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joezworld · 4 years ago

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What in the HECK happened with Scotsman, Dominion, and Dwight during the Great Gathering?!

(Also, since Dutchess of Hamilton has also been to the US during the 1939 NY World’s Fair, did she get involved?)

Warning - extremely long post below

So, first of all, Duchess of Hamilton never went back to the UK.

Duchess of Hamilton (6229) and Coronation (6220) had their nameplates swapped by the LMS when an engine was sent over to the US. 6229, in the guise of 6220, went to the US.

Streamlined locomotives were all the rage at the time, and railroads practically fell over themselves to get Coronation (as she was now known) onto press trains. The B&O railroad in particular was so impressed with her capabilities that they extended a formal offer of employment to her for service on their streamlined Royal Blue service. The LMS were surprised to get an offer to "purchase" their locomotive, but accepted nonetheless, as it meant a welcome infusion of cash in the dark days during the beginning of WWII.

Coronation fit right in with the Americans, having only been about a year old when she was sent to New York. Following the end of steam traction on the Royal Blue in the late 40s, (the B&O were early adopters of diesels.) she and her B&O coworkers found good employment on the New York Central, where she still runs to this day.

Since then, she's fully "gone native", marrying a J3 Hudson, (yes one of the streamlined ones) adopting both an American accent and three children, and being fully repainted to NYC silver by 1956. Flying Scotsman met her in Albany in 1970, and neither one of them recognized the other.

Actually, most UK expats don't recognize her, to the point where a common interaction is for her to be held up as an example of "look at her, she's integrated well into the US", only for the British engines to say "that's preposterous, she isn't English".

When it's pointed out that she's still obviously an LMS Coronation, the next response is usually screaming.

All that being said, she has no interest to come back to the United Kingdom, and wasn’t asked by the NRM anyways.

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Second of all, the Great Gathering was... an event.

So, there are (officially) 6 preserved Gresley A4s.

Mallard - static, National Railway Museum (UK). Also an asshole.

Bittern - running, private owner, UK based

Sir Nigel Gresley - running, owned by a trust, UK based

Union of South Africa - running, private owner, UK based

Dwight D. Eisenhower - static (officially), National Railway Museum (USA)

Dominion of Canada - static (officially), Exporail (Montréal)

This is the official list, and for the first 4 engines, it's the truth.

However, things are a bit hazier on the other side of the Atlantic...

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So the thing that needs to be made clear right up front that in a sentient vehicle world, museums aren't like the NRM, where locomotives sit static for years on end, although obviously the English have museums like that because of course they do.

Rail museums in the rest of the world are much more like Colonial Williamsburg - a living history center staffed by volunteers who act out a prototypical setting from [insert decade here].

British Rail, being British Rail, didn’t know that and didn’t care.

4496, Dwight D. Eisenhower, having been named after the General-turned-President, had been earmarked for preservation by BR, and was summarily shipped off to the US National Railway Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In an entirely unintentional move, this donation MONUMENTALLY snubbed the Smithsonian, who refused to have any dealings with BR for decades, even for archival purposes. This, combined with the fallout from Operation Smash Hit, and the fact that the Smithsonian is Petty AF, meant that there was virtually no official trans-Atlantic cooperation between British and US museums for decades.

Dwight hit the shores of the US in 1964 New York City and was greeted by a marching band, a ticker-tape parade, and Presidents Johnson and Eisenhower, who were on-hand to personally make the engine a US citizen.

Always keen to curry favor with the government, the Southern Pacific railroad had a job offer waiting for Dwight right alongside the Presidents and the parade, and when he accepted, he went off to Sunny Southern California - someplace so opposed to Britain the he fell in love with the place immediately and refused to leave!

The ladies may have also had something to do with it as well - while most engine classes fell into a typical 50-50 gender distribution, the SP GS-4 class was all female...

[Pictured above - one of 28 very good reasons to live in California if you're a single British steam engine.]

Dwight does not kiss and tell, but at his wedding in 1974, all 28 GS-4s showed up - and he was only marrying one of them!

Since the 70's, he's become a mainstay in California, having been repainted into Daylight Limited colors in 1969, and retiring from railroad duties in 1999. After that, he went into the movie business, and is currently the head of digital media development at Disney.

His wife Irene (SP 4437) is also an interesting figure as well - following in the wheelmarks of the great female locomotives before her, she had an eye for business and a Stanford education before she married her husband, and was an initial investor in multiple tech companies in Silicon Valley during the 70's and 80's, but stopped doing that after her investment in Apple proved very lucrative. In 1996, she was convinced by a few people in the Stanford Alumni association to invest in another tech startup, this one an "internet search engine" called Google.

So yeah, Dwight Eisenhower kept falling up and up and up all his life, and is now married to the richest woman in the world.

4489 Dominion of Canada was donated mostly by accident, having been forgotten in the back of Darlington sheds until 1966, when she was shipped off to the Canadian Railway Historical Society in Montreal.

