10/20/23
Newsletter #493
The Crack of Dawn
The Greek philosopher, Socrates, believed that the path to understanding was to be found in discussion – clear, calm, rational communication. The first two considerations for having an intelligent discussion about anything are: what do you know, and how do you know it? Put in a more realistic fashion: what do you think you know, and how do you think you know it?
Therefore, since we live in a world full of misinformation and “fake news,” it’s important to check your facts — making sure that they are indeed facts — and find corroborating sources. Given all of that, I think Phil Spector was innocent of murder. I don’t know that he was innocent, and since he died at the age of 81 in French Camp, California, while serving time in prison in Stockton, it doesn’t matter. Phil quite possibly died of Covid-19. French Camp, CA, by the way, is the oldest settlement in the vast San Joaquin Valley, in the blazing hot center of California, and used to be a major beaver fur trading center.
Of course, if you doubt my veracity, look it up. When I’m questioned about trivia like that — which, for some unknown reason, I live for — I invariably reply, “Why would I bother making that up?” I try my best to not propagate misinformation (although sometimes I’m sure I still do).
Phil Spector was of Russian-Jewish heritage and was born in the Bronx, New York in 1939. In 1949, when Phil was 10 years old, his bankrupt father committed suicide. The epitaph on his gravestone reads, “Ben Spector. Father. Husband. To know him was to love him.” Phil Spector’s first hit song with the Teddy Bears in 1958 was, To Know Him is to Love Him.
So, why do I think that Phil Spector is innocent? Other than the standard news coverage, I never dug any deeper, and simply accepted the narrative that was presented. Phil did a lot of drugs in his life, was known as a wild, crazy, outrageous guy, and had an extensively large gun collection. That’s entirely circumstantial evidence, but no other explanation makes sense, particularly the one that Spector offered, that Lana Clarkson killed herself. Oh, sure?
So, what changed my mind (not that I had any doubts to start with)? David Mamet’s HBO movie, Phil Spector (2013), starring Al Pacino, who gives a fabulous performance. Helen Mirren plays his lawyer and is also terrific. The entire movie is about Spector’s trial. David Mamet, who now seems to be certifiably crazy to me, convinced me that Phil didn’t do it, and I believe him. Why do I believe his version? Why would he make it up?
The big conflict in the movie is, can his lawyer put him on the stand to testify in his own defense, or is he too crazy? If you want to know, I recommend that you see the movie. I’m not sure how this film got overlooked, but it did, and it’s some of the talented, if meshuga, David Mamet’s best work. Perhaps it was a case of one crazy person recognizing and understanding another of his own tribe. Mamet visited Phil a number of times in prison in Stockton and got the story directly from the Phil’s mouth. And I don’t think that a man like David Mamet — a Pulitzer Prize-winner of Jewish-Polish heritage; not that that makes him honest — would go to the lengths one must go to get a film made with Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, just to spin a false tale. The circumstances of the movie, and the people involved, make me believe that it has to be true.
But what do I know?