The Daily News has a nice article on this year’s Summer Solstice Folk Music, Dance and Storytelling Festival. The festival was started by Clark Weissman, a seminal person in the Computer Security arena (and one of my co-workers at SDC, who is responsible for getting me into my career). It was unclear if the festival would go on this year, given the loss of Clark’s lovely wife Elaine. It is nice to see the festival is going on.
Tag: folk-music
Some things are different, some the same / Some turn over, some don’t change
CNN is reporting on the induction of Peter, Paul, and Mary into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. They will be recipients of the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award.
Now, those who know me know that I’m not into “popular” music. I primarily like three types of music: showtunes, Jewish music, and my oldest love, folk music. My favorite artists are folks like Peter, Paul, and Mary and Tom Paxton. Whereas my uncle and cousin play this music on the guitar, I play it on the CD player.
Folks may not be familiar with PP&M. Although originally they were a “manufactured” group (just like the Weavers), they have been a long standing part of commercial folk music. the trio has won five Grammys, produced five Top 10 albums and 13 Top 40 hits, of which 6 ascended into the Top 10 – as well as six gold and three platinum albums. Although many of their songs were covers (Blowin’ in the Wind, Jet Plane) others were written by the group, primarily by my favorite member, Peter Yarrow.
Alas, I haven’t seen them in a few years, although I used to go to their concerts regularly. Their last few visits out to LA they were at the Cerritos Center at outrageous prices. Mary then got hit with AML, and the tours stopped. They’ve started up, but there are no Los Angeles dates. As a side note, folks may not know that the person behind the PP&M website is none other than Noel Paul himself.
So, congrats to Peter, Paul and Mary. Long may you soldier on…
P.S.: I should note that Tom Paxton also received an award, specifically, a 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance.
Mary Travers is in Remission / Musings on Folk Music
AP is reporting that Mary Travers‘ leukemia is in remission after a April bone marrow transplant (although the picture in that article is horrible). As a result of this improvement, Peter, Paul, and Mary will be doing a holiday concert Dec. 9 in Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall. The recovery has been documented on the PP&M Website, and they have started actually scheduling a spring tour (although, alas, no dates yet in Southern California).
I’m pleased to see this news about Mary. It’s hard to see the musical groups you enjoyed in your youth getting older. The members of PP&M are in their late 60s and 70s. I’m sure Tom Paxton (who also has no Southern California shows scheduled) is similarly aged. Mick Jagger gets Modern Maturity.
Perhaps this is why I’m more into Broadway of late. It seems more timeless.
Mumblefrotz! … and Purim!
Just got the mailer from McCabes Guitar Shop. Tom Paxton will be at McCabes on Sunday, June 6. Alas, we can’t make it :-(. That weekend is the Rail Festival/Open House at Orange Empire Railway Museum, and we’re volunteering there. Alas, I can’t be in two places at once.
Oh well, next time Tom’s in town…
P.S.: You do know the official greeting for Purim (which starts tonight)?
Read More …
Peter, Paul, and Mary News
According to Reuters, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary has recovered his lost guitar, discovered when it showed up on eBay… and Mary Travers is in remission. Yeah!
Note: This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by California Highway Guy. You may comment either here or there (where there are 
Peter, Paul, and Mary News
According to Reuters, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary has recovered his lost guitar, discovered when it showed up on eBay… and Mary Travers is in remission. Yeah!
Why Must Folks Tinker with Songs
[As usual, updating in the morning for the day before]
On Wednesday, I picked up a copy of the new Peter, Paul and Mary album, In These Times. On it, they did another version of “Don’t Laugh at Me”, that they had done previously on their album Songs of Conscience & Concern.
IMHO, they ruined a perfectly good song.
For those unfamiliar with the song, I think it is a song that many of us “geeks” can identify with. It was written by Steve Seskin, and the lyrics are along the lines of:
I’m a little boy with glasses
The one they call a geek
A little girl who never smiles
‘Cause I have braces on my teeth
And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep
I’m that kid on every playground
Who’s always chosen last
A single teenage mother
Tryin’ to overcome my past
You don’t have to be my friend
But is it too much to askDon’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me
[Full lyrics: PP&M; Steve Seskin]
[Audio Files: PP&M (Real) (from the later album); Steve Seskin (Real)]
Now, when PP&M did their first version, they cut one of Seskin’s original verses that taught that one doesn’t always know the backstory (the second verse of the song refers to a bum on the street — PP&M cut the lines “I lost my wife and little boy/When someone crossed that yellow line/The day we laid them in the ground/Is the day I lost my mind/Right now I’m down to holdin’/This little cardboard sign”). I could live with that.
However, on the new album, they changed: “I’m fat/I’m thin/I’m short/I’m tall/I’m deaf/I’m blind/Hey aren’t we all?” to “I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m short, I’m tall/I’m deaf, I’m blind, yes, I think in a way, we’re all/I’m black, I’m white and I am brown/I’m Christian, I’m Jewish, and I am Muslim/I’m gay, I’m lesbian, I’m American Indian/I’m very, very young, I’m quite aged/I’m very wealthy, I’m very, very poor”. This doesn’t scan (a big sin), and it’s overkill. The song made its point; the other aspects were handled better in the song “LISTEN, MR. BILBO (Mr. Bigot)“.
This isn’t the first time they’ve done it: the great tempo of the original version of No Easy Walk to Freedom version of Light One Candle was made insipid in the choral version (and alas, most people performing it don’t have the requisite energy and anger).
I’ll still listen to them, but please folks, when you get a song right, don’t change it.