Latest / DISGRACELAND / AC/DC pt. 1 (Rewind): A Satanic Serial Killer, A Police Man Hunt, and a Media Witch Hunt

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AC/DC pt. 1 (Rewind): A Satanic Serial Killer, A Police Man Hunt, and a Media Witch Hunt · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome into another episode of Disgraceland Rewind.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We're dipping into our archive here to bring you our
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: ACDC episode part one. This was originally released back on
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: February 21st, 2023. I remember being shaken to my core
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: with the research here regarding Richard Ramirez and the Night Stalker,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a story that I knew, and I knew about his
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: association with ACDC. but I did not know the depths
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of this man's evil and how it pertained to their music.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: This is a fascinating story. Also, the music we made
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: for this episode is some of my favorite that we've
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: done for any episode of Disgraceland. I was highly inspired
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: by All Quiet on the Western Front, the remake that
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: came out on Netflix before we put this episode together.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I think you'll be able to hear that in the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: music here.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Check it out. Let us know what you think. This
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Please check the show notes for more information. The connections
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: between ACDC.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: And Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, are insane. ACDC song
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Night Prowler inspired the killer's moniker. An ACDC hat was
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the first and for a time only clue in the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: serial homicide case that gripped greater Los Angeles in the 1980s.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, carved a pentagram, a satanic symbol,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: into one victim's body, painted the symbol on another victim's wall,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and carved it into the palm of his hand. And
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott, ACDC's lead singer wore a pentagram around his
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: neck on the cover of the Highway to Hell album,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a detail that was not lost on the sensationalist news media.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: The Night Stalker killed 13 people that we know about. Men, women,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and children savagely beaten, strangled, stabbed, shot, and raped, most
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: while sleeping peacefully in their homes. Richard Ramirez loved to kill,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and Richard Ramirez loved ACDC's music. Great music. Unlike that
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: music I played for you at the top of the show.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: my Mellotron called UK Limo MK2. I played you that
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: loop because I can't afford the rights to Can't Fight
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: This Feeling by REO Speedwagon. And why would I play
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: you that specific slice of crawl-upon-the-floor cheese could I afford it?
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Because that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Was the number one song in America on March 17th, 1985.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: And that was the day that a California serial killer
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: left his ACDC hat at the scene of a homicide,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: dragging the band into a media circus that would haunt
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: them for the rest of the decade. On this episode,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a satanic serial killer, a police manhunt, a media witch
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: hunt in ACDC.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: And this is Disgraceland. The headlines were ridiculous. Mass killer
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: driven by rock and devil worship. ACDC music made me kill,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Night Stalker admits. Angus Young, the guitar player for ACDC,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: was annoyed. The haircut sitting across from him and lead
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: singer Brian Johnson was as ridiculous as the headlines for
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: which he and his ilk were responsible. His questions proved it.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Did ACDC stand for Antichrist Devil's Child? The question was
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: so dumb it didn't even deserve an answer. But there
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Angus was, answering it. Uh, no. We got ACDC off
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: of our sister's sewing machine. It stands for power. It
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: was all a game, and the haircut knew it too.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: You couldn't spend five minutes talking to Angus, Brian, Angus'
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: brother Malcolm, or any other member of ACDC past or present,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and walk away thinking, oh yeah, those guys are devil worshippers.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: They were too down to earth, too grounded. Salt of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the earth Aussies. Meat and Potatoes working class. That background,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: along with the aforementioned power, was reflected in their music.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Music that had spread all over the world.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Since releasing their seventh album in four years, Highway to Hell,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: in 1979, and its follow-up, Back in Black, in 1980,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the band had become an international best-selling sensation, knocking off
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: nearly $ 15 million in record sales by mid-decade in the U.S. alone.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You'd be hard-pressed to find a high school in America
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: in 1985 without legions of long-haired ACDC fans. Their music
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: was powerful, sure, and it played with familiar dark rock
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: and roll themes, especially from back when Bon Scott, their
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: original singer, helmed the group. But the truth was, ACDC
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: was a straightforward, fun-loving rock and roll band. And though
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: they made their living on the same side of the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: street as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, the truth was
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: that ACDC had more in common with the seemingly, for
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: their era anyway, conservative rock and roll stylings of Chuck
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Berry than they did the demonic imagery and devil-infused themes
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: of Sabbath and Zeppelin. But that was the truth of it.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: And the truth didn't matter. Like I said, it was
