Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,R. Conroy
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 11:17 AM

Saw theKT at Lincoln Center about 15 years ago. From the first chorus of their opening song it was clear that Nick Reynolds tenor vocal parts gave the trio its signiture sound. Clear sailing Nick and thanks.
                                                            Bob C.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: BDenz
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:28 PM

For those who might want a piece of the Kingston Trio's legacy, Bob Shane has his tenor guitar up on eBay. I'd hate to think he's selling off all his instruments. That makes it all seem so ... final.

They are all missed. I was among those who felt that the trio went downhill after Dave Guard left, but never quit listening. I cut my musical teeth on the Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Chad Mitchell Trio and a few others and still have all their original vinyl recordings around here somewhere. Damn. And condolences, yes.

Barbara

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 02:14 AM

Heartfelt condolences to the Reynolds family and to Nick's friends. For the rest of us, it hurts to keep losing bits of our youth, doesn't it?
- Phil

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Michael Harrison
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 11:46 PM

Whoa - a sad day indeed. My wife let me know today that she heard about Nick's passing on NPR this morning - a sad day. The Kingston Trio may have been, to some, not "true" folk singers, whatever that may be, but like so many other boomers, they got my attention, sucked me in and caused me to look in new directions; sort of the way that "Riverdance" introduced me to Irish music.

I told this anectdote a while back when posting as "Texas Guest," but it's worth repeating: in the sixth grade at St. Bridgid's Catholic Grade School in Detroit, Michigan, I had a teacher by the name of Frank Strunk; and, it was during that year that an edict came down from the nunnery that the students were to be exposed to
"classical" music for a period of time on Friday afternoons.
Mr. Strunk said he could not fight the rule but he would give us a balance of culture - and he did - we got twenty minutes of Bhrams, Bach and Beethoven as the nuns demanded, then we got twenty minutes of the Kingston Trio. Here's to Mr. Strunk, to Nick Reynolds and the Kingston Trio - may you live forever, though you'll never return. Cheers,..........mwh

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 12:17 PM

When I was young, we didn't have cholesterol, but if we had, we would've fried it!----

When I was young, we didn't call it folk music, but now some do.

Yep, Nick and the boys were singers, and now they're folk singers.

The more things change, the more they get different. (Nothin' stays the same!)

you did it your way, and now R.I. Peace -- if we can ever achieve that.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: topical tom
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 11:11 AM

Sad news.I remember so well sitting and listening to the whole hit parade of music simply to hear The Kingston Trio sing "M.T.A." I loved that song and many others that they sang.Another voice lost but, no doubt, singing elsewhere. RIP, Nick.Condolences to family and friends.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 11:02 AM

I was reading the obit in our local San Diego Union-Tribune this morning. What struck me was that Nick, Bob and Dave never really thought of themselves of folk singers. Nick said a writer once asked them if they were and, not having a better answer at the moment, they said "sure." Their agent, Frank Werber, came up with the "Kingston Trio" name because it echoed calypso, a form enjoying popularity at the time they began their career. They just loved to sing and entertain and folk music, or a form of it, provided much of their material. They were not wedded to that genre, however, and did many composed songs, novelty songs and ballads. John Stewart provided a lot of their original material during his tenure with the Trio. To those of us for whom "Tom Dooley" marked a rite of passage of sorts, a bit of us passed with Nick. His vitality and joy of performing was the real heart and soul of the original group. I miss his music and I miss his wit. He might have been the "runt of the litter," but he was the life of the party.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 10:20 AM

Very sad news. The Kingston Trio was hugely influential. Here's a link to the NY Times obituary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/arts/music/03reynolds.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Nick%20Reynolds&st=cse&oref=slogin

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 10:10 AM

The first songs l learned to play were KT songs, and, to a great degree, their eclecticism and sense of fun shaped my ideas about what "folksinging" was--It is fashionable in some circles to say that they weren't truly playing "folk" music, but their spontaneity, their informal style, the congeniality, and the sense of singing for the sake of the song, are really the essence of what folk music is.

When my wife told me, "Nick Reynolds died." The thing that came into my mind was the sound of his voice--as familiar, after all these years,as the voice of a favorite cousin.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 07:19 PM

What to say...The year was 1963. Some friends and I form a group, called ourselves "The NEW Bad Trio"(Bob , Art, and Dick) 'cause we new where we stood.

