By Rita J. Egan
Music lovers will experience two distinctive sounds during the Sunday Street Concert on March 9 at The Long Island Museum.
Local singers Gene Casey; Caroline Doctorow; Andrew, Andie Juliette and Cole Fortier; Bryan Gallo; Ray Lambiase; Russ Seeger; and Hank Stone will come together to commemorate the music of two legends — Lou Reed and Paul Simon. Both are inductees in the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Andrew Fortier said he finds Simon and Reed to be polar opposites.
“I also think they’re both geniuses and brilliant and really that’s the fun discovery of it all,” he said.
Producer Charlie Backfish said during the concert, titled Lou Reed & Paul Simon: Two Songwriters from Long Island, the artists will each perform one song from Simon’s catalog and one of Reed’s songs. Simon, 83, and Reed, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 71, both have ties to Long Island.
Born in Brooklyn, Reed graduated from Freeport High School in 1959 while Simon graduated from Forest Hills High School in Queens in 1958.
Reed played guitar and was a member of a doo-wop group in his younger days, while Simon, along with classmate Art Garfunkel, joined forces first as the group Tom and Jerry. The duo would go on to record simply as Simon and Garfunkel and recorded hits such as “I Am a Rock” and “Scarborough Fair” before Simon pursued a solo career. Reed also embarked on a solo path after being a member of the rock group Velvet Underground for five years.
The artistic paths of both accomplished singers and songwriters would cross in 1980 when Simon wrote and starred in One Trick Pony. Reed played a record executive in the same film.
Backfish said he chose the two artists for this show because of their ties to Long Island as well as their musical genres, which are “rather different, although they share some common roots.”
He added that the two, in addition to graduating from Long Island high schools and appearing in a movie together, both had an interest in Doo Wop. According to Backfish, their interests in the genre continued throughout their careers.
“Obviously not every recording, but there are elements of it in their music, and especially in their early years that kind of intrigued me,” he said.
Ray Lambiase, who chose Reed’s “Pale Blue Eyes” to perform, said as he was deciding on a song from the singer’s catalog, especially from Velvet Underground, “I was struck by how — as quirky as his recordings were — you can still pick up an acoustic guitar, and they still have the fundamental elements of a well-written song.”
Lambiase said finding a Simon song is as challenging as picking a Reed song. He added that many of Simon’s songs can be musically challenging.
“Paul Simon is such a terrific guitar player that a lot of his songs are difficult to play,” he said.
“There are some songs that are simpler than others, but he was a very sophisticated guitar player, and also his chord patterns were much more sophisticated than what we would think of as traditional folk singers.”
Lambiase will perform “Paranoia Blues” from Simon’s first solo album, which he feels will be a fun song compared to some of his more serious pieces.
“It might be a good idea to break things up and show that he had a humorous side, too,” the performer said.
Caroline Doctorow, who will sing Simon’s “The Dangling Conversation,” which she recorded on her “Dreaming in Vinyl” album, and Reed’s “Sunday Morning,” said it’s important for performers to try to sound different than the original artists.
“You want to add something to your interpretation,” Doctorow said, adding it can be “challenging in a really wonderful way.”
“I’m so happy that Charlie does these shows,” she said. “It’s a nice opportunity to just spread your wings a little bit in a way that you might not otherwise.
Andrew Fortier agreed that the concert series and Backfish’s WUSB-FM radio program “Sunday Street” take performers and listeners on a journey, introducing them to singers they may have never considered.
He added he feels the audience will enjoy hearing both artists’ music and that fans of one will find the other songwriter’s work fresh and new. Fortier and his children, Cole and Andie Juliette, were on a road trip listening to some of Simon’s and Reed’s work to look for songs that resonated with them.
“The truth of it is that it is really fun when you dive into an artist that you really aren’t that familiar with, because you really can dig deep, and you really get an appreciation for what they do,” Fortier said.
Andie Juliette Fortier added, “It’s always interesting. It gives you a chance to get to know each artist a little bit more and really explore parts of their catalog you maybe wouldn’t normally listen to.”
After listening to Simon’s and Reed’s work, Andrew Fortier decided to sing Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” and Reed’s “Satellite of Love.” Andie Juliette Fortier will perform “Kathy’s Song” by Simon and “I’ll Be Your Mirror” by Reed. Cole Fortier has chosen Simon’s “Hearts and Bones” and “Going Down” by Reed.
The Fortiers are looking forward to hearing the other performers’ interpretations, too.
“There’s always surprises,” Andie Juliette Fortier said. “It’s always nice to hear how people interpret different songs and put their own style on it.
Lambiase said he enjoys the “insights from the different steps of the journey of their personal growth and journeys” when he performs an artist’s work at a Sunday Street concert.
“I think that’s a really big part of the show to humanize the artists by taking their songs and reducing them to their core essentials, and keeping some insight into their journey, because every musician, especially people with careers as long as Paul Simon and Lou Reed, there’s a beginning, a middle and the later part.”
Doctorow said older songs usually stir up a sense of nostalgia, and she hopes audience members will remember the music, and the songs will bring back memories while they connect with them in a new way.
“It’s like that Hugh Prestwood song — called ‘The Song Remembers When,’” she said. “You hear these songs from your youth, and you remember things that you might not normally remember. It just sort of washes over you, and in difficult times like we’re in now, the songs comfort people.”
Sunday Street Concert Lou Reed & Paul Simon: Two Songwriters from Long Island is produced by Charlie Backfish and is a not-for-profit collaboration with WUSB-FM, The Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and The Long Island Museum.
The show takes place on Sunday, March 9 at 5 p.m. in The Gillespie Room at The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook. Advance sale tickets are $25, plus a service fee, through March 7. Tickets at the door are $30, cash only. For more information, visit www.sundaystreet.org.
The festival has run annually on the grounds of Gallery North and along North Country Road since they first opened in 1965. With last year’s event scaled back to Maker’s Markets throughout the month of September for safety reasons, gallery director Ned Puchner can’t wait to kick things off again.
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