I met Buffy in the very early 60's when I was a singer with the Canadian group "The Chanteclairs" (still am after 40 years!). I was living on Avenue Road, across from the Purple Onion coffee house. Our group was quite well-known at the time - after all, folk was mainstream then. She was beginning to wow people wherever she went and back then, the Onion housed performers at the Ford Hotel, across from the Grey Coach bus station...an awful place with peeling paint and shared bathrooms. I was appalled and immediately invited her to stay with me. She was a lovely person, still is. She was working on a few songs, including Universal Soldier. She asked me if people would know what a Jain is...I assured her that if they didn't, the context of the song would make it plain. I showed her the few Native songs I had and sent her to the Six Nations reserve at Brantford to learn more. I think she had a great visit there.
At that time, Ian and Sylvia were starting out and were among the first Canadian folkies to crack New York. Gordie Lightfoot heard early Bob Dylan songs and felt that he should also give voice to his own poetry, impressions and thoughts. Early Morning Rain was written when we were performing at the Sault Ste. Marie festival and had been up all night at the zoo watching the buffalo herd before our flight home. Yes, it was drizzling...actually a Scotch mist and our plane was leaving very early in the morning (see photo). Folks from top to bottom: Estelle Klein, Bonnie Dobson, Klaas Van Graft, Gord, me and Ken Duncan. Klaas and Ken are the other two Chanteclairs. For Gord, the rest is history.
I kept in touch off and on with Buffy and then we lost track of each other. A few years ago, she came to the University of Waterloo to talk about her work and her Cradleboard [Teaching] project. I was on staff there and went to see her. It was a happy reunion and briefer than either of us wished. She had another workshop to give and I had a rehearsal for a concert. Of course, I misplaced her address and felt quite irresponsible. We had good times in the 60's and I expect we have much to catch up on. I'm familiar with quite a bit of her work, but not all the educational aspects. I myself am about to publish a book of Canadian Women's folk music with accompanying CD.
The 60's was a magic time. George Carlin says that "if you remember the 60's, you weren't there." Well, I was there, I do remember (allergic to grass...) and yes, it was beautiful. People were kind to each other in Canada and everywhere else I went, we weren't the great unwashed and unlovely and we weren't quick to pass judgement. The Vietnam War was not ours and we felt empathy, both for those who had to go, and those who fled here. We had that luxury, Americans did not. There was music everywhere, sit-ins were peaceful for the most part, so-called free love had its down sides, pot sent folks to jail and left them with criminal records. But for the most part, the philosophy of gentleness (if not gentility) made for good thoughts and deeds.
This article was written especially for "Mouthbows to Cyberskins" by Beverlie Robertson.