As stated elsewhere, the Canadian Government considered any locomotive built in the UK to have UK citizenship, and therefore treated them as commonwealth citizens under existing Canadian law. (remember that Canada was still a colony at that time)

CN, the national rail carrier, was obligated to offer her a job under their charter, and she accepted, moving to Toronto to run intercity trains between Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

Within two years she was displaced from those duties by the introduction of a new, shiny, jet turbine powered train, and was summarily demoted to local commuter runs in the Toronto suburbs.

Moving to suburbia did one thing more than anything else - expose her to the people who live there. They all had complaints, they all had problems, and they all had no idea on how to fix them.

Being a helpful sort, Dominion decided that she could help, and promptly ran for Toronto city council in 1974. She won, and has been a fixture in local Toronto politics ever since - she even got to be Chairwoman of Metro Toronto (the closest thing to being mayor because Toronto's governmental structure is weird) until 1998, when Toronto was merged with the surrounding area to create a massive new region.

Having then done everything there is to do in municipal Toronto government, Dominion went on to become the Chief Executive Officer of Metrolinx, the agency that controls almost all of the transit agencies in Ontario, because, as she puts it, "I'm still a commuter engine at heart".

She's now painted in the current GO Transit paint scheme, and still does commuter runs- which is really weird looking now that there are double deck commuter coaches in a push-pull configuration, with a Gresley A4 doing the pushing.

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Now, I mentioned that those 6 were the only ones officially preserved - there were two unofficial preservations as well...

4486 Merlin was properly Shanghied - he was yanked off the docks in Southhampton by a cargo ship in August of 1965, and was spirited away to parts unknown.

Those unknown parts turned out to be South Korea. There, he was given citizenship by the US-aligned military dictatorship (Korean history is wild) and was employed by the State-run rail operator.

As the military government began a hardcore plan to increase their country's wealth and industrial output, rail lines were being built across the country, and Merlin was soon awarded a position on the fastest train in the network, the Seoul-Busan Saemaeul-ho.

Because of his experience in running high-speed express trains, Merlin not only became the public face of Korean high-speed rail, but also became an "honored elder" amongst the other Korean engines, a position he still holds to this day - as despite being over 70 years old, he still runs daily trains on the fast services, easily keeping time with the Korean schedules as well as training the new high speed trains, including the KTX sets. He's on his 24th boiler by now, and has more parts from Hyundai than Doncaster.

An additional fact - Merlin actually has had a linguistic effect on Korean railroading, as his strange amalgamation of an accent - a strong Yorkshire accent that tried to be Received Pronunciation for 30 years, mixed with almost 50 years of middle-to-upper-class Korean - has filtered down through the ranks of KoRail, because all of his students want to sound like him out of respect. Human British expats in Korea will occasionally hear a locomotive speaking in English, and the engine will sound like a Yorkshireman every time and the Brits cannot handle it.

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4495 Golden Fleece is the only A4 to preserve himself - he saw the writing on the wall in the early 60s, and hopped a car ferry to France at the end of 1962. From there, he bounced around Europe for a bit before making it to the United States in the late 70's.

Of the 8 surviving A4s, he's probably led the quietest life of all - he moved to Miami before it got nice, and basically got in on the ground floor of CSX when that merger happened in 1980. He's now the head of terminal operations for the Port of Miami, but he's generally kept a low profile - not even having a chance to meet Scotsman due to his time in Europe.

He's still in contact with Dwight and Dominion, and has no real bitterness over not being "famous" like they are - he likes the quiet, and still lives in a modest house in Boynton Beach with his long-term girlfriend.

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Soooo... the Great Gathering.

It was supposed to be a meeting of the 6 surviving A4s - a two year event held at the NRM in honor of the 75th anniversary of Mallard's record-setting run.

"Record setting" is a past-tense term here. While there have been no official runs, every single one of the Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 and S1 locomotives claim to have gone faster than 126 without meaning to, and numerous other locomotives on unofficial attempts done late at night on flat stretches of land across the country have hit 130+.

British Expats have also done better than 126 - Coronation claims to have hit at least 140 on a midnight mail train in 1980, and in Korea, Merlin claims to have hit 128 on a test train, although that was judged by timing mile markers as his speedometer wasn't functioning properly.

Problems arose before any of the engines had even reached the NRM, as Mallard's already sizeable ego had swelled to massive proportions, and several engines in the great hall were planning a justifiable homicide.

Then came the time restraints - none of the foreign locomotives were willing to uproot their lives and jobs for two years just to sit motionless in a shed. A two year exhibition was eventually negotiated down to a 6 month gala, much to the irritation and confusion of the NRM, who could not understand that the engines were still in service.

Then came the extra engines - Dwight and Dominion thought that the NRM knew about Fleece, and were quite insulted on his behalf when he wasn't invited - they threatened to not attend unless arrangements were made for Fleece to attend as well.

An utterly baffled NRM agreed, but also tore their record archives apart, as they knew that Fleece had been scrapped. The fact that his picture was plastered all over CSX's Florida Division website was all the more confusing as a result.

