Hawk,will you play"summertime blues"for us tonight?
I think I can fit that in.
you know,I listen to you in bed before I go to sleep.
Your voice feels so close.Like you're in bed with me.
What's your name,darlin'?
Gloria.
I hope you have sweet dreams tonight,gloria.
mic's starting to pick that up, bones.
Yeah,I called maintenance times.
Sorry,about that, hawk. I'm on it.
All right. You got something for me?
Check out the latest roy hamilton single.
Sounds like it's in -D.
Yeah,heard about that. New thing called stereo.
You gonna play it,hawk?
Only if I like it.
Aw,it's smokin',hawk.
Someday,I'm gonna buy a gibson guitar just like the one on that song.
Hold on,elvis. Let's get to work.
Hey,hey,philly.It's your cool rockin' daddy the hawk,
comin' at you live on wixa.
Can you hear the sound,philly? I heard it last night at the locust club.
It was doing funny things to the people.
It made their bodies sweat, made their hips shake.
I want you to turn it up, philly!
I want you to turn up that rock and roll music!
You're dialed into the hawk and this is gene vincent with "say mama!"
Let's slow it down for a sec for a little ballad called "scarlet rose."
a filmmaker doing a documentary on ' s rock dj john hawkins.
Oh,the hawk?
My mom used to go to his sock hops.
Said he was pretty wild.
Late ' s were a crazy time to be a kid.
You a rocker,boss?
I had a radio.
Detective rush, this is tom bergin.
Tom's been looking at a tape recording that began seconds after hawkins d*ed.
Didn't hawkins...
yeah,comb his hair with a . live on the air?
So they thought. Apparently,as hawkins slumped over,
his hand hit a control that started an in-studio tape recorder.
He taped his shows?
Yeah,for reruns.
And no one's heard this before?
Years ago,but no one's heard what I've heard.
No one had this equipment.
This thing ready yet?
One sec.First I had the tape transferred on m-audio,
and then I flipped it to logic pro
because it totally leverages the new mac pci-dsp card.
Hey,guy.
No one understands a word you're saying.
Right,right. Here we go.
this is right after the g*nsh*t.I'm gonna lower the sound of the record.
All you'll hear is the ambience in the dj booth.
footsteps?
Hawkins wasn't in there alone.
could be a door, someone leaving.
Then it's quiet for minutes until the janitor rain.
So either hawkins woke from the dead and walked out of there...
or his m*rder*r did.
hawkins got top billing over the musicians?
Radio djs were as big as the rock stars.
Alan freed in new york, wolfman jack in L.A.
And the hawk here in philly.
Can't even name a dj on the air now.
Back then they were the tastemakers,scotty.
They picked the songs, made or broke careers.
Hawk could've been the target of some wannabe rock star.
Or some record company suit. That was the time of payola.
Dj's taking bribes from record companies to play songs.
Far as we know,hawk never took any payouts.
Real fan of the music.Wasn't afraid to play black artists to white teens.
You a fan?
Nah. I like country music.
Country?
Yeah,I dj'd in college.
This is will jeffries coming at you live.
Here's hank williams with "my son calls another man daddy."
just when you think you know someone.
the ' theory was su1c1de. Looked self-inflicted.
They didn't have our forensics back then.
Divorced at . Ex-wife inherited his money.
Good motive,except that he was broke.
Maybe she found out after the fact.
Even if she's not the doer,first wives know all the dirt.
Excuse me.
Hey,ally, everything okay?
I don't know. It's your brother.
He stopped going to work.
What?
Mike's been in bed for three days straight.
So he's sick?
Not according to the doctor.
He hasn't been the same since that day you came over.
What are you talking about?
What'd you say to him,scotty?
Nothing.We were just talking.
I'm scared,okay?
he sleeps all day.At night,he wanders around the house like a ghost.
Okay,listen... I'll stop by today.
Okay.
Mike will be fine.
We married young. He was a free spirit.
I wanted kids,a simple,quiet life,and he wanted...
to rock and roll?
my father was a musician.
I knew firsthand how tough a show business life could be.
Did you stay in touch with your ex-husband much?
Oh,goodness,no.
I remarried,started a family.I didn't want the likes of john around.
Where were you the night he was sh*t,dottie?
Oh,really,now. I was at home with my family.
When did you last see john?
a month before he d*ed.
years since I'd last seen him.
