WEBVTT - Greg Evigan Meets World 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:22.760 I just got back from the wilderness. 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.480 Oh yeah, you posted a photo that said I might 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.480 think about this morning every day until the day I die. 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.040 It's the greatest. It was like one of the greatest 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:33.880 mornings in my life. 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.080 Yeah, what what it makes such a great morning in 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:38.000 the world. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.640 Okay, just okay. So I refuse. I used to refuse to. 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.680 Bring hammocks backpacking because you don't want to carry extra weight. 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.000 And my wife gave me a hammock for Christmas like 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:53.040 two years ago, and I was like, oh, thanks, and 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.320 then I packed at this time. We got out there 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:00.240 and I used it every day and yeah, that was 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.480 like our third second or third morning out and we 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.040 just we'd hiked so far, like it was such a 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.800 hard hike the day before, and we were just on 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:15.520 top of this mountain valley and I found like this 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.600 cool spot to set up my hammock between this like 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:22.640 half dead tree and this still thriving tree. And my 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.200 friends decided to do a day hike, so they left 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.200 me alone. So I was like alone for like four 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.639 hours in the hammock, just looking down at the valley 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.720 and reading dostaevs Ski and just was like, oh my god, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.600 this is like the most beautiful spot I've ever found 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.280 in the world. And yeah, it was gorgeous. So that's 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.040 why I took a photo. It was like from my PUV, 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.640 I'm like, here are my feet in this hammock. I'm like, 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.680 I'm gonna remember this forever. Yeah, I was glorious. 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:52.600 Why did you decide not to go on the hike? 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.240 I was exhausted. Man, I'm such a whimp. 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.800 Like my friends, Like, it's so funny because like what 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.520 I'm Whenever I'm like hiking with my son and my wife, 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:04.240 I'm always like a mile. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:05.640 Ahead of them, and I think, like I'm a really 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:06.320 fast hiker. 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:07.880 And then I hike with my guy friends that I've 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.040 been backpacking with since we were like teenagers, and they're 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.360 always like literally two miles ahead of me and they 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.480 have no problem doing like straight uphill switchbacks for like 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.520 four and a half miles. Meanwhile, I literally puked our 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.200 first day, like I really, yes, we're hiking. We're hiking, 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.040 and we were just going like straight uphill for like 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.000 you know, I don't know, three miles, and I'm like, 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.280 I'm having a good time, but I'm like, oh, guys, 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.000 I need to stop. We had to stop and then 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.160 we like stopped and I'm like, I'm like super nauseous. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.680 We're like, is it is it elevation? Like maybe it's elevation. 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:40.760 We like sit and chill for like thirty minutes, and 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:41.880 I'm just not feeling any better. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.720 I'm like, I gotta go puket, just go puke. And 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:46.240 then I'm like, actually, now I feel better. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.320 I feel it's totally just like so now I just 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.079 think it's like, you know me, if I if I 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:52.840 work out too hard, I just have to throw up. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.960 Okay, this is anyway not my type of vacation. 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.000 I yeah, this is yourself. It's not Vegas getting the 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.519 bag it was. You're selling this definitely. Wow, oh my god. 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:05.760 This is the first time I've been to the Trinity Alps, 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.480 which is it's just amazing. You know, we usually backpack 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.000 in the Sierras, but I found the Trinity Alps, like 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:14.480 it's so much greener. 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.560 The wildflowers were crazy. 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:21.400 And yeah, you're not as high elevation, but it's it's gorgeous. 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.320 My brother got lost there when he was a teenager 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:26.080 for like three. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.280 Days, so that's my My association. 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.799 With the Trinity Alps is like this horror story that Shiloh. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.480 Shiloh was leading a group of like fifteen people and 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.520 they got lost for a couple of days in the wilderness. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.520 But it's their own fault. They tried to take a 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.720 short cut. Yeah, it's a whole you know, and everyone 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.560 was fine, but like a girl broke her wrist while 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:45.200 they were lost. 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.360 Yeah, and it was really terrifying. 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:48.760 It was like a scary moment, you know, because they 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.280 were only like I think Shiloh was nineteen leading this trip. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.640 So that's always been my association with the Trinity Alps. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:55.920 It's like, oh my god, it's you. 