IT'S a long way from performing for half a million fans in New York's Central Park to the hall at Baptist College, Hong Kong. For Art Garfunkel it must surely seem the distance between two lives, but if it also seems like the distance between success and, if not failure, at least a certain anonymity, he's not saying so.
But the singer - who was better known for more than a decade as the blond, curly half of Simon and Garfunkel - is happy to admit that, though this is part of a new life with a new band, almost half the 11/2-hour show he's bringing to the territory this month is Simon and Garfunkel songs.
'I don't want to look like I am living in the past, but I don't want to deny the fans the Scarborough Fair, the Mrs Robinson, ' he said, from his Manhattan penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park, just 100 metres from the stage where he and Simon gave a massive concert in 1981. 'When I look at the songs it's difficult to work out which to drop.' But the fans' expectations and the unseen presence of Simon don't stand in the way of his own career, he says.
'When I sing Bridge Over Troubled Water I don't feel I am dealing with Paul Simon's identity, I am singing my own identity,' he said. 'I was born to sing.' There's no song he's singing because he feels he has to, with the possible exception of Feeling Groovy, which he considers 'a little dated'. But he updates it as his encore by having his 31/2-year-old son, James - in gaucho outfit, 'hip black pants, vest and boots', or in Japan in a kimono - singing with him.
'It's really blissful,' said the doting dad. In fact, this Far East tour, which also includes Bangkok, Singapore and Japan, is a family affair - his wife of six years, Kathryn 'Kim' Cermak, formerly with a rock band, singing backing vocals.
The Garfunkel family, plus the four other band members, including banjo player Eric Weissberg of Duelling Banjos fame, have been on the road since the beginning of the summer, doing 40 shows throughout the US.