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: all a game. And when it came to the media,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the game, of course, was, as it still is, all
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: about the narrative. And at that moment, in 1985, regarding
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez, the notorious Night Stalker serial killer, ACDC was
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: a big part of the narrative.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Richard Ramirez, the so-called Night Stalker, accused of murdering 15
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: people in California, was influenced by the ACDC song Night Prowler.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: That song, it's been completely taken out of context.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: Congress has been holding hearings recently on the subject of
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: whether there should be warning labels on records whose lyrics
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: are judged objectionable. Some people say that stands for Antichrist
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Devil's Child.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: Antichrist Devil's Child.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Antichrist Devil's Child.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez put his back into his pool shot. all
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: 6'1 and 160.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Pounds of them.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: He was tall and thin, and like his favorite band, ACDC,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: whose music was blasting throughout the pool hall at that moment,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez was powerful. He looked it, physically and otherwise.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: His hair was black and sore as eyes, and he
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: was dark-skinned, but beyond that, he seemed to possess a
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: layer of filth that perpetually.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Covered his body.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: When he walked into a room, A cloud of stench
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: arrived about 30 seconds prior.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: He was filthy.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: His teeth were rotting out of his head despite his
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: tender age of 24, a combination of his lack of
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: hygiene and drug use.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Cocaine, mostly. And despite all of this, his good looks
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: were irrepressible.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: He wore all black, tight black jeans, black Avia sneakers,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: black members-only jacket, and a dark, near-black, midnight blue ACDC hat.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: The band's music drove him. especially their Highway to Hell album.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: It spoke to him.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Or more accurately, Richard believed Satan spoke to him through
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: ACDC's music. Richard Ramirez believed he was the chosen one,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: a dark soul hand-selected by Lucifer himself to do the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: devil's business here on Earth. Satan spoke to Richard in
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: ways that went beyond ACDC as well. There was the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: pentagram tattoo on that whore's thigh and the skin flick
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: on screen at the Cameo Theater from earlier in the night.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Then there was.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Perry and Dick's complete and total lack of remorse inside
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the Cutter family's home. Capote had it dead to rights.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: In cold blood, no doubt. And that scene from the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Pam's long walk in those short red shorts.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: All those teeth and human bones. and the devil's taunting
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: of Father Karras through Regan's body in The Exorcist. Karras,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: that smug prick.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: He must have all the display of power.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: All of it fed Richard Ramirez, and he needed to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: feed the devil. He split from the pool hall.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: It was time. Whores wouldn't do it.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: They laughed at him, at his teeth, at his weird
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: foot fetish. Plus, there was no power in paying for it.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Taking it was where the juice was.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Charged him.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: He needed to get out of downtown L.A., out into
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the unsuspecting suburbs. Outside the pool hall, he hot-wired a Toyota,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: popped the clutch, and went hunting. Richard hit the highway,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: and soon enough, the off-ramp. Rosemead, California. He cruised slow,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the windows down. In his head, he recited the lyrics
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to ACDC's Night Prowler.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: It calmed him. Instead he just grows. adrenaline.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: The lyrics, with their dark tale of breaking and entering,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: prowling about in pursuit of an unsuspecting victim's virginity or worse.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Outside their windows, on the other side of the blinds,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: an unimaginable.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Creepy fear.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: And that fear that the prowler caused, Richard longed for it,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: fed off of it. chills and the murderous terror. It
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: was all there, from Bon Scott's lips to Satan's ears.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Richard searched for a house. It needed to be just right.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: The perfect mix of quiet and potential. There, a tiny
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: little condo, an unassuming, petite, attractive brunette, Maria Hernandez, pulling
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: her gold Camaro under the rising automated door of her
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: condominium's garage.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Richard cut the engine.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Used his muscular forearms to pull the Toyota's now manual
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: steering wheel to the curb, glided over the gravel to
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a near-silent stop, and watched. As the condo's garage door
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: began to wrench itself to a close, Richard sprung from
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: his stolen car and sprinted. Before the door could shut,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Richard slid underneath. Inside, Maria Hernandez heard an unexpected sound, turned,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and there he was. Six feet of stacked evil, staring
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: at her, less than 20 feet away. Maria quickly turned
