School board: It's completely safer for kids to go back to school. Teachers: So you met in person to discuss this? Teachers: LMAO. What, are you nuts? Of course not. Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Wednesday. How are you? Public school teachers in Washington, D.C. have lined up fake body bags outside the school system’s officers to protest the return to the classrooms. Debbie Truong, an education reporter for WAMU 88.5, went to Twitter to post a photo of the bags outside. Check it out...
The filled garbage bags were tied with duct tape and places outside along with signs, reading, “RIP FAVORITE TEACHER.” Mayor Muriel Bowser announced he will decide later this week if the city’s public school will partially reopen. Parents are asked to fill out a survey on the matter. As the start of the new school year approaches, there have been several arguments about issues of schools reopening around the country. Some believe the children are better off in the classroom since the death rates for children from the coronavirus are low, and the children are “unlikely” to transmit the virus to adults in their lives. That being said, others assert that the data on the transmission is still very unclear, nothing the safest thing to do is keep classrooms closed in order to protect both the teachers and the students. The Trump administration, along with President Donald Trump, has repeatedly pushed its desire for students to go back to school full time, with instruction to accommodate and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Teacher unions across the U.S. are objecting to push the return to in classroom instructions. According to the Daily Wire, there a number of the nation’s largest teacher’s unions who signed onto a “safe schools” pledge with outlines eight demands that must be met before members of the Boston Teachers Union, the Chicago Teachers Union, and other return back to work. The demands include proper virus prevention measures, PPE, additional sterilization and cleaning, and social distancing. It also calls for the removal of community and police resource officers from school buildings, a tax on Wall Street and billionaires, and the end of charter schools, voucher programs, and private education. As of today, John Hopkins University & Medicine have recorded 4,375,217 coronavirus cases in the United States with a death toll of 149,684.
One woman is breaking barriers by becoming the U.S. Navy’s first black female tactical jet pilot for the U.S. Navy. Through a new video released by the Navy, Lt. j.g. Madeline “Maddy” Swegle stated, "I don’t think the goal in my life is to necessarily be the first at anything. That was never something that I set out to do, [piloting] was just something I was interested in and I found out later. I am really honored that I get to wear the wings and get to fly planes and call myself a pilot.” Her winging ceremony is set to take place on July 31st, 2020. Swegle, who is a Virginia native, became a U.S. Navy’s tactical air (TACAIR) pilot on July 7th, completing her final undergraduate training in a T-45C Goshawk training aircraft. This paved the way for her to fly aircraft like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter and the EA-18G Growler. Through Twitter, the Naval Air Training shared the good news, writing...
She is currently assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21. Matthew Maher, commanding officer of training, stated that in order to get to that level, one must be a top performer since these are one of the best pilots in the world trained by the best. He noted, “It takes long hours, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and a commitment to excellence day in and day out. They’re going to go out and make all of us very proud." The student naval aviator will receive her Wings of Gold during a small ceremony at Naval Air Station located in Kingsville, Texas, on July 31st. Vice Adm. DeWolfe “Bullet” Miller III, commander of the Naval Air Forces, released a statement, speaking about Swegle’s accomplishment, noting, “Lt. j.g. Swegle has proven to be a courageous trailblazer. She has joined a select group of people who earned Wings of Gold and answered the call to defend our nation from the air. The diversity of that group... with differences in background, skill, and thought... makes us a stronger fighting force.” Swegle said she had always dreamed of being a pilot since she was young after her parents would take her to see the Blue Angels, a Navy flight demonstration squadron. She noted her parents always told her she could be whatever she set her mind to. The pilot called the process of training with a higher performance aircraft at this level exhilarating, rewarding, and daunting at the same time. She noted, “[Jet piloting] is fun because it is difficult at the same time. I know that I had to work to get [the jet] to behave and it took a lot of fighting the aircraft and figuring out how it was going to perform. Looking back it’s amazing to think about where I started and I had never been on an airplane before, so it’s just one step at a time. It’s really cool to think of all of the things I’ve done now which I’d never think I’d be able to do.” Swegle is following the footsteps of Brenda Robinson. Robison is the first black female Naval aviator who earned her Wings of Gold on June 6th, 1980.
