Kingston Crossroads: Re: Kingston Trio Reunion in 1981

Interesting.

I remember a news story from 1961 that someone (Jim Moran?) posted years ago.

During the break-up, Dave filed an action before the musicians' union to gain the exclusive right to the Kingston Trio name. If he won, Dave said, he planned to retire the name because he thought it should be used only by him, Bob and Nick performing together.

Think about what that would have done. Bob and Nick could replace Dave but couldn't use the KT name. Dave was forming the Whiskeyhill Singers. In other words, the WHS would compete head-to-head with Bob and Nick's band with neither band having the advantage of the KT name.

It seemed as if Dave was trying to prove, once and for all, that he, not Bob or Nick, was the top dog. At the very least, it was a parting shot to deprive Bob and Nick of a very valuable asset.

Does anyone else remember this?

Previous Message

The bottom line is...there was GOING to be a problem between Bob and Dave. As there was for at least 20 years prior - probably more.

If you read THE KINGSTON TRIO ON RECORD and Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of The Kingston Trio, you still have to go back and see if you can get to the site of the old Kingston Trio "library" that was online. It was articles from old music magazines and industry journals from 1958 to 1983. Many Tom Delisle written articles.

Those, plus other internet (as it was at the time) "snooping" revealed that it was Dave that tried to get a musical act going with Nick when he got back to the US from Australia. It was also Dave that "finked" to Frank Werber and Nick Reynolds about the style of humor used in KT shows prior to Bob buying the name outright. Dave may have made it seem like Bob's act could do so much "better," but I think Dave was actually trying to seriously undercut Bob one more time. When that failed, Dave tried to unite with Nick and John Stewart, but couldn't call it "The Kingston Trio" because Bob owned the name. And John was too busy trying to keep himself signed to any major label. Nick just wanted to go home.

Dave wanted to get back in the Trio by 1972 (or whenever it was). He was losing money and only had sporadic jobs that undoubtedly cost him more money than he ever made afterwards. All of them did their best to keep those cards from showing during the 1981 reunion.

Dave had musical talent, but he blew any in-roads he made with the Kingston Trio, sky high, when he left. Nick was an eccentric rancher and John had his own musical career and Bob had the Kingston Trio. Dave had...Dave. From the 1970s until he died he did a few gigs with members of the Modern Folk Quartet, the Sons Of Champlin, the Shaw Brothers and finally...his guitar synthesizer.