Apologies to Paul Simon

A few posts ago I expressed my outrage over a rude and insensitive comment made to a handicapped individual by a performer I refer to now as Paul Simon's back-up singer. I'm still talking about that concert. It still irks me.

It's not just because I worked for ARC for several years. Or because I ran my own business -- Incredible Journeys -- where we took adults with developmental disabilities on vacations. It's not that I have an acute understanding that music appreciation transcends disabilities.

It's not even that I consider myself a poet and Paul Simon's back-up singer may have been published by better publishers than I have been, but I don't believe that speaks to the quality of his writing necessarily.

There's no excuse for being mean. To anyone. And Paul Simon's back-up singer was just plain mean.

Some of you have seen photos here of our music room. There's always music playing in our house. I have decided to "retire" all of our Simon and Garfunkel LPs, reel to reel tapes, cassettes and CDs. RELUCTANTLY. Because I truly love the music. But I fear that every time I'd listen to one of these songs in the future, I'd no longer hear Paul Simon's magical lyrics; I'd only be reminded of Paul Simon's back-up singer's egotistical mean streak.

I will continue to play Paul Simon. I own every one of his solo CDs and love them all. His music has brought me great comfort over the years.

And I am very proud to say that I own none of Paul Simon's back-up singer's attempts at singing songs other people have written. And I intend to keep it that way. Hope you will, too.

Turning Stone Casino's Response

Dear Robin & Christopher,
Thank you for leaving your feedback. I am sending your response to Mr. Garfunkel's management. I apologize for your experience at the Art Garfunkel concert. I am as disappointed as you are. I appreciate you taking the time to write to me and will make sure that his management is aware of the feelings of Art Garfunkel's fans.
Thank you again, Terri Torrey Talent Manager

My Letter to Turning Stone Casino

Dear Showroom Events Manager,

My husband and I, frequent guests at your Showroom and the Events Center, were extremely disappointed by Art Garfunkel's performance and arrogance on Thursday evening when he had the audacity to ask a handicapped individual in his audience to stop making "noise". We wish we had followed those guests out of the concert, and we are hoping that you graciously refunded them the price of their tickets for the performance they were made to feel too embarrassed to continue to sit through with their handicapped companion.

Your showroom is a delightful venue, has beautiful acoustics, and we have never seen an unworthy event there, until last Thursday evening. We urge you NEVER to invite Art Garfunkel to your stage again. Certainly your customers, especially your handicapped customers, deserve talent driven by more than ego.

Sincerely,
Robin Butler and Christopher Jestin

SHAME ON YOU, ART GARFUNKEL !

He's not my favorite of the duo. I've always considered Paul Simon one of the genius poets/songwriters of my generation. I would run down South Salina Street buck naked for a chance to see Paul Simon in concert....well, maybe. When friends invited us to see Art Garfunkel in concert, we said, yeah, ok, why not? And it wasn't horrible. His voice was good most of the time. The songs were familiar and after awhile you got used to the lack of Simon harmony. He developed a rapport with the audience at first. The band was good. We settled in for a nice evening.

And then he read a prose poem from his new book, a clear reminder to me that he's still out there singing Simon and Garfunkel songs because he's NOT a writer after all. I wanted to say, "Just sing, Art. Sing another song."

He didn't. "What are those noises?" he asked, glaring over the top of his reading glasses into the audience. I wasn't sure if it was a part of the disjointed prose poem he was reading or not at first, until I heard the noises, too. He continued with the reading. Then he stopped and made another comment. "Is everything alright over there?" A couple more comments like that came from him before someone in the front row told him where the "noises" were coming from.

Art Garfunkel stood at the microphone, holding his book up, peering over his glasses and said, "I try to be kind to the handicapped, but I'm trying to put on a show here." Now, if you'll imagine the sound of a dozen Catholic nuns cracking wooden rulers down on desks, you'll get the tone of his voice as he delivered this message to his audience just about right.

He continued reading his insipid verse from his little book while the "noise maker" was wheeled out of the audience, the clanging of the door echoing in the room behind them, changing the mood for the remainder of the show, completely ruining the version of Mary Chapin-Carpenter's "Dreamland" that he sang next. (You owe MCC an apology, too, Artie.) And every song that followed the departure of the "noise makers" rang false; Art sang the wrong lyrics to "Mrs. Robinson" and "Sounds of Silence", although I doubted that he was feeling the least bit guilty for his bad behavior. He was simply rushing through the songs to get off the stage.

I hope the Turning Stone Casino refunded that customer's money. I hope that "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" wasn't the only song that once put that child to sleep and the family hadn't saved pennies to be able to hear the song sung live just once. I hope the Turning Stone Casino never invites Art Garfunkel back to perform. I hope you never buy his book or CD.

The arrogance, the ego.

My husband put it best......we saw Paul Simon's back up singer last night.