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Elvis Graceland is a production of Double Elvis.

1:05

The stories about George Harrison are insane.

1:09

He was set up and busted by London's notorious

1:12

drug squad. He attacked a paparazzo

1:15

who leapt from the bushes with his camera

1:17

flashing. He defused a potentially

1:19

bloody visit from the Hell's Angels.

1:22

And on the last day of the 20th century,

1:25

after rebounding from multiple cancer diagnoses,

1:28

George Harrison was terrorized and violently

1:31

attacked. An attack that left

1:33

him hanging on for life with a collapsed

1:35

lung. But before that,

1:38

George Harrison made great music.

1:41

Some of the most enduring and soul-searching music

1:43

of all time. Unlike

1:45

that music I played for you at the top of the show.

1:48

That wasn't great music. That

1:50

was a preset loop from my Mellotron

1:53

called Gortex Vortex MKII.

1:57

I played you that loop because I

1:59

can't afford the right

1:59

to smooth by Santana

2:02

and Rob Thomas.

2:03

And why would I play you that specific slice

2:06

of Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa cheese?

2:08

Could I afford it? Because

2:11

that was the number one song

2:13

in America on December 31st, 1999. And

2:17

that was the day that a crazed fan broke

2:19

into the historic 35-acre Friar

2:22

Park estate

2:23

and tried to kill George Harrison. On

2:27

this episode, paparazzi, drug squads, crazed

2:29

fans, a home invasion, and George Harrison. I'm

2:33

Jake Brennan, and this

2:35

is Disgraceland. This

3:05

was his great chant for deliverance, his

3:07

sacred chant,

3:11

his

3:16

mystical sound vibration. Whatever

3:19

you choose to call it, a mantra

3:21

has incredible power. It's

3:23

hypnotic. The more you repeat your

3:25

mantra, the more powerful it becomes.

3:28

Repetition carves a path deeper

3:30

to awareness. But with

3:32

the power of awareness, one

3:34

can be prepared for anything,

3:37

even

3:39

death. At

3:42

this particular moment, however, on the

3:44

last day of the 20th century, George

3:46

Harrison was not seeking enlightenment

3:49

or awareness. George

3:51

wasn't repeating Hare Krishna, Hare

3:53

Krishna, over and over again in order

3:55

to communicate directly with God, as

3:57

many have done for close to 5,000 years. He

4:01

was doing it to disorient the other man

4:03

in the room, because George Harrison

4:06

was under attack. Hare Krishna, Hare

4:10

Krishna George

4:12

Harrison was yelling at the man with the blond hair

4:15

running up the stairs towards him. He just

4:17

wanted the man to stop. He hoped the mantra

4:19

would cause the man to become confused and afraid,

4:22

just like George had been confused and afraid

4:25

when he was awoken by the sound of breaking glass and

4:28

knew that someone was inside his home.

4:29

But George's mantra

4:32

didn't have the intended effect. If

4:34

anything, it made the man charge faster,

4:37

angrier. The man wasn't

4:39

there to rob anybody. He was bounding

4:41

up the steps, two at a time, because the

4:44

man was there to murder George

4:46

Harrison. The man's eyes

4:48

were wild, scraggly blond

4:50

hair squirming like Medusa. George

4:53

stood his ground up in the gallery that overlooked the first

4:55

floor. It was late, not

4:58

quite 3.30 in the morning, beware

5:00

of darkness. George

5:03

saw that the man had a stone sword in one hand. That

5:06

would be from the statue of Saint George and the dragon, the

5:09

one that George's wife had created and was displayed

5:11

in the gardens outside. In his

5:13

other hand, the man held a knife. George

5:16

thought of his wife back in their bedroom and

5:19

of his mother-in-law who was sleeping upstairs

5:21

in one of the guest rooms. Hari

5:23

Krishna, Hari Krishna, George

5:25

cried again, just as the man made it

5:27

to the landing of the gallery level. That

5:30

shit wasn't working. So George

5:32

leapt at his attacker. But just like the

5:34

mantra, this plan also backfired.

5:37

George and the attacker fell to the ground, and the

5:40

man was on top of George, straddling him. George

5:43

squirmed on the ground and held his hands up in

5:45

self-preservation. He couldn't let the man

5:47

get away. He couldn't risk his wife or mother-in-law

5:49

getting injured. So he fought back.

5:52

Then the man thrust the knife down, and

5:55

George fended off the first blow. But

5:57

subsequent blows came too fast. man

6:00

was too powerful, too determined.

6:02

He plunged the knife down into George's

6:05

chest. George felt the blade pierce

6:07

his skin and go deep inside his body.

6:10

The man pulled the bloody blade out and stabbed

6:12

George a second time, then a third.