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.320 Know, this this this place where Shiloh got lost. But 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:00.560 we went. We had the best time. Can I ask 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:02.440 where where are the Trinity Alps. 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:07.160 It's in northern California. Oh, like yeah, like near Reading. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:13.280 Reading is the biggest town nearby. Yeah, it's beautiful and 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.800 uh like the you know, we're such old men now 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.920 we're so like into like our gear. The gear has 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.200 gotten so much better, Like now we use trekking poles. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:24.160 Like we used to make fun of it. We used 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.000 to make fun of the old people. Yeah, they're like, yeah, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:27.599 we used to make fun of when we were younger. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.560 We like I remember back back when we were in 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.600 our twenties and we passed like the old people with 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.320 the trekking poles. We were like, my god, what's next, Like, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.640 you know, are we going to take up birding? Sure enough? 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.200 Like now we're like really into spotting. Cool birds of 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:44.120 course are amazing. We're like, yeah, I mean none of 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.919 us are, like we're not those gear people, because like 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.479 there's some people who just obsessed over like having like 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.360 nice gear. We're not that, but we are, like, it's 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.440 pretty amazing how far things have come, like from when 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.479 we were younger, not only because like when we were younger, 0:04:58.480 --> 0:04:59.080 we didn't care. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.000 You were just like just throw it all on your 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:02.839 back and carry it. And now we're like, actually, how 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:04.880 much is that way? Do I have to take that much? 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:05.640 Oh my god? 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.640 We're as strong as hiking expedition sponsored by Insure. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.359 What what's cool is that you actually run into a 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.240 lot of older people, Like there was a guy like 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.920 who people said, they're still there? Yeah, No, there was 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:20.800 a guy we ran into who was like. 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.839 Strekking up these like peaks by himself, and he I 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:25.120 mean he must have been seventy. 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.440 It was amazing because. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:28.960 The the thing about backpacking is like you get to 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:30.600 go at your own pace. So as long as you're 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.720 not like like I was being dragged by friends who 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:34.040 are way more physically. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:34.120 Fit than me. 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.240 If I was by myself, I would have been fine 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.960 to just take six hours to walk a mile or whatever. 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:41.600 How long I mean are you hiking for When you 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:45.400 say you guys were hiking straight uphill for three miles, 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:46.680 how long does that take? 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:52.039 I mean a couple hours? I mean like what, Like 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.359 I'm so slow? I would slow us down like I 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:57.560 would because I just want to take breaks and enjoy 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.640 the view. So like I'm only walking like two miles 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:02.240 an hour with all the weight on my back. 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:04.520 You know you're the guy any emergency that gets eat. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.760 Yeah, yeah, I'm really slow. 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.520 So like, you know, we're not hiking more than like 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.160 seven to nine miles a day max. 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:13.520 With me. 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:15.960 I think if they were on their own, they could 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.479 probably do like ten to fifteen miles a day. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.680 But I'm not doing that. I'm now already enjoying myself. 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.360 Going specifically to a place, meaning like if you start 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:26.719 at bottom, are you trying to get to a place 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:28.080 at top where you're going to camp or do you 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:29.839 just kind of touch wood and come back. 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.880 No, No, we get you get to what mountain lakes 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:34.560 are the goal, Like you want to camp on a 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.760 mountain lake, like a beautiful like So every campsite that 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:39.840 we picked was you know, based on knowing that we 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.599 were going to be in a probably a beautiful spot 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:44.839 where we could swim and jump in the lake and. 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.520 Were there other other campers there when you were doing. 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.840 Yeah, it was just yeah, okay, no, it actually was 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.080 kind of We're surprised because one of the reasons we 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.040 wanted to go here as opposed to like desolation wilderness, 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:57.560 is that it would be less crowded. 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.680 Was actually pretty packed still, don't you know? 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.640 You just see people coming in and then you find 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.560 your own campsite and hopefully you know, have some privacy there. 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.359 But okay, another question about the hammock. Yeah, do you 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.040 need like is this a free standing hammock where it's 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.360 got its own poles or you you screwing this into 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:14.760 a tree? 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:15.600 Screw it? 