Peter, Paul, Mary say what they feel-in music
By JAN MAXWELL BLACK
and
PAT McLAUGHLIN Kansan staff writers
Despite what some people believe, a folk song is not like a bottle of wine—it doesn't have to be old to be any good.
Peter, Paul and Mary, the nation's leading folk-singing trio, prove this statement by performing many just-composed folk songs, for example, the new songs, "Apologize," "Moments of the Soft Persuasion," "Yesterday's Tomorrow," "Love City" and "She Dreams," which are included in the trio's newest recording, "Late Again."
The famous folk trio who have recorded five Gold Record winning albums, will perform in concert at 8 p.m. Sat. in Hoch Auditorium.
Their late 1969 hit, "Leavin' On A Jet Plane," also was awarded a Gold Record for sales over $1,000,000.
Other hit singles sung by Peter, Paul and Mary include "Puff (The Magic Dragon," "Blowin' In the Wind," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "The Times They Are A Changing," and "I Dig Rock and Roll Music."
Composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers, the trio first met in Mary's
Greenwich Village apartment one evening in May, 1961. Although at the time they shared only a knowledge of the same lyrics and melody of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," one evening they discovered they also had an enthusiasm for folk singing that stemmed from the special place folk music held in each of their lives since they had been teenagers.
Single hits from the album, including "Lemon Tree" and "If I Had A Hammer," assured their success. When the trio went on their first major tour playing six concerts a week for six consecutive months, they broke attendance records in almost every major concert hall in the United States.
As a trio they began at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village. Their first recording, titled simply, "Peter, Paul and Mary," was issued in the spring of 1962. Within three months it soared to the top of the charts.
The trio appears each season on nationwide network shows and has performed concerts in Europe, the Far East, New Zealand and Australia.
Peter, Paul and Mary are known for their interest in social and political movements. They appeared at the White House during both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and participated in the second anniversary celebration of the inauguration of the late president John F. Kennedy.
Company to present double bill of one-acts
The Mt. Oread Gilbert and Sullivan Company will present "Trial by Jury" and "Cox and Box" at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. Sunday in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Described by John Bush Jones, co-founder of the company as a "tour show," the double feature of one-acts supplements the two larger productions staged by the troupe this year. The first was "Iolanthe." "The Grand Duke" will be presented May 6-9.
By MARILYN McMULLEN Kansan Staff Writer
Because it is not a full-scale production, only piano accompaniment will be used for Sunday's performance. "Trial by Jury" will be staged in modern dress, except for the bride and her bridesmaids, who wear costumes.
"Cox and Box" which is being staged and directed by Sandra Carson Jones, was a collaborative effort of Sullivan and Burnand before Gilbert and Sullivan formed their celebrated partnership. Mrs. Jones said that Gilbert reviewed the first performance of "Cox and Box," and wrote that the music was too operatic for a musical farce.
They were active in their aid to Senator Eugene McCarthy in his bid for nomination as the 1968 Democratic Party presidential candidate. They have been present at major peace marches held in Washington and New York and have been active in the moratoriums against the Vietnam war.
Although the voices of the trio blend to form one, three distinctive people compose the group.
It tells the story of a landlord who rents the same room to two men, one who sleeps during the day, and the other who uses the room at night. One day they meet. Enough said.
Peter Yarrow is perhaps the most freewheeling of the trio. Intensely interested in a wide range of subjects—painting, architecture, physics, and psychology as well as music—Peter recently coproduced his first film, "You Are What You Eat." A multimedia "happening," the movie was highly praised as a colorful and penetrating document of the current youth scene.
"Trial by Jury" tells the story of a jilted bride who sues her suitor for breach of promise. He loses the case, but not until the entire court exposes itself as completely corrupt.
Apr. 16
1970 KANSAN 5
"Trial by Jury" will be presented before the Kansas Bar Association May 14.
"We don't preach or sermonize, but we say what we feel—in music," said Peter. "I think if people ever stop writing folk songs, it will mean they just don't care. And that would be the worst of all."
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"It is a satire on courts of law and corruption," said Jones.
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Paul Stookey recalls vividly his "discovery" of singing when he was an 8-year-old singing along with his father one day while riding along in a convertible. A native of Baltimore, Paul formed his own rock and roll combo, the "Bird of Paradise," when he was fourteen.
Peter, a native New Yorker, began playing the guitar as a student at the High School of Music and Art in New York. As a freshman at Cornell University, he majored in psychology.
Peter was an active solo performer in the Greenwich Village coffee houses when he met Mary Travers and Paul Stookey.
During his college years, Peter became involved in folk music and was president of Cornell's folk music club. By the time he graduated, he was thinking seriously of a career in music and began playing clubs such as the Gate of Horn in Chicago and the Ash Grove in Los Angeles.
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Tickets for Sunday's production may be obtained at the SUA office in the Kansas Union.
Paul worked as a production manager for a chemical supply company in New York but he couldn't stay away from music.
A tall willowy blonde with a tall, willowy voice, Mary Travers has been singing folk songs since kindergarten days. She grew up in Greenwich Village. Singers, writers, artists and creative people have always been a part of her life.
He revitalized this interest by frequent visits to Greenwich Village coffee houses and clubs. He quit his white-collar job for an open-collared career in folk music. To the trio, he brings not only a steadying influence, but also a boundless and keenly satiric wit.
After listening to Mary sing, it is almost impossible to believe that she has had only a few weeks of music lessons in her life. Mary's seemingly inborn poise, has, from the beginning, been the rock of the trio's professionalism.
Miss Travers sang in her high school chorus and also with a chorus that played Carnegie Hall twice. She cut three records as a member of the "Songswapper." In 1957, she got a job in the chorus of Mort Sahl's Broadway musical, "The Next President."
Peter, Paul and Mary often sing about their own feelings, but most often they sing of the feelings of others. Their songs reflect individual response to the condition of man—his problems,
After the show closed she held jobs at literary and advertising agencies where she applied her writing and artistic abilities. Her musical career really began when she met Paul Stookey in 1961 in a Greenwich Village club where Peter Yarrow joined the two for an informal try-out.
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successes and challenges. With spontaneity, warmth and commitment, they have extended the boundaries of musical communication through joining hands with their audience.
Mary sums up the group's success with the statement, "There is a vision we share with you in our music. If it has proved successful it is not, I believe, because it is our vision, but because it has been everybody's all along."
Eve, 7:15 & 9:15
Mat. Sat. - Sun. 2:15
Adult 1.50, Child. 75