WEBVTT - A Fraudulent Aretha Franklin: How Do You Spell Respect? 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:05.720 Elizabeth Dutton's Aaron Burnette. That's you. 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:06.760 Yeah, Hey, what's it? 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.000 I got a question for you? Yes, do you know 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:09.960 what's ridiculous? 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:11.320 I do know it's ridiculous. 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.720 What close your eyes? My eyes are closed. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.599 You're sitting in a buffalo wild wings Okay, just just 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.600 going to town on some wild wings. Okay, I mean 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:27.560 I assume that's what they saw. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.400 Theresays. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.159 Yeah, so you're just like, oh, you're just putting the 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:32.559 herd on. 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:34.400 Oh yeah. 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.879 And then you look up and there's a bodecious babe okay, 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:43.320 and she's she's one hundred percent real American beef saring. 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:44.159 Whoa this is? 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.960 She comes over and she's got like this like beautiful 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.960 lipstick on, and she leans in and she says to you, 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:56.800 I want to put you on a one way trip 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:57.800 to Flavor Town. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:00:59.000 Okay. 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.400 Now, is this like the best fantasy you've ever had? 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:04.880 Totally? I mean it's just like, this is pretty much 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.000 how I dream of restaurant flirtations. 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:12.320 Yeah, exactly. Well, you know what this could be real? Really, yeah, 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:14.520 because there are a lot of trashy ladies out there, 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:21.160 but also because Guy Fieri, yes, teamed up God with 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:27.839 Revlon what to come up with a Guy Fieri inspired 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:28.440 lip bomb. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:30.880 I want to see the dart board where these things 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:32.680 come up with. They just put Revlon on there and 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.760 they're throwing darts, Guy fiery, and yeah, we hit like 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.440 the dice they rolled. They rolled sets of dicetnerships. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.920 You know. Guy was just like, I love my lips 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:49.080 gloss my wife recommends, so they get together. It's called 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:53.520 Flavor Town, of course, and it's coral colored, which I 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:55.600 always feel like, if you want to tell the world 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.520 you're crazy, put on coral colored lipstick, but do it 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.240 outside the lines of your lips. In some parts that's 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.320 the universal like she's not all there. That's why I 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.640 keep some I don't wear lipstick, but if I have to, 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:10.480 like it's signified. 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.600 Like very Reno casino, like this girl's not right you 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:14.120 put that on? 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.760 It is It does not taste like any kind of sauce. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:19.040 Oh there's that. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:24.079 It doesn't taste like barbecue sauce. It doesn't taste like 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:28.000 it's just it has a vanilla scent and a buttery texture. Sure, 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.200 but it's yeah, it's like a coral color. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:32.320 Trying to play along with this mashup and trying to 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:32.840 get ahead of it. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.320 Saren, it doesn't stop there, God damn. So it has 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.919 like you can only get it from Revlon dot com. 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:40.960 Like you can't have it. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:42.240 In the stores. Why would you. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:44.840 It would be shoplifted immediately, like they'd all be gone. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.360 But it comes with stickers so you can customize that 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:54.480 outside of your lip bombay and the container and like 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.000 one of them is like something says Boss of Sauce 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.240 and then like flames. So next time you're a Buffalo 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:03.440 Wild Wings getting. 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:04.320 My hands from that guy Fieri. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.040 Good yeah, Well, and you there are women who are 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.919 trying to induce the male gaze because we know that 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.160 every single man on the planet loves chicken wings. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.800 Totally and football and a bright shiny lip gloss and shiny. 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.360 Lip gloss or you know what, if you want to 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.160 wear it to Buffalo Wild Wings. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.160 I might be interesting or it would look good on me, It. 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.000 Would actually be really complimentary. It would that would be 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:29.760 bad insummation your honor. That's ridiculous. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:30.400 I'll give you that. 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:31.399 I know you will. 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:36.920 We're going to score that ridiculous. Thank you, Elizabeth. While 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.640 we're at it. I got something for you that's ridiculous. 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:38.840 Yeah. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.839 Yeah, there's this saying you'll hear people refer to from 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.440 time to time. It's usually attributed to Oscar Wilde. The 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:48.400 aphorism goes, imitation is the highest form of flattery. You've 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.560 heard that, right, it is zaren it is now. It 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.320 wasn't Oscar wild who said that. He actually said imitation 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.400 is the student seriest form of flattery that mediocrity can 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:58.200 pay to greatness. 0:03:58.280 --> 0:03:59.600 Well that's even better, which is. 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.000 Yeah, it's a much fuller comment. But he was actually 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.320 not the one to coin the saying. Originally, he borrowed 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.960 it from this man named Charles Caleb Colton, who had 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.120 also borrowed it from an earlier version that dates back 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.960 to seventeen fourteen. And the earliest version is probably my favorite. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.240 It is imitation is a kind of artless flattery. 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:18.520 Oh that's good too. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:20.080 I think that one says it the best. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.640 I think this just shows that there's nothing new under 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:23.000 the sun. 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.440 No, a lot of imitation in this flattery. Elizabeth, Today, 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.440 I want to tell you about the criminal and ridiculous 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:30.760 dangers of artless flattery. 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:55.600 Oh yeah, this is ridiculous crime a podcast about absurd 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.840 and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.960 It's always n nine percent murder free and one hundred 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:03.480 percent ridiculous. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.760 Read ridiculous, Elizabeth. 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.240 To start this story out and to keep things somewhat modern, 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.520 today's first story involves friend of the show, Justin Bieber. 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.920 Yeah, buddy, Yeah. 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:18.159 So Justin Bieber. How does he come into this great question? Elizabeth? Yeah, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.279 I'm guessing you may or may not have seen the 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.680 Reason headlines about Justin Bieber in Las Vegas. 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.080 Uh uh, I don't really know. Like he's another one 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.640 of those singers like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift. I could 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.119 not name a song, not sure if I've heard one before. 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.160 You've heard them, you may have. They're like an ambient 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:36.159 noise coming out. 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.679 Of I couldn't tell you the name, or like sing 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.919 a bar or too. So, yeah, Justin Bieber. But you 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:45.599 know boy doesn't like to wear a shirt. 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:47.960 No that we do both know that about him. Yeah, Well, 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.960 apparently he was in Las Vegas recently, or rather, a 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.720 guy who pretended to be Justin Bieber was in Las 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:54.599 Vegas recently. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:55.400 Uh huh. 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:56.880 Now, before you get into that, you were once a 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:58.800 Vegas local, So I wanted to ask, does this happen 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:00.839 in Vegas often? Where you have of like folks like 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.240 cover band people just losing their minds and going I 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:09.400 am Rod Stewart, Not that I've seen claims that they're not. 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.159 No, I did. I do know one one case of 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.720 this which I've heard about. There was this guy who 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.440 was going all over New Orleans pretending to be Ziggy Marley. 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.200 You mean me and I mean you yeah, I mean yea, 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:24.800 huh yeah. I've told this. 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.400 Story before, you know what, I can never hear it 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.800 enough times, Like every time I hear it, new details 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.040 come out that I savor. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.440 Get it out. I was in the French Quarter in 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:40.920 New Orleans, big tourist area, a lot of people out drinking, 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.279 drinking those hurricanes, right, and this guy comes up to me. 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:44.640 He's like, man, I didn't know you were in town. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.000 And I had to look at him real quick, and 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:48.480 I'm like, I don't know this guy. And I was right, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:50.080 I didn't know him, but he thought he knew me 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.719 because he thought I was Ziggy Marley. So he buys 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:54.320 me a free round to drinks and I'm like, oh, 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:56.880 and I thanked him a Jamaican accent. Right, that's the 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:57.520 best part. 0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.800 That's because if someone came up to me and said, 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.160 i'd know you're in Town of Bill, neither did I, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:03.320 and then just go away. 