A Minnesota couple with suboptimal communication skills has been banned from Walmart stores after being filmed and confronted by shoppers for wearing Nazi flag face masks in the store. The middle-aged couple, who were spotted in a Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota, were confronted by several shoppers, including Benjamin Ruesch and Raphaela Mueller, who posted a now viral video of the couple to Facebook. Mueller, who is a native of Germany, was clear and unequivocal in her denunciation of the couple on Facebook. When confronted, the pair of genius be-Swastika’d Walmart shoppers were quick to explain that they themselves are not Nazis, but are instead warning others what this country is heading towards with its mask orders and longtime moderate politicians being nominated for president. “I’m not a Nazi. I’m trying to show you what’s going to happen in America,” Swastika Lady tells Mueller and Ruesch. “If you vote for Biden you’re gonna be in Nazi Germany. That’s what it’s going to like.” Nazi Lady’s male companion, Swastika Guy, then chimes in with roughly the level of historic literacy you would expect from a guy wearing a Swastika at Walmart, saying, “We’re living under a socialist state.” The Nazis, though called the National Socialist Party, quite famously, uh, hated socialists actually. So much so that they invaded the world’s most powerful socialist nation, slaughtering millions of their socialist citizens in the process. When confronted by Walmart employees the couple still refused to take off their masks. Local police were called the couple was issued trespass notices and banned from Walmart facilities nationwide for at least one year.
A woman who was swimming off the coast of Maine on Monday was killed in the first shark attack fatality in the state’s entire history. Authorities say that the victim, 63-year-old Julie Dimperio Holowach of New York City, was killed by a Great White Shark while swimming off the shore of Bailey Island with her 20-year-old daughter. Her daughter was uninjured in the attack. Holowach appeared to be attacked by the shark around 3:20 p.m. Kayakers were able to pull her body to shore where she was, unfortunately, pronounced dead by EMS responders. The U.S. Coast Guard also responded to the attack. At the time of the attack Holowach was wearing a wet suit and officials speculate that... though it is not clear why the attack actually did occur... the shark might have mistaken Holowach’s dark silhouette for a seal. Several seals in the area have recently been observed with bite marks, and a seal’s body was found washed up on shore in Phippsburg, Maine with a 19-inch bite wound, though experts say that is fairly normal. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries was able to determine that a Great White was the type of shark that attacked and killed Holowach by identifying a tooth fragment recovered from Holowach’s body. Not only was Holowach’d death the first fatal shark attack ever recorded in Maine, it was only the third recorded shark attack at all in the state’s history. The other two occurred in 2010 and 1837, respectively. According to the International Shark Attack File there were 64 unprovoked shark attacks in the entire world last year, and only two of those were fatal. Shark attacks are down in 2020, which experts believe is due primarily to worldwide quarantining.
This seems untrue. For one thing, I’m alive. For another, most people I know are alive. So take this information with a grain of salt... “science” basically comes out with new findings that everything will either increase or decrease your lifespan about once a month. Still, it’s worth noting. According to a paper studying the alcohol consumption and health effects of 600,000 people, those over 40 who are drinking alcohol beyond what doctors say is the weekly healthy limit cut a quarter of an hour off their lives for every extra pint of drinking beer. Maybe lay off the alcohol intake a bit, yeah? Is this true? Maybe. But who cares. The real truth is that how long you live has more to do with genetics and luck than anything else. Binge drinking alcoholic beverages and other unhealthy activity will probably affect the quality of your remaining life, though. But unless your daily alcohol use is ripping alcoholic drinks such as vodka shots like a Russian sailor or eating whole stuffed crust pizzas for lunch and dinner, chances are even these super unhealthy dietary guidelines and alcohol’s effects won’t be huge. Don’t forget, however, that excessive drinking can actually become alcohol abuse too, okay? Also, once you reach 90 there’s another study that says you should increase your moderate alcohol consumption. Whatever. These studies are all contradictory anyway. X has health benefits that are good for you. No, wait, X will cause health problems and health risks for you and Y is good for you. AHHCTSHOOO-ALLLEEEEE, it’s all about Z though X isn’t as bad as we thought (but Y will murder you in your sleep). Aside from heroin, tumors, and being stabbed, it’s unclear if anyone can unanimously agree on anything regarding what’s “moderate drinking." So, really, you should forget all of it. Besides, if all you “moderate drinkers” take fifteen minutes off your life with an extra beer or glass of wine there’s probably some bullshit way to put those fifteen minutes back onto your life. A spinach smoothie or yoga or owning a dog. Or maybe cut back on all the beer drinking next time? It’s all about balance. Your heart health matters too, and no one wants to deal with high blood pressure or liver disease. But, uh, yeah. Too much beer consumption might kill you a little if you have too much of it. Maybe moderate consumption should be redefined for all the beer drinkers in the good ol’ United States. Stay tuned... forever... for more information.
