1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:08,479 Speaker 2: Yo, Elizabeth Dutton in here, Saron Burnett's name and joking 3 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 2: around McGee. 4 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, I was hanging in here with the new 5 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 3: new intern Rosie. 6 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh god, don't don't move quickly in front 7 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 2: of her. 8 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 3: No kind of she is. 9 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 4: She's buddy. 10 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 3: So I'm glad you're here because that'll distract your a 11 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 3: little from my hands. So I got a question for you. Yeah, 12 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 3: do you know what's ridiculous? 13 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 4: I do? I do. 14 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 2: I'm kind of covering some road. I've already covered Pokemon, Pokemon. 15 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,919 Speaker 3: Pokemon, Oh yeah, yeah, Pokemon. 16 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 4: And I've also talked about Cheetos before. 17 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 2: Yes you have, I have two of your great lovestional mashup. Hello, 18 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 2: So there was a Cheeto that looks like Pokemon Charizard 19 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 2: and yeah, and yeah it looks like Charizard, which I 20 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 2: suppose it does. 21 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 4: It's one of those. 22 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 3: Flaming hot ones flaming hot jar. 23 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 4: So I guess everyone was like, oh my god, this 24 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 4: looks like good Pokemon. 25 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 2: And then this first in Goal Collectibles got a hold 26 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 2: of it sometime between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two. 27 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 2: They're being cagy about it. And they they fixed it 28 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 2: to a customized Pokemon card encapsulated in a clear card 29 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:19,919 Speaker 2: storage box. 30 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 3: Oh those are the best kind. 31 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, and then it you know, it surged in popularity 32 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 2: on social media platforms in late twenty twenty four. According 33 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 2: to somebody, oh the auction site anyway, it went up 34 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:31,639 Speaker 2: for auction. 35 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 4: It just sold. The bidder bid seventy two thousand dollars. 36 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 3: That's a lot of money. 37 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 4: It wasn't And then with the buyer's. 38 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 2: Premium it goes up to eighty seven and forty dollars 39 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: for a Pokemon Cheeto Cheeto card in a nice collectible case. Yeah, 40 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 2: and that one, I think it came from maybe a 41 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 2: couple of people, But the one that was forwarded to 42 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 2: me was from Monica on Instagram. 43 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 4: So thank you Monica. 44 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 3: Thanks Monica. Well that's a good one. I'll give you 45 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 3: that and Monica. But you know what else is ridiculous? 46 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 3: I got something for you. 47 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 4: Please please tell me when you. 48 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 3: Look like someone famous? Yeah, why not have fun with it? 49 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 4: Right? 50 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 3: It's all fun and games, well right up until you 51 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 3: decide to get criminally ridiculous. 52 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 5: Sure is ziggy. 53 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 3: This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, 54 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 3: and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and 55 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 3: one hundred percent ridiculous. Yeah, I know you feel me 56 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 3: on that, Elizabeth. You also love a good story like 57 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 3: me about criminal celebrity lookalikes. 58 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 4: Correct, Oh, completely. 59 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 3: Right, they're always fun. Well, boys, howdy do I have 60 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 3: some fun ones for you today? 61 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 4: Thank you? 62 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 3: Well, really, it's anyway you'll see. It's it's a bunch 63 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 3: of them. But they're all kind of it's simple. They're 64 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 3: related to well, I don't want to ruin it. First up, 65 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 3: I want to tell you about a woman who was 66 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 3: hired to perform in Sorry noam Okay, that's fun. That's 67 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 3: not common. That's like worth taking a trip right now. 68 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 3: The woman's name is Trina Johnson Finn, and the story goes. 69 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 3: Trina was a career backup singer, the kind you find 70 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 3: in Las Vegas, right, that's where she was working in 71 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 3: before her adventure in Surry nom Now. Over the years, 72 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 3: she'd performed like with Barbara streisand as a backup singer. 73 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 3: She toured with EMPs Hammer for five years. 74 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 4: Like a singer and a dancer, more. 75 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 3: Of a backup singer. Okay, now, She had her own 76 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 3: one woman's show that ran through a cavalcade of song. Right, 77 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 3: it's a musical history of Las Vegas. It was like 78 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 3: a tour of the American songbook. She sings songs by 79 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 3: Gladys Knight and the Pips. He'd cover songs by Tina Turner. 80 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 3: She had range, right, and apparently she sang a wicked 81 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 3: proud Mary. Now this is why she gets hired to 82 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 3: go down to that little country there just north of Brazil. 83 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 4: Yeah. 84 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 3: Now, Trina was booked by an outfit called Events for Surreyname, 85 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 3: and it was run by this shady promoter named Angel 86 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 3: Ventura or on hell Ventura, which totally sounds like a 87 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 3: made up name, right, it sounds like the kind of 88 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 3: name you would expect for like, I don't know, professional wrestler. 89 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 2: All yes, totally Anyway, this cat Ventura. 90 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 3: He books Trina as the singer for a Tony Braxton 91 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 3: tribute show. So she flies down for that, except he 92 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 3: told the crowd it would really be Tony Braxton. Yeah, 93 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 3: so Tina didn't know the real score, or so she claims. Now, 94 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 3: she flew down to surreynam When she got there, ready 95 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,480 Speaker 3: to perform, she learns that the audience is expecting Tony Braxton. 96 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 2: Oh no, break their hearts, Sarah, exactly. 97 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 3: You feel me now, This poor woman, she's got a 98 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 3: moment to decide. She's all made up, right, What will 99 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 3: she do? Would she go out on stage and pretend 100 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 3: to be Tony Braxton? Or would she keep her integrity 101 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 3: tell the promoter to go get bent and fly back 102 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 3: home to the US. I think you know what choice 103 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 3: she d Trina decided to go out on stage. This 104 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 3: crowd in Surryna was expecting Tony Braxton. Damn it. She 105 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 3: was gonna give them Tony Braxton. Problem was they knew 106 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 3: Tony Braxton because they were fans of Tony Braxton. So 107 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 3: she goes out there, she takes the stage, she performs 108 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 3: her set right, her first song is apparently solid, but 109 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 3: something just ain't right. 110 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 4: Well, I'm guessing it's not a huge venue. 111 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 3: Well it's a stadium, but it is. Yeah, it's not 112 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,479 Speaker 3: like a tiny club. It's like a stadium. So there's 113 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 3: a little distance between her and the crowd. Yeah, she 114 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 3: can kind of pull it off. But like Tony Braxton, 115 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,279 Speaker 3: I don't know if she's known for her dance moves. 116 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 3: It's mostly her voice and her persona. 117 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 2: And the balaklava I would hope with hope. 118 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 3: Right. So she's out there and she can see the 119 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 3: crowd's faces and they do not look like they're into 120 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 3: this show. Some look confused, others look upset, some are 121 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 3: just mad. No one's smiling though, right, So Trina tries 122 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 3: to shake it off. Maybe her second song will win 123 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 3: them over. So this is when the booze now start 124 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 3: to rain down on her. Folks. In the first few rows, 125 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 3: they're shooting daggers with their eyes at her. Trina, though, 126 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 3: keeps singing she's committed, you know, she's the show's got 127 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 3: to go on, and she's on now the show, So 128 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 3: trying like hell, she tries to win over the crowd. 129 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 3: Then she gets hit with a glass of beer. Oh no, 130 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 3: it's a plastic Yeah, luckily it's a plastic cup, splashes 131 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 3: its contents all over her. That's bad. It's also very 132 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 3: fun for the crowd. So now a glass bottle comes up. 133 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 3: Oh that's bad. That's yeah, that's worse. Then another plastic glass, 134 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 3: and then another bottle and another. The crowd is fully 135 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 3: turned on her, right, so the Trina waves for the 136 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 3: DJ cut the music. Cut the music, right, he does. 137 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 3: She turns to the crowd and tells them we're gonna 138 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 3: stop the show now, which they did that exactly that, 139 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 3: and Trina cuts out. Not only does she leave the stage, 140 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 3: she leaves the venue. 141 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:45,799 Speaker 4: Just who made a promise? 