Latest / DISGRACELAND / Bonus: Old Rockstars With No F*cks Left To Give

Transcript

Bonus: Old Rockstars With No F*cks Left To Give · DISGRACELAND

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey Discos, need a little more Disgraceland in your life?
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Just a touch to get you through? Yeah, me too.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to Disgraceland, the after party. Welcome to the Disgraceland bonus episode,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a little thing we like to call the after party.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: This is the show after the show, the party after
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the party, the bridge to get you from one full
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: episode of Disgraceland to the other, the backyard to dig
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: into the dirt. Our mission to uncover the truth, to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: confront the myth, to reclaim the story on this bonus episode,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we're talking about writers and the weird shit they have
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to do to be writers. Quincy Jones is loose lips
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and what other bombshells that may or may not be
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: dropped by aging legends with nothing to lose. We're going
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to get into your takes on Q's claims, plus your
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: favorite producers with your emails, comments, DMs, and as always,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a whole lot of Rosie. This is the podcast for
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the musically obsessed, the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that the best history is the history that gets buried.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland is where I tell the stories you'll end up
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: telling to someone else. All right, discos, let's get into it.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I found out today that I got nominated for a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Signal Award for writing the Patti Smith episode of Disgraceland.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: And it got me thinking about something that I don't
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: really talk about very much, which is writing and how
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: fucking weird it is that this is what I do
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: for a living. In order to become a writer, I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: had to become a podcaster. And now increasingly in order
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to maintain my living as a podcaster and grow my business,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: my podcast business, I have to become some sort of videographer,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: which is fine. It's neither good nor bad. It's just weird.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Things evolve and I get it. And I'm down for
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the challenge. But if you asked my high school friends
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: what I would be when I got older, they would
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: have told you I would have been a writer, which
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: is It's interesting to me because that's not what I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: became after high school. I became a musician. And I
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: didn't realize it at the time, but being a musician
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: taught me how to write. And I don't mean just
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: writing songs. That absolutely helped. But it was more about
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: traveling the country, traveling to Europe, and just being around
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: so many different people and seeing different people and seeing
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: how they act, seeing how they think. or getting a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: glimpse into how they think. And, and I really, I
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: really found myself becoming, you know, not, not in a
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: creepy way, but just like watching people constantly. I still
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: do it. Even to this day, I was traveling yesterday.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I was at Logan airport and, and I'm just, I
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: actually had this thought. I'm like, dude, you have to
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: stop staring at people, people watching because they're going to,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: they're going to think you're fucking weird. I'm constantly, constantly
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: looking at people, trying to figure out what they're thinking,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: where they're going, where they're coming from. And obviously that's
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a very writerly thing to do. And I don't think
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to do it. I never thought to do it. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: just do it. And I was thinking, you know, if
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: after this award was announced, I was like, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I never took any writing classes. I never took one
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: creative writing class in my life. And if I could
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: go back to school, I wouldn't. I think if I...
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: could go back to school, I'd probably major in psychology
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: because I'd want to better understand how people think so
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that I could become a better writer and do it
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: that way. I don't really think about writing. I think
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: about writing all the time, but I never really think
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: about writing mechanics. I don't think about sentence structure. I
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: don't think about words. I don't think about grammar. I
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: do think a lot about story because story is– To me,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the most important thing, you can be the greatest writer
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: on the planet technically, and if you can't tell a story, well,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: who cares? Music taught me this. It's like you can
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: be the most proficient, technically astute drummer on the planet,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: but if you have no feel, it doesn't matter. I
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: don't know. For what I do, podcasting for this delivery
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: vessel especially, stories are just so much more important than
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the mechanics of what ends up on the page because–
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: There is no page. I'm not writing essays for Esquire
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: magazine like Norman Mailer. The Saturday Evening Post is not
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: paying me to write Searching Towards Bethlehem because the Saturday
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Evening Post no longer exists. And if Joan Didion or
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Norman Mailer were alive today, they'd be writing in some
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: form of new media or they'd be unemployed. And their
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: writing would definitely be different. It would suit whatever medium
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: they were writing for. And we don't know if their
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: writing would be better or worse. That's impossible to say.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: But I do strongly believe that it would be different.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And I guess what I am saying is that I'm
