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By: wheelerwrite,
on 12/12/2012
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The Last Waltz was a revolutionary documentary. It was the first concert movie shot in 35 mm, the record of a celebration of the Band’s last concert on the site of their first show as The Band. It is the visual evidence that more than thirty years ago Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel had the good sense to go out on top. There are many examples of actors, politicians, athletes and rock stars who didn’t. The movie itself, I hour, 37 minutes, was directed by Martin Scorsese. No matter what you think of Hollywood, his credentials as a director are undisputed. His list of credits, accomplishments and awards means that Scorsese is a serious director, not one to waste energy. At the time, 1976, a time when the underground half of the 60's generation was realizing that the other half was following in the footsteps of their parents, embracing the values that their governments, their elders and betters, praised and promoted, Scorsese was in the middle of directing NEW YORK, NEW YORK, a huge, expensive Hollywood project. Unbeknownst to the New York, New York producer who would have had a heart attack if he’d known, Marty (as he is referred to by almost everyone in the movie) took a weekend off, filmed the concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, put together the rest of it in a week and filmed three more songs on a Hollywood sound stage a few months later. It was edited and released in 1978. The sets, lighting, photography, sound and all the myriad details that go into movie creation were taken care of by hook or by crook, often improvised by world renowned experts in their fields. The project took on a life of its own. It was not made for profit and grew into an important cultural event. Before Scorsese made The Last Waltz, there was WOODSTOCK (where he worked as an assistant director and editor and learned what not to do), GIMME SHELTER, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL and an Elvis film, but no other single concert had been as carefully choreographed, as meticulously set and photographed as this. There were seven cameras shooting at times, each run by a professional and, in many cases, a world famous cinematographer. Bill Graham’s lawyers forced Scorsese’s assistant to negotiate each camera movement because he controlled the stage and insisted that nothing impair the sight lines of the live audience. It is best to mention here that the DVD of The Last Waltz is available cheap at your local DVD purveyor. This one only cost ten Canadian dollars to buy, a great bargain for musicians, writers and anyone else interested in rock ‘n roll and the making of movies. The “Special Features” additions on the DVD contain a lot of comical and serious comments by the movie makers, Mac Rebenak, Ronnie Hawkins, Mavis Staples and the band members which can be listened to as the movie plays. As each band member, song and guest performer appears, someone talks about them. The story of The Band’s creation and growth through sixteen years of living on the road unfolds through a series of interviews with band members interspersed among the songs, mostly answers to questions posed by Scorsese himself, questions provided by a professional screenwriter. Many of the answers are funny, some ironic, some poignant, but one feeling permeates the whole movie, a sort of good natured humour, an amused observation of the world at large and a sincere appreciation of the music. The Band were aware that the odds of survival for such a long time in such a high risk lifestyle, were against them. Robbie Robertson says, at the end of the movie, “The road has taken some of the great ones” and “You can push your luck”. Three of the Band’s songs were filmed on an MGM sound stage where Scorsese could control everything and was free to use a crane and a camera as in normal movies. The Weight, in which Pop and Mavis Staples sing verses and all four harmonize on the choruses with members of the band, Evangeline, which is filmed in stunning colour with Emmy Lou Harris doing an achingly sweet call and response with Levon, and The Last Waltz theme song which is a waltz written by Robertson who is playing a double necked acoustic guitar as he performs it with the Band, were all filmed on sets designed by Boris Leven, a friend of Scorcese and the production designer on The Sound of Music and New York, New York. It was Leven who was responsible for renting the San Francisco Opera’s set for La Traviata and setting it up in the beat up, spruced up, old Winterland Ballroom for the concert. His original idea was to fill the place with chandeliers but they couldn’t afford more than three. It’s fitting that while the rest of their generation was trying to deal with the post Vietnam world, the plan for The Last Waltz was hatching and growing between Robbie Robertson and Martin Scorsese in a couple of months of creativity and hard work. At first, there was no budget, just an idea. It was cobbled together by the seat of its pants, almost an afterthought. The Last Waltz began, in a way, underground, and became the standard by which all concert movies are measured. When the concert was over, Scorsese and Robertson agreed that through all the craziness and frenetic activity, through the power of the music and the personalities, maybe, just maybe, they might have produced a gem. The movie begins with Rick Danko telling Martin Scorsese that the game is “Cutthroat” and breaking the balls on a pool table. Then, in