142 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 3: Exactly Also I forgot to mention, but once she was backstage, 143 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 3: she looked for the promoter on Hell Ventura, and ode 144 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 3: On Hell had disappeared. He was gone, right, he got 145 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 3: the money from the gate and was whooped gone. The 146 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 3: next day, Trina and her husband they get confronted by 147 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 3: the local police. They're like, you know, this was straight 148 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 3: up fraud. You got to give these people their money back. 149 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 3: They're like, we don't have the money. They get arrested, 150 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 3: taken to the police station, interrogated. The day after that, 151 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 3: oh wow, it was definitely. This is like in the 152 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 3: early two thousand, so it was like an expensive ticket. 153 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:26,119 Speaker 3: Then the day after they get initially interrogated, they're feeling 154 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 3: like they're pressing their luck hanging out in Surinam. Once again, 155 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 3: they do not have the money to make this right. America, 156 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 3: Las Vegas is essentially right, So yeah, that's in America. 157 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 3: They trying to make a break for it. They flee 158 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 3: to the airport. In this desperate attempt to escape Surinam 159 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 3: right her and her husband, the couple, they reached the 160 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 3: airport and that's where they're confronted by police. Yet again, 161 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 3: they're detained at the airport. They don't make it out. 162 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 3: The promoter Ventura, though he's pulled a full Harry Houdini. 163 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 3: Cops can't find him. He's gone. He did not go 164 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 3: to the airport, he went some other way. 165 00:07:58,400 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 4: Yeah. 166 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 3: So the police though, since they have training, and they're like, well, 167 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 3: it's just throw the law look at her, and so 168 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 3: they do that. Now Trina's on the hook for all 169 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 3: the sins of on hell. Ventura. Her husband also though, 170 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 3: because I don't know, he's just her husband, he gets arrested, 171 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 3: also detained for two weeks. He's locked up. Finally, after 172 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 3: two weeks are like, we have nothing on this guy. 173 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 3: So they send him back to America. But meanwhile, in 174 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 3: that two weeks time, he lost his job because he 175 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 3: was a realtor and his employer was like, man, we 176 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 3: don't need a realtor who's like cooling his heels into 177 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 3: jail and Surinam. Yeah, so he gets back and then 178 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 3: what's he has to do now is get his wife 179 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 3: freaked because she's still detained and the authorities have no 180 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 3: immediate plans to let her go because they do have 181 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 3: charges on her. So her husband flies back to America 182 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,559 Speaker 3: without her. Once he's home, he begins selling the couple's 183 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,199 Speaker 3: few assets to raise money to fight her case. 184 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 4: Oh my god. 185 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:46,319 Speaker 2: Yeah. 186 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 3: Now, so, Elizabeth, I don't know if you've ever spent 187 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 3: time in jail, or specifically jail and surinam, but I 188 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 3: know you don't. I didn't want to put you on 189 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 3: the spot an embarrassing front of producer Dan. But let 190 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,679 Speaker 3: me tell you it's no country sleigh ride right Anyway, 191 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 3: Trina caught all kinds of hell when she was locked 192 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 3: up or calling her time behind bars. I found a 193 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 3: quote from Trina she explained how a quote, it was 194 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 3: like being locked up in a very poor country like Jamaica. 195 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 3: If you can imagine that, it was very nasty, run down. 196 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 3: The toilet was not working, so it's said, yeah, so 197 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 3: instead of her proper john, though, Trina was forced to 198 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 3: use a small metal bucket as her toilet. A bucket, Elizabeth, Yeah. 199 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 4: That's what I have? 200 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 3: Really? Is that what that is in your car. Well, see, 201 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 3: I always wonder where do you empty the bucket? Do 202 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 3: you throw it out the cell window like you live 203 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 3: in a medieval castle, or did this someone come around 204 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 3: with like a honeywagon. You go like empty it twice 205 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 3: like a day, Like how does that work with the bit. 206 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:40,679 Speaker 4: In the corner of a Walmart parking lot? 207 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 3: Not your bucket, fair bucket, their bucket. 208 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 4: I don't know. I'm gonna guess they throw it out 209 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 4: the window. 210 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 3: Okay, the prison or the jail. Well, anyway, back to Trina, 211 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 3: enough bucket. She also remembered how bleak the living conditions 212 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 3: were in her cell, and she wanted to talk about that, 213 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 3: so she focused on the shower. She was very liquid focused, 214 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 3: so she Trina said, the rooms were just nasty. I 215 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 3: had an old bed that was extremely hard. You showered 216 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 3: by catching water coming out of the faucet in a 217 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 3: bucket and washing down that way. 218 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 2: Their buckets buckets, and the buckets are multipleower your bucket. 219 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 3: They're like, oh man, yeah, my shower. 220 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,080 Speaker 4: But I wonder what was the lighting like? Was that 221 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 4: tough to imagine? 222 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 3: It was diom So Trina's time in jail seems like 223 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 3: a rather excessive punishment for pretending to be Tony Braxton. 224 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 3: But despite what she had, she had to suffer for 225 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 3: putting on this fake show. Trina tries to survive her 226 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,839 Speaker 3: new life after lock up. Now after she and her husband, 227 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 3: they keep trying to fight her case, right, so he 228 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 3: pays for lawyers. She gets herself some local lawyers. She 229 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 3: is also hoping her story of wrongful incarceration might go 230 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 3: viral and help her to get free. That did not happen, Elizabeth. 231 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 3: So she's down. 232 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 4: There because something went wrong there. 233 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 3: You go, well, worse than that for her, since you know, 234 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 3: she's not getting viral fame for her suffering, and and 235 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 3: they started on. No one seems to care about the 236 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 3: fate of this phony Tony Braxton forre and a half 237 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 3: months behind bars. Finally, Trina's case goes to trial in 238 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 3: May of two thousand and nine. That's when a miracle occurs. 239 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 3: A miracle. Elizabeth, the ever mysterious long presumed disappeared promoter 240 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,079 Speaker 3: on Hell Ventura reappears on the scene. Oh really, yeah, 241 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 3: better than that. He shows up in court. Trina tells it. Quote, 242 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 3: they said they found him, but I think he just 243 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 3: turned himself in and had probably paid a lot of 244 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 3: people off to avoid taking responsibility for this. Well, so 245 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 3: when paying people off failed, he finally agreed to face 246 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 3: the music. So back to Trina quote, I don't think 247 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 3: there's any big man hunt for him, but the prestice 248 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 3: was generating internationally forced them to take a look at 249 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 3: the real evidence. And we had a contract specifically stating 250 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 3: that I was a tribute act. He basically got called 251 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 3: out and had to turn himself in. 252 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 2: So where was this contract? Couldes she show the police? 253 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 3: Apparently I don't ask. I guess maybe he still hasn't 254 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 3: his BF case and she's like, look at his briethdays 255 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 3: find the contract. I do not know the details were 256 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 3: scarce got it? Got it? So once they do have 257 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 3: this slippery promoter on the witness stand, as I am 258 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 3: imagining it, he confesses to his part in the fake 259 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 3: Tony Braxton scam concert, gets convicted, sentenced to two and 260 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 3: a half years in prison. Wowrin sur on prison with the. 261 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 2: Buckets of bucket. 262 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 3: I hope you like buckets, buddy, so is Trina. She 263 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 3: gets sent home to America, where she returns to Vegas 264 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 3: and her one woman tour of the American songbook, So 265 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 3: they're happy ending for her, right, Yeah, Trina, Now I've 266 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 3: got a much bigger surprise for you, and this one 267 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 3: that was about to tell you. It's a series of stories, 268 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 3: but they all involve a very famous man who is 269 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 3: Snoop Dogg's uncle. 270 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,079 Speaker 4: Is Snoop Dogg's uncle is famous? 271 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, let's take a little break and after these beautiful, 272 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 3: beautiful lads we will be back. I'll tell you about 273 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 3: this famous man who is Snoop Dogg's uncle. 274 00:12:51,360 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 6: All right, Elizabeth Zaren do you figure out who Snoop 275 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:15,200 Speaker 6: Dogg's famous uncle was? 276 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 3: No, you really don't know? You have any guesses? U? No, Well, 277 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 3: the stories will be about folks who pretend to be 278 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 3: Snoop's famous uncle, not actually about Snoop's famous uncle. 