Your accessory to a $300 million a year music bootlegging racket, Mr. Brooks.
Oh sure, record a song, give the pirates one last crack at him.
Give us a crack at Joey's killer.
Those pirate tapes hit the Jots too, you know.
Maybe we should, uh, start pirating a few of those tapes ourselves.
Well, I don't know why anybody would want to kill Joey.
Could be anyone.
I could just never, ever marry another blind person.
You know what I'm sorry about?
Is when that safe went up it didn't blow my head clear off.
I'm out.
Did you see that?
Yeah, uh oh.
Mr. Brooks, what can I do for you?
I understand you have the latest Out of Sight release on special.
Sure do. If there's any left they go pretty fast.
And only $2.50 a cassette, I would imagine.
Here you go.
Aris 9-3-0, sand in the sandpiper.
You're lucky it's the last one.
Yeah.
It's a pirate tape, all right.
This counterfeit artwork wouldn't fool anybody.
I wonder if the tape's any better.
Mr. Brooks, it would be interesting to know how you can sell these for $4.50 under the going price.
You're suggesting I'm selling stolen merchandise?
Now that you mention it, yes.
Mr. Brooks, do you know that you're actually stealing from musicians, singers, writers and producers?
Who'd you buy it from?
Oh, I don't know. I buy a lot of stuff.
Say, look, this was presented to me as legitimate merchandise.
It was part of a bankrupt stock liquidation, I believe.
Get off of it. You know that's a copied label.
They're accessory to a $300 million a year music bootlegging racket, Mr. Brooks.
The only way we can stop it is at the end of the funnel, the distributor.
So?
So you get an invoice.
Oh, I didn't ask for one.
What did the seller look like? What kind of car was he driving?
I never sold him before in my life.
Sorry, evidence.
Now, if you think of anything, you get in touch with us.
In the meantime, we've already got you on one count.
Don't buy any more rip-offs.
Now, what's so special about that one?
You'll see. Your ears aren't too bent from listening to all this junk.
Fidelity? No wow, no fuzz?
I had to come right off the master.
Now, that would be Perfection Records.
Out of Sight is the only real name on the label you know.
That's so.
Now, that's Barefoot Joe on guitar.
They say Nancy Colbo won't sing without him.
Barefoot Joe?
Barefoot Joe.
All right, come on. Come on, let me see a swan dive.
Come on, go ahead.
Hey, come on. Get that out.
I've got my dog trained better than that.
My towel, please.
I've decided that after the session, I'm going to fix us some cornbread and sorghum,
and hush puppies, and sal belay, and okra, and how many ingrits does that?
Can we have dandelion wings, too?
Sure can. I've been flying a lot in the kitchen, though.
Hey, inform me.
Joey, come on, we're late.
Hey, we're never that late. Come on, tell me.
I tell you, I've got to hear that at least twice a day or I start stringing out.
Joey, let me do it.
Do you want me to start you off?
If I don't have this face by now.
You're beautiful.
Joey, come on. We can't keep them waiting. You know Mo gets mad.
Yes, ma'am.
It's on every station climbing the charts, and the pirates have taken the bread.
Just soothe down now, Mo. We're in release.
Sure. While we're making zero bread, putting it together.
Doing promos, some clown jumps a gun on us. The best of the markets gobbled up.
Now give me that thing.
Oh, no.
You know, you're going to be the death of you yet, Mo.
Hey, man. How are you?
Hey, Nancy.
Listen, do I have time to throw something on?
No, Miss Everlovin. Go ahead, babe. I'll wait for you.
It's all right, Joey. We'll drive her down.
Well, now, listen to Big Daddy.
It's okay, Joey. Why don't you just go on down to the studio now and get yourself in a couple of practice licks on that old guitar of yours.
We've got things to talk over over here.
I think I'll wait, Nancy.
It's all right, Joey. It's no sweat. We'll meet you there, okay?
Yeah. All right.
Who left this here?
I'm sorry, Joey. We thought you could see.
We changed things around to break the monotony.
