Her companion was soon dozing, but she became chatty during the over 30-minute trip to the Plaza. I mentioned our run-in at the IU Bookstore a few years before and the subsequent discussion with Peter the next day. She had no memory of either. I admit I was rather crestfallen. I was so sure I had made an indelible impression on her. Alas, no. I had the good sense to not bring up the Indy airport encounter.
During the course of my stint in NYC, I ran into a number of luminaries. Frankly, it would be unusual for anyone spending more than a few days in the city NOT to bump into or at least spot someone of note. But driving Mary Travers to the Plaza was perhaps my most memorable brush with the rich and famous. Even though she had no recollection of our bookish encounter, during her ride to the Plaza she was very talkative, funny, gracious, AND, at the end, a good tipper.
I haven't brought myself to start playing PP&M albums just yet, but I'll probably slip one or two into my CD player in a day or two to hear Mary's plaintive voice once again.
Article comments
1 - klondikekitty
Thank you so much for your colorful tribute to Mary Travers . . . As an 18-yr-old flower child in 1970, Peter, Paul and Mary were among my favorite musicians, and I listened eagerly as each new song of theirs hit the airwaves . . . . As I told one of my friends when I learned she had died, "Well, I don't think God wants to listen to harp music ALL the time, so maybe she is singing her songs to Him now" I like to believe that she is . . .