6:15

George was yelling again. This time it wasn't

6:17

a mantra, just shrieks of pain. Pain

6:19

caused not just by a sharp knife in the chest,

6:22

but by the realization that the end of the line

6:24

was here. And he had not planned

6:26

for it to happen like this.

6:33

George Harrison felt it coming on. Another

6:36

headache

6:37

was right in between his eyes.

6:39

Sitting across from a Twickenham Studios

6:42

in London right in front of his eyes was

6:44

the cause of the pain, the

6:46

other Beatles. Well, okay,

6:48

if George was being completely honest, the

6:51

problem was Paul, only Paul.

6:54

Sure, John made it a habit to dismiss

6:56

George's songs, but right now

6:58

he was tooting the fuck out and nodding

7:00

the fuck off. And Ringo, well,

7:02

Ringo was Ringo. George didn't have beef

7:05

with Ringo. George's headache

7:07

was all because of Paul. He was a dictator

7:10

and kind of a dick, holier than thou, as

7:12

if George was on a fucking beetle too.

7:17

By 1969, it was clear that George wasn't

7:19

just a sideman for the esteemed songwriting

7:22

duo of Lennon and McCartney. He

7:24

was the beetle who enriched the band culturally

7:26

with Indian ragas, with sitars and tablas

7:29

and exotic sounds that went within and without

7:31

you. He was the most generous

7:34

member of the band, the lead guitarist

7:36

who let Paul play the guitar solo on his

7:38

song, Tax Van. He even

7:40

tossed the solo on one of his greatest songs

7:43

while my guitar gently weeps to Eric

7:45

Clapton, and Eric wasn't even

7:47

in the band. But also

7:49

by 1969, George wandered

7:52

a larger role. He wanted to write

7:54

more, more than the obligatory

7:56

one or two songs per record. He

7:58

wanted to be as respected as he did.

7:59

John and Paul when it came to writing songs.

8:03

George had long played the role of the quiet

8:05

beetle, largely because Paul and John

8:07

kept him quiet. And right now,

8:10

at Twickenham, if being stonewalled

8:12

on the songwriting front wasn't enough to bear,

8:15

George, the Beatles lead guitarist,

8:17

was being told how to play guitar

8:20

by the fucking bass player.

8:24

I'll play whatever you want me to play, George

8:26

told Paul, or I won't play at all.

8:28

Whatever it is that'll please you, I'll

8:30

do it. But George

8:33

didn't really mean it. George just wanted

8:35

to bail. Fuck playing whatever

8:37

Paul wanted him to play. It wasn't fun

8:39

anymore. The Beatles weren't fun anymore.

8:42

What a pity. The

8:45

Beatles gave George a headache. So he

8:47

walked out of Twickenham, went home to

8:49

his bungalow in Asher and wrote, wah-wah,

8:52

which is not a song about a guitar pedal. It's

8:54

a song about making the decision to leave

8:56

the Beatles. George

8:58

hung in there for most of 1969 until

9:01

it became unbearable. And

9:04

once the Beatles did throw in the towel, George

9:06

wasted no time. In fact,

9:09

he made up for lost time.

9:13

His 1971 triple album,

9:16

All Things Must Pass, technically his

9:18

third solo album following two experimental

9:20

releases, was a fully realized artistic

9:23

statement about the temporality of life. Songs

9:26

like My Sweet Lord and What Is Life

9:28

were pop mantras all about change

9:31

and transcendence. George

9:33

Harrison had shed the Beatles and revealed

9:35

the real George Harrison, a songwriter

9:38

who could go toe to toe with his contemporaries

9:40

and was just as prolific. Even

9:43

better, George finally eclipsed

9:46

his former bandmates. He stole

9:48

their spotlight for a change. All

9:50

Things Must Pass spent eight weeks

9:53

at the top of the UK charts in

9:55

seven weeks at number one in the United States.

9:58

This, all despite the fact. that the record

10:00

talked about God more than rock music

10:03

was usually comfortable with, and did

10:05

so, across an expensive

10:07

3LP set. But it sold,

10:09

man. It sold better than Ram, Paul's

10:12

solo album from that same year, or

10:14

sold better than John's plastic Ono band, and

10:17

Imagine, both of which happened to be produced by

10:19

Phil Spector, the Gonzo record producer who

10:21

also brought his Wall of Sound aesthetic to all

10:23

things must pass. The Cherry

10:26

on top, that was having one of

10:28

the album's songs at number one on

10:29

the singles chart at the same time

10:32

the album was at number one. No

10:34

Beetle had held the top spot of

10:36

both charts simultaneously, and

10:38

no other Beetle would for two more years.

