1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons are insane. He died at just twenty six 3 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,079 Speaker 1: years old. His body was stolen, unceremoniously disposed of, and 4 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: the story became the stuff of instant rock and roll legend. 5 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons was a prodigious junkie, drunk and creative confidant 6 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. He was scarred by grief, 7 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: wore his deep emotional pain on his sleeve and channeled 8 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: at as best he could through the music he grew 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: up on the music of the American South country, soul, 10 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: blues and R and B. In the process, Graham Parsons 11 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: invented a new genre of music, all country and unknowingly 12 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: inspired a future generation Grandma's with the Stones at Altamont 13 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: and at Elcot for the making of Exile on Main 14 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: Street and Somehow I Stall the Chaos and drug use 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: with his bands The International Submarine Band, The Birds and 16 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: Flying Burrito Brothers, and then later as a solo artist. 17 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:13,279 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons made great music. And that music I played 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: for you at the top of the show that wasn't 19 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: great music. That was a preset loop from my melotron 20 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: called the Lost Gourd MK one. I played you that 21 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: loop because I can't afford the rights to Delta Dawn 22 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: by Helen Ready. And why would I play you that 23 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: specific slice of recycled rockabilly cheese? Could I afford it? 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 25 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: September nineteenth, nineteen seventy three, and that was the day 26 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons died, setting off one of the most enduring 27 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: rock and roll legends of all time, the stealing of 28 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: Graham parsons body. On this episode a reservoir of grief, 29 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: cosmic American music, disappearing dead bodies and Graham Parsons. 30 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan. 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: And this is disgrace, lamd. 32 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 3: Well. 33 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: I can shoot him if that's what you want. The 34 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: handler for the Rolling Stones management didn't want Phil Kaufman 35 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,679 Speaker 1: to shoot anyone on behalf of his clients. No, you 36 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: don't have to shoot him. In fact, please don't do that, 37 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: just run them off. The handler was concerned with Hollywood's 38 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: predatory drug dealers. The Stones were in town to mix 39 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: their latest long player, Beggars Banquet, and the last thing 40 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: they needed was more drug trouble with the authorities. It 41 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: was nineteen sixty eight, only a year removed from the 42 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: Rolling Stones. If Miss Bust sent the appeal and release 43 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: in London for drug possession, the whole affair was an 44 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: utter fiasco and in the States, the Rolling Stones needed 45 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: to completely avoid any such trouble if they were to 46 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: continue as a working band, and that's why Phil Kaufman 47 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: was brought in. 48 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 2: Someone from Bob. 49 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: Dylan's camp recommended him, or perhaps someone from the band 50 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: as in the band Dylan's backing band from Canada, Robbie 51 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: Robertson Leavon Helm those dudes, Kaufman had done a turn 52 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: road managing them and things worked out okay, so he 53 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: was recommended to do the same for The Stones here 54 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: in la not necessarily roague work as the band would 55 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: be local, but more accurately babysitting the band, or as 56 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: mc jagger put it, Kaufman was an executive nanny. He 57 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: took care of things for rock stars, which, in the 58 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: nascent years of the music industry was, as it very 59 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: much still is, a unique skill set. 60 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 2: Phil Kaufman was much more than a road manager. 61 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: He was uniquely capable of getting whatever needed done done. Okay, 62 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: but if I run them off and they come back, 63 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to shoot him. The stones lack. He 64 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: could see that this conversation was going nowhere. It was 65 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: like arguing with a drunk person, an impossible task. Fine, 66 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,799 Speaker 1: he thought, yes, you can shoot them if they come back. 67 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: The dealers would have to be suicidal not to take 68 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: Kaufman's warning on the first go round, anyhow, and if 69 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: indeed they were shot, then that would be their own 70 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 1: damn fault. Phil Kaufman's command was hard not to heat. 71 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: He was an intimidating figure, not necessarily tall, but big, 72 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: built like a brick shithouse. He wasn't going anywhere if 73 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,239 Speaker 1: he didn't want to move, and likewise, if he wanted 74 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: you gone, he'd. 75 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 2: Best take it on the arches. 76 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,559 Speaker 1: Phil dressed in the requisite rock and roll biker garb 77 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,799 Speaker 1: of the day, well worn leather, greasy dnim T shirts, 78 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: big brando engineer boots, massive belt buckle, and he carried 79 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: with him an R that basically said one thing, very clearly, 80 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: don't fuck with me. The air around him gave way 81 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: to his natural punk one of motor oil heavy pommade 82 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: unfiltered cigarettes and domestic beer. His friends called him the 83 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: Mangler and the Mangler. Phil Kaufman was every bit the 84 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: outlaw his image projected him to be. Back in sixty seven, 85 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: he caught a drug charge and took a state sponsored 86 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: vacation at Terminal Island Prison. 