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.320 But you're like, of course, So I get the free 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:08.680 round of drinks, and then he was like, I said, 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.720 I thank him in the Jamaican accent. But he's not done. 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:12.520 He now wants to show me a good time. So 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.040 he takes me from bar to bar to bar and 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.520 everyone I get introduced as Ziggy Marley. I do a 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.000 little Jamaican at them, a little patois, throw it down. 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.960 They give me free drinks. I keep going. This goes 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:22.720 on for hours. 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:23.000 Right. 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.120 Of course, I get drunk as hell on those hurricanes, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:26.640 and then I'm like, I'm ready to go back to 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.360 the hotel. So I turned to my friend is with me, 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.560 and I'm like, hey, are you ready to bounce? Now? 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:32.840 The guy who's been taking us around he hears me 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.520 because I'm thinking I'm whispering, but all the hurricanes, I'm 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.280 probably just talking at normal volume. He hears me he's 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.800 speaking an American accent. Big mistake, huge mistake, right, and 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.720 he then his eyes change his hot anger flashes across 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:46.960 his face and he's like, you're not Ziggy Marley and 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.160 I was like, no, i am not Ziggy Marley. But 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.480 he grabs me and insists that I now go back 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.520 and apologize to every bar that I had gotten free drinks. 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:56.640 And so I did, and I had to go up 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.720 to all these bartenders and be like, Hi, I'm a 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.520 terrible person. You were so generous and I tricked you 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.960 and I'm a bad person. I'm sorry for bar after 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:05.960 bar after bar. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:06.560 I love. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.400 Yeah. So basically I learned firsthand that people get pissed 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.880 when you trick them and pretend to be someone they love. 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.680 Yeah, that is they people do. They don't like it, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.240 and they're like, can you sing tomorrow people for us? 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.720 And you were like, well, I'm off the clock, man, 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:25.120 I can't remember all the lyrics right now in my patois. 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.080 So this brings us to pretend justin Bieber? 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.520 Yes, no, thank you for sharing that story. 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:31.239 Yeah, you're welcome. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:31.960 I love hearing it. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.440 So I got the full story of this, uh, this 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.000 guy who conned Vegas and how he got to pretend 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.599 he was justin Bieber until his ruse was busted. You 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.240 ready to hear about not Justin Bieber. Yes. So this 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.800 went down on August sixteenth of this year at the 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.960 Win Las Vegas Casino. Big you know, big casino. They 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.840 got a big nightclub. Everybody goes to this La based 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.040 DJ named Griffin with a y. He was performing at 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.559 the XS nightclub in the wind Casino. Oh Excess, Yeah exactly, 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.480 there you go, yeah, club Excess man. So it was 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.280 a Saturday night, crowds packed places, a bump in. DJ 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.440 Griffin isn't doing his thing in the booth on the 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.200 ones and twos WEEKI week the hell on When someone 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.800 comes up from the casino and whispers to him, Justin 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.160 Bieber's in the club. He's like what and he like 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.000 takes off a headphone so you can hear him. He's like, what, 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.120 what's up? And he's like and they're like, yeah, Justin 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.320 Bieber's here, and he's like now, DJ Griffin, he's cool 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:22.760 with it. He's like, oh, you know what do you 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:24.040 want to come up here? And he's like oh. They 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.160 wants to do a surprise performance sing one of his hits. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.679 Sorry it's a song. Sorry, Oh the song is called Sorry. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.920 I thought They're like sorry, he wants to perform, and 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:34.120 he's like, yeah, I'm sorry about that. 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:36.920 So DJ Griffin's like, yes, of course, we'd love to 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.040 do a surprise show. But Justin Bieber are you kidding me? 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:40.920 Have him come up here to the DJ booth. I'll 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:42.720 introduce him to the crowd. Then he could take the stage, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.120 do a few songs. It'll be a dope and then 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:47.720 that's not a direct quote, obviously, but you get the idea. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.400 So not Justin Birder's interpretation. 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.280 Thank you. He rocks up to the DJ booth, He 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.439 wraps up DJ Griffin. They chat real quick. Industry insider 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:56.400 to industry insider. 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:56.760 You know. 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.319 DJ Griffin tells a crowd at the club, I got 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.880 a super SMA surprise for you guys, and Justin Bieber's 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.040 in town. And the crowd just goes nuts, right because 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.240 he's gonna do a special surprise set for them, and 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.600 he's just recently dropped an album, so this all fits 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.480 for them. They're like, oh my god, this is history 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.680 or whatever. DJ Griffin cues up the track. Out on 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.120 stage comes not Justin Bieber. He starts to do some 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.800 low key Justin Bieber dance moves. He pulls up his 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:23.960 like the hood on his hoodie because he's actually wearing 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.520 a shirt in this instance, and then he busts into 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.640 his song. Sorry, right, Elizabeth, this guy is good. I mean, like, 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.720 I've watched the cell phone videos pit folks shot of this, 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.120 and he sounds like Justin Bieber, at least to my ears. 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.240 He looks like him. Right, He's got the same tattoos 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:44.280 as Justin Bieber, oh, exact same, exactly right, he all 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.280 has also has the same haircuts, got the same die 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.400 job because right now he's got this blonde die job. 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.120 My understanding from the various guss of subreddits that I 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.720 that I lurk in that he's having Justin Bieber's having 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:56.320 some trouble. 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.040 He's had a little bit of a rough time right now. 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.800 It looks like he's going. I want to think he 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.120 was also like victimized all coming out and he's having 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.400 a rough one, and so I think that if he 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.559 does something weird, like I just want to be on 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:11.959 stage for this exact pople aren't like, no, that's out 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.240 of character, because there's no such things out him. There's 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.920 such in character and reading a book maybe. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.360 So this guy not Justin Bieber, He's up there on 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.880 stage and he's moving like Justin Bieber, He's roughly the 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.240 same size. He fools the majority of the crowd. They're like, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.000 oh my god, I can't believe this. It's all these 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.200 videos that are taken. When he gets done singing sorry, 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.520 he waves to the pack, crowd, leaves the stage or whatever. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.600 DJ Griffin posts this video of him on Instagram of 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.360 him right after the set. Right, he's walking away saying 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.680 how amazing was that? Direct quote? Right, and then someone 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.280 comes up and tells him, Nah, that wasn't Justin Bieber. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.640 That was one hundred percent of fake out some pretender 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.160 once again, pretty much direct quote. Yeah, you see DJ 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.439 Griffin realize he just got conned. And he's not pissed though, 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.439 like not like the guy in New Orleans was when 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.440 I tricked him. He's just a little bummed. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:57.640 Right. 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.280 So then DJ Griffin says in the video the only 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.160 indication he had that it wasn't Justin Bieber was quote, 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.280 I literally thought he's put on a lot of weights 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:10.800 since the album dropped in such a Vegas comment. Also 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.400 a very la comment anyway, So I did find a 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.120 tweet from someone who was there that night at club excess. 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:19.880 They posted this on x SO trim Bean with two 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.800 ends said quote, can someone explain why this is a 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.800 thing going this far to look like somebody or are 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.600 him and Justin working together to promote something? Not gonna lie? 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.920 He almost had me fooled and clearly had all these 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.800 other people fooled once I got in his face. Nah, 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:36.920 I might come on, trim Beanieber fool, don't lie? 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.599 You were texting people? Oh my god, yeah, yeah. 