Big Ragu and The Magic Dragon

I awoke this morning to find out that Mary Travers had passed away. For you non-hippies reading my blog, this was the Mary from Peter Paul and Mary. She was the voice of “Puff the magic Dragon.” It makes me tear up to think of just that. Mary died from side effects of treatment from a bone-marrow transplant after battling leukemia. In a society where we seem to follow the comings and goings of people like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton who are famous for no particular reason and who contribute to society as much as a department store mannequin, people like Mary Travers are lost somewhere on page nine.
Peter, Paul and Mary recorded hits still recognized now, including "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." They performed together for nearly 50 years, winning five Grammys and releasing 13 Top 40 hits, six of them in the Top 10 charts. Their music reflected the 1960s and the 1970s, a time of turmoil as the civil rights and anti-war movements moved into full swing.
Travers applied her recognition to rally behind those progressive movements. In 1963, the trio performed its hit song "If I Had a Hammer" at the Washington march where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famed "I Have a Dream Speech.”
"We've learned that it will take more than one generation to bring about change," Travers once said. "The fight for civil rights has developed into a broader concern for human rights, and that encompasses a great many people and countries. Those of us who live in a democracy have a responsibility to be the voice for those whose voices are stilled (CNN.com).
I wondered also after reading this sad news why Charles Manson doesn’t have Leukemia? Just a thought, but wouldn’t it be great if everyone actually got what they deserved? My mind wandered back to a magical evening some years ago at Silver Dollar City in Branson MO, where at the Echo Hollow Amphitheatre I was privileged to see Peter Paul and Mary in person. It was dusk outside and a little chilly in early fall and they played a nearly three hour set. It was a one of those moments that you wish you could put in a bottle and keep forever. In a world of non-talent, non caring, Kanye West type individuals, they should all take notice that a real lady with class has passed in was at once in their presence.
“His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave,So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.”
Today, I weep with you my friend the magic dragon.