Author: elvisgumby

Kids

The Baby and The Beau Hunks

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date August 15, 2019
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Growing up, I watched the Little Rascals and Laurel and Hardy films on TV whenever I could. These movies were made at Hal Roach Studios. Watching them as much as I did, I noticed the same music being used in all the films from this studio. Leroy Shield wrote these song and musical cues. The library of musical cues effectively matched the range of emotions displayed in these films. I fell in love with the music as much as I did the jokes from these movies. I was pleased when I discovered a Dutch music ensemble called The Beau Hunks that had created transcriptions of this music and recorded albums of them using vintage instruments and recording techniques. The first discovered them around 1995 when they released a CD called The Beau Hunks Play the Little Rascals Music. Later that year, they released On to the Show: The Beau Hunks Play More Little Rascals Music. I picked up copies of both and listened to them regularly. These recordings are faithful reproductions of the music on the soundtracks of the films. There is only the occasional deviation from the original arrangement. Most of the time, it sounded like you were listening to a cleaned-up version of the original recordings.

True Stories

Baseball, BBQ, Furniture, A Fall and A Wallet

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date August 8, 2019
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This story starts on Thursday, July 11 and there are several things that you need to know going in. Here is a list:

I was on vacation from July 8 through July 12. I had taken off because of some of these other things that were happening.
My wife started a project of refinishing our kitchen furniture on July 7. She planned to complete it before July 12 because of some of the other things happening over the weekend.
My father’s 80th birthday was July 8. We planned a birthday party for him on Saturday, July 13th at my sister’s house. I would be cooking pulled pork BBQ for this event starting Friday night.
My mother-in-law was coming to visit. She would fly into Memphis late on Thursday night, get a rental car and go to her son’s house where she was staying. We would not see her until Friday.
I planned to cook smoked chicken for my mother-in-law and my wife’s family on Friday night at our house. I would be able to visit while I was getting started on the food for my father’s party.
The upstairs air conditioning unit at our house had been acting up. A repairman was scheduled to be there on Thursday.
Because things had not gone well with the furniture refinishing, a planned day trip had been canceled on Wednesday. This meant that I was off all week and we hadn’t gone anywhere for vacation all summer.
I planned to take my dad to a minor league baseball game in town on Thursday night.

Singing Karaoke in China

During one of the meals on my 2006 trip to China, I talked about music to some of the guys that we were visiting. They found out that I write and sing songs. I found out that some of our hosts were into karaoke. They thought that I would enjoy going to a karaoke bar. Why not? I didn’t know anyone that could say they had sung in a karaoke bar in China.

China Travel

Street Confrontation in Hong Kong

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date July 25, 2019
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In previous posts, I have talked about my weekend in Hong Kong in 2006. In addition to shopping for a Fake Rolex, I spent this weekend being attacked by monkeys and a handicapped boy. While we were still looking for a fake Rolex vendor, we were standing at an intersection next to the street market. The vendors had their booths set-up in the street, so it was no problem for us and everyone else to be standing in the street.

China Travel

Riding the Star Ferry in Hong Kong

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date July 18, 2019
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I have shared my story about being attacked by monkeys on Monkey Mountain during my 2006 trip to China. Later that day, we were visiting more places around Hong Kong. We needed to travel to the other side of the harbor, so we took the Star Ferry. My traveling companion Mike told me that this ferry is the oldest in Hong Kong. He said it might be the oldest in China or maybe even the world. It is a famous Hong Kong tourist attraction ranking along side of the Eiffel Tower on some lists.

China Travel

Shopping for a Fake Rolex in Hong Kong

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date July 11, 2019
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Back 2006, I went on a two-week trip to China, with a side trip to Singapore. Before I went, I talked to several people who had taken this trip that mentioned buying fake Rolex watches in Hong Kong. I considered picking one up as a gift if I could get a good deal on one. I was travelling with a guy named Mike who traveled regularly to China. He knew several of the people that had bought these watches and knew the market area where we might be able to find them. We spent the middle weekend of our trip in Hong Kong and I shopped for gifts for my family then.

Travel Vacation

Riding the Revolution at Libertyland

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date July 4, 2019
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Libertyland was an amusement park with a patriotic theme located at the Mid-South Fairgrounds in Memphis. It was probably best known for the roller coaster called the Zippin Pippin in part because Elvis Presley declared it as his favorite ride. This ride was built at the Fairgounds around 1912, years before the amusement park opened on July 4, 1976. I have several friends who were music performers at Libertyland in its early years. One of them was even an Elvis impersonator. Libertyland was only a moderate success. Most of my visits to Libertyland were made during the Mid-South Fair in the fall and rarely a summer trip when it was just the amusement park.

Travel Vacation

Riding the Frisbee at Six Flags

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date June 27, 2019
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When my kids were young, we would visit my mother-in-law in San Antonio, Texas regularly for family vacations. My mother-in-law would buy our family season passes to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. One year when we were there, I rode a ride called the Frisbee with my son and youngest daughter. Wikipedia describes the Frisbee as “type of pendulum amusement ride featuring a circular gondola that rotates as it swings back and forth. Riders are seated on the gondola facing inward.” Most years my kids weren’t interested in riding this and I did care to go on it for my own amusement. It’s not the style of ride that I would normally be attracted to. This year was one of the last years that our family made this trip. My kids were more willing to try different rides. I encouraged them by riding this one with them.

Italy Travel

Losing Luggage in Italy

Several years ago, I had an opportunity to travel to Italy. I was travelling with a man and a woman from the company I work. We were on a business trip to visit a supplier for our company. When we arrived at the airport in Milan, we went to the baggage claim area. I quickly found my bag and so did the man. The woman did not see her bag. We waited until every other bag was claimed and cleared from the carousel. Still no bag for her. We went to the lost baggage area and made a claim before we left the airport. Fortunately for this lady, she had brought a few necessities with her in a small carry-on bag. We had a business meeting as soon as we arrived. We also had a drive that was at least an hour to get to the town where we were staying. The lady was able to shop for a few things after we had gotten to this town.

Travel

Traveling Through Denver

Several years ago, I was traveling for business with a large group of people. During our trip, we were visiting several of the customers of our company. I was the only salaried person on the trip and was responsible for taking care of the group. There were at least 2 people on the trip that had never flown before. I was the only male in our group. Our travel plans took us to Walla Walla, Salt Lake City and Denver. The inexperienced travelers were nervous, especially on the first flight. By the end of the trip, one of the most nervous ladies was making future travel plans. She asked me if you could pick what size plane you rode on when you fly. She had decided she liked the larger planes more.