Where are they now?

Paul Simon and Hootie & the Blowfish both play The Woodlands

Mark Williams

Well over 35 years ago, when he was still a young folk-rock idol, Paul Simon pondered his senior-citizen years, in the song, "Old Friends." "Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly? How terribly strange to be 70," he wrote in the song, which he recorded with Art Garfunkel. Simon isn't yet 70 — he's 64 — but yes, he finds it terribly strange. Or at least surprising.

Paul Simon, who plays the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands) this Friday (7/21) may have been pegged as a folkie early in his career, but his true roots were in doo-wop and the secularized gospel of ’50s rhythm and blues. Since splitting with childhood chum Garfunkel in 1970, Simon’s best work has inevitably found him connecting his tightly constricted persona with the visceral release of black and Latin rhythms: the Jamaican reggae rhythms of “Mother and Child Reunion,” the gospel harmonizing on “Loves Me Like a Rock,” the salsa breakdown on “Late in the Evening,” the world-beat explorations of albums like “Graceland” and “Rhythm of the Saints,” and the Puerto Rican grooves of his ill-fated 1997 stage musical, “The Capeman.” 

After Simon’s 1983 album “Hearts and Bones” fell flat, he came to the realization that modern ears responded more to rhythm than melody, which inspired his decision to collaborate with South African musicians for “Graceland.” His new album, “Surprise,” continues his rhythmic fixation, but this time in the form of cold, electronic beats from British avant-garde pioneer Brian Eno.

Since Simon’s wispy voice is easily overpowered, and prone to a certain cerebral chilliness, the collaboration could have easily gone wrong. But Eno’s settings help to pull Simon out of his shell, and with tracks such as the implausibly funky “Outrageous” and the philosophical “How Can You Live in the Northeast?” — on which he sounds surprisingly fresh for someone who made his first record a half-century ago.

The title of his new album, "Surprise," refers to a line from one of its songs. "Make a wish and close your eyes: Surprise, surprise, surprise," Simon sings in "Everything About It Is a Love Song." But there is also an autobiographical element to it. "To me the surprise is, you're just surprised to find yourself where you are," Simon says. "When you're young, the rest of your life is so unanticipated... "

Simon — who was born in Newark, NJ but raised in Queens, NY — is no stranger to surprise. His fans aren't, either. As the psychedelic '60s came to an end, he drew inspiration from gospel music on perhaps his greatest achievement, the towering, enduring ballad "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

In 1986, he revived his career with the African rhythms of "Graceland," which played a big part in igniting the world-music movement. But no matter how exotic his music has become, his projects have never seemed like mere exercises in different musical genres. With their sturdy melodies and poetic, often cryptic lyrics, Paul Simon songs are recognizable as... well, Paul Simon songs — no matter the style.

The main musical curveball in "Surprise" comes from the production of Brian Eno, who has also worked with artists like U2, Talking Heads and David Bowie on some of their most daring work. Eno's presence is felt throughout "Surprise"; the credits describe his contribution as "Sonic Landscape." There are dissonant drones and a restless techno beat on "Everything About It Is a Love Song"; a grinding, industrial rhythm to "Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean"; and spacey sound effects on "That's Me."

"On 'Outrageous,' he really helped shape the structure," Simon says. "In other words, here I'm playing this guitar part, then it switches to another guitar part. So he would say, 'You should go to another section here' or 'Do something there.' For 'Another Galaxy,' he had a loop that he really liked. He took a piece of my guitar and then he made this loop. And then I started to play against it. All I said was, 'Make it in E Flat. Somewhere down the road, it's going to be convenient for me to have something in a flat key.’ So he made that loop and that loop was powerful enough to suggest various other parts."

Paul Simon says that touring solo is a completely different experience from hitting the road with Art Garfunkel. Simon says that the buck stops with him on his solo treks, explaining that, "The situation with Art was unique. I really had to think about what would serve that show the best. But when I'm doing my own show, I do what I want to do with the show. I don't have to share responsibilities."

