MRS. P's STORY REPORT: Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert - A Novel By Bob The Drag Queen - Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500

Summary3 min read

Podcast Summary: Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500
Episode: MRS. P's STORY REPORT: Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert - A Novel By Bob The Drag Queen
Release Date: April 23, 2025

Introduction

In this special episode of Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500, host Pearlmania500 (referred to as Mrs. P) delves into the novel "Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert" by Bob The Drag Queen. The episode transforms into an engaging story report where Pearlmania500 provides an in-depth analysis of the book, breaking down its themes, characters, and historical reinterpretations. The episode serves as an insightful exploration suitable for listeners interested in history, music, and contemporary reimaginations of historical figures.

Overview of the Novel

"Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert" presents a unique fusion of history and modern music culture. In the novel, Harriet Tubman returns to the 21st century with a mission to bridge the past and present through a hip-hop spiritual album. She enlists the help of Darnell, a modern-day music producer, to create an album that narrates the journey of slavery and emancipation through contemporary sounds.

Notable Quote:
Bob the Drag Queen at [00:29]: "But you know who does do it justice? Mrs. P. Over here. As she explains to us this entire book."

Key Characters and Dynamics

Harriet Tubman: Reimagined as a musical visionary aiming to educate and inspire through her album.
Darnell: A modern music producer grappling with his understanding of Tubman's experiences and mission.
Odessa: A mixed-race character introduced as part of Harriet's supporting band, embodying the nuanced lives of former slaves.
Buck (DJ Quakes): The enigmatic DJ with a deep understanding of preconceptions and societal norms.

Notable Quote:
Narrator at [06:22]: "I want to hear what you have to say."

Major Themes and Discussions

Historical Reinterpretation: The novel explores slavery and emancipation through a contemporary lens, making historical struggles relatable to modern audiences.

Notable Quote:
Darnell at [23:02]: "There's a big market for this."
Music as a Narrative Tool: Harriet Tubman's decision to create a hip-hop album serves as a metaphor for using modern mediums to tell historical stories, emphasizing the enduring power of music in societal change.
Intergenerational Dialogue: The interactions between Tubman and Darnell highlight the gaps and bridges between generations, particularly in understanding oppression and freedom.
Identity and Acceptance: Darnell's journey reflects personal struggles with identity, especially concerning sexuality and societal expectations.

Notable Quote:
Buck at [17:04]: "I believe there is a light inside of all living things. There is a little bit of God in all of us, and therefore, we are all worthy of respect."

Plot Progression

The story unfolds with Harriet Tubman's unexpected return to the present day, where she confronts Darnell with a mission to produce her spiritual hip-hop album. The narrative navigates through their collaboration, the challenges Darnell faces in understanding Tubman's legacy, and the dynamics within Harriet's band, including Odessa and Buck. The plot thickens as modern issues intersect with historical contexts, leading to intense discussions about race, religion, and personal identity.

Notable Quote:
Harriet Tubman at [30:18]: "I have never questioned God in 90 years."

Insights and Reflections

Pearlmania500 and Bob The Drag Queen provide thoughtful commentary on the novel's ability to intertwine humor with heavy historical themes. They appreciate how the book makes history accessible and engaging, using modern elements to shed light on past injustices. The discussion also touches upon the importance of preserving historical truths amidst sensational reinterpretations.

Notable Quote:
Bob The Drag Queen at [112:34]: "I think this book was incredibly funny, and obviously, I think it's incredibly educational and well thought out."

Conclusion

The episode concludes with enthusiastic endorsements for "Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert", highlighting it as a must-read that successfully blends comedy, history, and music. Pearlmania500 encourages listeners to support their local libraries to access such transformative literature.

Notable Quote:
Narrator at [119:08]: "Support your local library. Join the library board."

Final Thoughts

This episode of Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500 offers a comprehensive and engaging summary of "Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert". Through dynamic discussions and insightful reflections, listeners gain a profound understanding of the novel's innovative approach to historical storytelling. The inclusion of notable quotes with timestamps enriches the summary, providing direct insights from both the podcast hosts and the characters discussed.

Recommendation:
For those interested in a fresh take on historical narratives intertwined with modern cultural elements, "Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert" is highly recommended. Accessible through local libraries or digital platforms, its blend of humor and history offers both education and entertainment.