Yeah, well, you like to broke my neck.
I'm sorry. Maybe we'll have better luck next time.
Yeah, right.
Some sweet morning he's going to clobber you.
Oh, that hillbilly.
You keep poking yourself between him and Nancy like you got some kind of ownership or like you stand a chance.
Don't you know Nancy's got too much class for a dude like you?
Didn't he make dropout?
Oh, no.
Three musketeers, huh?
Oh, yeah.
I got you, boy. I got you.
Will you please knock it off?
Sorry, Ethel.
Hey, Mama Cunninghouse. What are royalties add up to?
Not enough for you to be breaking up the furniture.
With a hit in January and two albums on the charts, we ought to be buying Nashville.
Listen, be happy you can pay your rent. Those pirate tapes hit the charts, too, you know.
You know, maybe we should start pirating a few of those tapes ourselves.
Maybe we ought to.
Hey, come on. Let's get going before we push Uncle Max into overtime.
Yeah, come on, team. Line up. Let's go. Ready.
You know, really, I should get myself one of those new laser canes.
They not only tell you what's in your path, but they get a phone number and...
There you go, miss.
You know I need your love.
This is First Generation or Mighty Close Tour.
This has got to be stopped.
My people don't know how bad it is here. I'm about to go under.
Did you realize that out-of-sight group was the lifeblood of this company?
It's bread and butter. It supports everything else.
Or at least it did until these thieves took over.
Mr. Leonard, this pirating can be done by almost anybody who buys a tape at the local music store, makes copies of it, right?
Sure. The more recorders you line up, the more slave tapes you can run off.
There's something different about this bootlegger.
He had access to a high-quality tape before you went into release.
Exactly what do you do when you complete a master tape?
I run off two protection tapes.
Then the master tape I put into the duplication room in the vault.
One tape I put in my safe over there and the other one I give to the artist for safekeeping.
Look, we're about to record a number that Joey wrote for Nancy. Would you care to see our operation?
Yeah, we would.
Dee?
It's my magnetic charm, you see.
I can smell the lemon.
Here.
Oh, thanks.
I love his words.
Do you like Joey's words?
Yeah.
Well, you always words and his music.
You should be to any man who knew you.
Oh, thanks.
Hi, uh, listen, I got a little surprise for you.
What?
Well, now you are talking to the main man now.
I got the job of the chief engineer of the biggest sound studio in the country.
Oh, you didn't?
Oh, Dee, whoa!
I'm so happy for you. That's great.
What do you mean, for me? It's for us.
Oh, come on, Dee.
I have my commitments. Come on.
Oh, wait a minute. You only have commitments to yourself and this world.
Yeah, I promised Joey I'd go to the Ozarks with him.
Well, it's not a question of hurting Joey.
It's a question of how much you like corn and ponen get.
Anytime you're ready, Miss Ebberlovin.
Let's go. Let's go.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, it's fine. Perfect.
I think it's good. All right?
Yep.
Hey, Mo, second bar.
Come on, just a little bit heavier on the drums, okay?
Well, let me get a balance, pal.
Six little Indians, five little Indians,
four little Indians, three little Indians,
two little Indians, one little Indian.
Good, thank you.
Hey.
Wow, it's your turn to tell me.
Oh, with pleasure.
Thanks.
I just hope I don't mess up your beautiful words, honey.
Hey, you won't mess anything up except my sleep.
I'm gonna be right outside there.
You take care, okay?
Okay, Joey, let's get on with the man.
Let's try to go for a take, okay, everybody?
Nancy, you okay, honey?
All right, everybody settle down now.
Barry, Mello, Willie, Joe.
All right, let's try that.
Okay.
Oh, I've been to New York City
And I've been to L.A. too
But there's no place that I'd rather be
Than right here next to you
Oh, I've heard a lot of sad songs
And I've heard a lot of bad news
But nothing brings me down as much
As when I'm not hearing from you
Won't you light the way
I know only your love can light the way for me
Oh, I like your high-heeled sneakers
And I like your blue suede shoes
But there's nothing I like better
Than to be here holding you
Oh, you can have all the pictures
And you can have the movies too
Cause there's no one on the silver screen
That looks as good as you
Won't you light the way
I know only your love can light the way
For you
You tried
Said Joey'd called you
This morning
He said he had to talk to me
About what?
