Latest / DISGRACELAND / Dr. John: A Shooting, Federal Prison, and Voodoo Healing

Transcript

Dr. John: A Shooting, Federal Prison, and Voodoo Healing · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a
0:15
Speaker 1: story about voodoo, not the Hollywood version of vudu, because
0:19
Speaker 1: this isn't a story about pincushion dolls and needles. Nobody
0:22
Speaker 1: worships the devil in this story, well almost nobody. This
0:26
Speaker 1: is a story about real Louisiana voodoo, the kind with
0:29
Speaker 1: the power not only to hurt into hecks, but also
0:33
Speaker 1: to heal. This is a story of Doctor John, a pimp,
0:37
Speaker 1: a drug addict, an outlaw, and a piano man who
0:41
Speaker 1: made great music. Unlike that music I played for you
0:44
Speaker 1: at the top of the show, And that wasn't great music.
0:47
Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called nine
0:50
Speaker 1: and a half Fingers MK.
0:52
Speaker 2: One.
0:53
Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
0:55
Speaker 1: rights to the Lions Sleeps Tonight by the Tokens. Why
0:59
Speaker 1: would I play you that particular slice of no nut
1:02
Speaker 1: high note cheese?
1:03
Speaker 2: Could I afford it?
1:05
Speaker 1: Because that was a number one song in America on
1:08
Speaker 1: December twenty fourth, nineteen sixty one, And that was the
1:11
Speaker 1: day that a musician named mac Rebenak, who would later
1:14
Speaker 1: become known as Doctor John, was shot outside a bar
1:16
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, Florida, in an incident that kicked off a
1:19
Speaker 1: heroin journey through the criminal underworld and ultimately to musical salvation.
1:26
Speaker 1: On this episode, a shooting, a car chase, a drug bust,
1:30
Speaker 1: time in a federal pen, musical healing and rebirth with
1:34
Speaker 1: doctor John. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is disgracing. It
2:09
Speaker 1: was the night before Christmas in New Orleans, in the
2:13
Speaker 1: city's third Ward, in a tiny shotgun apartment, A creature
2:16
Speaker 1: was stirring and it definitely was not a mouse. It
2:20
Speaker 1: was a woman and she was alone, swaying back and
2:23
Speaker 1: forth in a trance, filling the room with sound because
2:27
Speaker 1: she was chanting a mantra. She repeated it over and
2:31
Speaker 1: over until the words came roaring out of her mouth.
2:35
Speaker 1: In the corner of the room sat a small wooden altar.
2:39
Speaker 1: It was covered in black candles. The flickering candles sent
2:43
Speaker 1: menacing shadows stretching toward the ceiling. While the woman was
2:47
Speaker 1: doing her best to conjure up some menacing energy. She
2:50
Speaker 1: banged on a glass bottle with a stick until the
2:52
Speaker 1: rhythm built into a frenzy. All the while she kept chanting.
2:57
Speaker 1: The sound echoed through the narrow shotgun apartment it built
3:01
Speaker 1: until it felt like the wooden beams of the house
3:03
Speaker 1: were resonating with her voice. And just when it seemed
3:07
Speaker 1: like the sound could get no louder, she reached down
3:10
Speaker 1: to the paper bag at her feet and pulled out
3:12
Speaker 1: the object inside. It was a pair of scuffed, leather
3:16
Speaker 1: dressed shoes, size eleven. Still chanting, she grabbed a handful
3:21
Speaker 1: of dust from a bowl and sprinkled it across the altar.
3:24
Speaker 1: Then she placed the shoes on the dust and blew
3:27
Speaker 1: out the candles. But this was no ordinary dust. It
3:31
Speaker 1: was a special blend of three ingredients, dirt from a graveyard,
3:36
Speaker 1: grease from a church bell, and snake skin. It was
3:40
Speaker 1: goopher dust, a powerful conjuring agent. The woman used it
3:44
Speaker 1: to cast a hex on the owner of the shoes. Meanwhile,
3:51
Speaker 1: five hundred miles away, a man threw open the door
3:54
Speaker 1: of the back office of a tiny juke joint in Jacksonville, Florida.
3:58
Speaker 1: His mind was raising as fast as his fingers on
4:00
Speaker 1: the dial and the combination lock of the heavy room
4:03
Speaker 1: safe tucked into the corner of the office. This man
4:06
Speaker 1: was the only one who knew the combination. After all,
4:09
Speaker 1: He was the owner of this little club. It was
4:12
Speaker 1: a down and dirty job, and sometimes it was dangerous,
4:15
Speaker 1: so he kept a gun in the safe just in case.
4:19
Speaker 1: On the good nights, though it was worth it, there
4:22
Speaker 1: were piles of cash to be made. Like tonight, the
4:26
Speaker 1: holidays were approaching, and the crowd was in a festive mood,
4:29
Speaker 1: and the bar was already doing brisk business, and there
4:32
Speaker 1: was a hot New Orleans band set up on the stage.
