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He’s Back
27 Years After Inaugurating The Grand, Folksinger Noel Paul Stookey Will Play Fund-raiser
by
Allyson Brehm
ELLSWORTH — The
first time, they paid him in retired theater seats. That was 1975,
when The Grand Auditorium was newly reborn and Noel Paul Stookey
was new in town.
Noel Paul Stookey at The Grand in Ellsworth. In 1975 (below),
he sang to celebrate The Grand’s re-opening. On July 27 he’ll
be back to raise maintenance funds.
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Famed as the
“Paul” in the folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary, he played a solo
concert to celebrate The Grand’s conversion from decaying movie
theater to county auditorium.
In exchange, he
took home 24 seats from the old movie theater, which he used to
create his own movie theater at his new studio in South Blue Hill.
“It was a great
trade,” he said last week.
On Saturday, July
27, at 8 p.m., he will perform again to benefit The Grand.
Stookey has
always “held The Grand in great affection,” he said.
In 1975, he was
the first to perform in the converted movie house.
“They put up a
temporary plywood stage and I did my concert from there,” he
recalled.
Stookey—known as
“Noel” when he’s offstage—moved to South Blue Hill in 1974 from
New York. He and his wife, Betty, brought up three daughters
there.
He converted a
henhouse on his property into a recording and animation
studio—final resting place of the 24 Grand seats. The Henhouse, as
it was called, also became the birthplace of community radio
station WERU-FM, which has since moved to East Orland.
More recently the
Stookeys have “turned into summer people,” he said.
Ten months out of
the year they live in Massachusetts on the campus of
Northfield-Mount Hermon School where Betty Stookey, who earned a
master of divinity degree after her children were grown, serves as
chaplain.
But the Stookeys
are not severing their ties with the area and even plan on
returning—sooner than later, Noel Stookey hopes.
“We are making
decisions about where to spend the rest of our lives,” he said. “I
hope to return to full time here in two or three years.”
The concert comes
at a good time for Stookey.
“It is a chance
to say ‘hi’ to people and raise money for The Grand,” he said.
If he could
subtitle the show Stookey would call it “By Myself.”
His performance
will be a recollection of songs, spanning 30 years, many of which
he wrote when he first moved to the area in the 1970s, as well as
some Peter, Paul & Mary material.
The songs Stookey
writes today are about the importance of reflection within modern
life.
Performing at The
Grand in 1975 was not Stookey’s first concert in the area. That
concert was held at the Blue Hill Town Hall
the year before. The concert raised funds for a nursery school his
wife was starting.
When the concert
was over, Stookey remembers a Blue Hill resident coming up and
introducing himself in what seemed a very Downeast manner:
“There are a lot
worse ways to get to know your neighbor,” the man said.
Stookey still
travels with Peter, Paul & Mary for 36 shows a year. He is an
artist-in- residence at Northfield Mount Hermon, and taught a
songwriting class there.
When not on the
road, “I try to be involved in community as much as I can,” he
said.
He also helps
produce recordings for The Celebration Shop, a Texas-based
nonprofit group specializing in entertainment and encouragement
for the life-threatened, hospitalized and physically challenged.
One of the songs
created by the class he taught at Northfield Mount Hermon has been
included in a third series of recordings from Celebration Shop.
Solo performances
are a rarity for Stookey. “They happen only one week a year,” he
said. “With special exceptions for places like The Grand.”
Funds raised by
the concert will be used for the maintenance work that is going on
in the theater this summer.
“We are
recovering seats and working on the interior ceilings,” said
Executive Director Bob Bahr. “It will go a long way to help.”
Following the
concert will be a champagne reception at the Riverside Café.
Noel Paul Stookey
will perform at The Grand Saturday, July 27, at 8 p.m. Tickets are
$25 for the concert and $25 for the reception afterwards.
Tickets/information: 667-9500. |