Meanwhile in Busan, nobody knew that Merlin had escaped the scrappers' torch and therefore did not invite him. He was only informed after K-Pop star Psy texted him from London to ask if he knew about the event, which was being advertised on television.

Merlin, having missed his friends from the LNER, decided that he would just crash the party, used some of his many vacation days, and took off for England on a cargo ship.

By sheer coincidence, all four foreign A4s hit the dock in Southhampton on the same day, and were delighted to see each other - especially Merlin, considering that everyone else had thought he'd died.

Meanwhile at the NRM, delight was not the word one would use. Befuddled, confused, shocked even, but not delighted. Their plans had revolved around 6 A4s, most of which wouldn’t be running - only to now discover that there were 7, all but one of which were functioning! (Mallard, the star of the show, was the odd one out, and it drove him crazy)

Then they got a phone call from their man at the docks saying that another one had showed up, looking like he’d driven out of a K-pop album cover, and they just gave up and started screaming.

Screaming is also what happened when the cavalcade of foreigners showed up in York - first of all, the quartet of new engines sounded nothing like they had when they left England.

Dwight had willfully unlearned his Upper Crust British accent by 1971, and had fallen deep into a California accent (quite similar to what Scotsman sounds like - coincidence? No.)

Dominion and Fleece hadn’t tried to unlearn their accents, but 40+ years of living in North America can really dilute the Britishness. It doesn’t help that Dominion has developed most Canadian vocal tics eh?

As stated above, Merlin has a weird fuckin accent, and now he speaks English with a strong Yorkshire accent, but will occasionally and without warning drop into a Korean/Yorkshire hybrid accent.

The screaming also happened because the NRM had wanted to repaint the duo trio! quartet?! into LNER garter blue, and were promptly informed that “we’re painted like this for work! Don’t touch it!” (the sole exception was Dwight, who hadn’t pulled a real train in 14 years, but he liked his Daylight Limited paint), so instead of the new arrivals showing up in LNER colours, they showed up looking like THIS:

Having their long-lost siblings show up looking and sounding like THAT had quite an affect on the A4s and the other NRM engines:

Bittern could not believe her eyes - to the point where she actually began making noise about seeing an optometrist

Union of South Africa almost backed through a wall

Sir Nigel Gresley was speechless for two days

Mallard was so angry that he actually chipped a tooth during one of his rants about “the impropriety of it all!!”

Evening Star laughed so hard that he managed to derail himself without moving

City of Truro almost cracked a piston from shock

Alycidon spent the entire gala coming up with more and more laser focused jabs at Mallard - who was so easy to fluster that the Deltic needn’t have bothered

Oliver Cromwell and Green Arrow made fast friends with the new arrivals, and spent the entire time learning ‘Americanisms’ to annoy the other engines with.

But what about Flying Scotsman? Where was he in all of this? He was generally considered to be the “leader” of the NRM fleet (much to Mallard’s annoyance), and was usually who the other engines turned to when things started getting out of control.

Did Scotsman calm things down? Like hell he did. The inmates were running the asylum from the moment that Scotsman saw the other A4s - more importantly saw Dwight - and immediately greeted them in flawless Californian.

This actually set off the building’s security alarm, as Flying Scotsman saying “DUDES! Wassup?!” caused such an uproar that the noise broke several exterior windows.

----

And all of this was in the first few days - there were six months left to go.

There was one railtour attempt. It was supposed to feature Bittern and Sir Nigel running in tandem, but instead featured Dwight and Merlin, mainly because Bittern wanted to see what would happen.

They exceeded the max speed limit for steam traction within 15 minutes, sparked a thorough investigation by the RAIB, and got all future steam powered railtours for the Gathering cancelled immediately.

On the plus side, the two engines did prove that it was still possible for a steam train to hit 100 safely.

One thing that baffled the other engines was the inordinately large number of people who turned up just to see Dominion, and the one person who kept turning up to see Fleece - it took a lot of explaining for them to understand that Dominion had been married three times, and had children (adopted) and grandchildren from all three marriages coming to see her. A similar amount of explaining was required to explain that Fleece’s girlfriend/partner wanted to see him too.

The normally chatty Dwight and Scotsman would suddenly clam up whenever Dominion and Fleece teasingly tried to ask about their love lives, something which wasn’t unnoticed by the other engines, but got similarly nowhere.

The answer to why they both shut the hell up was explained when a lot of shouting broke out in the yard of the NRM one day about a month into the exhibition:

Irene Eisenhower, not content to sit in California and count her billions, quickly grew bored without her husband, and decided to go to England and be with him. The fact that she definitely did not fit the UK loading gauge was never even a consideration, and so she just showed up in York on the back of a lorry, having informed no-one of her arrival, and content to just pay off the requisite people if a fuss occurred.

A fuss did occur, and it was only ended when Scotsman managed to convince the museum’s curator (who at this point in his life was regretting ever thinking of this damned gathering) that Irene was a ‘temporary donation’ to the museum.

