Speaker 1: Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Dutton's Aaron Burnette. That's you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, what's it?
Speaker 2: I got a question for you? Yes, do you know
Speaker 2: what's ridiculous?
Speaker 3: I do know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: What close your eyes? My eyes are closed.
Speaker 3: You're sitting in a buffalo wild wings Okay, just just
Speaker 3: going to town on some wild wings. Okay, I mean
Speaker 3: I assume that's what they saw.
Speaker 2: Theresays.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you're just like, oh, you're just putting the
Speaker 3: herd on.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: And then you look up and there's a bodecious babe okay,
Speaker 3: and she's she's one hundred percent real American beef saring.
Speaker 2: Whoa this is?
Speaker 3: She comes over and she's got like this like beautiful
Speaker 3: lipstick on, and she leans in and she says to you,
Speaker 3: I want to put you on a one way trip
Speaker 3: to Flavor Town.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Now, is this like the best fantasy you've ever had?
Speaker 2: Totally? I mean it's just like, this is pretty much
Speaker 2: how I dream of restaurant flirtations.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Well, you know what this could be real? Really, yeah,
Speaker 3: because there are a lot of trashy ladies out there,
Speaker 3: but also because Guy Fieri, yes, teamed up God with
Speaker 3: Revlon what to come up with a Guy Fieri inspired
Speaker 3: lip bomb.
Speaker 2: I want to see the dart board where these things
Speaker 2: come up with. They just put Revlon on there and
Speaker 2: they're throwing darts, Guy fiery, and yeah, we hit like
Speaker 2: the dice they rolled. They rolled sets of dicetnerships.
Speaker 3: You know. Guy was just like, I love my lips
Speaker 3: gloss my wife recommends, so they get together. It's called
Speaker 3: Flavor Town, of course, and it's coral colored, which I
Speaker 3: always feel like, if you want to tell the world
Speaker 3: you're crazy, put on coral colored lipstick, but do it
Speaker 3: outside the lines of your lips. In some parts that's
Speaker 3: the universal like she's not all there. That's why I
Speaker 3: keep some I don't wear lipstick, but if I have to,
Speaker 3: like it's signified.
Speaker 2: Like very Reno casino, like this girl's not right you
Speaker 2: put that on?
Speaker 3: It is It does not taste like any kind of sauce.
Speaker 2: Oh there's that.
Speaker 3: It doesn't taste like barbecue sauce. It doesn't taste like
Speaker 3: it's just it has a vanilla scent and a buttery texture. Sure,
Speaker 3: but it's yeah, it's like a coral color.
Speaker 2: Trying to play along with this mashup and trying to
Speaker 2: get ahead of it.
Speaker 3: Saren, it doesn't stop there, God damn. So it has
Speaker 3: like you can only get it from Revlon dot com.
Speaker 3: Like you can't have it.
Speaker 2: In the stores. Why would you.
Speaker 3: It would be shoplifted immediately, like they'd all be gone.
Speaker 3: But it comes with stickers so you can customize that
Speaker 3: outside of your lip bombay and the container and like
Speaker 3: one of them is like something says Boss of Sauce
Speaker 3: and then like flames. So next time you're a Buffalo
Speaker 3: Wild Wings getting.
Speaker 2: My hands from that guy Fieri.
Speaker 3: Good yeah, Well, and you there are women who are
Speaker 3: trying to induce the male gaze because we know that
Speaker 3: every single man on the planet loves chicken wings.
Speaker 2: Totally and football and a bright shiny lip gloss and shiny.
Speaker 3: Lip gloss or you know what, if you want to
Speaker 3: wear it to Buffalo Wild Wings.
Speaker 2: I might be interesting or it would look good on me, It.
Speaker 3: Would actually be really complimentary. It would that would be
Speaker 3: bad insummation your honor. That's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: I'll give you that.
Speaker 3: I know you will.
Speaker 2: We're going to score that ridiculous. Thank you, Elizabeth. While
Speaker 2: we're at it. I got something for you that's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's this saying you'll hear people refer to from
Speaker 2: time to time. It's usually attributed to Oscar Wilde. The
Speaker 2: aphorism goes, imitation is the highest form of flattery. You've
Speaker 2: heard that, right, it is zaren it is now. It
Speaker 2: wasn't Oscar wild who said that. He actually said imitation
Speaker 2: is the student seriest form of flattery that mediocrity can
Speaker 2: pay to greatness.
Speaker 3: Well that's even better, which is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a much fuller comment. But he was actually
Speaker 2: not the one to coin the saying. Originally, he borrowed
Speaker 2: it from this man named Charles Caleb Colton, who had
Speaker 2: also borrowed it from an earlier version that dates back
Speaker 2: to seventeen fourteen. And the earliest version is probably my favorite.
Speaker 2: It is imitation is a kind of artless flattery.
Speaker 3: Oh that's good too.
Speaker 2: I think that one says it the best.
Speaker 3: I think this just shows that there's nothing new under
Speaker 3: the sun.
Speaker 2: No, a lot of imitation in this flattery. Elizabeth, Today,
Speaker 2: I want to tell you about the criminal and ridiculous
Speaker 2: dangers of artless flattery.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, this is ridiculous crime a podcast about absurd
Speaker 4: and outrageous capers, heists, and cons.
Speaker 2: It's always n nine percent murder free and one hundred
Speaker 2: percent ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Read ridiculous, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: To start this story out and to keep things somewhat modern,
Speaker 2: today's first story involves friend of the show, Justin Bieber.
Speaker 3: Yeah, buddy, Yeah.
Speaker 2: So Justin Bieber. How does he come into this great question? Elizabeth? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm guessing you may or may not have seen the
Speaker 2: Reason headlines about Justin Bieber in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3: Uh uh, I don't really know. Like he's another one
Speaker 3: of those singers like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift. I could
Speaker 3: not name a song, not sure if I've heard one before.
Speaker 2: You've heard them, you may have. They're like an ambient
Speaker 2: noise coming out.
Speaker 3: Of I couldn't tell you the name, or like sing
Speaker 3: a bar or too. So, yeah, Justin Bieber. But you
Speaker 3: know boy doesn't like to wear a shirt.
Speaker 2: No that we do both know that about him. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 2: apparently he was in Las Vegas recently, or rather, a
Speaker 2: guy who pretended to be Justin Bieber was in Las
Speaker 2: Vegas recently.
Speaker 3: Uh huh.
Speaker 2: Now, before you get into that, you were once a
Speaker 2: Vegas local, So I wanted to ask, does this happen
Speaker 2: in Vegas often? Where you have of like folks like
Speaker 2: cover band people just losing their minds and going I
Speaker 2: am Rod Stewart, Not that I've seen claims that they're not.
Speaker 3: No, I did. I do know one one case of
Speaker 3: this which I've heard about. There was this guy who
Speaker 3: was going all over New Orleans pretending to be Ziggy Marley.
Speaker 2: You mean me and I mean you yeah, I mean yea,
Speaker 2: huh yeah. I've told this.
Speaker 3: Story before, you know what, I can never hear it
Speaker 3: enough times, Like every time I hear it, new details
Speaker 3: come out that I savor.
Speaker 2: Get it out. I was in the French Quarter in
Speaker 2: New Orleans, big tourist area, a lot of people out drinking,
Speaker 2: drinking those hurricanes, right, and this guy comes up to me.
Speaker 2: He's like, man, I didn't know you were in town.
Speaker 2: And I had to look at him real quick, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't know this guy. And I was right,
Speaker 2: I didn't know him, but he thought he knew me
Speaker 2: because he thought I was Ziggy Marley. So he buys
Speaker 2: me a free round to drinks and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: and I thanked him a Jamaican accent. Right, that's the
Speaker 2: best part.
Speaker 3: That's because if someone came up to me and said,
Speaker 3: i'd know you're in Town of Bill, neither did I,
Speaker 3: and then just go away.
Speaker 2: But you're like, of course, So I get the free
Speaker 2: round of drinks, and then he was like, I said,
Speaker 2: I thank him in the Jamaican accent. But he's not done.
Speaker 2: He now wants to show me a good time. So
Speaker 2: he takes me from bar to bar to bar and
Speaker 2: everyone I get introduced as Ziggy Marley. I do a
Speaker 2: little Jamaican at them, a little patois, throw it down.
Speaker 2: They give me free drinks. I keep going. This goes
Speaker 2: on for hours.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Of course, I get drunk as hell on those hurricanes,
Speaker 2: and then I'm like, I'm ready to go back to
Speaker 2: the hotel. So I turned to my friend is with me,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, hey, are you ready to bounce? Now?
Speaker 2: The guy who's been taking us around he hears me
Speaker 2: because I'm thinking I'm whispering, but all the hurricanes, I'm
Speaker 2: probably just talking at normal volume. He hears me he's
Speaker 2: speaking an American accent. Big mistake, huge mistake, right, and
Speaker 2: he then his eyes change his hot anger flashes across
Speaker 2: his face and he's like, you're not Ziggy Marley and
Speaker 2: I was like, no, i am not Ziggy Marley. But
Speaker 2: he grabs me and insists that I now go back
Speaker 2: and apologize to every bar that I had gotten free drinks.
Speaker 2: And so I did, and I had to go up
Speaker 2: to all these bartenders and be like, Hi, I'm a
Speaker 2: terrible person. You were so generous and I tricked you
Speaker 2: and I'm a bad person. I'm sorry for bar after
Speaker 2: bar after bar.
