DISGRACELAND - Bonus Episode: Scene Showdown, Partying With Tyson, and Juvenile Stickups

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

This week in the After Party, Jake talks different music scenes, balancing points of view, this week's DISGRACELAND episode on Bobby Brown, and of course your emails, texts, DMs, and voicemails. What is the greatest music scene of all time? Let Jake know at 617-906-6638, [e-mail], or on socials @disgracelandpod, and come join the After Party.To cop some new merch, head to disgracelandpod.com/merch now!To hear an extended version of the After Party with a story about a young Bobby Brown holding up a convenience store - and the punishment that followed - and more from the DISGRACELAND community, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is exactly right. Double Elvis. Hey, Discos, you can listen to an extended version of this after-party episode by becoming a member of Disgraceland All Access. Just go to disgracelandpod.com slash membership for more details and to sign up. Hey guys, welcome to Disgraceland, which is brought to you by Double Elvis. This week, we have a brand new episode on Bobby Brown in our disgraceland feed. and for all of our All Access members

and our Patreon and Apple subscription feeds, we just dropped another brand new episode on Wayland Jennings. So make sure you're all signed up for our All Access content, either on Apple Podcasts or on Patreon, to hear the Wayland episode, along with all the other exclusive episodes

and all the other content that we have over there. We've got exclusive episodes on Lane Staley, Basquea, Chris Cornell, so many others. Speaking of Chris Cornell, over in the feed for our show, the Singers Talk. That's actually the show from Double Elvis that we do in partnership with volume.com, where Jason Thomas Gordon talks with some of the most iconic singers about their voices. So we've got a brand new episode this week with guitarist Tom Morella all about Chris Cornell.

So check that out. Hey, Discos. Need a little more disgrace land in your life? Just a touch to get you through? Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to to Disgraceland, the after party. Welcome to the disgrace land bonus episode. A little thing we like to call the after party. This is the show after the show, the party after the party, the bridge to get you from one full episode

of disgrace land to the other, the backyard to dig into the dirt. On this bonus episode, we are talking about the greatest music cities of all time. Okay? We're also, of course, talking about our disgraceland full episode. on Bobby Brown and some of the research that went into making that episode.

And of course, your voicemails, texts, and more. And as always, a whole lot of rosy. All right, discos, let's get. All right, discos, I don't think the world thinks of Bobby Brown as a Boston artist. Because Bobby Brown transcended his hometown long ago, became a global superstar. He relocated to Atlanta to copulate with ghosts. You can listen to the full episode of disgrace. And to hear what I'm talking about there.

and, you know, Boston kind of let go of Bobby Brown a little bit, too, I think, I guess. I don't know. I'm from Boston, and throughout the making of this episode, I barely thought of Bobby Brown as a Boston artist, even though part of it is set there. But he is. He's Roxbury, and he's 80s combat zone at his core. I started thinking of Bobby this morning as a Boston artist, though. Bobby's first band, new edition, an incredible boy band, before we even called them boy bands.

It was a group that gave way eventually to Belbiv DeVoe, and a group that had they never happened, new kids in the block likely never would happen either. And if that didn't happen, if new kids didn't happen, then Markey Mark wouldn't have happened, and then Boogie Nights probably wouldn't have been as awesome, and I'm getting off track, but you can start to see the point that I'm trying to make.

Boston music. Boston has an incredible music lineage, an incredible music history, and is and always has been an incredible music. music scene. I can't really speak to the current scene. I no longer live in Massachusetts full time. And even before I left, the scene just had changed, like most music scenes had changed, sort of leading up to COVID, and then, of course, during and after COVID. But you cannot mess with Boston's place as a music scene in history and how it stacks up to other cities.

Other than New York City, though, I can't think of a better music city than Boston. I'm Putting New York City aside because nothing can compare musically with New York City, it's where jazz, disco, punk rock, hip hop were invented. Hell, it's probably even where pop music was invented. At the very least, it's where pop was refined and honed to become the cultural juggernaut that it became in the 20th century. But back to Boston, let's put New York City aside and ask the question. What is the greatest music scene of all time? Okay, Seattle.

That's going to be what most of you are going to say first. Seattle, OK, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Memphis, Chicago, Philadelphia. I'm quickly running out of options. Philly, gamble and huff, hollow notes, low-cut Connie, ink and dagger. Who else is there? I'm being a smart ass, but off the top of my head, I'm finding it hard to come up with other notable artists from Philly. Frank Stallone. Chicago, the blues, okay, you got a point, chess records, etc.

