January 13, 2025 • 42 mins
Branden Powers shares his dedication to creative projects, including Evel Pie and the upcoming Heavy Metal Pizza Party. Branden discusses his journey from throwing illegal rave parties in Bakersfield to visioneering iconic venues such as the Golden Tiki. Join Branden and Joe P as they dive into stories of building unique experiences, paying homage to Las Vegas legends, and shaping the future of entertainment.
Grab merch at www.EvelKnievelMuseum.com
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Episode Transcript
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Branden (00:00):
It's really important for me to remember these people.
(00:03):
I really looked up to the JaySarnos of the world.
And the visionaries like SteveWynn and the original
entertainers that populated LasVegas.
It is really important for meto, in my life, to try to create
things that keep those peoplerelevant or remembered.
(00:25):
Because that's what made thiscity great, was those people.
The mob and those entertainers,and those people, and those
visionaries made Las Vegasgreat.
Everyone needs to come here andexperience Las Vegas once in
their lives.
If you are born here, your soulcomes to this planet, you have
(00:48):
to come to Las Vegas.
and I'm hoping to create thathere.
And it's great that the EvelKnievel Museum is going to be
here.
That's what we're going to
Joe P (00:57):
do.
Heather (00:58):
Evel Knievel inspired millions of us with his courage
and perseverance.
We're building a museum so youcan relive those memories and be
reinvigorated with that spiritof bravery.
Evel Knievel (01:11):
My name is Evel Knievel.
I'm a professional daredevil.
Heather (01:15):
Along the way, we meet people involved in the life, the
times, and the legacy of theKing of daredevils.
Here with their stories is yourhost, Joe Friday.
Joe P (01:26):
Hey howdy friend.
this is Branden.
He's my new neighbor.
Yeah.
Branden (01:33):
Hello, everyone.
Joe P (01:33):
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
That's what you do.
Branden (01:41):
That makes me sound like I'm a futurist or some kind
of
Joe P (01:44):
I think so.
Branden (01:45):
Yeah?
Joe P (01:46):
we're working on a future project.
I like
Branden (01:47):
to go back to the future.
I guess I create the future, butI rely upon the past and a lot
that I do because it'snostalgic.
So a lot of things that I createare based off of my childhood.
Joe P (02:06):
Pirates?
Branden (02:07):
Yes.
Pirates.
Disney.
Disney was a huge influence forme.
Going to Disneyland as a kid, myfather owned pizza parlors, sit
down pizza parlors inBakersfield, California.
Very, similar to Kansas.
And I always wanted to combineanimatronics and pizza, and I
don't know where my ADHD isgoing with this.
(02:29):
That's what influenced me.
So I had the idea for Chuck E.
Cheese before Chuck E.
Cheese.
And I actually designed Evel Pieto look like those sit down
pizza parlors that I remember inthe 70s.
The wood paneling, the playerpiano, the music.
Joe P (02:48):
So much like Kansas.
Pizza Hut was started inWichita.
Was it?
Yeah.
And then, Showbiz Pizza Place.
Did you have that in California?
Branden (02:57):
So we did, and I'm actually really good friends
with Aaron Fechter, who designedall of the robots for Showbiz
and was a partner in Showbiz.
He's a great inventor and agreat man.
He lives in Florida now.
Yeah.
And I think he has one of thelast few remaining sets of
characters that are boxed.
There may only be one boxed setleft.
Joe P (03:19):
Boxed?
Oh, they're
Branden (03:20):
real robots?
An actual mint condition Rock AFire Explosion band from There's
Joe P (03:26):
one left?
Branden (03:28):
There's one.
He had a fire.
He's like the ultimatescientist.
So he created some sort of cleangas fuel that was going to be
the future of barbecuing.
I don't know what happened.
He left it running and it shotacross like the big metal
container shot like a missileinto the side of the building
and the entire building explodedand everything.
(03:53):
A real Rock A Fire Explosion.
That's an amazing tie in, oh mygosh.
We're not even I'm not even onDMT right now and you're making
sense.
Joe P (04:00):
Wow, What a connection because that was started in
Topeka, Kansas and they had 200
Branden (04:08):
Plus stores, and they left like a zero, I think, off
the books, and then they foldedbut they ended up absorbing
Chuck E.
Cheese or something into theirOkay,
Joe P (04:16):
I did not know that part.
Branden (04:18):
Yeah, they miscalculated on their
expansion.
I don't know, something weirdhappened there.
I get a little confused, but
Joe P (04:25):
Were you going to do the real Rock A Fire explosion?
Like with the real characters,Billy Bob and Fats?
Yeah, so
Branden (04:33):
where my ADHD brain is going with all this wormholeness
is that what I'm doing next tothe museum here is going to be a
Heavy Metal Pizza Party and I'mbringing an entire animatronic
Rock A Fire explosion Bandthat's going to play metal and a
bunch of other surprises that wecan talk about later if you
(04:54):
want.
Or we can talk about now.
Joe P (04:56):
Yeah, we can talk about it right now.
Yeah,
Branden (04:58):
no, it's going to be amazing.
you're going to enter on a1970's carnival dark ride, like
the old haunted house darkrides.
So from the exterior, you'regoing to get in a little cart.
It's going to take you up twostories, provided that the city
allows me to do this craziness.
and it's just like this crazystory that you go through of the
(05:18):
characters that you're going tomeet inside that actually make
up the members of the band andthen you're dropped off inside
of a 1970s early 80s retroarcade with pinball stunt cycle
game like the original where youjump the buses and Evel Knievel
pinball machine, of course,you've got to because we're
(05:39):
right next door.
And then all retro arcade games.
And then there's the Land of Iceand Snow.
There's the Swamp.
There's a, you said Pizza Hut.
There's actually an homage to a1970s Pizza Hut within Heavy
Metal Pizza Party.
But we're not going to call itPizza Hut so I don't get sued.
Frank Gifford (05:58):
Yeah.
Branden (05:59):
And then it's going to be like a player piano and that
style of pizza.
Yeah.
It's craziness.
It's all the craziness.
There's the band and there'sthis Castle Grayskull kind of
thing going down.
And every 90 minutes the entirerestaurant is going to be
invaded by a horde of goblins orskeletons and the castle is
(06:19):
going to be defended byanimatronic rats with catapults
and they're going to battle itout and there's Muppet
characters swinging from thechandeliers and it's just utter
mayhem.
So that's Heavy Metal PizzaParty.
Joe P (06:36):
Okay, can you tell us a couple members of the band yet?
Are you ready to do
Branden (06:41):
that?
So I'm looking at, I'm basingone of them off of this 1970s,
early 80s heavy metal rocklegend called Thor.
And Thor had a couple of albumsout and he actually performed
here in Vegas.
So he's going to be the singerand he's got big metal spikes.
And then we're going to havesome kind of goblin and some
(07:04):
kind of troll like character,some kind of maiden type
character from some heavy metalgoddess warrior.
So yeah, so it's going to beunlike, it's going to be a
spectacle unto itself.
There's nothing on the planetthat exists and I'm a punk rock
kid.
(07:25):
Like I grew up as punk rock kidslike you did.
Joe P (07:27):
Yeah.
Branden (07:27):
So heavy metal, we used to go to battle with heavy metal
kids growing up.
We used to, back when you couldfight with like chains and
baseball bats, nowadays you getshot.
We used to battle like all theheavy metal kids growing up.
and now I like Yeah,
Joe P (07:44):
like they're wearing this bandana around their head.
Branden (07:47):
Yeah, I grew up in Bakersfield, so the kids from
Korn used to hang out.
And I swear we used to beat upon them.
They got the last laugh.
Now I'm doing heavy metal and Ilove it.
I love like Dio and I loveSlayer, and I love Iron Maiden,
and Ozzy Osbourne, and
Joe P (08:04):
Did you ever hear of Slaughter?
Branden (08:05):
Yes, up all night, sleep all day.
I like
Joe P (08:09):
I just learned they were from Las Vegas.
I think
Branden (08:12):
one of them like still lives out here.
Oh, right on.
Something like that.
I don't know, I don't know theguy personally, but Sebastian
Bach lives out here from SkidRow.
There's a bunch of metal dudesthat have all ended up in Vegas.
It's their last holdout.
It's like they're circling theirwagons and they're just like
(08:32):
sitting there and I'm going tohelp bring it back.
Heavy metal's rad.
I'm going to get the fashion.
Listen to
Joe P (08:40):
you.
What would young Branden sayabout yourself?
Heavy metal's rad.
Branden (08:44):
It's rad now.
It's cool.
You know what I mean?
all the fashion, the hair, themakeup.
Yes.
The guys and girls.
just to cut up t shirts, themusic, I mean there's
Joe P (08:54):
Eyeliner, maybe?
Branden (08:55):
Eyeliner, yeah, I don't know.
Were they wearing
Joe P (08:58):
lip gloss?
Branden (08:59):
Probably, yeah, they probably had some kind of
Joe P (09:01):
Poison?
Branden (09:02):
Yeah, poison, those guys, everything.
That all started, that glam rockgoes back to Mark Bolin and T
Rex and Bowie and Alice Cooper.
I think one of their girlfriendsdecided to put makeup on them
one day and, Boom.
It was over.
It was androgynous.
There was
Joe P (09:21):
a time when you had the same virus that I have.
Which is this Evel Knievel bug.
Branden (09:26):
Oh Jesus, I guess I got another one?
I just went to the doctor, hesaid everything was positive.
So I think I'm good.
But yeah.
Yeah, no, when I was a kid.
I loved Evel.
Who didn't love Evel Knievel?
I grew up in the 70s.
I was a 70s kid.
This guy's jumping stuff.
He's like the ultimate Americanhero.
(09:48):
He was this real superhero.
You know what I mean?
