photos courtesy of eastern cougar foundation

does

BIG
the
cougar
still
live cat
here?
By John
mystery
Fulmer

Morris,
Pennsylvania, a
blip on the map
in southern
Tioga County,
is well known
regionally for
its rattlesnake
roundup. What
most people
don’t know is
that Morris has
its own CSI unit.
As in, Cougar
Sighting
Investigation.

Page 8 MOUNTAIN HOME NOVEMBER 2007

 The Foundation

photo by john fulmer

Morris resident Kerry Geykis, a forester and
former Tioga County planner, is part of the
Eastern Cougar Foundation, a nonprofit based
in Harman, West Virginia. Geykis donates a
great deal of his time sleuthing into the hun-
dreds of reported cougar sightings east of the
Mississippi River.
He is especially interested in Pennsylvania
sightings, and though his true believers insist the
cougar lives in the commonwealth’s mountains
and forests, Geykis and the ECF have yet to
verify the big cat’s existence here. His interest
was piqued after spending years working in the
woods and as a hunter and trapper. He’d never
seen a mountain lion but kept hearing reports all
of the time.
“People were adamant and they weren’t lying
to me,” Geykis said. “I mean, most of them
weren’t lying—we’ve caught a couple liars—but,
in the East, most of them really thought they
had seen a cougar. And I thought, ‘Well, they
can’t all be wrong.’ In fact, I figured quite a few
of them had to be right.
“So, for a period of time in my life, I was re-
ally looking for cougars,” Geykis said. “I would
sit in a tree somewhere and try to lure them in. Kerry Geykis, above, poses with his dog, Turq. Geykis, of
And I got deer, weasels, dogs, coyotes. Never a Morris, Pennsylvania, volunteers with the Eastern Cougar
Foundation, a network of mountain-lion researchers. Right:
cougar. But all those years, I kept looking until I “KY Kitten” was killed by a truck in Kentucky near the
finally said, ‘Hey, I need some help here. There’s border of Virginia and West Virginia, and it provides some
something wrong here. I’m in the woods more of the best evidence that cougars may be reproducing in the
than all of these other people put together and I wild in the eastern United States.
haven’t seen a cougar.’”
sibling, because the kitten was too young to be
alone. The driver took the body to the Kentucky
Eastward Ho? Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources,
where it was frozen and later analyzed.
Like most of those who claim to have seen a The kitten lacked most captive-cat signifiers.
cougar, Geykis fervently wants to believe this “in- She had not been declawed nor had she been
dicator species” and “apex predator” has returned tattooed, which is often the case for pet cougars.
to the Twin Tiers. The few cougars found recently She was not wearing a tag or collar. However, the
in the Eastern woods have either been released or site says, “DNA analysis indicated that the kitten’s
have escaped from private zoos, which are legal maternal ancestry included genes from South
in some states if the animals have proper permits. America, pointing to the pet trade . . . but pater-
John C. Gallant shot a wild cougar in 1967 while nal ancestry was shown to be North American.
squirrel hunting in Crawford County, Pennsylva- “This kitten is important for several reasons: she as the name indicates, is a hunter at the head of
nia, but its characteristics matched those of Costa was a highway fatality, and biologists claim that if the food chain, and the eastern cougar’s extirpa-
Rican cougars. South American cats have come cougars were present in any numbers some would tion (a fancy word for “wiped out”) was the re-
to be an important source of “pets” for folks with get hit by cars; she indicates that reproduction is sult of several factors related to its high ranking.
private menageries. going on in the wild; and she exemplifies the mix- It is the largest cat in North America (fourth-
There is some evidence, however, that wild ing of cougars from various origins that is prob- largest in the world) and had the greatest
cougars may be reproducing in the East. On the ably occurring in the Eastern woods.” distribution of any mammal in the continent
ECF Web site under the heading “KY Kitten,” it until man usurped its top spot. But when the
says in June 1997 a pickup truck hit an eight- Colonists arrived in the New World, the cougar
pound female cougar kitten on Highway 850 Cougar History was a mystery. According to the ECF Web site,
in western Floyd County, Kentucky, which is the Colonists “were familiar with wolves but had
in Appalachia near the borders of Virginia and An indicator species helps define an environ- no knowledge of cougars, because cougars live
West Virginia. The driver also noticed a larger ment’s characteristics; its presence means a more
and a smaller shape, probably the mother and a natural ecosystem is in place. An apex predator, Please See Cougar on page 10