10:42

Where once he felt underappreciated

10:44

and underprepared, George was now

10:46

feeling ready. He was becoming

10:48

the artist he always wanted to be. He

10:50

was on the right path, to artistic freedom,

10:53

to enlightenment. And when the time

10:55

came, he would be ready to leave his own legacy

10:58

behind, one that identified George

10:59

as George and not as the guy who gave

11:02

up and did what someone else told

11:03

him to do.

11:08

The

11:10

brass poker made a dull thud as it hit the

11:12

back of the head of the man with the scraggly blonde

11:14

hair. The man fell to the floor

11:17

next to where George was gasping for air. George

11:20

tasted blood in his mouth, and every time

11:22

he took a breath, his chest hurt like

11:24

hell. Blood on his pajamas,

11:26

blood on the floor, he pressed his

11:28

hands to his chest and felt the holes where

11:31

the knife had gone through. He

11:33

looked up and saw his wife Olivia standing

11:35

above him, holding a brass poker from

11:37

the fireplace. The end of the poker

11:39

was bloody. Her

11:40

stance was heroic, but the look on

11:42

her face was absolute terror.

11:46

George felt he was dying at 56

11:49

years old. He began to repeat

11:51

the Hare Krishna mantra silently in

11:53

his head, the very same one he'd

11:55

first heard from his divine grace Swami

11:57

Rahubada 30 years ago. The

12:00

mantra gave him purpose, clarity,

12:02

power. He repeated the words in his head

12:04

and thought of the yogic paths to enlightenment.

12:07

But his strength was weak, couldn't

12:10

say the mantra out loud in order to feel

12:12

its possible vibration. And thus

12:14

it couldn't reach his heart and soul. All

12:17

it sounded like to him was a broken

12:19

record in his head, a needle skipping

12:22

on a worn out groove. This

12:24

wasn't the way he wanted to leave his body behind.

12:27

And that thought terrified him. He

12:29

had knots

12:29

left to unravel, a mind to

12:32

clear, karma to burn. And

12:34

as he watched the man with the bloody blonde

12:36

hair slowly climb back to his feet

12:38

and chase Olivia into the next room, George

12:41

had his mind set on one thing he had to

12:43

do before anything else. He

12:46

had to save his wife before she was

12:48

killed by a madman. Thanks.

13:12

The place was a fixer-upper. That

13:14

was the understatement of the decade.

13:16

In 1970, the sprawling

13:19

Friar Park had fallen into disrepair.

13:22

The half Victorian Gothic, half French

13:24

chateau estate

13:26

had been neglected for years.

13:28

With its grottos, tunnels, caves, sandstone

13:31

replica of Matterhorn, and assortment

13:33

of impish garden gnomes, the place

13:36

had once been one of the most extraordinary

13:38

in all of England. But

13:40

all things must pass.

13:43

Its 35 acres of gardens were

13:45

fading away. Its extensive

13:47

system of small lakes and waterways

13:49

were drying up. Henley on Thames,

13:52

the small town in Oxfordshire where

13:54

Friar Park had stood since its construction

13:57

in 1889, slated

13:59

the property for a new home.

13:59

demolition. However,

14:02

Fryer Park presented the right challenge

14:04

to the right person, a person

14:06

with money and time on his hands.

14:10

George Harrison, newly liberated from

14:12

the biggest band on the planet, had both

14:14

of those things. He bought the place

14:16

in 1970, settled in. Derek

14:19

Taylor, the Beatles' press officer, called

14:21

it a dream on a hill.

14:24

George invested millions over the years

14:26

to make the dream a reality.

14:28

He planted trees, brought the gardens

14:30

and waterways back to life. He

14:32

even installed a state-of-the-art recording studio

14:35

inside the 120-room mansion, which

14:38

officially served as the headquarters of

14:40

his new record label, Dark Horse.

14:44

The decision to retreat further into the

14:46

country had been sealed the year before.

14:49

In March 1969, Sergeant

14:52

Norman Pilcher and his notorious London

14:54

drug squad paid a visit to George's

14:56

home in Escher. George was

14:58

arrested for some hash hidden inside

15:01

one of his shoes. On the day

15:03

of Paul's wedding, no less, George

15:06

fumed. The cops were dirty.

15:08

They'd been setting up rock stars left and right

15:11

with similar trumped-up charges. Did

15:13

George take drugs? Obviously. Did

15:15

he keep drugs in his shoes? George

15:18

famously said at the time, I'm a tidy

15:20

person. I keep my socks in my sock

15:22

drawer and my stash in the stash box.

15:25

It's not mine. Didn't matter.

15:28

The drug squad hauled George outside where

15:30

a photographer for a local newspaper sprung

15:32

from the bushes, camera flashing.

