WEBVTT - Noel Paul Stookey 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.240 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:17.239 My guest today is Lowell Paul S Yes, Paul of 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:23.080 Peter Paul and Mary No. How you doing good? Pool? 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:26.200 I heard Pool so like, you must be an East 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.040 Coast kind of guy. You know, it's funny. I'm from Connecticut, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.320 and people from Connecticut think that they don't have an accent. 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:37.120 But you've just proven that that's untrue. Well, I used 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.680 to be, uh mid East Coast. I was born in Maryland, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.159 lived born in Baltimore, lived in Maryland for quite a 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:47.440 few years before moving to the Midwest. But when you 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.040 moved to the Midwest, they say, most uh disc jockeys 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.400 and radio people come from the Midwest because they lose 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.800 their accent. And to a large extent, I think that's true. 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.840 I don't. I don't hear that I have an accent, 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.399 except if I have to pronounce the word M I 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.000 l K. Peter used to rag me all the time. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:13.039 Let's say, I'll take a glass of milk. He said, exactly, 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.039 there's a knee in there that we don't have on 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.760 the East Coast. Yeah, that's right. I spent a summer 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.360 in Chicago in sixty nine, which makes me an antique. 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.280 But they called soda pop, which was a new thing 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:33.800 for Uh. Yeah, okay, you're in. Egg creams were a 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.800 new thing to me when I moved to New York. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.800 That's very much a New York thing. I mean I 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.600 had heard about them, but I grew up in Connecticut, 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.720 fifty miles from New York, and you certainly just couldn't 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.240 run around get an egg cream in Fairfield, Connecticut or 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.120 Bridgeport right next to it. But right now you're in Maine. 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.480 I am. I'm on the coast, beautiful little town that 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.800 I am reluctant to give you the title of because 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:03.640 many people will to move here, uh and obscure the 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.920 quaintness of the village. But yeah, I live in Blue Hill, Maine. 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.720 I have for the past forty seven years with my wife, 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:16.079 Betty of fifty seven years, and we brought our three 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.240 children up here. Uh. Followed it back to the Earth 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:24.760 movement really in the late sixties early seventies. Absolutely, Yeah, 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.800 which on top of we're licking our wounds after the 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:33.600 Vietnam War protests. Yeah, yes, Well, the desire I think 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.639 of every human heart is to get to the essence 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.120 of what life is all about. And it's hard to 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.919 do that when you're being shaken around in New York City. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.799 So we were very happy to move here. Life was simpler. 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.959 We had to abandon some of the niceties, but then 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:53.959 we found, you know, deeper niceties. And it's been and 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.440 of course, you know, pandemic notwithstanding, Uh, it's been very 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.080 easy to travel. Most of my work was on a stage. 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.480 If it wasn't in Ohio, it was in San Francisco 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.600 or Utah or Chicago. So it didn't really make any 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.919 difference where my home base was. Okay, how far from 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:17.399 Boston are you? Uh, five hour drive? Okay, so what's 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:21.200 the nearest main city, Bangor? That's where the airport. Oh 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.720 you're way up there, Bangor. Oh you have w I 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.440 went on a canoe trip on the Alagash once again. 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.760 That was but we flew to Bangor and then he 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:34.960 had to take like a four four hour bus ride. 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.200 People have no idea how large Maine really is. That's true, 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.440 that's true. You get to go far north is but boy, 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.360 it is beautiful. Uh. You know, there are what a 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.760 million people in the whole state. Uh, and I would say, 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.560 fully a quarter of them living in the Portland area. 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.320 So uh, I think that accounts for the reason that 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.200 people are so friendly to one another because there's a 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.680 few of us. We're so happy to see each other. 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.320 Oh my gosh, another human being. Uh, it's it's great 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.040 and I'm yes, you're right. We are really up here. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:15.520 It's almost in down what you've considered down east. Okay, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.400 So the water never gets warm where you are, not 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.279 really okay? And how many people are in the town 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.320 of Blue Hill about in the summertime it swells to 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.919 maybet Okay, so at least a decent number. You're not 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.560 there twiddling your fingers alone. So you say you've been 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.599 married for fifty seven years, and that's also you've lived 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.839 your life to a great degree on the road. The 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:48.000 combination doesn't always work. So what is the secret to success? Well, 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:52.920 it's a combination of friendship. Now that that may sound 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:58.600 lightweight when you're trying to describe a marriage relationship, but 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.520 the fact is Benny and I went to high school 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.359 together in Michigan, and though we never dated then, we 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.680 knew of each other for various reasons. She was a 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:12.359 knockout dream queen cheerleader and a year behind me and 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.760 I was the local rock and roll kid with my 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.800 own rhythm and blues band in high school. And we met. 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:24.720 Get this bob in the distance, We'll hear a drum roll? 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:29.080 We met. We met by chance coming out of a 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.360 subway in New York City some eight years later, and 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:37.640 I said, Betty bannered and she said, no, old stookey, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:39.839 and her date said, you know, we really got to 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:44.320 get moving along. And I said, that's all right, I'll 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.440 walk with you to the wherever you're going. So that 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:51.279 beginner relationship, but the challenges of being on the road 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:56.679 and maintaining a relationship were many, and I wasn't always 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.960 equal to the task. The first ten years. We're filled 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:05.200 with so much success and so much work. I mean, honestly, 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.719 we did three hundred shows a year, three hundred shows 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.480 in one year, and that's you know. We're tried to 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:19.000 shoehorn in record albums, television appearances, publicity, travel itself. You know, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:20.560 a half day to get there, in a half day 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:26.320 to get back. So a remarkable wife who has raised 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:31.040 now three daughters with me, Uh, you can understand why 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.039 we would want to get out of the city and 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.240 simplify our life. And frankly, if it hadn't been for 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.800 a deep longing to know who I was and what 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:48.440 this thing called living was all about, I wouldn't have 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.520 taken the spiritual turn that I took in the late sixties, 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:57.280 which really changed my life. Gave me a whole perspective 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:01.920 on what really has value, you know, other human beings, 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:07.240 and also a desire to be authentic. I grew up 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.840 as an only child, so I could be authentic to myself. 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.360 But what did it mean to be authentic to the world? Uh? 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.640 Does that mean telling the truth all the time? Well, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:21.280 passing through the gate of marijuana, one can be overly 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.920 authentic with people, and I tended to be a little 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:30.160 excessive the first uh oh say, ten twelve years of 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:34.840 my life. But ultimately I have been very blessed to 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.720 discover the language of metaphor, which is what songwriting is 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:44.080 all about, and realized that everybody has a spiritual sense. 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.440 They just need to be acquainted with it. You know, 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:50.119 the atheist who denies God really is very hard pressed 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.360 to deny love. And yet if you read the Bible, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.320 you see that Paul says that God is loved, and 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.360 if you interact normally in your life. You begin to 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.280 recognize the value of love in your own life, whether 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.960 it's interpersonal or whether it's kind of faith that tomorrow 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.840 will be a better time. So all of those things 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:15.000 factored into how I've been able to enjoy this marriage 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.880 with this beautiful woman that I married, still enjoy a 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.840 companionship with my children. Uh. There's a lot of humor, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:27.080 a lot of laughter. Um. Some of it, uh, you 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.320 know is hard pressed. Some of it particularly in these 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:37.040 contested times in which we live, where we're taught by 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:41.800 our leaders to mistrust that which we read, and we 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.160 end up um carrying that over into a mistrust of 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:49.040 each other or a cynicism. That's more of a challenge 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.040 than it used to be. But at the core of it, Bob, 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:57.040 I swear, if you can retain your compassion for your 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:03.079 fellow human beings, for your fellow citizens, Um, you can 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:06.800 make a go of it. You can turn lemons into lemonade, 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:11.440 and you can create hope where there has been fear 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:16.320 and distrusted. Okay, let's talk about this spiritual You can't 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.280 see the air quotes on the podcast conversion. Uh. This 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:25.520 is not uncommon with musical artists traveling people were almost 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.719 you know, they're in partaking of substances and all of 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:32.200 a sudden they find themselves on the floor and they 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.360 have a transformative moment. Was that how it happened to you? 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.640 Or was an evolution? How did the light go on? Um? 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.199 You know, I think once again, if I can refer 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:47.880 to being an only child, there's an inner dialogue going 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.719 on all the time because I didn't have brothers and 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.480 sisters to have that dialogue with. So there's a refutation, 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:59.840 a kind of distrust that's built into the character of 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:05.679 only child because he doesn't really know what's dependable. And 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:11.079 so this whole barrel of fame and fortune that landed 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:16.920 on me in nineteen sixty was increasingly more difficult to 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:23.400 figure out personal worth from. Uh. If I was standing 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.760 in line with Betty waiting to go into a movie 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:29.800 and the manager saw and recognize me, say, oh, Mr Stukey, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:31.360 come out, come out you You don't you don't have 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.640 to wait? You start to take these or Mr Stucky, 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.800 we we have a table. I don't have a reservation. Wait, 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.720 it's okay, we have a we have a table for you. 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:43.480 Oh Mr Stukey, here could come here? You begin to 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:49.800 believe your own press clipics, and that becomes a very empty, 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:57.080 hollow existence because you have to make a choice. You 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.800 are either going to start believing it and buying into it, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:05.480 or if you're trying to be real, you're going to 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.160 stick with people who are truth tellers, like my wife 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.120 or that little piece of conscience that you hung onto 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.439 since you were a little kid that told you it 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.440 was bad to take that piece of candy from the 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.439 five in time and you say, okay, well it's bad 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:25.360 to borrow on other people's awarenesses. Uh, I just want 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.400 to be a citizen. So it wasn't really a drug 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:31.920 problem that brought me to my knees. It was more 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:36.719 of a soul problem. Um. I just really needed to 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.520 know if there was some direction in life that was 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:46.120 valuable with a capital V. And you know, I don't 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:47.680 know if you want to hear the whole story, but 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:53.520 I was backstage in Austin, um in Abilene, Texas and 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.160 a kid, and I'm going through these changes. You know, 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.599 I'm asking myself, what's life all out? My god? You know, 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.320 I want to be on the on the right side. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.400 I want me on the good side. Now. Parenthetically, I 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:08.400 have to insert here something that you already know. When 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.160 you're out in the world and there's a chance to 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:15.160 do good, whether it's feeding or housing the homeless, or 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.720 whether it's protesting the war in Vietnam, or whether it's 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.040 marching for human rights, there is a sense of participation 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.640 in something that's bigger than yourself and something that's good. So, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:37.080 notwithstanding those kind of uh encouragements, one asks oneself, well, okay, 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:41.000 but these are just actions. I want to be connected 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.920 with these actions. I want to have a sense of 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.640 familial participation in the betterment of the world. Where do 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:55.400 I find that? So flat? And parentheses flash flash back 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.959 to uh Adelene, Texas. Kid comes up to me backstage. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:05.080 There's nobody around, you know. Um, security is pretty good 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.520 at concerts and usually people don't you know, are not 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.680 allowed backstage. So I'm back there tuning the guitar and 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.280 there's his kids standing there and he says, can I 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:20.880 talk to you? I say, well, yeah, I'll look for 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.600 you after. Okay, I'm a little busy right now. But 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.680 as those things go, and one tries to be true 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.680 to one's word. When the show was over, I've tried 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:32.520 to look for him, and sure enough, there he was, 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.559 so in the midst of a bunch of people, maybe 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.320 a half dozen of them, handing me albums to sign 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.800 and pictures and telling me about the last time that 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.080 they saw the trio. I turned to the kid and say, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:45.920 what was it you wanted to talk to me about? 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:48.199 And he says, I want to talk to you about 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:57.400 the Lord. And I don't know the The bottom dropped 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:02.280 out of reality and I go, oh, okay, well hang 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.320 on just a second. But my heart is going chapboom, 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:08.680 chiboom chi boom, because it's like an answer to prayer. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.360 You know, where did this guy come from and what 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.600 gives him the audacious right to say that he wants 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:18.600 to talk to me about the Lord? So we get 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.000 so the crowd clears out, and he says, I think 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.200 we should go someplace where we can talk. I say, well, sure, well, 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.680 let's go back to my hotel room. Hearts still going 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.960 bum bum bum bump. But now I'm beginning to think, Hey, 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.120 I'm a star here. Okay, I got I got a reputation, 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.560 I've got I've got knowledge of the world. I've I've 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.880 I've smoked dope, I've I've read Edgar Casey I I 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.680 understand the complexity of things. So as we climb into 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.640 the back of his pickup truck this friends are driving, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.320 I turned to when they say, so, what do you 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.320 think about reincarnation, you know, trying to level out the 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.600 balance of our spiritual experiences, And he says, well, it 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.080 may or may not be true, but I think we 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.320 have more important things to talk about tonight, don't you. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:04.920 So we go back to the hotel room and I'm 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.400 fussing all around. I'm you know, would you like a coke? 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.360 The want me to open the window, anything but confront 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.720 what it is this kid's possibly gonna say, and he says, 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.240 I think we should pray, And at that moment he 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.200 hits the floor on his knees. His friends hit the 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:25.080 floor on their knees, and so I do too. And 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:29.120 all he said, Bob was, I think no one wants 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.960 to say thank you Lord for getting me backstage without 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.560 into the concert, without a ticket, backstage without to pass, 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.640 And I think no one wants to talk to you. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:45.280 And I just started to cry because in that moment 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:50.320 I realized how disenfranchised I was from the core of belief. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:58.000 And that was the transformative moment for me. Uh. After that, 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:03.280 I can't say that, you know, I moved as beatifically 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.400 as Saint Francis. I was really kind of a bore 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:15.200 and and I was antagonistic. I was aggressive, I was 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:22.680 I was a Jesus freak. Uh for about two years 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:28.760 before I learned the language or readopted the language of 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:33.680 metaphor and could speak about my faith and what had 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.760 happened to me in terms that other people could understand, 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.800 maybe even sympathize with, maybe even emulate. But when you 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:48.880 use labels to describe your situation, you're adopting somebody else's descriptions. Uh. 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:58.160 And they don't always sit well, they're not personalized. Uh So, 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:03.160 over these past what forty years or so, forty to 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:07.840 fifty years, I've learned the language of an inclusiveness in 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:15.840 terms of expressing my faith. Um So, the transformation didn't stop, uh, 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:20.600 you know in nineteen nineteen seventy. It began in nineteen 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.480 seventy and I'm still I'm still going through a matter 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.639 of fact, this do you want to? Can I do 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.760 a little song for you? Well, the only issue is 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.879 the rights issue. Who wrote the song? Okay, Well we'recovered. 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.080 There's this guy named Stooky that used to sing with 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.000 Peter Paul Mary. He wrote this song, okay, and you 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.800 own the song and I owned the song out Okay, 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.320 then you can say just say you're giving us permission. Okay, 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:51.280 I'm giving you permission, but I'm wondering if maybe uh yeah, 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.600 so I'll just do a little bit of it. But 0:17:53.800 --> 0:18:13.000 you'll get the idea. So let's talk about love with 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:19.000 the capital L When was the last time you've heard it? 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:26.520 Spell with the emphasis in the proper place. Well, let's 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:33.880 talk about love in the upper case. Some might call 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:41.600 it amazing grace or the author of time and space. 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:49.640 Let's talk about love, love, love, love love. You may 0:18:49.760 --> 0:19:00.360 recall this situation change your heart you hadn't seen were 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:08.080 Love's the only explanation for a miracle that sets somebody free? 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:14.720 Who is? Let's talk about love with capital litt. Not 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:20.680 talking about witchcraft or a magic spell or hain't keep 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:28.480 painkre in a cheap motel. No talk love, love, love love. 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:39.760 I'm not saying that I love you anymore or any less. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:47.280 I'm just saying that there's more here then we are 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:54.520 usually willing to confessis it. Let's talk about love where 0:19:54.560 --> 0:20:00.960 it all begin Yeah, love love love like I'm master plan. 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:08.679 If you believe, then raise you and let's talk about love. 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:17.240 Love love, love love love with the capitol hel WHOA, 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:21.080 So how were you? That's for a couple of things. Hey, 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.439 how old is that song? Six months? Maybe? Wow? You 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.640 still got it? Secondly, you still have your voice when 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.840 many people, you know, they get older in their voice. Subsides, 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:39.960 any special trick or just you know, God helped you out. Uh, 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:43.480 that's a nice way to put the question. Doubtless there's 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.679 some assistance from h you know, having faith. Uh, but 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.399 uh no, I don't. I haven't smoked since August fourteen. 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.800 And you may ask why I remember that date so specifically. 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.280 I was driving with a friend, Jim Mason, who produced 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.000 a couple of Poco albums, and there was a cigarette. 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:05.800 There was a cigarette lighter whole but no cigarette lighter 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.479 in the run rental car that he was driving, and 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:10.960 we both had cigarettes, and I took that as a sign, 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:13.160 so I reached over, took the cigarette out of his mouth, 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.000 out of my mouth, through it out the window, and 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:19.320 I said August fourteenth, nineteen seventy, the day Noel Stookey 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:22.840 and Jim Mason stopped smoking. Well, unfortunately it was true 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:24.680 for me, but you know, you can't make truth for 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.959 somebody else. He went back to it eventually quit. But 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.679 so I think not smoking has helped a lot. I 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:33.960 still drink a fair amount. I mean, you'd like to 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.800 have margarita in the evening and maybe a glass of 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:41.040 wine with dinner. Um, my wife certainly keeps me on 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:43.800 the straight and narrow in terms of nutrition. You know, 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:48.439 lots of veggies and and I'm living in the country, Bob. 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.639 I mean, it's laid back here, and you have the pandemic. 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:55.440 Didn't lay me. Didn't lay me back any further. I'd 0:21:55.480 --> 0:22:00.240 be lying in bed. But uh, it's very comfortable and 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:06.320 very inspiring to be here. Okay, speaking of inspiration, we 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.479 live in an era very different from the one you 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:10.359 came up in. Well, if you came up, it was 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:13.640 a monoculture. If you were successful, everybody knew your name, 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:19.760 whereas today it's really a cornucopy of stuff. So how 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:24.480 do you keep your inspiration to create? Mm hmm, Well, 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.560 I've I've always been you know, I have to confess 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:35.440 that I'm not a writer who writes for remuneration. That's 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:40.080 why folk music was so great for me, because it's 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:48.159 an institution that uh, that depends on people articulating concerns 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:52.440 of the day. Um. They don't write for money. They 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:55.160 write because it had to be said. So I really 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:57.680 am a cathartic writer. That is to say, I don't 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:02.000 sit down like a backrack and generate music every day 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.480 because it's a discipline that I feel I have to obey. 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:11.240 I really respond to the particular moment or the particular concern. 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:14.960 I mean when I did when I did impeachable to 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:19.679 the tune of Unforgettable that went viral on YouTube and Facebook, 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:26.920 I was responding to what I felt were flagrant UH 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:31.600 offenses by Donald Trump, and I thought that they would 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:36.160 be traceable to UH to Russia. That that investigation went 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:41.920 by the bye when Mueller was removed from the opportunity 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:48.440 to take it to its finality along with Comey, and 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:52.160 and then I wrote, Uh. I wrote a song called 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:55.960 I Will stand Uh. You know that open the election 0:23:56.080 --> 0:23:58.040 is over. Some say what's done, it's done. Well, that's 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:01.440 easier if your side is one. Um, so why don't 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:03.560 we just work together? And I said, well, there are 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:05.400 a list of things that I'm not going to work 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:07.960 together on and I sang a song with about nine 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:15.439 of them. And there's also reinforcement, you know. Uh. For instance, 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:19.480 if I was creating totally in a vacuum, UM, I'd 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:23.320 probably have a more difficult time sustaining it. But when 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:29.080 you go in front of anywhere from fifteen to people 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:34.400 and you make a statement musically, you're going to find 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:36.800 out pretty quickly if the audience agrees with it. Now 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.920 they may one think it's entertaining h, in which case 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:45.560 the applause will be light and smattering, or they may 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:49.000 think that it's moving, in which case you will get 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:52.359 a very pronounced, heavy applause at the end of it, 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:55.320 like I sometimes do for the two new verses I 0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:59.520 wrote to America they're beautiful. Or sometimes you will get 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:04.719 and a response that you just hadn't planned on, like 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:08.720 people standing up in the middle of what you're singing about, 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:12.600 or cheering uh in the middle of a verse because 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:17.000 they agree so strongly with what's being said and the 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:22.280 manner in which it's being said. So those encouragements keep 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:25.520 me going. But to return to your original question, I 0:25:25.600 --> 0:25:30.919 basically write in response to that which I see needs articulation. Okay, 0:25:30.920 --> 0:25:32.960 what I have to ask, because you're talking about politics, 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:35.639 you're talking about today's world, I must ask, as a 0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:40.960 resident of Maine, why did Susan Collins get reelected? Well, 0:25:41.800 --> 0:25:45.400 I mean, aside from all the impressive moneys that were 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:50.960 spent to degrade her opponent, because actually there's two sides 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:53.119 to that street. There was a lot of impressive moneies 0:25:53.119 --> 0:25:59.160 that were spent to degrade Susan Collins. Essentially, the reasoning 0:25:59.280 --> 0:26:04.239 behind the deposition of Susan Collins was that she was 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:09.639 Trump's lapdog. Um that anything Trump wanted she voted for. 0:26:09.840 --> 0:26:14.320 Well that's you know, Maine is not a totally liberal state. 0:26:14.520 --> 0:26:18.520 I mean, I were very I can't speak for the Natives, 0:26:18.560 --> 0:26:21.000 but they're all straight shooters as far as I'm concerned. 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:26.280 You know, they're really honest, god fearing if you work hard. 0:26:26.400 --> 0:26:32.040 I mean, they're the American ethic underlined. And Susan Collins 0:26:32.240 --> 0:26:35.480 has been there for most of them, most of the time. 0:26:36.359 --> 0:26:41.720 And like I was telling your engineer before, a lot 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:45.719 of Trump's success is not because of who he is, 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:48.479 but the fact that people who voted for him are 0:26:48.560 --> 0:26:52.800 single issue voters, and the people that voted for Susan 0:26:52.840 --> 0:26:57.280 Collins were single issue, you know. They they wanted to 0:26:57.320 --> 0:27:03.359 support somebody who is more anti abortion than she is 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:09.280 pro life uh she uh or pro choice. They wanted 0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:13.840 to support somebody that they knew, uh, particularly in this 0:27:13.880 --> 0:27:20.280 cacophony of political um chaos that was echoing all around us. 0:27:20.600 --> 0:27:28.560 And like I said, the issues were pretty angrily ignored 0:27:29.680 --> 0:27:34.920 so that character assassination could take place. And she had 0:27:35.000 --> 0:27:40.720 more bucks, and I think she made her point about 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:45.440 Gideon's family to the point where, you know, people bought 0:27:45.480 --> 0:27:47.520 into it. Well, and then I don't want to go 0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:49.680 someplace that I don't knew about. I'm going to stick 0:27:49.720 --> 0:27:51.840 with Susan. But I had a bumper. I had a 0:27:51.840 --> 0:27:53.760 bumper sticker on the back of my truck that said 0:27:53.760 --> 0:28:02.679 bye bye Susan. That was a big popular side. Okay, 0:28:02.720 --> 0:28:04.320 let's go back to the beginning. So what did your 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:06.840 parents do for a living? You were an only child. Yeah, 0:28:06.920 --> 0:28:10.359 my dad was a really a mechanical engineer with a 0:28:10.480 --> 0:28:15.160 very clever uh. He is very clever, hands on kind 0:28:15.200 --> 0:28:18.400