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: to insert her house key into the lock on the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: door that led into her apartment. Richard began walking toward her, slowly,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: with intent. The lock wouldn't take the key.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Maria turned. Richard continued his approach. Now, he had a.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: 22 pistol pointed straight at her. The garage door fully closed.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: All the light in the garage was completely blacked out.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Maria could smell Richard's hellfire breath. No, God, please don't,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: she said as she reflexively raised her hands in front
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of her face.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Then, the loud, blinding light of the. 22 pistol.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Maria fell to the ground, and Richard kicked the door
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: open and entered the condo with authority. There, in the kitchen,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: another petite and attractive brunette, Dale Akazaki, Maria's roommate. She
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: ducked behind the counter. She didn't know Richard saw her.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Richard slowly approached the counter from the other side and
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: stood silent.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Richard waited.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Nothing. He knew it wouldn't be long. He knew she
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: would stand up sooner or later.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Sure enough, when.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Dale stood to take stock of the horrifying situation she
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: was in, she was staring into the cold black eyes
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of her killer. Richard Ramirez pulled the trigger of his.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: 22 from point-blank range, firing a single bullet into the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: middle of the victim's forehead. She fell dead instantly. Richard
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: ignored the sexual charge rising up inside of him. He
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: turned and headed for the front door, and as he
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: headed out into the night, there.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: On the walkway, in the front yard, unbelievably, Maria Hernandez.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: The bullet he'd fired at her in the garage had
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: been blocked by the house keys in her hand. She
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: spoke to her would-be killer in spurts. Please don't, please don't,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: please don't shoot me again. Richard lowered his gaze and
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: walked past her, toward his stolen car. As he drove off,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: he realized his ACDC hat was missing. He steered the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: hot Toyota back toward downtown LA and blasted his Walkman
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: at full volume. ACDC's Highway to Hell filled his ears.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Living easy, living free.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Living easy and living free was right. Those lyrics from
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott on ACDC's Highway to Hell title track were
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: basically a mantra. It was how Bon lived his life.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: It was how Bon Scott was living his life at
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: this exact moment back in 1977, prior to the recording
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: of Highway to Hell. He was stuck riding bitch between
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: two new friends in the backseat of a big American V8.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Somewhere in Florida. Florida loved ACVC. So did Texas.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Radio stations and live audiences in those two big American states...
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: were almost entirely responsible for ACDC breaking through in the
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: United States on the heels of their 77 full-length effort,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Bond was in a great mood,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: as he was on most nights. He screamed along to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the Sex Pistols song blasting from the car radio, and
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: all was well until the Quaaludes kicked in. How many
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Bond took, he didn't know. He also didn't know how
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: much he drank.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Blue Nun, sweet German wine.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: It washed the lewds down quick. Everything around it raced
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: by at its normal speed as Bon Scott powered down
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and sank deeper and deeper into the 70s.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Living, you see.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Living. 1977, Los Angeles, Sunset Strip, the Continental Hyatt House, a.k.a.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: The Riot House.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: The notorious hotel was the scene of many a 70s
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: rock star's debaucherous escapades. Tonight it was Bon Scott from
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: ACDC's turn. He strolled the hotel with a bottle of
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Jack Daniels in one hand and a tall buxom blonde
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: in the other. His band was in town for a
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: set of shows up the strip at the Whiskey A Go-Go.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: But tonight was for letting loose. Bond had steam to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: blow off. Since arriving in America in support of their
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: latest album, the beyond excellent Let There Be Rock, living
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: easy and living free was proving to be easier said
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: than done.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: The critics were not impressed.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: The New York Times said that, quote, the band is tight,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: but the singer is undistinguished. The Los Angeles Times claimed
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: that Bond Scott himself was utterly unlistenable. What did the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: critics know, anyway?
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Nothing. The media were nothing but vultures. Kids knew the truth.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: They flooded radio station request lines for ACDC after every
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: show the band played.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Rock and roll was a lifestyle. The kids understood that.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: It was a commitment. You needed to live the.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Life, walk the walk, talk the talk, so to speak,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and Bon Scott did that. Concertgoers latched on to Bon
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Scott's rock and roll authenticity. And in my opinion, There
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: is no better example of what a rock and roll
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: frontman should be than Bon Scott.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Voice?
