The Phil Spector Trial: Spector Dances (Literally) and the Aftermath

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY? After the first match of Spector vs. California ended in a mistrial, Team Spector made some roster moves before the rematch begins. Out is defense lawyer Roger Rosen and rumored to be out is Bradley Brunon, as Spector felt a mistrial by the final tally of 10-2 was way too close to a guilty verdict. Taking over at lead counsel will be San Francisco legal giant Dennis Riordan, who cameoed at the first trial to help Spector's squad during the tedious jury instructions process. Christopher Plourd and Spector consigliere Linda Kenney-Baden will still defend Spector, for now. Even though the lawyer firing shows Spector was disappointed that he was only sparred from jail by two acquitting jurors, that didn't prevent Spector and his trouble-making wife Rachelle from doing a victory dance (and hump — see above) upon returning to their faux-mansion in Alhambra, as Phil celebrated being (for now, at least) a free man.

THE JURORS SPEAK: A day after Juror nine expressed his regret that the jury couldn't find Spector unanimously guilty, Juror ten, who was also the jury foreman, was ambushed into an interview with Court TV to explain to the viewers at home why he voted that Spector be acquitted. Except the foreman didn't know he was being broadcast to explain himself -- in fact he didn't even know he was outted as someone who voted for Spector to go free, so what followed was an awkward interview filled with long gaps, as the foreman was only prepped to talk about "celebrity justice in L.A." When he wasn't in shock, the foreman explained the major point that hung the jury was chauffeur Adriano de Souza's semi-butchering of the English language. It couldn't be proven that de Souza actually understood the dialect when he heard Spector say "I think I killed somebody," and thus the prosecution's most important witness ultimately failed. One interesting note is that according to the foreman, the jury didn't even consider the testimony of the defense's big three forensic witnesses, as it was evident that they were hired guns for the defense and extremely biased. Considering that those three witnesses likely cost Spector somewhere in the ballpark of a half million dollars, he might want to find a better use for that money when the trial restarts.

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

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