The Kingston Trio, Photoshop & Me

And now for something completely different, as Monty the Python would say…

This post is about the dangers of making a casual remark.

Ever hear of the Kingston Trio? They were the Beatles of their day. They played folk music, however, not rock.

Their recording of “Tom Dooley” hit #1 and sold over six million copies. It put them on the cover of Life magazine.

Front to back: Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane, Dave Guard.

They were a little before my time, but I discovered them
later and became a big fan. I have most of their albums.

One day I happened to tell a friend of mine, “I like the Kingston Trio.”

Not long after, I received this in my inbox:

Is that really me?? Hmm. I did own some big round glasses once, and I do have a mustache… Well, judge for yourself using this handy Mark Armstrong Identi-Kit.
My friend, whose name is Dave Beffa, is a Photoshop whiz.
I can see where he cloned Bob Shane’s hair to make mine. What’s funny about that is that it gives me a passing resemblance to John Stewart.

Who’s John Stewart? He replaced Dave Guard in the Trio in 1961. So in a sense, there really was a “Kingston Quattro” during their “big name” period, 1958-67. Here’s the second lineup.

Plug: My friend, whose full name is David Beffa-Negrini, creates beautiful custom wooden jigsaw puzzles. Just send him a photo, a company logo, whatever. His puzzles make truly unique gifts. Details on his site, Fool’s Gold Puzzles.

If you’re not familiar with the Kingston Trio, here are a couple of my favorite tracks:

A Worried Man, an infectious toe-tapper by the original lineup (Guard-Shane-Reynolds), and a beautiful ballad
called Where Are You Going Little Boy, written by Stewart
and performed by Shane-Reynolds-Stewart.