Still Crazy After All These Years, a Tribute to Paul Simon, February 10 at 6pm

 With a 50+ year career in the music industry, there are few who come close to achieving what Paul Simon has – decades’ worth of songs and music that have opened up the world to listeners. His groundbreaking 1985 album, Graceland, brought South African music into the mainstream. Many of those songs, along with several other Simon solo classics, are part of Still Crazy After All These Years: A Tribute to Paul Simon, playing Monday, February 10 at The Gaslight Theatre as part of its Monday night concert series. The show is produced by Khris Dodge Entertainment (KDE).

Fronting the show is the multi-talented Chach Snook (KDE’s The Chicago Experience and In the Christmas Mood). The guitar-playing singer is a life-long fan of Simon’s and counts him among his major musical idols. “I remember vividly when Graceland came out. ‘You Can Call Me Al’ was my favorite song when the album first debuted because the video was all over the place. The more I listened to the album, though, the more I focused on the lyrics and the harmonies. That led to finding his other work, and then I discovered that he wrote the majority of the music during his time with Garfunkel. Paul Simon’s lyrics are clever and poetic. As a songwriter, he exemplifies those better than anyone I can identify.”

Joining Chach on stage will be an ensemble of talented singers and musicians, including his wife, Jodi. She’ll provide back up support and will take center stage to tackle Linda Ronstadt’s part in the duet from Graceland’s  ‘Under African Skies’. “I’m really excited about performing that song with Jodi,” says Chach. “We practiced in the car all last summer as we road-tripped to Northern California and back with our kids. And, as a result, our kids have gotten into Paul Simon and are starting to sing along with the parts they know.”

One of the performers having to play multiple roles is Jeremy Vega. Jeremy and Chach have performed together in numerous shows and musicals, but this is the first time Chach has had the opportunity to see/hear Jeremy use his percussion chops on stage. Arranger and show creator Khris Dodge agrees. “Since Graceland is so percussion-heavy, I needed to find people who could pull double duty. Jeremy is unique in that he’s a trained percussionist and vocalist. He knows proper technique for playing the djembe, hepenique, and other specialized percussion instruments, and his voice lends the right tambour to the harmonies.”