Thursday, October 14, 2010

Pheaturing Alumni John Bentley From Squeeze



And get this, I'm here to rescue you from the miner's coverage. Welcome to the Peverett Phile, thanks for stopping by. If I had a dime for everytime my son Logan says "And get this..." before a sentence I would have ten dollars in m,y pocket right now. Today is the 23rd anniversary of when the Peverett's moved from England to Florida. And I still haven't been deported. The Waldorf Astoria in New York is the latest place to be infested with bedbugs. The bedbugs at the Waldorf Astoria are fancy. When they bite you, they lift up their pinkies. Bedbugs were also found in government buildings in Washington D.C. I can’t believe they have to deal with those blood-sucking pests. Poor bedbugs. Did you see the movie Secretariat? That's a horrible name for a movie, it's so hard to remember or say. Why couldn't they make a movie about a horse that's easier to say? Seabisquit was easy to say. Fliker is easy to say... Anyway, Secretariat is directed by the writer of the movie Braveheart, so he has experience working with animals. Secretariat actually got his own postage stamp in 1999. And coincidentally, he was also the glue on the back of it. So, did everybody have a good Columbus Day? For those readers not in America, Columbus Day is the day we pay tribute to Ohio’s most exciting city. Columbus had lots of stuff named after him. The only thing I have named after me is this crappy blog. And I named it myself. A man was arrested for streaking at President Obama’s rally in Philadelphia. Thankfully, the police were able to restrain and clothe Joe Biden. Someone actually threw a book at the president. When Obama saw something fly by, he said, “Christine O’Donnell on a broom!” Brett Favre has an elbow injury. The worst part is, it’s his texting elbow. Direct marketing now uses text messages to excite people about their wares. Kind of like Brett Favre. Hey girl's, Justin Bieber’s auto-biography came out. Did anyone know that, for three years, he was a radical Muslim cleric? For every copy sold, the Bieber family is donating $1 to “Bowl Cuts for Tots.” The trapped miners in Chile are finally free. One miner has a wife and mistress that found each other at the site. He’s asked to be rescued last. The Chilean miners were 2,000 feet below the earth. They were so far down, they saw the devil preparing for Justin Bieber. Chile is long and thin and South American. It’s the supermodel of countries. Christine O’Donnell is trailing in the polls. She’ll need a miracle to win. Or a very good spell. Did you see he debate moderated by Wolf Blitzer? It got very heated. At one point, O’Donnell turned him into an actual wolf. I just mentioned the Chilean miners, right? Well, they are planning on making a movie based on them, but the folks at Nintendo already jumped the gun and created a new video game. And here on the Phile I have a screen grab from it.

I am surprised that they released inspirational posters for the miners. Take a look at this one.


And now for some sad news...

Solomon Burke
March 21, 1940 - October 10, 2010
Album names: "We're Almost Home", "Back to My Roots", "Lord I Need a Miracle Right Now", "Take Me Shake Me", "A Change is Gonna Come", "Don't Give up on Me", "Hold On Tight". Take your pick.


And now from the home office in Port Jefferson, NY, here is this week's...

Top Ten Christine O'Donnell Senate Campaign Slogans
10. "I'm Going To Washington And You're Going To Hell!"
9. "I'm Proof There's No Evolution."
8. "A Chicken In Every Cauldron."
7. "Looks Like I'm In Way Over My Head Here. Can I Just Host 'Saturday Night Live' Instead?"
6. "Let's Clean Up Washington. I'll Bring The Broom."
5. "Don't Make Me Release The Flying Monkeys!"
4. "I Am Not Related To Rosie."
3. "I'll Beat Those Democrats And Their Little Dogs Too."
2. "Pull My Lever. Pulling Your Own Is A Sin."
And the number one Christine O'Donnell Senate campaign slogan is...
1. "Who Cares? It's Delaware."




It's back! It's been a few months but there's a 10th book in the P.P.B.C. and it's...

It's a collection of short stories, most of which were originally written for competition in The Amazing Instant Novelist on aol.com many years ago. The book is available at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1527924 and the author will be a guest on the Phile in a few weeks.

