At the beginning of every year, we end up taking stock of what happened or didn’t the previous year. Am I rich yet? Am I famous yet? If I were to stop contacting the world, would the world stop contacting me? No, no, and probably… I have to admit, as much as fame is attractive…
In 1984, Purple Rain was a huge hit album and “When Doves Cry” was all over the radio constantly. And I hated it. My brother and I used to make fun of the lyrics all the time. After that, we had only a passing knowledge of Around the World in a Day and Parade when…
For most of high school, at least since I’d picked up a guitar during my sophomore year, I’d been telling people I was going to start a band. There were a couple false starts. Lots of talk about a band with my friend Carlos that we were going to call Social Disaster… until we heard…
Last night I was thinking about why I enjoy reading so much more now than I did when I was in school. I generally read non-fiction, learn-y type books too. I’ve decided that text books were just boring. I know, deep thinker, right? But books are still big sellers and lots of people read. So…
I recently released my new Android app, but haven’t done much marketing on it yet. It includes push notification abilities so I can communicate with you through the app. Of course, I’ll be using it sparingly and only for stuff I think you’ll really be interested in. And I can geo-target instead of shooting everything…
Don’t…. Just don’t. That’s pretty much it. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a contrarian. If everyone is doing one thing, I’ll generally run in the other direction. Not all hipster-like “Dude, that band was better when they weren’t popular,” but more “Hey Grown Man with an Angry Birds shirt on, it’s just a game.”…
As both a Disney fan and a Star Wars fan, I’m excited to see how this new partnership works out. I wasn’t surprised really. I’d heard that Lucas was looking to move onto new things and he’s a longtime Disney fan. And of course the two companies have worked on attractions together in the past. …
A really cool dance troupe called Orchid Dance will be performing at my Wiggles and Giggles show on Saturday Nov 27th in San Jose, CA. Not only do they do traditional Middle Eastern belly dance, but they fuse it with all kinds of dance styles and genres of music. If you’re familiar with my work,…
If you haven’t seen it yet, the Standup Shots page on Reddit is an amusing way to blow time when you should be doing something else. I like it because it’s a neutral playground for jokes. If the joke is good, it rises to the top. Of course, it’s best suited to a particular kind…
Awhile back I ran across a new item that could have the Darwin Awards people working overtime. It’s an iPhone case that includes a 650,000 volt stun gun How many ways can that make an evening go wrong? “Honey? Are you still there? I heard some static on the line” There’s no autocorrect for that. …
I just remembered that the apocalypse is coming this year. I had to look up the date because I couldn’t remember when it was. 12/21/12. How coincidentally symmetrical. I guess I should set a reminder on my phone. Wouldn’t want to be caught unawares when the day comes. What I mean by that is I’m…
Story time today, kids! It’s the beginning of a tale that I don’t know how to finish (or continue) just yet. Plenty of unanswered questions with this one. But hey, I’m putting it out there anyway. Welcome to the creative process! The Man With The Box – Part I He walked into a town that…
Ok, I’ve got some geeky comedy and music thoughts on my mind today. I’ve been pondering the effects of “threes” in comedy and “fours” in music to try and figure out why those “threes” work. In comedy we have a type of joke called a “triple”. It’s a joke that sets you up with two…
My girlfriend sent me a video yesterday showing the new Japanese body modification trend of saline injections into the forehead. Bagel-heads they’re calling them. Now, if you’ve seen my show, you know I’m all about people who have the guts to buck the trend and be a little different looking from other people. But as…
You know those days where you get out of bed with the best intentions of laying waste to you to-do list? You’re going to be super productive and your life will have taken great strides by 5:00. And then everything starts to take too long. Unexpected junk turns up. You’re on phone hold for 30…
There was a discussion the other day among my comedian friends about how to put up a website cheaply and easily. And it can be done just that way. This system I’ll tell you about in a second is just one of a zillion ways to get a website up. But I’ve found it to…
A friend of mine asked me to write a song for her new baby and baby shower. I asked if she remembered that I’m a comedian. Well, ya get what you ask for. And today is the release of my latest single, “Dodged A Bullet” (aka The Baby Song). Most people like to think about…
A few people have asked recently about how much it costs me to release new music. Obviously it’s much cheaper than it was even just a few years ago. But it’s definitely not free. So, since I have a new single coming out this Thursday (watch here for an announcement…) and all this is fresh…
I wasn’t going to post a blog today because, frankly, I’m not feeling very funny or creative today. It happens sometimes. But I wanted to weigh in on the Republican National Convention and Clint Eastwood’s speech. I just watched the speech on YouTube because I didn’t watch the convention on TV. Don’t get me wrong. …
Man, I love it when people prove me wrong about who I think they are. In a good way at least. It doesn’t happen nearly often enough, but it did happen the other day. I was standing outside the dressing room waiting for my girlfriend. That’s every guy’s favorite place in the world, right? They…
I’ve talked in the past about the new depths that Hollywood is sinking to on the creative front. And you may think the title of this post is a joke. Unfortunately, it’s not. “The Exorcist” recently finished a run at the Geffen Theater in Los Angeles and is probably headed for the Great White Way….
Here’s this week’s episode of Phil’s Fast 15, my weekly live webcast, every Monday night at 8pm. You can join us live and pop into the chat box right here. This week’s show both went long (by a whole minute!) and includes two songs instead of three. The public domain cover song of the week…
I’ve been seeing a lot of really cool off-kilter Disney art lately. Some seriously dark or otherwise confusing stuff too. I have to start with a couple of these from Jose Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros and his “Disasterland” series. Here he puts our beloved fairytale characters in the same positions of excessive fame that our real…
Ok, so I missed last week’s episode because I wasn’t prepared. In this week’s episode I talk about why that was, and then I look grim and scary during one song. And then I sing a song with a word in it that I’ve never heard before. You can watch and chat live every Monday…
