.gif){kind=small}
Memories of Stan
|
Fans, Consider this page a repository for your thoughts of Stan and his influences on the popular music genre. Please submit your offerings by way of the "Contact Us" button on the NavBar to the left. To get the ball rolling, the entries below are listed as they appeared in the Memorial Program at the service held shortly after Stan's passing for family, fans, and friends at McGee Avenue Baptist Church, Berkeley, CA. Jerry
Kergan |
| “Stan Wilson was a key figure in the West Coast folk scene, and his influence was felt throughout the folk revival, from his own recordings to the work of young players like the Kingston Trio, who learned so much from his work. His powerful voice and unique sensibility will be sorely missed. “I greatly respected Stan’s Work. I had been hoping to speak with him again for a project I am beginning on African American artists in the folk revival.” |
| “lt was 1956, we went to Chicago because my dad and I were going to be at the Gate of Horn. When I walked into the Gate, there was a good looking, solo performer on stage. I’d never seen him before; and I was impressed by this good-looking black performer, because in folk music you don’t see many black performers. And, I was impressed by his performance and the fact that he was the first performer I had ever seen who was accompanied by a white, female bass player. That was very impressive, and I’ve never forgotten it. He and dad were friends, and I enjoyed being in their company. I am fortunate to have been able to spend a little time with Stan. He was a good man and a great performer.” |
| “Stan Wilson was my idol in the early 1950’s. Nick Reynolds and I used to drive to San Francisco from Menlo College often to hear him play. In 1956 after I graduated from college, I went back home to Honolulu and started working clubs around town late at night. The entertainers used to meet at a place called Captain D’s. One night I was sitting with Stan and Josh White when Stan said “Why don’t you stop playing that tenor guitar and go to a six string?” Both Stan and Josh actually got me into that instrument that night and taught me how to play it. I saw Stan many times in the years to come after Nick, Dave and I formed The Kingston Trio. We ended up recording some of his songs including Jane, Jane, Jane, 0 Ken Karanga, A Rolling Stone, and I Bawled. All these songs were on mil lion seller albums and made him a nice piece of change--which I like to think of as payback for being one of the two people who actually taught me to play six string. He was a wonderful man and a good friend and will be missed by all. When I next see him I hope we can jam together again.” Bob Shane |
| “His Magic Vehicle “Folk Music” As his sweet guitar trembled, cried, wailed, and whispered into our receptive youth ful ears and hearts, it built a permanent place which nothing else would fill. Stan Wilson’s music, storytelling, and stage presence set the scene for what was to become for so many young musicians “A Way of Life”. Stan will always be remembered in my heart and the hearts of so many as the “Father of Folk Music” on the West Coast.” “As his sweet guitar trembled, cried, wailed and whispered into our receptive youthful ears and hearts, it built a permanent place which nothing else would fill Artistically, he was like a son of Josh White’s. His style was very much the same, and that made it easier for us to become very good friends There’s no question that Stan laid the foundation and was responsible for the entire folk movement of the fifties and sixties. He took on the precepts of his mentor Josh White, and then wont wild with them, meeting the favor of all who attended his shows. He played all over the place, but especially in San Francisco A fascinating guy, Stan Wilson remains a great storyteller. The drama of his songs and stories was enchanting, as I was to learn in the years that followed. I think the key to the public reaction to Stan’s folk singing was intensity. The lock, of course, was the public’s need to know how each story ended up Years later, when I was a well-known folk singer, Max Manning was to remind me of the old days when we’d first heard Stan Wilson singing. He asked me if I had learned anything from Stan. And I answered quietly, “just everything.”
Travis Edmonson |
| “Stan was a tremendous influence on me in the early days of my folk music career back in the early ‘60s in Santa Barbara. His songs, his performances, and his obvious love of the music were truly inspirational. He was also a warm and generous person who certainly made me feel] welcome and shared
his music freely with me - and with all those who came in contact with him
during those times. “Travis Edmonson” and “Bud & Travis” albums on Folk Era Records, I hoped to work with Stan on a new album release - and hope that even if it’s posthumously, I’ll be able to thank him for his guidance and sharing of his music. And the music that he has done, the record ings he has made, will continue to be timeless. We’ll miss him - but he will always be with us. John Thomas, |
| I was born and raised in Honolulu. Turned out that I had three heroes named Stan. First was the St. Louis Cardinals’ future Hall Of Famer Stan Musial. In the 1950s baseball games broadcast on radio here were “recreated.” In third grade I heard the 1946 World Series live, via crackling shortwave. What a thriller. The Cards beat the Boston Red Sox in the seventh game. But I never got to see Stan play. In high school I was a radio reporter for teenage shows on KGMB and KIKI. “John & Marsha” by Stan Freberg was the funniest, and most licentious, hit record of 1954. The record launched Freberg’s run of hits, which comprised satire of pop culture that evolved into serious social commentary. But I never got to see Stan perform. In ‘ 1954 Stan entered my consciousness. Hawaii’s top deejay, J. Akuhead Pupule , played “Mariah” and other folk songs by a singer named Stan Wilson. Finally ¾ I could actually see this Stan do his thing. The first moment I heard Stan Wilson sing and play at The Clouds , atop the old Hotel Del Mar at the end of Waikiki , I knew that this Stan was definitely “The Man.” A Stan Wilson song had the impact of a Stan Musial smash hit out of Sportsman’s Park. Stan Wilson’s song interpretations made them his own, just as Stan Freberg’s “Sh-Boom” surpassed The Crewcuts’ hit in popularity. (That group, by the way, “borrowed” the tune from The Chords, who recorded the “R&B” version.) I was Stan Wilson fan from the moment I witnessed his stylish intensity, following him from The Clouds to The Rathskellar , across from the Royal Hawaiian hotel . How exciting for kid who had never been anywhere, or met anyone who was somebody; I got to meet and know Stan Wilson. I was unabashed groupie. ( First interviewed him for a radio station with less power than your microwave..) Stan Wilson, a gentleman and a gentle man, treated me as if I were Ed Sullivan. He was as cool as his music. Nowadays it’s popular to talk about being “Ahead of the curve.” In relation to my personal timeline Stan Wilson . . . Opened my ears to the music of Harry Belafonte. By 1956 I’d been a deejay for two years. “Hmm,” I thought, “This Harry Belafonte ‘Day-O’ song sounds like something Stan Wilson would do. I began to notice traces of Stan’s sound in everything from Sam Cooke’s soulful vocals such as “You Send Me” to the homogenized “folk” sound of The Brothers Four ( 'The Green Leaves of Summer.") Two guys ahead of me by two years at Punahou School , Dave Guard and Bob Schoen (later become “Shane”) not yet the Kingston Trio were also listening to Stan Wilson . Bobby sang tunes from the Wilson songbook at Kau Kau Korner, our drive-inn hangout, hoping someone would buy him a cup of coffee. It was Stan Wilson’s repertoire that turned on the pair to folk music. Otherwise they’d probably be singing local “cha-lang-a-lang luau songs. Or “hapahaole” numbers like “My Little Grass Shack.” In 1958 I became Program Director of the town’s fourth station. Just a few years earlier Guard and Shane sang in the junior class Variety Show, a highlight of the annual Punahou Carnival. With the addition of Nick Reynolds and reconfigured as the Kingston Trio , the boys had a number one record, “Tom Dooley.” Wow, from Manoa Valley to the top of the BILLBOARD charts. My goal was to make it from Aina Haina to Hollywood . Instead I traveled between the glamorous towns of San Bernardino and Fresno . While living in the latter, in “The Agribusiness Capital of the Word,” my partner Frank Terry and I would begin on Thursdays, planning our escape to culture, civilization and chicks. Once in a while we headed south, to see Lennie Bruce turn himself inside out onstage at The Unicorn on Sunset. But most times it was north, to The City. The nexus of the pre-hippie scene was North Beach . At ground zero was The Hungry I. And if we were lucky , Stan Wilson would be playing there. When I made it to the Mainland in the early Sixties I realized how pervasive Stan Wilson’s influence was on the entire folk music scene. He was the subject of conversation I had with a small, withdrawn dude seated next to me at the counter of a coffee shop in Monterey . It was May 1963 . Bob Dylan hadn’t exploded on the scene just yet. That was my only chance to rap Bob Dylan, a fellow Stan Wilson devotee. Knowing of the Wilson legend allowed me to relate to the “folk-rock” performers who followed in Dylan’s footsteps. By 1965 I was programming a Los Angeles station that hosted concerts at the Hollywood Bowl during the dawning of the “Age of Aquarius.” As a “Top 40” music person I wasn’t expected to know about other musical genres. With my chance Dylan encounter, the mention of Stan Wilson opened a door of mutual interest with the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, The Buffalo Springfield , etc . Barry McGuire (“Eve of Destruction”) accepted me as a kindred spirit when he learned that I’d hung out with Stan Wilson. The Mamas & The Papas’ first major L. A. concert appearance was in 1965 at “The KHJ Appreciation Concert” at the Hollywood Bowl. From the start fellow Virgo, Cass Elliott , and I became neighbors and friends. If Mama Cass was in town when the L. A. Rams played the Baltimore Colts see attended the game with our rowdy all-male group. Cass knew of the exploits of both Johnny Unitas and Stan Wilson . . . Once, during a bizarre drive from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan to a mutual friend’s place in Woodstock , Cass sang a virtual Stan Wilson songbook for me, her audience of one. In 1968 Watermark, our production company staged the first major outdoor musical event on the East Coast. It was The Miami Pop Festival. (The MPF directly inspired Woodstock. Michael Lang, originator of that legendary event, lived in Fort Lauderdale and observed the excitement at Gulfstream Park. Lang hired our Operations Director Mel Lawrence and Lighting Director Chip Monck then headed for New York to raise money.) Our goal was to provide a representative sample of the sounds beginning to fill the FM airwaves. The Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf represented rock. Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, Junior Walker & His All Stars handled rhythm and blues. Folk music artists appearing included Joni Mitchell, Buffy St. Marie, Ian & Sylvia and Richie Havens. I was able to get into Havens’ music much more than just from listening to his few radio tunes . Richie Havens who was 13-years-old when Stan Wilson arrived in Hawaii , must have spent time listening to the music of that seminal singer. Check out Stan Wilson’s “ O ken Karangae,” especially the driving guitar intro: It exemplifies the meaning of the word “Influences” as it is applied to musicians. (Sometimes I think that it is a polite euphemism for “rip-off.”) And so it’s been over the years. At the most unpredictable times and places I found myself sharing memories of Stan Wilson. When Tom Moffatt , my radio buddy for the past 50 years, told me of Stan’s passing I was predictably sad, felt aggrieved for his family and sense of loss for all of us fans of The Man and his music. But the dark cloud of depression lifted when I dug up an old funky LP and listened to Stan’s “Rolling Stone.” I thought back to the days when both Stan Wilson and Honolulu were unique, undiscovered and special. Stan Wilson’s lyrics became an affectionate aloha:
Ron Jacobs |
|
|