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: grateful for this new media. Without it, I'm sure I
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have gotten through the gatekeepers and been able to
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: turn myself into a writer. And who knows whether or
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: not I would have ever found an audience, even if
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: I somehow did turn myself into a writer, and whether
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: or not you guys would have found me. We no
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: longer have the Saturday Evening Post. We don't even really
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: have Esquire magazine or any of the other great literary
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: outlets that could help writers make their livings. But we
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: do have podcasting. And I'm super grateful for that. Obviously, again,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: it helped us find each other. It gave me a living,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: which is unbelievable when I think about it. And now
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: we have things like the Signal Awards. that recognize the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: work we're doing in this evolving medium, in whatever it becomes. Podcasting,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: we all know, it's all turned into video somehow, gone
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: from audio to video. I guess it's going to be
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: both things, which is fine. But again, it's just cool
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: that we have this sort of, in our own mechanics
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: in this industry, our own infrastructure, things like the Signal
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Awards that are recognizing the work that we're doing. because
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: it further cements this profession as being a real one.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The unfortunate thing, though, about being nominated for anything, it's
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a double-edged sword. Like Ernest Hemingway, another dude who cashed
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: those fat Esquire checks, I can't stand to lose any competition.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to ask you guys shamelessly to vote
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: for Disgraceland, the Signal Awards. You can grab the link.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Matt will have it in the show notes. I'll have
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: it on Instagram. I'm going to do a little post
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: about this. You'll be able to find it there. And
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: give us a vote so that we can keep making podcasts,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: keep writing, keep coming at you weekly here in Disgraceland,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: here in this fucking weird, strange little community we've carved
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: out on the internet. It's amazing. When I really think
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: about it, when I take myself out of the action
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: of doing this and I think about what I do
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: for a living... It's fucking bizarre. Music and true crime
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: in a whole community of listeners out there. You guys,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the discos who are here for it every single week.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: It blows my mind. I'm incredibly, incredibly grateful. Thank you
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: so much. So I was talking earlier about Ernest Hemingway
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and Norman Mailer and Joan Didion and having to have
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: these sort of alternate careers in order to make a
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: living as a writer. Not necessarily side hustle, but kind
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of side hustley. Anyway, there are fascinating anecdotes about writers
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: and what some of them have had to do for
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: a living. This is kind of apropos right now because
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of Tony, the film about Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain had to
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: become a chef, essentially, to become a writer. And then
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: he had to become a TV host to continue being
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: a writer. So this fascinates me for all the reasons
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: you just heard. Anyways, Zeth pulled some examples of some
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: truly revealing anecdotes from literary history of authors and their
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: side hustles, what they had to do to become writers.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: We're going to get into that in the exclusive section
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: of this after party coming up. Go to disgracesandpod.com, sign
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: up to become an all-access member, and you can gain
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: access to that conversation and more exclusive content just like that,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: plus ad-free listening. Okay, again, Quincy Jones in the feed
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: this week. our latest full episode of Disgraceland. Here's something
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: that I learned while researching this episode that maybe you knew,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: maybe you didn't. And it's this, it's that before Quincy
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Jones began scoring films, major motion pictures had been scored
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: almost exclusively by white men. Now I probably would have
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: assumed this if I stopped to think about it, but
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I did not. Not until I got into this research
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: and that orchestral music, film scores during that time prior
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to Quincy Jones were by design aspirational sounding. If you
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: drove through an American city in 1966 with your windows
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: down and your radio on, you'd primarily be hearing R &
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: B or R & B- influenced music. But if you went
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to the movies, the music you'd hear accompanying the story
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: up on the screen would be orchestral, romantic, aspirational, more
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: akin to classical music than the reality happening out on
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: the streets. Quincy Jones was the first film composer to
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: introduce rhythm and blues into motion picture scoring, and thus
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the first composer to implement truth into the sound. of movies.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: For the first time in the history of movies, the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: sound of the story sounded like what life for most
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Americans actually felt like. America at its most violent with
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Quincy's score for In Cold Blood. at its most racist
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: with Quincy Jones' score for In the Heat of the Night.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Quincy Jones made movies sound the way that America felt
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: at the time. Now, this is a technique that most