87 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 2: In jail, he. 88 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: Took to a little dude who played the guitar. His 89 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,840 Speaker 1: name was Charlie. Charlie was a trip. He actually liked Jie. 90 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: Phil never understood that. Charlie said it afforded him the 91 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: time he needed to practice his guitar playing, which he 92 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: did often but never seemed to progress at. Phil encouraged him. 93 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: Despite Charlie's awful playing. Phil thought his voice was pretty 94 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: good and his ideas his words. Those lyrics were wild, 95 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: just like Charlie's sense of humor, except Phil could never 96 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: really be sure when Charlie was joking or not. The 97 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 1: guards told Charlie if he didn't stop banging on that 98 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: guitar the shit out of them that they'd never let 99 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: him get out of there, and Charlie responded with get 100 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: out of where. When Phil got out, he told Charlie 101 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: he'd take care of him when his stint was up, 102 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: told him he had some music industry connections he could 103 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: introduce Charlie to. Phil moved into a home in Hollywood 104 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: up on Waverley with some friends of friends ex cons 105 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 1: turned on head types. When Charlie later got out, Phil 106 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: arranged for one of his housemates to pick Charlie up 107 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,679 Speaker 1: from Terminal Island and to bring him back to the house, 108 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: set him up, give him a place to stay, and 109 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: Charlie showed up at the house Tony. In comparison to 110 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: the institutional life he'd grown up in, he'd never forget 111 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: the address three two six seven Waverley Drive, just down 112 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: the road a piece from three three zero one Waverley Drive, 113 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: where in just a few years death to Pigs would 114 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: be scrawled on the wall, and the blood of the 115 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: homes owners Lino and Rosemary LaBianca. That's when everybody would 116 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: start to get an idea of who this Charlie cat 117 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: really was. Phil stayed in Charlie's caras for a bit 118 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: after he first got out, moving into where Charlie was 119 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: staying in Tapanga after things went south with his roommates. 120 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: By that time, Charlie had put together a short string 121 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: of girls and was running them out into Hollywood during 122 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: the day to scam up bread, food and drugs from 123 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: Square John's who wanted in on that dirty hippie sex vibe. 124 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: Phil loved it. Later, when Phil, along with the rest 125 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: of America, watched Charlie manson so called family parade across 126 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: television screens on trial for the Tate LaBianca murders, Phil 127 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: would remark, I had sex with every one of those murdererses. 128 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: But back to our story, Phil Coffin didn't have murder 129 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: on the mind or even sex. He had the Rolling 130 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: Stones to occupy his brain, and specifically the conundrum of 131 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: how to show these rock stars a good time around 132 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: town while keeping them away from the kinds of trouble 133 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: that sometimes came with the type of good times rock 134 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: stars craved. Lucky for Phil Richards had made up his 135 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: mind for a lot of them. 136 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 2: They were going to see. 137 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: Chuck Berry, who was playing that night at the Whiskey. 138 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: At Go Go, Chuck played his band Sucked three kids 139 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: in a makeshift pickup band, too terrified to keep up 140 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: with the changes, and they. 141 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 2: Were cheap and it showed. 142 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: Keith and Mick wanted to meet Chuck and convinced him 143 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: to come on the road with them and open up 144 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: their shows. Chuck blew them off, they bounced. Keith directed 145 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: the entourage out to the Corral. A divy little cowboy 146 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: joined him to Panga to see a friend of his 147 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: performed the country and western songs he and Mick had 148 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: become obsessed with as a late Keith's Friend's name was 149 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons. Phil Coffin would of course meet Graham that 150 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: night for the first time, and neither of their lives 151 00:08:44,160 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: would ever be the same. The piano swung mid tempo, 152 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: totally infectious in that honky Tonk kind of way. The 153 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: Flying Burrito Brothers were in their element. Small crowd blitzed 154 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: on wild turkey and acid and whatever else was going 155 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: around the Canyon and found its way into the bar 156 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: that night with the Corral and Graham Parsons was feeling 157 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: himself on stage. 158 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 2: He was in that sweet spot. 159 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: Between buzzed and obliterated when the heroin Jones hadn't quite 160 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,320 Speaker 1: kicked in, the alcohol hadn't completely taken over, and the 161 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,559 Speaker 1: pills weren't yet working the way the good doctor had intended, 162 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: and Graham was inspired his famous friend Keith Richards was 163 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: in the crowd. Keith loved Graham, and Graham loved Keith, 164 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: and Mick Jagger hated them both for it, but he 165 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,680 Speaker 1: was too cool to show it, so he played along. Sure, Graham, 166 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,080 Speaker 1: you can hang out and sing your country songs and 167 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: shoot your heroin, but you'll never be a rolling stone. 168 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons knew about being lonesome, and Mick Jagger could 169 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: give a fuck. Keith thought Graham was some sort of 170 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: cosmic poet who'd mainlined the best that his native South 171 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: had to offer. Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb and 172 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: somehow had a bead on cracking the code, the code 173 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:22,679 Speaker 1: that they were all trying to crack, the one that 174 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: took traditional American music, country, blue soul and R and 175 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: B and re fashioned it into something modern and previously unheard, 176 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: a new kind of rock and roll. Graham was onto something, 177 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: Keith thought, and whatever it was, Mick knew that he 178 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: and Keith were also chasing it down and were hot 179 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: on its heels as well, but as of yet still 180 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: hadn't quite captured it. Not on beggars anyway. Maybe on 181 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: the next go round or the next in the meantime, 182 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: whatever it was, maybe Graham Parsons would inadvertently help the 183 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: Stones find it, lead them around the right creative corner. 