The Squamidian Report – Aug. 27 / 16
Issue #744
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Ok, this will be of absolutely no interest to some or most of you. A
few will find it somewhat interesting on a rather remote level, and two
or three will find it really cool. So this is for that two or three who
will find it to be a cool thing. The gondola has put out a free app for
smart phones, both iPhone and Android versions. The app overlays the
trail system onto a topo map that can be zoomed in and out. It gives
trail information, length, elevation changes, difficulty etc. Using
your phone's built GPS, the app can show you where you are as you walk
or hike along. If you've been there or intend to go there at some
point, you'd find it to be of interest. Obviously the GPS function
won't work if you are not currently there but seeing the trails and
layout is fun. Seeing the layout of the trails in relation to the
surrounding area is neat. There are two ways to get the free app, one
is follow this link to a page on their web site and then click on the
appropriate link for your phone. The other way is to simply go to your
phone's app store and do a search for Sea to Sky Trail app. Install it
from there and you are good to go. Unfortunately it won't work on a
desk top computer or even a laptop as it is designed to be used on a
pocket device. So, check it out and have fun.
Map App.
https://www.seatoskygondola.com/adventures/trail-maps
*
And now for something totally different from trail
maps, we inadvertently through out our lizard. We didn't mean to and we
wouldn't have even known about it if it weren't for the fact that we
opened the garbage can lid to put in another bag on garbage day when we
had already set the can out at the curb for pickup. For some reason,
every summer we end up with a nice friendly lizard living in our
garage. It or they, seem to do quite well there. It or they get fresh
water ever time we drive the car because when we park back inside the
garage the water vapor that has condensed on the AC heat exchanger
drips off and leaves a nice puddle. You see that kind of thing under
pretty well ever car parked in every parking lot during the summer,
whether the AC has been turned on or not. Its normal. There must also
be bugs for a lizard to eat. All you need to do is move stuff thats
under the work bench and you'll find those little flat bugs running
around, again, normal.
We keep our garbage container inside the garage because that we we
don't need to worry about bears getting into it. In the summer it can
get quite rank. Nothing we can do about that but again, normal. I don't
know how the lizard got into the container. It must have crawled up the
side and squeezed under the lid. There must have been something
attracting it, making the effort worth while. Anyway, we had set the
container out at the curb and then realized there was one more small
bag to go into the garbage before the truck got there. 'The Wife'
opened the lid and there was the lizard, sitting on top of the bags
that were already in there. I reached in to try to grab it and rescue
it so I could set it free but it scurried down under the bags to escape
my hand. This being summer and the container being quite rank, I
declined to go digging after it. It had made its choice and would have
to hopefully live with that choice. But its chances are not good. Our
garbage trucks have a mechanical arm that lifts out bins, dumps them
into the hopper and then sets the bins back down. The lizard would most
likely survive being dumped into the trucks bin. I don't know if it
would survive the compaction cycle when the truck squeezes its load in
order to fit more garbage in. And should the lizard survive that, its
chances out at the dump would not be good at all. It would have to
evade countless crows, ravens, sea gulls and eagle, not to mention rats
and other predatory critters who make their living by picking through
the dumped garbage. Oh well, I'm sure another one will take its place
in our garage and if so, hopefully it will be more willing to let us
rescue it should the need arise.
doug
****
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I know that I started last weeks story off by telling you all how it
ended but with your permission I’ll continue it this week by explaining
what happened between Memphis and Our drive home! LOL!
Once the thrill of Graceland was over with, we
spent one more night in Memphis and before we left for Nashville the
next morning we decided to visit the Original Recording Studio that
Started the careers of Elvis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins
and Jerry Lee Lewis! The studio is named SUN STUDIO and it’s located
706 Union Avenue in the old part of downtown Memphis. The studio has
been in business since it was first opened back on January 3, 1950. It
had shut down for a number of years in 1959 while Sam Phillips moved it
to a new location. In 1987 Sam sold his Sam Phillips Records and the
new owner moved it back to the original building at 706 Union Avenue.
The building was still in the original condition and the new owner has
run it as a tourist attraction ever since. It has also been used as a
recording studio in its original form since it was reopened. For the
paltry sum of just $4.00 you could walk in off the street and make a
recording and walk out with a finished record disc in hand! Elvis
apparently did just that after bugging the owner Sam Phillips to record
him singing. Elvis was a delivery driver for a plumbing supply company
and just took a notion to walk in to Sam’s studio one day while on
delivery. He managed to convince Sam to let him cut two records
containing one song each. He went to the local radio station and
convinced the DJ to play his records and as they say, “The Rest Is
History”!
