Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon
Photo: CBS News

When they broke up in 1970, folk rock duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel weren't on the best of terms. But 33 years spent mostly apart with only occasional reunion tours have healed wounds and turned the former bitter enemies into old friends. At least, that's what they'd have us believe as they prepare for their Old Friends Tour, their first major outing since 1983.

Simon & Garfunkel announced the reunion in a New York press conference on Tuesday at the club the Bottom Line. A brief performance of their songs "Old Friends," "Homeward Bound" and "The Boxer" followed the news. So far, 28 shows have been planned, starting October 18 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dates will run through the middle of December. Some will go on sale on Monday.

The concerts will mostly consist of material from the group's five studio albums, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, (1964), Sounds of Silence (1966), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme (1966), Bookends (1968) and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970). However, Simon & Garfunkel will perform a smattering of songs from their respective solo careers. Some songs will be played as a duo and others will be performed with a backing band.

The duo grew up together as friends in Forest Hills, New York, and started recording together in 1957 as Tom & Jerry. After breaking up, they discovered the reflective ring and lilting harmonies of folk music, and re-formed as Simon & Garfunkel.

Although they didn't make a splash right away, gradually they would develop a large following with songs like "The Sounds of Silence," "I Am a Rock" and "Homeward Bound." But it was "Mrs. Robinson," a song penned for the Mike Nichols film "The Graduate," that catapulted Simon & Garfunkel into the mainstream.

The track won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1969 and Simon was honored with a Grammy for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture. The band's next record, Bridge Over Troubled Water, received several Grammys, including one for Album of the Year.

Simon & Garfunkel broke up in 1970 because of personal and artistic differences, yet remained aware of their appeal to the public, and occasionally got back together. In 1975 they recorded the single "My Little Town" and they played a few shows here and there. One of these shows, a 1981 concert in Central Park, drew 500,000 fans, and was captured on the 1982 disc Live in Central Park. The success of the album led to a 1983 tour, but plans to record a new album were thwarted because of their inability to get along.

Most recently, Simon & Garfunkel opened this year's Grammy Awards with a performance of "The Sounds of Silence" and were honored at the ceremony with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A double-disc retrospective, Essential Simon & Garfunkel, will be released on October 14.

Confirmed Simon & Garfunkel tour dates, according to their publicist:

• 10/18 - Auburn Hills, Michigan @ Palace of Auburn Hills
• 10/22 - Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
• 10/24 - Chicago, IL @ United Center
• 10/26 - Saint Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
• 11/5 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion at San Jose
• 11/14 - Anaheim, CA @ Arrowhead Pond
• 11/17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center

• Simon & Garfunkel
• Paul Simon
• Art Garfunkel

Norah Jones
Photo: Wire Image

NEW YORK — For the second year in a row, a piano-playing singer took home the lion's share of Grammys.

Following Alicia Keys' five-Grammy pull in 2002, Norah Jones made good on all her nominations and generated eight wins, the most of any artist at the 45th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. (Click here for a list of winners.)

After Best New Artist Jones wowed viewers with a stirring, candlelit rendition of "Don't Know Why," she nabbed the second award given out, for Best Pop Vocal Album, beating Avril Lavigne's Let Go, No Doubt's Rock Steady, Pink's Missundaztood and Britney Spears' Britney. The song also received Record of the Year honors, while her debut LP, Come Away With Me, named was Album of the Year. (Click here to see highlights from the show.)

"I just want to say, in a world that's really weird, I feel very blessed," Jones said after winning Album of the Year, over competition from the Dixie Chicks (Home), Eminem (The Eminem Show), Nelly (Nellyville) and Bruce Springsteen (The Rising).

Before the telecast Jones picked up Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Don't Know Why," which won songwriter Jesse Harris the prestigious Song of the Year award. Arif Mardin, who helmed Come Away With Me, picked up Producer of the Year, Non-Classical honors, while the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical trophy brought the Jones camp's total wins to eight.

Although out to an early lead with three awards in the pre-telecast portion of the night, Springsteen and the E Street band would do no winning on TV, settling for wins for Best Rock Album with The Rising, and Best Rock Song and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for its title track. Springsteen's trio of trophies brings his Grammy total to 10 over the course of his 30-year career.

