December 17, 2024 • 47 mins
Dave Chappelle and his show made Rick James into a catchphrase. Charlie Murphy told the stories that made Rick James into a legendary figure in the culture. But it was Rick James who made the stories and the catchphrase real. "I'm Rick James, bitch!" And these criminals were inspired to be the Rick James they wanted to see in the world.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey Elizabeth, what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm just hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
So I got another question for you. Yeah, Hey, are
those new shoes?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
No, I got another question for you. You know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Yeah, I have an answer for that one. Okay, what now,
quick question before I get into it. Are you like
me where you don't show up empty handed when you
go to someone's house?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, guess.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
And you have to bring like a hostess gift or
you know, or a host gift, depending on who you
know who you're visiting. But the thing is is that
sometimes it's hard to figure out what to bring. You know,
flowers is always good.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You can't go with the old standard of wine anymore
because not a lot of people drink as much people drink.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
And sometimes people feel the obligation if they've already come
up with this meal, that they have a wine pairing,
and they feel the obligation to open. But I have
I have a solution for you, and it does involve wine.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Okay, I'm listening to.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
You bring this very special wine and it's you stop it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Why I walk right into every time? Go ahead?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It is called mayonnaise blanc and it comes from Helman's.
And if you're thinking like mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Wine, no, I'm not thinking anything right now.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What in the heck I mean that sounds like toilet
wine or pruno.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Like pretty much it sounds like something which yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
No, no zaren the good folks at Unilever North America.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Oh they came up with this.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's actually it's actually really clever. It makes so yeah, yeah,
and mayonnaise. But what I love the most is just
how clever this is. So you show up and you
have this bottle of wine, yes, and it says zero
percent ABV so no alcohol by volume, one hundred percent
Mayo Mayonnaise Blanc nineteen fifteen.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You know, but you I supposed to believe this maynas
from nineteen fifteen or just like the house.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Ever since hel then my glasses on, I'm trying to
look at this picture, any of you. Yeah, so what
it is is what it is. What had happened was
you hand them this bottle and they're like, oh my wait,
mayonnaise wine. What's wrong with you? Before they can hit you.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Over the hease, they ask me to leave their house.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
You demonstrate that the bottom of the bottle, unscrews worse
and come it comes out of it is a little
jar of mayonnaise. So that's how you gift mayonnaise. But
it comes in like the trojan horse of a wine bottle.
I think it's super cute. I think mayonnaise is great.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I would empty the mayonnaise jar out, fill that with like,
I don't know, something good, chocolate, wead honey, something, and
then put that in the mannaise.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Oh that's clever.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Then it's like, hey, look, you thought it was gonna
be crappy, no, wait to unscrew it. And they're like, oh,
even crappier.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Look I was.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Gonna make you some deviled eggs and they open it.
Oh it's just weird.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, just.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So a bunch of people sent this to us. It's
pretty incredible. I would love a bunch.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Of people did. Yeah, thank you, a bunch of people.
And I see what you think of it.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'd love to get a jar, Elizabeth, let's get him.
I would love to get a jar of classic mayo
disguised as a fine line.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Okay, I'll keep that my holiday gift.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
For youful twist on gifting. Yeah, it is so that is.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Twist on gifting.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Don't you want like a turkey with that other?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No? I don't even like manna.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Is you know that?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm sorry for your loss.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I learned that it makes a good grilled cheese sandwich.
You taught me that.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah on the outside.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm about that life now hell yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Oh good?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Good to rub on like a roast chicken, to roast it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think it's good for but like does people slather
it on?
Speaker 6 (03:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Anyway? I'm not going to get into manage Elizabeth, And
I have a question for you, Yes, sir, Well it's
not about being ridiculous. Well it is, but you you
know the Okay, I think you watched this show? You do?
You must have?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Which one?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Elizabeth? I have four words for you. I'm Rick James bitch.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Oh yeah right.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Davis Chappelle made that quote famous, but it was Rick
James who.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Made it real.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And for some folks, those same magic for words are
also their ticket to jail.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers,
heist and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free
and one hundred percent ridiculous. Oh yeah, it is Elizabeth
Rick James one of your people.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Is he agent of chaos?
Speaker 7 (05:05):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
See you were like, how was he problematic? But yeah,
a little.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
There's obviously a very ugly chapter of his life. Oh yeah,
we're not going to get into that now, are we
going to pretend it didn't happen? Okay, which is why
I want to focus on the younger, more innocent, pre
mega fame Rick James. Yeah, yeah, he is criminally ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Obviously, you know, most folks younger than say, my parents
only really know Rick James from the Dave Chappelle's show, right,
And obviously the more you know the skits with Charlie
Murphy aka Murphy's brother. Now you know Charlie Murphy told
these Atlandis stories. I would be hanging out with Rick James,
and this is at the peak of Rick james fame
back in the early to mid eighties. And also, as
you know, Charlie Murphy incredible storyteller.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Like one of the best.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh my god, he has a natural inclination, but then
he also knows it, so he tries to reach for
fruits that he can barely touch himself. So it's like,
oh R. In his stories, he always makes Rick James
come alive, and his tales of you know, getting in
fights with him and like when you when your battle
and a man nicknamed super Freak, you know what's gonna
be interesting now. Also, even from the very first moment
(06:12):
of their friendship, when he first meets Rick James, Charlie Murphy,
he recounts seeing how Rick James had this bright, vibrating aura,
and Charlie Murphy said, and I quote, and here he
comes out of the room and I look at him
and I'm not I seen like an orange his aura
or whatever I've seen it, it was orange. I love
(06:34):
that this is not somebody who talks about him to
even say that, that means it's real all of a sudden, exactly,
It's like this confession he's got to tell you, man,
I wouldn't normally say this, so obviously this guy. He
also has one of my favorite lines in word Conjugations. Ever,
like he talks about okay, well, back to Charlie quote,
(06:54):
things escalated to the point that my man got too
familiar and I ended up having to whip his ass
because he would step across the line habitually he was
habitual line stepper. I love that habitual line stepper. I
mean that whole time as an habitual line stepper. I
finally saw myself. I was like, that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
You know that I've told you about how in my
family it's really not a gathering until I cross the
line in what I say and someone or many people go, oh,
line stepper. I know that.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I think that's what we have in common now. Of course,
obviously there's Dave Chappelle's whole impression of Rick James, which
I haven't even mentioned yet. Yeah, and that's what gave
us the most memorable line from the skit. I'm Rick James, bitch.
Enjoy yourself. I added that, but it's actually in the skit,
but he says a lot of other things anyway, Yeah,
the key is I'm Rick James bitch. Those four words.
(07:50):
And this this Rick James were talking about. As I
keep saying this was like, you know, this is a
post disco super freak, think Studio fifty four into the
seventies early eighties, Like, Elizabeth, what hold do you know
about Rick James and his pre fame days? Do you
know any of these stories you ever heard any of
these things about him? No, okay, here's a fun fact.
Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gay they gave him his name.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Oh really, not his mama.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
No, no, Rick James is not his mama's given or
government name.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
WHOA Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
When he was coming up, Rick James was in Detroit,
home of Motown, and one night he meets Stevie Wonder
and Marvin Gay and they were already stars on the
Motown label and after seeing Rick James perform, they're impressed. Right,
So they're like, hey, man, what's your name?
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Brother?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And he tells them my name is Rick, Ricky James, Matthews.
And Stevie Wonder's like, wait, wait, hold up, are you
planning on killing the president? Why do you have three names?
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And Rick James like, no, no, I'm not planning on
becoming a presidential assassin. You got a problem with my name?
And Robbia guys like, yeah, brother, we do. That name
has no show business to it, right, So they think
for a moment and they're like, okay, Now, I don't
know which one of them actually came up with it,
but it's always been said that it was Stevie Wonder,
and Stevie Wonder, who's like, you know, I got it, brother,
you need to call yourself Ricky James. That's a show
biz name, right. Hearing that from Stevie Wonder, the former
(08:59):
Ricky James Matthew changed his name and didn't look back.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Hey, Stevie Wonder gives you that kind of advice, you
take it, you do it immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Anything Stevie Wonder gives me, I'm keeping exactly pretty much.
That's smart rule, right Herpes, guys, I got I should
have some condossels. I knew you would test my theories.
Habitual linestepper. Now this is the kind of strange look
Rick James will continue to have in his life.
Speaker 8 (09:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So, also, by the way, Ricky James Matthews still not
his government name.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oh really that stage name correct.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, because the reason he had that name was he
was on the lamb from the law. No. Oh yeah,
we'll get all into all of this, Elizabeth. So this
cat who would eventually become Rick James, he was born
James Ambrose Johnson Junior. I love that name. He first
dropped onto this scene in the world in Buffalo, New York,
nineteen forty eight. Just classic baby Boomer Man or you
(09:53):
know baby boomer Cat in his case.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Now, his father worked in the auto industry as a
factory worker. His mother show business hopeful. You know, back
in her day she was a dancer, and when Rick
James was a little boy, she was a cleaning lady. So,
as I said, show business hopeful.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
She was one of those Buffalo gals.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Don't she come up so to get a little extra
coin in her purse. She was also a numbers runner
for the leading crime family in Buffalo. Love that that
was her night job. So this like lawlessness and show
business drive, they kind of get funneled into young Rick.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Now by the time he's a teenager, Rick James, he's
got himself a little band, right, they're playing around the
Buffalo area and across the border in Canada. And he
gets old enough, you know, about sixteen, you know, the
government starts eyeballing him to draft him into Vietnam War.
And you know he's like, oh, Joseph Forestall all that.
So Rick James is like, oh, I'll join the naval reserve,
you know, that way he can control he doesn't get
drafted into the army and shit Vietnam. He'll be on
(10:48):
the boat.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
He's like, yeah, I can cook. What's going on right now?
His plan doesn't exactly work out, Elizabeth, because James Ambrose
Johnson Junior has to change his name to Ricky James
Matthews just to get out and be on the run.
He's like, you know what, this whole naval reserve thing.
He tries signing up, but it's not for him, right,
So he goes on the run from Select Services, but
his plans are full on draft division, right, So he
(11:09):
flees across the border to Canada because Detroit ain't enough.
And this is at this point, we're in nineteen sixty four.
As I said, the man is sixteen years old, maybe
seventeen if if the month is right now, he moves
by himself to Toronto.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Oh wow, yep.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Within days of crossing the border, he starts his new
life as a draft dodging musician, Ricky James Matthews, and
he meets another future famous musician. So the story goes,
he's outside his nightclub and I assume he had performed
that night, but I don't know for certain. Anyway, Ricky
James Matthews outside this club, he gets into it with
these three drunk dudes or are like just talking loud
because he dressed funny and he's up there in Canada
(11:46):
and they're like, yo, man, this a good show, but
why you're wearing that ladies at whatever? And this is
nineteen sixty four, So Rick James is an agent of
chaos and he's not afraid of people, so they didn't
matter if he was wearing a lady's wig or not.