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Transcript977 lines

[00:00]
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[00:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
Harriet Tubman Live in Concert A novel by Bob the Drag Queen. I was not prepared for this book. You are not prepared for this book. But the good news is Mrs. Pearl Mania, my wife who sits just off camera here to the side, she was completely prepared because she read this book the second she heard about it. Bob the Drag Queen is one of our favorite entertainers in the history of a modern American comedy and drag and everything else. But now Bob the Drag Queen has become one of our favorite authors writing this incredible book about Harriet Tubman trying to bring the new sound of freedom back to America in the 21st century by hiring a hip hop producer to release an album that is going to be the journey through through the history of slavery in the United States. I'm not doing it justice. But you know who does do it justice? Mrs. P. Over here. As she explains to us this entire book. You don't have to have read it. That's why we do a story report. Because we all go on the journey together. And with that, take it away, Mrs. P. On this special edition of Too Many Times. Remember to smile.
[01:44]
Narrator
Welcome back. Guess what? It's Story Report day.
[01:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
It is.
[01:48]
Narrator
It's book club day.
[01:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
It is.
[01:49]
Narrator
But we're calling it Story Report now. Because guess what? I've already read this book.
[01:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes.
[01:52]
Narrator
I'm gonna explain it to you. You already went through all this.
[01:54]
Bob the Drag Queen
I know.
[01:54]
Narrator
There is one thing I did wanna go over. Okay, So I loved this book and I think everybody should read it if they have the time or energy. It's not that long of a book. It's a very highly recommend reading it cause it was so fun.
[02:05]
Bob the Drag Queen
You read it in like an afternoon.
[02:06]
Narrator
Yeah.
[02:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
You blew right through it. And also, you don't remember Libby or your library.
[02:12]
Narrator
Libby.
[02:12]
Bob the Drag Queen
Library.
[02:12]
Narrator
Also, I hear the audiobook is excellent and I'll tell you why later in this book. Okay, but listen, I. The way that these story reports have gone historically with Their new name is that I read the book, and then I explain to you the whole book. Right. I'm gonna spoil it, guys. But the thing is about this book, I'm gonna make slight changes to the verbiage. Okay. When I'm explaining this book, because I think it's somewhat inappropriate for some of the words that are said in this book to come out of my mouth. Right. Specifically accents and things like that. So I understand that the author chose these accents and verbiage to provide historical accuracy and context, but it would be inappropriate and disrespectful if I was to say these words in accent. So I'm not going to. Like, all summaries. The words are altered. But I highly recommend reading this novel for the original wording and intentions.
[03:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yep.
[03:07]
Narrator
That's my. I don't want to say it's a disclaimer, just an announcement.
[03:10]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. But if you want to get a feeling what the book is like, you can just watch this.
[03:13]
Narrator
Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be great. Yeah. Listen. Audio forward.
[03:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Audio forward. I apologize.
[03:19]
Narrator
All right, you ready?
[03:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay, I'm ready. Let's begin the story of Harriet Tubman Live in Concert, a novel by Bob the Drag Queen.
[03:28]
Narrator
So we open in a nice room, right? A handmade table, IKEA chairs, the classic braided rug. Very minimalist around the room, right? It's just a nice room. Dead center on that beautiful table is a lantern. And we're seeing this room through the lens of Darnell. Darnell's looking at this room, and he's like, God, it's nice. And there's just this lantern just in the middle of the room. You can't look at anything else but it. And he's nervous. He's, like, got the nerves of, like, when you're waiting in the dentist office lobby, and, you know, you have, like, a big surgery that's kind of nervous. And he's nervous because he's about to meet his idol, America's first black superhero, the Iron Woman. Basically, an avenger walking around this room. He goes up to the lantern, which is tarnished and clearly an antique, and it still smells like kerosene. And he picks it up, and he's staring at the lantern, imagining what it was like to run for your life through the woods, dogs at your heels, and, like, really taking in the power of this object, right? And in that moment, the door swings open to this room, and he snapped out of his day dream. And standing right in front of him is Harriet Tubman. And she looks right at him, and Says, put that down. And he's like, oh, Ms. Tubman, I can explain. And he's, like, trying to put it back on the table gently. I'm just so excited to meet you. My name is Darnell. This is a dream come true. And she says, look, baby, thank you for your kind words, but we don't have all day. She's super direct. Darnell never thought this day would come, but so many figures have been returning from the past. And he had been hoping that Harriet would show up. And not only did she show up, but she reached out to him. And in society, it's been really weird to have all these people coming back from the past. Cleopatra came back, and now she's an Instagram model. The Rockefellers are on Twitter having public battles of wealth with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
[05:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[05:30]
Narrator
Everyone's waiting on pins and needles to see if Jesus comes back.
[05:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
So the dead are rising, but they're coming back, like, as a full.
[05:37]
Narrator
Yes.
[05:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[05:38]
Narrator
Something happened in the universe.
[05:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[05:41]
Narrator
And people are coming back. Okay. But people are waiting for Jesus. But nobody actually thinks that Jesus is coming back. But Darnell. Super excited about Harriet Tubman.
[05:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[05:51]
Narrator
Right. So Darnell's tripping over his words, trying to introduce himself, and he's paying her compliments, like, you know, you're amazing. I love you. I'm so excited, you know, like, the way you get when you meet your heroes.
[06:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[06:03]
Narrator
And she is just straight staring at him, barely blinking, very stoic. It's, like, actually unnerving how quiet and stoic she is. And she interrupts him, and she's like, darnell, I want to talk to you about the new generation. I want to talk to you about black folk today, and I think you might just be the person to help me reach them.
[06:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[06:23]
Narrator
Right. And he's like, me? What? What could I help you with? How the heck can I help Harriet Tubman? And he says that in his head. Right. But the thing is, is, like, he doesn't say anything. He says it out loud, and he says, how the can I help Harriet Tubman? And she's like, she. She's like, whatever. I asked you to come here today because I've decided to make an album, and it's gonna blend hip hop and spirituals, and she's trying to bridge the gap between the young today and their ancestors.
[06:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
So she's trying to take 1860 and 20, 25.
[06:59]
Narrator
Yep.
[07:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
And have them meet.
[07:01]
Narrator
Yes.
[07:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
On a musical soundstage.
[07:03]
Narrator
Absolutely.
[07:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[07:05]
Narrator
Yep.
[07:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay. This is. Can only come from the mind of Bob the Drag Queen. That's so incredible. I'm already in. All right. I'm in.
[07:14]
Narrator
You're in.
[07:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[07:15]
Narrator
So she wants to these songs to tell everyone about how smart, strong, creative, and resourceful black people are and what they have achieved and how powerful they are.
[07:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
Right, okay.
[07:27]
Narrator
And he is, like, inspired just by concept, but he's also like, why me? Like, why. Why have you reached out to me?
[07:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[07:34]
Narrator
And she's like, the Lord told me to choose you, and I don't ask questions to the Lord.
[07:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
This would be like if Obama walked up to me and been like, we need you to figure out how to get votes via the Internet. It also feels very much like a few times where I've been in meetings, they're like, how do we reach Gen Z? And I'm like, I don't know.
[07:53]
Narrator
I don't know.
[07:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
But it's just like, there's that moment I can feel.
[07:56]
Narrator
Ask Andrew's hate.
[07:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
I understand. Oh, Jesus. I understand, though, like, that feeling.
[08:02]
Narrator
Yeah.
[08:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Of just like, this person walks up to you and you're like. But you're. Oh, my God. What?
[08:06]
Narrator
Yeah. So Harry Tubman's like, listen, I have never questioned God in 90 years. God's been talking to me, and I do whatever he says, and he hasn't steered me wrong. And you probably should listen to him too. So don't question him. Right. So immediately she's like, don't question him. And he's like, I don't. As she's talking about the God situation and how he. She listens to him for inspiration, he kind of immediately shuts down a part of his brain, and he's like, I don't want to explain to Harriet Tubman that I think religion is a scam and that he has big misgivings about religion, and he doesn't think that. Like, I'm gonna tell you something, right?
[08:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. If Harriet Tubman came back from the dead and. And told me, you need to help me create a gospel hip hop album.
[08:55]
Narrator
Yeah.
[08:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
To bring the people together.
[08:57]
Narrator
Yes.
[08:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
I would believe in God.
[08:59]
Narrator
Yeah, absolutely.
[08:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm just saying, if Harriet Tubman came back from the dead and was like, you will help me craft a hip hop gospel album. I'd be like, yep, yep.
[09:08]
Narrator
Sure.
[09:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
God is real. God is real, and God is good. I just. In that moment, it's a lot like, in Marvel Comics, there's this thing that happens a lot where the people have crisis of faith.
[09:16]
Narrator
Yeah.
[09:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
While standing next to Thor.
[09:18]
Narrator
Yeah.
[09:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm like, he's literally Thor. He's the God of thunder. And, like, Hercules will walk in. Like. Like actual gods exist in the Marvel universe and the DC universe. In comic books, they exist, but then there are still atheists. And I'm like, weird.
[09:33]
Narrator
I don't know, guys.
[09:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so in this moment, I wouldn't. I would all of my beliefs out the window. Out the window. Because I'm. I'm going. Whatever the new normal is eventually, you have to admit, hey, the house is on fire.
[09:46]
Narrator
Yeah.
[09:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
You know what I mean? You can't be. I don't believe in fire. I'm this. We're an anti water household. Whatever. Eventually there's a flood or there's a fire. They're signing and you guys got. Listen, this is just what it is now.
[09:57]
Narrator
Yeah.
[09:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
Harriet Tubman is back. Cleopatra's on Instagram.
[10:01]
Narrator
She would be making Instagram model posts for sure.
[10:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
I don't know, actually. I think Cleopatra was actually much smarter than people give her. Well, yeah, well, no, I know. What I'm saying is, like, I. I, like, I feel like she would really be rocking the podcast circuit.
[10:16]
Narrator
You think she'd be the podcaster?
[10:18]
Bob the Drag Queen
I think she would. She would make the caller daddy. What's her. Whatever her name is.
[10:21]
Narrator
Oh, yeah, yeah.
[10:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
She would make her.
[10:23]
Narrator
Got it.
[10:24]
Bob the Drag Queen
She'd be scaring her because she spoke, like, 12 languages.
[10:26]
Narrator
Yeah.
[10:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
Don't get me. Don't get me on my Cleopatra shit.
[10:28]
Narrator
Okay, we're going to.
[10:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm a Cleopatra, Stan.
[10:31]
Narrator
And not because her Instagram page, no doubt.
[10:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
I would have followed her on threads because I care more about what she has to say than staring at her beauty, which has actually been described as average. Wow. I'm just saying everything we know about her was written by her enemies. And then people came in and then just did the opposite. Said the opposite about her enemies. But we're not talking about Cleopatra.
[10:51]
Narrator
Sorry, sorry.
[10:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
We're talking about Harriet Tubman, okay. Live in concert by our favorite drag queen, Bob the Drag Queen.
[10:57]
Narrator
That's true. So he is just, like, he doesn't decide. He's not gonna argue with her, Darnell. And he's like, yes, ma'am, I understand. So she's like, follow me. I want to show you what I've been working on. And he agrees to. He, like, they never really have a conversation. He just kind of follows behind her. And they walk into this rehearsal room because they're in, like, a big studio. So they go into this rehearsal room, and there's a live band, backup singers, and a huge DJ booth. And he can't believe it. That she's dead serious.
[11:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm picturing. Do you know the Beyonce Coachella performance?
[11:35]
Narrator
Yes.
[11:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
And how they kept cutting back to her because it was the first time, really, that I'd seen the stage practice room.
[11:42]
Narrator
Yes.
[11:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
And actually T Pain just did Coachella, and they showed him, like, even though something you think is just, like, a throwaway, he's like, all of these are planned. Everything has to be intricately planned.
[11:51]
Narrator
Yeah.
[11:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so I'm picturing that studio with a giant, massive. It's like an airline airport hangar.
[11:57]
Narrator
Yes.
[11:58]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm sure this is probably one of the smaller ones where it actually looks more like the studio where Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey did their album. You know what I'm talking about from that music video, where it's like, the wood paneling. It might be that size. Is it a large. What are you picturing?
[12:12]
Narrator
I picture it like the Mariah Carey version.
[12:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[12:15]
Narrator
The. The smaller.
[12:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Also the Chili's Baby back ribs commercial. That's just when I picture, like, people are like, oh, Abbey Road. I'm like, no, no, no. This is a modern. It's modern. So it's a lot of wood paneling. Yeah, a lot of wood paneling is what I'm picking.
[12:28]
Narrator
So Harriet's like, this is my band. They're called the Freeman's.
[12:31]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay. Okay.
[12:34]
Narrator
Yeah.
[12:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Harriet and the Freeman.
[12:36]
Narrator
Harry and the Freeman.
[12:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[12:38]
Narrator
Is. And it's made up of people that she's helped and people that have helped her.
[12:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[12:43]
Narrator
First, we're introduced to Odessa.
[12:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[12:46]
Narrator
And her and Harriet met during the Combahee Ferry raid. She's really pretty, and she has big, wavy hair, and she's mixed race. Okay. And Darnell looks at her and thinks that it doesn't look like she's had a hard day work in her life. And as if reading her mind, Harriet says even house slaves worked incredibly hard and wanted to run. Okay. You don't even want to know what you got to do to stay in a house where you're a pretty girl. Like Odessa.
[13:18]
Bob the Drag Queen
Got it?
[13:18]
Narrator
Okay. So he immediately. She spots his. His shift in his eyes. She clocks and clocks him immediately. So she helped take part in her own liberation and hasn't looked back since. And according to Harriet, she can sing.
[13:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[13:35]
Narrator
Okay. So she. Odessa, looks at Darnell, and she's like, is it true that you wrote Bad Boot Club? And he's like, yeah, I wrote and produced it. But he's, like, confused and embarrassed because he starts thinking about the lyrics of that song, and it's like these, like basic training for these hoes and how she's a Ten Hut slut. And he's thinking about these lyrics and how he's. He's in front of Harriet Tubman and how this woman knows what they are.
[14:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay, this very much reminds me of we were watching a documentary and I think it was Snoop and I think the NWA or somebody, they had to go speak. Who's Whitney Houston's. I can't believe I'm blanking on her name. Whitney Houston's Bobby Brown? No, no, godmother. Aunt.
[14:26]
Narrator
Whitney Houston's godmother.
[14:28]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, Dion Warwick.
[14:30]
Narrator
Yes.
[14:31]
Bob the Drag Queen
They had to go talk to Dion Warwick. Yeah, cuz sn got in trouble and she. Cuz she. They were putting out so much misogynistic content, stuff like that. So they had to go. They're like, you've been called to Dion Warwick's house. They had to go there like 8am or 9am yeah. Cuz she's grown and they're. They all have her. She has them like lined up in front of like her mansion. And then she comes out and they're like, hey, Dion Warwick. Or whatever. And she's like, okay, hello, I want you to call me a hoe. And they're like, what? Like, I want you to call me a bit. And they're like, oh, oh. And like it was one of those moments where like, yeah, you keep writing all this. These lyrics about like hating women and like being rude to women. Like realize that you're speaking about me. Dionne Warwick in that moment. And it was just like this crazy. I can't remember which. You know, I watched a lot of VH1 behind. Some people would say I would been more behind the music than I have been listening to it. I'm bad at lyrics. Pop up video. That's the kind of moment that Darnell is kind of having of just like.
[15:27]
Narrator
Imagine someone that came from 1860 and was listening to you sing songs.
[15:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
The Bad Boot Club about the Ten Hut slut. That's just a crazy.
[15:38]
Narrator
It's a great line. And so he's like, I can explain about the song. And in his mind he's like, it was 20 years ago. He's a different person. And Harriet looks at him, goes, I liked it, but I prefer the song you did with Dr. Slim. And when he says. When she says this, he like winces. Like his whole body kind of like, oh, yeah. Oh no.
[15:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's how I feel when I do radio or interviews and I meet somebody and they're like, oh, you. The Mexican pizza rant guy. And I'm like, I've done so much since the Mexican pizza.
[16:11]
Narrator
Your car smells like.
[16:13]
Bob the Drag Queen
My car smells like.
[16:14]
Narrator
Yeah, yeah, you're. The car smells like guy.
[16:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
The car smells like guy. I'm like, ah, damn it. No. Sometimes you just do stuff and you don't really think.
[16:23]
Narrator
Yep. And you weren't monetized before that one went live.
[16:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
So I wasn't. It's. It's the day I die. So many people have monetized off that video that weren't me.
[16:34]
Narrator
So Harriet walks over to another person that's there. And there's a man. He's really big. And his name is Buck.
[16:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[16:42]
Narrator
And he's plays the guitar. And he's very kind of scary looking because he's so big. Darnell describes him as wide as he is tall. He's bald. And he says he looks as if Michael Clark Duncan ate. Michael Clark Duncan.
[16:58]
Bob the Drag Queen
Got it.
[16:58]
Narrator
