Simon & Garfunkel Live @ The Y-A-Go-Go February 1965

Simon & Garfunkel

Live @ The Y-A-Go-Go

February 1965

My wife and I attended the Simon & Garfunkel "Old Friends" concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills back in 2003. I thought about getting tickets for quite a while when suddenly the concert was only two days away. First I called my pal Bob Martin from Review Magazine. Did he get some gratis tickets and press passes? Nope.
I called Ticketmaster. They only have recorded announcements
I called "Choice Tickets"...they had tickets at each price range. And they confirmed that Saturday's show was a sellout. But what was the range -
$165 to $500
Nope that wouldn't work unless they propped up Warren Zevon to sing Excitable Boy. I just cannot afford it. I may be middle class but it’s just an outdated label and a cruel myth  that doesn’t even consider the enormous transfer of wealth to the rich.

So, being a stubborn kind a guy, I drive over to the nearest Ticketmaster outlet and they have tickets available. But the price range was way different. Their tickets must have been printed on cheaper paper 'cos they started at $59.50 - then progressed to $79.50, $149.50, and $205.50.
I thought scalping was illegal. Anyway, I got my tickets

There were plenty of tee-shirts, programs, CD's, and posters at the show and all major credit cards were accepted
Simon & Garfunkel were simply amazing. They provided a rich treasure trove of memories for all of us starchy white-haired boomers I just needed to celebrate my fading relevance one more time.

But the show was more than just memories. It was an artistic triumph of a form of composition that is so well conceived, produced, and performed that it is timeless. The show opened with the instrumental strains of "America" serving as the backdrop for a film/photo montage of American images from the sixties onward. They would use this multi-media approach a second time using clips from the film to introduce "Mrs. Robinson".

The duo opened the show with "Old Friends", a powerful song that has grown only more poignant with the passing of time. Simon wrote and recorded the song when he was about 26 years old. Now that I’m approaching sixty the lyrics resonate more clearly
"Can you imagine us
Years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
to be seventy"

They went on to perform several other songs from their landmark 1967 LP Bookends such as "Hazy Shade of Winter", "America" (with its nod to Saginaw - more on that later), "At the Zoo", and the aforementioned "Mrs. Robinson", I loved this album as it represented an artistic shift for the duo. Their instrumentation became more complex and less folky and Simon began writing with more sharply satirical themes that balanced his morose tendencies. They performed songs their very first recording (as Tom & Jerry) "Hey Schoolgirl" and represented every phase of their brief career from Sounds of Silence and Kathy's Song to their majestic swan song "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and "The Boxer". They even threw in "Slip Slidin' Away" - a Simon solo hit actually written by Simon with his partner in mind. They also sang "American Tune" with Garfunkel wondering during the intro "where our country is going".
And to top it off the Everly Brothers showed up midway to perform "Wake Up Little Susie", "Dream", "Let It Be Me", and "Bye Bye Love" (with S&G).
It was simply stunning...

Much better than the S&G reunion concert I attended in 1982. It was a different vibe then with Simon taking a central focus and performing too many of his solo hits to the exclusion of S&G songs and Garfunkel's beautiful voice.

But I go back even further with Simon & Garfunkel. The very first time I saw them was in 1966 at the Y-A-Go-Go - right here in Saginaw. The idea for the "Y" Teen Dances was generated by the Saginaw YMCA High School Social Committee way back in 1961. It seems that local teens had very few places that provided wholesome outlets for the social needs of young people. So beginning on September 23, 1961 teen dances were scheduled for every Saturday from 8pm to midnight. It began as a traditional record hop with Ken Clark as the resident Dee-Jay. By 1964, WKNX disc jockeys Bob Dyer and Dick Fabian took over the reins and began to add live performances to augment the recorded music. The Tempests, The Countdowns, and The Bossmen aided and abetted the change in forma, along with Go-Go Girls in their Go-Go cages! It was an exciting time to be young. And to have such impressive community support.
Only sixty-four teens showed up for the very first dance on that warm September evening in 1961 but by 1963 the Y-A-Go-Go had a regular attendance of over 1000 young adults. It was the most popular teenage dance in the early 60's (it folded in 1969).

Beginning in 1966, Dyer and Fabian began to book national acts through the William Morris agency. They had connections to this guy, Ron Sunshine, who was able to get "artists on the rise" for a good price. In quick succession they booked the Shangri-La’s, the Beau Brummels, the McCoys, the Lovin' Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel, and The Hollies.
Each one was outstanding and deserving of their place in rock 'n' roll history
Dyer's favorite band was the Spoonful.
But my favorite bands were the local guys - Dick Wagner and the Bossmen (who were like the Beatles to me) and Jay Walker & The Jayhawkers (Jay was also a DJ at WKNX - hired by Bob Dyer).

 Jay Walker & his mates backed up Simon & Garfunkel on their first and only performance in Saginaw. They opened the show with some mighty fine Michigan rock 'n' roll. The Jayhawkers had a song on the charts entitled "To Have a Love" - it knocked me out when they performed it during their part of the show. It seemed only too soon that my heroes finished their set and I was left on my own during a brief intermission. My older brother Bill had taken me to the show but I somehow lost track of him, seemed like he was standing right next to me during the Jaywalker's set.
I was but a wee lad of 13 and my brother was a worldly 15. I was starting' to worry...what if something happened - like those Webber school kids jumping' on him or something. There seemed to be too many dark corners in the recesses of the gymnasium. But I took a deep breath and proceeded to walk real cool-like...well, as cool as a 14 year-old pimply faced dork could. When suddenly I catch a reflection in the shadows. It's the metallic shine of a young teen’s  braces as she is full-mouth kissing' my brother! A real lip lock, mashing at its finest

I was stunned yet oddly fascinated and more than a little interested - girls...hmm...so...that's how it works.

Well, I rushed back to center stage a little confused and a lot interested in things more than just music. Simon & Garfunkel finally took the stage. But they looked different, strange, not at all like me, my buddies or anyone I had ever seen or met. Simon was "small" like me so I immediately liked him. But he wore a cape and had one of them "bowl" cuts with a short set of bangs hanging' high on his forehead but Garfunkel looked like he was created in a test tube from another planet. He had a curly hair that appeared mountainous - stacked up high and all frizzled. People in the audience pointed and laughed and made rude comments.
I felt sorry for him. He looked frail and timid, even scared, I started to wish he'd come leaping off the stage to defend himself. But he didn't

Simon & Garfunkel had two definite "hits" - Sounds of Silence and Homeward Bound at the time and they performed them both. In fact they opened the show with a rocking electric version of Sounds of Silence. Only we couldn't hear them clearly except at the break when the music stops and they sing..."the sounds of silence". That was about the only time I heard their voices all night. The PA was bad and the rock 'n' roll backing wasn't quite the best fit either. They performed a few other unknown (at the time) S&G songs such as Kathy's Song, Leaves that Are Green, Richard Cory, A Most Peculiar Man, He Was My Brother. They also performed covers of a couple of Beatles songs!! And they talked about Paul and John like they were good buddies. They closed the show by singing Sounds of Silence a second time. I couldn’t argue with that, it’s a great song

Well, I enjoyed the show even though I had no inkling that the duo would become so popular and this performance would become legendary. I really liked Simon and Garfunkel partly because they were kindred spirits, so uncomfortable and so awkward just like me and yet they still had something important to say. And they did immortalize this little show in their 1967 opus "America".

Bob Dyer told me that he paid S&G $1250 for that performance on the strength of their two radio hits. Would they be a flash-in-the-pan like so many others or would go on to a successful career?
Only time would tell...

Peace

Bo White