He goes popping off. They get into it right now.
So there's a fight and these fights, you know, turned
to shouts. Shouts turned to shove. Shoves turned into actual punches.
They got a full on drunk fight, three against one.
(12:07):
He doesn't really stand that good of a chance. He
is still sixteen years old or seventeen. He gets his
ass kicked right, so he's knocked down. Things are looking
bad for old Ricky James Matthews. Three musicians come out
of the club. They see this kid down on the
ground about it get stomped out. They recognized he was
just inside playing. He's all right, so they run over
to help him. One of the men who reaches down
to help pick him up is Levon Helm.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
No, yes, I did not know that I feel like,
did you do this as are what's ridiculous ones?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
No, but you're getting close to one.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I did, Okay, yeah, yeah, there's something.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Percolating the memory.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So I like to imagine Rick James. He's looking up
and there's Levon Helm offering him a hand.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And that's like help God. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So after helps Rick James up and he's like, Hey,
we're playing a gig tonight. You wonder you should come through, Right,
So Rick James he does indeed go with them to
their gig, and he even gets up on stage and
he performs with Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm. Yeah that's awesome. Right,
So that's his introduction to like the Toronto scene, right,
Ricky James, Matthews at this point he starts his own band, right,
so he's been own band is called the Minor Birds.
(13:08):
Their sound is rock. It's heavily influenced by the combined
new sounds of soul music but also folk music. They're
mixing and matching.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And making their own thing, right.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Yeah, this at this.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Point is like nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
By the next year, Ricky James and Matthews, he's got
this band sounded so good they are able to sign
a deal with Motown Records. Whoa, that's in sixty six.
If they signed the deal right now, this is what
brings him into the orbit of Stevie Wonder Marvin Gay.
And then they convince him to go from Ricky James
Matthews to Ricky James and then eventually the why he
gets dropped in Rick James. Right now, just before the
(13:40):
Minor Birds record their album on Motown Records, a band
member drops out. His replacement is, of course, another future
famous musicians. You want to guess who Elizabeth Hicky. Yes,
that's right, Neil Young.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Oh I love him so much.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
So, accorded Neil Young's biographer, this cat Jimmy McDonough. The band,
the Minor Birds had a very distinctive, very mid sixties look.
And to picture Rick James Neil Young on stage. Oh yeah,
quote the Minor Birds in black leather jackets, yellow turtlenecks
and boots had quite a surreal scene going on.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
I love so.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Not only were they bandmates, they were also flatmates. They
lived together in sixty six Young Neil Young, And that's funny,
Young Neil Young and Rick James. They share a small apartment. Like,
what was that like? Well, we do know from Neil
Young's perspective what it was like, because Neil Young once
told Howard Stern we did some wild things. It was
all very hazy to me. Now, I'm glad I made
(14:35):
it through that stage. It got a little dicey. There
were some drugs going on. I remember singing one song
for about a day and a half. That's more than
some drugs going on. Neil, that's all the drugs going on.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
See you that half?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
How many drugs were going on? Elizabeth. See I've told
you I can hang with psychedelics, and I had my
time in nearly every street drug you can name. But
you could not pay me to hang in this small
apartment with these two on some drugs.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Oh no, what were some drugs?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Oh, it's just basically what you would think of psychedelics,
random street drugs. And I'm you're talking to somebody who's
hung out with Terrence Howard in a small room and
he were smoking joints and that was enough. Like I
was redlining there anyway. Nineteen sixty six, Rick James Neil Young,
as I said, they have this band together, they're living together,
making a racket up in Toronto. Things are going well
for them. They put a single out on Columbia Records
(15:24):
that gets them deal with Motown. Now they just need
to record their debut album, and that, of course, is
when the bottom suddenly drops out, Otherwise it wouldn't be
an interesting story. The manager for the Miner Birds tells
the band, hey man about that advance we got from Motown.
They're like, what'd you do with They say, hey man's
about that money's gone, right. They have no money now
to record their album and they owe the money to
(15:45):
Motown because it's an advance against record sales and they
have no record to sell. They got two problems, right,
So rick James goes after the manager. Things get heated.
Manager gets fired, right, but the manager knows a dirty
little secret. He goes to Otown Records. He shares what
he knows with Motown Records, and Barry Gordy is like,
h mmmmmm because he this manager. He tells that Ricky James,
(16:08):
their new young star, is actually James Ambrose Johnson Jr.
And he's not from Canada and he's hiding out from
the Armed Forces because he went a wall from the
US Navy in wartime. So Motown is like, oh no, no, Son,
We're not about to play with the US government. We
got all sorts of tax issues we're trying to dodge,
so we don't need a draft dodger messing up a game.
So you haven't even recorded the album.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yet, So yeah, I think that's the biggest.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So they tell Ricky James he needs to go do
what he needs to do with Uncle Sam and gets square,
and so Rick James contacts the FBI turns himself in
as a fugitive from the law.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
No way.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
At this point, Motown shelves the minor bird record that
they are, you know, like whatever, it's future tracks they
have recorded. They all get shelved. This leaves Rick James
and his bandmates totally in the lurks. They got nothing
to show for their time. So what did Neil Young do?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It drove him into the arms of Stephen Still's.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Practically Elizabeth Is. He and his fellow band mate Bruce Paul.
They decide to get the hell out of Toronto. They
head down to la they make the scene, they join
up in the Laurel Canyon scene we've talked about, and
they start a band called Buffalo Springfield. Meanwhile, Rick James
gets tried for draft evasion, convicted, sentenced to five months
hard labor for going a well from the US. Now
(17:17):
he is just eighteen years old, Oh my god, but
being stubborn, full of himself as only a Rick James
can be. With a month and a half of being
locked up in the Naval brig Rick James is like,
this ain't working for me, so he stages a prison breakout.
Good for him, He successfully escapes military imprisonment. He manages
to stay on the lamb for six months.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Then he runs out of energy to stay on the
lamb and he turns himself back. So at this point,
Rick James is facing a court martial in five years
in military prison. He fights the case and he gets
his original sentence reinstated. He has to do the remaining
five months hard labor on a sentence. Finally, August sixty seven,
Rick James is a free man. He steps out of
(17:57):
Portsmouth Naval Prison, freeze in a big breath of that free, clean,
fresh air, this thing that tastes like freedom, right, and
he sides, I'm going back to Canada. I don't blame him, right,
And that's where he will also Elizabeth meet another future
famous musician who will change the course of his life
on his way to be coming Rick James.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Bitch.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Okay, let's take a break and listen to some ads
and then we'll be back into and too.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Okay, Elizabeth, alright, Saren, we're back, Yes, we are.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So Neil Young you love him? You love him right?
You know you know his nickname Stevie Wonder Marvin Gayeah
right here giving them too. Who is the next future
famous musician to change the course of young Rick james life.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
That I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I'll give you a hint. Okay, he also loves drugs.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Well, that narrows it down.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
His hair looks like he loves drugs. You won't guess it.
I don't think it's gonna be a tough one. I
didn't give you good hints.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Hair looks like he loves drugs.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Hendrix the Atomic dog himself, Oh that is you see.
After Rick James gets out of prison in sixty seven,
he does indeed go back to Toronto, and that's where
he becomes George Clinton's drug dealer.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Oh my god, that's a busy.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Job, right, You've got hours.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I saw George Clinton walking down the street in La
once and from behind it totally looks like a muppet.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Oh yeah, yeah, completely.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
He's just had like.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Big coat and like, yeah, he's just popping along.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
And also his hair, he had all his extensions in there.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, so he has ropy hair and yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
He's gone now though he's reduced that look. Anyway, back
then sixty seven, these two men naturally they hit it off.
They become friends, fellow drug abusers. Now, admittedly, I would
want to be in this small room as the two
of them got high ast maybe draft eyebrows. I think
I would want to be in that room. Yeah, yeah,
I think that'd be fun. I mean a little wild
for a lot of people. I think I can hang in.
(20:14):
I think they managed to record some songs together through
all of this, and but none of those songs ever
saw the light of day.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Oh really, yeah, same.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
But the charms of Toronto could not hold Rick James.
Soon enough, he follows Neil Young down to Los Angeles
to seek his fame and fortune. In the scene, when
he gets to LA he hooks up with his old
friend Neil Young and Neil Young's new friends, and that's
how Rick James ends up crashing at Steven Steele's place.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
I love Stephen Still the old tree.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Top flyer exactly now. While Rick James is there in
his first few days in LA He's staying on Steven
Still's couch. He's not alone in this apartment though, right
there's other people coming to it. Took a crash pad
almost now. Eventually, one morning, I could be an afternoon,
I don't know. He waked up and there's another future
famous young musician seated on the floor who looks to
(21:04):
be meditating. Do you want to take a guess who
he was?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Elizabeth, As Rick James colorfully remembered in his own autobiography, quote,
I woke to see a young dude sitting on the
floor in.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
The lotus position. Stone doesn't nothing unusual about that, except
for the blood dripping from his wrists. What Elizabeth the
young man was Jim Morrison Lisa of the Blood, the
byronic poet Jim Morrison, right, his area is. As Rick
(21:36):
James recalls it, he was quote saying things like, isn't
the blood beautiful? Isn't that the deepest red you've ever seen?
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Yeah, he's all looking.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
At me.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
At this point Richard Torture.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
He's freaked out by this crazy white boy who's out
of his arms. Yeah, exactly Young you know that as well.
So Rick James goes up and he wakes Steven Stills
up right and he's like, man, come, you get your
friend bleeding on your view of couch.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
So Steven Stills is like, for what it's worth.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Now he does come to. His first words are is
he doing it again again?
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So he gets out of bed and he goes and
he bandages up Jim Morrison. Now, a little while later,
Rick James and Jim Morrison are at the Whiskey a
Go Go on Sunset Boulevard, the doors opening act for
Neil Young's band Buffalo Springfield. After the doors perform, and
you know Buffalo Springfield is ostensibly on stage, Jim Morrison
hooks up backstage with Rick James and he tricks Rick
(22:36):
James into dropping acid with him. And that's like Rick
James's introduction to like, hey man, this is like what
a real acid?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Rick James and Jim Morris.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
That's like the plot of the best drug movie never made,
but you would never see. I would watch it. Around
this same time, Buffalo's Springfield. They break up, and Neil
Young joins a new group. That's right, Elizabeth, this supergroup Crosby, Stills.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
And sometimes Young.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Now there's Rick James, really love exactly. Rick James was
hanging out with all of them. He's friends with all
of them. He's a qualified musician, and it's, you know,
kind of fun to imagine if you're me and you
and you're fans of chaos. But at this point, you know,
he almost was in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Rick James and James.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
No not, he wouldn't have been a front name. He
would have been a backing musician, all the way front.