184 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: Or just as likely, Mick thought, maybe Graham Parsons would 185 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:03,679 Speaker 1: just lead Richard straight down a heroin hell hole. Graham 186 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: was a prodigious drug addict and a bad drunk. Unlike 187 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:11,599 Speaker 1: Macon Keith, Graham couldn't handle his drugs. It was downright embarrassing. 188 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: He was a slob, and despite his soft spokenness, when 189 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: wasted alout, he came on to women hard slobberd drooled, 190 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,199 Speaker 1: passed out and had to be taken care of. He 191 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: was a liability, and at the time the Rolling Stones 192 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: didn't need. 193 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 2: Any more liabilities. 194 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,839 Speaker 1: But the music Graham Parsons played and sang came from 195 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: an authentic place. 196 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 2: Having grown up. 197 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 1: In Waycross, Georgia, Graham was steeped in the exact type 198 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: of traditional American music that had utterly captivated the Rolling 199 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:44,439 Speaker 1: Stones and rock and Rolls second generation of artists, the Beatles, 200 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: Eric Clapton, led Zeppelin and Moore. There was something about 201 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: that music and where it came from, where Graham came from, 202 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: that was endlessly compelling. That music was class music. 203 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 3: Lower class music and its originators, the old blues and 204 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 3: country singers, knew pain and misery, and the music they 205 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 3: created was forged through that hardship. Graham came up in 206 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 3: that same area of the country, the South Georgia, and 207 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,319 Speaker 3: though he was white and raised in a wealthy family, 208 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 3: he knew of deep, deep hardship losing kind. When he 209 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,000 Speaker 3: was twelve years old, his father took his own life 210 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 3: on December twenty third, nineteen fifty eight, ruined Christmas forever 211 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:27,599 Speaker 3: for Graham when he raised the thirty eight revolver. 212 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: To his temple and pulled the trigger. And on the 213 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:32,719 Speaker 1: day of Graham's high school graduation, his mother died of 214 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: cirrhosis of the liver. 215 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 2: Having drank herself to death. Eighteen years old. 216 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:42,439 Speaker 1: With two dead parents, the grief from his father's suicide 217 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:46,600 Speaker 1: was unprocessed. The trauma from his mother's death calcified Graham's 218 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: grief into a state of ever present pain. Alternately, throughout 219 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: the rest of his short life, he would use music 220 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: and drugs to run the grief down. Sometimes the results 221 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 1: were undeniably great, as they were with the output from 222 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: his first group, the International Submarine Band that he put 223 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: together during his brief time attending Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 224 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: and later when lending his country singing and songwriting talents 225 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: to the very well established American folk rock group The 226 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: Birds on their. 227 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 2: Album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, an. 228 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 3: Album that did as much for seventy's mainstream rock and 229 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 3: roll as any other critically acclaimed or commercially received album 230 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,959 Speaker 3: before Since its release Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline included, to. 231 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: Say nothing of what the album did for another generation 232 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: of alternate rockers three decades later. But whatever creative strides 233 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons made, they were consistently marred by the inconsistency 234 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: and output that his drug use created. Unlike making Keith, who, 235 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: despite whatever drugs or drink they were on, never lost 236 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: sight of the goal to make great, earth shattering, culture 237 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: defining rock and roll, Graham would let the booze, the heroine, 238 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: the pills, the acid eat them up and completely derail 239 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: whatever progress his music had made for him in his career. 240 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: But still undisciplined lout that he sometimes was, he was 241 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: mostly a sweetheart and to everyone not named Nick Jagger, 242 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: fun to be around. Phil Kaufman took to him instantly. 243 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 1: Later that night, after the Flying Burrito Brother's gig at 244 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: the Corral, Graham, his band Phil, Keith, Mick, and the 245 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: rest of their entourage made it back to the home 246 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: the Stones were renting in the Hollywood Hills. It was late, 247 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: Keith had disappeared and so at Mick, and the party 248 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: was dying down. Graham was out back with the writer 249 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: Stanley Booth, who was traveling with the Stones. He too, 250 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: was from Waycross, Georgia, where Graham had grown up. Such 251 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: was the cosmic thrust of rock and roll. Two Waycross boys, 252 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: relatively the same age, who'd grown up breathing the same air, 253 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: but who'd never met, thrust together and missed ascending British stars, 254 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: some three thousand mi isles from home, under Hollywood's Vampire Moon, 255 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: sharing a joint and looking out over the glittery sunset strip. 256 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: Phil stood near, quietly sipping the Schlitz and listening to 257 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: the two Southern boys talk. Look at it man, Graham said. 258 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: They call it America, they call it civilization, they call 259 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: it television. They believe in it and salute it and 260 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: sing songs to it, and eat and sleep and die 261 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: still believing in it and I don't know. Graham paused 262 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 1: and pulled again from the joint before continuing, and then man, 263 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: sometimes the Mets come along and win the world series. 