Backstage Weekend - Peter, Paul and Mary at The Hollywood Bowl -1963
(Peter, Paul and Mary - Mary Travers: 1936-2009)
Hearing the sad news this week of the death of Mary Travers, I was thinking about the great impact Peter, Paul and Mary had on the music scene from the early 1960s onward. Most people are so familiar with them now that it seems as though they've always been around - there never was a time without Peter, Paul and Mary. They've become so synonymous with American folk music and with pop music in general that it's hard to imagine a time when they were new and had just arrived and those songs so ingrained in our collective consciousness weren't quite familiar yet.
So it was interesting to listen to this concert, recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl on August 2, 1963 - and played here for the first time ever (it has not been available in any form anywhere). Hearing it with fresh ears and all the enthusiasm of a special event, even though it's from 45 years ago.
Maybe not so dim and distant.
Further evidence it's all timeless.
Thank you Mary.
How can I be the only one on a liberal blog commenting on this great lady? She grew up listening to the Weavers, marched with civil rights pioneers and gave us some of the best music of three generations. Not just the hits, quality throughout. Peter and Paul, while they are still here, were my greatest musical influence on guitar. I played their songs to my children, now my grandchildren. I was made fun of for not buying tickets to some teeny bopper idol, no one can recall. These people are timeless, cross generational, ageless.
Yes, frankly it blows me away too.
Oh well . . .
I always got a chill every time I heard her wonderful voice. Was lucky enough to have seen PP&M at Wolf Trap 10 years ago last month, and they still sounded exactly the same! It was incredible; their voices just didn't age at all. Thanks for posting the Hollywood Bowl concert.
Just found this site from following a Twitter post about PP&M and think all of it is SO fascinating. I wasted a very enjoyable hour here! I love it when something totally takes me back in time, the present is blocked out with ear phones and I'm just THERE. God, am getting so old.
Thanks for all the great music and a look back at the news of yester-year. I'm thinking that either events make a circle in time, or that things never really change in substance, just in appearance.
Requests, you say? OK, Peggy Lee, "Is that All There Is?"
Ann
I think we can do that. I'll see if I can dig up a live version of it.
Stay tuned, and thanks for the nice words! They're appreciated a lot.
Gordon
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