Ironic that just last night I wrote about my fantasy of singing with a band— 15 hours later comes the death of Mary Travers. I hate the idea of posting about another celebrity death, yet I can’t ignore it—no one meant music to me more than Peter, Paul and Mary—-whose songs run through my entire life, through all our lives, and the lives of our children.
Her death somehow represents the end of something precious and innocent—a feeling I’ve had a lot lately, when practically every news cycle marked the loss of another icon. In their own ways and in their own fields, each of them represented something that may never come again. 
Like the fresh-scrubbed clean-cut California girl whose dazzling smile adorned the wall of every boy I knew—could any poster ever sweep the country like that again?
In today’s world of reality TV, where a star is born every minute and fades just as fast…. when the music business has been completely transformed, it’s likely the world will never again see an enduring entertainer like Michael Jackson.
Nor does it seem remotely possible that a TV anchorman could ever again anchor the hearts and minds of Americans as the moral center of the country…. the most trusted man in America.
And then Teddy. I can’t imagine anything comparable to the family legacy of hope and possibility, to the torch the Kennedys ignited and passed from each fallen son….that finally fell to the only survivor.
So maybe I’m sentimental…(or just old)…. But as the summer of 2009 fades into fall, it feels like the end of an era.
I’m sure I’ll be more upbeat in my next post—right now I’m wallowing in Peter Paul and Mary music.
This is a beautiful video — music for the ages. Just wanted to share with you in case you had not seen it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aYAUE6is7I
Never saw this–3 of my favorites at the same time in beautiful harmony. Love this and will pass it on, too—Thanks so much Marla, for sharing it!
When Stan Rogers, an amazing singer-songwriter from Canada, died in 1983, I was immensely sad to have lost such a great talent and a fellow Forty-Niner. (A sample of his musicianship is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-aEcPgkuA.) The body of recorded work that the Stan Rogerses and Mary Traverses have left us, however, means we have more than their memories to sustain us. Aside from the echoes of their voices in my increasingly unreliable memory, most of my loved ones who have left this world are mute. If only Warhol had been right and they had all been famous for fifteen minutes, we might have had YouTube video of everyone dear to us. It doesn’t erase the loss, but it aids the recollection.
The passing of all of the talent we grew up with leaves a somber reminder of my moraility. In the blink of an eye fond memories rush back into my consciousness. I am having trouble dealing with the finality. Makes me want to appreciate every morsel of a minute more…
Thanks to both of you. Obviously we’re not the only baby boomers thinking this way. Just read this in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/fashion/17obits.html