Muddy Waters, all the way to state. Steve Albini. I can see the argument at least, but I'm not buying it. Memphis, strong argument here because, of course, of Sun Records and Elvis Presley, but after Stax records and into the 80s and into the now, how much hustle and flow can we actually ride on. New Orleans, I'm sorry, but jazz, unfortunately, is not influential enough when it comes to the zeitgeist when it comes to modern day culture of the last 20, 30 years. Lil Wayne, no disrespect. He's huge and all, but I'm not buying New Orleans. ones. Los Angeles, though, super strong argument. You got big bands, West Coast Swing, Hollywood vampires, punk rock, the most violent hardcore scene ever, probably hair metal, guns and roses alone, NWA, all the gangster rap, to say nothing of Los Lobos. And I'm sure a bunch of different musical genres that have had influence on popular culture and very significant ways that I'm not even thinking of at the moment. But overall, kind of.

kind of spotty. L.A. is the closest, though, I think, that gives Boston a run for its hard-earned working class money. Seattle, I'm sorry, but no fucking way. Seattle was a blip, okay? Like a, like a tweet storm. Very loud, very powerful, and impactful, but ultimately not a lot behind it, and not for a very long time. But let's run it down, okay? Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, I guess, if you want to call them a Seattle band. Mud Honey. The greatest Seattle band of all time, the Melvins, Allison Chains, Temple of the Mother Lovebone Dog,

the Gits, and I think I'm done. Actually, no, I'm not. Kenny G. Cermix a lot. Maclemore. Who else? Who am I missing? I know I left off my list. Some subpop bands that I should be mentioning,

some good ones. They're just, I can't think of them off top of my head right now. But, you know, Seattle's impact is very much excuse me, Seattle's impact is very much one time, really, one era, I should say. And I know, I know it's kind of a big era, it's kind of a very super important era, an impactful era. I've acknowledged that. But over the course of time, it does not compare to Boston. With Boston, we're starting in and around the 60s, early 60s, and we're going all the way up into the aughts, okay, of just producing wildly influential great bands.

So in no particular order of awesomeness. Just, you know, before, as I list these, right, just to put a little shine on what I just said there, just one more thing. When I list these bands, ask yourself which other city can boast such an impressive list of bands that weren't just subjectively great, like from my opinion, but that actually had an effect on culture, again, that they affected culture, they affected the zeities, they were on the charts. They were featured in films. Television had mega influence over artists from other cities. I'm talking about the fact that Nirvana wouldn't exist without the Pixies. But anyway,

here's the list. Let's start there with the Pixies. Okay, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman, The Cars, Boston, Aerosmith, Lemonheads, Blake Babies, Julia Anna Haphaefield, Dropkick Murphy's, Mighty, Mighty Bostones, Morphine, Tilt Tuesday and Amy Mamm, Mission of Burma, Slapshot, Bain, Buffalo Tom, the remains, look them up, the real kids, the J-Fucking Giles band, Del Fuego, Donna Summer, James Taylor, come, gang star, new kids on the mother hump and block converge, and of course, new edition in the subject of this week's episode, Bobby Brown. So, I want to ask the question,

which city, historically speaking, has the greatest music scene? That's the question I want to ask, but it feels like L.A. might be the only city that comes close. Someone from Los Angeles, give me a call, let me know why L.A. is a better scene than Boston. I can almost make the argument myself, but I'm not quite getting there. Anyone else that thinks the Boston list is whack, hit me up, tell me why, you know, whatever, Omaha's music scene or Portland or wherever else is better than Boston.

Oldhead Boston music scenesters, I know you hate me. Call in. Let me know what an uneducated poser I am for not including the Needs, Big Dipper, the neighborhoods. I see you fuckers, okay? It was an accident. There's just too many great bands. And I just mentioned them anyway. So get in touch.

All of you. I want to know greatest music scenes in history, or why. your scene is better than Boston and why Boston's scene sucks. Whatever it is, hit me up and let me know 617-90666-36-3-8. I'll be back in a flash. All right, as I mentioned at the top of the episode,

we got some brand new Discraceland merchandise. If you're an All-Axist member, you already know about this because you got a preview and a first crack to snag the stuff last week. We've opened it up to everybody, however, and you can now order right now by going to disgracelandpod.com slash merch.

