1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The story of Wendyo Williams 4 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: is shocking. She was a sex show dominatrix turned rock 5 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: and roll front woman who blew up cadillacs on stage. 6 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:36,480 Speaker 1: She also smashed TV sets with a sledgehammer and cut 7 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: guitars in half with a chainsaw, and she did so 8 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: with nothing but electrical tape or shaving cream covering her 9 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: bare breasts. Her stage show was so violent and so 10 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: sexual that she was banned from clubs and blacklisted by promoters. 11 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: In one city, she was beaten so badly by local 12 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: police that she suffered a broken nose in a concussion. 13 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: Like our best rock and roll outlaws, Wendyo Williams was 14 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: provocative to her core, as provocative as a comma. Actually, 15 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: although I'm not sure I can go as far as 16 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: to say that she made great music, did she did 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: she not? I don't know, But I do know that 18 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 1: the music at the top of the show here that 19 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: was not great music. That was a preset loop from 20 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: a melotron called times Square titillation. MK one. I played 21 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: you that loop because I can't afford the rights to 22 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: All My Life by KC and Jojo. And why would 23 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of Joe to see 24 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 1: adjacent cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the 25 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: number one song in America on April sixth, nineteen ninety eight, 26 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: And that was the day that Wendy O. Williams's life 27 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: came to a tragic end in the woods of a 28 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: small Connecticut town, worlds away from the urban mayhem that 29 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: defined her career for so long. On this side episode 30 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: exploding Cadillacs, sledgehammers, chainsaws, sex, violence, rock and roll, and 31 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: Wendy o'williams, I'm Jake Brennan and this is disgrace Land. 32 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: From a young age, Wendy Orlean Williams knew that her 33 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: life would be an uphill battle because the life that 34 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 1: she wanted to live was by definition or resistance. She 35 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: felt no obligation to be pulled or to play Kate, 36 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: nor did she desire to be pacified as a mindless consumer. 37 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: Her life was a life of revolt. But Webster, New York, 38 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: the town outside Rochester where she grew up, was built 39 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: to quell uprisings of the mind, the body, in spirit. 40 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: A nonconformist like Wendy had the odds stacked against her 41 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,399 Speaker 1: from the jump, and the battle that she would fight 42 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: for her entire life began where many battles begin at home. 43 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: Mitch Rider's voice screamed through the turntable's lone speaker, loud 44 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: and distorted her. It was as inspiring and life affirming 45 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: as the rest of the house was dull. And before 46 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: you could say vfe five five four full fung, this 47 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: small bedroom in sleepy upstate New York had been transformed 48 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: into a gritty street scene. Mitch Rider's Detroit wheels were 49 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: turning fast and loose, kicking up dirt, coughing of smoke, 50 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: splattering the canvas of postwar America with a lust for life, 51 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: and sixteen year old Wendy O. Williams was throwing herself 52 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: around the room, singing along into a hair brush. She 53 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: may have been physically here in her family home, but 54 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: in her mind she was somewhere else. A place where 55 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: you weren't told what to think, or what to do 56 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: or what to buy, A place where you weren't defined 57 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: by your automobile or your television set. Or even by 58 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: the clothes you wore. The only problem was that place 59 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: was temporary, at least for now. The Devil with a 60 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: Blue Dress forty five was only halfway done when the 61 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: door to her bedroom suddenly flung open. Big rumbling footsteps 62 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: announced the arrival of Wendy's father. He stormed across the 63 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,720 Speaker 1: room to the turntable, and he tore the needle from 64 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,720 Speaker 1: the record. He ripped the record off the platter, and 65 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: with his hands firmly gripping the forty five on either side, 66 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: he snapped it. Imagine that. Imagine you're just chilling in 67 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: your bedroom back in the nineties or whenever, early two thousands, 68 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: and you're staring up at your Cranberry's poster on the wall, 69 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 1: or playing Liz Fair's Exile and Guyville on your stereo. 70 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: Whatever it is. Maybe had a Depeche Mode poster. Maybe 71 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,479 Speaker 1: you're listening to nine Inch Nails is downward spiral at 72 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: high volume, whatever it was. Imagine that your dad or 73 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 1: your mom breaks down your door, tears the poster off 74 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: your wall, rips the CD from your CD player, forbids 75 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: you from listening to your music in their house, forbids 76 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,359 Speaker 1: you from doing the kinds of things a teenager is 77 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: supposed to do, which is, in a word, to rebel. 78 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: Wendy O. Williams may not have equated listening to Mitch 79 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,599 Speaker 1: Ryder in the mid nineteen sixties with rebellion, and she 80 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: simply may have just liked the raw sounds of the 81 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 1: rock and roll song more than the dulcea tones of 82 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: another Mitch, Mitch Miller, or whatever the hell her parents 83 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: were into. Regardless who was an early indicator that CDIO 84 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: Williams was different. Just like another incident a year prior, 85 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: when she was arrested in town for sunbathing in the nude. 86 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: The goal of the arresting officer, like her father's goal, 87 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:14,919 Speaker 1: had been to shame her, to put her in a 88 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: box just like everyone else. But it didn't work. The shame, 89 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: the arrests, the broken record, even the prescription drugs that 90 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: her parents tried to get her to take, nothing could 91 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: silence Wendy's opposing force because there was no other choice. 