ROAD MUSIC TO THE FERRY TO JUNEAU
Accommodations would be difficult to find in Juneau during the Special Session on the gas pipeline capital city. It’s the height of the tourist season in Juneau, plus some kind of Native Alaskan celebration is going on there. So I brought my “portable home” with me - my 22 foot travel trailer. I left home in Anchorage Friday at 7:15 PM for the special session driving solo, dragging my trailer behind my gas guzzling Chevy Suburban. I pulled into Glennallen just before midnight Friday, arrived at Destruction Bay by Kluane Lake in the Yukon Saturday evening, and made it into Haines Sunday afternoon to catch the ferry to Juneau Monday at 9:00AM. Driving across the Haines Summit is like being on another planet.It’s a long, albeit exceedingly beautiful, trip. This being the Alaska, thirty minutes would sometimes elapse before seeing another vehicle going in either direction. Pulling a trailer, while dealing with highway frost heaves (“whoop-de-doos), plus road construction (Alaska has two seasons: winter, construction) made for some slow going. I don’t mind solo driving (thank heavens for coffee in a can), and road music is a great compa
nion. Here’s a partial list of the music CDs my ears consumed enroute to special session (make of it what you will):The Rat Pack: a joking around music session by Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin. I’ve seen both Sinatra and the Sammy Davis shows. Where have all the great entertainers gone?
Eddy Arnold’s Greatest Songs: old time smooth country balladeer who passed away this year.
Jimmy Dorsey’s Greatest Hits: virtuoso big band saxophonist. I used to dance to his band at the Hollywood Palladium. Nowadays I play sax better than Dorsey. That’s because he’s dead.
The Best of Polka: I like polka music, and I like dancing to it. I used to get my kicks playing my sax in an Oktoberfest band in California. I also wore a button that proclaimed “Polka till you puke” (if that isn’t class, I don’t know what is).
Operatic Arias by Luciano Pavarotti: what a voice did God give this man! Anyone who doesn’t appreciate this man’s singing should check their pulse.
The Best of Mozart: I visited his birthplace in Austria during the 1980s. Amazing what he accomplished in his short life. Makes me realize how little I’ve accomplished in my own life. When Mozart was seventy-five, he’d been dead for forty years.
Don Ho Greatest Hits: A Hawaiian music legend, a heartthrob of the older ladies, and the one show you “had” to see when visiting the Islands. He passed away last year. Another musical legend gone.
Country Legend Glen Campbell: He’s my wife’s 1st cousin once removed. Marlene’s Aunt Lois’s granddaughter Kim Woollen married Glen. My mother-in-law attended their wedding. I got to visit Glen at his home when he lived in Phoenix.
Barefoot Bluegrass: Jason Norris, a member of this talented Anchorage group, is a constituent. Outstanding talent.
Tchaikovsky Favorites: nothing excels his classic melodies.
Roy Clark’s Greatest Hits: outstanding string picker. An expressive singer easy on the ears.
Ernst Mosch Egerlander Musikanten: probably the best band of the Bohemian genre. Egerland was the area in western Czechoslovakia where many Germans once lived. Mosch, along with my German Military Marches CD, is great music for driving the Alaska Highway - or the autobahn. I’m a former sax man in both an Air Force band and the oompah band, and that’s another reason I like this stuff.
Segovia Classical Guitar: I wonder if hard rockers who abuse guitars can comprehend the beauty of a guitar played well – if they have any regard for beauty at all.
Classic Patsy Cline: this woman’s voice is what country singing is supposed to be. Likewise, the Johnny Cash CD I played. I got to see Cash in concert some years ago.
Classical Music for Relaxation: unfortunately, this CD was too relaxing, a dangerous antidote to my stay-awake-coffee. After my first yawn I ejected the CD.
Rafael Mendez (1906-1981): this trumpet virtuoso was previously a cornetist for Pancho Villa. No one surpasses Mendez’s trumpet genius. When he played “Flight of the Bumblebee,” he didn’t slur the notes, he tongued them! I saw him in concert during the sixties.
