Pod Insights My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark MFM Minisode 483 About this episode This week’s hometowns are Disgraceland-themed to celebrate ERM’s newest podcast! Hometowns include David Bowie’s arrest story and singing with Taylor Swift.
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0:01 Karen Kilgariff? This is Exactly Right.
0:06 Speaker 01 OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
0:35 Speaker 02 In New Orleans, truckers kept getting sideswiped the exact same way. When a man is found murdered under questionable circumstances related to these accidents, the rubber hits the road. And what the feds uncover is a complex scheme of staged wrecks, financial fraud, and a pair of conspiring lovers behind it. This is a story about fake accidents that led to real consequences. Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
1:28 Karen Kilgariff? Hello and welcome.
1:30 Georgia Hardstark? To My Favorite Murder.
1:31 Karen Kilgariff? The minisode.
1:32 Georgia Hardstark? That's right.
1:32 Karen Kilgariff? That's my line. I can say it.
1:35 Georgia Hardstark? You got it.
1:36 Karen Kilgariff? I did fine.
1:36 Georgia Hardstark? You did it. I'm proud of you.
1:38 Karen Kilgariff? Line. The minisode.
1:40 Georgia Hardstark? The minisode. And it's a very special minisode. We just announced that we are bringing the wonderful podcast DisgraceLand on to the Exactly Right Network.
1:48 Karen Kilgariff? We are so excited. Jake Brennan is finally here, joining our Marvel Universe with us.
1:53 Georgia Hardstark? That's right.
1:54 Karen Kilgariff? And DisgraceLand and Hollywood Land, two amazing podcasts. Most of you probably have listened to them. They've been around forever. They're amazing. But now they're here with us. Jake's here with us. We're so excited.
2:06 Georgia Hardstark? So we're going to read you some hometowns that have to do with, like, the mu- Music world, just to kind of give it a little homage to DisgraceLand.
2:13 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, DisgraceLand is about musicians behaving badly in criminal ways. And Hollywoodland, of course, is about celebrities doing the same. So we picked some stories to reference that.
2:23 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
2:24 Karen Kilgariff? You want to go first?
2:24 Georgia Hardstark? Sure. Okay, we're starting off strong with a hardcore true crime story.
2:28 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
2:28 Georgia Hardstark? Hello, Murderino Sisters here. It is taking all of our willpower not to fangirl over the mere thought of you reading our email, so we will try our hardest to cut to the chase. Our sister got married this summer in our hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Imagine a year filled with the flurry of brides mating events and group texting leading up to our sister's big day. Finally, after a stunning wedding, it was party time. We were excited that our sister hired a local celebrity named DJ Freeze to host her reception. Think famous like every childhood school carnival, every high school dance, house DJ to our grimy 18 and up nightclubs, famous.
3:07 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
3:07 Georgia Hardstark? At the reception, the bridal party toasts and the speeches drew on and on. We snuck out to find the wedding coordinators and discussed adding an hour to our venue contract so we could have more party time because the speeches went so long.
3:19 Karen Kilgariff? Really?
3:19 Georgia Hardstark? Nobody wants that.
3:20 Karen Kilgariff? So boring. Who cares?
3:22 Georgia Hardstark? Nobody cares.
3:23 Karen Kilgariff? Talk about it privately, please.
3:25 Georgia Hardstark? We had to talk separately to our boy DJ Freeze since he was on a separate contract. What I thought started as a schmoozy, "Hey, what would it take for you to work an extra hour?" conversation soon went downhill. DJ Freeze was dramatically offended by my cash offer and threatened to tell the bride and groom. Luckily, we were able to save the day, but it turned into me slapping too many hundred-dollar bills into Freeze's hand and telling him, "Your music sucks." Like the mature adult I am. Luckily, the party went off without a hitch and our sister never knew what a DB DJ Freeze was to us. 36 hours later, our phones illuminate to a flurry of group texts. What could the bridesmaids possibly have left to discuss?
4:09 Georgia Hardstark? Well, apparently murder.
4:12 Karen Kilgariff? Uh oh.
4:13 Georgia Hardstark? That Monday morning, I fucking remember this happening.
4:15 Karen Kilgariff? Really?
4:15 Georgia Hardstark? That Monday morning, the headline read, "Cold Case Cracked. Suspect Arrested in Connection to 1992 Murder of Kristi Mirak." Rewind to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, December 1992. Kristi Mirak is a 24-year-old elementary school teacher who lived in the apartments about 1.5 miles from her childhood home, in the same complex as many of our friends. She had a classroom of students awaiting her arrival to school on that last day before the holiday break. The school principal discovered her body as he visited her apartment after many phone calls went unanswered.
4:47 Karen Kilgariff? She was 24.