He wouldn't say on the phone
I told him to come around to my office right after the session
I don't want anything moved
Hey, Hubie, Cutter, no wrap-up
Why, Joey, why?
Oh, if accidents were explainable,
Everyone wouldn't have any
Here you go, babe
Oh, speaking of Phil's,
What was Joey dropping today?
Those were tranquilizers
Joey always gets uptight before...
Joey always got uptight before a session
Yeah, but does he always wash it down with whiskey?
Oh, T!
Look, I'm sorry, babe, I saw him take it
I mean, I saw him take it from Cutter's private stock
Maybe there was something buggy in today
Was Joey on any other kind of medication, Miss Caldwell?
If you mean drugs, no
Not Joey
Here, here
I'm sorry
Let's see how it shorted out
Mr. Huber, we ask that nothing be touched, please
Oh, sorry
I didn't know you meant the cables
We meant that nothing be touched
I understand Joey was barefoot most of the time
He used to be, but Nancy got him into sandals
Except when he was playing guitar
Well, this is where the problem is, it's a loose wire, you see
It shorts against the housing when you press the pedal
Maybe that wire came loose unnaturally
Well, I don't know why anybody would want to kill Joey
Could be anyone
Anyone
Everyone knew he played his guitar barefoot
Just wish my last words to Joey hadn't been so heavy
I really liked him
Who are you trying to convince, you or me?
Use the belt, boys
I could
What's this noise?
There's no way that anybody could have stolen that from our stage with a recorder
It'd be a measurable echo effects
All sorts of kickback from the ceiling
A lot of phantom fuzz
No, that's what
That we filter out in here
Basically, you just get no balance
Good
Somebody splice into your input at the time you record your master and run off a simultaneous dupe
You know a lot of that technical stuff, don't you?
That's a fair question
Well, this is the patch bay right here, you see
It's in two parts, here, here
This could be, you could have a duplicate output
Like so
It would be rather obvious
Everybody
You see, you get a reduced impedance
In other words, the level just drops down
Now, this is the terminal block
Here, everything filters through this
This is sort of a sealed bucket of worms
So to speak
And it channels through here to this line
Which leads to the wall
And then through to the master recording unit
Mr. Dietrich, considering the quality of this
Would you challenge the speculation that someone may have slaved it off the master or one of the two safety tapes?
Well, as a sound engineer, that would be my first assumption
Mr. Prudy, I understand you have quarters here
Behind the duplicating room
I like to think of it as my final station, my retirement base, so to speak
Two of the tapes are secured in this building
Could anyone have gotten to them?
Not with me around
And I'm pretty much here all the time
Like in the Marines
When I'm not awake, I'm half awake
And when I'm not half awake, I've got one eye open
In that condition, a man's vision can get blurred
Ha ha ha ha
Coroner's office confirms electrocution
No other cause of death
Lab team visit?
Scouring the plant
Safety tape and Max's private safe hasn't been touched
Nor the master tape and the company vault
We'll take a look at the one the group's holding
Here
While it's down there
Max Leonard, deep in arrears, bad financial standing
No police record, he's about to fold
Logan Dietrich, he's a sound engineer
He wrote a hit song once
He even produced a couple of sessions
Has applied for work elsewhere
Situation in Paris seems to be secured
No records
Walter Prudy, security officer
He's a 20-year Marine, retired
Ratings?
