Ice Time
with Debbi Wilkes
The Three Amigos - Brian, Kurt &
Elvis
December 18,
1999
Transcribed by Tracy Harris
Part One....
Debbi's Introduction: These days, few skaters have had as big an impact on our sport in Canada as our three most recent World Champions -- Kurt, Elvis and Brian. So, it was a delight during the Sears Open to actually sit them down and talk - sometimes all at once - about their own skating and about each other.
(cut to Elvis, Kurt and Brian)
Kurt (to Elvis and Brian): What do we have like 20 World titles...we figured that out?
Elvis: Yeah, we should of had 20!
Brian joins in saying that they should of had 20. Eventually, they are all commenting that it should have been 20.
Kurt: Right. At least.
Elvis: We tried. We tried.
Debbi: There's always next year.
Elvis: Yeah (Kurt points at Elvis and they all laugh).
Debbi: Brian, do you remember the first time you saw Kurt?
Brian: Yeah (laughs) '86 Canadians (cuts to clip of Brian skating which continues as Brian talks). I had won Canadians and he had won in Novice. This was in North Bay and..ah..we had exhibitions and I just remember him..ah...We were in the dressing room and I think he was a little overwhelmed about the whole thing..about doing the exhibitions with all he champions - junior champions and senior champions of all disciplines - (cuts back to Brian, Kurt and Elvis) and he was just nervous, that nervous energy that's just kinda silly and..ah..you know..
Debbi: Do you remember that Kurt?
Kurt: Yeah. The dressing room..everyone's talking, everyone's real excited and everything was like...(he begins to whisper) Brian Orser just walked in. Look it's Brian Orser. And everything just went quiet.
Brian (whispering) Rob McCall (they all laugh).
Kurt: Actually, it's probably Rob that scared everybody... And then you guys (sorry, I'm not completely sure to whom he was referring) walked in and everything went quiet and you both walked in and started laughing because you both caused the room to go quiet. You must have felt like monoliths.
Brian: Yes (flexing his muscles)
Kurt: Huge! (they all laugh)
Debbi: Now, Kurt, do you remember the first time you saw Elvis?
Kurt: I saw him on television and..ah...I saw a clip. It was a team seminar or something. They showed a clip of you (looking at Elvis). You were famous before and you didn't even know it.
Elvis: I didn't even know it. I wonder what was I doing (makes a silly face).
Kurt: Blue. Powder blue (laughs).
Debbi: You were wearing powder blue?
Elvis: Yeah, I think it was..ah...Oh yeah! I think it was from..umm..(Kurt whispers 'Powder blue') Powder blue.. (Elvis is trying to recall) Yeah, it was powder blue.
Kurt: Who can forget powder blue? I wore it. You still wear it sometimes (pointing to Brian).
Brian: Stop it!
Elvis: It was actually turquoise. He says powder blue but I say turquoise. It's more manly (he gives Kurt a little dig with his elbow). Anyways..umm..yeah..I think it was from Canadians in '88..maybe. It might have been from that or in Juniors that year when I was 15..so..
Kurt: Yeah.
Elvis: It might have been from that.
Debbi: Now, looking back at how skating flowed between the three of you - Brian, you competed with Kurt, Kurt, you competed with Elvis but Elvis and Brian never competed together.
Elvis: No, we trained together but..
Debbi: Oh, that's right...Barrie.
Elvis: We trained..ah..actually in Orillia...
Brian: Yes
Elvis: Before I went to Barrie.
Debbi: Before Mariposa.
Elvis: Yeah.
Brian: Yeah, that's the ironic thing..that's quite funny because..umm..when Elvis first came to our rink in Orillia, he was just a little guy, I think just starting novice and I was well into my senior years..ah..competitively anyway (they all laugh) and..umm..you know, every practice he was tugging at my leg asking me - can you look at my triple salchow? Can you look at my..this - and all the way through until it was like, can you look at my triple axel?
Debbi: So he was a pest? (how dare she?..LOL!)
Brian: No, not a pest because now I'm asking him all the questions (they laugh), can you watch my triple lutz? Can you watch my triple axel? You know. So, what goes around comes around in this lovely world of skating.