92 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: That was a reality that Wendy now made crystal clear. 93 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: I'd rather be dead than be zombified in the world 94 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: you're living in. This is what Wendy allegedly told her 95 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: parents right before she left home at just sixteen. She 96 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: was a runaway, a nomad, determined never to look back. 97 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: She hitched a ride out west, landing in Colorado and 98 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: then south to Florida. She traveled abroad to Europe, finding 99 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: work as a bartender and a dancer. She bounced around 100 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,360 Speaker 1: like this for years, and in her downtime she combed 101 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: the pages of Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience, as well 102 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: as books on tantric, yoga, and any and all transmissions 103 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: from the fringes of so called normal society. But life 104 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: as a non conformist had its struggles. For one, it 105 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: didn't pay enough, so Wendy stole. She used counterfeit money, 106 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: and when she was caught, arrested, given a slap on 107 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: the wrist, and released, the authorities sent her packing back 108 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: home to the United States, just another child lost looking 109 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: for people like her, the freaks out there willfully violating 110 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: cultural taboos, the artists and eccentrics, truly authentic and truly 111 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: transgressive types. In nineteen seventy six, at twenty seven years old, 112 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: Wendy O. Williams landed in New York City when Times 113 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: Square was about as authentic and trans aggressive as it got. 114 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: Boston had the Combat Zone, and New York City had 115 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: Times Square, a spot for drug sex and all other 116 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: manner of illicit activity. Too shocking and to pray for 117 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: polite society. Here was ground zero for prostitutes and pimps. 118 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: Here were peep shows, derelics, and dealers. And here was 119 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: where Wendy O Williams met the man who had changed 120 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: her life forever, Captain Kink. 121 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 2: In the bowels of a rundown burlesque call, where the 122 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 2: neon lights guide the way to the throbbing sites and 123 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 2: sounds of urban titillation. 124 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: It's Captain Kink Sex Fantasy theater. 125 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 2: Watch is Captain Kink and his true per furious performers 126 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 2: saved the day by making your deepest, most hardcore fantasies 127 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 2: come to life. There running down Broadway, ducking inside a 128 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 2: crumbling theater with sticky fours and even stickier seat. 129 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: It's a bird, It's a plane. It's Captain Kink. I 130 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: shit you not. Captain Kink was the dude's name. Captain 131 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: Kink was the gnome desmut of Rod Swenson, a Yale 132 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 1: graduate who told the Establishment that they could stick their 133 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: masters of fine arts degree up their tight, disapproving ass, 134 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: and then went and put his education to use on 135 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: the mean streets of nineteen seventies Times Square. It was 136 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: Rod aka Captain Kink who had the last laugh, however, 137 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: and by nineteen seventy six he was laughing all the 138 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: way to the bank. Captain Kink's Sex Fantasy Theater, a 139 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,199 Speaker 1: live show in which performers staged absurd comic vignettes that 140 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: included scenes of live sex. It became a local sensation 141 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: in the Rundown theater that Rod rented. It seated one 142 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen. Soon he was selling out all one 143 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty seats, five shows a day, seven days 144 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: a week, lot of Kink. Now, true to his production's name, 145 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,719 Speaker 1: Rod did all this by exploiting other people's fantasies and 146 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: their kinks. But when it comes to kinks, you know, 147 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: it takes all kinds. Some people like to be humiliated, 148 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,839 Speaker 1: some like to do the humiliating, some like pain, some 149 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: like feet, some like simple pleasures like butter and they're 150 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: ass and lollipops in their mouth. I don't know, man. 151 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: And there's also grown men who like to pretend that 152 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: they're babies. I'm serious. Zeth, who works here at Double Loves, 153 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: used to own a retail store that's sold, among other things, 154 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: baby stuff. Long story, and he told me once about 155 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: these dudes who would call and get a female employee 156 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: on the line and ask do you have cloth diapers? 157 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: And when the female employee replied yes they did, the 158 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: man would ask for details like what materials are they 159 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 1: made of? And how much liquid do the diapers hold? 160 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,959 Speaker 1: And what about diaper creams? Can you describe how you 161 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,719 Speaker 1: would apply those? So I'm about kidding. Zeth told all 162 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: of this to me. Anyways, I'm digressing big time here. Anyhow, 163 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: just finish the story. After being told by the employee 164 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: how to apply said creams and how much liquid a 165 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,559 Speaker 1: diaper could hold, and even more detailed instructions on cleaning 166 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: soiled diapers, I know, gross, And after having done all 167 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: this while simultaneously giving the false impression that they were 168 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: placing a huge phone order in the neighborhood of two 169 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: or three thousand dollars, the dude with the kink about 170 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: shitting their pants or whatever would suddenly get off of 171 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: his kink, and then the call would just abruptly end. Anyways, kinks. 