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Mimi
Nov-14-2008, 15:31 GMT
Austria


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Someone put on the conversation from yesterday on youtube. So for all of you that can´t wait for the "offical" version on the Barnes & Noble Site (like myself) just type in "Paul Simon barnes" at youtube a you can watch it.

Ell
Nov-14-2008, 18:18 GMT
United Kingdom


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Thanks Mimi.
This is great.

Nick
Nov-14-2008, 18:22 GMT
USA - United Staates America


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I was at the interview and it was so cool. Paul seemed very into it. The interviewer didn´t ask very many questions it was mostly Paul telling stories. He used the guitar a lot to explain what he was talking about with various songs. He played a few different guitar pieces that he said he has been working on for the past week or two and he doesn´t yet know if they will turn into songs or not. He played all of "Love and Hard Times" and then went through each part and how he came up with it. It was very cool. He was very funny and made quite a few jokes which kept the crowd entertained. The store was packed, all the seats were filled and there was people standing behind that. There was easily a couple hundred people there. He was on for about an hour. At the end the interviewer asked if he would play one more song. He seemed hesitant but agreed. He then said "I´ll do one I don´t do that often" and then he played an amazing version of "The Only Living Boy In New York." The crowd erupted with a standing ovation when he was done. It was one of the coolest things I´ve ever seen. It was a really cool night. The store ran out of copies of Paul´s book so apparently it sold well. They said that video of the event should be up on bn.com within a few days.

I picked up my autographed copy of the book and I was looking through the lyrics I noticed that "We´ve Got A Groovey Thing Going" isn´t included in the book. Everywhere I´ve read has said that it is written by Paul. It seems to be the only Paul song missing. Anyone know why this is?

Paul
Nov-14-2008, 18:26 GMT
USA - United Staates America


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I made another trip from DC to NYC yesterday to attend the Paul Simon event at Barnes and Noble Union Square. As many of you know, this entire program will be archived on the Barnes and Noble website, so I will refrain from summarizing the entire conversation. Instead, I´ll make some brief remarks regarding the evening and also include a post to some photos and videos.

This was an "interview" arrangement, instead of the possibly more typical "bookstore signing" arrangement. In other words, Paul did not sit at a table and sign books during the event. Instead, he presigned a number of copies (I heard from a reliable source that it was a total of 500 copies - I believe the president of Barnes and Noble was sitting right in front of me) and those were available for sale at the store. By the time the interview started at 7PM, I understand that most of the signed copies had been sold.

The stage setup was similar to the GMA setup of November 7, 2008 with the huge album cover reproductions set up on the stage. However, they only used two of them here (Still Crazy and You´re the One) even though the others (Surprise, etc.) were left at the side of the stage. Paul was in a very lively and talkative mood. As you will see on the achieved program, he told many detailed and interesting stories. For example, he gave details of going on his tour of Denmark in the early ´60´s and carefully checking the chart in a U.S. music journal from there to see how "Sounds Of Silence" was doing on the charts. He explained how what he saw made it clear that his life was about to change. The interviewer acknowledged that he was doing a great job doing most of the talking himself. He seemed to not even need questions from the interviewer.

Also, to our surprise, his guitar was set up next to his chair. Paul picked it up probably for over half of the program. He played a bit of "The Girl for Me," and also a bit of "Slip Slidin´ Away" to supplement early parts of the discussion.

He also played a complete version of "Love in Hard Times." This was followed by a detailed walk through of the song to explain it´s meaning and how it was written. This discussion covered not only the lyrics, but also the chord sequences and how the chords are built upon common notes. The lyrics discussion for this song was similar to the approach he took in the New Yorker Festival interview of a few years ago and also the 92nd St. Y interview of February 2008 to describe "Darling Lorraine."

Interestingly, he acknowledged that "Love in Hard Times" may not be immediately accessible to all listeners, but it is written for a group of his fans that are willing to listen to it carefully to understand it, instead of getting to immediately like it by simply hearing it fly by on the radio or something. He said that it is this group of fans who like the same type of music that he likes.

He then played a snippet of a new song (mainly a guitar riff) that is intended to be enjoyed by a group of fans that like the immediately catchy type songs. I agree it was a catchy guitar riff. He also played a snippet of another new song that he has been writing over the past 2 weeks or so. What a great experience to hear these new works in progress!

Finally, at the end of the program, the interviewer said that she was not too proud to beg for another song. Paul obliged by picking up his guitar and thinking of what to play. He said he has a group of songs that he usually goes to in this situation (probably "Me and Julio," etc.), but he said he would do something different this evening. He then played a beautiful acoustic version of "The Only Living Boy In New York." This ended with a standing ovation (which I might have started!). As I was walking out, I heard an attendee remark that this song was the perfect way to end the program. I surely agreed. It was another great Paul Simon experience in New York City.

Here´s a link to some photos and videos:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v517/paulfournie
r/Paul%20Simon%20Barnes%20and%20Noble%2011-13-08/

Paul
Nov-14-2008, 18:29 GMT
USA - United Staates America


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Sorry for the double post. This is my first time posting here I believe.

Baylee
Nov-15-2008, 00:39 GMT
USA - United Staates America


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Thanks so much. Your comments and pictures are always great!! I am jealous-would have loved to have been there! Was there any sort of Q&A session?

Nikki
Nov-15-2008, 00:47 GMT
France


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Thanks so much for the posts guys. Sounds like it was a fantastic evening.

mog
Nov-15-2008, 05:37 GMT
Canada


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I think I watched most of it on YouTube.

On the whole, interesting.

I really liked these catchy chords !!

But...it might be the angle from which it was filmed, but I had the impression that Simon barely looked at the interviewer during the hour...strange.

Bonnie
Nov-15-2008, 06:07 GMT
USA - United Staates America


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Paul F,
Thanks for the great pics and recap. Don´t worry about the double post. Can´t ever get too much info on PS!

Julie
Nov-15-2008, 10:11 GMT
United Kingdom


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No problem Paul....I´ve removed the duplicate post.

Ans
Nov-15-2008, 11:35 GMT
Netherlands


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Thanks Mimi and Paul!

Today the few missing video´s are added to make the set complete at youtube.

Bodo
Nov-15-2008, 15:22 GMT
Austria


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I Love that 2nd new song...very nice melody and guitar pickin.

Bodo
Nov-15-2008, 15:36 GMT
Austria


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I was just watching parts of these interviews on youtube...and I guess I have never heard more nerving pieps and bleeps from other peoples digital cameras in a few minutes.
Millions of thanks to the guy who invented the idea of giving digital cameras a more than useless beep sound, and the other guy who thought this should be turned ON as a standard, so that most people are not able to turn it off now :)

Belle  
Nov-17-2008, 10:35 GMT
Unknown


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Thanks so much Paul for posting the video and comments. Its awesome to see Paul Simon again, surrounded by his fans. Wish I was there too!!

Paul
Nov-17-2008, 18:50 GMT
USA - United Staates America


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The pro-shot version of the interview is now up on the Barnes and Noble website - it´s really nice. It looks like I just might have started the standing ovation after "The Only Living Boy..." I am seated near the middle of the second row on the left side. They really did a great job with this video.

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