I'm on my bike and I'm jumpingmy friends and barely missing
them or sometimes hitting themand we're throwing lawn darts at
each other and lighting crap onfire.
Lawn darts.
Joe P (10:02):
Yeah, so awesome.
Branden (10:04):
I mean there was like it was total mayhem growing up
as a kid in the 70s and EvelKnievel represented that and had
all the toys had the wholething.
I didn't want to play videogames.
We had an Atari and I wanted tobe out on my bike jumping crap
Yeah, but
Joe P (10:16):
what I mean by the same bug is we all liked Evel Knievel
It's just you and I like him alittle bit more.
Probably you got rid of all yourEvel Knievel stuff, right?
Branden (10:25):
I have some and then
Joe P (10:26):
you had to buy it all back pretty much.
Branden (10:28):
Yeah to load
Joe P (10:29):
up your restaurant.
Branden (10:30):
To load up, yeah, to load up Evel Pie and design
that.
I tried to find as much as Icould.
Kelly provided all of thephotos, family photos and stuff
that were unseen.
Joe P (10:40):
That's my favorite part.
Branden (10:41):
Yeah.
I love those.
I loaded up with that.
We had the bike.
We had the pinball machine.
Joe P (10:47):
Everybody loves that place.
Branden (10:48):
It's cool, right?
It's just cool.
One thing, you just, Evel isjust cool.
And no matter how much money youhave, you can't buy coolness,
right?
You could try, but it was theperfect combination.
A pizza place was there beforeand it failed miserably.
(11:09):
Oh really?
A fondue place was there and itfailed miserably.
Duh.
Who wants to eat molten cheesein 200 degree weather?
Yeah.
It was just the ultimate cool.
And what was rad is I grew upwith skate culture and I grew up
with all these things.
So I was combining punk rocklogos with skate logos and
making them Evel logos.
(11:29):
I think I helped bridge the gapa little bit more.
And also provide a new audience,so to speak.
Joe P (11:37):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Branden (11:38):
Yeah, so it's all me.
Yeah,
Joe P (11:40):
Evel Knievel is a verb now.
Thank you.
Frank Gifford (11:45):
Yeah, there you
Branden (11:45):
go.
Joe P (11:47):
But your creativity didn't stop there.
Branden (11:50):
Yes.
Joe P (11:50):
You've adopted this town and made it so cool.
You weren't going to just stopat Evel Pie.
Was your next stop Golden Tiki?
Branden (11:59):
Actually, Golden Tiki was before.
Oh.
Yeah, it was a couple yearsbefore.
I've been coming here since Iwas a little kid in the 70s.
Just to go back a little bitfurther into my love for Las
Vegas, growing up inBakersfield, it's five hours
away.
And my dad owned the pizzaparlors.
And so the mob, they controlledall the cheese and the sauce.
(12:23):
And eventually in the 80s, thevideo games they delivered,
became our partners on.
So we would come to Vegas andthey would sponsor all of our
show tickets and I saw Liberaceand I saw Dean Martin and Frank
Sinatra and all those guys and Iwent to topless shows.
I'm six years old and the girlsare winking at me and at ten,
(12:47):
actually, excuse me, probablyeight or nine, I'm drinking
booze like White Russians at theMGM hotel in the black and white
movie theater.
Because I tipped the girl.
That's how the town ran.
And as a little kid, I'm wearinga suit to breakfast.
That's how cool Vegas was backthen.
Joe P (13:04):
You wore a suit to breakfast.
Branden (13:05):
And so when we come to town, my dad would come in the
town, we'd go to this placecalled Leaning Tower Pizza.
We'd never eat pizza there.
And there was this big fat guywho was named Tiny.
Of course, right?
It's
Joe P (13:17):
an Italian thing.
Branden (13:18):
Yeah, it's like a thing.
And and my dad would shake handsand this is before cell phones,
whatever.
Tiny would pick up a phone andboom, we were dialed in.
That was it.
and the whole town ran that way.
I love this town and I've beeninvolved in this town and so
when I had the opportunity toturn another bar that was a
loser before in Chinatown withno parking.
(13:42):
Yeah, my business partners atthe time were like,"What do you
want to do?" And I'm thinkingpunk rock bar and they're like
you want to do a tiki bar andI'm like you cool if I can do It
my way.
I did tiki in the 90s in SanDiego.
Like I was part of theresurgence of that whole thing
in America, right?
So I was over it and so Icreated like Uncle Bob's Dirty
(14:03):
Disneyland, animatronic hulagirls, parrots that cussed and
Joe P (14:09):
oh, yeah, I saw those.
I didn't see the hula girls.
Oh, yeah
Branden (14:13):
you're going to have to fight to get a word in edgewise
with me.
It's just a flow of it comes outof me.
I so apologize.
I haven't even had coffee thismorning.
But, yeah, so that's GoldenTiki.
I got to do Golden Tiki.
Joe P (14:27):
Yeah.
Have you had a fail?
Branden (14:29):
I have to hit home runs every time I get up to the
plate.
I don't have money.
Okay.
I'm a kid from Bakersfield whosedad always had businesses, was
successful, promised me to besuccessful.
Basically he lost kind ofeverything, went bankrupt.
And I had to borrow money tobury my pops.
(14:50):
I was one of the pioneers of therave scene in North America.
Every time I threw a party, Ihad to hit a home run.
I had to, it had to make memoney every time.
Every time I did a business, Ilook at it that way.
I have no choice.
I go up to the plate.
I have to hit home runs everytime.
Joe P (15:08):
Where did you invent a rave party?
Branden (15:11):
So I'm one of the so in the 80s, I'm in high school.
I'm throwing outlaw, illegalkeggers out in the fields in
Bakersfield.
We're listening to Kraftwerk,and Tubeway Army, and New Order,
because that's what got thegirls.
Punk Rock didn't get the girls.
(15:32):
That's true.
New Wave.
New Wave.
I figured it out real quick,really fast.
If you, except in the movieValley Girl, that's the only
time.
Nicolas Cage, who was a punkrocker, got the cute girl.
I had to figure out how to dresslike Corey Hart from Sunglasses
at Night with my white shirt andRay Bans.
Joe P (15:50):
Yeah,
Branden (15:51):
Chicago.
Or else I couldn't get thegirls.
Punk rock girls weren't as cuteas they are nowadays back then.
What was wrong
Joe P (16:02):
with them, Branden?
Branden (16:04):
Nothing.
They're beautiful people.
But I just, They weren't mystyle.
In order to do that I threwparties out of necessity.
Which is, I guess a lot ofpeople in life, that seems to be
what their muse is.
For poetry, for music, or forwhat not, it seems to be mostly
(16:24):
women.
Yes.
Unless you get into the Greeks,and then that's another thing.
But, yeah.
So yeah, I did parties, so likein 1986, I'm throwing these
parties and then I heard about86.
Joe P (16:38):
You're not old enough to buy booze?
Branden (16:40):
No, I just told you I was drinking at eight or nine in
Vegas.
Back then, I grew up inBakersfield.
All the farmers and the people,they're feeding booze.
Like my friends are all Basqueand they're feeding booze to
those kids in baby bottles.
Like drinking was a part.
I probably drank more before Iwas 21 than I ever drank after.
And we would just drink beer.
(17:01):
We drink like Coors Light, Likein red cups and like by the
gallons full.
I don't even drink beernowadays.
It's so bizarre.
So I'm out in the fields andwe're throwing these parties.
I hear these news stories comingout around 1988 about the UK and
they're doing these all nightdance parties to this new music
(17:24):
that's called Acid House Musicand techno and they're doing
drugs and I'm like, wait aminute.
This is I can do drugs?
You can do drugs all night, andyou can dance to this music, and
it's repetitive.
This is essentially like PacMan, right?
I grew up on Pac Man.
Oh, it is.
It's a little dude in the darkeating pills and to repetitive
(17:46):
music.
That's like perfect, right?
It is.
It is.
And the rave scene was like punkrock.
It was like do it yourself,right?
So I'm out, it's really funplaying in bands.
I'm a terrible guitarist and I'mdoing flyers and, so I was a
party guy.
I was already throwing parties.
(18:07):
So I started doing raves and Iwas one of the original, it's
debatable, probably one of thefirst people in North America,
because of my prior history,definitely, to do raves in North
America.
So I'm one of the pioneers ofthat scene.
And my biggest party, I startedoff with a couple hundred
dollars and it was essentiallylike Kinko's Flyers at the time.
(18:29):
And I moved it up and my biggestevent got up to 60, 000 people.
And one of my flyer kids out ofLA, his name was Pascal, or
Pasquale.
And he went on after I quit tothrow EDC, which is the largest
rave, one of the largest ravesin the world right now in Las
Vegas.
So that's the history of wherehe started and where I went and
(18:53):
ended.
And the reason I stopped is mydad dies in 99, and my mom wants
something in, like a one linerto tell friends at a cocktail
party what her son does.
And I decided to get a real job.
Ended up for a company openingup nightclubs in the Midwest and
East Coast.
We come out to Vegas.
They don't open a nightclub.
(19:13):
I'm stuck here in Vegas, whichis fine, and I've spent the last
20 something years here inVegas.
Now I have kids and a family.
Joe P (19:23):
What did the first rave look like?
Did you have the lights?
Branden (19:27):
yeah.
We started off of the actualrave raves, other than the
cornfield parties, Started doingapartments, houses, and then I
had the opportunity There was afriend of mine.
His name was Pietro Legreca.
He just wrote a book calledPesos, The Rise and Fall of a
Border Family, okay?
(19:48):
So Pietro's family, he's halfItalian and half Mexican and his
family controls, controlled allthe money exchanges.
A majority of them in Mexico.
The president of Mexico used tocall up and like go,"You can't
change the money exchange.
You can't change." They wouldcontrol it, right?
