worries about his safety, while both privately and publicly praising the work of the Secret Service. Demonstrators returned Sunday afternoon, facing off against police at Lafayette Park into the evening. Trump retweeted a message from a conservative commentator encouraging authorities to respond with greater force. “This isn’t going to stop until the good guys are willing to use overwhelming force against the bad guys,” Buck Sexton wrote in a message amplified by the president. In recent days security at the White House has been reinforced by the National Guard and additional personnel from the Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police. The Justice Department deployed members of the U.S. Marshals Service and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration to supplement National Guard troops outside the White House, according to a senior Justice Department official. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The 127th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
"Mrs. C" will be on the Phile on Monday. Okay, let's see what is going on live in Port Jeff, shall we?
Looks like a lovely day with nothing going on.
Christo
June 13th, 1935 — May 31st, 2020
Wrapped up.
Fred Willard
September 18th, 1933 — May 15th, 2020
He said he was born in 1939, but census records (and his daughter) say he was born in 1933. So your beloved comedian was a liar.
Today's guest is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film Slam and the 2013 jukebox musical Holler If Ya Hear Me. His latest album "Encrypted & Vulnerable" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. Please welcome to the Phile... Saul Williams.
Me: Hey, Saul, welcome to the Phile, sir. How are you?
Saul: Thank you for having me, it's a pleasure to be here.
Me: Man, you have done so many things. Poet, singer, writer, rapper, actor, activist... I don't know where to start. Where are you from?
Saul: Originally Newburgh, New York.
Me: Okay, let's start with poetry... before COVID-19 you have been all around the world going to big poetry events and smaller ones hanging with emerging poets. Why is that important for you?
Saul: Well, I was once an emerging poet. Ha ha ha. There's still poetry emerging from me. In fact. When I first did my first film Slam which was probably what introduced spoken word and slam poetry to much of the wilder audience nationally. My purpose of doing that film was essentially to spark something in youth and youth culture so essentially young people would recognize he power of speaking up, questioning authority and addressing the times in which they lived. I essentially found it important to show up at these places where emerging poets and slam competitions what have you were going on across the world as sort of a representative of the idea. Also because I'm someone who consciously made a decision to follow through, to live my life as as a poet, a musician and performer, to think well beyond what the constraints what a competition is in poetry where I have three minute restrictions and I have people that write things more so for an audience. But I have really amide sure I've always written for myself for that cathartic transformative sense of wealth that poetry provides for those that delve into it. It is an isolating and isolated art if you commit to it. but it's wonderful to have these communities where people are charged with the power of language and word sound vibration and are reminded of the potentiality of their voice speaking up to the times.
Me: Hmmm. Okay, so hearing those young poets, what does that do for you?
Saul: Well, at this point sometimes I get teary eyed if you want to know the truth. Do you want to know the truth, Jason?
Me: Yeah, of course. Why do you get teary eyed?
Saul: I figured you did. When I first started this I was there also because I was also explaining what slam competition was.
Me: To who? The audience?
Saul: Yeah, I was explaining the audience. A lot of time has passed and now there are tons of young kids who I met when they were fifteen and twelve starting to write poems and now have Masters and what have you in poetry. It's inspiring for me. It excites me because it's a seed that I helped plant. There are many gardeners but it's a seed I helped plant many years ago. I think it's wonderful to go back to the garden and think go my gosh, look how much it's grown.
Me: What was it like back then when you first got up on stage?
Saul: It was March 16th, 1995 at a place called the Broken Moon Cafe in Fort Green, Brooklyn. I was not familiar with poetry slam competitions at that time and I was hardly familiar with the idea of reciting a poem at an open mic except for the previous October someone had invited me out to an event and that event happened to me an open mic poetry performance. I saw a number of poets and I thought wow, this is amazing. I was a real hip hop head at the time and I was wondering where all the people who were the lovers of lyrics were. Showing up at that open mic I was blown way by the attention to craft and what have you. I thought wow, if I ever encounter one of those events maybe I'll have something written that I'll share. And so on March 16th, 1995 I ended up just passing by a cafe near my house in Fort Green. The windows were steamed which made me go what's going on in there. It was a poetry reading, so I signed my name on the list and I went last. I read a poem that I've just finished that day called "Amethyst Rocks." That poem which is in the courtyard scene in Slam I read that poem for the first time and someone came up to me afterwards and said, "Hey, Allen Ginsberg's rating at NYU, we'd love you to open up for him." Someone else said, "Amiri Baraka's reading at another school, we'd like you to open up for him." Another person came up to me and said, "The Last Poets, Gil-Scott Heron is performing at this place, we want you to open up for them." Another said, "The Fugees are performing at Rock Against Racism in Union Square in New York and we want you to open up for them." I had one poem.
Me: How did that make you feel? That must of been a pretty impressive poem, Saul.
Saul: Jason, my WHOLE life transformed.
Me: What were you doing with your life before all this happened? S
Saul: I was in graduate school at NYU studying acting.
Me: You didn't give acting, right?