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: every notable composer after Quincy Jones has utilized in some way,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: deploying reality over aspiration in film composition. And by extension,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: creating a permanent record for future generations like us to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: roll back the tape on to hear what America really
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: sounded like back then. This is fascinating to me. I mean,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: this even, you know, the whole was Quincy Jones telling
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the truth thing that we get into in this episode
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: is really just a super fascinating, interesting, dramatic way in
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: for me to figure out what Quincy Jones, what his
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: life was like, what his career was like, what it
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: was like, what his artistry was like. And we get
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: into all that. It's all at the top of your
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: feed right now, right before this bonus episode. Go back
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and check it out if you have not. All right.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Also for that piece of the story that I just
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: talked about, it's totally different in the episode. Ryan Spraker,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: who works for us, he scored the shit out of it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: He actually brought in the sounds of In Cold Blood
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: from that score, and he brought in the sounds of–
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: he just did a fantastic job, and Sean did a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: great job mixing it as well from our team. Coming
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: up next week in your feed, right after this After
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Party bonus episode, coming up right next, it's going to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: be the Rewind episode on Sunday in our Rewind Sunday slot,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: two-part episode on Nirvana. Hold on. Speaking of Sundays, my
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: favorite murder was on CBS Sunday Morning. This past Sunday,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I'm in my hotel room clicking around and I see
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: them on TV. Just incredible. So fucking cool. Check that out.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: CBS Sunday Mornings, they did a big true crime piece
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and they talked to Georgia and Karen. And Georgia and Karen,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: of course, as always, they did a fantastic job of
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: eloquently talking about the tension between true crime as an
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: event that happens in life, in the world, crimes that
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: happen out there in the world and the sort of
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: entertainment side of it. It's really great, fascinating. And again,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: they did a fantastic job. Check that out. I also
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: have to, since I'm shouting people out, I got to
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: shout out Dr. Zeth Lundy here as well, who was
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: featured on the BBC yesterday or this week for Stevie
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Wonder's birthday. A lot of you might not know this,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: but Zeth is kind of a Stevie, not kind of,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: he is a Stevie Wonder authority. He wrote a book
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: called Songs in the Key of Life for the 33
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and a third series, which is excellent. I highly recommend it.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: And it was just Stevie's birthday. So the BBC, they
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: did something really smart. They called up the good doctor
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and they got him to talk about Stevie Wonder. And
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure where you can hear that, but
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: you know, shit's easy to find these days. Just Google it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: You'll figure it out. Seth Lundy, Stevie Wonder, BBC. You
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: can hear that interview.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: As I was saying, Nirvana... Coming up in our rewind slot,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Courtney Love, she didn't kill Kurt Cobain. Despite what people say,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: she did not kill Kurt Cobain, but she did quite
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: literally save his life. And this is going to piss
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of people off, but I don't care, okay?
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Early January 1992, Nirvana had just made their live television
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: debut on Saturday Night Live. And that same weekend, Nevermind
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: had also knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous from the number one
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: slot on the Billboard charts. Now, it's in this moment
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: that Kurt Cobain, who was not in the mood for celebrating,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: decided he wanted to do something else. He didn't want
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: to go to the SNL cast party. He wanted to
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: get high. So, he went back to his hotel and
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: he slammed heroin into his arm and he drifted off. Now,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: later on, he began to overdose and he fell off
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the bed. And the sound of him falling off the bed,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: it woke Courtney Love up. She found Kurt on the floor.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: His skin was green. She straddled him and pounded his
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: chest with her fist to get his lungs pumping. When
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: that didn't work, she grabbed the ice bucket from the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: room service tray and began palming handfuls of ice into
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: her near-dead fiancé' s asshole. When that didn't revive him, she
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: took the Vaseline's pin off of his leather jacket, pulled
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: his jeans down, and began poking his testicles with it.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: She then started to smack him across the face. Finally,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Kurt began to come back to life. She threw cold
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: water on his face, dragged him around the room, started
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: rotating his arms to get the blood flowing. This was
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: all routine to Courtney Love. She had saved Kurt Cobain's
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: life before. She was going to save his life again
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: as well. Until, of course, Kurt would make that impossible
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: for her to do so. If you want to know
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: more about Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, and the story of Nirvana,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: be sure to check out this two-part episode of Disgraceland
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: from our archive coming to you in the Rewind slot
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: in your feed this Sunday. Then following that, we've got
