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Group makes audio tour CD for travelers in Glacier Park
Three Flathead Valley men assembled a cast of thousands – if you count the trees – to produce "Highway to Heaven," an audio CD tour of Glacier National Park http://www.ear2earproductions.com/ .
Subtract the trees, and you’ve got Mike Catena, Gordon Cross and Ted Keller. They play Skip Stones, Jimmy Jammer and Cliff Crevasse, your in-car tour guides for the 50-mile trip over Going-to-the-Sun Road.
By VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian
http://missoulian.com/articles/2004/04/01/news/local/news02.txt
They’ll unveil the CD, designed for park visitors to slip into their CD players as they enter the park at either entrance, at the Made in Montana Trade Show in Great Falls on Thursday through Saturday, where they will begin lining up retailers.
While there are other audio tours of the park available, Keller – a teacher at Flathead High School – says "Highway to Heaven" is the only one he knows of that uses fictional characters to lead tourists through the park. Jimmy, Cliff and Skip chat about Birdwoman Falls, the Weeping Wall, Sunrift Gorge and much more.
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EAR 2 EAR Productions, Inc.
Ted Keller, P.O. Box 4633
Whitefish, Montana 59937
Phone 406.862.4378
Fax 406.862.9117
eMail
http://www.ear2earproductions.com/
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Cliff, who "is not a geologist, but claims to be dating one," chimes in with information about the ancient glacial forces that carved out the park.
Cliff also serves up some of the corniest jokes this side of "Hee Haw," despite Jimmy’s constant sarcastic comeback: "That’s funny, Cliff. You should quit your day job."
The trio delves into the founding of the park, the history of the hotels and the 20-year construction of Going-to-the-Sun Road while highlighting the many wonders along the highway.
Also setting this audio tour apart, says Keller, are four songs from the CD "Odyssey West" by Montana musicians Rob Quist and Jack Gladstone.
The CD includes information about the huge fires of 2003 that scorched portions of the park. Bear bells jingle when it’s time to pause the CD, giving listeners as much time as they’d like to stop, get out of the car and explore Glacier’s wonders.
Cross, who divides his time between Whitefish and Augusta, Ga., where he manages an historical hotel, is the "brains of the outfit," Keller says.
Cross took the idea to his friend, Catena, who has worked as a tour guide in Glacier and Waterton Parks. Catena brought his friend Keller, who has worked as a tour guide in Glacier, Waterton, Yellowstone, Hell’s Canyon and Banff, Alberta, into the mix.
"Whoo-ee, it’s been a lot more work than I expected," Keller says. "I feel like I’ve had two jobs."
The trio got going on the project last May, driving Going-to-the-Sun half a dozen times while noting mileage figures, exhibits, geology, forests, views – even bathroom locations.
They researched, then wrote the script, recorded it and took it on a test drive. They cut here, rewrote there, found stretches of the road where they could insert the music.
They plan to have the CDs – there are two in each case, one for a west-to-east trip across the park, the other for east-to-west – in gift shops, gas stations, restaurants, hotels and other tourists haunts in the Flathead and on the east side of the park before the summer season hits. Keller says Ear 2 Ear Productions, the company he and his partners formed to produce the CD, will sell it wholesale to retailers, who will set their own prices.
If all goes well, Keller says they’ll look at similar ventures in other national parks.
For more information, e-mail Keller at
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 523-5260 or at
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CD offers tunes for the tour (of Glacier)
By Jim Mann
The Daily Inter Lake
A cast of three colorful characters are your guides.
Just push play and you are on your way for an informative and entertaining drive on Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road.
"Highway to Heaven: Glacier Park Audio Driving Tour" is a two-CD set timed to the best sights and stops along Glacier’s historic highway. It was produced by Ear 2 Ear Productions, a joint effort of Flathead Valley residents Ted Keller, Mike Catena and Gordon Cross.
The three teamed up last summer, drawing on their collective 20 years of experience as travel guides.
Rather than delivering a stodgy narrative worthy of a nature documentary, the three spiced it up with humor and several songs from Flathead Valley musicians Jack Gladstone and Rob Quist.
Travelers are carried through the park by three guys: Skip Stone, voiced by Catena; Cliff Crevasse, played by Keller; and Jimmy Jammer, voiced by Cross.
"Using the characters of Jimmy, Cliff and Skip allowed us to get the information to visitors without it sounding like a lecture," said Cross, the project’s producer.
The CD script intertwines information on park geology, history, wildlife and trivia with jokes and wisecracking banter.
Example:
Cliff Crevasse: "Hey, what do you call that thing that dangles from the moose’s throat?"
Jimmy Jammer: "I believe that’s called a dewlap, although others refer to it as a bell."
Cliff Crevasse: "Is that so? I believe it is properly referred to as a moostache."
Jimmy Jammer: "That’s awfully funny, Cliff. You should quit your day job. Really."
Keller said he and his partners infused the script with the type of gags and wordplay they used in former jobs as tour guides. Keller used to skipper a tour boat on Waterton Lake, while Catena has done guide work in Glacier and elsewhere in the Northwest and California’s Sierra mountains.
Keller said he is well versed in Glacier’s geology and natural history, but the script required considerable research covering a broad range of topics that are all within reach off the famous highway.
"I did plenty of research," said Keller, who led the script writing. "I didn’t just pull all this out of my head."
"We’ve spent months on the project," said Catena. "We all drove Going-to-the-Sun Road half a dozen times getting mileage figures, noting exhibits, geology, forests, views, bathroom locations. Then we wrote our script, recorded it and took it for a test drive. We made a few changes so that the timing was accurate. And then we drove the road a few more times."
Keller said the timing turned out just right, with the narrative matching the passing scenery. The sound of bear bells cues listeners to stop the CD, get out of the car and check out some of the most interesting stops on the road.
Listeners are also given tips on being safe around wildlife and water, and they are encouraged to stop in and visit Glacier-area merchants.
The CD set provides both east-to-west and a west-to-east tours between Apgar and the Triple Divide exhibit near St. Mary. It comes with a map and pictures of some of the topics that are discussed: glacier lilies, beargrass, marmots and George Bird Grinnell, to name a few.
"We had enough information to fill half a dozen CDs," said Cross. "But we wanted to showcase the talents of Montana musicians as well. We showed the script to Rob Quist and Jack Gladstone and they were excited to be part of the project. They urged us to include songs from ‘Odyssey West,’ their new release. We were thrilled to have them join us on this."
Keller said he hopes the CDs will appeal not only to tourists but also to locals who may be a bit weary of taking visiting friends and family for obligatory Sun Road drives.
"Just hand them this," Keller said with a smile and the CD case in hand.
The CD set was unveiled last week at the annual Made In Montana trade show in Great Falls. The three partners plan to have the CD for sale at Glacier area gift shops and other outlets. In the meantime, it’s available by calling Ear 2 Ear Productions at 862-4378.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at [email protected]
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