While Simon keeps his usual philosophical distance through much of the album, there are also some moments that seem stunningly personal. "There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you," he sings, repeatedly, in "Father and Daughter."

"I've been given all I wanted, Only three generations off the boat, I have harvested and I've planted, I am wearing my father's old coat," he sings, over a triumphant rock beat, in "How Can You Live In the Northeast?"

"I want to rid my heart of envy, and cleanse my soul of rage before I'm through," he pledges in "Wartime Prayers." As earthy as "Surprise" is, Simon also drifts into the stratosphere at times. In "Everything About It Is a Love Song," he describes looking back on the planet from "far above the golden clouds. The Earth is blue," he sings, "and everything about it is a love song."

As Simon talks about this passage, he becomes even more philosophical — and brings the discussion back to his songwriting. "You look back at the whole thing from some distant place," he says, "and the Earth looks so beautiful and blue. Then you say, 'Well, it's all about love' — love that worked out, love that didn't work out, all the manifestations of love, love that turns to hate and all that.”

“If you don't stay in the big picture and you're right in the midst of things... well then, you feel it with an intensity that's not at all mellow,” says Simon. “But if you go back and forth between the two views, it creates a kind of a hum. It makes a kind of a sound. And if you can capture that sound, then you could say, 'That's the way I hear things.' That's about all you could say. You can't say, 'I understand it.' But you can say, 'That's the way I hear it."'

"I'm much more judgmental these days," he says. "Finishing a song is more satisfying now because I'm grateful, whereas when I was 28, I expected it. Now if I find something to say, and I say it in a way that I think is artful and true, I'm relieved I wasn't frustrated or stymied. When I was younger, I just said whatever I had to say. I ask myself now: ‘Do I deeply believe that? Will anybody get it?,” Simon says. "Am I just talking to myself? You have to put that aside because it's not very helpful."

"I'm trying to be as honest as I can expressing myself musically and lyrically, editing out what might be considered obscure but not trying to oversimplify or be condescending," Simon says. "And then I have to let go, even if I don't immediately understand the words. What I meant eventually reveals itself. You can be too familiar with the process,” Simon says, “which I've been doing since I was 15. Sometimes, instead of manipulating the craft, you have to just be the vessel through which some sort of inspiration will flow. With this record, it took me a while to map out a path."

Before the Iraq invasion, Simon penned “Wartime Prayers,” then met with Brian Eno in London to discuss a marriage of electronics and guitar pop. "We spent some time in his studio and decided to combine our visions," Simon says. "It took about two years. The actual time I spent with Brian was 20 days, split into four periods. We found we could really work intensely for five days, and after that it was a bit of a burnout."

“Surprise” was recorded in London, New York and Nashville, with contributions from jazz greats like keyboardist Herbie Hancock and guitarist Bill Frisell. While Eno's textures are unmistakable, Simon's signature melodies and poetic language are more deeply engraved. And they were usually the final components. "I start with the rhythm," Simon says. "It's drums first, then I go to key to sound to guitar to the form of the song to the beginning of the melody. As the melody begins, so do the words. That's how it's been since Graceland. I write backward."

While he is playing 28 shows around the country this summer, Simon may return in the fall, if audiences respond —- and if he and his wife, Edie Brickell, can synchronize their domestic and professional itineraries. She'll be doing live dates with her band, The Bohemians, who release “Stranger Things,” their first album in 16 years, on July 25. "We have to figure out where we can cross paths so the kids can see us all in the same place," Simon says.

A restless musical explorer, Simon hasn't stayed in one place since forging a duo with Art Garfunkel. His place in history was assured 40 years ago with songs like “Mrs. Robinson” and “Sounds of Silence” and reaffirmed 20 years ago with “Graceland.” And yet, despite recently being anointed one of the 100 heroes and pioneers "who shape our world" by Time magazine, he's unsure of his place in modern music.

"Once you go away for a bit, you wonder who people think you are," he says. "If they don't know what you're up to, they just go by your history. I'm so often described as this person that went to other cultures, which is true, but I never thought of it that way. I suspect people are thinking, 'What culture did you go to?' But this record is straight-ahead American."

