They hadn't spoken much during the performance, not many stories and background, but as a spotlight focused on the pair, Art looked into the seats and explained that they were introducing a song that night that they hoped we would like and they led us across A Bridge over Troubled Water. If the performance had ended there, it would have been a glorious night. But it didn't end there. For their final number, these two artists stood on a stark stage with one guitar and their voices. He didn't know my last name! I moved beside him. "McDiarmid," I told the agent."Deborah McDiarmid", I spoke slowly and then I spelled it for him. Our family always had to spell our name. While the agent searched through the ticket envelopes, we stood there and waited in anxious silence. Steven and I couldn't even look at each other.Īt last, the agent handed over a packet holding two tickets. We were really going to see Simon and Garfunkel - in person! At that moment, we exchanged our first genuine, shy smiles of the evening. He was at the window. The agent said something to him he turned to me with a stricken look. What if we had made this trip for nothing? Be calm, I told myself. It's just a concert. We still have their records. The music is not lost. Steven turned back to the booth. More loudly this time, I heard him say, "Two tickets in the name of Deborah -" Do you have siblings? What does your Dad do for a living? Why do you want to be a teacher?īefore the days of Stub Hub and Pay Pal, the only way to reserve tickets was to write an order, send it to the venue with cash or check, and pick them up at Will-Call. I had done all of this, but there had been no time for a confirmation letter. Steven stepped in line. I stood to the side, waiting. He shrugged away my offer to pay we headed further south, conversation halted and forced. The LeSabre guzzled $8* with no sign of stopping. Over coffee, talk was easy, natural. In a car, dressed up, we were cautious, hesitant. Halfway into our journey, we stopped for gas, and the look on Steven's face when the meter kept rolling was uncomfortable. Two dollars filled his Beetle. It was October 31, 1969. We had met a few times for coffee in the student union at Central Michigan University, but this Simon and Garfunkel concert in Cobo Hall was our first real date. We took my Buick the 150 miles from Mount Pleasant to Detroit. Steven's Volkswagen Beetle could have fit in the trunk. Thank you so much to her for sharing this with me, and for sharing it with all of you. Here is my mother’s story of her favorite concert experience. But, I’m so very grateful for the life that my parents got to have together, and for the life that they were able to provide for me and for my sister. Those waves of grief are still with our family nearly every day. Just five days later we would lose my dad with unexpected suddenness. On August 15, 2020, Steven and Deborah Carlson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. As great as S&G might have been that night, the moral of this story is the connection that two people found in the music of two others. That date, and that concert led to 50 years of marriage, two children, four grandkids and a lifetime of love and adventure. As memorable shows go, it’s a very fine entry as well. The first real, official date that my folks ever went on was to see Simon & Garfunkel.Īs first dates go, that is pretty damned great. My parents raised us with the story, so after a while it became something of lore. I didn’t need to ask my mother what her favorite concert was. A while back, I asked readers to talk about their favorite live music experiences in a poll and discussion thread.
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