264 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: Phil Kaufman would learn this was just like Graham poetic 265 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: in one moment, approaching greatness and then devolving into nonsense. 266 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons needed help, and Phil Kaufman was just the 267 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: guy to give it to him. 268 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this. We were were. 269 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons would continue on as Keith Richard's own personal 270 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: junkie pilot fish over the course of the next few years, 271 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: by Keith's side during pivotal moments in the trajectory of 272 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones at Altamont and later on the French 273 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: Riviera a Keith's place during the recording of the Stone's 274 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: masterpiece Exile on Main Street, all the time angling to 275 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: benefit somehow from the glare of Rolling Stones stardom, perhaps 276 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: as an artist on the newly formed record label by 277 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones, or cooler still, perhaps even joining the 278 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: Rolling Stones. Despite Graham parsons immense talent as a songwriter, 279 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: when it came down to it, dude was a straight 280 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: up starfucker he'd been kicked out of the Flying Burrito 281 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: Brothers over his drug use and the fact that to 282 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: his bandmates he seemed more interested in the Stones than 283 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: he was in his own band. But being without a 284 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: job didn't phaze Graham. He had a thirty thousand dollars 285 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: a year trust fund, which in twenty twenty dollars worked 286 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,120 Speaker 1: out to roughly be about two hundred grand a year. 287 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: Graham could afford to get wasted, putts around on stage 288 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: and puke into the mic, or alternately chase the Rolling 289 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: Stones around America or the South of France. His bandmates couldn't, 290 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 1: so Graham was out on his own, and despite whatever 291 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: promises to Graham Parson said, Keith Richards mayor made out 292 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: of made Keith was a hard man to pin down. 293 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: Graham tried catching the creative wave burbling up from the 294 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,800 Speaker 1: basement of Keith Snellcott mansion during the Stone's exile sessions, 295 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: but the Stones. 296 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 2: Shut him out, perhaps. 297 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: Because Graham was a mess shooting Corsican heroin, drinking heavily, 298 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: and generally unable to keep up with the supernova creative 299 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: energy and shambalic focus of Keith and the rest of 300 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: the Stones. 301 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 2: Graham played it cool. 302 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,880 Speaker 1: He'd grabbed time with Keith when he could, and when 303 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 1: he couldn't, he keep working on his own songs. In 304 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: those rare Lucie moments at villain Elcott, when not totally 305 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: high on smack or fall down drunk, Graham would keep 306 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: his demons down by working on songs for his next 307 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: musical project, a solo album. Graham wanted to do things 308 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,879 Speaker 1: his way and do them unencumbered by the creative restrictions 309 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: of bandmates. He had a vision, a vision of America 310 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: through the lens of his own cosmic experiences and aspirations 311 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: cosmic American music, and he would bring it to life 312 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,720 Speaker 1: through a unique and unprecedented melding of the American country 313 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: sold in gospel music he'd grown up in the South, 314 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: listening to all expressed through the prism of pain he'd 315 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: been enduring since his father's suicide in his mother's death, 316 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,120 Speaker 1: he kept writing, but even songwriting at its hang ups. 317 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: No matter how he cut it, Graham kept running head 318 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: first into his unprocessed grief. It reared its beastly head constantly, 319 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: making songwriting especially painful. So when Graham couldn't write, he'd 320 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: shoot Heroin, and when he couldn't shoot Heroin, he'd write 321 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: life was one long race to outrun the beast raging inside, 322 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:06,879 Speaker 1: daring him to look around the corner of his consciousness 323 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 1: to confront the pain. For Graham Parsons, there was no peace. 324 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: Graham buoyed back and forth between complete and debriation and 325 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,119 Speaker 1: half assed attempts at songwriting, all while marveling at the 326 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,879 Speaker 1: work ethic of Keith Richards and his bandmates, who, no 327 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: matter what drugs. 328 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 2: Or drink were swimming through their systems, no. 329 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:28,159 Speaker 1: Matter what the situation or the environment, always seemed to 330 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: rise to the creative challenge. Their approach to their craft 331 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: making the greatest rock and roll music the world had 332 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: ever heard, Being the greatest rock and roll band the 333 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: world had ever seen, and doing it all without a 334 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: playbook was inspiring to Graham and also totally fucking intimidating. 335 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: But Graham gathered his own inspiration like a handful of 336 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: loose change to make one last purchase. Graham was motivated 337 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:57,240 Speaker 1: to get his shit together to make great music, but 338 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: first he needed to kick Heroin. Do that, he needed 339 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: to get out of France and stay away from Los Angeles, 340 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: so it was decided. Joshua Tree Joshua Tree National Park 341 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: is about one hundred and forty mile drive from LA. 342 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: It's located in a small desert town filled with entertainment industry, 343 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: burnout seekers, angel dusted lsd heads, and UFO chasers. Graham 344 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 1: Parsons was in one way or another, all of these things. 