“Surprise” had false starts and a long gestation, slowed by 9/11 and some angst around his 60th birthday. The digital revolution also gave him pause. "I wondered, 'Is this an appropriate context to express various thoughts, given the way people listen now and the way music is exposed to the world?' Pop music, as it's constantly evolving, is completely different from the value system and aesthetic I grew up with and contributed to."

Although music pursued as sonic wallpaper by multitasking iPod users seems a less idyllic trend than the once-obligatory practice of fixating on an album from start to finish, Simon isn't demonizing technological shifts. "The Internet is opening things up," he says. "At first it caused the record business to implode, but now it's making life easier. It's broken the stranglehold that radio had. Downloading has made people more eclectic in their tastes, and I'd guess eventually that will redirect radio to loosen up, because it will have to compete. When that happens, you can say whatever you want, and there will be a place for it."

* * *

Back in 1994, everybody knew Hootie & the Blowfish — so where are they now? Well, you can finally catch up with them next Friday (7/28) at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.
It was during the '90s Hootie & the Blowfish found themselves signing a contract with Atlantic Records and dominating the airwaves, award shows and, of course, the music charts. They picked up two Grammy Awards, played with late guitar legend Chet Atkins and sang to Frank Sinatra on his 80th birthday. 

The band members, who all contribute songwriting, include Dean Felber on bass and background vocals; Jim "Soni" Sonefeld on drums, percussion, piano and background vocals; Mark Bryan on guitar, mandolin, piano and background vocals; and Darius Rucker, a.k.a. Hootie, who contributes lead vocals and guitar. 

Bryan talked by phone this week about the more than 20 years of music he's shared with Hootie members. "We got together at the University of South Carolina in 1986," he says. "In '89, we graduated and sat down and said, 'Hey, do we want to use our degrees to get a real job or do we want to try the music thing?' We were making enough money to live on — not great by any stretch — but we could pay the rent. We were really passionate about it, so we said now's the time. We were only 23 years old and we decided to give it a shot. So we started playing all around the Southeast, cutting demo tapes and writing songs." 

In the dozen years since the band's debut album, "Cracked Rear View," it has sold a monumental 16 million copies worldwide and is the sixth best-selling album of the past decade. "The good thing about that first album," says Bryan, "was that it gave us enough money and industry clout to have music as a career, from that point on. And, we have always tried not to take that for granted and have continued to make music with that same kind of passion that we had in the beginning." 

Because the band was viewed in the press as soft-rockers, by the time their second album was released in spring of '96, rock journalists were predicting the group's decline in popularity. But their next album, "Fairweather Johnson" entered the charts at No. 1 and sold 2 million copies within its first four months of release. It didn't, however, produce any hit singles on the level of the debut's "Hold My Hand" or "Let Her Cry." 

The studio release "Musical Chairs" followed in 1998 and the album "Scattered, Smothered, and Covered" was issued two years later, featuring previously unreleased material, songs polled by the fans and Hootie's own tributes to R.E.M. and the Smiths. 

The band returned with new studio material on a 2003 self-titled release, and followed in 2004 with a set of greatest hits. It included all their big hits, as well cover songs like 54-40's "I Go Blind.” “Even though we still gross a lot of money, we are treated by the industry as if we don't fit in,” says Bryan. “We don't draw the crowds that the bigger acts do and we're not new enough to qualify as the cool indies' act. So we're in a no-man's land and have been for several years. The industry doesn't take us seriously because we're not selling enough records for them to recognize us. But we're still a great American rock & roll band that's better and tighter than ever and our fan base has stayed with us." 

Their latest CD, "Looking for Lucky," was released on their own label, Sneaky Long Records, which is working with Vanguard Records for manufacturing, distribution and promotion. "We learned a lot with 'Lucky,' Bryant explains, "especially with instrumental and writing collaboration outside of the band and it's something we are embracing. After being together for 20 years, we were in a certain style of writing and needed a new angle and opening that door was what we needed. It gets boring writing the same musical formula and I think were approaching the future with very open minds as to our creativity and style." 

