Got this great letter I wanted to share. Bob Shane

Bob,
I had the opportunity to take my son and three of his fellow West Point cadets to Massachusetts, where I'm originally from, during their Christmas/New Year break. We spent a couple days visiting family, friends, and touring my home town of Ashland and the surrounding areas.

You may remember from an earlier note to you my son took 5 CD's with him, all Kingston Trio's, to West Point. The Trio music has become popular in his company. There are some very good guitar players and vocalists in it that can perform your music.

We took a day to tour Boston. We caught the MBTA (MTA) Green Line outside of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Upon arrival at the Boston College station a few Berklee students jumped on board. Three of them had guitars! I think you know where this story is heading... The cadets introduced themselves and asked if they could play their guitars and sing the "MTA" song as we traveled into Boston.

They agreed only if they could join in too. I tell you Bob ... the combination of Cadets and the Berklee students knowing the chords and verses ... the harmony was fabulous as was the guitar playing. The cadets added the ad libbing from your College Concert album.

A fabulously fun event in the subway car! The laughter and smiles on peoples faces during and after they finished ... absolutely priceless! Those kids had so much fun traveling to Boston on the subway as you can imagine."

We hope Charlie keeps on riding the MTA and The Kingston Trio music plays on...
Chris in Virginia

Kingston Trio to get Lifetime Achievement Grammy

The group, whose best-known lineup included San Diego's Nick Reynolds and Coronado's John Stewart, to be honored Feb. 13 in Los Angeles

BY GEORGE VARGA

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 22, 2010 AT 11:57 A.M., UPDATED DECEMBER 22, 2010 AT 12:44 P.M.

The Kingston Trio members (L-R) Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and John Stewart.

The Kingston Trio, the pioneering folk music group that rose to fame in the 1950s and featured two San Diego-bred musicians, will receive aLifetime Achievement Grammy Award in February. Best known for such hits as 1958's chart-topping "Tom Dooley," 1959's "Tijuana Jail," 1962's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and 1963's "Greenback Dollar," the trio scored 14 Top 10 and five No. 1 albums in its heyday.

Kingston Trio co-founder Nick Reynolds, who died here in 2008 at the age of 75, was a San Diego native. Coronado native John Stewart joined the trio in 1961, replacing Dave Guard, who died in 1991. Stewart, who later achieved solo success in the late 1960s and '70s, died in 2008 at the age of 68.

Other artists who will receive Lifetime Grammy Awards on Feb 12. include Julie Andrews, jazz drum icon Roy Haynes, the Juilliard String Quartet, Dolly Parton, gospel-music great George Beverly Shea andthe Ramones (who will become the first punk-rock band to ever receive a Lifetime Grammy). Only one original member of the Ramones, drummer Tommy Ramone (real name: Thomas Erdelyi) is still alive.

"I think Nick would be so excited and proud about the Lifetime Grammy -- it's recognition that's long overdue," Leslie Reynolds, who was Reynolds' third wife, said Wednesday morning, from her Coronado home.

Mrs. Reynolds indicated that Bob Shane, 76, the Kingston Trio's only surviving original member, plans to attend the Feb. 12 Grammy Special Merit Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, one day before the 53nd annual Grammy Awards will be held.

Also attending will be Mrs. Reynolds herself, who married Nick Reynolds in 1994 and was by his side when he was presented with the San Diego Music Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award in a 2007 ceremony at Viejas Casino's Concerts in the Park. She has been spearheading a drive to mount a traveling Kingston Trio exhibition, which she hopes will launch in 2012.

"We are doing lots of different things to bring this overdue recognition to the trio and also to encourage people to keep playing music, which is what the trio's members most cared about."

In the 1960s and 1970s, Nick Reynolds was a key mentor to his nephew, San Diego singer-songwriter Joey Harris, who -- after a recommendation from Reynolds -- became a member of former trio member Stewart's band in the mid-1970s.

"There was a period in his life where Nick rejected fame and lived on a remote Oregon farm without a phone," said Harris, himself a winner of a San Diego Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.

"But I know that in his later years, he became very proud of the impact the trio had and of his role in inspiring people to get into music, so I know he'd be thrilled by the Lifetime Grammy," Harris said Wednesday morning.

