TIM HARRINGTON: Nashville--
Music City.
Our time here's tight so we gotta make it quick.
Our man on the ground is Ben Swank, Nashville musical
kingpin and Jack White's right hand man on Third Man Records.
I just called him and he sent me straight to
Phil Kaufman's house--
AKA, The Mangler.
He's a national celebrity and probably the most infamous
roadie ever for many reasons, but none moreso than for
stealing Gram Parson's body and burning it.
I've heard he's an amazing character and an unmatched
storyteller, but he'll eat you for breakfast if he doesn't
like the look of you.
So I've got my best pants on.
Phil Kaufman, I presume?
PHIL KAUFMAN: Hey man thanks for waiting.
TIM HARRINGTON: How's it going?
PHIL KAUFMAN: Good to see you, man.
TIM HARRINGTON: Good to see you-- it's Tim Harrington.
PHIL KAUFMAN: Do you want to go inside?
TIM HARRINGTON: Sure
PHIL KAUFMAN: This is the Casa De Mangler.
All my memorabilia is on the wall--
and in my mind.
Over here, there's the wall of shame with Steve Earle, and
Emmylou, Gram Parsons.
TIM HARRINGTON: I love this picture.
PHIL KAUFMAN: Oh this one here.
That's early rock and roll--
money, cocaine, hashish, and a gun--
[INAUDIBLE] off to work.
TIM HARRINGTON: That's all you need.
PHIL KAUFMAN: Up to the office.
Up to the office, yeah.
I celebrated 3/4 of a century and no progress last year--
76 this year and still at it.
Still riding motorcycles, scuba diving, and chasing
younger women--
you know, 65, 70--
the young girls.
TIM HARRINGTON: How did you get started?
PHIL KAUFMAN: When I got out of prison--
I was a marijuana felon in the '60s--
so my buddy called me up and said Mick Jagger and Marianne
Faithfull were coming to LA.
And they needed somebody to drive them around-- somebody
new to the area--
the guy bought me a pair of shoes, and it was time to go
to the studio doing mixing of Beggars Banquet.
And I got to the studio and they said, who's there, and I
said Rolling Stones.
They said, they're not here, I said yeah they're here.
I heard the guy in the back says, they're not only here on
the right day, they're on time.
And I said they're going to be on time every day.
So I drove them back to their house--
brand new '68 Cadillac convertible--
and Mick said, how are you getting home?
I said, I'm going to have to walk--
I didn't have any money--
and Mick says, oh shit.
He took $1,500--
all the money he had in his pocket-- handed it to me, gave
me the keys to the car, and said, see you tomorrow.
TIM HARRINGTON: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE] a little bit
better than [INAUDIBLE] horror movies.
PHIL KAUFMAN:That was my first day in the music business.
All of a sudden--
I said this is pretty good.
Than Gram Parsons came in about a week later.
Gram asked me if I'd work for the Flying
Burrito Brothers, touring.
And I said, what does a road manager do?
He said, well, it's the same thing you
did with the Stones--
you know how--
you just take it on the road.
I said, oh shit, I can do that.
TIM HARRINGTON: But I'd like to talk about Gram.
PHIL KAUFMAN: Well, I met Gram--
as I said, through the Flying Burrito Brothers--
and we went to a funeral for Clarence White, who was the
guitar player for the Byrds.
And Gram and everybody there were saying, if Clarence had
his choice, if would definitely not have been his
choice of a funeral-- it would have been a
little bit more subtle.
So Gram and I had a few sherbets, and we each said, if
I die first, I want you to take my body out to the desert
and burn it.
I said, me too.
Is it a deal?
And we shook on it.
Course the asshole died several months later.
And I'm sitting around the house playing should've.
I should've been with him, I shouldn't have let him do
this, I should've--
So anyhow, my girlfriend says, get off your ass and to do it.
So I did.
