The clipping was obtained for me by a historian in Saint John who got it via microfilm. It is very hard to read so I’ve also included [ ] a transcription of the article. An audience member set off a firecracker during “Benedictus” which must have been interesting. Apparently Paul Simon had a smart reply to the firecracker but the reviewer failed to mention what it was he said. Music journalism was a little bit lacking in those days.
[..]
O’Brien got involved in many extracurricular activities. He was treasurer of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), president of his first-year law class, and helped organize the Saint John Centennial Winter Carnival in 1967. He was also key in helping bring popular musical duo Simon and Garfunkel to the Port City.“I’m telling you, it was really quite amazing,” he says. “Simon and Garfunkel weren’t going to play. We had to threaten them; I threatened to arrest them. It’s true!”
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Here’s the transcription of the newspaper article:
By Sharon Stevens (from The Evening Times-Globe Jan 28, 1967):
An audience of 3000 literally got a bang out of Simon and Garfunkel’s folk rock singing in Saint John last night. As they were part way through a song in Latin adapted from a 16th century Roman Catholic mass somebody exploded a firecracker at the back of the auditorium. But it was Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel who stopped the show, not the heckler. Simon passed off the incident with a reply that brought roaring applause from the crowd at the Barrack Green Armoury.
The singers’ appearance was one of the highlights of the Saint John Centennial Winter Carnival, sponsored by the University of New Brunswick branch in Saint John. From a quiet beginning the concert of the United States trio brought the audience to its feet with cries of “Bravo,” “More'” and “Encore.”
They performed a concert of solely original material composed by Simon. With delicate, sometimes staggered harmony, the two tenors gave their audience a well-rounded range of music varying from blues sounds through love poems in symbolism in a piece called “The Sparrow” where they maintained a good harmonic balance.
The guitar work by Paul Simon was excellent throughout the performance but especially in a guitar solo toward the middle of the second section of the concert. Throughout the show this performer proved his musicianship with playing that ranged from delicately fingered accompaniment in “Blessed” to crashing chords in “A Church Is Burning” a part of the encore.
One rather intriguing piece was titled “A Most Peculiar Man.” In introducing the song, Simon told the audience that during his stay in London he noticed that after a suicide, the newspaper carried only four lines on the man… “So little to sum up a whole life.” The song told of a man no one really knew, Who kept so much to himself that all who saw him considered him “A Most Peculiar Man.”
Meanwhile the Winter Carnival will resume today with sports, a talent-variety show at Saint John High School and a dance in the Barrack Green. Tomorrow it will go out in style as sports completely take over the show and provide something for everyone as the first winter carnival for the Loyalist City closes out.
Paul Simon - 'Time it was...it was' 