The Dixie Chicks matched Springsteen's total, adding to their four previous Grammys with wins for Best Country Album (Home), Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal ("Long Time Gone") and Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Lil' Jack Slade.")

Even Eminem, whose third LP, The Eminem Show, was the best selling album of 2002, couldn't come close to Jones' appeal. Eminem won just two awards, for Best Short Form Music Video ("Without Me") and Best Rap Album. Accepting the latter award, the rapper eschewed thanking the usual laundry list of producers, engineers, managers and accountants, instead giving props to his influences.

"I made a little list of the MCs who inspired me and brought me where I am today," he said before giving shout outs to Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, N.W.A, Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas and KRS-One, among others.

The other four rap categories weren't televised, and Nelly nabbed half of them before the Garden filled up. The St. Louis rapper took home the 'phone for Best Male Rap Solo Performance with "Hot in Herre," while "Dilemma," featuring Kelly Rowland, picked up Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Missy Elliott's "Scream a.k.a. Itchin'" was dubbed Best Female Rap Solo Performance, and "The Whole World" by Outkast featuring Killer Mike was named Best Rap Performance a Duo or Group.

A trend arose at this year's Grammy Awards in which several artists walked away with trophies immediately after their performances. Following their live sets, No Doubt, Jones, the Dixie Chicks and John Mayer, who scored for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, each picked up Grammys.

Coldplay, who performed "Politik" with members of the New York Philharmonic, won for Best Alternative Music Album (A Rush of Blood to the Head) and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal ("In My Place"), though both were announced during the pre-telecast.

Avril Lavigne took the stage only as a performer ("Sk8r Boi"), going zero for five in such categories as Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Best Pop Album With Vocals. Others with goose eggs on their Grammy scorecard included and double-nominees Pink, Britney Spears and 'NSYNC, who've all never won a Grammy.

A folk-inspired segment within the first hour continued the somber tone set by Simon and Garfunkel, who opened the show with their 1965 hit "The Sounds of Silence," performing together for the first time in nearly a decade. Introduced by Paul Shaffer, Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles" moved into John Mayer's "Your Body Is a Wonderland," which was followed by James Taylor's 1970 hit "Sweet Baby James," for which the singer/songwriter was accompanied by classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Springsteen's performance of "The Rising" mirrored the gravity of the situation that inspired it, with images of tempestuous skies looming behind the Boss, whose face reflected a red light, as if illuminated by flames.

The mood didn't remain so reserved for long, however. Lavigne's performance was meant to be playful, but came off a bit lackadaisical; and Nelly's "Hot in Herre" elevated temperatures, and not just because of his use of pyrotechnics. Eminem, backed by the Roots, simply brought the house down with a more rocked-up version of "Lose Yourself" delivered without the aid of a backing track.

Following a medley of "Underneath It All" and "Hella Good," No Doubt picked up Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for "Hey Baby." The Orange County quartet's "Hella Good" also provided the foundation for Roger Sanchez's club remix, for which the New York DJ won for Best Remixed Recording.

With rumors circulating that any mention of the conflict with Iraq would be censored (see "Guns N' Roses Songs, Chuck D's Call To Arms Highlight Rock The Vote Awards"), only Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst broached the subject of international policy.

"I think this war should go away," he offered, before announcing the Foo Fighters had won the Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy for "All My Life," from the band's fourth album, One by One.

An unidentified man joined Foo Fighters Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins onstage to accept the award, reviving memories of "Soy Bomb," the lunatic who bum-rushed Bob Dylan's Grammy performance in 1998. "Rock wouldn't be anything without B.B. King," the man said, before Grohl lightened an awkward mood by replying, "I was gonna say that."

'NSYNC, performing together for the first time in nine months, sang a mélange of Bee Gees tunes, following "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley's eulogy to Maurice Gibb and the presentation of the 2003 Legend Award to brothers Barry and Robin Gibb. The Gibb brothers dedicated the honor to their late bandmate and asked Maurice's son, Adam, to accept the award. As the young man made his speech, his immediate family in the audience and his uncle Barry onstage were visibly choked up.