4:48 Georgia Hardstark? 24.
4:49 Karen Kilgariff? That's so sad.
4:49 Georgia Hardstark? She had wrapped a book for each student as a Christmas present, and the gifts were found scattered around the room where her body was found. After thousands of tips came in and interviews were conducted, the investigators were left without any leads, and ultimately, the case went cold. Kristi's family continued to fight to keep her story in the forefront of our community. They used to have billboards along the freeway begging our community to continue to come forward with any leads. Then, in May 2018, 25 years later, the case was cracked wide open, thanks to our new favorite crime-solving method, ancestry DNA.
5:23 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, wow.
5:23 Georgia Hardstark? This break came less than two months after the Golden State Killer conviction using ancestry DNA, and it is our understanding that, at this time, this was only the second case in the United States that has been solved using this method.
5:35 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
5:36 Georgia Hardstark? Within only two days of receiving those ancestry DNA results and conducting interviews in Lancaster, investigators were able to locate their only suspect, now 49-year-old Raymond Rowe, aka DJ Freeze.
5:49 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, fuck.
5:52 Georgia Hardstark? Once Raymond Rowe was identified as their suspect in May 2018, undercover agents surveilled him almost immediately at an elementary school carnival in Lancaster, where he was working a DJ gig. The agents recovered chewing gum and a water bottle that Raymond Rowe had discarded in the trash. DNA tests on these items soon proved that he, in fact, was A match to the mystery DNA found on, in, and under Kristi Merak's body 25 years before.
6:18 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
6:19 Georgia Hardstark? This break in the case emerged for the investigators just hours before Raymond Rowe showed up to DJ our sister's wedding.
6:25 Karen Kilgariff? No. Wait, did he know?
6:27 Georgia Hardstark? No.
6:28 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, so that was like, the cops knew, but he hadn't been?
6:31 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
6:31 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, I think after.
6:33 Georgia Hardstark? Raymond Rowe was arrested less than two days after the wedding.
6:36 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, yeah, he would have known.
6:37 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah. It has not been determined if or how Raymond Rowe knew Kristi Merak before murdering her. He lived in the same town, just miles from the crime scene, for more years following the murder than Kristi Merak lived her life in its entirety.
6:51 Karen Kilgariff? Isn't that the creepy thing, like same thing with the Golden State Killer? Where they just sit in their own neighborhood and just, they're living regular life?
6:59 Georgia Hardstark? It's baffling.
7:01 Karen Kilgariff? It's so upsetting and it's so like, yeah.
7:04 Georgia Hardstark? Unfair.
7:05 Karen Kilgariff? Hiding in plain sight.
7:06 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah. Police arrested him at his home without incident and he is currently being held without bond in the Lancaster County Jail while he awaits trial. SSDGM AA.
7:15 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
7:16 Georgia Hardstark? I know. And so this email was actually sent in October 26, 2018.
7:21 Karen Kilgariff? Oh.
7:21 Georgia Hardstark? So a long time ago.
7:22 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
7:22 Georgia Hardstark? Some updates. This story is still unfolding, but Raymond Rowe, DJ Fries, pleaded guilty in January 2019, but less than a year later, he began appealing his conviction. And this is from Lancaster Online. Rowe testified at an August 2021 hearing that he and Merak had a secret relationship. And the day she was killed, he said they had consensual sex and she was alive when he left the townhouse. And so he's appealing his latest loss in a bid to have DNA testing done on other items at the scene. So that's the update.
7:55 Karen Kilgariff? Wow. Slowly but surely, you're gonna convert me to liking cold cases, because when
8:00 Georgia Hardstark? Right.
8:00 Karen Kilgariff? you start an email like that and people start telling that story, where it's like, please tell me that they found it.
8:06 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
8:06 Karen Kilgariff? Please tell me that it's over.
8:07 Georgia Hardstark? I know. And there was like, less than nothing as far as evidence goes back, you know, that they had. As he wasn't a suspect, I don't think.
8:15 Karen Kilgariff? Right.
8:15 Georgia Hardstark? He was just nobody in her life.
8:16 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
8:17 Georgia Hardstark? So the fact that they found him is just purely because of DNA and investigative research.
8:24 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, the cold case team.
8:25 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
8:25 Karen Kilgariff? Wow. Okay, this is also, you know, true crime-y, but definitely a different direction. The subject line of this email is, "I Almost Got Fired For Refusing To Serve R. Kelly."
8:36 Georgia Hardstark? Oh.
8:37 Karen Kilgariff? And one of the, it's a great email that has a lot of interesting tidbits in it, but also Jake covered R. Kelly on DisgraceLand, his episode 179, June of 2024. And the title is, "R. Kelly, Superstars, Super Predators, And A 20-Year Reign Of Sexual Terror."