The Kingston Trio's Lifetime Grammy recognition follows several years of lobbying by high-profile fans on the group's behalf, according to Mrs. Reynolds. Those fans include Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham (who co-produced former trio member Stewart's acclaimed 1979 album, "Bombs Away Dream Babies," Al Jardine of the Beach Boys Eagles' bassist-singer Timothy B Schimt.

In a 2009 Union-Tribune interview Schmit credited Reynolds as a prime influence and proudly noted that he got to befriend Reynolds barely half a year before Reynolds' 2008 death.

“My first band, Tim, Tom & Ron, was a Kingston Trio copycat band and Nick was the guy i copied. I even got a tenor guitar like him, although mine was a cheap imitation," Schmit said.

“Nick’s wife called me early last year (2008) to ask if I’d play at a memorial concert for John Stewart, and I said ‘Absolutely.’ I didn’t know Nick would be there. He was in a wheelchair and we had a really good talk. His son told me Nick had all these old instruments and the family has entrusted me as the caretaker of Nick’s tenor guitar, which is a thrill to have. The Reynolds family is trusting me with it, which is unbelievable to me.”

A biography on the Kingston Trio is due out next year, according to Mrs. Reynolds. The current version of the trio -- which features

Bill Zorn, George Grove and Rick Dougherty -- mounts its next tour on Jan. 7. The closest tour stop to San Diego is Jan. 12 at the McCallum Theatre for the Performing Arts in Palm Desert.

We think he really liked the show!!

Dear George,

We were at the Saturday, Oct. 27th concert at the South Point. We were seated at a table right in front of you. What great seats. My daughter took great care of us that evening. We had a great time visiting with each of you following the concert and we really appreciated that. I even had a chance to visit with Paul. That was nice. I think he has a bass he would like to sell me.

But let's talk about the Kingston Trio and that concert. All I can say is WOW !!!!!!!! I cannot think of enough superlatives to describe how wonderfully PERFECT it was. This trio of George Grove, Bill Zorn and Rick Daugherty is the most fantastic thing we have ever heard. It is totally new in sound, pace, excitement, vitality and on and on and on. Yet, you are still,unmistakably, the KINGSTON TRIO.

I kid you not, you blew my socks off. You are so much more improved than I had every expected. George, I'm not trying to blow the proverbial "smoke up your skirt." From one who has listened to the Kingston Trio in recordings and concerts for the full fifty plus years, you are a newer and better trio than ever before.

Your stage presence is superb. Your excitement level is out of this world. Your harmonies are superior to anything before. Your musicianship is (with the exception of the one note you missed on the lead in to "Tom Dooley" - I thought Bill's face was going to fall off and Rick's eyes told it all - thanks for being human) excellent. I, probably was the only one to notice it, sorry. Your arrangements were perfect. Your play list was perfect and balanced. What more can I say?

During one song, Anita asked me why I wasn't singing. She and Rachelle sang every song, some under their breaths. I told her I came to be taught and that I was. I saw new chords, fingering positions and runs. I saw new rhythms in strumming and other techniques. It was a feast! I watched Paul and I think he has also followed suite and picked it up several degrees. He was great as well. At one point I leaned over to Anita and said, "the Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp has done these boys some good!"

George, it was a concert I will never forget. You are new and improved! You should all be very proud with what you have done and achieved. You are nothing less than "Masters of you Craft!"

Now, it was good to see Bob there. I figured he would be. Rachelle really enjoyed talking with him, which she was able to do for a fair amount of time and he was kind and attentive to her. (Memory: remember I talked with you a few weeks ago and told you about the snow plowing, donuts, Cokes, Slupees, etc. The kids, when very young, always liked to sing Green Back Dollar because they could swear and say the word "Damn" without getting into trouble. A silly thing, perhaps.)

Rachelle is already working on getting all of us together for next year's concert at the South Point. We should have everyone here for Thanksgiving next year and they love to come here and play, even the little ones. So that is our plan, to see you there.

Well, I've gone on too long. I really want you to know that what I felt, heard and saw that night was very special to us and to me, especially. Tell the others of our delight in having been to see and hear you. What a treat!

