Pheaturing David Foster

 

Hey, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Wednesday. How are you? Melania Trump may no longer First Lady of the United States, but she left her mark on the White House rose garden... by decimating it. On the year anniversary of Melania's heavily-criticized redesign of the garden, NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss took to Twitter to remind people of the damage. "Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result... decades of American history made to disappear," he tweeted. Melania Trump, who apparently has both an "office" and a Twitter account (congrats!), responded to the criticism by calling Beschloss a fraud and a liar. 

As far as we know, this is Melania's first attempt to drag someone on Twitter (normally she claps back at the haters on a different platform: her jacket). And maybe, like gardening, Twitter clap-backs just aren't her thing. People quickly pointed out all the problems with the former First Lady calling Beschloss a fraud. They had a lot to work with. 

Now here's a guy who is already facing consequences for his wrongdoing. Last month at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, rapper DaBaby made homophobic and offensive comments about gay men and people living with HIV/AIDS, apropos of absolutely nothing. In the middle of his set, he said, "If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cell-phone lighter up." It's a patently false statement, as people with HIV and AIDS do not "die in two to three weeks," and they are not exclusively sexually transmitted. DaBaby also said, "Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up," which is just a stupid and mean thing to say. Imagine being in the midst of a live performance before thousands of enthusiastic fans and thinking, "I'm going to take this opportunity to slam people who are already slammed by society." DaBaby was dropped by big festivals including Lollapalooza and the Governor's Ball, and he's been denounced by his collaborators and music icons such as Elton John. Kanye West removed his remix of DaBaby's "Nah Nah Nah" from all streaming platforms. By August 2nd, the backlash was big enough that DaBaby posted an apology for his "hurtful and triggering comments" and "misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS." It appears that he neither wrote it nor meant it, because Monday he deleted the apology from his Instagram. DaBaby has deleted his apology to the LGBTQ+ community from his Instagram account. He has decided to stay homophobic after the apology failed to get him rebooked on festival lineups.

In what sounds like a real-life episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David was invited, then uninvited from former president Obama's big birthday blowout. After backlash from Fox News and everybody concerned about the pandemic that is very much still happening, Obama scaled down the guest list for his Gatsby-esque beachside mansion party. The New York Times published a comprehensive report on the updated guest list, and how upset Obama's former staffers were about having been dropped in favor of celebrities and influencers. Per The Times, "There was some solace among the government wonk set that they weren’t the only ones no longer welcome at porch drinks with Eddie Vedder, who was still expected to attend as of Friday. The late-night talk show hosts David Letterman and Conan O’Brien were also cut from the guest list. But on Saturday, as the celebrities began descending on the island, every new paparazzi shot sent a wave of hurt feelings through the Obama alumni network who had been cut and were left to track the party via the tabloids. Celebrity couples Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, as well as Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, were photographed arriving on the island ahead of the party, alongside actor Don Cheadle and comedian Stephen Colbert. Even a 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star, Kim Fields, was photographed flying into the island." They also had the scoop that Tom Hanks was still invited, "although it was not clear he would attend and he had recently been spotted in Greece." While Obama promised a "scaled-down" affair after the backlash, the party looks lit and the optics look awful.... almost as awful as Obama's dancing. 

Prettay, prettay, prettay bad. 