I was selling our house.
He agree to that?
It was bought with my money,but back then
a woman could only get a loan if a man cosigned.
Different times.
How was john when you saw him?
Same as always.In the middle of a mess.
asthat's right,kids,zip toothpaste!
Keep your smile hip.
brush with zip.
How you been,dot?
Good.
- When you called,I thought...
- just sign the bottom,john.
How's the family?
Everyone's fine.
You know,I heard a record by your dad the other day.
he sound like a drunken fool?
No,sounded like a great bass player.
You promised to play the song i wrote,hawk! What the hell happened?
You been drinking?
I had a bunch of friends and this girl sally from the roller rink.
They were all at the drive-in tuned into the show,waiting to hear my song.
"Belly button rock"?
Yeah,that's it. What happened?
I listened to it.
And?
It's not so hot,bones.
You saying I got no talent?
No. I'm saying I only play what I like.
Baloney sandwich,hawk.
You play whatever the record company pays you to play.
You know that is not true.
How 'bout i get my dad to buy you one of them new skylarks,huh?
You play my song then?
I'm not for sale. I never was. I never will be.
I'm sorry you had to see this,donna.
But I told sally I'd be on the radio.
I'd do anything for you,bones,anything to help you,
but you know how I am about the music,right?
All right,then. Go on,now.
Sally will still dig you.Rock 'n' roll star or not.
Better lock up that g*n of yours,hawk.
Excuse me?
You never know who could get to it.
Is that a thr*at,buddy?
You can't keep stomping on people's dreams all the time and get away with it.
Whose g*n was that?
John'S. Always kept it at work.
So many crazies out there.
Sounds like bones was one of them.
Heard you had a meltdown with your boss,the hawk.
I had dreams.
Thought hawk didn't appreciate the next elvis.
Well,maybe you found his g*n,
made him appreciate you.
came back the next day,hat in hand,and hawk forgave me.
You were at the station the night he was k*lled.
I was,uh,djing a party that night,so I left.
Plenty of witnesses.
Well,the truth is,his career advice saved me from years of futility.
Your songs were that bad?
terrible.
But I could still recognize talent in others.
Built a career on that.
Congratulations.
Yeah. I learned what music really was from the hawk.
one in a million,that guy.
Think of anyone who'd want to hurt him?
Well... lot of people didn't care for him,sure,
but one guy had more than a garden-variety beef with him.
Grab your partner grab your gal and rock...
you feel that b*at?
Now when this song kicks in,
I want you kids to shake it.
can you shake it?
I don't think you heard me.I said,can you shake it?!
Well,all right! Let's go!
hey,hawkins?
Your mama colored?
Come again?
I figure she must be,you like playing this jumpity-squawk so much.
It's rock and roll.
Why don't you take the stick out of your tail and enjoy the b*at?
Carli chester?
You recall that name?
No. Should I?
She's one of the girls you got out there dancing like a whore.
Take a look,mister.Those kids are alive,cause they can feel the music.
Carli is years old.
She's my little girl,and she's in trouble.
Trouble?
Month ago she went to one of your sock hops.
Says she met you at a party afterwards.
I meet a lot of fans.
You did more than meet my daughter.
I'm afraid you've been misinformed.
You're calling my little girl a liar,sir?
No,but I'm not the father.
You either take responsibility,
or I'm gonna fit you for a pine-jacket.
Understand me,buster?
turn it up,bones.
You got it,hawk!
teeny-boppers always did love the hawk.
Sounds like he did some lovin' back.
Kind that gets you arrested.
Or sh*t in the head with a . .
You recall a rock dj known as the hawk,lloyd?
Never did care for that kind of music.
He got your daughter pregnant back in ' .
I was wrong about that.
How so?
My daughter lied.
It was her moron boyfriend who's now my moron son-in-law.
Thought hawkins k*lled himself.
He was m*rder*d.
Not surprised to hear it.
That right?
I saw him in a neighborhood diner time to time.
Two ships passing in the night.
You want to elaborate?
A few months before he d*ed,
I took my family to breakfast before sunday services.
He was there.
Coming off of a late night?
And getting into trouble with a young girl again.
You know what they say about a racetrack?
It's a place where windows clean people.
That right?
You look familiar. Have we met?
On the radio.
I'm your # fan. You can call me jenny.
Jenny. It's a nice name.
