Tag: Simon & Garfunkel

Graham Wood

Source: https://missioncityrecord.com/

Mission resident Graham Wood has worked with some of music’s most iconic artists during a long career in the industry. The 83-year-old from Torquay, England helped book and manage artists like Paul Simon and witnessed the ascent of other legends. In over 30 years in the music business, Wood worked with Simon, Art Garfunkel, Al Stewart, Johnny Cash, Little Richard and more. While in London, he crossed paths with the likes of Elton John, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, and Jimmy Page before they found mainstream success.
“You got all these future superstars who were just guys wandering around the business. You’d say ‘Hi, how are you going?’ and that was it,” Wood said. Wood said he was always happiest when doing something related to music. As an 18-year-old in London, Wood was working as a buyer for an iron ore mining company who were based in Sierra Leone. He started promoting dances in the evenings at the local hall. Wood booked acts like Manfred Mann and Long John Baldry which had the place “packed solid.”

After nine months of running the dances, he started working in the music industry full-time. A large agency in London offered him a job as a manager and booker. Wood worked with American artists such as Johnny Cash and Jesse Fuller before branching out to a theatrical agency as well where he worked with Diana Dors. In addition to his duties at the agencies, he was kept busy by running folk and blues clubs.

“I had a pretty packed dance card between working all day and then finding groups and artists for my clubs and keeping the whole lot going in the air. I was earning good money, but I was up until two in the morning sometimes. So it wasn’t easy street – it was a lot of hard work putting it together,” Wood said. After being introduced to Paul Simon, Wood asked Simon to come to his club to audition. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought this guy is incredible,” Wood said. Wood signed Simon and began promoting his music in England, where he was largely unknown at the time. After a few months, Simon’s partner Art Garfunkel wanted to come to England for some gigs while off from university, and Wood booked them at a Birmingham university for the first show. Before the gig, Wood was afraid and unsure about how adding another person to the act would impact the show. It didn’t take long to realize the fears weren’t warranted. “They started and I could not believe it. The hair went up on the back of my head. I thought, these guys are fantastic. They did all the early stuff like Sound of Silence. I couldn’t believe it – I’ve got a gold mine here. And of course, the university went crazy. The guy came back at the break and said I want to book him again immediately,” Wood said. Garfunkel stayed for two months before heading back to university. Wood booked Simon for shows throughout England and was present for the recording Simon’s “Paul Simon Song Book”. Simon wrote “Homeward Bound” after missing a train back to London following a set of shows Wood booked in North England. Shortly after, Simon wrote “I Am a Rock” and Wood booked a performance of the song on the pop music TV show, Ready, Steady, Go!, which went too long for the producers. When Simon went back to the States and reunited with Garfunkel, their careers took off. “This other guy took them over in the States, because I’m sitting in England and he’s in the States. And they went from big to bigger to even bigger to monstrous. And that was basically that. It was very good for my career and helped me a lot, obviously,” Wood said. “Because from then on, people were coming to me for advice and help.” Wood went on to split his time between working in England and managing entertainment at a new night club in Benidorm, Spain. The club featured a massive bar and a helicopter from the Spanish Air Force where the DJ set up. He booked acts for the club that included Little Richard, the Johnny Otis Show, and Manfred Mann “I hung in there with that for a couple of year and then I got kind of fed up with. I really wanted to be back in England. It was too much time away from the family,” Wood said. The British tax department wanted Wood to pay taxes both in the UK and Spain and his accountant advised Wood he could either stay and fight, or leave. That’s when Wood made the move to Vancouver. He was quickly introduced to Red Robinson, who he partnered with to form Redwood Records. While sifting through Robinson’s old tapes, Wood came across a collection of unheard interviews with Elvis Presley. Presley died just months after Wood moved to Canada, and Redwood Records put the tapes out. They sold well and the profits were put back into the business. Redwood Records also released the Vancouver Whitecaps anthem, “White is the Colour” which became popular. “We did pretty well with Redwood Records. And then as records began to sort of go downstream, I got into the video market and formed a video company,” Wood said. Wood met his wife Wyn in 1994 and they moved in together in Mission in 1998. “The business is difficult on relationships and stuff. You’ve got to have somebody who really likes it and understands it. The problem is, it’s a demanding business because you’re not only dealing with the people – there’s a lot of other issues,” Wood said. In 1998, Wood had the idea for The Boogie & The Beat TV show to tell some of the real stories behind the music business. He managed to secure $100,000 in local funding to shoot the first programs and went to the southern United States with Wyn, Ronnie Hawkins and the crew. “We got to see a lot of the original legends. We went to New Orleans and Nashville and all over and we got to know them as people, and we got to see it was great in some ways, but sad in others,” Wood said. One full show about Memphis was completed but the purchase of a 12-part series fell through. “Now I’m holding all this invaluable film material – people that are dead, artists, rhythm and blues artists – I mean it’s unbelievable, the artists we have. I’ve got them all on film at home, and they’re just gathering dust,” Wood said. Although Wood has crossed paths with some music legends, he didn’t make an effort to keep in touch and hasn’t been driven by money, “I’m one of these funny guys that, if (an artist) made it, they’ve made it. I don’t like being a hanger-on,” he said. Wood currently hosts a podcast called “Music In My Soul” where he tells stories from his time in the industry, available on Spotify.