[Scotsman, who definitely hid his Cali accent from museum staff the entire time, has one of the best poker faces in the world]

Dwight was overjoyed, and so was Scotsman, for initially unclear reasons. Then Irene managed to grab both her husband and Scotsman, dragged them behind a shed, and [THIS IS A PG13 HEADCANON] the both of [PG13]. Turns out that while Scotsman may have slept his way across the US a few times, he was actually ready to settle down with Dwight and Irene - they were a throuple way back in the 70s, and those passions haven’t faded. When Scotsman reluctantly left the US in 74, a lot of the reluctance was because of those two.

This bombshell of a revelation went over interestingly at the NRM. Some engines (Green Arrow) were happy for them, some were incensed (Mallard - although it was for anti-American reasons, not homophobic ones), and some were intensely curious about what was going on in the outside world (Bittern).

The ‘foreigners’ (as Mallard had taken to calling them), were deeply displeased at how their fellow engines were being treated - while a lot of them were ‘in steam’, some were not and might never be again, something they found abhorrent. Unable to do anything at that time, as the NRM was not a for-profit entity and therefore did not have anyone to bribe, (Irene’s solution to things is to throw money at the situation) the engines started talking about how life was different in the outside world - namely that engines were still working hard, even when they were over a century old and running on steam power.

This was of great interest to engines like Evening Star and (6220) Duchess of Hamilton, neither of whom were likely to be steamed again, and Bittern, who was growing more and more curious with each passing day. Dissent began to slowly build against the NRM curators, and the culture of the United Kingdom in general.

One thing the foreigners did try do something about was Ellerman Lines. The poor bastard had been sectioned to show his inner workings, much to the jaw-dropped horror of the foreign A4s, who made such a stink about it that he was moved outside the museum by NRM staff, who must have thought that the engines lacked object permanence or something, because that didn’t make it better!

Irene Eisenhower, who was beginning to get really sick of the nonsense that the NRM called preservation, (Scotsman was not in running condition, and had been hastily reassembled mid-overhaul in order to be cosmetically ready for the event, and let’s not forget poor Ellerman Lines) elected to bring the event to a close on her own after only three months. She did this by eventually putting her immense wealth to good use, and called for a haulage service to rescue the engines from the NRM without the knowledge of the museum staff. Aside from the A4s, she also took Ellerman Lines, Scotsman, and Bittern (who had asked to go) with her, and only bothered to inform Ellerman and Bittern - she was not about risk Scotsman having another “think of England” moment and staying.

The haulage firm was efficient and the cargo ship was waiting, so the engines were in international waters before the NRM opened the next morning.

Much swearing occurred in England that day, and the NRM’s image has yet to fully recover from the PR story that they had sold Flying Scotsman (and Ellerman Lines) to a reclusive American billionaire.

Privately though, the NRM does not care, as that story is a lot better than “Someone stole our engines and we’re not allowed to get them back because as it turns out we’re slaveowners, so no international court will help us.”

Also, despite their multimillion dollar “donation" from the I. Eisenhower Opportunity Fund, they still haven’t been able to fully pacify their engines, all of whom have somehow gotten the idea that they should be running in main line service like they live on Sodor or something...

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Dwight, Scotsman, and Irene all live happily together in the sprawling Eisenhower estate in Malibu. Irene is currently lobbying the California state government to legalize polygamy, with moderate success.

Ellerman Lines, after a lot of therapy and a full rebuild, is now working on a short line in Wyoming. He likes the scenery.

Bittern followed Dwight, Irene, and Scotsman to Los Angeles, and used her ‘connections’ (Dwight) to get a supporting role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Since then, she’s gotten several roles based on her own merits, including an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Appearance in a Comedy.

Merlin spent a few months in LA before he went back to Korea. He is very thankful that he was able to reconnect with his brothers and sisters, and that his homeland has good internet, as he video calls his family across the Pacific almost every day.

Golden Fleece still lives a quiet life in Florida, but finally decided to tie the knot, and married his girlfriend in 2017. The ceremony was supposed to be quiet, but Irene Eisenhower has no idea what that word means.

Dominion of Canada continues to baffle non-local trainspotters when she runs commuter trains into Toronto. She is now a great-grandmother.

7 years later, and the term “Great Gathering” is still a forbidden phrase in the back rooms of the NRM.

#ask response #long #really long #I wrote this for like me and two other people at most #national railway museum #flying scotsman #Headcanon #ttte #ttte adjacent #bittern #mallard #train headcanon #locomotive rights headcanon #extremely specific headcanon #headcanon

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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For One American Island Destination, Coronavirus Feels Worse Than a Hurricane

Cities like Rodanthe, North Carolina are used to being cut off from the mainland due to hurricanes. This is different | AFP via Getty Images

No one knows how long COVID-19 will keep the sleepy Outer Banks cut off from the mainland

On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, closing the bridges is nothing new. The same thing happens every year during hurricane season when severe weather forces evacuations and shops and restaurants to literally shutter. This time, however, no one knows how long COVID-19 will keep the sleepy islands cut off from the mainland.

