So much hype and explosive media coverage surrounded Michael Jackson for his entire life, and continued right up, and even after his death!

I am amazed at the amount of unhealthy hero worship that comes with celebrity nowadays!

In concerts today, the pyrotechnics, the costumes and the choreography steal the show, leaving the performers to do what they will on stage, and fill the newspapers and nightly electronic magazines with headlines of their sordid daily affairs.

Well now, this looks like a golden opportunity for me to step right up and show my age…SSSOOOOoooooOOOO…

It seems to me that talent has been replaced on stage by technical wizardry, fame has been replaced by celebrity, and humble humanity has been replaced by super-inflated egos and unabashed grabbing for the almighty buck.

I will grant you that Michael Jackson could dance. I never understood how he did the moonwalk. And he was an above average singer. However, what talent the man might have had was overshadowed by his headline-grabbing exploits with young boys and his constant cosmetic surgeries.

In my opinion, Michael was in the business of making money by making headlines. Talent had very little to do with it.

You want talent? You want showmanship?  Allow me to introduce you to them.

On October 3, 2008, a man by the name of Nicholas Wells Reynolds passed away from acute respitory pailments. He was seventy-five.

He was one of the founders of a fifties and sixties group called “The Kingston Trio.” He died as he lived – peacefully, unceremoniously, with grace.

Even if you have never heard of them or listened to their music, The Kingston Trio has had a deep impact on the music that you listen to today, and they paved the way for Michael Jackson to make his millions.

The Kingston Trio’s music and style influenced such other famous groups as The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Peter, Paul and Mary.  (To pay homage to their mentors, The Beach Boys’ cover for their first record album “Surfin’ Safari” in 1962 had the boys sporting red and white striped shirts, which was the signature costume for The Kingston Trio.)

Their music was straight-forward with a decidedly “calypso” flavor to it. (Ergo the “Kingston” in their name. Nobody from the group had ever even visited Kingston, Jamaica!) Their style was energetic and humorous. Onstage between songs, their self-deprecating, intelligent humor kept the audience in stitches. Once, as they returned to the stage for an encore, Dave Guard smiled to the audience and said, “As evidenced by the rapidity of our return, that exit was fraudulent.”

During a portion of “The Zombie Jamboree”, Dave would be out in front of the other two singing the lead, and Nick and Bob would slowly and theatrically tiptoe across to the other side of the stage.  During a break in the verses, Nick would speak in falsetto voice and call out, “You’re all alone, you know!!”

At one point, one of the Trio introduced their next song as follows, “In response to a diminishing number of requests, our next song will be…”

It was just the three of them up on the stage. That was it. No back-up musicians. Just Dave and Bob and Nick. None of the instruments they played had to be plugged in. There were guitars, banjos, an occasional ukulele, bongos and conga drums. That was it.

And these three men played the largest and most prestigious venues in the world, and they always brought the house down.

Songs like “Tom Dooley”, “Charlie and the MTA”, “Scotch and Soda” and “The Zombie Jamboree” filled my childhood.  AND you have not heard “When The Saints Go Marching In” until you’ve heard The Kingston Trio’s rendition of that song!

Their deep love for the music that they played shone through with everything that they did. I don’t believe I ever saw that with Michael Jackson.

The last time I saw The Kingston Trio was about ten years ago in a outdoor concert-in-the-park in Hartford, CT at Mark Twain Days. (Yes, Mark Twain was a resident of Hartford, where he wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as well all of his other novels.) Dave Guard was no longer with the group. He had passed away a few years before. Bob and Nick were in their mid to late sixties, and Nick was preparing to go in for hip-replacement surgery when their present tour ended.

When they first entered the stage, after the roar of applause died away, Nick looked out into the audience and exclaimed, “God! You’re all so old!!!!”

Those old men played their hearts out for over two hours, with unbridled joy and energy, and sounding exactly as they did when they were in their twenties. And when they encored with “When The Saints Go Marching In”, the place went nuts, and I found that I had tears in my eyes.

Incredible talent, gentle humor, enjoyment of their own music, and fingers on the pulse of humanity – that’s what The Kingston Trio brought to the stage. Not glitz. Not special effects. Just great music and wonderful personalities. (The only costumes that they wore were broad-striped shirts and white plants.)

When Nick died in 2008, I remember hearing about it on a radio news broadcast. The story lasted about a minute. That was it.

Nick just up and died. That’s all. And he left behind a legacy of music, of a love for music, and a love for mankind that will be remembered on one small horse farm in Coventry, CT until the day that I die.

You wanna hear one of the best albums ever recorded? Get hold of “The Kingston Trio at Carnegie Hall”. You might find it in the bargain rack at Strawberries.

Nick’s gone now, and he never will be gone.

Take care,  Maestro! I’ll see you when I get there.