Debbi (to Elvis): Did you idolize him?
Elvis: Absolutely. I mean..I..Brian, even before I went there..obviously, that's why I went there, to train with Brian and to work with Doug and..um..always looked up to Brian and his skating - loved his skating - and what he had done for the sport...And that triple axel. That was the thing and I wanted a triple axel and I went when I think I was about 13-years-old and I'd competed one year in novice and..umm..went there and kept asking him questions. I tried not to bug him too much 'cause he was preparing for Worlds and for Olympics...I was there. The coolist part was him preparing for when he won his first World title..ah..'87 and leading up to the Olympic games and watching the whole process and then looking back at my first Olympics ans then when the pressure was on..you know..'94 and '98 and then looking back and going, wow, I sensed and felt what Brian had gone through. I could never understand...I could feel for him because I could see what was happening around him but I could never totally identify until I was in that position and I went, wow, I totally understand why he would have done...
Brian: Fun, huh? (they laugh)
Elvis: Being in that position..the stress and all those involved. But, he did it his own way and he did it in a champion way, and..ah..(Kurt is giggling as Elvis talks so Elvis pokes Kurt and tells him that it's a serious moment -- jokingly, of course. Kurt starts wiping his eyes and they all begin to laugh).
Debbi: It's funny that you talk about the Olympics because although you've had many World titles between you, Olympics has never worked out.
Kurt: It's so overrated!
Brian: (laughing) What? It's overrated!!!
Elvis: So Overrated (laughing).
Kurt: I mean, you meet one Wold champion..you know..Olympic champion..
Brian: We get into our silver cleaner, actually.
Kurt: Polish that silver (making silly face and gesturing -- then they all start to act out polishing).
Kurt: I don't even have that, so I don't want to talk about it.
Debbi: I know this is a hard question but I'd like you yo describe each other. Brian..you be first...(Kurt looks at him - very closely) No pressure.
Brian: You know what..the thing is with the three of us and that's kind of the neat thing about this group is that..and that's why, I guess, we were all champions is because we all did our own thing. It wasn't like Kurt was aspiring to be me and skated like me and Elvis wasn't aspiring to be like Kurt. We..you know..you just sort of..you..just go in your own direction where you feel..
Kurt (to Elvis): You kinda did this a little bit though (doing a demonstration of a move). (Sorry, I know it's not the same as actually seeing it)
Elvis: Oh, that was..that was my tribute to Brian. I had to do that.
Brian: So, that was..you know..we all have different styles and Kurt is, in one word, Kurt (Kurt jumps in saying "Take it or leave it") and Elvis is..ah..I think more intense of an athlete than I am and Kurt.
Debbi: And Kurt, what about the other two?
Kurt: Umm..I think that Brian was like the polish and Elvis was like the guts. You know, Brian would be like the outside of the automobile with all the shine and everything and Elvis was like the engine and..umm..
Brian: Where are you?
Kurt: I'm driving!
Brian: The muffler!
Kurt: Yeah, the muffler! (laughing)
Elvis: The upholstery! (laughing)
At this point, they all start joking with each other. Someone mentions someone being fuzzy dice and Kurt says (while pointing to Elvis' hair) that he is right now and Elvis jumps in saying that he needs his hair cut. The three jokers eventually settle down and Debbi asks her next question.
Debbi: Elvis, what do you think about these two then?
Elvis: Well, it's..umm..Brian was that skater with the..back when I was watching in the beginning..was that polish that had everything just like Kurt was saying, that polish, and where skating had started to change from there where that showmanship started to change a little bit more..you get out there and grab the audience a little bit more..and Kurt took advantage of that, doing a little bit more humour, taking a little bit more time..umm..(Elvis stops for a moment because Kurt is whispering something)..just a whole different style. Just a whole different way of going about an audience, a way about skating and they're so brilliant in their own way which is great and that's what Brian was saying is the styles are different and it's the whole mentality..umm...I would agree to say that I'm probably more intense than Brian or Kurt, and competitive. It was always like this, you know, always being that way, always being real competitive..umm..always going after the meat and potatoes and then learning a lot from..ah..you know..from working with Uschi and getting the polish. I had the strength and finesse there and put it all together and it's great because it's just so different, you know. I didn't want to be just like Kurt. I wanted to follow in the footsteps and go..yes, I want to aspire there and eventually take over and do more with the sport but I don't want to be like him because that's just, you know, a carbon copy.