People said you come here a lot.I hope I'm not bothering you.
Not at all,kid.
Will you play "my kind of dream" for me tonight?
Sure.
what's your kind of dream,jenny?
Gettin' out of this town.
Goin' where?
Anywhere.
It's a nice place- anywhere.I've been there myself many times.
It's got to be better than secretarial school.
That so bad?
It's a train ride to squaresville.
see,I wt to be a singer.
Get in line. That's a hard dream.
But it's mine.People in line aren't my problem.
You sure are feisty,jenny.
Born that way.
what the hell you doing with gramps?
None of your business,skiz.
We're going now.
Get off of me!
Why don't you take a walk? Cool off.
Why don't you keep your nose out of it,old man,before I break it for you?
Kid,you rode in here on a bicycle.
I'm quaking in my boots.
I'm staying,skiz,so scat.
Woot de do.
This skiz clown-- know his real name?
Scott sienkovic.
I remember because he made the front page of the papers a few months later.
Boy scout of the year?
Armed robbery.
sh*t a bank teller.
Had it out for hawkins big time,skiz.
And we know you're not shy with a firearm.
Grown man going after a girl half his age.
Guy deserved to get sh*t.
You want to tell us where you were the night he d*ed?
Bowling at the thunderbird lanes.Me and other kids heard that needle skip.
we'll check that out,skiz.
Woot de do.
This jenny-- she your girlfriend long?
Couple of months,before she got all obsessed with hawkins.
How obsessed?
She kept calling the radio,
writing him letters,
talking about him nonstop.
You know,real psycho stuff.
You think they had an affair?
Must have.
Why else would she give two pennies about that loser?
Sounds like it was a one-way street.
She got crazier and crazier over it.
One night we were in front of a real rock star,
and as usual,all she cared about was the hawk.
All right! Now here's the one you've been waiting for--
little richard!
skiz,you got to help me get to the hawk.
Stop acting nutso,jenny.
I got to see him. You don't understand!
He's an old coot. Why do you care?
Don't talk about him like that!
You're on your own,dollface.
do this,we'll go park later.
Promise?
You helping me get to him or not?
Woot de do.
We got to talk to the hawk.
Yeah,and I got a date with jayne mansfield.
You think you're funny?
Hawk!
hey! Why'd you stop taking my calls?
I've been busy,jenny.
You shouldn't even be back here,all right?
I just...I just want to talk.
About what?
Us.
Us?
Jenny,there is no us.
I made it for you.
play it. You'll understand everything.
I'll never forget you.
"Scarlet rose."
Same song hawk was playing on the radio when he was k*lled.
Know where we can find this jenny?
Ran into her after I got out of jail.
All married.Mrs. Jenny monahan.
Pretended like she didn't know me.
That's a surprise.
Can I get out of here?
Yeah.
Sounds like we got a groupie gone wild.
At ,you think your first love's your last.
Yeah. Every fan knew where the hawk broadcast.
I wonder if jenny found her way there.
And found the hawk's g*n.
what's going on,mike?
What do you mean?
This.
It's got to be be some kind of virus.
Think I can afford to miss work?
The doc says you're okay physically.
Oh,he's just pissed I'm late with his bills.
da called me again.
Yeah,this coach fitzpatrick thing.
The case is... falling apart.
The only guy who agreed to testify is getting scared.
He might go south on the stand.
Judge could toss it.
- You sure you don't remember anything?
- No way.
I ask because...
there was this one night you came home from practice.
Oh,god,scotty,that was a long time ago.
Yeah,but I remember,'cause... you were pretty messed up.
You slept in your clothes.
you okay,mike?
I'm fine.
Go to sleep.
Something happen at practice?
No.
Hey,why are you being so quiet?
Just don't go there no more,okay?
Don't go near the coach.
Why?
You want to play guess?
Come on.
Guess this song.
you got it?
Scotty,I'm too tired,okay?
Okay.
We'll play tomorrow night.
All right. Night,mikey.
Night.
I don't remember that night.
Well,what about that song?
No.
You're sure?
I'm tired,scotty.
That was the only time I ever saw you get so... bummed out.
I mean,you were crying...
if I was bawling,it was probably because that weasel jay shortz cheap-shotted me.
Yeah. Probably.
We'll talk later,all right? I'm just b*at.
Okay.
you don't get better soon,I'm going to pound you.
