The Sixties were famous not only of its radical politics, but for its radical experiments in music. John Coltrane pushed the limits of Jazz improvisation. Jimmy Hendrix pushed the limits of the electric guitar. Joanie Mitchell pushed the limits of the song as a poetic art form.

But the term radical comes from a Latin word meaning “root”. For some musicians of the time, radical music meant a return to older forms of folk music and blues.

One such group was the Jefferson Street Jug Band, local College Park musicians who championed such instruments as the whisky jug, washtub bass, kazoo and washboard. 

Led by a thin grinning lead singer named Kerry Fahey (cousin of guitar virtuoso John Fahey) they were a familiar fixture on the DC music scene and played benefits for University of Maryland Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Their decidedly retro sound brought good cheer in the dark times of the Viet Nam War and racial strife at home. Some of their songs had a decidedly satrirical edge including one long talking blues about Kerry’s bizarre adventures with the draft board.

But Kerry’s greatest kazoo performance was in front of thousands of UM students, faculty and University President Wilson Elkins.

The year was 1968 and it was the Spring Convocation, a time for the President of the University to deliver his vision of a Harvard on Route One. However Elkins was a product Maryland’s old fashioned plantation-style politics and his vision was closer to that of George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door. It was also 2 weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and the ashes of the rebellions that followed were still smouldering in cities across America. It was not an easy time for any university president.

Although SDS was often saddled with the stereotype of being a humorless band of verbose ideologues, it actually had a strong contingent of puckish guerilla theater tricksters. They thought that ridicule was the best way to break through peoples’ fear of authority.

Some SDS members came up with the idea of playing a kazoo fanfare of “Maryland My Maryland” as Elkins walked up to speak. Technically it would not be a disruption of his speech if he wasn’t speaking yet. Who better to lead the SDS kazoo chorus than Kerry Fahey of the Jefferson Street Jug Band.

Kazoos were purchased. Some minimal practicing was done. The plot was hatched.

About 20 SDSers and their supporters quietly took their place high up in the Cole Field House stands. When it came time for Elkins to walk up the podium, Kerry Fahey rose to his feet and in a loud stage whisper urged people to “Get up! Get up!.” Breaking into “Maryland My Maryland” somewhat raggedly, the 20 kazoo chorus got through the song and sat down. Elkins seemed surprised and confused at first. Some people laughed, some people objected while others sat in confused silence.

During the Elkins speech(God knows what he actually said. He was not a memorable speaker), representatives of the Black Student Union marched down to the floor and attempted to deliver a petition to Elkins. First kazoos and now a petition. The campus police hustled the BSU members to the exit and roughed up several people out of sight of the crowd.

The administration was furious about the student protests and demanded that the Student Government Association do something to punish SDS. Members of the BSU were furious at the administration for blowing off their petition and at the campus cops for their unnecessary physical violence. BSU members were also angry at SDS for the kazoo fanfare which what they viewed as upstaging their protest. SDS members were mad at each other because some felt the protest was stupid. It was a generally unhappy day-- kazoos not withstanding.

The Student Government Association(SGA), eager to show its loyalty to the embattled President Elkins, revoked the charter of SDS to function as a recognized student organization and then decided they really didn’t have the right to that. The whole mess ended up in court and SDS survived.

To show they were not traditional Maryland segregationists, the SGA first endorsed the demands of the BSU, but later reconsidered and merely called for an investigation. The SGA, generally ignored by the larger student body, lost even more credibility with their inept response to the Convocation protests.

Small wonder that in the following year, Mike Gold ran a strong radical campaign for SGA president at the head of a new campus group called the Third Party-- and won. While not an SDS member, Gold was friendly to the organization and SDSers worked for his victory. Gold also took a strong stand against the racism on campus and worked with the BSU to deal with it.

The Jefferson Street Jug Band continued on its own merry musical way, a sort of USO troupe for campus radicals, stoned hippies and even embattled university presidents.