Being Evel

Being Evel
(2015 American documentary about the life and times of
daredevil/superhero Evel Knievel;

directed by Daniel Junge)

In 1974, I was 11 years old.
And Evel Knievel was my hero -
that daredevil who everyone in the world was talking about.
For the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat!
Yes, I watched Wide World of Sports, too.
Anyone of age with a television set at the time watched that,
and every other bit of the media circus surrounding 

Knievel’s jump across the Snake River Canyon.
Oh my god, was that exciting, or what?!
And the dramatic footage of his failed attempt to 

jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace?
Completely unforgettable, right?!
Oh yes, watching this documentary sure did bring back memories.
I found those jumps just as exciting to watch now as it was back then!
It was also a reminder of all the crazy things people did back in the 70s,
with no regard for safety.
(Like playing with Clackers!
Amazing how I didn't whack my brains out playing with those,
or kill myself wearing Super Slider Snow Skates. Jesus!)
And yea, Evel could be mean and ugly –
but, 

he was a good lookin' bad boy riding a motorcycle in an Elvis suit,

sporting tons and tons and tons of courage.

No wonder he was my hero.
He’s still my hero. 

A true showman whose failures were as exciting to watch
as were his successes,

if not more exciting.

And what about that time the Hell's Angels put a beating on him?

Exciting!

Because he never backed down,
and always got back up.

The other thing I liked about this doc was
Peter Frampton in the soundtrack!

The trailer for Being Evel...

Hot Guy in a Mustang with Supertramp

Hot Guy in a Mustang with Supertramp

by Live Music Head

March 29, 2013

“When I was young,

 it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle,

oh it was beautiful, magical."

On this day back in 1979,

British rock group Supertramp

released the album Breakfast in America.

And anytime I hear songs from this album,

or think about it... like now,

thirty-four years later,

my mind immediately goes back to that summer;

the summer that followed its release...

the summer of skinny dippin’ and my sweet sixteen.

I was riding in the back seat of 
my older sister’s husband’s van

singing along to The Logical Song when they took me

to one of his baseball games for the first time.

The Logical Song was heard on car stereos a lot then. 
A lot!

And the other songs from the album too,

would blast from the car stereo 
out the summertime windows

as we drove around suburbia in a cool van

with fiery-orange flames painted along the sides.

But I really didn’t want to go to the game

because I had no interest in baseball...

well,

until I got there and found a hot guy was

a baseball player on my sister’s husband’s team!

Looking a little like Peter Frampton but darker,

with dark wavy brown hair,

he had one of them really strong arms that

could throw a ball faster than the eye could see,

and he flirted with me!

After that,

I looked forward to going to every game...

singing Oh Lord, Is It Mine?

with flushed cheeks from the back seat,

repeatedly...

because you see he was twenty to my sixteen,

and he flirted with me! 

“If only I could find a way 

to feel your sweetness through the day,
the love that shines around me could be mine!”

It took so many games before

the nearest hottest baseball player guy

with the strongest arm who was twenty I could find,

asked if I would go off with him...

and ya know, I didn’t hesitate a heartbeat!

Quickly abandoning my older sister, 

her husband, and the back seat

for the front passenger side of a solid black

(or was it dark blue?)

souped-up nineteen-sixties-something Ford Mustang

with an incredibly loud muffler 
that sounded like a Harley,

and a car stereo that blasted 

the same Supertramp songs out the summertime window

as the cool van 

with the fiery-orange flames painted along the sides.

Take The Long Way Home!