Well, as luck would have it, on the morning we
drove to Sun Studio there were no crowds lined up at the door to the
“Soda Fountain” that is part of the studio’s main floor. We managed to
park for free in their back alley parking lot and walk right in the
front door! The back of the building that faces the parking lot and the
alley wall of the side driveway are posted with huge pictures of the
famous recording stars that I mentioned at the beginning of this
column. My favourite artist and the man with the greatest voice in rock
n roll music Mr Roy Orbison was posted in the alley right beside Elvis
and I couldn’t resist having Carole take my picture beside the two of
them! I of course took her picture with Roy as well! We entered the
front door of the Soda Shop to be greeted by friendly faces of
employees behind the soda counter. They said “Welcome and feel free to
look around!” We sat at the very booth where Elvis signed his first
recording contract with Sam Phillips back in 1953. What an amazing
feeling to be in this historic music spot and to have it exactly as it
was back in the days of the origin of rock n roll! We asked about
touring the building and studio and were told the next tour would be in
15 minutes and the cost was $13.50 per person. Carole told the cashier
that she would just need one ticket for me and that she would sit out
the tour. He asked why she wasn’t going along and she said she just
felt like relaxing a bit while I took the tour. He said “Nonsense! You
have to tour the studio while you’re already here so I’ll give you your
ticket for free!” He said “You simply must take the tour, you’ll love
it!” So with two tickets in hand, we went to the back of the room to
where the stairs were that lead up to the history room that contains
all the original recording equipment and pictures of the many stars
that made their records and careers at Sun Studio. There was even a
small sound studio just big enough for a desk and a tape machine. It
was where Sam Phillips would review the recordings before pressing them
to a disc for the artist! Once there, the tour guide told us a lot of
the history of the studio and had us listen to several recordings from
back in the day! She played Elvis’s first record as well as Jerry Lee
Lewis’s “Great Balls Of Fire” and encouraged everyone (about 20 people)
to dance and sing along! Once the music stopped, she led us down a
different set of stairs that led to the recording studio on our right
or the soda shop on our left. We of course turned to the right and
stepped into the receptionist’s office. This office was once occupied
by a lady (I don’t recall her name) who was reputed to have been as
much responsible for the success of the Studio as Sam Phillips himself
but never received as much notoriety! This office was only about 10’ by
12’ in size and contained her desk, a vintage PEPSI machine some
pictures of her with the artists and a window and door that looked and
opened into the original recording studio where all the action took
place! We were all invited into the studio to listen to more of the
history of “Sun Studio”. There were original asphalt tiles on the floor
with the original black “X” markers on the floor where the musicians
and artists stood to make their recordings. The walls and ceiling still
had the original fiber tiles on them to dampen the sound of the loud
instruments. The studio contained an original piano played by Elvis and
Jerry Lee Lewis and a set of drums played on most recordings made there
since the studio reopened. The old artists from Elvis to Roy Orbison
and Johnny Cash as well as Ringo Starr had recorded in the studio
during the 80’s and 90’s and even many since the turn of the century.
Even Bonnie Raite and modern country music greats still record in that
studio to this day! The guide told us many facts about the famous stars
and related happenings from the hours each of them spent in Sun Studio.
It was very interesting to listen to the history and be in the very
spot where it all happened. In the final moments of the tour talk, she
told us that Sam Phillips who passed away in 2007 had left the original
microphone from the studio to the studio in his will. He specified that
it was not to be placed in a glass showcase but was to be brought out
into the studio for every person that took the tour to have the
opportunity to have their picture taken standing and singing at the
very mic that was used for so many famous recordings by so many beloved
artists. So we all took turns having our pictures taken at the
microphone while we listened to several great old Rock n Roll tunes.
She placed the microphone stand so we were actually standing on the “X”
that marked the place where so many great singers stood back in the
day! WOW! I was indeed thrilled to be pretending to sing a Roy
Orbison tune into the very Microphone that Roy made his early
recordings! This morning of our trip to Memphis I will NEVER forget! I
miss hearing Roy’s beautiful recordings on the radio to this very day
but now I feel even closer to the artist I grew up idolizing! He and
Elvis were definitely taken away from us too early! Thank goodness for
the recording industry and the history that it has preserved for us! If
you ever get the chance to visit Sun Studio in Memphis, don’t miss the
opportunity!
Once the tour was over, we picked up a few
souvenirs from the Soda Shop and headed for Nashville. I didn’t see how
visiting Nashville could ever top this morning but we still had a lot
more of the holiday to look forward to and with a long drive ahead of
us just to get to Nashville we wasted no time getting back on the road!
That’s about all for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to y’all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now…. Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
If you are a musician or just a music lover you can’t help but
appreciate the history that is in a place like SUN STUDIO in Memphis!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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