172 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: They come in all kinds, That's what I'm saying. And 173 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: back in the seventies, you could get off on this 174 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 1: or particularly any other type of kink for a price 175 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: over in Lower Manhattan at another experimental theater group called 176 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: the Project. But at Captain Kink's there was no pretending 177 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: your baby type stuff. There was just the newly arrived 178 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: Wendyo Williams, who had joined Captain Kink's cast as the 179 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: troop's resident dominatrix. She was blonde, she was hot, and 180 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: she got off on getting other people off, and she 181 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: got off knowing that what she did pissed other people 182 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: off as well. And when people pissed her off, when 183 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: some paying customer decided to put his hands on her, 184 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: she got off of the pain that she was able 185 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: to dole out on them, being a true dominatrix in 186 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: all her clinched fist meeting the saddle shaped area of 187 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: some macho fucko's nose, the nasal root as it were, 188 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: hearing the bone or the cartilage or whatever was in 189 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: there crackle and splinter and collapse, and watching the blood 190 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 1: spurt and then trickle down. Macho fucko hears quivering lip 191 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: well that intoxicating mix of sex and violence had helped 192 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: boost Wendy O. Williams's notoriety, and the more her notoriety grew, 193 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,959 Speaker 1: the more she irritated the status quo, which is, well, 194 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: that's what really made her happy. And when the looming 195 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: Democratic Convention in nineteen seventy six put press pressure on 196 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: the New York Police Department to clean up the streets, 197 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,199 Speaker 1: an anti vice campaign resulted in Wendy being arrested eight 198 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: times in a twelve week period, but she didn't care 199 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: she was handcuffed and hauled off to a holding cell 200 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: because it was validation that what she was doing was working. 201 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,680 Speaker 1: She was getting under people's skin. But still, Rod Swenson 202 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: aka Captain Kink, could see the writing on the wall. 203 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: It was only a matter of time before their show 204 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,839 Speaker 1: would be shut down for good, before Times Square went 205 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: from the Combat Zone to Disneyland. So Rod and Wendy 206 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: needed a more legitimate business venture through which they could 207 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: continue to kick against the pricks, so to speak, and 208 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: they only had to look down the road to know 209 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: what that would be. In the Bowery, punk rock was 210 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: taking shape at CBGB's, but what came next would have 211 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,680 Speaker 1: made Wendy's Mitch Ryder loving sixteen year old self proud 212 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: because she was about to become a singer and a band, 213 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: but not just any band of band that would push 214 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: punk and rock and roll to a new extreme of 215 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: violence and sexuality, A band that would become, by definition, 216 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 1: to the resistance these days. Peer sixty two on the 217 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: Hudson River in New York City is the site of 218 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: a skate park, a carousel, and a lush entry garden 219 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: designed by one of the city's pre eminent public garden designers, 220 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: Lyndon Miller. Another word said is, if New York's Tourism 221 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: agency is to be believed, it's a family friendly space. 222 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: Back on September twelfth, nineteen eighty, Peer sixty two was 223 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: the site of chaos, violence, and near total destruction. Let 224 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: me set the seat along the edge of the pier, 225 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: a makeshift concert stage five feet high and built out 226 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: of plywood. Screaming fans crowd the perimeter and watch from 227 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: the rooftops of nearby buildings as a helicopter touches down. 228 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 1: Inside the helicopter are the members of one of the 229 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: hottest punk bands in town at the moment. The Plasmatics. 230 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: One by one, the Plasmatics emerge in their typical eye 231 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: catching guitire. The guitarist Richie stops, where's a white French 232 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: maid's outfit? With a white tutu to match His mohawk 233 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: is inspired by Travis Bickle, who four years later still 234 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: haunts the filth in the scum of this city. Another guitarist, 235 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: West Beach, is dressed in a tuxedo with fat streaks 236 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: of EyeBlack drawn across his cheeks, like a linebacker ready 237 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: to eat shit on the gridiron. No one in the 238 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: crowd knows that the instruments that they're about to play 239 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: are sheet and disposable, a kind that are made to 240 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: be destroyed, nor does anyone watching. No that's sitting just 241 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: beneath the stage are giant oil drums, cut in half 242 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: and filled to the brim with gasoline, waiting for a spark. 