And they had all these massivewarehouses and import and
(20:11):
exporting and whatever they weredoing.
And they would come to Vegas andspend all their money.
Pietro has this giant 6 millionmansion in Coronado at the time.
It's probably worth 20 milliontoday on the water.
Owns these polo fields inRosarito, Mexico, which is about
half hour from the border, andwe start doing mansion parties
(20:33):
at his place.
Then we start, we did the firstrave ever in Mexico called the
Birth of Baby X with Pietro'sfamily at this polo field down
there.
This is how much pull they had.
We bused 3, 000 kids from theborder over the border, down
there and back, not searchedonce, not asked any questions.
(20:55):
No one did anything on NewYear's Eve of'90,'91 or whatever
it was.
And that's how much pull theyhad.
It was incredible.
You couldn't do that today.
obviously like it's insane.
Eventually Pietro's family gotwiped out through various means.
Oh yeah, met a lot ofinteresting characters down
(21:17):
there in Mexico.
The owner of, CalienteRacetrack, when I was going to
go do a rave party once, he hadthis big glass desk that he
would sit behind.
And inside of the glass desk wastwelve of the most venomous
snakes on the planet.
You'd just sit there and thesesnakes would be slithering
around.
Doctor
Joe P (21:36):
Evil.
Branden (21:37):
It was, dude, beyond.
It was so crazy.
I could spend another podcastjust on those stories alone.
The first rave with carnivalrides we did called Wild
Kingdom, which is where EDC kindof came from, Electric Daisy
Carnival, which was carnivalrides.
And then my biggest, most wellknown one was called Narnia.
(21:59):
Our events, what set us apartwas everyone was doing Dr.
Seuss and Mad Hatter and allthese ecstasy, blah, blah, blah.
We were doing more spirituallybased, so we had gurus, we had
yogis, we had symbols, we wereoutdoors.
Doing
Joe P (22:14):
what?
Doing what?
Branden (22:16):
they'd be on stage working with the energy.
Joe P (22:20):
I haven't been.
What?
I have not been.
Branden (22:23):
Oh my god.
To the EDC.
To the EDC.
Okay, yeah.
You sounded, that was reallycool how you said that.
I like that.
It was like, like you smoked themarijuana cigarettes.
Joe P (22:36):
Yeah.
No, I haven't been.
Are there still carnival ridesthere?
Yeah.
Branden (22:40):
Yeah, they do the whole thing.
It's massive.
I just went We had helicopters.
We flew in on helicoptersbecause we're old.
We're too lazy to walk and park.
That's how we.
That's how you roll.
We're boujee.
We're boujee now.
I can't do the drugs anymore.
My chemistry's changed
Joe P (22:57):
What are you talking about?
You flew in on a helicopter.
Branden (22:59):
or any less.
Joe P (23:00):
From Las Vegas to Las Vegas on a helicopter?
Branden (23:03):
from the executive terminal, and then we flew in to
EDC and there's helicopterlanding.
You can land inside of EDC on ahelicopter.
Oh, your
Joe P (23:14):
office is at the airport?
Is that right?
Branden (23:17):
Yeah, I just moved into new offices across from the
airport.
Yeah.
Joe P (23:22):
That's your commute now.
Branden (23:24):
No, I don't want you to think I take helicopters
everywhere I go.
Just when I go shopping,
Joe P (23:32):
How many kids?
Are they kids or did they growand mature as we did?
Branden (23:37):
No, I'm like a senior citizen.
I walk around there and thosekids think I'm like a vice cop
or something.
They're like,
Joe P (23:43):
No, I'm cool.
I got fuzzy boots.
Branden (23:46):
Yeah.
They don't, trust me orwhatever.
It's evolved.
It's cool to see something thatwe created.
We're like the Dog Town ofravers.
You know what I mean?
we're like the originators ofskateboarding, but with raves.
So to see it grow from where itstarted to where it is today,
(24:09):
it's pretty amazing.
It's pretty crazy.
And those kids are having funand good for them.
And how many
Joe P (24:13):
of them again?
Branden (24:14):
Oh God, they claim over 500 or 600 thousand people, but
it's really 150 thousand, 160thousand, 170 thousand a day.
So how many people are goingmultiple days?
All of them.
Yeah, so it's promoter math,right?
So it's like me, I'll tell you Ihad 60 thousand people and
there's probably 10 thousandpeople who showed up because
(24:34):
promoters just naturally lieabout everything.
That's
Joe P (24:39):
huge for Las Vegas.
I've
Branden (24:40):
been lying about everything so far.
Joe P (24:44):
We really are neighbors though.
Branden (24:46):
Yeah, I helicoptered to his house.
That's
Joe P (24:51):
huge for Las Vegas though, that's probably 50
thousand rooms at least, right?
Branden (24:58):
I don't know what our full room count is right now,
but those kids they'll go ten toa room.
But it's a huge impact on thecity for money.
It's a great thing for the city.
I'm actually working on creatinga, I'm talking with some people
right now, creating a permanentfestival space that will have
more of these festivals goingaround the clock, monthly, Oh,
(25:23):
cool.
Instead of once a year.
Joe P (25:24):
It's at the racetrack, right?
Branden (25:26):
This one's at the Speedway.
Yeah.
Oh, Speedway.
Yeah.
I'm from San Diego, so when yousay that, I'm thinking Del Mar.
Oh, gotcha.
Yeah.
I'm thinking horses.
Yeah.
Follow that train of thoughtthere?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's great.
The city needs more of it andthe city is just growing
exponentially.
So happy to be here and see itall as it happens.
Joe P (25:48):
I do have to give a shout out right now to The Space who
loaned us their podcast booth.
We are building one into themuseum.
That's going to be kick ass.
It's going to be in one of EvelKnievel's old trailers, but the
Space has opened up theirpodcast facilities for us to use
in the meantime.
It's beautiful.
We really appreciate it.
When this place, The Space,heard about our need for a state
(26:08):
of the art studio to produce ourfledgling podcast, they
graciously offered up theirroom, their equipment, and most
generously their tech team.
"Anything you need, just let usknow," they said.
The deluxe recording space haseverything we need.
Featuring broadcast qualityequipment in a soundproof
stylish lounge, and a place togather, record and produce
(26:31):
tracks with superior audioquality.
Honoring its core value ofgiving back, The Space is also
home to Mondays Dark.
The show here Mondays Dark isphenomenal.
Branden (26:44):
Yes
Joe P (26:45):
Broadway is closed on Mondays.
It's same with the Strip.
And the show people are off onMondays.
So where the players play whenthey ain't playing is at Mondays
Dark.
It costs like 20 or 30 bucks toget in and you can see these
headliners that play on theStrip, but instead of the guy
singing Cher, he gets to singwhatever he wants to for only 20
(27:08):
bucks.
And they raise 10 thousanddollars every other week for a
local Las Vegas charity.
That's
Branden (27:14):
amazing.
That's awesome and Mark is anamazing person for all that he's
done and contributed to the cityfor sure.
Joe P (27:23):
He's been very welcoming, but everybody has, and you have.
Branden (27:26):
It's a beautiful facility.
These are amazing facilities,definitely.
Joe P (27:31):
As far as our podcast goes, you can expect even more
in the coming months.
As we outfit our own booth atthe Evel Knievel museum located
at the Mission Linen Building.
What's really neat about theproject is that it's downtown.
I get a lot of feedback about itbeing in the Arts District.
Really?
Yeah.
Do you?
Branden (27:50):
Like good or bad?
Joe P (27:52):
Good.
The Arts District in Las Vegasis one of the hottest properties
in the world.
Branden (27:59):
I believe so.
Downtown on Fremont, where EvelPie is, and that area
surrounding there.
I lived in downtown San Diego,so I saw that evolve from,
basically, hookers and sailorsand drug addicts to what it is
today.
It's crazy with a ballpark and
Joe P (28:16):
oh yeah it was
Branden (28:17):
nothing like you would run from one club to the next.
It's nowhere near where it istoday and I've seen the
evolution of downtown andFremont, that area and the Arts
District is where it's allreally progressing towards
Joe P (28:32):
Fremont.
What was his name, Hsieh?
Branden (28:34):
Tony Hsieh.
Tony Hsieh.
Regardless of what people reador say or do about Tony.
Joe P (28:40):
Yeah.
Branden (28:40):
I'll never say anything bad.
That guy put his money where hismouth is.
He came down and spent hundredsof millions.
You know, it wasn't the way Iwould do things.
But he did it his way.
He allowed a bunch of people todo their dreams and their
passions, which is great.
And I think that a lot of peopletook advantage of him,
unfortunately.
(29:02):
and the way that he ended up israther tragic and sad.
Joe P (29:06):
Oh, yeah.
Branden (29:06):
And I honored him at the Golden Tiki with a shrunken
head.
He had come into the Golden Tikione night.
He said he loved it, but healways wanted me.
He's like,"Why didn't you openthis downtown?" And I'm like,
"This is the opportunity that Ihad and this is where I went.
And this is what I did with it."But no, I, God bless him.
(29:32):
Wherever he is in the universeright now, I wish him the best.
So he's zipping aroundsomewhere.
Joe P (29:38):
Did he do Arts District, too, or was he north of there?
Branden (29:42):
No, he was all downtown, like around Fremont
and he bought up all thoseareas.
I don't know if he owned anyproperties up in the Arts
District.
There's been a lot of greatHeavy Metal Pizza Party was
going to be down there on, moreon Main Street.
Joe P (29:57):
Yeah?
Branden (29:58):
Yeah.
But the landlord, and my oldbusiness partners at the time.
He was like, my 22 year oldnephew doesn't think it's cool.
And I'm like, dude, your nephew?
Whatever.
But yeah, I've always loved thatMission Linen Building.
That is the coolest building inVegas, it's one of the coolest.