279 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 2: That was it his uncle on his mother's side or 280 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 2: his father's side. 281 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 3: I didn't examine his last name, Brotus. I didn't examine 282 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 3: the actual genealogy. They just both claim each other as 283 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 3: nephew and uncle. 284 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 4: Oh was it like play uncle? 285 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 2: No? 286 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 3: I think I think it's real. I don't think it's play. 287 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 3: I think it's real. I'll give you a hint. His 288 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 3: name rhymes with cutesy rawlins. What, Yes, Bootsy as in 289 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 3: Collins Uncle, the Calvin brotus aka Snoop Dogg. 290 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 4: How in the what I know? 291 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 7: Right? 292 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 3: Yeah? Everything I found that I could find online. It 293 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 3: could not find like their sestry dot com, but I. 294 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 2: Found I don't know what you're going to talk about 295 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 2: ahead of time. I will go on to ancestry dot 296 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 2: com after this. 297 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 3: Yeah you should. Yeah, I don't even have it like 298 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 3: a log in. So bootsy seks to be the word 299 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 3: bootsy is slang that you use all the time. What 300 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 3: does bootsy mean to you? 301 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 2: To me? When I say something is bootsy, it's you know, 302 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 2: it's a less than high quality. 303 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 4: It's it's kind of janky. 304 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 3: Okay, another one, all right, so that's a synonym for bootsy. 305 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 4: Think you know, uh poor quality? Gross? 306 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 3: Okay, now we got a definition. Yes, I guess all right, 307 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 3: Well I feel I feel like whenever you say it, 308 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 3: I totally get what you mean. But then also I 309 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 3: obviously think of Bootsy when I hear it, I think 310 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 3: of Bootsy Collins. So when I say bootsy as in 311 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 3: Bootsy Collins, what do you picture? What do you imagine? 312 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 2: I imagine huge platform boots, and like star shaped sunglasses. Yes, Bootsy. 313 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 3: How about his star based that he nicknamed space. 314 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 2: Bas Yes, space based? 315 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 3: Well a little just about Bootsy. He was born William 316 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 3: Earl aka Bootsy Collins. He was born nineteen fifty one. 317 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 3: His mama nicknamed him Bootsy. He once asked her, like, 318 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 3: why did you name your baby boy Bootsy? 319 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 2: Right? 320 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 3: Because I imagine like you was. It doesn't sound like 321 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 3: it's exactly a compliment. His mama told him, and I 322 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 3: quote because you looked like a Bootsy And he said, 323 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 3: I left it at that, you know, mama said, So 324 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 3: Bootsy's Collins. He's He first came to prominence in James 325 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 3: Brown's band, the JBS. Right now. He played on a 326 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 3: raft of James Brown's legendary songs. Hey, I'll tell you 327 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 3: a couple of them. Get up. I feel like being 328 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 3: a sex machine. He was on super Bad, He's on 329 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 3: Soul Power. So like right when James is getting funky, 330 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 3: he's there. He's the one who introduces or helps introduce 331 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 3: the funk. He gave those tracks. That's super funky. So 332 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 3: him and his brother Catfish Collins low End. Yeah, Now, 333 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 3: as you might imagine, working for James Brown was no 334 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 3: picnic in the park. Her stories, I imagine right now 335 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 3: it is. Bootsy remembered it in one colorful story about 336 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 3: his time with the Godfather's Soul. He said, and I quote, 337 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 3: he treated me like a son, and being out of 338 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 3: a father this home, I needed that father figure and 339 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 3: he really played up to it. I mean, good lord. 340 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 3: Every night after we played a show, he called us 341 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 3: back to give us a lecture about how horrible we sounded. 342 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 3: Not on that son. I didn't hear that one. You 343 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 3: didn't give me the one. He would tell me this 344 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 3: after every show. One night we knew we wasn't sounding 345 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 3: really good. We were off, and he called us back 346 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 3: there and he said, oh, now that's what I'm talking about. 347 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 3: Y'all was on it tonight. You hit the one. My 348 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 3: brother and I looked at each other like this mother 349 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 3: has got to be crazy. We knew in all heart 350 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 3: and soul that we wasn't all on that show. So 351 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 3: then I started figuring out his game. Man by telling 352 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 3: me that I wasn't on it, he made me practice 353 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 3: hort up. So I just absorbed what he said and 354 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 3: used it in a positive way. So that was about 355 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 3: how he did it. 356 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 4: I like that I didn't. 357 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 2: I needed a father figure, someone who would criticized him needless. 358 00:16:57,960 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 3: A real tough, hard hand is what I'm looking for. 359 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 3: James Brown, like I keep my hands strong. So he 360 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 3: got this tiny tyrant James Brown, right, who's just like 361 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,880 Speaker 3: a bound muscle of aggression on stage and off right. 362 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 3: So in the meantime, Bootsy, he's trying to handle the 363 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:14,879 Speaker 3: stress of dealing with his boss and now he's like, 364 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 3: you know, newfound and growing fame as a musician, so 365 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:22,120 Speaker 3: he chooses to self medicate. His medicine of choice was LSD. Oh, 366 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 3: that's an interesting as Bootsy tells it, LSD was a 367 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 3: big part of why I left James Brown's band. I 368 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 3: promise myself I'd never do it during a show, but 369 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 3: we had a father son relationship, and he pestered me 370 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:36,959 Speaker 3: so much not to do it that one day I 371 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 3: just did. My base turned into a snake and I 372 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 3: can't even remember playing. After he called me in the 373 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 3: back room as he always did and was explaining how 374 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 3: terrible I was, even when I wasn't taking LSD. I 375 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,640 Speaker 3: laughed so hard I was on the floor. To him, 376 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 3: that was very disrespectful. He had his body God throw 377 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 3: me out. So he's high in LSD and he gets 378 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 3: thrown out of James. 379 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 2: Brown's the tech bro micro dos. 380 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,879 Speaker 3: No, he's doing MAXI dosing MAXI do. Yeah, He's like, 381 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 3: how many he did? He says he did elist every 382 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 3: day for two years. 383 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 4: What, yes, Bootsy, I don't think that's healthy. 384 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 3: No, but it helped him decide it was time to 385 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 3: move on from James Brown. Okay, Boots it is. It 386 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:24,360 Speaker 3: helped him to see things in a new way, give 387 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 3: him new perspectives and insights. He stayed with James bound 388 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 3: for about a year, but I think it's like eleven months. No, 389 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,920 Speaker 3: he and his brother, Catfish Collins, they split from the band. 390 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 3: What a great pair of names, right, these are my sons, 391 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 3: Bootsy and Catfish. So next up the brothers Bootsy and Catfish. 392 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 3: They joined George Clinton's band, Parliament Funkade. Now that's where 393 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 3: Bootsy becomes a superstar, right, that's where we think of 394 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 3: him with the star shaped sunglasses, the yeah, you know, 395 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 3: the platform heals. So George Clinton, obviously he appreciates all 396 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 3: the way out there antics in the funky bass of 397 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,400 Speaker 3: Bootsy Collins. So Bootsy stayed with George Clinton in Parliament 398 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 3: Forkadelic for the rest of the seventies and into the eighties, 399 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 3: and together they make the funkiness into a cultural revolution. 400 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 3: So over the years, Bootsy tries on many many personas, 401 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 3: like there's boots Zilla, right aka quote the world's only 402 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 3: Ryan Stone rockstar, mon still of a doll. So because 403 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,479 Speaker 3: of course, you know, Bootsy would see himself as an 404 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 3: alien rock star. Sure has come to Earth to spread 405 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:25,160 Speaker 3: the gospel of funk. It's all that makes sense, right, 406 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 3: I mean, it's right there, Elizabeth. So over the years, 407 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 3: obviously there are other personas. One that was all mentioned 408 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 3: was Casper the Funky Ghost. Okay, that's me, Yeah, Bootsy Collins. 409 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 3: He's always on. He was one of a kind basically, right, 410 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 3: which makes it super wild that there were a bunch 411 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,399 Speaker 3: of people who tried to impersonate him, like a bunch Yeah, 412 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 3: they called him almost Bootsies like. Some did it well 413 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 3: and some were surprisingly successful, others not so much. So 414 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,120 Speaker 3: it started off when Bootsy heard about this one cat 415 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 3: out there who kind of looked like him, and he 416 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:57,159 Speaker 3: was charging money to sign autographs at events. Like he 417 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 3: would go to some small city and he'd find a 418 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 3: nightclub or a Ants Club and he posts up there. 