a way which makes sense only when you’ve watched the whole thing and listened to the commentary, The Band returns to the stage for an unplanned encore after the concert’s over. They play Don’t Do It and Robbie Robertson’s lead guitar places the viewer in a car travelling through a beat up neighbourhood of San Francisco to the Winterland Ballroom where crowds are lined up and the huge vertical sign above the entrance has half of its lights burnt out. A young couple waltzes gracefully across the screen against the backdrop of The Last Waltz logo as the names of the guest performers appear: Dr John, Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Emmy Lou Harris, Muddy Waters, The Staples, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Paul Butterfield, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood. In the first interview Marty asks Robbie if they’re really “just friends” who showed up. Robbie tells him that no, the musical guests aren’t just friends, they’re probably the biggest influences in music to a whole generation. Michael McClure, the poet, appears on stage in a spotlight where he recites a short piece of Canterbury Tales in olde English, smiles and walks off. Lawrence Ferlinghetti appears at the end of the show, just before Dylan, with a quick, cool poem. They are the connection to the Beats, their presence welcomed. Kerouac’s spirit. As Robbie says, it isn’t about the audience so they don’t appear except for a few reverse shots which Scorsese loved. The concert itself is a mixture of Band originals beginning with Cripple Creek, interwoven with guests who play only one song each. Dr John displays that New Orleans piano style, slow drawl and dazzling smile on What a Night. Joni Mitchell’s strumming and phrasing make the room feel like everything’s in motion as she stands golden haired and innocent singing the naughty lyrics of Coyote. The floor shakes to the beat of everyone stomping to Muddy’s Mannish Boy. In the Special Features section there is a hilarious commentary on Van Morrison’s sequined outfit as he steals the show with his tour de force performance of Caravan and almost cracks a smile. He had lived in Woodstock when The Band lived there and was an old friend. Scorsese manages to get Joni’s profile in shadow when she sings an ethereal harmony to Neil Young’s Helpless. Garth Hudson’s head is suddenly illuminated as he stands to play a sax, trading solos with Robbie’s guitar in It Makes No Difference. Clapton trades licks with Robertson on Further On Up The Road after his guitar strap comes undone and Robbie picks up the solo without missing a beat. Neil Diamond, a companion from their Tin Pan Alley days, sings a song looking like he’s ready for Vegas. Paul Butterfield pulls off an amazing physical feat when he plays along with Muddy. Ronnie Hawkins, Muddy and Van the Man all exit the stage the same way, deliberately, with a flourish. In the commentaries Ronnie Hawkins tells the story of each band member as he was brought into The Hawks, Ronnie’s backup band which later became Dylan’s backup band, then The Band. He says he hired Robbie Robertson, the kid, to be a roadie as a favour to the boy’s mother. Robbie was hanging out with some guys who might end up in the penitentiary. Richard Manuel, quiet and gentle, always reminding me of The Furry Freak Brother comics in the interviews, roars the lyrics to The Shape I’m In with a strong singing voice made for the blues and slow dancing, rough and smooth at the same time. Levon Helm’s performance vocally and on the drums is hypnotizing . The physical energy required to play and sing that long and that hard is clear in the movie. Rick Danko’s voice is “mournful and strange with off the wall harmonies” as Mac Rebenak put it. It is sweet and harsh with power and feeling. Dylan (another funny commentary in the Special Features section) sings Forever Young and leads his former band into Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. The finale, with everyone onstage, is Dylan’s, I Shall Be Released. Robbie Robertson’s guitar playing is unique. He can play like a lot of people but no one ever plays like him, no one’s got his style , it’s really unique. Ringo and Ronnie Wood appear playing in an out take of a jam until, after 6 hours of filming, the cameras and people take a break. There may be better bands at some things but only these musicians could have pulled this off. A concert which requires a backup band for a variety of performers can be accomplished technically, but the life which The Band injected into the songs, the huge variety of styles they had to adapt to, could only have been done by them. They were a perfect backup band as well as the stars of the show. The sex is in the music. Understated and hinted at, never openly mentioned, the sex is in the music. In the interviews Scorsese asks about women on the road. The answers are, for the most part, as vague and euphemistic as the references to “fun” and other bad habits. Garth Hudson states with certainty that the greatest priests on 52nd street in New York were the musicians. Songwriters were the low men and women on the totem pole but the street musicians were the greatest healers. Thirty years after the movie was made, Martin Scorsese has done another concert film with The Rolling Stones called Shine a Light. Waiting to borrow my copy of The Last Waltz are a twenty year old drummer and a seventeen year old bass player. It means that Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson and everyone involved in the movie did produce a gem. And it means that all is not lost.