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Check.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: There's none better in the genre.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Raspy, knowing, bluesy, mysterious, powerful, and unlike anything before or since.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Probably my favorite rock singer of all time.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Looks? Check. Bon Scott looked like he'd fight you, fuck.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: You, be your best friend, and break your heart all
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: in the same night regardless of what sex you were.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Bond had it all.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: He was utterly serious looking. Tattoos, broken teeth, yet totally irreverent.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Violently handsome.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: A rough piece of trade he could take home to mom.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Well, not my mom, but you get the idea.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Stage presence check. Bond Scott commanded the stage with a unique,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: powerful presence. No easy task when you're positioned up there
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: next to Angus Young. A constant whirling ball of sugar-infused
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: heavy metal energy in a schoolboy's uniform with a Gibson SG.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: who split his time stripping down to his skivvies and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: melting faces. Even in the face of that, Bon Scott
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: did more than hold his own. He owned the audience
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: with raw power, just like the rest of his band.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Lyrics, check.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott was a natural rock and roll storyteller, cut
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: from the same cloth as the great one Chuck Berry.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: ACDC's latest long player, Let There Be Rock, had Bon
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: on the top of his game lyrically with songs like
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Whole Lotta Rosie, a song about the virtues of the
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: full-bodied female, and the title track, Let There Be Rock.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Which took the listener through a blitzkrieg rock and roll
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: history lesson.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott commanded audiences, and he told stories offstage, too,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: as he was now doing at the Hyatt House, surrounded
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: by friends. Problem child, so the story went, was a
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: song about Angus. But Bon was coming clean. Maybe the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Jack Daniels was talking. The song, he said, was actually
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: about himself. 1963, 16-year-old Bon Scott.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Those other boys had it coming.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Bon took on the lot of them, bare-knuckled. He would
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: have prevailed if it weren't for the cop who broke
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: it up, and the cop who caught one of Bon's
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: flailing fists. And that little move ended up with the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: charge escalating to assault on a police officer. Bon did
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: 12 months in a juvenile home for boys. And then
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: there was the story about Deep Purple. They were supposed
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: to headline the Sunbury Festival back on ACDC's Australian home
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: turf back in 75. Deep Purple were huge at the time.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Bond had barely been in ACDC a couple of months.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Deep Purple backed out, and the promoter hired local upstarts
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: ACDC to fill in. Then Deep Purple showed up in
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: their fucking Rolls Royces, no less, and they demanded to play.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: but one of the roadies took a swing at ACDC's
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: manager and Bon Scott pounced, leveled the dude.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: All hell broke loose backstage.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Angus spilled out onto the stage to chill out the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: kids in the crowd who were desperate to know what
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: was happening and eager to lend their countrymen a hand
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: when they found out they were doing battle backstage with
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: an English rock group. Angus chilled them out, but not
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: before seeing his lead singer, Bon Scott, being whipped.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Around on the back of a deep purple roadie he
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: held in a headlock.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Eventually, the melee came to an end and all parties
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: laughed off the incident, but it made for a good story.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Just like the story about when Bon found himself at
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the maternity ward visiting two different women at the same time,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: both of whom were delivering his babies.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: It's true. That happened. According to Bon Scott, anyway. Another
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: one of his good stories.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: But nothing taught Bon appearing on Australian national television to
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: perform in 1975, fully in drag, dressed as a schoolgirl. Pigtails,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: blue eyeliner, lipstick, skirt. Australia would never be the same.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Half the country was still horrified and half was still laughing,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: like Bon.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: It was all a joke.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: The arrests, the time, the drink, the fights, the unwed pregnancies,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: the shock and outrage. None of it was serious. It
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: was all a put-on.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Living easy. Living free.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: The only thing that mattered was the show. Giving the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: kids what they wanted. And beyond power, what kids in
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the 1970s wanted was darkness. Richard Ramirez was one of
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: those kids. Hell ain't a bad place to be. If
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: you want blood, you got it. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: What's next to the moon? Night prowler and highway to hell.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Indiscriminate murder, contract killing, violent crimes of passion, a glorification
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: of Satan. All this darkness is present in these ACDC songs.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Tremendous transgressive rock and roll storytelling delivered with ACDC's trademark power.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Incredibly compelling stuff for disaffected teenagers everywhere, never mind those
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: living in a post-Charles Manson Los Angeles. 1985 LA was
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: its own kind of hell. The air itself was toxic,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and the homeless problem like it is now was out
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: of control.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: And the elite shuffled aimlessly up in.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Their Hollywood Hills mansions as coke and crack addicts roamed
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the streets below, turning tricks and getting stoned in decaying
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: bus terminals and hourly motels. It was in this hell
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: that Richard Ramirez found himself listening to ACDC, communing with Satan,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and about to pay the devil his due.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word, word, word.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: The Catholic Church compels its followers to develop a daily
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: relationship with God, to speak to him, to pray to him,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to commune with him. Richard Ramirez did the opposite. He
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: spoke with Satan. From behind the wheel of his stolen car,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez absorbed the sounds of Highway to Hell and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: spoke in a trance. Hail Satan, thank you for being
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: a stabilizing force in my life. for driving me, for
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: accepting me into your army, for enlisting me in your
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: fight against Christ, for giving me purpose, for showing me
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the power and total domination.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: Hail Satan.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez believed that Jesus Christ was the enemy and
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: that he, Richard Ramirez, was part of Satan's army here
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: on earth.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: And who are we to argue?