Speaker 4: I love.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So basically I learned firsthand that people get pissed
Speaker 2: when you trick them and pretend to be someone they love.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is they people do. They don't like it,
Speaker 3: and they're like, can you sing tomorrow people for us?
Speaker 2: And you were like, well, I'm off the clock, man,
Speaker 2: I can't remember all the lyrics right now in my patois.
Speaker 2: So this brings us to pretend justin Bieber?
Speaker 3: Yes, no, thank you for sharing that story.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 3: I love hearing it.
Speaker 2: So I got the full story of this, uh, this
Speaker 2: guy who conned Vegas and how he got to pretend
Speaker 2: he was justin Bieber until his ruse was busted. You
Speaker 2: ready to hear about not Justin Bieber. Yes. So this
Speaker 2: went down on August sixteenth of this year at the
Speaker 2: Win Las Vegas Casino. Big you know, big casino. They
Speaker 2: got a big nightclub. Everybody goes to this La based
Speaker 2: DJ named Griffin with a y. He was performing at
Speaker 2: the XS nightclub in the wind Casino. Oh Excess, Yeah exactly,
Speaker 2: there you go, yeah, club Excess man. So it was
Speaker 2: a Saturday night, crowds packed places, a bump in. DJ
Speaker 2: Griffin isn't doing his thing in the booth on the
Speaker 2: ones and twos WEEKI week the hell on When someone
Speaker 2: comes up from the casino and whispers to him, Justin
Speaker 2: Bieber's in the club. He's like what and he like
Speaker 2: takes off a headphone so you can hear him. He's like, what,
Speaker 2: what's up? And he's like and they're like, yeah, Justin
Speaker 2: Bieber's here, and he's like now, DJ Griffin, he's cool
Speaker 2: with it. He's like, oh, you know what do you
Speaker 2: want to come up here? And he's like oh. They
Speaker 2: wants to do a surprise performance sing one of his hits.
Speaker 2: Sorry it's a song. Sorry, Oh the song is called Sorry.
Speaker 3: I thought They're like sorry, he wants to perform, and
Speaker 3: he's like, yeah, I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 2: So DJ Griffin's like, yes, of course, we'd love to
Speaker 2: do a surprise show. But Justin Bieber are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: Have him come up here to the DJ booth. I'll
Speaker 2: introduce him to the crowd. Then he could take the stage,
Speaker 2: do a few songs. It'll be a dope and then
Speaker 2: that's not a direct quote, obviously, but you get the idea.
Speaker 3: So not Justin Birder's interpretation.
Speaker 2: Thank you. He rocks up to the DJ booth, He
Speaker 2: wraps up DJ Griffin. They chat real quick. Industry insider
Speaker 2: to industry insider.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: DJ Griffin tells a crowd at the club, I got
Speaker 2: a super SMA surprise for you guys, and Justin Bieber's
Speaker 2: in town. And the crowd just goes nuts, right because
Speaker 2: he's gonna do a special surprise set for them, and
Speaker 2: he's just recently dropped an album, so this all fits
Speaker 2: for them. They're like, oh my god, this is history
Speaker 2: or whatever. DJ Griffin cues up the track. Out on
Speaker 2: stage comes not Justin Bieber. He starts to do some
Speaker 2: low key Justin Bieber dance moves. He pulls up his
Speaker 2: like the hood on his hoodie because he's actually wearing
Speaker 2: a shirt in this instance, and then he busts into
Speaker 2: his song. Sorry, right, Elizabeth, this guy is good. I mean, like,
Speaker 2: I've watched the cell phone videos pit folks shot of this,
Speaker 2: and he sounds like Justin Bieber, at least to my ears.
Speaker 2: He looks like him. Right, He's got the same tattoos
Speaker 2: as Justin Bieber, oh, exact same, exactly right, he all
Speaker 2: has also has the same haircuts, got the same die
Speaker 2: job because right now he's got this blonde die job.
Speaker 3: My understanding from the various guss of subreddits that I
Speaker 3: that I lurk in that he's having Justin Bieber's having
Speaker 3: some trouble.
Speaker 2: He's had a little bit of a rough time right now.
Speaker 3: It looks like he's going. I want to think he
Speaker 3: was also like victimized all coming out and he's having
Speaker 3: a rough one, and so I think that if he
Speaker 3: does something weird, like I just want to be on
Speaker 3: stage for this exact pople aren't like, no, that's out
Speaker 3: of character, because there's no such things out him. There's
Speaker 3: such in character and reading a book maybe.
Speaker 2: So this guy not Justin Bieber, He's up there on
Speaker 2: stage and he's moving like Justin Bieber, He's roughly the
Speaker 2: same size. He fools the majority of the crowd. They're like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I can't believe this. It's all these
Speaker 2: videos that are taken. When he gets done singing sorry,
Speaker 2: he waves to the pack, crowd, leaves the stage or whatever.
Speaker 2: DJ Griffin posts this video of him on Instagram of
Speaker 2: him right after the set. Right, he's walking away saying
Speaker 2: how amazing was that? Direct quote? Right, and then someone
Speaker 2: comes up and tells him, Nah, that wasn't Justin Bieber.
Speaker 2: That was one hundred percent of fake out some pretender
Speaker 2: once again, pretty much direct quote. Yeah, you see DJ
Speaker 2: Griffin realize he just got conned. And he's not pissed though,
Speaker 2: like not like the guy in New Orleans was when
Speaker 2: I tricked him. He's just a little bummed.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: So then DJ Griffin says in the video the only
Speaker 2: indication he had that it wasn't Justin Bieber was quote,
Speaker 2: I literally thought he's put on a lot of weights
Speaker 2: since the album dropped in such a Vegas comment. Also
Speaker 2: a very la comment anyway, So I did find a
Speaker 2: tweet from someone who was there that night at club excess.
Speaker 2: They posted this on x SO trim Bean with two
Speaker 2: ends said quote, can someone explain why this is a
Speaker 2: thing going this far to look like somebody or are
Speaker 2: him and Justin working together to promote something? Not gonna lie?
Speaker 2: He almost had me fooled and clearly had all these
Speaker 2: other people fooled once I got in his face. Nah,
Speaker 2: I might come on, trim Beanieber fool, don't lie?
Speaker 3: You were texting people? Oh my god, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Exactly, I got it justin Bieber's face.
Speaker 3: That would be an interesting promotional thing for the album.
Speaker 2: I think that'd be amazing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like you know, and then up and look at us.
Speaker 3: We're talking about it.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know, and that we're helping out with
Speaker 2: the album so well. So not Justin Bieber is actually
Speaker 2: this twenty nine year old Frenchman named Dylan Deskoloso, and
Speaker 2: this is what he does for a living, Like he's
Speaker 2: been imitating Justin Bieber for years, which helps explain how
Speaker 2: he was able to con somebody in the night club, right,
Speaker 2: But how did he conn the folks that win Las Vegas?
Speaker 2: I mean a range of fake surprise show. He's got
Speaker 2: to like coordinate it with them. Remember they went up
Speaker 2: and told the DJ, well, great question, Elizabeth, I got
Speaker 2: an answer for you. For answers, we turned to Las
Speaker 2: Vegas entertainment reporter John Katz aka John Katz lamedes, yes
Speaker 2: you know this guy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no is.
Speaker 2: He reported that not Justin Bieber contacted Win Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: or rather his team did, and as John Katz put it, quote,
Speaker 2: the people who helped him execute this contacted the Wind
Speaker 2: Resort and Win nightlife executives during the day on Saturday
Speaker 2: and said, we're gonna have Justin Bieber in town. We'd
Speaker 2: like to have a table and a VIP setup. So
Speaker 2: it sounds legit to them, right, That helps sell the
Speaker 2: lie initially, but like, wouldn't the Win folks kind of
Speaker 2: sniff out of a faker if like not everything's correct,
Speaker 2: not the right email account, so forth. Well, as John
Speaker 2: Katz explains, the Win people thought that this was the
Speaker 2: real Justin Bieber. Now he's had a shuffle in his
Speaker 2: management and Justin Bieber's world is a little inconsistent to
Speaker 2: begin with, so they were saying, okay, well, you know,
Speaker 2: he just had an album drop swag last month, so
Speaker 2: they said okay, so they believe it the same thing
Speaker 2: you've said. Basically, he's going through a spell. This may
Speaker 2: be Justin Bieber, who knows. So also the not Justin Bieber,
Speaker 2: he had laid some really solid groundwork earlier in the
Speaker 2: day on social media. How well, back to John Katz,
Speaker 2: before they came over to the Wind, they were at
Speaker 2: the Las Vegas Premium outlets in Symphony Park, no stop it.
Speaker 2: They were seen there, and they also visited the Esplanade shops,
Speaker 2: and they were in the Balanciaga they were seen coming
Speaker 2: out of there. So basically exactly this not Justin Bieber
Speaker 2: pops over the factory outlets, schmoozes with the people, he
Speaker 2: poses for photos like hey, I'm also trying to get
Speaker 2: a Chanel bag on the cheap. So then that night
Speaker 2: at the club, though, after the lie gets exposed, and
Speaker 2: as John Katz tells it, quote people who were there
Speaker 2: who'd seen a performance said, this is not him, it's
Speaker 2: the saying happening. But that's not all because not Justin
Speaker 2: Bieber also had enjoyed all the perks of stardom. Remember
Speaker 2: that VIP stuff. Oh yeah, he got bottle service. So now,
Speaker 2: as John Katz explains, quote, his team would come in
Speaker 2: expecting to have been comped bottle service at their booth,
Speaker 2: and by the time he left, he had to sign
Speaker 2: off for almost ten thousand dollars since he's not getting comped.