Electrician first class, radar, communications, expert rifleman
Evaluation, loyalty 100, dependability 100
Judgment 75
Carl Hubey Hubert, electrician with too many kids and too many bills
He has no record
Elroy Cutter, former C.B. DeMille boom man
Spectaculars
Ethel Manning, artist's representative, independent agent
Small court altercations
One charge from an IRS agent, assault with lethal weapons
Her briefcase
Willie Bonner, born blind in Scranton, Pennsylvania
He's an unschooled musician
No priors, no education
Nancy Caldwell, she was also born blind
Graduate of Laird School of Music
No problems
And Moe Tucker
Moe wasn't born blind
He grew up in one of Detroit's better ghettos
Where he collected a string of juvenile credits
He lost his sight at the age of 20
Trying to blow up in a warehouse safe
Before that he worked in radio, TV, electronics
And he's an expert
Oh, I've been to New York City
And I've been to L.A. too
But there's no place that I'd rather be
Than right here next to you
Oh, I've heard a lot of sad songs
And I've heard a lot of bad news
But nothing brings me down as much
As when I'm not hearing from you
Won't you light the way
I know only one love can light the way for me
Joey had the soul of a little boy
Everything was always brand new to him
Exciting, like tomorrow
I could see things with him
I know every tree here
I know where the rocks are
Where the creek goes
Sit down, please
You were kind the other day
I feel intrusive, Nancy
Don't
I know why you're here
Joey wasn't mixed up in pirateing
You're certain?
Yeah, they'd have told me
Joey told me everything
There's a possibility that
Joey's death wasn't accidental
It's hard to figure, you know
Where was Joey from?
Somewhere in Missouri
Came out of the Ozarks with just a cigar box banjo
No shoes
He didn't even have a social security card
Till we started recording
He wouldn't even believe the way I met him
He was going around door to door
Selling products made by the blind
He was spilling one of these canned pictures
You know, the kind you can't put into
And when I finally got through to him
That he was talking to a blind woman
He got so flustered
Spilt everything through the front door
And I invited him in to help clean up the mess
Anyway, I'm through with singing
Oh, Nancy
All my life music was something beautiful to me
Now suddenly it's polluted
With pirates and leeches
And if you're right
You've been killing
I'm going away
Where?
Somewhere, anywhere
Maybe to Paris
Dee asked me
He got himself a fine job
Well, that's good
If you love him
Hell, you can learn to love
Dee loves me
I know that
He'd do anything for me
Are you sure you're not simply running away?
Well, it may be
But I've done my last recording
That's a powerful self-estatement, baby
When you go, the sound goes
Willie and me, we're nothing
You're hanging out on us
You split with Dee, Uncle Max goes down with Dee
Look, I don't want to talk about it
Mo, can I give you a ride back?
I got a thing about cops
Maybe I'm different
I can smell better in most of them anyway
Hey, not bad
We have a wreck
I'll tell them why
Now, if your eyes are blue
I'd say your ancestors came from the Emerald Isle
With a little German thrown in
You're remarkable
Honey, when you can't see who you're making a pass at
Your fingers get educated
Mo, I'll describe my measurements for you if you don't mind
I find it a little hard to believe you haven't learned braille
It's more fun to lie back and let pretty girls read to me
All right, flip the switch, Mo
It's serious time
Someone is pirating perfection records
And you gotta check all the possible
Without exception
So we might as well start with Nancy
No way
Will he?
Hopelessly saddled with virtue
Miss Manning?
If she were gonna rip us off
She could have done it with the books a long time ago
How about you?
That's really where you were headed all the time, isn't it?
We have to check into everybody's background, Mo
We know why you were blinded
Oh, so the needle home's on me
Pull this thing over
Mo, we have to eliminate suspects, too
I said pull over
Mo, wait, please, wait
No
The thing that owned that warehouse
Is how my kid sister did a shoplift
She got busted
Then she learned an older profession at the correction farm
You know what I'm sorry about?
Is when that safe went up
It didn't blow my head in clear off
No! No!
Nancy! Nancy!
Nancy?
Um, I'll wait outside
It's no use, Willie
I'm going to Perfections to clean up my things
We need you, Nancy
Willie, you don't
You don't have to depend on anybody to make your music
Nancy, you don't love Dee
I never said that I did
Now, I don't want you to go away with him
I don't want you to go away from me
Oh, Willie
Oh, no
Oh, I never could say it before
Because you were so hung up on Joey
Oh, Willie
I do love you
But it's not like that
Look, just
Just give me a chance
I can take you to all those places
All of them
But, Willie
How could I see them?