4:35
Speaker 1: On a night like tonight, this man should have been
4:37
Speaker 1: seeing dollar signs in his eyes, but instead he was
4:40
Speaker 1: seeing red. He spun the knob on the combination lock
4:45
Speaker 1: to the final number and heaved open the heavy door
4:47
Speaker 1: of the safe. Loose bills flew into the air as
4:51
Speaker 1: he frantically rifled through the safe contents, but finally his
4:55
Speaker 1: hands made contact with cold steel. It was the long
5:00
Speaker 1: black barrel of his Colt revolver. He pulled out the
5:03
Speaker 1: gun and stared at it for a moment, and the
5:05
Speaker 1: memory came flooding back. He shuddered, and then he loaded
5:10
Speaker 1: the cylinder with six bullets. As the man pushed his
5:13
Speaker 1: way back out of the office, he left the safe
5:15
Speaker 1: wide open behind him. He had more important things on
5:19
Speaker 1: his mind, like finding the musician who fucked his wife
5:23
Speaker 1: and pumping a thirty caliber bullet to the bastard's skull.
5:29
Speaker 1: Mac Rebenac was relaxing in the club's dressing room when
5:33
Speaker 1: suddenly he felt the chill. It tingled all the way
5:37
Speaker 1: down to the soles of his feet, like he was
5:38
Speaker 1: walking on pins and needles. He reached down and rubbed
5:42
Speaker 1: the leather on his second favorite pair's size eleven wingtips.
5:45
Speaker 1: Up until this moment, he had been feeling mellow, and
5:48
Speaker 1: why not. He'd stolen his old lady Lydia's last bag
5:52
Speaker 1: of brown on his way out of town. He kept
5:54
Speaker 1: the small stash of heroin hidden in a few juicy
5:57
Speaker 1: fruit wrappers in his coat pocket, all except what he
6:00
Speaker 1: had already shot up during the drive to Jacksonville.
6:03
Speaker 2: That was the rule of every.
6:04
Speaker 1: Junkie musician Mack knew in New Orleans. Never carry on
6:07
Speaker 1: you more than you can eat, because he never knew
6:09
Speaker 1: when a vice.
6:10
Speaker 2: Squad cop would try to bust you.
6:12
Speaker 1: And if he didn't have enough bride money, then you
6:14
Speaker 1: might be doing forever in a day in Angola.
6:17
Speaker 2: But that was a worry for another.
6:18
Speaker 1: Time, because the heroin that was coursing through Max veins
6:22
Speaker 1: right now was doing its work. Mack was feeling knocked
6:26
Speaker 1: out loaded, ready to show these Florida fuckers what a
6:30
Speaker 1: hot New Orleans band could really do. Except for one thing.
6:34
Speaker 1: He couldn't find his lead singer. It was that damn kid,
6:37
Speaker 1: Ronnie Barron. Ronnie had a knack for disappearing just before showtime.
6:44
Speaker 1: Usually he was making time with some girl that he'd
6:46
Speaker 1: just met. Mack couldn't blame him. It was a kid's
6:49
Speaker 1: first time on the road, and after all, he was
6:51
Speaker 1: only seventeen, so Mack tried not to go too hard
6:55
Speaker 1: on him, even if he took longer to get ready
6:57
Speaker 1: for a show than the two dancing girls who were
6:59
Speaker 1: traveling with the band. Max stepped outside and fished into
7:02
Speaker 1: his coat pocket for a thin joint. It was one
7:05
Speaker 1: of a few he snagged from one of the girls
7:07
Speaker 1: that he was pimping out of a fleabag motel in
7:09
Speaker 1: the French Quarter. As the reefer smoke filled his lungs,
7:14
Speaker 1: the girl wasn't on his mind, and neither was Max's
7:17
Speaker 1: old lady. Instead, it was Ronnie Baron's mother. Just a
7:21
Speaker 1: few days ago, Mack had showed up in her kitchen.
7:24
Speaker 1: He wore his clean as dirty shirt and he was
7:26
Speaker 1: mostly not stoned. He promised Ronnie's mother that he would
7:30
Speaker 1: keep Ronnie out of trouble on the road, but the
7:32
Speaker 1: woman didn't buy a speech. Instead, when he finished, she
7:36
Speaker 1: just stared at him for a long moment. Then she
7:40
Speaker 1: grabbed a meat cleaver in front of her and she
7:42
Speaker 1: slammed it down on the counter, slicing a roast in two.
7:45
Speaker 2: She warned Mac that if Ronnie.
7:47
Speaker 1: Got in trouble, she would cut off Max Cajoni's the
7:49
Speaker 1: same way she sliced.
7:50
Speaker 2: The roast, and it.
7:52
Speaker 1: Scared the shit out of Mac at the time, But
7:55
Speaker 1: now five hundred miles away, Mac couldn't help a crack
7:58
Speaker 1: up about it.
7:59
Speaker 2: He wasn't scared of the old lady.
8:01
Speaker 1: Still, it was time to get the show on the road,
8:04
Speaker 1: so he flicked the butt of his joint towards the
8:06
Speaker 1: gravel parking lot and went looking for Ronnie. It was
8:09
Speaker 1: when he turned the corner that he heard it, the
8:11
Speaker 1: unmistakable sound of hard metal colliding with soft flesh. It
8:15
Speaker 1: was the sound of the club owner's pistol whipping Ronnie
8:18
Speaker 1: Barren in the face. The club owner was screaming that
8:21
Speaker 1: he was going to kill Ronnie. Mac launched himself forward.