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: new content for you. As always, every week, our new episode,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: this one for the Halloween season on Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Now,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: some people think Screamin' Jay Hawkins was murdered. Yes, that's right.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I put a spell on you, guy. Murdered. The official
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: cause of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' death was organ failure following
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: emergency surgery to treat an aneurysm. French press gave a
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: slightly different cause of death. They credited his death to
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: intestinal blockage, which is kind of a hysterical way for
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: a dude who wrote a song called Constipation Blues to
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: go out. Now, some believe Jay Hawkins, Screamin' Jay Hawkins,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: was slowly poisoned. Screamin' Jay Hawkins told his ex-wife Colette, okay, Colette,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: his ex-wife, whom he remained close with. He told Colette
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: about his wife at the time of his death, his
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: current wife, a woman named Monique. Screamin' Jay told Colette
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: that Monique's cooking was making him sick and that he
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: needed help getting Monique and her family out of his life.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Let's say Screamin' Jay Hawkins, hypothetically, that he was poisoned.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Is it possible that being poisoned could have led to
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: intestinal blockage? Yes, it is possible. I looked it up.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Screaming Jay Hawkins was dead at age 70, and his widow, Monique,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: took control of his things. At the time, she changed
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the locks on their apartment door. She wouldn't allow anyone inside.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Why not? I don't know, but it's fucking weird. Just
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: like Screaming Jay Hawkins. Pretty fucking weird. He is the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: best kind of weird. And this story, like Jay's life,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: It feels too unbelievable to be real, but we are
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: going to find out if it is or if it
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: isn't in the upcoming episode of the Disgraceland podcast on
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Screaming Jay Hawkins. All right. That's the Screaming Jay Hawkins episode.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: When you're listening to this episode, be thinking about the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: myth versus the truth of great artists, that tension that's
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: at the center of a lot of these Disgraceland episodes.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: And let us know if you believe Screaming Jay Hawkins
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: was murdered. Give me a call. Send me a text.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: 617-906-6638 with your answers and you might hear yourself on
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: next week's after party. Okay, discos, as always, we're covering
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: a bunch of ground here in Disgraceland. Quincy Jones, Screamin'
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Jay Hawkins, Kurt and Courtney. And as always, I also
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: want to hear from you guys. So we're going to
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: be back right after this break with your voicemails, texts, DMs, emails,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and more coming up. All right, so you want to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: be a rock and roll star? Then listen to hear
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: what I say. I'm in the phone booth. It's the
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: one across the hall. I don't know. I'm mixing all
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: my lyrics here. I don't even know what this segment
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: is anymore. Is it the you want to be a
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: rock and roll star segment? Or is it hanging on
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the telephone segment? I don't know. What even are segments?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: This is a podcast. This isn't a radio show. However,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: like the great radio shows, we do take calls. 617-906-6638.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Voicemail and text. Now, last week's question of the week
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: relative to our Disgraceland episode on Quincy Jones, we asked
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: you if you believe Quincy Jones's claims. And we also
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: had a sub-question. We asked you who your favorite music
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: producer is. Let's go to the 201.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: So the Quincy Jones episode for me was one of
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: your top five. I thought it was fantastic. There's a
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: bunch of things I didn't know about it, especially pertaining
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: to his early years. I think it was great. Now,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: moving along. You guys have spoken, or you actually, not Seth,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: have spoken a lot about the Kennedy assassination. And on
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: that subject, I go back to Victor Posner's excellent book,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Case Closed. I thought it was brilliant. In that book,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: he makes the case that an improbable set of coincidental
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: circumstances led to Lee Harvey Oswald being in the Texas
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Book Depository and that day and him killing Kennedy. And honestly,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I got to believe it. Now, I know you guys are,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: I know you're an avid reader. I know you read
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: quite a bit. I don't know if you've read that
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: book or what your opinion of it is, but like
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: the title of the book, Case Closed, I kind of
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: think he made his point to where the only conclusion
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: that I could come to in my amateur sleuthish frame
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: of mind is that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy. and
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: he did it alone, without help and without persuasion, and
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: that's really it. But I'm just curious, did you ever
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: read that book, Keys Closed, by the composer? And if so,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: I just want to know what your opinion is. Anyway,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I'd really appreciate it if you could answer that for me.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Love you guys. Still the only podcast that I listen to,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: and I have listened to every single episode of you
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: guys and of Hollywoodland. Thanks so much.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Bye. Hey, fantastic call. Appreciate this. Thanks for getting in touch.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Thanks for the kind words that you said. Okay,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: let's get into this. The Rosner book, Case Closed. I
