The 5 Sides Of Paul Simon You Won't See At The BAM Retrospective

As The New York Times first reported last night and the Centre Daily Times (?) dutifully followed up on (ie reprinted from a press release) this morning, Paul Simon will be the subject of three unique programs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this April.

The series is entitled "Love in Hard Times: The Music of Paul Simon", and each program will celebrate a specific theme within Simon's musical oeuvre. So far, we know the following programs include:

"Songs from the Capeman" (April 1-6) - A concert staging of the 1998 Broadway Show, this time presumably without the 11 million dollars in losses.

"Under African Skies" (April 9-13) - a reprisal of the Afro-pop and Brazilian-tinged era of Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints featuring Simon along with David Byrne, Hugh Masekela, and many of the original Graceland band members. What, no Vampire Weekend?

"American Tunes" (April 23-27) - Of particular interest, this portion of the series will feature Grizzly Bear performing alongside Simon. Wow.

Needless to say, we're very excited. However, even with an entire month of shows covering three broad themes, we couldn't help but think that the series curators must have had to make some tough omissions of Simon-related content along the way. The man's had a career for over 40 years after all. With that in mind, keep reading as EAR FARM investigates five representations of Paul Simon you probably won't be seeing at BAM...

5. Paul "The Coke-Dealing Hollywood Parasite" Simon - As immortalized in Woody Allen's Annie Hall and channeled through his character Tony Lacey. The anti-Paul Simon.


4. Paul "I Will License My Music In A Manner That Will Make You Loathe It" Simon - Several NBA spots used the once not-so-awful song "Father and Daughter" mercilessly throughout the 2006 season. No exaggeration, the same 30 seconds of the track ("I'm gonna watch you shine, gonna watch youuuu growwwww") ran during EVERY commercial break. The song became toxic. See also, Braff, Zach and Garden State.

Listen: "Father and Daughter"

3. Paul "The Original Lou Pearlman" Simon - It's true, the internet said so! Under the alias Jerry Landis, a young and enterprising Paul Simon took an unknown Kew Gardens-based boy band named Tico and the Triumphs under his wing back in 1961. Luckily for us, Simon would stick to talents other than that of prospective boy-band svengali for the duration of his career.


2. Paul "Not On My Watch, Garfunkel" Simon - At the height of his blind love for then wife Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Simon apparently wiped all of Art Garfunkel's vocal tracks from what was supposed to be a Simon & Garfunkel reunion album and released it in 1983 as a solo album, Hearts and Bones. The title track was an homage to Fisher.

Listen: "Hearts and Bones"

1. Paul "Yes, Chevy Chase Is My Friend" Simon - Of course this song rules. This video does too, but hasn't technology advanced to the point where we can use CGI to get rid of Chevy?



Chevy-bashing aside, April is going to be a special month at BAM, and all three of these programs look fantastic. Tickets for all engagements go on sale Feb 11 to the general public (and Feb 4 for Friends of BAM).

Ticket prices are as follows: "Songs from The Capeman" (Apr 1-6 at 8pm) are: $30, 50, 65 while both "Under African Skies" (Apr 9 at 7pm and Apr 10-13 at 8pm) and "American Tunes" (April 23-27 at 8pm) are $45, 60, 75, 95.

Visit Paul Simon on MySpace