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez's evil was beyond compare. Especially on the night
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: of March 26, 1985. At around 2 a.m., Richard Ramirez
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: slowed his new stolen car to a stop outside a
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: tidy-looking home on Strong Avenue in Whittier, California. He crept
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: slowly into the yard, peered into the living room window.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: On the sofa, a man sleeping in front of the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: television in his underwear. Richard crept to the back of
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: the house. He peered into a bedroom window. There, on
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the bed, a woman, sleeping, mid-forties. The sight of her
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and the thought of imminent sex charged Richard. Richard turned
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: toward the front of the house, steadied himself with his.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: 22 pistol aimed in combat position, and burst through the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: front door. The man on the couch woke in a start,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: and Richard immediately fired off a round. The bullet entered
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the man's skull just above his ear. A thin stream
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: of blood shot out of the man's head and painted
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: the living room wall three feet away. The man fell
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: to the floor, dying. The sound of the shot woke
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the woman in the bedroom. Horror chilled her veins.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: When she saw Richard enter the room. She screamed, and
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Richard screamed.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Back,''.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: Where' s the fucking money, bitch?
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Richard didn't wait for an answer.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: He quickly grabbed a necktie from the closet and bound
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the woman to the bed. Then he continued ransacking her
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: bedroom for valuables. But while he was distracted, the woman
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: loosened the sloppily tied necktie, undid herself, and made for
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the shotgun her husband kept under the bed. Richard heard her,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: turned around, and was shocked to see the woman had
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the drop on him. She focused her aim, strengthened her grip,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: pulled the trigger in.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: No shotgun shells. Richard flew into a rage. How dare
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: she try to hurt him?
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: He was an agent of Satan. She was a weak pawn,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: insignificant sacrificial fodder. He quickly raised his. 22 and shot
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: her three times. Then, he hit the kitchen and grabbed
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the biggest knife he could find. When he returned, he
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: pounced on the woman on the bed. He ripped off
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: her shirt and proceeded to attempt to cut her heart
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: out of her chest, but the knife wasn't strong enough
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and wouldn't penetrate the ribcage.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: It was a disappointment.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Richard took the knife and carved a deep, bloody, upside-down
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: cross into the woman's chest in homage to Satan. Without
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: her heart as a souvenir, he turned his attention to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: her eyes. He took his knife and with precision, he
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: cut her eyeballs out of her skull and carefully placed
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: them into the woman's small jewelry box. His anger returned.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: He stabbed her repeatedly in the throat, in the stomach,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: in the vagina. Richard then tried to have sex with
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the dead woman's body, but his anger prevented him from
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: getting an erection. He exited the house frustrated and covered
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: in blood. He took the shotgun and the woman's eyes.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: On May 29th, it was a different home, in Monrovia.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Richard broke in.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: He prowled the entryway into the kitchen, where he found
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: a hammer. Moving to the bedrooms, he found and tied
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: up both residents of the Monrovia home. Two women, sisters,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: in their 80s, one of them disabled. They helplessly took
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: blows from that hammer, the claws of it gouging and
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: breaking their bodies. Richard's bloodlust fed his libido. What he
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: wanted to do in Whittier, he did to the disabled
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: woman in Monrovia. Afterwards, he shocked the one sister with
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: an electric cord, took her lipstick and drew pentagrams on