345 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: After his experience at Nellcott, Graham found his way to 346 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: LA and burned his way through the Hollywood rock scene 347 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,159 Speaker 1: before landing out at Joshua Tree to clean up his 348 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: act and start leaning into the writing process for songs 349 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,920 Speaker 1: that he hoped would become his first solo album. Graham 350 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: loved Joshua Tree, and why wouldn't he. It's a place 351 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: unlike any other on the planet. Its desert is a 352 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,399 Speaker 1: psychedelic's acid dream come true with its trippy Yuka Tree, 353 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: sun blistered terrain and glittering star freckled nighttime sky. And 354 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: the town of Joshua Tree was and still is a 355 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: low key hippie outlaws paradise. There was a lawless vibe 356 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: about it. There aren't a lot of people, and most 357 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: of those that lived there seemed to be trying to 358 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: avoid some sort of hassle At night, Graham would head 359 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: out to Joshua Tree National Park and frolic through the desert, 360 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 1: high on acid, in hopes of spotting UFOs and or God, 361 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: both were pursuits he believed in. During the day in 362 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: Joshua Tree, Graham would sleep off the LSD and try 363 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 1: to write songs from the cozy confines of his room 364 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 1: at the Joshua Tree Inn. Not exactly clean living, but 365 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: at least he wasn't doing Heroin. However, getting fucked up 366 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: and tripping balls eventually won out, and Graham's writing took 367 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: a back seat. So be it being high kept the 368 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,639 Speaker 1: pain away. He'd get around a writing in making his 369 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 1: solo record in due time. Meanwhile, the Stone's Exile on 370 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: Main Street was a smash. Graham was happy for his 371 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,679 Speaker 1: old friend Keith, but a part of him was pissed 372 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 1: off that he wasn't along for the ride. He couldn't 373 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: help but think that all that country music he'd shared 374 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:01,440 Speaker 1: with Keith had helped in form the sound of Exile. 375 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: Now the record was double platinum, and what the Graham 376 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: had to show for it other than an increasingly intense 377 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: Heroin addiction? But what had Graham even more upset was 378 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,239 Speaker 1: a new band that was quickly becoming unavoidable on the 379 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:21,040 Speaker 1: FM dial, The Eagles. The Eagles featured Graham's ex bandmate 380 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 1: from The Burrito Brothers, Bernie Leyden, and the band represented 381 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,360 Speaker 1: everything Graham hated about modern rock and roll, to say 382 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,360 Speaker 1: nothing of his annoyance out they're infusing country into their 383 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,639 Speaker 1: brand of rock and effectively working his side of the street. 384 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: The Eagles traded on all the country and none of 385 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: the soul influences that Graham had been messing with since 386 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,880 Speaker 1: he started making music back at Harvard with the International 387 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: Submarine Band, and then through his work with the Birds 388 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: and ultimately to his near perfect first album. 389 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:49,880 Speaker 2: With the Flying Burrito Brothers. 390 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: Graham had dedicated his life diffusing country and soul into 391 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,439 Speaker 1: a new form of rock and roll, and here was 392 00:22:56,480 --> 00:23:00,199 Speaker 1: this new band of frankly, by his estimation, assholes who, 393 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: judging from the high gloss production of their singles, cared 394 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,399 Speaker 1: little for the actual spirit of this music and only 395 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: for the success that its most watered down trite realization 396 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:15,160 Speaker 1: could bring a peaceful, easy feeling more like plastic dry fuck, 397 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: went Graham's sussessment. Graham Parsons hated the Eagles. Graham knew 398 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,480 Speaker 1: he could do better. It was time. Time to get 399 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: out of the desert, time to put a studio band together, 400 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 1: time to get some songs going and make this damn album, 401 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: and time to deal with his damn demons. To do that, 402 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: Graham needed to get in touch with his road manager 403 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: and friend, Phil Kaufman. After connecting through the Stones, Phil 404 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: had joined on with Graham as a sort of part 405 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 1: time road manager and minder, but the two quickly established 406 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: a legit friendship. Phil saw it as his duty to 407 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: take care of the fragile singer songwriter. He made sure 408 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: Graham didn't take too much smack, didn't sleep with the 409 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,119 Speaker 1: wrong women, and made it to the gig or the 410 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: studio on time. When Phil got the call, he high 411 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: tailed it out to Joshua Tree, grabbed Graham, brought him 412 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: back to la and nestled him into an apartment at 413 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 1: the Chateau Marmont. At first, Graham was motivated, inspired, and 414 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:11,720 Speaker 1: ready to get down to work. 415 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 2: The two made. 416 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: Travel arrangements for Graham's new muse Emmy Lou Harris, the 417 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 1: beautiful singer with the enchanting voice whom Graham had met 418 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: on the road then they got Barry Tashian, the former 419 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,679 Speaker 1: singer of The Remains, to fly in from Nashville and 420 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,880 Speaker 1: immediately began working on a repertoire for Graham. Barry brought 421 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,640 Speaker 1: with him a suitcase of song Streets of Baltimore by 422 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: Harlan Howard and tomple Glazer, I Can't Dance by Tom 423 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: t Hall and Cry One More Time by Peter Wolf 424 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 1: and Seth Justman of the Jay Guiles Band, a white 425 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: hot R and B band from back in Tashian's home 426 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: turf of Boston, Massachusetts. With these songs, along with the 427 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: handful of originals he'd been working up, Graham could see 428 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: his album taking shape. But working on original material brought 429 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 1: painful emotions to the surface, and Graham quickly fell into 430 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: the familiar habit of burying the pain with alcohol and heroin. 