Or you can just hit the link in the show notes for this episode. There you'll find the OG disgrace land black t-shirt, which comes with a pin, and, of course, the new Roccoa shirt inspired by the classic Coca-Cola logo, which also comes with a pin or grab the classic enamel zombie Elvis pin. Again, that's disgracelandpod.com slash merch, copps some cool stuff as soon as you can, because it's going to go. It always goes, it goes quick, and then I take forever to restock it.

I'm trying to do better to restock it this time. All right, let's talk about sources for this week's episode on Bobby Brown. Our primary source is a book that came out in 2016, and it's a whopper. It's called Every Little Step, My Story, and of course is written by Bobby Brown himself, along with Nick Chalais, Chili's, Childs. I don't know how to pronounce it, Nick. I'm sorry. I know you're an award-winning journalist, and I know I should know.

But anyways, Bobby lays it all out, the good, the bad. And believe it or not, probably the most bad-shick crazy story that we've ever uncovered in any episode of Deshapes. Graceland, more than one, actually. Okay, I don't even know what is the craziest. The sex with the ghost are making chicken with cocaine. Having sexual intercourse with a ghost in his haunted Atlanta mansion, of course, partying in Japan with Mike Tyson the night before the heavyweight champ lost that fight.

The Buster Douglas, thank you very much, Bobby Brown, hooking up with his sister's friend in jail, so much. It's just nuts. It's just crazy. to give you an idea. Here's a direct quote from the book, all right. Quote, one memorable night, one of the ghosts descended from the ceiling and had sex with me. After you stopped laughing, I need you to hear what I'm saying, because I'm not making this up. And let me add this. This was before I ever touched any drug besides weed and alcohol.

That, of course, is Bobby Brown talking, not me. Bobby then goes on to describe in the book the sex that he had with the ghost in great detail. I swear I'm not making this up. All right. Now, seeing as this book was written by Bobby Brown, and it's 100% Bobby's POV throughout, you won't be surprised to find out that a big part of the narrative is trying to prove that Bobby wasn't the bad boy, that he was made out to be the bad boy, by the press, by the media, by other people, that his bad boy image was, in his own words, a label that feels too one-dimensional. Now, of course, there is sufficient evidence out there, a lot of which happened out loud in the public eye that would

prove otherwise that Bobby Brown was indeed a bad boy. So of course, in our research, we balanced out Bobby's book with other points of view. Profiles written on him during his reign on the pop charts, video interviews, including the explosive one that we documented in this episode where he blows up when an interviewer calls his mom a riot. You can find that online. That's easy to search out. And most importantly, the perspective of his former wife, Whitney Houston, who gave a powerful interview to Oprah Winfrey in 2009, just a few years before she died. And that interview, that perspective of Whitney's was crucial for the conclusion of our narrative. If you've heard the episode, you're going to know what I mean. Go check that out, all right? Let me know what you think.

Let me know what you think of our take on Bobby Brown. This balancing this one was important to us, you know, when I did the Whitney Houston episode back in, gosh, when was that in 2021 or something like that, 2020? It might even been 2019. It doesn't matter. But when I was researching Whitney Houston, I was like, oh my God, there's a Bobby Brown episode here as well. A lot of the research that I did on Whitney Houston, there's a lot of fingers being pointed at Bobby Brown. Nothing is that binary to me, however. We tried to balance it out here, but still, it was tough.

And, you know, as someone who actually really, how do I put this, appreciates Bobby Brown as a pop star, you know, I don't know. It's like you don't want to just do this completely one-sided depiction. of the person. But this one was hard not to. But anyways, let us know how you think we landed the plane. 617-90666-66-3-8. And while you're at it, get in touch, send us a voicemail, leave us text. I want to know if Bobby Brown's hometown of Boston is the greatest music scene of all time. Let's do a voicemail here. This one from the 206 on Bobby Brown. Hey, Jake, what's up? It's Tony from the 206. Just listening.

listen to the Bobby Brown album. My prerogative is one of the greatest R&B New Jack Swing albums of all time. But there is something in there that I wanted to pick your brain at. When you talked about Mike Tyson losing because he was partying with Bobby Brown the night before, there's always been this conspiracy that the referee essentially allowed Buster Douglas to have more time to get up. because if you look at that fight, when Tyson knocked him down, you know, the referee gave him more great time to get up. Like when the rest counts, he's like one, two, back up, Mike, I need you to back up.