When you hear the name of the famous X-Men character, Wolverine, more often than not, you would immediately think of the amazing portrayal of Hugh Jackman as the mutant with three claws, may it be adamantium or bones. Finally, he breaks his silence on rumors spreading about his possible return in the Marvel Studios universe. With the possibility opened by the various alternate timelines in the finale of Loki, the arrival of the X-Men and other characters yet to arrive in the MCU is getting more and more plausible. In a recent chat of Hugh Jackman with "Jake’s Takes," however, he revealed that he would not be donning the Wolverine suit anytime soon as he said that he did not receive any news from Feige yet about it. In the interview, Jackman also shared how the film Logan helped him move on and say goodbye to his beloved character one last time and that when it was done, he knew that his time as Wolverine was up. He even joked about having Ryan Reynolds informed about that since the actor portraying Deadpool wouldn’t believe him. Surely, it would not be long enough until the mutants come storming the MCU and it would definitely be incomplete without Wolverine, one of the most famous characters in the franchise. Those claws would not lie and if and when the character arrives in the MCU, many fans are hoping to see Jackman wear the suit once more. Still, considering that the tenured actor seemed to have his mind made up already, whoever would fill in the shoes of Wolverine could definitely feel the pressure knowing that Jackman’s portrayal is unparalleled, so much that one could easily equate the character to him. It would really be a hard part to play but whoever the lucky actor would be should, at least, level with Jackman’s, better if he could do more and own the role. 

O.J. Simpson, the infamous former NFL Hall of Fame player says he avoids going back to Los Angeles out of fear of running into his ex-wife’s murderer. In an interview with The Athletic, where he came in as No. 41 on their ranking of top 100 NFL Players in history, Simpson claimed that he avoids Southern California, where he was accused of killing two people... one of which was his ex wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, because the real killer might still be out there. “People may think this is self-serving, but I might be sitting next to whoever did it,” he said in the interview where he maintained his innocence. “I really don’t know who did this.” Simpson was shockingly acquitted of the double murder in October 1995, which led to controversy during the time due to O.J. being a high-profile celebrity and the evidence being overwhelmingly in favor of him being the assailant. “I figured eventually somebody would confess to something, you know?” Simpson, whose real name is Orenthan James, continued on to say about the incident. “I had one suspect I told my lawyers to look at. I still think he might be involved, but I can’t talk about it.” When the criminal case against Simpson first started in January 1995, Simpson was the only credible suspect and the prosecutors found a multitude of incriminating evidence to support their position. 

Any stroll through a store would have you believe that "pink is for girls" and "blue is for boys" are the associated gender roles are the very backbone of our society. Products from nail clippers to hand lotion are assigned genders when last time I checked, inanimate objects don't have gender identities. Like any and all gender reveal cakes...

If I had a TARDIS I would stop 17-year-old Marcus Sergeant shooting blanks at the Queen in London in 1981. 

I am impressed at how she regained control of her horse. A year later a man climbed into her bedroom, asked for some cigarettes and a maid fetched them while the Queen called the police. Okay, so, teenage boys don't have the best reputation when it comes to video game moderation. And one mom decided to take a stand against her son's friend's over-the-line gaming habit by calling the cops on the kid. The mom emailed the Phile to ask if she'd gone too far when, after her son's friend wouldn't leave their house because he was so enthralled in his game, she called the police. She points out that the friend is brat right out of the gate.