431 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: Graham was incoherent for long stretches of time, more of 432 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 1: a rambling buffoon than a tender troubadour. Kaufin and Tashian 433 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 1: knew that making this record wasn't going to be easy, 434 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: and they needed to act quick. While Graham had some 435 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: semblance of motivation and before he was completely consumed by 436 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 1: his addiction, so naturally, they headed to Sin City to 437 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 1: find a band in The trip to Las Vegas was 438 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,440 Speaker 1: strictly business. Tashian and Graham had a job to convince 439 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,239 Speaker 1: Elvis Presley's band to back Graham in the studio for 440 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: his new record. It was a brilliant idea. While the 441 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: rest of the rock and roll world was busy chasing 442 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: country music up the charts, putting their hair and ponytails 443 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: and fitting themselves for snap buttoned shirts and bolo ties, 444 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,840 Speaker 1: all the while paying scant attention to the soul and spirit. 445 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 2: At the heart of country music. 446 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: Graham decided to hire deeply talented musicians who got this 447 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 1: music on a molecular level. And the fact that they 448 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,239 Speaker 1: were seen at the time as being tragically un hit hit. 449 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: Backing Elvis as a show band in Vegas running through 450 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: a career retrospective of square cheese for Beehived Housewives and 451 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: black framed pencilnecks in for the Early Bird special on 452 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 1: junkets from the Midwest made the move. 453 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 2: By Graham Altemore ingenious. 454 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,400 Speaker 3: While self satisfied country rock and rollers like the Eagles 455 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 3: fiddled with learning, Chad Atkins and Floyd Kramer riss On 456 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 3: guitar and piano. 457 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: Graham would have James Burden and Glen D. Harden playing 458 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 1: guitar and piano in his studio band, two players who 459 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,120 Speaker 1: could both come out on your porch or step into 460 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,480 Speaker 1: your parlor and show you how it all went down. 461 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,399 Speaker 1: Hiring Elvis's band paid off big time. In addition to 462 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: having stone cold killers in the studio, Graham, with so 463 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: much respect for these musicians, kept himself sober through the work, 464 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 1: and the result was stunning. The sessions with Elvis's Band 465 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:55,400 Speaker 1: produced the masterpiece. 466 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 2: The record GP, as it would come to. 467 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: Be called, was Graham Parson's vision of cosmic American music 468 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: come to life, a perfect meld of country soul and gospel, 469 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: the Southern Gothic tradition, and irony and inner pain channeled 470 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,400 Speaker 1: through B bent telecaster strings, R and B chord progressions 471 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: and honky tonk piano riffs. Graham's heavy, soft spoken, understated 472 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: singing voice stank of heroin. He sang loose and slack john, 473 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: but his admiration for country singer Conway Twitty lent a 474 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: measure of directness to the vocals, and the mix of 475 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: those ingredients manifested an emotional harpooon of vulnerability that cuts 476 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: straight through to the hearts of listeners. GP is a 477 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 1: staggering work of artistry. When the record was completed, Graham 478 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,840 Speaker 1: was emotionally spent, so he headed out to Joshua Tree 479 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,200 Speaker 1: to chase UFOs again. But there would be little rest 480 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,920 Speaker 1: for Graham Parsons and his damaged soul. In nineteen seventy three, 481 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:01,360 Speaker 1: grief would soon roar back into his life. On July fifteenth, 482 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,440 Speaker 1: Graham's friend, infrequent musical collaborator, the great guitarist and one 483 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: time bird, Clarence White, was struck by a drunk driver 484 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,119 Speaker 1: while loading gear into his car after a gig. He 485 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:17,360 Speaker 1: died instantly. When Graham heard the news, he was besieged 486 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,679 Speaker 1: by grief. Clarence White's funeral was a staid Catholic affair, 487 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 1: completely devoid of the soul and compassion Graham knew of 488 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: his friend At the reception. After the service, Graham drowned 489 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: his grief and alcohol at a local bar filled with friends. 490 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,679 Speaker 1: Among them was as now ubiquitous sidekick Phil Kaufman. It 491 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,959 Speaker 1: was there that Graham and Phil made a pact with 492 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: one another that no matter who kicked first, the other 493 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: would make sure that under no circumstance would the dearly 494 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: departed among them be sent off in the soul as 495 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: fashion foisted upon their soulful friend Clarence White. Fuck that 496 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: straight laced funeral jive, Graham said, take me out to 497 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: the desert in Joshua Tree, burn my body up, and 498 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: set my soul free. A handshake and two shots of 499 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: well tequila with cold Schlitz chasers sealed. 500 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:25,560 Speaker 2: Gene. 501 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: Hackman was pissed. Learning your lines was hard enough, Getting 502 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 1: into your character emotionally was another thing. 503 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:32,960 Speaker 2: Entirely. 504 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: The fucking distractions on a movie set were monumental to 505 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: begin with, but now with cops busting up a scene 506 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: to arrest the biker who owned the house they'd arranged 507 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: to shoot this scene in the entire day would be 508 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: shot to Shitjeene would never be able to get back 509 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:52,160 Speaker 1: into character now. Hackman and director Arthur Penn watched with 510 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 1: a mix of incredulity and annoyance. As the owner of 511 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: the house, Phil Kaufman, was led out under the lowering 512 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: boom and through the film crew in hand cuffs. The 513 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: whispers started immediately Kaufman burned the body one of the 514 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: newspapers had been talking about for the past couple of days, 515 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: the Body of the Desert, that junkie country singer. The 516 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: newspapers had it right. Kaufman did burn the body, and 517 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 1: he didn't care who knew about it, and he'd do 518 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: it again if he had to, to make sure that 519 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: his friend Graham Parsons was honored in death the way 520 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: that he had pledged to do for him in life. 521 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: After Clarence White's funeral, Graham Parsons was focused. When GP 522 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: failed to set the world on fire, Graham was disappointed, 523 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: but undeterred. He was hell bent on making another great record. 