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.000 Exactly, I got it justin Bieber's face. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.800 That would be an interesting promotional thing for the album. 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:47.080 I think that'd be amazing. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.840 Yeah, like you know, and then up and look at us. 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:50.679 We're talking about it. 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.599 I didn't even know, and that we're helping out with 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:56.520 the album so well. So not Justin Bieber is actually 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.280 this twenty nine year old Frenchman named Dylan Deskoloso, and 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:01.880 this is what he does for a living, Like he's 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.800 been imitating Justin Bieber for years, which helps explain how 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:07.680 he was able to con somebody in the night club, right, 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.600 But how did he conn the folks that win Las Vegas? 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.040 I mean a range of fake surprise show. He's got 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:14.920 to like coordinate it with them. Remember they went up 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.719 and told the DJ, well, great question, Elizabeth, I got 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.680 an answer for you. For answers, we turned to Las 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:26.160 Vegas entertainment reporter John Katz aka John Katz lamedes, yes 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:27.000 you know this guy? 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:28.240 Yeah, no is. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.920 He reported that not Justin Bieber contacted Win Las Vegas, 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.320 or rather his team did, and as John Katz put it, quote, 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.880 the people who helped him execute this contacted the Wind 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.160 Resort and Win nightlife executives during the day on Saturday 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:43.360 and said, we're gonna have Justin Bieber in town. We'd 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.520 like to have a table and a VIP setup. So 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.120 it sounds legit to them, right, That helps sell the 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.040 lie initially, but like, wouldn't the Win folks kind of 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.199 sniff out of a faker if like not everything's correct, 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.840 not the right email account, so forth. Well, as John 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.600 Katz explains, the Win people thought that this was the 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.400 real Justin Bieber. Now he's had a shuffle in his 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.560 management and Justin Bieber's world is a little inconsistent to 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.640 begin with, so they were saying, okay, well, you know, 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.040 he just had an album drop swag last month, so 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.560 they said okay, so they believe it the same thing 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.400 you've said. Basically, he's going through a spell. This may 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:20.440 be Justin Bieber, who knows. So also the not Justin Bieber, 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.360 he had laid some really solid groundwork earlier in the 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.040 day on social media. How well, back to John Katz, 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:28.880 before they came over to the Wind, they were at 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.800 the Las Vegas Premium outlets in Symphony Park, no stop it. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.720 They were seen there, and they also visited the Esplanade shops, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.200 and they were in the Balanciaga they were seen coming 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:43.000 out of there. So basically exactly this not Justin Bieber 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:47.000 pops over the factory outlets, schmoozes with the people, he 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.040 poses for photos like hey, I'm also trying to get 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.800 a Chanel bag on the cheap. So then that night 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.120 at the club, though, after the lie gets exposed, and 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.640 as John Katz tells it, quote people who were there 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.120 who'd seen a performance said, this is not him, it's 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.160 the saying happening. But that's not all because not Justin 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.800 Bieber also had enjoyed all the perks of stardom. Remember 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.040 that VIP stuff. Oh yeah, he got bottle service. So now, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.320 as John Katz explains, quote, his team would come in 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.200 expecting to have been comped bottle service at their booth, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:16.760 and by the time he left, he had to sign 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.800 off for almost ten thousand dollars since he's not getting comped. 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:24.200 So now oops, not Justin Bieber's umblebook for ten grand 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.120 for his stunt, or at least his credit card was, 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.880 or someone's credit card was. Once the ruse gets exposed, 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:30.640 the Win folks not only did they make them pay up, 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.120 they also ban him for ever coming back to the 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.920 Win casinos. Now he's a Frenchman, what does he care? 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:37.080 You know? 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.320 Also, it's like the ten grand for that bottle service 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.480 is like literally they're giving him like forty dollars worth 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:44.440 of Oh. 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:48.440 Yeah, it's such a ripoff, it's ridiculous. So the Frenchman, 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.760 as I said, Dylan discos, he's been doing this imitation 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.840 game for a long minute, like around six years, and 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.760 he's successful over in Europe doing this. He's got a 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.760 YouTube channel where he posts his shows as a tribute act. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.440 In fact, that last year Justin Bieber's wife, Hayley Bieber, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.560 was shown a TikTok of this Frenchman. He was filmed 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:08.320 while he was on a train, and she said and 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.000 I quote I'm scared like he could fool even her. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.320 Yes, but would be nice to me? Okay? 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.120 Would he be more present? This all started where people 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.720 told this not Justin Bieber, that he looked a hell 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.760 of a lot like the real Justin Bieber. And He's like, 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.480 maybe I make a career out of this, And he did. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.040 Is he put in an interview with the outlet Need 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.200 to Know from the United Kingdom quote, A lot of 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.360 people told me that I look like Justin Bieber in 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.920 the past. However I do make sure to dressed like him. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.120 I think our similarities looks wise, more some points of 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.840 our faces, and definitely our attitudes. Oh Now, Likewise, when 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.200 I'm on stage, I need to be the most Justin 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.120 I can be, and I think I'm good at mimicking him. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.320 I became a look alike simply by going to a 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:51.960 Justin Bieber a concert. I took a lot of photos 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:53.840 and I thought it was super cool. 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:55.800 So he went to a concert. 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.080 And pretended to be Justin Bieber became his career. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.000 He also said, when it comes to the reactions to 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.440 his whole Tribute Act quote, I would. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.600 Say that the best and funniest reactions I got to 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.159 was people thinking I was Justin and knocking on my 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.439 hotel door at two am. There was so many of 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.640 them taking pictures and asking me to sign pictures as 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:15.399 Justin Bieber. 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:17.800 So he really gets off on this. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.960 How on the list of like what should we do tonight? 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:28.160 How far down is Justin Bieber tribute show? Right? 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.280 So I think it's underneath like change my oil by hand. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.880 So there was at the other end of the spectrum 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.040 of things that when it doesn't go so well for 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.000 not Justin Bieber, as he told the UK outlet Need 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.720 to Know quote, the worst reaction I had to the public, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.960 I would say was being mobbed with crying and hugs. 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.880 I don't understand very well that the power of love 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.680 for Justin, so it's nothing to bothers me. So he's 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:57.640 got these people fake crying on am thinking their meeting. 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.520 I don't understand that either. And there are musicians where 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:03.800 I'm like, dude, I you like saved my life. I 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.760 would never cry, chase them and go to their hotel. 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.760 We're talking more. I think imagine like teen fandom, you know, 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:12.640 it's that whole like Beatlemania screaming at the met Stadium 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.200 that's probably true. Like, yeah, you're probably right. 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:16.800 I know. 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:19.600 I'm some like thirty three year old business associate from 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.760 like I don't know, a restaurant chain in Omaha, Nebraska 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:24.879 is over there crying on their shoulder. You changed my 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.560 life justin I know, I know I did. So that's 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.720 our appetizer for today. Yes, next up, after this break, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.640 we'll get into the main meal. It's a really good story, 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:36.560 a story of a woman who pretended to be Aretha 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.160 Franklin and it changed her whole life. Oh no, back 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.400 after this basket of ads fresh out of the oven, 0:18:42.480 --> 0:19:06.719 warm and delicious enough for everyone. We're back, Elizabeth. Hello, 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:08.760 you ready to get down and get soulful with an 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.399 Aretha Franklin conjob. So I first saw this story in 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.920 an excellent article from Smithsonian Magazine. I'm a subscriber of 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:19.240 Smith's recommend magazine Totally. Article was a long form piece 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.159 called The Counterfeit Queen of Soul, a strange and bittersweet 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:26.240 ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity, and unlikely stardom by Jeff mash. 