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 Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp
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When Judge Jonathan Karesh attended his first Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp, he assembled his impressions of the event for a professional publication. We reprint his article in the Folk Memories Archive to mark the passing ofJon Stewart on January 19,2008.
What is a judge doing up onstage, performing with Nick Reynolds and John Stewart of the Kingston Trio? It was all part of the Trio Fantasy Camp, where fans of the Kingston Trio and other music of their era went to sing, mingle with famous folk singers, and have a great time. And the highlight of the camp was that each participant was able to get up onstage and perform a song with Nick Reynolds and John Stewart.
When I was growing up, my parents introduced me to all the great folk groups of the late 1950s and 1960s, such as the Kingston Trio, The Limeliters, Peter, Paul and Mary, and the Gateway Singers. When I was a little boy I had a rocking horse, and I would rock back and forth to their music. I still play and enjoy their albums to this day.
To describe the experience of the fantasy camp, a bit of history is in order. The original Kingston Trio was formed in 1957. The members were Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and Dave Guard. Dave Guard left the group in 1961, and John Stewart took his place. In 1967 the group disbanded, and went their separate ways. John Stewart went on to have a distinguished career as a singer/songwriter, and many consider him one of the best songwriters there is. Nick Reynolds moved to Oregon and lived on a ranch, raising, as he says, cattle and kids.
In 1976, Bob Shane bought the rights to the Kingston Trio name, and toured as the Kingston Trio throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with various members. But the two lineups of the Kingston Trio that were famous and had the hit records (Shane/Reynolds/Guard, and Shane/Reynolds/Stewart) only played together one other time since they disbanded-in a 1982 reunion show on PBS.
In the year 2000, John Stewart and Nick Reynolds decided to hold a fantasy camp for lovers of the Kingston Trio and other folk musicians of their era. The highlight of the camp is that each participant gets to get on stage and do a song with two members of the Kingston Trio.
 John Stewart and Jonathan Karesh at Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp August 2006
I learned about this camp while surfing the Kingston Trio website. I was interested in going to the camp, and sent an e-mail to one of the organizers. He sent me a DVD of the previous year's camp, and it seemed so much fun that I decided to attend.
But I faced a problem when I decided to go to the camp. In looking at the DVD I'd received, almost every participant (or “camper” as they are called) played the guitar. Learning to play the guitar is something I had wanted to do since college. My colleague Judge Marie Weiner suggested that I go to Wolmers Music Store in San Mateo, telling me that they gave music lessons. I went there, met my guitar teacher, bought my first guitar, and signed up for a series of lessons.
While taking lessons and practicing, I realized that playing the guitar was much more difficult than I had imagined. Strumming the guitar with my right hand was not too difficult, but pressing on the strings with my left hand to make the chords proved to be quite a challenge. Fortunately, most of the Kingston Trio songs use relatively few chords, and I eventually learned to play some of their music. But it was never easy.
The camp is held each Summer at the Scottsdale Plaza resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever stayed at. Needless to say the weather is very hot, sometimes more than 110 degrees. Fortunately, this year the weather was on the mild side-well, for Arizona in the Summer, that is.
The camp started on Thursday, and I arrived the day before. I was able to connect with some of the campers who arrived on Wednesday, and we had a nice dinner at a local restaurant in Scottsdale.
On Thursday evening there was a welcome reception and then a dinner for the campers. At the dinner, we were presented with a number of souvenirs and other items, including a straw hat, a signed, framed picture of Nick Reynolds and John Stewart, and a Fantasy Camp T-Shirt. Most importantly, we were all issued identical Hawaiian style shirts, which we would wear when we were performing.
At the welcome reception and the dinner I began to meet and make friends with the other campers. Each of us stood up to introduce ourselves and say where we were from. The 23 campers came from all over the United States, and one traveled to the camp from Sweden. Although there had been female campers at the previous fantasy camps, this time all the campers were male. I was the second youngest camper there. And most exciting, at the dinner were three of my heroes-Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds, and John Stewart.
