Pheaturing Zé From JointMethod

Hey, kids, welcome to the Peverett Phile, with over one hundred thousand hits. Thank you.  Well, did you see The Hunger Games? I saw it this past weekend. The movie is based on the books where people are chosen in a lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death. Why can't we do this to the Republican primaries? Wouldn't that be great?  Mitt Romney got a big endorsement this week. The bad news: It was from Etch A Sketch.  Did you see the story about the mother duck and her ducklings helped through a a fence at the White House property? The Secret Service pushed the little ducks through the fence. Of course, the Secret Service checked to make sure the ducks had donated enough money to President Obama's re-election campaign.
 A new experimental cholesterol-fighting drug is now creating a huge buzz among researchers. They say this drug could be life changing. Well, not a moment too soon, huh? I mean, for a minute there, a lot of Americans thought they might have to start eating healthy.  The New York Police Department says Iran has conducted surveillance inside New York City. They say Iranian operatives are using special mobile surveillance units. I believe they're called taxi cabs. Speaking of New York, a madam in New York City claims that John Edwards was a customer in her brothel. You hear that kind of thing and it really makes you lose respect for prostitutes, doesn't it?  This weekend 71-year-old former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant. And I thought this was nice... they let him shoot the donor himself. Fox News sent Dick Cheney flowers. MSNBC sent chili cheese fries. Cheney was talking to a reporter right after the surgery and he said he wants to live long enough to make sure nobody else gets healthcare.  Osama bin Laden's family has been charged with being in Pakistan illegally. But their lawyer says they were just there willing to do the terrorist jobs the Pakistanis didn't want to do.  The Pope visited Cuba  and witnessed a miracle. Fidel Castro is still breathing. They're so excited to see the Pope in Cuba. They raised a lot of money and bought him a brand-new 1955 Chrysler. The Pope is down there in Cuba to fire up the Catholics and to scout pitchers for the Yankees.  So, I have been working at Disney World, the greatest place to work ever, and I always wondered about Mickey and Minnie's relationship. Well, it seems I had it all wrong. Pluto is not only Mickey's dog, but his lover and Donald and Minnie are an item. Don't believe me? Well, check out this picture that someone took without them knwoing when they watched the Disney Fantasy ship arriving.

Told you.  Alright, I have to mention this... everyone has been talking about the Trayvon Martin case here in Central Florida. I was very surprised to see Treyvon and Zimemrman are featured in an inspirational poster so I had to show it. 

And I have to show this. Phile reader Dave Vandenberg sent me this photo of my dad and I wanna share it. 

Thanks, Dave.  Okay, I mentioned The Hunger Games. Here's the review...

The future will be like the present but even nastier, with one giant entity embodying the worst of government and the worst of corporations fused together into an unfightable tyranny-blob, populated by dirt-poor scroungers crushed by a very rich ruling class. The future will also be like the past, because those dirt-poors will live in shacks with no bathrooms and everybody will survive on squirrel meat, half-poison berries and no Internet. For the people on the other side of the great money divide, the future will be a wacky discotheque piled high with cakes and sartorial frippery, like the court of Marie Antoinette cross-bred with the shrieking lunacy of the brain-scrambling cult 1980 musical, "The Apple". Nothing for miles but beard-glitter, face powder, green cocktails and people constantly exclaiming, "Ooo-OOO-ooh!"  It's probably fleshed out properly in the book I haven't read (and no, I don't need any sales pitches, I never cracked a Harry Potter book, either) but for reasons that remain sort of movie-mysterious, a decades-old rebellion has broken up the country into districts. The richest district dominates the poor ones, depriving them of food and dangling reality-show fame and wealth like a carrot on a stick for the teen "Tributes" who annually fight to the death in what are known as the Hunger Games. Enter Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, a great Winter's Bone-propelled casting choice who nevertheless looks a little too healthy for a scenario of near-starvation), a girl who's got Artemis-meets-Geena-Davis archery skills and who volunteers for the games to save the life of her little sister.  There are more plot convolutions as the battle royale commences, too many to spend time on here, really, along with a front-seat allegory about Haves and Have Nots that couldn't be more current or more honkingly unwilling to remain chill about its rightful subtextual status. That means subtlety is not what you're in for, which is kind of a given when you understand it all as a breathless action-adventure-survival story performing multiple duties as a teenage toe-dip into politics and Occupy Wall Street-style ideas about corporate manipulation and media collusion, lessons in getting by and fables about finding the personal power to fight back against The Man. There are too many plot threads and Big Themes to hammer down, there's no room on the menu for finer details.  What you will be served, though, is stern entertainment (save for Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci clowning it up) that never stops moving and keeps shoving you forward, where you'll find yourself both dragged along and compelled to keep watching even though you can spot a predictable resolution from a long distance. There are sequels on the way, of course, and those next installments absolutely necessitate Katniss's initial victory. Yet in spite of this fairly obvious outcome, Lawrence is a kind of millennial Wonder Woman with a major case of Serious-itis and a screen presence that demands you stay on her side. Director Gary Ross, meanwhile, is smart enough to get out of the way of the product he's selling and not try to get all fancy "interpreting" it. It's a tough balance to strike when so much is riding on birthing a franchise, but by the time the satisfyingly bold, next-chapter-generating cliffhanger comes along, insisting on a tone of distinct unease, you'll be hungry for more. From 1 to 10, it gets a 7 and I doubt I will be buying it when it comes out. Logan on the other hand loved it.

Alright, so the Republican race is almost coming to an end I am guessing. I have no idea what has been happening, so I thought I would invite a friend to the Phile to help explain. So, please once again, please welcome to the Phile Executive Director for the Democratic National Committee Patrick Gaspard. 

