november-17-1967 

Mary Canopa (Evans)
Mary Canopa (Evans)

I think this show took place at the San Jose Civic – is it still standing? I was – and still am – a devoted  Simon and Garfunkel fan.

Ticket stub for the Simon and Garfunklel concert
Ticket stub for the Simon and Garfunklel concert

I’m fascinated by boyhood friends who become successful creative collaborators only to discover they can’t stand each other and implode.  I’ve read several Paul Simon biographies –  all of them discuss the friction, none of them explain it in a way I understand. They’re far from the only paired performers to be so afflicted, though, so a lot of people probably relate.

Sweet shy Mary in our backyard in the sixties
Sweet shy Mary in our backyard in the sixties
Me in our backyard in the sixties
Me in our backyard in the sixties

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The truly remarkable thing about this night was Mary and I actually blazed a path all the way to Simon and Garfunkel’s admittedly empty dressing room. Granted, security would’ve been tighter if the stars were still on site, but factor in the fact Mary and I were as far removed from bona fide groupies as possible.  I wouldn’t have known what “groupie” meant, let alone believed there were girls who actually acted like that. (And there were. Lots of them.)

Mary and me suburban matrons - about a decade later
Mary and me suburban matrons – about a decade later

For another thing that makes you go “huh”, tomorrow’s diary blog finds me on a trans-Atlantic phone call with Gene Simmons in London; he wants me to write a groupie movie for him.  Stranger still, while I’m not as naïve as the girl fighting my way backstage at this Simon and Garfunkel concert 49 years ago tonight – I’m not that much wilder, either.