Take care, my friend. You and Cindy have a warm and meaningful Christmas and Very Happy New Year!

Very best,

Spencer

The Generation Factor

            I wish I could come up with some title as conspiratorial sounding as “The Bourne Legacy,” but I suppose “The Generation Factor” is descriptive enough.  This title may suggest that I might relate an incident at a recent concert with some young person, around 10-15 years old, saying something inane (at least inane to us) such as “You’re my grandparents’ favorite group but I’ve never heard of you….but that’s okay,  you sounded fine.”  But that isn’t the case.  Perhaps the title may suggest that a casino’s young Entertainment Director, recently hired, chooses to ignore the fact that The Kingston Trio had sold out every show during our week-long engagement there but she has chosen to “Go in a different direction” with a rap group she’s heard of.  But that isn’t the case.

 

            As true as these situations are, I’m going to write about something far more sinister in application and humorous in implication.  I’m going to relay a story that, years later, still makes me scratch any available body part in wonder.  That’s because it concerns an organization whose demographic literally belongs to The Kingston Trio – AARP.

 

            As happens to all of us, turning fifty several years ago brought with it those automatic and repetitive invitations to join AARP.  I actually began receiving such invitations about the time I turned forty-eight, adding insult to caducity (look it up – I did!).   Deciding that embracing this statistic would serve me better than ignoring it, I joined AARP, and began receiving the monthly periodical with its interviews of celebrities over the age of 50.  These articles were actually quite enjoyable since many of the celebrities fell into that category of “where are they now?”  I was delighted to read of their continued work in the entertainment industry and of their philanthropic work outside of the industry.

 

So, the seed was planted:  I thought it would be relevant to both the mission of the magazine and the interests of its constituents to propose that they interview The Kingston Trio.  I wrote to the AARP Magazine administrative office to let them know that the Trio was still performing regularly and would be happy to make ourselves available for an interview.   I told them about the manner in which our audiences embrace the music, singing along on songs like Tom Dooley, M.T.A., Greenback Dollar and Where Have All The Flowers Gone? et al as though time hadn’t passed and we were all still the innocent teenagers we once were.

 

I continued in this vein with my letter, describing the innocuous yet inspirational times during which the music began and our love for and commitment to the continuation of the music.  I felt comfortable in having written a thoughtful letter that would be successful in encouraging AARP to embrace the idea of implementing a comprehensive interview with The Kingston Trio.

 

AARP was fairly quick with their response, which I thought was courteous.  I will leave it to the reader to reach whatever conclusion you might concerning the age, position, and viability of the AARP staff person who responded.  Here is their response, the stating of which will be the zenith of this blog:  “Your little group sounds like fun.  We hope you have some measure of success one day.”

We are saying goodbye today to our dear compadre Travis Edmonson. His memorial service is in Tucson, a city so dear to his heart. You are missed, Travis.

Happy birthday, Kingston Trio! 52 years old today, May 27th, 1957

Another New Arrival: OM-21 Custom

After having been a member of the KTrio for three years, I finally gave in and ordered a new guitar from Dick Boak at Martin Guitars. I’d been looking for a smaller-bodied guitar like my old 000-28 and finally settled on the OM model, although I wasn’t sure what version I wanted. I asked Dick what he had in stock and he said that there was this OM-21 Custom he thought I’d enjoy. Like the Vintage Series guitars it had the Indian Rosewood sides and back and an Owl Spruce face with that butter-brown finish, the slightly wider modified V neck (great for finger-picking) and the snowflake fret markers. Best of all, the binding was wood, just like the guitar that was made for me thirty years ago.

Since I hadn’t seen or played it, Dick said he would send it to me to see if I liked it. Well, it’s been almost four months now and it’s now the guitar I play the most often. It doesn’t have the huge sound of my wonderful old D-28, but its tone is so well balance and clear and it is so comfortable to play that I find myself picking it up all the time. And my shoulder doesn’t get cramped from draping it over that big-bodied dreadnought.

It’s been such a delight to have around that I’m speculating on getting another one.

Hmmm…maybe I’d better mention it to my wife first.

Oh, yes, and Emily drew me a picture to share with you all.

Rick