(30:18):
Cirque, they looked at it.
They wanted to do, their officesout of there at one time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's very cool.
It's a very cool, it's a verycool building.
Like I look at buildings as is.
I don't look at Let's changethis and make it nicer.
I'm like, This is great.
Let's leave it with the brokenwindows and the graffiti.
(30:41):
I love it.
And I am really bad at thatbecause I have never had that
luxury.
I don't have the money to go inand go Oh, yeah, we're going to
add brick and a bunch of bougiefinishes which we do now and J
Dapper is an amazing developer.
He's my business partner aswell, on the roller rink and on
(31:02):
Heavy Metal Pizza Party.
I can't say enough awesomethings about J.
He really, when everything wentdown with me and Evel Pie and
the Golden Tiki, he rose up andhad my back and I'm loyal.
I'm loyal to those who are loyalto me.
Joe P (31:20):
So we were looking at places and Branden's right.
We found the perfect place.
J hooked us up with the perfectplace for a museum and a pizza
place and a coffee neighbor,also, Mothership Coffee.
Branden (31:32):
Yes, it's Mothership, yeah.
Joe P (31:34):
J also started the Huntridge Plaza and bought the
Huntridge Theatre which is anold punk rock venue.
But in the Huntridge Plaza is abarber and a start up restaurant
which is delicious.
Branden (31:48):
It's delicious.
It's Winnie and Ethel's.
Yes.
It's great.
Yeah.
Joe P (31:53):
And then a Circle K gas station with an old style sign
on it.
Branden (31:58):
Yeah.
J does these really great, like,he is inspired by the architect
ural design Googie.
I don't know if you're familiarwith Googie.
They did a lot of stuff inCalifornia and Beverly Hills and
gas stations and he bases a lotof his designs off of that.
They have Yukon Pizza.
Those kids are amazing.
That kid's yeast, like yeast isa very big thing, and that yeast
(32:19):
has been in his family for ahundred and something years.
And yeah, it like started offwith his great grandma.
I
Joe P (32:29):
don't know.
I haven't been there.
They're closed on Tuesdays, andthat's when I go get my hair
cut.
Branden (32:35):
At the Garrison?
Marcus cuts my hair at theGarrison.
I love the Garrison.
Yeah, Berto's
Joe P (32:40):
my guy.
He's right next to him.
Branden (32:42):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Joe P (32:43):
They're all patriots and Marcus is like the world's worst
survivalist.
He's out there in Pahrumpkilling chickens.
Branden (32:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like he's has like hisgoats or something or
Joe P (32:53):
yeah, we didn't talk about the roller rink.
We're drinking and we're rollerskating, right?
Branden (32:59):
Yeah, there's going to be waivers for sure.
I came up the great idea to puta bar in the center of the
roller rink.
We have three bars that we'reinvolving because it's always a
great idea to involve booze androller skating.
Joe P (33:15):
Right on.
Branden (33:15):
Yeah, so the roller rink's going to be totally
amazing.
I'm programming the exteriormusic to sound like 1970s Muzak
from a parking lot.
When you enter, it's going to beall Muzak.
When you walk up, there's goingto be these 20 foot tall Pegasus
on each side of the starlight,it's called the Starlight, and
(33:35):
then you enter through a tunnel.
And there's these muses, statuesof the girls from Xanadu.
And then there's a pro shop withall of our cool merchandise.
And then there's elevatedconcessions.
you can have all the friedburritos and hamburgers and hot
dogs and pizza and things thatyou would get, but better
(33:57):
quality, because rink pizza backin the Seventies was,
essentially, if you put vomitand that side by side, you
couldn't tell the difference.
It was like a toss up on whichone to eat.
Then there's a bar on theexterior of the rink and then a
bar in the middle.
There is a secret tunnel thatyou can skate through.
(34:18):
There's a secret kind of, I hateto use the word speakeasy
because those are over.
Joe P (34:23):
They are.
Branden (34:24):
Yeah, it is a homage to Siegfried and Roy.
You enter through the arcade andit's all animatronic white
tigers and Siegfried and Royfloating and levitating.
It's just this very surrealthing.
Yeah.
You're
Joe P (34:42):
predicting the future by making it
Branden (34:44):
Yeah.
It is Oh
Joe P (34:46):
man, that is so cool.
And an homage to Siegfried andRoy.
Branden (34:51):
I love Siegfried and Roy.
I was trying to buy one of theirhouses and I had my friend flew
in, my friend Felix, who startedin the rave scene with me, with
literally, I think it was 500,800 bucks in black lights.
He started off in 1991 and nowdoes all the lights at EDC.
(35:14):
Does touring shows for famousartists.
Has multiple hundreds andhundreds of thousands square
foot warehouses in multiplestates.
So Felix flies in and we'regetting ready to sign the
paperwork.
And this guy walks in rightafter us.
Two ships passing in the nightand he has a briefcase.
(35:36):
And the briefcase is filled withcash.
And boom, he buys Siegfried andRoy's magical estate.
It was so rad.
It was like, there was a secretbookcase that moved.
And said,"ta da" or something.
Then you go into the bedroomsand one of them was Siegfried, I
(35:56):
think, with long hair and it waspainted depicting like he was
fighting a wizard.
There's just, there was just somuch awesomeness where they kept
the tigers and the waterfallsand just amazing.
It was so amazing.
I wanted that house so bad.
Joe P (36:13):
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Branden (36:19):
Yeah, it would have been really cool.
With the
Joe P (36:21):
Mirage closing, I wonder what our chances are to get that
sculpture?
Branden (36:27):
I think that it's probably...
I wish I could get it.
I wouldn't even want to knowwhat the price that thing is.
I think it's bronze.
Damn.
Yeah, I'm sure it'll go in amuseum or they'll just keep it
there on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Joe P (36:41):
They'll probably keep it there.
They'll probably
Branden (36:42):
keep it there.
It's
Joe P (36:43):
almost on public property out there.
Branden (36:45):
I don't feel that they have been honored properly, and
their contributions to the city,and It's really important for me
to remember these people.
I really looked up to theSarnos, the Jay Sarnos of the
world.
And the visionaries like SteveWynn and the original
(37:07):
entertainers that populated LasVegas.
It is really important for meto, in my life, to try to create
things that keep those peoplerelevant or remembered.
Because that's what made thiscity great, was those people.
No one remembers that theMormons founded this place, And
(37:29):
no one cares.
The mob and those entertainers,and those people, and those
visionaries made Las Vegasgreat.
And made it into, when you'reborn on this planet, it is part
of your human existence to, itis your own, and I don't want to
(37:53):
compare it to Mecca of course,but it's your own, everyone
needs to come here andexperience Las Vegas once in
their lives.
If you are born here, your soulcomes to this planet, you have
to come to Las Vegas.
and I'm hoping to create thathere.
And it's great that the EvelKnievel Museum is going to be
(38:13):
here.
That's what we're going to
Joe P (38:15):
do.
Branden (38:15):
Yeah.
And, and the museums are doinggreat.
Punk Rock Museum's doing great.
And
Joe P (38:22):
Yes! And the Haunted Museum made me pee my pants.
Branden (38:25):
Zach killed, yeah, he, I peed my pants.
I just peed my pants.
That's just the age we are.
No, but Zach Bagans, anotherAries, he's an Aries like us.
Overcollector, hoarder.
That describes us.
His collection, it goes on andon.
(38:47):
I didn't know I needed to pack atent and a couple of days worth
of food to go through thatmuseum, but it's amazing.
It's an amazing collection.
And it is some pretty weirdedout, scary things there.
Yeah.
Joe P (39:03):
And then the Mob Museum is an incredible draw.
It's an
Branden (39:06):
incredible museum too.
They did a great job.
So
Joe P (39:08):
Yeah, you're right.
Museums are doing good here.
Branden (39:11):
Yeah.
Okay, so you come to Las Vegasmultiple times.
They're starting to see theshows.
you can only see the Cirque showso many times.
They're great, but they've hadtheir moment, right?
That's why this town spends somuch money on sports, and
concerts, and it's great.
But you can only eat at so manycelebrity chef driven
(39:32):
restaurants where the chef,celebrity chef has never even
stepped foot in and you can onlybe treated so badly and robbed
of your money through all theseextra resort fees and all these
extra things where you're goingto start looking for things off
the Strip and you're going tostart looking for things to go
(39:53):
explore where you're not takenadvantage of, where the locals
hang out.
As locals, unless you're workingon the Strip, no one goes there
for any reason unless they'regetting comped to go see a show
or a concert.
Or the rest of the town is onfire.
So we go and the best food inLas Vegas is in Chinatown and in
(40:16):
the Arts District.
And then, these differentexperiences.
And shows?
Those shows are over.
Sitting in a chair on your handsis over.
Immersive environments and realimmersive experiences are the
future of Las Vegas.
Joe P (40:36):
Branden, it's a pleasure to meet my brother, who I never
even knew before.
Branden (40:39):
I was upset, though, I couldn't bring my helicopter
here.
They don't have helicopterparking, so That's true.
It's so great to meet you.
Thank you for your time andallowing me to not allow you to
speak much during our interview.
Joe P (40:54):
It's okay.
I have plenty of opportunitiesto sit there in my closet alone.
It's nice to have this space andhave somebody to talk to.
Yeah,
Branden (41:03):
and it was great.
I appreciate your time.
Thanks a lot.
Joe P (41:06):
Love you, buddy.
Branden (41:06):
Love you too, man.
Looking forward to creating thefuture.
Heather (41:09):
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe.
It's our mission to preserve andpresent the legacy of Evel
Knievel.
if you have an idea for anepisode or a guest, or have a
suggestion to improve our show,just drop us a line at joe at
thrill dot show.
Evel Knievel (41:29):
I just think the Evel Knievel way.
