Frank McGee has produced a powerful and captivating book detailing the globetrotting antics of what began as a group of young people searching for peace and friendship around the world, this movement later became known as “Up With People”. Although it has its roots in the US, it is much better known abroad. I enjoyed A Song For The World so much that I had to ask for an interview, but who to ask? It is very much a collaborative effort, and while Frank McGee is to be commended for his efforts, it is clear that other people helped and abetted him. Caution aside, I opened it up to everyone who could participate.

Hello everyone, I would like to start with a couple of questions for Frank. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Frank: I’m glad, Simon, and I’ll make sure to stop for a bit. I grew up in Oregon and near the end of World War II I became involved in crisis resolution work, in part through music and theater. It took me to other countries. In Brazil, in the early 1960s, I became a photojournalist. Then followed the writing, which became my career.

At the end of the 1960s, he edited the magazine Pace, a contemporary of La Mirada y la Vida of those days. In the 1970s, I launched and edited New Worlds, the leading magazine in Orange County, California, and wrote an illustrated book for the University of California at Irvine about the school’s first quarter century. I also posted the official schedule for the Bushmills Grand Prix offshore powerboat race, held in Newport Beach. I was told that the program’s circulation of half a million was the largest in the history of the sport. Let’s hear it for Irish whiskey!

Luckily I got married. My wife, Helen, an English major at Carleton College and the daughter of a literature professor, has been my creative partner from the beginning.

Where did you get the idea for the book?

Frank: In early 2003 we were at a meeting with old friends when a lawyer from Oakland spoke about terrible things facing young people in her city. “There should be a book about the Colwell brothers and Herb Allen,” she said. Someone asked, “Who can write it?” I knew right away that this was a story for me. But then I had little idea of ​​its implications.

What he did know was that the Colwells and Allens had done what no one else had done. They had been as comfortable performing at the Japanese Diet as they were in the courtyards of the African Chiefs or Carnegie Hall. But as the book project progressed, through interviews, reading hundreds of letters, and gathering recollections from people these remarkable artists had touched around the world, I realized that it wasn’t just an amazing story of something that was had done, but a fascinating insight into things yet to be done. It turned out to be a real-life adventure story, perhaps even adventurous enough for adult Harry Potter readers.

A Song For The World is very well written, is this your first foray into the literary world?

Frank: I guess if you haven’t heard of me, Simon, the obvious answer should be “Yes.” I have edited, written, and ghostwritten books and anthologies that have been translated into multiple languages. But A Song for the World is without a doubt the most important story I’ve been given to tell, and the most rewarding for me as a writer. Interestingly, it is a story that no one knew, not even those who had followed these musicians for years.

I have a question that I would like to throw to any of you. I love the photos, someone is a pack rat to have all this. Who? And how the hell did you manage to keep all these photos and memories while constantly traveling?

Steve Colwell: Our mother, bless her soul. We send letters, photos and some artifacts home regularly.

Frank: When we started the book project, we heard from people in Anchorage and Helsinki, Zurich and Oslo, London and Cape Town, who saved photos and offered to share them. And yes, Mama Colwell’s treasure box was the real bonanza. It was there that I found the great photo that is on the cover of the book. We have searched in vain ever since to locate the photographer.

You left for a month-long tour and came back 10 years later! I’m sure it has to be a record. You had a great future staying in the US, but you chose to walk away. Any regrets?

Steve Colwell: The decision to continue with the show was not without some deep thought and some heartache. Who knows where our music career or any other career would have taken us if we had stayed home. The entertainment business is very competitive, even these days. We could have risen to the top of our field, or our young career could have been over in a flash. In any case, as I said in the book, I don’t see how an amount of money or fame could have been more fulfilling, exciting and challenging than pursuing the noble quest of using our music to help make a better world. In my mind, this was our destiny, what we were born to do, and I think we all knew it deep down.

Just a wild guess, how many people have you entertained over the years? I bet that is a very large number. I did a poll of people I know, and I hate to say this, but your organization is relatively unknown to Americans, but it’s well known to people in other countries. That bothers you?

Steve Colwell: No, it doesn’t bother me as I’m delighted that other countries have responded as they have. Up with People has performed at four Super Bowl halftime shows, several network TV specials, at prestigious venues like the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall and thousands of concerts across the US, so you ask why more Americans they do not know. I think the size of our country and the competition for the entertainment dollar play things apart. In smaller, more homogeneous countries like Belgium and Japan, the news spreads faster.