"My son, Brian has a friend, Tom who I really dislike. To put it in the gentlest possible terms, Tom has never been disciplined a single day in his life, and is under the impression that there are and never will be any consequences for his actions. However, since Brian is on the spectrum, very few other children want to hang out with him. I have tried to tell him that Tom is using him for his Nintendo Switch, but he is unable to process that. Every time Tom comes over, he'll hog the Switch to play one of the games (often times a single player game). Over the weekend, Tom came over for a sleepover. As usual, he raced right up to Brian's room, turned on the game, and sat there for hours. He played until 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, and then he woke up at 10 a.m., and without joining us for breakfast, started playing more. At around 12, Brian had reached his limit and told Tom that it was time to go home. He was tuned out completely. Brian then came to me asking what he should do, and I told him to be more assertive. An hour later, he came back, basically in tears, saying that no matter what he said, Tom was just ignoring him or giving him short "a little more" answers. I walked in to find Tom, as usual, mouth breathing at the screen. I told him I had to drive him home, and Tom responded that he'd walk (it's like two miles). Then I told him that he had to go home, and the kid legitimately looked me in the eye and said, "No, I don't think I will." He actually tried to pull off the Captain America line. I then called his mother who didn't pick up. Finally, I unplugged the machine from the wall causing his game to turn off, but he attached the controller to the handheld part and sat on Brian's beanbag chair, again impervious to anything we said. At my limit, I went into the other room and called the police. Since we live in a small town, the police officer (a good friend of ours) came right over. He walked up to Tom and said the there had been complaints of trespassing, which Tom responded to by saying he was invited. The officer looked at me, and I assured him that we had asked him to go home. Then the officer asked if he wanted to be charged with misdemeanor trespassing. Tom finally got his act together and was taken home by the police, but on his way out I told him that he was never going to step foot in my house again. I told him not to talk to Brian at school and not to text Brian privately. An hour later Tom's mother called me and shrieked over the phone until hoarse about how horribly I had treated her son. I stayed calm and told her I had called her, but she said she was busy in a meeting and couldn't talk. I guarantee that Tom fed her some lie-filled story, but I didn't have the energy, told her to get her shit together as a parent, and just hung up on her. I've received dozens of anger-filled texts, both from Tom's mother and numbers I don't know. I wouldn't care what those trashy parents think, but I wonder if they have a point." I'm pretty much divided on this one. You took all the proper steps. At that point it was down to calling the police or physically dragging the little brat out of your home. Both for the child's safety and for you not getting sued, calling the police was the right thing to do. Obviously calling the police seems a little extreme, but Tom wasn't listening to any reason and he needed to learn that his actions have consequences. You have a right to protect your son and if calling your police friend to give Tom some form of discipline was the only method, then I agree. The kid was never in real danger, but the visit from the cop may make him think twice about his behavior in the future. He was asked to leave by your son. Then he was told to leave by your son. Then he was told to leave by you and refused. It's good he finally got to see that someone was not going to take his bad behavior. His mother needs to be a better parent. But you should’ve tried calling Tom’s mom a second time or followed up with a text. Before calling the cops. It’s not unreasonable for someone to miss a call because they were in a meeting. Bu tshayna324 points out that physically removing the kid on her own wasn't exactly a great option: I want to say calling the police is a little extreme, but that being said I also don’t know any other alternatives besides physically removing the kid from your house and I’m sure the mom would not have liked that! I understand where this mom was coming from, this might not have been the best solution in the long run. Tom sucks, but her kid's social life might suffer. If you have a problem you want my opinion on then email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. 

If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. 

On currency...

Okay, let's take a live look at Port Jefferson, shall we?

More landscaping going on. Now for some...

Phact 1. Some guy attempted to beat a world record by playing QBert for 100 hours straight on a single coin. His attempt failed because a thunderstorm shorted out the game after 56.5 hours of continuous gameplay. 

Phact 2. The lion roar sound effects used in The Lion King are not actual lions, but voice actor Frank Welker growling and screaming into a metal trash can. 

Phact 3. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, a different kind of nuclear reactor, could generate the entire world’s annual energy needs using 7,000 tons of thorium mined from an area the size of a football field. 

Phact 4. The president of Taiwan has two cats named Think Think and Ah Tsai who featured prominently in her presidential campaign. 

Phact 5. Frank Buckles, the last surviving soldier of World War I, lived for 110 years and died in 2011. When asked about his secret for long life, he simply offered, “When you start to die… don’t.” 

Today's guest is a is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His most recent album, "Eleven Words" came out last year and his 2009 memoir Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping the Charts, and Winning Grammys is the 155th and final book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. Please welcome to the Phile... David Foster.

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

David: I'm good, Jason, great to be here. 

Me: Congrats on receiving the 2019 humanitarian award for your lifelong dedication to charity work through his David Foster Foundation. What does it mean to be recognized now for that side of your work?  

David: It's a great feeling, it's a different feeling. This was precipitated by Michael Bublé I have to say who felt it was the right time. He's seen me over the last twenty years how hard I worked at my Foundation and how important it is to me. It's just not me, it's my name, but there's plenty of people behind the scenes that help me with it. 

Me: So, tell me about your Foundation. What was it like when you started it all those years ago? 