NOVEMBER 2007 MOUNTAIN HOME Page 9

Ed ClutE plays a tunE on his mason-hamlin grand piano at his

Photos By John Fulmer

watkins glEns homE. ClutE will hEadlinE thE mountain homE wintEr
Jazz fEst on marCh 1 at thE pEnn wElls hotEl.

A
Sound By John Fulmer

Home
STANDING
before his Edison machine, a chest-high cabinet of burnished oak, Ed Clute wound its
hand crank and gingerly set the stylus down on a record spinning on the turntable.
the record, like the machine, is vintage, from the 1920s, when Edison’s diamond disc
Phonographs were all the rage, a must-have for flapper-era audiophiles, equivalent
perhaps to today’s top-of-line ipod or, better yet, a home-theater sound system.

Page 2 MOuNTaIN HOMe February 2008

T he ten-inch wide records used on the machines
are one-quarter-inch thick. The eighty-rpm discs,
Ed ClutE slips an Edison diamond disC on his Edison maChinE.
a transitional technology from the earlier cylinder- a prECursor to thE modErn phonograph, it is onE of his prizE
recording method and the thirty-three-rpm vinyl lp, possEssions. thE first Edisons wEnt on salE in 1912.
are heavy as serving platters and made of an ungodly
chemical mixture of phenol, formaldehyde, wood-
flour and solvent. As the needle slips into the record’s
groove, a slightly scratchy ragtime stomp bleats out
from the “horn,” or speaker, hidden behind a grille.
Except for record collectors and amateur archivists
like Clute, the song, which regales the listener to the
joys and wonders of Wisconsin, has been long forgot-
ten. Clute himself can’t think of its title or the name
of the band off the top of his head.
But that’s understandable. Clute, who, along with his
Dixie Five Plus One, will headline the first Mountain
Home Winter Jazz Fest on March 1, is a professional mu-
sician, a classically trained pianist, and a lover of ragtime
and early jazz. His studio, in which the Edison machine
sits, is a minor museum, stuffed with sound stuff. There
are three pianos in the center of the room: two Mason-
Hamlin grands, one of which is also a player piano, and
a Foster upright foot-pump player.
It would take an assistant or two to catalog the
records, tapes, CDs, and piano rolls stacked in the
shelves that cover the studio’s walls. And since Clute is
blind, they all had to be coded with a braille writer and
elaborately organized.
But instead of worrying too much about whether
he can identify a band or its nearly 100-year-old ditty,
Clute sways in front of his prize machine with a
childlike look of delight on his face, blissed out by a
song to which Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald might have
danced The Charleston. Obedience to minutia, the
curse of too many collectors, doesn’t seem to be his
problem.
Clute also keeps an archive in his head. Ask him
to play a ragtime-era song or one of the standards
from the Great American Songbook, and he doesn’t
hesitate. Nor does he say much, except perhaps, “Oh,
that’s a great song.” He just plays it. And flawlessly. But
this talent took years of practice.

C lute, who is sixty-four, was born and, for the

first six years of his life, lived in the house next
to the studio. High on a hill in Watkins Glen, New
York, it offers a stunning view of Seneca Lake. Clute
said his mother encouraged his interest in music.
“My mother says I was playing the piano at the age
of three” Clute said. “I went to the Batavia School
for the Blind when I was seven and studied all the
subjects—math, English, history—but with a big
emphasis on music.”
After graduating from Batavia in 1964, he headed to
the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he
spent four “wonderful years.” During the summer, he
attended the Amherst Summer Music Center in Maine,
which is no longer in existence, but Clute described it
as “a very good music school.”
After graduating from the conservatory, he met
up with Jean Casadesus, a French classic pianist and
the son of Robert and Gaby Casadesus. Jean Casa-
Please See Home on page 10

February 2008 MOuNTaIN HOMe Page 

 UNREaL David
Davies
Built His
Dream
House in
Miniature

Originally frOm cOnnecticut, DaviD

Davies anD his wife, BarBara, Became
enamOreD with wellsBOrO thirteen
years agO. that lOve affair leD them
tO Buy a hOme here, after retiring a
year agO. they planneD tO remODel
their hOme On waln street anD DiD
sO after DaviD Built a mODel Of the
prOject (see OppOsite page). the
finisheD prOject is at left.