8:55 Georgia Hardstark? Wow.
8:56 Karen Kilgariff? So if you have not heard, DisgraceLand's coverage of the R. Kelly, you know, journey, I guess we could call it.
9:05 Georgia Hardstark? Episode 179?
9:06 Karen Kilgariff? Go listen to that, it's episode 179.
9:08 Georgia Hardstark? Cool.
9:09 Karen Kilgariff? So this email starts, "Hello all, I've been in the fine dining service industry for almost 16 years. Naturally, many celebrities have dined at establishments that I have worked at. I won't name names, but just know that Patti Smith is a sweetheart."
9:22 Georgia Hardstark? Ah.
9:22 Karen Kilgariff? And just to now double plug.
9:25 Georgia Hardstark? Oh.
9:25 Karen Kilgariff? DisgraceLand has an episode that's all about Patti Smith. It came out April 7th, so you can go listen to it now.
9:31 Georgia Hardstark? Wow.
9:32 Karen Kilgariff? He does it all. Okay, so back in July of 2019, I was working in the Gold Coast of Chicago in the, what they call the Viagra Triangle, which is essentially where rich old men bring their mistresses.
9:43 Georgia Hardstark? Oh my god, gross.
9:45 Karen Kilgariff? Shower. Bleach bath, please. So it says, "R. Kelly and his group of lawyers came in to dine in my section. His bodyguard or manager had overheard the conversation I had with the maitre d' about my refusal to wait on a fucking predator and blew up on me."
10:02 Georgia Hardstark? Good for you!
10:04 Karen Kilgariff? "He said something along the line of, 'Everybody's gotta eat,' to which I replied, 'If I ran a bodega, I wouldn't sell him ramen noodles.'" Let's not bring ramen noodles into it.
10:13 Georgia Hardstark? And bodegas.
10:14 Karen Kilgariff? They're just as good as any fucking steak. And bodegas. The maitre d' told me to go outside and cool off. What a classic maitre d' move.
10:23 Georgia Hardstark? Go cool off.
10:24 Karen Kilgariff? Hey, how about you cool off? Needless to say, yet another employee served the table. Also in my section was a group of men who had repeatedly asked to take pictures with him. The undistinguished Mr. Kelly refused photos due to bad press at the time, but instead decided to pick up their check because he knew I was their waiter and it would be an excuse for me to approach him again after the scene that was made earlier.
10:47 Georgia Hardstark? Dude.
10:48 Karen Kilgariff? I handed him the check to sign, which he did, but he had written a zero on the tip line. I opened the book holding the check in front of him, saw that he had stiffed me, laughed and said, "Yeah, that sounds about right," and walked away. His entourage complained to management about my behavior to a point where I was almost fired and they waited outside the restaurant and followed me to the train.
11:07 Georgia Hardstark? What?
11:07 Karen Kilgariff? Calling me multiple derogatory terms. The pinnacle of class. Though I no longer work at this establishment and I highly doubt he listens to your show in prison, I relish the fact that this story helped me have a dialogue with my wonderful girlfriend I met only a few days before. This incident drew us closer together. She introduced me to your show and when we go on road trips, one of us always asks the question, "You want to listen to the girls?" Thank you both for all you do. Stay sexy and please remember that tipping 20% is bare minimum.
11:36 Georgia Hardstark? Yes.
11:36 Karen Kilgariff? Sincerely, Hayden.
11:38 Georgia Hardstark? Wow, Hayden.
11:40 Karen Kilgariff? Hayden standing up, fighting the good fight all alone.
11:43 Georgia Hardstark? Appreciate you. That's fucking awesome.
11:45 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
11:46 Georgia Hardstark? 22% is my minimum now.
11:48 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, yeah.
11:49 Georgia Hardstark? You gotta.
11:50 Karen Kilgariff? Also, the excuse "everyone's gotta eat" is disgusting. Come on.
11:54 Georgia Hardstark? Seriously. I have one more. Where are you going? I have two more.
11:57 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah. No, I'm sorry, I'm not going anywhere.
12:00 Georgia Hardstark? I thought you were done.
12:01 Karen Kilgariff? See what I was doing.
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12:32 Georgia Hardstark? There are plenty of things that keep you up at night. Your sleep tracker shouldn't be one of them.
12:36 Karen Kilgariff? You know that feeling, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting all the times you said something weird.
12:41 Georgia Hardstark? And then you wake up and check your sleep score. Now you have to start your day knowing that you failed at sleeping.
12:47 Karen Kilgariff? Hatch Sleep Clock does it differently.
12:49 Georgia Hardstark? It tracks your sleep from your nightstand. No ring, wristband, or judgmental score waiting for you in the morning.
