Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 65

ALL THAT MUSIC IS NOT GOLD MARCH 12-18, 1998 idrigals Cfcsrt steppers Bob Shane, founding member of the Kingston Trio, loves to tell stories. This one Is true and he chuckles as he tells It: "Recording companies give you gour gold records mounted behind glass but they used to mount them on an ebony plaque and they weren't behind glass. One day when I was living In TiburoaCatlf. one of our records fell off the plaque. So I said.

'Let's Just see If this still We put It on and we heard Dean Martin singing They had Just taken old records out of the warehouse and slapped new labels on them. 1 mentioned it to (the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist) Shane re-formed the group in 1972, George Grove joined, but Reynolds did not come back to the lineup until 1985. In 1995, the trio released a four-CD college students in the Bay area. "We didn't start out to be a folk group," Shane said. Formed during the peak of Harry Herb Caen because I thought It was funny retrospective boxed-set album, The In December 1959 Billboard listed four Kingston Trio albums in its Top 10, a record that still stands.

In 1994 Billboard Magazine compiled a chart of the 100 Most Outstanding Album Performances from the origin of its album chart In 1956 through 1994. Five artists placed three or more albums in the Top 100. The Beatles placed four; Whitney Houston, Elvis Presley, Herb Alport's Tijuana Brass and the Kingston Trio placed three each. The Kingston Trio's and he printed K. A lot of the L.A.

artists Belafonte's popularity, the trio's first specialty was calypso music. "The name Kingston was taken from the capital city of i Kingston Trio: The Capitol Years." It contains 107 songs and sells for $64 at local record stores. The trio rarely attempts new material because got up In arms and now the (mounted) gold records have to be the 'right ones. Jamaica, even though none of us has ever been there," Shane said. But the trio tried other types of music.

Tom fans some in their teens and twenties who have only just discovered its music prefer to hear the old recorded Dooley" was recorded on an album used to demonstrate songs. Thafs no problem for the Kingston Trio however; with 415 recorded songs to pick from, concerts are easily varied. "It's a great way to make a living," Shane said. "We have fun and our entertainment makes people happy. We get to travel and we've made a lot of friends.

"You can't ask for more than that." the trio's various musical styles. After a Salt Lake disc jockey started playing Tom Dooley" and other DJs in a few other cities followed suit, Capitol Records released it as a single in late 1958. It sold 3 million copies. At that point, a record executive came up to Shane and gave the trio "a whole bunch of money and said, "You're folk "Soldi albums were: "At Large, 3 Out" and Here We Go Again, "t- We looked at the money and said, 'You bet your a-we are'." There was no Grammy category for folk music when the Kingston Trio won a Grammy for Tom Dooley," Shane said. "So we won in the Country and Western category." The next year a folk category was created.

The trio's harmony and simple acoustic guitar and banjo music was so popular and infectious, it literally initiated the folk music revival. Kingston Trio hits opened the door for the music of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary. Stringing together 10 No. 1 singles and 19 albums, the Kingston Trio became a cultural and musical phenomenon whose record sales and concert draws were matched only by the Beatles. "I believe the Kingston Trio has earned a niche in the history of popular music," Shane said.

"If nothing else, we made an awful lot of people pick up a guitar and start singing. But I don't pretend that we are something more profound than that." Through the years, the trio has gone through some changes even disbanding from 1967 to 1972. When fft Tom Dooley" "Scotch and Soda" "M.T.A." "Wreck of the John "Scarlet Ribbons" "Lemon Tree" "Greenback Dollar" "A Worried Man" "Hard Ain't It Hard" "The River Is Wide" Where Have All the Flowers Gone" "Hangman" Tijuana Jail" "El Matador" Reverend Mr. Black" They Call the Wind Maria" A. A.

.1..., i injtj.iif Can YouBelieve Whenlt Comes To Loose $1 Slots? $5, Fitzgeralds is the only casino to use an dent national CPA firm to certify the loose payback YOUR LUCKY PLACI TO PLAY. ages of every $1 machine in Lucky Lane. 90.7 payback. Why play anywhere else? intages rounded and calculated on maximum coins played, with perfect play. Visit us on the web! http:www.fitzgeralds.com CasinoHotel Downtown Reno Right At The Arch.