Three, four, Mike, I said back up. I really need you to back up. Five, six. So where you see Tyson get knocked out, Tyson's trying to get up and he's trying to grab his mouthpiece and everything. So there's always been this conspiracy. Even Mike talked about this himself in his one-man show. Just curious to know your thoughts on that. I know you did a Mike Tyson episode.

A few a while back, hopefully you'll release that as a rewind episode in the future. Much love. And hope your summer's going good. Peace. Hey, Tony, from the 206. Interesting take. And to be perfectly honest with you, I've never really, I don't know about this. I don't know about the ref throwing it here from Mike.

I wouldn't be surprised, however. Nothing would shock me when it comes to Mike Tyson. and nothing would shock me when it comes to boxing, especially in the 80s or early 90s, whenever this was. Things were a little, how do you say, looser. So I'm going to check that out. I'm going to probably YouTube that tonight

and try to come to my own conclusion. Appreciate the call. Thank you. Let's do some text here. Let's see what we got here on the old message box. 818 writes, and hey, Jake, Mickey here, the Bobby Brown episode was Ace. I'm a big Bobby fan and a huge new edition fan,

so I knew my fair share about them. But then I listened to this episode and got educated even more. Good stuff, my man, keep doing what you're doing. Thank you, Mickey. Appreciate it. I love your use of the word ace. And the text, 540 writes in, okay, so here's an episode idea. The Adventures of Bert Reynolds.

You want to talk about icons? Well, at least for you and me, he is one of the biggest. Just a thought. It's a good thought. The history of Bert Reynolds, I kind of know a little bit about it. I know a little bit about it. I'm not going to tell you why, because I'm saving that for when I actually do an episode on Bert Reynolds, but I have a very personal connection to Bert Reynolds and Bert in his life.

And again, I'm going to save that one. So that will be coming up at some point. 207 writes in Tiger Woods, Anthony Bourdain, not a disgraced athlete, but still, I think he'd be a great golf buddy. And Lawrence Taylor, I haven't heard you do an episode on him, but if you haven't done one, you should. His story is wild. Of course, that is an answer to you. We were asking, what celebrity force him would you put together?

Tiger Woods, of course, would be at the top of anybody's list. And Lawrence Taylor will certainly be in the disgrace land feed at some point. We asked last week in the after party, we had that OJ Simpson episode, and I kind of made the point that for people who grew up in the 90s, the OJ Chase, at least before 9-11, the OJ Chase, the televised white Bronco Chase, was kind of like our Kennedy assassination. It was kind of like you knew where you were. Everyone knew where they were.

I asked the question where you guys were. I got a bunch of texts on this. I'll answer more in the exclusive bonus portion of this episode, but I want to get here. 802 hits us. Where was I during OJ's Bronco Chase? I was in my dorm room up at Chaplin College in Burlington, Vermont. This is Kelly from Brattleboro, Vermont. Your podcast helped get me through my work days.

Much appreciated it. Thanks, Kelly. I appreciate you. What do you for work? Text us back. Let us know, all right? 617-906-66-38 voicemail and text. Again, guys, I want to know about your music scenes.

even if your music scene cannot compete with Boston. That's my dog. You hear my dog? I left the door to my studio open outside the booth. That's dusty. I think she's okay. Maybe someone's at the door. I'm going to take a break.

I'll be back in the flash. All right, we got interrupted there at the end of that block. Apologize for that. I was about to say, even if your music scene cannot compete with Boston's or Los Angeles's or New York's, no one's can with me. New York, like I said. Hit us up and just let me know where you're from. Let me know what music scene you came up in that you have all the warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feelings for what bands you were going to see. Let me know, 617-90666-6-6-3-8. And of course, I want to know if you think you're seen as better than Boston or what the best music scene in the history of music is because it's a

fascinating topic for me. All right. Anyhow, we are back. And as I promised at the top of the show, I wanted to tell you this wild story about Bobby Brown from when he was younger that we didn't have time to get into when it came to our full episode. But you know the drill to hear this extra story and to hear more after-party content and more engagement between you and I. You need to be a member of disgraceland. All access and you know the drill. Go to disgracelandpod.com slash membership. Five bucks a month, even less. If you sign up annually, it's going to get you these longer after-party episodes. It's going to get you sneak peeks at new merchandise. It's going to get you into the always-on chat with me on Patreon. And it's going to get you a fully scripted exclusive