This ends part one of the interview. Debbi's comments going into commercial:
Canadian men have always developed as unique and versatile talents. Brian with
the first triple axel combo, Kurt with the first quad, Elvis with the first quad
combo and two other Canadian World champions who led the way -- Donald
Macpherson(sp?) in 1963 and with the first triple lutz, Donald Jackson in 1962.
Debbi: I look at the three of you sitting here and for the last..boy..many, many years, you three are like the building blocks of men's skating in Canada.
Brian: I would like to think so.
(Kurt shrugs his shoulders)
Elvis: Yeah.
Brian: I mean, I think...
Debbi: Kurt doesn't agree.
Kurt: Well, no, we're definitely..I mean..it's been not even a year between any of us winning. I mean..like..we just sort of..we owned the planet for a while. It's really fun to think that we did that..as a..from the same country and..ah..from the same club but I think the biulding blocks were like, you know, Brian Pochard(sp?), Toller Cranston(sp?)...
Brian: Yeah...but we took it..you know..I sort of fed off Brian Pochard and Toller Cranston and then we just went..just took it to different levels and it was kinda cool for me to see these two guys take it on to one level and then to another level...
Kurt: And feel a part of that.
Brian: Yeah, I kinda do feel like I was..umm..part of that. I mean, I created some monsters here (they laugh).
Debbi: It's an interesting point that you raise, I mean, when you were amateur champions, all of you, World champions, you were so adored by the public, so revered and then, BOOM, within a year, the next guy is World champion. How did that make you feel? Brian?
Brian: It was great. You know...can I tell you? I have to tell a funny story. In '88, no '89, we (meaning he and Kurt) were on tour together and..umm..I don't know where it was but we were rooming together and Kurt was...it was like the middle of the night and he'd just come back from Paris where he'd won his first World championship and it was..obviously, it's great and it happened quickly for him and I remember one night..in the middle of the night..he was like giggling in his sleep and giggling (Brian demonstrates). It was the funniest thing because he was obviously like strill feeding off this whole thing of winning the World championships and it was like the day after he came home and it was quite funny and I'm like looking over in the next bed and just going, boy, he's just having this great moment over there. I hope it was about Worlds, anyway (he says jokingly).
Kurt: I'll tell ya later! (they laugh)
Debbi: No comment?
Brian: Oh my Gosh!
Kurt: But, you know, I know what you mean. I couldn't even think straight for like weeks.
Brian: Oh Gosh. Weeks!
Kurt: Just...
Debbi: Was it that unexpected for you?
Kurt: No, I..I was that naive to think that I should win that I made it happen. I just thought that I was better than those guys so I'll go win. I mean, it was just that simple back then..umm..I didn't overthink things. I just went and did it (he says something here but I had trouble making it out). I didn't train like that much; I just sort of did it. But, I mean, for weeks after my first title, I just couldn't even think straight.
Brian: It's so much fun!
Kurt: Just so cool! (two thumbs up)
Elvis: Well, it's the same idea though. It's like Kurt would do one thing and I would try to out do that and take it to another level. It's the same..you don't think about it much, you just go and do it. You know, doing the quad and then trying the quad-double and then in Munich when we had that practice together...
Kurt: That was fun.
Elvis: That was fun. We had a quad-off, they called it. When we were doing the quad thing then I would always try to mimic different skaters and mimic Brian and then I...
Kurt: Did almost my whole short program.
Elvis: I did almost his whole short to a 'T'. The audience knew..I was in practice, Peter Jensen says, "Oh, let's do the program for Kurt." I'm like, no I don't want to do it now, it's World championships. I don't want to do it..he says.."Go do it." Kurt goes, "Go do the program!"
Kurt: It's a total stress reliver.