But he has really nice eyes. Nice. So that's Buck.
[17:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Like Michael Clark Duncan.
[17:05]
Narrator
Yeah.
[17:05]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[17:05]
Narrator
So Harriet's like, he doesn't talk much, but he is smarter than most people. She knows a lot of people have ideas about you before they even know you. What do you call that again? Buck? And Buck lifts his head slowly and quietly mumbles, preconceived notions.
[17:21]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[17:21]
Narrator
And Harriet's like, that. Harriet's like, that's right. Preconceived notions. She says, I like the way way black people talk today. The only people that spoke like that back in my day were Frederick Douglass. And let me tell you, most black people don't like Frederick Douglass anyhow.
[17:36]
Bob the Drag Queen
What? Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass have beef ops. They're opps.
[17:43]
Narrator
No, no. So Darnell is like, wait, I don't want to gossip. And I don't want Harriet Tubman to think that I'm a gossip. But he looks at her and he's like, tell me why black people don't like Frederick Douglass.
[17:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
This is news.
[17:54]
Narrator
And. But he says it. He's like, Ms. Tubman, why? And she's like, don't call me Ms. Tubman. Just call me Minty. That's what everybody calls me. And so he's like, okay, okay, Minty, why do people hate Frederick Douglass? And she says, well, I didn't say hate. You're adding stuff. Everybody respected Frederick Douglass, even racist white people. And she's like, people were jealous. He could read, he could write, he was educated, and he had light skinned. They thought he was uppity. When you're told you're supposed to be low. You sure don't want to be down there by yourself. And when she says that last part of that statement, everybody in the room kind of like takes a moment, and it's like it resonates as she booms them with it. Right? And now she walks and introduces him to the next guy in the room who's the dj. He's at the DJ booth. She says, this is Quakes. We call him that because he's a Quaker.
[18:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
Got it.
[18:48]
Narrator
DJ Quakes. Because he's a Quaker and a dj. And Darnell immediately is like, this guy looks crazy. And he's dressed like a real Quaker.
[18:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[18:57]
Narrator
He's really short. Really short, four feet tall. He has a really big, gray, unkempt beard that connects with his hair and his eyebrows. He's dressed like the classic Quaker. Black coat down to his knees, dark brown shirt, white socks o up, up over his calves, and a wide brim hat.
[19:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, yeah. Like Quaker Oats.
[19:16]
Narrator
Quaker Oats, right.
[19:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
He's looking like the guy on the Quaker Oats box.
[19:18]
Narrator
So just really short.
[19:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[19:20]
Narrator
And Harriet says a lot to Darnell. A lot of people don't know, but the Quakers helped a lot of us get to freedom. And they're good God fearing people that believe the Bible, and I like that.
[19:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
And that's because of a dwarf? Yes, that's because of a dwarf in Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania dwarf is the one who changed the Quakers to become abolitionists by stabbing Bibles full of blood. I can't remember his name off top of my head, but it's a crazy story, and maybe we'll cover.
[19:50]
Narrator
A skinny guy standing behind her clears his throat behind Harriet, and she's like, how could I forget to introduce you to this man? This is my little baby brother, Moses, and he's our drummer. She gets choked up looking at him and talking about how grateful she is to be free with him. And he's just like. Darnell is getting overwhelmed. He has a million questions about this band. Harriet Tubman.
[20:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's all so sudden. I know.
[20:19]
Narrator
Like, we walked into this room and it's like, poof.
[20:21]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. He was like, he's looking at a lantern. And then before you know it, she's like. Harriet Tubman's like, you're gonna be.
[20:26]
Narrator
This is my brother and we're in a band.
[20:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
You're gonna produce my band, Harriet and the Freeman. You're like, whoa, what the.
[20:31]
Narrator
So she directs him to go sit down in a chair and tells him to listen. They're going to perform for Him.
[20:36]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, God.
[20:36]
Narrator
They gather around and they all say a prayer.
[20:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'd be so terrified if they were bad.
[20:40]
Narrator
Asking God to help speak through them. Darnell is very uncomfortable. He doesn't know if he should bow his head and, like, pretend. But whatever they say, I would pretend.
[20:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, I would. This is. I'm very much the guy who looks around as everybody bows their head in the church. Because I'm a dick.
[20:57]
Narrator
Yeah.
[20:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
But, like, in that moment, Harriet Tubman comes back from the dead. I'm bowing my fucking head.
[21:02]
Narrator
Absolutely.
[21:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm bowing it low.
[21:03]
Narrator
It's called respect.
[21:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[21:05]
Narrator
So Harriet's like, all right, DJ Quakes, let's do it. And then the music starts.
[21:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
DJ Quakes is still nuts.
[21:13]
Narrator
And it's a combination hip hop, rock and roll spirituals. The music fills the rehearsal space. Rock guitar, 808 drums blowing Darnell's hair back.
[21:24]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[21:25]
Narrator
Harriet Tubman grabs the mic and starts singing. And her voice is like Dr. Dre and Ella Fitzgerald had, like a child, angry, strong and smooth all at once. Right. And I did bookmark the first part. She. This is what she sings. Right. I only gonna read. Read, not sing.
[21:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[21:46]
Narrator
Okay. I'm gonna read the lyrics of this song that we have wanted a chance to write some good music. I mean, some hood music. I'm talking about. Wish a motherfucker would music liberate my people through the swamps and the woods Music Never would have made it if I didn't know I could music. No book smart. So there was very little education, but I made it with a little bit of divination. Got a call to liberate a generation. So let me slow down to see if you don't get the correlation.
[22:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's incredible. I also. Also in that moment, I. I'm trying to picture. It's difficult because it's coming from you.
[22:29]
Narrator
Yeah.
[22:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
Versus, like, how it would come. Would it feel like a mid-90s movie where it does. We're gonna mix rock and roll and hip hop. You know what I mean? Like, there is a certain way. I know that if Bob. Like how. How Bob the Drag Queen came up with it.
[22:47]
Narrator
Yeah.
[22:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
In their head. How it would come through. And I wonder. I just like, ah. I want to hear that now. I'm also merely trying to, like, picture the band. And I'm trying to cast them.
[22:57]
Narrator
Yeah.
[22:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
In my mind and just, like, pictures. I think you should start this feels you have to start with Harriet, obviously.
[23:02]
Narrator
Yeah.
[23:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
But I. I'm like. I'm already into this needs to be a movie.
[23:09]
Narrator
Yeah.
[23:09]
Bob the Drag Queen
And it needs to be a movie.
[23:12]
Narrator
Yeah.
[23:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Keep Disney away. Yeah, that's my only thought is keep Disney away. I just feel like they'll flub it.
[23:19]
Narrator
Hbo, Max.
[23:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
No, I don't even know those.
[23:21]
Narrator
You want to go to the movies?
[23:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
No, I don't want hbo. I want to go to. I want to go to the movies. I do want to go to the movies.
[23:27]
Narrator
Yeah.
[23:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
I feel. I'm already, like, Warner Brothers is out. Yeah, Disney's out. I don't know. I mean, that does leave, like, Paramount, basically, or like, Amazon. No, but, like, I just feel like maybe this should be indie. I don't know.
[23:42]
Narrator
I don't know.
[23:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
I don't know.
[23:43]
Narrator
We'll know at the end.
[23:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
You know what we're. Leave it up to. Bob. Bob. Whatever you want. Whatever you want to do, because I'm already in love with this.
[23:49]
T Mobile Representative
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[24:20]
Narrator
After the song ends. He doesn't know what to do. He's kind of just sitting there in shock, staring at them.
[24:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[24:27]
Narrator
And Harriet's like, what do you think? And he just starts clapping like crazy. He doesn't say anything. He just, like, claps.
[24:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Yeah.
[24:33]
Narrator
And she. He's like, again.
[24:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Even if it was bad. Yeah, even if it was bad. I mean, he's getting. They're getting the same reaction. That's the part that's difficult with somebody this way.
[24:42]
Narrator
Good.
[24:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's really good.
[24:43]
Narrator
It was really good.
[24:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[24:44]
Narrator
And Darnell thinks it's amazing. And also he's like, I don't know what you want from me in this scenario. Like, do you?
[24:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, what do I need?
[24:53]
Narrator
Applause? Feedback, Like. And she's like, what don't you understand? The Lord told me you were gonna help me. We are going to write and share an album with the world, go on a national tour. And he is like, again, why me? And she's like, how many times do I have to tell you to stop questioning the Lord? So he's like, I'm going to go take a minute. And he steps outside to collect.
[25:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
He's getting reverse J.D. vance. It's just instead of the Pope dying, Harriet Tubman's like, God told me.
[25:22]
Narrator
God told. So he goes out back to kind of collect his thoughts.
[25:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[25:26]
Narrator
And Moses comes out, and he's having a cigarette, and he confides in Moses that he doesn't feel qualified for what she's asking. And, like, he's just kind of worried about the group.
[25:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
He wrote Boots.
[25:39]
Narrator
I know.
[25:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, I feel like don't have. Okay. I understand in the moment of having imposter syndrome.
[25:47]
Narrator
Yeah.
[25:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
But, Darnell, it's music. We know you're good at music.
[25:51]
Narrator
Yeah.
[25:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay. I just. I'm getting mad at the character.
[25:54]
Narrator
Okay, don't get married yet.
[25:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm not. I'm not. I'm just. I'm just throwing it out there. There's moments like this where it's like, well, you're good at music. Be good at music.
[26:00]
Narrator
Yeah. Okay. So Moses, basically calm. Slightly calms down. He's like, listen, nobody's judging you here. You were asked here for a reason.
[26:09]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[26:09]
Narrator
You don't have to worry about, like, feeling one way or another about this situation. Right?
[26:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[26:15]
Narrator
So he goes back in, and he goes back to Harry, and he's like, okay, I'll do it. And she looks at him. She's like, it wasn't up for negotiation. Like, she's like, yeah, you're doing it.
[26:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, I'm picturing, like, four different older women in my life who. This is very true. Yeah. I'm picturing one in particular, and you know who I'm thinking of. But, yeah, it's very much of, like, the. All right, fine. What are you talking about? Yeah, you don't have to tell me. You were already doing it. You never had a choice.
[26:44]
Narrator
These sandwiches are good. Yeah.
[26:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
My mom did that to me yesterday.
[26:51]
Narrator
That was so funny.
[26:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
I had. My mom made these little ham sliders, and I was like, oh, mom, this is a really good sandwich. I know. It really caught me off guard. She's never been that short with me before.
[27:01]
Narrator
I loved it. 10 out of 10. You were cackling just like I did now. Yeah, still funny. So he decides. Darnell decides, okay, he's going to take time with each person in the band because he wants to go over their history so he can get a better idea to how to help write this album and express what the band wants to express with Harriet Tubman.
[27:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
Right.
[27:20]
Narrator
So first he starts talking to Odessa, and he's asking her, you know, like, what it was like to be a house slave and the differences between herself and the people that worked outside. And she's very kind of nonchalant about it. Right. But she does have a resentment that, like, you can feel bubbling while she's describing it, because the people that worked in the fields always act like they had it harder, she said, and they don't understand. They worked from sun up till sundown, but in the house, they worked from every moment they woke up till the moment they went to sleep. They did everything. Cook, clean, took care of the kids, blah, blah. And Darnell's having this conversation with her, and at a certain point, he's like, well, did they cook for themselves sometimes? And she, like, cackles like I did, starts laughing, and she actually yells back to Harriet, who's on the other side of the room, and she's like, did you hear what he just said? And then she repeats the question, did the white people cook for themselves? And then the whole room starts laughing. And she goes on to explain to him, like, no, they didn't do anything for themselves. And also, she doesn't understand how they're so bad at cooking because they all got the best cuts of meat while black people had to learn how to make intestines and brains and feet good.
[28:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[28:32]
Narrator
And now, 100 years later, Paula Deen is on TV acting like she came up with Southern cooking, Just railing about this, and I loved it.
[28:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's very interesting because it's. It's a really good way to show. Because it's like being inside versus outside, it's not that one was better than the other. It was that they were different.
[28:49]
Narrator
Yeah.
[28:50]
Bob the Drag Queen
And that's just true.
[28:51]
Narrator
Different levels of what.
[28:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's just also that they're just. Yeah. But. But also that they're just truly are different. And from being inside the house, she's looking out, she's like, well, at least you. At least when the sun goes down, you're done.
[29:01]
Narrator
Yeah.
[29:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
And it's like one of the people inside, like, what? You're inside?
[29:05]
Narrator
Yeah.
[29:05]
Bob the Drag Queen
People outside in the field are looking like you're inside.
[29:07]
Narrator
Yeah.
[29:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's like that different. Also, the cooking thing is hilarious. The idea that any of them would cook.
[29:14]
Narrator
Yeah.
[29:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Is nuts. And also nothing I've never really thought about, but I think I keep thinking about, you know, right now, the Elon and those psychos are pushing the robots.
[29:24]
Narrator
Yeah.
[29:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
And one of the things that they keep pushing with the robots, like, oh, yeah, it'll. It'll, like, walk Your dog for you. I'm like, but that's why you have.
[29:31]
Narrator
Having part of walk. Dog. Walking the dog is part of the joy of having a dog.
[29:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Of having a dog.
[29:35]
Narrator
You get to go outside.
[29:36]
Bob the Drag Queen
But all of the things that. That they describe that these rich tech people describe are removing the parts of humanity that makes life worth living.
[29:45]
Narrator
Yeah.
[29:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so Darnell's question of, like, well, what do they cook for themselves? Because we find pleasure and joy in cooking.
[29:53]
Narrator
You should have seen the cookbook party yesterday.
[29:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, yeah, yeah.
[29:55]
Narrator
No, I'm saying.
[29:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
But I'm saying it's like. Like, so in that. And so then Odessa being like, these people are fucking crazy. Crazy.
[30:00]
Narrator
Yeah.
[30:01]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because they had the best cuts of meat, but they have no even concept that they even have it.
[30:05]
Narrator
Yeah.
[30:05]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's just so wild.
[30:06]
Narrator
All right. Oddly enough, this conversation makes him hungry, and he suggests they go out for some food. And while they're. They're in New York City, by the way.
[30:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[30:14]
Narrator
While they're walking through the city, Odessa is pretty overwhelmed about walking. They're in the Harlem area, and they're pretty overwhelmed by just the sheer city energy. Right. They get to this restaurant. It's packed. He's like, I don't think we're gonna get a table. And immediately, everybody in the restaurant sees Odessa, and, like, everyone can tell who the past people are. So, like, she gets to see, like, everybody's like, oh, my God, yes, absolutely. And they go to, like, a soul food restaurant, and Odessa eats basically everything. She orders one of everything. And while they're eating and having, like, normal conversation, she looks at him right in the eye, and she's like, what do you do with all of this? And he's like, all of what? And she's like, all of this freedom. And the. The question itself knocks the wind out of him. Like, he does not know how to respond because it's such a big question. And so he responds, and he's like, let me ask you a question. When did you realize you could be free? And she explains that she really didn't believe that she could be until the day she made it to Philadelphia. Hey, she grew up and hear that?
[31:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Hold on.
[31:26]
Narrator
You hear that?
[31:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
Not. She didn't say in New York. No, she said in Philly.
[31:31]
Narrator
She said Philadelphia.
[31:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
She's like, she made the Philadelphia.
[31:35]
Narrator
This is what freedom looks like.
[31:36]
Bob the Drag Queen
She looks terrible. Freedom's covered in garbage.
[31:40]
Narrator
What are the rats about? Yeah, the pigeons here look sick. That's a cat.
[31:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
So I love our trash city.
[31:55]
Narrator
Me too. So she's like, you know, her mother was an enslaved person. Her mother's mother was an enslaved person, and so on and so on. So she didn't know any free people. And the abuses and exploitation that they all suffered are locked into her blood and bones and DNA. And so, like, she never even considered freedom as a possibility. Right. It was just never a thing. And then the day that the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment came to the plantation with Harriet Tubman was glorious. It was the most beautiful day of her life. And as she's explaining this, she starts, like, crying, right? Like, quietly crying. That day, she was paralyzed with fear, joy, excitement, pain, everything all at once. And she heard muskets and people screaming, and she heard someone say, harriet's here. Harriet's here. And she said, every slave worth a nickel knew who Harriet was. She was the most famous black person alive next to Frederick Douglass, not that his uppity ass would ever come see us.
[33:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay. It's such a crazy subplot.
[33:09]
Narrator
I know. I love it so much.
[33:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's such a crazy subplot. I do worry that if this did become a movie or a musical, like a play, that it would create a. Like, the way when Hamilton became a lot of people like, oh, my God, Alexander Hamilton. It's like, well, Alexander Hamilton's like, kind.
[33:28]
Narrator
Of a scumbag, kind of a fascist.