Ladies, girls, did you read the "Sweet Valley Twins" books growing up? I thought this was an odd one...
Do you watch the "Antiques Roadshow"? I think they are getting lazy with their descriptions...
Hahahaha. Did you know Donald Trump was supposed to be the villain in Star Wars? This is what it would look like...
Sugar-free gummy bears might seem like a great idea in theory. But, like so many things being sold to us in a capitalist society, there is a catch. Anyone who's ever tried (or worse, binged) on sugar-free candy knows exactly what that catch is. If you're not sure, just check out this review from an Amazon listing for a 1-lb. bag of Haribo SUGAR FREE Classic Gummi Bears.
I love that kids are prank their parents with food puns...
Hahahahaha. Okay, so, if I had a TARDIS I would go to and try to meet Queen Elizabeth II in the 1950s but knowing my luck she would be driving Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
Even now she drives herself frequently and almost every Sunday there’s lots of great news footage of her blasting out the front gates of her residence sending the waiting paparazzi running for their lives. She is the only person in the U.K. who is permitted to drive without a license. Mostly because they’re issued in her name, so requiring her to have a license doesn’t make much sense. Okay, so, you can be friends with someone for years, but never really know them until you're forced to live with them for a few days... Everyone's true colors come out when someone gets to look behind the curtain at how you behave in your home or someone else's home. Being a good house guest usually means being clean, respectful, and offering to be helpful with household chores such as cooking or doing the dishes. There are definitely some people who take the phrase "what's mine is yours" a little too seriously and abuse the generosity of their hosts. Then, aside from the general expectations of cleanliness or respect for the actual house, things can always get awkward with friends when discussing politics, religion, or marriage and parenting preferences. So, when a recent Phile reader emailed me for some advice on how to handle a particularly judgmental polyamorous house guest I decided to help.
"Am I wrong for telling my friend to 'keep her polyamory shit to herself' or leave my home? I know it sounds bad, but context is everything. My friend Emily is staying with my husband and I for a week. She was evicted from her apartment after an incident with her ex-boyfriend, and she had just two weeks until her new lease started and nowhere to go, so she's staying on our apartment. One of the house rules I gave her was no visitors/partners. Emily is poly, and she has 5 current partners, and when I told her none would be able to visit (as I am an asthmatic and am trying to stay safe) there was a lot of complaining. Twice she compared her experience of me not allowing a visit from her partners to homophobia, which pissed me off because I'm queer and she's straight, and that's a hell of a thing to accuse a queer person of. Well, ignored her, because I feel like it's my house, my rules. In two weeks (only 5 days left!) she can resume life as normal. Next came the 'discussions' as to why monogamy is 'morally wrong.' These happen almost every night at dinner, when my husband and I have finished a long day of work. We are at our dinner table and have to be lectured by a houseguest as to why monogamous relationships defy nature, how they're all destined to fail in a pile of cheating and jealousy, and how much more enlightened poly is. I have no problem with poly, but I just see it as a preference, not an inherently better relationship model. We ignored that behavior as well. She broke us last night however. For some reason I was feeling sweet (probably all the wine I had), and decided to pull out my wedding album (I know, dumb choice to make with Emily there, as I now see in retrospect). I was looking through pictures with her, and I pointed out that the ceremony pic is my favorite because it's just super cute and she says, 'Yeah it's cute, but it's kind of a lie to promise a lifetime to someone. It's just not realistic.' Well I blew up. I told her to 'keep your polyamory shit to yourself or find somewhere else to sleep for free.' I then went to my room, slammed the door, and cried. I haven't spoken to her since. My husband is on my side, he's been sick of the lectures from her, especially considering how often Emily texts us "SOS bad breakup, let's get drinks." I just can't take the condescension and lectures in my own home. Am I crazy? We are doing her a favor by letting her stay with us and she's even been eating the meals I cook! Am I being a rude and controlling host?" Wow, this is a lot! She is a guest in your home, if she cannot abide by your rules and respect you then she can find another place to crash at until she can go somewhere else. You are indeed doing her a favor and she should be grateful for that instead of complaining at every turn. If you were saying how all poly relationships are bad and will all fail and are morally wrong, she would have been upset and rightfully so. So why is it okay when she does it to you? Also not wanting to be exposed to 5 other people during a pandemic isn't homophobic its responsible. Your house. Your rules. You also make it very clear WHY. Instead she decided to develop a persecution complex like a teenager. She's an adult, she can go make her various life mistakes under a different roof she didn't pay for. I'd go one step further and boot her since she has such an issue with monogamy. Friends like her you don't need. So, there you have it! This friend was definitely out of line to constantly criticize monogamy while being a guest in the home of a monogamous couple. Being a guest (especially when people are gracious enough to take you in during a pandemic) requires grace and gratitude, and telling your hosts that their marriage will fail is incredibly rude. Plus, if you have five partners something must be off if not a single one of them wants to take you in. Good luck, everyone! If you have a problem you'd like me to help with then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Alright, let's take a live look at Port Jefferson, New York, shall we? My favorite place on Earth...