8:25
Speaker 1: He jumped into the melee and tried to grab the
8:27
Speaker 1: club owner's gun. He clamped down on the cold steel
8:30
Speaker 1: and then he heard a bang, and that's when Mac
8:33
Speaker 1: realized that he was holding onto the barrel of the gun.
8:36
Speaker 1: Mac screamed in agony as a thirty caliber bullet tore
8:39
Speaker 1: through his hand. Blood was streaming everywhere. Mac lifted up
8:43
Speaker 1: his left hand, and that's when he realized his finger,
8:47
Speaker 1: not to mention, his future as a guitarist, were both
8:49
Speaker 1: hanging by a thread. The comedian was a little guy.
9:21
Speaker 1: He stood barely five five even with the lift from
9:24
Speaker 1: his shiny black dress shoes. He wore a white tuxedo
9:27
Speaker 1: jacket and an oily smile that matched his slick black hair.
9:30
Speaker 1: He looked like he came to Madame Francine's strip club
9:33
Speaker 1: in the French Quarter straight from Las Vegas, and for
9:35
Speaker 1: good reason, because Las Vegas is exactly where this point
9:39
Speaker 1: size comedian came from. No one knew how he landed
9:42
Speaker 1: this month long gig warming up the crowds at Madame Francine's.
9:45
Speaker 1: But even though he was from out of town, the
9:47
Speaker 1: comedian still should have known the rules, like stay away
9:51
Speaker 1: from the strippers working the stage and stay away from
9:53
Speaker 1: the bee girls working the crowd. They were all spoken
9:57
Speaker 1: for by the pimps who operated out of the club
10:00
Speaker 1: or the gangsters who owned it. But this comedian either
10:03
Speaker 1: didn't know that or didn't care, and he didn't waste
10:06
Speaker 1: any time because he was already messing around with one
10:09
Speaker 1: of the strippers.
10:10
Speaker 2: This guy moved quickly.
10:12
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for him, word got out just as fast, so
10:16
Speaker 1: when he arrived at the club on this night, he
10:19
Speaker 1: was greeted by two huge bouncers. They grabbed him by
10:22
Speaker 1: his lapels and his face turned almost as white as
10:25
Speaker 1: his tuxedo jacket. His smarmy smile melted away. He stammered
10:29
Speaker 1: out a few lame excuses, but the bouncers were in
10:32
Speaker 1: no mood to listen. Instead, they pulled him out to
10:34
Speaker 1: the street corner, and then one of the huge bouncers
10:37
Speaker 1: smashed his fists directly into the comedian's nose, and the comedian.
10:40
Speaker 2: Crashed to the ground.
10:42
Speaker 1: Blood was pouring down his face and onto his white jacket.
10:45
Speaker 1: The two bouncers then continued kicking the shit out of
10:47
Speaker 1: the comedian. On the street corner, in front of anyone
10:49
Speaker 1: who cared to look. After they were done. One of
10:53
Speaker 1: the bouncers picked up the comedian and screamed in his face,
10:56
Speaker 1: you want to be funny, Go be funny now, you
10:58
Speaker 1: little motherfucker.
11:00
Speaker 2: He pushed the comedian back into the club.
11:04
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, inside Madam Francises, no one skipped to beat. The
11:08
Speaker 1: card players didn't even look up from their hands. The
11:10
Speaker 1: dancers kept dancing, and on the bandstand, the band kept playing.
11:15
Speaker 1: This was French Quarter justice in nineteen sixty three. Laws
11:19
Speaker 1: didn't matter and the police.
11:21
Speaker 2: Didn't run the show.
11:22
Speaker 1: The gangsters who operated these New Orleans clubs did.
11:26
Speaker 2: Which wasn't all bad.
11:27
Speaker 1: In fact, it made the French Quarter twenty four to
11:30
Speaker 1: seven party, as long as you knew which rules to follow.
11:34
Speaker 1: Unlike this comedian, mac Rebenak knew the rules, so he
11:39
Speaker 1: knew better than to stop the music. He stared at
11:42
Speaker 1: the blood dripping down the comedian's face, but he kept
11:44
Speaker 1: stabbing at the electric organ until the band brought their
11:47
Speaker 1: set to a waring climax. Now, as soon as the
11:51
Speaker 1: band finished, the bouncers pushed the comedian on stage, still
11:55
Speaker 1: wearing his blood splattered white jacket. While the comedian was
11:58
Speaker 1: attempting to do his set with the broken nose, Mac
12:01
Speaker 1: hopped off the bandstand and headed out into the French
12:04
Speaker 1: Quarter at night. He needed to score. His left hand
12:08
Speaker 1: was absolutely killing him. Even two years after a surgeon
12:12
Speaker 1: successfully reattached his ring finger after that shooting, he could
12:16
Speaker 1: barely move it.