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.560 Yeah, you just tie in into a tree has its 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.200 own like you know, a wrap and then you just 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.160 caribbeaneer like to a rope and yeah. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.880 A half a live tree and a thriving tree. The 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.280 picture that you posted, one of the pictures you posted 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.120 looked like your hammock was over a cravasse. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.040 If you will, I will. How do. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.440 How do you make sure your hammock isn't attached to 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:45.960 a branch or a tree that's just going to collapse 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.280 under you, collapse. 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:50.320 Into what Daniel becau. I want to hear you say 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:51.280 it again, cravas. 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.800 No, I wasn't over a crevasse. I was never more 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.720 than like, you know, two feet off the ground. Okay, yeah, yeah, 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.520 I'm just I was on a cliff's edge, like it 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.480 just drawed off, but you know in front of me. 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.200 Okay, to god the ball way? And how long were 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.119 you gone for? Total? Four days? Wow? Yeah, that's great. 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:10.400 Do cell phones and stuff they do they work up there? 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:13.120 Do you have? I mean we turn them off, We 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:13.760 turn them off. 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.920 When you come home from a four day hiking trip 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.280 where you've hiked to many, many, many miles, do you 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:25.480 feel refreshed and rejuvenated or are y exhausted both? 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:26.040 Both? 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:26.480 Okay? 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.160 Yeah, no, like I mean, it's it's it just makes 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.560 you appreciate I don't know, like we just couldn't wait 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.920 to get back and like take a shower and like 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.800 all the like creature comforts are suddenly so exciting, like 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.440 you know, eating a fresh salad. Oh yeah, you know, 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.400 but like, I don't know, four days is not that long, 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.000 Like when when I was younger and I used to 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.840 do like five to seven days. That's when you were like, 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:52.880 you know, you come back, and especially when you're younger 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.320 in time, because nowadays time just travels so fast that 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.240 four days feels like nothing. But it used to be 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:58.959 like when we were teenagers and we do this, it 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.360 feel like, you know, three days in the wilderness, and we'd. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.640 Be like, what happened while we were gone? There's like 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:05.640 so much of the world could have changed. And now 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.200 we're just like, you know, it's not that big of 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:07.520 a deal. 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.400 But no, it's mostly just like, yeah, you know, I 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:13.439 talked about this with Will on our other podcast. 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:16.559 You have another podcast. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.560 Yeah, we've been cheating on you with Survivor and Traders. 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.000 Sometimes you just need a fresh podcast. I can't help. 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:24.800 You really pushed us to it, Danielle. 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:25.720 It's really your fault. 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.000 We're talking about Survivor and you know, I just talking 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.280 about how I love being in nature, mostly to feel 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.720 your own insignificance, you know, Like that is to me 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.320 a very positive feeling, Like sitting in that valley and 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.520 that hammock, it's like that it's like, oh wow, the 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:44.920 world is so big and there's so much going on 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.160 that has nothing to do with me. And I find 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.680 that very soothing and very like exciting in a way 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.880 because it's like, oh, my life is like this small 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.959 little corner that I am, you know, in charge of, 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.320 and I just yeah, it makes me a pret siate 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.840 life more so I come back totally recharged, and you know, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:06.680 it also just puts things into perspective. 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:11.840 I think, So yeah, wow, Well, I still I'm not 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.400 sure about hiking nine miles in one day with a 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.240 bunch of gear on my back, but I do love 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.480 the idea of relaxing by a lake and having a 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.040 campfire and being in a hammock. So I if I 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.559 could hike for less time to get to a pretty place, 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:30.240 I see. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.439 That's part of it is the inaccessibility, Like that's I know, 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.640 is the accomplishment and the sense that like because like 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.080 if you if you just jump there, right, if you 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.679 could just like teleport somewhere, it's not nearly as exciting 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.720 as like, oh my god, halfway hiking up this hill, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.040 I thought I would never make it. 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.880 I was tired. I just didn't know what to expect. 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.800 And then you get there and it's like this beautiful. 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.920 Lake or waterfall or something that you could only see 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.040 by getting here on foot, and you're just like, oh, 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.839 this is special, you know, and that accomplishment. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.559 There are such a small percentage of people who are 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.760 ever going to see it because not that many people 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:07.560 are ever going to be able to make that track. 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.360 So like, I'm getting to see and witness and appreciate 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.439 something that is a luxury that I was able to do. 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:17.839 So I do get that. Yeah, that makes that makes sense. 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:19.640 But then I want to be done. I want to 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.120 have done that for one day and then spend four 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:24.480 days at the beautiful place. 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:25.160 I want. 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:26.280 A whitewater raft. 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.120 Is a good way to do it too, because it's like, yeah, 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.840 because that is you're getting deep into the wilderness, but 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:34.360 you don't have to hike, you're just riding. 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:39.320 It's like a roller coaster. Let that do. It's such 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:40.760 a bucket listing. I would love that. 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.240 Cast A family that was using lamas so they weren't 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:44.839 carrying anything. 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:45.560 The lamas. 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.040 It was like four lamas with all the packed with 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:49.120 all their stuff. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:53.160 And they're like their lamas is it? Is it budget? 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:56.840 If you can rent them for backcountry trips. When I 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:58.400 was a kid, we did it with my parents. We 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.200 did burrows and it was a disaster because they were 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.679 like refused to cross water and like I just remember 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:05.800 my mom like freaking out trying to pull up breat 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:06.520 We ended up having to. 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.160 Abort the trip after like two days. 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.840 But yes, but I guess lamas are another pack animal 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.360 that you can take into the back country. 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:13.720 We were like, that's cool. 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:14.120 Yeah. 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:14.560 Cool. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.400 Also, if you're a LAMA gold member, you get to 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:18.040 skip the counter and you just go right to pick 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:19.439 up your lama, which is awesome. 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:22.760 Your Lama's in space thirty two. 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.120 You walk out, It's like, this is a horse. This 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.120 is so different than the picture. This is not right. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:32.120 It's unbelievable. Welcome to vod meets World. 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:47.200 I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm rather or Strong, and I'm Wilfordell. 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:51.040 At some point in Michael Jordan's athletic career, he had 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.280 to make a decision and I'm not talking about the 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.480 one where he agreed to team up with the Looney 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.040 Tunes in order to defeat an intergalactic dream team of 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.800 monstars in a game of five on five to save 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.920 our universe. I mean, that was clearly a decision that 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.920 had to be made. I'm talking about when he was 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:11.080 a teenager showing athletic dominance in two different sports, basketball 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.400 and baseball. He knew he could go pro in both, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.080 but had to figure out which path offered the greatest 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.960 opportunity for success. And today we're talking to the Michael 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:25.839 Jordan of a different MJ universe. Beginning at just eight 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.960 years old, our guest was classically trained in piano, a 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.800 springboard into a handful of other instruments he would pick 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.040 up as a kid, like the organ and saxophone. The 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.520 New Jersey native would form rock bands as a teen 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:39.800 and then graduate high school and directly join the. 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:41.880 Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.440 Soon after, he'd star as Danny Zuko in Greece on 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:49.040 Broadway and continue a trajectory into the world of song 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.600 and stage until he moved to la and realized that 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.400 maybe it was acting that was his foot in the 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.120 door of the industry. Because in nineteen seventy eight, he 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:02.079 got his big break playing Billy Joe b J. McKay, 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.720 a truck driver whose best friend was a chimpanzee named Bear. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.560 In bj and the Bear. He'd appear on various TV 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.000 shows like Murder, She Wrote and Matt Locke before being 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.120 cast on a brand news sitcom created by a young 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.600 Michael Jacobs called My Two Dads. He'd star opposite stand 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.880 up comedian Paul Riser and friend of the show Stacy Keenan, 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.480 taking home a People's Choice Award for Favorite New Comedy 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.600 and becoming one of the quintessential examples of late eighties TV. 