David: My Foundation had gotten to the point 20 years ago or so where I neglected it and we were down to like 49,000 dollars in the bank. I looked at that bank statement and went whoa. This is disgusting, I have to get on it. Since that day I've been on it, and on it and on it in a really hard way. 

Me: So, it's a lot better now I take it. Right? 

David: Nine years ago we had a bit of an epiphany with some new board members, brought in a new CEO, and we've just been crushing it ever since. We set a goal post of 30 million endowment, we reached it, we exceeded it and our new goal post is 50 million so to be guaranteed when I'm long gone, or done or can't get out of bed, this Foundation will continue the work that needs to be done. 

Me: So, that's kind of a legacy, am I right? 

David: It is. I could for all I know be a bigger legacy than my music, which would be fine with me. 

Me: When I was looking at your discography something came up that I never knew about... "Tears Are Not Enough" by a band called Northern Lights. I think two Phile alumni took part in that... Bryan Adams and Bruce Cockburn who was just here recently. What do you remember about that day? 

David: Funny you mentioned that because I was just talking about that in the car. I pulled up the video of the documentary and hadn't looked at it in 20 years. You know what I discovered besides making Neil Young do 13 takes on one line and Joni Mitchell doing 9 takes on one line, I discovered I was not only a taskmaster but I was a total control freak. I was pushing these people around like they were nobody's. I knew I learned to be a control freak but I didn't know I was that hardcore then. That was 34 years ago...? It was 1985. 

Me: You produced it? 

David: I think produced by me and written by Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams and myself, plus some French translation. 

Me: Who are some of the other people that were there, David? It's Canada's version of Band Aid and We Are the World, or whatever America's version was called, right? 

David: Yeah, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Ann Murray, Geddy Lee, Bryan Adams, Oscar Peterson, John Candy. It was a big list. 

Me: How do you remember that? This was some amazing people to work with. 

David: It's not in the forefront of my brain all the time but it is today because I looked at the video and it brought back great memories. When I'm in the studio for 14 hours working that hard to try and accomplish something so huge I forget that the cameras are there. So I got to see the real me. 

Me: Another song I didn't know you were a part of is "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr. What can you tell me about that catchy tune? 

David: So far you only mentioned number one songs. 

Me: Hmmmm... didn't realize. Anyway, what is the story about that song? 

David: I love that song for a lot of reasons. Written and co-written by my good friend John Parr. We wrote the song for the movie St. Elmo's Fire and we weren't getting inspired by the movie so my friend Chris Earthy sent me a tape of a young Rick Hansen on his Man in Motion tour and him raising his arms getting to the top of a hill and John Parr and I ran to the piano. Rick Hansen was the inspiration of that song. If you listen to the lyrics the lyrics have nothing to do with the movie St. Elmo's Fire. We say "all I need is a pair of wheels." If that isn't obvious I don't know what is. When we get to the chorus we gratuitously stick on the words "St. Elmo's fire" because we needed to do that for the movie. It's clearly about Rick and his tremendous effort and endeavor around the world, and it followed him around the world. It became a hit in the countries as he was hitting the countries. 

Me: Is this what led you to start your Foundation? 

David: Not in particular, no. I was led to the Foundation by a personal incident that happened to me, with a 5-year-old girl that needed a liver transplant. I visited her in the hospital and I asked her if she needed anything and she said, "I just want to see my sister." She was in Los Angeles and the sister was back in Victoria, British Columbia. I made that happen which was an easy 100 dollar airplane ticket. When the two looked at each other I was hooked. When tragedy strikes a family, not just with an organ transplant, any catastrophic disease it literally rips the family apart and they don't see each other for sometimes months when they're separated. Everything goes to hell, they lose their house, they lose their mortgage, they lose their car, they have to set up shop somewhere else in a strange city. Everything goes to hell so we are the one bright spot in the worst day of their life. At the end of the doctor's spiel where he has to give them the worse news possible he says, "But there is a Foundation that will help you financially through all this trouble, so you don't have to worry about that. Focus on your sick child." 