12:17
Speaker 2: When he did, it.
12:18
Speaker 1: Still caused him plenty of pain, so much pain that
12:21
Speaker 1: he gave up on playing guitar and he shifted to
12:23
Speaker 1: playing keys. That was thanks to his friend and bandmate,
12:27
Speaker 1: James Booker. James Booker was a local legend who was
12:33
Speaker 1: nicknamed the Black Liberacei for his flamboyant fashion as well
12:37
Speaker 1: as his devastating chops on the piano. He showed Mac
12:41
Speaker 1: a few tricks on the keys, and in return, Mac
12:44
Speaker 1: taught him a few tricks of his own, like where
12:46
Speaker 1: to find the best heroine in the French Quarter and
12:49
Speaker 1: how to score without getting caught. Max showed James Booker
12:52
Speaker 1: where to buy the Gregory bags and give them protection.
12:56
Speaker 1: He showed him how to lay a jack of club's
12:57
Speaker 1: face down under a black candle and then lighted when
13:00
Speaker 1: were citing Psalm thirty five, the ritual was.
13:04
Speaker 2: Supposed to make them invisible to the police. That was
13:07
Speaker 2: the idea, at least.
13:08
Speaker 1: One could never be too careful, especially in those days,
13:11
Speaker 1: because by nineteen sixty three, the French Quarter was changing rapidly.
13:17
Speaker 1: As mac walked down a wide avenue, he passed door
13:20
Speaker 1: after door that was chained up and padlocked shut. Just
13:24
Speaker 1: a year ago, nearly every one of these buildings would have.
13:27
Speaker 2: Been packed full of people.
13:29
Speaker 1: Tourists looking for a little Saturday night action, locals looking
13:33
Speaker 1: for a fix, brothels, speakeasies, strip clubs, none of them
13:37
Speaker 1: strictly legal. But in the French Quarter, a little bride
13:41
Speaker 1: money could go a long way and keeping the party
13:43
Speaker 1: running all night long, no matter what the law said.
13:47
Speaker 1: That's how it was, at least until the city elected
13:49
Speaker 1: a new Attorney general named Jim Garrison. Max spat on
13:53
Speaker 1: the ground and cursed Garrison's name. For years, Garrison had
13:57
Speaker 1: been a low level assistant district attorney. Mack seen his
14:00
Speaker 1: face darkened the doors of French Quarter bars and brothels
14:02
Speaker 1: more than once, But now Garrison seemed intent on getting
14:06
Speaker 1: his face plastered on the nightly news. He organized raids
14:09
Speaker 1: of strip clubs and illegal speakeasies in front of news cameras.
14:13
Speaker 1: He dramatically chained the doors and padlocked and shut. And
14:17
Speaker 1: with every club he shut down, that was one less
14:19
Speaker 1: stage for a gigging musician like Mac, because weiss live
14:24
Speaker 1: music went hand in hand. In New Orleans, Mac had
14:30
Speaker 1: one specific vice on his mind as he slipped through
14:33
Speaker 1: an alleyway and arrived at a familiar door. He rapped
14:37
Speaker 1: three times in quick succession, and the door opened a crack,
14:40
Speaker 1: pulling tightly against the chain lock. Mac nodded to the
14:43
Speaker 1: man inside and held up two fingers without saying a word.
14:46
Speaker 1: The door slam shut. A moment later it reopened and
14:50
Speaker 1: the man had two small bundles in his hand. Max
14:53
Speaker 1: slipped a handful of bills to the crack in the
14:55
Speaker 1: door and palmed the bundles. The door slam shut again.
14:59
Speaker 1: Mac carefully wrapped each bundle in a foil juicy fruit
15:01
Speaker 1: wrapper and tucked them in his coat pocket. He headed
15:05
Speaker 1: down the alley and back towards Madam Francines. Once he
15:08
Speaker 1: got back to the club, he could get his fix,
15:11
Speaker 1: and then he could find a better place to hide
15:13
Speaker 1: the rest of his stash. As he turned back onto
15:17
Speaker 1: the avenue. He could see the moonlight glinting off of
15:19
Speaker 1: the Mississippi River ahead of him, or at least he
15:22
Speaker 1: thought it was the moonlight, but as he kept walking closer,
15:25
Speaker 1: he realized that it was actually a pair of headlights
15:28
Speaker 1: and they were coming from a black Cadillac parked on
15:31
Speaker 1: the side of the road. Mac felt a cold shiver
15:34
Speaker 1: run through his body. He reached inside his coat and
15:37
Speaker 1: touched his fingers to the Gregory bag around his neck,
15:39
Speaker 1: and as he kept walking toward the car, he could
15:41
Speaker 1: see two men sitting in the front seat. A bad
15:44
Speaker 1: feeling was brewing in his gun, so Mac carefully slipped
15:48
Speaker 1: his hand into his coat pocket. He grabbed a pair
15:51
Speaker 1: of foil wrapped bundles and tossed.
15:52
Speaker 2: Them into a drainage ditch, but it was too late.