Speaker 2: So now oops, not Justin Bieber's umblebook for ten grand
Speaker 2: for his stunt, or at least his credit card was,
Speaker 2: or someone's credit card was. Once the ruse gets exposed,
Speaker 2: the Win folks not only did they make them pay up,
Speaker 2: they also ban him for ever coming back to the
Speaker 2: Win casinos. Now he's a Frenchman, what does he care?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: Also, it's like the ten grand for that bottle service
Speaker 3: is like literally they're giving him like forty dollars worth
Speaker 3: of Oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a ripoff, it's ridiculous. So the Frenchman,
Speaker 2: as I said, Dylan discos, he's been doing this imitation
Speaker 2: game for a long minute, like around six years, and
Speaker 2: he's successful over in Europe doing this. He's got a
Speaker 2: YouTube channel where he posts his shows as a tribute act.
Speaker 2: In fact, that last year Justin Bieber's wife, Hayley Bieber,
Speaker 2: was shown a TikTok of this Frenchman. He was filmed
Speaker 2: while he was on a train, and she said and
Speaker 2: I quote I'm scared like he could fool even her.
Speaker 3: Yes, but would be nice to me? Okay?
Speaker 2: Would he be more present? This all started where people
Speaker 2: told this not Justin Bieber, that he looked a hell
Speaker 2: of a lot like the real Justin Bieber. And He's like,
Speaker 2: maybe I make a career out of this, And he did.
Speaker 2: Is he put in an interview with the outlet Need
Speaker 2: to Know from the United Kingdom quote, A lot of
Speaker 2: people told me that I look like Justin Bieber in
Speaker 2: the past. However I do make sure to dressed like him.
Speaker 6: I think our similarities looks wise, more some points of
Speaker 6: our faces, and definitely our attitudes. Oh Now, Likewise, when
Speaker 6: I'm on stage, I need to be the most Justin
Speaker 6: I can be, and I think I'm good at mimicking him.
Speaker 6: I became a look alike simply by going to a
Speaker 6: Justin Bieber a concert. I took a lot of photos
Speaker 6: and I thought it was super cool.
Speaker 2: So he went to a concert.
Speaker 3: And pretended to be Justin Bieber became his career.
Speaker 2: He also said, when it comes to the reactions to
Speaker 2: his whole Tribute Act quote, I would.
Speaker 6: Say that the best and funniest reactions I got to
Speaker 6: was people thinking I was Justin and knocking on my
Speaker 6: hotel door at two am. There was so many of
Speaker 6: them taking pictures and asking me to sign pictures as
Speaker 6: Justin Bieber.
Speaker 2: So he really gets off on this.
Speaker 3: How on the list of like what should we do tonight?
Speaker 3: How far down is Justin Bieber tribute show? Right?
Speaker 2: So I think it's underneath like change my oil by hand.
Speaker 2: So there was at the other end of the spectrum
Speaker 2: of things that when it doesn't go so well for
Speaker 2: not Justin Bieber, as he told the UK outlet Need
Speaker 2: to Know quote, the worst reaction I had to the public,
Speaker 2: I would say was being mobbed with crying and hugs.
Speaker 2: I don't understand very well that the power of love
Speaker 2: for Justin, so it's nothing to bothers me. So he's
Speaker 2: got these people fake crying on am thinking their meeting.
Speaker 3: I don't understand that either. And there are musicians where
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, I you like saved my life. I
Speaker 3: would never cry, chase them and go to their hotel.
Speaker 2: We're talking more. I think imagine like teen fandom, you know,
Speaker 2: it's that whole like Beatlemania screaming at the met Stadium
Speaker 2: that's probably true. Like, yeah, you're probably right.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: I'm some like thirty three year old business associate from
Speaker 2: like I don't know, a restaurant chain in Omaha, Nebraska
Speaker 2: is over there crying on their shoulder. You changed my
Speaker 2: life justin I know, I know I did. So that's
Speaker 2: our appetizer for today. Yes, next up, after this break,
Speaker 2: we'll get into the main meal. It's a really good story,
Speaker 2: a story of a woman who pretended to be Aretha
Speaker 2: Franklin and it changed her whole life. Oh no, back
Speaker 2: after this basket of ads fresh out of the oven,
Speaker 2: warm and delicious enough for everyone. We're back, Elizabeth. Hello,
Speaker 2: you ready to get down and get soulful with an
Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin conjob. So I first saw this story in
Speaker 2: an excellent article from Smithsonian Magazine. I'm a subscriber of
Speaker 2: Smith's recommend magazine Totally. Article was a long form piece
Speaker 2: called The Counterfeit Queen of Soul, a strange and bittersweet
Speaker 2: ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity, and unlikely stardom by Jeff mash.
Speaker 2: Now we've covered stories similar to this one, for instance,
Speaker 2: Lost Beatles Americanos remember aka the American Beatles who did
Speaker 2: a tour of South America, passing themselves off as the
Speaker 2: actual Beatles while conning the locals for fun and profit. Now,
Speaker 2: the same sort of con job was also going down
Speaker 2: in the UK back in the day, especially for R
Speaker 2: and B X in like the late fifties, starting with
Speaker 2: Little Richard and later motown acts and soul singers in
Speaker 2: the sixties. Because back then Americans would hop over the
Speaker 2: pond pretend to be Diana Ross and the Supremes, or
Speaker 2: pretend to be the Temptations or James Brown or whoever.
Speaker 2: And this worked really well because the fans in the
Speaker 2: UK and over in Europe, by Continental Europe, they didn't
Speaker 2: exactly know what the R and B performers looked like. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they knew what they sounded like, but they weren't saturated
Speaker 2: with media the way we are, so it was a
Speaker 2: lot easier to fake well.
Speaker 3: And the images they'd see, like in magazines, weren't particularly
Speaker 3: high reds.
Speaker 2: No, there's also that, or even on the posters. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it wasn't also, by the way, just the Brits
Speaker 2: and the Europeans who got conned like this, because this
Speaker 2: also went down in the States. Oh no, oh yeah.
Speaker 2: Now these days, as I said, it's much more difficult
Speaker 2: to pull off eight not to justin Bieba, because it's
Speaker 2: so easy to see where stars actually are right now.
Speaker 2: You can just check their social media and be like,
Speaker 2: that's not Sabrina Carpenter because she's in Toronto right now.
Speaker 2: I just saw on Instagram or whoever you like. Now,
Speaker 2: obviously this was not the case in the late sixties
Speaker 2: when our story takes place. Yea, so are you ready?
Speaker 3: TikTok really wasn't popping off then, No, it was a
Speaker 3: very niche totally.
Speaker 2: It was like eight millimeter reels. It sucked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not everyone had it.
Speaker 2: So, Elizabeth, I'd like you to meet Mary Jane Jones.
Speaker 2: She was a young Black woman who was very much
Speaker 2: wanted to earn the same rispect that Aretha Franklin enjoyed.
Speaker 2: She looked up to the Queen of soul and she
Speaker 2: wanted what Aretha had. She wanted to be a star too,
Speaker 2: because she certainly knew what it was like to not
Speaker 2: have much at all. And she's like, this sucks. I'd
Speaker 2: like to do that. And Aretha came from well, Aretha
Speaker 2: but didn't come from poverty per se. But she was like,
Speaker 2: you know, I want what Aretha has gained as a
Speaker 2: young black woman in the sixties. So she by the
Speaker 2: way Mary Jane Jones. She was raised in rural Petersburg, Virginia.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if you're familiar. I don't know it.
Speaker 2: But she had a house without indoor plumbing. We're talking
Speaker 2: in the late sixties. And then, you know, as things do,
Speaker 2: life came at her pretty fast. She dropped out of
Speaker 2: school after tenth grade. She got married at nineteen Sadly,
Speaker 2: her husband passed away, leaving her to be a widow
Speaker 2: with a young son that was rough on her. Things
Speaker 2: didn't improve much when she remarried. Her new husband gave
Speaker 2: her three more sons, but he was also a violent drunk,
Speaker 2: so she divorced him. Now she's a single mother in
Speaker 2: Royal vergil with four young sons. Oh man, the year
Speaker 2: is nineteen sixty eight. Yeah, she'll has a dream though,
Speaker 2: of making it as a star. So to make ends meet,
Speaker 2: she performed at the local gospel music group, the Great
Speaker 2: Gates of Petersburg. She had this tremendous voice, like a big,
Speaker 2: full throated voice, the kind that sings out like the
Speaker 2: up to the angels in heaven right, just like a
Speaker 2: real soul singer voice. Only trouble for her was she
Speaker 2: was untrained. She couldn't read music. She just had a
Speaker 2: natural born talent. Yeah, yeah, now it was married Jane Jones.
Speaker 2: But quote, I don't know one note from the next.