243 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: The band plays hard and fast. They're like the Ramon's 244 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: on speed if you can imagine that. After a few songs, 245 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: their lead singer, Wendy o' williams, her blonde hair highlighted 246 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: with streaks of shocking pink, puts on a motorcycle helmet 247 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: and runs off stage to an idling Cadillac with its 248 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: driver's side door ripped off. She slips behind the wheel 249 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: and feels the engine purring. She puts it in gear. 250 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: The crowd roars. The Cadillac surges forward, approaching a plywood 251 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: ramp that leads up to the stage. The caddy gets closer, 252 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: and Wendy's bandmates are scattering. Now she sinks her foot 253 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: into the gas penal even closer, and now she bails 254 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: from the caddy, and as her body hits the pier, 255 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: the car races up the ramp just as the fuses 256 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,919 Speaker 1: lit and the oil drums filled with gasoline exploded. The 257 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: Cadillac soars into the air, passing through a giant fireball 258 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: that is now engulfing the stage and all of the 259 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 1: band's instruments, and when it lands, it does so with 260 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: a thunderous crash, right into the Hudson River. One year prior, 261 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine, at the Palladium on Fourteenth Street, 262 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: the plasmatics blew up a Cadillac on stage for the 263 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: first time. It nearly killed Wendy Williams. What happened was 264 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: they didn't think to tie down the hood, so when 265 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 1: the charges went off, there was the expected explosion, the 266 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: fire and the smoke. But then the Caddy's hood just 267 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: rocketed into the air and it landed with a thud 268 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: right next to where Wendy stood. But being nearly flattened 269 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: by the smoldering hood of a Cadillac car, it didn't 270 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: frighten Wendy, not in the least. She and the man 271 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: formerly known as Captain kink Rod Swenson had designed the 272 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 1: plasmatics to be as extreme and as provocative as possible. 273 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: This wasn't Keith Moon driving a Rolls Royce into a pool. 274 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,959 Speaker 1: This was blowing up Caddies and Mercedes Benzes and Mustangs 275 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: and Chevy Novas. This was smashing TV sets with a sledgehammer. 276 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 1: This was slicing a Less Paul in half with a chainsaw. 277 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: This was shooting down a lighting rig with a sowd 278 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,639 Speaker 1: off shotgun. Actually there were blanks in the shotgun and 279 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: the lighting rig was rigged to fall on cube. But 280 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 1: still get the point. But nevertheless, Wendy did all these 281 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: things live on stage, night after night, taking great pleasure 282 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: and destroying objects that indicated one's social or economic status. Well, actually, 283 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: the Less Pauls. They were real Less Pauls. They were 284 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,360 Speaker 1: like cheap knockoff models Pats to look like Les Paul's, 285 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: which was the point. Fuck your expensive guitar and your materialist, 286 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: kill your television, blow up your fancy autumn. The Plasmatics 287 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,680 Speaker 1: led by the sexually provocative Wendyo Williams, who often took 288 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 1: the stage in little more than a pair of skin 289 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,880 Speaker 1: tight leather pants and pieces of electrical tape over her nipples, 290 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: and who simulated sex acts with a sledgehammer, thus blurring 291 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: the line between sex and violence. The Plasmatics were truly 292 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: a non conforming, anti commercial, anti capitalist force, and there 293 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: are plenty of bands out there who claimed to be 294 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,919 Speaker 1: on a similar trip. Take a band I happen to 295 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: like a lot, The Strokes, for instance. It's great to 296 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,399 Speaker 1: see the Strokes out there, melting faces at Coachella and 297 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: using their platform to hard sell a politically charged message 298 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: of non conformity. But if I want to go buy 299 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,199 Speaker 1: a ticket to see the Strokes, it's gonna cost me 300 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,360 Speaker 1: about five hundred bucks, and that's before the fees. How 301 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 1: is that non commercial? How is that anti anything? Give 302 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: me a fucking break. I love the Strokes, and I 303 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,160 Speaker 1: don't mean to pick on them, but like the majority 304 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: of the mainstream bands out there right now, there's simply 305 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: cause playing as non conformists. And look, I'm complicit in 306 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: this too. I'm a hypocrite just like the rest. I 307 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: like anti conformity, but I also like the comforts of 308 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: having my podcast be distributed by a major media network. Okay, 309 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna you know, I get it. My point 310 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: isn't that I'm righteous. My point is that Wendy o' 311 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: williams and the Plasmatics actually were the real deal. They 312 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: were arguably the most non conforming group of the entire 313 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: New York City punk movement of the late nineteen seventies. 314 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: And that is saying something. Okay. While plenty of ink 315 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: has been spilled over the years about the Ramones and 316 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 1: Television and Blondie and Patti Smith, including here on this podcast, 317 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: the Plasmatics get bupkus when it comes to props in 318 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,399 Speaker 1: the history books. And this was a band that was 319 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,920 Speaker 1: selling out CBGB's on the regular, and when they outgrew CEB's, 320 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: they started selling out Irving Plaza and the Palladium even more. Impressive. 321 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,680 Speaker 1: They did all this without a record contract because as 322 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: popular as they were, and although people were lining up 323 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: for blocks to get into their shows, no record label 324 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,479 Speaker 1: would touch them. They were just too dangerous. They were 325 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 1: too provocative, they were too violent and too sexually explicit, 326 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: and they did things on stage that were illegal in 327 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: at least half of the music venues in the country. 