TV WORTH WATCHING:
PAUL SIMON’S GRACELAND JOURNEYS: UNDER AFRICAN SKIES
A&E, 10:00 p.m. ET; 5/25/2012
Twenty-five years after the release of his critically-acclaimed Graceland, Paul Simon goes back to South Africa and reunites with the musicians with whom he collaborated in a documentary by filmmaker Joe Berlinger. The trip has more than passing significance: When Simon traveled to Africa in 1985 to record Graceland with local artists, he was accused of breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa. The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, looks at the controversy and its aftermath.
- David Bianculli
REMINDER: THIS IS TONIGHT!
The U.S./Canada television air date for Under African Skies has been announced: it will air on A&E on Friday, May 25 at 10pm (repeating on Saturday the 26th at 2am).
The U.S./Canada television air date for Under African Skies has been announced: it will air on A&E on Friday, May 25 at 10pm (repeating on Saturday the 26th at 2am).
IFC Center / New York
323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street
New York, NY 10014
http://www.ifccenter.com/films/under-african-skies/
Showtimes at IFC (NYC): Fri 5/11-Thu 5/17 are 1:00pm, 3:10, 5:25, 7:45, 9:55pm, with a late show Fri & Sat at 11:55pm.
Laemmle Monica 4-Plex / Los Angeles
1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
http://www.laemmle.com/viewmovie.php?mid=7946
Showtimes at Laemmle (LA): Fri 5/11-Thu 5/17 are 1:50pm, 4:30pm, 7:20pm, 10:00pm
“The Polar Music Prize 2012 is awarded to Paul Simon. Nobody else is more deserving of the epithet of ‘world-class songwriter.’ For five decades, Paul Simon has built bridges not only over troubled waters but over entire oceans by (re)joining the world’s continents with his music. With consummate skill, innovative arrangements and provocative lyrics that never fail to capture the currents of his age, Paul Simon has compiled a library of songs which will remain open to future generations.”
The awards ceremony will take place in Stockholm on August 28. (Paul will also be performing in Stockholm with Ladysmith Black Mambazo on July 22.)
Art’s new compilation album The Singer, which interweaves songs from Simon & Garfunkel and his solo career, will be released on April 10*. Here’s the track list.
“In addition to curating THE SINGER, Garfunkel provides his own personal track-by-track annotations, which appear in the booklet in his handwritten form.”
*UPDATE: According to Legacy Recordings, this album’s release is currently “on hold.” We will update this post when a new release date is known.
*UPDATE 2: According to this interview, it’s sometime in August.
Update 5/6/12:
The album was delayed because Art was recording two new songs to add to it!
Art Garfunkel has teamed up once again with Maia Sharp (Everything Waits To Be Noticed) to record two new songs. “Long Way Home” is a rock ‘n’ roll tune produced by Maia. The other, “Lena,” is a “jazz-inflected slower tune with hip chord changes,” according to Art. They recorded the songs in a Hollywood studio in late April.
The Singer is now expected in “Late Summer” 2012.
Paul Simon, whose lyrics have graced several generations worldwide, will give the 2013 Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature at Emory University Feb. 10-12.
The Ellmann Lectures consist of a series of public lectures that are ticketed but free and open to the public. Tickets will be available near the end of the university’s fall semester. Simon’s lectures will concern, in part, an overview of the historical antecedents of the music made between 1966 and 1970.
7/12 Dublin, Ireland
7/13 Dublin, Ireland (NEW DATE)
7/15 London, U.K.
7/17 Brussels, Belgium
7/18 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
7/20 Herning, Denmark
7/22 Stockholm, Sweden
7/24 Oslo, Norway
7/26 Bergen, Norway
All of the Graceland 25th Anniversary reissues will be released June 5th. (Vinyl, CD, CD/DVD including the documentary Under African Skies, special collector’s edition box set).
The CD/DVD combo includes the remastered original album with five bonus tracks (new to this release are demos of “You Can Call Me Al” and “Crazy Love, Vol. II”), the audio narrative “The Story of Graceland” as told by Paul Simon, the Under African Skies film with bonus features, three music videos, and the “Saturday Night Live” performance of “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”
The box set includes the remastered original album, the Under African Skies documentary film with extended interviews, the original 1987 “African Concert” from Zimbabwe, three music videos, and the “Saturday Night Live” performance of “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.” It also features the audio narrative “The Story of ‘Graceland’” as told by Paul Simon, replicas of an original Graceland poster and a handwritten lyrics pad, plus a deluxe 80-page book featuring new and archival photos and interviews with Paul Simon.
Paul will be joined by Ladysmith Black Mambazo at The O2. Tickets start at €55 and go on sale next Thursday.
(This article says Paul’s going on a month-long European tour. Besides the July 15th date in London, we haven’t heard about any other cities yet but will keep you posted!)
On challenges as a solo artist: “Of course, it misses Paul … Paul’s a wonderful acoustic player. His grooves are very sexy.”
On reunion tours: “I’m a bigger Simon & Garfunkel fan than Paul is… I’m like the rest of the whole world, I like Simon & Garfunkel. I like them in the present tense.”
On the healing of his voice: “I’m ramping up to being the Artie Garfunkel sound I used to be.”
Paul will be joined by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Jimmy Cliff, and others. The concert is part of the Hard Rock Calling Festival.
Update: Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday March 23 and will cost £55 plus booking fee.
Paul Simon and wife Edie Brickell’s duet “Pretty Day” will be included in the Every Mother Counts 2012 compilation album alongside previously unheard tracks from other prominent artists. The CD will be available at Starbucks May 1-29 and will benefit Every Mother Counts, an advocacy and mobilization campaign to increase education and support for global maternal mortality reduction.
Paul will join Trisha Yearwood, Josh Groban, Jimmy Fallon, and Jake Gyllenhaal at a concert to benefit Paul Newman’s Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, a network camps and other programs that support seriously ill children and their families around the world.
Tickets start at $35 and are available here.
Paul Simon presented Chuck Berry with PEN New England’s inaugural award for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence last night. Leonard Cohen also received the award.
“Simon introduced Berry, saying he was rightfully considered a ‘great poet of teenage life’ but was much more than that. He went on to read and remark on the lyrics to what he called some of his favorite Berry songs, including ‘Maybellene,’ ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and ‘Long Distance Information.’”
Watch Simon & Garfunkel perform Berry’s “Maybellene” at The Concert in Central Park (starts at 3:40).
