A Touch of Evel

I guess I thought I was Elvis Presley but I’ll tell ya something.  All Elvis did was stand on a stage and play a guitar.  He never fell off on that pavement at no 80 mph.  -Evel Knievel

Public Service Announcement:  Ok here we go!  I gotta testify, come up in the spot looking extra fly.  For the day I die, I’mma touch the sky.  Gotta testify, come up in the spot looking extra fly.  For the day I die, I’mma touch the sky. 

Evel Knievel touched the sky, but more often than not he touched the concrete.  If you grew up when I did, you loved Evel Knievel.  Clad in his white leather jumpsuit.  His white leather jumpsuit emblazoned with the stars and stripes capped off with cape and cane.  What was cooler than that?  Who was cooler than that?  I said I’ll see you later and I give her some old chat.  But it’s not like that on the TV when its cool for cats.  It’s cool for cats. 

Cooler than Elvis.  Cooler than James Dean.  Cooler than Marlon Brando.  Cooler than just about anyone.  You loved it when he rode through fire walls.  You loved it when he jumped over live rattlesnakes.  Loved it when he jumped over mountain lions.  Jumped over the fountains at Caesar’s Palace.  Jumped over  thirteen buses at Wembley Stadium.  Tried to  jump over Snake River Canyon in a star spangled rocket ship.  Come and take a trip in my rocket ship, we’ll have a lovely afternoon.  Kiss the world goodbye and away we fly.  Destination moon. 

Evel finally jumped the shark.  Lliteraly.  Knievel decided to retire after a jump in the winter of 1976 in which he suffered a concussion and broke both arms in an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheatre.  He suffered nearly forty broken bones before all was said and done.  He was America’s Legendary Daredevil when all was said and done.  Evel Knievel was my idol for a very long time.  In some ways, he still is.  He will be sorely missed.

Public Acknowledgements:  Kanye West, Squeeze, Nat King Cole, Happy Days and The Smithsonian

Public Spectacle:

Peace out homies.  Six two and even!

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