Page  MOUNTAIN HOME MArcH 200

 Story and Photographs By Cindy davis Meixel
EstatE
. . . Then Made This Dream Come True
T
wenty minutes after arriving in
Wellsboro for the first time, David
Davies phoned his wife back home in
Connecticut.
“Do you remember Bedford Falls in
It’s A Wonderful Life?,” he asked. “Well, I’m standing in
the middle of it.”
An avid admirer of all things Americana, Davies
could attribute his discovery of Wellsboro’s enchanting
small-town charm to “divine diner destiny.”
A few days before his initial trek to Wellsboro,
Davies had watched a PBS special on diners that
MArcH 200
featured The Wellsboro Diner. He was intrigued.
Coincidentally, a day later, his copy of Roadside (“a
journal dedicated to the appreciation and preservation
of a truly unique American institution—the diner”)
arrived in the mail. The issue featured “A Walk
Through Wellsboro” on its cover. Davies was
enthralled.
“I took off for Wellsboro that next weekend,” he
recalls. “I came here and fell in love with the place.”
In addition to The Wellsboro Diner, the town’s gas-
lit boulevard, the Penn Wells Hotel, Arcadia Theatre,
Victorian homes, and townsfolk captivated Davies.
MOUNTAIN HOME
“All the people I met were friendly and open. People
would actually stop and say ‘Hello!,’” Davies relates.
“I went into a barber shop and sat and talked for two
hours.”
He soon returned with wife Barbara, who became
equally enchanted with Wellsboro, and the couple
began a twelve-year love affair with the community,
culminating in a move to town one year ago, after
retiring from their jobs in Connecticut.
During their many trips to town, the couple toured
several homes for sale and eventually purchased an
inconspicuous, all-white home on Waln Street. But,
Page 
 T he beat was slow,
slow, quick, quick. Or
probably better described
Fox-trot

as slush, slush, slop, slop.

The time was four beats
to the measure. The song
was ‘The Lady is a Tramp,’

Photo by tina tolins

a fox-trot standard.

D of ance

LIFE
By Kerry GyeKis and Terry V. BaBB
It was also the first morning of antlered deer season in a very low-
grade, basically dark environment: a swamp, in a misty rain. I was
sneaking to a spot on a hillside with a view and it was a long hike.
My oldest son Keto was in front and completely unaware of my
antics. That was probably a good thing. Times like this are kind of
dangerous for me as I tend to think about a lot of things and I also
know I’ve got to remain focused on one thing. So I try to do both,
a Gyekis tradition. Whether hunting or working as a forester on
someone’s land, I’ve always hummed songs—and written stories—as
I go. Now, after this past year of ballroom dancing, I had found
myself figuring the beat and sneak/walking to that darn beat. In fact,
I couldn’t forget it. Aarg! Okay. That part was fine, but I had to find
a way not to click my heels at the end of the quick, quick part. Not
good in deer country.
I switched to the song “Caminito,” a tango. The change was
immediate. First a left step and then a right, each taking two beats, then
the left again and a hold on that and point the left foot a bit as I stepped
to the right with my right, another two beats. Finally I slid the left foot
over to the right on seven and held on eight. I repeated it again and
again and then the crossover with the right foot and a promenade to the
left at a log and finally a corte to prevent a limb from severing my head
from my body. I was now more alert. Interesting. Terry and Maureen Babb cut a rug during a local ballroom dancing session. The Babbs are part of The
Quite frankly, the whole ballroom thing has been a new world for Endless Mountain Dance Club, which meets to dance and improve its members health, both physical
me. It is something I never thought I would be doing even though and mental. At top: an illustration of dance steps from How to Improve Your Social Dancing, which was
I grew up near Pittsburgh and had a father who played drums published in 1956. Other illustrations from the book are in the article.