12:54 Karen Kilgariff? Instead, you'll get personalized insights to understand your sleep and recommendations to build a routine you'll love night after night.
13:01 Georgia Hardstark? Fall asleep to the next chapter of an audiobook like The Odyssey, a nervous system reset meditation, or a calming sound bath.
13:08 Karen Kilgariff? Then you can find out which gives you 20 more minutes of deep sleep each night.
13:12 Georgia Hardstark? Hatch Sleep Clock.
13:13 Karen Kilgariff? The sleep tracker designed to get you to sleep. Available now on hatch.co.
13:17 Georgia Hardstark? Goodbye.
13:20 Georgia Hardstark? David Bowie's Arrest Story in Rochester, New York.
13:23 Karen Kilgariff? Ooh.
13:23 Georgia Hardstark? And so David Bowie was covered in Disgraceland on episode 71. So check that out. It's called David Bowie: The Occult Cocaine, Orgies, Arrests, Exorcism, A Weird Flirtation With Fascism, and a Dead Body. That's the Disgraceland episode.
13:37 Karen Kilgariff? It's so good. I listened to that whole thing and it's great.
13:40 Georgia Hardstark? And you know David Bowie's mugshot, right? You've seen it, everyone?
13:45 Karen Kilgariff? He was only snorting cocaine and eating red peppers.
13:49 Georgia Hardstark? At the time, like that was his diet?
13:50 Karen Kilgariff? That was his thing.
13:51 Georgia Hardstark? Hi, Georgia and Karen. I'm originally from India, but I've been living in Rochester, New York for four years now. What a weird switch to go from India to Rochester, New York.
14:00 Karen Kilgariff? Upstate New York. A little bit chillier, I would say, in upstate New York.
14:04 Georgia Hardstark? The city has a lot of history. Home of Susan B. Anthony. Frederick Douglass began publishing the North Star newspaper here, and of course, George Eastman. But after the demise of Kodak, nothing exciting has really happened here. Today, I was looking through a local boutique. I want to say bouquet so bad.
14:22 Georgia Hardstark? And found a wall print of David Bowie's mugshot dated March 25th, 1976. I had to Google the backstory. Back in the day, famous people held concerts here. Must be nice. Bowie performed at the Community War Memorial and headed back to his hotel room for general merriment. With him was his bodyguard, Iggy Pop, and three girls, one of whom was a local he had taken a fancy to during the concert.
14:46 Karen Kilgariff? Iggy Pop and David Bowie together. We're just gonna go hang out at the Hyatt.
14:51 Georgia Hardstark? 0% body fat. Let's just do so much cocaine.
14:54 Karen Kilgariff? 100% cocaine, 0% body fat, so many red peppers.
14:58 Georgia Hardstark? As they were hanging out, three police officers showed up at the door. Bowie opened the door and was instantly knocked backwards by the officers trying to get in. The entire party was busted for possession of half a pound of marijuana. Turns out, two of the girls present at the party were undercover, acting on a tip that they would find cocaine in his hotel room. And police had set up shop in the adjacent room, listening through the wall using a stethoscope.
15:22 Karen Kilgariff? What the fuck? Come on, Rochester.
15:25 Georgia Hardstark? Bring your A-game, please.
15:27 Karen Kilgariff? We thought you were cooler than that.
15:28 Georgia Hardstark? When one of the girls asked where she could score some, which is entrapment, for sure, it was reason enough for them to barge in.
15:35 Karen Kilgariff? Guys, enjoy.
15:36 Georgia Hardstark? Although no cocaine, there was ample marijuana to make the arrest. Bowie and company were held in Monroe County Jail for a few hours, but let go on a $2,000 bail each so that he could drive on to his next concert location. Apparently Bowie was afraid of flying. After his American tour, he went back to England on a boat.
15:53 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, shit.
15:55 Georgia Hardstark? Anyway, in May 1976, the charges were dismissed after a grand jury declined to indict Bowie, because they're not fucking nerds. At the time of his initial hearing, a reporter had asked him if he had any sour feelings about returning to Rochester after the arrest, to which Bowie had replied, certainly not, absolutely not. Needless to say, he never performed in Rochester again.
16:16 Karen Kilgariff? Of course not.
16:17 Georgia Hardstark? Stay sexy and only reveal your stash to the trusted, sayly, pronounced "sailly," she/her.
16:23 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, such a good story.
16:25 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
16:26 Karen Kilgariff? I'm sure they did that to anybody that was coming through town.
16:28 Georgia Hardstark? Oh, for sure.
16:29 Karen Kilgariff? That whose hair was like longer than their chin.
16:32 Georgia Hardstark? Right, or who was like a feminine man, God forbid.