Today's guest is a Peverett Phile Alumni who last was on the Phile on March 7th '09. He is the bass player for one of my all time favorite bands of all time: Squeeze. Squeeze recently released "Spot The Difference", an album of newly recorded versions of older material. The album contains classic Squeeze songs painstakingly reproduced in such a fashion that fans are invited to 'spot the difference' from the original versions. You can see Squeeze next in concert on November 14th at Bournemouth Opera House in Bournemouth, England. Please welcome back to the Phile... John Bentley.



Me: Hello, John, welcome back to the Phile. So, how have you been?

John: Pretty good apart from the leprosy!

Me: It's been just over a year since you were on the Phile last and you are still with Squeeze. Things must be going well, right?

John: Yep, we're still here - bang-banging away!!

Me: I flew up to New York from Orlando just to see Squeeze play at Radio City Music Hall with Cheap Trick. How did that tour come about with both bands playing together?

John: Double the bands and double your money!

Me: Did the bands have turns opening the shows? Do you prefer being the second band on or the first?

John: I prefer going on first. That way I can go into the main bands dressing room while they're on stage and steal all their M&M's.

Me: Were you and are you a fan of Cheap Trick and did you get to know them personally?

John: I was and I am a fan. Getting to know Cheap Trick personally is not recommended... they're weird!!

Me: Last time I interviewed you you said you played at Radio City and sold it out. Was this show with Cheap Trick the second time you played at that venue?

John: Cheap Trick opened for us this time and we sold it out... twice!!

Me: You also did the Jimmy Fallon show right before the concert. Was that a last minute booking?

John: It was totally spontaneous. Kelis who were booked for the show had to pull out and we were asked to fill in for them at the eleventh hour! We literally ran over to NBC TV studios with our guitars and recorded the show in front of a live TV audience.

Me: I am glad to see Squeeze doing American TV appearances. First on Regis and Kelly and then on the Fallon show. That def has to be helping with the big comeback.

John: Playing to a TV audience of millions is not something I do every day. But I suppose when the opportunity arises somebody's got to do it so it might as well be me.

Me: Any plans on doing any more TV show appearances?

John: Yes, I am trying to get one "One Man And His Dog".

Me: Let's talk about the new Squeeze album called "Spot the Difference". It's an album of re-recordings of a bunch of Squeeze songs, right? Whose idea was that, and did you all get to choose what songs to do?

John: The album was recorded so that Glenn and Chris could start to receive some royalties from the songs. The rights to the originals were naively signed away years ago. However the album turned out to be a 'labour of love'.

Me: Do you hope to do a Squeeze album with all new songs?

John: Only if the other members of Squeeze are there!

Me: What's your favorite Squeeze song anyway?

John: "Lady In Red" (?)

Me: I read that you played with Sting, and Paul Young in the past. That must of been call to play with Sting who is an excellent bass player as well. And you played with Garth Brooks? How did that come about?

John: Before Garth (or Gar as I call him) was famous he came over to the U.K. to play some TV shows and had a 'pick up' band while he was over here. I was playing in a country group called The Tender Mercies with BJ Cole and BJ arranged the gig for us. I have a video (it was before DVD) of me singing on TV with Garth. We played "I've Got Friends In Low Places".
Big time... isn't everybody?

Me: John, thanks so much for coming back onto the Phile for another interview. You are welcomed back anytime, sir. Tell Chris and Glenn they are as well and they can contact me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com if they are interested. Go ahead and mention your website, sir.

John: I would like to mention my website... hmmmm? I haven't got one! I do have a Myspace though... John Bentley Official... but it's crap. I just can't work out how to update it, Myspace keeps changing the format. leave it alone, will ya?!

Me: So, any chance Squeeze will be coming down to Florida to play?

John: It's too hot! But if there are lots of fans! (?)

Me: Take care, and keep rocking. Squeeze is my all time favorite band.

John: Me too!!




Well, there you have it, that was an interesting interview. Thanks to John's lovely wife Sara for setting it up. Check out John's blog at http://www.squeezeofficial.com/bentleys-blog. I cannot believe he didn't plug it. Anyway, the Phile will be back next Thursday with New Zealand recording artist Elliott Ulysess Brown. Spread the word, not the turd, don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.







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