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: her thigh and on the walls of the house. The
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: two women's bodies weren't found for days. The very next night,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: in Burbank, he used handcuffs instead of rope to bind
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: a 42-year-old woman and her 11-year-old son. He threw the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: kid in the closet and dragged the mom around the house,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: making her show him all the valuables he could steal.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: And then he raped her repeatedly, shouting at her the
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: whole time.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Don't look at me.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I said don't look at me.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Don't you fucking look at me. I won't. I won't.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: I swear to God, I won't. Don't swear to God.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Swear to Satan.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: And the Night Stalker.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Richard liked making his victims swear to the devil. A
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: 63-year-old survivor from Monterey Park was made to pledge her
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: allegiance to Lucifer. During a robbery in Sun Valley, he
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: demanded the widow of the man he'd just shot in
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the head swear to Satan that she'd given up all
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: her jewelry. And on another night in Diamond Bar, he
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: made a different woman swear to the devil that she
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: would stay quiet while he raped her. Every scene was raw, uncut,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: nightmare fuel. And then, There was the attempted.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Murder of Whitney Bennett. Stop, stop, she shouted, her mouth
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: full of blood.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: The tire iron came down on her head, over and over,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: pummeling her innocent 16-year-old face. Richard had snuck in her
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: unlocked bedroom window with the tire iron in hand, and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: as he brought it down again, her hand swatted at
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: him in a useless defense. She had been asleep a
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: minute ago, and she quickly slipped back into unconsciousness under
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the assault. Richard stepped out into the kitchen for a knife,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: but struggled to find one. Instead, he decided to finish
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the job by strangulation. An electric cord laced around her
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: neck pulled taut. He yanked it harder, watched her skin
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: go pale, and then purple. Suddenly, the electric cord sparked
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and fritzed, filling the air above her body with a
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: blue haze. It was as if her soul was visibly
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: leaving her body. Except instead of dying, the 16-year-old began
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: gasping for air and waking up again. For once, Richard
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Ramirez was the scared one. The blue haze over the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: girl's body had freaked him out. Clearly, this was a
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: sign of divine rather than satanic intervention. Her soul, he
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: saw it, he swore. That was what scared him. Jesus intervening,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: overpowering Satan. Richard booked it out of the house and
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Whitney Bennett survived after 500 stitches and some plastic surgery.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Following this gruesome string of murders, it wasn't long before
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the press picked up on the fact that a serial
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: killer was in their midst. When they found out one
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: of the only clues was an ACDC hat left behind
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: at the scene of the Dale Akazaki murder in March
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: of 85, the media feeding frenzy really kicked in. They
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: even had a name for the killer. It was a
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: take on his favorite band, ACDC's song Night Prowler.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: And they called him the Night Stalker.
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: The so-called Night Stalker is blamed for seven murders in
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: the Los Angeles area. Now, police have linked the killer
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: to a murder in San Francisco last weekend.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Murder in San Francisco.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: Officials in Los Angeles are offering a $ 10, 000 reward to
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: the capture of the so-called Night Stalker. The same man
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: is suspected in six to eight murders and 25 to
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: 30 attacks. The latest victim, a 35-year-old man shot in
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: the head last Thursday. Shot in the head last Thursday.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid for everybody, elderly, young, everybody.
