Maggie and The Upfronts

It was 1973, February 15th.  Hunter S. Thompson was at the Superbowl and Tom Wolfe was writing about astronauts.  Bette Midler was the cover of the Rolling Stone's 72 pages, if you folded the New York style tabloid like it was meant to be folded.

Inside on page 16, Alice Stuart posed as "Maggie and the Upfronts" from the black and white Anne Lebowitz photograph and Jack McDonough wrote that Alice Stuart was one of George Carlin's two guest picks when he guest-hosted ABC's Late Night show.

In the article Alice explained her small town roots:  growing up in Chelan, Washington, living a while in a construction town near Arizona's Glen Canyon Dam, and learning to love country music and the small clubs.  Alice said she would always be a "small club woman at heart" because "in the small places you can get down.  So even if we have to come back to a small place as Maggie and the Upfronts, we'd still want to do it."

Now thirty-six years later, The Rolling Stone has no memory of Alice Stuart in its slick pages or its compendium of rock and roll.  Now fifteen days from her sixty-seventh year,  Alice is still like Maggie and the Upfronts playing the small places like Ritzville and Ellensburg, Port Townsend and Lopez Island; only now it is Alice Stuart and The Formerlys.  Now kids do not know Hank Snow's "Golden Rocket" or Alice's own, "Full Time Woman".

But even now when the country/rock veteran leans into her electric, kids get it.  They may not know that once Alice talked to George Carlin on TV, or they may not know Hunter S. or Tom Wolfe, but they get guitar...and they get Maggie and the Upfronts......