[33:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
He acts like, literally he's a fascist. But, you know, that's like. I do worry that it would end.
[33:36]
Narrator
Up people be like, Frederick Douglass.
[33:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
No, I'm not saying that, but I feel like, edit that up. I feel like, leave it in for context. But I feel like it went. When it goes mainstream.
[33:49]
Narrator
Do you know the greatest part of the. The Hamilton lore on the Internet? What is that? Trisha. The Trisha Paytas lore.
[33:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, my God.
[34:01]
Narrator
Why is. She is Internet. She is.
[34:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Again, we just Internet, literally before we sat down to record this video. I. We. You just told me the Pope died, and Trisha Paytas just announced a couple weeks ago that she's pregnant again.
[34:13]
Narrator
Yeah.
[34:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so it goes back into the Pope lore and the. The Trisha people.
[34:17]
Narrator
Literally.
[34:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
I. We made a video, I posted it, and somebody said, Trisha is the portal. And I. I'm stuck ever since.
[34:23]
Narrator
Yeah. My favorite was somebody commented, how does this keep happening? Why do we have three nickels?
[34:31]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, but I know what you're talking about with Patricia Paytas, that it was about the Declaration of Independence.
[34:36]
Narrator
Yeah. She was like, why are you quoting the Declaration of it? Or why are you quoting Hamilton?
[34:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
And the guy's like, it was The Declaration of Independence.
[34:43]
Narrator
She's like, no, it's from Hamilton. And then she sang the Declaration of Independence song.
[34:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[34:47]
Narrator
Oh, that's what. I mean. That's what would happen.
[34:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. No, that's what it went again. People. There's context collapse. And some people learn about Frederick Douglass and actually, like, get it.
[34:58]
Narrator
Yeah.
[34:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
And then some people yell, why didn't they teach me how to do taxes in high school? And they're like, it's called algebra. It was called math.
[35:05]
Narrator
I had to go to summer school. So there were a lot of rumors about Harriet Tubman back in the day. Some people thought she was a ghost because, like, how was she never caught? Most people thought she was a man. Some people thought she. That John Brown had faked his death and was running around in blackface.
[35:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
I would with you. Would John Brown fix his death? I feel like John Brown from the book. I know. I feel like John Brown would have.
[35:32]
Narrator
Been respectable enough, though, not to do.
[35:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
That, that he would not have picked up the shoe polish. Jesus Christ.
[35:38]
Narrator
And so during all this chaos, again, we're back to the situation with Odessa when Harriet and the. The army had shown up. And Odessa runs and finds Harriet and she says, are you Harriet? And Harriet responds by saying, you're free. And she starts describing in the plantation chaos, everyone's going in every direction. But the real chaos happened after they were free in the time where they were walking north because how were they supposed to navigate the world? Because they're walking into a situation where the white people have a 400 year head start.
[36:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes.
[36:18]
Narrator
And so the real chaos begun. Entering this new phase of freedom. So they get back to the studio after this lunch, and when they're like, oh, what were you guys doing? You know, Dust is like, yeah, I was telling Darnell all about the emancipation. And Moses is like, half the folks don't even know they were already supposed to be free because nobody was going to tell them the good news.
[36:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[36:41]
Narrator
And so they have like this conversation about the emancipation. Right.
[36:45]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. And which is eventually that what he's talking about is. Is why we celebrate Juneteenth.
[36:49]
Narrator
Yes.
[36:50]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because it was declared free. The. The slave holding states and the ones specifically the ones in rebellion. All of their slaves were free by Emancipation Proclamation. But I believe Delaware, Maryland, and I think there was one other. Their slaves weren't free.
[37:08]
Narrator
Yeah.
[37:09]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because those were slave states, even though they were still part of the Union. Delaware has a very crazy history.
[37:16]
Narrator
Yeah.
[37:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Delaware, when it comes to that. Lincoln actually basically had them under martial law. And I believe Maryland as well. So it's, like, very nuts. And so it isn't until you really get the 13th amendment and then the 14th that they get full, full freedom. So very glossed over part of our history because the Union and the abolitionists won the war and lost the peace.
[37:38]
Narrator
Well.
[37:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
And that's why people talk on Ulysses S. Grant. Okay, not me, though. That's my boy right there. Ulysses S. Grant. Oh, Teapot Dome scandal. Yeah. Well, how about you give me a little Teapot Dome? People talk on Ulysses S. Grant. But he went down there and he's like, I'm a shoot a Klansman. This is a. This is a Grant house.
[38:03]
Narrator
So.
[38:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
I love this book. This book's bringing out feelings. I haven't even read it. I'm just sitting next to Feelings.
[38:10]
Narrator
Big feelings.
[38:10]
Bob the Drag Queen
Harriet Tubman Live in concert.
[38:12]
Narrator
So Darnell's like, harriet, when did you know you wanted to be free? And so she tells this story about how, you know, her mother had a lot of children, but every time that she gave birth, they were taken away and sold. She gave birth to Moses, and she wouldn't let them take him. And she stood up against the master and the people who were trying to purchase Moses. And in an act of defiance and bravery, she almost attacked someone that tried to collect Moses from her. And she could have gotten killed for it. And after this gripping story, like, it's a. This really intense story, Darnell is really inspired and runs over to DJ Quakes. And it's like, give me a beat. And he has his notepad, and he starts writing down some lyrics. And I'm gonna read you the lyrics he wrote down. Hold on, I gotta turn to page 40. I wrote page 40 in my notes, but I don't have page 40. Okay. As she stands in the doorway huffing and sweating, realizing her she's fierce because her baby has been threatened. I see a woman at her wits end I need amazing grace how sweet the sound don't want to turn this place into my burial ground I once was lost but now I'm found Gotta put a plan in action I'm not around, you see I once was blind but now I see and that's. He keeps writing after that, but that's the last quote we get from the song. He starts writing after hearing the story he was so inspired by.
[39:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[39:41]
Narrator
So leaving the studio after this crazy freaking day, he's got, like, that buzz of excitement he hasn't felt in years. Right. Like, since his. He's been doing music, but not his. Not since his career Blew up in his face years ago. He hasn't felt this real buzz of excitement about writing music because he's been.
[40:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
Producing songs for TikTok.
[40:02]
Narrator
Oh, okay.
[40:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
Is that. Does that not imply.
[40:05]
Narrator
It's not? No.
[40:05]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because, like, most. Most songs now are written designed for TikTok or for Instagram reels or to be used short little snips. So we'll listen to a song, be like, oh, the bridge. I really like this song. And then you discover when you hear it on the radio, oh, that was just the 17 second bridge.
[40:22]
Narrator
Yeah.
[40:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
That I was really, really into.
[40:24]
Narrator
I did like that.
[40:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Or you're like, oh, this song is Katy Perry.
[40:28]
Narrator
I did say that. There's a song, the beginning of the Matt Berry song that's going viral, and everybody's discovering Matt Berry now.
[40:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, you mean the song Jazz, the song that plays every time we get into our car. Because it starts very early. Yeah.
[40:45]
Narrator
So he goes home and keeps writing. Next morning, he wakes up energized, like, without coffee. Energized. Darnell, just so excited.
[40:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[40:51]
Narrator
And he heads back to the studio bright and early.
[40:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
9Am I have a friend named Darnell, and I just keep picturing him.
[40:55]
Narrator
Yeah.
[40:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
I just keep picturing my buddy Darnell, who used to work at a comedy club that I used to play at all the time. He was, like, one of the ushers who, like, moved his way up to, like, assistant manager eventually. I just keep picturing him.
[41:06]
Narrator
Yeah.
[41:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, it's. I don't know. It's great. Yeah.
[41:09]
Narrator
And so he gets to the studio, and no one's there except for DJ Quicks.
[41:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[41:15]
Narrator
And Darnell's like, where is everybody? And DJ Quicks is like, it's Sunday. And Darnell's like, okay, what is this Chick Fil A? And Quakes is like, at church. Everyone's at church. And it didn't occur to Darnell that everyone would be at church. Right.
[41:31]
Bob the Drag Queen
And he's like, wait, but you're a Quaker, so you don't need to go to church. You just feel that Darnell doesn't know this.
[41:35]
Narrator
Darnell's like, well, why are you at church?
[41:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[41:37]
Narrator
And Quake's like, well, I'm a Quaker, so we don't do church. And Darnell's like, you'll have to forgive me. I don't know a lot about your religion. I've never met a Quaker. I only know the guy from the box of oatmeal.
[41:48]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yep.
[41:49]
Narrator
And Quake is like, let me tell you a little bit about myself. Pull up a chair right because they're alone. And he's like, everyone calls me Benjamin. And he's like, I'm smaller than most. I'm originally from Britain. I came to America in the 1730s. He invite in this conversation, he invites Darnell to come to a meeting house for religious ceremony. And Darnell, like, physically recoils. He's like, he doesn't know the difference between a meeting house and a church, but he immediately is like, no. The correlation. He's like, no. He tells him that he never really felt accepted by the church, so he's just written it off for good. And quakes is like, I'm sorry to hear that. You know, religion should be a force of bringing people together, not tearing them apart. And quakes asked Darnell if he has any good suggestions for records, because quakes has gotten really into records since he got back. And so they both nerd out about records for a while. And quakes ends up lighting up a huge fucking blunt. And Darnell's like, should he go smoke that outside? And he's like, no, nobody cares. And Darnell says, new York is legal there. Yeah. Darnell says, quakes, why do you. Oh. So Darnell says, quakes, why do you care so much about black lives? And quakes looks at him with intense sincerity and, like, the glossy tears in his eyes, and he's like, I believe there is a light inside of all living things. There is a little bit of God in all of us, and therefore, we are all worthy of respect. They talk a little bit more about religion, and quicks explains about how meeting houses work, where everybody stands up after they're sitting there facing each other, and they stand up when they feel inspired by the word of God. And there's no pastor or preacher, and Darnell is like, you know, like, sleeping. But then all of a sudden, quakes is like, but, you know, I'm not actually allowed to go to meeting houses anymore. I was politely asked not to return to most of the meeting houses because of my radical views and Darnell's, like, radical views. He's like, yeah, I was really shocked at America's views on slavery. Don't get me wrong. I have gripes with the way England treats people as well, but that's why I decided to come here. So when the spirit moved me, I would stand up and make my feelings known. I did. They did not like that. People did not like that. And that's how I ended up living in a cave right outside of Philly.
[44:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
This is the guy I was talking about. This is the exact Guy I was talking about the dwarf. Yeah, Benjamin. What the hell is his last name? I was gonna do an episode about him. You let me just yap.
[44:28]
Narrator
I did.
[44:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
You just let me yap about this guy and you're like, yeah, he's the character, this guy.
[44:36]
Narrator
But also I need to. For the listeners who've listened to our other episode about this, this is a different cave than the Kelpus caves with the Society of Women of the Wilderness where there's different Quaker caves. Guys, we got caves and there's Quakers in them. Okay. This is a different Quaker.
[44:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
Benjamin Lay.
[44:56]
Narrator
Benjamin Lay? Yeah.
[44:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
Wait, so is this Benjamin Lay?
[45:00]
Narrator
Yeah.
[45:01]
Bob the Drag Queen
But I thought you said he was black.
[45:02]
Narrator
No, he's white.
[45:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, when you're describing him, I pictured him as black.
[45:05]
Narrator
No, I said he had a black coat on. No, he's the only white guy.
[45:10]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, I didn't realize that he was. Okay, yeah. This is Benjamin Lai.
[45:18]
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[45:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
I love Benjamin Lay. His story is so crazy. And how like what the changes he went through. And then his wife, his wife also had dwarfism. And the living in the cave thing because he really shamed the rest of the Quakers. Yeah, because there were Quakers during his time that were slave owners. And he was like, how the can you claim that you're touched by God when you are directly going against what's in the book? When you're blah and everyone's like, oh fuck. And he was just such. I first read about him in Philadelphia Weekly and I'll never forget the image was this crazy picture of this wild eyed little guy stabbing a bible and blood squirting because he had a gimmick bible which is so pro wrestling. But then the actual painting of him, if you, if you google him and go to his Wikipedia page for Benjamin Lay, the actual painting of him is nuts. Yeah, like it's a crazy looking painting. And Quakers, man, I just, I just did not. I just assumed that this Wasn't Benjamin Lay? When you're describing him, you're like, four foot. And I was like, yeah, okay. Yeah, sure.
[47:03]
Narrator
Okay, whatever. So they have this conversation, and then Buck shows up.
[47:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[47:08]
Narrator
And he's like, just stop by to get my coat. Harry doesn't like us to work on Sundays. And that's how we find out that Buck doesn't go to church either. They have a discussion, the three of them, about Buck's feelings about church and religion. And Buck's like, listen, if you're Christian, you don't want to hear my opinion. And Darnell's, you know, still just kind of asking because, you know, he doesn't really align with religion. And Buck is basically like, listen, Christianity is a weapon wielded against black people. And I don't associate with things that hurt people. My people are me. Yeah, right. So Buck's not about the religious stuff, but he's. He respects, obviously, Harriet and everyone else.
[47:48]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Because. Because the. The Christian religion, specifically in the American south was used to justify slavery.
[47:57]
Narrator
Yes.
[47:58]
Bob the Drag Queen
And it was also there were stories that we know of. Of, like, them teaching with. With certain passages left out.
[48:07]
Narrator
Yep.
[48:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
To not let them know that their masters were going to church, where it was telling them that slavery was bad and that they were reading books that were straight up saying, what you're doing is a sin and should be stopped. And, in fact, the guy who we based our entire religion on would be ashamed of this.
[48:24]
Narrator
Yeah.
[48:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Big time. But instead, the justifications that were being used and the. The system of oppression that it was all mixed in is, like, nuts. And when you get deep into the Northern views of Protestant Christianity and the Southern views and the schism and the split there, it's very, very wild. That's why it's always interesting to me when, especially being in the north, whenever I meet somebody who's, like, a Southern Baptist but, like, lives in Pennsylvania, I'm like, that's not right.
[48:52]
Narrator
That doesn't make any sense.
[48:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
It doesn't make any sense.
[48:55]
Narrator
Okay, so the next day, okay, they're all back in the studio.
[48:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[48:57]
Narrator
Everybody's back in the studio Monday. And Harry is going to tell her story. So Darnell and the whole group are kind of, like, shuffling into one room, and she's going to kind of stand in front of them and tell the story.
[49:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[49:08]
Narrator
And she's being kind of short with him, like, as they're, like, getting everything ready. And Darnell is, like, very, like, is she mad at me? Like, because, like, she's just being short. And they're all like, no, this is something she does. Like. And we learned that back in the day, basically, there was a point in time where Harriet was a circuit speaker. She went to raise money to help rescue people from slavery. And so she would tell her story all the time because a lot of northern abolitionists didn't want to get their hands dirty. So they would go to churches and town halls and listen to people like Harriet or John Brown or Frederick Douglass or Henry Box Brown talk about the journeys and how they fought for freedom and then give them money to help pay for expenses, medical care, food, stuff like that. So this isn't her first time telling the story. She's just kind of like, guys, guys, guys, guys, we got to go. We got to go. And he was taking it as like, is she mad at me? You know what I mean?
[50:09]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, yeah. Because. Because today, speakers like this, you have some, like. What's. What was her name? The. The girl from. Was it Pakistan? Malala.
[50:19]
Narrator
Oh, yeah, this. The. The going to school.
[50:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, she was a speaker.
[50:25]
Narrator
Yeah.
[50:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so she would go around and she would speak in front of these groups. Who's that other girl? The one that the conservatives hate?
[50:33]
Narrator
Greta Thunberg.
[50:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
Greta Thunberg. She gives a lot of speeches and stuff like that. But for advocacy, more these days when you're not. Back then, you would go to organizations to reach individuals.
[50:45]
Narrator
Yeah.
[50:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
Now you reach individuals through social media. And then to do the orgs, you then have to already have that individual reach.
[50:53]
Narrator
Yeah.
[50:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
You have to show up with X amount of Instagram followers, asking amount of tick tock followers. Now it's. It's just like. It's backwards. It's really bizarre.
[51:03]
Narrator
So Harry does go on to tell her story about how she was a young girl, when she was a young girl, she was a local grocery store and a slave master was trying to discipline a young man who had run away while they were there, was at the grocery store, and he picked up a heavy floor, weight like over five pounds, and he threw it at the young man's head, but it missed. And it hit her right in the face, knocking her out. And she could barely stand for months. And to this day, she just passes out. Sometimes where she stands, she has, like, actual brain damage. And so, like, she could just be staying there, and all of a sudden she'll just pass out cold. And after this incident, she felt that she was growing closer to the Lord because she could hear God's voice clearer than ever. And from this, she never questioned the Lord again because, you know, she Survived it. The people that enslaved her tried to sell her because of this, but nobody would buy her because she was, you know, disabled in this way. Also, she said she wasn't light skinned or pretty enough to be in the house. So nobody wanted to pay money for someone that they didn't feel could work. Right?