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.000 Now we've covered stories similar to this one, for instance, 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.960 Lost Beatles Americanos remember aka the American Beatles who did 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.639 a tour of South America, passing themselves off as the 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:39.360 actual Beatles while conning the locals for fun and profit. Now, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:41.520 the same sort of con job was also going down 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.560 in the UK back in the day, especially for R 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.639 and B X in like the late fifties, starting with 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:48.600 Little Richard and later motown acts and soul singers in 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.720 the sixties. Because back then Americans would hop over the 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.159 pond pretend to be Diana Ross and the Supremes, or 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:56.640 pretend to be the Temptations or James Brown or whoever. 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.159 And this worked really well because the fans in the 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.960 UK and over in Europe, by Continental Europe, they didn't 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.040 exactly know what the R and B performers looked like. Yeah, 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.240 they knew what they sounded like, but they weren't saturated 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:09.800 with media the way we are, so it was a 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:11.119 lot easier to fake well. 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.760 And the images they'd see, like in magazines, weren't particularly 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:14.320 high reds. 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:16.840 No, there's also that, or even on the posters. Yeah, 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:18.800 so it wasn't also, by the way, just the Brits 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:20.960 and the Europeans who got conned like this, because this 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.800 also went down in the States. Oh no, oh yeah. 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.200 Now these days, as I said, it's much more difficult 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.040 to pull off eight not to justin Bieba, because it's 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.800 so easy to see where stars actually are right now. 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:34.800 You can just check their social media and be like, 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.440 that's not Sabrina Carpenter because she's in Toronto right now. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.000 I just saw on Instagram or whoever you like. Now, 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.720 obviously this was not the case in the late sixties 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.280 when our story takes place. Yea, so are you ready? 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.560 TikTok really wasn't popping off then, No, it was a 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:51.919 very niche totally. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:53.960 It was like eight millimeter reels. It sucked. 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:55.240 Yeah, not everyone had it. 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.720 So, Elizabeth, I'd like you to meet Mary Jane Jones. 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:01.280 She was a young Black woman who was very much 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:06.160 wanted to earn the same rispect that Aretha Franklin enjoyed. 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:08.479 She looked up to the Queen of soul and she 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.400 wanted what Aretha had. She wanted to be a star too, 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:13.520 because she certainly knew what it was like to not 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.399 have much at all. And she's like, this sucks. I'd 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.719 like to do that. And Aretha came from well, Aretha 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.199 but didn't come from poverty per se. But she was like, 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.199 you know, I want what Aretha has gained as a 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.320 young black woman in the sixties. So she by the 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:30.680 way Mary Jane Jones. She was raised in rural Petersburg, Virginia. 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.760 I'm not sure if you're familiar. I don't know it. 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.560 But she had a house without indoor plumbing. We're talking 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.760 in the late sixties. And then, you know, as things do, 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.760 life came at her pretty fast. She dropped out of 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:45.440 school after tenth grade. She got married at nineteen Sadly, 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:47.879 her husband passed away, leaving her to be a widow 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.720 with a young son that was rough on her. Things 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.600 didn't improve much when she remarried. Her new husband gave 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.639 her three more sons, but he was also a violent drunk, 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.399 so she divorced him. Now she's a single mother in 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.520 Royal vergil with four young sons. Oh man, the year 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.520 is nineteen sixty eight. Yeah, she'll has a dream though, 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.840 of making it as a star. So to make ends meet, 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:11.919 she performed at the local gospel music group, the Great 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.760 Gates of Petersburg. She had this tremendous voice, like a big, 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.280 full throated voice, the kind that sings out like the 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:20.120 up to the angels in heaven right, just like a 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.040 real soul singer voice. Only trouble for her was she 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:25.399 was untrained. She couldn't read music. She just had a 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:28.520 natural born talent. Yeah, yeah, now it was married Jane Jones. 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.639 But quote, I don't know one note from the next. 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.439 But what talent I got I got from God. And 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:36.760 as you know, Elizabeth, that's also how I sing. I 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.640 don't know one note from the next except for God 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:41.840 forgot to give me any musical talent whatsoever. But this 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.520 is how I sing. So I related to her immediately, yes, 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.960 but anyway. By nineteen sixty nine, Mary Jane Jones was 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:51.280 twenty seven years old. She'd been singing with her gospel 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:53.560 group at this point for six years. The leader of 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:56.040 her gospel group was this cat named Reverend Billy Lee, 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:58.280 and he said of her talent, I had to teach 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.480 most of the folks in my groups, but that was 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:03.680 one young lady I did not have to teach soul right, 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.520 Like I said, natural born talent. And she was also 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:09.800 a natural born performer. Like when she sang, emotions came 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:11.439 out of her like like the way they did from 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:14.320 Frank Sinatra. In that way that the audience could feel 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:18.160 her longing, her a, her blues, her pain, her love. 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:20.879 Sometimes she would even cry while she was singing. I'm 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:24.160 talking like real tears. She moved herself with her songs right. 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:26.600 Other times, well, she'd be sweating in that role of 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.440 Virginia heat and then the beads of perspiration ran down 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:31.919 her face like this, little tiny rivers of sweat. I 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:33.960 mean she felt it when she was singing. So people 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:35.800 were like, oh my god, this is so real. But 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:38.959 singing gospel music wasn't enough to feed her growing boys. 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:41.480 So to earn a little extra scratch for her family, 0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:44.080 Mary Jane also performed some of that music her fellow 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:48.000 gospel singers would call the devil's music. So to do that, 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:50.640 she often worked at local nightclubs. She performed as part 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:53.159 of a review style show where she'd sing as an 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:55.920 Aretha Franklin tribute act. They didn't call it tribute acts 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:58.280 back then. She'd just be like a Retha Franklin cover 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:00.920 song or Retha Franklin, you know, imitator. 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:03.160 So it's because you don't really like you're saying it's 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:05.040 a reviews So I think she was probably doing more 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:08.439 than just a yeah, songbook and you don't have like 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.720 live you know, big name acts coming through when people 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:13.520 want to hear someone singing and do all music. 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:15.840 Yeah, if you're in Petersburg, Virginia and you're like you're 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:17.960 willing to do Aretha, I'm willing to pay right and 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:20.480 you know, whatever the dollar to get in. So this 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:23.120 earned her on average ten dollars a night to play 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.600 these different nightclubs in the area. And now she had 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:27.840 a backing R and B band and they would play 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:30.960 the latest hits and so they knew all of Aretha's songbook. 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:34.080 She was really good on Aretha's song think Right, And 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:37.919 so when Mary jans Jones laid into Aretha's lyrics, she 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:40.280 was like sing to her imagined lover and the audience 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:42.840 they truly felt her lonesome heart right. Like I said, 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:45.560 the emotions poured out of her. But her gospel group 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:47.919 could never know about the sinning she was doing on 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:50.840 Saturday nights, otherwise it would risk her check that she's 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:53.040 taking care of her boys with right. If they ever 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:55.480 learned about her Moonlight gig, she'd be dumped from the 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:58.560 gospel group. So she came up with this persona she 0:24:58.680 --> 0:25:01.800 performed under a stage name, Miss Vicky Jones, and she 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:04.680 pull on a wig and go out and transform into 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:07.960 the star to be Miss Vicky Jones. Love right, and 0:25:08.000 --> 0:25:10.040 she was damn good Chelsea plays, She sang rock songs, 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:12.520 she sang whatever the people wanted to hear. Yeah yeah, 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:14.760 But eventually words still got back to the leader of 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:17.320 her gospel group, the good Reverend Billy Lee. 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:17.600 Yeah. 