AG interview- precious as always

Kapeman

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May 9, 2004, 8:21:51 PM5/9/04

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Art Garfunkel promises to charm Ritz audience

By MaryAnn Kromer, mkr...@advertiser-tribune.com

Talking to Art Garfunkel on the phone was like making conversation with a
friend. If the singer is as pleasant on the stage, his show promises to be a
very enjoyable experience.

Garfunkel wondered if Tiffin was anywhere near Findlay, Ohio. It seems he had
spent summer vacations in Findlay as a youth. He talked about going to the
drive-in movie theater there. The young "Artie," as he calls himself, probably
never imagined he would be back this way as a performer in 2004. On Saturday,
he will be at the Ritz Theatre for an 8 p.m. show.
"It will be half Simon and Garfunkel and half Artie Garfunkel. I will bring my
four-piece band and the show will be about an hour and a half," the singer
said.

In the years since those summers in Findlay, Garfunkel has traveled far and
accomplished much. His web site, artgarfunkel.com, includes a wealth of
information about his career, both with and without Paul Simon.

The two grew up together in the 1950s as neighbors in Queens, N.Y., and
appeared on "American Bandstand" as high school seniors. Garfunkel went on to
earn a bachelor's degree in art history at Columbia College and a master's
degree in mathematics at Columbia University.

In 1962, the pair crossed paths again and got back together. Simon and
Garfunkel recorded several classic albums between 1964 and 1970. They won two
Grammy awards in 1968 and three in 1970. After the split with Simon, Garfunkel
launched his solo career in 1973. He invited Simon and singers such as Amy
Grant and James Taylor to join him on some of his albums.

The singer jokingly compares himself to "a speckled salmon," swimming upstream
against the critics. For the most part, critics have been kind and the artistic
journey has been interesting. The trip has included acting, traveling, writing
poetry, composing and performing music.

Garfunkel's shows and recordings include the songs of others, as well as his
own, and old songs as well as new ones. Many of his original compositions were
inspired by his long-distance walking tours in Japan and "across America,"
which became the title of an album in the late 1990s. Now, the artist is
walking across Europe "in installments."

"I started about five years ago. It took about eight days to walk to the middle
of Ireland. Then I went into Wales and continued through England. I never went
to London, but I crossed the English Channel and went down the coast of
Normandy," Garfunkel said. "Europe is beautiful."

Not that America isn't, but the artist bemoans "how uninspired America is."
Garfunkel once told an interviewer that he tries "to notice the absence of
things" so that they don't "slip away." He was impressed with the description
of the Ritz as one of those pieces of "the world as it used to be." He blames
capitalism and its "business first" attitude that is so quick to raze the old
and build new.

But new also can be good, as Garfunkel discovered with his most recently
recorded CD, "Everything Waits to Be Noticed." Released in 2002, the album
features songs that came out of the singer's collection of prose poetry, "Still
Water," published in 1989. The recording also features Maia Sharp and Buddy
Mondlock performing with Garfunkel.

"Billy Mann, my producer, knew me very well and was very sympathetic to me. He
had a dream to extend Artie's cause. He got me to come to Nashville and paired
me with Maia and Buddy, two wonderful young artists. It was Billy's vision,"
Garfunkel said.

The trio did a U.S. tour to promote the album, on EMI/Manhattan Records.
Garfunkel wrote six of the tracks on the CD, which received critical acclaim.
Then in 2003, Garfunkel was back with his school chum, Paul Simon for the Old
Friends 2003 Tour.

Earlier this year, the pair received the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award and
gave a touching performance together on the Grammy Awards television broadcast.
This June and July, Simon and Garfunkel will tour numerous U.S. cities and move
on to England, Germany and Italy this fall.

"We will finish the tour in Rome, outside the Coliseum," Garfunkel said.

The stops in Italy will serve as a preview for the next leg of Garfunkel's
European walk. He will begin where he left off, in the Alps along the border of
France and Italy. Garfunkel said the walking turns his mind to writing, giving
him new material for poems and songs.

The singer also values time with his wife Kim and son James, age 13. Both have
joined Art on stage for numerous performances. The artist describes his
marriage as "18 wonderful years."

"We've had a few storms but we've also had a ton of sunshine. I love this
raising my son stuff. I hover over his adolescence. I want him to have enough
quiet to hear his own loveliness," Garfunkel said. "My wife is a singer, too,
but she's the theatrical, emotive type. I think it makes a rich human being out
of my son."

Maybe the stop at the Ritz will provide inspiration for both the artist and the
audience. Tickets for Art Garfunkel range from $33 to $50 and can be purchased
at the Ritz box office, 30 S. Washington St. For more information or to charge
tickets, call (419) 448-8544 or go online to the Ritz web site,
www.ritztheatre.org.

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BLACKMANNY1

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May 9, 2004, 9:27:55 PM5/9/04

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>The singer jokingly compares himself to "a speckled salmon,"

Salmon & Garfunkel???

Gerard Eastwood

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May 9, 2004, 11:47:40 PM5/9/04

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"BLACKMANNY1" <black...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040509212755...@mb-m21.aol.com...

> >The singer jokingly compares himself to "a speckled salmon,"
>
> Salmon & Garfunkel???

And the thing about fishing tales is that the best is always the one that
got away. That makes sense.

Gerard