Read more at: https://missioncityrecord.com/2026/01/31/mission-resident-reflects-on-storied-career-in-the-music-industry/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPsDhdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFqYlBBdTdVSHBtaEE5c09rc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHq6yrJ5scRW8X_EhNRPBASqMjnNs5u0quauvXdPDmYM65-41t4T9ALvF04w7_aem_oXlekUr7tMvr5bnmGavNbQ

Many thanks to Mary Hohulin for the info regarding this article.

1967: Concert cancelled? Or not?

On January 15 1967 Simon & Garfunkel were booked by The University of Detroit in the Towns and Gowns Series. But as mentioned in a note in the (student)newspaper The Michigan Daily, a day later:

The concert was cancelled and money paid for a ticket would be refunded.

But now I found a an article by Jas Obrecht, a music journalist, who writes full enthousiasm about the concert, on his Substack page. The concert given on January 15th at the Memorial Building.

Now, I am a bit confused now. was it held or cancelled. And even more: as in October of the same year, October 7th, Simon & Garfunkel were booked again and in the review it is mentioned that the show in February was cancelled because the duo was snowed in.

Someone?

1967 New York City – Philharmonic Hall

On January 22nd 1967, 59 years ago today, Simon & Garfunkel played at the Philharmonic Hall in New York City. The Daily News reported a week earlier that the “Rock ‘n’ Roll’ vocal duso would be coming. There was some discussion too about the fact that some asked themselves that a symphony hall should be used for concerts (“Are these still concerts?” The New York Times wondered on the 22nd in an editorial).

But Simon & Garfunkel did give their concert and it was a success,

critic Robert Shelton wrote a day later in the same New York Times:

Source: New York Times

In 2002 Sony released the cd with (part) of the Concert:



1968 Live At Muhlenberg College…a review

Here’s a review that was published in Allentown’s Morning Call on April 20, 1968:

By DAN PEARSON
If one wandered through the crowd of 4,700 that jammed Muhlenberg College’s Memorial Hall last night to hear Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and if one culled every person over 35, it would have been difficult to field two football teams.
Simon and Garfunkel – folk- singers, philosophers and highly-paid vagabond of the concert stage are among the young gods worshipped with increasing fervor by America’s youth cult on and off campus.
Listening to the applause that hammers down like a summer cloudburst on a tin roof. It is easy to see how this talented duo has come to symbolize the impatience, social emancipation, and dissatisfaction with old standards of the nation’s youth.
Although their songs often carry the message of dissent, they are not brutally anti-establishment.
They have a facility or engaging in constructive mockery without evoking a torrent of outrage. It’s quite an unusual style that is all the more effective when applied in low key.
S & G, whose most successful recording is “The Sounds of Silence, are possessed of fine voices. But they are hardly superior vocally to many duos and trios in the recording and concert fields. Their one basic tone can best be described as soft hillbilly drawl that characterized much western music over the years. Neither are their voices particularly harmonious.
What sets these young performers far above the average folksinger out to make a fast buck, is their involvement in their material, a relaxed approach, and their undeniable professionalism.

Poor Acoustics
Muhlenberg’s Memorial Hall far from ideal as a concert hall, and Simon and Garfunkel were considerably hampered by poor acoustics that muffled their lyrics, blurred their melodies and took the edge off Simon’s exceptional virtuosity on the guitar.
Both performers had microphones, but very few of their remarks were understood at the rear of the spacious hall.
S & G gained much of their popularity making guest shots on network variety television shows.
Their albums have become top sellers and last year they provided most of
the musical soundtrack for the hit movie. “The Graduate.”

Poetry To Music
Among their selections last night – all well received – were “Mrs. Robinson.” “At the Zoo.” “Cloudy.” “Feeling Groovy.” If any two singers
can put poetry to music, they are Simon and Garfunkel.
A concert by this duo suffers, however. from a lack of varie- y in style and material. S & G make only a faint attempt a comedy. And even their anti- establishment jibes about the nightly police search of their car are accorded only courtesy laughter.
After the concert is 20 minutes old, one song tends to sound pretty much like the previous number, and the listener wonders whether a little theatrical staging of sorts wouldn’t help

Loud Response
By contrast, the Smothers Brothers presented a livelier and much more entertaining show two years ago in the same Hallby alternating slapstick and song, in a manner designed to keep the audience in a constant uproar. They had the theatrics. Yet it is difficult to believe that any performers ever received more spirited ap plause at Muhlenberg than S&G. The response was enough to shatter the eardrums.
No small part of the evening’s pleasure was the viewing of all the lovely young ladies in their colorful miniskirts and swirling hairdos. It was warm n the hall-the air conditioning machinery is too noisy for recitals-and the air inside was an exotic mixture of a hundred different perfume scents.
Two young couples arriving at the hall contributed shades of Bonnie and Clyde. The men in old-style fedoras and wide rousers raised many an eyebrow in amusement.

In another – shorter – review (published a week later) we learn that Art Garfunkel was frequently wandering to the back of the stage. It seems that he had been quite ill and throughout the evenening was under the care of a doctor.