Noel Paul Stookey
One of the things that makes the Book Expo America event in New York City exciting is you never know what may be around the corner. I was talking with the marketing director for Carl Sams, who is a Michigan publisher, when music broke out across the aisle. Read more about Carl Sams II and his amazing books by clicking here.
At first there wasn’t a big crowd, but when Peter and Paul of the legendary Peter Paul and Mary started wailing, a crowd started to form and sing along to some of their popular tunes. The crowd started to really get into it when they sang “Puff the Magic Dragon”.
Peter Yarrow, who has a new book coming out this fall, had invited his good friend Paul Stookey to help him launch the book at the BEA. For those of you who forgot or maybe didn’t know, Noel Paul Stookey is from Birmingham, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University for a while in the 1950s before dropping out to make his way to Greenwich Village.
Paul was active on campus but mostly as an MC where he was perfecting his stand up comedy. He was an MC at the Water Carnival. Comedy’s loss is folk music’s gain. The two singers did a delightful musical version of the “Night Before Christmas” which will be published in October by Peter Yarrow books. The book will be accompanied by a CD which includes the musical version sung by all three of the seminal folk group. It was Mary’s last song together with her fellow group members. Visit the groups website by clicking here. I probably saw the group four times during their career, but it wasn’t enough. “Leaving on a Jet Plane” is still one of my songs.
