Now, I understand that you must think Racket is all kinds of big-time now that we’ve interviewed the premier Wizard-Rock band in the USA (United States of Americawesome,) but I assure you, we are still as modest as when we told Hawthorne Heights that they sucked. Here’s The Emperor’s interview with Paul DeGeorge, one half of Harry and The Potters.
RacketJonathan: How does it feel to be so awesome?
Harry And The Potters’ Paul: When you feel awesome you just want to share that with everyone. We call it the Awesome Principle: Awesomeness begets more Awesomeness. We started this all in our home state of Awesomechusetts, but working together, with wizards and muggles all over we’re hoping to build an entire, United States of Americawesome.
RJ: I’d like to visit, I bet you’d have amazing postcards.
Paul: Yeah, they’re awesome.
RJ: Did you ever think that an entire genre would come of a few songs?
Paul: Yes.
RJ: Huh, that’s foresight right there. Does being literate get all the girls?
Paul: Yes, being able to read definitely helps get girls. Social networking site, online dating schemes and personal ads are all pretty much useless if you’re illiterate.
RJ: Can you hook it up with Hermoine? 
Paul: Dude, are you shipping Harry/Hermione? That’s so 2004. Get over it!
RJ: No, no, I mean can you hook her up with me. On second thought, what’s Cho Chang up to these days?
Paul: You’d actually want to get with a girl who started going out with HP so she could get closer to her dead boyfriend? Creepy. She’s all yours, dude.
RJ: Score. In playing a tour of libraries, have you encountered the stereotypical mean librarian who hated there being a ruckus in a place of silent learning?
Paul: On our first tour, we booked ourselves a gig at the library in Rockville, MD. Actually, we sort of hopped onto an existing bill. Ice Cream was the headliner. Not a band called "Ice Cream," no, the actual dessert. We got to the show and saw flyers advertising the big Ice Cream day and then in tiny letters (I swear it was less than 12-point font) read "with music from Harry and the Potters." It was a real Spinal Tap moment for sure. Anyway, we set up our gear and started blasting away and we had a great crowd. There were about 60 people who came to see us and were having a good time and there were about 60 people who came for the ice cream who didn’t really care what we were doing. There were some elderly clowns (and by that I mean a couple elderly people dressed as clowns) who were face-painting, and I think the music was a bit loud to them because the kept heckling us from the side of the stage with jabs like, "Hey, thanks for taking us back to the ’60’s!" Ouch! The librarians were rather displeased at the noise volume too and it got a little confrontational. We played a few quieter songs to placate them, but then turned everything way up for our closer. No one said goodbye to us when we left.
RJ: What about that ghost librarian from Ghostbusters?
Paul: Not yet, but we’re hopefully playing at that building this spring, so I’m gonna ask about her when I’m there.
RJ: Favorite Ghostbuster? 
Paul: Venkman! But I look more like Egon, so I went out for him on Halloween a few years ago. I made my own proton pack and put a boom-box in it and made a cassette tape with the Ghostbusters theme. It alternated between the Ray Parker Jr. original version and Bobby Browns, "On Our Own: theme from Ghostbuster II."
RJ: What stereotype do you hate the most?
Paul: They’re all pretty deplorable. And I feel ashamed of myself when I think of people in stereotypic terms. Hey everyone: KEEP AN OPEN MIND! People will always surprise you!
RJ: What’s your favorite?
Paul: Italians are good cooks. Just go with it.
RJ: It’s become a stereotype because it’s true. Everything Mario Batali makes looks amazing, and Giada De Laurentiis alone looks pretty amazing.
Paul: As much as Italians do rule, I’m all about Alton Brown’s show. I love food and science!
RJ: Good Eats is the shit, that’s why. Worst venue ever played?
Paul: Fort Campbell, Kentucky. It’s the second largest military base in the US. We were out on tour and had an off day where I had tried unsuccessfully to book a show in Nashville. About 5 days before the show, this dude calls me up and asks if we want to play at the Teen Center on this military base. He couldn’t even pay us, but he promised us a place to stay and some food, so we went for it. At the very least, we figured it would be some kind of cool, Spinal Tap-esque tour story. And besides, we’d get a chance to play a song with a chorus of, "the weapon we have is Love," on the 2nd largest military base in the US. The show was about as bad as you can imagine, and the accommodations that night were even worse.
RJ: Did you get to try any army gear on or make any Major Payne jokes?
Paul: We had really crappy pizza at their bowling alley. We saw a tank too.
RJ: Man, I would have hijacked that tank so effing fast. Give me the best recipe you have for deliciousness.
Paul: Cannoli Shells (makes 30)
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 T butter
3 tsp sugar
1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (or maybe red wine or maybe some frangelico)
5-6 T water
Use Vegetable oil to cook. (DO NOT use Canola Oil)
(1/2 cup total liquid)
Sift dry ingredients (EXCEPT SUGAR!) Mix in butter. Break eggs. Dissolve sugar in warm water. Add wine or vermouth. Add to flour. Knead until soft and elastic (10-15 minutes). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling. Roll out the dough. Then cut into square pieces and roll individual pieces (3-4" square). Start with the cannoli shapers at one corner and roll the dough over. Seal the opposite corner with a tiny bit of water on the underside of the dough. Deep fry in oil for about 10-20 seconds. Remove, drain, and place on a paper towel to absorb oil. Shells are good for about 2 weeks and should be made at least a day in advance of cannoli consumption.
Filling
2lbs ricotta (not the stuff you get in the supermarket – go to a little Italian store. it should either come in a tin container or they should have to cut it and wrap it up for you)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp orange extract (or vanilla, but i highly recommend orange)
dash of cinnamon
Instructions: Shells should be filled immediately before consuming. If you have access to a pastry bag, use that to fill the shells, but if not, take a ziplock sandwich back, fill with the ricotta filling, cut off a corner, and squeeze out into shell. Once filled, give shells a dusting with powdered sugar.
RJ: That sounds pretty amazing. I saw that ziplock trick on Good Eats.
Paul: Alton Brown is a huge influence on our music.
RJ: He has Harry’s hair. Now tell me a joke.
Paul: There is a band called Harry and the Potters. All they do is sing songs about the Harry Potters books!
RJ: Would you like to hook up with JK Rowling?
Paul: Yes.
RJ: Have you already?
Paul: Only in dreams.
RJ: I’d totally let her be my sugar mama, that chick is loaded. Worst creature in the Potter kingdom?
Paul: Dogs. I just hate them.
RJ: Any breed more than the others?
Paul: No, it’s pretty general. There’s maybe a few breeds I hate LESS than others, but that’s just nitpicking, isn’t it.
RJ: Would you be more terrified to have to run from all the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or a particularly irritated Severus Snape?
Paul: The dinosaurs. While Snape was an almost completely deplorable human, I got the impression that outright murder was not his style. Worst-case scenario with Snape is I’m bleeding all over the place from a sectumsempra. If I run into a raptor, my insides are gonna be all over the floor unless I learn some gymnastics or something.
RJ: True Dat, I’m out.
– Interview conducted by The Emperor.