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:20.480 Now, one Saturday night, he dips into the nightclub and 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:22.600 he's tucked in the back of this darkened club. He's 0:25:22.640 --> 0:25:26.120 watching the show and Mary Jane Jones aka Miss Vicky 0:25:26.240 --> 0:25:29.040 Jones didn't spot her boss in the crowd. She just 0:25:29.080 --> 0:25:32.080 went ahead with her show. Meanwhile, old Reverend Billy Lee 0:25:32.119 --> 0:25:35.199 he's watching and he starts to worry about his his 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:38.639 like star singers, everlasting soul, and how she's putting it 0:25:38.680 --> 0:25:41.280 at risk and also risking her spot in heaven with 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:45.080 her blues act and the Aretha Franklin tribute songs. As 0:25:45.119 --> 0:25:47.400 he tells it, he didn't confront her right away. In fact, 0:25:47.440 --> 0:25:49.560 he didn't confront her that night. Instead, he just said 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:52.000 a little prayer to himself, say a little prayer. Oh 0:25:52.000 --> 0:25:54.800 he did he really? Yeah? Right, He's like, don't lecture her, 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:58.359 don't preach to She'll be all right now. However, he 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:00.760 did worry, as I said, about how she'd manage if 0:26:00.760 --> 0:26:03.880 she got out into the dangerous world of show business 0:26:03.880 --> 0:26:07.000 and nightclub singers, as he recalled it. He thought to himself, 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:11.000 she goes in these situations, things could get out of hand. Elizabeth, 0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:12.359 I'm here to tell you things got out of it. 0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:14.640 Oh, I could imagine this is like, this is very 0:26:14.720 --> 0:26:19.880 much like the Perks and Reck storyline with Ron has 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:22.760 a has an alter ego who plays in nightclubs called 0:26:22.920 --> 0:26:28.080 really Silver, really Saxophone. And that's basically what I'm imagining. 0:26:28.160 --> 0:26:32.800 So she now looks like Ron Swanson with the mustache. 0:26:32.920 --> 0:26:35.639 With the mustache, that's what she had on the saxophone. Yeah, 0:26:35.680 --> 0:26:38.800 and and like a Fedora. 0:26:39.720 --> 0:26:43.240 I gotta check that show something amazing. So, as I said, 0:26:43.240 --> 0:26:44.960 things got out of hand. And of course this goes 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:47.679 down in a nightclub. It was the winner of nineteen 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:49.840 sixty eight and she was performing at a nightclub called 0:26:49.840 --> 0:26:52.320 the Pink Garter. That name should tell you everything you 0:26:52.440 --> 0:26:54.919 need to know. The club was in Richmond, Virginia. It 0:26:55.000 --> 0:26:56.880 used to be a grocery store, but by the time 0:26:57.119 --> 0:27:00.359 Mss Vikett Jones was performing. It had been converted into 0:27:00.400 --> 0:27:01.240 the Pink Garter. 0:27:01.280 --> 0:27:04.840 The Pink Garters. So it's like, let's say, it's not 0:27:04.880 --> 0:27:07.200 a huge it's not a supermarket, it's a grocery store. 0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:11.040 I'm imagining like the kind of cavernous interior. 0:27:11.240 --> 0:27:14.960 Yeah no, don't just imagine like a lot of tables. 0:27:15.119 --> 0:27:17.000 Maybe as it candles on the tables, I. 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:19.480 Don't know, a lot of people get up to no good. 0:27:19.520 --> 0:27:23.639 The deli sections now a bar. So the house band 0:27:23.800 --> 0:27:26.520 was called the River Nets, right. The leader of that 0:27:26.600 --> 0:27:28.840 band was the same man who ran the Pink Garter. 0:27:29.000 --> 0:27:32.399 His stage name was the Great Josea all right, and 0:27:32.480 --> 0:27:34.520 his mama called him Fenroy Fox. 0:27:35.080 --> 0:27:36.359 That's a great stage name. 0:27:36.560 --> 0:27:40.240 That's what this why the Great he doesn't want you know, 0:27:40.400 --> 0:27:43.040 maybe he worried about his mama finding out. So, as 0:27:43.080 --> 0:27:45.960 the Great Hosea told the Smithsonian magazine, the Pink Guarter 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:48.240 was a black night club. Quote, it was ninety percent 0:27:48.359 --> 0:27:51.359 black and there everything changed after Martin Luther King got killed. 0:27:51.520 --> 0:27:54.119 Blacks was staying in black places. People were scared because 0:27:54.119 --> 0:27:55.720 you know, remember he died in sixty eight, So this 0:27:55.840 --> 0:27:58.600 is fresh, right, right, So the folks went to places 0:27:58.600 --> 0:28:01.320 that they felt safe, like the Pink Garter, and that's 0:28:01.320 --> 0:28:04.680 where things all change for Mary Jones aka Miss Vicki Jones. 0:28:05.119 --> 0:28:07.399 So the Great Hosea, he's leading the river nets with 0:28:07.440 --> 0:28:11.120 their rendition of Aretha Franklin's huge hit, respect And when 0:28:11.160 --> 0:28:13.080 Miss Vickiy Jones steps up to the mic and she 0:28:13.160 --> 0:28:15.720 lets her big voice fill up that room, that former 0:28:15.760 --> 0:28:18.480 grocery store. Yeah, and in the dark and dimly lit 0:28:18.520 --> 0:28:20.400 air of this club. The folks there at the Pink 0:28:20.440 --> 0:28:22.679 Garter that night, you could have told them this was 0:28:22.720 --> 0:28:24.719 Aretha Franklin and most of them would have believed it 0:28:24.760 --> 0:28:27.520 was true. That's how much he sounded, but not only sounded, 0:28:27.560 --> 0:28:30.760 but looked like Aretha really. Oh yeah, But it wasn't. 0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:32.920 Just then we saw and heard this similarity to the 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:36.160 Queen of Soul, one of the other acts performing that night. 0:28:36.240 --> 0:28:40.360 He saw Miss Vicki Jones singing and he heard dollar signs. Yeah. 0:28:40.440 --> 0:28:45.240 Now into Lavell, Hade. Lavell wasn't from Virginia or even 0:28:45.280 --> 0:28:47.800 from the South. He was a New York City hairdresser, 0:28:48.280 --> 0:28:50.200 and he looked like one. He wore his hair in 0:28:50.240 --> 0:28:53.120 this high pomper door like six inches off his head. 0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:56.280 My favorite fun fact about Lavell Hardy was that in 0:28:56.360 --> 0:28:59.080 nineteen sixty eight he had a near hit song of 0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:02.600 his own called Don't Lose Your Groove. It reached number 0:29:02.640 --> 0:29:03.760 forty two on the charts. 0:29:03.840 --> 0:29:04.800 Did you listen to it? 0:29:04.880 --> 0:29:06.600 I did not, but I did find a fun fact 0:29:06.640 --> 0:29:06.880 for you. 0:29:07.080 --> 0:29:07.280 Yeah. 0:29:07.360 --> 0:29:09.880 It topped out just below a parody song by Bill 0:29:09.920 --> 0:29:13.440 Cosby called Hooray for the Salvation Army Band. Oh dear, 0:29:13.560 --> 0:29:15.800 that's what it was behind. It did not pass that 0:29:15.920 --> 0:29:18.360 song it was from. That song was from the album 0:29:18.400 --> 0:29:21.920 Bill Cosby sings Hooray for the Salvation Army Band with 0:29:22.000 --> 0:29:24.800 an exclamation for my copy out from what I found. 0:29:24.800 --> 0:29:27.560 That track was a comedic knockoff of Jimmy Hendrick's song 0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:28.600 Purple Hayes. 0:29:30.040 --> 0:29:30.200 Yes. 0:29:30.320 --> 0:29:33.120 So the Bill Bill Cosby song Hooray for the Salvation 0:29:33.280 --> 0:29:35.880 Army Band was a knockoff of Jimmy Hendrick song Purple 0:29:35.920 --> 0:29:38.960 Hayes Yeah. And the album cover he looks like Jim Croche. 0:29:38.960 --> 0:29:41.280 He's got this big bushy mustache, and he's got a 0:29:41.360 --> 0:29:43.640 like like a kind of like a semi hippie gig. 0:29:44.280 --> 0:29:45.400 Even happening right now? 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:47.040 Elizabeth, I gotta tell you, none of what I just 0:29:47.080 --> 0:29:49.600 said makes any sense. No, I have no answers for you. 0:29:49.960 --> 0:29:51.080 How does one get yet? 0:29:51.120 --> 0:29:51.400 Whatever? 0:29:51.480 --> 0:29:55.000 Anyway, back to the Pompadoor, Lavell Hattie, after he watched 0:29:55.000 --> 0:29:57.719 Miss Vicki Jones do her best impression of Aretha Franklin 0:29:57.760 --> 0:30:00.200 at the Pink Garter, he thought to himself, she that 0:30:00.200 --> 0:30:02.680 I dentical from head to toe. She's got the complexion, 0:30:02.800 --> 0:30:05.120 she got the looks, she got, the height, she got, 0:30:05.160 --> 0:30:10.000 the tears, she got everything. So the wheels in his 0:30:10.080 --> 0:30:12.440 devious mind start spending. And what I haven't told you 0:30:12.520 --> 0:30:15.120 yet is Lavell Hardy earned two hundred dollars per night 0:30:15.200 --> 0:30:19.200 working as a James Brown impersonator. Stop Yes, getting bust 0:30:19.280 --> 0:30:21.920 the Popadour, and thus he knew Miss Vicky Jones as 0:30:21.920 --> 0:30:24.920 a fake Aretha Franklin could be worth at least that much. 0:30:25.520 --> 0:30:28.480 And she looked more like her than he looked like James. 0:30:28.600 --> 0:30:28.800 Yeah. 0:30:28.920 --> 0:30:31.320 So the next weekend, Vicky Jones was back in Richmond 0:30:31.360 --> 0:30:35.320 performing at the Executive Motor n and Lavelle Hardy turned 0:30:35.400 --> 0:30:37.480 up at the gig. After she does her act, he 0:30:37.560 --> 0:30:39.200 makes his pitch. She steps up to her and he 0:30:39.240 --> 0:30:41.960 tells her she could be making way more money with him, 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:44.560 and she could be making in these Virginia spots. He 0:30:44.640 --> 0:30:46.960 told her about all the money to be made down 0:30:47.000 --> 0:30:49.959 in Florida. That's where they pay for my music. So 0:30:50.200 --> 0:30:52.720 Lavell Hardy was what we call it natural born operator. 0:30:52.840 --> 0:30:53.720 Yeah, sounds like it. 0:30:53.800 --> 0:30:56.240 And as such, she told Miss Jones that whatever she 0:30:56.320 --> 0:30:58.239 needed to hear to sign on to his plan to 0:30:58.240 --> 0:31:01.280 tour Florida, and you know, ex Lloyd her talents. So 0:31:01.320 --> 0:31:03.560 he told her for an upcoming tour he was planning, 0:31:03.640 --> 0:31:06.560 he wanted her to open for Aretha Franklin. He would 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:10.240 pay her one thousand dollars for a six city tour. 0:31:10.440 --> 0:31:13.120 That's six shows. That's one hundred times what she was 0:31:13.120 --> 0:31:15.280 making for one night in rural Virginia. 0:31:15.440 --> 0:31:18.680 She's going to open for Aretha as in personally no. 0:31:18.720 --> 0:31:21.640 Just as Miss Vicka Jones. Oh, so the offer is 0:31:21.760 --> 0:31:23.040 it's too tempted for her to say no. 0:31:23.160 --> 0:31:26.440 Is she going to do other songs aside from Aretha's No, Yeah, 0:31:26.480 --> 0:31:26.880 She's going to. 0:31:26.880 --> 0:31:30.360 Do her own song choices be they what they are? Sure, 0:31:30.640 --> 0:31:33.160 So Mary Jane Jones, she went to a man she knew, 0:31:33.160 --> 0:31:36.920 a cat named Harold Big Daddy Strayhorn, and he was 0:31:36.920 --> 0:31:39.160 a local band leader and a money lender, apparently because 0:31:39.160 --> 0:31:40.840 she borrowed the cash from him that she'd need for 0:31:40.880 --> 0:31:43.440 a bus ticket down to Florida. So this was going 0:31:43.440 --> 0:31:45.080 to be the first time she'd ever gone on a 0:31:45.120 --> 0:31:48.000 tour without the Reverend Billy Lee and his gospel group. 0:31:48.400 --> 0:31:49.880 So she was truly going to be out in the 0:31:49.920 --> 0:31:52.520 world on her own, the thing that he feared. Now, 0:31:52.560 --> 0:31:54.480 she sent her four boys to stay with her mother 0:31:54.560 --> 0:31:57.240 and she packed for Florida, and then as the bus 0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:01.280 headed south, she watched the world change from her window seat. 0:32:01.960 --> 0:32:04.680 All Right, So when she arrives in Melbourne, Florida, she 0:32:04.800 --> 0:32:07.640 linked up with Lavell Hatty and she was super eager 0:32:07.640 --> 0:32:09.640 to start her new life as an opening act for 0:32:09.680 --> 0:32:13.760 her hero, Aretha Franklin, Right, and that's when Lavell burst 0:32:13.760 --> 0:32:16.680 her naive bubble. She wasn't going to be the opening 0:32:16.720 --> 0:32:19.120 act for Aretha. Instead, she was gonna go out there 0:32:19.160 --> 0:32:22.680 and she was gonna be Aretha. You see, he'd conder Elizabeth. 0:32:23.280 --> 0:32:25.160 He told her exactly whatever she needed to hear to 0:32:25.160 --> 0:32:27.840 get her down to Melbourne, Florida. And now she's stuck 0:32:27.880 --> 0:32:29.680 because she doesn't have the money to buy a bus 0:32:29.680 --> 0:32:32.200 ticket back home. There's no big daddy strayhoan Dawn in 0:32:32.200 --> 0:32:34.960 Florida that she knows. Yeah, so she's like, and also 0:32:34.960 --> 0:32:36.280 she shouldn't have the money to pay him back when 0:32:36.320 --> 0:32:36.800 she gets back. 0:32:36.880 --> 0:32:38.560 Yeah, no, she's got to earn while she's. 0:32:38.400 --> 0:32:41.560 There, exactly. But she did still have her integrity, so 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:44.720 she said, no, I do not, and he's like no. 0:32:44.960 --> 0:32:47.080 So Lavell's like arguing with her. She's like, I don't 0:32:47.120 --> 0:32:48.640 want to be Aretha. I mean I want to be 0:32:48.840 --> 0:32:51.480 like Aretha. She's like, I want to be miss Vicki Jones. 0:32:51.600 --> 0:32:51.880 Sure. 0:32:52.080 --> 0:32:55.120 Now that's when Lavell treated her like the naive country 0:32:55.120 --> 0:32:58.080 girl that she was. He told her she didn't get 0:32:58.120 --> 0:33:00.840 up on that stage and tell those nice folks in Melbourne, 0:33:00.880 --> 0:33:03.960 Florida that she was Aretha, he could make her life hell. 0:33:04.400 --> 0:33:07.719 As The Tampa Bay Times later reported, Lavell threatened her 0:33:07.760 --> 0:33:11.280 saying that quote hit down, he had broken, don't know anybody, 0:33:11.360 --> 0:33:15.600 and you are Aretha Franklin. So yo. 0:33:15.680 --> 0:33:15.840 Yeah. 0:33:15.880 --> 0:33:18.480 And then he went further than that. He quote threatened 0:33:18.480 --> 0:33:21.080 to throw me in the bay. And not only that 0:33:21.120 --> 0:33:23.800 she couldn't swim, she was also deathly afraid of the water, 0:33:23.880 --> 0:33:27.000 so he hit the one like everything button to hit. 0:33:27.520 --> 0:33:30.880 So now this pompadoord fake James Brown tribute act guy 0:33:30.960 --> 0:33:34.320 further threatens her. Your body can easily be disposed of 0:33:34.360 --> 0:33:34.920 in the wada. 0:33:35.080 --> 0:33:35.800 Oh my god. 0:33:36.480 --> 0:33:39.920 Yeah, So that's when she entertained what Lavell had in mind. 0:33:40.120 --> 0:33:41.080 What else are you going to do? 0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:44.120 Totally right, She's basically been kidnapped. So he tells her 0:33:44.280 --> 0:33:47.880 again that while they're in Florida, quote, you are Aretha Franklin. 