{"id":23083,"date":"2023-01-11T21:35:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T02:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23083"},"modified":"2023-01-11T21:38:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T02:38:47","slug":"episode-715-the-day-i-met-elvis-chibougamau-northern-quebec-summer-1956","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23083","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 715 THE DAY I MET ELVIS (CHIBOUGAMAU, NORTHERN QUEBEC — SUMMER 1956)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 715     THE DAY I MET ELVIS  (CHIBOUGAMAU, NORTHERN  QUEBEC — SUMMER 1956)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
January 11, 2035<\/div>\n

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OK  I NEVER REALLY MET HIM\u2026.EXCEPT IN MY IMAGINATION<\/div>\n

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But I did pass some time in Heartbreak Hotel\u2026.<\/div>\n

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ELEVIS PRESSLEY<\/div>\n

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MARJORIE AND I happened to catch an Elvis Pressley special on public television last night.  Seeing<\/div>\n
and hearing Elvis brought back memories of my first contact with him.   His big hit in 1956<\/div>\n
was Heartbreak Hotel which launched his career.  On a hot summer day in 1956 we ( fellow prospectors)<\/div>\n
happened to be drinking beer in the Chibougamau Hotel when the owner set the needle on the<\/div>\n
Pressley recording.<\/div>\n

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These images popped into my consciousness.<\/div>\n

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BIG EVENTS Usually go directly into long time storage in our brains.   Meeting Elvis Presslley was such<\/p>\n

an event.  I remember that meeting in total detail\u2026.total recall.  Rock and Roll.  I did not know who Elvis was that summer<\/div>\n
but I was overcome with his explosive lyrics to Heartbreak Hotel.<\/div>\n

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\"P33<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Chibougamau looked much like this in 1956.  Only as I remember the road in town was gravel like the highway through the <\/div>\n
seemingly endless carpet of spruce tress to get there.    These cars are 1950\u2019s vintage so the main street must have been<\/div>\n
paved.   But only the main street.   In 1956 I do not remember as many shops.  The street was dominated by the beer parlour<\/div>\n
in my mind.  Imagination?    It was called a \u2019shack town\u201d, a \u201cwhite\u201d town (no native person wanted to live  there with the whites),<\/div>\n
a \u201cMining town\u201d in which  men who hammered the ore face deep underground were more admired than any priest or sunday<\/div>\n
school teacher.  Elvis spoke to us all.<\/div>\n

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Well, since my baby left me<\/span>
Well, I found a new place to dwell<\/span>
Well, it’s down at the end of Lonely Street<\/span>
At Heartbreak Hotel<\/span>
Where I’ll be, I’ll be so lonely, baby<\/span>
Well, I’m so lonely<\/span>
I’ll be so lonely, I could die<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sounds sort of corny in print but the song was a super hit in 1956\u2026 first on hit parade<\/p><\/div>\n

from January to July.  And the vocalist, Elvis, was something new on the musical stage.<\/div>\n
He performed\u2026.wiggled his pelvis.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We were drinking beer in the Chibougamau Hotel.  Our whole crew had been air lifted by Beaver <\/div>\n
from the bug infested boreal forest to the town for a little R.. and R. before we got back<\/div>\n
to our Magnetometer in our search for chalcopyrite.  I was a bit of a prude because I did<\/div>\n
not drink\u2026. broke that rule a bit having one or two draughts of Molson\u2019s Export with my<\/div>\n
crew who were a mixed bag of characters from Joe, a professional alcoholic to two recent <\/div>\n
immigrants from Germany\u2026tough guys who may have been  members of the<\/div>\n
Hitler youth.  And three of us were high school students from Toronto.<\/div>\n

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It was around noon when we started drinking, The room was dark and dingy.  Lots of<\/div>\n
cigarette smoke and spilled beer.  Small beer glasses in those days so we ordered a tableful<\/div>\n
of them,  Mostly men in the room.  In those days men\u2019s beverage rooms were exclusively for men<\/div>\n
or men with \u2018escorts\u2019 so there were a couple of women present. Sort of hidden.  I only<\/div>\n
remember one woman but I recognized her.  We had travelled together in a taxi from<\/div>\n
St. Felicien to Chibougamau.  Five passengers none of which I knew.  All French Canadians<\/div>\n
All rather rough French Canadian men.   We stopped twice to take a leak<\/div>\n
on the trip.   They seemed oblivious to the presence of the girl.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
  She was stunning.  About my age. I was seventeen.  She may have<\/div>\n
been twenty.   That was some trip.  Gravel road in which the mining trucks from<\/div>\n
the Opemiskka copper mine had the rIght of  way. Spraying gravel at bay car that dared <\/div>\n
challenge that right. Our Driver charged extra for the hundred or so mile trip<\/div>\n
because of the likelihood his car would be damaged from flying gravel.  I think he<\/div>\n
did get a crack in the windshield or he already had one. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 She was so attractive that I<\/div>\n
was embarrassed when the other men just took a leak in plain sight.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
And here she was sitting in the beer parlour which was jammed with men who <\/div>\n
were overdoing it on beer while the record player boomed out Heartbreak Hotel<\/div>\n
over and over again.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
She  got up and left a couple of times.  Always with a man\u2026different man who<\/div>\n
left money on the table.  With her was one of the guys that was also in the<\/div>\n
taxi.  It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on.  Then in a flash<\/div>\n
I knew.  The girl was a prostitute doing quick tricks for her pimp.  I was devastated.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Could I rescue her?   Should I rescue her?  Wasn\u2019t this none of my business?<\/div>\n
No one seemed to notice the transactions except for me.  Perhaps it was only<\/div>\n
my imagination gone wild on two draughts of beer.   I did nothing stupid.  Did <\/div>\n
nothing at all.<\/div>\n

