BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?

Subject: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:02 PM

I hesitate to reopen "Name That Mudcatter III," but there is at least one unanswered question that demands an answer. Of whom should I be jealous for getting next to the lovely young Mary? (I'm assuming that this happened when all of us were quite a bit younger.)

I eventually got a headache catching up on three threads worth of "Name That Mudcatter," from scrolling up and down in the effort to reestablish which number represented which question. While many of the tidbits of information were interesting and entertaining, many more were much less compelling to me ~ hence my eventual disenchantment with the "game."

Maybe it's just my hurt feelings at being mentioned only once ~ and then, only as somebody's wrong answer way back in Part I or Part II (!) ~ but I'm looking for a quick clear answer, no more guessing games.

If there are any other unanswered Mudcatter-quiz questions remaining to be revealed, feel free to request or provide answers in this thread. With apoplogies to Azizi, I'm the quizmaster and rulemaker this time around, and these are my rules:

1. No new questions, just tying up of loose ends by revealing all answers not yet published. Or, if you fell really compelled to add something new, give us the answer along with the question. (If you really feel a need to post an open-ended question, refresh NTM Part III or start a new Part IV.)

2. No reference to question numbers. Just state the definition/characterization and the Mudcat-name answer. Clarity counts!

PS: Extra points if you can tell us whether "dating" intellectual-hippie-chick icon Travers involved an ongoing real relationship or just a single blind-date-type encounter.

And really, I mean absolutely no disrespect to Mary Travers. I know that she's been having serious health problems of late, and have nothing but best wishes for her, along with the greatest respect.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:10 PM

Wasn't that our Bruce Murdock?

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:12 PM

with an h

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:30 PM

Well, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I now realize that I should have been able to guess this answer. There are precious few of us whose photo appeared on a folk-revival-era album cover, and Jean Ritchie is not likely to have been the answer.

The bad news is, I have no expectations of any further revelations. Bruce does not seem to be the type to kiss and tell.

Are there any other unanswered NTM questions that demand clarification? Or will this thread drift down and off the page without further ado?

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:31 PM

It wasn't me.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Peace
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:35 PM

NO, not me. I met her many years ago and have always loved her from afar. She is a wonderful woman and she was very kind to a kid who was about to sing before a crown of about 40,000 people.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Peace
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:35 PM

Crowd, not crown.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:36 PM

I've been loving Winona Ryder from afar for almost 20 years now. Fat lot of good it's done me!

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Peace
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:37 PM

I DO understand, LH.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:39 PM

Oh, so SRS was guessing? We still don't have the answer?

Bruce, where and when was that big crowd ~ Newport?

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:45 PM

When Mary Travers speaks, all of New York open their mouths.

She's a good gal. Who she dated or slept with is nobody's business but hers.

She was fondly known as "The Amazon of Washington Square".

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:53 PM

Yeah, she was a pretty tall young woman, wasn't she?

I was in love with Joan Baez at the time...and Buffy Sainte-Marie...so I was already kind of distracted.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 06:56 PM

I was guessing--and I kind of thought that was what Bruce would say because he discussed it briefly somewhere else before. Frank shed an interesting light on the question, but he's correct, it is her own business (since she doesn't seem to have written a book and named names?)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: bankley
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 07:28 PM

but I still like 'crown of 40,000 people'.... reminds me of Gulliver's Travels, somehow....

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Peace
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 08:17 PM

Everyone's a critic . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 08:22 PM

It wasn't Bruce, it wasn't me
It wasn't Amos and it wasn't thee.
And though I know what I've been told
I wouldn't tell for a world of gold.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: frogprince
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 10:23 PM

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind..."

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 11:07 PM

"'She was fondly known as "The Amazon of Washington Square'."


                   She was? That doesn't seem very flattering!

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 11:28 PM

She was a tall girl with broad shoulders and very striking features. Seems to me quite appropriate to refer to her as an "amazon".

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 12:36 AM

Hey..you want a short lass with long blonde hair..and extremely talented???? Let me know, I'll post the link...pitter patter pitter patter >>>>>> goes my heart.....!But then again...I'ze got taste!!

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: DougR
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 01:11 AM

L.H.: I thought you had a crush on William Shatner.
DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 08:07 AM

I used to love Joan Baez, but then I made her an offer she could refuse.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Mr Red
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 08:23 AM

All I remember was that when she was in Birmingham, UK, staying at the Albany Hotel the three of them came through the lobby and from 20 feet her eyes met mine. I have no doubt she didn't even register that there was a very young juvenile who was instantly deeply smitten. Just one more very young juvenile who was instantly deeply smitten in a crowd of smittens.

But I never forgot those eyes.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: JJ
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 08:45 AM

Ethan, the bouncer at Palsson's on W. 72nd St. in the mid-80's, was at that time involved with Mary Travers.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 09:15 AM

Ted Hesburgh. He doesn't post here very much though.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 10 Jun 08 - 03:21 PM

Fr. Hesburgh, indeed ~ hah!

When I started this thread, it didn't occur to me that this should be kept secret, since the subject had already been broached in another thread. However, based on a couple of the above responses plus another couple of PMs I've recevied over the last 36 hours or so, I now realize that there is a general feeling that we should drop this.

Too bad, since I just came up with another plausible guess, someone we all know who was living in the right place at the right time, and who we know took guitar lessons with Dave Van Ronk.

I'll leave it at that, to maintain the spirit of semi-secrecy.

That's my guess, now ~ it's not anything I know for a fact. Please don't misunderstand

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 12:31 AM

I think that the best way to date her now is the same way they can tell how old a dinosaur bone or anything is now. What is that, carbon dating by radioactivity of something?

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 01:25 AM

I thought it was Chongo.....

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 03:26 AM

I thought you started this thread to see how many guys out there had as dirty thoughts about her as you did!!!
Mary was a classy lady, with a lot oh history. Now she is older gained a lot of weight and all,..but when you still see her, that same class, and history still shines though!!

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Wesley S
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 09:02 AM

Just once though I would have loved to have heard Mary Travers and Joan Baez sing a duet - of just about anything. That would have been something.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 09:13 AM

A trio. Include Judy Collins.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 11:27 AM

Mary Travers has evidently been married three times. It seems just a bit tawdry to me to speculate on any entanglements before her first marriage. I haven't recently read any conjecturing on Joan Baez or Emmylou or Linda Ronstadt or Dolly Parton or Judy Collins or Alison Krauss or any number of other female performers. What's the deal here?

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 11:59 AM

Well, Ebbie, someone posted the question in an earlier "game" thread. I didn't see it as a terribly offensive invasion of privacy to seek the answer once my curiosity had been aroused ~ and still don't ~ but I'll bow to consensus if it's generally agreed that we should drop this.

I think that the only reason no one asked which of us once hung out with Joan or Emmylou or Alson or whoever is that none of us DID, but apparently someone among us indeed once socialized with Mary.

My second guess (above), by the way, was as incorrect as my first one. I received the answer via PM today, from a third party who asked that I not let the cat out of the bag but rather to leave it up to the person himself to decide whether or not to 'fess up publicly. It was apparently not a lengthy or serious relationship, just a couple of dates back when neither of the parties involved were public figures. Nothing "tawdry."

I don't expect Mr X to own up; I don't think I would. I myself once had a brief musical partnership of sorts with a young woman who would later go on to achieve a bit of notoriety and success (not worldwide superstardom, but a level of critical and "cult" recognition).

The relationship was more platonic than I would have wished, not that it matters much. In any event, I generally avoid talking about it with anyone who isn't such an old friend that they knew about it at the time. Basically, I hate to allow anyone to think I was "bragging"; and it would be bragging just to let on that I was able to sing and play with this particular artist as a more-or-less equal. The possibility that anyone would misunderstand and get the idea that I was claiming some kind of sexual conquest as well, that would be even worse. I suppose that if the relationship had actually been more personal and more serious, I'd probably feel even more reluctant to "name names."

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 12:34 PM

PoppaG, I'm not calling your motives into question, at all, other than, as I said above, wondering why Mary Travers. Ms. Travers, as you know, has had a rough couple of years and although I don't imagine she will ever hear about the Mudcat's curiousity it would bother me to think it might bother her in any way. Unless - maybe - she would be flattered? Dunno.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Naemanson
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 07:32 PM

Just relax, everyone. As I read the first post nobody was wondering about who shared her bed. We've all dated different people. I don't see the need to "protect" them by keeping quiet. If I'd dated (casual-non-sex-type-enjoying-each-other's-company date) anyone who later became famous I would not wander around talking about it but I would answer questions like this.

I once dated a woman who I had loved from afar. She is not famous now or ever but I thought she was one of the most beautiful and talented people I'd ever met. I had to wait at least 10 years until both of us were single at the same time. Our date was one of the worst dates I ever experienced. Because of that I would never mention names but otherwise I wouldn't hesitate. We share our lives with many people in this world. As we go through life we sometimes come under the scrutiny of our fellow human beings. This is just human nature. It is basically harmless.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:16 AM

Naemanson, Boy have I got a story for you!! I think stories like this happen because, underneath, men seem to honor the commitment their hearts make, even when the women they make it to, seldom seem to get it then, or later. But rather, on their emotional bent, in the moment. When the options get slim, they'll agree to be with you...but bring all their baggage with them, and want to punish you(possibly a good man) for all the bad jerks they chose to be with, in the interim.
   Now watch all the ire of unhappy women jump all over me. The happier ones, will think about it and tend to agree. Then again, with the 'need to feel innocent' none of them will admit to being one of the unhappy ones. A woman once told me, in regards to a man,.."If I can't make him happy, then I can't make him unhappy, either"...That swings both ways.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:23 AM

3

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:25 AM

That's sad, GfS. I don't think you got the point of Naemanson's story.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:29 AM

I got it, and was just commenting on it..that's all...........

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: Naemanson
Date: 13 Jun 08 - 06:47 AM

I don't understand GfS's reply. Maybe a troll. Oh well.

Sometimes I tell the story of that date to the high school kids I teach. That and the 28 years I had to wait after college before I could become a teacher are my stories to help teach the kids the value of patience and to warn them about being careful what they wish for.

By the way, that woman and I are still good friends and I still respect her talent and personality. But now I know we'd make a terrible couple.

Subject: RE: BS: Who dated Mary Travers, anyway?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 02:17 AM

Good for you..really!! It was a wise decision!