CAN'T MISS: What Paul Simon Sing Sings from the Cold-Blooded Returns to NYC, Aug. 14-16

Surely Paul Simon was attracted to and produced an album and musical based on the Capeman murders for the story's chilling, "in-cold-blood" mysteriousness. When two 16-year-old gang members took the lives of two innocent boys in August 1959, the city was gripped by the violence, and Salvador "The Capeman" Agron was the youngest person ever sentenced to death. He was released from prison 20 years later after reforming into an introverted man who read, wrote poetry, and kept quietly to himself.

photo courtesy of homicidesquad.com

For three days only, Simon's 'The Capeman' will run at the Delacorte in Central Park from August 14 to 16, at the charge of Tony-nominated director Diane Paulus.

Assistant to the director Mia Walker tells us of the upcoming show, "A little while ago, Paul Simon was at a gas station and a woman came up to him and said she was a fan of his, and especially loved 'The Capeman.' He remembers her telling him 'and the MOTHER...it's really about the mother.' So, Diane and Paul decided to make this production more about Esmeralda Agron, Salvador's mother," played by Natascia Diaz who Walker calls "incredible — such a powerful singer and actor."

Paul Simon posed a troubling account of the murders in 'Songs from the Capeman,' forcing his audience to ponder, troubled, over the sides of the story. "How could anyone look into your eyes, such pure eyes, / and see a murderer in there? / I see an angel on a hillside / with moonlight in his hair," sings Diaz as Esmeralda.

—This post is in honor of Abelino Mazaniego.—