Page  MOUNTAIN HOME jANUAry 200


Photo by tina tolins
While not a proven scientific fact, ballroom
dancing has been shown to induce a
phenomenon known as ‘spontaneous smiling.’
Dance continued from page 9
did not. What was driving this?
Something else struck me.
There were people in the group I
knew who were lawyers, janitors,
doctors, secretaries, teachers, artists,
construction workers, and retired
whatevers. This group crossed just
about every social and economic
boundary in our local society. So this
ballroom phenomenon was not a class
thing. Hmmm.
Waltz
Dancing for Health
I also came to realize as time went on
that it was not about “Dancing with the
Stars.” It was about social dancing with
an emphasis on community health—
both mental and physical—focus, and
fun! And it was happening all over our
region of north central Pennsylvania
and New York’s Finger Lake country.
People from all walks of life are
doing this for a bunch of reasons.
To give you an idea of the breadth
of those reasons, I’ll introduce you
to some folks in the Twin Tiers. The
first is a couple that has been involved
Please See Dance on page 11
Page 10
The Power of Dance
“T here’s
no doubt
about it, ballroom
and Latin dancing
is changing the
way people feel
about exercise,
and themselves!
For those skeptics who don’t believe in the power of the
mind in health and medicine, I’ve listed the physical proof
first. Millions of people every year are enjoying the many
benefits that these forms of dance provide. From physical,
mental and social standpoints, our favorite recreation is
one of the best overall forms of low impact/high aerobic
workouts available. It’s fun, it can be free, and best of all
it’s always done with someone else. Here are just a few of
the many benefits Ballroom offers:
The Physical BenefiTs
Cardiovascular: Ballroom and Latin dancing (henceforth
called B&L) can raise the heart rate anywhere from eighty
to 120 beats per minute, the equivalent of any strength
training or aerobic program I have heard of. Sustained in
two-minute bursts over a forty-five-minute period will build
not only your heart’s strength, but it’s endurance, too.
Muscle Tone: B&L dancing, when danced at an
intermediate to advanced level of technique, uses the
perfect blend of isometric and isotonic resistance (the two
key ingredients to muscle building and toning). The blend
and use of the muscles is perfect for building beautiful tone
in the muscles without building a lot of muscle mass.
Joints: According to the American Journal of Medicine,
the best way to avoid arthritis, early arthritis and to remedy
current joint discomfort is to continue to use the joints in
a controlled manner. The beautiful rise and fall of waltz
demonstrates this beautifully.
The Spinal Column: Before B&L, I had a chronic back
problem and looked like I had curvature of the spine.
When I stand as I used to, compared to what my natural
posture now looks like thanks to ballroom, I look at least 3
inches taller. The frame or posture maintained places the
spine in a natural and correct position, even more correct
than when standing or sitting naturally! Plus that puts all
your organs in alignment, which is now thought by many
doctors and chiropractors to fight sickness, disease,
fatigue and more.
Respiratory: Many track greats know that a strong set of
lungs gets plenty of oxygen, which makes the heart work
easier, which in turns allows us to dance and have fun
longer! That’s why sprinters run a lot of ‘wind’ bursts. Brief
bursts to up the heart-rate quickly, then bringing it down
and doing this repeatedly. This is similar to dancing at a
party, club or ballroom.
MOUNTAIN HOME
MenTal and eMoTional BenefiTs
Hug Theory: The dance position used in Ballroom and
Latin Dancing is very similar to a hug. It is believed that
this is part of the attraction of B&L dancing; you get the
security of a hug without the need for intimacy. Hugs are
truly therapeutic and the ballroom circle does a lot of
hugging as well as their dance positions, that’s a whole
lotta hugging going on.
Self-Esteem: The first time I took my wife in an underarm
turn, she almost broke my hand she squeezed so tight, and
‘Someone might notice me’ was her explanation.
She went on to a national championship, and then
became a teacher then a performer. My wife and I,
and almost everyone I know who does B&L, have
found a deeper self-worth and hold a greater value in
themselves.
Confidence: Many ballroom dancers have experienced
the thrill (rush) of dancing in front of people. This is one of
American’s Top Ten fears. Overcoming this fear increases
confidence in dance, in one’s self and in life. Since I started
more than eleven years ago, I approach every challenge in
my life with a solid (but realistic) confidence. Most of the
ballroom dancers I know are the same.
Social Ease: There is documentation supporting the
theory that ‘comfort and ease in social situations’ is
one of the four primary needs in all individuals (almost
every philosophy, psychology and self-help book has
the list). From weekly exposure (and a bit of trial and
error), people become much more at ease in a social
situation.
They learn to engage in conversation, proper social