16:36 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, that crazy, those crazy rock and roll boys. I told you that my dad and I, one holiday break, were watching the Bowie documentary. And I just kind of flipped it on and left it there. And he, or he was flipping around, he left it there. And then I was like, he's not turning it. It's, so I was just staying quiet and watching it with him. And he watched it for like a half an hour through all these crazy stories and performances. And then he, in one shot, he's walking on stage barefoot. And my dad goes, oh, he's barefoot, and changes the channel. That's what gets him off the Bowie.
17:06 Georgia Hardstark? Barefoot was, barefoot's his limit.
17:08 Karen Kilgariff? Too far. Dropping acid, dressing like a spider from Mars. None of it, it's all fine with Jim.
17:16 Georgia Hardstark? He can't, he just can't tolerate bare feet.
17:18 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, look at this.
17:19 Georgia Hardstark? I mean, I think it's gross, but.
17:21 Karen Kilgariff? You're on board?
17:22 Georgia Hardstark? I am.
17:23 Karen Kilgariff? Okay. Well, now that we're in true rock and roll world.
17:26 Georgia Hardstark? Okay.
17:27 Karen Kilgariff? And I'm not going to read you the subject line, and I'll tell you about the disgraced line episode that this connects to at the end. This just starts, "When I was a very punk rock teenager in Boston in the late 90s, I worked at a fancy punk goth clothing store on Newbury Street. We worked on commission and whoever greeted the customer first was their salesperson, threw out, and got the sale. One day, the store was empty on a Friday afternoon, and this middle aged couple came in. They weren't in my section, but after 15 minutes, no one had gotten to help. And the man was holding a bunch of pants to try on. I went over and introduced myself and offered to start a room for him. He had a British accent, and he told me his band was playing in town that night, and he was looking for clothes to wear on stage. We got a lot of musicians, so I didn't really react or ask any follow up questions.
18:10 Karen Kilgariff? Instead, I just started offering him more pants. I remember specifically complimenting him on his diamond star earring. He shopped with me for about 30 minutes, and then went to the dressing room, where I explained that we had a three item per room limit."
18:24 Georgia Hardstark? Who was it? I was like, okay.
18:26 Karen Kilgariff? That I would stand outside the door and just swap things out with him. His wife and he both laughed and said, you think I'm going to run off with something? He said, "You think I'm gonna run off with something in a jokey manner." I responded also in a jokey way. You never know.
18:43 Karen Kilgariff? So I stood there as he tried on pants and opened the door to hand them back out and get new ones. After he bought about $500 worth of stuff and they left, my manager came over with the sales receipt and said dumbfounded, "Do you know who that was?"
18:57 Georgia Hardstark? Oh my god, okay, tell me.
18:58 Karen Kilgariff? "Some guy whose band's playing tonight?" I answered uncertainly. He then showed me the signature, very clearly written, "Ringo Starr." One of the Beatles was gonna shoplift some pants from their store.
19:11 Georgia Hardstark? Okay, go on. I just don't, I'm speaking, okay.
19:15 Karen Kilgariff? I could not have been more embarrassed. But I hope he enjoyed not being recognized and being treated like everyone else.
19:21 Georgia Hardstark? Doubt it.
19:21 Karen Kilgariff? Actually-
19:22 Georgia Hardstark? I fucking doubt it. You're a Beatle.
19:24 Karen Kilgariff? Well, but maybe for that very reason. Like, since-
19:28 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
19:29 Karen Kilgariff? Ever, since he was 28 years old-
19:32 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
19:33 Karen Kilgariff? No one's treated, ever treated him like that, I bet. Unless they're trying to be cute.
19:37 Georgia Hardstark? Or was he like, "Oh no, I've lost it."
19:39 Karen Kilgariff? I don't know.
19:40 Georgia Hardstark? Also, what band? Cause it wasn't the Beatles.
19:42 Karen Kilgariff? Oh, maybe the Traveling Wilburys?
19:44 Georgia Hardstark? There you go.
19:45 Karen Kilgariff? And then it just is signed Erica, and then it says, "P.S. His boxers with-"
19:49 Georgia Hardstark? What? You saw his boxers?
19:52 Karen Kilgariff? "P.S. His boxers were white with a blue pinstripe, and he and his wife were both incredibly nice." You just gave away the most secret piece of information you possibly could, and they're like, "But they're such lovely people."
20:03 Georgia Hardstark? That Ringo Starr wears boxers. Oh my god. But like, I feel like the 90s, if it was someone like you didn't really know in a band, in a big band, but Ringo, I feel like everyone recognized Ringo Starr back then.
20:16 Karen Kilgariff? I guess you'd think so, but maybe that's-
20:17 Georgia Hardstark? She was punk rock, that's what they said.