Speaker 2: But what talent I got I got from God. And
Speaker 2: as you know, Elizabeth, that's also how I sing. I
Speaker 2: don't know one note from the next except for God
Speaker 2: forgot to give me any musical talent whatsoever. But this
Speaker 2: is how I sing. So I related to her immediately, yes,
Speaker 2: but anyway. By nineteen sixty nine, Mary Jane Jones was
Speaker 2: twenty seven years old. She'd been singing with her gospel
Speaker 2: group at this point for six years. The leader of
Speaker 2: her gospel group was this cat named Reverend Billy Lee,
Speaker 2: and he said of her talent, I had to teach
Speaker 2: most of the folks in my groups, but that was
Speaker 2: one young lady I did not have to teach soul right,
Speaker 2: Like I said, natural born talent. And she was also
Speaker 2: a natural born performer. Like when she sang, emotions came
Speaker 2: out of her like like the way they did from
Speaker 2: Frank Sinatra. In that way that the audience could feel
Speaker 2: her longing, her a, her blues, her pain, her love.
Speaker 2: Sometimes she would even cry while she was singing. I'm
Speaker 2: talking like real tears. She moved herself with her songs right.
Speaker 2: Other times, well, she'd be sweating in that role of
Speaker 2: Virginia heat and then the beads of perspiration ran down
Speaker 2: her face like this, little tiny rivers of sweat. I
Speaker 2: mean she felt it when she was singing. So people
Speaker 2: were like, oh my god, this is so real. But
Speaker 2: singing gospel music wasn't enough to feed her growing boys.
Speaker 2: So to earn a little extra scratch for her family,
Speaker 2: Mary Jane also performed some of that music her fellow
Speaker 2: gospel singers would call the devil's music. So to do that,
Speaker 2: she often worked at local nightclubs. She performed as part
Speaker 2: of a review style show where she'd sing as an
Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin tribute act. They didn't call it tribute acts
Speaker 2: back then. She'd just be like a Retha Franklin cover
Speaker 2: song or Retha Franklin, you know, imitator.
Speaker 3: So it's because you don't really like you're saying it's
Speaker 3: a reviews So I think she was probably doing more
Speaker 3: than just a yeah, songbook and you don't have like
Speaker 3: live you know, big name acts coming through when people
Speaker 3: want to hear someone singing and do all music.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're in Petersburg, Virginia and you're like you're
Speaker 2: willing to do Aretha, I'm willing to pay right and
Speaker 2: you know, whatever the dollar to get in. So this
Speaker 2: earned her on average ten dollars a night to play
Speaker 2: these different nightclubs in the area. And now she had
Speaker 2: a backing R and B band and they would play
Speaker 2: the latest hits and so they knew all of Aretha's songbook.
Speaker 2: She was really good on Aretha's song think Right, And
Speaker 2: so when Mary jans Jones laid into Aretha's lyrics, she
Speaker 2: was like sing to her imagined lover and the audience
Speaker 2: they truly felt her lonesome heart right. Like I said,
Speaker 2: the emotions poured out of her. But her gospel group
Speaker 2: could never know about the sinning she was doing on
Speaker 2: Saturday nights, otherwise it would risk her check that she's
Speaker 2: taking care of her boys with right. If they ever
Speaker 2: learned about her Moonlight gig, she'd be dumped from the
Speaker 2: gospel group. So she came up with this persona she
Speaker 2: performed under a stage name, Miss Vicky Jones, and she
Speaker 2: pull on a wig and go out and transform into
Speaker 2: the star to be Miss Vicky Jones. Love right, and
Speaker 2: she was damn good Chelsea plays, She sang rock songs,
Speaker 2: she sang whatever the people wanted to hear. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: But eventually words still got back to the leader of
Speaker 2: her gospel group, the good Reverend Billy Lee.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, one Saturday night, he dips into the nightclub and
Speaker 2: he's tucked in the back of this darkened club. He's
Speaker 2: watching the show and Mary Jane Jones aka Miss Vicky
Speaker 2: Jones didn't spot her boss in the crowd. She just
Speaker 2: went ahead with her show. Meanwhile, old Reverend Billy Lee
Speaker 2: he's watching and he starts to worry about his his
Speaker 2: like star singers, everlasting soul, and how she's putting it
Speaker 2: at risk and also risking her spot in heaven with
Speaker 2: her blues act and the Aretha Franklin tribute songs. As
Speaker 2: he tells it, he didn't confront her right away. In fact,
Speaker 2: he didn't confront her that night. Instead, he just said
Speaker 2: a little prayer to himself, say a little prayer. Oh
Speaker 2: he did he really? Yeah? Right, He's like, don't lecture her,
Speaker 2: don't preach to She'll be all right now. However, he
Speaker 2: did worry, as I said, about how she'd manage if
Speaker 2: she got out into the dangerous world of show business
Speaker 2: and nightclub singers, as he recalled it. He thought to himself,
Speaker 2: she goes in these situations, things could get out of hand. Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: I'm here to tell you things got out of it.
Speaker 3: Oh, I could imagine this is like, this is very
Speaker 3: much like the Perks and Reck storyline with Ron has
Speaker 3: a has an alter ego who plays in nightclubs called
Speaker 3: really Silver, really Saxophone. And that's basically what I'm imagining.
Speaker 3: So she now looks like Ron Swanson with the mustache.
Speaker 3: With the mustache, that's what she had on the saxophone. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and and like a Fedora.
Speaker 2: I gotta check that show something amazing. So, as I said,
Speaker 2: things got out of hand. And of course this goes
Speaker 2: down in a nightclub. It was the winner of nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty eight and she was performing at a nightclub called
Speaker 2: the Pink Garter. That name should tell you everything you
Speaker 2: need to know. The club was in Richmond, Virginia. It
Speaker 2: used to be a grocery store, but by the time
Speaker 2: Mss Vikett Jones was performing. It had been converted into
Speaker 2: the Pink Garter.
Speaker 3: The Pink Garters. So it's like, let's say, it's not
Speaker 3: a huge it's not a supermarket, it's a grocery store.
Speaker 3: I'm imagining like the kind of cavernous interior.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, don't just imagine like a lot of tables.
Speaker 2: Maybe as it candles on the tables, I.
Speaker 3: Don't know, a lot of people get up to no good.
Speaker 2: The deli sections now a bar. So the house band
Speaker 2: was called the River Nets, right. The leader of that
Speaker 2: band was the same man who ran the Pink Garter.
Speaker 2: His stage name was the Great Josea all right, and
Speaker 2: his mama called him Fenroy Fox.
Speaker 3: That's a great stage name.
Speaker 2: That's what this why the Great he doesn't want you know,
Speaker 2: maybe he worried about his mama finding out. So, as
Speaker 2: the Great Hosea told the Smithsonian magazine, the Pink Guarter
Speaker 2: was a black night club. Quote, it was ninety percent
Speaker 2: black and there everything changed after Martin Luther King got killed.
Speaker 2: Blacks was staying in black places. People were scared because
Speaker 2: you know, remember he died in sixty eight, So this
Speaker 2: is fresh, right, right, So the folks went to places
Speaker 2: that they felt safe, like the Pink Garter, and that's
Speaker 2: where things all change for Mary Jones aka Miss Vicki Jones.
Speaker 2: So the Great Hosea, he's leading the river nets with
Speaker 2: their rendition of Aretha Franklin's huge hit, respect And when
Speaker 2: Miss Vickiy Jones steps up to the mic and she
Speaker 2: lets her big voice fill up that room, that former
Speaker 2: grocery store. Yeah, and in the dark and dimly lit
Speaker 2: air of this club. The folks there at the Pink
Speaker 2: Garter that night, you could have told them this was
Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin and most of them would have believed it
Speaker 2: was true. That's how much he sounded, but not only sounded,
Speaker 2: but looked like Aretha really. Oh yeah, But it wasn't.
Speaker 2: Just then we saw and heard this similarity to the
Speaker 2: Queen of Soul, one of the other acts performing that night.
Speaker 2: He saw Miss Vicki Jones singing and he heard dollar signs. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now into Lavell, Hade. Lavell wasn't from Virginia or even
Speaker 2: from the South. He was a New York City hairdresser,
Speaker 2: and he looked like one. He wore his hair in
Speaker 2: this high pomper door like six inches off his head.
Speaker 2: My favorite fun fact about Lavell Hardy was that in
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight he had a near hit song of
Speaker 2: his own called Don't Lose Your Groove. It reached number
Speaker 2: forty two on the charts.
Speaker 3: Did you listen to it?
Speaker 2: I did not, but I did find a fun fact
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It topped out just below a parody song by Bill
Speaker 2: Cosby called Hooray for the Salvation Army Band. Oh dear,
Speaker 2: that's what it was behind. It did not pass that
Speaker 2: song it was from. That song was from the album
Speaker 2: Bill Cosby sings Hooray for the Salvation Army Band with
Speaker 2: an exclamation for my copy out from what I found.
Speaker 2: That track was a comedic knockoff of Jimmy Hendrick's song
Speaker 2: Purple Hayes.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 2: So the Bill Bill Cosby song Hooray for the Salvation
Speaker 2: Army Band was a knockoff of Jimmy Hendrick song Purple
Speaker 2: Hayes Yeah. And the album cover he looks like Jim Croche.
Speaker 2: He's got this big bushy mustache, and he's got a
Speaker 2: like like a kind of like a semi hippie gig.
Speaker 3: Even happening right now?
Speaker 2: Elizabeth, I gotta tell you, none of what I just
Speaker 2: said makes any sense. No, I have no answers for you.
Speaker 3: How does one get yet?
Speaker 4: Whatever?
