Reflections Of Evel

A very wise man once told me; “Things are changing Jack, and as they change they will change at a faster rate”. I’ve figured out, as I go along, that it’s true but, just because I know that things are changing at a faster rate, that doesn’t mean that I will recognize the true nature of change as it whizzes by.

Evel Knievel died. I didn’t plan on writing about this but as I was getting my stuff together for the gig tonight, it became aware to me how much of an icon this guy was. That’s change right there, the word icon wasn’t something you heard in conversation when I was young. Now, it seems over-used, cliche.

I never met Evel Knievel but, I do have a couple of quick anecdotes. First off, let me say, that I’ve never been a motorcycle guy, never been my thing. I do recall, however, at eight years old, setting up a couple of board ramps and jumping bikes with my buddies. We were emulating Evel.

Remember the ABC show “Wide World Of Sports”? They used to have him on there all the time. There is no show like that anymore, that’s for sure. I mean, they had real sports on there that you wouldn’t see any where else at the time; skiing, gymnastics. They had a lot of boxing, if you are of my age group, names like Jerry Quarry and Chuck Wepner might ring a bell. That was due to “Wide World Of Sports”. And, they had stuff on there that was almost worthy of a carny tent show. I remember seeing guys break concrete blocks with their heads and one guy who would catch bullets with his teeth. Then, they had Evel Knievel. When he was on there, it was an event. Big news in the neighborhood, always.

By the time Evel made the famous Snake River Canyon attempt, things had changed. I remember a lot of hype about it. It may be when I became aware of what hype is. Even as kids, we recognized that there was no way this guy was going to jump across a canyon on a “rocket bike”. It was bullshit, all a fiasco to raise some dough. We were older and Evel had lost his credibility.

In my early twenties, I was in a rock and roll band on the road. We were passing through Las Vegas and we didn’t have any money to gamble or party on. It was maybe three-four in the morning, something like that, on a week night. We went to Caesar’s Palace because the drummer wanted to see the famous fountain area.

Highway weary, the first thing we did was hit the bathroom. It was the first time I ever came across a restroom attendant. I was embarrassed because I didn’t have any money to tip the guy when he handed me a towel and I told him so. He said something nice, that it was his job and he didn’t mind.

So, here we are in Caesar’s Palace, the place is deserted. We went to, I guess, the second floor and found a bar area that overlooked the fountains. The lounge was closed, they just had one of those velvet ropes to keep you from going behind the bar. There we were a bunch of scraggly, skinny rock and rollers gazing out this big picture window at the fountains. Nobody bothered us. We were there a few minutes and the drummer, Jake, said; “I’ve always wanted to see this, ever since I saw Evel Knievel crash when he tried to jump it. Can you believe that somebody would ever try that?” I had forgotten about that. Looking out across the plaza, I wondered about what it would feel like to stare that down, seated on a Harley, with the world watching. Realizing that it must have been terrifying, and that, with the world watching, there could be no backing out of the deal.

I was still thinking about that as we left the palace and the doorman said; “Hope you enjoyed the view boys”. I don’t think that is was the first time that people came by to gawk because of Evel either.

Not long after that, I was playing in a country band that was based in Twin Falls, Idaho. Jake, who was in that band as well, took me out to the Snake River spot where Evel made the rocket bike attempt. We sat there drinking Tequila and joked about how we kept ending up at these Evel Knievel sites. I looked across that canyon and said out loud; “Man, that guy had balls of brass”. Once again, you look at the actual place and you just can’t imagine what it feel like to strap it on and go.

Another thing becomes apparent when you look across that canyon. Evel knew he was never going to make it across. He had to know that but, he did it anyway. See, I met a lot of people up there that were around when the whole thing was being put together. The story I heard time and time again was that Evel was having trouble finding some place that would let him jump a canyon. So, in an effort to get the locals to support him, Evel Knievel hit Twin Falls with $1,000,000 in cash. He spent months there using the cash to buy everybody drinks. It was one big party and it was all on Evel’s tab. That’s a hell of a guy that does something like that. I’ve told people about this, and they think that it’s just an exaggeration. I’m sure that there is some amount of that but, I heard the story a lot of times from different people. Whatever the actual facts are, he pulled off a great campaign to get it done. He was cut from a different cloth. It’s the kind of thing you won’t ever see again. Some guy buying a million dollars worth of drinks to get the people on his side because he wants to put on a big show in their town.

Last night, I had arranged to have dinner with my almost 18 year old stepson. He’s a good kid. He’s honest. So honest, in fact, that he recently told his Mom that he wants to go out and party a little, have some fun before he starts college, maybe have a few beers. This dinner was really a chance for he and I to talk man to man about this desire to party.

This is a tough one for me, with my history of alcohol problems. Also, I have no actual authority over him. I can’t say; “I forbid you to do this”. That’s not going to work anyway. I know that an 18 year old kid can operate beyond my radar. The best I can do is tell him what I feel about it and hope he takes my message to heart.

So, I walk in the house and he’s sitting on the couch, listening to his iPod, text messaging some girl and watching a re-run of John Stewart on TV. A real multi-tasking effort. That’s a generation gap right there. I feel like if you are trying to do three things at once you have to reduce all of the information to the lowest common denominator and end up not doing any of them well.

We had our talk and I’m not going to get in to the specifics but, I think I made some headway at least. Like I said before, he’s a good kid. I don’t expect him to get into trouble or fall off the deep end. But then, I never expected to so, even the idea that he wants to explore scares the hell out of me.

Anyway, after we had the talk, we watched the news and the Evel Knievel thing came on. I don’t know what network it was but it was a tribute piece. One of things that were going on about was the notion that Evel Knievel was the influence or inspiration to the current crop of daredevil types, Johnny Knoxville, Bam etc. and the whole extreme generation. And, I’m thinking that these guys couldn’t hold his shoes. That this veteran, copper mine worker; this guy who stared down the fountains at the palace and the Snake River Canyon; this guy who bought $1,000,000 worth of rounds for whole town has nothing in common with this group of multi-tasking, privileged, snot-nosed punks.

But you know, I didn’t really think the Evel had any impact on me at all. Until I started thinking about it. And you know, I was a punk myself. So maybe this guy did have some impact on these kids, who knows.

I find that it interesting that Evel Knievel settled a federal lawsuit with Kanye West a couple of days before he passed. I bet he knew he was going and wanted to settle affairs, tie up loose ends. I bet he knew the same way he knew he wasn’t ever going to make it across that canyon.

The story is that Evel met with Kanye face to face and came away thinking he was a good guy. So, to me, that is the same spirit as the man who bought a $1,000,000 round. Hopefully these kids will take something from Evel Knievel and hopefully, a little of that spirit will be part of it.