Oh,yeah,that'll be the day.
How about a little music?
May I?
interesting lyrics you wrote for the hawk.
How'd you get that record?
Bones kept all of hawk's stuff,
including the song he was playing when you k*lled him.
Me? Oh,you're joking,right?
Back then it was called a teenage crush.
Now we call it stalking.
I was a lonely,confused kid, not a m*rder*r.
Can't just take your word for it,jenny.
I was at home that night with my sisters.
Believe me,hawk had bigger problems than a lovesick teenybopper.
What kind of problems we talking?
One night... I snuck into the station to see him.
I got an idea of what he was up against.
Meaning what?
The record companies.
They were always trying to make him take payola.
Hawk doesn't sound like the kind of dj that would take money to play a song.
Well,that didn't stop them from trying.
Thanks,ben.
Didn't know you were buying dinner tonight.
I sent you a record last week,expected it on the air by now.
I'm not for sale.
Everyone's for sale.
Funny,I heard you play one of my groups today.
Hey,I got nothing against your label.
Was it that new warner mack tune? That's pretty hot.
No,the darts,"square town."
Oh,bones picked that one.
I give him a pick each day.
And he chose mine.
are you saying that bones took money to play a song?
Bones understands the game.
Djs like you are dinosaurs.
That right?
We've got the money,the artists,the control.
Radio is just my personal handshake to the buying public.
And if the buying public doesn't want it?
One choice of entree you eat, what's on the plate.
You know what?People like you take everything that is real and good
and you turn it into tinsel.
But the worst part...
tinsel-man... is that you don't even know it.
Oh,so you're the big sh*t celebrity with all the answers,that it?
No,I'm just like the kids.
I'm a fan. I'm a damned fan of the music.
Now,if you will excuse me,I have to sell some toothpaste.
You give my best to bones.
That's right! Zip toothpaste!
If you want to keep your smile hip,
you'd better brush with some zip!
Gave up the singing career then and there.
Saw how cutthroat it was.
That the last time you saw the hawk?
He looked crushed.
So the hawk knew bones was on the take.
And maybe hawk was going to do something about it.
Your career is over if authorities knew you were taking payola,right,bones?
Fcc was cracking down,lot of people's lives ruined over that.
You can't prove I took money.
We don't care about payola in ' .
We care about who k*lled john hawkins.
Hawk confront you on what you did?
The same night he found out.
Keep talking.
I never meant to betray him.
But you did,bones.
It didn't matter.
Something had already changed in him.
If I get my own show,
you girls are my first guests.
Bones,we got to talk.
Hawk! Have a seat.
This is,uh,this is gigi,and this is lulu.
Gilugilu.
You mind,girls?
We need some privacy.
hurry back.
What are you doing here,bones?
Mr. Ockley invited me.This is some shindig,huh?
I got two chicks after me. Can you believe that?
They're hookers,bones.
Wh-what?
No,lulu's A dance student, and gigi's A...
stripper.
I've seen her act,umbrellas.
you're fooling.
I know you took money to play that darts song.
It was just one song.
That one song means that they've got me over a barrel.
I don't understand...
I could go to jail...
because of what you did.
Mr. Ockley says it's how the game's played.
You know what the game is,bones?
It's the music and the fans who love it.
And then there's all this.
The dealmakers,the sellouts,the price of your soul.
I'm sorry,hawk.
I'm so sorry.
What are you gonna do?
I don't know,maybe leave philly for a while.
What about your show?
Aw,to hell with it.
To hell with all of this.
I got something more important in my life now.
Jenny.
but she's just a fan.
No.
She's more than that.
Me and her gonna take a little trip out west.
Hawk...
I just wanted to be a winner.
Like you.
You always were,kid.
Steep price. We all paid.
Some more than others.
So jenny and hawk were going away together?
That was the plan.
But,the next night, hawk was dead.
Funny how jenny failed to mention her travel plans with hawk.
Failed to mention a lot more than that.
Follow me.That documentary dude? He's got nothing on me.
Check it out.
Lyrics to "scarlet rose."
See,the way jenny reacted to that song got me thinking.
We already heard the lyrics,nick.
Well,I've been on the phone with ascap all day.
What's that?
The american society of composers.
And it turns out there were some lyrics that jenny didn't record.
Really?
Like that elton john song "daniel"? You know what that's about?