Elvis: So..I'm like..I do the whole program (makes some gestures). I do the whole thing. Then I do this thing into the axel. He does this little thing with the knee into the axel. I do the knee and he comes back and says, "Do I do that in my axel?" I say, yeah and he goes, "Oh man, I didn't realize that."
Kurt: Don't think of it now!
Elvis: Don't think of it now! I'm like, oh no! I screwed him up! 'Cause I'm not even in contention for winning, he's in contention for winning and I'm goin', oh no! I'm going to screw up his chances! I jsut psyched him out! Oh my God! You know, but it's just things like that. I mean,we just had so much fun along the way, I mean, and Michael to (I didn't get his last name. Elvis said it but I didn't get it), the three of us, we really had a great time. And now that I'm..I..feel kind of..you know..there are a lot of new guys coming up and I feel kind of alone because it's just not the same thing..
Kurt: There's so much more, it seems, on the line now. There's bigger numbers financially. There's more responsibility with the Internet - everyone knows when you sneeze at practice, it's written..
Elvis: Yeah (shaking his head, making his feelings on that subject very clear)
Kurt: And..umm..and I think when I was on the cusp of the change, I think that Worlds were more fun. It's bigger..umm..the world has changed and it's bigger. It's better in many ways. We're a sport that I think is very adolescent right now. We're a very old, admired sport but I think we're changing so much that we're almost going throughan adolescent stage..umm..
Elvis: It's getting more intense.
Kurt: We're getting better but...
Brian: And we're feeling some growing pains. I mean, that's what happens when you're taking something to another level and it is another level, a different level.
Kurt: The PGA is like a polished machine, you know, but..umm..maybe someday we'll be there.
Brian: Maybe we will
Elvis: Yeah
Brian: I mean, I'm amazed when I look and see what some of these guys are doing at the eligible stage when they're all over the place doing tours and specials and Pro-Am events.
Kurt: The mindset for us was you didn't do a thing two months before Worlds.
Elvis: Oh, I wish now. Oh, it's so intense now.
Kurt: Yeah, but..you know..
Brian: That's the way it is.
Elvis: Yeah, you know, you deal with it because I was going through that stage where I trained..I trained when I was competing against Kurt, then World champion and then, after that, I did the Tommy Tour, I did my tour and then all this stuff and trying to deal with it all and now I've kind of backed off just a little bit to get back..
Kurt: But, as soon as we start complaining about that, we have to remember that the word 'no' does exist in our vocabulary.
Elvis: Yeah, I know..
Kurt: I had four hours sleep last night, we both came from another thing, if we don't skate well tomorrow, we can't use that as an excuse 'cause we both chose to be there.
Elvis: Yeah...Exactly.
Kurt: So, it's a changing world and what I can do on two hours sleep and three events in one week, I didn't dream that was possible eight years ago.
Elvis: Yeah...You'd set up for one week. You'd set up for one competition and you'd be there..you'd have a month before and you'd be like totally into that. You'd be totally into that. You'd be preparing to do your thing. Now, it's like, okay, let's do three in one week and try and do all the stuff, now, you know, try and do the quad in the short program and doing this and that...
Kurt: Are you going to do that here?
Elvis: Yeeaah...
Kurt: Yeah. Go for it!
I'm not completely sure, so don't quote me on it, but I think Kurt then turned to Brian and whispered, "we don't have a chance." Anyway, they all laughed).
Elvis: It's good for setting up for the season. I mean, I take this and try to use it as a positive for the season and setting up for Worlds so I can try to bring another title back for us.
Debbi: So for the first time, here the three of you are competing at the same event. What does this feel like?
Kurt: About time...
(They all agree)
Kurt: Thought it would happen sooner.
Brian: Here we are.
Elvis: I would have liked to compete the last couple of years but 'cause of my leg, I could only take the amateur stuff and not some of the Pro-Am stuff. But, now I'm able to do this. Last year, I commentated on the event a little bit which was fun...
Kurt: Yeah, it was cool.
Elvis: But, now it's kinda cool. I can go out there and compete and be part of it.
Debbi: Good luck to all of you.
They all say thank you and then wish each other good luck.
Debbi's closing remarks: With eight World titles between them, I think I'm going to trust their opinions about where our sport is headed.