One of the most amazing things about the camp was how nice and accessible Nick, Bob and John were during the camp. Nick and John were available throughout each day to chat, answer questions, give autographs, and assist with any musical questions. Bob came during each evening, and was also very friendly.
After the welcome dinner, we adjourned to a large ballroom in the hotel where the stage was. And there, Bob, Nick and John gave the campers a private concert--only the second time the three had given a concert since 1967. I sat in the front row, and snapped a number of pictures with my camera. There was such excitement in the room during the performance. If these three did a reunion tour, they could sell out practically any auditorium in the country. But here they were, singing just for us.
After the concert, the three of them spent an hour and a half taking questions from the campers. We were told that no question was off limits, and the three regaled us with stories and tales of the Trio (including stories about what took place behind the scenes and in their personal lives). It was one of the most interesting and exciting events that I had ever attended!
When they were finished with their concert and question and answer session, the campers got up onstage and sang and played a number of Kingston Trio songs. It was close to midnight by the time we were finished.
The campers were to be a part of two shows, one on Friday night, and one on Saturday night. Both shows were open to the public in the ballroom. Forming into trios, they would perform a song for the audience on either Friday or Saturday night. On the night he was not singing with his fellow campers, he would get up on stage and do a song with Nick and John.
On Friday morning at 10 a.m. all the campers assembled in the ballroom. Each was tuning up his guitar and getting ready for a rehearsal. Both Nick and John were there to give guidance and coaching. As a group, all 23 campers would perform five Kingston Trio songs near the beginning of the show, and two songs at the end. We all got up onstage, and rehearsed the songs we would sing together. Those we had chosen to perform at the beginning of each show were “This Little Light of Mine,” “New York Girls,” “Hard Ain't it Hard,” “Roddy McCorley,” and “Oh Miss Mary.” Each of the campers was given a chance to sing a verse solo during the group sing. I was to do a solo verse on “New York Girls” and “Hard Ain't it Hard.” (The two songs that all the campers would sing at the end of each show were “The Sinking of the Reuben James” and “I'm Going Home,” and I played the guitar on some.)
We rehearsed into the lunch hour. After lunch, we were told which campers we would form a trio with. The two campers in my trio were Steve, a lawyer who lives in Virginia, and Kit, an executive speechwriter and media relations manager from Pennsylvania. Kit played guitar, and Steve played the banjo. Fortunately, they had much more experience playing their instruments than I did. We spent a good part of the afternoon rehearsing the song we would do that night, “Hard Ain't It Hard,” a Woody Guthrie song that had been recorded by both the Kingston Trio and the Limeliters.
Friday night was show time. The emcee for the evening was Tom Delisle, a TV producer and freelance writer from Detroit. He was hilarious, and kept the audience entertained between songs. We all dressed in our Hawaiian shirts, and watched as the audience came into the ballroom. The campers stood on both sides of the ballroom with their guitars. John Stewart opened up the show by singing a few songs, including one with his wife, Buffy Ford. Buffy has a beautiful voice, and has recorded a number of songs with John. She is also one of the nicest and sweetest individuals I have ever met.
Then it was the campers' turn, and I was about to perform a musical instrument and sing on stage for the first time in my life. It was an exciting moment for me. From each side of the room, the campers began playing and singing “This Little Light of Mine,” as we all walked up to the stage. It was so much fun, and I felt an even greater sense of nervous excitement as I stepped up to the microphone to sing my solo verses on “New York Girls” and “Hard Ain't it Hard.”
Then came the first real test. Kit, Steve and I waited in the wings getting ready to do our song. This time there would not be 23 campers singing on stage-it would be just the three of us. We were all nervous, but thrilled and excited to go out there. One of the highlights of the Kingston Trio concerts was their often hilarious banter and patter between the songs. I decided to take a risk and try to say some humorous things about the three of us and our song. Though afraid I might fall flat on my face, as it were, to my surprise, the audience laughed at my quips.
