Phil Spector Walks?!

Over the past six months I have been totally obsessed with the Lana Clarkson - Phil Spector murder trial. Being a rock-music-obsessed child of the 1960s I was always a fan of Phil's. He was the millionaire boy genius of pop; the king of record producers, the short nerdy Jewish guy who got the Hollywood mansion and the hot shiksa wife, Ronnie, his superstar. Spector was a role model to many in the day, such as Stones' producer/manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Phil produced some of the most perfect records in pop history; including the Crystals' "He's A Rebel" and "Da Doo Ron Ron;" the Ronnettes' "Baby I Love You" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus;" and the Righteous Brothers' operatic epics "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "Unchained Melody." His grand vision rescued the faltering Beatles' final 1970 album, Let It Be, where he crafted an expansive tour de force from run-of-the-mill demo tapes (compare a listen with McCartney's recent de-Spectorized Let It Be, Naked). Watching the trial I was torn between my admiration of Phillip and love of his work, and the fact that he may be a cold-blooded killer. I wanted to believe in his innocence.

Thanks to Dish Network's DVR set-top boxes, fast-forwarding, and Court TV, I was able to experience most of the trial in my living room. I ultimately came to believe that Phil Spector is guilty. There seems to be two Phil Spectors: "Phillip" the good - who is charming, funny, creative, generous, and smart - and "Phil," the evil one -- the belligerent, drunk, lying, threatening, gun-toting loudmouth. Over the months it became painfully obvious that he played a huge part in Lana Clarkson's demise. She met Phillip, and then when she wanted to leave, encountered Phil. Either he put the gun in her face and it went off - struggle or no struggle - or he just shot her, on purpose or accidentally. We may never know. Only two people know what transpired in that foyer that night on Feb. 3, 2003 -- and one is dead and the other is not talking.

As for Lana Clarkson - she was killed twice. First physically by Spector, and then by Spector's all-star defense team - who's central tactic was to totally degrade her as an actress and person turn her into a desperate suicide case. They called her a drunk, a drug addict and a loser. Instead, by the trial's end I felt I really got to know and like her, and even experienced her death as almost a personal loss. While she may have been a struggling 40-year old actress who had seen better parts, she regularly appeared as a cult attraction at comic book and sci-fi conventions for her fans from her Barbarian Queen days. (Yes, she had fans). In reality her last year of life had been spent recuperating from two broken wrists which sidelined her career for almost a year. Her wrist casts had only recently come off.

Compliments of the defense I met her friends and business associates (including her agent, and the director Michael Bay), heard her inner-most thoughts and fears via email and letters, saw lots of interesting photos of her in life (she was almost always smiling), learned all about her precarious personal finances, and even met her mother, who seemed to be the nice mom we all wish we had. Besides the gruesome crime scene photos and pictures of her autopsied bruised tongue (which Court TV did not show, but I found via the web - god bless the internet) we also saw Lana's recent self-produced promo DVD where she portrayed a wide range of comedic characters specifically for the benefit of casting directors. While the DVD's technical values seemed to be lacking (a fact overemphasized by the defense) it was nonetheless very impressive. One could imagine her as a character actress on a Tracey Ullman or Larry David show. And strangely, I learned we have all seen Lana Clarkson for years - as an anonymous actress in numerous films, commercials and print ads. At one point I stupidly thought, "if she were alive today she would be huge." But now, thanks to meeting Phil, she is big-time famous, dead, and a permanent part of Hollywood legend. She is buried near her idol, Marilyn Monroe.

At the trial we also heard from some of her "best friends forever," the most repugnant of them was Punkin Pie Laughton, a 40-something "club promoter." We all want best friends like her. She was the defense's key witness who pulled together their absurd suicide theory, claiming that in the months leading up to the shooting Lana had confided in her that she was extremely depressed about her life. But despite Punkin's statements about Lana's mental health, if true, she apparently did very little to help her "friend." Furthermore, months after the "suicide" Ms. Pie sent out a 2004 Christmas card which essentially said (sic) "Phil Spector took my Lana." When the prosecution questioned her about the card, she had no real explanation for her flip-flop. Yet she still insisted that Lana was ready to check out. Punkin (yes, that is her correct spelling) happens to work at a rock club, the Backstage Cafe, owned by the the two sons of Barney Kessel, the late guitarist and Spector friend. The sons have both maintained a very close family-like relationship with Phil their entire lives. Spector may even be an investor in their club. For more voyeuristic pleasure, go to Punkin's cluttered MySpace page. If you can read the text over the background photo, in it she claims to be 21, as well as professes to be the lead groupie on which the rock film "Almost Famous" was based upon. She includes photos of herself partying with many 2nd and 3rd tier rock celebrities, including Poison's C.C. DeVille and Lief Garrett. At the top she also writes: "Take a Moment to Remember "Lana Clarksen" Today and Always." Too bad she spelled BFF Lana's last name wrong.