Speaker 2: Anyway, back to the Pompadoor, Lavell Hattie, after he watched
Speaker 2: Miss Vicki Jones do her best impression of Aretha Franklin
Speaker 2: at the Pink Garter, he thought to himself, she that
Speaker 2: I dentical from head to toe. She's got the complexion,
Speaker 2: she got the looks, she got, the height, she got,
Speaker 2: the tears, she got everything. So the wheels in his
Speaker 2: devious mind start spending. And what I haven't told you
Speaker 2: yet is Lavell Hardy earned two hundred dollars per night
Speaker 2: working as a James Brown impersonator. Stop Yes, getting bust
Speaker 2: the Popadour, and thus he knew Miss Vicky Jones as
Speaker 2: a fake Aretha Franklin could be worth at least that much.
Speaker 2: And she looked more like her than he looked like James.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the next weekend, Vicky Jones was back in Richmond
Speaker 2: performing at the Executive Motor n and Lavelle Hardy turned
Speaker 2: up at the gig. After she does her act, he
Speaker 2: makes his pitch. She steps up to her and he
Speaker 2: tells her she could be making way more money with him,
Speaker 2: and she could be making in these Virginia spots. He
Speaker 2: told her about all the money to be made down
Speaker 2: in Florida. That's where they pay for my music. So
Speaker 2: Lavell Hardy was what we call it natural born operator.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sounds like it.
Speaker 2: And as such, she told Miss Jones that whatever she
Speaker 2: needed to hear to sign on to his plan to
Speaker 2: tour Florida, and you know, ex Lloyd her talents. So
Speaker 2: he told her for an upcoming tour he was planning,
Speaker 2: he wanted her to open for Aretha Franklin. He would
Speaker 2: pay her one thousand dollars for a six city tour.
Speaker 2: That's six shows. That's one hundred times what she was
Speaker 2: making for one night in rural Virginia.
Speaker 3: She's going to open for Aretha as in personally no.
Speaker 2: Just as Miss Vicka Jones. Oh, so the offer is
Speaker 2: it's too tempted for her to say no.
Speaker 3: Is she going to do other songs aside from Aretha's No, Yeah,
Speaker 3: She's going to.
Speaker 2: Do her own song choices be they what they are? Sure,
Speaker 2: So Mary Jane Jones, she went to a man she knew,
Speaker 2: a cat named Harold Big Daddy Strayhorn, and he was
Speaker 2: a local band leader and a money lender, apparently because
Speaker 2: she borrowed the cash from him that she'd need for
Speaker 2: a bus ticket down to Florida. So this was going
Speaker 2: to be the first time she'd ever gone on a
Speaker 2: tour without the Reverend Billy Lee and his gospel group.
Speaker 2: So she was truly going to be out in the
Speaker 2: world on her own, the thing that he feared. Now,
Speaker 2: she sent her four boys to stay with her mother
Speaker 2: and she packed for Florida, and then as the bus
Speaker 2: headed south, she watched the world change from her window seat.
Speaker 2: All Right, So when she arrives in Melbourne, Florida, she
Speaker 2: linked up with Lavell Hatty and she was super eager
Speaker 2: to start her new life as an opening act for
Speaker 2: her hero, Aretha Franklin, Right, and that's when Lavell burst
Speaker 2: her naive bubble. She wasn't going to be the opening
Speaker 2: act for Aretha. Instead, she was gonna go out there
Speaker 2: and she was gonna be Aretha. You see, he'd conder Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: He told her exactly whatever she needed to hear to
Speaker 2: get her down to Melbourne, Florida. And now she's stuck
Speaker 2: because she doesn't have the money to buy a bus
Speaker 2: ticket back home. There's no big daddy strayhoan Dawn in
Speaker 2: Florida that she knows. Yeah, so she's like, and also
Speaker 2: she shouldn't have the money to pay him back when
Speaker 2: she gets back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, she's got to earn while she's.
Speaker 2: There, exactly. But she did still have her integrity, so
Speaker 2: she said, no, I do not, and he's like no.
Speaker 2: So Lavell's like arguing with her. She's like, I don't
Speaker 2: want to be Aretha. I mean I want to be
Speaker 2: like Aretha. She's like, I want to be miss Vicki Jones.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 2: Now that's when Lavell treated her like the naive country
Speaker 2: girl that she was. He told her she didn't get
Speaker 2: up on that stage and tell those nice folks in Melbourne,
Speaker 2: Florida that she was Aretha, he could make her life hell.
Speaker 2: As The Tampa Bay Times later reported, Lavell threatened her
Speaker 2: saying that quote hit down, he had broken, don't know anybody,
Speaker 2: and you are Aretha Franklin. So yo.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then he went further than that. He quote threatened
Speaker 2: to throw me in the bay. And not only that
Speaker 2: she couldn't swim, she was also deathly afraid of the water,
Speaker 2: so he hit the one like everything button to hit.
Speaker 2: So now this pompadoord fake James Brown tribute act guy
Speaker 2: further threatens her. Your body can easily be disposed of
Speaker 2: in the wada.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's when she entertained what Lavell had in mind.
Speaker 3: What else are you going to do?
Speaker 2: Totally right, She's basically been kidnapped. So he tells her
Speaker 2: again that while they're in Florida, quote, you are Aretha Franklin.
Speaker 2: Now next up Lavell. He works the local promoters. He
Speaker 2: tells them his client, Miss Franklin was in town looking
Speaker 2: to do some shows. Typically she charged twenty grand a night.
Speaker 2: Everybody knew that, but for them, she'd be willing to
Speaker 2: book shows for the low low prices seven grand a night.
Speaker 2: Why because the crowds in rural Florida would be smaller
Speaker 2: than her shows up north or out west in places
Speaker 2: like Las Vegas. So one local Florida promoter he goes
Speaker 2: for it.
Speaker 3: And none of them are like why why is she
Speaker 3: desperate for a gig out.
Speaker 2: Here in the winter too, not even tourist season like
Speaker 2: they were talking. January of nineteen, sixteen.
Speaker 3: Years oh, she's working out new material maybe, but even.
Speaker 2: Then, you know no. And so Mary Jane Jones tells reporters.
Speaker 2: After that same local promoter saw her first perform, he
Speaker 2: thought I really was Aretha, and he acts, according to
Speaker 2: he quote often to range a detective to protect me
Speaker 2: and a car from my convenience.
Speaker 3: Which Aretha would have been like, yes, please, no, don't.
Speaker 2: You know that? Yeah, so of course, Lavelle hard it
Speaker 2: was like, no, no cops are necessary now. So that
Speaker 2: same local promoter he booked gigs for the Aretha Franklin Review,
Speaker 2: and Mary Jans Jones aka Miss Vicki Jones went out
Speaker 2: there night after night, and she does her best impression
Speaker 2: of Aretha. The crowds they love it, Elizabeth. Most of
Speaker 2: them were convinced if what they were seeing and what
Speaker 2: they were hearing was the real Queen of Soul, Soul
Speaker 2: System number one, even if it was some small podunk
Speaker 2: town in rural Florida, and it made no sense of
Speaker 2: the Aretha we'd be playing their little theater or nightclub.
Speaker 2: They're like, no, no, of course she'd be here. They
Speaker 2: decided to believe their lying eyes over the obvious truth
Speaker 2: before them. Now at the end of each night's show,
Speaker 2: miss Jones, she would rush back to her dressing room
Speaker 2: because she didn't want to talk to anybody, and then
Speaker 2: that way she could avoid the crowds. And then she
Speaker 2: would go back there and just cry about what she
Speaker 2: was doing. And then after she was done crying, she
Speaker 2: would eat one of the two hamburgers that Lavelle gave
Speaker 2: her each day as her food for the tour. What
Speaker 2: she got two hamburgers.
Speaker 3: A day, diet totally living on burgers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like one in the morning, one in the evening,
Speaker 2: and yeah, it's terrible kibble for a dog. Then she's like,
Speaker 2: you know, packed off to the motel room where he
Speaker 2: would like hide his star act.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, she's basically being trafficked.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much. It was a rough first three night,
Speaker 2: first three shows, but Lavell hardy. He was making money
Speaker 2: hand over fist, so he wanted to book bigger and
Speaker 2: bigger shows, which meant bigger and bigger cities, which also
Speaker 2: meant it would get harder and harder to con the
Speaker 2: Florida crowds into thinking that's a refa. So, as missus
Speaker 2: Jones told Jet Magazine, quote, I wanted to tell everybody
Speaker 2: beforehand that I was not Miss Franklin, but Lavell said
Speaker 2: the show promoters would do something awful to me if
Speaker 2: they learned who I really was. I was scared. I
Speaker 2: didn't have any money, no place to go. So, like
Speaker 2: I said, she's got Basically, she's exactly. She's been kidnapped,
Speaker 2: she's a hostage, and she's left to the whims of Lavell.
Speaker 2: So she kept, you know, play acting as she best
Speaker 2: she could as the real deal Queen of Soul. She'd
Speaker 2: step out on in the stage, she'd become Aretha. She
Speaker 2: would close her eyes and let her natural talents just
Speaker 2: shine out of her because remember, she can sound like Aretha.
