Simon Says final Courthouse Nights act of season

By Kyle Mooty

LPR Editor

Some of Austin’s finest and most versatile musicians have joined to make Simon Says one of the area’s most popular tribute bands, which pays homage to the legendary Paul Simon.

A singer-songwriter, Simon, now 82, has a lengthy list of hit music beginning with his duo years in the 1960s with Art Garfunkel — The Sound of Silence, Mrs. Robinson, and Bridge Over Troubled Water – the 1970s when he mixed reggae, gospel, and soul — Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Still Crazy After All these Years – and the smash hit album Graceland in 1986 – You Can Call Me Al.

Simon has won 16 Grammy Awards and has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Simon Says, which includes songs across Simon’s vast career, will be the season’s final performance of Courthouse Nights on Friday, Aug. 23, beginning at 8:30 p.m. The band, which will have about 10 members at the Lockhart show, includes about four in the horn section as well as multiple on background vocals.

DJ Island Time (Will Rhodes) will entertain the crowd with tunes from 7-8 p.m.

Simon Says includes a plethora of musicians:

Andy Bianculli – vocals, guitar

Andy Beaudoin – drums

Mario Castellanos – bass

Matt Muehling – guitar

Nick Litterski — piano, vocals

Caitlin Palmer – vocals

Carolyn Trowbridge – percussion, horns

Josh levy — baritone sax/ nickel whistle

Jason Frey – tenor, sax

Wayne Meyers – trombone

Kevin Flatt — trumpet

“It’s a really fun project for everyone involved,” Bianculli said. “People adore Paul Simon songs, and you can see a visceral response with them. He’s also a very understated songwriter, but the songs are quite complex. It takes a certain level of musicianship to do it justice. And everyone in the band is top notch.”

Bianculli is a native of Long Island, New York, but has since made Austin his home.

“They are friends of ours,” said Rhodes of Rach & Rhodes Presents. “A lot of them are in groups that have headlined at Austin City Limits.”

Many of the band members are touring with other bands at the moment but they will reunite with Simon Says in Lockhart. Between the 11 total members of Simon Says, other groups its musicians play with include Star Parks, Hard Proof, Nori, Grupo Fantasma, Brownout, Nori, KP and the Boom Boom, Kinky Machines, A Giant Dog, Adrian Quesada’s Jaguar Sound, Bayonne, Found Memories, Mamahawk, BLK Odyssey, Kill Tony, and The Hushabyes.

“This is a big thing,” said Rachel Lingvai of Rach & Rhodes Presents, creators of Courthouse Nights. “It’s our final one for the year. We will have a crazy time. Come out and play with us. This will be a super group from Austin.”

Simon Says will likely be a hit for those who come to dance in the streets at Courthouse Nights. Rhodes said there could be several Congo line possibilities with songs such as Late in the Evening, Graceland, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, and Cecilia.

The five-concert Courthouse Nights season began in April and is closing out its fourth year of free performances on the square.

“It’s been a great year,” Rhodes said. “It’s been a landmark year for us. We’ve averaged 600 or better at each show.”

Lingvai said Courthouse Nights is only striving to get “bigger and better” each year.

“It’s been a success,” Lingvai said. “But every year the production costs go up. We will be asking for more sponsorships, but it’s great that we got some grant money from the City of Austin this year. This has been homegrown. We’re just trying to get more partnerships. We sold much more merchandise this year.

“We don’t have a way to house the musicians, but them only playing for an hour and a half for a pretty good paycheck and being right by Austin is great for them.”

The Original Black’s Barbecue feeds the musicians, and there is a green room for the acts to get ready upstairs across the street at Commerce Café.

“A lot of them come down here because they love the family atmosphere,” Lingvai said.

Lindvai said she has some ideas for the fifth season next year, including some new merchandise designs.

Rhodes said the musicians enjoy how they are treated in Lockhart, crediting Lingvai with her efforts.

“One of the things we’re most proud about is now all of the production money stays in Lockhart,” Rhodes said. “We’re getting to the point now that we know what we’re doing. Next year will be our fifth season. We’re going to do some things to help raise some money. People are really showing up now.”

Rach and Rhodes Presents are also curating music for the Texas Monthly Barbecue Festival coming in November.