328 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: But it was outside the country where Wendy O. Williams 329 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: and the Plasmatics would eventually find support. In October nineteen eighty, 330 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: one month after the Peer sixty two stunt, the band 331 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,199 Speaker 1: released their debut album, New Hope for the Wretched on 332 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: Stiff Records in the UK. Now Stiff was co owned 333 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: by a like minded musical provocateur named Jake Riviera. Jake 334 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,400 Speaker 1: Rivieria was a guy who told a singer songwriter named 335 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: Declan Patrick Aloishus McManus to change his name to Elvis Costello, 336 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: and the entire reason he did this was because Elvis 337 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: Elvis Elvis Presley, that is, had just died at the time, 338 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: and announcing oneself as Elvis at that particular moment in 339 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: time was not only bad taste, but it pissed off 340 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of people. And this is kind of 341 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 1: the point. Jake Riviia, like Wendy O. Williams, was in 342 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: the pissing people off business. Now this record New Hope 343 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: for the Wretched, It really pissed people off. David Frick 344 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: gave it a one star review in Rolling Stone magazine 345 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,199 Speaker 1: at the time, calling Wendy a miserable singer who is 346 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: all but drowned out by the moronic bama laba of 347 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,160 Speaker 1: the band. Is that a word? I love that word, 348 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 1: bama laba. I gotta say, David Frick here, he wasn't wrong. 349 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: The allure of the Plasmatics and of Wendy O. Williams 350 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: has never really been about the music. It's about the spectacle. 351 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: It's about the shock, which was exactly Wendy's intention. She 352 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: was using her music, her art, to provoke, to prod, 353 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: to make comfortable people uncomfortable, which was the exact same 354 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: thing she had done to her father with that Mitch 355 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 1: Ryder forty five all those years ago. Now it was 356 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,919 Speaker 1: just being done on a much larger scale, and that 357 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: scale was then magnified at the start of nineteen eighty one, 358 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: when The Plasmatics appeared on an episode of the TV 359 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:04,680 Speaker 1: show Fridays, which aired on the ABC network. Now part 360 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 1: of Wendy's notoriety was her past history as a performer 361 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:11,120 Speaker 1: in the Times Square sex Show. Her manager, Rod Swinson 362 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: aka Captain Kink, was not seen as an industrious Brian 363 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,639 Speaker 1: Epstein type of manager. He was becoming known at this 364 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: time as Wendy's porn Svengali. Remember that this was the 365 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 1: early eighties. This is right as the vilification of rock 366 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: and roll as a pornographic and or satanic vice was 367 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: reaching its apex, just a few years from Tipper Gore 368 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: and the Parents Resource Music Center and all that. This 369 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: was the climate in which Wendy and the Plasmatics made 370 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: their national television debut. This was the climate in which 371 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 1: Wendy stripped down to her bra, covered herself in whipped cream, 372 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 1: and suggestively thrust a Toro chainsaw through a splintering les 373 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: Paul to the easily offended, to the pearl clutching consumer 374 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: types to the middle of the road. Normy's Wendy O. 375 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: Williams was their worst nightmare, savage and depraved, right there 376 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: on their television sets, and they were her target audience. 377 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: But just as she had targeted them. Soon they would 378 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 1: target her and deliver a response that was even more 379 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,879 Speaker 1: shocking and more violent than one of Wendy's notorious stage 380 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: shows could ever be. We'll be right back after this. We're, We're, 381 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: We're January eighteenth, nineteen eighty one, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rod Swaedson 382 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: leaned against the bar the Palms Nightclub and counted the 383 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: money in his hand. Not bad for a sold out show, 384 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,480 Speaker 1: but not great either for any other touring band to take. 385 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: Would be great because any other touring band didn't have 386 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,679 Speaker 1: the overhead that the Plasmatics had. The TV sets, the 387 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: Les Paul knockoffs, the Cadillacs. These things cost money, a 388 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,919 Speaker 1: lot of money. You might as well just set your 389 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 1: money on fire, seeing that these things all eventually got destroyed. 390 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: But then that wouldn't be a Plasmatics show. And even 391 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: here in Cheesetown, USA, far from home, that's what the 392 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: paying customers were expecting. That said, ordinances vary from city 393 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,360 Speaker 1: to city, so while one outrageous element of Wendy's act 394 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:35,119 Speaker 1: was allowed in some places, in others it was prohibited. Tonight, 395 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: For example, here in Milwaukee, Wendy had been forbidden from 396 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: wearing the customary strips of electrical tape across her nipples, 397 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,880 Speaker 1: so instead she covered her bare breasts with shaving cream. 398 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,639 Speaker 1: And while there would be no exploding Cadillac on the 399 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: stage of the Palms, the crowd did get to witness 400 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: Wendy's handiwork with a sledgehammer, which she stroked provocatively before 401 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: using it to bash a TV set to pieces. Now 402 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,400 Speaker 1: the show was over and her work here was done, 403 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:06,159 Speaker 1: and it was time to get into the van and 404 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: drive to the next time. Wendy hollered to Rod that 405 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: she'd see him outside, and then she walked out the 406 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: club's front door into the parking lot, where she was 407 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 1: surprised to find waiting for her the cops, at least 408 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: half a dozen playing clothes Milwaukee detectives. They leered at her, 409 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: They taunted her, They stared at her with contempt and disgust, 410 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: and they did so while informing her that she was 411 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,639 Speaker 1: under arrest for jerking off her sledgehammer during the show. 412 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: That could have been it. They could have put her 413 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: in a police cruiser or a Patty wagon or whatever, 414 