20:19 Karen Kilgariff? She was punk rock, and like, our generation would, maybe we're the cutoff.
20:23 Georgia Hardstark? Wow. That was so entertaining.
20:26 Karen Kilgariff? So, if you wanna hear more about Ringo Starr, go to episode 111 of Disgrace Land, because that episode is called "Ringo Starr: Busted by Mexican Federales, Threatened by French-Canadian Separatists, and the King of Feel."
20:39 Georgia Hardstark? And he wears boxers.
20:40 Karen Kilgariff? And white boxers-
20:41 Georgia Hardstark? Boxers over briefs.
20:43 Karen Kilgariff? That's our addition to the show.
20:45 Speaker 01 OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
21:15 Georgia Hardstark? There are plenty of things that keep you up at night. Your sleep tracker shouldn't be one of them.
21:19 Karen Kilgariff? You know that feeling, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting all the times you said something weird.
21:24 Georgia Hardstark? And then you wake up and check your sleep score. Now you have to start your day knowing that you failed at sleeping.
21:29 Karen Kilgariff? Hatch Sleep Clock does it differently.
21:32 Georgia Hardstark? It tracks your sleep from your nightstand. No ring, wristband, or judgmental score waiting for you in the morning.
21:37 Karen Kilgariff? Instead, you'll get personalized insights to understand your sleep and recommendations to build a routine you'll love night after night.
21:44 Georgia Hardstark? Fall asleep to the next chapter of an audiobook like The Odyssey, a nervous system reset meditation, or a calming sound bath.
21:50 Karen Kilgariff? Then you can find out which gives you 20 more minutes of deep sleep each night.
21:54 Georgia Hardstark? Hatch Sleep Clock.
21:55 Karen Kilgariff? The sleep tracker designed to get you to sleep. Available now on hatch.co.
22:00 Georgia Hardstark? Goodbye. Okay, this one is about Taylor Swift, who was covered in DisgraceLand on episode 93. "Hey, KNG, thank you for being my eardrum besties these past eight years and counting. In 2010, I was in a college a cappella group called the UCSD Tritones. Tritones. The name is a musical pun on our mascot, King Triton. Tritones. One casual day, but casual, it wasn't a serious day."
22:31 Karen Kilgariff? Is this UC San Diego?
22:33 Georgia Hardstark? Uh, no. Yeah. UCSD, yeah, San Diego.
22:37 Karen Kilgariff? The Tritons, I want to see that mascot.
22:40 Georgia Hardstark? One casual day about halfway through the school year, we received an email from someone claiming to be the business manager of none other than Taylor Swift. They asked if we were interested in being backup singers for Taylor's upcoming performance at the American Country Music Awards, but it was a secret act since we, the choir, would not be revealed until the end of the song for dramatic effect. We all thought, yeah, right. There was no way this email slash opportunity was legit. Well, it totally was.
23:09 Karen Kilgariff? Wow.
23:10 Georgia Hardstark? Turns out, they were looking for singers around her age, and they found us via a video we posted to YouTube singing a T-Swift cover of "You Belong With Me." Pretty sure the-- is that the same song from the fucking first one?
23:22 Karen Kilgariff? Different song.
23:23 Georgia Hardstark? Damn it. That would have been cool. Pretty sure the video was terrible quality by 2024 standards and was taken in a poorly lit lecture hall, but it did the trick in helping us get discovered.
23:34 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, it did.
23:35 Georgia Hardstark? A few months later in April, we, a random collection of college kids, had the gig of a lifetime at the 45th ACMAs in Las Vegas. We did our best to keep it from our friends and family who mostly found out from watching us on national cable TV. Says hello 2010.
23:52 Karen Kilgariff? So cool.
23:53 Georgia Hardstark? I will say, Taylor is truly a class act. We had to record the bass track on Easter weekend due to limited studio availability. She took the time out of her holiday to call in from Nashville to say hi and personally thank us for our time.
24:07 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, that is classy beyond belief. There's so many celebrities and people who let everybody else do work like that.
24:14 Georgia Hardstark? Right, and like, you're lucky to be working with me.
24:16 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah.
24:16 Georgia Hardstark? No. Then, after the performance, she did her best to give as many of us individual hugs before being whisked away by her security team.
24:23 Karen Kilgariff? I wonder how many people are in that choir?
24:25 Georgia Hardstark? Probably a lot.
24:26 Karen Kilgariff? Just like--
24:26 Georgia Hardstark? It's a choir. Yeah. We also got hugs from her super sweet mom, who at the time said she'd never missed one of her daughter's performances to date. And then that emoji that's about to start crying. That little, you know. Oh, and there were a ton of extra bonus love sightings from the night, including Reba, Carrie Underwood, Matthew McConaughey, Kristen Bell, Cher, and LL Cool J, who introduced us by name, NBD.