Much about Phil's past was strangely absent from the trial. Where was his second wife Veronica, a.k.a. Ronnie Ronette, who wrote a book about their abusive relationship? or his other ex-wives? or the engineer who worked that John Lennon session when a drunken Phil fired a shot into the studio ceiling? And what about Leonard Cohen, who had a falling out with Spector while making Death of a Ladies Man in 1977. Leonard Cohen was allegedly threatened by a drunken, gun-toting Spector, and was later banned from the studio by armed bodyguards. He contends he was never allowed back to properly finish the album.

And where were the many other witnesses to Phil's tantrums and threats over the years? or his past arrest records for numerous assaults? Before the trial started eighteen women came forward with stories of being threatened with a gun to the face by Spector. Unfortunately Judge Fidler only allowed five of the women to testify.

The most important absentee was Phillip's long-time personal assistant, Michelle Blaine, who also has a close family-like history with Spector. Michelle Blaine is the daughter of Hal Blaine, the L.A. session drummer extraordinaire who headed The Wrecking Crew, the group of talented and prolific 1960's L.A. session musicians who were Spector's backup musicians of choice for many years. Following the shooting Spector spent :40 minutes in the house alone, cleaning up. The gun had obviously been wiped down and placed back in the "murder" scene; Lana's face was also wiped. Not a single call to 911 was ever made from inside the house, despite the fact that there were something like 14 working telephones. If someone accidentally shot themselves in your foyer, wouldn't you call the police immediately? Why would you start cleaning up? And what about the eighteen or so additional firearms found in the house? The jury was only allowed to hear about three guns - the ones which used the same caliber bullets that killed Clarkson. A large garbage bag of those same bullets was found in an upstairs bedroom. Hopefully they can subpeona Michelle at the next trial, which will either be the civil wrongful death suit or the murder retrial.

So in the end the jury was ultimately hung at 10 to 2 in favor of conviction. It all came to down to one juror, the Morman Foreman - the know-it-all engineer holdout who manipulated a second juror to take his stubborn beyond-any-doubt position. I guess the moral of the story (if there is one) is that if you have millions of dollars to spend on multiple attorneys and multiple forensic experts you can pretty much manufacture reasonable doubt in the jury room. Especially with five or so Medical Experts who each had a slightly different theory on the blood spatter. And all you need is one asshole. Also in LA I think people who are so closely aligned with the entertainment industry are reticent to convict one of their own. They still have to work.

As for Court TV, I have a lot of issues about the disjointed way they televised the trial. The first issue is: the trial was on the West Coast! Which means the court day does not get started in New York until almost 1PM and ran until 7PM. Why did they shorten the "Closing Arguments" show and give Star Jones the 4PM slot for her "talk show?" Her show is more about her than anything else and is a step down for Court TV. Everything important in the trial happened in the afternoon here in NY. So there was actually very little "live" coverage. Everything seemed to be broken up into short prerecorded "sound bite" segments, many of which were annoyingly played and replayed countless times. I was ready to shoot my TV whenever they ran their stock overview of the murder, which they must have shown over 500 times.

I did get to "meet" a lot of intriguing guests on Court TV's trial coverage: like Darlene Love, La La Brooks (the fabulous Crystal's lead singer), Annette Kleinbard (from the Teddy Bears), engineer Larry Levine, a few Spector biographers, neighbors, and even his children, including two of his adopted sons, and his smart biological daughter, Nicole. Even Phil's boisterous new wife, Rachelle, made an appearance. Strangely, not one of his recording artists made any appearances pro or con in the courtroom. I guess they still need their royalty checks from Phil - if they are lucky enough to get one.

But part of me can't help still admire Phillip, the Good Spector — not Evil Phil. Many of the songs he wrote and produced will live forever as a permanent part of American Culture. Just listen the that final cresendo in "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." Spectacular. (Anytime the film "Dirty Dancing" or "Ghost" is shown, Phil gets a check). But his artistic legacy does not allow him the right to take someone else's life.

I can't stop thinking about the refrain from an early 1970s, Spector-produced song by John Lennon: "How do you sleep?"