0:33:49.360 --> 0:33:51.720 Now next up Lavell. He works the local promoters. He 0:33:51.760 --> 0:33:54.920 tells them his client, Miss Franklin was in town looking 0:33:54.960 --> 0:33:58.200 to do some shows. Typically she charged twenty grand a night. 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:01.680 Everybody knew that, but for them, she'd be willing to 0:34:01.680 --> 0:34:04.600 book shows for the low low prices seven grand a night. 0:34:05.120 --> 0:34:08.000 Why because the crowds in rural Florida would be smaller 0:34:08.040 --> 0:34:10.200 than her shows up north or out west in places 0:34:10.239 --> 0:34:13.719 like Las Vegas. So one local Florida promoter he goes 0:34:13.760 --> 0:34:14.160 for it. 0:34:14.360 --> 0:34:17.239 And none of them are like why why is she 0:34:17.360 --> 0:34:18.760 desperate for a gig out. 0:34:18.560 --> 0:34:21.200 Here in the winter too, not even tourist season like 0:34:21.200 --> 0:34:23.680 they were talking. January of nineteen, sixteen. 0:34:23.360 --> 0:34:26.640 Years oh, she's working out new material maybe, but even. 0:34:26.480 --> 0:34:30.080 Then, you know no. And so Mary Jane Jones tells reporters. 0:34:30.640 --> 0:34:33.920 After that same local promoter saw her first perform, he 0:34:34.000 --> 0:34:36.880 thought I really was Aretha, and he acts, according to 0:34:37.080 --> 0:34:40.080 he quote often to range a detective to protect me 0:34:40.160 --> 0:34:42.319 and a car from my convenience. 0:34:41.920 --> 0:34:44.160 Which Aretha would have been like, yes, please, no, don't. 0:34:44.200 --> 0:34:46.520 You know that? Yeah, so of course, Lavelle hard it 0:34:46.560 --> 0:34:50.279 was like, no, no cops are necessary now. So that 0:34:50.400 --> 0:34:53.880 same local promoter he booked gigs for the Aretha Franklin Review, 0:34:54.120 --> 0:34:57.200 and Mary Jans Jones aka Miss Vicki Jones went out 0:34:57.239 --> 0:34:59.880 there night after night, and she does her best impression 0:34:59.880 --> 0:35:03.160 of Aretha. The crowds they love it, Elizabeth. Most of 0:35:03.200 --> 0:35:05.359 them were convinced if what they were seeing and what 0:35:05.360 --> 0:35:08.200 they were hearing was the real Queen of Soul, Soul 0:35:08.280 --> 0:35:11.680 System number one, even if it was some small podunk 0:35:11.719 --> 0:35:13.960 town in rural Florida, and it made no sense of 0:35:14.000 --> 0:35:16.280 the Aretha we'd be playing their little theater or nightclub. 0:35:16.280 --> 0:35:18.000 They're like, no, no, of course she'd be here. They 0:35:18.000 --> 0:35:21.439 decided to believe their lying eyes over the obvious truth 0:35:21.480 --> 0:35:23.600 before them. Now at the end of each night's show, 0:35:23.719 --> 0:35:25.759 miss Jones, she would rush back to her dressing room 0:35:25.760 --> 0:35:27.640 because she didn't want to talk to anybody, and then 0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:29.080 that way she could avoid the crowds. And then she 0:35:29.080 --> 0:35:30.960 would go back there and just cry about what she 0:35:31.040 --> 0:35:33.400 was doing. And then after she was done crying, she 0:35:33.400 --> 0:35:35.960 would eat one of the two hamburgers that Lavelle gave 0:35:36.000 --> 0:35:39.520 her each day as her food for the tour. What 0:35:39.800 --> 0:35:41.320 she got two hamburgers. 0:35:40.800 --> 0:35:45.320 A day, diet totally living on burgers. 0:35:45.400 --> 0:35:47.120 Yeah, like one in the morning, one in the evening, 0:35:47.160 --> 0:35:52.160 and yeah, it's terrible kibble for a dog. Then she's like, 0:35:52.200 --> 0:35:53.960 you know, packed off to the motel room where he 0:35:53.960 --> 0:35:55.439 would like hide his star act. 0:35:55.600 --> 0:35:57.600 Oh my god, she's basically being trafficked. 0:35:57.800 --> 0:35:59.920 Yeah, pretty much. It was a rough first three night, 0:36:00.160 --> 0:36:02.760 first three shows, but Lavell hardy. He was making money 0:36:02.760 --> 0:36:05.320 hand over fist, so he wanted to book bigger and 0:36:05.360 --> 0:36:07.919 bigger shows, which meant bigger and bigger cities, which also 0:36:07.960 --> 0:36:10.160 meant it would get harder and harder to con the 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:14.040 Florida crowds into thinking that's a refa. So, as missus 0:36:14.480 --> 0:36:17.960 Jones told Jet Magazine, quote, I wanted to tell everybody 0:36:18.000 --> 0:36:21.080 beforehand that I was not Miss Franklin, but Lavell said 0:36:21.120 --> 0:36:23.839 the show promoters would do something awful to me if 0:36:23.880 --> 0:36:26.759 they learned who I really was. I was scared. I 0:36:26.800 --> 0:36:30.239 didn't have any money, no place to go. So, like 0:36:30.280 --> 0:36:34.040 I said, she's got Basically, she's exactly. She's been kidnapped, 0:36:34.040 --> 0:36:36.960 she's a hostage, and she's left to the whims of Lavell. 0:36:37.719 --> 0:36:40.560 So she kept, you know, play acting as she best 0:36:40.600 --> 0:36:42.600 she could as the real deal Queen of Soul. She'd 0:36:42.600 --> 0:36:45.239 step out on in the stage, she'd become Aretha. She 0:36:45.239 --> 0:36:47.680 would close her eyes and let her natural talents just 0:36:47.719 --> 0:36:50.759 shine out of her because remember, she can sound like Aretha. 0:36:51.120 --> 0:36:54.080 In under low lights, she looks like Aretha. So she'd 0:36:54.120 --> 0:36:56.120 let those notes reach up to the heavens just like 0:36:56.160 --> 0:36:59.840 Aretha did, and in fact her Arethe act was super convincing, 0:37:00.080 --> 0:37:03.399 so like most everyone except for her. At one show, 0:37:03.400 --> 0:37:05.840 the owner of the venue recalled that quote. Some people 0:37:05.840 --> 0:37:08.359 who had seen Aretha before said that wasn't her, but 0:37:08.480 --> 0:37:11.719 nobody was real show and even those doubts washed away 0:37:11.719 --> 0:37:14.160 because other show goers would shouted the stage, that's her, 0:37:14.360 --> 0:37:16.919 that's Aretha. Yeah. These are direct quotes by the way 0:37:16.960 --> 0:37:18.359 from the newspaper at the time. 0:37:18.520 --> 0:37:20.920 I love it, Like, have you ever gone to a 0:37:21.040 --> 0:37:22.920 show and been in the crowd. 0:37:22.920 --> 0:37:24.040 Like that's Jack White. 0:37:24.520 --> 0:37:26.520 No, yes, that is Jack White. 0:37:26.640 --> 0:37:30.400 I'm telling you, brothers, that is my man, Jack White, Jackson. 0:37:31.239 --> 0:37:35.400 There's no that I didn't know was in question. Obviously 0:37:35.400 --> 0:37:36.880 they're talking about it in the crowd. 0:37:37.000 --> 0:37:38.480 There is some debate, yeah, but I think it's more 0:37:38.520 --> 0:37:40.120 so some people are like like shoes showing it and 0:37:40.160 --> 0:37:42.080 they're like, no, no, that's a Retha. I don't know. 0:37:42.160 --> 0:37:45.040 I know two things. Son's coming up tomorrow, and that's 0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:48.360 Aretha Franklin. So when miss Jones would leave the stage, 0:37:48.360 --> 0:37:51.080 she would get carried off by thunderous applause. I'm talking 0:37:51.160 --> 0:37:53.879 screams and shouts of the adoring fans of the real 0:37:53.920 --> 0:37:56.360 Aretha Franklin because they got to see Aretha right here 0:37:56.400 --> 0:37:59.600 in like Bradenton, Florida, at one venue. She gets this 0:37:59.680 --> 0:38:03.040 stand ovation, all right, And so like some twisted like 0:38:03.160 --> 0:38:06.640 Faustian bargain, she found that she'd gotten what she'd once 0:38:06.719 --> 0:38:08.960 dreamed of when she wanted to sing before the audiences 0:38:09.000 --> 0:38:11.680 and be in a star but and the audience responding 0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:14.440 with all their heart and everyone's like overcome by her voice, 0:38:14.480 --> 0:38:17.520 her presence, her star potential, the ache of her soul, 0:38:17.600 --> 0:38:21.120 her transcendent voice. She got it all, but not really. No, 0:38:21.600 --> 0:38:23.319 it was only it was it was nothing like what 0:38:23.360 --> 0:38:25.040 she wanted it was. It was it was her dream, 0:38:25.120 --> 0:38:27.280 but it felt like a nightmare. 0:38:27.360 --> 0:38:27.520 Yeah. 0:38:27.600 --> 0:38:31.320 One scripted by Livell ha Day. So, of course, a 0:38:31.400 --> 0:38:34.040 scam like this one can only go on for so long. Eventually, 0:38:34.120 --> 0:38:36.319 someone whose job it is to make money off the 0:38:36.360 --> 0:38:38.719 reel of Aretha Franklin is going to hear about this, 0:38:38.960 --> 0:38:41.799 and then it's all gonna go. Now, Okay, let's take 0:38:41.800 --> 0:38:44.400 a little break. And after these messages, the reel of 0:38:44.520 --> 0:38:47.440 Retha Franklin comes into this little morality play and the 0:38:47.480 --> 0:38:50.680 temptation of Vicky Jones goes in a whole different directions. 0:39:11.400 --> 0:39:15.279 Rebecca Elizabeth, Yes, we are enjoy this so far. I 0:39:15.280 --> 0:39:16.680 thought it'd be a nice change of pace. 0:39:16.880 --> 0:39:17.359 I like it. 0:39:17.480 --> 0:39:19.800 So you're ready to hear how this long con goes 0:39:19.920 --> 0:39:22.680 belly up. Of course, at this point it's the middle 0:39:22.719 --> 0:39:26.399 of January nineteen sixty nine and Mary Jones is it's 0:39:26.400 --> 0:39:28.759 book to play a show in Ocalla, Florida. It's a 0:39:28.960 --> 0:39:31.759 forty two hundred seat venue, which is I know, I 0:39:31.760 --> 0:39:33.520 don't know about you, but if you told me that 0:39:33.640 --> 0:39:37.240 Maretha Franklin was booked to play the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion, 0:39:37.360 --> 0:39:39.680 I would have been a bit doubtful. But this is 0:39:39.719 --> 0:39:43.680 the biggest venue Miss Jones has seen yet, right, forty 0:39:43.680 --> 0:39:44.600 two hundred seat venue. 0:39:44.719 --> 0:39:45.160 Pretty good? 0:39:45.440 --> 0:39:47.440 Oh yeah, it's like an exposition hall that she's playing 0:39:47.480 --> 0:39:51.759 in at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion. That's the spot where 0:39:51.800 --> 0:39:55.640 Florida Cattleman auctioned off livestock. Yeah. So, I mean, I know, 0:39:56.239 --> 0:39:58.239 is going to rockstick right, I mean, I know, yes, 0:39:58.320 --> 0:40:00.840 folks play like County Well. 0:40:00.680 --> 0:40:05.400 And out here Cow Palace. I've seen Metallica play at the. 0:40:05.520 --> 0:40:08.440 Total, but they don't still sell cows. They do, do 0:40:08.480 --> 0:40:08.880 they know? 0:40:08.960 --> 0:40:09.440 They used to? 0:40:09.560 --> 0:40:10.760 Yeah, they used to. They stopped. 0:40:11.200 --> 0:40:14.400 But they have other stuff that's like, you know, non music. 0:40:15.040 --> 0:40:18.920 It's you know, they have like like they have like 0:40:19.520 --> 0:40:22.160 gem convention type things. 0:40:22.719 --> 0:40:25.759 Yeah. But normally if you see someone in like the 0:40:25.800 --> 0:40:29.200 Southeastern Livestock Pavilion, it's at the end of their musical career, 0:40:29.360 --> 0:40:30.919 not when they're a huge Grammy win. 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:36.720 County Fair material, which the go to County Fair people 0:40:36.760 --> 0:40:40.319 in the Bay Area. Now, for years was Tower of Power, right, 0:40:40.400 --> 0:40:43.680 they always played like Alameda County Fair, And now I'm 0:40:43.719 --> 0:40:50.520 finding that, Oh yeah, they play a lot of county 0:40:50.560 --> 0:40:52.640 fairs because they're like, you know what, we can get 0:40:52.719 --> 0:40:55.399 drunk before we go on stage. It's they'll pay us. 0:40:55.440 --> 0:40:57.120 It's very, very limited. 0:40:57.120 --> 0:40:58.440 After there's not going to be anyone here from the 0:40:58.520 --> 0:40:59.080 music industry. 0:40:59.160 --> 0:40:59.920 Don't have to go far. 0:41:00.000 --> 0:41:01.320 I don't worry about a music review. 0:41:02.200 --> 0:41:04.879 But I see him on all sorts of crazy low rent. 0:41:04.920 --> 0:41:06.680 Oh yeah, you'll see him on the posters attached to 0:41:06.760 --> 0:41:09.759 like light poles and when he's driving. So this has 0:41:10.160 --> 0:41:12.520 basically how you fleece suckers because they don't question the 0:41:12.560 --> 0:41:14.960 obvious tells like Aretha Franklin being booked to play the 0:41:15.000 --> 0:41:18.000 Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in the dead of winter. If they 0:41:18.040 --> 0:41:21.960 believe that you've already done half the work, yeah, exactly. Anyway, 0:41:22.000 --> 0:41:24.720 all around a call of Florida, Lavelle had posters slapped 0:41:24.800 --> 0:41:27.640 up that advertised Queen of Soul was coming to town. 0:41:28.080 --> 0:41:30.360 You better act fast, get your tickets now, right. And 0:41:30.360 --> 0:41:31.920 not only that, he also got the word out on 0:41:31.960 --> 0:41:34.560 the local black radio stations that also helped to sell 0:41:34.560 --> 0:41:37.239 the con job because if it's on the radio, how 0:41:37.239 --> 0:41:39.560 could it not be true? You see that these days 0:41:39.560 --> 0:41:41.880 with TV and like and the internet and the Internet, 0:41:41.920 --> 0:41:43.759 it's like, well, it must be true. This guy is 0:41:43.800 --> 0:41:46.600 saying it. So the next show would be the biggest 0:41:46.640 --> 0:41:48.800 crowd yet. As I said, for Mary Jane Jones, and 0:41:48.840 --> 0:41:51.600 the prospect of fooling forty two hundred people at the 0:41:51.640 --> 0:41:54.560 same time had her nerves. But she was basically as 0:41:54.560 --> 0:41:56.440 nervous as a long tailed cat and a room full 0:41:56.440 --> 0:41:59.320 of rock and chairs. Right then, a bit of heavenly 0:41:59.360 --> 0:42:02.600 intervention occur, the kind that shattered her faustian bargain with 0:42:02.760 --> 0:42:05.879 Lavell Haday. You see, just before that show went down, 0:42:05.920 --> 0:42:09.080 the local prosecutor of Marion County received a phone call. 0:42:09.360 --> 0:42:12.040 On the other end was Aretha Franklin's attorney. He was 0:42:12.080 --> 0:42:14.640 calling from New York City. He'd been busy arranging the 0:42:14.680 --> 0:42:17.719 real Aretha Franklin's upcoming shows in Miami, Florida, when he 0:42:17.719 --> 0:42:20.440 heard from promoters in Florida, you know, the ones working 0:42:20.440 --> 0:42:22.800 down in the sunsigned state, that his client was already 0:42:22.800 --> 0:42:24.360 working stages in rural Florida. 