We couldn't even tune our instruments, let alone play them, but youth prevailed and went on to wear pin-striped shirts, hold the instruments, and sing "Tom Dooley" . "OH he never returned, no he'll never return..." A big hit in that large auditorium filled with students and faculty, so long ago...

Thanks Nick and The Kingston Trio, one of my first influences...Rest in Peace & God Bless...bob

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 06:14 PM

To my fellow "seasoned" inmates, including John on the Sunset Coast:

I just returned from my 50th high school reunion. While there, I was asked to speak about any special recollections, etc. When I stood to address the troops, I looked around and said, "What the hell are all these old people doing at our party?" Nick would have laughed. He never got old; his body just gave out. I feel the same. While I have been blessed with good health, when some of my peers have been less fortunate, I'm not about to sit around contemplating my demise. I intend to keep on having a good time here until I'm forced to take my ultimate road trip - on which I intend to have a great time. Doesn't "Rosin the Beau" resonate though?

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,Tinker in Chicago
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 05:26 PM

One more aging folkster who will dearly miss the man. For whatever their faults, the KT of the 50's and 60's had a lot of fun and spread a lot of fun. And I personally believe that one reason the Beatles caught on so quickly when they came to the US in 1964 was that they came to a nation of young people who already played guitar, and who quickly adapted to the Beatles' three-chord songs. There wouldn't have been that pool of guitarists (remember: the previous generation played accordians and pianos) but for the folk music boom, and there wouldn't have been a folk music boom but for the Kingston Trio.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 04:18 PM

Agreed with everyone here. Our trio still does a couple of songs that we lifted from KT records.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,Bruce MacNeill
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 04:01 PM

Imagine all the music we would have missed if the Kingston Trio hadn't made it big. Imagine all the guitars we wouldn't have felt the need to learn to play. Many thanks to Nick, Bob and Dave.

I second that Scotch 'n Soda. It's a sad day.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 03:43 PM

Later today I will lift and clink a Scotch And Soda in Nick's memory!

Art

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 03:12 PM

What a shame. Many of my childhood memories are of long drives listening to the KT on an old cassette tape.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 02:44 PM

I'm so sorry to hear of his passing.   

It should be noted that the Kingston Trio's recording of "Tom Dooley" reached #1 on the Billboard charts in November of 1958. As we mark the 50th anniversary of this achievement, we should remember Nick Reynold's contribution fondly.   The KT were not the first group to record the song that was collected by Frank Warner, but they were the ones who turned a nation's attention to folk music.   While the subsequent commercial folk revival has left scars, it is without a doubt that the Kingston Trio inspired many people to explore the music.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 02:36 PM

Damn!!!

I had forgot that Stewart passed away earlier this year. Double damn!

How far behind are those of us who were in college when they hit big?

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 02:14 PM

I last saw Nick a couple of years ago and knew he was not well. He had been hobbled with a bad leg a few years ago, which was the reason he stopped performing, I'm told. He and my wife were both children of Coronado Navy Captains and I had the chance once to thank him for introducing me and a lot of my friends to music, back in the late 1950's. When I told him how much it had changed my life, he replied, "Yeah; and wasn't it a gas?"

Bob Shane is living in the Phoenix, Arizona area, I believe. When Nick was well, he and Bob conducted an annual folk music camp down there. The late John Stewart was a semi-regular at the event. Now, we're down to one of the original three. Bob, the last time I saw a picture of him, appeared to be on oxygen and not in the best of health. Nick was the eldest, I believe he was around 74. Too young. Deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: greg stephens
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 01:59 PM

The KT were a wonderfully influential group. There was a twin-pronged folk revival powered by them in America, and Lonnie Donegan simultaneously in Britain.The way they made music soon went out of fashion, but their influence was huge as thousands were instantly turned on to folk music, and followed it to many strange places in their own ways.
As musicians, the Kingston Trio didn't really last, but there influence certainly did.

Subject: RE: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Genie
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 01:53 PM

Sorry to hear that.    Say what you like about the original Kingston Trio, but they were pretty much the ones who ignited my interest in folk music and playing guitar, and I've always preferred the original KT sound to later permutations of the trio.   

I know Dave Guard (my favorite member of the group) died quite a while back, but is Bob Shane still with us?

Condolences to Nick's family and friends.

Subject: Obit: Nick Reynolds RIP (October 2008)
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 01:41 PM

Nick Reynolds, founding member of the Kingston Trio, died yesterday after a long illness.