419 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 3: Then he'd start to like greet his fans and he'd 420 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 3: shake some hands and if anyone wanted an autograph, he's like, oh, 421 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 3: that'd be five dollars or whatever. 422 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 4: Oh my god. 423 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:08,880 Speaker 2: Yes. 424 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:13,880 Speaker 3: So his manager, Bootsy Collins manager Archie Ivy recalled quote 425 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 3: there were Bootsy sightings all over the place where Bootsy 426 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 3: wasn't So now what was Bootsy's initial response, Well, according 427 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 3: to Ivy, we just shrugged it off and said, boots 428 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 3: he's a real star. Now, we didn't take things seriously. 429 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 2: Well, that is a good point. That shows what a 430 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 2: star you are. 431 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 3: That totally people want to be you. 432 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 2: Well, and I think because he doesn't like if you 433 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 2: asked me to pick his just plane face with no 434 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 2: hair out of a lineup. 435 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 4: I couldn't do it. 436 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 3: Be very difficult. He usually's wearing a sequin top hat. Yes, 437 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 3: star shaped sunglasses. You just see a bit of a 438 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 3: slender black face. 439 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,880 Speaker 2: Yes, So if you have the same build, then yeah, 440 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 2: you just put the accessories on and yeah, speaking come Bootsy. 441 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 3: George Clinton tried it on for a weekend. 442 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 4: It's maybe it's like santy Claus. 443 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 3: Kind of Bootsy clubs George. As I was saying, George Clinton, 444 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 3: his bandmate been Parliament falcadelic. He found it all hilarious 445 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 3: that people wanted to be Bootsy, so you know he 446 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 3: would he said, and I quote, I thought it was 447 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 3: funny that someone got away with it that far, right, now, 448 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 3: George Clinton, he also tried to, as I said, be 449 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 3: boot become Bootsy, and to see what he could get 450 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 3: away with. So, as he remembered it, one time he 451 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:22,960 Speaker 3: was backstage and he tried to make some young woman 452 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 3: laugh and he put on the Bootsy costume. And George 453 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 3: Clinton tells the story and I quote, somebody came to 454 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 3: see Bootsy and they had never seen him up close. 455 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,959 Speaker 3: And I put on the star glasses and said yeah, Bubba, 456 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 3: which was one of the trademark catchphrases of his persona 457 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 3: boot Zilla. So I was with the girl for two 458 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 3: or three days before Bootsy showed up. I told Bootsy 459 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,679 Speaker 3: I was him. So he says right to boss face, and. 460 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 2: He's just like, oh wow, okay, No, of. 461 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 3: Course everybody in the story is kite high. 462 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 4: Well, it's like. 463 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 2: When I was little and growing up, we'd be driving 464 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,640 Speaker 2: and if we saw a car exactly like ours, same 465 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 2: make model color. My mother would say to us, Oh, 466 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 2: maybe that's us and we just don't know it, And 467 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 2: that just messed with my. 468 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 3: Head so badly sent your little head slide right. 469 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 4: Yeah, I'd be like, oh what if it is? 470 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, parallel universe right there. I hope we make it. 471 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 4: You know, she got there. 472 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 3: Now speaking about there. But my man Bootsy, as you 473 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 3: point out right, he was a bit easier to imitate 474 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 3: because his look is so iconic and so people it's 475 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 3: largely a costume. People just need the star shape, sunglasses 476 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 3: and uh. As his manager Ivy points out, it wasn't 477 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 3: like impersonating prints where he had to worry about height. 478 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 3: With Bootsy, you make yourself tall with platform boots, put 479 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 3: on a top hat and the star glasses and a 480 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 3: lot of shiny stuff. Bootsie's voice is basically a cartoon character, 481 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,440 Speaker 3: so if you had the right phrase and attitude, I 482 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 3: can see it being pulled off. 483 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 4: Yeah. 484 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 3: So, now if you ask Bootsy what he thought about 485 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 3: all this sudden wave of imitators, he'd tell you, as 486 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 3: he once told Rolling Stone, and I quote, at first, 487 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 3: I thought it was funny until some close friends started 488 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 3: to tell me about how the almost Bootsy started to 489 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 3: rip people off because he's very positive. It's fun when 490 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:08,440 Speaker 3: people are having fun. But now they're out there trying 491 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 3: to like scam in his name. He's like, that ain't 492 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,520 Speaker 3: right now, that ain't Bootsy. So Bootsy did he get 493 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 3: to have some fun with it? Right? He even offered 494 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 3: his fans their very own Bootsy costume, like his nineteen 495 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 3: seventy eight album he had was called Bootsy Player of 496 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 3: the Year right. That album included a pair of fake 497 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,400 Speaker 3: star cut cardboard sunglasses. A fan could cut them out 498 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 3: and become Bootsy. So this obviously led to Bootsy saying 499 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 3: at the time, it seems that in the past year 500 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 3: there's been a lot of fake teers running around almost 501 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 3: Bootsies who's been trying to. 502 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 2: Be me. 503 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 3: Bakaders. Yeah, because obviously the funketeers is to play on. 504 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 3: So Bootsy Uh. The very next year, for his next album, 505 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 3: This boot is Made for Funking', he had a song 506 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 3: called she Jam parenthetical almost Bootsy show. So he addressed 507 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 3: it directly and in the lyrics Bootsy sang and I 508 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 3: quote without singing, said everyone they were almost Bootsy decked 509 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 3: out in the staw shaped shades, little boys and girls. 510 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 3: They were almost Bootsy shining all over the place. So 511 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 3: there you go. That was some cute fun for Boots. 512 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:17,920 Speaker 4: That's great. 513 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 3: So anyway, one of the almost Bootsies that we've been 514 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,560 Speaker 3: you know, teasing out, they walked into the headquarters of 515 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 3: Warner Brothers Records in Burbank. The almost Bootsy he told 516 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 3: someone in Warner Brothers office, I'm Bootsy and then said 517 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 3: I'm luck my next royalty check. 518 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,880 Speaker 2: Oh, like it didn't get delivered to the house. 519 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 4: I guess can I just can I cancel that one? 520 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 4: Just issue me a new one. 521 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 3: I was traveling, I thought I just come right to 522 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:42,120 Speaker 3: the office. 523 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 4: To make it easier on you. 524 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 3: So the folks at Warner Brothers, they were used to 525 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:48,879 Speaker 3: odd behavior from Bootsy, right, Oh yeah, but this was unprofessional, right, 526 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 3: and a little more than sus So the folks at 527 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,399 Speaker 3: Warner Brothers they call Bootsi's manager, Archie Ivy, and the 528 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 3: manager when he hears that Bootsy is in a Burbank 529 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 3: in the Warner Brothers office asking them run me my check. 530 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 3: He thought it was because Bootsy knew his royalty checks 531 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,679 Speaker 3: were distributed by his company and not by Warner rog 532 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 3: so yeah, the manager recalled that he'd just spoken with 533 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 3: the funketeer himself just two days prior in the Cincinnati area. 534 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 3: Then the reason why this matters, Elizabeth is that Bootsy 535 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 3: was afraid of flying. He would avoided at all costs. Yeah, 536 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,640 Speaker 3: so he would have driven across country from Ohio to California, 537 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 3: and that most likely would have taken longer than two days. 538 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 4: Yeah. 539 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 3: So Ivy the manager, he had the execs Warner Brothers 540 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 3: stall this almost Bootsy who was asking for the royalty 541 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 3: check that the execs from the label. They did as requested. 542 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 3: They stall him, but they left him alone. Right, So 543 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 3: then they go they go back to the call. Okay, 544 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 3: we stalled him, and then they go back to him 545 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 3: and they're like, wait, where'd he go? Yeah, he took 546 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 3: off gone almost Bootsy, he bootsied out the door. But 547 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 3: he was not the last almost Bootsy because there were 548 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 3: actually there were quite a few. As George Clinton recalled, 549 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 3: there was this funny thing was how when he wasn't 550 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,200 Speaker 3: on stage, Bootsy was not so outsized. You know a 551 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,119 Speaker 3: lot of performers, but people always imagined he was Bootsy 552 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 3: twenty four to seven. So Bootsy was actually rather shy. 553 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 3: So it was kind of the tell if you knew 554 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 3: boots he was if he's being outsized when he's not 555 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 3: in a stage setting, it's not Bootsy. 