Can it really be fifteen years now? I am a veteran of three Milwaukee shows (Graceland June 29, 1987; Born at the Right Time February 18, 1991; Tales of the Capeman (w/Bob Dylan) July 4, 2000. I also had the good fortune of seeing Paul and Artie in St. Paul during the Old Friends 2003 leg (October 27, 2003, the Monday show...)
I hope to see ´Surprise´ at Summerfest this year...lets see if lightning strikes yet another time. I remember this show reasonably well for a number of reasons. I had an agreeable meal at the Turner Club prior to the show. I bought a ´stag ticket´ for this tour, about 50 or 60 feet from the front of the stage, pretty good for someone who was compelled to wait until about a week prior to show time. I couldn´t convince my then girlfriend Cindy to join the ´true faith´, she never was much of a Paul Simon fan. Her tastes ran more toward INXS and a couple of other bands in vogue during the early nineties.
As memories fade into the mists of fifteen years, I remember one song, the opening ´Obvious Child´ which Paul performed with the Brazilian percussion ensemble Oulodoumb. There was a pretty girl with her boyfriend seated on my right. He wasn´t much of a dancer, but she danced with me, with her man´s permission of course...There´s something about a Paul Simon concert that brings out the best in people, the guy with the pretty girl was a damn nice gent, I was on my best behavior, and of course, I never saw either of them again.
I´ve always been a lover of baseball and somehow the line ´the cross is in the ball park´ still strikes a resonant chord many years later...
Not bad for a guy who´s mom practiced her Greg shorthand with SG classics. Happy 64th birthday Paul (rock on with your bad self...)
I know its fifteen years after the fact, but hey, better late than never.
June 2006
Brian Johnson
Green Bay |