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.600 But what about music, Well, he would maintain a fruitful 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.920 career in Hollywood, most notably on melrose Place, Tech War, 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.120 Desperate Housewives, and General Hospital, while also living a parallel 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.760 existence as a songwriter and musician. You may even know 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.880 one of his tunes, the theme song he convinced Michael 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.720 to use for My Two Dads. But now he is 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.640 taking on the biggest undertaking of his creative life, a 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.760 dream come true in the form of Greg Evigan with 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.720 Love London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, an album recorded at the 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.320 legendary Abbey Road Studios in London with the sixty five 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:11.760 piece orchestra Wow. And today we are ready to talk 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:15.080 about all of it, acting and music with our guest 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:20.240 on Podmeets World, the just announced Lifetime Achievement Award recipient 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.000 at the Young Entertainer Awards. 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:29.320 It's Greg Evigan. Hey, right, how are you? 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:31.200 Ray? How about you? 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.040 It's so good, it's so good to see you. Thank 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:35.080 you for being here. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.320 Fair warning, we did compare you to Michael Jordan in 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:40.040 our intro. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:41.760 I just I do need you to know that. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:42.720 Because Michael Jordan. 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.440 I mean, yes, we did do that. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:50.120 But I want to jump in by talking about what 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.000 is it that made you such a creative person. You 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.400 were born in New Jersey. Your dad's an electrician, Your 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.920 mom was a homemaker. Where did your artsy gene come from? 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.240 Oh man, that's my well, my mom even though she 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:07.600 was a homemaker, you know, in those days, it was 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.880 a little it was a little uh you didn't get 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:11.960 to do all the things you wanted to as a woman. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.360 Let's just say, uh uh. 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.240 You know she was she played the piano, She played 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.840 incredible piano. My mother, I mean she was you know 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.200 Rhapsody in Blue. I mean she she was phenomenal. You know. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.400 There was a bust on our piano of Beethoven, and 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.080 when my mother played my my grandfather would leave the 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.040 bust out. You know. When I played some of the 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.560 stuff I played on the rock, he turned the bust around. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.240 That's funny. He clearly had a favorite. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:42.480 Yeah. But you but if you could hear this stuff 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.400 now that I've been doing, I think he'd keep the 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:45.520 bus for Yeah. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:47.680 I was a singer too, you know. 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.040 He was uh, you know he was. 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.480 He sang, but he kind of chickened out. 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:52.880 He got a chance in New York, you know, to 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.360 go and go to New York in a club and 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.240 he told me the story. He says, his legs were 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.680 so weak, his knees, he couldn't even he couldn't even 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.080 make it. He never went on, Oh wow, man, you 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.199 had this thing about you know, and you know, you 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:07.760 get you get a lot of that when you're a kid. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:09.639 You pick it up when you hear that story. Then 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:11.720 you start to think. You know, so I remember a 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.760 few times where I had to get over kind of nervousness. 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:14.960 You know. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.439 Yeah, you had to gain your confidence and your confidence right, okay, 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.200 But both your parents were musicians. 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:21.760 Basically, they'll probably loved music. 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:23.040 They sang together. My mother played. 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:28.199 They did two records together, Nice Scratchy Bessa May Mucho 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.520 and uh, I think I can't remember the other one 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.239 right now, but but that she played the fiano when 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:34.960 he sang. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.440 You know, wow, that is great, pretty good. 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:43.080 Now, we were all creative kids, some might even say talented, 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.160 but none of us were classically trained at eight years old. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:51.440 Creative or talented? So which came first for you? 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.679 Did you show signs of talent first and so then 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.120 they put you in classes? Or did classes bring out 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:57.679 your passion? 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.920 I think, uh, I think my mother up being such 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.720 an incredible pianist. I think she just I think she 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.000 wanted to offer that to me and she had she 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.560 because when you're a kid, you know, my fingers were 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:11.919 always long, So so they look at your you know, 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.080 are your fingers long enough? Do you reach all the kids? 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.960 Because you want to get frustrated? Right, yeah, you can. 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.320 You can put it. Put a kid on the piano 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.600 and and he's got really short fingers, and and maybe 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.719 right away gets a little turned off in the beginning. 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:25.439 They can't do it. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.320 But yeah, I uh but I you know, I had 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.679 the long fingers and I had the interest in it. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.919 I was always I was watched her and uh and 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.720