http://www.markpearsonmusic.com/podcast/audio en-us ©2011 Mark Pearson Music Campfire Chronicles Mark Pearson Music Welcome to the Weekly Campfire Chronicles for One of Those Times in a Life where Mark Pearson shares the musical journey that is his life. It is an ongoing journey of more than forty years as singer, songwriter, member of The Brothers Four, and someone who continues to try to understand and explain what it means to be fully human and finally home. Join the journey at the MarkPearsonMusic.com website and become part of the conversation at the Mark Pearson Music Facebook Page. Welcome to the Weekly Campfire Chronicles for One of Those Times in a Life where Mark Pearson shares the musical journey that is his life. It is an ongoing journey of more than forty years as singer, songwriter, member of The Brothers Four, and someone who continues to try to understand and explain what it means to be fully human and finally home. Join the journey at the MarkPearsonMusic.com website and become part of the conversation at the Mark Pearson Music Facebook Page. clean Mark Pearson Music contact@markpearsonmusic.com Mark Pearson Lets Get Together One of Those Times in a Life is truly underway. I shared the journey with a live audience last week. The Trail Map will soon be ready to share. While there is still so much to do it feels like things are beginning to slow down a little. At the same time The Brothers Four are getting ready to leave for Japan in three weeks for a month of performing. I remain grateful for the great team of people who help make all this possible. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/9-campfire9-LetsGetTogether.mp3 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:25:41 -0700 14:25 Mark Pearson Green Fields Tonight It is fun to begin the next stage of this journey. The Brothers Four videos were recorded recently in the Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden near Port Townsend. I don’t think we have ever sat around and simply sung while the cameras rolled. The videos should be a nice combination with the Campfire Chronicles talking of my first years as one of The Brothers Four. The team of people who are working on this project were all at the house for dinner. It is the first time we have been in one place. It was truly a night of gratitude. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/8-campfire8-greenfieldstonight.mp3 Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:20:38 -0700 13:49 Mark Pearson Sometimes I Just Have to Find a Mountain It continues to surprise me how long it takes to create a context while breathing life into the content of this project and journey. I never assumed it would be easy, but I didn’t appreciate how complicated and difficult it would be at times. Part of that is continuing to imagine and see the bigger picture while simultaneously organizing and giving life to the smallest of details. Another thing is having a clear vision of where all this is going while at the same time being open and prepared for surprises and detours along the way. It has been important to put together a team of people who have talents and expertise that help make this possible. They are good people doing good work. There is a part of me that has always been a little anxious and eager to please. While I need to remember and respect those parts of myself it has been important to find ways and reasons to relax in all of this and to be satisfied with both the process and the product no matter what anyone else might say. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/7-episode7-SometimesHavetoFindaMountain.mp3 Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:44:59 -0700 11:46 Mark Pearson Introducing Mike McCoy Much of the recent cultural conversation appears to reinforce the notion that we are all in this alone. The social contract we began writing in the 1930’s that includes things like Social Security, the GI Bill, the Interstate Highway System, the Voting Rights Act, and Medicare, is now often described as too expensive, unnecessary, or an intrusion on our individual liberty. While this is not the place to talk about how we might choose to reweave fabric of a society, I will say that I am one of those who believes whether we like it or not that we are all in this together, there must be a greater good we continue to define and refine, and there is something incredibly satisfying when we, when I, am part of something bigger than myself. With that as an introduction in Episode Six I would like to tell you a little bit more about Mike McCoy and the role he played in my life and career. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/6-episode6-IntroducingMikeMcCoy.mp3 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:07:07 -0700 13:47 Mark Pearson The Mourning Ryde A Moment to Reflect Lately it seems that while life may take a long time that it is over much too soon. It is hard to believe that I’ve been singing with Mike McCoy for more than forty-six years and it’s been forty-three years since I started singing with The Brothers Four. One of the things that make this One of Those Times in a Life is that making music and sharing the journey with McCoy and The Brothers Four is more satisfying than ever and while it still feels like the best days might still be in front of us I am also aware of how precious each day and performance is. The video in Episode Five is called When I Was Young and This Old Guitar Was New. It talks about the many things I didn’t know when this all began as well as a sense of wonder and love I feel at this point in the journey. The audio essay is called The Mourning Ryde. That’s the name of the group McCoy and I were part of in college. The story in the essay talks mostly about the group’s brief brush with fame and fortune. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/5-chapterfive-themourningryde.mp3 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:18:59 -0700 15:39 Mark Pearson A Folksinger From the British Invasion to the 1967 Monterey Pops Festival In 1963 it was cool to call yourself a folk singer. By the time I turned seventeen in March of 1964 The Beatles had appeared and folk music quickly lost its cool and commercial appeal. Roger McGuinn known as Jim McGuinn during his folk days as the accompanist for The Chad Mitchell Trio formed The Byrds that same year. By the summer of 1965 Dylan plugged in at the Newport Folk Festival and one-time folkies were soon experimenting with other sounds and genres. Producer Tom Wilson added electric guitar, bass, and drums to the folk version of The Sounds of Silence and Simon and Garfunkel soared. One time New Christie Minstrel Barry McGuire had a smash pop hit called Eve of Destruction. By 1967 another New Christie Minstrel alum Kenny Rogers was finding success as the bearded face of The First Edition before going on to super stardom in country music. That same year long time folkie and Journeyman John Phillips found his greatest fame as Papa John in the Mamas and Papas. That summer Phillips helped organize the Monterey Pops Festival, the first heavily attended rock festival. Besides the Mamas and Papas other performers included The Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, Laura Nyro, Steve Miller, and Ravi Shankar. Before the year was out The Kingston Trio had made their farewell tour. As rock music began building toward Woodstock in the summer of 1969 folk music had for all practical purposes left the building. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/4-chapterfour-a-folksinger.mp3 Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:03:49 -0700 08:52 Mark Pearson The Missing Peace A Page Filled with Gratitude… One of the best parts of the last year has been having a chance to work with an amazing group of talented people while getting ready to share this journey of songs and stories. Here are some of the people who are invaluable to the process and the journey: Al Bergstein - Mountainstone Productions Al creates the videos for One of Those Times in a Life. He brings a wonderful artistic and technical sensibility, understanding in life and work that craft is important and art is essential. Jonathan Henson - Oxbow Rising Jonathan’s official title is Web & Systems Developer. Along with his partners, Michael Hayes and Alexa Voyer, they are the ones who create a welcoming and comfortable place for everyone to join in the journey. Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond – uniqueasyou.com Renne describes her work this way: “…Encouraging connections and creating community through supportive hands-on instruction with inspired results.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Patti Miles Van Beuzekom - The Paradise Theatre School Patti is the artistic director for and co-producer of the audio essays. She brings a guiding hand and a loving heart to whatever she does and makes everything and everyone around her more and better. George Rezendes - Tool Shed Sound Lab George records the audio for all the videos as well as the audio essays. As someone who is important to both the concert and story aspects of the journey I have to trust him completely. I do. Anna Quinn - The Writers' Workshoppe Anna is a keeper of the faith. She has a love of language and an understanding of all it can both conceal and reveal. Kathleen Purdy - Kathleen.purdy@wsbdc.org Small Business Development Center at WSU Kathleen freely shares time and information regarding setting up and sustaining a small business. Her insistence that I “cross my t’s and dot my i’s” continues to help and challenge me. This is an extremely talented group of people. With the exception of Jonathan’s partners we all live or work on the Olympic Peninsula. Sharing this journey with them helps make this One of Those Times in a Life. Blessings to everyone at this special time of the year. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/3-chapterthree-missing-peace.mp3 Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:21:00 -0700 15:20 Mark Pearson America in Black and White (1956-1965) The Seven Stages of a Journey This forty-nine week journey is divided into seven stages of seven weeks each. The first seven weeks we will be spending time at the “base camp” telling stories and singing songs. It is also a chance to see how everything is working before we “set out.” The second stage begins the journey. This stage chronicles the years from 1969 to 1971 when I was first with The Brothers Four with lots of music and stories from that time. The third stage includes the year from 1971 to 1979. These were years of developing a personal style as a songwriter and solo performer. At the end of this time I simply ran out of ideas and energy and imagination of what a musical career might look. This stage ends and the next one begins with The Brothers Four asking me to be part of an extended Japanese tour in the summer of 1979. Stage four is made up of the years between 1979 to1987. It was a time when performing mostly meant with Mike McCoy and beginning in 1985 as one of The Brothers Four. These were productive times for McCoy and me. Still by 1987 it was hard to figure out where we were going with our career and important for me to get back on stage as a solo performer. The fifth stage begins in 1987. These were productive years for The Brothers Four including many tours of Japan and the Orient. McCoy was going through a hard time in November of 1995, and when he opened himself up to me our friendship changed in so many good ways. We talked every day for 500 days. A concert in Spokane in 1997 was the only time I ever opened for The Brothers Four. McCoy was a guest artist. It was Easter weekend. It was the last time I saw my dad healthy. This stage ends at my dad’s memorial service with McCoy sitting next to me in the family section. Stage six were the ten years after my dad died. I spent a year writing a musical memoir honoring my dad that I performed at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle as well as my mother’s home in Spokane. The Brother Four continued to travel lots including a number of trips to Japan. McCoy joined the group in 2004. That fall The Brothers Four spent a season of touring with The Kingston Trio and Glenn Yarbrough and his group that included original Brothers Four member, Dick Foley. This stage ended with a career retrospective at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The final stage includes lots of small changes as a songwriter and performer. The changes resulted in a new solo album as well as one with McCoy where nearly 30 years after recording Between Friends we brought in the same musicians in the same space with the same engineer and producer and recorded a follow-up titled appropriately Between Old Friends. This last stage will end a year from now when the songs are sung and the stories are told. I am curious to find out what that’s going to look like. Thank you for being part of the journey. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/chaptertwo-AmericainBlackandWhite1956-1965.mp3 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:16:57 -0700 16:02 Mark Pearson One of Those Times in A Life Welcome to the first of 49 weekly episodes to be posted on my website, MarkPearsonMusic.com, as a way of sharing my life and career in songs and stories. Each episode will offer a different song video that can be looked at individually or seen as part of a larger yearlong concert while every new weekly audio essay can be enjoyed independently or heard together as part of a chronological journey through a lifetime of music. It is my hope that these songs and stories will give light and life to yours and other’s imaginations and memories and become part of a larger conversation on the Mark Pearson Music Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. You can sign up to receive the videos and audios as free Podcasts as well as a regular muse letter I am calling Musings, Music, and More that will keep you informed about upcoming events, special deals, news, and other things I hope may enhance our journey together. As a way of providing a musical overview (and to help pay for all this) I am offering The Virtual Essentials, a 23-song collection including a digital booklet of lyrics and anecdotes available only on the Website for $12. Chosen from decades of recordings and performances, this Soundtrack of a Life consists of songs that remain most significant. Thank you for taking the time to read and watch and listen. I look forward to sharing One of Those Times in a Life with you. http://d21h0hzv529weo.cloudfront.net/audio/chapter1-oneofthosetimes.mp3 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:34:15 -0700 08:46