“I understand why the bridges are closed,” says local restaurant owner Leigh Raskin. She pauses, “But selfishly I want them open.”

The string of barrier islands known as the Outer Banks hugs the northeastern North Carolina coast. Unless accessed by boat or plane, people reach the islands by driving across long bridges from the mainland. From late spring through early fall, the tourist season breathes life into the island towns. The sugar-sandy beaches and small-town charm attract family vacationers, surfers, fishermen, and watersports enthusiasts, and the population swells from 36,000 to 200,000 in the span of a week.

Once cool weather sets in, quietude returns to the islands. Many small businesses close during the winter months, and residents working restaurant and retail jobs find themselves on a break. Come March and April, though, the area revs back to life as the temperature warms and tourists begin their return.

The decision on March 17 to restrict the Outer Banks to only property owners occurred the same day North Carolina’s governor issued a mandate closing restaurants and bars to dine-in service. As other eateries in the state scrambled to reach their customer base through carryout meals and delivery, the Outer Banks’ dominant industry lost the majority of its patrons to the mainland. With the bridges providing the only way of reaching the remote islands by car, blockading them siphoned off the population’s main source of income during its most economically depressed time of the year.

Raynor Garey / Getty Images

The Atlantic Beach bridge is one of the main lifelines to the Outer Banks

“When you close the bridges you shut off 70 to 80 percent of this population’s paycheck,” says chef Wes Stepp, owner of the seafood-focused Red Sky Café and NC Coast Bar and Grill in the town of Duck. Stepp’s restaurants, like those of his peers in the industry, were living off their last lines of credit when the bridges closed and dine-in service ceased. Now his employees fear for their summer season.

Tourism-driven economies like the Outer Banks rely on the busy season to earn the bulk of the annual income. Here, restaurant employers and staff have only four months — seven if they’re lucky — to secure their earnings. Most places close after early fall, and those that stay open reduce staff and hours. Several take out loans to squeak by until April. Then, they depend on Easter Weekend and spring break to usher in the first trickle of tourists.

When each day in the high season affects the total income for the year, even minor disruptions can do serious economic damage. “In a hurricane we have insurance to cover closing our doors, food spoilage and other damages,” says Madalyn Roberts, president of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association. “This is something we’ve never seen before, and we’re having to take it day by day.” For the time being, no one can say how or whether insurance will compensate for lost business.

Across the country, the hospitality industry is struggling in the wake of similar dine-in bans and closures. But for businesses in remote, hyper-seasonal destinations, like the Outer Banks, the blow hits even harder — not only blocking much-needed income, but halting all preparations for the eventual tourist season. This spring’s usual recruiting efforts and trainings have been replaced with layoffs and cut shifts to the skeleton crews of year-round staff.

And unlike businesses elsewhere, a ready customer base may or may not be waiting to help these local establishments recover from weeks — and potentially months — of lost revenue. “The big cities where everything is shutting down, like New York, Seattle, and LA, their patrons will still be there when they open back up,” says Raskin, who owns and operates the Duck wine bar Eventide, formerly known as Waves Pizza Café. “Each day, spring break vacation cancellations increase and the number of summer reservations dwindle. If this doesn’t open back up until the mid-summer, we’ve lost half our income for the year.” For the time being, employers and employees scrape together everything they have to crawl toward Easter, when they pray the bans — both on the bridges and on dine-in service — lift.

Establishments keeping their doors open have owners and chefs working fast to adapt their business models to suit carryout and delivery orders. But “people don’t think of most restaurants here as to-go,” Stepp says.

Celeste Osorio

Chef-restaurateur Wes Stepp hopes adapting his meals to takeout will help make up for a portion of the lost income

Stepp’s one of the lucky ones. His brand includes catering and personal chef services that place carryout and bulk orders in his portfolio. Even still, the revenue doesn’t cover his small staff taking phone calls, cooking, and delivering orders — they’re all there as volunteers. At other restaurants, adjusting menus and keeping the kitchens running leave many questioning if it’s worth the meager sales. Many find that it’s not and close.

“The locals down here can’t support the restaurants,” Raskin says. “If you don’t own a business down here, you work for a small business, and we can’t look to them to survive.” So, for the majority of the Outer Banks community, paychecks will cease completely until the bridges reopen. “If you don’t own a business down here, you work for a small business, and we can’t look to them to survive,” Raskin says.

But what gives her and others hope is the sense of camaraderie. “There are so many people going through this, and the Outer Banks community is just incredible.” Discounts on food and merchandise encourage commerce at restaurants and shops. Individuals volunteer at their neighborhood restaurants with deliveries and other odd jobs. Tips soar for delivery and carryout and delivery orders.

“Whenever this community is in crisis, it just reaffirms how beautiful it is, and everyone rallies around it,” says Raskin. “Everyone’s affected, but they’re still doing their best to lift each other up.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2Jc8HEj https://ift.tt/3dtUe4Q

Cities like Rodanthe, North Carolina are used to being cut off from the mainland due to hurricanes. This is different | AFP via Getty Images

No one knows how long COVID-19 will keep the sleepy Outer Banks cut off from the mainland

“I understand why the bridges are closed,” says local restaurant owner Leigh Raskin. She pauses, “But selfishly I want them open.”