I borrowed a hearse from a friend, went out to LAX and
convinced them that the family wanted the body flown out to
New Orleans.
TIM HARRINGTON: So you just took him out to Joshua Tree?
PHIL KAUFMAN: I took him out to Joshua Tree and opened up
the casket.
We used to play this game-- what have you got something on
your shirt?
That was the last thing he got from me.
And then I put the gas on him and said see you around pal.
I lit a match and threw it in.
It went-- boom.
It was a big flame ball of oxygen as the gasoline
ignited, and I could see his ashes
going up into the desert.
I said, my job's done here.
And then we left.
A couple of days later the police arrested me for grand
theft Parsons.
TIM HARRINGTON: You produced Manson's record.
PHIL KAUFMAN: Yeah.
TIM HARRINGTON: Is it true you worked on it?
PHIL KAUFMAN: Yeah, Charlie--
Charlie Manson.
I've got the original copies inside.
TIM HARRINGTON: Oh yeah?
PHIL KAUFMAN: Yeah, I'll show you.
I heard him singing in the prison yard--
he sounded like a young Frankie Laine.
So when I got out, I stayed with Charlie and the family
for awhile.
I have had sex with more murderers than
anybody in show business.
But then Charlie got a little crazy and I said, I got to go.
He said, you can't stay here-- you're too smart.
TIM HARRINGTON: He's like, you've got to be the smartest
one around.
PHIL KAUFMAN: You can't be smart
hanging out with Charlie--
Charlie does the thinking.
Here's something-- the original Charles Manson
album-- we only did 300 of them, but it's been bootlegged
for quite a few years now.
He gave me the rights to his music-- and this is just taken
from 1/4 inch tape-- it's not a very good mix, but it's the
original one.
He used to call me occasionally, and the last
time he called me he was rambling on and on.
And I said, Charlie, the difference between you and I
is that you're doing life and I'm living it.
He said, you think that's funny?
I said it's fucking hysterical--
don't call me again.
And I hung up on him and I haven't heard from him since.
I hope I haven't offended him.
Those murderers are so touchy.
TIM HARRINGTON: Was part of your job ever involving
scoring tail for the bands?
Or have they got that covered on this own?
PHIL KAUFMAN: If somebody sees somebody they like--
a girl--
we'll wave at her.
I'll just give her a backstage pass and then bring her back.
Like Sweet Connie--
you ever heard of Sweet Connie?
Connie was a schoolteacher in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she
used to come out--
can I say "blow job?"
TIM HARRINGTON: You can say blow job, you can say, suck
cock-- you can say whatever you want.
PHIL KAUFMAN: She would come back to service the band and
then do their laundry when they come to her town.
And then some of them would fly her out there-- and she'd
do the same thing--
and I've seen the top of her head.
But she's notorious--
everybody knows Sweet Connie.
TIM HARRINGTON: I want to know Sweet Connie.
PHIL KAUFMAN: She's in a book.
These are pictures in my book.
My job is to get them to work as gracefully as possible,
plug them in in, and out of their.
Way I don't like the them and us attitude that some
musicians have.
The roadies are them--
and then the musicians are [INAUDIBLE]
We're all together.
These guys aren't plugging it in, you ain't shit.
TIM HARRINGTON: You're a lifer?
PHIL KAUFMAN: I'm a lifer, yeah.
But it's show-business God I love it.
TIM HARRINGTON: Good ol' Mangler.
I was just getting started in my stories about Zappa, and
Morrison, and Joe Cocker, but I had to go to meet
Nashville guy, Ben.
What is this place?
BEN SWANK: This is our record store, where we sell all of
our Third Man wares.
So the idea is like, the old Sun
Records or Fortune Records--
something like that-- where you record the records in the
back and then sell them in the front.
So we only sell Third Man stuff.
All of our miscellany, t-shirts, 45 [INAUDIBLE]
all kinds of random novelty, and junk.