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,479 Speaker 1: taken her downtown and booked her and she wouldn't even 415 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: talk shit about the Titdy bar directly across the street 416 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,440 Speaker 1: that she assumed at least a few of them frequented 417 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 1: during after hours. But first one of these playing closed 418 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 1: cops slipped his hand under her shirt and grabbed at 419 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: her breast, and then another cop began to fawn her ass. 420 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,120 Speaker 1: Wendy pushed the cops away, and then she cocked her 421 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: arm and threw a punch and caught one of them 422 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: right in a jaw, which of course, was exactly what 423 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: they were hoping she would do. When the fist hits 424 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: the woman's face, the knuckle rips into the cheek just 425 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: above the third molar, and as the blood spurts from 426 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: inside the woman's mouth, it does so at a forty 427 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: five degree angle, splattering onto the freshly fallen white snow. 428 00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 1: And when the billy club strikes the woman's nose, the 429 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: bone fractures and more blood gushes out, and her body, 430 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: thrown off its axis, spins around one half revolution before 431 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,919 Speaker 1: crashing to the ground. The size twelve men's shoes slam 432 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:47,400 Speaker 1: into her stomach and her ribs like mechanized pistons firing, 433 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: and the bile sizzles there in the back of her throat, 434 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 1: her diaphragm, muscle spasms, and her lung cease all expanding 435 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: and contracting. The CoP's knees come down on her back, 436 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,639 Speaker 1: holding her in place, and her bruised and bloody cheek 437 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: goes numb against the snow and ice, and as the 438 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 1: frigid air slowly returns to her lungs and she begins 439 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: to breathe again, she feels the steel jaws of handcuff 440 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: snapped tight around her wrists, and by the time Rod 441 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 1: Swinson made it outside the Palms nightclub, Wendy was in 442 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: the middle of a vicious attack at the hands of 443 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: seven Milwaukee police officers, and when he tried to come 444 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: to her aid, the cops then turned their attention to Rod, 445 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:36,919 Speaker 1: beating him so badly that he lost consciousness. Wendy suffered 446 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 1: a broken nose, a concussion in two black eyes. She 447 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,640 Speaker 1: was charged not only with conduct prohibited in a licensed 448 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:49,280 Speaker 1: premises that's the Dirty Sledgechamber thing, but also with battery 449 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: to police and resisting arrest. Wendy and Rod were eventually 450 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: released on bail, but word travels fast, and just two 451 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 1: nights later, after a show in Cleveland, Wendy was arrested 452 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: again on the same obscenity charge, but it was the 453 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: Milwaukee charges that were the most concerning. Assaulting a cop 454 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: was a felony. There was a distinct possibility that Wendy 455 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 1: could do real time. Back in New York. Benefit shows 456 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 1: for her legal defense fund were held at Bond's International 457 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: Casino in Times Square, not only a stone's throw from 458 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: where Captain Kink once held court, but the same venue 459 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 1: where the Clash notoriously stuck at the ticket scalpers by 460 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: staging an unprecedented run of shows. Incidentally, the Clash were 461 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: playing those very shows in the summer of eighty one 462 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 1: at the exact same time that Wendy Rod and the 463 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: rest of the band were sitting in the Milwaukee courtroom. 464 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: So while the Clash sang about fighting the law, Wendy 465 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: and the Plasmatics actually fought the law. Wendy pleaded her case, 466 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 1: and she did so authentically, not as the person that 467 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: her lawyer or the judge wanted her to be. She 468 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 1: was one hundred percent herself, rocking this skunk hairdoo and 469 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: unruly black mohawk that was perched on top of bleach 470 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: blonde sides. She was convinced that the Milwaukee pde had 471 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: a vendetta against her, even though she couldn't prove it, 472 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: but it was her word against the word the Milwaukee 473 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 1: Police Department, who, by the way, claimed that the injuries 474 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: Wendy had sustained were not the results of their brutality 475 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: because she had slipped on the ice, And this straight 476 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: up falsehood was soon proven to be a party line 477 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: cover up when it was revealed that a photographer had 478 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: been on site during the attack and the pictures shown 479 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: during the trial clearly documented the cops beating on Wendy. 480 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: As a result, the charges were dropped, but Wendy then 481 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: sued the Milwaukee Police Department for millions of dollars, but 482 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: she too would lose in the end. And I'm not 483 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 1: just talking about the lawsuit, which, to be clear, she 484 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: did lose. But all this publicity, the dust up with 485 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: the cops, the arrests, the trial, the explosions and destruction 486 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: and dangerous stunts would eventually make things much harder for Wendy. 487 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 1: Clubs would turn her away, promoters would refuse to work 488 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: with her. The Licensing Board of Quincy, Massachusetts would suspend 489 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: the operating license of a club where Wendy was booked 490 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,640 Speaker 1: to perform, solely to prevent her from doing so. Not 491 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: that it dampened the spirit of Wendy O Williams, not yet. 492 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: At least she lived a life of resistance, which meant 493 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: that she did not back down. She was a nonconformist, 494 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: which meant that her actions and reactions did not align 495 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: with those of the masses. The alternative would be to 496 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 1: give in, to become zombified, as she once told her parents. 