24:51 Karen Kilgariff? The Tritones.
24:51 Georgia Hardstark? The Tritones.
24:52 Karen Kilgariff? Ladies and gentlemen.
24:53 Georgia Hardstark? 14 years later, this is still by far the coolest thing that has happened to me. Well, up until the birth of my baby boy six weeks ago. Stay sexy and trust sketchy emails from people claiming to be business managers? Question mark. Chelsea.
25:07 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, I love that story, Chelsea. It's so exciting.
25:10 Georgia Hardstark? That did happen to me and Ally with Food Network in 2009. Hey, we liked your video on Facebook. Do you want to make more videos? Like, fuck you, creep. It was Food Network.
25:20 Karen Kilgariff? But it was actually Food Network. Fuck you, creep. Did you say the words fuck you, creep?
25:24 Georgia Hardstark? No, I just didn't respond.
25:25 Karen Kilgariff? I would love it if in an email.
25:27 Georgia Hardstark? Fuck you, creep.
25:28 Karen Kilgariff? Hey, that happened when I was, of course, very young and I got a call on a Saturday. Can you come in to audition for Seinfeld? And I immediately said, fuck off, whoever this is.
25:39 Georgia Hardstark? Karen!
25:39 Karen Kilgariff? And hung up the phone. And they called back and were like, they were laughing, but they're like, oh, we understand why you would do that, but it is actually, because they were calling me directly and normally that's not how it went. And I couldn't stop laughing. And then I had actually a very good audition for the first word I said, but I got a laugh and then distracted myself and then didn't remember the rest of, the rest of my single line.
26:02 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
26:03 Karen Kilgariff? But the good news is it, the character and the line didn't make it to the episode.
26:06 Georgia Hardstark? What's the line? Give it to us now, like, the best you could do.
26:09 Karen Kilgariff? You know how Elaine danced weird?
26:10 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
26:11 Karen Kilgariff? So we're back at the same staff party where she's going to dance weird again. And I am the cater waiter who comes up and the line I got a laugh on, because the first thing was, you're just offering people flautas, flautas. And so I went, flautas? And I did it with a fake accent. And it got, it got a laugh in a room that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David were in. And there was literally like, to me, in my mind, it was like 30 writers, but I bet you it was 10. But it was a huge room.
26:39 Georgia Hardstark? Seinfeld writers.
26:39 Karen Kilgariff? Seinfeld writers. Laughing. And so then, flautas? I gave it a nice PH. And then the casting director said, whatever the next line was, and I think it's Elaine's line. And then I was just kind of blanked out because I was like, man, that was awesome.
26:53 Georgia Hardstark? I did it. What was the line? You don't remember?
26:57 Karen Kilgariff? It was something like, remember, hey, remember the lady who danced crazy last year? But I'm saying it to her. The whole joke and point.
27:03 Georgia Hardstark? And you've never eaten a flautas again.
27:05 Karen Kilgariff? I mean, I can't look at them. I can't look at them. It gives me acid stomach immediately.
27:10 Georgia Hardstark? Holy shit!
27:11 Karen Kilgariff? I know. So, okay, here's my last one. The subject line of this email is Trash Grandma Shushed at Newsies. So there's no DisgraceLand episode connecting to this, but talk about a punk rock grandma. Okay. Hi Karen in Georgia. My nan is the best kind of trash grandma. She has always been sassy, independent, and brutally honest. Growing up, if we complained about being thirsty, she'd say, drink your spit.
27:32 Georgia Hardstark? Ew!
27:34 Karen Kilgariff? Hungry? Bite your tongue. She pulled, this is, this, these are my people. She pulled out my first tooth with slightly rusty needle nose pliers.
27:43 Georgia Hardstark? Oh my god.
27:43 Karen Kilgariff? You get the picture. In around 2012, my family and I all went to see Newsies on Broadway. Do you remember that musical? My poor nan has always had bad hearing, which caused issues when watching the show. She couldn't hear anything that was happening and she kept loudly whispering to my sister, "What did they say?"
28:00 Georgia Hardstark? Oh my god.
28:01 Karen Kilgariff? "What's going on? And who is that?" We kept telling her that she was whispering too loudly, but that only made things worse because then she would yell, "What did you say?"
28:09 Georgia Hardstark? Oh god.
28:10 Karen Kilgariff? It was pointless to try to get her to be quieter and it must be really hard to not be able to hear what's going on around you.
28:15 Georgia Hardstark? For sure.
28:16 Karen Kilgariff? That's a nice little parenthetical of empathy.
28:18 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah.