Looks like a beautiful evening there. Okay, you know I live in Florida, right? Here's another story from this crazy ass state.
A 20-year-old Florida man tried to get his money’s worth, by leaving bits of cocaine on his nose for later. Unfortunately for him, things quickly went sour because he was pulled over for a traffic stop near Hillsborough County. During interrogation, two deputies from Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office noticed the passenger, 20-year-old Fabricio Jimenez, had some sort of white powdery substance on his nose. When questioned what it was, Jimenez probably told them it was the doughnut he had eaten earlier that day, but of course, they didn’t buy it. So, Jimenez’s nose was quickly swabbed, and to no surprise, the substance tested positive for powder cocaine. Obviously. The police officers also found a backpack in the car with 250 grams of marijuana and 13 Xanax pills. But wait, it doesn’t end there. Deputies also found a small bag of cocaine on Jimenez during a search, and after questioning he told police that the cocaine on him (literally on him) wasn’t his. Cue the eye rolls and the laughter! This is so dumb. I swear, these Florida residents amaze me more every single day. This kid really tried, honestly, he did. I’m gonna give him a B+ just for trying and saying the first thing that popped into his head. Unfortunately, police officers didn’t think it was that funny and were quick to arrested him on drug charges. My question here is, what happened to the driver? Where is he… did he not have any cocaine on his nose? Was he also arrested? I need some answers here, please. I am highly invested in this story now. Also, I feel like this is the stupidest way to get caught using drugs. It could have so easily been avoided, but no… he is just too lazy to wipe his nose. Florida for ya.
“Would you rather crash on a friend’s couch or the freeway?” would be a good campaign slogan against drinking and driving.
The 133rd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Debbie Harry will be the guest on the Phile in a few weeks. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...
Top Phive Things Said By Teachers Or Parents About Reopening Schools During Coronavirus
5. You don't think not having school negativity impacts kids? I have three boys who are crying... real tears... because they can't go back to school this year. Crying. And I can't do shit about it except vow to dismantle the public school system.
4. Can't keep 900 baseball players safe with almost unlimited resources but sure we can protect millions of kids jammed into schools where teachers have to raise money on GoFundMe for pencils and shit.
3. New plan: Everyone advocating for fulls school reopening with no plan nor budget for proper supports and resources, must volunteer for one month of substitute teaching duty (to fill the inevitable shortage when teachers must self quarantine or are sick when exposed.) Every. One.
2. The speed we went from "teachers are under appreciated, we should pay them triple!" to "Get in the classroom and watch the children so we can get back to work, even if it kills you" is quite breathtaking.
And the number one thing said by a teacher or parent about reopening schools during coronavirus is...
1. Schools will cancel over the threat of bad warner but they expect your kids on the bus during a global pandemic.
Today's guest is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. His documentary Grass Is Greener is available to see on Netflix. Please welcome to the Phile, the great Fab 5 Freddy!
Me: Yo! Hello, Fab, hello, sir! How are you? Welcome to the Phile.
Fab: I'm doing great, Jason. Great to be here.
Me: So, I have to mention something... when I researched you I thought it was cool that the famous jazz drummer Max Roach was your godfather. Is that right? How did that happen?
Fab: Yeah. Abbey Lincoln, who was his then wife, was my godmother back then. Max and my dad grew up together in Brooklyn and Max became a very important musician, one of the architects of the sound we know as be-bop.
Me: Did Max ever see you rap?