Me: That's wonderful, David. So, what you're all doing now is that all going back to that one little girl? 

David: A hundred percent and I think about that little girl almost every day. She unfortunately didn't make it. 

Me: Were you there when she saw her sister? 

David: Sure was. 

Me: What was that like? I would've cried. 

David: It's inevitable, too impossible to explain that moment when the two of them saw each other. 

Me: You have so many hits, David, I thought it'll be easier and quicker to name some and see what you say about them. Is that okay? 

David: Great. 

Me: "Un-Break My Heart"? 

David: Toni Braxton. She's incredible. That was her best record I think. 

Me: "After the Love Has Gone" by Earth, Wind & Fire. I had Verdine White here on the Phile before. 

David: One of my best songs. Earth, Wind & Fore changed my life. 

Me: I had Céline Dion on the Phile a while ago, so what about "All By Myself"? 

David: Do I actually have to say something about Céline Dion? She's a Canadian national treasure. 

Me: Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." 

David: He was 17 when he wrote it. 

Me: Michael Bublé's "Feeling Good." I met him and his son at work once and who I hoped to have on the Phile. Last year I missed an opportunity. 

David: Another Canadian icon. 

Me: I mentioned only five songs, and left out about forty. What do you think of your huge discography? 

David: Well, I'm old. 

Me: Me too. Okay, so, you met so many people and worked with so many people have you ever met anybody and wish you hadn't met them? 

David: Sure do. Sure have. 

Me: Anybody you wanna mention? You don't have to. 

David: David Crosby! 

Me: Really? I had him on the Phile twice. 

David: I won't tell you the whole story. We met later and he was great. 

Me: Do you hear anything in common with all the songs I just mentioned? 

David: I don't think so. I hear, to be truthful, what I think about them was my brain working. I go to a place like oh, yeah, that's what my brain was doing when I came up with that chord change between the verse and the chorus of "After the Love Has Gone." 

Me: Do you think hit songs tend to flow out of people? I do. 

David: Well, I would tend to respectively disagree with you. 

Me: Where do you think hit songs come from then? 

David: I think hit songs come through me and not from me. For instance, "After the Love Has Gone" I literally sat down in a moment of panic with Barry Gordy in a meeting and I played him some stuff and he didn't like it. I lied to him and said I have more. I went to the piano and literally sat down and that entire chorus fell out in real time. 

Me: Do you ever think you'll retire? 

David: Retire is a stupid work because I think I will work until I drop. 

Me: Didn't you retire once though? 

David: Honestly, Jason, after making records for 45 years I got bored with myself. I didn't have any new tricks, so better to leave when I still have the choice, rather to leave when they want me to leave. 

Me: When you listen to the radio now none of the music sounds like the stuff you do, am I right? 

David: Well, it DOESN'T sound like the stuff i do but I love listening to the radio. I love Top 40 radio. I don't know how to make that kind of music but fortunately when I stopped writing Top 40 hit songs I found Michael Bublé and Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli to take the place of Top 40 for me and we sold tons of records. 

Me: Are you happy you don't have to start all over again now? 

David: I am. However, having said that I'm not the guy complaining about the business. I think the business is still great. With the music business they're figuring out streaming, they're figuring out downloading. It took about 20 years to figure out but they did figure it out. And I'm find with it. If you talk to the Weeknd, Drake, Ariana or Ed Sheehan they think the music business is just great. They are loving the music business and I am happy with the music business. I'm not part of the Top 40 scene but that's okay. 

Me: Okay, so I have to mention "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston from The Bodyguard. I didn't know you were part of that song either. What was that like working on that? 