28:19 Karen Kilgariff? At some point, people around us started to notice, including the man in front of us, who started shushing her. He eventually got so frustrated that he turned around and yelled, "Please."
28:30 Georgia Hardstark? Just please. Oh. I want to berate this man, but I feel for him.
28:36 Karen Kilgariff? No, I was him when we went to see Hamilton. We had a full family that was like, "Hey, do you ever see it?" Like, full voice conversating.
28:43 Georgia Hardstark? No, that's not okay. But like, a little old lady.
28:45 Karen Kilgariff? A little old lady's different, but this was like, every member of the family.
28:48 Georgia Hardstark? No, fuck you all.
28:49 Karen Kilgariff? Making small talk back there. And I did a full, leaned forward and turned my upper body like a horror movie as far around as I could and I was like, "Will you please stop talking?"
29:00 Georgia Hardstark? What'd they say?
29:00 Karen Kilgariff? The father was like, "I'm so sorry." And he got them all together.
29:03 Georgia Hardstark? Good.
29:04 Karen Kilgariff? And they did.
29:04 Georgia Hardstark? Good.
29:05 Karen Kilgariff? Only then did we realize that the man who had been shushing my nan was none other than Star Trek legend George Takei.
29:13 Georgia Hardstark? No, you can't hurt George Takei.
29:15 Karen Kilgariff? No, please don't infuriate George Takei. Of course, my trash grandmother just responded, "Well, excuse me, who the hell does he think he is?" George Takei, that's who. That's what they wrote there.
29:27 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, I love it.
29:28 Karen Kilgariff? My nana's 90 years old and has pretty aggressive dementia now, but this story always reminds me of who she is at her core, which is a blunt, hilarious badass woman who has lived a long and wonderful life. Stay sexy and hug your grandparents if you still have them. Gracie.
29:44 Georgia Hardstark? Oh, my God, Gracie. There couldn't have been a better person to like that to surprise you with the shush. You're crying.
29:50 Karen Kilgariff? It's so, it's like a sketch on TV.
29:52 Georgia Hardstark? Yeah, because George Takei is like the chillest, greatest, like lovely person, right? And he, you pissed him off.
29:59 Karen Kilgariff? You know that he's gonna be funny like, hello, like that whole character of George Takei. And you pushed him to the brink.
30:06 Georgia Hardstark? At Newsies.
30:07 Karen Kilgariff? At Newsies, which is...
30:09 Georgia Hardstark? The award-winning Newsies.
30:11 Karen Kilgariff? The award-winning Newsies. Everybody loves the Newsies.
30:15 Georgia Hardstark? Everybody's favorite.
30:16 Karen Kilgariff? I'm trying to listen to the newspaper musical, Grandma.
30:20 Georgia Hardstark? Well, that was at Disgrace Land. Make sure you check that out. Hollywood Land, too. Subscribe, rate, review, all the good things that help so much.
30:27 Karen Kilgariff? We're so excited to have Jake Brennan on this network.
30:30 Georgia Hardstark? That's right. Tell us your, um, your fucked up musician stories, whatever they are.
30:34 Karen Kilgariff? Yeah, we'll start doing Disgrace Land right out from under him. Great idea. Stay sexy.
30:39 Georgia Hardstark? And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?
30:50 Karen Kilgariff? This has been an Exactly Right Production.
30:52 Georgia Hardstark? Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes.
30:56 Karen Kilgariff? Our editor is Aristotle Laseveta.
30:58 Georgia Hardstark? This episode was mixed by Liana Scolacci.
31:00 Karen Kilgariff? Email your hometowns to [email protected] .
31:03 Georgia Hardstark? Follow the show on Instagram at MyFavoriteMurder.
31:05 Karen Kilgariff? Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
31:10 Georgia Hardstark? And now you can watch My Favorite Murder on Netflix.
31:12 Karen Kilgariff? And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show. Goodbye.
31:26 Karen Kilgariff? Calling all amateur detectives and podcast obsessives.
31:29 Georgia Hardstark? Virgin Voyages' second True Crime Voyage sets sail March 20, 2027, for a five-night escape to Grand Turk and the Beach Club at Bimini.
31:38 Karen Kilgariff? As part of the On Air at Sea collection, this immersive sailing brings together fan favorite podcasts, including Disgrace Land, Buried Bones, and Wisecrack, for live recordings, behind-the-scenes access, exclusive meet-and-greets, and crime-themed programming that you won't find anywhere else.
31:54 Georgia Hardstark? All aboard our award-winning, kid-free ships.
31:57 Karen Kilgariff? Head over to virginvoyages.com/truecrime to secure your spot. Goodbye.
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Previous 527 - Disgraceland Next Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 92: The Halloween Special Page updated October 30, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated