Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Sometimes it is fun to try to travel back in time and we did that recently with attendance at the Kingston Trio concert at the Paramount in St. Cloud.

In the late 1950s and early 60s the Kingston Trio was the hottest group around. They were a folk group that sang a wide variety of songs. My parents were fans and a number of the vinyl records of Kingston Trio songs were around the house and our folks had them on the stereo often.

As you might suspect, members of the original groups are all deceased so some of the group that still carries the name and songs have connections to earlier members. Current member Mike Marvin actually lived with founder Nick Reynolds as a young boy and Reynolds taught him the guitar, stage setup, back stage duties and more. The other two original members of the trio were Dave Guard and Bob Shane.

Marvin, a baritone, is now in his late 70s but can still sing well and perform well in a stage show. He was joined by tenor, Buddy Woodward, and bass, Tim Gorelangton.

Needless to say there was mostly grey hair at this concert and songs like “Greenback Dollar,”  “M.T.A.,” “Tom Dooley,” “The Merry Minuet,” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” “Sloop John B,” “Reuben James” and more were very popular with this crowd.

I always got a kick out of “M.T.A.,” which tells about a fare increase on the M.T.A. in Boston. Charley was on the train and didn’t have a nickel to get off so he became “the man who never returned.” One verse described how Charley’s wife would go down to the station a little after 10 p.m. to hand Charley a sandwich through a open window as the train came rumbling through. It was a funny song and fun to sing along with.

Of course Sloop John B. was fun, too, because the constable who comes to take a thief off the boat was Sheriff John Stone. “Sheriff John Stone, why don’t you leave me alone?”

The concert got off to a delayed start because just as we were seated a tornado warning was declared in St. Cloud so we were all told to leave the auditorium and head downstairs to a windowless area. We were there about 10 minutes and then sent back to our seats.

One Trio story that was interesting is that in the early 60s the Trio was playing in London. The Trio was really big time then. At their London concert a group of young men were the warm-up act. Their name was The Beatles, a group that was rapidly rising and was later to take the U.S. by storm.

“Where Have All The Flowers Gone” was actually a Pete Seeger song, another folk singer better known for his protests to protect the environment and social issues.

Seeger, who died in 2014 at the age of 94, was trained as an Army aircraft mechanic and served in the South Pacific before being reassigned to entertain the troops. The song details some of the effects of war.

The Kingston Trio’s recording of the song brought it much greater recognition.

          -0-

On the way back from the concert in St. Cloud there was a big thunderstorm to the west and later south of us a little after 10 p.m.

There was a huge cylinder shaped cloud with lightning bolts going every which way. Some were jagged just like you see in the cartoons, others more muffled on the south side of the cloud. It didn’t stop, one bolt after another all the way.

I thought the storm might be hitting Willmar. Mary checked radar on her phone when we were on Highway 28 on our final leg and it was actually over Olivia, probably 65-70 miles away. I wanted to stop and just watch it but I had to get home and get some sleep.

It was probably the most amazing lightning display I think I have ever seen!