The Saint In Paul Simon

I have seen Paul Simon three times in my life and I met him once in person. The meeting him in person is something I will always remember. I was with two of my friends going to see the Flaming Lips. The opening band was Deerhoof. They really rocked and one of my friends told me to look to my left. To my left was Sean Lennon. Then we had a break between and the crowd got a little bigger. I told my friend I am just going to sit somewhere till The Flaming Lips come on. Around the Flaming Lips came on were two people handing out little lasers for the Lips show. It happend to be Wayne Coyne's wife and brother in law handing out all these lasers to all the fans. We passed them along to everyone around us. When I turned to my right to hand to my friend my friend was replaced by Paul Simon and his wife and kids. My friend quickly got back over near me and we waited. While we had that quick moment I held out my hand and Paul did the same. We shook our hands and I told him it was a pleasure to see him at this evenings performance. He was gracious and responded in kind. I also told him I had one request that he go through all his old recordings and put out a box set of rare and unreleased material. He laughed and told me that would not be a bad idea. I thanked him again and told him that his Concert in the Park in August of 1991 was a great show. After that I looked at his kids and told him that The Flaming Lips show will be one of your favorite shows. I left him alone after that and that was my Paul Simon experience.

Paul Simon that night not only added to the special night seeing the Flaming Lips, but affirmed that Paul Simon is a genuine human. I have been to a lot of concerts and some musicians talk to you and some ignore you. I gave up on the ones who ignore and I now follow the ones who love their fans and are warm and receptive in kind. Paul Simon is such an icon that if he was not the caring individual then it would reflect in his work.



The problem writing about Paul Simon is tough, What prompted me to post on him was watching him on the Jimmy Fallon show. He did "Late in the Evening" with The Roots and the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. That moment like Jimmy and the crowd transformed me to another planet. It might have been a minor jump on another planet, but it was something that was amazing. Since I have seen Paul Simon in person and in performance it was well done. It shows how wonderful Paul is when he adds his international type sound to it. It was really awesome and if you have a chance to see it on line. It is worth it's near four minutes of greatness.

Since Paul Simon is a fan of adding great colour and texture to his music. This prompted me to write about one of my favorite albums. I like his early stuff, and I like his later stuff, but the album that had the most impact in my life was The Rhythm of the Saints. It was the album that I saw the tour for. I was old enough to see the Graceland tour and regrettably never saw that tour and one I do regret. The Rhythm of the Saints was a great followup to that world sounding Paul Simon.



I could really suggest any Paul Simon album, but I decided to suggest the one I went to the tour for. Each song has a very Brazilian feel to it. From "The Obvious Child" to "Proof" to "The Cool Cool River." Each has a greatness to it. Paul hired once again the best musicians for the job. He still amazes me with whatever he does. It's a testament to how he can cross so many generations with his music. I mean it might be one of the very few artists that my parents and I actually can agree on. It's rare that we share a liking for the same person or band. Enjoy this classic from 1990. I am sure after reading this you might pick up your Paul Simon and listen and reflect like I do. Enjoy!!