Rick James and Crosby still smash, and.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Crosby still smash. James and sometimes Young Neil can't always hang.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So it's his sixties were ending. Rick James has one
more brush with a future famous musician. Only this guy
wouldn't get famous for his music. Instead, he become famous
for his cult of thrill killers.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
No WHOA.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
The year was sixty nine and Rick James was still
in Hollywood, bouncing around the Laurel Canyon music scene, and
he was also getting along partying with the young stars
in Hollywood. Who had made their name on the silver screen.
Speaker 7 (24:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So he was friends with one famous hairstylist, this guy
named Jay Sebring, and he was hopelessly in love with
one of his best friends, Sharon Tate. And one night
in sixty nine, j Seabring invited Rick James to come
over to his friend's house and party with them. But
being Rick James, he had party way too hard the
night before. He was hung over. He's like, man, I
can't come through there. Who over there?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Right?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So he chose to stay home and lay about. And
so later that same night, Charles Manson's followers showed up
at Charon Tate's home made bloody History, which would be
the one percent of the story. So we will skip
past that now.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
The next Rick James was supposed to be there.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
He was supposed to be there that night, so I
don't know if he would have fought them off or
just like.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Actually been a victims.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Rick going wild on people get down in my face
with that. The next day, Rick James he reads about
his near miss with history in the La Times and
he's like, oh man, and then moves on to now
I got one more pre famed Rick James ready for you, Elizabeth,
just because I love this one. Do you know who
Salvador Dhali is?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yes, he too.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I thought you did now since you know who he
was and you also know how he was. Yeah, now
can you imagine him and Rick James hanging out?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Oh no, he Rick James is like this chaos magnet and.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
In the society draw this.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So the story goes. The two men read a party
in Hawaii in the nineteen seventies. Now by this point,
Rick James is coming up, but he's not quite world
famous yet. Anyway, Salvador Dali is at this dinner party
in Hawaii and he's wonderfully charmed by Rick James, his
whole look, his vibe. Yeah, and the Spanish surrealist painter.
He's like, you know, he's transfixed. He's key staring at him.
(25:46):
He cannot take his eyes. Rick James like, yeah, appreciate it.
I enjoy it, you know, you know. Rick James, though,
eventually notices Salvador Dolly come even closer and he's like,
what's this about? And he explains to him that he says,
anti quote, I am mad about the way you look.
Please allow me to sketch you, all right? And Rick
James is like, okay, Rother, go for it. So he
(26:07):
just sits there and he lets Dolly adore him. He
whips out his materials, gets to sketching. He stares at
Rick James right until he gets it all right, and
he draws a little more. Twenty minutes later he's done.
Dolly hands Rick James the sketch. It's drawn on like
a napkin. Right, Rick James is, He's totally impressed. He
loves it. He's showing people he's got this rare momento. Yeah,
but it must not have made enough of an impression
(26:28):
on Rick James because the next morning he got up
and went swimming, never changed his short when he got
out of the water. The Salvador Dolly drawn napkin was
just a mess.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
In his pocket.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Elizabet, Yes, exactly, and I'm sure Salvador Dolly would appreciate it.
Now we've reached the early eighties when Rick James really
is a worldwide famous person, right, and this is when
he's releasing a string of hits. Give it to Me Baby,
super Freak.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay, Now that second song that's his big hit, that's
the one that set the old for how people think
of Rick James.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Super freak guy.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
You don't pay to mother.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Now, following on the hit of that super freaky vibe,
Rick James becomes Rick James because at this point he's
been Rick James, but now he has turned loose on
the world. You know that.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I once met him really.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Oh yeah, I was at the Lenox Mall in Atlanta,
and I was a kid. I was like with my pop,
just the two of us exactly. So I go, he's
got the white coat and he's like, I was like,
that's Rick James. And he has me go over and
get an autograph. And we have the same name, so
really it's an autograph for him, but I swear your
father name, not Rick James. My father and I have
the same name, and so I got the autograph for
(27:44):
my father and had his name on it because that's
my name. So essentially he just used his son. He
you know, he just child labored me into getting him
a momento. Yeah. Anyway, but uh, Rick James, he does
have an aura. I gotta say, Charlie Murphy is range. No,
I mean it didn't. It moved, Elizabeth. It was like
a very depending on the white blue, it was very impressive. Yes,
(28:04):
but all right, Elizabeth where it was all right. I've
met a lot of celebrities though, so I don't mean
like brag about it. I just bumped into a crazy.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Really, you know, I have a very limited number of
celebrities I've met, very limited And you know, I saw
Tyne Daily once in real life from across the street,
and then that old George Clinton walking down the street.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And I think, you know, I had Gary Coleman once
cooked beef for me at a Korean restaurant. Wait, yeah,
you know the Korean barbecues are a stove on the
on your table. He's like standing on his seat cooking
the beef and he's like putting it on my plate.
I was tripping out. Now, I've seen, like I said,
a lot of celebrities had weird moments. None of them
(28:49):
were like Rick James in terms of just the presence.
It was incredible. Immediately I was a boy.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But have you seen Tyne Daily from across the street?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
No, you got me there, I like, I've never experienced
the full time.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Now the scenes when Charlie Murphy is talking about bent
in the Aura earlier, right, yeah, and then he also
has the times, like the talk about getting in fights.
You know, there's the whole thing about ruining the couch, right,
and then he has the very classic thing where it's like,
I'm Rick James bitch. Right, that's the line that he
says all the time that excuses all this bad behavior. Sure,
now that's what really seems to stick with people from
(29:23):
that skit, that attitude I'm Rick James bitch. Now this
brings us to the crimers. I promised you up top
of Rick James inspired criminals.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Well, and it's like that was like pre meme era,
and so that was like what people would just shout
for no reason.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yes, that was essentially verbal means.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Frat boys in particular. Oh yeah, I loved that completely.
And then it kind of led into like theuzzier. So
it was like there were catchphrases that people would yell
for absolutely no reason.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yes, totally, and also from random shows is one lines.
And then then you'd also get like your Lebowski's like
the weather just over and over. But yeah, this was
like something transcendent even amongst that.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Tradition apropos of nothing. Yeah, that's what I loved about it.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So other crimers, Yes, September nineteenth, twenty fifteen, just a
little after noon, two men walk into a bank in Indianapolis. Well,
technically it's a credit union, the indian Anna members credit
Union and quote. According to witnesses, two black males wearing
all black entered the bank armed with handguns. Both suspects
approached the Tayler counter and demanded money. The suspects fled
(30:29):
on foot in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount
of money. Where's the Rick James and all this? A well,
they didn't mention what they looked like. Right now, the
suspects descriptions, the ones that are given by the cops
are straightforward. Suspect one black hat, long dark hair, sunglasses,
all black clothing five eight to five ten armed. Suspect two,
(30:49):
long hair, dreads, all black clothing five eight to five
ten armed. What they leave out is that the two
men redressed as Rick James and young blood priest the
Harlem Koch there the main character of the seventies black
sploitation flick Superfly.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Right yright right right, yeah, So imagine they didn't.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
They left that out. They told why, I don't know
if they didn't recognize the characters they like. I no
one fella kind of resembles Rick James.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Fella, I don't know about the platform.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Shoot, oh you better believe yeah, like the coats, it's amazing. Now,
imagine you're Elizabeth are in a bank in Indianapolis in
twenty fifteen. All of a sudden, two seventies super pimps
come in and stick up the joint, right, Like, what
would you even think was happening? Would you think that
maybe maybe they're shooting a movie around?
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Know, honestly that's what you would know.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Way this is real?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah? Or just I don't know that. I'm like, have
I been hanging out with Rick James and now I'm
just hallucinating?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
How I am?
Speaker 4 (31:43):
I am? I Rick James?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Well, this robbery wasn't there first or their last? Oh
the super Freak and Superfly bank robbers. They went on
a spree. They started in September twenty fifteen. They first
hit the Advanced America check Cashing service in Indianapolis. Next
they hit the Indiana Members Credit Union. You can probably
hear they're hitting small chapters or small branches.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I imagine they're not grabbing a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I don't know. They didn't get numbers. I said no,
the mounse were undisclosed.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
It is so large they don't want anyone.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
I think they're getting like rent because it seems like
they hit like in the middle of a month, and
then it's like in November nineteenth they hit a month later,
So yeah, November nineteenth, twenty fifteen, they hit another Indiana
Members Credit Union, this time in the neighboring town of Avon.
Nearly a month later, on December twelfth, once again middle
of the month, it's Rent Money twenty fifteen, Super Freak
and Superfly they hit again. They go into a branch
(32:34):
of the Indiana Members Credit Union in the town of Carmel, Indiana,
but this time Rick James's whole vibe of untouchability it
fails them and they have to flee. That leads to
a high speed chase that goes tearing through three counties.
Boone Hamilton Marion the getaway driver. He's good, but not
good enough because the death despite going over one hundred
(32:54):
miles an hour and running red lights, crossing oncoming traffic
the whole nine. In the end, Super Freak and super
Fly they get caught and busted. Five day trial, thirty
eight year old dupries Jet and thirty eight year old
Damien mckissic and thirty eight year old Earl Lee Walker
all found guilty.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I went to school together.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
I'm guessing all exactly the exact same age, or there
are their cousins, many in the hood next to each other. Now,
what was what was it like for this gang known
in the press as the Rick James Robbers? Well, the
getaway driver you got six years, the super Freak and
Superfly bank robbers themselves, they each caught sentences of twenty
four years in prison. Four yes, right, do not play yep? Okay, Elizabeth,
(33:38):
Let's take another little break, and after these delightfully persuasive ads,
I'll be back for some more of who made I'm
Rick James bitch into a criminal mantra? We're back, Elizabeth,
(34:08):
We're back. You haven't found so far?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Oh my gosh, So I.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Got a little more Rick James inspired lunacy for this please.
This next story also takes place in twenty fifteen in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
I was just a young girl then, I know, weren't
you just said, just out of kindergarten, barely.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Able to walk. There's around two fifty in the morning
when patrol officers on Eastern Avenue spot a Blue Infinity
rolling around right, that's like suspicious right away. The trouble
was the car had already been reported stolen, so the
cops give chase. They catch up to the blue Infinity.