15:57
Speaker 1: The men jumped out of the black Cadillac and ran
15:59
Speaker 1: toward him, guns and badgers in hand, screaming at him
16:01
Speaker 1: to put his hands up. They grabbed Mac by the
16:04
Speaker 1: collar and began searching his pockets, and they came up empty.
16:07
Speaker 2: But one of the cops.
16:08
Speaker 1: Smirked at him, and then he asked a question, Hey, buddy,
16:12
Speaker 1: what's your favorite kind of gum? The cop gave a
16:15
Speaker 1: big shitty and grin is a juicy fruit, and the
16:18
Speaker 1: other cop pulled the two bundles out of the ditch
16:20
Speaker 1: and held them up. The headlights of the car reflected
16:23
Speaker 1: off of the foyle gum wrapper. Mack Rebenac knew that
16:27
Speaker 1: his mojo had just run out. After his bust, Mack
16:34
Speaker 1: was sentenced to two years in lock up, first in
16:37
Speaker 1: New Orleans Parish prison, next in a federal penitentiary in
16:41
Speaker 1: Fort Worth, Texas. When he got out of the slammer
16:44
Speaker 1: in Texas, the judge had just one piece of advice
16:47
Speaker 1: for him, don't go back to New Orleans. Of course,
16:51
Speaker 1: mac didn't need the advice. Jim Garrison's war on vice
16:55
Speaker 1: was killing the music scene in the French Quarter anyway,
16:58
Speaker 1: so mac Rebenac I already knew he wouldn't be heading
17:00
Speaker 1: east to New Orleans. Instead, he was going west to California.
17:05
Speaker 1: He hoped he could find a new scene, a new start,
17:08
Speaker 1: and he figured he might just need a new name
17:11
Speaker 1: to go with it. We'll be right back after this word,
17:18
Speaker 1: word word. The red and blue lights in the rear
17:30
Speaker 1: view mirror were large and getting larger. Max screened at
17:34
Speaker 1: the driver to step on it. But the rustbuck in
17:36
Speaker 1: sedan was no match for the police cruiser, and there
17:39
Speaker 1: was no doubt about it. The cops were closing in
17:41
Speaker 1: on them fast. The driver of the car was a
17:44
Speaker 1: skinny Mexican chick known on the street as.
17:46
Speaker 2: Gloria Hot to Molly.
17:48
Speaker 1: She had a talent for scamming drug dealers, and she
17:51
Speaker 1: could drive the hell out of a getaway car. She
17:53
Speaker 1: also had a soft spot for musicians, which was good
17:56
Speaker 1: news for Mac because after a year in Los Angeles,
18:00
Speaker 1: he was already an in demand session player for stars
18:02
Speaker 1: ranging from Aretha Franklin to Sonny and Cher. Still, he
18:06
Speaker 1: barely had enough cash for the fleabag motel room he
18:09
Speaker 1: shared with Gloria on the corner of Melrose and van Ness.
18:13
Speaker 1: Mac watched the police car creep closer in the rear
18:15
Speaker 1: view mirror. He thought about the trunk full of stolen clothes.
18:19
Speaker 1: He thought about the stash in his pocket, and he
18:21
Speaker 1: thought about the bag of cash and grass.
18:23
Speaker 2: If Gloria had just boosted from a Venice Beach.
18:25
Speaker 1: Drug dealer, If the cops caught them, they were looking
18:28
Speaker 1: at serious time. Max started pulling the stash out of
18:32
Speaker 1: his pocket. He was just about to eat it, and
18:34
Speaker 1: the car swore.
18:35
Speaker 2: Viciously to the left.
18:36
Speaker 1: The bundle in his hand went flying, and Gloria screamed
18:39
Speaker 1: as she ran the car into a concrete highway barrier. Instantly,
18:43
Speaker 1: the front bumper peeled off and the car sent sparks
18:46
Speaker 1: into the air as it slid to a stop on
18:48
Speaker 1: the asphalt, the tires skinning across the concrete, the car buckling.
18:53
Speaker 1: They nearly spun out. Gloria managed to straighten up the wheel.
18:56
Speaker 2: To the last second.
18:57
Speaker 1: She cut across the highway, heading in the opposite direction,
19:00
Speaker 1: flew down the first exit. Rent to could see as
19:03
Speaker 1: the Saddam was heading around the curve, Max on the
19:05
Speaker 1: cop car.
19:06
Speaker 2: Racing ahead into the distance. It was a narrow escape.
19:12
Speaker 1: Max should have been happy about it, but instead he
19:15
Speaker 1: was furious, not at Gloria, she was doing what they
19:19
Speaker 1: needed to do to survive, and not.
19:20
Speaker 2: At the cops. He didn't like the cops, but.
19:23
Speaker 1: At least he knew where he stood with him. No.
19:25
Speaker 1: After the adrenaline of the high speed chase had worn off,
19:29
Speaker 1: Mac's thoughts turned to his primary frustration. He was pissed
19:33
Speaker 1: off at record company executives, the rich dudes, in suits
19:39
Speaker 1: who were forcing him to live like an outlaw just
19:41
Speaker 1: to scrape together enough cash for a shitty seventeen dollars
19:45
Speaker 1: and fifty cent motel room in the worst part of town. Meanwhile,
19:49
Speaker 1: these record executives were raking in cash on the songs
19:52
Speaker 1: that guys like Mac were working themselves to death creating.