The Clash's Joe Strummer was remembered by an all-star rendition of "London Calling" that featured Springsteen, Steven Van Zant, Elvis Costello and Grohl, each playing guitar and trading lyrics. Before the telecast, the Clash's "Westway to the World" won for best Long Form Music Video.

Recording Industry President Neil Portnow introduced a video montage of other musical contributors who were lost in the last year. Images of the Who's John Entwistle, country legend Waylon Jennings, Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, Dee Dee Ramone, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and musicologist Alan Lomax, who was given a brief remembrance of his own earlier in the evening, flashed onscreen. Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay was included among the faces of those lost, but he did not receive an homage of his own, even though his contributions to hip-hop are widely considered just as vital as Maurice Gibb's contributions to disco and pop or Strummer's contributions to punk.

Simon and Garfunkel, big-band conductor Glenn Miller and Latin jazz percussionist Tito Puente all received Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The majority of the night's 104 trophies were doled out before the awards show began. Among the notable winners, Mary J. Blige won for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance ("He Think I Don't Know"), while Usher's "U Don't Have to Call" picked up the gramophone for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Ashanti's self-titled debut won for the Best Contemporary R&B Album; Erykah Badu featuring Common's "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" took home the prize for Best R&B Song; and Santana and Michelle Branch's "The Game of Love" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Dirty Vegas nabbed Best Dance Recording with "Days Go By"; Korn's "Here to Stay" was named Best Metal Performance; and the Flaming Lips won for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

After having been shut out of her seven nominations last year, India.Arie scored for Best Urban/Alternative Performance with "Little Things" and Best R&B Album with Voyage to India.

For more Grammy news, check out the MTV News Grammy Archive.

• Norah Jones
• Avril Lavigne
• Eminem
• Bruce Springsteen
• Dixie Chicks

Alien Ant Farm's Dryden Mitchell and Terry Corso
Photo: MTV News

"Things are different now," a news anchor commented last Tuesday while covering the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Those words continue to resonate a week later, with sports, travel and entertainment all vastly affected by the East Coast tragedies.

In the music industry, the biggest changes are occurring on the air as radio and music video outlets around the country alter their playlists to reflect the radically different context in which pop music is now heard as compared to when the music was originally written and recorded.

As Bob Buchmann, program director at WAXQ in New York, put it, "The Steve Miller Band's 'Jet Airliner' doesn't evoke the same feeling it did last Monday."

Radio and music video stations are rethinking the music they play, removing songs dealing with violence and questioning just about everything else.

Program directors at Clear Channel Communications, the country's largest owner of radio stations, compiled a list of more than 150 songs that might be considered questionable following the attacks and distributed it to the company's nearly 1,200 stations. The list includes songs with references to explosions, terrorism, airplanes, skyscrapers, New York, the Middle East and even the day Tuesday.

The songs range from rock anthems such as AC/DC's "Shot Down in Flames" and Stone Temple Pilots' "Big Bang Baby" to oldies such as the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" and Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party." Other, less obvious songs on the list include Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Pam Taylor, a spokesperson for Clear Channel, stressed Monday that this list is not a corporate mandate and does not ban the songs from the company's airwaves.

"It's something for programmers to consider," explained Jim Richards, general manager of several Clear Channel stations in San Diego, who helped assemble the list.

While the radio and record industries seem to agree on the necessity for heightened sensitivity following the attacks, several musicians and their representatives are puzzled by the inclusion of songs on the list. Some even thought the list was a joke.

" 'Smooth Criminal' is like the funnest song out there," Alien Ant Farm singer Dryden Mitchell said. "We sing in falsetto. It's supposedly about murder, but nobody really knows what that song is about, including me. The last thing we are is some serious band. We're just positive and funny."

The Michael Jackson cover is among a batch of new metal tracks that includes P.O.D.'s "Boom," System of a Down's "Chop Suey!," Slipknot's "Left Behind" and "Wait and Bleed," Mudvayne's "Death Blooms," Fuel's "Bad Day" and everything by Rage Against the Machine.