Driver pulls over. When the cops approach and they speak
with the driver of the stolen Blue Infinity, he tells
the Springfield police that his name is wait for it,
(34:48):
Rick James. The police are like, well, mister James, can
we see your driver's license? The self appointed Rick James
tells the cops he doesn't have his lescens on him
at the moment. Officer Now, The cops are like, well,
mister James, would you politely and police kindly step out
of the car. Turns out this was definitely not Rick James,
because this is twenty fifteen and Rick James at this
point had been dead for eleven years, right and more
(35:11):
than that, the driver of this stolen car was actually
named Scott. Now, after the police finger printed Scott, they
found out that his full name was Scott Taylor of Springfield.
The thirty year old was charged.
Speaker 8 (35:22):
With receiving his full name was like, hi, Scott, Taylor Springfield.
A nice he was receiving a stolen motor vehicle, driving
with a revoked license, giving a false name to a
police officer.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Outstanding warrants, the full slate. Nice little raption you got, now, Scott,
this brings us to the cherry on this Rick James
flavored pie. Elizabeth. I'm happy to report that this guy,
he's a Florida man and he's super freak a the
story goes, his name is Paul, but Paul Kidgik. He's
fifty years old, and he was at the Back Bar
and Lounge in Saint Petersburg, Florida, at around four am
(35:58):
on a Sunday morning, after a Saturday night out. Obviously,
he decided he'd had enough to drink and it was
time to go home, so he walked out and got
in his car to drive home. No, Luckily, there were
a few people, multiple people in the parking lot outside
this Florida bar, and they all saw how drunk this
dude kill Jack was. Yeah, and he was quote kept
(36:19):
from driving by multiple witnesses due to his level of intoxication.
Good for them, that was notable since this Florida man,
Elizabeth was six foot three and three hundred pounds an
easy person to persuade.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Oh they should, I totally agree, But they had to
stand up and you know, get loud. Maybe who see
if someone though felt we should probably call the police.
And so they did. And the police arrived on the
scene at backbar in Saint Pete and they see this
drunk man who wants to drive home or whatever. And
the cops were like, buddy, let's just call you a taxi.
So they call a taxi for kill Jack. When the
cab arrives, the drunk Florida man gets in and the
(36:52):
drivers are like, Ferry may home or whatever. But he
doesn't make it, Elizabeth, Why why doesn't he make it?
Speaker 6 (36:58):
Well?
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Rather than me tell you about it, Elizabeth, I like
you to close your eyes, eyesac close. I like you
to picture it. It's late on a Saturday night, and
you are standing outside of the back bar and lounge
in the parking lot of a suburban style mall complex
in Saint Petersburg, Florida. At the moment, it's about four am.
So clearly you're not making the best life choices. But
(37:20):
there's a man here in the parking lot who's making
far worse life choices than you. He looks to be
about fifty years old and five sheets to the wind.
The man is drunk, and he's thrashing about like a
tranquilized elephant who refuses to go down. This is strange
since there are cops on the scene talking to him.
They've been talking with the drunk for quite some time now.
In fact, they're trying to get him into a taxi.
(37:42):
You're betting against the cops getting him in the back seat,
but they're stubborn, Elizabeth, and they managed to get him
in the back and shut the door. The cops turn
back to you in the small crowd standing near you.
The cops panami, ma, look like, get a load of
this guy. As the taxi pulls away, your attention fall
the car. Soon enough, the cops turn to look too,
(38:03):
because all of you can hear shouting and yelling coming
from inside the taxi. They're not even out of the
parking lot. But it's not just shouting and yelling. It
looks like, yep, the drunk in the back seat is
punching the cab driver in the face from the back seat.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
The taxi cabs breake, lights flash the car comes to
a screeching stuff. The back door bus open. The drunk
man hops out. His mood has now violently swung in
the opposite direction. He's now laughing and dancing in the
parking lot. The cops look at you and the crowd
again and they pantomime a new look that seems to say,
I guess we got to do something.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
The dancing drunk is now gleefully insulting anyone, and everyone
is watching him. He shouts in the direction of you
and the small crowd standing near you and the two cops.
He yells you you wait, and he follows that up
with I'm Rick James. Betch that cuts it. The cops
now have to rush the six but three three hundred
(39:00):
pound drunk man dancing around and doing his best Dave
Chappelle impression. You are not impressed with its accuracy. Neither
are the police, Elizabeth. They arrested drunk Kiljick for battery
and disorderly intoxication. And your cheap evenings entertainment is over.
So you asked the cab driver if you can get
a ride home. He looks at you like, are you kidding?
I'm going home?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
I hope.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
So this is what happens when you spend time in
the Tampa's eight Peenede area at four am.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Oh my god, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
This last Rick James inspired legal kerfuffle that I want
to tell you about brings this all full circle because
we've come back to Dave Chappelle and his famous Charlie
Murphy skits. In two thousand and four, the same year
that Rick James passed away, Dave Chappelle pulled his first
big disappearing act. Not all people know this, because what
works out like this. It was in two thousand and four,
(39:51):
in December he walked away from the Dave Chappelle Show
for the first time, but it was all quiet. Nobody
really heard about it. And then he walked away again
in two thousand and five, and that's when he very
famously went a wall. So before all of that, back
in June of two thousand and four, he was in Sacramento, California. Hey,
aka the Big Tomato, aka the Big Easy Chair, aka
the City that Always Sleeps Sacramento, and he was there
(40:15):
doing a stand up show. Now, he was at the
four thousand seat Memorial Auditory. I'm not sure if you're
familiar with them, so he was doing his act and
he gets irritated because the fans and Sacramento kept shouting
at him. I'm Rick James bitch os, Oh my god,
and that's fun. You're trying to do your job and
you've got Sacramento yokeles yelling punchlines at you from your
(40:37):
TV show. So David gets pissed at him, and he
tells these Sacramento yokels, you people are stupid. Good now,
as you know, Elizabeth, I grew up in Davis and
Mere twelve miles from Sacramento, so to hear the Dave
Chappelle called the stupid delights me in a very ugly
regional rivalry kind of way, so forgive me. But the
(40:57):
story goes like this, It's a Tuesday night show mid June,
should be fun for everyone. Dave Chappelle is about to
drop the third season of his show It's the hottest
thing in comedy. But his fans they just well, as
Dave put it, shut up and listen like you're supposed to.
At one point, Dave Chappelle tells the Sacramento crowd the
show is ruining my life. Oh god, he confesses to
(41:19):
the audience. That quote, stand up is the most important
thing I do is because I'm on TV. You make
it hard for me to do it. People can't distinguish
between what's real and fake. This ain't a TV show.
You're not watching Comedy Central. I'm real up here talking.
At that point, he gave the Sacramental crowd a lesson
on how stand up comedy works in case they unfamiliar
(41:41):
with the real structures and structures. And he said, and
I quote, I say something you mulled over and decide
whether you want to laugh or not, and then you
do or not. Then I say something else and you
think about it. It's worked well all across the country.
But you people and knowing them as I do, Elizabeth,
I bet when Dave paused here, someone actually shouted I'm
(42:03):
Rick Jags match. I'm just guessing that if he did,
they would have missed the insult that Dave was about
to drop. Because Dave made sure that they understood it.
And this one landed because he was talking to people
from Sacramento, so he sold them. Coming to Sacramento to
do comedy was probably quote a bad idea, like chocolate
covered fish not done. Insulting the Sacramento crowd. Dave Chappelle
(42:25):
next tells the same crowd why his TV show is
so funny. He said, and I quote, you know why
my show is good because the network officials say you're
not smart enough to get what I'm doing. And every
day I fight for you, I tell them how smart
you are. Turns out I was wrong. You people are stupid.
(42:46):
And again, knowing them as I do, Elizabeth, I would
bet cash money. Someone yelled back in the response.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Oh, Rick James Batch, this is what drove Dave Chappelle bo.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
I'm telling you, Sacramento did it? I recognize this now.
At this point, Dave Chappelle tells his fans in Sacramento,
you guys are the worst listeners in the country. It's
like the silence of the Lambs without the silence. This, too,
is the power of Rick James. He can make a
whole cowtown lose his camp mind. Elizabeth, Please do remember
(43:20):
I'm Rick James bitch. Enjoy yourself. So what's our ridiculous
takeaway here?
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Oh my goodness. I feel for Chappelle.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
And that's that case of just you know, I think
any artist who hears those things repeated back to them constantly,
And I.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
Wonder if Rick James heard super Freak all the time.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
You know, it's it's annoying. I would imagine, Oh god.
But my takeaway, I think is that Rick James the
gift kept giving.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
My takeaway, Elizabeth, thank you for asking me. It's ridiculous.
I'll share it with you. He's like our idea of
a pirate come to life, you know, like the recklessness,
the big Yeah. He really is. Like so now I'm
going to think of Rick James as a pirate.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
His characterization by Chappelle of like holding a like a
gobb it gives that pirate aesthetic too, just to.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Something about him. So you in the move for a
talk back? Of course, I am all right producing. Could
you favor us with one?
Speaker 7 (44:26):
Oh my god, I saren.
Speaker 9 (44:39):
I had to pause the podcast, the latest one and
the name I can't pronounce it because you haven't said
it yet. I had to pose it when you said
the word serendipity, and you missed a huge opportunity to
call it serendipity.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
How could you?
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I did drop the ball, But I love that.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
I'm listening to this now I'm going to pause it
and complain about something that maybe has or hasn't happened
now luckily it hadn't happen, but still serendipity.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
You know, my mother uses that as a nickname, because
does she. She's dippy like that. Well, as always, we
appreciate y'all's talkback, so please keep them coming. Get the
iHeart app downloaded. You can leave yourself a talkback that
we will then possibly play here and you can hear
your own voice right here now. You can also, obviously,
(45:36):
you can catch us on the social media, so you
can just look up ridiculous Crime on most of social
media's except for that one with X. We have a
website ridiculous Crime dot com. We obviously also have an
email account because we mentioned it from time to time.
It's also a Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. So
hit us up and as always, please start the email,
dear producer d and as always, thank you for listening.
(45:58):
We will catch you next crime. Ridiculous Crime is hosted
by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnette, produced and edited by
the Rick to Our James Dave Coustin, and starring Annalise
Rutger as Judath. Research is by our resident miner birds
Brissa Brown, and Andrea song Sharpened Tear. Our theme song
(46:20):
is by Ricky James Matthews. Cosplayers Thomas Lee and Travis Dutty.
The host's wardrobe provided by Botany five hundred, guest Haron
makup by Sparkleshot and Mister Andrea. Executive producers are Ben
I Wanted to be Rick James Bitch Boland and Note
I Am Rick James Bitch.
Speaker 6 (46:39):
Brown Reds Why Say It one More Times?