[52:12]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[52:12]
Narrator
So one night she's praying to God to change her enslaver's mind, and she humbly asked God to change his heart or stop it so he could get out of her way. And a week later he died. And that was all the signs she needed from the Lord.
[52:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
Listen, listen. I mean, that would be like shaking someone's hand and then they immediately die.
[52:39]
Narrator
So they're talking about, you know, did she run away? The first time she ever ran away, she went with her brothers and they got as far as Maryland, but her brothers panicked and went back. And so they, they. She went back with them and she tried again on her own. And Darnell's like, how did you know where to go? Like you didn't have Google Maps. And Harriet's like, what is a Google Maps? And she explains to him the way that they knew which way to go was they enslaved. People would communicate with each other through song. So the songs like the River Jordan and Going to the Promised Land were actually about the Ohio river and wading through the water was directing people to walk in the water so the dogs can't track you. And so all these spiritual songs were actually directives given from slaves that had successfully made it and come back in a way and brought these songs because they could sing them and they wouldn't get caught or they wouldn't get in trouble. Cuz there are songs that are referenced in this book that if they sang them, they would get, you know, really beat up or hurt or killed for singing them. So these were songs that were fronted as religious songs, but are actually directives on how the. The path to take. Right. So really.
[53:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
So they spoke through metaphors because they trusted their audience to understand how to parse them and to really process them instead of having to do direct call to actions like.
[54:06]
Narrator
And subscribe. And so, and realizing. So Darnell's having this realization, like hearing this story. So crazy.
[54:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[54:17]
Narrator
And he's realizing that this black woman who was illiterate, handicapped, born a slave, and Tiny saw something in herself and went for it the way she did, really broke him down. Like, he just starts weeping and Harriet holds him and they. She starts singing. And we learned that Moses's path to freedom was just kind of, no, it wasn't kind of. It was a very inspiring story as well. And I. I just. To save time, I'm going to move it past it. But Moses story is really intense as well. And as soon as Darnell hears it, it's like it inspires him so much, and his brain is going, you know, a million miles a minute thinking of all these different lyrics and songs that he wants to write about these stories. Because now he's heard Odessa's, he's heard Harriet's, and Moses is just like, really just kind of kicks it off. Right. So while Harriet's out. Oh, Harriet leaves. And they're having this conversation about a group of preachers and how certain preachers would weaponize the Bible. Just kind of like you were saying. And so what would happen is enslavers would pick certain people to be taught how to read, and the only thing they would be taught how to read was the Bible. And then they were in charge of reading the Bible to enslave people for the reasons you were describing. Right.
[55:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[55:40]
Narrator
They, Moses and them, did know one preacher who would help and was part of the Underground Railroad. But overall, they didn't often trust preachers because they knew that they were part of the staff, if you will.
[55:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's also one of those things, too, in Christianity is there was a big push. It's not as pushed now in America as much.
[56:01]
Narrator
Yeah.
[56:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
But when you are oppressed or when you are downtrodden, the appeal of Christianity to the slave and to the poor is that after this life, it will be great.
[56:15]
Narrator
Yeah.
[56:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so suffering in this is actually a positive because it's going to be a. You'll get twofold or tenfold back.
[56:24]
Narrator
Yeah.
[56:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
A better afterlife. Which is why so many, especially in early Christianity, you're Talking about the 200s, the 300s, Roman slaves were so pulled to it. It's also about, you know, showing a little bit more respect and things like that. Obviously, American slaves weren't given that. Yeah. But that is kind of like where that play is. And that's the reason why Southern slaveholders would also be like, oh, it's fine. They can learn this part of it.
[56:47]
Narrator
Yeah.
[56:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because then they won't mind if they. They won't think about the fact that this is the only life that they'll ever have and that it'll be. They'll be completely owned by me. They won't have any option of to choose whether or not they can even live with their own children, their own wives. Their families can be ripped apart at Any point in time, the slave owner is allowed to kill them or do anything else even worse to them. And then eventually that will all be sanitized in Texas textbooks.
[57:12]
Narrator
Y.
[57:13]
Bob the Drag Queen
And they'll just put in that. They were just volunteers.
[57:17]
Narrator
Volunteers. Yeah.
[57:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
I wish I was joking about that.
[57:20]
Narrator
No, it's like the. What's it called? Like, the evangelicals. Like, they are willing to suffer now because they think the end times are going to be better. You know what I mean?
[57:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[57:31]
Narrator
So Harriet passes out, and by suffer, you mean.
[57:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Never mind.
[57:35]
Narrator
This is a book club.
[57:36]
Bob the Drag Queen
This is a book club. Story report. Story report. We're talking about Harriet Tubman live in concert, where Harriet Tubman and all of her friends and family come back from the dead to put on a concert.
[57:46]
Narrator
Yeah, it's gonna be great.
[57:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yep.
[57:47]
Narrator
So Harry passes out, and, like, she.
[57:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
Has her fainting spell.
[57:53]
Narrator
She has one of her fainting spells. And then, you know, they have. They're having conversation in the studio, and Harriet wakes back up at a certain point and Darnel over her and is like, is there anything I can do to help you? Like a glass of water or something? And she looks at him and says, I want to know what you're going to do for yourself. And he's like, what do you mean? And she's like, I'm in the business of taking people to freedom, and you aren't free of something and what it is, I don't know. And it's none of my business, but we got to get you to the promised land.
[58:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[58:26]
Narrator
Yeah.
[58:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[58:27]
Narrator
So he's really weirded out by this.
[58:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, the chains are capitalism.
[58:31]
Narrator
Because she's like. He's like, does she want me to convert to Christianity? Like, what does this mean? They go and get some water from the water cooler because, you know, she just woke up and she's dizzy. Yeah. And while they're at the water cooler, he's asking her more questions about her past. And he apologizes. He's like, I'm sorry. I just keep asking these things, you know, because he feels like he's being intrusive. And she's like, I don't mind talking about my life because I know I'm serving a greater purpose. All abolitionists, especially the black ones, are. Are used to talking about their struggles. We used to get up in front of dozens, sometimes hundreds of people preaching the word of abolition. She says it does upset her to talk about it and takes a lot out of her emotionally and physically, but it's never stopped her because she knows what she's Trying to accomplish. And she says that usually abolitionists would gather in a church or a little tent. Different abolitionists would get all people together. But one of her favorites, Harriet says, was John Brown, our guy.
[59:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
Friend of the show.
[59:28]
Narrator
Our friend of the show.
[59:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
Friend of the show.
[59:30]
Narrator
John Brown.
[59:31]
Bob the Drag Queen
John Brown.
[59:32]
Narrator
So I wish we had a button for John Brown.
[59:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, I do.
[59:35]
Narrator
You do? That's not the John Brown button.
[59:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's. I'm in that case. He's my shadow, daddy.
[59:42]
Narrator
Darnell says. Darnell says. I think I may have heard of him, but to be honest, I don't remember much. Was he a former slave, too?
[59:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay, Darnell not knowing about John Brown makes me mad at Darnell. And from behind about American school system.
[59:58]
Narrator
Yeah. So from behind we hear, like. Because again, he's having this conversation in the studio. We hear Odessa scream. No, he was a crazy old white man.
[60:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Yeah.
[60:11]
Narrator
And that he was, says Harriet. Yeah, but he had a good heart. And I heard about him through my underground connections. A lot of the conductors were scared of him for a good reason. The man would ask you if you were pro slavery or free states, and if you said the wrong answer, you better hope you sounded good, cuz those could have been your last earthly words. He was nutty as a squirrel turd. But ever since the day I met him, he treated me with nothing but respect. Nutty as he was, he was a gentleman. I've never had a white man talk to me the way John Brown did. Not even in Canada. He was the reason they called me General Tubman, she said with a huge smile on her face.
[60:50]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's incredible.
[60:52]
Narrator
Harry was at first afraid of John Brown when she met him because he.
[60:58]
Bob the Drag Queen
Had the wildest eyes possible, like, he's just a nut job, but. Yeah, but he's correct.
[61:02]
Narrator
Yeah. Oh, no. She. She says, I wasn't afraid. Everybody else was afraid. I was excited because I heard he was a man of faith. So I knew the Lord would keep me safe while I was with him. Plus, when I first met him, he took off his hat. And like, she says, like that, like, took off his hat. And everybody in the room goes, yeah.
[61:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
It'S a sign of respect.
[61:23]
Narrator
And Darnell is like. Like, looks deeply confused and is not moved by the sentiment of the hat. And Odessa is like, clearly some folks weren't born slaves in the 1800s, and it shows. And Moses says white folks didn't treat black people with any amount of respect back then. Not even in the North. They would have you believe that once you crossed the Pennsylvania state line. White people started bowing to you and inviting you to fancy lunch dinners. Harriet said, lord knows that wasn't the case. But the way John Brown respected me gave others the idea that I should be respected too. Darnell is inspired by his. Darnell is inspired by his inability to understand this part of the experience. Like, he wasn't born into slavery. And he says, minty, I have an idea. I want to see where you're born. I think we should all go back there together. And Buck says, I can't repeat the whole statement, but it's a are you crazy?
[62:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[62:25]
Narrator
Type of situation. And they're like, why? And Moses speaks. So people start kind of like yelling about like, this is a bad idea.
[62:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[62:34]
Narrator
And Moses is like, it could be good for him. He grew up in this city. He should see how we live. So he understands.
[62:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Mm.
[62:41]
Narrator
And Harry agrees. So they all agree. They all just kind of agree. And they start packing their stuff.
[62:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
Right.
[62:48]
Narrator
They just get right into motion. It's very funny because nobody ever questions. It's like, okay, that's what we're doing. Got it.
[62:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[62:53]
Narrator
And they start packing this again.
[62:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
They're back from the dead. So they're back from the dead. They don't know how much longer they have. Could they die again?
[63:01]
Narrator
Maybe.
[63:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Also, they seem to come back at different stages of their lives.
[63:05]
Narrator
Yeah.
[63:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, some of them, Most of them, I believe, died, like, older.
[63:09]
Narrator
Yeah.
[63:10]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, I know that Benjamin Lay was like, super old. Harriet Tubman was very old.
[63:13]
Narrator
Yeah.
[63:13]
Bob the Drag Queen
So is she, like, she's a 90 year old woman.
[63:16]
Narrator
Yep.
[63:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Who apparently is still spry.
[63:18]
Narrator
Spry.
[63:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. So I'm like, that's. That's crazy. So they. Yeah, we should. Well, you know, we should do this. Okay. Yeah. Maybe like two weeks. No, no, we're doing it now.
[63:26]
Narrator
Yeah. They're just start packing their bags. Yeah. Let's go put the backpack on.
[63:28]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[63:28]
Narrator
And Harriet's like, all right, if we leave now, we could get there in about five days. Like, they're. They're like, talking about it. And Darnell's like, whoa, whoa. I'm gonna rent a van. And Harriet's like, oh, thank God. I am tired of walking. Because they all were just like, oh, we're gonna walk. They just. From New York City, five days. And she's like, thank God I'm walking. But she does grumble under her breath while they're discussing renting a van about how she hates that racist Henry Ford.
[64:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
Good. Good luck.
[64:02]
Narrator
Yeah, dude. Henry Ford.
[64:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[64:04]
Narrator
An hour later, they're all crazy.
[64:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm Gonna be left to assume that they met when everyone, for some reason, came back.
[64:09]
Narrator
Yeah. Or she just read, like, a article about him.
[64:13]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, yeah. Henry Ford. Famous Nazi.
[64:15]
Narrator
Famous Nazi. Henry Ford.
[64:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Incredibly racist.
[64:18]
Narrator
Our ownership people.
[64:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[64:21]
Narrator
Have a weird alignment.
[64:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
Do you own a car company? Do people call you a genius? You are going to be a racist.
[64:26]
Narrator
Yep. That's how it goes.
[64:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
Sorry.
[64:27]
Narrator
So an hour later, they're all crammed in the minivan. Harriet's riding shotgun, heading south. Harriet starts telling Darnell about her favorite crazy old white man. She's like, let me tell you more about John Brown. She just loves talking about John Brown. She's like, john Brown had a beard all the way down to his nipples and always had food in it. And this is nipples. It's just like, to his nipples is crazy.
[64:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
Could have said chest to his nipples, but always.
[64:55]
Narrator
And this is something that, like, Darnell has noticed about DJ Quakes is that he always has crumbs in his beard because he's eating, like, muffins or some shit.
[65:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[65:03]
Narrator
And so it's just like this thing where, like, the. The crazy guys with beer just have dirt in them.
[65:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[65:08]
Narrator
Meanwhile, this whole time.
[65:09]
Bob the Drag Queen
I do this a lot.
[65:10]
Narrator
Yeah. For a good reason.
[65:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
I rub it out.
[65:13]
Narrator
Whoa. This is a Family Channel.
[65:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
The beard. I make sure. The other day, I was eating something. I had tzatziki sauce in my mustache. All over my mustache. They wake up everything. I'm like, oh, it's great. And I just look like. I just.
[65:24]
Narrator
Like, you're at a dentist appointment.
[65:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
I know. I look like I was at a bukkake party.
[65:27]
Narrator
Hey. I said this is a family show.
[65:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes.
[65:30]
Narrator
Not so quick.
[65:31]
Bob the Drag Queen
We're deep enough in. It's a. It's a book club episode. It's a story report.
[65:36]
Narrator
Story report.
[65:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
So there's no brand, there's no sponsor.
[65:40]
Narrator
No.
[65:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
So I can say whatever I want.
[65:41]
Narrator
That's right.
[65:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
Taziki come bath. So they're not gonna edit that out. You can pause as long as you.
[65:49]
Narrator
Is in the back smoking a fat joint.
[65:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
Hey.
[65:52]
Narrator
And Harriet goes on. She's like, I felt bad for John Brown. He was super unlucky. He was the kind of guy who could dodge a hundred bullets in battle and then trip over a stick and break his legs. He really believed in putting guns in the hands of every slave in the South. That's what really got the slavers scared. Some abolitionists wanted to free black people, but John Brown wanted to help us get revenge. He believed in an eye for an eye. And he thought the vengeance of the Lord was his to exact. He felt he was the executioner of God's will. And by his standards, he did just that. There was a time when he was the most feared man in America. Many abolitionists were helping people sneak around. John Brown wanted blood in the streets. His battalion was a hodgepodge of people from all different backgrounds. And she was. She's talking about his hodgepodge of people and she's like, I was gathering a group of like minded people and they had plans to meet up. So John Brown was in contact with her. He had this big idea, and they were going to meet up with their two groups of people to like, execute this plan and let her stopped coming. And she never heard from him again. And so Darnell's like, well, what happened? And she's like, he died fighting in the belly of the beast.
[67:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
Harper's Fairy.
[67:08]
Narrator
Harper's Ferry. And Harriet believes that his death was the catalyst for the Civil War because he upset the beast's stomach so much. He was the indigestion of racism.
[67:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. But also he made it very clear that where this was heading.
[67:23]
Narrator
Yeah, absolutely.
[67:24]
Bob the Drag Queen
And yeah. Which we covered in our John Brown episode.
[67:26]
Narrator
It's a great episode.
[67:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's called. It's titled John Brown is colder than ice.
[67:30]
Narrator
Yep. Listening.
[67:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
Very good pun.
[67:33]
Narrator
It was fun.
[67:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Good. It's a good episode.
[67:37]
Narrator
So the next morning, they're, oh, they go to the motel. They drive, drive, drive. They get to a motel. It's pretty gross motel. They all get separate rooms except for Harriet shares a room with Darnell. And they stay up late talking more about John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and how the main work of abolitionists was to convince poor white people that they were being tricked by rich people. Like, rich people weren't out there dying in war trying to do this thing with slavery. Like, they had to convince the poor whites that if black people got rights, that would mean less rights for them.
[68:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[68:08]
Narrator
So that was the job of the abolitionist speaker. Right?
[68:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
Was. It was the pushback. Counter program.
[68:13]
Narrator
Counter program.
[68:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[68:14]
Narrator
So she's talking about that again with the writing of this album. Right. The next morning, they're all super excited to leave and get out to the motel and get back in the van. As they start the next part of their drive, Darnell, in a very somber way, is like, I think we need to talk about the war. And they all laugh at him. They're like, why are you so serious? Lol. They like Darnell. Really? Like, because again, he. He's missing so much context sometimes.
