The Squamidian Report – Dec. 15 / 18
Issue #864
Including:
From Russ
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Finally, some snow for the gondola. The wet coast has been having the
usual December pumping rain storms, delivering the usual staggering
amounts of rain. That usually means huge dumps of snow up in the
mountains but this winter, at least for the most part, the freezing
level has been higher than normal and so most of the mid level mountain
snow has been rain. Lots way further up but not much at mid mountain
elevations. Last Tuesday during the usual deluge on the coast and
throughout the valley bottoms the snowline dropped down to about the
elevation of tower #7 and much to everyone’s delight, all of a sudden
there was close to a foot of white stuff on the gondola deck, trails
and trees. All of a sudden it was quite Christmassy.
Wednesday morning we did a nice walk along the ridge, wearing our
crampons as the trail had turned a bit icy. Then, by Thursday morning,
another batch of new snow up at gondola elevation was knee deep. We
dawned our snowshoes and headed out. Wow. Knee deep heavy snow is not
very easy to break trail through. We took turns leading and breaking
which helped but by the time we go to the Gully bridge we were half
pooped. We knew we still had enough steam left to make it all the way
out the lookout but that wouldn't leave us enough steam to them make it
back to the lodge. It was incredibly heavy going. So, we turned back,
leaving the last third of the trail to whoever would be coming along
next. By the time we got back to the lodge we were breathing pretty
hard and were ready to relax by the fire, enjoying a coffee, which we
did. All the while it was pouring rain down at the lower levels and the
weather forecasts were calling for a wind storm of biblical proportions
to hit the coastal areas on Friday. By Friday morning the news channels
were telling people to head for shelter, there was imminent damage from
trees being up rooted and windows being blown in to warrant heading for
the storm cellars. BC ferries started announcing ferry cancellations.
Drivers where being told to stay home, stay off the roads. The gondola
announced on their web site that they wouldn't be opening due to the
weather warnings. Guess what, we didn’t have so much as a gentle little
puff of breeze all day. Not so much as a ripple in the air. Someone
somewhere must be feeling rather silly right now. Oh well. We got
ripped off, no Friday morning walk along the ridge, not Friday morning
coffee with our friends. And they lost a day of business. By the way,
same thing happened a couple of weeks ago, just a few days after the
gondola opened after being closed for a month for maintenance. Forecast
was for damaging high winds so they didn’t bother opening and the day
was as calm and nice as anyone could ever want.
*
Wow,
look what time it is. If anyone wants to have their article or story
included in the Squamidian for Christmas you’ve only got this issue and
next week’s issue to get it in for. And seeing as how you’re too late
for this issue that only leaves next week’s issue because after that
you’d just be a bit early for next year. So, get something written down
and sent in if you don’t want to be left out.
*
I
promise that this will be the last song for a while, if for no other
reason than ‘The Wife’ is home and will be till at least sometime early
next year. That means no more opportunities to do any recording. I
actually laid the vocal tracks down last week as the quiet clock was
ticking down. Anyway, in an attempt to find enough to talk about for
this week, I thought I’d discuss the process needed to do this stuff,
as pertaining to my rather armature level, the very basic equipment at
hand, and the process I tend to use because it works for me. So, here
goes….
First and most obvious, I must come up with the piece of music, a song
I can re-learn if its one I’ve done in the past (most likely around a
camp fire or living room when we were much younger). Or, one I
currently do and think might work out well. Funny thing is, my next
victim often pops into my mind when I’m about ¾ finished working on the
current one and then I must put up with the mental distraction as my
mind starts to figure out how to handle the new idea. I must then come
up with an arrangement that works for and within my abilities. Funny or
frustrating, I can’t work out all the details until I get started and
see how things are or are not working out. Therefore, I have to be
flexible and not get locked in to some undoable ideas. Next step is to
practice the number using a metronome. You’d be appalled at how much
the tempo tends to speed up when playing without a timing aid. Once
ready I set up the mic and recording software program. Basically the
recording software (I used to use Garage Band but am now using Logic)
lets the computer act like a tape recorder and record each track I lay
down. I probably make use of about 1% of what the software can actually
do as I want my recordings to be accurate to my abilities. I want
anything I record to be reproducible live, true to what I can do. If I
can’t actually do what I’m producing, well, I’m not actually doing it.