Heather (41:34):
We leave you with the encouraging words from the book
of Deuteronomy.
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid.
For the Lord your God goes withyou.
He will never leave you orforsake you.
Until next time, happy landings!You like to fly to the seat of
(42:01):
your pants?
This is where you belong.
It's really important for me to remember these people.
(00:03):
I really looked up to the JaySarnos of the world.
And the visionaries like SteveWynn and the original
entertainers that populated LasVegas.
It is really important for meto, in my life, to try to create
things that keep those peoplerelevant or remembered.
(00:25):
Because that's what made thiscity great, was those people.
The mob and those entertainers,and those people, and those
visionaries made Las Vegasgreat.
Everyone needs to come here andexperience Las Vegas once in
their lives.
If you are born here, your soulcomes to this planet, you have
(00:48):
to come to Las Vegas.
and I'm hoping to create thathere.
And it's great that the EvelKnievel Museum is going to be
here.
That's what we're going to
Joe P (00:57):
do.
Heather (00:58):
Evel Knievel inspired millions of us with his courage
and perseverance.
We're building a museum so youcan relive those memories and be
reinvigorated with that spiritof bravery.
Evel Knievel (01:11):
My name is Evel Knievel.
I'm a professional daredevil.
Heather (01:15):
Along the way, we meet people involved in the life, the
times, and the legacy of theKing of daredevils.
Here with their stories is yourhost, Joe Friday.
Joe P (01:26):
Hey howdy friend.
this is Branden.
He's my new neighbor.
Yeah.
Branden (01:33):
Hello, everyone.
Joe P (01:33):
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
That's what you do.
Branden (01:41):
That makes me sound like I'm a futurist or some kind
of
Joe P (01:44):
I think so.
Branden (01:45):
Yeah?
Joe P (01:46):
we're working on a future project.
I like
Branden (01:47):
to go back to the future.
I guess I create the future, butI rely upon the past and a lot
that I do because it'snostalgic.
So a lot of things that I createare based off of my childhood.
Joe P (02:06):
Pirates?
Branden (02:07):
Yes.
Pirates.
Disney.
Disney was a huge influence forme.
Going to Disneyland as a kid, myfather owned pizza parlors, sit
down pizza parlors inBakersfield, California.
Very, similar to Kansas.
And I always wanted to combineanimatronics and pizza, and I
don't know where my ADHD isgoing with this.
(02:29):
That's what influenced me.
So I had the idea for Chuck E.
Cheese before Chuck E.
Cheese.
And I actually designed Evel Pieto look like those sit down
pizza parlors that I remember inthe 70s.
The wood paneling, the playerpiano, the music.
Joe P (02:48):
So much like Kansas.
Pizza Hut was started inWichita.
Was it?
Yeah.
And then, Showbiz Pizza Place.
Did you have that in California?
Branden (02:57):
So we did, and I'm actually really good friends
with Aaron Fechter, who designedall of the robots for Showbiz
and was a partner in Showbiz.
He's a great inventor and agreat man.
He lives in Florida now.
Yeah.
And I think he has one of thelast few remaining sets of
characters that are boxed.
There may only be one boxed setleft.
Joe P (03:19):
Boxed?
Oh, they're
Branden (03:20):
real robots?
An actual mint condition Rock AFire Explosion band from There's
Joe P (03:26):
one left?
Branden (03:28):
There's one.
He had a fire.
He's like the ultimatescientist.
So he created some sort of cleangas fuel that was going to be
the future of barbecuing.
I don't know what happened.
He left it running and it shotacross like the big metal
container shot like a missileinto the side of the building
and the entire building explodedand everything.
(03:53):
A real Rock A Fire Explosion.
That's an amazing tie in, oh mygosh.
We're not even I'm not even onDMT right now and you're making
sense.
Joe P (04:00):
Wow, What a connection because that was started in
Topeka, Kansas and they had 200
Branden (04:08):
Plus stores, and they left like a zero, I think, off
the books, and then they foldedbut they ended up absorbing
Chuck E.
Cheese or something into theirOkay,
Joe P (04:16):
I did not know that part.
Branden (04:18):
Yeah, they miscalculated on their
expansion.
I don't know, something weirdhappened there.
I get a little confused, but
Joe P (04:25):
Were you going to do the real Rock A Fire explosion?
Like with the real characters,Billy Bob and Fats?
Yeah, so
Branden (04:33):
where my ADHD brain is going with all this wormholeness
is that what I'm doing next tothe museum here is going to be a
Heavy Metal Pizza Party and I'mbringing an entire animatronic
Rock A Fire explosion Bandthat's going to play metal and a
bunch of other surprises that wecan talk about later if you
(04:54):
want.
Or we can talk about now.
Joe P (04:56):
Yeah, we can talk about it right now.
Yeah,
Branden (04:58):
no, it's going to be amazing.
you're going to enter on a1970's carnival dark ride, like
the old haunted house darkrides.
So from the exterior, you'regoing to get in a little cart.
It's going to take you up twostories, provided that the city
allows me to do this craziness.
and it's just like this crazystory that you go through of the
(05:18):
characters that you're going tomeet inside that actually make
up the members of the band andthen you're dropped off inside
of a 1970s early 80s retroarcade with pinball stunt cycle
game like the original where youjump the buses and Evel Knievel
pinball machine, of course,you've got to because we're
(05:39):
right next door.
And then all retro arcade games.
And then there's the Land of Iceand Snow.
There's the Swamp.
There's a, you said Pizza Hut.
There's actually an homage to a1970s Pizza Hut within Heavy
Metal Pizza Party.
But we're not going to call itPizza Hut so I don't get sued.
Frank Gifford (05:58):
Yeah.
Branden (05:59):
And then it's going to be like a player piano and that
style of pizza.
Yeah.
It's craziness.
It's all the craziness.
There's the band and there'sthis Castle Grayskull kind of
thing going down.
And every 90 minutes the entirerestaurant is going to be
invaded by a horde of goblins orskeletons and the castle is
(06:19):
going to be defended byanimatronic rats with catapults
and they're going to battle itout and there's Muppet
characters swinging from thechandeliers and it's just utter
mayhem.
So that's Heavy Metal PizzaParty.
Joe P (06:36):
Okay, can you tell us a couple members of the band yet?
Are you ready to do
Branden (06:41):
that?
So I'm looking at, I'm basingone of them off of this 1970s,
early 80s heavy metal rocklegend called Thor.
And Thor had a couple of albumsout and he actually performed
here in Vegas.
So he's going to be the singerand he's got big metal spikes.
And then we're going to havesome kind of goblin and some
(07:04):
kind of troll like character,some kind of maiden type
character from some heavy metalgoddess warrior.
So yeah, so it's going to beunlike, it's going to be a
spectacle unto itself.
There's nothing on the planetthat exists and I'm a punk rock
kid.
(07:25):
Like I grew up as punk rock kidslike you did.
Joe P (07:27):
Yeah.
Branden (07:27):
So heavy metal, we used to go to battle with heavy metal
kids growing up.
We used to, back when you couldfight with like chains and
baseball bats, nowadays you getshot.
We used to battle like all theheavy metal kids growing up.
and now I like Yeah,
Joe P (07:44):
like they're wearing this bandana around their head.
Branden (07:47):
Yeah, I grew up in Bakersfield, so the kids from
Korn used to hang out.
And I swear we used to beat upon them.
They got the last laugh.
Now I'm doing heavy metal and Ilove it.
I love like Dio and I loveSlayer, and I love Iron Maiden,
and Ozzy Osbourne, and
Joe P (08:04):
Did you ever hear of Slaughter?
Branden (08:05):
Yes, up all night, sleep all day.
I like
Joe P (08:09):
I just learned they were from Las Vegas.
I think
Branden (08:12):
one of them like still lives out here.
Oh, right on.
Something like that.
I don't know, I don't know theguy personally, but Sebastian
Bach lives out here from SkidRow.
There's a bunch of metal dudesthat have all ended up in Vegas.
It's their last holdout.
It's like they're circling theirwagons and they're just like
(08:32):
sitting there and I'm going tohelp bring it back.
Heavy metal's rad.
I'm going to get the fashion.
Listen to
Joe P (08:40):
you.
What would young Branden sayabout yourself?
Heavy metal's rad.
Branden (08:44):
It's rad now.
It's cool.
You know what I mean?
all the fashion, the hair, themakeup.
Yes.
The guys and girls.
just to cut up t shirts, themusic, I mean there's
Joe P (08:54):
Eyeliner, maybe?
Branden (08:55):
Eyeliner, yeah, I don't know.
Were they wearing
Joe P (08:58):
lip gloss?
Branden (08:59):
Probably, yeah, they probably had some kind of
Joe P (09:01):
Poison?
Branden (09:02):
Yeah, poison, those guys, everything.
That all started, that glam rockgoes back to Mark Bolin and T
Rex and Bowie and Alice Cooper.
I think one of their girlfriendsdecided to put makeup on them
one day and, Boom.
It was over.
It was androgynous.
There was
Joe P (09:21):
a time when you had the same virus that I have.
Which is this Evel Knievel bug.
Branden (09:26):
Oh Jesus, I guess I got another one?
I just went to the doctor, hesaid everything was positive.
So I think I'm good.
But yeah.
Yeah, no, when I was a kid.
I loved Evel.
Who didn't love Evel Knievel?
I grew up in the 70s.
I was a 70s kid.
This guy's jumping stuff.
He's like the ultimate Americanhero.
(09:48):
He was this real superhero.
You know what I mean?
I'm on my bike and I'm jumpingmy friends and barely missing
them or sometimes hitting themand we're throwing lawn darts at
each other and lighting crap onfire.
Lawn darts.
Joe P (10:02):
Yeah, so awesome.
