Human Cannonball-ing

Oddly, given that the economic landscape seems to be so dominated by GIANTS like BofA and Exxon-Mobil, we’re constantly reading both the small business is the true engine of job growth, and that we’re all going to end up as free-lance entrepreneurs, architecting our very own bespoke careers that are long on short engagements.

Some professions, of course, do seem to lend themselves quite nicely to the on-your-own economy; others less so (free-lance assembly line worker, anyone?).

But David Smith, père et fils, seem to have figured it out the self-employment thing. They’re human cannonballs, as are a couple of other of David Smith, Sr.’s children.

David Smith, Sr., at 69, was in Lowell, Massachusetts, a couple of weeks back, entertaining the Lowell Spinners baseball crowd with a “Human Home Run” stunt. It actually wasn’t a home run, as the cannon was set up near second base – but the plan was to shoot him out of the park, so…

The article I saw on boston.com on Smith was written before the shot heard round the Spinners’ home field, but I’m pretty sure I would have heard about it if there’d been a misfire.

Which can happen.

According to wikipedia – so it must be right, right? – over the course of human cannonball history (about 150 years), thirty cannonball have been killed in action. That may not seem like a lot, but there haven’t been all that many human cannonballs during that period. So, as occupational hazards go, this one is right up there. In fact, last April, in the UK, one of the few, the proud, the cannonballs died when his safety net failed. So kids – even if you happen to have a cannon in the backyard capable of fitting a human down its barrel, and a soft landing spot – puhl-eeze don’t try this at home.

David Smith, Sr., by the way, started out as a teacher, but decided after a few years that life would be more interesting and rewarding as a daredevil.

Of his 11 children – he’s apparently been a human cannonball in other aspects of his life – six have worked at one point or another as human cannonballs.

The one who’s grabbed the URL is David Smith, Jr., who just last March broke the record that his father had set.

He is the highest flying Human Cannonball in the world today with his world record braking human cannonball shots and his dynamic personality.

Not sure if that “braking” is a spell-o or has some greater meaning. Personally, I always brake for human cannonballs.

Human Cannonball, Jr. – whose sobriquet is “The Bullet” to distinguish him from his father “The Cannonball” still thinks his old man is all that and a bag of chips:

I need to thank the greatest human cannonball that ever lived, the brain behind the machine, My Father, David Smith Sr. For setting the bar so high. without you I may never have learned to fly.

David Smith, Jr. joined the family business when he was just 19, as I learned from a profile that appeared a few years back on Portfolio.com, where I also read:

"You do fly, and the violence [to] your body on takeoff is significant," he says. "Coming down is like coming down from an eight-story building."

Well, I’m not going to quibble with whether he’s fly-flying, or being propelled flying, but that “coming down from an eight-story building” all sounds pretty ghastly. Smith, Jr. has been injured – broken leg -  in the line of duty, as has one of his sisters, who hurt her spine when she overshot her landing airbag. (I guess now we know why it’s a spine-tingling thrill to watch someone shot from a cannon.) But the job is not without its rewards:

For his troubles, Smith earns anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars per jump, depending on the venue, the size of the crowd, and the difficulty of the jump. All told, he earns comfortably in the low six figures per year.

This would not have been possible if David Smith, Sr., had not revived the lost art of human cannonballing which, by the mid-20th century had become nearly “extinct”, what with TV competing so effectively for the entertainment eyeballs.

But, as the growth of NASCAR and the life and times of Evel Knievel have shown us, watching a spectacle where someone could get seriously injured or die never goes out of style.

Meanwhile,

If you are looking for something big and powerful, that will astonish live audiences and give you great press coverage and the best chance to get a front page You are looking for DAVID "THE BULLET" SMITH - Human Cannonball Show.

But if you’re looking to set yourself up as a human cannonball, don’t bother. David Smith, Sr. makes the cannons, and the Smiths seem to have something of a family monopoly going.

So, back to the drawing boards and find your own darned personal, one-off career. This one’s taken.