524 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,720 Speaker 1: But first Graham needed some rest. He headed back to 525 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: Joshua Tree for some R and R, and he was happy. 526 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: He had a strong feeling that when this new, yet 527 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 1: to be written album was released, the results would be different. 528 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: The world would finally get hip to Graham Parsons and 529 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: his cosmic American music. 530 00:30:58,880 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 2: Hell. 531 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: At least the local bar out of Joshua Tree he 532 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: had one of his songs on the jukebox. 533 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 2: He made it a point to hang. 534 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: Out as much as possible at his new local and 535 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: to hit the stage whenever the. 536 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 2: Mood struck him. 537 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,040 Speaker 1: One night, while sitting in with the local band and 538 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 1: working their way through Merle Haggard's Oki from Muskoki, Graham 539 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: took note of how the pedal steel player couldn't keep 540 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: up with the rest. When they finished the set, Graham 541 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: found out why the steel player's arms were loaded with 542 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: track marks from shooting junk and were so badly bruised 543 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: he could barely move them, never mind play steel. The 544 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: sight of the track marks wet Graham's whistle. He'd been 545 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: drinking most of the day and night and taking pills, 546 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,160 Speaker 1: but now he had Heroin on his brain. That familiar 547 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: junkie jones kicked in subconsciously. He knew that no amount 548 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: of booze, pills or promise of the future would stave 549 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: off the pain for too long. 550 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 2: Heroin, though, Heroin. 551 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: Took it all away, so Graham and a couple friends 552 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: he was traveling with split. They knew they could fix 553 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: back at the hotel. Back at the Joshua Tree In, 554 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,959 Speaker 1: a local Heroin dealer was arranged for Graham. When the 555 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: dealer arrived, she had her two year old with her. 556 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: Graham didn't mind, but he did mind that the dealer 557 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: didn't come as advertised. She didn't actually have any heroin. Instead, 558 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: she had vials of stolen government grade morphine selfie. At 559 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 1: this point, Graham didn't care. He could feel the saliva 560 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: dripping down the inner walls of his cheeks. He could 561 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: feel the giddy pitter patter of his heart picking up 562 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: speed and anticipation of getting high. He needed to feel 563 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: the rush of opiates blast up his veins and wipe 564 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: away the coming hurt. Morphine was close enough, and it 565 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,680 Speaker 1: would have to do. Graham would just have to take 566 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: twice as much. So he did, and immediately things went souf. 567 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: Graham's overdose came quick, his breathing slowed, and then it 568 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: grew rest His two friends managed to get him up 569 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: and into the tub. With his clothes off. They jammed 570 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,479 Speaker 1: ice cubes into his asshole, a home remedy almost as 571 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: old as ice itself, which shocked his system and revived him. 572 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 1: Graham was mumbling and semi conscious, but within no time 573 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 1: the morphine once again took control of his faculties. No 574 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: frozen enemies would be able to help him this time, 575 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: and then Graham felt next to nothing, just warm bliss. 576 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: His body went slack, his mind went black, no pain, 577 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: no more grief. Then nothing. Graham Parsons overdosed and died 578 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 1: in room eight of the Joshua Tree Inn on September nineteenth, 579 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. When Phil Kaufman heard the news, he 580 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: was back in LA and he was pissed. Pissed that 581 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,080 Speaker 1: Graham had been so careless, pissed at Graham's traveling friends 582 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,280 Speaker 1: hadn't known how to keep him alive, and pissed that 583 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: he wasn't there to take care of his friend himself. 584 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: He wouldn't let that happen again. The friend in Joshua 585 00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: Tree who'd called Kaufman to give him the news, mentioned 586 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: that a thought were taking his body away, so Phil 587 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,360 Speaker 1: moved fast. He made it to the Joshua Tree Inn 588 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:09,359 Speaker 1: from LA in three hours. Kaufman immediately cleaned out Graham's room, 589 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: wiping away any trace of an illicit drug party. He 590 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,359 Speaker 1: then rounded up Graham's two friends and got them out 591 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: of Joshua Tree back to LA where they would be 592 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,760 Speaker 1: beyond the reach of the local police and therefore unable 593 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: to be questioned. Kaufman knew how to clean up a 594 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,720 Speaker 1: rock and roll mess, but the job wasn't done. Once 595 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 1: back in LA, Kaufman called the Joshua Tree Morgue to 596 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: inquire about his friend's body. Graham's surviving family, upon hearing 597 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 1: of Graham's death and the press, had made arrangements for 598 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: it to be flown back home to the South. The 599 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 1: body was chilling in an airport hangar at Lax, waiting 600 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: to be retrieved by Graham's stepfather for what would no 601 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,839 Speaker 1: doubt be a stale, religious, conservative Southern funeral service, in 602 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: other words, the exact opposite of what Graham would want. Kaufman, ever, 603 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: the fixer had a friend who owned a hearse he borrowed, 604 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:02,879 Speaker 1: grabbed some other friends a motley crew of leather clad, 605 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: greasy haired rock and roll biker types who Kaufman knew 606 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: could serve as impromptu illicit pallbearers, and then headed. 