556 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 2: That's like me, you know. It's like, I'm so hyper 557 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 2: infrenetic on this show. 558 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,439 Speaker 3: So exactly the place I'm like, Elizabeth climbed down from 559 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 3: the walls. 560 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 4: Right, and so we're scaring in the in the world. 561 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 3: May meet you, and you're just a very calm today. 562 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 3: Kashmir sweater. 563 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:29,639 Speaker 4: You wouldn't believe it. 564 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:34,199 Speaker 3: Yeah, wearing track pants exactly. George Clinton framed it. Bootsy 565 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 3: was shy. He couldn't have been to all those parties, 566 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,879 Speaker 3: but people wanted to see Bootsy and be with them. 567 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 3: I went to a few places and people would say, 568 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 3: I just saw Bootsy. They might have been a couple 569 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 3: of them. So they're just Bootsies popping up everywhere. Yeah, 570 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 3: I just showed up with the glasses, the hat. I'm Bootsy. 571 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 3: So just imagine a world with a multiplicity of Bootsies, right, 572 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 3: would that be good? And that's like we need one? Yeah, 573 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 3: that'd be kind of insane. But rather than picture that, Elizabeth, 574 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 3: I thought I'd take you up run and personal to 575 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 3: your very own almost bootsy sighting. Yes, Elizabeth, I'd like 576 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 3: you to close your eyes. I'd like you to picture it. Elizabeth. 577 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 3: It's the early nineteen eighties and you were seated at 578 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 3: a corner table in a nightclub in Washington, DC. The 579 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 3: crowd is a mix of the hip and the hangers on. 580 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 3: All around you, you can hear men and women's laughter, 581 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 3: low conversations, glasses, plank lighters, spark to life, to burn, 582 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 3: the business end of a cigarette. At the moment you're 583 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 3: seated at the corner table, the coolest people in the room. 584 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 3: Most of the folks with you are musicians just like you. 585 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 3: You're the drummer in a local funk band, and at 586 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,159 Speaker 3: the moment you and the rest of your band are 587 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 3: absolutely giddy because seated with you is the one and 588 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 3: only Bootsy Collins, the master of the space bass himself. 589 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 3: He's wearing his signature star shaped sunglasses, his sequin top hat, 590 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 3: and at the moment he's telling you stories about hanging 591 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,879 Speaker 3: out with the famous folks whose names you know. In 592 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 3: the music you revere, He's mentioned playing gigs with James 593 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,399 Speaker 3: Brown and the JB. He talks about his time with 594 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 3: the Atomic dog George Clinton playing in jams with Sly 595 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,399 Speaker 3: but without the family stone. The weird part, though, is 596 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 3: how Boots he keeps bad mouth and everyone he's ever 597 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,919 Speaker 3: played with or worked for. At the moment, Bootsy is drunk, 598 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 3: loud talking. Bits of spittle hit your face as he 599 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 3: tells you how James never understood that Boots he ain't 600 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 3: from planet Earth. Boots is from planet for Gozella, the 601 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 3: known home planet of the one and only boots Zella. 602 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 3: You dig babies now, ignoring the bits of liquor up 603 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 3: the spittle as he talks, It's fun to take a 604 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,879 Speaker 3: trip down memory lane with Bootsy. Here's someone who seems 605 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 3: to note just about everyone in music. However, it's still 606 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 3: a bummer how he has almost nothing good to say 607 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 3: about any of them. His mood switches on a dome 608 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 3: with a great flourish Bootsy holds up a credit card 609 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 3: and waves it around like a composer's baton Boots, he 610 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 3: says loud enough for all the nightclub waiters to hear, 611 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 3: We're gonna have fun with this plastic Yeah, now, indeed 612 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 3: you all do. Another round of drinks is ordered, more 613 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 3: food is ordered. When the flaming drinks arrive at the table. 614 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 3: You blow out yours and take the first sip. You 615 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 3: think to yourself, it sure feels good to party with 616 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 3: music Royalty. There's a band getting set up on stage 617 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 3: in this little nightclub. Someone in your party spots this development. 618 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 3: It says to Bootsy, you should get up and grab 619 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 3: a base and funk this place up. Bootsy laughs at 620 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 3: the idea, ha ha, like it's a big joke, but 621 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 3: you won't let the idea go. You keep nudging Bootsy 622 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 3: to take the stage into unleash the Bootzilla on this crowd. 623 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 3: Boots he just keeps laughing. 624 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:35,000 Speaker 2: Ah. 625 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 3: But it's like it's the funniest idea is ever heard. 626 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,840 Speaker 3: But it's not that funny anyway. Bootsy turns to you 627 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 3: and asks, how are you fixed with cash? Now? He 628 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 3: says he happens to be caught riding low on the greenbacks. 629 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 3: He says he just has his credit cards on him, 630 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 3: but he needs some walking around money for Bootsy. Now, 631 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 3: could you loan boots Is some bucks? The question throws you, 632 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 3: and you hear yourself say, without thinking, what about your royalties? 633 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 3: Can't you just like ask for a line of credit 634 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 3: at a bank against them? Boots He laughs off the idea, 635 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 3: ha ha ha, same as when it was suggested that 636 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 3: he should play the bass on stage. Boutsi just says, 637 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 3: does anyone else in your band have any cash? A 638 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 3: little something to help out Bootsy? Now you're getting annoyed. 639 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 3: Why is this rich rock star trying to pull dollars 640 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 3: out of your band's gas money? So you say to Bootsy, 641 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:26,480 Speaker 3: aren't you loaded? You're Bootsy? That elicits another big Bootsy laugh. 642 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 3: Bosieck loves that. Now the master of the space base says, 643 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 3: if that's right, baby Rom Bootsie Tom next up Planet 644 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 3: funk Azilla. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom. 645 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 3: The band is nearly set up. Now you wonder what 646 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 3: Bootsy will think of them. But you never find out 647 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 3: because boots He never comes back to the table. In fact, 648 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 3: you never see him again. And it turns out, even 649 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 3: though he waved his card around, he never actually paid 650 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 3: for all the drinks and the food that he ordered 651 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 3: for the table, which means you and the band have 652 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 3: to pick up the tab for Bootsy. So much for 653 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 3: the band's gas money. Oh man, So, as you might guess, 654 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 3: that was not the real Bootsy Collins. Did you party 655 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 3: with in DC, Elizabeth? You spent the night with a 656 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 3: high dollar almost Bootsy. Did you have fun? Right? There 657 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 3: was a lot of fun though. Yeah. Sure, Okay, let's 658 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 3: take a little break and after these messages we'll be 659 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 3: back with more fake bootsies, Elizabeth. As we've covered Bootsy, 660 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 3: my man Bootsy, Your man Bootsy a bit outsized, also 661 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 3: a bit shy. You enjoying the stories of I am 662 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 3: the dichotomy of the Funkozoa. Now, when Bootsy obviously was 663 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 3: off stage and feeling shy, he was still Bootsy that interestingly, 664 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 3: though he would be dressed as the space alien funketeer, 665 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 3: he would just tone down his behavior and use his 666 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 3: normal talking voice. He'd be at home wearing his star 667 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 3: sunglasses and some outrageous shiny outfit. His booking agent actually remember, 668 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 3: and I found this quote from him. He said, I 669 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 3: never saw him running around in Bermuda shorts and a 670 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 3: tank top. He was always Bootsy, So you know, bermudas 671 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 3: and a tank I don't know what's why he goes 672 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 3: with right, it's very early eighties, I guess you know, 673 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 3: you can make sure a lot. 674 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 2: Of people, well, you can either dress like that or 675 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,160 Speaker 2: you can dress like Bootsy. Those your only choice. 676 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty two, that was the choice, that was 677 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 3: the law. So as you can probably hear, it's not 678 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 3: easy to become such a character and not lose kind 679 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 3: of like a sight of yourself or part of your humanity. 680 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 3: And the even more extreme cases, which is what Bootsy 681 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 3: was worried about, was happening to him. Yeah, Plus he's 682 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 3: taking acid every day for two years. So eventually, by 683 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 3: the early eighties, after a decade at the Heights of Funk, 684 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 3: Bootsy decided he was over it. Right as he told 685 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,040 Speaker 3: Rolling Stone, and I quote, I got so tired of 686 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 3: living up to the Bootsy character. I'd become a so 687 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 3: called star. I just didn't know how to handle it. 688 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 3: So it was a real crisis for the residents Space 689 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 3: Alien And as he later told The Guardian, and I quote, 690 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 3: I got worn out from being Bootsy going into the eighties, 691 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 3: I was trying to get away from him. He was 692 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 3: hitting up the festivals, the stadiums, headlining for one hundred 693 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 3: thousand people. He was like a monster. The business side 694 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 3: got really big and ugly because I didn't know what 695 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 3: I was doing. I was just there to play music 696 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 3: and the next thing I knew everything had turned around. 