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: have not read it, okay? but I'm interested. And, you know,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: I do believe Oswald was in the book depository and
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I do believe he was one of the gunmen. I
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: do believe he fired a shot. I'm not entirely sure
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: if he hit Kennedy. But here's where I depart with
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the Posner case closed theory. I can't, I can't, the
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: single bullet thing just never, it defies logic that it
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: was one gunman with who killed Kennedy and, from that angle.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: It just does not make sense at all. And I
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: do believe, I mean, I think two things can be
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: true at one time. At the same time, I think
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: that Lee Harvey Oswald could have been, could have shot Kennedy,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: but I do actually believe there were others involved. And
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: you bring up an interesting point here with Jack Ruby.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Jack Ruby was wholly owned by the Chicago mob, like completely, completely.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: The thing that I found in this Quincy Jones research, specifically,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: when I got into that Giancana research, because of what
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Quincy Jones said about Giancana, I uncovered the fact that
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Lee Harvey Oswald, Giancana had stated to his brother, I believe,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: that Lee Harvey Oswald was the nephew of a Santo
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Traficante who was the New Orleans crime boss. Gangster. Not
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: nephew of Traficante, but of one of his guys. It's
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: just Oswald had so many weird connections. That's a whole
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: other wormhole. But I'm interested in the book and I'm
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: always interested in challenging what I believe here. So I
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: thank you for the call and stoked that another rock
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: star led us into this Kennedy assassination conversation. All right.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: This one from the 315. on the question of greatest
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: music producer of all time. Jake, what's up?
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Great episode.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I don't really have a favorite music producer, but you want.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: To know whose music I can do without?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Drake! I've never felt so seen. I've always said that
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: my kid made up better songs than Drake, even when
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: she was three years old and farting in the tub.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Rock and rollin'. Oh, 315, you know, I want to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: limit the negativity I put into the world, which is
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: hard with this gig. When we look critically at the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: behavior of rock stars. I'm just not a Drake fan
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: like you. You heard what I had to say. I'm
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: guessing Drake or whoever produces Drake's music is not your
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: favorite producer of all time. All right, let's go to
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Ross in the 808. What up?
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Ross in the 808.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Dude, what is the end goal?
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Ross, interesting theory.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Perhaps, maybe things got out of hand. Maybe they were
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: trying to convince him and maybe things got out of hand.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Ross is talking about Bobby Fuller, guys, from the Bobby
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Fuller episode. And maybe that is how things ended. But
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know. That million dollar insurance policy, collecting that
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: when you know that your artist is no longer going
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to create any more value for you and you're a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: stone cold gangster, that million dollar insurance policy might be
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: pretty enticing. Pretty enticing motive. 413 texts us, hey, Jake Brennan,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I'm enjoying your podcast on my long commute. You're a
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: gifted storyteller and producer. I often find myself having to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: pause your podcast and bring up a song or two
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: on YouTube to listen to. This morning, it was Stairway
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to Heaven as I listened to part two of your
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: excellent Led Zeppelin story. And at the end of it,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I wondered, will there be a part three? Seems like
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the story isn't quite over. You know what? With Bonham's
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: death and the breakup of the band, anyway, no big deal.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: If not, mainly just wanted to say thanks for an
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: enjoyable listen. I absolutely think there's more to the Led
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Zeppelin story than what we've spoken about. And perhaps we'll
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: get into it at some point. We have a lot
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: of stories to tell. And Patreon listeners, don't forget. Don't
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: think I've forgotten about our meetup, which we have to schedule,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: where we can start to choose some of the episodes
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: for next year. We'll have information on that soon. Thanks
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: for being patient with me. That's coming. 978 says, hey,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: favorite producer of all time, Andy Wallace for 40 years
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: between producing and mastering. He's had his fingerprints on some
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: of my favorite and some of the greatest records of
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: all time. As a kid, it felt like every time
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: I looked in the liner notes of a record I loved,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I saw his name. And you're absolutely right. And I
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: know I have as well, but I'm blanking and I
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: can't pull one out of the hat right now. So
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: I'm looking right up. Andy Wallace credits. What do we
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: got here? Well, Nirvana, never mind. What did he do?
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Engineer that? He did not produce it. Rage Against the Machine,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: self-titled debut. He mixed, never mind. I'm not sure if
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: he engineered it, but he mixed it. Produced Rollins Band,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: End of Silence. Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Remember Ned's Atomic Dustbin?