[68:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[68:41]
Narrator
And these people have this lived experience.
[68:44]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's almost like Darnell is a self insert also or a Mary sue almost, but more of. Of just like. He's there to allow the reader to have ignorance about these topics.
[68:58]
Narrator
Yeah.
[68:58]
Bob the Drag Queen
He's there to frame it from a perspective of somebody who has like, oh, I've heard about Civil War. War is bad, right? It's like, well, the Civil War for the slaves is great, but bad at the same time. But bad. But they get. They get free unless they are forced.
[69:14]
Narrator
To serve in the army.
[69:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes. But I'm saying it's like. Like, from that perspective, the same way was like, when people would be like, oh, yeah, you know, 1945, but like a really bad year. It's like. Well, half of it.
[69:24]
Narrator
Yeah.
[69:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
For some people.
[69:26]
Narrator
Yeah.
[69:26]
Bob the Drag Queen
You know what I mean? Like, it flips.
[69:28]
Narrator
So what I was thinking is the. The reason that Darnell doesn't really get why they. Because they laugh a lot of this book. They are very funny. They make light of many situations. They're joking about stuff.
[69:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
What's gallows humor, too?
[69:40]
Narrator
Exactly. What I was gonna say is it reminds me a lot of when you hang out with people that have survived addiction and alcoholism. We have a funny way of talking about it. We have a. It's like you. Once you've survived the natural disaster, you're on the other end and you're just like fucking tornadoes. Am I right?
[70:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[70:01]
Narrator
You just have this way of being like, no, we're survived it. We're past it. We can make light of it in a way. And so they're always just like Darnell says, things like, I think we need to talk about the war. And they're like, lame. Like, duh, of course we're going to talk about the war. Like, just talk about it, right? So there's this very funny back and forth between them. So they drive for an hour or so more, and they get to the Brodess Farm, and it's a wide open expanse of empty land except for a small, dilapidated church structure. And I think we should take a break.
[70:35]
T Mobile Representative
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[71:07]
Narrator
They get out of the van and everyone's very somber, Right. Some people start wandering off. They're walking around and there's a big sign like a placard posted at the edge of the land right where they kind of get out.
[71:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[71:20]
Narrator
And Harriet asks Darnell to read it to her. And it says, Harriet Tubman, 1820-1913. The Moses of her people. Harriet Tubman of the Bucktown District found freedom for herself and some 300 other slaves in the Civil War. She served in the US army as nurse, scout and spy. And Harriet is, you know, there's tears in her eyes. And Darnell is like, I didn't know you worked in the Army. And she explains that. She tries to start explaining it, but then Moses pops up and he's like, my sister was the first woman ever to work for a military operation. And Harriet goes on to explain that during the war there was a lot of work to be had, a way of making money. She used to make baked goods and then go sell them to the soldiers to make extra money. While she would do that, she started talking to a Colonel James Montgomery, who she met while doing this and became friends with. And she, while she's talking about it, she clarifies that not all Union soldiers were abolitionists. So like she was like trying to make it clear to Darnell that like she liked Colonel James Montgomery, but not all the guys in the Union soldiers were pro black.
[72:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[72:39]
Narrator
And you need to remember that.
[72:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
So I. I just actually looked it up.
[72:42]
Narrator
Okay.
[72:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
Bucktown, Maryland.
[72:43]
Narrator
Sure.
[72:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
Just cuz I didn't know kind where it is.
[72:45]
Narrator
Yeah.
[72:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
So it's on the same. Was it peninsula as Delaware. So you know how Maryland has like that crazy shape because the Chesapeake Bay comes up in the middle.
[72:55]
Narrator
Yeah.
[72:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
So it's actually about 30 minutes from where I was born. Oh, so it's over on that side. It's near the Blackwater National Wild.
[73:05]
Narrator
By that weird casino.
[73:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes, by the weird casino. But there is when you type in. Because I looked up Bucktown, Maryland.
[73:12]
Narrator
Yeah.
[73:13]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because you said the Bucktown District and immediately it flagged the Harriet Tubman Museum and Education Center. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Museum and the site of Harriet Tubman's childhood home.
[73:22]
Narrator
Yeah.
[73:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
Are all right around there. But it's on the opposite side of the chesapeake from Washington D.C. and Baltimore and those things. So when you're going down the. I95 corridor. Yeah. So I just found that very interesting as I was looking at that. It's just like, where she was, because I was born near there. We've grown up here. It's not really pushed that Harriet Tubman is a Marylander.
[73:50]
Narrator
Yeah.
[73:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, especially like living in Philadelphia, like, that actually just caught me off guard, like, really hard. Yeah.
[73:55]
Narrator
Because in Philly, like, we take ownership of a lot of people that come from Philadelphia.
[73:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. And she might be down in Maryland, but I'm just saying is, like, it's one of those things, the north, especially the border states, really, really like to pretend that they didn't have anything to do with this. But also, Harriet Tubman is known for freeing people throughout the South. You know, about her going to Virginia and all these other different places, and the picture in your mind of her. But he never thought about where she would have been born and, like, where her slave owners were and where these things of her being of what we now view as the North.
[74:35]
Narrator
Yeah.
[74:36]
Bob the Drag Queen
Even though it's just south of the Mason Dixon Line. The Mason Dixon line is the Maryland, Pennsylvania border.
[74:39]
Narrator
Yeah.
[74:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, it's just. It's just.
[74:41]
Narrator
It's crazy.
[74:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
I just. It just react. This book just recontextualized a lot for me. And it's. It's. It's virtually a musical.
[74:51]
Narrator
Musicals have a way of really speaking to the soul of a lot of things.
[74:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's breaking through.
[74:56]
Narrator
Yeah.
[74:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
All right.
[74:56]
Narrator
The cabaret of our time, as of as a. The people that two weeks ago were crying in New York after Cabaret.
[75:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[75:03]
Narrator
We. A musical will get to you.
[75:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm obsessed with this book. Bob. Bob the Drag Queen. You've done an amazing job.
[75:08]
Narrator
Yeah. You haven't even done it yet.
[75:10]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm already set.
[75:12]
Narrator
So she talks about the Colonel, James Montgomery, you know, and while she's talking about, like, the Union soldiers and the way they treated people and abolitionists, she says. And she makes an off head comment and she's like. And definitely not Abe Lincoln. And Darnell is like, I thought Abe Lincoln was the biggest abolitioner there was. That's what they teach us in school. And Harriet loses her and is basically like, that motherfucker didn't want us to be free. He wanted to send us to Liberia or Central America. And she started screaming about Abe Lincoln.
[75:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[75:50]
Narrator
Yeah. I was like, facts. So when. When Harriet stops yelling at Darnell about his American education, the group heads down to the church. There were the little churches.
[76:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
I. I just want to get again, context for the reader. Yeah. Abraham Lincoln wanted to re Colonize Africa with freed American slaves.
[76:18]
Narrator
Yes.
[76:18]
Bob the Drag Queen
He wanted to free them and then get them out. And he also. The Emancipation Proclamation is also one. Yes. It did free people down in the slave holding states specifically. But it was used to keep the British out of the war because during the Civil War, the British were siding with the Confederacy, but the British had already freed their slaves, and guess what? Didn't need to have a war to do it. They did it in Parliament. They went to Parliament and they passed a bunch of laws. And Britain had abolished slavery. And that actually they were. The British Navy was being. Was part of stopping the Atlantic slave trade.
[76:59]
Narrator
Yeah.
[77:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
In particular. And so the British were, you know, it was like a weird allyship. Right. It was kind of. You know, we. We've seen the Americans do this too, where we get ally with somebody who's like, our politics are weird. But, like, right now we have the same thing. And what the British really still wanted was cotton.
[77:15]
Narrator
Yeah.
[77:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because they still want to take that back to their textile plants in England and still be able to process all this cotton. So they were still running blockades, they were still offering aid. They were still helping the Confederacy, but by declaring that all of the slaves should be freed there, it kind of scared off the British Parliament ambassador and others, because they're like, oh, shit. This isn't like a war about whether or not the industrialized north and the agrarian south are having a little tit for tat over some random thing. This is now. It always has been, but this is now clearly a war about slavery and the legality of slavery in the United States. So Great Britain and the Westminster government could not be seen as openly supporting a slave nation. Yep. So, yeah. So what Harriet's saying is like, yeah, he was just a politician like everybody else.
[78:10]
Narrator
Yeah.
[78:10]
Bob the Drag Queen
And also had his own, like, ideas. I always am, like, a little hesitant about the. There are some people who will say that Abraham Lincoln was a racist. I haven't actually read too much into it, because the people who I've seen really push that themselves have actually been, like, insane neo Confederate racist.
[78:28]
Narrator
Yeah.
[78:29]
Bob the Drag Queen
From times when I was down in North Carolina. South Carolina, where it gets pushed to be like, oh, yeah, yeah, sure. So the south was bad. But look what Lincoln himself actually not only. And it's secretly gay, too. And you're like, all right, calm down, buddy. And they start pulling stuff out of context. But when it comes to wanting. He was part of groups and organizations that did want to send free blacks back to Liberia, which is on the west coast of Africa.
[78:51]
Narrator
Yes.
[78:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
So there.
[78:53]
Narrator
Thanks.
[78:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
I was.
[78:54]
Narrator
That's why this is a comedy history podcast. This is the history, baby.
[78:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's a story report.
[78:59]
Narrator
But I'm saying.
[78:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
And sometimes we got to add context to the comedy.
[79:02]
Narrator
Absolutely. So they're heading back to that little church I told you about. That's in the field.
[79:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[79:08]
Narrator
And Darnell does not feel comfortable. Right. It just. He's like, I don't want to do this. And. But at the same time, Darnell is paranoid that Harriet is going to reject him if she finds out that he doesn't like religion. And he feels weird about entering the church. And like, when they all kind of get to where the church is and they're going inside, he, like, gets a little lightheaded and needs to sit down, sort of. And Darnell asks more questions about the Colonel James guy. And while they're talking, Darnell is like, like. So Harriet's kind of talking more about Colonel James, and Darnell is just, like, not really paying attention to that thing where, like, you're not. You're like. What we would be doing is, like, looking at your phone and ignoring. It's kind of like looking around, not really paying attention. He's like, you know what? I gotta. I just need a minute. I'm just gonna step out. He's gonna step out for fresh air. And he stands and he turns to walk out. And as he's walking out of the church, he hears the loudest cocking of a pistol that he's ever heard. And he hears Harriet say, don't even think about it. I know someone trying to turn their back when I see it. You are planning on leaving this room and not coming back. I know the look of someone afraid to continue the journey. Now, I have told you I am in the business of getting people free, and you aren't free. Holding a gun to the back of his head.
[80:28]
Bob the Drag Queen
Now, my question.
[80:29]
Narrator
Yeah.
[80:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
Do they describe the gun? Is it still.
[80:32]
Narrator
It's like a big ass musket, I think.
[80:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. But I'm saying they're like a flint. Like one of the flintlock pistol type of deal.
[80:36]
Narrator
It wasn't described as that. No.
[80:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
I just wonder if it's that or if it's like a revolver.
[80:39]
Narrator
I feel like.
[80:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
I just feel like Harriet. I know. That's what I'm saying. Like, if Harriet Tubman came back, I think the first thing she would do is one be shocked that she could go to a. To a gun store and just buy them. And she'd probably be like, there's. You guys have A lot of guns.
[80:53]
Narrator
There's a lot of guns.
[80:54]
Bob the Drag Queen
A lot of guns around.
[80:55]
Narrator
What are the rules around these? Oh, there are none.
[80:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[80:57]
Narrator
That's crazy. We really should.
[80:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
Wow.
[80:59]
Narrator
Maybe put some rules in place.
[81:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
I feel like. I feel like that she would still go for, like a big revolver.
[81:06]
Narrator
Absolutely. Cuz she's little.
[81:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Yeah. But I also. But I also think that she wouldn't trust, like, a semi auto.
[81:12]
Narrator
Yeah.
[81:13]
Bob the Drag Queen
To have to take it apart and put it back together in that sort of way. Just because they were simpler guns back then with like the. The black power.
[81:19]
Narrator
It's like when we went from boom boxes to little eye pods.
[81:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[81:22]
Narrator
And they were like, this holds all your songs. We're like, shut up. No, it doesn't.
[81:24]
Bob the Drag Queen
No. Some of us had to do a stage in between. Some of us had to go with mini discs, a Sony mini disc player. And he misses it every single day.
[81:33]
Narrator
Mini discs. What's that?
[81:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Exactly.
[81:35]
Narrator
Okay. So anyway, the book, we get to the end of that chapter and it says part two. So we're at a whole different part.
[81:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[81:41]
Narrator
And guess what? This one back in time, it's 2010 in Harlem, where. So we'll. Darnell. So Darnell's waking up in his apartment next to a young man whose name he does not know, and his manager comes barging in the door and tells him to get his pants on and get that guy out of here. Dr. Slim, the super popular hip hop star, is on his way over and he needs to make a good impression.
[82:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
Got it. So Darnell's in the closet.
[82:07]
Narrator
Yes, Dr. Slim comes.
[82:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Sorry, the down low.
[82:09]
Narrator
Yes, Dr. Slim comes over and he's a bit of like this stereotypical hip hop guy of 2010. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, where your at? Type of thing. Right? And Darnell's manager, her name is Suzanne, they have this meeting and they plan to do a song, and Darnell's gonna produce it. And after Dr. Slim leaves, his manager Suzanne's like, makes him promise to stop drinking and picking up guys so that the rumors don't get around because this is the biggest opportunity of his career. Career, Right. So later, Darnell is getting dressed to go over to Dr. Slim Studio, and he's trying to dress very butch. He's describing it himself. He's like, I'm trying to look really hetero. Right. He does put on a cape and then has to, like, take off his cape. And I was like, the cape? You thought? Anyway, I don't know why I'm picturing.
[83:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Birdman in the Cape Birdman.
[83:04]
Narrator
Yes.
[83:05]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, I'm just picturing that clothes. You know what I mean? Like with the big chain, the oversized T shirt.
[83:10]
Narrator
Yeah.
[83:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
And then like, almost like the military combat pants.
[83:14]
Narrator
Yeah.
[83:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like, that's a very. Yeah. 2006 through 2010 type of feel.
[83:20]
Narrator
But just throw a cape on there.
[83:21]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. That cape, though.
[83:22]
Narrator
Super.
[83:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
The cape threw everything off. Because now I'm picturing the cape. Is it a Superman style cape? Is it. Does it have a collar like Dracula? I was thinking doesn't have a hood.
[83:33]
Narrator
I. I pictured it more like when Childish Gambino was in Star Wars.
[83:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
Oh, you're picturing a Lando cape.
[83:39]
Narrator
Lando cape. That's what I was thinking.
[83:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. But I'm still picturing it with a tee. Now I need to know what the rest of the fit is.
[83:45]
Narrator
Okay.
[83:45]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because I'm so thrown off now.
[83:47]
Narrator
Bob, please let us know in the comments. Can you stitch this TikTok for us?
[83:50]
Bob the Drag Queen
Bob, please get in the comments and tell us what type of cape. What's the full. Honestly? Bob, please stitch this TikTok where we have reviewed Harriet Tubman Live in Concert. And please explain to us exactly what Darnell was meeting, was wearing when he maybe even. Could you wear it? Could you point to. Go to Google image search. Like, this is around what I was thinking of what Darnell was cape. Was it when he met. What was the person's name?
[84:19]
Narrator
Dr. Slim.
[84:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
Dr. Slim. When Darnell met Dr. Slim, what did that. What did that outfit with cape look like in your amazing book, Bob? The Drag Queen. Harriet Tubman Live in Concert. A novel that everybody should read and that we are talking about here on the story Report on too many tabs.
[84:36]
Narrator
Special edition.
[84:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
So I cut a promo in an hour and 30 hour and 40 minutes into the episode.
[84:45]
Narrator
Let's go. So they. He's. He's dressed really cool and butch and he goes to make music and they go to the studio with Dr. Slim and there's like, you know, there's those like, music people there. There's always music people in the studio. You know what I'm talking. And there's this kind of scandalous girl. She's Dr. Slim's muse. She's like rolling a blunt and she's dressed scandalous.
[85:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
All right, it's Amber Rose. We get it. So she's like, in 10 years, I'm. Gonna. In 15 years, I'm really gonna support Trump.
[85:15]
Narrator
Whoa.
[85:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
And I have my kids names tattooed on my forehead. Blah, blah, blah.
[85:19]
Narrator
I mean, the. The foreheads. You mistake you can remove.
[85:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
Hey.
[85:23]
Narrator
