Blake Hall
There’s nothing freakier than robbing a bank. So says a current fugitive who, on Saturday, September 19, swaggered into the Advance American bank in Indiana, went up to the teller and was all like “give it to me baby”. The teller then answered “what”, to which the smooth “freaky” criminal replied “you know, that funk, that sweet, that funky stuff … the cash.”
Okay, the lyrical dialogue didn’t happen, but the robbery really did, as two men dressed up as 1970s entertainment superstars — R&B sensation and United Stats Navy veteran Rick James and a character from from the movie Super Fly — walked up to a teller and demanded money. They got some shortly thereafter, and then fled the bank and ran in “an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount.”
Here’s armed and dangerous faux Ricky below:
More from NME:
A local news report reads, “Two black men wearing all black entered the bank with handguns. Both men approached the teller counter and demanded money. The suspects ran in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of money. ”
“The first suspect is described as being 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches with long dark hair. He was wearing sunglasses, a black hat, all black clothing and was armed.”
“The second suspect is described as 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches with long dreads. He was armed and wearing all black clothing.”
Didn’t know James was a former sailor? He was (faked his birthday and joined at the ripe old age of 14), and even did prison time later on for skipping out on a deployment to Vietnam for missing his two-monthly Reserve sessions at the USS Enterprise.
When he dodged the controversial war, he went to Toronto, where he started a band and even recruited a young Neil Young to play guitar. At the time, he was known as “Ricky James Matthews”, mostly in an attempt to better hide his identity lest he be found out by the U.S. military. That is, until he met Stevie Wonder, who suggested he shorten his stage moniker to “Ricky James”, which he did.
Not long after, the Navy received a tip on James’ whereabouts. He was found, arrested and locked up for a year. Not only was his freedom eviscerated, but so was his young, promising career at the time: his brand spanking new recording contract with famed Motown Records was ripped up and voided.
Somehow, James rebounded and become an entertainment icon during the 1970s, recording classic “punk funk” musical hits like this one, from his 1978 album Come Get It!: