By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — Peter Yarrow, the iconic 80-year old folk singer of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, sat on the Garfield Stage at the Lawrence Family JCC, singing and accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar, while his tall son, Christopher, strummed along on a washbasin bass, with a single clothesline string. They were amplified by microphones, but the sound was simple: unadorned melodies accompanied by strumming chords, evoking the folk gatherings of the 50’s and 60’s.
We could understand all the well-crafted lyrics, unencumbered by loud, electronic beats. For many of the selections, the audience was invited to sing along. In the opening number, “Music Speaks Louder Than Words,” we were taught the chorus, and all joined in.
The first half of the program consisted of songs selected by Yarrow. The second half was chosen from a list which members of the audience compiled during the intermission.
Between songs, Peter Yarrow shared his views.
In 2000, he founded Operation Respect, to promote tolerance and civility in the schools, and that was his strong message throughout the evening. “Listen to each other with respect,“ he admonished.
He concluded the first half of his program with “Puff the Magic Dragon.” He invited all the children under 73 to join him on stage. Among the youngsters was a talented, nine-year-old who remembered singing the song with him when he was two years old. Another smiling face at the other end of the age spectrum was Jackie G’mach, who, as the former JCC staff member in charge of music programming, hired him to appear at several of the Jewish Music Festivals the Center for Jewish Culture once presented.
The group joining Yarrow on stage also included the forty students invited to the program by Robert Price of the Price Foundation, young people who might otherwise never have experienced such a concert.
One of the songs, that received the strongest audience participation, was Peter’s original, “Don’t Let the Light Go Out,” which he wrote in 1983 and has become a Chanukah favorite. Another, “With Your Face to the Wind,” was written at the request of Paul Nestor, a close friend of Yarrow’s, who asked him to write it for Nestor’s beloved mother, Harriet, as she was facing her last days, battling cancer.
Yarrow dedicated one song to his friend, Israel’s Palmach hero, Amnon Ben Yehuda, who now resides in San Diego.
“Leaving On A Jet Plane,” the nostalgic ballad written during the Vietnam War, resonated with the memories of that ill-fated conflict.
A comic ditty was the “Colonoscopy Song,” which helped bring important awareness to the dangers of colon cancer. “Lemon Tree,” was one of the early successes of Peter, Paul and Mary. The final song, Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind,” took on special meaning, as the audience sang and swayed together. There was that beautiful feeling of community and affection for one another as we embraced our neighbors.
The audience left with renewed inspiration to repair the world, to respect each other and to keep seeking the answers, blowing in the wind.
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Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com