Saul: It's not far. I still am and it wasn't very far. In fact I realized because of my love of Shakespeare as a kid for example. I loved primarily three things growing up. Breakdancing, rapping and Shakespeare theater. And with all the time I spent reading Shakespeare in my spare time, not in the classroom, on the weekends, in the car, I jut thought it was fun and funny what was happening with the language. Also possibly because my father was a minister, I was exposed to that old English, let's say in the King James version of the Bible but it was pointed one direction. Then I would read that other English Shakespeare book that had another direction. I thought it was hilarious with all the layers of meaning, what have you. I was blown away by it, I didn't THINK I was studying poetry. Also the fact that I was studying theater all of that time my favorite part of theater was sitting around a table and breaking down the beats and all of that was in the writing of a play before we put it on its feet. Once again I didn't think of the fact I was learning how to analyze poetry. I had put a lot of hours into the craft before I even realized what I was doing.
Me: You define yourself as a poet even with all the other stuff you have done, am I right?
Saul: That is new though. You should know that it's been about 20 years now that I've been reciting poems and the first ten or fifteen years if someone asked me are you a poet my response was always a little twisted. I'll go well, I write poems.
Me: Why was that?
Saul: Because I felt arrogant. I consider it arrogant. I was very good. From the very very moment I came out people were like "you're an amazing poet" and I'd be like thank you, I was extremely humbled and I am extremely humbled by it and I saw it something as a beautiful thing to be called and maybe a little arrogant to be call myself that... at the time. Maybe it was because I felt I hadn't studied it enough. So it was wonderful that older posts and all sorts of people saying, "you're a poet, bro." I was like well, I studied philosophy and drama. I'd love to earn that title, I don't know if I earned it in my estimation yet. So it took me sometime for me to acknowledge that in myself. At this point now I go yes, I'm a poet. I love saying it at the border when the customs officer asks what do I do. They ask, "If you're a poet what are you doing in this country?"
Me: So, are you still writing poems?
Saul: I've been working on a huge project which has many titles. Overall the name of the project is Martin Loser King. It's a graphic novel, it's three albums and it's a film called Neptune Frost the Musical and it's about hackers in East Africa. So I've been focusing a lot on technology what have you. I wrote a poem called "Coltan his Cotton." Coltan is a precious mineral which is in all of our smart phones and laptops. Primarily mined in Central Africa and the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, we all have a little piece of it in our pockets right now or in our hands.
Me: Interesting. Okay, so I feel that you think poetry as more than words... is that a stupid question?
Saul: I think poetry as the economy of language. It's exactly that. The white of the page. And I think of the relation to the stage, I look at the white on the page as performance space. Even in a poem like "Coltan is Cotton" there's so much more that could be said. I'm just choosing key words that could then have a whole terabyte of information within each key word for someone to go in and go whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are those mining companies that are based in Toronto. What is coltan? What relationship do they have with this? And it's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. Especially as I said I've been fixated on technology, I've been writing about technology for a few years now and it's very impressionable. It's affected how I look at things. But technology is the same way, we get thinner and thinner cell phones, flatter and flatter television screens, wireless. It's all about the streamlining of ideas and possibilities just like poetry.
Me: Okay, enough about poetry. Let's talk about music. I didn't know that Rick Rubin produced your first album "Amethyst Rock Star." You have a new album out called "Encrypted & Vulnerable." Is it hard to separate the poetry from the music?
Saul: I don't know I would. But in terms of my creative process certainly. The thing I guess a lot of people know I make music but I don't know if they understand I actually MAKE the music the majority of the time. A lot of times when the words are not there I may instead of picking up a journal and pen go to a drum machine or keyboard or bass, guitar or something else and a lot of times I am able to shape that silence through sound. Then that sound may inspire a word or two. The evolution of that has been interesting for me.
Me: What can you tell us about the album, Saul?
Saul: It's mixed by a wonderful friend and artist named Gonjasufi and produced by myself. I find that music through time the music has become the poetry and I'm actually saying less. And less. That's been my own personal journey. It's actually the journey of a lot of poets becoming sound poets as time progresses. So I get it makes sense.
Me: Is there a difference in the way that you write to music then?
Saul: Yes, there is a difference then when I'm just really writing for the page.
Me: When you get up to perform either poetry or music do you do it for the audience or for yourself?
Saul: The writing process it for myself. The sharing process is to disrupt the system. It is to shake that stillness. It's the spark that raises every necessary question that surrounds everything from Indigenous rights to oppression of the voices of women to the voices if the disfranchised. Yes. I want to spark the thing that's going to shift the system. Art can play a role in that, not the only role, but art can play a role in that. I believe in the power of art and so there's part of the practice for me, the excitement. My most excited time is when I'm home alone making stuff. Making the work. Then the next level of excitement is going to be so fun to share it.
Me: Saul, you're an interesting cat. Thanks for being on the Phile. I hope it was fun. Stay well.
Saul: It's a pleasure to be here and you should try to slam.
Me: Yeah right. Hahaha. The only thing I could slam is a Starbucks iced mocha.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Saul Williams for an interesting interview. The Phile will be back tomorrow with actress and model Dominique Jackson from "Pose." Spread the word, not the turd... or the 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
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