Speaker 5 (46:49):
Crime?
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four More Podcasts.
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Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey Elizabeth, what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm just hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
So I got another question for you. Yeah, Hey, are
those new shoes?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
No, I got another question for you. You know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Yeah, I have an answer for that one. Okay, what now,
quick question before I get into it. Are you like
me where you don't show up empty handed when you
go to someone's house?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, guess.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
And you have to bring like a hostess gift or
you know, or a host gift, depending on who you
know who you're visiting. But the thing is is that
sometimes it's hard to figure out what to bring. You know,
flowers is always good.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You can't go with the old standard of wine anymore
because not a lot of people drink as much people drink.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
And sometimes people feel the obligation if they've already come
up with this meal, that they have a wine pairing,
and they feel the obligation to open. But I have
I have a solution for you, and it does involve wine.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Okay, I'm listening to.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
You bring this very special wine and it's you stop it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Why I walk right into every time? Go ahead?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It is called mayonnaise blanc and it comes from Helman's.
And if you're thinking like mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Wine, no, I'm not thinking anything right now.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What in the heck I mean that sounds like toilet
wine or pruno.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Like pretty much it sounds like something which yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
No, no zaren the good folks at Unilever North America.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Oh they came up with this.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's actually it's actually really clever. It makes so yeah, yeah,
and mayonnaise. But what I love the most is just
how clever this is. So you show up and you
have this bottle of wine, yes, and it says zero
percent ABV so no alcohol by volume, one hundred percent
Mayo Mayonnaise Blanc nineteen fifteen.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You know, but you I supposed to believe this maynas
from nineteen fifteen or just like the house.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Ever since hel then my glasses on, I'm trying to
look at this picture, any of you. Yeah, so what
it is is what it is. What had happened was
you hand them this bottle and they're like, oh my wait,
mayonnaise wine. What's wrong with you? Before they can hit you.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Over the hease, they ask me to leave their house.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
You demonstrate that the bottom of the bottle, unscrews worse
and come it comes out of it is a little
jar of mayonnaise. So that's how you gift mayonnaise. But
it comes in like the trojan horse of a wine bottle.
I think it's super cute. I think mayonnaise is great.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I would empty the mayonnaise jar out, fill that with like,
I don't know, something good, chocolate, wead honey, something, and
then put that in the mannaise.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Oh that's clever.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Then it's like, hey, look, you thought it was gonna
be crappy, no, wait to unscrew it. And they're like, oh,
even crappier.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Look I was.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Gonna make you some deviled eggs and they open it.
Oh it's just weird.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, just.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So a bunch of people sent this to us. It's
pretty incredible. I would love a bunch.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Of people did. Yeah, thank you, a bunch of people.
And I see what you think of it.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'd love to get a jar, Elizabeth, let's get him.
I would love to get a jar of classic mayo
disguised as a fine line.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Okay, I'll keep that my holiday gift.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
For youful twist on gifting. Yeah, it is so that is.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Twist on gifting.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Don't you want like a turkey with that other?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No? I don't even like manna.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Is you know that?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm sorry for your loss.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I learned that it makes a good grilled cheese sandwich.
You taught me that.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah on the outside.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm about that life now hell yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Oh good?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Good to rub on like a roast chicken, to roast it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think it's good for but like does people slather
it on?
Speaker 6 (03:55):
Like?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Anyway? I'm not going to get into manage Elizabeth, And
I have a question for you, Yes, sir, Well it's
not about being ridiculous. Well it is, but you you
know the Okay, I think you watched this show? You do?
You must have?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Which one?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Elizabeth? I have four words for you. I'm Rick James bitch.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Oh yeah right.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Davis Chappelle made that quote famous, but it was Rick
James who.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Made it real.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And for some folks, those same magic for words are
also their ticket to jail.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers,
heist and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free
and one hundred percent ridiculous. Oh yeah, it is Elizabeth
Rick James one of your people.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Is he agent of chaos?
Speaker 7 (05:05):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
See you were like, how was he problematic? But yeah,
a little.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
There's obviously a very ugly chapter of his life. Oh yeah,
we're not going to get into that now, are we
going to pretend it didn't happen? Okay, which is why
I want to focus on the younger, more innocent, pre
mega fame Rick James. Yeah, yeah, he is criminally ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Obviously, you know, most folks younger than say, my parents
only really know Rick James from the Dave Chappelle's show, right,
And obviously the more you know the skits with Charlie
Murphy aka Murphy's brother. Now you know Charlie Murphy told
these Atlandis stories. I would be hanging out with Rick James,
and this is at the peak of Rick james fame
back in the early to mid eighties. And also, as
you know, Charlie Murphy incredible storyteller.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Like one of the best.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh my god, he has a natural inclination, but then
he also knows it, so he tries to reach for
fruits that he can barely touch himself. So it's like,
oh R. In his stories, he always makes Rick James
come alive, and his tales of you know, getting in
fights with him and like when you when your battle
and a man nicknamed super Freak, you know what's gonna
be interesting now. Also, even from the very first moment
(06:12):
of their friendship, when he first meets Rick James, Charlie Murphy,
he recounts seeing how Rick James had this bright, vibrating aura,
and Charlie Murphy said, and I quote, and here he
comes out of the room and I look at him
and I'm not I seen like an orange his aura
or whatever I've seen it, it was orange. I love
(06:34):
that this is not somebody who talks about him to
even say that, that means it's real all of a sudden, exactly,
It's like this confession he's got to tell you, man,
I wouldn't normally say this, so obviously this guy. He
also has one of my favorite lines in word Conjugations. Ever,
like he talks about okay, well, back to Charlie quote,
(06:54):
things escalated to the point that my man got too
familiar and I ended up having to whip his ass
because he would step across the line habitually he was
habitual line stepper. I love that habitual line stepper. I
mean that whole time as an habitual line stepper. I
finally saw myself. I was like, that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
You know that I've told you about how in my
family it's really not a gathering until I cross the
line in what I say and someone or many people go, oh,
line stepper. I know that.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I think that's what we have in common now. Of course,
obviously there's Dave Chappelle's whole impression of Rick James, which
I haven't even mentioned yet. Yeah, and that's what gave
us the most memorable line from the skit. I'm Rick James, bitch.
Enjoy yourself. I added that, but it's actually in the skit,
but he says a lot of other things anyway, Yeah,
the key is I'm Rick James bitch. Those four words.
(07:50):
And this this Rick James were talking about. As I
keep saying this was like, you know, this is a
post disco super freak, think Studio fifty four into the
seventies early eighties, Like, Elizabeth, what hold do you know
about Rick James and his pre fame days? Do you
know any of these stories you ever heard any of
these things about him? No, okay, here's a fun fact.
Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gay they gave him his name.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Oh really, not his mama.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
No, no, Rick James is not his mama's given or
government name.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
WHOA Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
When he was coming up, Rick James was in Detroit,
home of Motown, and one night he meets Stevie Wonder
and Marvin Gay and they were already stars on the
Motown label and after seeing Rick James perform, they're impressed. Right,
So they're like, hey, man, what's your name?
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Brother?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And he tells them my name is Rick, Ricky James, Matthews.
And Stevie Wonder's like, wait, wait, hold up, are you
planning on killing the president? Why do you have three names?
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And Rick James like, no, no, I'm not planning on
becoming a presidential assassin. You got a problem with my name?
And Robbia guys like, yeah, brother, we do. That name
has no show business to it, right, So they think
for a moment and they're like, okay, Now, I don't
know which one of them actually came up with it,
but it's always been said that it was Stevie Wonder,
and Stevie Wonder, who's like, you know, I got it, brother,
you need to call yourself Ricky James. That's a show
biz name, right. Hearing that from Stevie Wonder, the former
(08:59):
Ricky James Matthew changed his name and didn't look back.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Hey, Stevie Wonder gives you that kind of advice, you
take it, you do it immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Anything Stevie Wonder gives me, I'm keeping exactly pretty much.
That's smart rule, right Herpes, guys, I got I should
have some condossels. I knew you would test my theories.
Habitual linestepper. Now this is the kind of strange look
Rick James will continue to have in his life.
Speaker 8 (09:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So, also, by the way, Ricky James Matthews still not
his government name.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oh really that stage name correct.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, because the reason he had that name was he
was on the lamb from the law. No. Oh yeah,
we'll get all into all of this, Elizabeth. So this
cat who would eventually become Rick James, he was born
James Ambrose Johnson Junior. I love that name. He first
dropped onto this scene in the world in Buffalo, New York,
nineteen forty eight. Just classic baby Boomer Man or you
(09:53):
know baby boomer Cat in his case.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Now, his father worked in the auto industry as a
factory worker. His mother show business hopeful. You know, back
in her day she was a dancer, and when Rick
James was a little boy, she was a cleaning lady. So,
as I said, show business hopeful.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
She was one of those Buffalo gals.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Don't she come up so to get a little extra
coin in her purse. She was also a numbers runner
for the leading crime family in Buffalo. Love that that
was her night job. So this like lawlessness and show
business drive, they kind of get funneled into young Rick.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Now by the time he's a teenager, Rick James, he's
got himself a little band, right, they're playing around the
Buffalo area and across the border in Canada. And he
gets old enough, you know, about sixteen, you know, the
government starts eyeballing him to draft him into Vietnam War.
And you know he's like, oh, Joseph Forestall all that.
So Rick James is like, oh, I'll join the naval reserve,
you know, that way he can control he doesn't get
drafted into the army and shit Vietnam. He'll be on
(10:48):
the boat.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
He's like, yeah, I can cook. What's going on right now?
His plan doesn't exactly work out, Elizabeth, because James Ambrose
Johnson Junior has to change his name to Ricky James
Matthews just to get out and be on the run.
He's like, you know what, this whole naval reserve thing.
He tries signing up, but it's not for him, right,
So he goes on the run from Select Services, but
his plans are full on draft division, right, So he
(11:09):
flees across the border to Canada because Detroit ain't enough.
And this is at this point, we're in nineteen sixty four.
As I said, the man is sixteen years old, maybe
seventeen if if the month is right now, he moves
by himself to Toronto.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Oh wow, yep.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Within days of crossing the border, he starts his new
life as a draft dodging musician, Ricky James Matthews, and
he meets another future famous musician. So the story goes,
he's outside his nightclub and I assume he had performed
that night, but I don't know for certain. Anyway, Ricky
James Matthews outside this club, he gets into it with
these three drunk dudes or are like just talking loud
because he dressed funny and he's up there in Canada
(11:46):
and they're like, yo, man, this a good show, but
why you're wearing that ladies at whatever? And this is
nineteen sixty four, So Rick James is an agent of
chaos and he's not afraid of people, so they didn't
matter if he was wearing a lady's wig or not.