etiquette (one of the biggest social ‘phobias.’) to ask
someone to dance (a big first step for many people). It even
helps people deal with crowds. All in all the ultimate source
for social edification and eventually comfort.
Posture, Appearance and Balance: B&L gives better
posture, which in turn gives one a much more attractive
appearance. If your ego from looking so good doesn’t
throw you off, the improved posture improves balance as
well. This in turn will help one to move more gracefully,
which is explained in the next benefit.
Grace and Poise: Through improved balance and self
esteem, one tends to stand and move in a much more
polished and pleasant manner. Clumsiness is overcome,
which also increases confidence and social ease.
Psychological Escape: No matter what you do in life,
you’ve got to take a break sometime! Ballroom provides
a temporary escape from the cares of the world and
its pressures and for a few hours a week gives people
freedom and enjoyment, invigorating them for the normal
responsibilities.
Emotional Lifeline: For many people, there is emptiness,
loneliness, something missing in their life. Ballroom offers
something wonderful to fill that void.”
From the Ballroom Dance Passion Web site:
http://ballroom-dance-resource.com/betterhealth.htm
jANUAry 2008
Phil Burkhouse
PA’s
photo by
Elk
Herd
Is Worth
A Look
This bull elk wears a garland of vegetation. During mating season or ‘rut,’ excited bulls thrash around in the underbrush with their antlers, and these
headdresses are common. The fall rut is one of the best time to view elk in the several Pennsylvania counties that are home to the herd.
By John Fulmer
I t’s fall and the sounds of love will once again fill the
air in Elk Alley.
By that we mean screaming and bugling. Grunting
and bellowing. Huffing and puffing from aggressively
flared nostrils. The loud clack of antler-on-antler
contact. Yes, it’s mating season for Pennsylvania’s wild
elk herd, when the big fellows with an overabundance
of chest hair look for the girl of their dreams. But it’s
never easy. Faint heart never won fair cow.
“This is the time of year it gears up,” said Lisa Bainey,
park manager at Cameron County’s Sinnemahonig State
Park, which has a program of guided elk watches that
lasts until October 20. “The bulls are vying for domi-
nance over the herd. It goes on until the second week
of October, but usually by the first week in October, the
big bulls, the dominant bulls are pretty worn out. There’s
a lot of fighting going on. It’s interesting to watch be-
cause if there’s a cow in heat, they are just ravenous.”
During the “rut,” as it’s called, big, older bulls have
Page 
to “bugle” like crazy all the time, hardly have a minute
to eat, and must fight off lesser bulls to control their
harems, which normally contain fifteen to twenty cows,
though Bainey said some harems can reach twenty-
five females. The rut is crucial to the bull’s legacy, but
its rigorous demands—it can cause a twenty-percent
body-weight loss—might spell his doom during the
long, cold Pennsylvania winter.
The rut is the best time of year for elk viewing
in the Alley, officially designated by the state as Elk
Scenic Drive, a 127-mile loop made up of Interstate 80
between Exit 120 and Exit 111 and five state highways.
Route 555 from Weedville, in Elk County, to Drift-
wood, in Cameron County and part of State Route 872
to Sinnemahonig State Park is where most of the ac-
tion takes place. The elk range covers about 850 square
miles and also includes parts of Clearfield, Clinton,
and Potter counties. However, the town of Benezette,
in Elk County, is Elk Central, and there are several
public viewing areas nearby. Also, a string of hotels,
restaurants, and gift shops along Route 555 cater to the
MOUNTAIN HOME
tourists who flock here in the autumn.
In the fall, a bull’s antlers will have reached their im-
pressive peak, which can mean forty pounds of bone
that’s four feet high. They’re a pretty effective weapon,
and part of mating season’s fascination and fun—or
horror, for the squeamish—is watching these massive
creatures lock horns—or “antler wrestle”—as they
battle over cows. This can be extremely violent and
sometimes fatal, though Bainey said rutting deaths are
a rare occurrence. There’s also comic relief, provided
by adolescent bulls still perplexed by the proceedings.
“The yearlings are fun to watch,” said Bainey, who
studied wildlife management at Penn State. “They’re
totally confused because the hormones are kicking in
and yet they want to be by mamma’s side.”
A full-grown bull elk can weigh up to 1,000
pounds—cows are more petite and usually maintain
a svelte 500- to 600- pound figure—and a normal set
of antlers has six tines per side. The twelve points give
him the designation of “royal” bull while an “impe-
rial” bull has fourteen points. The rut’s time can vary,
OcTObEr 2007
but late September and early October mark
ELK SCENIC DRIVE C0UDERSPORT
the height of mating season. One thing that 6
EMPORIUM
doesn’t change is the bull elk’s “bugling,” Sinnemahonig
State Park
which is a signal that the rut is in full swing. 120 Kettle Creek
The elk’s distinctive mating call has been 3 872 State Park