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I do. Sepultura, Bad Religion, Stranger Than Fiction, Jeff Buckley, Grace.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: There we go. There's the big one. Jeff. Oh, he
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: did that fucking Weird Faith No More record, King for
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: a Day. I say weird. It's great. It is weird,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: but it's great. A lot of mixing here. Anyways, Andy Wallace.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: All right, guys. 617-906-6638. You want to get at me
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: about anything. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, especially. Do you think he
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: was murdered? That's going to be the question of the
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: week next week. Or you can get into any sort
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: of rock and roll mysteries, rock and roll myth stuff
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: you want to talk about. Anyways, get at me, 617-906-6638,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: voicemail and text. Now listen, if you traced any rock
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: band back far enough, you are probably going to land
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: in the same place. It's either going to be Chuck
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Berry for the riffs, Little Richard for the energy, Elvis
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: for his aura. And of course, the old blues guys
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: who gave everybody a foundation. Every family tree and rock
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: grows out of this soil. But there's one branch that
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: is a little different, and it grew out of a
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: drunk recording session and a coffin. Screamin' Jay Hawkins originally
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: planned I Put a Spell on You as a ballad.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: But when it came time to record, his whole band
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: got shit-faced. Jay described the sound that came from it
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: as cannibalistic, like a man eating somebody. And it was
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: banned on radio stations once they released it. Despite that ban,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the record still sold over a million copies. And then
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: when DJ Alan Freed offered Jay $ 300 to rise out
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of a coffin on stage... Jay built a whole act
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: around this tune with a cape, leopard skin, rubber snakes,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: voodoo props, a smoking skull on a stick that he
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: named Henry. Alice Cooper, The Misfits, Kiss, Arthur Brown, Marilyn Manson,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Rob Zombie, Gwar, Ghost, all borrowed or borrow from Screamin'
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Jay Hawkins' act from what he started way back in
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the 1950s. The irony is that Jay resented the whole
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: shock rock thing, felt it was a gimmick, They kept
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: people from taking him seriously as a singer, which is
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: all he wanted all along, was to be taken seriously
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: as a singer. Dude could have been an opera singer
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: if he wanted to. Fascinating guy, fascinating story. That's coming
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: up next week in this Graceland. We're coming up right
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: after this with your emails and more. All right, as
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I said, Screaming Jay Hawkins coming up next week, our
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: next new full episode. But if you want new content
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: right now, you can't wait. And you got to go
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: over to Patreon. You got to become a member. Go
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to disgracelandpod.com to sign up, become an all-access member. Like
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I said earlier, you're going to get that exclusive content,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: like the bonus after-party conversation I got going on with
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Zeth here in just a minute. But you're also going
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: to get access to our video podcast. This film should
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: be played loud in our new episode on Gross Point Blank.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the best music. from the best movies,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: and there's nowhere else you can get it besides being
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: part of the Disgraceland All Access community. Join your fellow discos.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Go sign up now at DisgracelandPod.com. I want to read
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you an email, DisgracelandPod at gmail.com. A while back, I
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: was contacted by a listener named Gina, and Gina's dad
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: was in Bobby Fuller's band. He wasn't in the Bobby
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Fuller Forum, He was in Bobby's band prior to the
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Bobby Fuller Four, Mike Ciccarelli. And he turns up in
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: our episode. Gina had contacted me when she heard we
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: were doing a Bobby Fuller episode and introduced herself and
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: was very excited. And then I, of course, got very
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: nervous because I had just written about her dad. I
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: had already written the episode. It wasn't released yet, but
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I just written about her dad. And I was fairly
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: certain I had it nailed down And her dad is
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Mike Ciccarelli, who turns up in the episode, turns up
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: at the end of the episode. He kind of comes
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: back into Bobby's life later after the Bobby Fuller Four
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: moves to Los Angeles. And then, of course, they're going
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: to break up and Bobby's going to start this new thing.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Mike Ciccarelli heads to Los Angeles and he's the one
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: in that scene in the end with the other musician
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: whose name is escaping me at the moment, who come
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: upon Bobby Fuller's mother being whisked away by a man
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: in black. It's a very, very important part of the story.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: And it's from the book, He Fought the Mob. That's
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: where I got that information. And it's crucial to the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: theory of the mafia, the Genovese family having something to