Adam Raspler, co-manager of 311, whose "Down" is on the list presumably because the song's title could imply airplanes or buildings coming down, echoed Mitchell's sentiments. "I realize this is a very sensitive time for many Americans and I'm definitely sympathetic to that," he said. "I really don't understand [including] 'Down.' The song is a thank-you note to 311's fans. The chorus says, 'We've changed a lot and then some/ But you know that we have always been down/ If I ever didn't thank you/ Please just let me do it now.' 311 have always prided themselves on having a positive message, one that promotes unity and tolerance. I really don't think there's anything insensitive or controversial about 'Down.' "

Roy Laughlin, general manager of the Clear Channel-owned KIIS in Los Angeles, said the songs should be looked at as potentially provocative rather than questionable. Laughlin and Taylor said program directors know what music is appropriate for their markets.

"Of course there are songs on there that could be construed as insensitive given the events. But does that mean all stations in all markets are going to think so? Of course not," Taylor said.

Buchmann said the roster has had no impact on his playlist or that of most classic-rock stations he has talked to. Classic-rock songs on the list include Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," Kansas' "Dust in the Wind," Elton John's "Rocket Man" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."

"The program directors who made the list had good intentions," Buchmann said, "but we didn't follow much of it." In fact, WAXQ has been playing John Lennon's "Imagine," which is on the list, in heavy rotation since the September 11 attacks.

Radio stations not owned by Clear Channel have also altered their playlists during the past week.

Chicago alternative-rock station WKQX has not played Drowning Pool's "Bodies," Saliva's "Click Click Boom" or Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" since Tuesday's attacks. The station's announcers have also stopped mentioning the title of Jimmy Eat World's "Bleed American" when they play it.

" 'Learn to Fly' doesn't seem offensive," Brian Paruch, of WKQX's programming department, said. "But when you consider the video, which is about breaking into a cockpit, it just didn't seem right. We had to do a lot of other adjusting after this happened. For instance, we're not playing funny songs such as 'Because I Got High' after serious PSAs [public service announcements]."

WKQX also temporarily stopped spinning one of its most requested songs, Sugarcult's "Stuck in America," but started again after the band changed a line in the song from "Everyone's talking about blowing up the neighborhood" to "Everyone's talking about waking up the neighborhood."

" 'Stuck in America' is not a political song," Sugarcult said in a statement. "It is about being an adolescent from a small town, wanting to leave for a bigger city but feeling trapped in suburban life. It is simply a song about youthful boredom and rebellion. We are proud Americans and are overwhelmed with sorrow by the events that have taken place."

WNNX, an alternative-rock station in Atlanta, has also ceased playing "Bodies," and program director Chris Williams said he couldn't imagine a time when it feels right to put it back on the air. "It's just too much," said Williams, who has seen the list and called most of the choices "silly."

"Bodies" mostly repeats the chorus, "Let the bodies hit the floor," but also includes the verse, "Skin against skin, blood and bone/ You're all by yourself, but you're not alone/ You wanted in, now you're here/ Driven by hate, consumed by fear."

" 'Bodies' was never about violence," said Steve Karas, vice president of publicity for Wind-Up Records, Drowning Pool's label. "It was rather a call for togetherness. As a New York-based company we are very sensitive, as we have all been affected by the tragedy. But that doesn't change the simple fact that from the beginning this song was always about the simple call for kids to mosh."

Drowning Pool's debut single received 654 fewer spins from September 11 to September 18 than it did the previous week, according to Broadcast Data Systems, the company that tracks radio airplay for Billboard. Second to "Bodies" in decreased play on rock radio formats was Staind's "It's Been Awhile," down 266 spins from the week before.

On all formats, "It's Been Awhile" was played 1,748 fewer times the week following the terrorist attacks. Afroman's "Because I Got High" took the biggest hit, down 2,180 spins.

Because most radio stations changed to news programming on September 11, total spins were down more than 100,000 last week from the week before. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." was the biggest gainer, up 4,267 from the less than 100 spins the week before. Whitney Houston's "The Star-Spangled Banner," which was not played the week before, received 1,653 spins.

Programming on MTV and VH1 has also changed since the tragedies, with more news coverage taking up airtime and several videos being pulled from regular rotation, according to executives at the channels.

MTV's playlist has been largely determined by viewer e-mails and calls requesting songs of comfort, the network said. Somber videos including Coldplay's "Yellow," Sting's "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free," Mariah Carey's "Hero," Five For Fighting's "Superman (It's Not Easy)" and a live version of Wyclef Jean's "Gone Till November" have received repeated play on MTV since the attacks.