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: I've been very apprehensive.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I keep my doors locked and my guns loaded.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: My guns loaded, guns loaded, guns loaded. Night star, night star,
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: night star. Callers are flooding the sheriff's department with reported sightings,
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: but so far, no solid leads.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: And if ACDC embodied Bon Scott, Richard Ramirez unfortunately embodied
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the violent themes Bon Scott incorporated into his music.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: The hat.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Midnight blue. Near black. Glittery ACDC logo emblazoned across the front.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: It fell off of Richard Ramirez's head most likely when
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: he scooted under Maria Hernandez's garage door before attempting to
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: shoot her point-blank in the face. It was one of
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: his first violent break-ins and the first clue he left
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: for police. It would be months before the media would
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: learn about that hat. And when they did, they looked
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: into Richard Ramirez's favorite band. It was 1985, and ACDC's
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: latest album, Fly on the Wall, was released. was a
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: mediocre recording and commercial release for a band as successful
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: as ACDC. However, journalists on the hunt for a narrative
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: didn't need to do much digging to connect the straight
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: line between the murderous actions of Richard Ramirez and the
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: influence of ACDC. All they needed to do was trace
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: the band's discography back a few years to 1979 to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: their album, Highway to Hell. On its cover, Angus Young
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: sports his trademark schoolboy hat, modified with devil horns, and
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: holds a long point to Devil's Tail in his hand.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: You'd have to be a complete fucking idiot to take
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the image of him seriously, but then again, we are
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: talking about the American media. Perhaps more serious is the
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: image of Bon Scott next to Angus. He's sporting a
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: goofy smile. The photographer caught him in the middle of
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: a laugh. It's a very Bon type of image, one
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a thousand fans have seen before.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: As always.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: He's not taking himself too seriously. However, on his necklace
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: hangs a very serious symbol. A five-pointed pentagram representing the
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: five wounds of Jesus. Add a goat's head to the
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: pentagram and you have the official symbol of the Church
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: of Satan. Catholic exorcists believe that symbols like the pentagram
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: or perhaps even this podcast are used by the devil
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: as entry points into the lives of men and women.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: Richard Ramirez believed this too.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: After he was captured on August 31st, 1985, he stood
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: in court at his arraignment and flashed the palm of
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: his hand. On it, a massive pentagram carved into the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: flesh above the number 666, the number.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Of the beast.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: In case there was any doubt, after he pleaded innocent
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: to murdering 13 people, Richard Ramirez yelled out Hail Satan
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: to the judge and the rest of the court, including
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: some victims' family members and members of the media. Media
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: who had already connected Richard's intentions to more than just
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott's pentagram on the cover of Highway to Hell.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: They also connected the dots to Bon Scott's lyrics in
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the slow, evil menace of the album's final track, Night Prowler,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: which lyrically seemed to detail the creepy B & E
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: murders of Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker. Many in the
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: media went as far as to directly blame ACDC for
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez's actions. The members of ACDC vehemently denied any
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: serious connection to or influence from Satan, despite the imagery
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: and themes they explored on record. Richard Ramirez did the opposite,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: saying in court, I love all that blood. I love
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: to kill people. I love watching them die. I believe
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: in Satan. I am beyond good and evil. Satanists need
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: to have more faith than Christians. Richard went further. He
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: treated his trial like some sort of demonic celebrity come-out party.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: He dressed in a dark suit, wore sunglasses in the courtroom,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: and let his hair grow up. If you squinted, you
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: could see the resemblance to ACDC's previous singer, Bon Scott,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: who passed away tragically, drunk and stoned and drowned in
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: his own vomit in the front seat of a French
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: supermini on a cold English night five years prior in 1979.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Living easy, living free.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Dead on your own puke inside the cold interior of
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: a Renault 5. For a moment, the courtroom stage allowed
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez to fill the void left by Bon Scott.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Richard was now the rock star. The explosion of media
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: coverage around his trial that blasted his evil rock star
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: image all over television newscasts and newspapers daily led to
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: a torrent of groupies. These were women who wrote to
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez, pledging their love. They sent him nudes, proposed
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: polyamorous domesticity, and even hung out in and around the
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: courtroom during his trial. One, Doreen Leoy, even married Richard
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: after he was convicted and sent to San Quentin with
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a death sentence. Perhaps Doreen's love was a parting gift
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: to Richard from the devil, paying his dues. Perhaps, as
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott sang in 1977, hell ain't a bad place
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: to be. Evil Richard Ramirez was a special kind of evil,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: proof that Satan does indeed walk among us. The Night
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Stalker died in prison on June 7, 2013. In the end,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: it wasn't the electric chair or lethal injection. It was
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: B-cell lymphoma, cancer, bad blood. He was 53 years old.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez spent 20 more years on this earth than
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott, who died at the age of 33.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: But only one of these men died a disgrace.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Shazam. Nanu nanu.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're
• 37:16
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• 37:19
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• 37:22
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• 37:25
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• 37:30
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• 37:32
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• 37:36
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• 37:46
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• 37:49
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• 37:54
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• 37:56
  Speaker 2: Rock and roll up.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: He's a bad, bad man. All right, guys, that's ACDC
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: part one. We got part two coming up for you
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: right now.