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: do with Bobby Fuller's death. It's hard to draw that
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: line without the account from Mike Ciccarelli. And again, the
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: other musician whose name is escaping me at the point.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: So two people. Anyways, I was real nervous about what
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Gina was going to think and talk about her dad.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: And she hit me up. She says, damn, you nailed it.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you. So cathartic. I feel like I've been waiting
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: for that story most of my life. Rock-a-rola. Actually, she
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: says rock-a-fucking-rola. Gina Ciccarelli. Pretty cool. Thanks, Gina. I really
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: appreciate you getting in touch. I do. Thank you. Stay
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: in touch. And you guys can stay in touch too.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Disgracelandpod at gmail.com. At Disgracelandpod on the socials. Disgracelandpod at gmail.com. Yeah,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: you know where to hear us. In the Disgraceland feed.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: In the Hollywoodland feed. Over in Patreon. We can be
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: tracked down just about elsewhere. We're working on other places
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: right now. Okay? Just so you know. We're not stopping.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Like I said, thanks for everybody for listening. For engaging.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: If you've never written to us, if you've never called us,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: emailed us, now's the time. If you're just thinking like,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I always got something I want to ask, but I
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: don't do it. Or I get something I want to say,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: but I don't do it. Now's the time. I love
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: everyone who consistently calls and texts and writes. Keep doing that.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Don't stop. I know there's somebody, I'm the same way.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I listen to sports radio, Boston sports radio. I never call, ever, ever.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: I do text. Big Jim Murray, though, from the sports hub.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Or not text, I DM him. But I don't call.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: But I know what it's like to be on the
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: other end. And you hear something and you're like, fire! Like,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: come on, hit me. 617-906-6638. Voicemail and text. Good and bad. Okay,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I'm here for it. You might hear yourself in the
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: next episode of the after party. All right, as promised,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Seth and I talking about writers and the weird shit
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: they do to make a buck. That's coming up in
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: the excuses section of this after party. You're not going
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: to want to miss it. Go to disgracelandpod.com to sign
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: up to become an all-access member. All right, guys, we'll
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: be back right after this. All right, we are back.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Mentioned Alice Cooper, mentioned Chuck Berry. Sure, we mentioned some
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: other artists, but for Alice and Chuck... We're going to
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: have the episode information in the show notes section of
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: this here bonus app. Matt's going to throw that in
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: there for you so you can easily find your way
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: to Alice and Chuck. I think we're up to 289
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: episodes right now of Disgraceland closing in on 300. Chuck
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: was from season six. Alice, a couple of years ago.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Let's recap. Number one, this week, our new episode on
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Quincy Jones is available right now. Number two, in the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: rewind slot this weekend, our classic two-part episode on Nirvana.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Number three, next week, coming up, our new episode on
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Screaming Jay Hawkins. Number four, Zeth's going to give you
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: those Hollywood and crime vibes in the Hollywoodland feed, so
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: make sure you are subscribed. I'm going to give you
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: my music recs in the wrap party. Screen in Room's
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: going to tell us all what we should be watching
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: this weekend. Make sure you're subscribed to Hollywoodland. Number five,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: current This Film Should Be Played Loud video podcast. Our
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: episode on Gross Point Blank is available right now. Go
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: to disgracelandpod.com to sign up to become an all-access member
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and unlock exclusive content just like this along with ad-free listening.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Number six, 617-906-6638. Your voice keeps us digging into the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: dark corners of music history, so keep calling, keep texting
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: with your answers to this week's question or with whatever
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: else you want to talk about. Number seven, don't forget discos.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: This isn't just content. It's a community, a community of
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: the obsessed. And no one cares about music, books, records,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and the grime and crime that ties them all together
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: like you do. And well, that's a disgrace. All right,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: back on January 29th, 2018, Quincy Jones started making some
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: outrageous claims. And this is what America was listening to
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: on that day, according to the Billboard charts. Number one, perfect,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Ed Sheeran. Last week, one. Peak position, one. Weeks on chart, six.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Number two, Havana. Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug. Last week, two.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Peak position, two. Weeks on chart, 22. Number three, Finesse.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Bruno Mars and Cardi B. Last week, 35. Peak position, three.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Weeks on chart, two. Number four, Rockstar. Post Malone featuring
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: 21 Savage. Last week. Keep positions. Weeks on show. Weeks
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: on show. Weeks on show. Weeks on show.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Quit talking and start mixing. Cut it!