697 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,440 Speaker 3: Now this leads to a crisis for Boozy. Right at 698 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 3: this point, he's still gobbling acid like you know, like 699 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,719 Speaker 3: it's Flintstone vitamins. So this is becoming a problem for him. 700 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,000 Speaker 3: Eventually he has a bad motorcycle accident. Now he may 701 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 3: or may not have been asked on acid at the time. 702 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 3: I could not get that straight. But could you imagine 703 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 3: crashing on a motorcycle on LSD? 704 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 4: Oh? 705 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 3: God, right, are you just tripping and all of a sudden, 706 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 3: like I just can't imagine. I was thinking about that. Yeah, 707 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 3: And it slows down fat and then you just like 708 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 3: then you feel your skin grab against the pavement and 709 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 3: then it's like, oh my skin, where did it go? 710 00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 3: So the shame of all this is that while others 711 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 3: were out having fun being almost to Bootsies, the real 712 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 3: deal is stuck being Bootsy and he felt like it 713 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 3: was a private hell to be Bootsy, And unlike the 714 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 3: almost Bootsies, he can't take off his costume and stop 715 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 3: being Bootsy because it's now a part of him, right, 716 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 3: all right, So, but he did step back from the 717 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 3: character he creates nineteen eighty two, he leaves the party 718 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,240 Speaker 3: life behind. He settles down on the twenty three acre 719 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,920 Speaker 3: ranch back in Ohio near Cincinnati. Yeah, his mama told 720 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 3: him to take off his top hat and his star 721 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:29,719 Speaker 3: sunglasses and just be her boy Bootsy again, be himself, right, 722 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,440 Speaker 3: you beaus up, baby boy. Now. Two years later, nineteen 723 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 3: eighty four, he decided he should probably also stop doing drugs. 724 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 3: Probably not just the ranch. 725 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 4: Advisable when you're on the ranch, the drug. 726 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:42,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's basically what he came to, he said, and 727 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 3: I quote, I throwed all my drugs away and I 728 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 3: stopped taking them. That's when it started to become clear 729 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 3: what I needed to get back to, which was the music. 730 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,480 Speaker 3: So what meant for him keeping the costume off was 731 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 3: that Bootsy was seeing walking around his home in the 732 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:00,799 Speaker 3: bermuda shorts and the tank tops. Eventually worrying what people 733 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,359 Speaker 3: might call normal clothes, right, so he puts the star 734 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 3: sunglasses of the rhinestone top hats in a spare room. 735 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:08,479 Speaker 3: But not only that, he locked the door. Oh really, 736 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 3: he shuts his past self away behind a padlock. Meanwhile, 737 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 3: the almost Bootsies don't know this, so they're still going 738 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,440 Speaker 3: around the world being full tailed Bootsies, still claiming to 739 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 3: be him and one of his new musical collaborators around 740 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,160 Speaker 3: this time, he recalled his early eighties phase Bootsies, and 741 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:27,200 Speaker 3: he described all these almost Bootsies, and he recalled what 742 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 3: Bootsy told him. And this is a quote of Bootsy 743 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 3: from somebody else. Okay, so yeah, those mothers tried to 744 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:34,880 Speaker 3: impersonate me, but they didn't get too far with it. 745 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 3: He would laugh about things like that. He was telling 746 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,279 Speaker 3: everyone to be Bootsy, but so when somebody did it, 747 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,640 Speaker 3: he didn't really bother him much. Yeah, but the strangeness 748 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 3: of the almost Bootsies persisted. Right now, we're into the eighties, 749 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 3: go go, let me see what I can get away with. 750 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 3: Sure it starts getting to leaving the uglier right. So, 751 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 3: one of the almost Bootsies, well, this is probably one 752 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 3: of the last silly moments. He dropped off some laundry, 753 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,120 Speaker 3: said he claimed to be Bootsie Collins. I guess he 754 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 3: just wanted laundry. Yeah, he wanted Bootsy to pay for 755 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,319 Speaker 3: his dry cleaning. I guess, like I think he thought 756 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:05,480 Speaker 3: maybe Bootsy had like an account there. Maybe he saw 757 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,359 Speaker 3: Bootsy go there and he's like, let me just drop 758 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:08,240 Speaker 3: off my drag. 759 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:12,359 Speaker 4: Cleaning, the getting like a sparkly pants drike clean. 760 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:14,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, I do not know, but it was. It was 761 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,240 Speaker 3: one of the stories mentioned that I thought was interesting. 762 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:19,279 Speaker 3: Another one that was a kind of ticklish was they 763 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,399 Speaker 3: had a fax machine in their home in Cincinnati because 764 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,879 Speaker 3: it's nineteen eighties, and so someone faxes them and wanted 765 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:27,719 Speaker 3: to perform a Bootsy check. It was someone in La 766 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,479 Speaker 3: telling people that there was Bootsy Collins, right, So someone 767 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 3: faxed over to the house his Bootsy home, right, And 768 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,280 Speaker 3: so the almost Bootsy had checked into some luxury hotel 769 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:38,880 Speaker 3: like I'm imagining, like on Wilshare Boulevard, right, and they 770 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,920 Speaker 3: were demanding a free room and free room service. And 771 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,839 Speaker 3: his wife, who receives this fact, right, she calls back 772 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 3: to La and it's like, no, he's here at home. 773 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 3: He is not there, right. 774 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,600 Speaker 2: So meanwhile, when he doesn't sound like the type who's like, 775 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 2: give me a free room exactly. 776 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 3: But people don't know, like the person who's working the 777 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 3: front desk, the this is this is star behavior. They're 778 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 3: all like this or whatever, and they move along and 779 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 3: they approve it. So the the guy gets away with it. 780 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 3: The almost Bootsy gets a free night, a hot meal 781 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 3: and everything else. And his wife not as amused as 782 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 3: Bootsy would have abused. She was super annoyed by this 783 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 3: right because now they're starting to make it's a bad name, 784 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 3: it's a bad look. The press may get confused. So 785 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,320 Speaker 3: another call comes to the house, this time from Vegas. 786 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 3: There were reports of yet another almost Bootsy. His wife 787 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 3: super annoyed with this one because the Vegas Casino hotel 788 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,680 Speaker 3: had complied and given Bootsy the free room the room service. 789 00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 3: Once again bad behavior on his parts. And now she's like, 790 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 3: that's not Bootsy, it's the impersonator. She's like yelling at people. 791 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 3: She wants there to be like a Bootsy block. So 792 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,799 Speaker 3: my favorite almost Bootsy was in nineteen eighty eight. They 793 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,880 Speaker 3: went to the New York Music Awards. He went as Bootsy. 794 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,160 Speaker 3: He proceeded to hang out with other celebs, music stars, 795 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 3: gets in, He parties with Lou Reed, he laughed with 796 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 3: Paul Simon, he posed with ll Coolja. Yes, there was 797 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 3: another enclosed encounter with this same almost Bootsy in a 798 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,799 Speaker 3: hotel in Manhattan. A bass player who knew Bootsy heard 799 00:37:57,840 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 3: his friend was in the hotel. So he comes over 800 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:01,560 Speaker 3: to the law and he's like, and he sees Bootsy 801 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,920 Speaker 3: because you're gonna see Bootsy and Apel lobby, right, So 802 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 3: he goes over to him and he's like, and I quote, 803 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,400 Speaker 3: I knew what Bootsy looked like. I see it all 804 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 3: the interviews and had the poaches on my wall as 805 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,600 Speaker 3: a kid. He's staying in the same hotel as Miles. 806 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,440 Speaker 3: I was like, God, damn it, it's him. It's got 807 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:16,279 Speaker 3: to be him. So he goes over to him, right, 808 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 3: he tries to speak to Bootsy and he sits his hero, 809 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 3: and his hero is acting funny, not quite like Bootsy. 810 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:25,239 Speaker 3: This almost Bootsy is like trying to like, oh, is 811 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,680 Speaker 3: there a bathroom around here? Right? So he tries to 812 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,960 Speaker 3: like slip away, and he manages to get out right. 813 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 3: But that's not the end of this story, because that 814 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 3: same almost Bootsy tried to like cad your ride with 815 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,799 Speaker 3: the young bass player and his band. He did get 816 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 3: in the van with him and rode with them all 817 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,360 Speaker 3: the way from New York to Washington, d C. So 818 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:45,840 Speaker 3: I'm thinking, this is our Washington d C. Almost boots. 