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The Chase, Twenty Five Years Later

The Chase, Twenty Five Years Later

Today on the radio I was reminded that on this day twenty five years ago we were all captivated by the low speed police chase of the infamous white Bronco.  The following is an edited version of an essay written in 2014 on the twentieth anniversary:

The Chase

“I’ve had to run, I’ve had to crawl.

Been rich as a king, had nothing at all.

Still raising hell, tearing down walls.

I know where I stand, I’m learning to fall.”

From “Learning to Fall” A Song Written by Eric Lowen

Listening to the radio this week I was reminded of a week in my life twenty years ago.

Friday June 17, 1994 probably started off as a normal day for most Americans, but it wouldn’t end that way. I was in Seattle for some kind of a meeting, something to do with homecare pharmacy I think. The meeting ended on Friday but I had decided to stick around until Sunday and do some sight- seeing. So I rented a car and started looking for things to do. Through a local paper I found out that a band I liked, Lowen and Navarro, was playing at a club called the Backstage. Just a couple of days before I left to go Seattle I saw them play at Wolf Trap in Vienna Virginia. Before the show I found Eric Lowen walking around the Wolf Trap grounds and introduced myself and we talked a bit.

The show at the Backstage started really late and since I didn’t know the area and had nothing better to do, I thought I would scout out the place so I would know how to get there later that night. So in the afternoon, I found the club and went inside.  The band had just finished their sound check and Lowen greeted me as I walked in but then immediately launched into this “man have you been watching the TV?………….OJ Simpson is on the 405 with the police chasing him……its crazy!”

I went back to my hotel and watched along with about 95 million other Americans, the rest of the events that unfolded that evening and countless replays of what had occurred earlier. OJ Simpson and the White Ford Bronco, may be the most famous police chase ever witnessed and recorded.

Later that night I went back to the Backstage, watched the show, had an after show backstage refreshment with the band and another fan from Annapolis who was in Seattle that weekend too.

The OJ Simpson drama would play out over the next sixteen month’s as the trial was televised and America continued to watch. I remember sitting in a board meeting in the glass enclosed conference room of the company I worked for at the time and watching the staff spill into the hallway shouting the news through the glass when OJ Simpson was found not guilty.

I continued to be a big fan of Lowen and Navarro, catching them at the Birchmere in Alexandria, or the Barns at Wolftrap, or wherever they played in the DC area.

In 2004 Eric Lowen began his own chase for life as he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord ultimately leading to death, there is no cure. He continued to tour, as his disease progressed he would do shows in his power wheelchair assisted always by his traveling physical therapist.

In December of 2008 Lowen and Navarro put out their last studio CD called “Learning to Fall.” The last time I saw them was at the Birchmere, and in fact their last live performance together was at the Birchmere on June 6, 2009. Kim and I had tickets but for a reason I now can’t remember, we decided not to go.

On March 23rd 2012 Eric’s run for his life ended and he died of complications from ALS.

If you have about eight minutes here is a link to a somewhat moving video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeaO6TvGX4w

So like the question I heard on the radio this week that made me recall all this, where were you during “the chase” twenty years ago…..do you remember?

 

That was from 2014, it’s hard to believe that memory is now twenty-five years old now.  Dan Navarro still tours and makes frequent visits to the DC and Annapolis area. Lowen and Navarro’s biggest claim to fame was probably the fact that Pat Benatar’s “We Belong” was their song.  Their music is well worth a listen.

 

Well, so where were you during “the chase” twenty-five years ago?

He’s Guilty, He’s Guilty Send that Boy to Jail!

He’s Guilty, He’s Guilty Send that Boy to Jail!

20160719_195527-1
One of the Fallen on the Battlefield

I suppose the story could have gone something like this:

Bailiff:  State your name please.

Curtis Christiansen.

Bailiff:  Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I Do.

Prosecutor:  Mr. Christiansen is it true you like to garden?

Yes that is true.

Prosecutor:  And is it also true that in the past you have referred to animals in your gardens as “the enemy?”

Yes I have.

Prosecutor:  And is it also true that in the past you have admitted that those animals in your gardens have made you angry, “Pissed” I believe was how you put it?

Yes that Is true.

"The Glove"
“The Glove”

Prosecutor:  Mr. Christiansen is this your garden glove?

I am not sure.

Prosecutor:  Would you mind trying on this glove for the court please, to be sure?

Maybe…if it doesn’t fit do you acquit?

Prosecutor:  Nice try Mr. Christiansen but that never works!  And can you tell me what you found in your gardens  when you came home from work on the Tuesday of the incident in question?

Yes sir, most of our Beefsteak, Roma, and Big Boy tomatoes were gone, and all of our peppers including most of the pepper plants entirely.

Prosecutor:  And how did you feel after you found your tomatoes and peppers had been decimated.

I was pissed

Prosecutor: I am sure you were Mr. Christiansen, “pissed” enough to commit murder?

I did not, could not, and would not have committed this crime. 

I have made my mistakes.

I am not a crook.

Prosecutor:  Okay Mr. Christiansen what did you do then?

My wife and I went to Home Depot to buy some Deer and Rabbit Repellent spray.

Prosecutor:  And didn’t your route home take you on the same road as the incident in question at about the time the crime was committed?

Maybe

The Victim
The Victim

Prosecutor:  Do you recognize this animal, this dead animal?

No, he is not dead, he is resting.

Prosecutor:  He is dead!  And isn’t it true Mr. Christiansen that your vehicle suffered front end damage that evening?

I…did not have…vehicular relations…with that animal!

These allegations are totally false!

Prosecutor: Mr. Christiansen I would like to propose that on said evening after finding your tomatoes and peppers missing that you were very angry… “Pissed,” to use your word.

And in that rage of anger you carried out this dastardly crime murdering this helpless animal.  An animal you previously referred to as “The Enemy.”

Isn’t that what happened Mr. Christiansen?

Okay, okay!

Of all the vegetable gardens in the world, she had to walk into mine.

You got me, yeah I did it, see….

Those dirty rats!

They got my vegetables and I got one of them.

And I would do it again see…those dirty rats!

Prosecutor: Your Honor the prosecution rests.

 

Yeah, I suppose it could have happened like that.

Footnote:

On Tuesday evening we drove to the Home Depot where we purchased a gallon of Deer and Rabbit Repellent spray because we thought deer had wiped out a good portion of our garden.  On the way home a deer jumped out in front my vehicle and I hit it.

I am not without remorse for plagiarizing, misquoting, referring to tomatoes and peppers as vegetables, or killing this animal; but not only did deer rob us of most of our tomatoes and peppers and pepper plants, the one I hit cost me my $250 deductible!

Needless to say, I am “pissed.”