described as a low bellow that continues as ST. MARYS 2 555 DRIFTWOOD

a squealing or whistle followed by several 1 RENOVO 120
255
grunts. BENEZETTE
Winslow Hill Road 120 LOCK
Bucktail HAVEN
Several elk-viewing areas, equipped with State Park 120
blinds and staffed by volunteers from “The WEEDVILLE
555
Bugle Corps,” have been set up along the Wykoff Run Road

drive. An estimated 75,000 people visit Elk 255

Quehanna Highway
4 144
Alley in the fall, and the herd is now 800 Parker Dam
strong, the largest one east of the Mississippi. PENFIELD
State Park 5
Hunted to extinction in the Appalachians VIEWING AREAS
West Branch
153 Susquehanna
around the time of the Civil War, the elk’s 4 BEAVER RUN DAM
River
1 GILBERT FARM
reintroduction and survival here is a tale befit- 2 DENTS RUN 5 HOOVER FARM
S B Elliot 3 HICKS RUN 6 SINNEMAHONIG
ting a proud creature. State Park STATE PARK
Exit 111
Today’s herd is descended from 177 elk 144
sent in by train from Wyoming and South
BELLEFONTE/
Dakota and set loose in ten Pennsylvania 322 153 STATE COLLEGE

counties from 1913 to 1926; but only those

twenty-four released in Cameron County and CLEARFIELD
80
Exit 147
the ten reintroduced in Elk County thrived SNOW SHOE
and developed a breeding base. Habitat loss
and elk hunting, legal from 1923 to 1931, 80