19:55
Speaker 1: And that wasn't an exaggeration. Mac himself had witnessed an
19:59
Speaker 1: overworked studio engineer literally dropped dead of a heart attack
20:02
Speaker 1: in the middle of a session. It was too much
20:05
Speaker 1: that something had to be done. So Mac thought of
20:08
Speaker 1: the worst defender, a manager at Mercury Records, a guy
20:12
Speaker 1: who'd stiffed him on payment more than once in the
20:15
Speaker 1: last month, and he decided to strike back the best
20:17
Speaker 1: way he knew how. That night, at midnight, an unlikely
20:24
Speaker 1: trio gathered on the rooftop of an LA Recording studio.
20:28
Speaker 1: A pale Englishman with dark black hair stood in the
20:30
Speaker 1: center of a pentagram drawn and chalk on the rooftop.
20:33
Speaker 1: There was an evil look in his eye as he
20:35
Speaker 1: muttered a series of dark incantations. Next to him, Mac
20:39
Speaker 1: lit black candles and incense. He scattered figurines of the
20:43
Speaker 1: graveyard spirit baron Somney. As the smoke from the incense
20:47
Speaker 1: rose into the night air, Mack kept chanting and singing. Meanwhile,
20:52
Speaker 1: a lanky Texan chain smoked cigarette after cigarette while he
20:55
Speaker 1: watched the other two with a confused look on his face.
20:59
Speaker 1: The tree were supposed to be working on a new
21:01
Speaker 1: album together. The Englishman was the blues rock musician named
21:05
Speaker 1: Graham Bond, who claimed to be the bastard son of
21:08
Speaker 1: the famed occultist Aleister Crowley. Mack was hired to produce
21:12
Speaker 1: the record, along with a Texas musician named Wayne Talbot,
21:16
Speaker 1: but the record executive at Mercury kept jerking them around.
21:19
Speaker 1: He changed recording dates, he refused to pay the musicians,
21:22
Speaker 1: and when they complained, he threatened them with bodily harm.
21:27
Speaker 1: So now they were on the rooftop of this recording
21:29
Speaker 1: studio trying to conjure up a death curse. Well, at
21:32
Speaker 1: least Mac and Graham Bond were. The Texan watched the
21:36
Speaker 1: other two worked themselves into a frenzy for a while
21:38
Speaker 1: before he casually reached into his pocket and pulled out
21:41
Speaker 1: a gun. If the curses didn't work, he assured them
21:44
Speaker 1: they could always just shoot the guy. In retrospect, Mack
21:47
Speaker 1: realized they should have used Wayne's plan first. Because the
21:50
Speaker 1: Greegrey failed. The record executive didn't have a heart attack
21:53
Speaker 1: in his sleep, and he didn't crash his car on
21:55
Speaker 1: the way to work either. The next day, Wayne managed
22:00
Speaker 1: to get himself caught up in a drug bust with
22:02
Speaker 1: the guns still in his pocket. With no Gregory and
22:05
Speaker 1: no gun, Mac knew he had to put his plan
22:07
Speaker 1: for revenge on ice. The cops were hot on his trail,
22:11
Speaker 1: and it was time to get out of town, out
22:13
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, and back down to New Orleans. A
22:20
Speaker 1: few months later, mac Rebenac stepped into a tiny shotgun
22:24
Speaker 1: house in New Orleans' Third Ward. People were packed into
22:27
Speaker 1: the room, shoulder to shoulder in all four corners. White
22:31
Speaker 1: candles were lit, incense was burning, and people were holding
22:35
Speaker 1: broomsticks with bottle caps nailed to them, or glass bottles
22:38
Speaker 1: and sticks, and a few people had congress, some just
22:41
Speaker 1: use pots and pants and everywhere around him. With the
22:44
Speaker 1: rhythm pulsed and then gradual from all corners of the room,
22:50
Speaker 1: people started singing, and eventually the sound grew deafening. It
22:55
Speaker 1: was so loud Mac felt like it wasn't even coming
22:57
Speaker 1: through his ears, it was penetrating straight into his body.
23:01
Speaker 1: He watched an elderly woman step forward and lay her
23:04
Speaker 1: hands on a man seated in the middle of the room.
23:06
Speaker 1: Everybody called the woman Mother Shannon. She was just one
23:10
Speaker 1: of the people from Max's old third Ward neighborhood that
23:13
Speaker 1: he was reconnecting with these days. It felt good to
23:16
Speaker 1: come home and play these familiar New Orleans rhythms, to
23:20
Speaker 1: sing familiar songs. Even if the French charter was still
23:23
Speaker 1: reeling under the thumb of District Attorney Jim Garrison. The
23:27
Speaker 1: homecoming was enough to light a fire in his playing
23:30
Speaker 1: and make him want to bring that sound back to
23:32
Speaker 1: La And talking with neighborhood elders like Mother Shannon reminded
23:36
Speaker 1: Mac of the true voodoo, the way the music could
23:39
Speaker 1: vibrate the spirit, the way it could heal the body,
23:42
Speaker 1: the way it could bring people together. After the healing ceremony,
23:47
Speaker 1: Max stayed and talked to Mother Shannon into the night.
