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POPULAR FOLK MUSIC TODAY, SPRING 1991

Some Thoughts on Dave Guard

By: Allan Shaw

It's over a month now since Dave died and I've been thinking about what to write for this memorial to him. Maybe nothing? I'm having a difficult time -the words just don't want to come. Besides which, the tributes from friends and fans have been flowing in, many of them so eloquent that nothing I can say could come close to matching them. Surely anything I might say would be superfluous.

Then there are Dave's words too. Speak of eloquent! Many of you have said that you felt you knew Dave well, even though you may never even have met him. Well you did know him well -thanks to him. In so much of what he wrote and said he was so expressive of himself that he was opening himself up to all of us as only a close friend will do. He was always sharing himself and relying on those who received something directly from him to pass it along to others. (And so comes the light - that sudden flash of understanding) Dave shared himself with me, and I have this paper to pass along some of what he thought and said to you! How could 'it have taken me so long to have figured that out? OK, Dave, I get the message and here goes!)

Let me begin by relating a few of the happenings around the time of Dave's death. I'd known it was close. The morning of the day he died, Nick Heyl had visited him, following which he'd 'phoned a number of Dave's closest friends and associates. "If you want to see Dave again, you'd better get on a plane today" he told them. But already It was too late. At about 8 that evening Dave died peacefully, having earlier bid farewell to the friends and family who were with him and had tended to him those last few days.

I'd gone out that evening and when I returned home my answering machine was blinking away. I didn't need to listen to it. I knew - without knowing - what was on the tape. And so it was with the first 'phone call of the following morning. It was Ingrid Shaw, and as soon as she identified herself I .knew what she'd called to tell me. I listened sympathetically and asked those dumb questions that one asks when one doesn't know what else to say. Things like, "Will there be a service? Where? When?" "I don't know," she replied. "There won't be a funeral. Dave's body is being cremated and the ashes flown to Hawaii to be scattered on his favorite surfing beach. We may have a memorial service here later, but I just don't know now."

As I hung up the 'phone, I thought to myself, "There's no way I can afford the time or the money to go to the service if there is one. Don't even think about 'it." Well, I didn't, at least not until the following Monday when Nick Heyl called to tell me that the service would be held that Friday in Portsmouth. I didn't think about it then either. As I hung up the 'phone I was reaching for the yellow pages to call the airlines. Was I being told something then? I think so!

Similarly, the next day when I called Rick and Ingrid to tell them I would be at the service, I was asked to speak at it. I was pleased and honored and wasn't at all sure that I should. I hesitated a minute before replying, and when I did I knew exactly what I was going to say - I'd be passing along some of Dave's words.

A year earlier, several of us had put together benefit concerts for Dave in St. Louis and Chicago. Rick and Ron Shaw flew out and were joined by Bob Gibson, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, the Dooley Brothers and some local acts. We put together a program for those concerts, and Dave wrote a letter to be used on the cover of that program. It was so typical of Dave; a few words of genuine thanks followed by a paragraph that succinctly summed up Dave's philosophy of life, and it closed with one of the jokes that Dave was so fond of telling - sometimes at what seemed to be the most inappropriate occasions. But the letter was "so Dave" that I'm repeating it here in it's entirety. I've excerpted the philosophical paragraph elsewhere, as it by itself is well worth repeating. Why do I tell you this? Because from the moment I was asked to speak at Dave's service, I knew what I wanted to say - I wanted to read that letter at the service - and I did. And here It is now for everyone else.

"Greetings and Salutations to everyone assembled! With great love and respect I welcome you with all my heart. Though the miles separate us at this moment, there is no difference in the feelings we share when there's music in the air. When that current starts to flow, something happens that everybody knows, and it all began a long long time ago! Thanks to you, it's not about to diminish; It's going to grow.

"If there's a voice within you, let it sing out. Don't worry what anybody else says about the way it sounds to them. If I had kept my mouth shut, where would I be today? If you love somebody or something, don't hold back; give it a bit of a push, the next one along the line might really make it shine. None of this is ours to possess, only to enjoy. And to pass along, enhanced by the wealth of our experiences.

"As Sandy McDonald lay dying, he made a last request to his friend, Hamish: 'Would you come along every year on my birthday and pour a bottle of Drambuie over my grave?' Tearfully, Hamish inquired, 'Would you mind if I filtered it ever so lightly through my kidneys First?'

"So, all glory to you filterers from a long-time filterer!"

As I later reflected on these words of Dave's, I came to appreciate them all the more and realize just how descriptive they were of Dave. He was always giving something a bit of a push and he never held onto something long enough to really "possess" it; he would take it and enjoy it and then pass it along - greatly enhanced, to say the least. Think for a moment of those Kingston Trio songs that come to mind as being particularly associated with Dave, mostly traditional songs, lovingly reworked. That was no small part of what made the Kingston Trio so special to me and, I know, to many of you.

Conversely, there were the detractors who castigated the Trio for "commercializing" traditional songs. But unlike the Trio, their interests were in possessing and preserving rather than passing along and enhancing. I'm not meaning to suggest that the Trio was right and the detractors were wrong - there are strong arguments for both points of view. But whichever view you subscribed to, you couldn't escape the fact that Dave, as the leader" of the Trio, was steadfast in his philosophy of enjoying and passing along, enhanced by the wealth of experiences. And like it or not, it resulted in many wonderful songs and melodies being brought from the relative obscurity of being folk songs' into widespread recognition and popularity.

But this same lack of sentimentality, or nostalgia, or lack of respect for tradition, or whatever you want to call It, that Dave brought to the Kingston Trio and for which we loved him, was the same thing that contributed to his leaving it and incurring the enmity of many fans. A less eloquent, but equally appropriate way of saying, "passed along enhanced by the wealth of our experiences," is "the time has come for a change - to try something new." Dave was too Involved with too many things to dwell overly long on any one thing, and when he put something behind him, it was there to stay. Although he never said in so many words that he regretted leaving the Trio, I think that he did, although I also think he would have regretted it had he stayed. He left because he was ready for a change, ready to try something new. When he couldn't get the Trio to change, his only choice was to leave. Although there was certainly bitterness over his departure neither he, nor Bob nor Nick, ever vacillated over the primary reason - he was ready for a change and they weren't. And he never said they were wrong and he was right - it was just time for him to move along and if they weren't ready to go with him, then he'd have to go on his own. He never looked back.

A couple of years ago there was an abortive attempt for a Trio reunion, and Dave was talking about taking along his midi guitar. "Why," I asked him, "don't you take along your acoustic instruments and sing and play Trio songs in the way people remember them? That's what the fans want." His reply was, "I don't want to, and I don't know if I could if I did want to. I've changed a lot over the years and my musical skills have changed, matured 'if you will - although I know a lot of people would disagree with that. I don't know if I can still play and sing the way I did 25 years ago - that just isn't me anymore!"

If Dave was nothing else, he was consistent in his desire for innovation and change, despite what anyone else thought. Speaking of his UP & IN album and the electric Instruments he was preparing to use on it, Dave said, "I sallied forth into the world of concerts and saloons with my new gadgets and concepts. The audiences hated it. The people who turned out were expecting to get some kind of Kingston Trio retread... my playing was a constant embarrassment to me, and of course I was too stubborn to give up and return to the acoustic guitar as recommended by 100% of my friends. (I thought I could bulldoze through by practicing four hours a day.)"

With his inquisitive and experimentive mind, Dave was not only constantly seeking change, but always had a multitude of products in the works. In his tape recorded remarks which were played at Dave's memorial service, Lou Gottlieb said, "Most people die long after they have completed their terrestrial assignments. If I know Dave, he had at least ten important projects in the works when he took off, so he must have got curious and went on ahead." Indeed you did know him, Lou. There were at least ten) Among them, the one I found most intriguing was the one to re-do UP & IN as a less experimental and more contemporary album.

Several months before his death, Dave had become fast friends with a musician/songwriter/producer named Bruce lnnes. Bruce, who has impressive credentials and experience In Nashville, offered to take the original 24-track master tapes of the album and re-mix it into an essentially acoustic album, stripping off much of what he regarded as superfluous sounds. Dave was ecstatic about the idea and spent many hours on the 'phone with Bruce, telling Bruce what he thought should be taken off and what he thought should be left on. They worked out new arrangements and talked about adding acoustic instrumental and vocal harmony tracks on some of the songs. Dave also worked out and provided Bruce with ideas and arrangements of vocal and instrumental tracks for Bob (Shane) and Nick (Reynolds) to add to some of the songs, thus producing a "contemporary original Kingston Trio" sound and flavor to the album. Bob and Nick liked that idea, but despite Dave's pleadings, his associates who worked with him producing the UP & IN album refused to send the original master tapes to Bruce. I've not spoken directly with any of them about it, so don't know their reasons, but am led to believe they feel that UP & IN should be left as it is as a memorial to Dave. If that is so, I don't think they could be more wrong, nor do I think they knew Dave very well. What made Dave tick was Innovation and change - trying something new and different, but In so doing he wasn't necessarily being critical of what already was - he was just ready to try something else.

In closing, let me say, "Thanks, Dave, for being you and for being true to your words. When you were the 'next one along the line', you really made it shine. When you grabbed ahold of something, you didn't try to possess it - to keep it for yourself - but you showed us how much you enjoyed it. And when you passed it along, it was indeed enhanced!

"But I'm not just talking about 'things' - songs and ideas and what not. Yes, they're all a part of it, but I think the people you touched are the biggest part. With your words and music - and much more, your entire personality - you touched a lot of people, many of whom never met you personally. But we felt we knew you, and we enjoyed you, and felt that you enjoyed us. You've passed a lot along, tons, and we are indeed enhanced by the wealth of your experiences."

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