Friday March 12, 2010
"What's Cookin' Today" with Erik &Jack
Live Monday-Friday (7-8 AM PT) CRN1
Susan Bennett Newseum VP/Collections Exhibits “Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story” tells the story of Presley as he was portrayed in the news media and explores how his music and physicality pushed the boundaries of mainstream taste and free expression during a time when America was experiencing deep generational shifts. “Elvis!” will open on March 12, 2010, in what would have been the King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s 75th birthday year. Produced in collaboration with Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., the Newseum exhibit includes a number of rare objects from the Graceland vaults that have never before been publicly displayed. See private telegrams, letters and scrapbooks that chronicle Presley’s rise as a music and media sensation, as well as his death and his enduring legacy.
Noel Paul Stookey - "Peter Paul & Mary"The trio of Peter, Paul and Mary were launched during an unusually creative period in popular music. Peter Yarrow, who had come to Greenwich Village with a psychology degree from Cornell, recalls that, "The Village in the early 1960s was a crucible of creativity. Involvement in music was a matter of joyous discovery, not a business. We knew that Folk music was having an enormous impact in the Village, but was a couple of years away from being embraced on a national scale." At the same time, the Village was a starting place for Noel Paul Stookey, a fledgling stand-up comic from Michigan State University. He met up with Peter and independently, Mary Travers, who was already known for her work in the "Song Swappers", a Folk group that had recorded with Peter Seeger. Having grown up in the Village, the flaxen-haired singer was a familiar figure at the Washington Square Sunday singing event. The three decided to work together, encouraged by the Folk impresario, Albert Grossman, who became their manager. After rehearsing for seven months in Travers' three flight walk-up apartment, Peter, Paul and Mary premiered at the Bitter End in 1961, and then played at other seminal Folk clubs like the Chicago "Gate of Horn" and San Francisco's "Hungry I". Following their appearance at the famed "Blue Angel" nightclub in New York, they embarked on a rigorous touring schedule that lasted nearly ten straight years. 1962 marked the trio's debut on Warner Brothers Records with "Peter, Paul and Mary" which brought Folk music to the vast American public and to the top of the charts. As Billboard Magazine noted, "It became an instant classic. The album was in the Top 10 for ten months, remained in the Top 20 for two years, and did not drop off the Hot 100 album chart until three-and-a-half years after its release." The trio's version of "If I Had A Hammer" was not only a popular single from this LP, it was also embraced as an anthem of the civil rights movement. This success marked the beginning of an incredibly influential time for Peter, Paul and Mary, and for the contemporary urban Folk tradition which they personified. In the third week of November 1963, they had 3 albums on the Billboard Top 6. Also in '63, their recording of "Puff, The Magic Dragon" written by Peter Yarrow and Leonard Lipton won the hearts of millions, while their recording of "Blowin' In The Wind" helped introduce a fellow Village songwriter named Bob Dylan. It was Folk music that was to spark the imagination and the passion of a generation intent on social change. The song, "Puff, The Magic Dragon" was actually the center of controversy when it was first released. At the time, the drug culture was making headlines and some radio stations mis-took the lyrics and refused to play the song. Years later, Paul Stookie laughed as he explained that the song is the story of a little boy growing up and had nothing at all to do with marijuana.
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