819 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:49,719 Speaker 3: They get to d C, the almost Bootsy and the 820 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 3: young musicians, they hang out. They're like, hey, he's like, oh, 821 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:56,440 Speaker 3: what where are y'all staying? Right? So maybe didn't notice 822 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 3: it at first because there's so stoke that Bootsy wants 823 00:38:58,520 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 3: to chill with them, They're like, oh my god, he's 824 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 3: still wants to hang This is dope. So time passes though, 825 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,719 Speaker 3: they're like, hey, darting to divvy up beds or whatever, 826 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:07,000 Speaker 3: and people are like, hey, Bootsy, you're gonna go to 827 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:08,879 Speaker 3: get your own adort? Should we call you a cab? 828 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 3: The keyboardist in the band, who also meanwhile hero worship Bootsy, 829 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,719 Speaker 3: he recalled how and I quote, I'm thinking, here's this 830 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 3: established famous musician, what's he doing hanging with us? Why 831 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:21,440 Speaker 3: aren't we going out to a proper dinner and then 832 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,239 Speaker 3: saying goodbye? Like normal, if you ran into one of 833 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,440 Speaker 3: your heroes, you'd hang out. Who wouldn't turn into a 834 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,879 Speaker 3: twenty four to seven thing? This almost Bootsy much time 835 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:32,840 Speaker 3: with the hero exactly? Dude? Do you never want to 836 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 3: meet your heroes, especially when they're not really them, like 837 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,200 Speaker 3: a fake one of your heroes? Even once? Yeah, so 838 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:41,200 Speaker 3: this almost Bootsy. He wants to talk, of course, industry gossip, 839 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,399 Speaker 3: so he starts running down people. He wants a dish 840 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 3: about how James Brown screwed him and George Clinton screwed him. 841 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,479 Speaker 3: Then he asked this young band, oh, do you guys 842 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,560 Speaker 3: have a little cash for Bootsy? And then of course 843 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,800 Speaker 3: he disappears, never to be seen again. Yeah, smash cut Annah. 844 00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:00,840 Speaker 3: I'm California at the Annual Music Convention, which is a 845 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,920 Speaker 3: national association of music merchants. Yeah, there's a guy there 846 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 3: who damn sure look like Bootsy. But not only that, 847 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:08,759 Speaker 3: he's telling everyone he's Bootsy. So he's going around this 848 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:13,040 Speaker 3: convention of music basically people selling guitars and basses and drums. 849 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,000 Speaker 3: So this friend of Bootsy's who is there at NOM. 850 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,759 Speaker 3: Here's the people shouting, Oh, Boots, he's here, Boots, He's 851 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:20,560 Speaker 3: over there. I just saw a Bootsy. He's like, oh, 852 00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,759 Speaker 3: I didn't know Bootsy was in Anahem. I thought he 853 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 3: was back in Cincinnati. So, as the friend tells it, 854 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,320 Speaker 3: I would say, what are you talking about. He's in Cincinnati, 855 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,920 Speaker 3: he was here five minutes ago. So the friend tries 856 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 3: looking all around this Noom and he never catches up 857 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,400 Speaker 3: to the almost Bootsy, but he did find the trail 858 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,719 Speaker 3: of fraud that the almost BOUTSI left bey, Yes, this 859 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 3: fake funketeer got away with about ten thousand dollars worth 860 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 3: of even as guitars. Yeah, he had them. He arranged 861 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,200 Speaker 3: for them to be sent to a po box in Louisiana. 862 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,800 Speaker 3: There were also invoices from Limo companies. And then y 863 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 3: Bootsy's wife finally hears about this one. She's pissed again. 864 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:01,759 Speaker 3: She tells the story, quote, he got away with a lot, 865 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,880 Speaker 3: from what I'm told, thousands and thousands of dollars negative energy. 866 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,239 Speaker 3: It was very disheartening. Yeah, So despite what his wife said, 867 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,520 Speaker 3: Bootsy still remained a little amused by all the crime 868 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 3: and hijinks to being done in his name. One former collaborator, 869 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,240 Speaker 3: he was telling the story to Rolling Stone. He said, quote, 870 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:19,719 Speaker 3: we used to talk about that constantly, and every day 871 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 3: someone to say we heard he was in this place, 872 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,080 Speaker 3: so he was here, and Boots he was always smiling 873 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:25,920 Speaker 3: about it. And then when everyone found out that guy 874 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,080 Speaker 3: was pulling a lot of endorsements, meaning he was getting 875 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 3: a lot of gear, everyone was sinking, Well, maybe that's 876 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 3: not cool because he couldn't sell that stuff. I don't 877 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:35,320 Speaker 3: know why that's the line. He could sell that stuff, 878 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 3: like we don't want him profiting off being almost Bootsy. 879 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,240 Speaker 3: So this same New York based Washington d C Corridor 880 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 3: Almost Bootsy, Yeah, he would continue to contribute to the 881 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:48,799 Speaker 3: growing legend of the almost Bootsies around the country. One time, 882 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:51,320 Speaker 3: another friend of Bootsies was in New York City and 883 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 3: the friend was convinced, or rather conned by Almost Bootsy. 884 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:58,080 Speaker 3: This guy was that good, This guy actually knew Bootsy 885 00:41:58,400 --> 00:41:59,200 Speaker 3: hanging out with him. 886 00:41:59,280 --> 00:41:59,879 Speaker 4: Oh, you're kidding. 887 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,440 Speaker 3: The musician, this guy, Freddy Perez, said, quote, you couldn't 888 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 3: tell the difference in his appearance and the way he spoke. 889 00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:09,359 Speaker 3: He used the same words Bootsy used, even the sound 890 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,440 Speaker 3: of his voice everything. It was wazing. So since he 891 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,000 Speaker 3: was convinced, and since he was a musician, Perez was like, hey, 892 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,000 Speaker 3: Bootsy man, why don't you get up there and slap 893 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,359 Speaker 3: your bass around? So, as he put it, I said, 894 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:23,279 Speaker 3: I want to hear the funk. So the response was 895 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:24,959 Speaker 3: he declined, very. 896 00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:26,720 Speaker 2: Strange, ahead and decline. 897 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 3: Yeah. What was stranger is while he was in DC, 898 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:32,480 Speaker 3: this New York based Almost Bootsy did sit in with 899 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,840 Speaker 3: a band. There's reports of him going up on stage 900 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 3: and sitting in, but he didn't play his bass. Instead, 901 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:41,680 Speaker 3: he just sang because you know, everyone wants to hear 902 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:45,440 Speaker 3: Bootsy sing. No one's like, hey, sit your bass down 903 00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:47,600 Speaker 3: for this one. Come on, Bootsy, give us those those 904 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:52,160 Speaker 3: velvety tones. You know, what do you know of the 905 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:56,920 Speaker 3: American songbook. So this same almost Bootsy he continues rampaging 906 00:42:57,160 --> 00:42:59,800 Speaker 3: up and down the Eastern Seaboard, hopping in vans with 907 00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:03,440 Speaker 3: young bands, playing shows as a singer. So finally the 908 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 3: real Bootsies team has to spring into like legal action. Yeah, 909 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 3: and they tried to put the kaibosh on this almost Bootsy. 910 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,600 Speaker 3: So this is what the basically the point, This almost 911 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,480 Speaker 3: Bootsy goes to the mattresses right like like they say, 912 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 3: and the Godfather. So now that they know it's a war, 913 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,840 Speaker 3: so they're trying to get CAGI, so they try to 914 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:20,800 Speaker 3: catch up to them in a New York and a 915 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:25,440 Speaker 3: night spot. Almost Bootsy was there. He was celebrating the fans, right, 916 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:28,040 Speaker 3: and then he's like he was sitting on a complimentary 917 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:30,640 Speaker 3: champagne that he was getting from the management. The whole bit, right. 918 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 3: The DJ was there playing his new song because boots 919 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:34,920 Speaker 3: he had a new song out, and it's just like 920 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:36,960 Speaker 3: in this dance club, a couple of days later, an 921 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,720 Speaker 3: executive calls that club and it's like, hey, how's Bootsy's 922 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,279 Speaker 3: new song? Doing DJ's like, I got the craziest news 923 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:46,439 Speaker 3: Bootsy was in the club, and the labels X like what, Yeah, 924 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 3: that's impossible. What are you talking about? Are you kidding? 925 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,080 Speaker 3: So he calls Bootsy's wife. He's like, was Bootsy in 926 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,120 Speaker 3: like whatever club? And she's like, no, he was in 927 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:59,240 Speaker 3: a whole other stage. Yeah, exactly disconstantly is this Bootsy 928 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:02,120 Speaker 3: the one eight hundred numbers she's got set up? So 929 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 3: the exact he calls back to the DJ, right, and 930 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,360 Speaker 3: the DJ's like, well, I got that guy's number. I 931 00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:10,360 Speaker 3: got Bootsy's number because I asked him, right, he was exactly, Oh, 932 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:11,880 Speaker 3: give it to me. I'd like to talk to Bootsy 933 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,680 Speaker 3: and he's like, of course, right to DJ, he's now. 934 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:16,920 Speaker 3: The exec gets the number from the DJ, slips it 935 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,480 Speaker 3: to the authorities. The authorities like top up and they 936 00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:21,680 Speaker 3: call it up dead end. There was it was a 937 00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:23,879 Speaker 3: fake number he had slipped them. They're like, oh, yeah, 938 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:27,439 Speaker 3: he's my number, right. So Bootsi's people at this point 939 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:29,800 Speaker 3: they're really trying to like close their net on the 940 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,279 Speaker 3: New York and Washington DC area, they find someone who 941 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,279 Speaker 3: knows them or says they know him. They pass a 942 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:39,600 Speaker 3: message like this is like back channel US Soviet nuclear negotiations. Right, 943 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,120 Speaker 3: So they find somebody who says they know him. They're like, well, 944 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:44,440 Speaker 3: give them this message. Meet us at this time. They 945 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:48,680 Speaker 3: arrange a meeting. He shows up. Yes, one of Bootsy's 946 00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:50,799 Speaker 3: people is there, and they took it well, a couple 947 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:52,600 Speaker 3: of people, and they took it very personally. What the 948 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:54,840 Speaker 3: almost Bootsy had been up to. Yeah, right, as his 949 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,120 Speaker 3: manager Ivy tells the story, the man from there was 950 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,759 Speaker 3: another man there from Bootsy's team, this guy named Waller, right, 951 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:04,120 Speaker 3: and so Bill Waller he goes medieval on this almost 952 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,640 Speaker 3: Bootsy like he was. Ivy tells it. Bill was from 953 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:09,560 Speaker 3: the old school, and I'll just say he used. 954 00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:10,200 Speaker 4: Old school rules. 