Branden (10:04):
I mean there was like it was total mayhem growing up
as a kid in the 70s and EvelKnievel represented that and had
all the toys had the wholething.
I didn't want to play videogames.
We had an Atari and I wanted tobe out on my bike jumping crap
Yeah, but
Joe P (10:16):
what I mean by the same bug is we all liked Evel Knievel
It's just you and I like him alittle bit more.
Probably you got rid of all yourEvel Knievel stuff, right?
Branden (10:25):
I have some and then
Joe P (10:26):
you had to buy it all back pretty much.
Branden (10:28):
Yeah to load
Joe P (10:29):
up your restaurant.
Branden (10:30):
To load up, yeah, to load up Evel Pie and design
that.
I tried to find as much as Icould.
Kelly provided all of thephotos, family photos and stuff
that were unseen.
Joe P (10:40):
That's my favorite part.
Branden (10:41):
Yeah.
I love those.
I loaded up with that.
We had the bike.
We had the pinball machine.
Joe P (10:47):
Everybody loves that place.
Branden (10:48):
It's cool, right?
It's just cool.
One thing, you just, Evel isjust cool.
And no matter how much money youhave, you can't buy coolness,
right?
You could try, but it was theperfect combination.
A pizza place was there beforeand it failed miserably.
(11:09):
Oh really?
A fondue place was there and itfailed miserably.
Duh.
Who wants to eat molten cheesein 200 degree weather?
Yeah.
It was just the ultimate cool.
And what was rad is I grew upwith skate culture and I grew up
with all these things.
So I was combining punk rocklogos with skate logos and
making them Evel logos.
(11:29):
I think I helped bridge the gapa little bit more.
And also provide a new audience,so to speak.
Joe P (11:37):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Branden (11:38):
Yeah, so it's all me.
Yeah,
Joe P (11:40):
Evel Knievel is a verb now.
Thank you.
Frank Gifford (11:45):
Yeah, there you
Branden (11:45):
go.
Joe P (11:47):
But your creativity didn't stop there.
Branden (11:50):
Yes.
Joe P (11:50):
You've adopted this town and made it so cool.
You weren't going to just stopat Evel Pie.
Was your next stop Golden Tiki?
Branden (11:59):
Actually, Golden Tiki was before.
Oh.
Yeah, it was a couple yearsbefore.
I've been coming here since Iwas a little kid in the 70s.
Just to go back a little bitfurther into my love for Las
Vegas, growing up inBakersfield, it's five hours
away.
And my dad owned the pizzaparlors.
And so the mob, they controlledall the cheese and the sauce.
(12:23):
And eventually in the 80s, thevideo games they delivered,
became our partners on.
So we would come to Vegas andthey would sponsor all of our
show tickets and I saw Liberaceand I saw Dean Martin and Frank
Sinatra and all those guys and Iwent to topless shows.
I'm six years old and the girlsare winking at me and at ten,
(12:47):
actually, excuse me, probablyeight or nine, I'm drinking
booze like White Russians at theMGM hotel in the black and white
movie theater.
Because I tipped the girl.
That's how the town ran.
And as a little kid, I'm wearinga suit to breakfast.
That's how cool Vegas was backthen.
Joe P (13:04):
You wore a suit to breakfast.
Branden (13:05):
And so when we come to town, my dad would come in the
town, we'd go to this placecalled Leaning Tower Pizza.
We'd never eat pizza there.
And there was this big fat guywho was named Tiny.
Of course, right?
It's
Joe P (13:17):
an Italian thing.
Branden (13:18):
Yeah, it's like a thing.
And and my dad would shake handsand this is before cell phones,
whatever.
Tiny would pick up a phone andboom, we were dialed in.
That was it.
and the whole town ran that way.
I love this town and I've beeninvolved in this town and so
when I had the opportunity toturn another bar that was a
loser before in Chinatown withno parking.
(13:42):
Yeah, my business partners atthe time were like,"What do you
want to do?" And I'm thinkingpunk rock bar and they're like
you want to do a tiki bar andI'm like you cool if I can do It
my way.
I did tiki in the 90s in SanDiego.
Like I was part of theresurgence of that whole thing
in America, right?
So I was over it and so Icreated like Uncle Bob's Dirty
(14:03):
Disneyland, animatronic hulagirls, parrots that cussed and
Joe P (14:09):
oh, yeah, I saw those.
I didn't see the hula girls.
Oh, yeah
Branden (14:13):
you're going to have to fight to get a word in edgewise
with me.
It's just a flow of it comes outof me.
I so apologize.
I haven't even had coffee thismorning.
But, yeah, so that's GoldenTiki.
I got to do Golden Tiki.
Joe P (14:27):
Yeah.
Have you had a fail?
Branden (14:29):
I have to hit home runs every time I get up to the
plate.
I don't have money.
Okay.
I'm a kid from Bakersfield whosedad always had businesses, was
successful, promised me to besuccessful.
Basically he lost kind ofeverything, went bankrupt.
And I had to borrow money tobury my pops.
(14:50):
I was one of the pioneers of therave scene in North America.
Every time I threw a party, Ihad to hit a home run.
I had to, it had to make memoney every time.
Every time I did a business, Ilook at it that way.
I have no choice.
I go up to the plate.
I have to hit home runs everytime.
Joe P (15:08):
Where did you invent a rave party?
Branden (15:11):
So I'm one of the so in the 80s, I'm in high school.
I'm throwing outlaw, illegalkeggers out in the fields in
Bakersfield.
We're listening to Kraftwerk,and Tubeway Army, and New Order,
because that's what got thegirls.
Punk Rock didn't get the girls.
(15:32):
That's true.
New Wave.
New Wave.
I figured it out real quick,really fast.
If you, except in the movieValley Girl, that's the only
time.
Nicolas Cage, who was a punkrocker, got the cute girl.
I had to figure out how to dresslike Corey Hart from Sunglasses
at Night with my white shirt andRay Bans.
Joe P (15:50):
Yeah,
Branden (15:51):
Chicago.
Or else I couldn't get thegirls.
Punk rock girls weren't as cuteas they are nowadays back then.
What was wrong
Joe P (16:02):
with them, Branden?
Branden (16:04):
Nothing.
They're beautiful people.
But I just, They weren't mystyle.
In order to do that I threwparties out of necessity.
Which is, I guess a lot ofpeople in life, that seems to be
what their muse is.
For poetry, for music, or forwhat not, it seems to be mostly
(16:24):
women.
Yes.
Unless you get into the Greeks,and then that's another thing.
But, yeah.
So yeah, I did parties, so likein 1986, I'm throwing these
parties and then I heard about86.
Joe P (16:38):
You're not old enough to buy booze?
Branden (16:40):
No, I just told you I was drinking at eight or nine in
Vegas.
Back then, I grew up inBakersfield.
All the farmers and the people,they're feeding booze.
Like my friends are all Basqueand they're feeding booze to
those kids in baby bottles.
Like drinking was a part.
I probably drank more before Iwas 21 than I ever drank after.
And we would just drink beer.
(17:01):
We drink like Coors Light, Likein red cups and like by the
gallons full.
I don't even drink beernowadays.
It's so bizarre.
So I'm out in the fields andwe're throwing these parties.
I hear these news stories comingout around 1988 about the UK and
they're doing these all nightdance parties to this new music
(17:24):
that's called Acid House Musicand techno and they're doing
drugs and I'm like, wait aminute.
This is I can do drugs?
You can do drugs all night, andyou can dance to this music, and
it's repetitive.
This is essentially like PacMan, right?
I grew up on Pac Man.
Oh, it is.
It's a little dude in the darkeating pills and to repetitive
(17:46):
music.
That's like perfect, right?
It is.
It is.
And the rave scene was like punkrock.
It was like do it yourself,right?
So I'm out, it's really funplaying in bands.
I'm a terrible guitarist and I'mdoing flyers and, so I was a
party guy.
I was already throwing parties.
(18:07):
So I started doing raves and Iwas one of the original, it's
debatable, probably one of thefirst people in North America,
because of my prior history,definitely, to do raves in North
America.
So I'm one of the pioneers ofthat scene.
And my biggest party, I startedoff with a couple hundred
dollars and it was essentiallylike Kinko's Flyers at the time.
(18:29):
And I moved it up and my biggestevent got up to 60, 000 people.
And one of my flyer kids out ofLA, his name was Pascal, or
Pasquale.
And he went on after I quit tothrow EDC, which is the largest
rave, one of the largest ravesin the world right now in Las
Vegas.
So that's the history of wherehe started and where I went and
(18:53):
ended.
And the reason I stopped is mydad dies in 99, and my mom wants
something in, like a one linerto tell friends at a cocktail
party what her son does.
And I decided to get a real job.
Ended up for a company openingup nightclubs in the Midwest and
East Coast.
We come out to Vegas.
They don't open a nightclub.
(19:13):
I'm stuck here in Vegas, whichis fine, and I've spent the last
20 something years here inVegas.
Now I have kids and a family.
Joe P (19:23):
What did the first rave look like?
Did you have the lights?
Branden (19:27):
yeah.
We started off of the actualrave raves, other than the
cornfield parties, Started doingapartments, houses, and then I
had the opportunity There was afriend of mine.
His name was Pietro Legreca.
He just wrote a book calledPesos, The Rise and Fall of a
Border Family, okay?
(19:48):
So Pietro's family, he's halfItalian and half Mexican and his
family controls, controlled allthe money exchanges.
A majority of them in Mexico.
The president of Mexico used tocall up and like go,"You can't
change the money exchange.
You can't change." They wouldcontrol it, right?
And they had all these massivewarehouses and import and
(20:11):
exporting and whatever they weredoing.
And they would come to Vegas andspend all their money.
Pietro has this giant 6 millionmansion in Coronado at the time.
It's probably worth 20 milliontoday on the water.