15:35

George took a swing and told the paparazzo

15:37

to beat it or he'd get a beat down. The

15:39

dude dropped his camera in fear and ran.

15:42

George managed to smash it to pieces

15:44

with his beetle boot before he was hauled off

15:46

to jail. He pled guilty to

15:48

unlawful possession and paid his 250 pound fine.

15:55

At Fryar Park, George didn't fear

15:57

being under the microscope of the London drug

15:59

squad. squad, but that didn't mean that he

16:01

was no longer afraid. Since

16:04

the height of Beatlemania, George had regularly

16:06

feared for his life.

16:08

The hordes of screaming fans, the

16:10

crush of an infatuated crowd, it was

16:12

like he was constantly being chased by people

16:15

in a violent trance.

16:17

What would the fans have done if they had actually caught

16:19

up to them? Years before

16:21

the Beatles called it quits, George was already

16:23

asking himself, what is life? Is

16:26

this it? Does this make me feel happy?

16:28

Will this get me to where I want to go? Am I

16:30

safe?

16:34

The fear hit a fever pitch in December 1980,

16:37

when John Lennon was gunned down outside

16:39

his apartment at the Dakota in New York City.

16:42

That was enough to make every Beatle paranoid. George

16:46

dumped another million pounds in the Friar Park,

16:48

but this time it wasn't to make the gardens

16:50

green. This time it was to install

16:53

razor wire, cameras, alarms,

16:56

guard dogs. Historically,

16:58

the Tolkien-esque grounds of Friar Park

17:01

were open to the public. No more.

17:03

The gates

17:04

were locked. George Harrison was

17:06

no longer expecting anyone uninvited

17:08

to visit Crackerbox Palace. But

17:11

just because he wasn't expecting anyone didn't

17:13

mean that they wouldn't seek him out.

17:15

Over the years,

17:17

George and his wife, Olivia, received numerous

17:20

death threats in the mail. Crazed

17:22

fans attempted to scale the estate walls

17:24

and break in. And the FBI even

17:27

managed to foil the plans of an American

17:29

who intended to burn Friar Park to the ground

17:31

while George, Olivia, and their son were at

17:33

home. And as the century wound

17:36

down, George's existential fear

17:38

ramped up. He'd found a lump in his

17:40

neck. Cancer. The

17:43

doctors found more in his lung.

17:45

A few operations and radiation treatments

17:47

later, in George was feeling better. The

17:50

cancer was in remission. George

17:52

had found solace in meditation. He

17:56

focused on his mantra. Mantras

17:58

made you feel good. Peeping the words

18:00

out loud over and over again was a

18:02

bomb. So the more George used

18:05

repetition, the better he felt. He

18:07

became focused, aware, strong,

18:10

unafraid. He went to sleep

18:12

before midnight on the evening of December 30th, 1999.

18:16

Tomorrow would be a new day. And soon

18:19

he would chant in the name of the Lord to welcome

18:21

a brand new century.

18:26

Just hours later, shortly before the sun

18:28

rose on the morning of New Year's Eve, Michael

18:30

Abram climbed through the shattered window of George

18:33

Harrison's Friar Park mansion.

18:35

He'd broken it with the stone sword that he'd

18:37

been able to rip off of the statue outside.

18:40

The statue was a depiction of St. George

18:42

slaying the dragon. Abram thought

18:45

it fitting, seeing as he was on a mission

18:47

to do a little slaying of his own. He

18:49

also thought it humorous because the George

18:51

on the inside of this house, he was

18:53

no saint, despite what the world

18:56

said to the contrary.

18:58

Abram brushed his scraggly blonde hair

19:01

away from his eyes with the blade of the knife he held

19:03

in his other hand. A lit cigarette

19:05

burned between his lips. He scanned

19:07

the room. It was dark, but he

19:09

could tell he was in the kitchen.

19:11

He listened for voices, but the

19:13

voices inside his own head were making it difficult.

19:16

They wouldn't shut up. Sometimes he would

19:18

drown the voices out with his Walkman, the volume

19:21

cranked up all the way to 10. Oasis

19:24

cassettes were the best. They were mastered

19:26

for maximum sonic impact. And

19:28

Oasis was the best, period. That

19:31

song, Wonderwall, Abram believed that

19:33

the Gallagher brothers had written that song about the walls

19:35

of his flat. People complained

19:37

that Oasis just ripped off the Beatles, but Abram

19:40

knew better. Oasis

19:41

were better than the Beatles. Abram

19:43

used to listen to the Beatles, and that was before

19:45

the voices escalated in his head and showed

19:48

him the light, an inner light, perhaps.

19:50

The Beatles, well, they were just pure

19:52

evil. All you need is love, patently

19:55

untrue. That was just a manufactured sentiment

19:57

to shroud one of their spells in.