He goes popping off. They get into it right now.
So there's a fight and these fights, you know, turned
to shouts. Shouts turned to shove. Shoves turned into actual punches.
They got a full on drunk fight, three against one.
(12:07):
He doesn't really stand that good of a chance. He
is still sixteen years old or seventeen. He gets his
ass kicked right, so he's knocked down. Things are looking
bad for old Ricky James Matthews. Three musicians come out
of the club. They see this kid down on the
ground about it get stomped out. They recognized he was
just inside playing. He's all right, so they run over
to help him. One of the men who reaches down
to help pick him up is Levon Helm.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
No, yes, I did not know that I feel like,
did you do this as are what's ridiculous ones?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
No, but you're getting close to one.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I did, Okay, yeah, yeah, there's something.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Percolating the memory.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So I like to imagine Rick James. He's looking up
and there's Levon Helm offering him a hand.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And that's like help God. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So after helps Rick James up and he's like, Hey,
we're playing a gig tonight. You wonder you should come through, Right,
So Rick James he does indeed go with them to
their gig, and he even gets up on stage and
he performs with Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm. Yeah that's awesome. Right,
So that's his introduction to like the Toronto scene, right,
Ricky James, Matthews at this point he starts his own band, right,
so he's been own band is called the Minor Birds.
(13:08):
Their sound is rock. It's heavily influenced by the combined
new sounds of soul music but also folk music. They're
mixing and matching.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And making their own thing, right.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Yeah, this at this.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Point is like nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
By the next year, Ricky James and Matthews, he's got
this band sounded so good they are able to sign
a deal with Motown Records. Whoa, that's in sixty six.
If they signed the deal right now, this is what
brings him into the orbit of Stevie Wonder Marvin Gay.
And then they convince him to go from Ricky James
Matthews to Ricky James and then eventually the why he
gets dropped in Rick James. Right now, just before the
(13:40):
Minor Birds record their album on Motown Records, a band
member drops out. His replacement is, of course, another future
famous musicians. You want to guess who Elizabeth Hicky. Yes,
that's right, Neil Young.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Oh I love him so much.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
So, accorded Neil Young's biographer, this cat Jimmy McDonough. The band,
the Minor Birds had a very distinctive, very mid sixties look.
And to picture Rick James Neil Young on stage. Oh yeah,
quote the Minor Birds in black leather jackets, yellow turtlenecks
and boots had quite a surreal scene going on.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
I love so.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Not only were they bandmates, they were also flatmates. They
lived together in sixty six Young Neil Young, And that's funny,
Young Neil Young and Rick James. They share a small apartment. Like,
what was that like? Well, we do know from Neil
Young's perspective what it was like, because Neil Young once
told Howard Stern we did some wild things. It was
all very hazy to me. Now, I'm glad I made
(14:35):
it through that stage. It got a little dicey. There
were some drugs going on. I remember singing one song
for about a day and a half. That's more than
some drugs going on. Neil, that's all the drugs going on.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
See you that half?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
How many drugs were going on? Elizabeth. See I've told
you I can hang with psychedelics, and I had my
time in nearly every street drug you can name. But
you could not pay me to hang in this small
apartment with these two on some drugs.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Oh no, what were some drugs?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Oh, it's just basically what you would think of psychedelics,
random street drugs. And I'm you're talking to somebody who's
hung out with Terrence Howard in a small room and
he were smoking joints and that was enough. Like I
was redlining there anyway. Nineteen sixty six, Rick James Neil Young,
as I said, they have this band together, they're living together,
making a racket up in Toronto. Things are going well
for them. They put a single out on Columbia Records
(15:24):
that gets them deal with Motown. Now they just need
to record their debut album, and that, of course, is
when the bottom suddenly drops out, Otherwise it wouldn't be
an interesting story. The manager for the Miner Birds tells
the band, hey man about that advance we got from Motown.
They're like, what'd you do with They say, hey man's
about that money's gone, right. They have no money now
to record their album and they owe the money to
(15:45):
Motown because it's an advance against record sales and they
have no record to sell. They got two problems, right,
So rick James goes after the manager. Things get heated.
Manager gets fired, right, but the manager knows a dirty
little secret. He goes to Otown Records. He shares what
he knows with Motown Records, and Barry Gordy is like,
h mmmmmm because he this manager. He tells that Ricky James,
(16:08):
their new young star, is actually James Ambrose Johnson Jr.
And he's not from Canada and he's hiding out from
the Armed Forces because he went a wall from the
US Navy in wartime. So Motown is like, oh no, no, Son,
We're not about to play with the US government. We
got all sorts of tax issues we're trying to dodge,
so we don't need a draft dodger messing up a game.
So you haven't even recorded the album.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yet, So yeah, I think that's the biggest.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So they tell Ricky James he needs to go do
what he needs to do with Uncle Sam and gets square,
and so Rick James contacts the FBI turns himself in
as a fugitive from the law.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
No way.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
At this point, Motown shelves the minor bird record that
they are, you know, like whatever, it's future tracks they
have recorded. They all get shelved. This leaves Rick James
and his bandmates totally in the lurks. They got nothing
to show for their time. So what did Neil Young do?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It drove him into the arms of Stephen Still's.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Practically Elizabeth Is. He and his fellow band mate Bruce Paul.
They decide to get the hell out of Toronto. They
head down to la they make the scene, they join
up in the Laurel Canyon scene we've talked about, and
they start a band called Buffalo Springfield. Meanwhile, Rick James
gets tried for draft evasion, convicted, sentenced to five months
hard labor for going a well from the US. Now
(17:17):
he is just eighteen years old, Oh my god, but
being stubborn, full of himself as only a Rick James
can be. With a month and a half of being
locked up in the Naval brig Rick James is like,
this ain't working for me, so he stages a prison breakout.
Good for him, He successfully escapes military imprisonment. He manages
to stay on the lamb for six months.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Then he runs out of energy to stay on the
lamb and he turns himself back. So at this point,
Rick James is facing a court martial in five years
in military prison. He fights the case and he gets
his original sentence reinstated. He has to do the remaining
five months hard labor on a sentence. Finally, August sixty seven,
Rick James is a free man. He steps out of
(17:57):
Portsmouth Naval Prison, freeze in a big breath of that free, clean,
fresh air, this thing that tastes like freedom, right, and
he sides, I'm going back to Canada. I don't blame him, right,
And that's where he will also Elizabeth meet another future
famous musician who will change the course of his life
on his way to be coming Rick James.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Bitch.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Okay, let's take a break and listen to some ads
and then we'll be back into and too.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Okay, Elizabeth, alright, Saren, we're back, Yes, we are.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So Neil Young you love him? You love him right?
You know you know his nickname Stevie Wonder Marvin Gayeah
right here giving them too. Who is the next future
famous musician to change the course of young Rick james life.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
That I don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I'll give you a hint. Okay, he also loves drugs.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Well, that narrows it down.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
His hair looks like he loves drugs. You won't guess it.
I don't think it's gonna be a tough one. I
didn't give you good hints.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Hair looks like he loves drugs.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Hendrix the Atomic dog himself, Oh that is you see.
After Rick James gets out of prison in sixty seven,
he does indeed go back to Toronto, and that's where
he becomes George Clinton's drug dealer.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Oh my god, that's a busy.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Job, right, You've got hours.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I saw George Clinton walking down the street in La
once and from behind it totally looks like a muppet.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Oh yeah, yeah, completely.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
He's just had like.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Big coat and like, yeah, he's just popping along.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
And also his hair, he had all his extensions in there.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, so he has ropy hair and yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
He's gone now though he's reduced that look. Anyway, back
then sixty seven, these two men naturally they hit it off.
They become friends, fellow drug abusers. Now, admittedly, I would
want to be in this small room as the two
of them got high ast maybe draft eyebrows. I think
I would want to be in that room. Yeah, yeah,
I think that'd be fun. I mean a little wild
for a lot of people. I think I can hang in.
(20:14):
I think they managed to record some songs together through
all of this, and but none of those songs ever
saw the light of day.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Oh really, yeah, same.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
But the charms of Toronto could not hold Rick James.
Soon enough, he follows Neil Young down to Los Angeles
to seek his fame and fortune. In the scene, when
he gets to LA he hooks up with his old
friend Neil Young and Neil Young's new friends, and that's
how Rick James ends up crashing at Steven Steele's place.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
I love Stephen Still the old tree.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Top flyer exactly now. While Rick James is there in
his first few days in LA He's staying on Steven
Still's couch. He's not alone in this apartment though, right
there's other people coming to it. Took a crash pad
almost now. Eventually, one morning, I could be an afternoon,
I don't know. He waked up and there's another future
famous young musician seated on the floor who looks to
(21:04):
be meditating. Do you want to take a guess who
he was?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Elizabeth, As Rick James colorfully remembered in his own autobiography, quote,
I woke to see a young dude sitting on the
floor in.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
The lotus position. Stone doesn't nothing unusual about that, except
for the blood dripping from his wrists. What Elizabeth the
young man was Jim Morrison Lisa of the Blood, the
byronic poet Jim Morrison, right, his area is. As Rick
(21:36):
James recalls it, he was quote saying things like, isn't
the blood beautiful? Isn't that the deepest red you've ever seen?
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Yeah, he's all looking.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
At me.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
At this point Richard Torture.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
He's freaked out by this crazy white boy who's out
of his arms. Yeah, exactly Young you know that as well.
So Rick James goes up and he wakes Steven Stills
up right and he's like, man, come, you get your
friend bleeding on your view of couch.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
So Steven Stills is like, for what it's worth.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Now he does come to. His first words are is
he doing it again again?
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So he gets out of bed and he goes and
he bandages up Jim Morrison. Now, a little while later,
Rick James and Jim Morrison are at the Whiskey a
Go Go on Sunset Boulevard, the doors opening act for
Neil Young's band Buffalo Springfield. After the doors perform, and
you know Buffalo Springfield is ostensibly on stage, Jim Morrison
hooks up backstage with Rick James and he tricks Rick
(22:36):
James into dropping acid with him. And that's like Rick
James's introduction to like, hey man, this is like what
a real acid?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Rick James and Jim Morris.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
That's like the plot of the best drug movie never made,
but you would never see. I would watch it. Around
this same time, Buffalo's Springfield. They break up, and Neil
Young joins a new group. That's right, Elizabeth, this supergroup Crosby, Stills.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
And sometimes Young.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Now there's Rick James, really love exactly. Rick James was
hanging out with all of them. He's friends with all
of them. He's a qualified musician, and it's, you know,
kind of fun to imagine if you're me and you
and you're fans of chaos. But at this point, you know,
he almost was in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Rick James and James.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
No not, he wouldn't have been a front name. He
would have been a backing musician, all the way front.