A guy missing his brother daniel.
Yeah,but you never know the reason why 'cause of the verses he left out about vietnam.
"Daniel's" about vietnam?
How do you know that?
The ascap chick told me.See,changes the entire meaning.
So look at the lyrics that jenny didn't record.
So dream your sweet little dreams,and I will kiss your tiny cheek
and though I must leave now know,that you'll always be with me
I offer up this prayer,that everywhere she goes,
please protect my baby,my sweet,sweet scarlet rose.
Song is registered under the name john hawkins.
Circa .
So the hawk wrote it,not jenny?
Sounds like a lullaby.
Well,maybe jenny wasn't his girlfriend.
My money says she's his daughter.
john hawkins was your father, not your heartthrob.
He divorced dottie when you were four.
Why keep that secret,jenny?
I never considered him my father.He left. I never saw him again.
So whyrack him down?
Maybe cause you wanted to tell hawk what it felt like to be abandoned?
And maybe he rejected you again.
So you start sneaking into the station.
You're wrong.It wasn't like that...
come on,jenny.Your father let you down once,then twice.
So you made him pay...
no!
Finding him was the best thing that ever happened to me.
When did you tell him who you were?
The night little richard played When I gave him my record.
I couldn't leave. I had to find him.
I used to play this song for...a little girl I knew.
I used to sit her up right next to me like a princess.
Was her middle name rosemary?
Jennifer rosemary hawkins.
I used to tell her that scarlet roses were the prettiest in the world.
Just like his little girl.
Your scarlet rose.
I was so afraid to tell you.
So you did it in a song.
You listened to it?
It's beautiful.
Six months ago I found some old photos mom hid away.
When we were a family.
You remembered me at all?
I never forgot you
I want you to understand why I had to leave.
It doesn't matter now.
No.I was living for myself.I was constantly on the move.
One year in new york,next year in L.A.
Lots of cigarettes and booze and...
lots of static.
Dottie was right. It was...it was no place for a kid.
I wouldn't have cared.
How 'bout we take that trip to anywhere?
Let me make up for lost time.
What about your show?
I told 'em I was going to take a little time off to spend with my family.
We talked about leaving in a couple of weeks.
He said I could sing backup with a band in california.
But all I cared about was having my dad back.
Well,how'd your mom take the news?
I never told her.
You sure?
Might get her upset.
That might even go talk to the hawk.
Try to stop him.
Everything my mom did was because she loved me.
I understand you and hawk had a daughter?
Jenny was legally adopted by my second husband.
Still. It's,uh...strange how you left that out.
John was never much of a father. So,uh,it didn't matter.
What about your own father?
What does he have to do with this?
Your mom d*ed young,and your father raised you.
The musician?
If you can call playing at holiday inns along route being a musician.
d*ed on the road at age .
su1c1de.
I can see how jenny wanting to be a singer was upsetting.
She wouldn't listen to me.
She thought her passion was enough to give it a try.
Passion is for fools.
Passion is a fifth grade girl finding her dad hanging dead in a motel bathroom.
You'd do anything to keep jenny from ending up like that.
I was trying to protect her.
But she was determined.
And she wanted her real dad to help make her dreams come true.
And what does he do?
He encourages her. Invites her to california to sing.
My god.
You went to the studio that night,didn't you,dottie?
To stop him.
I went there to talk.
I swear,just to talk.
Jenny told me everything.
You stay away from her.
She's my daughter,too,dottie.
No.
A daughter is someone you raise.
Someone you take to girl scouts,
someone you make dinner for every night,
whose tears you wipe when she cries.
I want to be there for her now.
You just want to fill her head with nonsense.
No,I want her to dream.Or to at least try,dottie,don't take away her dreams.
You abandoned us.
You're a selfish son of a bitch,and you always will be.
I'm not that man anymore.
You will ruin her life
Poison her with silly notions of singing.
She is good,dottie. She is really good.
I've heard enough...
no,I want you to hear this,all right.
She's got talent, She's got real talent.
Let's slow it down for a sec for a little ballad called
"scarlet rose."
dottie.
I can't lose her,john.
Take it easy,dottie.
Take it easy.
Don't fill her with dreams.
Dreams just break your heart.
Gimme that thing,dottie.
Come on now,sweetheart,come on.
That's right.Okay.
Scarlet rose... scarlet rose...