Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is a grammy award winning American singer-songwriter, poet and guitarist.
Simon's international fame and success began as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, launched in 1964 with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached No. 1 on the U.S. singles charts: "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The duo split up in 1970 at the height of their popularity, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.
Simon has earned 12 Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. In 1986 Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees.
Journey beyond the miracle that became a song!
Plot
Once upon a time... There were four young men of different nationalities: Spanish, Italian, Swedish and British, a one-pound business deal that ends up becoming a one-hundred-thousand pound business deal, and a legend: The Legend of David Pilgrim. This is the basic idea behind The Pilgrim Factor, a story half-way between a comedy and a tale, about anonymous characters who accidentally happen to come across something that could prove doubtful the authenticity of the world's most famous rock group. All this takes place right in the centre of "Chicken Town"... a city where everything is possible... even a story like this one.
Plot
Bill Mitchell is the philandering and distant President of the United States. Dave Kovic is a sweet-natured and caring Temp Agency operator, who by a staggering coincidence looks exactly like the President. As such, when Mitchell wants to escape an official luncheon, the Secret Service hires Dave to stand in for him. Unfortunately, Mitchell suffers a severe stroke whilst having sex with one of his aides, and Dave finds himself stuck in the role indefinitely. The corrupt and manipulative Chief of Staff, Bob Alexander, plans to use Dave to elevate himself to the White House - but unfortunately, he doesn't count on Dave enjoying himself in office, using his luck to make the country a better place, and falling in love with the beautiful First Lady...
Keywords: affair, airforce-one, barber, bicycle, body-double, bodyguard, boss-secretary-romance, budget, cabinet-meeting, campaign-headquarters
In a country where anybody can become President, anybody just did
Dave Kovic was an ordinary guy who was asked to impersonate the President. When they gave him a chance to make the country better...he did.
[singing in the shower]::Dave: Hail to the chief / He's the one we all say "Hail" to. / We all say "Hail" / 'Cause he keeps himself so clean! / He's got the power, / That's why he's in the shower...
Bob Alexander: I'm going to kill him.::Alan Reed: You can't kill a President.::Bob Alexander: He's not a President. He's an ordinary person. I can kill an ordinary person.::Alan Reed: Bob!::Bob Alexander: I can kill a hundred ordinary people!
Ellen Mitchell: Why couldn't you die from a stroke like everyone else?
Dave Kovic: She's great. She's really exotic! She's a princess! She's Polynesian - well, half Polynesian, and half American. She's... Amnesian.
Dave: I don't want to tell some eight-year-old kid he's gotta sleep in the street because we want people to feel better about their *car*. Do *you* want to tell them that?::Secretary of Commerce: [quietly] No sir. [sits back in his seat and reflects] No I sure don't.
White House Tour Guide: And we're walking, and we're walking, and we're stopping.
Dave: According to the OMB, we have seventeen defense contractors who are delinquent in their contracts. Is this true, Frank?::Director of OMB: Uh, I believe so, yes.::Dave: So, even though they're late, we keep paying them on time?::Director of OMB: Well, in a sense... yeah.
Dave: The president and the first lady... what is that? How long has that been going on?::Duane: I can't say.::Dave: You mean, you don't know, or "you can't say"?::Duane: I can't say.
Dave: You know, I've always wondered about you guys. You know, about how you're trained to take a bullet for the president?::Duane: What about it?::Dave: Is that really true? I mean, would you let yourself be killed to save his life?::Duane: Certainly.::Dave: So, now that means you'd get killed for me too.
Alan Reed: Bob, at some point we're gonna have to call the Vice President.::Bob Alexander: Don't call the Vice President.::Alan Reed: What?::Bob Alexander: Just don't call him, Al.::Alan Reed: The guy's in a coma, Bob!::Bob Alexander: I don't give a shit.::Alan Reed: Bob!::Bob Alexander: This is mine, Alan. All mine. I made him, I built him. And no Boy Scout is going to come in here and take it away from me, just because he happens to be Vice President of the United States.