Playing on stage in front of a large audience was exhilarating, and a bit scary. I tried to play as many guitar chords as I could, and I am sure I missed some, but Kit and Steve covered up any of my guitar mistakes with their excellent playing. The audience was very enthusiastic, and gave all the camper trios a huge round of applause after each song.
After an intermission, the second half of the show began. It started with the Kingston Trio (Nick, Bob, and John) singing a few songs. Bob then left the stage, and those who did not perform with a camper trio that night got their chance to go up on stage and do a number with Nick and John. Once again, the audience and fellow campers were very supportive of each camper as he did his number. The Friday show ended with everyone going back up onstage to do the two final songs to close the show.
The next day (Saturday) was my big day. This would be the evening I would be able to get up on stage and perform with Nick and John, two of my heroes whose music I had been listening to since I was a kid. It took me a long time to choose which Kingston Trio song I would perform with them. I finally decided on “Going Away For To Leave You,” a rousing song that the Trio used to close their “College Concert” album. Before lunch I had a chance to go to the ballroom and use the stage and do the song with the three backing musicians who would also be on stage that evening.
For lunch I had a special treat. Travis Edmonson is a well-known singer who rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s as a member of the Gateway Singers, one of the first groups I listened to as a child. Later, he went onto additional success as a member of the folk duo Bud and Travis. (For those of you who love live folk CDs, “Bud & Travis in Concert”, recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1960, is one of the best live albums I have ever heard.) Travis is a legend in the music business. In fact, Frank Sinatra was one of his biggest fans, even commissioning Travis to do a solo album.
Through a mutual friend, I was put in touch with Rose Marie, Travis' wife of close to twenty years. Rose Marie was very warm and friendly, and invited me to a private lunch at the hotel restaurant with her and Travis. To be able to have lunch with one of my favorite all time singers was not only an honor, but also an inspiration. Travis has a number of health problems, but this did not dampen his spirit, and his mind is as sharp as ever.
He shared stories of his career, and told me about the Gateway Singers. I asked Travis about Elmerlee Thomas, one of the singers in the group. Elmerlee was an African American woman, whose contralto voice is one of the most magnificent singing voices I have ever heard. One of the things Travis told me is that when the Gateway Singers were on tour, they were frequently not allowed to stay in certain hotels or eat in certain restaurants because of the racial discrimination that existed at the time. I also played my favorite song from Bud and Travis' Santa Monica Concert CD on my laptop computer and got Travis' insights about it.
The lunch lasted an hour and a half. I would have loved to have stayed longer, but had to leave to go to another event held that afternoon for the campers. This event was a private lesson given by John Stewart on how to write songs. Two of the most successful John wrote were “Daydream Believer,” which was recorded by the Monkees and became the number one song in the world, and “Gold,” which was a big hit that John recorded with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.
While I had never thought about writing songs before, it was interesting to learn how a master songwriter goes about composing them. Before his presentation, John gave each camper a book he wrote on songwriting. He also sang a number of songs he had written as examples. It was most interesting and informative.
After the songwriting lesson, I had some more time to rehearse the number I was going to do with Nick Reynolds and John Stewart that night. The song (Going Away For To Leave You) has a complicated banjo introduction and solo in the middle of it. John had probably not played the banjo parts for the song since his Kingston Trio days. Fortunately, he was nice enough to sit down with me and listen to his banjo solo on a live Kingston Trio concert CD to refresh his memory.
After dinner with some other campers, Saturday's show time was approaching quickly. The Friday night show was well attended, but on Saturday the ballroom was packed. My song with Nick and John was going to be in the second half of the show, near the end. I got more nervous and excited as my time approached, and even went outside of the hotel ballroom to practice my guitar some more while the show was taking place. Even though I had memorized the lyrics to my song and rehearsed it dozens of times, I wrote out the lyrics and taped them to the top of my guitar just to have a “plan B” in the event I could not remember them.