Johnny Depp is teaming up with HarperCollins to launch a new imprint called that will publish a book on Bob Dylan and a previously unpublished novel by folk legend Woody Guthrie. The imprint will go by the name Infinitum Nihil, the same name as Depp’s production company.
“I pledge, on behalf of Infinitum Nihil, that we will do our best to deliver publications worthy of peoples’ time, of peoples’ concern, publications that might ordinarily never have breached the parapet,” said Depp in a statement. “For this dream realized, we would like to salute HarperCollins for their faith in us and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship together.”
The Associated Press broke the news and had more details about the imprint’s books. Check it out: “The Dylan book is scheduled for 2015. Dylan and [Douglas] Brinkley also will collaborate on the editing and publication of a previously announced novel by one of Dylan’s heroes, folk musician Woody Guthrie, who died in 1967. The novel, ‘House of Earth,’ was completed by Guthrie in 1947 but was only recently discovered. It’s scheduled for January.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
As literary types speculate about this year’s nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature before the official announcement, UK gamblers are still adjusting the odds and trying to predict a winner of the prestigious prize.
According to the betting site Ladbrokes, Japan’s Haruki Murakami still leads with 7/1 odds. However, Bob Dylan the next favorite with 10/1 odds. Dutch novelist Cees Nooteboom and Chinese author Mo Yan have also risen to the top with 12/1 odds. Cormac McCarthy and Philip Roth both have 16/1 odds and Alice Munro has 20/1 odds. Who will you place your bet on?
Nevertheless, literary blogger Michael Orthofer reminds us that Dylan is a bad bet: “it’s easy money for them — anyone who bets on Dylan is basically just handing the money over to them, zero risk to Ladbrokes.”
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has pulled Jonah Lehrer‘s Imagine: How Creativity Works after the author admitted to fabricating Bob Dylan quotes. Until December 31, the company will refund readers for the book.
If you want a refund from the hardcover book, you can take the book back to the bookstore where you bought it. Digital book buyers must “submit requests to the retailer from which the eBook was originally purchased.”
In addition, you can mail the book directly to the publisher along with a proof of purchase. The publisher will send you “$30 within 30 days of receipt of book ($26 for book, plus $4 to cover mailing charges).” Here is the address:
HMH
Attn: Trade Sales/KR
222 Berkeley St.
Boston, MA. 02116
continued…
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Malcolm Gladwell said “I am heartbroken” after hearing that Jonah Lehrer resigned from The New Yorker. Lehrer admitted that he had fabricated Bob Dylan quotes in his book, Imagine: How Creativity Works.
While the WWD reporter wasn’t sure if Gladwell had read the Tablet essay that exposed the fabrication, WWD had this quote from Gladwell: “I am heartbroken. Jonah is a friend. He is a decent and sweet and hugely talented guy, and I cannot imagine what he is going through right now,”
The book has already sold 200,000 copies, but the publisher has stopped the presses. Links to Lehrer’s book have been removed at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
continued…
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Bobby D.
"All I can do is be me, whoever that is." ~ Bob Dylan
Hey, hey! Today is Bob Dylan's 70th birthday!!
We could celebrate by listening to 70 of our favorite Dylan songs, singing "Like a Rolling Stone" seventy times, or by letting out 70 WooHoo's! for this brand new picture book biography, When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan (Little, Brown, 2011). (I vote for all of the above.)
Honey Babe, I was soooooooo excited when I first heard this book was coming out, but disappointed when I couldn't get my hands on a review copy -- until the ever thoughtful and generous Jules of 7-Imp offered to share hers (kiss kiss hug hug love on that beautiful woman). Now, I'm no longer a sad-eyed lady of the lowlands, because I've devoured Gary Golio's wonderful words and pored over Marc Burckhardt's crackerjack illustrations.