20:01

Because the Beatles were actually witches.

20:04

They traveled on brooms. They had

20:06

spoken in mantras ever since their return from

20:08

Rishikesh. And Abram knew that

20:10

mantras like Hare Krishna were really the devil's

20:13

tongue.

20:16

Of course, none of this was actually true, but

20:18

Abram believed it was. His belief

20:20

was unwavering. He was in the middle of a full-blown

20:23

psychotic episode from which there was no escape.

20:25

He didn't know why he believed the things he did. The voices

20:28

told him these things and he took them as gospel.

20:31

Things like George Harrison

20:34

was the most evil beetle of all. That

20:36

he was the cause of the voices in Abram's head.

20:38

That George had cast a spell, taken possession

20:41

of Abram's mind, and tortured him from 300 kilometers

20:44

away. From Oxfordshire to Liverpool,

20:46

where Abram called home. Abram believed

20:48

it wasn't a coincidence that he lived in the same city

20:50

where the Beatles had famously got their start. And

20:53

the voices further told him that the only

20:55

way that he could break that spell and thus to

20:57

be free of the voices in his head was

20:59

to find George Harrison

21:01

and kill him. Now,

21:05

enveloped within the darkness of

21:07

Friar Park, Abram was surprised

21:10

that an alarm had yet to sound, or

21:12

that he had been able to make it over the exterior fence

21:14

of the estate unseen. All that

21:17

money spent on security, wasted.

21:19

And where were the guard dogs that had supposedly

21:22

started their watch 19 years ago?

21:24

Old, senile, probably buried

21:26

on the grounds among the garden gnomes. George

21:29

Harrison, on the other hand, despite all

21:31

the threats and the fears and the recent treatments

21:34

for cancer, he was very much

21:36

alive. And he was somewhere inside

21:38

this enormous house, maybe behind

21:40

that locked door.

21:42

Abram slowly made his way through the

21:44

kitchen into the main hallway. The

21:46

stone soared in one hand and his knife

21:49

in the other. He heard noises

21:51

coming from upstairs, footsteps.

21:53

They were getting closer and louder.

21:56

Abram approached a set of stairs that led up to

21:58

the gallery overlooking the main floor.

21:59

He braced himself for a beetle

22:02

to come shooting out into the open, riding

22:04

a wooden broom with a long flowing cape, transfiguring

22:07

spells at the ready. And then, from

22:09

out of the shadows, he appeared at the top of the

22:11

stairs.

22:13

George Harrison.

22:16

He had no broom, no cape. He

22:18

was unarmed. He appeared unafraid

22:21

and he was reciting unspeakable incantations

22:23

of evil. And the louder George spoke,

22:26

the more it steadied Abrams resolve. It

22:29

was sorcery, all of it. There

22:31

was no turning back. This was the

22:33

moment. Here, in the darkness,

22:36

it wouldn't last all day. George

22:38

Harrison had better be prepared

22:41

to die.

22:46

We'll be right back after this word,

22:48

word, word.

22:54

The Hell's Angels had taken over three

22:56

Savile Row. They were loud,

22:58

rude, drunk. They smelled like

23:01

shit. And they were everywhere. They

23:04

had muscled their way past Jimmy the doorman.

23:06

Now they're making a racket inside the offices

23:09

of Applecore. Their black

23:11

leather MC jackets and unruly wind-swept

23:13

hair were a sharp contrast to the clean

23:15

green carpets and white walls. It

23:19

was 1968, Christmas party at the

23:21

swinging headquarters of the Beatles' burgeoning

23:24

media company. But the dozen or

23:26

so angels who had crashed the party were

23:28

fucking up the peace and love vibe. They

23:31

exuded not goodwill towards their fellow

23:33

man, but menace, intimidation,

23:36

terror. Two angels

23:38

from the San Francisco chapter, Tumbleweed

23:40

and Frisco Pea, were wasted on

23:43

scotch and cokes and now they wanted food.

23:46

And they could smell the turkey in the kitchen, all 43

23:48

pounds of it. They were Apple's

23:51

guests and they wanted to eat now. John

23:54

and Yoko, festively

23:56

dressed as Santa and Mrs.

23:58

Claus, tried to calm the bikers down.

24:00

down, but even a witty bloke like

24:02

John was no match. Frisco

24:04

Pete looked John dead in the eye and said without

24:06

a hint of humor, what in the fuck is going

24:08

on in this place? We want to eat. Neil

24:11

Aspinall and Peter Brown tried to subdue

24:13

them. They managed people for a living

24:15

after all, and they'd gotten the Beatles out of many

24:17

a dicey scrap in the past. The

24:20

Angels could give to fucks. They weren't listening.