Raynor Garey / Getty Images

The Atlantic Beach bridge is one of the main lifelines to the Outer Banks

Celeste Osorio

Chef-restaurateur Wes Stepp hopes adapting his meals to takeout will help make up for a portion of the lost income

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2Jc8HEj via Blogger https://ift.tt/3apDIRu

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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thejustinmarshall · 6 years ago

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Jean Luc Ponty Revisits “The Atlantic Years”

Interview by Danny Coleman

“Well, I don’t want to announce it as such because I’ve seen other artists do that and tour again after that; so you never know but it could be. So far I’m still in good physical shape to play an instrument that is tough to play but so far so good. So as long as I can still do that and as long as there’s a demand, because the last thing that I want to do is just impose myself on stage like people who never want to go away even when there is no audience anymore for them. So if it gets to that I’ll be happy to retire; I’m ready for that now. One thing for sure, there are not going be many more tours; maybe another one after that at most,” uttered legendary violinist Jean Luc Ponty as he discussed what may very well be one of if not his final tour prior to his August 23 show in Newton, NJ at the Skyland PAC.

On the road with, “The Atlantic Years Tour,” Ponty definitely embraces his past even though he may not always admit to looking back at it and had it not been at the urging of some friends and industry insiders; this may never have come to be.

“What it is,” he started with deliberation, “Is that I’m not the kind of guy that is into nostalgia and looking to the past and being sad that it’s over; not at all. I’m the opposite, I’m always looking forward and happy to do new musical experiences but they are rooted in the past though; I’m talking about me developing in the mid 70’s and still keep doing it until now. Then there was a ditty man from France and concert organizations who wanted to revisit the music of my early career and the first albums which I produced on Atlantic that made the audiences aware that there was this crazyFrenchman playing electric violin. I gave a listen to the old albums but I am also the kind of musician who rarely listened to his own recordings; moving on all the time. So I really sat down and listened after so many years and discovered that some of the music I really do was great and it was worth re-visiting and what I mean by re-visiting is not to rehash the past, it’s not to try to recreate exactly what it was because the albums are there. They have that sound color of the time and that energy but what we can do now so many years later is that me and the musicians have had so many other musical experiences that we have a different kind of maturity and coming back to this music we can bring some new improvisations to it. Also, the sound technology has improved and some instruments themselves are so much better today so it’s like feeling lucky to still be alive and being able to make this music live again. Also there is a jazz element; meaning that there are sections in most pieces where we can improvise solos, that means that the music comes alive in different ways every night.”

The musicians on this tour are no strangers to Jean Luc or his music and he speaks glowingly of having them reunited with him on stage once again.

“All of them have either toured and recorded with me or both. Jamie Glaser is the longest collaborator with me, he started in 1977 fresh out of The Berklee School ofMusic. He has been on several albums and then he went to do his own thing and he came back again in the late 80’s and 90’s. Then Wally Minko on keyboards joined in the late 80’s, he recorded three albums with me and did many tours worldwide. Rayford Griffin on drums joined my band in 1982, was on all of the albums between 1982 and 1986 and even more in the 90’s. There was one tour that he couldn’t do because he was with Michael Jackson then; I remember that because in the 90’s I wanted to do a reunion,” he said with a laugh. “Keith Jones toured with my band in the 80’s as well; on top of which, this is the band that I put together when I collaborated with Jon Andersonfrom Yes. These are exactly the same band; musicians that I’ve worked with since the 80’s, it adds another emotional dimension. Being back on stage makes us really happy, there’s a joy and a different feeling; it’s a pleasure to be back together. It is like old friends that you’ve not seen in a long time and you get together, that’s the kind of feeling we have.”

Easily the most recognizable violinist in rock and jazz music, Ponty admits to feeling some of the pressures of success yet he also gained a wealth of experience which affords him to relax as he looks back at his long and illustrious career; a career which has seen him nominated for or achieving just about every major award in the music industry.