Fab: Yep. What happened was when I was not trying to be a rapper but when it was this cool thing developing in the streets through the 70s and early 80s Maxie came by to visit the family. I wasn't home and later when I got home my dad said, "Hey, Max was by today asking what you've been doing, what you've been up to." My dad told him, "He's working on some DJ music thing with some DJ's across the street." Max was very curious and wanted to see it. I thought, man, this is crazy, I had to do it because I couldn't chicken out but Max was so excited and it's one of the most landmark moments in my life. I thought he was just telling me all this stuff to make me feel good. I was just a young kid trying to figure it out. But he said, man, this is going to be so big. "I get what you guys are doing. You're breaking down music just to rhythms."
Me: What year was this about?
Fab: This was probably about 1980-'81 when this encounter happened. And later hip-hop would be really huge and I would be on MTV hosting this show "Yo! MTV Raps."
Me: You never know how these things are going to turn out, right?
Fab: No.
Me: Before you were a rapper what did you do?
Fab: I was a graffiti artist and formed this bridge between art and the more art established world.
Me: How hard was it to get the art establishment in New York attention?
Fab: Well, it was kinda like it wasn't so much as the art establishment really. We were trying to come in from another way like we came in through the side door if you will because my idea was to connect with these people on the new wave, the punk rock scene. There were some cool people I reached out to I was connecting with. People like in the group Blondie, people like Lionel Brian, people like Glenn O'Brien, people who were on the downtown New York scene counter-culture making things happen in a really unique way. I was like I'm a person from the graffiti world, I'm trying to make some moves into the art scene, I saw the connection between the new music developing in the streets the the graffiti. I saw an energy connection to what was going on in new wave and punk rock and they totally got it, embraced me. Then we started to collaborate and exchanged ideas and things like that. Then I met a guy named Jean-Michel Basquiat who was a painter and passed away really young. He was super well known and we were partners, close friends. We made similar moves at the same time and got love from those people and helped us make noise and THEN the art world began to check us out.
Me: I lived in Long Island at the time and I was into the new wave scene and a little in the punk scene, but wish I paid a lot more attention to it even though I was a kid. That stuff is remarked as amazing now in retrospect but as you held a lot of events in those two worlds did intermingling seem unusual to you at the time?
Fab: It was because it didn't happen in New York. New York was a lot more polarized. A lot of the country is still is with the crazy political nightmare that we deal with now. Basically in New York a lot of things were polarized around racial lines, like sections of the city where different ethnic groups lived, people didn't move around in and out of those neighborhoods so particularly even on the downtown scene it wasn't like a mixed scene but when the powers that be, the people I connected with were open to these ideas, when they heard this music people just started moving. They were curious about things, those open minded creative types I was able to connect with and they got it early on. That sparked people connecting and things coming together and enjoyed being around different people. That happened in New York spurred on by the hip-hop scene and helped a lot of other things jump off. Blondie made a record called "Rapture" which mentions me.
Me: That's how I know I heard your name! "Fab 5 Freddie told me everybody's high. DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind. Flash is fast, Flash is cool." Ha! What was it like when you heard Blondie mention you in the song? She's going to be on the Phile in a few weeks.
Fab: A lot of people when they first heard rap heard it on that record and didn't know what the hell what was going on until other pieces of the puzzle came out. They were like wait a minute, this is a whole scene.
Me: Hip-hop is just not a kind of music, right? Didn't you say rap, graffiti, DJ'ing, and break dancing are all part of it? Why do you think all those things fall under the hip-hop umbrella?
Fab: I was a little bit selfish in a way but I was kind of wanted to open a door for a lot of people. It's kind of I wanted to create for a person that was intentionally for focusing on making visual art. There was nothing positive in the press about graffiti. A lot of it was just straight vandalism, let's be honest. But we were just wild kids trying to let out this energy which is why it was this massive thing across the entire city. Every ethnic kind of background of kids did it but there were certain people that went super duper hard and it developed into something you know. I guess the idea was to create a world where that people could see what we were doing apart of a culture because it was only looked at as really negative or really with a lot of racism really motivating it. Those black and Spanish kids, they're just bad and are wrong and they vandalize so I wanted to create a look like a complete culture with a form of music and a form of dance and a form of visual art if you will and bring all these things together. In the movie Wild Style it really helped to embed the concept out there and it really caught on.
Me: Hmmm. How did the movie Wild Style help?
Fab: It was a way it represented a lot of people in New York who had very little to nothing creating this world that we could kind of entertain ourselves. A lot of other people felt the need for the same thing wherever they were to the point where we are talking right now like the most dominate kind of music in the world actually is hip-hop which is crazy to me.
Me: Why do you think that is?
Fab: Every ethnicity of kid everywhere finds a way to express themselves using these toys that we kind of shared with everybody.