23:50
Speaker 1: She told Mac about a root doctor in New Orleans,
23:53
Speaker 1: a man who was born in Senegal. Some said he
23:57
Speaker 1: was a prince. As a teenager, the man was captured
24:02
Speaker 1: by Spanish slavers and shipped to Cuba. He spent twenty
24:05
Speaker 1: years in slavery before he finally gained his freedom. The
24:08
Speaker 1: man sailed to New Orleans, where a word quickly began
24:10
Speaker 1: to spread of a newcomer with extraordinary abilities. He served
24:14
Speaker 1: poor communities, the outlaws, the outsiders, and with their support,
24:19
Speaker 1: he became one of the most powerful men in the city.
24:22
Speaker 1: The man went by many names. Some called him Jean Montenay,
24:27
Speaker 1: some called him Gan Bayeux, but most people just called
24:30
Speaker 1: him Doctor John. Mac like the sound of this cat,
24:36
Speaker 1: seemed like the perfect character in front of new musical
24:39
Speaker 1: gumbo that had been cooking around in Max brain ever
24:43
Speaker 1: since he landed back home in New Orleans. Hey guys,
25:02
Speaker 1: we're gonna get back into our story here in just
25:04
Speaker 1: a few seconds, but real quick, I wanted to mention something.
25:06
Speaker 1: This episode focuses entirely on mac Rebinuc's early years before
25:10
Speaker 1: he was known worldwide as Doctor John, and as you
25:13
Speaker 1: can imagine, there are just so many insane stories that
25:16
Speaker 1: intersect with the world of true crime from the wildlife
25:19
Speaker 1: of Doctor John's. Stories that took place after the time
25:22
Speaker 1: period we're covering here, Stories like the one about how
25:25
Speaker 1: doctor John made a daring escape from a psych ward
25:28
Speaker 1: with a warrant on his head, and how that led
25:31
Speaker 1: to him writing and recording his biggest hit, Right Place.
25:34
Speaker 2: Wrong Time.
25:35
Speaker 1: We don't have time here in the full episode for
25:37
Speaker 1: that story, but you can hear all about it if
25:40
Speaker 1: you listen to this week's brand new mini episode of Disgraceland,
25:42
Speaker 1: which you can hear if you are a member of
25:44
Speaker 1: Disgraceland all access. To become a member, just go to
25:47
Speaker 1: disgrace slandpod dot com, sign up with Patreon or Apple podcasts.
25:51
Speaker 1: All right, now, back to this story about doctor John.
26:00
Speaker 1: It was a gorgeous fall afternoon into Pega Canyon. This
26:03
Speaker 1: kind of weather made Mac admit that there were at
26:05
Speaker 1: least some good things about coming back to the West Coast.
26:08
Speaker 1: The temperature was a perfect seventy two degrees, the humidity
26:12
Speaker 1: was zero. Mack sat at the bottom of the canyon.
26:16
Speaker 1: He was listening to a stream burbling along at the
26:18
Speaker 1: perfect volume. He couldn't complain, especially since he was actually
26:22
Speaker 1: getting paid for this rare day off. He and the
26:26
Speaker 1: rest of the New Orleans exiles surrounding him was supposed
26:29
Speaker 1: to be recording a new album for Sonny and Chaer today.
26:32
Speaker 1: In fact, in a rarity, they have been paid in
26:34
Speaker 1: advance for this session. But then at the last minute,
26:38
Speaker 1: Sonny Bono had second thoughts about some of the material,
26:41
Speaker 1: so he called off the sessions so that he could
26:43
Speaker 1: have more time to work on the music. And now
26:46
Speaker 1: word among their crew was that Sonny was going to
26:48
Speaker 1: call off the sessions for the rest of the week
26:49
Speaker 1: as well. Mac was glad for the break, but he
26:53
Speaker 1: was even more excited about the prospect of the studio
26:55
Speaker 1: being open for the next week. After all, Mac and
26:59
Speaker 1: the rest of these new Roman's cats had been jamming
27:01
Speaker 1: on some new material in between recording sessions for other artists.
27:06
Speaker 1: So far, everything had been extremely loose. They still hadn't
27:09
Speaker 1: tested anything in front of an audience, but Mac thought
27:12
Speaker 1: the material was already sounding great. He thought maybe he
27:15
Speaker 1: could convince the record company to let them lay down
27:17
Speaker 1: a few of the tracks.
27:19
Speaker 2: It would be an easy sell.
27:20
Speaker 1: The studio was empty and they were already getting paid
27:22
Speaker 1: to be there. All he had to do was find
27:25
Speaker 1: the right way to pitch him. That was a problem
27:28
Speaker 1: for tomorrow, though. Right now, Mac could just lay back,
27:32
Speaker 1: relax and enjoy a rare peaceful moment. He listened to
27:37
Speaker 1: the sounds of the burgling stream, and then he noticed
27:40
Speaker 1: the melody of the frogs chirping in the background. A
27:43
Speaker 1: moment later, as Buddy Charlie pulled out a small flute.