Owns these polo fields inRosarito, Mexico, which is about
half hour from the border, andwe start doing mansion parties
(20:33):
at his place.
Then we start, we did the firstrave ever in Mexico called the
Birth of Baby X with Pietro'sfamily at this polo field down
there.
This is how much pull they had.
We bused 3, 000 kids from theborder over the border, down
there and back, not searchedonce, not asked any questions.
(20:55):
No one did anything on NewYear's Eve of'90,'91 or whatever
it was.
And that's how much pull theyhad.
It was incredible.
You couldn't do that today.
obviously like it's insane.
Eventually Pietro's family gotwiped out through various means.
Oh yeah, met a lot ofinteresting characters down
(21:17):
there in Mexico.
The owner of, CalienteRacetrack, when I was going to
go do a rave party once, he hadthis big glass desk that he
would sit behind.
And inside of the glass desk wastwelve of the most venomous
snakes on the planet.
You'd just sit there and thesesnakes would be slithering
around.
Doctor
Joe P (21:36):
Evil.
Branden (21:37):
It was, dude, beyond.
It was so crazy.
I could spend another podcastjust on those stories alone.
The first rave with carnivalrides we did called Wild
Kingdom, which is where EDC kindof came from, Electric Daisy
Carnival, which was carnivalrides.
And then my biggest, most wellknown one was called Narnia.
(21:59):
Our events, what set us apartwas everyone was doing Dr.
Seuss and Mad Hatter and allthese ecstasy, blah, blah, blah.
We were doing more spirituallybased, so we had gurus, we had
yogis, we had symbols, we wereoutdoors.
Doing
Joe P (22:14):
what?
Doing what?
Branden (22:16):
they'd be on stage working with the energy.
Joe P (22:20):
I haven't been.
What?
I have not been.
Branden (22:23):
Oh my god.
To the EDC.
To the EDC.
Okay, yeah.
You sounded, that was reallycool how you said that.
I like that.
It was like, like you smoked themarijuana cigarettes.
Joe P (22:36):
Yeah.
No, I haven't been.
Are there still carnival ridesthere?
Yeah.
Branden (22:40):
Yeah, they do the whole thing.
It's massive.
I just went We had helicopters.
We flew in on helicoptersbecause we're old.
We're too lazy to walk and park.
That's how we.
That's how you roll.
We're boujee.
We're boujee now.
I can't do the drugs anymore.
My chemistry's changed
Joe P (22:57):
What are you talking about?
You flew in on a helicopter.
Branden (22:59):
or any less.
Joe P (23:00):
From Las Vegas to Las Vegas on a helicopter?
Branden (23:03):
from the executive terminal, and then we flew in to
EDC and there's helicopterlanding.
You can land inside of EDC on ahelicopter.
Oh, your
Joe P (23:14):
office is at the airport?
Is that right?
Branden (23:17):
Yeah, I just moved into new offices across from the
airport.
Yeah.
Joe P (23:22):
That's your commute now.
Branden (23:24):
No, I don't want you to think I take helicopters
everywhere I go.
Just when I go shopping,
Joe P (23:32):
How many kids?
Are they kids or did they growand mature as we did?
Branden (23:37):
No, I'm like a senior citizen.
I walk around there and thosekids think I'm like a vice cop
or something.
They're like,
Joe P (23:43):
No, I'm cool.
I got fuzzy boots.
Branden (23:46):
Yeah.
They don't, trust me orwhatever.
It's evolved.
It's cool to see something thatwe created.
We're like the Dog Town ofravers.
You know what I mean?
we're like the originators ofskateboarding, but with raves.
So to see it grow from where itstarted to where it is today,
(24:09):
it's pretty amazing.
It's pretty crazy.
And those kids are having funand good for them.
And how many
Joe P (24:13):
of them again?
Branden (24:14):
Oh God, they claim over 500 or 600 thousand people, but
it's really 150 thousand, 160thousand, 170 thousand a day.
So how many people are goingmultiple days?
All of them.
Yeah, so it's promoter math,right?
So it's like me, I'll tell you Ihad 60 thousand people and
there's probably 10 thousandpeople who showed up because
(24:34):
promoters just naturally lieabout everything.
That's
Joe P (24:39):
huge for Las Vegas.
I've
Branden (24:40):
been lying about everything so far.
Joe P (24:44):
We really are neighbors though.
Branden (24:46):
Yeah, I helicoptered to his house.
That's
Joe P (24:51):
huge for Las Vegas though, that's probably 50
thousand rooms at least, right?
Branden (24:58):
I don't know what our full room count is right now,
but those kids they'll go ten toa room.
But it's a huge impact on thecity for money.
It's a great thing for the city.
I'm actually working on creatinga, I'm talking with some people
right now, creating a permanentfestival space that will have
more of these festivals goingaround the clock, monthly, Oh,
(25:23):
cool.
Instead of once a year.
Joe P (25:24):
It's at the racetrack, right?
Branden (25:26):
This one's at the Speedway.
Yeah.
Oh, Speedway.
Yeah.
I'm from San Diego, so when yousay that, I'm thinking Del Mar.
Oh, gotcha.
Yeah.
I'm thinking horses.
Yeah.
Follow that train of thoughtthere?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's great.
The city needs more of it andthe city is just growing
exponentially.
So happy to be here and see itall as it happens.
Joe P (25:48):
I do have to give a shout out right now to The Space who
loaned us their podcast booth.
We are building one into themuseum.
That's going to be kick ass.
It's going to be in one of EvelKnievel's old trailers, but the
Space has opened up theirpodcast facilities for us to use
in the meantime.
It's beautiful.
We really appreciate it.
When this place, The Space,heard about our need for a state
(26:08):
of the art studio to produce ourfledgling podcast, they
graciously offered up theirroom, their equipment, and most
generously their tech team.
"Anything you need, just let usknow," they said.
The deluxe recording space haseverything we need.
Featuring broadcast qualityequipment in a soundproof
stylish lounge, and a place togather, record and produce
(26:31):
tracks with superior audioquality.
Honoring its core value ofgiving back, The Space is also
home to Mondays Dark.
The show here Mondays Dark isphenomenal.
Branden (26:44):
Yes
Joe P (26:45):
Broadway is closed on Mondays.
It's same with the Strip.
And the show people are off onMondays.
So where the players play whenthey ain't playing is at Mondays
Dark.
It costs like 20 or 30 bucks toget in and you can see these
headliners that play on theStrip, but instead of the guy
singing Cher, he gets to singwhatever he wants to for only 20
(27:08):
bucks.
And they raise 10 thousanddollars every other week for a
local Las Vegas charity.
That's
Branden (27:14):
amazing.
That's awesome and Mark is anamazing person for all that he's
done and contributed to the cityfor sure.
Joe P (27:23):
He's been very welcoming, but everybody has, and you have.
Branden (27:26):
It's a beautiful facility.
These are amazing facilities,definitely.
Joe P (27:31):
As far as our podcast goes, you can expect even more
in the coming months.
As we outfit our own booth atthe Evel Knievel museum located
at the Mission Linen Building.
What's really neat about theproject is that it's downtown.
I get a lot of feedback about itbeing in the Arts District.
Really?
Yeah.
Do you?
Branden (27:50):
Like good or bad?
Joe P (27:52):
Good.
The Arts District in Las Vegasis one of the hottest properties
in the world.
Branden (27:59):
I believe so.
Downtown on Fremont, where EvelPie is, and that area
surrounding there.
I lived in downtown San Diego,so I saw that evolve from,
basically, hookers and sailorsand drug addicts to what it is
today.
It's crazy with a ballpark and
Joe P (28:16):
oh yeah it was
Branden (28:17):
nothing like you would run from one club to the next.
It's nowhere near where it istoday and I've seen the
evolution of downtown andFremont, that area and the Arts
District is where it's allreally progressing towards
Joe P (28:32):
Fremont.
What was his name, Hsieh?
Branden (28:34):
Tony Hsieh.
Tony Hsieh.
Regardless of what people reador say or do about Tony.
Joe P (28:40):
Yeah.
Branden (28:40):
I'll never say anything bad.
That guy put his money where hismouth is.
He came down and spent hundredsof millions.
You know, it wasn't the way Iwould do things.
But he did it his way.
He allowed a bunch of people todo their dreams and their
passions, which is great.
And I think that a lot of peopletook advantage of him,
unfortunately.
(29:02):
and the way that he ended up israther tragic and sad.
Joe P (29:06):
Oh, yeah.
Branden (29:06):
And I honored him at the Golden Tiki with a shrunken
head.
He had come into the Golden Tikione night.
He said he loved it, but healways wanted me.
He's like,"Why didn't you openthis downtown?" And I'm like,
"This is the opportunity that Ihad and this is where I went.
And this is what I did with it."But no, I, God bless him.
(29:32):
Wherever he is in the universeright now, I wish him the best.
So he's zipping aroundsomewhere.
Joe P (29:38):
Did he do Arts District, too, or was he north of there?
Branden (29:42):
No, he was all downtown, like around Fremont
and he bought up all thoseareas.
I don't know if he owned anyproperties up in the Arts
District.
There's been a lot of greatHeavy Metal Pizza Party was
going to be down there on, moreon Main Street.
Joe P (29:57):
Yeah?
Branden (29:58):
Yeah.
But the landlord, and my oldbusiness partners at the time.
He was like, my 22 year oldnephew doesn't think it's cool.
And I'm like, dude, your nephew?
Whatever.
But yeah, I've always loved thatMission Linen Building.
That is the coolest building inVegas, it's one of the coolest.
(30:18):
Cirque, they looked at it.
They wanted to do, their officesout of there at one time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's very cool.
It's a very cool, it's a verycool building.
Like I look at buildings as is.
I don't look at Let's changethis and make it nicer.
I'm like, This is great.