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Although it’s always crowded<\/span>
You still can find some room<\/span>
For broken hearted lovers<\/span>
To cry there in their gloom<\/span>
Be so, they’ll be so lonely, baby<\/span>
They get so lonely<\/span>
They’re so lonely, they could die<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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This all happened in one afternoon session.  About four or five o\u2019clock we were<\/div>\n
gathered together and ferried by bush plane back to our miserable camp site.<\/div>\n
Joe F. was falling down drunk by then and regailed us with his sexual exploits<\/div>\n
at his home town of Rouyn, Quebec\u2026to Joe sexual activity was an open book<\/div>\n
or maybe he just made up the stories.  None of them dare I repeat.  Use your<\/div>\n
imagination.   I Liked Joe.  He was the gregarious type.  Later when our food<\/div>\n
supply of bacon and eggs, rolled oats and canned milk,  pork and beans ran<\/div>\n
low we called in a bush plane and sent Joe back to Chibougamau for grub.  He <\/div>\n
arrived back at camp so drunk that he fell off the pontoon into the water laughing<\/div>\n
all the while.  He did not bring any food but spent our money and his time<\/div>\n
in the Chibougamau Hotel.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The French Canadians I met did not like me.<\/div>\n
How do i know that?  Because our line cutting crew were French Canadians and<\/div>\n
they were fed less than we were fed, they did not get an R. And R. break but instead<\/div>\n
were expected to get the survey lines laid out as fast as possible so that we could<\/div>\n
tae our Magnetometer readings and report anomalies it there were any. Bull work.<\/div>\n

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Anomalies \u2026. speculations \u2026 were profitsble on the penny stock market<\/div>\n
back in Toronto where get rich quick schemes sucked he greedy into <\/div>\n
buying stock on places like Loon Lake Mining Company (a fictitious title from my<\/div>\n
 brain).   On that job I learned lots.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I was a Boy Scout\u2026a Rover sScout\u2026convinced that I could right the wrongs<\/div>\n
of this world by my presence.  A bit of a prick really.  And a failure.  I did not<\/div>\n
rescue that poor girl\u2026.did not even acknowledge I knew her.  And when I did<\/div>\n
act In attempt to make friends with the French line cutting crew I was reminded<\/div>\n
harshly that friendship was not wanted.  When I sat at their hand hewn table<\/div>\n
one French Canadian jabbed his slashing knife into the table in front of me.<\/div>\n
I still remember tat knife waving\u2026it was a machete.  The point was clear. Two<\/div>\n
Solitude. Get the hell back to your own tent.<\/div>\n
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Now, the bellhop’s tears keep flowin’<\/span>
And the desk clerk’s dressed in black<\/span>
Well, they’ve been so long on Lonely Street<\/span>
Well, they’ll never, they’ll never look back<\/span>
And they get so, they get so lonely, baby<\/span>
Well, they are so lonely<\/span>
They’re so lonely, they could die<\/span><\/div>\n
Well, now, if your baby leaves you<\/span>
And you got a tale to tell<\/span>
Well, just take a walk down Lonely Street<\/span>
To Heartbreak Hotel<\/span>
Where you will be, you will be lonely, baby<\/span>
Well, you will be lonely<\/span>
You’ll be so lonely, you could die<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Post Script:<\/div>\n
1 ) Decades later when I was asked to write a chapter for a Canadian<\/div>\n
history book for senior students, I wrote up my experiences that summer<\/div>\n
of 1956.  In all its glory and brutality including the young girl.  I thought<\/div>\n
my chapter reflected what has happening in Quebec.  The awakening<\/div>\n
of French Canadian nationalism.   The reasons behind it. Guess<\/div>\n
what happened to my chapter?  It was laundered\u2026cleaned up\u2026made<\/div>\n
sotfer.  Beer parlour and sadness of prostitution cut out.<\/div>\n

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2 )  Beer was a discovery for me in 1956.  One of the guys smuggled a<\/div>\n
case of  Molson Export into our camp and he gave me a can.  Dad liked beer so<\/div>\n
I rolled the can in brown paper, printed our address (then 455 Annette Street<\/div>\n
in Toronto), and stuck a couple of stamps on it then dropped it in the outgoing<\/div>\n
mail.   It reached Dad.  He slipped it in the fridge, levered it open and gulped it<\/div>\n
down as pleased as punch.  Told his friends that Alan mailed him beer<\/div>\n
from northern quebec.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 715     THE DAY I MET ELVIS  (CHIBOUGAMAU, NORTHERN  QUEBEC — SUMMER 1956) alan skeoch January 11, 2035 OK  I NEVER REALLY MET HIM\u2026.EXCEPT IN MY IMAGINATION But I did pass some time in Heartbreak Hotel\u2026. ELEVIS PRESSLEY MARJORIE AND I happened to catch an Elvis Pressley special on public television last night.  Seeing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}