Speaker 2: In under low lights, she looks like Aretha. So she'd
Speaker 2: let those notes reach up to the heavens just like
Speaker 2: Aretha did, and in fact her Arethe act was super convincing,
Speaker 2: so like most everyone except for her. At one show,
Speaker 2: the owner of the venue recalled that quote. Some people
Speaker 2: who had seen Aretha before said that wasn't her, but
Speaker 2: nobody was real show and even those doubts washed away
Speaker 2: because other show goers would shouted the stage, that's her,
Speaker 2: that's Aretha. Yeah. These are direct quotes by the way
Speaker 2: from the newspaper at the time.
Speaker 3: I love it, Like, have you ever gone to a
Speaker 3: show and been in the crowd.
Speaker 2: Like that's Jack White.
Speaker 3: No, yes, that is Jack White.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, brothers, that is my man, Jack White, Jackson.
Speaker 3: There's no that I didn't know was in question. Obviously
Speaker 3: they're talking about it in the crowd.
Speaker 2: There is some debate, yeah, but I think it's more
Speaker 2: so some people are like like shoes showing it and
Speaker 2: they're like, no, no, that's a Retha. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I know two things. Son's coming up tomorrow, and that's
Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin. So when miss Jones would leave the stage,
Speaker 2: she would get carried off by thunderous applause. I'm talking
Speaker 2: screams and shouts of the adoring fans of the real
Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin because they got to see Aretha right here
Speaker 2: in like Bradenton, Florida, at one venue. She gets this
Speaker 2: stand ovation, all right, And so like some twisted like
Speaker 2: Faustian bargain, she found that she'd gotten what she'd once
Speaker 2: dreamed of when she wanted to sing before the audiences
Speaker 2: and be in a star but and the audience responding
Speaker 2: with all their heart and everyone's like overcome by her voice,
Speaker 2: her presence, her star potential, the ache of her soul,
Speaker 2: her transcendent voice. She got it all, but not really. No,
Speaker 2: it was only it was it was nothing like what
Speaker 2: she wanted it was. It was it was her dream,
Speaker 2: but it felt like a nightmare.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: One scripted by Livell ha Day. So, of course, a
Speaker 2: scam like this one can only go on for so long. Eventually,
Speaker 2: someone whose job it is to make money off the
Speaker 2: reel of Aretha Franklin is going to hear about this,
Speaker 2: and then it's all gonna go. Now, Okay, let's take
Speaker 2: a little break. And after these messages, the reel of
Speaker 2: Retha Franklin comes into this little morality play and the
Speaker 2: temptation of Vicky Jones goes in a whole different directions.
Speaker 2: Rebecca Elizabeth, Yes, we are enjoy this so far. I
Speaker 2: thought it'd be a nice change of pace.
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 2: So you're ready to hear how this long con goes
Speaker 2: belly up. Of course, at this point it's the middle
Speaker 2: of January nineteen sixty nine and Mary Jones is it's
Speaker 2: book to play a show in Ocalla, Florida. It's a
Speaker 2: forty two hundred seat venue, which is I know, I
Speaker 2: don't know about you, but if you told me that
Speaker 2: Maretha Franklin was booked to play the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion,
Speaker 2: I would have been a bit doubtful. But this is
Speaker 2: the biggest venue Miss Jones has seen yet, right, forty
Speaker 2: two hundred seat venue.
Speaker 3: Pretty good?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's like an exposition hall that she's playing
Speaker 2: in at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion. That's the spot where
Speaker 2: Florida Cattleman auctioned off livestock. Yeah. So, I mean, I know,
Speaker 2: is going to rockstick right, I mean, I know, yes,
Speaker 2: folks play like County Well.
Speaker 3: And out here Cow Palace. I've seen Metallica play at the.
Speaker 2: Total, but they don't still sell cows. They do, do
Speaker 2: they know?
Speaker 3: They used to?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they used to. They stopped.
Speaker 3: But they have other stuff that's like, you know, non music.
Speaker 3: It's you know, they have like like they have like
Speaker 3: gem convention type things.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But normally if you see someone in like the
Speaker 2: Southeastern Livestock Pavilion, it's at the end of their musical career,
Speaker 2: not when they're a huge Grammy win.
Speaker 3: County Fair material, which the go to County Fair people
Speaker 3: in the Bay Area. Now, for years was Tower of Power, right,
Speaker 3: they always played like Alameda County Fair, And now I'm
Speaker 3: finding that, Oh yeah, they play a lot of county
Speaker 3: fairs because they're like, you know what, we can get
Speaker 3: drunk before we go on stage. It's they'll pay us.
Speaker 3: It's very, very limited.
Speaker 2: After there's not going to be anyone here from the
Speaker 2: music industry.
Speaker 3: Don't have to go far.
Speaker 2: I don't worry about a music review.
Speaker 3: But I see him on all sorts of crazy low rent.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you'll see him on the posters attached to
Speaker 2: like light poles and when he's driving. So this has
Speaker 2: basically how you fleece suckers because they don't question the
Speaker 2: obvious tells like Aretha Franklin being booked to play the
Speaker 2: Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in the dead of winter. If they
Speaker 2: believe that you've already done half the work, yeah, exactly. Anyway,
Speaker 2: all around a call of Florida, Lavelle had posters slapped
Speaker 2: up that advertised Queen of Soul was coming to town.
Speaker 2: You better act fast, get your tickets now, right. And
Speaker 2: not only that, he also got the word out on
Speaker 2: the local black radio stations that also helped to sell
Speaker 2: the con job because if it's on the radio, how
Speaker 2: could it not be true? You see that these days
Speaker 2: with TV and like and the internet and the Internet,
Speaker 2: it's like, well, it must be true. This guy is
Speaker 2: saying it. So the next show would be the biggest
Speaker 2: crowd yet. As I said, for Mary Jane Jones, and
Speaker 2: the prospect of fooling forty two hundred people at the
Speaker 2: same time had her nerves. But she was basically as
Speaker 2: nervous as a long tailed cat and a room full
Speaker 2: of rock and chairs. Right then, a bit of heavenly
Speaker 2: intervention occur, the kind that shattered her faustian bargain with
Speaker 2: Lavell Haday. You see, just before that show went down,
Speaker 2: the local prosecutor of Marion County received a phone call.
Speaker 2: On the other end was Aretha Franklin's attorney. He was
Speaker 2: calling from New York City. He'd been busy arranging the
Speaker 2: real Aretha Franklin's upcoming shows in Miami, Florida, when he
Speaker 2: heard from promoters in Florida, you know, the ones working
Speaker 2: down in the sunsigned state, that his client was already
Speaker 2: working stages in rural Florida.
Speaker 3: Stop. Oh, this is so good.
Speaker 2: He's obviously thrown by this. This is news to him, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: So he starts asking the obvious questions, Now, who did
Speaker 2: what and where? What shows? Can you tell me dates?
Speaker 2: Can you tell me spots, locations, venues? Who owns that venue?
Speaker 2: All the questions.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Once he gets to the bottom of Lavelle's scam and
Speaker 2: basically tracking the progress of this fake Aretha Franklin, Retha
Speaker 2: Franklin's real lawyer phones the Marion County Prosecutor and informs
Speaker 2: them of what all he's learned. The Prosecutor's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we gotta Retha Franklin in town. My wife's a big
Speaker 2: fan and we got tickets to go see her at
Speaker 2: the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion and wreatha. Lawyer's like, what, well,
Speaker 2: I got some bad news for your wife.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 2: Now the prosecutor he springs into action. He phones the
Speaker 2: chief investigator over at the Marion County Sheriff's office. He
Speaker 2: tells his chief investigators, basically the chief of detectives, he
Speaker 2: wants the impostor arrested and locked up post haste. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The chief investigators like, you ain't got to tell me twice?
Speaker 2: When and where is this show. So this particular investigator,
Speaker 2: he wasn't your typical small town southern sheriff. In fact,
Speaker 2: he and his partner were both known to wear fancy
Speaker 2: suits and kind of fancy themselves as investigators as opposed
Speaker 2: to sheriff detectives. And basically what I'm saying is, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: these two men had notions. Yeah, they got in swollen
Speaker 2: heads already after they've been interviewed for like Detective magazine.
Speaker 2: And then also they provided security for Elvis when he
Speaker 2: was in No callis shooting a movie like they know show.
Speaker 3: Business now yeah, yea.
Speaker 2: So they told the Marion County prosecutor, don't you worry, Hoss,
Speaker 2: We'll go get justice for Aretha Franklin. And now before
Speaker 2: I tell you about that, Elizabeth, I'd like you to
Speaker 2: do me one favor. I'd like you to close your
Speaker 2: eyes and I'd like you to picture it. It's sound
Speaker 2: check at the Okalla's Club Valley Nightclub. Lavelle Hardy is
Speaker 2: running the scene. Meanwhile, the star of the show, the
Speaker 2: One and only A Retha Franklin, is running through her
Speaker 2: plans set for her upcoming show. At the moment, you, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: are behind the bar since you're a bartender at the
Speaker 2: club Valley Nightclub. You're pertending to get ready for the
Speaker 2: night to come, but really you're just watching this show
Speaker 2: and sound check. Normally you wouldn't show up to work
Speaker 2: so early to get ready for the Saturday night. But
Speaker 2: how often is Aretha Franklin in your nightclub? As you
Speaker 2: towel off highball glasses and arrange them for the night's
Speaker 2: drinking to come, you watch Aretha Franklin sing her song.
