Funny you ask and you are not alone, a lot of people ask me this question and the answer is simple, I've earned it I guess! Whether it be being involved in really good shit or really bad shit, I guess I am there because of something that I've done.... what can I say, the strangest shit happens in my life. In this particular case the question was how I found myself involved in the Grand Opening of the new HD Dealership in Scottsdale. Jack, you are a guy who spouts off about supporting your local bike shop and here you are on stage at a dealership, what gives with that?
I've never made my position on this clear or why I had taken that position so allow me to do it for you now. I've watched thru the early 90's when Harley exploded and the super dealers were built right up until today and I've seen the customer service go straight to hell. I've witnessed an attitude of "go ahead and leave our store, we don't care, we will sell to the guy standing behind you"! It really bothered me. It truly seemed that money was coming in hand over fist and these dealers could not give a single solitary shit about the loyal people who kept Harley alive through the "lean" times. It really bothered me to say the least. That is when I began the push to support "the little guy". Add in the fact that the stellar work and craftsmanship that was coming from these shops was blowing the factory out of the water. I give anyone a chance to prove me wrong and recently, at least one dealership has done just that. There is a new Sheriff in town and his name is Dr. Bob Parsons. This name may ring a bell to you as the man who invented and built Go Daddy.com. This man is a genius and he loves bikes! He purchased the old Hacienda Harley and came in with sweeping changes to everything from staff to attitude. This past Sunday was the grand opening and I got the call last month to see if I wanted to be part of it. When I heard what I just mentioned to you and so much more, the only answer could be yes. The kicker was that he was going to throw this party and charge anyone who entered the gates nothing for it! Talk about a first class move! The head line act for the night, Bret Michaels!
For the first time in what seems like years now, Diane felt well enough to come and join me at a show. Now that I think about it, it is actually damn near a year to the day since she has been at a show of mine! Many of you know how sick she has been the last few weeks and two days before this show, she suddenly felt amazing. Look at her face in the pic above, you can see the light back in her eyes and the damn near total lack of pain on her face. I can't put in to words how happy this has made me. She ran the camera for a while, hung out back stage for hours and did it all with an ear to ear smile. Normally, she needs to sit after a short while, but she stood for hours on end without a single complaint!
I hate to admit that I ever make pre conceived judgements on people but I guess we all do. When you see people on TV, we come to think that we know them, who they are, what they are like and how they act, I guess this is the world we live in. I was sure that Bret was going to be a dick and I was sure that he was going to be a total "rockstar" and treat people like shit. I'm not sure why I was so positive about this, I just knew that he would be. I had not seen Poison since they were mega huge and had never seen the Bret Michaels Band perform so I just didn't have high expectations. I am proud to admit that I have never been more far off on anything. The band was amazing, the show fantastic and as far as Bret goes, he COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY NICER! I hate being proven wrong. I am open to it, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it!
Just to give you an example of what I'm saying, is the photo above. Diane was tired and sore and her hands were full with all kinds of shit when she tried to take this photo. She snapped the pic, Bret said thank you to me? Thank you to me? Okay, wow, a gentleman too. He had just finished playing his ass off and was walking back to the bus and was a good 10-15 feet away and Diane said "oh no, it's blurry". I said "oh well, no big deal" and with that, Bret heard her over all the noise, turned around and said well let's do that again. Diane said she was sorry and he said don't worry about it, take your time and get the shot! To me, this was a stand up move on his part for damn certain.
The funny thing is that we ended up on stage together. I've been joking about us singing a duet together, yes, I was joking.... we did not sing Celine Dion's, My Heart Will Go On.... anyone who thought I was serious should get their friggin heads examined! I hate Celine Dion! We really sang Baby Got Back!
So Bret goes off stage, I remain on stage and continue to rock the crowd and keep them fired up. I look down off the stage to find Diane and she was not there. She was in the same spot all damn day, where the hell was she? I would imagine that over the years the question of where is my wife at a Bret Michaels show must have been asked thousands of times. The obvious answer to the question is, if your wife is missing at one of his shows, she is probably with him! So I walk off stage and who do I find? You guessed it!
When I'm working, I like to go out in to the crowd when the head line band goes on, but it was nice to see this show from the wings. What made it even nicer was that we watched the show with Bret's family. His daughters, Rain and Georgia I believe were just beautiful. At one point, Georgia was tired and all she wanted to do was sit down and I was right with her but she would have been crushed. So I picked her up, carried her over to the speaker stack and placed her on top. Then mom came over and gave her a juice box. She thanked me and I asked for some of her juice box, she smiled, laughed and said, I don't think so! This lil girl was gorgeous! To me, she looks like a young Dakota Fanning. Bret's "wife", I call her that because they have been together so long was truly a lovely lady. She could not have been any nicer or social than she was. We spoke of how she must be taking really great care of Bret because he looked so healthy. I said you have to tell Diane what you are feeding him so that I can get a bit healthier myself. She laughed and said "the reason he looks so good is because I'm NOT feeding him"! "I DON'T COOK"! The entire family were dynamite.
To give you an example of how sweet she really is, check this out. Diane is tiny and I am by no means a big guy, well height wise that is and she is really tall. She scrunched down while laughing so that the pic would look better and we would all seem like the same height! It's the simple gestures that people make that show character. We had a truly nice night! The event was a massive success and afterwards, we all split down to the Dirty Dogg to party the night away!
So like I said in a previous post, GO AHEAD AND CHANGE MY MIND, I DARE YOU TO. This is one time in my life that I am truly happy to have been proven wrong!
See you at the Dirty Dogg Saloon this week and we are going to continue to blow this Bike Week up!
Until we see each other on the road,
Keep the wind in your face,
Tits in your back
and the man off your ASS!
Your friend,
Jack Shit
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