Though there are several middle grade Dylan biographies, and two recent picture books illuminating his song lyrics -- Man Gave Names to All the Animals illustrated by Jim Arnosky (Sterling, 2010), and Forever Young illustrated by Paul Rogers (Atheneum, 2008) -- Golio's is the first trade picture book biography featuring the iconic music legend.
Even a casual fan knows there are tons of books published about Dylan (latest count: approximately 1000 titles in English), including biographies and retrospectives, songbooks, photo albums, graphic interpretations of his lyrics, collections of articles and interviews, academic analyses of his ouevre by hardcore Dylanologists, even an encyclopedia containing every bit and bob about Bob. And of course, there's Dylan's own critically acclaimed memoir, Chronicles, Volume One (S&S, 2005). So Mr. Golio's task must have been quite daunting, sifting through the available resources and creating a narrative captivating enough to interest young readers who've probably never heard of our favorite Archbishop of Anarchy. And then there's that little matter of Dylan fabricating parts of his life, especially his early years.
In his Author's Note, Golio says:
As a boy, I was always looking for heroes, just as Bob was looking for Woody even before he'd ever heard of him. Babe Ruth, Leonardo da Vinci, Spider-Man, Amelia Earhart, and Harry Houdini -- they were just a few of my inner stars, and I came to them for guidance, hoping to learn more of life's secrets. But it was Bob's search for his guiding star that inspired me to write this book.
So we read about young Bobby Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minnesota, the brilliant blue-eyed boy who taught himself to play the guitar and piano, who stayed up late listening to Hank Williams, Muddy Waters and B.B. King on the radio, who worked in his father's store to earn money for records and an electric guitar. Music was both passion and refuge for the teenager who dreamed of traveling to faraway places and felt more and more like an outsider in his hometown.
By: Dianna Dilworth,
on 8/26/2011
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Tracey Guest, director of publicity at Simon & Schuster, has been promoted to vice president, director of publicity.
Guest has been with Simon & Schuster since 1998. In her time at the publisher, she has worked on a wide range of books by authors including: Hunter S. Thompson, Bob Woodward, Don Rickles, Mike Birbiglia, Bob Dylan, Paula Deen and Sylvia Nasar. Guest’s most recent publicity campaign was for Jaycee Dugard‘s bestseller, A Stolen Life. Guest began her career at Dutton/Plume in 1991.
In an email, Adam Rothberg, SVP, corporate communications at Simon & Schuster, wrote: “Through it all, Tracey has demonstrated excellent judgment, warmth, spirit, and an ability to make good things happen for our authors in all forms of media.”
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By: Lauren,
on 10/5/2011
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By Louis René Beres
A visibly deep pleasure is embraced by cell phone talkers. For tens of millions of Americans, there is almost nothing that can compare to the ringing ecstasy of a message. It also seems that nothing can bring down a deeper sense of despair than the palpable suffering of cellular silence. Perhaps half of the American adult population is literally addicted to cell phones. For them, a cell, now also offering access to an expanding host of related social networks, offers much more than suitable business contact
Lyrics by Bob Dylan
Illustrated by Jon J. Muth
With CD of Dylan's original recording
$17.95, ages 5 and up, 28 pages
In this sublime picture book adaptation, a paper airplane gliding across the sky becomes a breathtaking metaphor for the roles we all play in making a better world.
Award-winning Jon Muth meditates on Bob Dylan's remarkable 1963 protest song with sweeping illustrations steeped in symbolism, the most resonant being that of the toy plane.
Four children of differing skin color are taken by skiff across expanses of water and shown scenes that make them at turns reflective, sad, uncomfortable, and ultimately, ready to face up to a difficult truth:
That unjust things occur in the world and it is up to each of them to do something about them.
Passing overhead in almost every spread, a folded airplane symbolizes "the answer" in Dylan's refrain, "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind," a figurative verse about opening one's heart to all of humanity.
The idea, it seems, is that if one's heart and senses are receptive, the answer to what to do about life's injustices can be heard or felt, though it's up to each of us to want to act on it.