955 00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:13,600 Speaker 3: Like Bill definitely wasn't Shug Night, but he wasn't anybody 956 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,040 Speaker 3: you'd wanted to take lightly. So Yeah, there was some 957 00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:19,640 Speaker 3: talk later about getting the FBI involved. Rolling Stone even 958 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:22,360 Speaker 3: submitted a Freedom of Information Act. I found a request 959 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,719 Speaker 3: that they submitted one of their reports on this, and 960 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,320 Speaker 3: the reporters were told by the FBI that the bureau 961 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:32,080 Speaker 3: could quote, neither confirm nor deny the existence of such records, 962 00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,040 Speaker 3: So I'm going with the idea. There was some investigation 963 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 3: almost now, the reports of his appearances. They started to 964 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,800 Speaker 3: calm down in the late eighties, they seemed to go away, 965 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:44,120 Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden, nineteen ninety rolls around 966 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:52,320 Speaker 3: Reggae Sunsplash festival in Jamaica, Elizabeth Bootsy gets spotted bringing 967 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 3: the funk to Reggae Sunsplash. Yeah. The next year there 968 00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:58,120 Speaker 3: were reports Bootsy was in la He was allegedly trying 969 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:00,320 Speaker 3: to put on a benefit concert for veteran into the 970 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:07,160 Speaker 3: First Gulf War. He contacted a British band called The Alarm, 971 00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:09,160 Speaker 3: and he tried to ye right, and so he tried 972 00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:12,439 Speaker 3: to coordinate their participation, and so they grew suspicious though 973 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:14,960 Speaker 3: when he asked them to pay for his hotel room 974 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 3: and all his expenses, He's like, you could cover that 975 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,920 Speaker 3: f a Bootsy right grocery. Meanwhile, the Internet is becoming 976 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:25,279 Speaker 3: not quite common in nineteen ninety, so it existed, but 977 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:28,400 Speaker 3: it was not like the band couldn't look him up. Yeah, exactly, 978 00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:31,160 Speaker 3: so they couldn't. They didn't know that d Light was 979 00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:34,320 Speaker 3: on tour and Bootsy Collins was with them playing the 980 00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:36,960 Speaker 3: groove is in the heart on international stages. They're like, 981 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:39,160 Speaker 3: there's no way that's Bootsy trying to put together a 982 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:41,880 Speaker 3: benefit concert for the veterans of the First Gulf War. 983 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:44,160 Speaker 4: The Alarm. 984 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,720 Speaker 3: The band they were suspicious about this concert, right, this benefit, 985 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,879 Speaker 3: So they booted the almost Bootsy off their band bus 986 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:55,160 Speaker 3: right and he leaves with his luggage. And my favorite 987 00:46:55,239 --> 00:46:57,919 Speaker 3: note is he also had with him a very large dog, 988 00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:00,319 Speaker 3: possibly a pet wolf. People in the b and could 989 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,239 Speaker 3: not decide if it was a dogs. So was Van's 990 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:07,480 Speaker 3: going around with luggage in a possibly Penny's that tight rolls. 991 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,839 Speaker 3: So anyway, the band kicks this almost Bootsy off their bus. 992 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:16,359 Speaker 3: He angrily yells at them, you will be hearing from 993 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:20,920 Speaker 3: my lawyers. You will regret this, babies, Elizabeth, that was 994 00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:23,600 Speaker 3: not to occur. That was the last time ever heard 995 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:25,520 Speaker 3: anyone ever heard from this guy. It was the last 996 00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:27,839 Speaker 3: time anyone ever seems to have heard from almost any 997 00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:32,359 Speaker 3: of the almost Bootsies. The trend passed on. So what's 998 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 3: that ridiculous takeaway here? 999 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:35,759 Speaker 2: I know, I thought it was interesting when you were 1000 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:37,640 Speaker 2: saying that Bootsy was like, I just want to play 1001 00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:38,080 Speaker 2: the music. 1002 00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:40,160 Speaker 4: I didn't know what I was doing in terms of 1003 00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:40,680 Speaker 4: the business. 1004 00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:43,400 Speaker 2: And that's you know what happens all the time. You 1005 00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,279 Speaker 2: get musicians who they're not they're artistic souls, they're not 1006 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,759 Speaker 2: business minded folks, but yet it becomes a business. They're 1007 00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:54,600 Speaker 2: they're not a businessman, they're a business man. 1008 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:56,120 Speaker 3: Well said easy. 1009 00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:58,680 Speaker 2: So I just feel for them and I feel for 1010 00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:01,160 Speaker 2: him because it's like, that's how they get taken advantage of. 1011 00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:03,800 Speaker 3: Okay, they want to focus on the Artaren. 1012 00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:04,840 Speaker 4: What's your ridiculous takeaway. 1013 00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,680 Speaker 3: That I have never been Bootsy Collins for Halloween? 1014 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:10,359 Speaker 2: Oh? That is a crying shame, right, I mean. 1015 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:11,960 Speaker 3: How did I miss this one? I've got a lot 1016 00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:15,360 Speaker 3: of fun costumes here. I've got something to look forward to, 1017 00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:18,719 Speaker 3: all right, Well, as we wash away all of the 1018 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,840 Speaker 3: funket's here? And yes, can I get a talkback produce 1019 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:22,080 Speaker 3: a d. 1020 00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:28,080 Speaker 6: Oh God? 1021 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:32,440 Speaker 3: I love je. 1022 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,640 Speaker 7: Saren Elizabeth? Can I just say how amazing you guys 1023 00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:44,480 Speaker 7: are one of my favorite podcasts ever. I stumbled on 1024 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:47,799 Speaker 7: you back in the time when you did the Frank 1025 00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:52,520 Speaker 7: Sinolfred Junior kidnapping story, and I literally almost wanted to 1026 00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:56,560 Speaker 7: pitch my pants. It was so funny and so ridiculous 1027 00:48:57,719 --> 00:49:03,760 Speaker 7: in these times. I have to say, I respect everything you've. 1028 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:09,800 Speaker 4: Done in these times. Maybe I love making people pee themselves. 1029 00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:12,640 Speaker 3: Yes you do love that, Yes I do. I do well. 1030 00:49:12,680 --> 00:49:16,360 Speaker 4: I appreciate that sentiment from her that we do. We 1031 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:18,719 Speaker 4: need to we need to keep it loose these days, guys, we. 1032 00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:21,920 Speaker 3: All could use a laugh for oh well. As always. 1033 00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:23,719 Speaker 3: You can find us online Ridiculous Crime on the social 1034 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:25,960 Speaker 3: media that's mostly Blue Sky and Instagram these days. From 1035 00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:27,960 Speaker 3: what I understand from the interns, we also still have 1036 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:32,200 Speaker 3: Ridiculous Crime dot Com, our award winning website. I think 1037 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,719 Speaker 3: we are now up for a Michelin Award this year. 1038 00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:36,920 Speaker 3: I'm very excited to see if our food will take 1039 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:37,560 Speaker 3: us over the line. 1040 00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:38,200 Speaker 4: That'd be amazing. 1041 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, So email us if you'd like it at that 1042 00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:44,000 Speaker 3: Ridiculous Crime at a gmail dot com and please start 1043 00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:47,040 Speaker 3: the email dear producer d And also you can leave 1044 00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:48,520 Speaker 3: us a talk back if you go to the iHeart app. 1045 00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:51,200 Speaker 3: Obviously we love to hear from you, guys. Please leave 1046 00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,799 Speaker 3: us a talkback and you may hear your voice here. 1047 00:49:54,400 --> 00:50:03,120 Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. We will catch you next crime. Ridiculous 1048 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:06,600 Speaker 3: Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zarin Burnette, produced 1049 00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:10,280 Speaker 3: and edited by her own Defunk all star Dave Conston 1050 00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,880 Speaker 3: and starring Annelie's Rutgers. It You doth Research is by 1051 00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:18,320 Speaker 3: Sequined top hat maker Marissa Brown and Star Shaped sunglass 1052 00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:21,799 Speaker 3: collector Alex French. Our theme song is by our house 1053 00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:26,480 Speaker 3: band James Blue and the RC's Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton. 1054 00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:30,120 Speaker 3: The host wardrobe provided by Botany five hundred. Guest Harry, 1055 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:34,480 Speaker 3: makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers are boot 1056 00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,800 Speaker 3: Zilla Truthers, Ben Bolmen and Noel Brown. 1057 00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:47,080 Speaker 4: Why Say It One More Time? 1058 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:48,720 Speaker 7: Crime? 1059 00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:53,200 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts. 1060 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,480 Speaker 1: My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 1061 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:58,280 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.