I arrived in Vegas obsessed with the idea of visiting the Sam Kinison statue, for I truly loved the man. Sam was known for his screaming voice but he was beyond masterful in his content and delivery. Sadly, Sam was killed in a 1992 auto accident in Needles, California - on his way to Vegas for a gig.Kinison was a former Pentecostal preacher and he knew the Bible backwards and forwards, often working the scriptures into his routine. My favorite bit was the hypothetical 'if Jesus had been married' and the kind of grief she would have given him after being gone for three days.
ANYWAY, Sam was one of my favorites so I wanted to pay my respects and grab a cool photo to share with Fang, the fellow who had enlightened me on all things Kinison. I asked everyone - cab drivers, concierge, bellhops, dealers - but none knew and sadly, many had never heard of Sam. Finally, Jody and I agreed that Google - and only Google - would provide the answer to my desperate plea.
When I woke up on Saturday morning and saw Jody in her own bed, online, I eked out my first words of the day: "Did you find the statue?"
"Well, the bad news is, it doesn't exist."
"WHAT?"
"Yeah, apparently, it was created for the movie 'Domino' ... "
"Hey, I just saw that! Oh, wait. Oh, man ... "
"Yeah, it was made out of Styrofoam and spray-painted bronze. Sorry. If it helps at all, there's plenty of people who were duped as well and have gone looking for it here and in Needles, where he died."
"Very disappointing. The man deserves a statue. (Pause) So, what's the good news?"
"Um, there is no good news. That's all I got."
"SIIIIIIIIIIIIGH."
"In another time and place he would have been called prophet." --engraved on the tombstone of Sam Kinison, buried in Tulsa, OK
5 comments:
So sorry to hear that your hopes were dashed - I'm sure you weren't the only one who woke up disappointed in Vegas this morning (but nobody else was probably disappointed for this exact reason).
Thanks for posting the link to his take on if Jesus had a wife. I needed a good laugh this afternoon! Of course, it made me think of what would happen if Sam had read the Da Vinci code or heard the theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were actually an "item". I'm sure he could have gotten a lot of mileage out of that one.
Mrs. X: Good point - I love your illustration that Vegas mornings are about disappointment. The evenings? Optimism.
Glad I could bring some Sam into your day. You're so right - would have loved to hear his high-volume take on the MM theories.
Oh, how I miss you Sam. I'm glad they made a statue of you for a movie, anyhow.
File Sam Kinison under "Lives Canceled WAY Before Their Time."
The statue was, in fact, fake. As previously stated, it was created for the movie Domino. (I actually got to see it when they were filming!) But the building that it was in front of in the movie isn't even in Needles, its in Boulder City, the small town between Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. If you've driven to the dam from Vegas, chances are you've driven by the building that had a Sam Kinison statue in front in the movie. If your interested, it is on Nevada Way and Wyoming St. in Boulder City, NV. Take a look on google maps' street view and you can see its the same building from the movie, minus the statue we all wish was real.
Hey, thanks for stopping by and providing this bit of trivia. Methinks I may have to start a Facebook page to get Sam's statue. If the city of Needles knew anything about tourism, they'd get one up real quick.
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