December 5, 2020

Welcome to Saturday 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so to speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 1966

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) The bridge that inspired this song is The Queensboro Bridge in New York City. Are you near a bridge right now as you answer these 9 questions?
The closest bridge is the Carquinez bridge, about 45 miles away....and beyond that is the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.

2) Paul Simon says he "loathes" this song and only performs it because fans want to hear it. What's your favorite Paul Simon song?
I like a lot of his songs.  Maybe "Graceland."  (I like more Simon and Garfunkle songs than Paul Simon songs)

3) "Groovy" is such a 1960s word. What common word/phrase from 2020 do you predict will sound just as silly and quaint some day?
"Groovy" is one of my favorite words!  I guess I'm not around young people enough to know any strange current common word/phrases.

4) Paul is a lifelong Yankees fan and was thrilled to meet his all-time idol, Joe DiMaggio. Mr. DiMaggio was, at first, less than thrilled to meet Paul because he thought the song "Mrs. Robinson" made fun of him. Once Simon convinced him it was an homage, the men got along fine. Do you have a celebrity encounter to tell us about?
I met Judy Garland when she came through San Francisco for her Carnegie Hall concert.  I waited in the hotel for her for a day with a bunch of other people, but she never arrived.  It was a Sunday and everyone else had to go to work the next day, but I went back and myself and one other woman waited for her.  When she arrived, I couldn't get my camera together (it had a detachable flash attachment) but, trembling in nervousness, I went to her and asked her to sign the 8x10 photo I'd brought and asked if I could take her picture.  "I'm kind of a mess but I don't mind if you don't," she said so I took her picture. 

The other woman and I sat in the hotel talking about our meetings when all of a sudden Judy was back in the lobby again.  She didn't like her room and was moving to another hotel.  She waved at us as she went out to her cab.  The next day I went to her concert and was one of the people who rushed the stage at the end (I never do that--and I have not done it since).  I remember thinking how very cold her hand was when she shook my hand.

5) Art Garfunkle was the other half of Simon and Garfunkle. Art and Paul met in sixth grade, when were both in a school production of Alice in Wonderland. Tell us about one of your school theatrical appearances.
My high school only had one production a year and the cast was only Seniors, so I only had a chance to be in one production.  it was a mystery called "Tish" and I played the romantic lead, if you can believe that!

6) "Artie" used to love needling Paul about his height -- or lack thereof. He maintained he was trying to be funny, but Paul thought is was mean and says the constant digs hurt. Is there anyone in your life who similarly enjoys teasing?
I don't think so.  Ned occasionally teases me, but it's never "mean."

7) Paul told NPR that his impulse to write new music has always come "in bursts." He'll go years without composing, and then he'll write every day for months. Do you often feel creative?
I don't know.  I think any time I write a letter or a journal entry I'm feeling creative.

8) In 1966, when this song was popular, First Daughter Luci Johnson married Patrick Nugent. Their reception was held at the East Room of the White House. The couple had an 8 ft. tall wedding cake and when the bride threw her bouquet, it was caught by her sister, Lynda. Sure enough, Lynda married a year later. Tell us about a wedding you attended (or your own).
Our wedding was a high mass at the Newman Center at UC Berkeley.  The priest who married us was a friend who had been ordained the week before, so were his first wedding.  I had sung in the Newman choir for years and they did a Mozart mass (with instruments) for me, as our wedding gift.

 

9) Random question: Which do you regret more -- the times you were cautious or the times you were reckless?
The times I was cautious.  Like in college when I wanted to go and work as an au pair in France and then when the priest I contacted about it responded, I got nervous and changed my mind.  I also thought of joining the Peace Corps when it first started (not realizing that I needed a college degree), but chickened out.