I promised in my Facebook post to say more about how I ended up on stage with Peter Yarrow singing "Puff the Magic Dragon." This is almost certainly TMI, but nobody is making you read this. You can skip the Deep Background and the Background if you just want to know what happened last night (April 20).
DEEP Background:
The first song I remember hearing on the radio was "Puff the Magic Dragon." The radio was on top of our refrigerator when we lived on Devonshire. It was probably 1963. The first record album I bought (after sponging off Walt's albums for years) was acutally "Peter," Peter's solo album from 1972.
I first met Peter Yarrow in 1969 when my older brother, Walt, took me to a Peter, Paul & Mary concert in the Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio. In retrospect, I appreciate how incredibly nice it was for a college student to ask his eighth-grade brother along [Thanks, Walt!]. We hung around after the show and Peter and Noel Paul came out to talk. I don't remember Mary coming out. We ended up on Peter's group. It was the first time that I had ever met someone famous and it was a very powerful experience. He talked to us with great compassion and sincerity and already had the ability he still has to make you feel really special when he focuses on you. He was, of course, a lot more liberal than I was at that time, but he made me think. We stayed until they turned the lights off. He invited those of us who were still there (maybe two dozen) to meet for breakfast somewhere. My recollection is that Walt thought that he needed to get me home. I think we both regret not staying out all night.
In the spring of 1972, when PP&M were broken up, Peter returned to SA for a solo concert and Walt and I went again. Peter announced at the concert that there was going to be a Folk Festival in Kerrville, Tx (70 miles away) and that he was going to be there. Walt decided to go (and didn't invite me). The KFF is now the longest running and most important folk festival in the country. http://www.kerrville-music.com/ Walt has been an active participant for almost all forty years and was instrumental in turning it into a non-profit, which saved the festival a few years ago. I have only been able to go four times, myself. The bottom line is that Walt has parlayed this into very strong and deep connections in the folk community and a personal relationship with Peter.
Background:
I think many of you are aware that the Occupy Movement began here in Madison in the winter of 2011 in response to a stealth takeover of the Wisconsin government. You are each, of course, entitled to your own opinions about this, but I must say that it looked to me like an embodiment of the civic virtue called for by the founders of this country and it was unquestionably one of the most peaceable civic demonstrations of its scale on record anywhere. I was talking with my friend, Andy Vogel, about the rallies. She has a far stronger record of civic engagement than I do and we were brainstorming about how to help pull things together. She said "didn't you tell me that your brother knows someone famous like Pete Seeger?" I said, "No, that's Peter Yarrow." She said "call him and see if he will come."
So I called Walt right then. I was pretty flippant. I said, "Walt, we have all these rallies and demonstrations here, you need to call Peter and ask if he will come to Madison." Walt was understandable cautious and asked me to send him more information about what was going on here. So Andy and I were talking about what to send. In fact, Walt called back in about ten minutes. He said that he had decided that he trusted my judgment on this and had called Peter who was willing to come!!!!!! This unexpected response created a major problem for me. I had invited Peter, but did not have any clear plan how to use him.
Andy and I set out to try to contact the organizers of the rallies. This proved far far more difficult than one might imagine because the rallies really were not organized. Various unions were involved, but no one was clearly in charge. I got tangled in a nightmare of unreturned phone calls, discussions with people who were either leaving or not here at all, and other conundrums. Eventually, however, we got hooked up to someone who actually gave us a date and time for Peter to come play. Peter did come on a very cold February day. Andy and I picked him up at the airport. Peter treated us to lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall Asian restaurant on the east side. Andy's daughter, Ari, was entranced by Peter, who was at his genial best. The waiter kept looking at us like he thought he recognized Peter. When he saw the name on the credit card, he started explaining that he (like most waiters) was a musician and loved PP&M. [FYI, the waiters who are not musicians are actors or writers.] So Peter says, "you MUST come to the Kerrville Folk Festival. That is K -e-r-r-v-i-l-l-e." He wrote it down for him. We managed to get him out the door on time and to the stage. It was bitterly cold. He wore a Wisconsin jacket Andy got for him and my gloves. Here is a link to video that I am pretty sure was shot by Andy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOE4YCebarI&context=C4484479ADvjVQa1PpcFMrrMhE2gmbqd0mGKUyM0365uPEIcjJ0xA=
You can hear me singing on "Blowing in the Wind." I got to roadie for him and packed up his guitar afterward. It was a pretty amazing experience. The crowd was somewhere between 50 and 80,000, I think. We took him back to the airport immediately. He was only in Madison for about 4 hours. The experience clearly had a profound effect on him as well. He was really energized by the crowd and the issues. I know that he has talked the experience up since them.
April 20, 2012,
I saw that Peter was coming to the Thrasher Opera House in Green Lake, WI. It is a lovely venue. http://www.thrasheroperahouse.com/thrasher/ They get a lot of really nice older acts. It is not too far from Green Bay. I don't get there too often because travel and lodging costs add up, but I have seen Al Stewart there. Anyway, I bought ticket last fall and Deborah and I went up on Friday night. The place seats about two hundred people. We were there when the doors opened and sat on the front row. Peter was signing books when we came in. I said hi, and introduced myself again as Walt's brother. Peter's son, Christopher, immediately made the connection and said, "Walter Lee, from Kerrville?" With this prompting, Peter remembered our contact last fall.
The opening act was "Mustard's Retreat." If you are not familiar with their music, I encourage you to check it out. They are one of my favorite groups and the one that most closely resembles what I might have hoped to do if I had gone that direction. See http://www.mustardsretreat.com/press.html for details. There is quote on their website that speaks to my experience with them. “ these guys are not the ones you paid to see when you first heard them live. But you’ll buy a ticket the next time ‘round" The first time I saw them (about ten years ago), I went to see John Gorka, but left an MR fan for life.
When Peter took the stage, he immediately began talking (he never really stops talking) about Wisconsin, the Occupy Movement. Then he says very dramatically, "And the person who brought me to sing in Madison is in the house tonight. And his name is Patrick." I am sitting in the front row. I say "Christopher." Peter says, "Yes, of course, Christopher. I know him through his brother who is a Reverend in Texas whose name is . . . , whose name is . . . " I say "Walter." Peter says, "Yes, Walter. And Christopher his here with his lovely wife, Deborah." Deborah says "Daughter." By this point, everyone is laughing. Peter says "His lovely Aunt Deborah." It was actually both funny and very very nice. Peter struggled with names off and on all evening, but he had all the lyrics solidly.
Just before intermission, he said, "Now it is time to sing, 'Puff.' I want all the children to come on stage and sing with me." There is only one problem, there are no children in the audience. The average is probably older than me. Say, Walt's age [you out there, Walt.] So Peter tries again. He says, "I want everyone under twenty-one to join me on stage." No one admits to being under twenty-one. So he says, "I want anyone who really needs to sing 'Puff, the Magic Dragon' with me to come up on stage. That was my cue. About a dozen of us joined him, and we sang. [See picture above.] He held the microphone in front of some of us including me. It was pretty magical. I couldn't have asked for more.
All in all, it was one terrific experience. Christopher Yarrow played the washtub base very well indeed [see picture]. With a mike inside the tub, it really sounded good. The audience knew the songs and sang very well indeed.