helped spell their decline in the other eight

map by john fulmer
counties. The commonwealth put them
under protection in 1932 and elk hunting
was not made legal again until 2001. It is,
however, a lottery-type hunt and only forty
elk tags will be issued in 2007, with the $10
license fee going to farmers’ crop damage.
In last twenty-five years, Bainey has
worked with the herd as part of several
commonwealth commissions, and she said it
was endangered recently until state agencies
and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
stepped in. “I can even remember when we
almost didn’t have herd,” she said. “This was
back in the 1970s and early ‘80s. The numbers
were very low, probably 100 elk.”
Several factors were in play. The brain-
worm parasite, which attacks an ungulate’s
spinal cord and brain, thinned the herd,
and without an effective fencing program
to keep them from feeding on crops, elk
were the target of angry farmers. Poaching was
another concern.
“Plus there were not a lot of habitat-enhancement
programs at that time,” Bainey said. “The foundation
entered and helped with land acquisitions. Elk are
grazing animals, like cows, and the Benezette area has
a lot of reclaimed strip mines. It’s grassland and it’s a
magnet to the elk. Plus it was remote.
“Tourism really became a factor in the ‘90s,” Bainey
said. “Before that, you could come to elk country and
you had to look hard to find one.”
More tourists may have guaranteed the elk’s survival,
but the influx of visitors required a delicate balancing
act. With the increased number of tourists, locals need- just immediately drawn like a magnet to the animal and
ed relief from the pressure the herd and herd watchers start taking pictures,” Bainey said. The viewing areas,
made on their lives. The infrastructure couldn’t handle
it, Bainey said, and the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources, the Game Commission, Bureau Not an easy feat.
of State Parks, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Founda-
tion formed a partnership to address the concerns of
OcTObEr 2007
Elk Alley locals.
“There needed to be some way to disperse the num- visitor who’s trying to get close to take photographs.”
ber of tourists,” Bainey said. So the partnership helped
design the Elk Scenic Highway. “It guides the visitor
along in an organized way, instead of the helter-skelter
viewing that was occurring.”
A system of “elk etiquette” was instituted with the
help of Bugle Corps volunteers trained through the
DCNR. Responsible elk watching, Bainey said, is a com-
bination of respect for the animal and local property
owners, and recognizing that you, the observer, are very
close to a wild, huge, unpredictable beast.
“What happens is you see an elk for the first time, and of a bull elk and the responding bugle from another
they’re so big and magnificent and incredible, people
with their hedgerows and blinds, provide protection and of the antlers clashing.
a good look at an animal in the throes of sexual ecstasy.
“It’s for their own safety because a 1,000-pound bull me, it’s right up there with the howl of the wolf and
elk in full rut has only one thing racing through his
MOUNTAIN HOME
Guided elk Watches
where: Sinnemahoning State Park. Route 872, eight
miles north of Route 120 junction, Cameron County
when: Through October 20. Starts at 4:30 p.m.
cost: $30 for families; $15 for individuals. Week’s notice
required
information: sinnemahoningsp@state.pa.us or
Jackie Flynn or Janet Colwell at (814) 647-8401
description: After a short discussion on elk-watching
tips, you’ll be driven into the range to observe the rut.
A limited number of spaces is available and registra-
tion is required. Park Manager Lisa Bainey said it’s a
long program, so set aside some time. “One of the
woman lives right in the heart of elk country and has
a good pulse as to where they are,” Bainey said.
mind,” she said. “And he’s not thinking about the park
Though she’s been close to the herd for a quarter
century, like the arrival of fall foliage, the elk-mating
season always seems like a surprise to Bainey.
“I’m always amazed. It’s a cyclical thing, and you
look forward to it just like the leaves changing color
every year,” said Bainey.
Watching the elk mate can have an immediate,
elemental effect, she said.
“There’s nothing that compares to sitting out in
a blind on a moonlit night and you hear that squeal
dominant bull,” Bainey said. “You can smell them. You
can smell the musk. They come clashing together and
you can hear the grunting and groaning and the sound
“I think, if anything, it reconnects you with the
natural world when you listen to those wild sounds. To
that of the coyote.”
Page 2
Have You Heard
Gets Big TV Break JANA’s
Small-town PA Girl
S songs?
he sat at the café table, a collage of
color: bright-purple hoodie, boldly pat-
terned blue scarf, and the pink cheeks
that the Twin Tiers’ chilly spring air
requires everyone to wear in late March. The warm
expression in her kind brown eyes belied the cold and
welcomed me to her table. Singer/songwriter Jana
Losey proved to be as engaging face-to-face as she is
in her soulful music, as she shed light on her upcoming
projects, including a new album, her own reality/variety
show, and a new performance series held by her record
company, Posey Tunes.
Having grown up in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania,
Losey understands what it is to be a small-town person