"In an effort to provide the kind of comfort that only music can give and, at the same time, be sensitive to content and images in videos that after September 11 had new, unintended meaning, both channels created playlists that contained messages of hope, peace, strength and healing," MTV Networks said in a statement.

VH1 has ceased playing Staind's "Fade," Dido's "Thank You," U2's "Elevation," Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood" and Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" because the clips contain explosions or buildings crumbling. Afro Celt Sound System's "When You're Falling" and Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," which both feature people falling, have also been pulled.

"Violence, explosions, death, collapsing buildings or even airplane themes were looked at," said Rick Krim, executive vice president of talent and programming for VH1. "Anything that we felt would be insensitive. For the immediate aftermath, we decided better to be safe than sorry."

The channel has added a live clip of Sting's "Fragile" — with a dedication by the singer to the victims of the attacks — and has shown montages of news footage set to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" and Live's "Overcome."

VH1 will consider re-adding the pulled videos on a case-by-case basis, Krim said. "We will re-evaluate all of them week to week," he said. "I'm sure some will go back on soon, maybe with some minor edits. Others may take a while, or may never be aired again."

Laughlin said he and other radio program directors are reassessing the need for heightened sensitivity daily. "That's one of the advantages of radio," he said. "We can make changes at any moment."

(This story was updated at 5:17 P.M. ET on Thursday, September 20, 2001.)

• Alien Ant Farm
• Drowning Pool
• Led Zeppelin
• Stone Temple Pilots
• The Gap Band

Simon & Garfunkel
Photo: David Gahr

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are helping assemble the first live album from Simon and Garfunkel's prime years.

The album, tentatively titled Live From New York City and due early next year, was recorded in 1967 at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center while the duo were supporting the 1966 record Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Both Simon and Garfunkel are involved in choosing songs for the disc, and while there's no track list yet, it will likely contain such folk-rock hits as "The Sounds of Silence," "I Am a Rock" and "Homeward Bound," a spokesperson for the project said.

Simon and Garfunkel released another live album, The Concert in Central Park, in 1982, but it came from a 1981 reunion show. The pair disbanded in 1971, at the height of their fame. Their last studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water was released in 1970, although they made a single together in 1975 — the Top 10 hit "My Little Town," which appeared on Simon's album Still Crazy After All These Years and on Garfunkel's Breakaway.

Their plans for a new studio album after The Concert in Central Park were scrapped because of personal and artistic differences.

Simon and Garfunkel's five classic studio albums — from 1964's Wednesday Morning, 3 AM through Bridge Over Troubled Water — will be reissued on August 21, all with bonus material (see "Simon and Garfunkel Albums to be Reissued with Bonus Tracks"). The discs will be released both separately and together in a box set.

• Simon & Garfunkel

R.E.M.
Photo: Warner Bros.

Cows are sedentary creatures. They like to eat grass, stand still and occasionally moo. And they don't like to rock. However, they do seem to enjoy calming pop ballads.

That's what a pair of scientists at Leicester University determined after playing a variety of songs to more than 1,000 Holstein-Friesians. Dr. Adrian North and researcher Liam MacKenzie found that the cattle that heard slower music produced 3 percent more milk than average cows did.

R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts," Lou Reed's "Perfect Day," Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Aretha Franklin's version of "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" were among the songs most enjoyed by the bovine crowd.

However, faster songs seemed to trouble the animals, slightly reducing their milk yield. Sadly, the Wonder Stuff's "Size of a Cow" was one of those tracks. Others included Supergrass' "Pumping on Your Stereo" and Jamiroquai's "Space Cowboy." Researchers played music 12 hours a day for cows in the nine-week study. It's unclear whether record retailers will try to milk the findings, and there's no word on whether playing Limp Bizkit for livestock increases the frequency of mad cow disease.

• R.E.M.
• Lou Reed
• Aretha Franklin
• Simon & Garfunkel
• The Wonder Stuff

Eminem, Norah Jones, No Doubt, More 2003 Grammy Highlights

• Simon & Garfunkel
• No Doubt
• Norah Jones
• John Mayer
• Eminem