497 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: And to become zombified, well, that was tantamount to death. 498 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: It was a subject that was never far from Wendy's mind. 499 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: A few months earlier, days before the Peer sixty two stunt, 500 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 1: she had purchased the seventy two Cadillac Coupe Deville that 501 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: she intended to destroy. The car's previous owner, when learning 502 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: of Wendy's intention, said I don't want my car to die. 503 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: But Wendy's response was both simple and empathetic. Everything must die, 504 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 1: she said, but your car will be immortalized. Fair warning, guys. 505 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: This is where the story of Wendy O Williams it 506 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: starts to get really dark. I suppose the darkness was 507 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 1: there all along, from the very beginning, a darkness deep 508 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: inside of her that she tried to keep it bay aggressively, loudly, 509 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 1: and often violently. But to paraphrase the great Brian Wilson, 510 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 1: Wendy just wasn't made for these times, or rather, she 511 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: wasn't made for this world. And when she was no 512 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: longer able to revolt against that world and the only 513 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,320 Speaker 1: way that she knew how, that's when she became consumed 514 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: with the belief that she had no other way out 515 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: of that world. So let me just say this is 516 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: as hard for me to write about as it will 517 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: be for you to hear about. But in order to 518 00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: understand where Wendy wound up, not just emotionally and spiritually, 519 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,640 Speaker 1: but also geographically and socially, we've got to talk about 520 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: what happened in the years following her multiple arrests, her 521 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: beating by police officers in the ensuing court cases. In 522 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:39,440 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, Wendy and the Plasmatics released Coudeta, their 523 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:43,479 Speaker 1: sole album, on Capitol Records. Believe it or not, signing 524 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: to Capitol was a triumph for a band that couldn't 525 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 1: get ninety nine percent of record labels to give them 526 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: the Time of Day just a few years prior. But 527 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: the album was a commercial flop, and Wendy's controversial personality 528 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: continued to proceed Her and Capital quickly dropped the band 529 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: enter fell out musical outlaws Lemmy Killmeister and his band 530 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,720 Speaker 1: The Guys in Motorhead, who were riding high on their 531 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:09,879 Speaker 1: latest album, The Most Excellent Ace of Spades, a big 532 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: hit in their native UK. Pairing the Plasmatics and Motorhead 533 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: seemed like a good idea on paper, but the resulting EP, 534 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: which featured Wendy and Lemmy duetting on the country chestnuts 535 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: stand By Your Man, was so poorly received that it 536 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: caused Motorheads guitarist Fast Eddie to quit the band. Next 537 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: up Gene Simmons of Kiss In nineteen eighty four, Gene 538 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,279 Speaker 1: Simmons was wearing that loved on look. This was the 539 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:38,640 Speaker 1: look of a man who had just come out of 540 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:41,760 Speaker 1: a four year relationship with none other than Diana Ross, 541 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:45,719 Speaker 1: a relationship he began while he was still dating Diana's 542 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: best friend Chaer. But Gene Simmons also wore a look 543 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,840 Speaker 1: of desperation, the look of a man who had finally 544 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,960 Speaker 1: washed off all of his cartoonish makeup, perhaps a little 545 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,840 Speaker 1: too late. Even what I'm saying is he needed Wendy 546 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,400 Speaker 1: as much as Sheen needed him. Kiss was losing their edge, 547 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,240 Speaker 1: and by producing an album for the Plasmatics, Gene, Simmons 548 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:11,960 Speaker 1: and Kiss had locked down some much needed credibility. However, 549 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 1: the resulting album, Wow, was technically not a Plasmatics album 550 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,239 Speaker 1: because due to a legal snaffoo too boring to get 551 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,279 Speaker 1: into here, it couldn't be called a Plasmatics album, and 552 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: because of this, Gene used whatever musicians he wanted to, 553 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,400 Speaker 1: most notably all four members of Kiss at the time, 554 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 1: Paul Stanley, Ace Freelely, Eric Carr, and Gene himself under 555 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:37,359 Speaker 1: the pseudonym Reginald Van Helsing. So Wow was not only 556 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,200 Speaker 1: this secret Kiss album, but it was also the vehicle 557 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:43,280 Speaker 1: to lift Wendy o' williams out of the punk performance 558 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,319 Speaker 1: art basement and into the big league penthouses with a 559 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:50,240 Speaker 1: big haired, leather studded hard rock sound. It even earned 560 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:54,839 Speaker 1: Wendy o' williams her first and only Grammy nomination. But 561 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 1: Wendy wasn't seeking out these trappings of success and fame. 562 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: She didn't want the pen houses, or the awards, or 563 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,520 Speaker 1: even the accolades. Her mission was purer than all of that. 564 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: She was here to remind anyone who heard her music 565 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: or witnessed her live show that you didn't have to 566 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,480 Speaker 1: be like everyone else. You didn't have to wear the 567 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,359 Speaker 1: same clothes from that store in the mall, or eat 568 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,239 Speaker 1: the same shit ass fast food that your friend's aid 569 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 1: at those crappy restaurants. You didn't have to watch the 570 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 1: same TV show, and better yet, you didn't even have 571 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:30,359 Speaker 1: to own a TV but on those TV sets. As 572 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties gave way to the nineteen nineties, Wendy 573 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 1: was being featured more than ever before. Only there was 574 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: a catch. She had become this captive zoo animal for 575 