0:42:24.640 --> 0:42:26.000 Stop. Oh, this is so good. 0:42:26.040 --> 0:42:28.799 He's obviously thrown by this. This is news to him, Elizabeth, 0:42:29.080 --> 0:42:31.680 So he starts asking the obvious questions, Now, who did 0:42:31.719 --> 0:42:34.240 what and where? What shows? Can you tell me dates? 0:42:34.239 --> 0:42:37.320 Can you tell me spots, locations, venues? Who owns that venue? 0:42:37.320 --> 0:42:37.960 All the questions. 0:42:38.040 --> 0:42:38.320 Yeah. 0:42:38.360 --> 0:42:41.000 Once he gets to the bottom of Lavelle's scam and 0:42:41.120 --> 0:42:44.520 basically tracking the progress of this fake Aretha Franklin, Retha 0:42:44.560 --> 0:42:47.640 Franklin's real lawyer phones the Marion County Prosecutor and informs 0:42:47.680 --> 0:42:50.560 them of what all he's learned. The Prosecutor's like, yeah, 0:42:50.600 --> 0:42:53.320 we gotta Retha Franklin in town. My wife's a big 0:42:53.360 --> 0:42:55.200 fan and we got tickets to go see her at 0:42:55.200 --> 0:42:59.759 the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion and wreatha. Lawyer's like, what, well, 0:42:59.800 --> 0:43:01.759 I got some bad news for your wife. 0:43:01.680 --> 0:43:01.759 Ye. 0:43:02.200 --> 0:43:04.600 Now the prosecutor he springs into action. He phones the 0:43:04.680 --> 0:43:08.120 chief investigator over at the Marion County Sheriff's office. He 0:43:08.200 --> 0:43:11.400 tells his chief investigators, basically the chief of detectives, he 0:43:11.520 --> 0:43:14.879 wants the impostor arrested and locked up post haste. Yeah. 0:43:14.920 --> 0:43:17.440 The chief investigators like, you ain't got to tell me twice? 0:43:17.520 --> 0:43:21.640 When and where is this show. So this particular investigator, 0:43:21.640 --> 0:43:24.480 he wasn't your typical small town southern sheriff. In fact, 0:43:24.560 --> 0:43:26.840 he and his partner were both known to wear fancy 0:43:26.920 --> 0:43:29.960 suits and kind of fancy themselves as investigators as opposed 0:43:29.960 --> 0:43:33.000 to sheriff detectives. And basically what I'm saying is, Elizabeth, 0:43:33.040 --> 0:43:36.040 these two men had notions. Yeah, they got in swollen 0:43:36.080 --> 0:43:39.160 heads already after they've been interviewed for like Detective magazine. 0:43:39.239 --> 0:43:41.719 And then also they provided security for Elvis when he 0:43:41.760 --> 0:43:44.440 was in No callis shooting a movie like they know show. 0:43:44.280 --> 0:43:45.640 Business now yeah, yea. 0:43:46.440 --> 0:43:49.280 So they told the Marion County prosecutor, don't you worry, Hoss, 0:43:49.640 --> 0:43:52.680 We'll go get justice for Aretha Franklin. And now before 0:43:52.719 --> 0:43:54.200 I tell you about that, Elizabeth, I'd like you to 0:43:54.280 --> 0:43:55.799 do me one favor. I'd like you to close your 0:43:55.840 --> 0:44:08.959 eyes and I'd like you to picture it. It's sound 0:44:09.080 --> 0:44:12.920 check at the Okalla's Club Valley Nightclub. Lavelle Hardy is 0:44:13.040 --> 0:44:15.400 running the scene. Meanwhile, the star of the show, the 0:44:15.440 --> 0:44:18.200 One and only A Retha Franklin, is running through her 0:44:18.239 --> 0:44:22.400 plans set for her upcoming show. At the moment, you, Elizabeth, 0:44:22.400 --> 0:44:24.640 are behind the bar since you're a bartender at the 0:44:24.640 --> 0:44:28.040 club Valley Nightclub. You're pertending to get ready for the 0:44:28.120 --> 0:44:30.560 night to come, but really you're just watching this show 0:44:30.760 --> 0:44:33.440 and sound check. Normally you wouldn't show up to work 0:44:33.480 --> 0:44:35.400 so early to get ready for the Saturday night. But 0:44:35.480 --> 0:44:38.560 how often is Aretha Franklin in your nightclub? As you 0:44:38.640 --> 0:44:41.399 towel off highball glasses and arrange them for the night's 0:44:41.480 --> 0:44:44.719 drinking to come, you watch Aretha Franklin sing her song. 0:44:44.920 --> 0:44:47.200 Think her voice is strong, just like it is on 0:44:47.239 --> 0:44:50.160 the albums. Even for just a sound check, it sounds 0:44:50.320 --> 0:44:55.279 amazing and it's just you, her, her papadored manager, and 0:44:55.320 --> 0:44:58.360 the club owner. It's a super intimate setting. What a 0:44:58.520 --> 0:45:00.920 rare treat you think this makes up for all the 0:45:01.040 --> 0:45:03.560 nights you have to mop up puke and clean the 0:45:03.600 --> 0:45:06.279 toilet after a long Saturday night. It's all worth it 0:45:06.360 --> 0:45:10.080 for these moments. After Aretha finishes her song, the club 0:45:10.160 --> 0:45:13.440 falls quiet. Her pompadored manager steps up on stage and 0:45:13.480 --> 0:45:18.040 whispers some notes in her Now you can't hear what 0:45:18.040 --> 0:45:20.759 he's saying. Instead, you hear a knock at the club door. 0:45:21.000 --> 0:45:24.720 It's a loud, insistent knock. It sounds like it's the police. 0:45:25.080 --> 0:45:27.040 When the club owner gets up, checks that he has 0:45:27.040 --> 0:45:29.120 his gun on him, he walks over to the door. 0:45:29.440 --> 0:45:32.520 His shoes sound against the club's hard floor, and then 0:45:32.640 --> 0:45:35.360 he opens the door. It turns out it is the cops. 0:45:35.760 --> 0:45:38.319 Two detectives flash their badgers and then push their way 0:45:38.320 --> 0:45:41.160 into the empty night club. On stage, Aretha and her 0:45:41.160 --> 0:45:44.520 manager both freeze in place. They both look about as 0:45:44.560 --> 0:45:46.239 guilty as a kid who's caught with his hand in 0:45:46.239 --> 0:45:49.800 the cookie jar. The cops announce, don't move a muscle. 0:45:49.880 --> 0:45:53.640 You're both under arrest. What the hell you think to yourself, 0:45:53.640 --> 0:45:56.560 What could Aretha Franklin done to be treated like this? 0:45:57.080 --> 0:46:00.000 The cops frisk them both. You watch as the cops 0:46:00.120 --> 0:46:02.720 pull seven grand out of the soup pockets of Aretha's 0:46:02.719 --> 0:46:07.280 pompadoored manager. After that, outcome the handcuffs. He and Aretha 0:46:07.360 --> 0:46:09.960 are both handcuffed, and then purp walked out to the 0:46:10.000 --> 0:46:13.360 waiting police car. You follow behind the officers, not quite 0:46:13.400 --> 0:46:16.440 believing this is happening. You watch as the two sheriff 0:46:16.520 --> 0:46:20.520 detectives shove the pompador manager and then Aretha Franklin into 0:46:20.520 --> 0:46:22.960 the back seat of the police car. It's a brand 0:46:22.960 --> 0:46:27.080 new sixty nine, Pontiac. The car is clean, clean. Aretha 0:46:27.160 --> 0:46:29.960 sits in the back end. She stares back at you. 0:46:29.960 --> 0:46:32.439 You mutter to yourself, that is no way to treat 0:46:32.480 --> 0:46:34.319 the Queen of soul. And then you hear the club 0:46:34.320 --> 0:46:37.200 owners say, you idiot. I don't know who that is, 0:46:37.239 --> 0:46:41.680 but it ain't Nowheretha Franklin. So there you go, Elizabeth, 0:46:41.680 --> 0:46:44.120 You're a moment with the show. So when they were 0:46:44.200 --> 0:46:45.680 doing it was a sound check before they did the 0:46:45.680 --> 0:46:48.240 big forty two seats. She just needed somewhere to perform, 0:46:48.320 --> 0:46:50.399 so you leaned on some venue like maybe we'll come 0:46:50.440 --> 0:46:53.680 back here and do a show for you. Now. After 0:46:53.800 --> 0:46:56.799 Lavelle and then Miss Vicki Jones were both arrested and 0:46:56.800 --> 0:47:00.520 booked for their fake Aretha Franklin show, this story off 0:47:00.560 --> 0:47:04.520 it leads to national headlines oh really. As the Flint 0:47:04.600 --> 0:47:07.840 Journal of Flint, Michigan reported on January twenty third, nineteen 0:47:07.880 --> 0:47:10.960 sixty nine, from a syndicated story by the Associated Press, 0:47:11.040 --> 0:47:15.279 quote dateline oh call of Florida. An itinerant male hairdresser 0:47:15.400 --> 0:47:18.440 was jailed Wednesday after police say he staged a quote 0:47:18.480 --> 0:47:22.560 Aretha Franklin show by forcing a penniless Virginia girl to 0:47:22.600 --> 0:47:25.000 pose on stage as the twenty thousand a week soul 0:47:25.080 --> 0:47:26.200 singer from Detroit. 0:47:27.040 --> 0:47:29.520 Well, at least it's there casting it that in the 0:47:29.600 --> 0:47:31.640 right lights. Yeah, not an accomplice totally. 0:47:31.880 --> 0:47:33.920 The story goes on from there to report that quote. 0:47:34.040 --> 0:47:36.879 Lavelle Hardy, twenty four, of New York was booked into 0:47:37.000 --> 0:47:39.680 Marion County Jail under a five hundred dollars bond on 0:47:39.800 --> 0:47:43.440 false advertising charges after he bought ads for the Aretha 0:47:43.560 --> 0:47:46.479 Franklin Review for Thursday night at a four thousand seat 0:47:46.520 --> 0:47:51.279 exposition hall. Meanwhile, when the Marion County Prosecutor speaks with 0:47:51.360 --> 0:47:54.600 the miss Vicki Jones aka Mary Jane Jones, yeah, she 0:47:54.760 --> 0:47:57.480 tells them about how she'd borrowed money to come to 0:47:57.560 --> 0:48:00.200 Florida and that she thought she'd be performing un under 0:48:00.200 --> 0:48:02.960 her own name, but instead Lavelle. He threatened her, He 0:48:03.000 --> 0:48:04.719 kept her in motel rooms, he was feeding her just 0:48:04.760 --> 0:48:07.359 two hamburgers a day. It all becomes clear to this 0:48:07.400 --> 0:48:10.160 prosecutor that, as you've noticed, she's the victim. She and 0:48:10.239 --> 0:48:10.600 a purp. 0:48:10.719 --> 0:48:10.919 Yeah. 0:48:11.160 --> 0:48:13.240 So, in a story I found from the Tampa Bay Times, 0:48:13.320 --> 0:48:17.000 the Marion County prosecutor told reporters how quote, I'm sure 0:48:17.040 --> 0:48:19.359 glad we found out about this thing. There are going 0:48:19.440 --> 0:48:22.040 to be thousands of people from all over the Southeast 0:48:22.040 --> 0:48:25.200 for the show. She couldn't have fooled all those people. No, 0:48:25.360 --> 0:48:27.400 tell them what they would have done to the pavilion, 0:48:27.760 --> 0:48:29.319 and it could have been far worse when she got 0:48:29.320 --> 0:48:30.600 to Tampa or Jacksonville. 0:48:31.160 --> 0:48:32.000 Yeah, they don't play. 0:48:32.200 --> 0:48:35.920 No think of the pavilion people. Where are we going 0:48:35.960 --> 0:48:38.240 to sell our livestock if something happens to the pavilion. 0:48:38.320 --> 0:48:41.200 We we have a full schedule, yes exactly. We got 0:48:41.320 --> 0:48:42.160 nowhere to divert. 0:48:42.360 --> 0:48:44.719 We got a truck pull on Sunday, Yes exactly. So 0:48:44.800 --> 0:48:47.160 he tells reporters that he's decided to file charges after 0:48:47.239 --> 0:48:49.840 quote the real a rit the Franklin agreed to testify 0:48:49.840 --> 0:48:52.960 in criminal court here stop was willing to come down. 0:48:53.080 --> 0:48:54.839 Just wanted to get to get her down. 0:48:55.000 --> 0:48:57.359 Oh my god. Yes, he was like, what, okay, book 0:48:57.440 --> 0:48:59.879 the show, I mean booked the trial. So as one 0:48:59.880 --> 0:49:02.239 of the sheriff's detectives did point out, quote, if it 0:49:02.320 --> 0:49:04.600 was a drag, Aretha would have gotten mad, but this 0:49:04.680 --> 0:49:07.160 girl went over. So he's basically saying like, that's why 0:49:07.160 --> 0:49:10.120 Aretha and two pissed. The homegirl did her right. So 0:49:10.120 --> 0:49:13.200 Elizabeth the Clia Soul wasn't mad at Miss Vicki Jones 0:49:13.239 --> 0:49:15.600 for pretending to be her. She was only mad at 0:49:15.600 --> 0:49:20.000 the itinerant male hairdresser, Nobelle Hardy. Now, in fact, Aretha 0:49:20.080 --> 0:49:23.040 told Jet Magazine quote he ought to be prosecuted, not 0:49:23.120 --> 0:49:26.560 that girl. Right, go on, Aretha. However, this wasn't up 0:49:26.600 --> 0:49:28.919 to Aretha to decide. That was up to the job 0:49:28.960 --> 0:49:31.239 of the Marion County prosecutor, and he still needed to 0:49:31.280 --> 0:49:34.080 be fully convinced, because anybody can say anything right. So 0:49:34.200 --> 0:49:36.080 to prove her side of the story, he asked, Miss 0:49:36.200 --> 0:49:38.880 Vicki Jones, you sing from me, let me hear you 0:49:38.920 --> 0:49:41.959 are Aretha. So when Miss Vicki Jones opens her mouth, 0:49:42.040 --> 0:49:45.000 she hits him with her natural talent. And after he 0:49:45.000 --> 0:49:48.560 heard her sing, this Marion County Prosecutor concluded, this girl 0:49:48.640 --> 0:49:52.360 is a sanger. She is terrific. Just singing without a combo, 0:49:52.520 --> 0:49:55.120 she showed she had a distinctive style all her own. 0:49:55.440 --> 0:49:57.520 What was the point of that demissu. 0:49:58.320 --> 0:50:00.799 So she convinces him that she is the and the 0:50:00.880 --> 0:50:04.319 lavelle had conned this simple girl from rural Virginia into 0:50:04.360 --> 0:50:07.480 doing this Florida long con and as the Marion County 0:50:07.520 --> 0:50:10.960 prosecutor told reporters, she didn't have a red scent. She 0:50:11.040 --> 0:50:13.239 had four children at home and no way to get 0:50:13.239 --> 0:50:16.320 to them. We were thoroughly convinced that Vicky was forced 0:50:16.320 --> 0:50:18.560 into being Aretha Frankel, and it was obvious she was 0:50:18.600 --> 0:50:21.080 a victim. So now, as a result, Miss Vicky Jones 0:50:21.120 --> 0:50:23.840 was placed in protective custody and she faces no charges. 0:50:24.560 --> 0:50:27.359 Then when she's released from the courthouse, she was met 0:50:27.360 --> 0:50:30.080 by this gaggle reporters because it's now a national news 0:50:30.160 --> 0:50:32.000 story and they all want to get their angle. So 0:50:32.120 --> 0:50:35.839 Vicky Jones tells the gathered newsman, the judge said, I 0:50:36.000 --> 0:50:38.000 really sounded like her. I know I can use a 0:50:38.000 --> 0:50:40.759 little training in singing jazz and the blues, but I 0:50:40.800 --> 0:50:42.600 feel I can go all the way. I don't believe 0:50:42.600 --> 0:50:44.759 there is such a word as camped. So she's like 0:50:44.760 --> 0:50:46.720 trying to sell us up, like could we get another 0:50:46.840 --> 0:50:49.439 little stage for me now? As for her con job 0:50:49.480 --> 0:50:52.319 as Aretha, she also told reporters that quote, I'm not her, 0:50:52.560 --> 0:50:54.560 I don't look like her, I don't dress like her, 0:50:54.560 --> 0:50:57.040 and I should don't have her money and in an 0:50:57.080 --> 0:51:00.440 exclusive interview with The Orlando Sentinel. She later said, I 0:51:00.520 --> 0:51:03.400 want the truth told. I have never met her Beta Franklin, 0:51:03.440 --> 0:51:06.120 and I have never seen her except on television. So 0:51:06.280 --> 0:51:09.000 at this point, you know, Areta doesn't come back into 0:51:09.040 --> 0:51:10.720 the story. She doesn't come and meet her or anything. 