2005 has been a ‘transitional year’ in the life of Noel Paul Stookey. He and Betty, his wife of over 42 years and former chaplain of the Northfield Mt. Hermon prep school in western Massachusetts, are in the process of returning to Blue Hill. It is the small town on the coast of Maine where they settled 30 years ago to raise their three daughters Liz, Anna and Kate. Following a move into a new house on the old property, the couple looks forward to spending part of the following spring as chaplain/artist in residence at the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. “The world is such a small place now. It seems as though we live in each other’s back pockets; or at least in each other’s cyberspace”, Stookey suggests, “Betty and I are in the process of discovering how to bring our mutual social and spiritual concerns to classrooms; she with her ministry and I with my music. It’s going to lead naturally to some traveling and work together…” “And, it was great”, he continues, “working with Betty for eight years in the context of that ‘larger school family’ forced me to stay much more current and accessible than I would have been off in ‘vacation land’ somewhere!” Initially invited to be a performing Artist In Residence at NMH, over the next six years Noel Paul co-produced musical theatre, edited and produced a series of Vesper Recordings, led a class in group singing and taught a songwriting class, (one of the creations being selected for inclusion on the third in a series of musical recordings for Hugworks; a non-profit group specializing in entertainment and encouragement for the life-threatened, hospitalized and physically challenged. The first two (Best I Can Be and We Can Do) of a soon-to-be four releases, all co-produced by Stookey, are award-winners and can be found through www.neworldmultimedia.com, Borders Books, Amazon.Com and other children’s outlets. Coincidentally, his interest and success in the field of children’s music has led him to serve as an active board member for Operation Respect, the globally recognized leader in the distribution of tolerance and non-bullying curriculum founded by his singing partner Peter Yarrow. And ‘Paul’ is not the only other name that Noel goes by: His work with kids of the electronic age during the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s via the Celestat computer BBS that he ran in Downeast Maine, earned him the title ‘Sysop’, (short for SYStem Operator) prior to the rapid advances in the internet. The electronic bulletin board system was at one point the largest in the state of Maine and had over 400 regular users amidst the 1000 or more that passed through its phone lines each year. “I still stay in touch with computers, animation and that whole rapid expansion of technology”, says Stookey who supervises PETERPAULANDMARY.COM (the trio’s website). Coinciding with the 2004 release of his CD ‘VIRTUAL PARTY’, a retrospective look at the stand up comedy done by this lanky middle man of the fold trio, Noel designed his three-dimensional website called, (drumroll), www.virtualparty.com using Digital Space Traveler virtual reality software. Though he moved to New York City at the age of 20 to be a photographer, Noel Paul Stookey soon found that other opportunities beckoned there. Swept up in the burgeoning arts scene in Greenwich village, his buoyant style and Midwestern affability quickly found him work as a master of ceremonies, comedian and sometime singer and songwriter. “Those were exciting time,” he recalls. “I would only wish that the same environment of artistic exchange and freedom could be made available to more young artist today…” Applauding the medical and prayerful miracles surrounding the year-long recovery of his singing partner, Mary Travers from Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, Noel anticipates a dozen or so concerts with Peter, Paul and Mary in 2006. They will kick off the 2006 tour with the trio’s Carnegie Hall Holiday celebration in December of 2005. And, in his fourth decade as the ‘Paul’ of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Stookey’s commitment to spanning a spectrum from, ‘I Dig Rock And Roll Music,’ his ‘60’s satire on pop trendiness, to one of the best loved solo records, ‘The Wedding Song,’ which reached the top 30’s of the pop charts in the early ‘70’s. ( The later was of special significance to Noel, not only because it represented a musical gift to Peter Yarrow on his wedding day, but also because it was among the first songs written following his Christian conversion in 1968). Stookey’s passionate beliefs have been an impetus for his own personal activism. “Ultimately we’re all responsible for putting our belief into action,” he says. His visits to Central America and his support for the sanctuary movement, which shelters the refugees of political oppression, his song ‘El Salvador,’ based on the experience of clergy in that nation during the ‘80’s, has been called a stirring call for human rights. That spirit has guided both his words and his actions. After creating ‘The Wedding Song,’ for example, Stookey assigned the publishing rights from the song to The Public Domain Foundation, which has donated nearly 2 million dollars to charities in countries around the world. The organization, now guided by his daughter Elizabeth Stookey Sunde, has expanded into the sponsoring of Music To Life songwriting contests, (“soundtracks for advocacy, he call it). The providing of Musical Instrument ‘Petting Zoo’s’ for communities and on the horizon a radio disk jockey resource providing access to “music for social change”. ‘Stook’, (as some of his high school chums still call him) enjoys the balanced schedule he works to maintain between his private life, his solo performances and concerts with Peter and Mary. His many interests seem to strengthen and enhance one another. “I enjoy moving from one project to another; I just don’t think there are any rigid boundaries where imagination and creativity are concerned. My discovery and ultimate thankfulness for the patience of a Creator who would be involved in my life as I allowed, obviously altered my motivations tremendously”, he volunteers. “And most of the songs I’ve written since the late ‘60’s, though they may be really quite wide contextually, are from the ‘forgiven and Loved’ perspective that one inherits as a gift of the Spirit. I’m just hopeful that I can be an encouragement; a challenge to other folks to reach for peace on earth by starting within their own hearts.”
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