Before I was about to go on, I went backstage and waited to be introduced. As the camper before me finished his song, I knew that this was it-my time in the spotlight. I would be singing in public. And I would be singing the three verses between the choruses solo. In front of hundreds of people. And I would be videotaped. Although I remember being nervous, I was actually really looking forward to going up on stage. The opportunity to sing with Nick and John was the key thing that drew me to the camp. And that time had come.
Before we arrived, each camper was asked to complete a profile which included listing his occupation. Tom the emcee told the audience about me, and played up the fact big time that I was a judge. He even (unexpectedly) introduced me as “Judge Jon Karesh.” Trying to find some humor in the situation, I told the audience: “I am beginning to develop a bit of an inferiority complex, because nobody rises when I walk into a room around here.” That got a laugh and relaxed me a bit. Nick was to my left, and John to my right. Before we began, Nick asked what song I would be playing and if I could give him a chord. I could not see much of the audience because the ballroom was dark and the spotlights were on.
Then before I knew it, Nick, John, the three backing musicians and myself started to play “Going Away For To Leave You.” Even though the opening of the song starts with the chorus, Nick and John let me sing it solo. Singing into the microphone was a much different experience than when I practiced in my hotel room. My voice sounded different-lower than I expected. But as far as I could tell, I was not out of tune. There were enough musicians on stage that I decided to concentrate on my singing and not play the guitar too much. After my first solo verse, Nick and John joined me on the chorus. It was an almost indescribable experience -my singing voice was blending with two members of the Kingston Trio! The final verse of the chorus ended with a high harmony, and (I think, anyway) I was able to hit the note. As they did to all the campers, the audience gave me a nice round of applause at the end.
Shortly thereafter, I was back up onstage with the other 22 campers to do our two group songs to end the show. It was a wonderful experience. But it was not quite over. The campers then adjourned to the hospitality suite, where we stayed (talking and singing) until past 1 a.m. I was on such a high from the performance that I did not get to sleep until about 3 a.m.
Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp was one of the most exciting and thrilling experiences of my life. The next day I checked out of the hotel and drove to the Phoenix airport for my return home. Two days later, I was back in court and, in some ways, my wonderful time at the camp seemed almost like a dream. But I had four rolls of film from the weekend to remember the event in addition to an album of photos that the camp staffers took of me onstage, a DVD of the show and an extra DVD consisting of just my performance with Nick and John. I do not know yet if I will show this DVD to anyone outside of my family - it depends on how good I sound. If I keep it to myself, however, my friend Judge Holm has threatened to subpoena it. So who knows, it may actually see the light of day.
Jonathan Karesh
August 2006
Following John Stewart's passing, Jon Karesh adds the following tribute to the man who, in addition to all the accomplishments in his musical career, also made possible the kind of excitement people experienced being able to sing as part of The Kingston Trio at Fantasy Camp.
”I was able to really get to know John Stewart from the time we spent singing, rehearsing and dining together at Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp. He was an incredibly nice man--friendly and always willing and eager to talk to me and the other campers. He was humble an unassuming, which is amazing considering his stature in the music business.”
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  CONTENTS
Clubs
Cosmo Alley by Barbara Dane
Terrea Lea on The Garret
Dolan Ellis on Portofino's
The Troubadour by Dian James
The Cellar Door by Betty Mann
The hungry i by Pat McCaskey
The Golden Bear, Huntington Beach
the Iopan, Santa Barbara
Cosmo Alley by Don Gold
Ice House, Pasadena
People/Groups
Stan Wilson by Travis Edmonson
Bonnie Dobson on Morning Dew
Lenny Bruce by Travis Edmonson
.... And Everything Else
Hootenanny" Show by Dian James
 Be sure and check out the website celebrating the hungry i, great San Francisco club at www.hungryi.net
 You might not have realized that Gateway Singer Travis Edmonson was also one half of the ground-breaking duo Bud & Travis, and that all their great albums were remastered to the highest standard, and are available for purchase on Travis' official site www.travisedmonson.com
Keep the Bud & Travis legacy alive. A must visit for all Gateway fans!
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