How could you?
Oh, Willie, please
Just try to understand
I could just never, ever marry another blind person
Oh, please
Who's there?
Shh
Maybe you picked that safe before, Mo
Maybe I should have
Maybe you should have
It's cool, Willie
I've been ripped off as long as I'm going to be
I'm going to run off 100,000 slave tapes
And grab what's left of the mark
Be sure you are, Mo
Be smart once and help me
Otherwise, get out of here
Tape don't belong to just you, Mo
A piece of it belongs to Nancy
And to Uncle Max
And to the asshole
And to me
I never said I was cutting any of you out of it
Come on in
General and I wonder if we might inspect your safety tape on sand and sandpipers
I'm afraid you'll have to wait for Ethel
She has the combination to the safe
We don't have to wait
I was just about to crack it
Yeah, Mo's real handy with his fingers
So we understand
Be my guest
Does it look like it's ever been opened up?
What it looks like on the outside doesn't mean a thing
You're absolutely right
So if you don't mind, I'd like the lab to examine it
They can tell if it's ever been played
Just make sure those cops don't slave off a dupe
Ed, would you please excuse Mo and me for a few minutes?
Other room, Willie?
Sure
This will come as a shock to you, but I wouldn't steal from friends
I believe that
A cop believes Mo Tucker?
Mo, nobody got to the other two tapes
Then somebody's splicing into the input and pirating a duplicate master
When we're recording
I question Dietrich about that
I know more about that equipment than he does
All right, will you help me check it out?
The mixer can do it
He'll be prudy
He's a ham operator
A lot of those guys know what they're...
I want you to do it
And if I find out how it's being done, you'll say I knew all along
Well, you're going to have to start trusting people
I could go down there with a battery of police technicians and find out
But I'd scare off our pirate for good
Now, this has to be done in the dark
I'd like you to do it
At least record Joe's song
Leave us with something
Everybody wants to cash in on Joey's song, right?
It's a short hit
Well, he wrote it for me
It's mine, and I'm going to keep it for what it stands for
You could turn that around, Nancy, and sing it for what it stands for
There's no way, Ethel
No pirate is going to get his hands on it
Look, Nancy, why don't you just cool down?
Give yourself a day, maybe
What she needs is not a day!
Not a day!
Kenny thinks she needs a break from you, now get out of here
Listen, you...
Get out of here!
Please, please, please
Everybody is so emotional
There's nothing more to be said
Nancy will be working on it
You feel free to call
Listen, only believe me, I understand the insincerity of this business
You know, I was a one-hit artist
You know, if I salvaged anything from that experience
There's a line from my song, somewhere between your hurt and my pleasure
It's where the sun is going to have to shine
Like Paris
Oh, Dee
Now, the patch bay is out
Dietrich said that
Okay, now it all comes together here, in the terminal block
And goes into the wall
Yeah
Dietrich said it's a hopeless bucket of worms
Well, he's not the brightest
You wouldn't have to tear the wall down to tap into it, wouldn't you?