TIM HARRINGTON: The dude that sells black
lacquer in town is psyched.
BEN SWANK: He's psyched.
We do a lot of shows back too.
A few of Jack's bands played, obviously--
all the bands on the label play here.
TIM HARRINGTON: So this is a live--
BEN SWANK: The live room-- holds about 300 people.
This is where we do photo shoots,
video shoots back here.
Far as we know, it's the only venue where you can record
straight to analog tape.
TIM HARRINGTON: Straight to analog tape.
BEN SWANK: Jack produces and mixes all of the [INAUDIBLE]
albums himself--
so he's really hands on with all of it.
TIM HARRINGTON: That's cool.
For me, I'm really into whale-watching.
You lay down--
naked--
and you look down, and you're trying to give yourself a
boner without touching.
And it kind of like, flops around like a whale.
And you can look down, and be like, whoa, she breached.
BEN SWANK: I've never done that.
TIM HARRINGTON: [INAUDIBLE]
BEN SWANK: See that's weird.
We just met.
I'm sensitive.
TIM HARRINGTON: I understand.
Oh man, I always get a little too friendly
and mess things up.
Ben doesn't seem too mad though--
he said he's going to take me to Glen Danzig's house.
It's like a house party place, where these dudes put on shows
in their house, and I was like, yes.
While these guys set up a show, I can work on my new
Nashville-inspired, four-part, electronic opus.
[ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING]
TIM HARRINGTON: Is that a longstanding tradition in
Nashville to have a black-out [INAUDIBLE] --
to have punk spaces?
BEN TODD: Sort of.
It comes and goes.
I usually run the door and run the sound and make sure bands
are going on time.
TIM HARRINGTON: What's happening tonight?
Let's talk about the lineup.
BEN TODD: Having a show with Big Surr, Cy Barkley and the
Way Outsiders, and Natural Child.
TIM HARRINGTON: Natural Child, I really like.
BEN TODD:Local lords.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
TIM HARRINGTON: Which member of Natural Child are you?
WES: I'm Wes.
TIM HARRINGTON: What do you do?
WES: I play bass and sing.
ZACH: I'm Zach.
TIM HARRINGTON: What do you do?
ZACH: I play drums.
TIM HARRINGTON: Piss McMurray.
What do you do?
- I pee turned around at interviews.
TIM HARRINGTON: Watch out-- it's hitting your shoes.
- It's all right--
I've got boots on.
TIM HARRINGTON: You guys are road dogs.
Where are you guys from?
WES: Nashville, Tennessee.
TIM HARRINGTON: Right here?
What do you guys travel in when you're on tour?
- A minivan.
TIM HARRINGTON: Mini V?
- But don't show it because we don't want the police to know.
TIM HARRINGTON: How long are you on the road for when
you're on tour?
Long stints?
Little short runs?
- Never more than two or three weeks.
TIM HARRINGTON: I thought you said you guys were road dogs.
- Well, we are.
That's good.
See, listen--
if you tour too much.
TIM HARRINGTON: Lapdogs.
I thought you guys were like a big ol' Turner & Hooch dog,
but now I'm like, [INAUDIBLE] chihuahuas.
- We're all tired, and you lose your shit.
You get sick--
everybody gets sick at least one on tour--
it's terrible.
TIM HARRINGTON: You roll into the club--
what's the vibe?
What vibe do you want, when you're like, this
is going to be good?
- Everybody handing us weed.
Smoking [INAUDIBLE] the bar.
TIM HARRINGTON: Let's hear it for the Natural Seed.
Let's wrap it up.
What have I learned in Nashville?
One, I want Mangler to be my dad.
Two, I want to live in Third Man Records.
Three, I want to hang out at Glen Danzig's house every
night for the rest of my life.
[YELLING]
TIM HARRINGTON: So there's only three
cities left to hit--
and one of them is on the other side of the country.
Time to see if my road dog tendencies
are still in tiz-act.