episode of Disgraceland every month. And of course, everything is going to be ad-free. Our exclusive episode this month is on Waylon Jennings, and here's a clip. Check it out. August 24th, 1977. American Sound Recording Studio, Nashville. Little over a week since the king himself, Elvis Presley, took his last seat on a porcelain throne. Waylon was eager to finish laying down this harmony track on his wife, Jesse's new song. equally eager to then dip into the stash of cocaine sitting at his feet. One kilo he just had sent to him through the mail. Drugs via the United States postal system.

Just the sort of brass balls outlaw move that only Wayland Jennings could pull off. Or so the thinking went. On the other side of the double-glass wall, in the control room where Wayland's drummer Richie Albright was running the recording session, the outside door flew open. Two men stepped inside. DEA agents who had been tracking Weyland's package of cocaine.

Ritchie was fast. He thought fast, acted fast. He leaned back against the recording console and pressed his hand down on the talkback button. Now, this is an important detail. The American Sound Recording Studio was equipped with a Harrison mixing console, which, unlike most mixing consoles at the time,

had a talkback button that, when pressed, allowed both the control room where Ritchie was in the studio room where Waylon was to simultaneously talk to and hear each other. Other consoles only allowed for one-way communication. So, Richie Albright, without the DEA agents knowing, was allowing Waylon through the headphones he was wearing in the studio to hear this entire conversation with the feds as it unfolded.

So Richie says, Can I help you, boys? This is a closed session. Agent number one goes, What happened to that package that was just delivered? Richie goes, do you all have a warrant? Agent Number 1 says, We have a warrant for Wayland Jennings' arrest. Richie, listen, boys, I'd love to help you,

but we're right in the middle of one last vocal take. This place is like $200 an hour. Can we just finish the take and then Whelan is all yours? Agent number two looked at Agent Number 1 and gave a curt nod of approval. Richie ran the tape from the top and Whalen began to sing again. Halfway through the chorus, Richie stopped the tape and pressed on the Harrison Talkback button again.

Whalen, I'm sorry, Hoss, But there's something wrong with your microphone. Let me come in there real quick and swap it out for another. The agents waited impatiently. Ritchie slipped into the studio room, replaced the mic, and then very carefully, without anyone noticing, removed the bags of cocaine from the box at Wayland's feet and slid them down the front of his jeans. Minutes later, he was flushing the contents down the toilet in the studio bathroom, while the DEA agents grilled Whelan.

Where I come from, Whelan said, possession means... Got it. You boys ain't got it. All right, that was a clip from our brand new episode on Waylon Jennings released today, which, as you know, is an exclusive episode for Disgraceland All Access members. The only way you're going to hear that entire thing is if you become a member. So go to disgracelandpod.com slash membership to sign up. All right, do it. You got it. Back in a flash. All right, let's recap. Shall we? Number one.

There's more afterparty to listen to right now. All you're going to do is go to disgracelandpod.com slash membership and sign up to become an all-access member, but if that ain't your bag, then number two. Right now, in your feed, this week's brand-new episode on Bobby Brown. Number three, also in your feed, if you're a disgrace-in-all-access member, another brand-new episode, this one on Wayland Jennings. Number four, coming tomorrow, a rewind episode on Prince, whose breakthrough album, Purple Rain, celebrates its 40th anniversary this week.

Number five, next week in the disgrace-hand feed, an episode on Gianni Versace. Number six, my number is 617-906-66-38. Call me on the telephone. Give me a text number seven. Remember that no one cares about these stories more than you do. And well, that's a disgrace. And now my moment of bliss in honor of this week's episode on Bobby Brown, me reading you, the phone book from Boston circa 1965.

Bynum. Lincoln. Elliot House, Cambridge, 5478080. Bynum. Sylvester. 227 Northampton, Boston, C.O.7-5631. Byram, Claudia. Forty Walbuck Hall, Cambridge, 491, 8174. Bird, Albert, 73, Dale, Roxbury, 445-5-3-3-8. 3rd, William, 383, Cambridge, 876-9-9-4844,

Bertha, Walter, 49, St. Albany, 7, L-L6,000. 2% 45% Talking and start mixing Cool