Me: I have to say I love the song "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. That beat everyone rapped over. What made that beat so great that everyone used?
Fab: Wow. That's a good question. First of all that's Chic's "Good Times" and that was the record that was a real pivotal dance and fink just an incredible record that was also a big part of what became known as disco. And it just had something to the record where the breakdown basic grove was easy to rap over which what was going on at that time. That was a point in time where a lot of hip-hop was still on the street, it's underground. This was the late 70s and like when that right record came out, the record with the right feel, DJ's would play it, kids would just want to get on the mic and the whole idea of mixing back and forth between two turntables with that steady groove going, that one particular breakdown part that became the thing.
Me: I had Nile Rodgers on the Phile a while ago and we talked about "Good Times." He told me the story of Debbie Harry talking him to what was known back then was a Hip Hop where apparently you and other acts were taking turns rhyming over the "Good Times" beat. This is what he said... "I couldn't believe it because the only song that was played was 'Good Times.' It was just over, and over, and over and over again for maybe about four hours. And I was going aren't they sick of this song by now? They were not sick of it and every MC was lined up and they had their rhyme ready for 'Good Times.' It was incredible." So, did he get it right?
Fab: Yeah, essentially he's right. I mean people loved the record but not for four hours. There were dozens of great records that DJ's would play and cut up but essentially his record was a foundation and a pivotal song at a critical time. In fact in the movie Wild Style a DJ by the name of Grand Mixer DXT is cutting this record, it was the most incredible visual look at the art of scratching at high level at that time still in the movie and that sparked so many people. He's cutting "Good Times" and a lot of acts at that level of Nile Rodgers who were super big mainstream hip-hop acts weren't feeling this new thing that were coming on. They were disrespecting us, the music, the culture. Some of it I understood because we were so radical and different. That's why intentionally I felt the energy between what the new wave and punk rock people were doing, And when I talked to them, especially the intellectuals like Chris Stein, Debbie, Glenn O'Brien, David Byrne from the Talking Heads, they all agreed and they all got it. So the way they were challenging the more established like rock and roll and the more established art world we were going at what was most established in black music if you will. Nile with opened arms he embraced it. People like George Clinton embraced it, people like James Brown embraced it. But their were a lot of other people who were like "get out of here, that's not music. What are you guys doing? You're clowns. This is a trend. This is a passing fad." How many times have I been interviewed do you think I was asked how long did I think this was going to last. Are you going to ask me that?
Me: No, because I feel like you knew. You donated your personal memorabilia to the New York Public Library. Classic hip-hop photos and videos... you wouldn't held on to that stuff if you didn't know this was going to last, right?
Fab: Well, I'll be honest with you, you are really good in the way you have sharpened this which is you're right, but I didn't realize would continue in such a strong and dominate way. We're talking forty plus years from when I first had this ideas. The thing is I was kind of raised in a household aware of history, my dad and his friends were super smart, super cool guys that would discuss things with a historical prospective and a global prospective. I didn't realize how much that had rubbed off on me until I began to make movies and do my thing. Major institutions in America is teaching this and then just in terms of wait a minute, I just realized what I had them to become more significant and what I thought it would be interesting to people. What typically happens archives, it normally happens when someone has passed on. But I'm very much obviously still in the building, I'm still here, the rest has yet to come. The idea that they will now be able to digitize my hundreds of VHS tapes, my cassette tapes. Do you know how much time it would take to take the VHS tapes and put them on digital? It's a lot of work.
Me: I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked Nile. When it's time to make the Fab 5 Freddy movie, the movie is over, the credits come on, what song is playing?
Fab: Wow. Ha ha ha. You got good questions here, Jason. What song? Hmmm. It could easily be this song I may change the beat, which at least just the music because the song had this weird thing that happened at the end of the B-side of my record, they took my voice going "ahhh" the stuff was really fresh and they ran it through a vocorder and they gave it like a robotic almost vocorder kind of sound. Then DXT screeched that sound on Herbie Hancock's "Rocket." Then hundreds of DJ's followed and hundreds of records used it as a sample, as a scratching sound. It's the most sampled record and that's my song "Change the Beat."
Me: Fab, thanks for being on the Phile. I hope this was fun.
Fab: Thanks so much. Thanks for talking to me.
Hahaha. I never got to talk about the documentary. Oh, well. That was a great interview anyway. Thanks to Fab 5 Freddy. The Phile will be back on Monday with voice actor Bob Bergen. 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