“It was very natural at first for many years. I had a very strong inspirational force in me that had to come out,” he chuckled. “I was lucky to sign this contract with AtlanticRecords in ’75 that gave me total artistic freedom and gave me a chance to explore, put a band together and play this music. I wanted to create my own way of making one see phases of different musical limits. I had the experience, I came from classical music, I was professional in the symphony orchestra when I was 20 years old and then seven years of straight jazz and then the collaboration with Zappa’s band, Mahavishnu, McLaughlin and others less well known before that in Europe but who were also into rock and progressive rock. I wanted to connect in a way that wasn’t evident and it wasn’t easy at first but little by little it changed; so that was my goal and I didn’t know if I’d be successful or not. The albums got a lot of success, even beyond my hopes; I mean it was unbelievable in those days. We got a chance to be picked up by progressive rock radio, jazz radio, different formats and a lot of college and university radio, it was amazing and thanks to that we got a chance to keep going and doing it. It is true though that I reached a point in the late 80’s and early 90’s where yeah, you feel the pressure because when you are presented on stage at big festivals with other bands and they announce you as one of the top or the top violinist in the world, you think oh my God, I better behave and play good (laughs). I’m joking now but there was some type of pressure at some time where I was wondering while recording my next album if it would be at least as good as the previous ones but not anymore. I’ve reached a point now where I”m totally relaxed because it’s not what I had in mind. It’s not having to be the best or whatever, music for me is an expression of my sub-conscious, I feel it’s very metaphysical. It’s almost like I feel it’s not me anymore physically on stage. I don’t know where it comes from, like as if I was channeling waves from around the universe. I don’t know but emotions and feeling is all that counts, that’s the priority and not thinking; am I the best? Am I good? Am I not good? You have to reach a point where you let go and let go completely. I was very happy to learn that a great jazz innovator like Charlie Parker said the same thing. He was practicing chord changes up to the point where he didn’t have to think about it, it became sub-conscious and that’s why you let go completely. Then it becomes totally spiritual or like another vein of communicating with other beings.”

So how does anyone achieve a level of greatness such as his? According to Ponty, you either have it or you don’t and even if you come from a musical family such as his own; there are no guarantees.

“My parents were music teachers, so I grew up in a musical environment environment. This doesn’t automatically mean that children have the vocation to be musicians as well but in my case I did. I developed a love for music immediately from the age of three or four years old. My father was teaching violin as a main instrument and my mother piano so they started me on both instruments when I was five years old. Then when I was 11 they asked me to choose one of the two so that I would become good at one instead of mediocre at both (laughs). I chose the violin, probably because I felt, from what I remember that it was the most expressive and it’s an instrument that you hold against your body like a physical extension of you. Then maybe it was because my father was a violinist, I’ve never spoken to a psychiatrist about it,” he joked, “but I think it was really because I found it more expressive. So I found myself focusing and spending more time and hours on it every day but piano was very helpful and although I stopped practicing technique it helped me write music. Having access to a piano and later on to other types of keyboards and sounds was how I could write all of this music.”

One of the things that, “The Atlantic Years Tour” has done is gently prod him to look back in retrospect at how far the world has come; a world which he feels would be markedly better if the power of music was allowed to rule.

“In the 80’s I toured mostly in the United States, South America and Western Europe until the Berlin Wall fell down and then the communist world was not so communist anymore and I went all the way to play in Siberia a few years ago. I didn’t know what to expect but in fact there’s quite an elite of people; scientists who live there, a lot of artistic activity, they have opera and two symphony orchestras. Just to say that I’ve played for people there and there was an old woman who came to me with tears in her eyes with a vinyl album, one of these Atlantic albums and she said, “You know, when I got that album I could’ve gone to jail.” “What I’m saying is that music is such an incredible way to connect with people anywhere in the world; music would be a lot better than politics to unite people around the world.”

After the August 23 show in Newton, the tour has stops in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and then wraps up on August 30 at Sony Hall in New York City. So what can one expect when attending a Jean Luc Ponty performance?

“A program with pieces from the Atlantic albums starting with, “The Imaginary Voyage”from 1975/76 through, “Fables” which was the last one in 1985. We play some of the pieces that turned out to be classics like, “Mirage,” pieces from the, “Enigmatic Ocean,”the two long suites that we play are “Enigmatic Ocean,” “The Struggle of the Turtle to the Sea” and these are really great springboards for improvisation for the band and it sounds really good with this band. Pieces like “Mirage,” it surprises me that there are young musicians today from electronic jazz, hip-hop, dance music who are sampling pieces like, “Mirage.” I would not have expected that but that proves that there’s a link between generations and that makes me very happy that they see something in my music that appeals to them and that they are using it and producing it in their own way. We won’t play it in a hip-hop style (laughs), we stick to the style of the original recording.”

Sampling? Hip-hop? Ponty takes it all in stride whether he approves or not.

“I don’t always agree and if I don’t agree I refuse unless they steal it and I don’t know about it but some are honest and ask permission and some are creative and just take bits and pieces and make a puzzle out of it; they don’t take my creative piece as I recorded it and some are not creative at all. The way they use certain samples and sound effects of my music makes me say, ah that’s original but it surprises me that they hear that music from the 70’s that is old for them and it’s something that inspires them; that’s cool.”

To discover more about the eloquent virtuoso that is Jean Luc Ponty or purchase tickets please visit www.ponty.com.

Danny Coleman (Danny Coleman is a veteran musician and writer from central New Jersey. He hosts a weekly radio program entitled “Rock On Radio” airing Sunday evenings at 10 p.m. EST on multiple internet radio outlets where he features indie/original bands and solo artists.)