Not if you know how
Cutter and I tore this down a couple of times
It's touchy
Down, Bob
All right, Bob
Here we are
I can't see
An alligator clip
Yeah, they jump from the input line to another line
Oh, sturdy rotten
Slow down, Mo
We want the distributor
So, put it back
Just like it was
Tap in line probably runs out the bottom of this unit
One of the lines inside this cable
Now, it's full of different colored spots
So, you can't see it
But you can see it
It's a little bit of a
Little bit of a
Little bit of
singing can't anybody understand that but you love Joey yes and he loved me
and he wrote a beautiful song for me it's all I have left of him and I am not
gonna have it dirtied up in the marketplace I don't think any song was
ever meant to be hoarded Nancy look everybody says I'm being selfish do you
agree with that the important thing is are you being fair to Joey oh sure
record a song give the pirates one last crack at him give us a crack at Joey's
killer I want you to listen to me we think he knew something about the
pirating and became a threat we think that's why he was murdered
don't you think he'd want you to do something about that
but I'm leaving tomorrow oh please I'm so confused let me put it this way don't
you think Joey would want the world to know how much he loved you
I got a girl in Jersey got a girl in snow it got a girl upstairs and my wife
don't know it okay terrific well all right let me have a balance from oh line
there tapping goes into the quarter wall I can't rip the wall out places please
we're ready to go go somewhere we can't delay the session trace it
but there's no place that I'd rather be right here next to you oh I've heard a
lot of sad songs but nothing brings me down as much as when I'm not hearing
from you won't you love
well this has to be it it's not on the plans
I like your sneakers and I like your sweet shoes
there's nothing
and to be
okay
and you can have the movie this too cuz there's no one on the silver screen
that looks as good as you
right what you love
Just as long as I'm alive
Did you find it?
A line goes into this first aid box and comes out over there, I think.
You think? Joey Song's been pirated, everybody's going home, and you think?
Priceless, the first take.
You shouldn't leave your console running.
You have old people always complaining about the bills.
Aggravations, distractions, creditors.
I print out three units every quarter.
You're never better.
Dee, look, I have to tell you that...
I know, I know. Here it comes.
I mean, singing Joey's song, what it means, the words, everything.
Dee, I haven't been honest with you or with myself either.
There's no trying to analyze it. You have plenty of time for that in Paris.
You're packed, I'm packed, all you have to do is go.
I'd just be using you. I'm sorry.
I just shouldn't have let you hang in there counting on it.
It's always being selfish.
About a lot of things.
I'm sorry.
I'll see you fellas.
We're over here, baby.
Both of us.
I'm talking if you want to home in on the sound.
It's about to start.
I'm sorry.
What's in the box?
It could go up to the art department or Max's office, couldn't it?
Yeah, or down to the duplicating room.
Or down to the outside.
Duffy, green sedan, tail him.
Ed!
Where'd you find it?
On the wall by Diedrich's parking place.
It could have a tape recorder in the back of his car.
Just unplug it and drive off.
I'll get the van.
Did you get it?
Yeah, I got it.
All right, guys, big room for a barefoot Joey's last tape.
Get on it right away. Get on the artwork right now.
I want a dupe for Atlanta and one for Chicago.
Best recorder money can buy.
You knew it was Diedrich?
Oh, no. I'm referring to Olympic Warehousing.
It's owned by your music store proprietor, Mr. Brooks.
He just makes a show of poverty.
Hey, great job, Diedrich.
It's too bad about the accident.
You know, I was counting on Joey for several years here.
We'll take the money, Mr. Diedrich.
Try and you pick up the tape.
Real glad to see you again, Mr. Brooks.
You weren't offered a big job in Paris, Mr. Diedrich.
You were buying a studio.
At least that's not a crime, is it?
Murder is.
No, I had nothing to do with that. That was his idea.
Joey caught you in the act.
You offered him a partnership.
He refused, threatened to blow the whistle.
Am I close?
Close enough.
Or was it because he stood in your way with Nancy?
Well, a little of both, maybe.
Didn't have time to think.
Well, you're too late to help us with the work, but don't apologize.
It's not very heavy.
How was your trip, Mark?
Oh, it was nice.
Good to see my cousin, but next time I think I'll fly.
Hey, wait a minute, Chief.
I picked this up on my way out of town. I haven't had a chance to hear it yet.
You couldn't wait till tomorrow, could you?
Why, machine broke?
It's a long story.
I'm sorry, Chief.
It's a long story.
$295.
Yeah, it was a premium offer with 15 gallons of gas.
Station at 12th and Adams?
Right on the corner.
Yeah, you trade there, too?
Nobody does anymore.
The owner was arrested not two hours ago for pirating tapes in his back room.
We'll need this for evidence.
Hey, Ed, now hold it. I didn't know it was counterfeit.
What about my $295?
Last I heard, that was the going rate for ignorance of the law.
$295.