As well, I use an external sound card (Roland Quad Capture) which lets
me hear through ear phones the tracks already recorded, in real time,
as input is being in put, and gives me control over the volume of what
I am hearing.
Next, lay down the guitar rhythm, to the beat of the metronome. Thats
probably the hardest part of the whole thing, and most important. The
guitar track must be worked out ahead of time to accommodate any intro
lick or run, be worked out for timing between verses etc and for some
sort of ending. Once satisfied, I then lay down the lead vocals. If the
guitar track was right, all the timing and spacing for verses and
instrumentals will have fallen into place. If not, start over. (That
can happen more times than I care to confess). For some songs I then do
a second lead for fullness that will be set at a more quiet volume and
have a tad of reverb added to give it some separation. After that, I
must invent a lower harmony and then record that, then a higher one,
and an even higher one etc and record each as separate tracks as I come
up with them. I will often do a couple of versions of a given harmony
and use reverb and panning to separate them from the lead and each
other. Again, more fullness that would be achieved live by having more
people standing there doing the singing. After that I’ll lay down any
guitar or other instrument lead and finally the base guitar. Then, its
just a matter of setting various track pannings, and lowering the
harmony volumes until a nice (by my ear) balance has been reached.
How long the process takes is anyone’s guess. Some projects seem to
just fall together and others seem to fall apart and must be dumped and
started over or abandoned completely. And even at my rather amateur
level, these projects can take a lot of time and commitment.
Once ‘done’ the software converts the very large recording file (often
300 mg or larger) into mp3 or mp4 or aif format and from there the
number can be listened to as a recorded song in a common format, burned
to CD etc. So, on to this last song project of this current series….
Way back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, two different groups did this
song. Delaney Bonny and Friends did one version and the New Seekers did
the other. This was one of those songs that everyone knew, whether they
knew the words or not. It didn’t really seem to matter. Here’s my
version of Never Ending Love For You. Enjoy.
http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/Covers/Never%20Ending%20Love%20For%20You.mp3
doug
****
From Russ
"Exhume" The little red lie
There was a time when I believed a stork brought the babies; all
policemen were kind (except the one who rode a motorcycle and gave a
ticket to a poor truck driver, even as the man pleaded and wept openly
for the cop to give him break); my teacher knew everything ( and no one
dared question her); bad boys were sent to training school, and never
allowed to come home for years, which terrified me (case-in-point,
Peter Schlupe); that Joan Blueman, my childhood sweetheart would some
day marry me; that I would become a preacher, and that Santa was real.
Santa always came to our house in Centreville on Christmas Eve. And I
was thankful that Santa left a wash-tub full of toys and goodies,
as we could never afford such extravagance, we were poor, as was
everyone else (The Great Depression).
Picture this; it’s Christmas Eve, we kids, herded into the front room,
being quiet trying to listen for the arrival of the big guy in the red
suit.
A noise in the kitchen! Sleigh bells! He’s here! Running to the
kitchen, always too late to see Santa, but in the centre of the room,
the washtub filled with toys and goodies ( the same tub we used every
Saturday night for our ‘family bath’...in the following order; first
Evelyn (Wayne, still a baby, was bathed in the kitchen sink), then me,
then Howard...I don’t remember big brother Lorne, taking a bath.
Funny how Pop ( that’s what we called him when we got older), always
came into the kitchen from the back door, where Santa had just made his
quick exit.
“I saw Santa!” I exclaimed.