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:44,040 Speaker 1: conformist America to pok at and prod The ways in 576 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,000 Speaker 1: which she was different, dangerous, and weird were being amplified 577 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: to a level as cartoonish as the black and white 578 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: makeup on Geene Simmons's face on daytime TV talk shows 579 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:57,439 Speaker 1: that were huge at the time, by the way, huge 580 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 1: ratings for shows like Donahue and Sally Jesse Raphael Again, 581 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:03,480 Speaker 1: I gotta say it's some of the biggest shows in 582 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,920 Speaker 1: the country. At the time, millions of Americans would watch 583 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: as the hosts and their studio audiences gacked at Wendy 584 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:15,040 Speaker 1: in disbelief. None of this attention boosted album sales. And 585 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,560 Speaker 1: for a touring musician, the grind is real, and it's 586 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:23,520 Speaker 1: real hard, super difficult, super stressful, and the stress, the 587 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: wear and the tear, the living hand and mouth, it 588 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: takes its toll. And if none of it's working, if 589 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:35,399 Speaker 1: you're not getting results, well then life isn't working. Now 590 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,040 Speaker 1: add into that equation the limited opportunities that Wendy oh 591 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: Williams continued to receive based on her reputation and the 592 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:46,760 Speaker 1: fights and the arrests and the lawsuits. At some point 593 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,959 Speaker 1: it was no longer fiscally prudent, as the conformists would say, 594 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: just wasn't prudent in general. It wasn't possible anymore. So Wendy, 595 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 1: you had to stop doing the one thing she'd been 596 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,280 Speaker 1: doing since she arrived in New York City in nineteen 597 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: sixty six. She had to stop being Wendy oh Williams, 598 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: the one and only thing that was holding her together. 599 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 1: And that's when the trouble started. In nineteen ninety one, 600 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:17,960 Speaker 1: at the age of forty two, Wendy and her longtime 601 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 1: manager and life partner, Rod Swinson, moved to the town 602 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: of Stores, Connecticut. Here life was as far from a 603 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,960 Speaker 1: Captain Kink matinee or a sold out knight at CBGB's 604 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,600 Speaker 1: as he could possibly imagine. Rod built a geodesic house 605 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,040 Speaker 1: in the woods where the two were surrounded by nature. 606 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,440 Speaker 1: Wendy worked at a local health food store and volunteered 607 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: at a wildlife center where she helped injured and orphaned animals, 608 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:46,480 Speaker 1: mostly squirrels. For many, this would be an idyllic life, 609 00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,200 Speaker 1: but for Wendy it was a tortured existence. It was 610 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,760 Speaker 1: that so called zombified life that she'd vowed she would 611 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,840 Speaker 1: never be a part of, and now that she was 612 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,759 Speaker 1: part of it, she was plunged daily into d emotional 613 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: pain and hopelessness. We can all relate to emotional pain. 614 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,680 Speaker 1: We've all been hopeless at times. I know that I have. 615 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: But I've been crushed by disappointment and disillusionment and by 616 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:13,839 Speaker 1: life simply not turning out the way that I thought 617 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,279 Speaker 1: it would. But thankfully for me at least, and for 618 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 1: many of you too, I hope and I would gather 619 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,239 Speaker 1: there's always been a way, out, a road, out a light. 620 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:28,440 Speaker 1: But for some, like Wendyo Williams, the emotional pain in 621 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: the hopelessness is so intense, so all consuming, that it 622 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:37,080 Speaker 1: leads to extreme crisis. The first time Wendy O. Williams 623 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 1: attempted suicide was nineteen ninety three. She used a hammer 624 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,799 Speaker 1: to bang a knife into her chest, but when the 625 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:48,880 Speaker 1: knife got stuck in her sternam, she panicked and Rod 626 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,520 Speaker 1: rushed her to the hospital, where the knife was carefully 627 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:55,600 Speaker 1: removed and she was patched up. Four years later, in 628 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,560 Speaker 1: the summer of nineteen ninety seven, she tried again, this 629 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:04,279 Speaker 1: time by overdosing on epatrin aka herbal ecstasy, but the 630 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,880 Speaker 1: dose wasn't strong enough, or maybe Wendy was just stronger. 631 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: And then on April sixth, nineteen ninety eight, Wendy, determined 632 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,480 Speaker 1: as ever, walked into the woods just outside the home 633 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,480 Speaker 1: she shared with Rod Swinson, and in her hand she 634 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,920 Speaker 1: held a thirty eight caliber revolver. She found a spot 635 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,759 Speaker 1: that felt right and sat down on a rock, surrounded 636 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 1: by nature's crushing stillness. The sun peered out from behind 637 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: some clouds, and then she pressed the barrel of the 638 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:41,280 Speaker 1: thirty eight to her head and pulled the trigger. Perhaps 639 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 1: Wendy o'williams thought she had no other option, or that 640 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,160 Speaker 1: she simply needed more time to find the next thing 641 00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: that would satisfy her nonconformist soul. Either way, her death 642 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 1: at age forty eight it robbed the rock punk and 643 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: metal worlds of one of its greatest advocates for rezils 644 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:06,640 Speaker 1: distance and that it is a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, 645 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:22,759 Speaker 1: and this is disgrace LAMB. All right, guys, thanks for 646 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,320 Speaker 1: checking out this episode on Wendy o Williams. Question of 647 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,600 Speaker 1: the week, What is the most shocking thing that you've 648 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:32,359 Speaker 1: ever seen a musician do? On stage? Six one seven 649 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 1: nine oh six six six three eight voicemail and text 650 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:39,120 Speaker 1: at Disgrace lam Pod on Thesocials Disgrace lampod at gmail 651 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: dot com. 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