So while they work, they're. They're working. They're coming up with music the whole time. People are drinking and smoking. People are leaving, right? People are going. Dr. Slim is getting progressively drunker drunk. Everyone is, you know, kind of mulling about. And then at the end of the day, it's just the two of them in the studio, Darnell and Dr. Slim. And in. While they're together, they're, like, making the song so good. Everybody's so. They're so happy, bubba. Dr. Slim drunkenly confesses to Darnell that he is giving gay and that he knows Darnell is as well. Oh, and if Darnell tells anyone, he's going to destroy him in his career. Darnell, like, kind of, like, calms him down. He's like, it's okay. I'm not going to tell anybody. Don't worry. But I don't think you should drive home. And Darnell gets him in a cab, and they get back. They get. He gets Dr. Slim back to his place safely, kind of like kicks him out of the cab, and then goes to his house. And then Darnell makes a wild choice that night. I guess he had been drinking as well. He's at his apartment, and at 5am he calls his manager because he's kind of in a panic about, like, what he just found out from Dr. Slim. And that Dr. Slim's gonna, like, kind of hurt him in some way because he has his information now, whatever. But he calls Suzanne and she's like, what's going on? It's five in the morning, and he's like, DJ Dr. Slim is gay. And as soon as he says it, he realizes he's made a huge mistake.
[86:44]
T Mobile Representative
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[87:16]
Narrator
He goes back to sleep, and he wakes up later in the morning to a bunch of voicemails, all a lot from Darnell. I mean, a lot from Dr. Slim. And he's, like, listening to them, and it's like Call me back. I just need to check in with you. Like, you haven't come me back. Everything cool? And then it's like, I'm on my way over right now. Like, he's like, so, like, every voicemail is getting progressively crested.
[87:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. More panicked.
[87:40]
Narrator
More panicked. And then as he hears this one that's like, I'm on my way over. There's a knock at the door, and it, like, you know, that. That, like, shock that happens to your body. So he goes over and answers it, and it's Suzanne. And Suzanne comes in, and he's like, you got to get out of here. Dr. Slim's on his waiver, and she's like, I'm not leaving. You need someone here to help you with this situation. It's too big for you to handle. Yeah. And Dr. Slim does show up, and he's super weird, and he's like, can I talk to him private? And Suzanne's like, whatever. So they go to another room, and Dr. Slim thanks him for getting him home safe and tells him that he wants to come out, right? He's like. He's like, I want to come out. I don't want to live like this anymore.
[88:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay?
[88:21]
Narrator
And Darnell's like, yeah, okay. Like, but I don't. He doesn't know him that well, so he's like, how. How can I help you with this situation? And Slim is like, listen, if we both come out, you know, we're both successful. We have this new song we're working on, and if the song's good, we both come out, and no one's gonna say shit to us, right? Would you do it? And, like, he come. He's, like, talking about this whole plan of them. Basically, they're gonna put out this song. It's gonna be a mega hit, and then they're gonna come out together.
[88:48]
Bob the Drag Queen
I'm gonna throw it out there. This feels very much like when I get hammered, and I'm like, I'm gonna go shave off my beard.
[88:54]
Narrator
Yeah.
[88:54]
Bob the Drag Queen
And I feel very much. I like, and I like, listen, I understand the beard pun, but this is very much how many times got hammered. And I mean, like, I gotta make such a life change.
[89:04]
Narrator
Yeah.
[89:04]
Bob the Drag Queen
And this is exactly this. I don't like this.
[89:07]
Narrator
So then Suzanne, who's over listening through the door, she's just like, do it. And then she barges in, and she's like, this is a great idea. The song comes out in May. Perfect timing for pride. And we. If we manage this well, it'll be a huge success. Like, she's like, right away, manager mode. Like, yeah, we got to do this. This is going to be great. So a while later, like, it just, like, kind of cuts. And it's a while later, and they're at this taping of a live hip hop show. So I think it's kind of like a. Oh, what's his name? Arsenio hall meets the Breakfast Club type of deal.
[89:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay.
[89:41]
Narrator
Right. And so it's this guy. His name is Smooth. Smooth is the host, and Darnell's in the green room with Suzanne, and he's really nervous because Slim is late and, like, you know, they're gonna come out together on national TV and promo their new song. So the interview is going really well, and Smooth is like, Darnell, you know, it's great that you were. Oh. Because there's some back history here that Darnell works with a lot of women in hip hop because he feels very comfortable working with them, and they feel comfortable working with him. Right. And so off camera, Smooth and Darnell are talking about him working with women, and he's like, you should. When we come back from break, you should talk about that, because it's really interesting. So they go to commercial break, and now the plan is that when they come back from commercial break, this is when Slim is gonna say the big statement, and then Darnell is. Because, again, Slim's the bigger name.
[90:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[90:34]
Narrator
So he has to be the one to make the big statement, because.
[90:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
And the thing is, they're not dating.
[90:39]
Narrator
No.
[90:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
They're just both separately.
[90:40]
Narrator
We're just separately gay.
[90:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
Instantly knowing 2010. This is a bad idea.
[90:45]
Narrator
Yeah.
[90:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
Just solely because people are gonna be like, oh, well, then they both came out together because they're together.
[90:51]
Narrator
Yeah.
[90:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
And that's just that. That's just the feeling I immediately get.
[90:54]
Narrator
So they come back from the commercial break, and Slim is acting real weird.
[90:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[90:59]
Narrator
Sweaty. He's being weird. He's all over the place. And after he's like, oh, he goes to the bathroom. I forgot to see, like, gets up. He's like, I had to go pee real quick. And he comes back and dart. And the guy Smooth is like, darnell, tell us about working with him at Women in Hip Hop. And he's like, yeah, you know, they feel a lot safer with me, and I feel safe with them and Bubba. And Slim is like, yeah, that's why I got to work with him, too, you know, because he has a great point of view, a different point of view, and that's why it's important. I think it's so important that I hired a gay person, because straight people like me and gay people got to work together, and that's what I'm trying to promote. And so he basically outs him, and, like, it's not. Basically. He does. He outs him.
[91:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[91:40]
Narrator
And it's. He makes it so, like, Slim is this good guy for helping this gay person out.
[91:46]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. This feels like that Macklemore song.
[91:48]
Narrator
Yeah. And so Darnell has really no choice but to kind of go along with it and smile and be polite.
[91:54]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[91:54]
Narrator
But as soon as the camera cuts, he freaks out. And he's like, I can't believe you did this, you coward. You just outed me on national television. Blah, blah. And he calls him a queen in front of Smooth. He basically calls him out as being gay.
[92:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[92:08]
Narrator
In front of Smooth and the whole TV crew and the audience and all that shit. Baba. But then, like, scene cut. End of chapter.
[92:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, okay. Yeah, okay. And now Harriet Tubman's holding a gun to his head in a dilapidated church where she was born a slave.
[92:24]
Narrator
Yes. Okay, Cut back to that scene.
[92:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
All right.
[92:28]
Narrator
Do you want to be free? Harriet asks Bob.
[92:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
You are. Okay. Bob the Drag Queen is currently stitching metaphors inside my mind palace.
[92:40]
Narrator
Inside your mind palace.
[92:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
My Mind mansion is opened with the stories and the literature of Bob the Drag Queen. Continue.
[92:47]
Narrator
Okay, so the gun's still pointed at him, and she's basically like, we're taking this journey together.
[92:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[92:53]
Narrator
And it has nothing to do with you. And she. Darnell tells her and everyone that, like, he's a very private person and he doesn't feel safe. Safe sharing parts of himself. And they basically all call on him, and he basically just, like, gets so upset. He's like, you know what? I'm gay, and I just get upset sometimes. And Bubba. And they're all kind of like, yeah. And then Harriet's like, wait, is that the big secret? We all knew that. And then somebody I didn't write down, I feel like it's Moses, but he's like, my blind, dead grandma knew that. Like, everybody's just like, duh.
[93:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[93:35]
Narrator
But he gets upset that then he storms out, and when he's outside, he talks to Moses and who explains to him that he isn't more different than them and that queer people existed back in their time as well. But it's not. It's not in history books because it was so dangerous to live that way that it wasn't written about, because it was actually just too dangerous to write about.
[93:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
And they were very good friends, and.
[93:59]
Narrator
They Were very good.
[94:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
And roommates.
[94:00]
Narrator
And roommates. Yeah. So he. He tells Moses, tells Darnell the story of a guy that he knew of named William Dorsey Swan and who was a out and open homosexual and drag queen.
[94:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Right.
[94:16]
Narrator
And so he tells them this great story. And then me. This is the thing is, like, as I read this book, I'm like, bob is only referencing our author is only referencing real people every time. And so I'm like, who is this William Dorsey Swan? This is a real person. So I went to the Wikipedia page. I just pulled a quick quote so I can tell you, because the story gets described by Moses, but the wiki page also is just like, wait. During the 1880s and 1890s, Swann organized a series of drag balls in D.C. washington, D.C. he called himself the Queen of Drag. Most of the attendees of Swan's gatherings were men who were formerly enslaved who gathered to dance in their satin and silk dresses. This group, consisting of former slaves and rebel drag queens, was known as the House of Swan. Because these events were so secretive, invitations were often quietly made at places like the ymca. Swan participated in dances that were called cakewalks, a dance performed by enslaved people in America, mimicking the mannerisms of plantation owners. The cakewalk's improvisational movements and subtle expressions of communication were an inspiration for the source of voguing and the style popularized in Harlem's ball scene.
[95:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's so crazy.
[95:32]
Narrator
This is a real person.
[95:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[95:34]
Narrator
And this. This person, William Dorsey Swan, was born into slavery.
[95:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Yeah.
[95:38]
Narrator
And when he became free, he moved to D.C. and started living openly and queer. And he was arrested multiple times, went to jail all the time for this, but just kept doing it. Loved it. Great. I, like, I never heard. This was. I was like, what the hell? This is so incredible.
[95:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[95:54]
Narrator
I wish I could do a whole episode on. But really, the book nails it.
[95:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[95:59]
Narrator
So we're back in the car on the road again, and there's a tense silence. And Darnell apologizes to everyone. And they decide that Darnell is going to take a couple days off to relax, recalibrate process. But he does that thing where most people do. He just ends up working on music.
[96:16]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[96:16]
Narrator
And he spends the whole time making beats and writing songs. And while he's doing it, he thinks about how he hasn't been this inspired in a long time, not since he was working with Slim. And he decided he does that thing where when you think about somebody, you start to look them up. And so he decides to look up Sl. Slim on Instagram. And to see what he's been up to. And Slim has started his own record company, and he got married to a man. And then there's a picture of him on his Instagram feed of Slim with Harriet Tubman, because he is the person that signed the deal for the album to his record label.
[96:54]
Bob the Drag Queen
Well done.
[96:57]
Narrator
So the next day, after he processes all this information, he goes back to the studio, and everyone's standing around, and he assumes that Harriet Harry is telling a story, but he immediately recognizes the voice, and it's Slim. And Slim is kind of holding court in the studio and walks over to Darnell when he comes up to him and is like, oh, long time no see. Like, how are you, Bubba? And right away, Darnell's like, whatever. Like, he's not playing into this at all. And Slim is like, do you want to go talk somewhere alone? And Darnell is like, if you have something to say to me, you can say it in front of all of them. And I need you to know that everyone is set. So, like, as soon as Darnell looks at Slim and is like, whatever. Odessa sits down, hands crossed. Moses is in the corner, quiet. Like, if somebody had popcorn, there'd be popcorn.
[97:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[97:47]
Narrator
They immediately are, like, in it for the drama. And Slim is about to leave, but Darnell or is like, slim is about to leave, But Darnold's like, wait, I want you to hear this. And the scene cuts, and it's 30 minutes later, and Slim is leaving the studio, and Odessa, Moses quakes. And Buck agree that they all get bad vibes from Slim, but they also don't like him because of what he did to Darnell. And Darnell's like, what do you. What do you mean? How do you know about what he did to me? And they're all. At the same time. They go, YouTube. We watched the video on YouTube. We saw what he did on YouTube.
[98:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's so funny. It's so funny because. Yeah, I was like. Instantly. I was like, of course I knew about you. Cleopatra is on Instagram.
[98:31]
Narrator
Yeah.
[98:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
Would you please? Characters. I'm so glad that Bob understands. Right? Bob understands to create a universe when you're writing it, the technology that's going to exist and the rules of that universe. Right? But then Darnell just being like, no, you're all dumb. You're from 1850. And then they're like, we just went to YouTube.
[98:51]
Narrator
We just went to YouTube. We. We didn't know who you were, so we looked up your name on Google. A YouTube video came up.
[98:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[98:56]
Narrator
With you On Smooth podcast or whatever.
[99:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
You were on 106 and Park. We all know.
[99:02]
Narrator
Yeah.
[99:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
You're on 106. In part.
[99:04]
Narrator
We watched the video. Real up thing he did.
[99:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
Real, real up. It was a really big thing.
[99:08]
Narrator
Actually. There's a really funny joke in here. I didn't put it in my.
[99:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
Probably the third thing that shows up when they Google his name.
[99:13]
Narrator
I need to tell you something. There's a really funny bit in this. In this part of the scene. I didn't write it down, but I have to tell you now because we're talking about it is Darnell's like, well, what did it have? Like a million views? And Odessa's like, like 400,000. So, like, not only do they.
[99:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
For you, it was the biggest day.
[99:32]
Narrator
In 106 in park history, but like, even they know understand the algorithm at this point.
[99:38]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[99:40]
Narrator
So good.
[99:41]
Bob the Drag Queen
Like 400,000.
[99:42]
Narrator
They end up writing it's 15 years old.
[99:45]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's the part that's crazy. It's a 15 year old video of 400,000. Do not look at the view count of this video.
[99:52]
Narrator
We're up and coming. We're up and comers.
[99:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. We're growing.
[99:55]
Narrator
Yeah.
[99:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
Not showing. And this is. This is a special edition story report. Too many tabs Wednesday drop. Yeah, all right.
[100:03]
Narrator
Okay.
[100:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
We know.
[100:06]
Narrator
Stop it.
[100:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
Stop it.
[100:07]
Narrator
So they write a song called.
[100:08]
Bob the Drag Queen
Instead, you go over to Apple, you go to the Apple podcast and you write a nice five star. Five star nice.
[100:14]
Narrator
Write a nice review.
[100:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Same thing on Spotify, the comedy history podcast.
[100:17]
Narrator
You love us, we're the best. So they write a song during. After this conversation called whatever you do, keep going. And it's about your responsibility to future generations. Because again, they're keep talking to Darnell about how it's not about him, it's about what you do and how it affects the next generation. So, like, they're like, we don't know. We don't. Your motivations for this album don't really matter where the motivation is to provide freedom to the next generation. Right. And so Harry and Darnell discuss her motivations behind the album and how she wants to tell her story. Because unlike back in the day, where she would tell it intense and church gathering halls, she put on pardon me on the Internet.
[100:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[100:59]
Narrator
And get in front of millions of people.
[101:01]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[101:01]
Narrator
Right. So the writing songs, everyone's super talented. Harriet is so amazing. She does pass out cold sometimes. Darnell is flying high, trying to plan the big show, the tour aspects. He gets burned out. He's doing too much and he gets hit with a bit of writer's block. And so he's in the studio one day with a blank page in front of him on his laptop. Got the Google Doc open probably, and he's not doing anything. And Quake, DJ Quake shows up and is like, hey, what are you doing, bud? What are you doing? And he's like, Honestly, he's like, I'm dealing with some writer's block. And Quake pulls up, pulls a chair up next to him. There's a hop up on it with his cane, and pulls out a fat blunt. I love. I love. He's so little. And he tells him, oh. He's like, I want to. I want to help you be inspired. Right. We're gonna smoke. We're gonna inspire to talk. And Quakes is like, he. I used to inspire white people to have empathy.
[102:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's what Benjamin Lay says. Yeah.
[102:06]
Narrator
So he's like. He says how he used to go to slavers and tell them how awful it must be for black people to have their children stolen and sold and how painful be to rip from their homes was, and how white people had to convince themselves that black people weren't fully human so they could disassociate from the abuse they were committing. Well, one day he's talking to this slaver who is not very open to the idea of empathy to enslaved people. So Quakes kidnapped that guy's daughter and took him back to the cave with his wife and held the child for two days. Child was safe, taken care of, and then return the child, and then went to go meet up, called upon the slaver at a later date, and the slaver was much more empathetic to the plight of enslaved people having their children taken from them.
[102:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
Dude rules.
[102:54]
T Mobile Representative
That's.
[102:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's true and that's real. I know for a fact that's true, and that's real. That dude rules.
[103:00]
Narrator
And then Quakes also tells him about the story, about how he would. It's a very long story, and it's so good. And. And you did already sort of COVID it, about how he would go into the meeting house and call all the other Quakers out in their bullshit for owning humans and abusing them and exploiting them. And one day he got the idea to fill up a bag with berry juice and stab a Bible after calling them all out. And that's when he got kicked out of the meeting.
[103:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, because it looks like the Bible was bleeding.