“You did?” asked Pop, trying to hide a grin, “What did he look like?”
I knew I’d lied and couldn’t describe him, so I tried to ‘reduce’ the ‘big lie’.
“I didn’t see him...just a bit of his red suit..he was SO FAST!”
Mom, Pop, and Lorne knew I was caught in a lie, and it haunted me for years.
Bad boys were taken from their homes and locked in a prison for
years. I remembered “dirty Peter”, and it scared the s**t out of me!
No, I didn’t see a piece of Santa’s red coat, but I still feel the
shame of that “Little red lie”
Your old Uncle Russ.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Once again I was involved in one of my favourite past times. I
willingly got into helping our son with his search for a new vehicle.
He has always liked the Dodge RAM pickups. In fact he owned a 2010
model for a few years and then sold it a number of years ago. He’s been
driving a Jeep Liberty since selling his RAM and has now decided he’d
like another pickup truck. Over the past few weeks he and I have been
scanning the pages of different car and truck sales establishments for
a suitable new truck to his liking. He finally found a 2018 model that
is fully loaded with all the features he’s interested in acquiring.
This truck is a beautiful 2018 model that was offered at a great
discount and was attractive enough in the colour he likes and has all
the features he wants in a truck. So early this week we made a trip to
Bolton Ontario to view and take a test-drive in this vehicle. After
driving it for a while and testing all the aspects of it, he decided
he’d like to own it. So, he managed to strike a deal with the
dealership. Since I’m writing this weeks Ontarion on a Thursday evening
I can say that he and I are making another trip to Bolton to pick up
his new truck tomorrow, Friday morning. We are both looking forward to
his owning a new Dodge Ram Pickup and since I’m a pickup truck lover,
I’m as happy to see him own a new one as I would be if I were to be
owning it myself! LOL! There is always an adventure in searching for a
new vehicle and especially when it’s of the very type and style that
one really likes! I’ll look forward to his owning and enjoying his new
truck and of course since I’m a truck freak myself it will only fuel
the flames in my mind when it comes to maybe owning a new pickup myself
again some day in the future. I’m sure he’ll enjoy his new vehicle and
will make good use of it for many years to come. These new pickup
trucks are so luxurious that they remind me of the pushiness of the
Cadilacs of yesteryear and today. They have every convenient feature
and are every bit as comfortable as a Rolls Royce in most aspects.
Of course Chrysler has always had very plush interiors in their
vehicles and over the past 20 years Chrysler has improved the
reliability and performance of said vehicles markedly. Ford has had
hold of the top spot in the truck market for many years but over the
past couple of years Dodge has gained by leaps and bounds and I
wouldn’t doubt that Dodge RAM will overtake them within the next few
years in popularity. I am most certainly impressed with the new RAM and
will consider purchasing one myself when eventually I do make the move
back to a truck from the Jeep lineup.
For now I’ll just have to be content with having a pickup in the family even if it isn’t mine! LOL!
*
Carole
and I attended a play in Cambridge tonight at the Hamilton Family
Theatre. The play was entitled “Holiday Inn” and was a take off of the
classic Christmas “Bing Crosby” movie by the same name. The quality of
this performance in Cambridge was amazing indeed! The voices and the
incredible ability to dance by the entire cast was top notch! The
professional actors that now perform in these local theatre shows are
leaps and bounds ahead of such local plays of years gone by. We’ve
enjoyed many of the productions put on by the St Jacob’s Playhouse
theatre group and over the past number of years the chain of these
theatres throughout Southern Ontario has entertained thousands of
people with high quality shows. We are indeed lucky to have such
professional shows to choose from in our area. I recommend taking in a
performance of any of the plays listed with these theatres for a
wonderful evening out! If you’re ever in need of something different to
do for an evening don’t hesitate to attend one of the local plays! You
won’t regret it!
Well, that’s about it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
You have only two weeks to get that Christmas shopping done so get out there and get at it!
****
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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