CloudDancer
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L. Ronstadt - J. Ingram Duet
Chapter 1 - A Good First Impression
From time to time some pretty big stars would find their way up to our secluded little corner of the world. Much like any other folks, they came as tourists for a variety of reasons. Some came to hunt and fish. Others came to commune with nature. And back in the 1970’s, I don’t think there was a bigger star known for his love of, and better at communing with nature, than John Denver.
And so it was that in the summer of 1976 that one of America’s most prominent recording artists showed up in the arctic with a film crew from the ABC Sports division in tow. Their mission was to shoot footage for an upcoming ABC special hosted by Denver called “Alaska: The American Child”, scheduled to air in the fall.
John and the ABC film crew in fact covered not only the wonders of the arctic, but were all over the state; from the Wrangell-St. Elias Range to McCarthy to the banks of the McNeil River before working their way northward to our neighborhood.
They had contracted with two prominent, well known, and highly experienced guides out of Anchorage to provide the bulk of their transportations needs. Both fella’s were good friends and, in addition to being respected guides, also happened to be dentists. This “day job” provided the resources necessary for each of them to own and operate their own very nice Cessna 185’s. They were loaded with all the goodies. Together the good doctors had safely and surely squired the film entourage all over our great state.
In each area of the state however, it was necessary to contract a third, locally-owned and operated commercial plane to act as a “gofer”.
This was the airplane they used to run errands, sometimes on a daily basis. For the majority of the time, the two big-city 185 drivers were kept occupied doing work for all the aerial filming that was involved or scouting for shooting locations.
Hence the mickey-mouse stuff, such as hauling rush items, delivering payroll, hauling exposed film to a hub for immediate transfer back to New York or L.A., was what the “gofer” airplane was for. And, it just so happened that, when they got to my neck of the woods, somebody recommended Leroy’s outfit for the job. And CloudDancer got the nod.
So this is how it came to be that a young CloudDancer and a world-renowned and adored-by-millions folk & pop music idol wound up singing a duet together under the 2 A.M. arctic sun.
CloudDancer
From time to time some pretty big stars would find their way up to our secluded little corner of the world. Much like any other folks, they came as tourists for a variety of reasons. Some came to hunt and fish. Others came to commune with nature. And back in the 1970’s, I don’t think there was a bigger star known for his love of, and better at communing with nature, than John Denver.
And so it was that in the summer of 1976 that one of America’s most prominent recording artists showed up in the arctic with a film crew from the ABC Sports division in tow. Their mission was to shoot footage for an upcoming ABC special hosted by Denver called “Alaska: The American Child”, scheduled to air in the fall.
John and the ABC film crew in fact covered not only the wonders of the arctic, but were all over the state; from the Wrangell-St. Elias Range to McCarthy to the banks of the McNeil River before working their way northward to our neighborhood.
They had contracted with two prominent, well known, and highly experienced guides out of Anchorage to provide the bulk of their transportations needs. Both fella’s were good friends and, in addition to being respected guides, also happened to be dentists. This “day job” provided the resources necessary for each of them to own and operate their own very nice Cessna 185’s. They were loaded with all the goodies. Together the good doctors had safely and surely squired the film entourage all over our great state.
In each area of the state however, it was necessary to contract a third, locally-owned and operated commercial plane to act as a “gofer”.
This was the airplane they used to run errands, sometimes on a daily basis. For the majority of the time, the two big-city 185 drivers were kept occupied doing work for all the aerial filming that was involved or scouting for shooting locations.
Hence the mickey-mouse stuff, such as hauling rush items, delivering payroll, hauling exposed film to a hub for immediate transfer back to New York or L.A., was what the “gofer” airplane was for. And, it just so happened that, when they got to my neck of the woods, somebody recommended Leroy’s outfit for the job. And CloudDancer got the nod.
So this is how it came to be that a young CloudDancer and a world-renowned and adored-by-millions folk & pop music idol wound up singing a duet together under the 2 A.M. arctic sun.
CloudDancer