[103:27]
Narrator
It looks like the Bible hollowed out.
[103:28]
Bob the Drag Queen
The middle and put the bag of berry juice in the middle There is another Quaker because there's a. Quite a few famous Quakers in caves.
[103:36]
Narrator
Quakers in.
[103:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
Okay, well, this one wasn't in the cave, but there was another Quaker that was a famous abolitionist and his way. So. So this guy Benjamin lay a little bit more on the militant side. The more famous. I can't. This other guy's name was. But he did something that only a Pennsylvania Quaker could.
[103:52]
Narrator
What's that?
[103:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
He passive aggressively fought slavery.
[103:55]
Narrator
Oh.
[103:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
You know how he did that? He would go to slavers houses and have a meal with them, and then when it was done, he would offer to pay the. The slaves. And it would drive. He was like, no, they just did. They gave me a service.
[104:10]
Narrator
Yeah.
[104:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
They provided me food. I need to pay them so I can be a good Christian. And it was like this whole thing and he was just like. It drove them nuts.
[104:18]
Narrator
Yeah.
[104:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because he was so passively, aggressively being nice.
[104:22]
Narrator
Yeah.
[104:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
And like asking their names and just treating them like people. And it was enough to break down the facade of what was. Of the denial that they were having.
[104:32]
Narrator
Yeah.
[104:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
And it's just so crazy.
[104:33]
Narrator
He hears the story about the Berry Bible, and then Harriet comes over to check on him because he can see that Darnell is doing nothing. Like, he's just sitting in front of a blank laptop and she suggests that maybe he should take a break. And like, she's like, I can tell you're worn out. You look like you're overworked, blah, blah. And he says, yeah, I've been slaving away at this. And as soon as he says it, he can feel all the air leave the room. Every eyeball is on him.
[105:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[105:02]
Narrator
And Harriet reads him for filth. I. It's like, she is just like, you have never known a day of slavery in your life. How dare you say that? Basically. And she. She reasons for filth, but she also tells him to keep his head up at the end of it. And after she walks away, Moses comes over to somewhat comfort him. But not much, but this verbal slap in the face really ignited his brain and he feels inspired again. He also decides that he's going to have DJ Quicks help him plan the show because clearly he has a flair for the dramatics.
[105:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[105:41]
Narrator
So they finished the album. Right. Odessa has written a song too. And they're finishing up in the studio, and on the last day, Slim comes in and he's listening and he's clapping. He's like, guys, you did a great job. Hey, Darnell, can I talk to you in the hall real quick? So he Takes him to the side, outside. And he's like, listen, Darnell, I need a favor. And Darnell immediately, he's like, clocks it, and he's like, not an apology, just a favor. And he's like, ever since we announced that you're the producer for this, you know, album that you. The YouTube video of us on Smooth show is going viral again, and it's making me really look bad. So I was thinking we could go in the show again, and we can clear the air, blah, blah, and, like, that'll rehab my. You know, rehab my image right now. And Darnell refuses to help him clean up.
[106:33]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[106:33]
Narrator
Because, again, he never apologizes.
[106:35]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[106:36]
Narrator
He's just like, no help.
[106:37]
Bob the Drag Queen
Not even right then.
[106:38]
Narrator
Not even then. He didn't apologize.
[106:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
Even in the moment where he's like, I look like a bad guy. It's like, yeah, well, apologize guy, bad guy. He even opens the sentence by saying, apologize.
[106:44]
Narrator
Nope, none of that. And so Darnell is like, refuses and goes back to work.
[106:49]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[106:49]
Narrator
Right? So DJ Quake's plans an incredible show. There's a lot of moving sets, and the sets change from forest, the city, and the it. Because the sets are so dynamic. It gives the feeling of momentum. So you get that feeling of being on the run. Right. And the actor. The person who's playing John Brown is an actor. However, Frederick Douglass is being played by himself. Frederick Douglass is in the show. Oh, hey, the show is on Juneteenth at the Apollo, Okay? And Harry has demanded it be free so that the most people possible can see it.
[107:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
However, that will start a riot.
[107:25]
Narrator
Nope. DJ Slim or no Dr. Slim, he. Because he's the owner of the thing, he got a bunch of brand deals to livestream the event with Amazon, Nike, and Starbucks as sponsors. So the Apollo is sold out. And also the celebrities, former presidents, singers, everybody's trying to get in this audience. So there's a lot of people there while backstage. This is the night of the big show, by the way. Night of the big show. Backstage, Darnell's talking to Harry. Everybody's so excited and nervous, Bubba. And they're all just, like, getting ready. Like, Odessa's putting on makeup. Moses is, like, meditating. Like, the whole thing. Everybody's just getting ready for their big show at the Apollo on Juneteenth. And he goes. Darnell goes up to Harriet, and he's like, listen, I got. I got big ideas for the next show. He's like, disco, right? Like, he's got. He's like, this guy don't know. He's Got big ideas, right? And she looks at him, and she gives him, like, a slight smile, and she's like, listen, I have walked many people to freedom, and eventually our route together must come to an end. This is your drop off. You were strong. You made this journey to freedom of your own volition. But this is where our journey comes to an end. So that you can grow bigger, stronger, and be more free.
[108:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Love that.
[108:40]
Narrator
And everyone circles around Darnell while he cries and Harriet hugs him. And in the background, an announcer, voices. Boom. Ladies and gentlemen, Harriet Tubman and the Freemans present Queen of the Underground. And that's the end of the book.
[108:55]
Bob the Drag Queen
That's the end of the book.
[108:56]
Narrator
Yeah.
[108:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
To get Mary Poppins by Harriet Tubman.
[109:01]
Narrator
Okay, so now there's one thing. That's what I found out. Wait, real quick, before you say anything else, I purchased this book multiple times. So I bought the hard copy, and I also bought the Kindle because having a toddler, sometimes it's a lot easier to read with a Kindle because he's not trying to tear pages. And also, I had heard through a little birdie that if you listen to the audiobook, which Bob recorded himself, their selves, and he sings the songs that are in this book. And so when you get to the very last page of this book, where it says the announcement comes live, and then the actual album is written out at the end of the book. Right.
[109:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
Really?
[109:44]
Narrator
So you see all the lyrics and the back and forth of songs, the whole thing. So what I did is I got Queen of the Underground, the opening song, in front of me, and I want to play it for you. And then we'll come back and you'll react and tell us all what you think of the song.
[109:59]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, because we can't play it or.
[110:00]
Narrator
Else Bob can copyright us. I love that.
[110:03]
Bob the Drag Queen
Bob could, but we don't want.
[110:05]
Narrator
I want to respect his work. So he gets all of his money.
[110:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes. And then people can go stream it as well.
[110:09]
Narrator
Exactly.
[110:09]
Bob the Drag Queen
They want to hear it.
[110:09]
Narrator
So this is off Spotify? Because I found it on Spotify.
[110:11]
Bob the Drag Queen
We got Spotify. It's probably on Apple Music.
[110:13]
Narrator
And then we'll come back, we're gonna close out. You're gonna tell me all your thoughts on this amazing book.
[110:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yes, right after this.
[110:19]
T Mobile Representative
Unlike what you're listening to, T Mobile's coverage is no joke, because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now, keep your phone, and T Mobile will pay it off at the $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service port in 90 days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption. Required card is no cash access and expires in six months.
[110:50]
Bob the Drag Queen
Well, you just played Queen of the Underground for me.
[110:52]
Narrator
Absolutely.
[110:54]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's so good. Good.
[110:56]
Narrator
I downloaded it.
[110:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's Queen of the Underground by Bob the Drag Queen.
[111:01]
Narrator
On Spotify.
[111:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
On Spotify or on Apple Music or.
[111:04]
Narrator
Wherever you find music.
[111:06]
Bob the Drag Queen
Wherever you find music. The part about punching a baby in the allegations. Allegations. Because there was. There was a while, which is actually a tick tock trend. Yeah. It was like tick tock and Twitter and stuff like that for a while where people were talking about Harriet Tubman would knock out babies.
[111:21]
Narrator
Well, they can't cry.
[111:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
Exactly. And as Bob mentions it as Harriet gave a little yak because they just drugged the babies. But people read knocked out and just pictured Harriet Tubman punching babies in the head. The song is great. By the end of it, I wanted to go to the gym. Yeah. I wanted to hop right on elliptical.
[111:42]
Narrator
Yeah.
[111:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
I wanted to start moving. It also made me realize there was a thing, and I want to say around 2008, 2010, there was a thing where there were white southern singers who would do songs like Wade in the Water and others. And they would take these old spirituals and like jazz them up a little bit, you know what I mean? Like, make them make a more radio ready type of shit. Commercialize them. And so like when the song opened with Wade in the Water and I was thinking and thinking back to how you were explaining waiting. You wade in the water so the dogs can't follow your tracks.
[112:16]
Narrator
Yeah.
[112:17]
Bob the Drag Queen
And those different things. And I'm like listening to it, I'm like, oh, that was disrespectful with those singers. It's just one of those moments where I'm like, you put a lot into context for me, Bob. Yeah. Incredible song. Incredible book. Yeah.
[112:29]
Narrator
You love this book.
[112:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
I love this book.
[112:30]
Narrator
I love this book. So. But it was so amazing. It's so fun to read.
[112:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[112:34]
Narrator
And it's one of those ones where I'm always like, you don't have to read the book. Because technically, if you listen to the story report, we went over the whole book. But if you take the time to read this book, it's not a lot of time. It's a pretty short book.
[112:45]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[112:46]
Narrator
It's so Good. And like, I. I'm very even. Us two little history buffs. I was finding stuff that I didn't know.
[112:53]
Bob the Drag Queen
I am. I am very interested because I feel like this is gonna be one of those ones. It's gotten so many good reviews.
[113:01]
Narrator
Yeah.
[113:02]
Bob the Drag Queen
It's going to be picked up. Yeah, it's going to. There will do. Something will be made with this.
[113:08]
Narrator
Dear Bob the drag queen, Promania 500 can grow his beard longer. Would you like to play John Brown?
[113:14]
Bob the Drag Queen
Down to my nipples. Down to my nipples. I can grow this beard and we can diet.
[113:20]
Narrator
We die different.
[113:22]
Bob the Drag Queen
We can dye it.
[113:23]
Narrator
Please.
[113:24]
Bob the Drag Queen
We can dye my hair into a different color. And then we can soak it in the blood of the slave owners.
[113:30]
Narrator
Jesus Christ.
[113:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
There's a great sin that must be purged from this nation.
[113:38]
Narrator
Harper's Ferry. I don't know.
[113:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
I made him Southern. He wasn't.
[113:41]
Narrator
Yeah, he wasn't.
[113:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
There's a great sea on the dance to be purged from this nation. It's probably more. It was more New England guy. Or I could just be a guy.
[113:51]
Narrator
Just be a guy, basically.
[113:52]
Bob the Drag Queen
Bob, I just want to be your friend. No, I.
[113:55]
Narrator
This.
[113:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
We have been ever since you first explained. You started got it super into RuPaul's Drag Race years and years and years ago. Yeah. Before one day you were like, oh, yeah, I love Bob the Drag Queen. I was like, that's such a crazy name for drag queen. And then she started performing. They started performing at a clubs in Philly. And I was like, why is this drag queen doing stand up? And you're like, drag queens are funny. And I was like, oh, I don't know. And then because a lot of drag queens, I get upset sometimes. A lot of them do street. What's called street jokes.
[114:26]
Narrator
Yeah.
[114:27]
Bob the Drag Queen
Where they're taking older jokes and they might rework them a little bit for the time. But it's really like your classic setup, punchline. Very old school, almost vaudeville jokes. Bob is a stand up.
[114:39]
Narrator
Yeah.
[114:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
And then on top of that, Bob is. Is an mc. Work with Madonna, all these different things. And so everything that Bob does is just so impressive, especially this book, I think the End of Harriet Tubman. Literally, as I say, Mary Poppinsing.
[114:56]
Narrator
Yeah.
[114:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
Away. Which is something that people listen. Anybody who's ever been there for somebody and realized you need to leave in that moment because they're going to believe that all of the strength and power and humility that they needed to get to that moment, they don't think came from themselves, but they start to believe came from you instead. That's how both of you can get stuck. And so Harriet Tubman, at the end, being like, no, no, you've. You're free now.
[115:23]
Narrator
Yeah.
[115:23]
Bob the Drag Queen
You found who you are. You've confronted your past. You've seen those different things while at the same exact time showing that difference. I think the other thing that really comes through is that there is a thing that often happens between generations when you have one that has to strive for, whether it be freedom, whether it be equality, whether it be just financial means, food, any of those things that a later generation will look back and feel less than.
[115:56]
Narrator
Yeah.
[115:57]
Bob the Drag Queen
Because they didn't have to go through these struggles. More so I feel sometimes than the older generation looks down on the younger. Because the reason why, you know, people fight for rights and go to war and on a thought process is so the world would be better for their children.
[116:20]
Narrator
Yeah.
[116:20]
Bob the Drag Queen
And so why would I struggle and do all these different things? You know, with the idea of Moses, I'm gonna get to the promised land. Moses doesn't see it.
[116:29]
Narrator
Yeah.
[116:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
You know, in Harriet's case, for many of these people, she's trying to get them out.
[116:34]
Narrator
It's like that thing. It's like the. A good. A good person plants a tree because they. But they'll never see the shade.
[116:40]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[116:40]
Narrator
They'll never sit in the shade or something that.
[116:42]
Bob the Drag Queen
That a good. A person plants a tree today so their children will sit in the shade in the future.
[116:46]
Narrator
Yeah, exactly.
[116:47]
Bob the Drag Queen
And it's that same. It's that same general idea. And there's a lot of. That came through in this one. One.
[116:50]
Narrator
Yeah.
[116:51]
Bob the Drag Queen
And of where that is, but also from the Darnell's perspective of, like, how he feels they kind of bad the entire time. Like, he's looking at these people and, like, realizing the privilege he has compared to them. And, like, the feeling. That moment when Odessa turns to Darnell, and it's like, you know, have you. What's it like to have freedom your entire life and realize, like. Oh, like, it's like that moment where you're staring at the Netflix menu bitching that there's nothing to watch.
[117:18]
Narrator
Yeah.
[117:19]
Bob the Drag Queen
You know what I mean? Like, wait, that's freedom. And it's kind of in this way that's almost. It's almost paralyzing. Yeah. But I think the book was incredibly funny, and obviously, I think it's incredibly educational and well thought out.
[117:32]
Narrator
Yeah.
[117:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
I think it is. It's a party. In my.
[117:36]
Narrator
In my mind, you really opened up some things in Alex's mind.
[117:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
You really Did. Yeah, you really did. It makes me even matter that Harriet's not on the Tour 20 and that racist genocidal monster Andrew Jackson is still there. Yeah.
[117:50]
Narrator
You know, so we're mad again. We gotta stay mad. Gotta get things done. You gotta stay.
[117:56]
Bob the Drag Queen
You need to understand. I'm always mad.
[117:59]
Narrator
Me too.
[118:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
But I think that this was a incredibly incredible good. A good story report.
[118:06]
Narrator
A good story report.
[118:07]
Bob the Drag Queen
And I want to say that not only I. I think that Bob wrote a love letter to. To Harriet Tubman. And you just did a love letter to Bob and to everyone out there. Go check out this book. Go on. Libby, you had. One of the reasons you were starting to talk about, but you forgot to mention the reason why you ended up buying on Kindle is because the wait time for it on Libby was So.
[118:28]
Narrator
It was 57 weeks.
[118:30]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. And we weren't gonna wait.
[118:31]
Narrator
I have to do this now.
[118:32]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, so.
[118:33]
Narrator
So I did buy it twice.
[118:34]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah. So go to your library. Get it wherever you want to get it.
[118:36]
Narrator
I'm trying to help. Get it on the best sellers list.
[118:39]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[118:39]
Narrator
You know what? If you don't have the funds to buy this book right now, get on the wait list in Libby.
[118:43]
Bob the Drag Queen
Right.
[118:44]
Narrator
If your library doesn't have it, go to your library's website and request that they purchase the book. That's what you have to do. You have to ask them to purchase the hard copy book or the Libby book. And that way you can. You can read it at the beach this summer. You can read it at a lake house that you invite me to so I can be a lake person.
[119:00]
Bob the Drag Queen
You want to be a lake person? So bad books. You can be a bay person on the Chesapeake Bay. No, I'm kidding. But with that. Okay. Thank you guys so much.
[119:09]
Narrator
Thank you so much for listening to. Storyport is my favorite episodes. And I appreciate everyone.
[119:12]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah.
[119:12]
Narrator
Support your local library. Join the library board.
[119:15]
Bob the Drag Queen
Get your library.
[119:16]
Narrator
Libraries, do everything you can. We have to save them.
[119:18]
Bob the Drag Queen
Yeah, we have to save them. Especially because their funds are being cut at a rate that is crazy. So thank you guys so much. Thank you to everyone. And go. Please check out Harriet Tubman Live in Concert, a novel by Bob the Drag queen. Too many frauds and too many scammers that we wish weren't. Too many cons and too many spammers. And we're starting to feel like we've got too many tabs open. It's too many tabs. Remember to smile.
[119:55]
T Mobile Representative
Unlike what you're listening to. T Mobile's coverage is no joke, because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now. Keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid cart. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to 4 lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service report in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card is no cash access and expires in six months.
[120:25]
Bob the Drag Queen
Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to Libsynads. Com. That's L I B S Y N ads.com today.