Rick James and Crosby still smash, and.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Crosby still smash. James and sometimes Young Neil can't always hang.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So it's his sixties were ending. Rick James has one
more brush with a future famous musician. Only this guy
wouldn't get famous for his music. Instead, he become famous
for his cult of thrill killers.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
No WHOA.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
The year was sixty nine and Rick James was still
in Hollywood, bouncing around the Laurel Canyon music scene, and
he was also getting along partying with the young stars
in Hollywood. Who had made their name on the silver screen.
Speaker 7 (24:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So he was friends with one famous hairstylist, this guy
named Jay Sebring, and he was hopelessly in love with
one of his best friends, Sharon Tate. And one night
in sixty nine, j Seabring invited Rick James to come
over to his friend's house and party with them. But
being Rick James, he had party way too hard the
night before. He was hung over. He's like, man, I
can't come through there. Who over there?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Right?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So he chose to stay home and lay about. And
so later that same night, Charles Manson's followers showed up
at Charon Tate's home made bloody History, which would be
the one percent of the story. So we will skip
past that now.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
The next Rick James was supposed to be there.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
He was supposed to be there that night, so I
don't know if he would have fought them off or
just like.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Actually been a victims.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Rick going wild on people get down in my face
with that. The next day, Rick James he reads about
his near miss with history in the La Times and
he's like, oh man, and then moves on to now
I got one more pre famed Rick James ready for you, Elizabeth,
just because I love this one. Do you know who
Salvador Dhali is?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yes, he too.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I thought you did now since you know who he
was and you also know how he was. Yeah, now
can you imagine him and Rick James hanging out?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Oh no, he Rick James is like this chaos magnet and.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
In the society draw this.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
So the story goes. The two men read a party
in Hawaii in the nineteen seventies. Now by this point,
Rick James is coming up, but he's not quite world
famous yet. Anyway, Salvador Dali is at this dinner party
in Hawaii and he's wonderfully charmed by Rick James, his
whole look, his vibe. Yeah, and the Spanish surrealist painter.
He's like, you know, he's transfixed. He's key staring at him.
(25:46):
He cannot take his eyes. Rick James like, yeah, appreciate it.
I enjoy it, you know, you know. Rick James, though,
eventually notices Salvador Dolly come even closer and he's like,
what's this about? And he explains to him that he says,
anti quote, I am mad about the way you look.
Please allow me to sketch you, all right? And Rick
James is like, okay, Rother, go for it. So he
(26:07):
just sits there and he lets Dolly adore him. He
whips out his materials, gets to sketching. He stares at
Rick James right until he gets it all right, and
he draws a little more. Twenty minutes later he's done.
Dolly hands Rick James the sketch. It's drawn on like
a napkin. Right, Rick James is, He's totally impressed. He
loves it. He's showing people he's got this rare momento. Yeah,
but it must not have made enough of an impression
(26:28):
on Rick James because the next morning he got up
and went swimming, never changed his short when he got
out of the water. The Salvador Dolly drawn napkin was
just a mess.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
In his pocket.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Elizabet, Yes, exactly, and I'm sure Salvador Dolly would appreciate it.
Now we've reached the early eighties when Rick James really
is a worldwide famous person, right, and this is when
he's releasing a string of hits. Give it to Me Baby,
super Freak.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay, Now that second song that's his big hit, that's
the one that set the old for how people think
of Rick James.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Super freak guy.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
You don't pay to mother.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Now, following on the hit of that super freaky vibe,
Rick James becomes Rick James because at this point he's
been Rick James, but now he has turned loose on
the world. You know that.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I once met him really.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Oh yeah, I was at the Lenox Mall in Atlanta,
and I was a kid. I was like with my pop,
just the two of us exactly. So I go, he's
got the white coat and he's like, I was like,
that's Rick James. And he has me go over and
get an autograph. And we have the same name, so
really it's an autograph for him, but I swear your
father name, not Rick James. My father and I have
the same name, and so I got the autograph for
(27:44):
my father and had his name on it because that's
my name. So essentially he just used his son. He
you know, he just child labored me into getting him
a momento. Yeah. Anyway, but uh, Rick James, he does
have an aura. I gotta say, Charlie Murphy is range. No,
I mean it didn't. It moved, Elizabeth. It was like
a very depending on the white blue, it was very impressive. Yes,
(28:04):
but all right, Elizabeth where it was all right. I've
met a lot of celebrities though, so I don't mean
like brag about it. I just bumped into a crazy.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Really, you know, I have a very limited number of
celebrities I've met, very limited And you know, I saw
Tyne Daily once in real life from across the street,
and then that old George Clinton walking down the street.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And I think, you know, I had Gary Coleman once
cooked beef for me at a Korean restaurant. Wait, yeah,
you know the Korean barbecues are a stove on the
on your table. He's like standing on his seat cooking
the beef and he's like putting it on my plate.
I was tripping out. Now, I've seen, like I said,
a lot of celebrities had weird moments. None of them
(28:49):
were like Rick James in terms of just the presence.
It was incredible. Immediately I was a boy.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But have you seen Tyne Daily from across the street?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
No, you got me there, I like, I've never experienced
the full time.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Now the scenes when Charlie Murphy is talking about bent
in the Aura earlier, right, yeah, and then he also
has the times, like the talk about getting in fights.
You know, there's the whole thing about ruining the couch, right,
and then he has the very classic thing where it's like,
I'm Rick James bitch. Right, that's the line that he
says all the time that excuses all this bad behavior. Sure,
now that's what really seems to stick with people from
(29:23):
that skit, that attitude I'm Rick James bitch. Now this
brings us to the crimers. I promised you up top
of Rick James inspired criminals.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Well, and it's like that was like pre meme era,
and so that was like what people would just shout
for no reason.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yes, that was essentially verbal means.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Frat boys in particular. Oh yeah, I loved that completely.
And then it kind of led into like theuzzier. So
it was like there were catchphrases that people would yell
for absolutely no reason.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yes, totally, and also from random shows is one lines.
And then then you'd also get like your Lebowski's like
the weather just over and over. But yeah, this was
like something transcendent even amongst that.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Tradition apropos of nothing. Yeah, that's what I loved about it.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So other crimers, Yes, September nineteenth, twenty fifteen, just a
little after noon, two men walk into a bank in Indianapolis. Well,
technically it's a credit union, the indian Anna members credit
Union and quote. According to witnesses, two black males wearing
all black entered the bank armed with handguns. Both suspects
approached the Tayler counter and demanded money. The suspects fled
(30:29):
on foot in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount
of money. Where's the Rick James and all this? A well,
they didn't mention what they looked like. Right now, the
suspects descriptions, the ones that are given by the cops
are straightforward. Suspect one black hat, long dark hair, sunglasses,
all black clothing five eight to five ten armed. Suspect two,
(30:49):
long hair, dreads, all black clothing five eight to five
ten armed. What they leave out is that the two
men redressed as Rick James and young blood priest the
Harlem Koch there the main character of the seventies black
sploitation flick Superfly.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Right yright right right, yeah, So imagine they didn't.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
They left that out. They told why, I don't know
if they didn't recognize the characters they like. I no
one fella kind of resembles Rick James.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Fella, I don't know about the platform.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Shoot, oh you better believe yeah, like the coats, it's amazing. Now,
imagine you're Elizabeth are in a bank in Indianapolis in
twenty fifteen. All of a sudden, two seventies super pimps
come in and stick up the joint, right, Like, what
would you even think was happening? Would you think that
maybe maybe they're shooting a movie around?
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Know, honestly that's what you would know.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Way this is real?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah? Or just I don't know that. I'm like, have
I been hanging out with Rick James and now I'm
just hallucinating?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
How I am?
Speaker 4 (31:43):
I am? I Rick James?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Well, this robbery wasn't there first or their last? Oh
the super Freak and Superfly bank robbers. They went on
a spree. They started in September twenty fifteen. They first
hit the Advanced America check Cashing service in Indianapolis. Next
they hit the Indiana Members Credit Union. You can probably
hear they're hitting small chapters or small branches.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I imagine they're not grabbing a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I don't know. They didn't get numbers. I said no,
the mounse were undisclosed.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
It is so large they don't want anyone.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
I think they're getting like rent because it seems like
they hit like in the middle of a month, and
then it's like in November nineteenth they hit a month later,
So yeah, November nineteenth, twenty fifteen, they hit another Indiana
Members Credit Union, this time in the neighboring town of Avon.
Nearly a month later, on December twelfth, once again middle
of the month, it's Rent Money twenty fifteen, Super Freak
and Superfly they hit again. They go into a branch
(32:34):
of the Indiana Members Credit Union in the town of Carmel, Indiana,
but this time Rick James's whole vibe of untouchability it
fails them and they have to flee. That leads to
a high speed chase that goes tearing through three counties.
Boone Hamilton Marion the getaway driver. He's good, but not
good enough because the death despite going over one hundred
(32:54):
miles an hour and running red lights, crossing oncoming traffic
the whole nine. In the end, Super Freak and super
Fly they get caught and busted. Five day trial, thirty
eight year old dupries Jet and thirty eight year old
Damien mckissic and thirty eight year old Earl Lee Walker
all found guilty.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I went to school together.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
I'm guessing all exactly the exact same age, or there
are their cousins, many in the hood next to each other. Now,
what was what was it like for this gang known
in the press as the Rick James Robbers? Well, the
getaway driver you got six years, the super Freak and
Superfly bank robbers themselves, they each caught sentences of twenty
four years in prison. Four yes, right, do not play yep? Okay, Elizabeth,
(33:38):
Let's take another little break, and after these delightfully persuasive ads,
I'll be back for some more of who made I'm
Rick James bitch into a criminal mantra? We're back, Elizabeth,
(34:08):
We're back. You haven't found so far?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Oh my gosh, So I.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Got a little more Rick James inspired lunacy for this please.
This next story also takes place in twenty fifteen in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
I was just a young girl then, I know, weren't
you just said, just out of kindergarten, barely.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Able to walk. There's around two fifty in the morning
when patrol officers on Eastern Avenue spot a Blue Infinity
rolling around right, that's like suspicious right away. The trouble
was the car had already been reported stolen, so the
cops give chase. They catch up to the blue Infinity.