Let's leave it with the brokenwindows and the graffiti.
(30:41):
I love it.
And I am really bad at thatbecause I have never had that
luxury.
I don't have the money to go inand go Oh, yeah, we're going to
add brick and a bunch of bougiefinishes which we do now and J
Dapper is an amazing developer.
He's my business partner aswell, on the roller rink and on
(31:02):
Heavy Metal Pizza Party.
I can't say enough awesomethings about J.
He really, when everything wentdown with me and Evel Pie and
the Golden Tiki, he rose up andhad my back and I'm loyal.
I'm loyal to those who are loyalto me.
Joe P (31:20):
So we were looking at places and Branden's right.
We found the perfect place.
J hooked us up with the perfectplace for a museum and a pizza
place and a coffee neighbor,also, Mothership Coffee.
Branden (31:32):
Yes, it's Mothership, yeah.
Joe P (31:34):
J also started the Huntridge Plaza and bought the
Huntridge Theatre which is anold punk rock venue.
But in the Huntridge Plaza is abarber and a start up restaurant
which is delicious.
Branden (31:48):
It's delicious.
It's Winnie and Ethel's.
Yes.
It's great.
Yeah.
Joe P (31:53):
And then a Circle K gas station with an old style sign
on it.
Branden (31:58):
Yeah.
J does these really great, like,he is inspired by the architect
ural design Googie.
I don't know if you're familiarwith Googie.
They did a lot of stuff inCalifornia and Beverly Hills and
gas stations and he bases a lotof his designs off of that.
They have Yukon Pizza.
Those kids are amazing.
That kid's yeast, like yeast isa very big thing, and that yeast
(32:19):
has been in his family for ahundred and something years.
And yeah, it like started offwith his great grandma.
I
Joe P (32:29):
don't know.
I haven't been there.
They're closed on Tuesdays, andthat's when I go get my hair
cut.
Branden (32:35):
At the Garrison?
Marcus cuts my hair at theGarrison.
I love the Garrison.
Yeah, Berto's
Joe P (32:40):
my guy.
He's right next to him.
Branden (32:42):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Joe P (32:43):
They're all patriots and Marcus is like the world's worst
survivalist.
He's out there in Pahrumpkilling chickens.
Branden (32:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like he's has like hisgoats or something or
Joe P (32:53):
yeah, we didn't talk about the roller rink.
We're drinking and we're rollerskating, right?
Branden (32:59):
Yeah, there's going to be waivers for sure.
I came up the great idea to puta bar in the center of the
roller rink.
We have three bars that we'reinvolving because it's always a
great idea to involve booze androller skating.
Joe P (33:15):
Right on.
Branden (33:15):
Yeah, so the roller rink's going to be totally
amazing.
I'm programming the exteriormusic to sound like 1970s Muzak
from a parking lot.
When you enter, it's going to beall Muzak.
When you walk up, there's goingto be these 20 foot tall Pegasus
on each side of the starlight,it's called the Starlight, and
(33:35):
then you enter through a tunnel.
And there's these muses, statuesof the girls from Xanadu.
And then there's a pro shop withall of our cool merchandise.
And then there's elevatedconcessions.
you can have all the friedburritos and hamburgers and hot
dogs and pizza and things thatyou would get, but better
(33:57):
quality, because rink pizza backin the Seventies was,
essentially, if you put vomitand that side by side, you
couldn't tell the difference.
It was like a toss up on whichone to eat.
Then there's a bar on theexterior of the rink and then a
bar in the middle.
There is a secret tunnel thatyou can skate through.
(34:18):
There's a secret kind of, I hateto use the word speakeasy
because those are over.
Joe P (34:23):
They are.
Branden (34:24):
Yeah, it is a homage to Siegfried and Roy.
You enter through the arcade andit's all animatronic white
tigers and Siegfried and Royfloating and levitating.
It's just this very surrealthing.
Yeah.
You're
Joe P (34:42):
predicting the future by making it
Branden (34:44):
Yeah.
It is Oh
Joe P (34:46):
man, that is so cool.
And an homage to Siegfried andRoy.
Branden (34:51):
I love Siegfried and Roy.
I was trying to buy one of theirhouses and I had my friend flew
in, my friend Felix, who startedin the rave scene with me, with
literally, I think it was 500,800 bucks in black lights.
He started off in 1991 and nowdoes all the lights at EDC.
(35:14):
Does touring shows for famousartists.
Has multiple hundreds andhundreds of thousands square
foot warehouses in multiplestates.
So Felix flies in and we'regetting ready to sign the
paperwork.
And this guy walks in rightafter us.
Two ships passing in the nightand he has a briefcase.
(35:36):
And the briefcase is filled withcash.
And boom, he buys Siegfried andRoy's magical estate.
It was so rad.
It was like, there was a secretbookcase that moved.
And said,"ta da" or something.
Then you go into the bedroomsand one of them was Siegfried, I
(35:56):
think, with long hair and it waspainted depicting like he was
fighting a wizard.
There's just, there was just somuch awesomeness where they kept
the tigers and the waterfallsand just amazing.
It was so amazing.
I wanted that house so bad.
Joe P (36:13):
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Branden (36:19):
Yeah, it would have been really cool.
With the
Joe P (36:21):
Mirage closing, I wonder what our chances are to get that
sculpture?
Branden (36:27):
I think that it's probably...
I wish I could get it.
I wouldn't even want to knowwhat the price that thing is.
I think it's bronze.
Damn.
Yeah, I'm sure it'll go in amuseum or they'll just keep it
there on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Joe P (36:41):
They'll probably keep it there.
They'll probably
Branden (36:42):
keep it there.
It's
Joe P (36:43):
almost on public property out there.
Branden (36:45):
I don't feel that they have been honored properly, and
their contributions to the city,and It's really important for me
to remember these people.
I really looked up to theSarnos, the Jay Sarnos of the
world.
And the visionaries like SteveWynn and the original
(37:07):
entertainers that populated LasVegas.
It is really important for meto, in my life, to try to create
things that keep those peoplerelevant or remembered.
Because that's what made thiscity great, was those people.
No one remembers that theMormons founded this place, And
(37:29):
no one cares.
The mob and those entertainers,and those people, and those
visionaries made Las Vegasgreat.
And made it into, when you'reborn on this planet, it is part
of your human existence to, itis your own, and I don't want to
(37:53):
compare it to Mecca of course,but it's your own, everyone
needs to come here andexperience Las Vegas once in
their lives.
If you are born here, your soulcomes to this planet, you have
to come to Las Vegas.
and I'm hoping to create thathere.
And it's great that the EvelKnievel Museum is going to be
(38:13):
here.
That's what we're going to
Joe P (38:15):
do.
Branden (38:15):
Yeah.
And, and the museums are doinggreat.
Punk Rock Museum's doing great.
And
Joe P (38:22):
Yes! And the Haunted Museum made me pee my pants.
Branden (38:25):
Zach killed, yeah, he, I peed my pants.
I just peed my pants.
That's just the age we are.
No, but Zach Bagans, anotherAries, he's an Aries like us.
Overcollector, hoarder.
That describes us.
His collection, it goes on andon.
(38:47):
I didn't know I needed to pack atent and a couple of days worth
of food to go through thatmuseum, but it's amazing.
It's an amazing collection.
And it is some pretty weirdedout, scary things there.
Yeah.
Joe P (39:03):
And then the Mob Museum is an incredible draw.
It's an
Branden (39:06):
incredible museum too.
They did a great job.
So
Joe P (39:08):
Yeah, you're right.
Museums are doing good here.
Branden (39:11):
Yeah.
Okay, so you come to Las Vegasmultiple times.
They're starting to see theshows.
you can only see the Cirque showso many times.
They're great, but they've hadtheir moment, right?
That's why this town spends somuch money on sports, and
concerts, and it's great.
But you can only eat at so manycelebrity chef driven
(39:32):
restaurants where the chef,celebrity chef has never even
stepped foot in and you can onlybe treated so badly and robbed
of your money through all theseextra resort fees and all these
extra things where you're goingto start looking for things off
the Strip and you're going tostart looking for things to go
(39:53):
explore where you're not takenadvantage of, where the locals
hang out.
As locals, unless you're workingon the Strip, no one goes there
for any reason unless they'regetting comped to go see a show
or a concert.
Or the rest of the town is onfire.
So we go and the best food inLas Vegas is in Chinatown and in
(40:16):
the Arts District.
And then, these differentexperiences.
And shows?
Those shows are over.
Sitting in a chair on your handsis over.
Immersive environments and realimmersive experiences are the
future of Las Vegas.
Joe P (40:36):
Branden, it's a pleasure to meet my brother, who I never
even knew before.
Branden (40:39):
I was upset, though, I couldn't bring my helicopter
here.
They don't have helicopterparking, so That's true.
It's so great to meet you.
Thank you for your time andallowing me to not allow you to
speak much during our interview.
Joe P (40:54):
It's okay.
I have plenty of opportunitiesto sit there in my closet alone.
It's nice to have this space andhave somebody to talk to.
Yeah,
Branden (41:03):
and it was great.
I appreciate your time.
Thanks a lot.
Joe P (41:06):
Love you, buddy.
Branden (41:06):
Love you too, man.
Looking forward to creating thefuture.
Heather (41:09):
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe.
It's our mission to preserve andpresent the legacy of Evel
Knievel.
if you have an idea for anepisode or a guest, or have a
suggestion to improve our show,just drop us a line at joe at
thrill dot show.
Evel Knievel (41:29):
I just think the Evel Knievel way.
Heather (41:34):
We leave you with the encouraging words from the book
of Deuteronomy.
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid.
For the Lord your God goes withyou.
He will never leave you orforsake you.
Until next time, happy landings!You like to fly to the seat of
(42:01):
your pants?
This is where you belong.
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