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Cities like Rodanthe, North Carolina are used to being cut off from the mainland due to hurricanes. This is different | AFP via Getty Images No one knows how long COVID-19 will keep the sleepy Outer Banks cut off from the mainland On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, closing the bridges is nothing new. The same thing happens every year during hurricane season when severe weather forces evacuations and shops and restaurants to literally shutter. This time, however, no one knows how long COVID-19 will keep the sleepy islands cut off from the mainland. “I understand why the bridges are closed,” says local restaurant owner Leigh Raskin. She pauses, “But selfishly I want them open.” The string of barrier islands known as the Outer Banks hugs the northeastern North Carolina coast. Unless accessed by boat or plane, people reach the islands by driving across long bridges from the mainland. From late spring through early fall, the tourist season breathes life into the island towns. The sugar-sandy beaches and small-town charm attract family vacationers, surfers, fishermen, and watersports enthusiasts, and the population swells from 36,000 to 200,000 in the span of a week. Once cool weather sets in, quietude returns to the islands. Many small businesses close during the winter months, and residents working restaurant and retail jobs find themselves on a break. Come March and April, though, the area revs back to life as the temperature warms and tourists begin their return. The decision on March 17 to restrict the Outer Banks to only property owners occurred the same day North Carolina’s governor issued a mandate closing restaurants and bars to dine-in service. As other eateries in the state scrambled to reach their customer base through carryout meals and delivery, the Outer Banks’ dominant industry lost the majority of its patrons to the mainland. With the bridges providing the only way of reaching the remote islands by car, blockading them siphoned off the population’s main source of income during its most economically depressed time of the year. Raynor Garey / Getty Images The Atlantic Beach bridge is one of the main lifelines to the Outer Banks “When you close the bridges you shut off 70 to 80 percent of this population’s paycheck,” says chef Wes Stepp, owner of the seafood-focused Red Sky Café and NC Coast Bar and Grill in the town of Duck. Stepp’s restaurants, like those of his peers in the industry, were living off their last lines of credit when the bridges closed and dine-in service ceased. Now his employees fear for their summer season. Tourism-driven economies like the Outer Banks rely on the busy season to earn the bulk of the annual income. Here, restaurant employers and staff have only four months — seven if they’re lucky — to secure their earnings. Most places close after early fall, and those that stay open reduce staff and hours. Several take out loans to squeak by until April. Then, they depend on Easter Weekend and spring break to usher in the first trickle of tourists. When each day in the high season affects the total income for the year, even minor disruptions can do serious economic damage. “In a hurricane we have insurance to cover closing our doors, food spoilage and other damages,” says Madalyn Roberts, president of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association. “This is something we’ve never seen before, and we’re having to take it day by day.” For the time being, no one can say how or whether insurance will compensate for lost business. Across the country, the hospitality industry is struggling in the wake of similar dine-in bans and closures. But for businesses in remote, hyper-seasonal destinations, like the Outer Banks, the blow hits even harder — not only blocking much-needed income, but halting all preparations for the eventual tourist season. This spring’s usual recruiting efforts and trainings have been replaced with layoffs and cut shifts to the skeleton crews of year-round staff. And unlike businesses elsewhere, a ready customer base may or may not be waiting to help these local establishments recover from weeks — and potentially months — of lost revenue. “The big cities where everything is shutting down, like New York, Seattle, and LA, their patrons will still be there when they open back up,” says Raskin, who owns and operates the Duck wine bar Eventide, formerly known as Waves Pizza Café. “Each day, spring break vacation cancellations increase and the number of summer reservations dwindle. If this doesn’t open back up until the mid-summer, we’ve lost half our income for the year.” For the time being, employers and employees scrape together everything they have to crawl toward Easter, when they pray the bans — both on the bridges and on dine-in service — lift. Establishments keeping their doors open have owners and chefs working fast to adapt their business models to suit carryout and delivery orders. But “people don’t think of most restaurants here as to-go,” Stepp says. Celeste Osorio Chef-restaurateur Wes Stepp hopes adapting his meals to takeout will help make up for a portion of the lost income Stepp’s one of the lucky ones. His brand includes catering and personal chef services that place carryout and bulk orders in his portfolio. Even still, the revenue doesn’t cover his small staff taking phone calls, cooking, and delivering orders — they’re all there as volunteers. At other restaurants, adjusting menus and keeping the kitchens running leave many questioning if it’s worth the meager sales. Many find that it’s not and close. “The locals down here can’t support the restaurants,” Raskin says. “If you don’t own a business down here, you work for a small business, and we can’t look to them to survive.” So, for the majority of the Outer Banks community, paychecks will cease completely until the bridges reopen. “If you don’t own a business down here, you work for a small business, and we can’t look to them to survive,” Raskin says. But what gives her and others hope is the sense of camaraderie. “There are so many people going through this, and the Outer Banks community is just incredible.” Discounts on food and merchandise encourage commerce at restaurants and shops. Individuals volunteer at their neighborhood restaurants with deliveries and other odd jobs. Tips soar for delivery and carryout and delivery orders. “Whenever this community is in crisis, it just reaffirms how beautiful it is, and everyone rallies around it,” says Raskin. “Everyone’s affected, but they’re still doing their best to lift each other up.” from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2Jc8HEj

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