But music isn't the only thing the band is about these days: in conjunction with the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation, the band's nationwide Homegrown Concert Series was established as an annual musical event in South Carolina aimed at providing children there with the basic tools they needed to learn.

Hootie & the Blowfish asked their fans to bring a school supply item with them to the concert as a way to provide necessary school supplies to schools in need. All school supplies donated the night of the concert were delivered to schools in the community. The response was overwhelming, and to date, Hootie and their loyal fans have helped donate seven busloads of supplies to schools in need of help. This year, The Woodlands is one of only 10 dates in which concert-goers are asked to help out by bringing a school supply to the show.

School supplies needed the most include: packages of number 2 pencils, wide-ruled spiral notebooks, 24-count boxes of crayons, pocket folders with brads, wide-ruled loose-leaf notebook paper, pencil boxes, glue sticks or Elmer's Glue and white copy paper.

The two area schools designated to receive school supplies donated at the concert are Johnson Elementary School in Aldine and Runyan Elementary School in Conroe. Runyan is a Title 1 school with 89 percent economically disadvantaged students. Both school districts will have a school bus at the concert that Hootie & the Blowfish hope fans will help fill. 

The Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation, established in 2000, is a private non-profit organization that benefits children through education and supporting school music programs nationwide. Throughout their career, the band stayed true to their roots and worked hard to give something back to the community that has always supported them. “The Foundation enables us to be proactive for the charities we are passionate about. The Foundation becomes a viable resource that enables us to help people at anytime,” says Bryan. 

Since the establishment of the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation, members of the band have been able to invest proceeds from their fundraisers to such causes as “VH-1’s Save the Music,” where five public schools’ music programs in their native South Carolina were restored.

Opening for Hootie & The Blowfish is another band that had great success in the 90’s — The Spin Doctors, whose original members — vocalist Chris Barron, guitarist Eric Schenkman, bassist Mark White and drummer Aaron Comess reunited in 2005 for their first album in 11 years, “Nice Talking To Me,” the band’s most musically accomplished album — a mature work that sums up their individual artistic growth over the past decade. It's the end product of a three-year period during which the band renewed their dedication to songwriting, live performance, and the creative process.

"In the spring of 2002, we did a two-week club tour and had a really good time,” says Comess. “Then we got another bigger tour offer for that summer, and Chris and Eric started writing a little bit in hotel rooms. We took our time, worked some gigs, got together every few months for songwriting sessions-and eventually began playing those new songs live." 

"There's an old saying that a band has its whole life to write the first album and about two weeks to write the second one,” says Comess. “This isn't our first album, of course, but ‘Nice Talking To Me’ has had the longest gestation period of any album we've made since ‘Pocket Full of Kryptonite.’ An individual song may have been written by Eric, or by Chris and me, or by all four of us-but this album contains the best material from all those sources." 

Tickets for Paul Simon: Tickets prices range from $89.50 to $59.50 to $29.50. Preferred parking available for $15 plus service charge. Gates open at 6PM, show time is 7:30.

Tickets for Hootie & The Blowfish: All reserved seating is $29.50; no general admission lawn seating. Preferred parking now available for $15 plus service charge. Show time is 7:30.

More Summer Music at The Woodlands Pavilion: Saturday, July 29, Kelly Clarkson and Rooney; on Sunday, July 30, Def Leppard and Journey; on Saturday, August 5, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with Trey Anastasio; KC & the Sunshine Band, Sister Sledge, Tavares and Gloria Gaynor on Friday, August 11; on Friday, August 18, the Dave Matthews Band with O.A.R.; on Thursday, September 7, it’s the Counting Crows and the Goo Goo Dolls; on Saturday, September 30, the Steve Miller Band with Delbert McClinton and Jonny Lang; and on Saturday, October 7, Bonnie Raitt with Keb' Mo...

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