Poor Boys and Pilgrims: A Brief Second-Hand Report on Paul Simon at BAM Last Night

I saw my good friend SLC as we were crossing Boerum Place this morning. He was at BAM last night to see the Paul Simon performance of "African Skies". Lucky ! Awesome show, he reports, amazing Simon, in great voice with a fantastic band, and with a guest appearance by David Byrne. Simon and company performed all of Graceland, lots of celebrities in the audience (Steve Buscemi, David Schwimmer, among other notables). SLC reports that "at one point, Simon brought out a Brazilian singer who sang some Milton Nascimento tunes. Simon put his guitar down and sat on the edge of the drum stand and just bopped his head to the song. He was at once the maestro directing every detail of the show and also just one of the crowd grooving on the tune." Sounds like truly a Stellar Night.

The Mississipi River was shining like a National guitar -- damn, Paul is right up there at the summit of American songwriting. In the pantheon, way up there, certainly, not nearly quite as bottomless as the new Pulitzer Prize winner, more like the clear waters of the Hudson compared to Dylan's muddy Mississippi, but Simon is without question a songwriter's songwriter, a consciously lighter more pop touch, more NYC neurotic with a dash of classic restraint compared to Dylan's midwestern John Brown prophetic anger and genius... but Paul is an enormously gifted craftsman and superb guitarist, poet and minstrel, a tunesmith who has produced an amazing amount of classic pop music in different styles, and a pioneer on the world music front.

As I told SLC, "You've got me psyched, guaglione..." Now I can't wait to be there at BAM for Paul Simon's "American Tunes" in a couple of weeks...

We are going to Graceland, Graceland....