Driver pulls over. When the cops approach and they speak
with the driver of the stolen Blue Infinity, he tells
the Springfield police that his name is wait for it,
(34:48):
Rick James. The police are like, well, mister James, can
we see your driver's license? The self appointed Rick James
tells the cops he doesn't have his lescens on him
at the moment. Officer Now, The cops are like, well,
mister James, would you politely and police kindly step out
of the car. Turns out this was definitely not Rick James,
because this is twenty fifteen and Rick James at this
point had been dead for eleven years, right and more
(35:11):
than that, the driver of this stolen car was actually
named Scott. Now, after the police finger printed Scott, they
found out that his full name was Scott Taylor of Springfield.
The thirty year old was charged.
Speaker 8 (35:22):
With receiving his full name was like, hi, Scott, Taylor Springfield.
A nice he was receiving a stolen motor vehicle, driving
with a revoked license, giving a false name to a
police officer.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Outstanding warrants, the full slate. Nice little raption you got, now, Scott,
this brings us to the cherry on this Rick James
flavored pie. Elizabeth. I'm happy to report that this guy,
he's a Florida man and he's super freak a the
story goes, his name is Paul, but Paul Kidgik. He's
fifty years old, and he was at the Back Bar
and Lounge in Saint Petersburg, Florida, at around four am
(35:58):
on a Sunday morning, after a Saturday night out. Obviously,
he decided he'd had enough to drink and it was
time to go home, so he walked out and got
in his car to drive home. No, Luckily, there were
a few people, multiple people in the parking lot outside
this Florida bar, and they all saw how drunk this
dude kill Jack was. Yeah, and he was quote kept
(36:19):
from driving by multiple witnesses due to his level of intoxication.
Good for them, that was notable since this Florida man,
Elizabeth was six foot three and three hundred pounds an
easy person to persuade.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Oh they should, I totally agree, But they had to
stand up and you know, get loud. Maybe who see
if someone though felt we should probably call the police.
And so they did. And the police arrived on the
scene at backbar in Saint Pete and they see this
drunk man who wants to drive home or whatever. And
the cops were like, buddy, let's just call you a taxi.
So they call a taxi for kill Jack. When the
cab arrives, the drunk Florida man gets in and the
(36:52):
drivers are like, Ferry may home or whatever. But he
doesn't make it, Elizabeth, Why why doesn't he make it?
Speaker 6 (36:58):
Well?
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Rather than me tell you about it, Elizabeth, I like
you to close your eyes, eyesac close. I like you
to picture it. It's late on a Saturday night, and
you are standing outside of the back bar and lounge
in the parking lot of a suburban style mall complex
in Saint Petersburg, Florida. At the moment, it's about four am.
So clearly you're not making the best life choices. But
(37:20):
there's a man here in the parking lot who's making
far worse life choices than you. He looks to be
about fifty years old and five sheets to the wind.
The man is drunk, and he's thrashing about like a
tranquilized elephant who refuses to go down. This is strange
since there are cops on the scene talking to him.
They've been talking with the drunk for quite some time now.
In fact, they're trying to get him into a taxi.
(37:42):
You're betting against the cops getting him in the back seat,
but they're stubborn, Elizabeth, and they managed to get him
in the back and shut the door. The cops turn
back to you in the small crowd standing near you.
The cops panami, ma, look like, get a load of
this guy. As the taxi pulls away, your attention fall
the car. Soon enough, the cops turn to look too,
(38:03):
because all of you can hear shouting and yelling coming
from inside the taxi. They're not even out of the
parking lot. But it's not just shouting and yelling. It
looks like, yep, the drunk in the back seat is
punching the cab driver in the face from the back seat.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
The taxi cabs breake, lights flash the car comes to
a screeching stuff. The back door bus open. The drunk
man hops out. His mood has now violently swung in
the opposite direction. He's now laughing and dancing in the
parking lot. The cops look at you and the crowd
again and they pantomime a new look that seems to say,
I guess we got to do something.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
The dancing drunk is now gleefully insulting anyone, and everyone
is watching him. He shouts in the direction of you
and the small crowd standing near you and the two cops.
He yells you you wait, and he follows that up
with I'm Rick James. Betch that cuts it. The cops
now have to rush the six but three three hundred
(39:00):
pound drunk man dancing around and doing his best Dave
Chappelle impression. You are not impressed with its accuracy. Neither
are the police, Elizabeth. They arrested drunk Kiljick for battery
and disorderly intoxication. And your cheap evenings entertainment is over.
So you asked the cab driver if you can get
a ride home. He looks at you like, are you kidding?
I'm going home?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
I hope.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
So this is what happens when you spend time in
the Tampa's eight Peenede area at four am.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Oh my god, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
This last Rick James inspired legal kerfuffle that I want
to tell you about brings this all full circle because
we've come back to Dave Chappelle and his famous Charlie
Murphy skits. In two thousand and four, the same year
that Rick James passed away, Dave Chappelle pulled his first
big disappearing act. Not all people know this, because what
works out like this. It was in two thousand and four,
(39:51):
in December he walked away from the Dave Chappelle Show
for the first time, but it was all quiet. Nobody
really heard about it. And then he walked away again
in two thousand and five, and that's when he very
famously went a wall. So before all of that, back
in June of two thousand and four, he was in Sacramento, California. Hey,
aka the Big Tomato, aka the Big Easy Chair, aka
the City that Always Sleeps Sacramento, and he was there
(40:15):
doing a stand up show. Now, he was at the
four thousand seat Memorial Auditory. I'm not sure if you're
familiar with them, so he was doing his act and
he gets irritated because the fans and Sacramento kept shouting
at him. I'm Rick James bitch os, Oh my god,
and that's fun. You're trying to do your job and
you've got Sacramento yokeles yelling punchlines at you from your
(40:37):
TV show. So David gets pissed at him, and he
tells these Sacramento yokels, you people are stupid. Good now,
as you know, Elizabeth, I grew up in Davis and
Mere twelve miles from Sacramento, so to hear the Dave
Chappelle called the stupid delights me in a very ugly
regional rivalry kind of way, so forgive me. But the
(40:57):
story goes like this, It's a Tuesday night show mid June,
should be fun for everyone. Dave Chappelle is about to
drop the third season of his show It's the hottest
thing in comedy. But his fans they just well, as
Dave put it, shut up and listen like you're supposed to.
At one point, Dave Chappelle tells the Sacramento crowd the
show is ruining my life. Oh god, he confesses to
(41:19):
the audience. That quote, stand up is the most important
thing I do is because I'm on TV. You make
it hard for me to do it. People can't distinguish
between what's real and fake. This ain't a TV show.
You're not watching Comedy Central. I'm real up here talking.
At that point, he gave the Sacramental crowd a lesson
on how stand up comedy works in case they unfamiliar
(41:41):
with the real structures and structures. And he said, and
I quote, I say something you mulled over and decide
whether you want to laugh or not, and then you
do or not. Then I say something else and you
think about it. It's worked well all across the country.
But you people and knowing them as I do, Elizabeth,
I bet when Dave paused here, someone actually shouted I'm
(42:03):
Rick Jags match. I'm just guessing that if he did,
they would have missed the insult that Dave was about
to drop. Because Dave made sure that they understood it.
And this one landed because he was talking to people
from Sacramento, so he sold them. Coming to Sacramento to
do comedy was probably quote a bad idea, like chocolate
covered fish not done. Insulting the Sacramento crowd. Dave Chappelle
(42:25):
next tells the same crowd why his TV show is
so funny. He said, and I quote, you know why
my show is good because the network officials say you're
not smart enough to get what I'm doing. And every
day I fight for you, I tell them how smart
you are. Turns out I was wrong. You people are stupid.
(42:46):
And again, knowing them as I do, Elizabeth, I would
bet cash money. Someone yelled back in the response.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Oh, Rick James Batch, this is what drove Dave Chappelle bo.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
I'm telling you, Sacramento did it? I recognize this now.
At this point, Dave Chappelle tells his fans in Sacramento,
you guys are the worst listeners in the country. It's
like the silence of the Lambs without the silence. This, too,
is the power of Rick James. He can make a
whole cowtown lose his camp mind. Elizabeth, Please do remember
(43:20):
I'm Rick James bitch. Enjoy yourself. So what's our ridiculous
takeaway here?
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Oh my goodness. I feel for Chappelle.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
And that's that case of just you know, I think
any artist who hears those things repeated back to them constantly,
And I.
Speaker 4 (43:36):
Wonder if Rick James heard super Freak all the time.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
You know, it's it's annoying. I would imagine, Oh god.
But my takeaway, I think is that Rick James the
gift kept giving.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
My takeaway, Elizabeth, thank you for asking me. It's ridiculous.
I'll share it with you. He's like our idea of
a pirate come to life, you know, like the recklessness,
the big Yeah. He really is. Like so now I'm
going to think of Rick James as a pirate.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
His characterization by Chappelle of like holding a like a
gobb it gives that pirate aesthetic too, just to.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Something about him. So you in the move for a
talk back? Of course, I am all right producing. Could
you favor us with one?
Speaker 7 (44:26):
Oh my god, I saren.
Speaker 9 (44:39):
I had to pause the podcast, the latest one and
the name I can't pronounce it because you haven't said
it yet. I had to pose it when you said
the word serendipity, and you missed a huge opportunity to
call it serendipity.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
How could you?
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I did drop the ball, But I love that.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
I'm listening to this now I'm going to pause it
and complain about something that maybe has or hasn't happened
now luckily it hadn't happen, but still serendipity.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
You know, my mother uses that as a nickname, because
does she. She's dippy like that. Well, as always, we
appreciate y'all's talkback, so please keep them coming. Get the
iHeart app downloaded. You can leave yourself a talkback that
we will then possibly play here and you can hear
your own voice right here now. You can also, obviously,
(45:36):
you can catch us on the social media, so you
can just look up ridiculous Crime on most of social
media's except for that one with X. We have a
website ridiculous Crime dot com. We obviously also have an
email account because we mentioned it from time to time.
It's also a Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. So
hit us up and as always, please start the email,
dear producer d and as always, thank you for listening.
(45:58):
We will catch you next crime. Ridiculous Crime is hosted
by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnette, produced and edited by
the Rick to Our James Dave Coustin, and starring Annalise
Rutger as Judath. Research is by our resident miner birds
Brissa Brown, and Andrea song Sharpened Tear. Our theme song
(46:20):
is by Ricky James Matthews. Cosplayers Thomas Lee and Travis Dutty.
The host's wardrobe provided by Botany five hundred, guest Haron
makup by Sparkleshot and Mister Andrea. Executive producers are Ben
I Wanted to be Rick James Bitch Boland and Note
I Am Rick James Bitch.
Speaker 6 (46:39):
Brown Reds Why Say It one More Times?
Speaker 5 (46:49):
Crime?
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four More Podcasts.
My heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Zaron Burnett
Elizabeth Dutton
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Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.