with big dreams. She started exploring her musical
talents when she was eight years old and continued to
study seriously at Ithaca College. Leaving college early to
join Squok Opera, an avant-garde troupe, Losey spent
five years touring and ultimately went to Broadway.
Burned out and needing time for herself, she took a
sabbatical from music and moved to California to work
in wardrobe at the La Jolla Playhouse and later became
a licensed masseuse with her own practice. During this
time, Losey recovered some of her drive to create and
“music started creep back in.” She joined a cover band
and started writing again with band mate, Melanie Pe-
ters. Now her business and life partner, Peters played an
integral role in helping Losey rediscover her voice.
“That really restarted my joy in music,” says Losey.
“Slowly Melanie and I started saving some of the songs
we wrote for ourselves with the idea that we might sell
them to other artists.” Fate had other plans, however,
and soon her first album, Bittersweet, was given life. Peters
used some forty hours of studio timed owed to her to
record their songs. “Soon we were writing a song a week
and then going in to record it,” says Losey with a hint of
awe in her voice. “We still think of Bittersweet as a bit of
a miracle; a kind of really wonderful mistake.”
From there, Losey decided to become a full-time
musician, touring the country and getting airtime for
some of her songs, including “London Holiday,” which
was a local favorite on radio stations across the Twin
Tiers in 2006. They moved to Losey’s childhood home,
a Lawrenceville farm, and started touring, first with a
band and then as a duo. “Right now, it’s basically me and
Melanie touring in a little hybrid car and doing acoustic
sets,” explained Losey.
This is one of the many things Losey speaks on when
she visits area high school in hopes of raising awareness
of her upcoming album, Blocks, her reality/variety show,
The Song You Heard, and her desire to get kids involved
and confident about their talents. “Being from a small
area, I think some of the kids here have a general lack
of confidence that they can do whatever they want in
life,” said Losey. “City kids might have more exposure to
theater and music but it’s so important for kids here to
page 16
By Dara Riegel
know that there’s no reason why they can’t do it just
because they’re from here. I want to do everything I can
to help them understand that.”
One way she hopes to get that through to kids is
through The Song You Heard, which first aired in March
on Big Fox stations from Wellsboro to Rochester. Each
monthly episode features Losey’s travels and the artists
she meets along the way in cities big or small. The epi-
sodes will then run weekly until a new one airs.
“It’s cool for people to see familiar places and people
on TV,” said Losey. “It might make performing seem
more accessible to kids if they see their hometown or
someone from it on a real TV show.” She also sees this
opportunity as a way to bring more attention to some of
the lesser-known artists she encounters along the way.
Each show will show the highs and lows of touring, but
will also showcase interviews of and performances by
different artists, as well as live music by Losey.
Part of one of the upcoming episodes will be shot
at Losey’s April 4 concerts/album-release parties at
Elmira’s Clemens Center. At the schools she has visited,
Losey made sure to offer all students half-price tickets
to the shows, acknowledging the importance of get-
ting teens involved with music, as well as her show. “It
should be a nice tie-in,” said Losey. “This episode of
MOUNTaiN HOME
JANA LOSEY
Big FOX TV: Check local listings for The Song
You Heard
Clemens Center performances: 7 and 9 p.m.
April 4; tickets $20 (half price with student
ID; must call ahead)
Information: www.janalosey.com or (570 )
504-5589. Search MTV’s Web site to vote for
Losey’s music video
show will include part of the concert, backstage shots,
and some of the music from our new CD, Blocks.
More structured and thought-out than Bittersweet,
Blocks was a “very fulfilling album to make,” with Losey
and Peters taking the opportunity to set out to make a
whole album, while paying attention to “the moods of
each song” as they pertained to the whole. “To me, the
whole album is much more important than making a
few hit singles,” explained Losey. “I feel like people are
getting tired of the whole ‘hits culture’ and are ready, as
a society, to go back to more of a grass roots approach
and really listen to each song.”
In that same vein, Losey hopes to invigorate the
region’s interest in new talents through a concert series
she will host at Corning’s Radisson Hotel. From May
through October, 2008, Losey and Peter’s record com-
pany, Posey Tunes, will bring a new act to the Radisson
each month, featuring artists from all over the country,
including those from New York, Buffalo and California.
“We want to bring in artists who are on the cusp
of great success, and introduce them to the region,
in hopes of gaining them attention and bringing new
sounds to the region,” said Losey. She is also hoping to
bring a few teenage artists from other areas to both per-
form and visit the schools with her to further reinforce
her point that “you don’t have to be from a big city to
be a great artist.”
Dara Riegel is a frequent contributor to Mountain Home magazine.
april 2008