John Ruffin, Publisher, Many Roads Publishing: Up with People name recognition in North America varies, perhaps geographically, but I have to say I’m more impressed than I expected by the recent gatherings where people knew or remembered UWP. I bet that in any group of 20 people in the US between the ages of 35 and 60, at least 2 will know about UWP. I randomly checked this and found people starting to sing (Up, up with People, you find them wherever you go…) or saying “I wish I had traveled with them” or “my neighbor (or the neighbor’s son) traveled with them “. During the 1960s and 1970s we took this show to every major state and city in the US numerous times, played it at every major college or university (Harvard, Yale, Berkley, etc.), military bases and academies, we did four national television programs. and four Super Bowls, seven World’s Fairs. So while the brothers and Herb aren’t household names, Up with People frequently makes a connection.

If you had to choose the highest point of your career(s), what would it be?

Steve Colwell: There are many, but I have always remembered our Italian tour in 1968 as special and enjoyable. All songs and spoken words were in Italian. We all speak Italian to one degree or another. Herb is fluid. We wrote a medley of songs honoring some of the major cities. The crowd barely let us go with shouts of “bis, bis, bis”. (more more more)

And of course, I have to ask what was the downside?

Steve Colwell: Between tours in the early 60’s with no planned plan for the next challenge or project. Partly being a bit exhausted, the feeling of being in limbo, that maybe we would continue our course, being a bit stuck.

Today’s world is just as volatile as yesterday’s, in many ways even more so what is ‘Up With People’ doing today? Are you still on tour? Are they still ambassadors of peace?

Steve Colwell: Yeah, two casts of about 80 each are on tour. Because our country and the world are so polarized and dominated by fear and hatred, especially in the Middle East, understanding, individual responsibility and a new hope for a better world are needed now more than ever.

John Ruffin: I think so, without a doubt. The times, as you say, are even more challenging and all the more reason for “music diplomacy” that speaks of a deeper connection, understanding and alliance between all the peoples of the planet. We have to use a lot more heart, care, and intelligence (in the head kind of way) in how we approach each other in the world, and UWP is once again at the forefront of this effort. It has recently been restructured to be more focused and agile in both educating participants and responding to global issues, and the two new casts represent dozens of nations from all continents. The Colwells and Herbs started the “power of music” show 50 years ago and really set the standard in so many ways. I wish the current purveyors of “diplomacy” in this country would take at least one chapter of this book (as well as the new UWP program) as the new perspective/guidelines for truly effective outreach to the world, if it’s not too late.

Frank: Two Up with People companies are on tour as we speak. But for me, the Up with People idea now belongs to the world. It is showing itself to varying degrees through the lives of its 20,000 alumni who are today involved in education, media, public service, entertainment, government, and business. It is an idea that is proving contagious.

I have what I consider two “big” thoughts about these four men and this book. The first is that his story is a convincing demonstration of the power of music as a power to bring about change. All four may not say it that way, and they’ve never made any claims, but I think it’s true. The second “big” thought is that at a time when this country has become less than universally loved, these artists, all of whom are American, have shown an intriguing and repeatable way of connecting with the human family, with countries and cultures from all over the world. the world. .

Just for a fun question, which one of you is the better musician?

Steve Colwell: Without a doubt it is our “master”, Herb Allen. He is a xylophone virtuoso, writing and arranging music, sometimes without the aid of a musical instrument, and has conducted several symphony orchestras in conjunction with Up with People shows. He also has perfect pitch.

The three of us have had only very elementary formal training, if any. We are self-taught. Paul is our best musician, he flows easily between mandolin, banjo and guitar. Ralph is our lead vocalist. If organizing, detailing and caring can be considered a talent, I’m the best. By the way, I’m the zipline singer of the group.

Frank, I’ve never met an author who stops at just one book, what are you working on now?

Frank: I thought you’d never ask! When the opportunity to write A Song for the World presented itself, he had just finished the first draft of a novel. It is based on things that really happened in a well-known California town: intrigue in high places, scandalous events and a love story that unites them.

After upcoming book signing/concert tours with Colwell Brothers and Herb across the country, I’ll be back to fiction for myself. In this case, fiction is not much stranger than truth. Of course I’m expecting publisher bidding wars.

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to chat with me. You have led such wild lives, there are few people who have known the world leaders you have, there are few people who have seen the struggle these merry minstrels have. There are also some jolly minstrels who have appeared in 4 Super Bowl halftime shows.

Simon Barrett interview for bloggernewsnet

http://zzsimonb.blogspot.com