Speaker 2: Think her voice is strong, just like it is on
Speaker 2: the albums. Even for just a sound check, it sounds
Speaker 2: amazing and it's just you, her, her papadored manager, and
Speaker 2: the club owner. It's a super intimate setting. What a
Speaker 2: rare treat you think this makes up for all the
Speaker 2: nights you have to mop up puke and clean the
Speaker 2: toilet after a long Saturday night. It's all worth it
Speaker 2: for these moments. After Aretha finishes her song, the club
Speaker 2: falls quiet. Her pompadored manager steps up on stage and
Speaker 2: whispers some notes in her Now you can't hear what
Speaker 2: he's saying. Instead, you hear a knock at the club door.
Speaker 2: It's a loud, insistent knock. It sounds like it's the police.
Speaker 2: When the club owner gets up, checks that he has
Speaker 2: his gun on him, he walks over to the door.
Speaker 2: His shoes sound against the club's hard floor, and then
Speaker 2: he opens the door. It turns out it is the cops.
Speaker 2: Two detectives flash their badgers and then push their way
Speaker 2: into the empty night club. On stage, Aretha and her
Speaker 2: manager both freeze in place. They both look about as
Speaker 2: guilty as a kid who's caught with his hand in
Speaker 2: the cookie jar. The cops announce, don't move a muscle.
Speaker 2: You're both under arrest. What the hell you think to yourself,
Speaker 2: What could Aretha Franklin done to be treated like this?
Speaker 2: The cops frisk them both. You watch as the cops
Speaker 2: pull seven grand out of the soup pockets of Aretha's
Speaker 2: pompadoored manager. After that, outcome the handcuffs. He and Aretha
Speaker 2: are both handcuffed, and then purp walked out to the
Speaker 2: waiting police car. You follow behind the officers, not quite
Speaker 2: believing this is happening. You watch as the two sheriff
Speaker 2: detectives shove the pompador manager and then Aretha Franklin into
Speaker 2: the back seat of the police car. It's a brand
Speaker 2: new sixty nine, Pontiac. The car is clean, clean. Aretha
Speaker 2: sits in the back end. She stares back at you.
Speaker 2: You mutter to yourself, that is no way to treat
Speaker 2: the Queen of soul. And then you hear the club
Speaker 2: owners say, you idiot. I don't know who that is,
Speaker 2: but it ain't Nowheretha Franklin. So there you go, Elizabeth,
Speaker 2: You're a moment with the show. So when they were
Speaker 2: doing it was a sound check before they did the
Speaker 2: big forty two seats. She just needed somewhere to perform,
Speaker 2: so you leaned on some venue like maybe we'll come
Speaker 2: back here and do a show for you. Now. After
Speaker 2: Lavelle and then Miss Vicki Jones were both arrested and
Speaker 2: booked for their fake Aretha Franklin show, this story off
Speaker 2: it leads to national headlines oh really. As the Flint
Speaker 2: Journal of Flint, Michigan reported on January twenty third, nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty nine, from a syndicated story by the Associated Press,
Speaker 2: quote dateline oh call of Florida. An itinerant male hairdresser
Speaker 2: was jailed Wednesday after police say he staged a quote
Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin show by forcing a penniless Virginia girl to
Speaker 2: pose on stage as the twenty thousand a week soul
Speaker 2: singer from Detroit.
Speaker 3: Well, at least it's there casting it that in the
Speaker 3: right lights. Yeah, not an accomplice totally.
Speaker 2: The story goes on from there to report that quote.
Speaker 2: Lavelle Hardy, twenty four, of New York was booked into
Speaker 2: Marion County Jail under a five hundred dollars bond on
Speaker 2: false advertising charges after he bought ads for the Aretha
Speaker 2: Franklin Review for Thursday night at a four thousand seat
Speaker 2: exposition hall. Meanwhile, when the Marion County Prosecutor speaks with
Speaker 2: the miss Vicki Jones aka Mary Jane Jones, yeah, she
Speaker 2: tells them about how she'd borrowed money to come to
Speaker 2: Florida and that she thought she'd be performing un under
Speaker 2: her own name, but instead Lavelle. He threatened her, He
Speaker 2: kept her in motel rooms, he was feeding her just
Speaker 2: two hamburgers a day. It all becomes clear to this
Speaker 2: prosecutor that, as you've noticed, she's the victim. She and
Speaker 2: a purp.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, in a story I found from the Tampa Bay Times,
Speaker 2: the Marion County prosecutor told reporters how quote, I'm sure
Speaker 2: glad we found out about this thing. There are going
Speaker 2: to be thousands of people from all over the Southeast
Speaker 2: for the show. She couldn't have fooled all those people. No,
Speaker 2: tell them what they would have done to the pavilion,
Speaker 2: and it could have been far worse when she got
Speaker 2: to Tampa or Jacksonville.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they don't play.
Speaker 2: No think of the pavilion people. Where are we going
Speaker 2: to sell our livestock if something happens to the pavilion.
Speaker 3: We we have a full schedule, yes exactly. We got
Speaker 3: nowhere to divert.
Speaker 2: We got a truck pull on Sunday, Yes exactly. So
Speaker 2: he tells reporters that he's decided to file charges after
Speaker 2: quote the real a rit the Franklin agreed to testify
Speaker 2: in criminal court here stop was willing to come down.
Speaker 3: Just wanted to get to get her down.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. Yes, he was like, what, okay, book
Speaker 2: the show, I mean booked the trial. So as one
Speaker 2: of the sheriff's detectives did point out, quote, if it
Speaker 2: was a drag, Aretha would have gotten mad, but this
Speaker 2: girl went over. So he's basically saying like, that's why
Speaker 2: Aretha and two pissed. The homegirl did her right. So
Speaker 2: Elizabeth the Clia Soul wasn't mad at Miss Vicki Jones
Speaker 2: for pretending to be her. She was only mad at
Speaker 2: the itinerant male hairdresser, Nobelle Hardy. Now, in fact, Aretha
Speaker 2: told Jet Magazine quote he ought to be prosecuted, not
Speaker 2: that girl. Right, go on, Aretha. However, this wasn't up
Speaker 2: to Aretha to decide. That was up to the job
Speaker 2: of the Marion County prosecutor, and he still needed to
Speaker 2: be fully convinced, because anybody can say anything right. So
Speaker 2: to prove her side of the story, he asked, Miss
Speaker 2: Vicki Jones, you sing from me, let me hear you
Speaker 2: are Aretha. So when Miss Vicki Jones opens her mouth,
Speaker 2: she hits him with her natural talent. And after he
Speaker 2: heard her sing, this Marion County Prosecutor concluded, this girl
Speaker 2: is a sanger. She is terrific. Just singing without a combo,
Speaker 2: she showed she had a distinctive style all her own.
Speaker 3: What was the point of that demissu.
Speaker 2: So she convinces him that she is the and the
Speaker 2: lavelle had conned this simple girl from rural Virginia into
Speaker 2: doing this Florida long con and as the Marion County
Speaker 2: prosecutor told reporters, she didn't have a red scent. She
Speaker 2: had four children at home and no way to get
Speaker 2: to them. We were thoroughly convinced that Vicky was forced
Speaker 2: into being Aretha Frankel, and it was obvious she was
Speaker 2: a victim. So now, as a result, Miss Vicky Jones
Speaker 2: was placed in protective custody and she faces no charges.
Speaker 2: Then when she's released from the courthouse, she was met
Speaker 2: by this gaggle reporters because it's now a national news
Speaker 2: story and they all want to get their angle. So
Speaker 2: Vicky Jones tells the gathered newsman, the judge said, I
Speaker 2: really sounded like her. I know I can use a
Speaker 2: little training in singing jazz and the blues, but I
Speaker 2: feel I can go all the way. I don't believe
Speaker 2: there is such a word as camped. So she's like
Speaker 2: trying to sell us up, like could we get another
Speaker 2: little stage for me now? As for her con job
Speaker 2: as Aretha, she also told reporters that quote, I'm not her,
Speaker 2: I don't look like her, I don't dress like her,
Speaker 2: and I should don't have her money and in an
Speaker 2: exclusive interview with The Orlando Sentinel. She later said, I
Speaker 2: want the truth told. I have never met her Beta Franklin,
Speaker 2: and I have never seen her except on television. So
Speaker 2: at this point, you know, Areta doesn't come back into
Speaker 2: the story. She doesn't come and meet her or anything.
Speaker 3: At least kicked her down some money to get home.
Speaker 2: That would be nice, right, But this isn't the end
Speaker 2: of this strange tale of impersonation. Because I have good
Speaker 2: news for you, Elizabeth.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: This story has a happy ending, thank you. You see,
Speaker 2: when Miss Vicky Jones stepped out of the Marion County Courthouse,
Speaker 2: it wasn't just reporters waiting for her. There was also
Speaker 2: a self made millionaire named Ray Green. He was smitten
Speaker 2: with her, smitting with her story. He wanted to offer
Speaker 2: her a legitimate show business place, a legit contract, and
Speaker 2: he paid her five hundred dollars to get her back
Speaker 2: home to Virginia. And then he offered to be her
Speaker 2: managing agent and her advisor, and he booked her a
Speaker 2: real deal, sold out to her all across Florida, performing
Speaker 2: as herself. Miss Vicky Joneses then enter jazz legend Duke
Speaker 2: Ellington Yes, just weeks after her arrest. On February eighth,
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty nine, The ord Lando Sentinel reported that quote
Speaker 2: erstwhile Aretha Franklin impersonator Mary Jane Jones performed under her
Speaker 2: own stage name here Vicky Jones with band leader Duke
Speaker 2: Ellington and his band Stop Yes. Her long strange road
Speaker 2: to fame it finally paid off.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: When she stepped out on stage with Duke Ellington, he
Speaker 2: told his audience at the Civic Auditorium in Sandford, Florida, quote,
Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to a Florida girl who
Speaker 2: made national headlines two weeks ago. Now he was wrong
Speaker 2: about the Florida her part, right, But who's gonna correct
Speaker 2: Duke Ellington exactly? So on stage he gave her like
Speaker 2: an avuncular kiss on the cheek to like, you know,
Speaker 2: basically denote her being special. And this photographer snapped photos
Speaker 2: of this like star making moment. And back to the
Speaker 2: Orlando Sentinel, which reported that she appeared in an expensive
Speaker 2: looking yellow ankle length evening gown and without a wig.