607 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:09,759 Speaker 2: Out to Lax. 608 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,839 Speaker 1: On the way, they pounded bottles of Mickey's wide mouthed 609 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 1: grenades and shared pints of bean Quervo, and Jack Kaufman 610 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,400 Speaker 1: wheeled the hearse to the off ramp toward Lax and 611 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: straight toward the shipping hangar. He and his band of 612 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: rock and roll pallbearers bounded out of the car and 613 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,920 Speaker 1: headed into the office area the square behind the desk 614 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: was either scared, stupid, or both because he bought the 615 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,480 Speaker 1: long line of crap Kaufman fed him. They were off 616 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: duty funeral homeworkers there to move the body by a 617 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:40,360 Speaker 1: private plane. Unbelievably, Kaufman was given clearance to grab the coffin, 618 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: so he did, and he and his cohorts began wheeling 619 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: it out of the hangar to their waiting hearse. Just then, 620 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: a cop in a black and white on patrol pulled 621 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: up to see what in the hell was going on 622 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:53,160 Speaker 1: with what must have looked to him like a drunken 623 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: gang of biker body snatchers. Kaufman was quick with the 624 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: bullshit officer, you're just in time, man short, not sure 625 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 1: how we're going to get the coffin into the back 626 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,680 Speaker 1: of our hearse, Can you give us a hand. Remarkably 627 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,760 Speaker 1: and without question, the officer did just that. Graham Parson's 628 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:19,120 Speaker 1: body was snatched. Next stop Joshua Tree. But first they 629 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,879 Speaker 1: need to gas. So once out of La and well 630 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:23,880 Speaker 1: on their way to the desert, they stopped off at 631 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 1: a gas station and filled five gallons. 632 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:27,400 Speaker 2: Not for the car, mind you. 633 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: Coffin and his men drank the entire ride out and 634 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 1: they were wasted by the time they made it out 635 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,760 Speaker 1: to Joshua Tree National Park, the area of the desert 636 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 1: that Graham loved so much, the part of the world 637 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: that allowed him to run free of his pain, to 638 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: chase UFOs, and to leave all the grief behind. At 639 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,920 Speaker 1: around one am, the hearse made it out to the 640 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:51,400 Speaker 1: part of the desert known as Cap Rock and stopped. 641 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: The stars were electric. It was a beautiful night, and 642 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: Coffin unfolded his drunken, greasy jean clad legs to the 643 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: desert floor, walked round back with his crew. He pulled 644 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,239 Speaker 1: Graham's wooden casket from the back of the hearse and 645 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:10,799 Speaker 1: dropped it unceremoniously onto the desert floor. Kaufman popped open 646 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 1: the lid and there was Graham, naked, dead and bloated, 647 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: surgical tape covering the autopsy wounds. Kaufman wasted no time. 648 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: He grabbed the gallons of gasoline and poured them all 649 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 1: over Graham's body. He lit a match, dropped it in 650 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:34,239 Speaker 1: Graham's body, ignited into a fireball. His soul exploded into 651 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:38,719 Speaker 1: eternity and an overstated blast. It was so unlike him exploding. 652 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:42,799 Speaker 1: Graham Parsons was subtle. He was marked by deep emotional 653 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,799 Speaker 1: pain and engaged in a quiet but constant race to 654 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:49,280 Speaker 1: outrun his grief. Regardless of the manner in which Graham 655 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,480 Speaker 1: Parsons's body left this world, there was no mistaking it. 656 00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:59,040 Speaker 1: He was now free. Phil Kaufman's friend, Graham Parsons was 657 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:03,720 Speaker 1: at last separated from his pain, and Phil's other friend, 658 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: Charlie Manson, was behind bars while his former bosses, the 659 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,879 Speaker 1: Rolling Stones, had become the quote unquote world's greatest rock 660 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 1: and roll band, and Phil Kaufman was sitting in his car. 661 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 1: Now I'm an old man, a mangled shell of himself 662 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,520 Speaker 1: from back in those hazy days of lawless rock and roll. 663 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,920 Speaker 1: Graham was on his mind lately, because Graham was on 664 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,440 Speaker 1: the minds of lots of people lately. Graham Parsons, in 665 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: the myth that Kaufman helped create, was going through a 666 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: resurgence of popularity among a new generation of snap buttoned, 667 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:39,560 Speaker 1: ponytailed country rock and rollers. Sure they added the prefixed 668 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,759 Speaker 1: alt to country, but still, if it walks like an 669 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,239 Speaker 1: eagle and it sings like an eagle, it's probably a 670 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,960 Speaker 1: second rate version of an eagle. And that means it's 671 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,480 Speaker 1: a third rate version of Graham Parsons the blatant mimicry 672 00:38:52,800 --> 00:39:14,360 Speaker 1: bordering on disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. 673 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,719 Speaker 3: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 674 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:21,200 Speaker 3: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be 675 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,839 Speaker 3: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 676 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,000 Speaker 3: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank 677 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 3: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and 678 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 3: if not, you can become a member right now by 679 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:37,760 Speaker 3: going to disgracelampod dot com slash Membership. Members can listen 680 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,560 Speaker 3: to every episode of Disgraceland ad free, Plus you'll get 681 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:46,440 Speaker 3: one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, 682 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,400 Speaker 3: special audio collections, and early access to merchandise and events. 683 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:55,360 Speaker 3: Visit disgracelampod dot com slash membership for details, Rate and 684 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:57,960 Speaker 3: review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter 685 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,919 Speaker 3: and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot 686 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:08,439 Speaker 3: com slash at disgracelamdpod rock a Rolla, He's 687 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:09,799 Speaker 2: A badbad man.