24:23

There was only one person they'd listen to, and

24:25

that was George.

24:31

George Harrison was the one who had extended

24:33

an open invitation to the Hells Angels in

24:35

the first place. The hippies and

24:37

the hate seemed beyond burnout to George

24:39

when he paid a visit to San Francisco back

24:41

in the summer, but the Angels were all

24:43

right in his eyes. He even sent

24:46

a memo to Apple staffers ahead of the MC's

24:48

visit which warned, quote, there will be 12

24:50

in number, complete with black leather jackets

24:52

and motorcycles. They may look as

24:55

if they're going to do you in, but are very straight

24:57

and do good things. So don't fear

24:59

them or uptight them.

25:01

Try to assist them without neglecting your

25:03

Apple business and without letting them take control

25:05

of Sappho Row. It

25:07

was easier said than done. The

25:09

situation was officially out of control.

25:13

George Harrison was a Pisces, the

25:15

Zodiac sign with the fish. You

25:17

know, one fish goes one way, the other fish goes the other

25:19

way. And George is saying, so what

25:21

do you want from me? It was duality, right? It would explain

25:24

George's dual fascinations with quiet

25:26

ukuleles and loud formula one race

25:28

cars or why in one moment he'd be

25:30

practicing transcendental meditation and

25:32

the next he'd indulge in a Savoy truffle

25:35

sized line of cocaine. And

25:37

it would also explain why he saw only the

25:39

best in people. Even a group is polarizing

25:42

as the Hells Angels, because on

25:44

some days, George himself acted

25:47

like a Hells Angel. And on other days, he

25:49

was the guy who uninvited the Hells Angels from

25:51

the party. George arrived

25:53

at Savo Row as the bikers were tearing the Christmas

25:56

turkey apart and continuing to harass

25:58

anyone who dared get mad. George

26:01

was quiet, as was his reputation. And

26:04

although he spoke softly, the bikers listened

26:06

up. Yin and Yang, George

26:09

said, heads and tails, yes and no. One

26:11

moment you're here, the next moment you're not. Tumbleweed

26:15

and Frisco Pete weren't following. George

26:18

cut to the chase. You know, bugger

26:20

off. The Angels got on

26:23

their bikes and left. Michael Abram

26:25

was no angel. He

26:28

wasn't going anywhere. And no amount of screaming

26:30

from George or Olivia Harrison was going to change

26:32

his mind. After Olivia

26:34

had gone full Sami Sosa on his head with the brass poker, Abram

26:38

rebounded and chased her into a meditation

26:40

room nearby. Olivia

26:42

stumbled. Abram pounced,

26:44

grabbed her by the neck, both hands grasped

26:47

tight. He squeezed her throat tight.

26:50

He had no idea what was going on. He

26:52

squeezed her throat tight. He hadn't

26:54

intended to kill anyone else, but so helped him the

26:56

fucking God if the she-devil

26:57

was going to stand in his way. He would do what

26:59

he believed he had to do. The

27:02

voices in his head were getting louder now.

27:05

Alongated vowels, hard consonants.

27:08

They weren't speaking the King's English. They

27:10

wouldn't stop. So he kept going.

27:13

He kept his grip tighter. Olivia struggled

27:15

to breathe. She dug her hands at Abram's

27:17

face. Then George managed

27:19

to get off the ground and was also struggling to

27:21

breathe. Every time he exhaled, he

27:23

felt more blood emptied into his mouth. He

27:26

stumbled into the meditation area, the wounds

27:28

in his chest bleeding and his legs nearly giving

27:30

out on him. He reached out and grabbed Abram

27:32

and struggled to pull him off Olivia. The three

27:34

of them fell to the floor. George

27:37

and Abram wrestled on the ground. George felt

27:39

the energy draining from his body. Even

27:41

in his weak state, the fact that the attack

27:44

was happening on that particular day was

27:46

not lost on him. It was all

27:48

too much.

27:54

Just one week prior, a zealous

27:56

fan had broken into George's house. Not this house at

27:59

first. Friar Park, but another

28:01

house George owned in Maui along

28:04

the Hana Highway on a bluff overlooking the

28:06

Pacific. Local police found

28:08

an intruder in the kitchen after they had been ticked

28:10

off by neighbors. She was eating

28:13

a frozen pizza and drinking root beer.