0:51:11.280 --> 0:51:13.120 At least kicked her down some money to get home. 0:51:13.200 --> 0:51:14.960 That would be nice, right, But this isn't the end 0:51:15.000 --> 0:51:17.200 of this strange tale of impersonation. Because I have good 0:51:17.200 --> 0:51:18.080 news for you, Elizabeth. 0:51:18.160 --> 0:51:18.520 I love it. 0:51:18.640 --> 0:51:20.960 This story has a happy ending, thank you. You see, 0:51:21.000 --> 0:51:23.480 when Miss Vicky Jones stepped out of the Marion County Courthouse, 0:51:23.480 --> 0:51:25.720 it wasn't just reporters waiting for her. There was also 0:51:25.760 --> 0:51:29.280 a self made millionaire named Ray Green. He was smitten 0:51:29.320 --> 0:51:31.680 with her, smitting with her story. He wanted to offer 0:51:31.719 --> 0:51:35.360 her a legitimate show business place, a legit contract, and 0:51:35.400 --> 0:51:37.319 he paid her five hundred dollars to get her back 0:51:37.320 --> 0:51:40.000 home to Virginia. And then he offered to be her 0:51:40.200 --> 0:51:42.839 managing agent and her advisor, and he booked her a 0:51:42.880 --> 0:51:47.000 real deal, sold out to her all across Florida, performing 0:51:47.280 --> 0:51:52.399 as herself. Miss Vicky Joneses then enter jazz legend Duke 0:51:52.440 --> 0:51:58.160 Ellington Yes, just weeks after her arrest. On February eighth, 0:51:58.239 --> 0:52:01.640 nineteen sixty nine, The ord Lando Sentinel reported that quote 0:52:02.040 --> 0:52:06.080 erstwhile Aretha Franklin impersonator Mary Jane Jones performed under her 0:52:06.080 --> 0:52:09.120 own stage name here Vicky Jones with band leader Duke 0:52:09.160 --> 0:52:13.200 Ellington and his band Stop Yes. Her long strange road 0:52:13.239 --> 0:52:14.640 to fame it finally paid off. 0:52:14.680 --> 0:52:15.120 Wow. 0:52:15.239 --> 0:52:17.480 When she stepped out on stage with Duke Ellington, he 0:52:17.520 --> 0:52:21.080 told his audience at the Civic Auditorium in Sandford, Florida, quote, 0:52:21.160 --> 0:52:23.319 I want to introduce you to a Florida girl who 0:52:23.360 --> 0:52:26.439 made national headlines two weeks ago. Now he was wrong 0:52:26.440 --> 0:52:29.000 about the Florida her part, right, But who's gonna correct 0:52:29.040 --> 0:52:31.279 Duke Ellington exactly? So on stage he gave her like 0:52:31.280 --> 0:52:33.440 an avuncular kiss on the cheek to like, you know, 0:52:33.560 --> 0:52:37.480 basically denote her being special. And this photographer snapped photos 0:52:37.480 --> 0:52:40.319 of this like star making moment. And back to the 0:52:40.440 --> 0:52:43.600 Orlando Sentinel, which reported that she appeared in an expensive 0:52:43.640 --> 0:52:47.320 looking yellow ankle length evening gown and without a wig. 0:52:47.960 --> 0:52:51.719 Oh fashion please. All of a sudden, so with this band, 0:52:51.920 --> 0:52:54.279 Duke Ellington's band begins to play the song every day, 0:52:54.360 --> 0:52:57.040 I have the blues. Miss Jones stood before that microphone 0:52:57.040 --> 0:52:59.719 and began to sing the opening lyrics, speaking of bad 0:52:59.800 --> 0:53:02.720 luck in trouble. Well, you know I've had my share, 0:53:03.280 --> 0:53:06.680 and the crowd was transfixed, mesmerized by her natural talent. 0:53:06.800 --> 0:53:09.319 You know, the song choice and you damned to share 0:53:09.360 --> 0:53:11.800 a better believe they knew the blues she was singing 0:53:12.000 --> 0:53:14.600 was real, so her voice it was basically as striking 0:53:14.640 --> 0:53:17.160 and as authentic as like a clap of thunder. Right, 0:53:17.200 --> 0:53:19.600 They're like, oh, you cannot deny this. And as the 0:53:19.680 --> 0:53:22.759 Orlando set and also reported quote, Ellington said he is 0:53:22.800 --> 0:53:25.920 considering giving miss Jones the chance of a lifetime, hiring 0:53:26.120 --> 0:53:29.680 her on for a six month contract. The very next month, 0:53:29.680 --> 0:53:32.239 in March of sixty nine, the cover of Jet magazine 0:53:32.239 --> 0:53:36.560 featured in Miss Vicki Jones cover, Jet Star was Born, 0:53:36.960 --> 0:53:39.360 and she told Jet Magazine it was so exciting just 0:53:39.400 --> 0:53:41.399 to be in Duke's company. But he didn't know how 0:53:41.440 --> 0:53:44.040 I sing, and I didn't know how he play. For 0:53:44.160 --> 0:53:46.560 his part, Duke Ellington corrected that because he said of 0:53:46.600 --> 0:53:49.320 Miss Vicki Jones, she's a good soul singer. But he 0:53:49.360 --> 0:53:51.200 also said that the obvious part out loud. It was 0:53:51.200 --> 0:53:54.439 time that she breaked the Aretha imitation and she needed 0:53:54.440 --> 0:53:57.000 to have like her own right now. Months later, still 0:53:57.040 --> 0:54:00.319 following her story, national newspapers report on her progres rest 0:54:00.400 --> 0:54:04.880 to stardom in the Progress Index newspaper. Ironically, on May eleventh, 0:54:04.920 --> 0:54:07.440 nineteen sixty nine, the paper reported that Duke Ellington had 0:54:07.440 --> 0:54:12.200 written six songs for an upcoming album for Miss Jones. Yeah. 0:54:12.200 --> 0:54:14.640 In an interview with the paper, Vicki Jones said, it's 0:54:14.680 --> 0:54:17.240 gonna be hard, but nothing's gonna stop me from making 0:54:17.239 --> 0:54:19.759 it as a singer, and she added that quote, I 0:54:19.800 --> 0:54:22.759 want to do songs strictly about me, how I got 0:54:22.800 --> 0:54:25.719 started and how I love. Everything I write will be 0:54:25.760 --> 0:54:28.239 based on my life. I think people will be interested. 0:54:28.520 --> 0:54:30.719 I love the way I am. I like the many 0:54:30.760 --> 0:54:32.600 different people I meet. I want to take time to 0:54:32.600 --> 0:54:34.960 see the beauty of this world. Because remember, just from 0:54:35.040 --> 0:54:38.160 rural Virginia. Now she's like about to go national tours, 0:54:38.360 --> 0:54:41.080 which is exactly what she did. She toured America singing 0:54:41.120 --> 0:54:44.000 as herself, and the people loved her. She played sold 0:54:44.000 --> 0:54:47.760 out shows not just in Florida now, but in New York, Chicago, Detroit, 0:54:47.960 --> 0:54:51.880 Las Vegas. She would arrive in a chauffeured limousine, just 0:54:51.920 --> 0:54:55.280 like Aretha Franklin. She was now earning fifteen hundred dollars 0:54:55.440 --> 0:54:58.120 a night for her shows. It wasn't exactly Retha Franklin money, 0:54:58.160 --> 0:55:00.719 but it was damn good money for nineteen sixty that's 0:55:00.719 --> 0:55:04.360 good money for now night totally. In fact, she became 0:55:04.440 --> 0:55:07.480 so popular that now there was a Vicky Jones impersonator 0:55:07.520 --> 0:55:11.040 playing shows pretending to be her. Hit the story at 0:55:11.080 --> 0:55:13.720 Gumpull Circle. Now she was the star for the imitator. 0:55:14.480 --> 0:55:16.719 And when she heard about this pretender making money off 0:55:16.719 --> 0:55:19.600 of her name, Vicky Jones said, she stopped now. But 0:55:19.719 --> 0:55:22.239 I don't hold anything against her. I know how it 0:55:22.360 --> 0:55:25.680 was to be hungry without any money, supporting a family, 0:55:25.840 --> 0:55:28.440 and to be separated from my husband. Now this is 0:55:28.480 --> 0:55:31.200 all pre generous and gracious of her. But after a 0:55:31.320 --> 0:55:33.760 year on the road playing sold out shows, she returned 0:55:33.800 --> 0:55:35.839 home to Virginia, and she found that she missed her 0:55:35.880 --> 0:55:38.759 family and her young boys needed her back home. They 0:55:38.800 --> 0:55:40.520 were too much of a handful for her mother to 0:55:40.560 --> 0:55:43.200 take care of, so she decided to quit the stage. 0:55:43.280 --> 0:55:45.560 She walked away from her dreams of stardom, and she 0:55:45.680 --> 0:55:48.319 never went back. She only ever played She only ever 0:55:48.480 --> 0:55:50.800 from this point on performed songs for her four boys, 0:55:51.040 --> 0:55:53.320 and for them she would occasionally belt out un Aretha 0:55:53.360 --> 0:55:56.480 Franklin song. But she also kept a framed copy of 0:55:56.480 --> 0:55:58.840 that March nineteen sixty nine Jet magazine with her on 0:55:58.880 --> 0:56:02.200 the cover. It was a very tangible reminder of her 0:56:02.320 --> 0:56:05.279 year as a bona fide star, a real live soul 0:56:05.320 --> 0:56:08.040 singer who played with Duke Ellington and performed for Soldau 0:56:08.120 --> 0:56:09.239 shows across the nation. 0:56:09.360 --> 0:56:10.080 It's incredible. 0:56:11.440 --> 0:56:13.919 Oh god, So what's a ridiculous takeaway here? 0:56:14.480 --> 0:56:17.960 Then? That that was a wild ride, that was you know, 0:56:18.000 --> 0:56:22.399 the ups and downs. No, I you know, I think 0:56:24.000 --> 0:56:26.960 one of the things we see this with like art forgers, 0:56:27.000 --> 0:56:30.440 that they're very, very talented if they'd only just do 0:56:30.520 --> 0:56:32.759 their own thing. And that's like with her, you know. 0:56:33.520 --> 0:56:35.719 And it's just with the art world. With music, it's 0:56:35.760 --> 0:56:37.640 hard to break into it if you don't have the 0:56:37.719 --> 0:56:39.200 right connections. 0:56:39.880 --> 0:56:41.560 Because you're in some world Virginia. 0:56:41.719 --> 0:56:44.200 Yeah, yeah, And so you know, it's a shame that 0:56:44.280 --> 0:56:47.080 she wasn't able to from the jump just get the 0:56:47.120 --> 0:56:51.440 recognition with her own talents. But I love that she 0:56:51.840 --> 0:56:53.960 at long last got it. And then got to like 0:56:54.040 --> 0:56:57.360 go out on top of everything she wanted. What's your 0:56:57.440 --> 0:56:58.360 ridiculous takeaway? 0:56:59.400 --> 0:57:02.120 Mine is Lavelle Hardy. I mean, like, how do you 0:57:02.200 --> 0:57:03.799 not see him coming? You know what I mean? 0:57:03.840 --> 0:57:08.239 He's like twenty four years Yeah, I tant from New. 0:57:08.160 --> 0:57:10.799 York City walking around here for like rural Virginia telling 0:57:10.800 --> 0:57:14.680 people I can make you money. I'm telling you. So 0:57:14.880 --> 0:57:16.959 that's just mine. It's like, come on now, you gotta 0:57:17.000 --> 0:57:19.760 be suspicious of the Lavelle Harties. Oh yeah, so you 0:57:19.840 --> 0:57:20.960 in the mood for a talkback? 0:57:21.160 --> 0:57:21.520 I am. 0:57:21.680 --> 0:57:23.560 Let's watch this down with a good one, producer. Can 0:57:23.600 --> 0:57:28.640 you hit us up with one? Oh? 0:57:28.760 --> 0:57:30.240 Oh my god? 0:57:33.520 --> 0:57:39.240 I love you, hey, Zaren and Elizabeth. You know what's 0:57:39.320 --> 0:57:41.640 ridiculous how much I love your podcast. You know what 0:57:41.680 --> 0:57:44.520 else is ridiculous. I have an acquaintance who once borrowed 0:57:44.520 --> 0:57:47.760 a large plastic cow from a certain chicken establishment's billboard 0:57:47.840 --> 0:57:50.440 and placed it in their local church's nativity scene. The 0:57:50.480 --> 0:57:52.440 restaurant press charges, so now they have to tell that 0:57:52.480 --> 0:57:55.080 story every time they interview with for a job. This 0:57:55.160 --> 0:57:57.000 is Sarah from Texas and I love what you guys do. 0:57:57.120 --> 0:58:01.800 Have a good one, Yes, Sarah from Texas having to 0:58:01.840 --> 0:58:04.240 explain a stolen cow every time you want a new 0:58:04.320 --> 0:58:05.280 job to put. 0:58:05.160 --> 0:58:08.640 It into it. You're not stealing from your adding too. Yeah, 0:58:08.640 --> 0:58:11.920 but yeah, I love that. Yeah, Oh about that arrest. 0:58:12.000 --> 0:58:14.120 Tell it's about a time you once had to solve 0:58:14.280 --> 0:58:17.880 a difficult crisis. Well, I stole a cow one time 0:58:17.920 --> 0:58:20.520 from a local fast food joint. Excuse me, everyone in 0:58:20.600 --> 0:58:24.120 nativity scene involved, don't worry. Well, as you can say, 0:58:24.240 --> 0:58:27.160 we always love to talk back. Yes, so hey, go 0:58:27.280 --> 0:58:29.400 download the iHeart app, leave a talk back and maybe 0:58:29.400 --> 0:58:31.960 you'll hear your voice here. And you can also always 0:58:32.000 --> 0:58:34.880 find us online at Ridiculous Crime on ig and in 0:58:35.000 --> 0:58:38.360 Blue Sky, and we have our account Ridiculous Crime Pod 0:58:38.520 --> 0:58:42.439 on YouTube. Go like, subscribe, tell your friends, and please 0:58:42.480 --> 0:58:44.439 don't be shy leave a comment. We do read them. 0:58:44.680 --> 0:58:48.400 We also have our website Ridiculous Crime dot com. Elizabeth. 0:58:48.440 --> 0:58:51.640 We were just nominated for the World Wildlife Funds annual 0:58:51.720 --> 0:58:54.920 Penguin of the Year People's Choice Award. Yes, we're the 0:58:54.960 --> 0:58:57.400 first non penguin to be nominated. Huge honor for us. 0:58:57.680 --> 0:58:59.800 Fingers crossed with just luck and email us if you 0:58:59.880 --> 0:59:02.439 like if you want at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot 0:59:02.440 --> 0:59:05.480 com the interns enjoy read Nos two and that we 0:59:05.520 --> 0:59:08.160 do as well. Thank you for listening. We will catch 0:59:08.200 --> 0:59:08.960 you next. 0:59:09.240 --> 0:59:09.640 Crime. 0:59:14.680 --> 0:59:18.680 Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, producer, 0:59:18.800 --> 0:59:23.040 edited by Jack White's favorite Brian Eno, impersonator Dave Cousten, 0:59:23.280 --> 0:59:27.600 and starring Annalise Rutger possibly as Judith. Research is by 0:59:27.600 --> 0:59:31.440 Marissa I Am not James Brown. Our theme song is 0:59:31.520 --> 0:59:34.840 by the world's best Milli Vanilli tribute act Thomas Lee 0:59:35.000 --> 0:59:38.280 and Travis Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by Botany five 0:59:38.320 --> 0:59:43.120 hundred guest Haarn makeup by Sparkleshop and mister Andre executive producers. 0:59:43.160 --> 0:59:45.840 I've been you know I do a mean Marky, Mark 0:59:46.160 --> 0:59:49.920 Boland and Noel You should see My Funky Bunch Brown 0:59:55.040 --> 0:59:59.120 REDI Why say it one more time? 1:00:00.120 --> 1:00:00.840 Yes Crime. 1:00:01.840 --> 1:00:05.200 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts 1:00:05.240 --> 1:00:08.840 from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 1:00:08.840 --> 1:00:10.320 you listen to your favorite shows.