Speaker 2: Oh fashion please. All of a sudden, so with this band,
Speaker 2: Duke Ellington's band begins to play the song every day,
Speaker 2: I have the blues. Miss Jones stood before that microphone
Speaker 2: and began to sing the opening lyrics, speaking of bad
Speaker 2: luck in trouble. Well, you know I've had my share,
Speaker 2: and the crowd was transfixed, mesmerized by her natural talent.
Speaker 2: You know, the song choice and you damned to share
Speaker 2: a better believe they knew the blues she was singing
Speaker 2: was real, so her voice it was basically as striking
Speaker 2: and as authentic as like a clap of thunder. Right,
Speaker 2: They're like, oh, you cannot deny this. And as the
Speaker 2: Orlando set and also reported quote, Ellington said he is
Speaker 2: considering giving miss Jones the chance of a lifetime, hiring
Speaker 2: her on for a six month contract. The very next month,
Speaker 2: in March of sixty nine, the cover of Jet magazine
Speaker 2: featured in Miss Vicki Jones cover, Jet Star was Born,
Speaker 2: and she told Jet Magazine it was so exciting just
Speaker 2: to be in Duke's company. But he didn't know how
Speaker 2: I sing, and I didn't know how he play. For
Speaker 2: his part, Duke Ellington corrected that because he said of
Speaker 2: Miss Vicki Jones, she's a good soul singer. But he
Speaker 2: also said that the obvious part out loud. It was
Speaker 2: time that she breaked the Aretha imitation and she needed
Speaker 2: to have like her own right now. Months later, still
Speaker 2: following her story, national newspapers report on her progres rest
Speaker 2: to stardom in the Progress Index newspaper. Ironically, on May eleventh,
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty nine, the paper reported that Duke Ellington had
Speaker 2: written six songs for an upcoming album for Miss Jones. Yeah.
Speaker 2: In an interview with the paper, Vicki Jones said, it's
Speaker 2: gonna be hard, but nothing's gonna stop me from making
Speaker 2: it as a singer, and she added that quote, I
Speaker 2: want to do songs strictly about me, how I got
Speaker 2: started and how I love. Everything I write will be
Speaker 2: based on my life. I think people will be interested.
Speaker 2: I love the way I am. I like the many
Speaker 2: different people I meet. I want to take time to
Speaker 2: see the beauty of this world. Because remember, just from
Speaker 2: rural Virginia. Now she's like about to go national tours,
Speaker 2: which is exactly what she did. She toured America singing
Speaker 2: as herself, and the people loved her. She played sold
Speaker 2: out shows not just in Florida now, but in New York, Chicago, Detroit,
Speaker 2: Las Vegas. She would arrive in a chauffeured limousine, just
Speaker 2: like Aretha Franklin. She was now earning fifteen hundred dollars
Speaker 2: a night for her shows. It wasn't exactly Retha Franklin money,
Speaker 2: but it was damn good money for nineteen sixty that's
Speaker 2: good money for now night totally. In fact, she became
Speaker 2: so popular that now there was a Vicky Jones impersonator
Speaker 2: playing shows pretending to be her. Hit the story at
Speaker 2: Gumpull Circle. Now she was the star for the imitator.
Speaker 2: And when she heard about this pretender making money off
Speaker 2: of her name, Vicky Jones said, she stopped now. But
Speaker 2: I don't hold anything against her. I know how it
Speaker 2: was to be hungry without any money, supporting a family,
Speaker 2: and to be separated from my husband. Now this is
Speaker 2: all pre generous and gracious of her. But after a
Speaker 2: year on the road playing sold out shows, she returned
Speaker 2: home to Virginia, and she found that she missed her
Speaker 2: family and her young boys needed her back home. They
Speaker 2: were too much of a handful for her mother to
Speaker 2: take care of, so she decided to quit the stage.
Speaker 2: She walked away from her dreams of stardom, and she
Speaker 2: never went back. She only ever played She only ever
Speaker 2: from this point on performed songs for her four boys,
Speaker 2: and for them she would occasionally belt out un Aretha
Speaker 2: Franklin song. But she also kept a framed copy of
Speaker 2: that March nineteen sixty nine Jet magazine with her on
Speaker 2: the cover. It was a very tangible reminder of her
Speaker 2: year as a bona fide star, a real live soul
Speaker 2: singer who played with Duke Ellington and performed for Soldau
Speaker 2: shows across the nation.
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: Oh god, So what's a ridiculous takeaway here?
Speaker 3: Then? That that was a wild ride, that was you know,
Speaker 3: the ups and downs. No, I you know, I think
Speaker 3: one of the things we see this with like art forgers,
Speaker 3: that they're very, very talented if they'd only just do
Speaker 3: their own thing. And that's like with her, you know.
Speaker 3: And it's just with the art world. With music, it's
Speaker 3: hard to break into it if you don't have the
Speaker 3: right connections.
Speaker 2: Because you're in some world Virginia.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And so you know, it's a shame that
Speaker 3: she wasn't able to from the jump just get the
Speaker 3: recognition with her own talents. But I love that she
Speaker 3: at long last got it. And then got to like
Speaker 3: go out on top of everything she wanted. What's your
Speaker 3: ridiculous takeaway?
Speaker 2: Mine is Lavelle Hardy. I mean, like, how do you
Speaker 2: not see him coming? You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: He's like twenty four years Yeah, I tant from New.
Speaker 2: York City walking around here for like rural Virginia telling
Speaker 2: people I can make you money. I'm telling you. So
Speaker 2: that's just mine. It's like, come on now, you gotta
Speaker 2: be suspicious of the Lavelle Harties. Oh yeah, so you
Speaker 2: in the mood for a talkback?
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 2: Let's watch this down with a good one, producer. Can
Speaker 2: you hit us up with one? Oh?
Speaker 6: Oh my god?
Speaker 5: I love you, hey, Zaren and Elizabeth. You know what's
Speaker 5: ridiculous how much I love your podcast. You know what
Speaker 5: else is ridiculous. I have an acquaintance who once borrowed
Speaker 5: a large plastic cow from a certain chicken establishment's billboard
Speaker 5: and placed it in their local church's nativity scene. The
Speaker 5: restaurant press charges, so now they have to tell that
Speaker 5: story every time they interview with for a job. This
Speaker 5: is Sarah from Texas and I love what you guys do.
Speaker 2: Have a good one, Yes, Sarah from Texas having to
Speaker 2: explain a stolen cow every time you want a new
Speaker 2: job to put.
Speaker 3: It into it. You're not stealing from your adding too. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but yeah, I love that. Yeah, Oh about that arrest.
Speaker 2: Tell it's about a time you once had to solve
Speaker 2: a difficult crisis. Well, I stole a cow one time
Speaker 2: from a local fast food joint. Excuse me, everyone in
Speaker 2: nativity scene involved, don't worry. Well, as you can say,
Speaker 2: we always love to talk back. Yes, so hey, go
Speaker 2: download the iHeart app, leave a talk back and maybe
Speaker 2: you'll hear your voice here. And you can also always
Speaker 2: find us online at Ridiculous Crime on ig and in
Speaker 2: Blue Sky, and we have our account Ridiculous Crime Pod
Speaker 2: on YouTube. Go like, subscribe, tell your friends, and please
Speaker 2: don't be shy leave a comment. We do read them.
Speaker 2: We also have our website Ridiculous Crime dot com. Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: We were just nominated for the World Wildlife Funds annual
Speaker 2: Penguin of the Year People's Choice Award. Yes, we're the
Speaker 2: first non penguin to be nominated. Huge honor for us.
Speaker 2: Fingers crossed with just luck and email us if you
Speaker 2: like if you want at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot
Speaker 2: com the interns enjoy read Nos two and that we
Speaker 2: do as well. Thank you for listening. We will catch
Speaker 2: you next.
Speaker 4: Crime.
Speaker 2: Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, producer,
Speaker 2: edited by Jack White's favorite Brian Eno, impersonator Dave Cousten,
Speaker 2: and starring Annalise Rutger possibly as Judith. Research is by
Speaker 2: Marissa I Am not James Brown. Our theme song is
Speaker 2: by the world's best Milli Vanilli tribute act Thomas Lee
Speaker 2: and Travis Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by Botany five
Speaker 2: hundred guest Haarn makeup by Sparkleshop and mister Andre executive producers.
Speaker 2: I've been you know I do a mean Marky, Mark
Speaker 2: Boland and Noel You should see My Funky Bunch Brown
Speaker 2: REDI Why say it one more time?
Speaker 3: Yes Crime.
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts
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