BONUS: James Alexander on The Bar-Kays' Rivalry With Cameo
The Questlove Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a bonus clip from James Alexander’s two-part conversation, he recalls witnessing The O'Jays and The Temptations go toe-to-toe musically on stage in Cleveland in December 1967. That showdown—shared amid Alexander’s reflections on Otis Redding’s final days—led into a previously unreleased account of how his band, The Bar-Kays, developed a rivalry with Larry Blackmon's Cameo—a situation rooted in showmanship and cash. Steel sharpens steel...
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.6 | The Questlove show is a production of I-Heart Radio. |
| 0:14.1 | What's up, y'all? |
| 0:15.2 | Welcome back to another mini-episode of the Questleaf Show. |
| 0:18.5 | So this month, we dropped a banger, if you will, a two-parter with James Alexander of the Barcais. You can listen wherever you get your podcast or watch the full in studio conversation on the QLS YouTube channel. It's nearly two and a half hours. Not exactly Jimmy Jam length, but, you know, not seven hours, but two and a half hours is a lot. |
| 0:42.8 | And trust me, he brought the stories. |
| 0:44.9 | James actually flew in from Memphis to hang with us at IHeart Studios in New York. |
| 0:49.5 | And one thing you won't hear in the episode happened when we were talking about that faithful moment in December of 1967. |
| 0:59.5 | Of course, I'm talking about the tragic plane crash where James lost four of his bandmates and his dear friend and leader, Otis Redding. |
| 1:09.5 | So at one point, he got sidetracked talking about the OJs and the Temptations, |
| 1:15.3 | who had played a show the night before in Cleveland. |
| 1:18.9 | You know, I wanted to know what the last 24 hours were like before the crash happened. |
| 1:27.4 | And he told this really compelling story about just having a night off, seeing the OJs perform, |
| 1:37.1 | seeing the temptations perform. |
| 1:40.2 | They had a, you know, hung with each other, had some fun, went to see a concert, and then they |
| 1:45.5 | were going to head up to Wisconsin to do a show. |
| 1:48.4 | But they went to Cleveland and that led to a whole conversation about bands battling each |
| 1:53.6 | other on stage, the old-fashioned way with music ego and pure showmanship. |
| 1:58.9 | And he even mentioned a similar rivalry between the barquees and cameo. |
| 2:04.8 | Sometimes, like, really good stories wind up on the editing floor, and we definitely |
| 2:08.9 | didn't want this to be a part of that. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.