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My Brush with Greatness
 
I think this happened in 1989. I was touring with Mickey Gilley but I was home for a break.
We toured out on the road almost 10 months out of the year. I was outside doing some yard work
and my (ex) wife came to the door and yelled out "there's some asshole on the phone" and I said "who is it?".

She said "I don't know, some asshole". So I went inside to the phone and said "hello?".
"Where the hell is Gilley?". I said "who is this?" and he said "this is Evel, where the hell is Gilley?".

It was Evel Kneivel and he was calling me looking for Mickey Gilley.
I said "Hey, how's it going?" and I told him that Gilley was at home in Pasadena and I gave him his phone
number and had a short chat with him. I was Gilley's road manager at the time and Evel had been hanging out
with us every night for two weeks in Vegas at the Desert Inn a couple of weeks before.

Somehow he had my telephone number but not Gilley's. We had a blast for those two weeks. He went
through several bottles of Wild Turkey with Coors Light chasers hanging out backstage. I also got several
prints of his oil paintings from him that he autographed for me. We also sat and watched his documentary
"The Last Gladiator" with him one night between shows. He was driving a Maserati at the time and would
pull right up in front of the Desert Inn, get out and go inside with the valet guys running behind him yelling
"You can't park there."

I asked him if he was afraid that they would tow his car and he said "They're not gonna touch it"
and sure enough it would be right where he left every night after he was done partying with us.
  Gary in Austin

PS. And as far as brushes with greatness, I've travelled all over the country and to Europe with Del Castillo.

Evel, Me and Gilley

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