28:15

Turns out she'd been stalking George for

28:17

months. George had been so thankful

28:19

that they were not in Maui when it happened and

28:22

he knew he'd dodged a bullet. Maybe

28:24

even an actual bullet. Hear

28:26

me Lord, thank you Lord. Now,

28:31

one week later at Friar Park,

28:33

George felt like he had no voice to ask

28:35

for help or give thanks. He

28:37

did wonder if being a Pisces had something to

28:39

do with it. One week he was safe,

28:42

the next week he was in mortal danger. He

28:45

used every last bit of strength to keep

28:47

Abram at bay where the two of them were tossing

28:50

around on the floor. Olivia stood

28:52

up and grabbed a table lamp that was nearby. She

28:54

swung it at Abram's head. It missed. She

28:56

swung it again. Another miss. Abram

28:59

reached out and grabbed the lamp's cord. He pulled

29:01

hard. The force yanked Olivia towards him.

29:04

She pulled back but it did little to move Abram.

29:06

Abram pulled again like he was reeling in a big

29:08

fish from a little pond. Olivia felt

29:10

she was losing ground. Suddenly

29:13

there was more commotion downstairs. The sound

29:15

of the front door being ripped open. More

29:17

voices. Beams of light shot out into

29:20

the darkness. Police. Olivia

29:23

remembered she had phoned both the police and some of the Friar

29:25

Park staff when George had initially gone downstairs

29:28

to investigate the sound of breaking glass that

29:30

had woken them up. She threw the lamp at Abram's

29:32

head and ran out to the stairs to get their attention.

29:35

The cops beelined into the meditation room,

29:37

pounced, subdued Abram and stopped

29:40

the attack. George

29:43

had lost a lot of blood by the time the authorities

29:45

brought the melee to an end. Michael

29:48

Abram was put in handcuffs and led away as

29:50

the first rays of the sun struggled to peek

29:52

out over the horizon. The medics

29:55

took George's vitals. They tended to

29:57

the numerous knife wounds on his chest. They

29:59

placed the

29:59

him on a stretcher. One of his lungs

30:02

had collapsed. Abram's knife had narrowly

30:04

missed his heart. He needed to get to a hospital

30:06

immediately. George

30:09

knew that the next few minutes and hours were

30:11

incredibly important. Anything

30:13

could happen. All things do

30:15

pass. It's just a matter of when

30:17

they pass. He needed to focus

30:20

his mind and prepare for the day that he did

30:22

leave the physical realm. Whether that day

30:24

was tomorrow or 10 years down the road.

30:27

That's the art of dying. To

30:29

consciously

30:29

leave one's body at death. No

30:32

reincarnation meant that there was no loose

30:34

ends to take care of. No knots

30:36

to unravel. The liberation

30:38

of the soul. The first thing George

30:41

had to do was not lose his wits

30:43

or his sense of humor. As

30:46

he was carried out to the ambulance, George

30:48

passed a new staff member who had only been

30:50

at the estate for a few days.

30:53

So George asked without missing

30:55

a beat, how are you liking the new

30:58

job so far?

31:16

Some things you just couldn't plan for. Some

31:19

things just happened.

31:21

Maybe you willed them into existence, but

31:24

planning was out of the question. You

31:26

just went with the flow. George

31:28

Harrison was at a dinner in Los Angeles

31:30

with Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynn when the

31:32

unplanned happened.

31:37

It was 1988.

31:39

Jeff Lynn was cool. Sure,

31:41

his band, ELO, were obviously

31:43

indebted to the Beatles and he had even produced

31:45

George's latest solo album,

31:47

Cloud Nine. But Roy

31:48

Orbison was cool on another

31:50

level. The Voice, the

31:53

big O, he was a legend. He

31:55

was what the Beatles aspired to be when they were

31:57

banging around clubs in Hamburg almost 30

31:59

years ago.

31:59

years earlier. George

32:02

realized that a massive opportunity was

32:04

sitting across the table from him.

32:06

He asked Roy and Jeff if they wanted to

32:08

head into the studio the next day to sing him a

32:10

song George was working on, accelerate

32:13

through the curve, just like the best F1

32:15

drivers, or rather through life's curves.

32:18

George figured in that moment, when's the

32:20

next time he's going to be having dinner with Roy

32:23

Orbison? Roy smiled

32:25

behind his trademark dark sunglasses.

32:28

Sherrywood.

32:30

So George rang up Bob Dylan because

32:32

Bob was in town and he'd come in clutch when

32:34

it came to sniffing out a studio to record him.

32:37

George and Bob went way back, back to even

32:40

before Bob agreed to appear at the concert

32:42

for Bangladesh that George organized in 1971, the

32:44

first of its kind, a

32:47

star-studded benefit to raise money

32:49

to help refugees. Speaking

32:51

of refugees, George had left his guitar

32:54

at Tom Petty's house, so he had to stop and pick

32:56

it up on the way to the studio. It wouldn't

32:58

be polite to not invite Tom along,

33:00

seeing as he was tight with Bob having backed

33:02

him up on that true confessions tour just a

33:04

few years prior, and just like George

33:06

and Bob and Jeff, Tom would do anything to

33:09

record with the great Roy Orbison.

