I LOATHED the Kingston Trio (after they'd got me hooked on folk music, with "Tom Dooley"), simply HATED them...couldn't even stand to look at their album covers.

Please, Friends....if you were a Kingston T. fan from the get go, don't take this personally. Remember, I was a disturbed adolescent, living my life vicariously through "real" folksingers who Picked cotton, rode the rods, sometimes even rode the blinds (a strange concept to me, since we had drapes), swung 'der nine pound hammos, were forever crossing the Horn, killed a whale before breakfast every morning, and in general, Rambled, and Gambled a lot before building their Little Sod Shanties. The trio looked EXACTLY like the popular students at my school who got dates, good grades, and in general, ignored weirdos like me.

So when I started seeing these commercials, (complete with black and white videos) of the now geriatric (and partially dead) Kingston Trio, I was prepared for my old "folkier than thou" attitude to surface. It didn't. The music seemed quite pleasant actually. Sure, they were a "corporate Folk group" with management that FORCED them to rehearse constantly, and none of them had ever been Communists, Anarchists, or probably even McCain supporters, but heck, they chose some pretty good material, and now we all know that they sure weren't the ONLY ones to claim copyrights on semi-trad material.

Dog-gone it, I kinda like them now. ".......so here we are....in the Tijuana jail........rasberries strawberries....where have all the flow.....Hang down yer head Tom D..........."

Rick