David: We were originally supposed to do "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted." But when you break the song down it's the entire song, there's just not much to the song. So I did a demo with Whitney, I didn't like it, when I played for her she didn't like it. She said please try again and so I tried a second demo with a different approach. She didn't like it, I didn't like it. Then Paul Young hit the charts with that song and I was pretending to be sad I called Kevin Costner and said, "You never guess what, it's a hit on Billboard now with Paul Young. We can't use the song anymore." He said, "Oh, no. Let me think about what I can do." The next day he goes "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton. I never heard the song but I mistakenly went to the record store and got Linda Ronstadt's version which didn't include the third verse. Then I egotistically called Dolly Parton as she was a friend of mine and said, "We just done your song with Whitney." She said, "That's great. I can't wait to hear it when it wraps up in the third verse." What third verse? There is no third verse. Ronstadt never did the third verse. That's the only version I knew and Dolly went berserk. Dolly said, "You got to do the third verse." So we went back into the studio and recut it. The third verse is where everything wraps up. It's the whole sum of the song. Thank God I made that phone call. 

Me: Hahahaha. That's a great story. And yes, I had Dolly on the Phile. I like the beginning of that song which is just Whitney singing, no music. That was rare for a song back then, right? 

David: Yeah, and I argued with Kevin too because it was his idea to do that. I said that's the stupidest idea I ever heard. I said he can have it for the movie that way but when I go finish the record I want to put music around it. I watched her do it in the movie because I was there when she was filming and she starts going "if I..." Oh, my God, boom! The whole world stopped. I was like wow, that's the way the record has to start. 

Me: All the artists that you worked with, David, do they have something in common? 

David: Me. Ha ha ha. 

Me: Hahahahaha. So, what's the difference between a star and a superstar? 

David: If you go to a party and you know Madonna is going to attend the party as you walk in the room, even though you don't see her you can feel whether she's there or not by the way the other people are acting. And conversely you can feel when she's left, even if you don't see her leave. 

Me: Do you think there's something mysterious and spiritual what can explain that? 

David: I do. Nothing that can explain that, I don't know what it is. 

Me: So, you won 16 Grammys, an Emmy and 6 Juno awards and you were nominated for an Oscar. Why didn't you win? What beat you? 

David: "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin. 

Me: What song of yours was nominated? 

David: "Glory of Love" from Karate Kid 2. 

Me: Your song is a better song. 

David: Thank you, but Top Gun was a better movie than Karate Kid 2. Don't you think? 

Me: I don't know, I didn't see either of them. 

David: Well, just so you know Top Gun had Tom Cruise, Iceman, Maverick, Kelly McGillis, sex, jets, jet fuel, aircraft carrier, it had everything. What did we have? We had the guy that starred in "Happy Days." 

Me: Hahahaha. So, you had a tour called An Intimate Evening With David Foster: Hitman Tour. How did it feel being back on stage again? 

David: Well, I never really been on the stage other than the last decade or doing charity shows. 

Me: Weren't you in a band back in the day called Skylark? 

David: We only did twenty dates back then. 

Me: So, what's the show like? 

David: It's sort of my life flashing in front of my eyes. 

Me: Is it you singing the hit songs? 

David: It is not me. I do a little thing at the piano where I cover about five or six songs in about three minutes. My wife, Katharine McPhee is with me. I learned, Jason, if I tell the right story about the songs and I have a great singer singing them the audience doesn't mind it's not Whitney or not Céline or Madonna or Bocelli. They're okay with a great singer singing the songs. 

Me: I didn't know Katharine McPhee was your wife, David. Nicely done! 

David: Yep, she is. 

Me: Do you think a bad artist good make a good song great? 

David: I think a bad singer could have a hit with a great song but I think great singer could not have a hit with a bad song. 

Me: David, thanks so much for being on the Phile. I hope this was fun. 

David: You're good, good questions, this was fun. 

Me: One last question, sir. What's your favorite song of all time? 

David: "Send in the Clowns." That's my favorite song, I don't know why. It's the lyrics, I think, so sad. I'm guessing yours if "Slow Ride" by Foghat. 

Me: Ha! Maybe.

That about does it for this entry of the Phile. What a great interview. The Phile will be back tomorrow with actor Squire Fridell. He was Ronald McDonald! Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Get vaccinated! 

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...