27:46
Speaker 2: Charlie was jamming along.
27:47
Speaker 1: With the symphony that the frogs were creating. Pretty soon
27:50
Speaker 1: somebody else was clinking a rock against the glass bottle
27:53
Speaker 1: in time with the rhythm of the rushing water, and
27:55
Speaker 1: then another person added to the rhythm with whatever they
27:58
Speaker 1: could find around them.
28:00
Speaker 2: Mac was moved by.
28:01
Speaker 1: The spirit, and soon he began singing a little improvised
28:03
Speaker 1: melody that reminded him of a healing song that he
28:06
Speaker 1: learned from Mother Shannon. There was nothing much, just a
28:09
Speaker 1: light afternoon jam session. Well, man, it felt good. It
28:12
Speaker 1: felt like a vibration through his whole body. Mac couldn't
28:16
Speaker 1: help himself. He dug in and began to sing louder.
28:20
Speaker 1: Soon enough, they started attracting a crowd. It seemed like
28:23
Speaker 1: hordes of half naked hippies were crying out of every
28:26
Speaker 1: nook and cranny in the canyon to come listening to
28:28
Speaker 1: this spontaneous nature cham People started climbing down into the
28:32
Speaker 1: water and once they were in the water, they proceeded
28:34
Speaker 1: to get down to the music. And the more the
28:37
Speaker 1: people got down, the more the musicians got into the groove.
28:39
Speaker 1: And the more the musicians got into the groove, the
28:41
Speaker 1: more the energy group it grew until everyone, the musicians,
28:44
Speaker 1: the dancers, the people watching from the top of the
28:46
Speaker 1: canyon were whooping and laughing and singing and smiling. It
28:50
Speaker 1: felt like a healing ceremony that mac had witnessed back
28:52
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. It made him think again, Mother Shannon.
28:55
Speaker 1: It made him think of the healing power of music,
28:58
Speaker 1: and it made him convinced that it was time to
29:00
Speaker 1: bring Doctor John into the world. And it's a good
29:04
Speaker 1: thing he did, because under the name Doctor John mack
29:07
Speaker 1: Rebenac recorded more than thirty albums, won six Grammys, and
29:11
Speaker 1: became a New Orleans icon, an unofficial ambassador for one
29:14
Speaker 1: of the greatest music cities.
29:16
Speaker 2: In the world.
29:18
Speaker 1: Because even today, the French Quarter is packed with music
29:21
Speaker 1: nearly every night of the week. And of course it's
29:23
Speaker 1: not quite the same as it used to be. That
29:25
Speaker 1: twenty four to seven musical party, the birth music icons
29:27
Speaker 1: like Doctor John, it's gone forever. But Doctor John, his music,
29:33
Speaker 1: his legacy. It lives on and will for a long
29:37
Speaker 1: long time to come. Mack Rebinac was healed through music,
29:42
Speaker 1: great music that inspired to use music to propel himself
29:47
Speaker 1: beyond the life of crime, beyond a life of disgrace,
29:50
Speaker 1: to become doctor John.
29:53
Speaker 2: Not just a New Orleans icon, but the music icon.
29:58
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and the Yes this Disgraceland. All right,
30:14
Speaker 1: thanks for hanging out with Listen doctor John down in
30:16
Speaker 1: the French Quarter and in Tipanga Canyon.
30:18
Speaker 2: Listen. There's so much more to this story. Doctor John
30:20
Speaker 2: had an incredible life.
30:21
Speaker 1: There's this crazy nuts story about an escape from a
30:24
Speaker 1: psych word. We couldn't fit it into this episode, so
30:27
Speaker 1: it's going to be in our mini episode for All
30:28
Speaker 1: Access members. Go to disgracelandpod dot com to sign up
30:31
Speaker 1: for All Access on Patreon or Apple Podcasts.
30:35
Speaker 2: Listen.
30:35
Speaker 1: Question of the week what music or musician or artist
30:39
Speaker 1: has made you feel?
30:40
Speaker 2: I don't know. Reborn might be too strong of a word,
30:42
Speaker 2: but this makes you feel great.
30:43
Speaker 1: It's really pulled you up out of those dark places,
30:46
Speaker 1: giving you life in new ways, just as Doctor John
30:48
Speaker 1: was reborn. Let us know six one seven nine oh six,
30:51
Speaker 1: six sixty three eight voicemail and text. You might hear
30:54
Speaker 1: your answer on the after party coming up right after this.
30:57
Speaker 1: All right, guys, here comes some credits. Disgraceland was created
31:02
Speaker 1: by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis.
31:06
Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show
31:08
Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as
31:12
Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.
31:15
Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become
31:18
Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com
31:21
Speaker 1: slash membership, rate and review the show, and follow us
31:24
Speaker 1: on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelampod and on
31:28
Speaker 1: YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at Disgracelandpod, rock a Rolla,
31:37
Speaker 1: He's an Land