Thursday, November 6, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 9
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Woe Pau Stookey: Body & Spirit
By Chris McCubbin
Senior Reporter .
Legally, you understand, his name
has never been Paul, but he doesn't
mind if you call him that.
It all started in 1960, in Green
wich Village, of course. There was
this club where he liked to play
chess. One day the table was replaced
by a stage. Pretty soon he was on it.
At that time he was working for a
photography firm. ; '
. ,"I was about the only person in
the village at that time with a goa
tee and a business suit," he says.
Then he met Mary Travers and
Peter Yarrow and they decided to
form a folk group. Peter, Noel and
Mary sounded dumb, and Yarrow,
Stookey and Travers didn't scan, so
it was either call themselves The
Willows or change his name to Paul.
Today he says he's glad they went
with Peter, Paul and Mary, because
they've always been a group of very
different individuals, and he thinks
Peter, Paul and Mary expresses that
better than The Willows would have.
Of course there's more to know
about Noel Paul Stookey than Peter,
Paul and Mary. You could go back
before P, P&M, to when he was a kid
in rural Maryland learning to play
his dad's four-string tenor guitar,
then the ukulele, then the six-string
guitar, listening to rhythm and blues
and writing his first songs primi
tive, derivative R&B winning tal
ent contests with his band, the
Birds of Paradise.
But you're probably better off
moving forward in time to the pres
ent and his new band, Bodyworks.
Noel Paul Stookey and Bodyworks
will be playing in the Nebraska
Union Ballroom on Nov. 13.
Bodyworks started out as an album
and turned into a band, more or less
by accident Stookey had an idea to
make an album on which all the
instruments were replaced with body
sounds -r- slap the tummy, snap the
fingers, etc. altera few.days in
the studio it was obvious that his
was not an idea whose time had
come. He says only one track,, a
cover of "Ghost Riders In The Sky,"
was any good, and even that proba
bly will never see vinyl.
: . But he still liked the name, so the
album became "Band And Body-
. works." Since he now needed a Body
works Band he "went out and, recru
ited a local bar band called Starsong.
Three members of Starsong are
still with Bodyworks: Karla Thibo
deau, vocals and keyboards; Kent
Palmer, bass and vocals; and Denny
Bouchard, keyboard and percussion.
Guitarist Jimmy Nails joined up for
their second album, "Wait'U You
Hear This." Now they're touring to
support their third album, "State of
the Heart."
A big reason Stookey formed body
works was so he could have an
outlet for his Christian beliefs. Ever
since he left Peter, Paul and Mary in
the late '60s he's been a mainstay of
the Christian recording industry; he
made four pre-Bodyworks solo al
bums. His best-known song, "The
Wedding Song," dates from this
period.
Stookey's Christianity is a very
subtle, soft-sell thing. He says he
wants to "express God's presence in
the everyday." In Bodyworks' songs,
religion mixes freely and subtly
with Stookey's politics and wry obser
vations about life as we live it. But
there's something there. He recru
ited his band members because
they were good musicians, not be
cause of any special religious view
point. None of them were particu
larly religious. ;Now; all the band
members are serious , evangelical
Christians. Something's at work here.
; Peter, Paul and Mary have been
back together since 1978. This is a
big year for them. They were arrested
for protesting at the South African
: Embassy, they went on a fact-finding
tour of Nicaragua and El Salvador, a
new album , will come out; soon
which will include Stookey's politi
cal song "El-Salvadore," and a book
is being written about them. .
Stookey divides his attention be
tween the two bands. P, P&M has
about 50 shows this year; Bodyworks
will do 30to 40. This sound like a
lot, but it's no big deal for Stookey,
who used to do 180 shows a year in
the '60s.
In spite of all his sidelines, he
still considers himself a folk artist.
He says folk music is a lot like
Jimmy Cricket every so often it
pops up to remind us that popular
music can deal with subjects more
important than teen-age dating be
havior. Tickets for Noel paul Stoo
key and Bodyworks are avail
able at all local outlets.
Ill CONCERT
THE
LEGENDARY.
S In 1958
Lonnie Mack cut
"Memphis" and be
came a National Star
virtuallyoverniqht. Since
tnen. nenas continually
recorded and aiaqed in
fluencing guitarists such as
'
2
Eric Clapton. Jimmy Page and
btevie Hay vaugnn. his latest
record "Strike Like Lightning." co
produced by Stevie Ray Vaughn, has
put Lonnie back on the charts, and
he's hotter than ever.
Ask anyone that saw Lonnie's ZOO
performance in July of '85. then rush
on down to the ZOO and pick up your
tickets. They're going fast!
Friday-Saturday
November & 0
9-1:00 $6 Advance f
136 N. 14th
-Ah o. '-m
TONIGHT
25 Draws
'Til Midnight
NO COVER
Love Those Legs Contest
at 11 p.m. s50 to' Winner
No Strings, No Catches, No Requirements,
No Fine Print - JUST THE BEST BAR VALUE
IN LINCOLN! ! !
" ' We Rock Lincoln!
NAVAL ; V .
OPPORTUNITY
COUNSELORS WILL BE ON YQTjR CAMPUS
THE 5TH a 6TH OF NQVEMBER 1986
i ' . ......
or! -IF YOU ARE A COLLEGE STUDENT ; "
. - , (FRESHMAN, SOPHOMORE,' JlNfOK OR SENIOR) ' 1 .
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WE WANT TO DISCUSS OUR MANAGEMENT
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