33:12

Within a matter of hours, the least expected

33:14

supergroup of the 1980s had been formed.

33:17

And after a few weeks of collectively strumming

33:19

acoustic guitars and writing new songs during

33:21

the day, and then singing those songs around

33:23

the same microphone together each evening, the

33:26

traveling Wilburys had an album. The

33:29

Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 was

33:31

released in October of 1988. It

33:34

unexpectedly put classic rock icons

33:36

on the pop charts. It even made Roy

33:39

Orbison seem cool to Gen Xers. Roy

33:42

got to see the album go platinum before

33:44

he died, not even two months later

33:47

at the age of 52.

33:49

George hadn't planned for that to happen

33:51

either, for Roy to be gone so soon

33:54

after they had become so close. Was

33:56

Roy ready to die? Had he properly

33:59

prepared to leave his home?

33:59

body behind? George

34:02

could only hope, only Roy knew

34:04

the answer. After Roy's

34:06

death, the rest of the Wilburys shot

34:08

the music video for the single end of the

34:10

line. In it, the band

34:12

sits in a train car and trades verses.

34:15

When it comes time for Roy's verse, the

34:18

spotlight is on a solitary guitar

34:20

rocking in a rocking chair. The

34:22

band thought it was the perfect tribute. Roy's

34:25

body was gone but his voice carried

34:27

on. Well, George thought, it

34:30

is alright. He'd meet Roy

34:32

at the end of the line. But

34:34

George wasn't quite ready for the journey to

34:36

end just yet. Even more

34:39

than a decade after Roy's death in the

34:41

year 2000, George didn't

34:43

want the ride to be over. He had

34:45

gardens to tend to, tunnels and

34:47

caves left to uncover in the great expanse

34:49

of his 35 acre estate. Restoring

34:52

the grounds at Friar Park was a major

34:55

undertaking that required both time and

34:57

patience. He was the estate

34:59

steward now and he had to get it ready for the

35:01

next century. Like its original owner,

35:04

Sir Francis Crisp had done 100 years

35:06

ago. And just like Sir Francis

35:08

Crisp or Sir Frankie Crisp as

35:10

George immortalized him in song on All Things

35:13

Must Pass, George would never see

35:15

the fruits of his many labors. The

35:17

saplings he planted, he would never see

35:20

them mature into full-grown trees. He

35:22

really wanted to see them but takes so

35:25

long. And George also

35:27

knew that he had no control over when or how

35:29

he would reach the end of the line. The attack

35:31

that he had suffered at the hands of Michael Abram

35:33

made that crystal clear. So

35:36

he cleared his mind. He

35:38

focused on what he'd been able to accomplish in the

35:40

gardens at Friar Park, not

35:42

the parts he'd yet to get to. He

35:45

didn't look back in anger at the final days

35:47

of the Beatles and the frustration he felt

35:49

towards Paul in particular. He

35:51

forgave Michael Abram for that night

35:53

of absolute terror. Abram

35:56

had been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

35:58

It was being sent to

35:59

to a psychiatric hospital for further

36:02

treatment. George hoped he'd get

36:04

the help he so desperately needed.

36:07

George didn't want to get to the end of the line.

36:10

No one did. But when he did, if

36:12

he was hit by a car or fell down the stairs,

36:15

or God forbid the cancer came back, then

36:17

he would be ready. From

36:21

that moment on, there were no more surprises.

36:24

Not even when he died from lung cancer in

36:26

November of 2001 in

36:28

a Beverly Hills home owned by Paul McCartney

36:31

with family and Hare Krishna devotees

36:34

by his bedside chanting.

36:36

A beautifully orchestrated exit

36:38

from this world

36:40

with grace. ♪ I'm

36:43

gonna show you how to

36:45

love me ♪ I'm Jake Brennan,

36:48

and this is Disgraceland.

36:50

♪ I'm gonna show you how to

36:52

love me ♪ You're

36:56

gonna love me I'm gonna show you

36:59

how to love me I'm

37:02

gonna show you how to

37:04

love me Loving you, love

37:06

me I'm gonna show you how

37:08

to love me Loving you, loving

37:11

me Loving you, loving

37:14

me I'm gonna do

37:17

anything for you Loving you, loving

37:19

me Hope you love me And I'm gonna

37:21

show you how to love me Loving you, loving me

37:23

I'm gonna show you how to love me Credits

37:26

for this episode can be found on the show notes

37:28

page at Disgracelandpod.com

37:30

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37:32

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37:58

Rock a roll. He's

38:02

a bad, bad man!