The Best of Harry James: another outstanding trumpet player (but not as good as Mendez). During high school I danced to the Harry James Band at the Hollywood Palladium. All the kids in my high school band crowded around the Harry James bandstand, and he was kind enough to have conversations with all of us.
Speeches that Changed the World: obviously not a music CD, but certainly “music of oratory.” My favorites were the speeches of Winston Churchill, General Douglas McArthur, John Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. It’s said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” I could add that speech can surpass the pen.
When the Special Session ends (who knows when), and I drag my trailer back to Anchorage, I’ll enjoy another batch of good music.
Jimmy Dorsey’s Greatest Hits: virtuoso big band saxophonist. I used to dance to his band at the Hollywood Palladium. Nowadays I play sax better than Dorsey. That’s because he’s dead.
The Best of Polka: I like polka music, and I like dancing to it. I used to get my kicks playing my sax in an Oktoberfest band in California. I also wore a button that proclaimed “Polka till you puke” (if that isn’t class, I don’t know what is).
Operatic Arias by Luciano Pavarotti: what a voice did God give this man! Anyone who doesn’t appreciate this man’s singing should check their pulse.
The Best of Mozart: I visited his birthplace in Austria during the 1980s. Amazing what he accomplished in his short life. Makes me realize how little I’ve accomplished in my own life. When Mozart was seventy-five, he’d been dead for forty years.
Don Ho Greatest Hits: A Hawaiian music legend, a heartthrob of the older ladies, and the one show you “had” to see when visiting the Islands. He passed away last year. Another musical legend gone.
Country Legend Glen Campbell: He’s my wife’s 1st cousin once removed. Marlene’s Aunt Lois’s granddaughter Kim Woollen married Glen. My mother-in-law attended their wedding. I got to visit Glen at his home when he lived in Phoenix.
Barefoot Bluegrass: Jason Norris, a member of this talented Anchorage group, is a constituent. Outstanding talent.
Tchaikovsky Favorites: nothing excels his classic melodies.
Roy Clark’s Greatest Hits: outstanding string picker. An expressive singer easy on the ears.
Ernst Mosch Egerlander Musikanten: probably the best band of the Bohemian genre. Egerland was the area in western Czechoslovakia where many Germans once lived. Mosch, along with my German Military Marches CD, is great music for driving the Alaska Highway - or the autobahn. I’m a former sax man in both an Air Force band and the oompah band, and that’s another reason I like this stuff.
Segovia Classical Guitar: I wonder if hard rockers who abuse guitars can comprehend the beauty of a guitar played well – if they have any regard for beauty at all.
Classic Patsy Cline: this woman’s voice is what country singing is supposed to be. Likewise, the Johnny Cash CD I played. I got to see Cash in concert some years ago.
Classical Music for Relaxation: unfortunately, this CD was too relaxing, a dangerous antidote to my stay-awake-coffee. After my first yawn I ejected the CD.
Rafael Mendez (1906-1981): this trumpet virtuoso was previously a cornetist for Pancho Villa. No one surpasses Mendez’s trumpet genius. When he played “Flight of the Bumblebee,” he didn’t slur the notes, he tongued them! I saw him in concert during the sixties.
The Best of Harry James: another outstanding trumpet player (but not as good as Mendez). During high school I danced to the Harry James Band at the Hollywood Palladium. All the kids in my high school band crowded around the Harry James bandstand, and he was kind enough to have conversations with all of us.
Speeches that Changed the World: obviously not a music CD, but certainly “music of oratory.” My favorites were the speeches of Winston Churchill, General Douglas McArthur, John Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. It’s said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” I could add that speech can surpass the pen.
When the Special Session ends (who knows when), and I drag my trailer back to Anchorage, I’ll enjoy another batch of good music.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 10:54 AM
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