Me: Patrick, welcome back to the Phile. So, the Republican attack machine is already cranking up, right?

Patrick: Right. Who says they need a nominee?

Me: So, while Mitt Romney and the other Republican candidates fight for the nomination, what's the RNC doing?

Patrick: Not wasting any time. 

Me: Like what? What are they doing, Patrick?

Patrick: Last week, the RNC announced it was stepping up its campaign, starting with new TV ads attacking the President's record.

Me: So, the RNC aren't waiting I guess.

Patrick: No, we can't afford to either. 

Me: So, can you give the Republicans any credit?

Patrick: Well, they've learned from 2008, when our early organizing caught them by surprise. They're pouring resources into ten battleground states as soon as April, and they're already running misleading ads on everything from gas prices to...

Me: Obamacare.

Patrick: You guessed it. 

Me: And what has the DNC been doing since 2008?

Patrick: We've been building for this day. The DNC has organizers on the ground in cities and towns across the country, building the neighbor-to-neighbor teams it's going to take to win in November. We're supporting local state parties in all fifty states, helping them expose Republican distortions in the media and online.

Me: But, Patrick, you can be sure the Republicans are going to spend whatever it takes to catch up.

Patrick: With the Republicans moving early, we need to redouble our efforts to keep our edge. March 31st marks a crucial fundraising deadline, and a test of strength for Democrats nationwide.

Me: Good luck, Patrick. Thanks for being on the Phile again, and come back soon.

Patrick: Thanks, Jason.

Thanks to Patrick Gaspard. Okay, wanna know who the 15th artist to be pheatured in the P.P.A.G. is? It's comic book artist Jeremy Dale and this is a piece of his work.

Jeremy will be a guest on the Phile the Monday after Easter.

I'm trying to be creative. Marijuana... JointMethod. It all kinda fits in. Today's guest is the lead singer or the band JointMethod whose latest album "Roots and Wings" is available on iTunes on iTunes right now. Please welcome... Zé!

Me: Hello, man, welcome to the Phile. So, how are you?

Zé: Doing great! Busy as hell.

Me: Okay, before we start I have to ask you to tell the readers of the Phile about the story of how and when you got stabbed. It was in the neck after a show, right?

Zé: It was actually before one of our first shows. I was heading to my car after work and noticed a guy inside taking his stereo. Adrenaline got the best of him and a fight ensued. The guy stabbed me in the chest and neck with a screwdriver and then ran off.

Me: I guess the person who did it wasn't a fan. Was he caught?

Zé: Yeah, I doubt he was a fan and no he was not caught. Jerk.

Me: If someone stabbed me I wouldn't call him a jerk. LOL. Alright, now we got that out of the way, let the readers about "503 Panhandle" and "Roots and Wings". Both are available on iTunes which I downloaded. How are the two different?

Zé: "503" has more of a rock edge and, in my opinion, is a more cohesive body of work. "Roots and Wings" definitely has some rockin tunes on there but by the time we started recording we had built up a huge catalogue of songs and some members were changing so we wanted to record everything we had compiled before that happened.

Me: On "503 Panhandle" you do an acoustic version of one of your songs called "Samana Santa" which is great. Are you planning on doing any other acoustic versions of your songs?

Zé: Thanks. We don't have plans to right now but we are definitely open to it. The recording of "Semana Santa" was spur of the moment and done in one take. It's pretty unique.

Me: "Roots and Wings" came out a few years ago. Are you fellas working on a new album?

Zé: Yeah! We hope to be done before Summer.

Me: Let's talk about the name of the band JointMethod. I think of it and drug references come to mind. What is the real meaning of the name?

Zé: The name has to do with the way we write music, perform, and navigate the music biz. It's a group effort. A united scheme. A mutual approach. A JointMethod.

Me: Who is in your band and what are the roles? And tell me about each of you having a nickname. Having a member in the band called Stitch is pretty cool.

Zé: Let's start there. Stitch plays guitar. I have no idea where his name came from. He is from Israel and those cats are crazy. Joseph plays drums. We call him the "beast" because he plays like a mad man. Jose or "Ze", for obvious reasons, is the vocalist. Ruben plays bass. No nickname there. Milo play's percussion.

Me: I was looking over your influences and two stuck out... G Love and Special Sauce, which you guys would rock opening for and The English Beat. You guys probably could do a kick ass version of "Mirror In The Bathroom". Ever do any covers?

Zé: Definitely. Too many to name. I can tell they range from Young MC to Nine Inch Nails.

Me: Have you opened for anybody you look up to?

Zé: Yeah, a few. Fishbone, Dr. Octagon, Jurassic 5. All cool people to hang out with and they can all rock a show.

Me: You are all from Texas, right? And play a lot of shows in that huge state, but are you gonna take the band on the road to other states? Or have you done that already?

Zé: Everyone except Stitch is from Texas. We have done a couple of West Coast tours. We're itching to go back so after the new album comes out we'll begin touring in support of it.

Me: On "Roots & Wings" you have a few guests, right? Are they all local musicians and friends of yours?

Zé: Yes, yes, and yes. We are very fortunate to know a lot of very talented people.

Me: Before we go, go ahead and mention your website and is there anything you want to tell the readers of the Phile? Take care, and looking forward to your next project. Rock on.

Zé: Check us out at jointmethod.com. Hit us up and let us know if you want us to come to your town. We'll make it happen. Support local music. Rock on!

Man, that was a lazy interview. Not on Zé's end, but mine. Anyway, thanks to Zé and of course Patrick Gaspard as always. The Phile will be back Sunday with musician Jean Caffeine. Monday it's Alumni Fogdan and next Wednesday Chris Devotion, the lead singer for the British band The Elvis Suicides. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.