Art Garfunkel, a voice for the ages

Art with son James on tour together

On January 9th I got to see Art Garfunkel at The Magnolia in El Cajon, California. Artie, now 78 was well received by an adoring crowd who mostly ranged in age from 60 - 80 years of age themselves. One quickly realizes that this is going to be a 'memory concert' in that the audience is going remember Art Garfunkel's younger angelic singing voice while experiencing the current man, walking in with a severe limp, but trademark wrinkled white shirt, black string tie and vest.

I've actually put off this blog a couple of weeks before I wrote it this morning, because I try not to write anything negative about an artist, especially my musical heroes who are mostly all in their mid-70's now. I found a review from July 25, 2019 by John Mosier that describes my feelings of the show as he tells it with grace and respect- REVIEW: Art Garfunkel’s talent at Easton’s State Theatre is diminished, but seeing him’s still a good thing.

In July 2010, Simon and Garfunkel had to quit their upcoming tour at the time because Artie developed vocal cord paresis. Later that year, Garfunkel explained that he had recently quit SMOKING, and his voice was getting better, what?

Well, I have a thing about SMOKING. It killed my father in 2014 and I'm still pissed about it. For my father's generation and the children born in the 1940's, everybody smoked. That includes almost all the great singers from World War II on. That kind of pisses me off too, because the effects of long-term smoking kills those wonderful singing voices before it actually kills the wonderfully talented people themselves. Okay enough said, just had to get that one off my chest.

One of my outstanding memories of the concert, was actually the woman in her 70's sitting by herself, next to me. At several points during the concert (like The Sounds of Silence) she leaned in, her hands clasped together and smiling face, seeing the man himself with that voice, sing that song. She gave me the perspective I needed and said to me after the show, "Artie doesn't have quite the voice he used to, but still has the passion to sing like he used to."

That was all I needed, and would concur, seeing Art Garfunkel sing is still a good thing.

Here's my Art Garfunkel playlist to start a mellow Monday.