"Just as each of the children in my illustrations has his or her own paper airplane, each of us knows what needs to be done in our worlds," Muth writes in an end note.
Dylan himself in 1962 compared the "answer" in his song to paper, and one wonders if this played into Muth's choice of a paper airplane as his guiding metaphor.
"Just like a restless piece of paper it's got to come down some," Dylan wrote. "But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know …and then it flies away. I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their
By: Maud Newton,
on 12/12/2011
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My mini-column for last week’s New York Times Magazine is on poetry and song. King David viewed them as natural companions, but these days they’re seen as distinct, unrelated arts.
Accepting Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Letters recently, musician and poet Leonard Cohen implicitly took David’s view. He spoke of learning a progression of six flamenco chords from a mysterious young Spaniard who soon killed himself. “It was those six chords,” Cohen said, “it was that guitar pattern that has been the basis of all my songs and all my music… Everything that you have found favorable in my songs, in my poetry are inspired by this soil.”
And he expressed unease over the honor. “Poetry comes from a place that no one commands and no one conquers. So I feel somewhat like a charlatan to accept an award for an activity which I do not command. In other words, if I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.”
Related: Christopher Ricks, Jonathan Lethem, and Lucinda Williams on the case for Dylan as poet; PEN New England’s new prize for excellence in song lyrics, judged by Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, Paul Muldoon, and others; The Village Voice’s jokey list of contenders for the award; and, courtesy of my friend Michael Taeckens, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison. And, just for fun, Roger Miller and Dave Hickey on Hank Williams’ hooked-up verse.
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How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind. 4.5 stars Bob Dylan’s iconic song, Blowin’ in the Wind, comprises the text for a beautiful children’s book by artist Jon J. Muth. Muth has [...]
Bob Dylan and Toni Morrison will be among the 13 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States, alongside other notables as Madeleine Albright, John Glenn and John Paul Stevens.
Bob Dylan and Toni Morrison will be among the 13 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States, alongside other notables as Madeleine Albright, John Glenn and John Paul Stevens.
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The Last Waltz was a revolutionary documentary. It was the first concert movie shot in 35 mm, the record of a celebration of the Band’s last concert on the site of their first show as The Band. It is the visual evidence that more than thirty years ago Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel had the good sense to go out on top. There are many examples of actors, politicians, athletes and rock stars who didn’t.
The movie itself, I hour, 37 minutes, was directed by Martin Scorsese. No matter what you think of Hollywood, his credentials as a director are undisputed. His list of credits, accomplishments and awards means that Scorsese is a serious director, not one to waste energy.
At the time, 1976, a time when the underground half of the 60's generation was realizing that the other half was following in the footsteps of their parents, embracing the values that their governments, their elders and betters, praised and promoted, Scorsese was in the middle of directing NEW YORK, NEW YORK, a huge, expensive Hollywood project. Unbeknownst to the New York, New York producer who would have had a heart attack if he’d known, Marty (as he is referred to by almost everyone in the movie) took a weekend off, filmed the concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, put together the rest of it in a week and filmed three more songs on a Hollywood sound stage a few months later. It was edited and released in 1978. The sets, lighting, photography, sound and all the myriad details that go into movie creation were taken care of by hook or by crook, often improvised by world renowned experts in their fields. The project took on a life of its own. It was not made for profit and grew into an important cultural event.
Before Scorsese made The Last Waltz, there was WOODSTOCK (where he worked as an assistant director and editor and learned what not to do), GIMME SHELTER, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL and an Elvis film, but no other single concert had been as carefully choreographed, as meticulously set and photographed as this. There were seven cameras shooting at times, each run by a professional and, in many cases, a world famous cinematographer. Bill Graham’s lawyers forced Scorsese’s assistant to negotiate each camera movement because he controlled the stage and insisted that nothing impair the sight lines of the live audience.
It is best to mention here that the DVD of The Last Waltz is available cheap at your local DVD purveyor. This one only cost ten Canadian dollars to buy, a great bargain for musicians, writers and anyone else interested in rock ‘n roll and the making of movies. The “Special Features” additions on the DVD contain a lot of comical and serious comments by the movie makers, Mac Rebenak, Ronnie Hawkins, Mavis Staples and the band members which can be listened to as the movie plays. As each band member, song and guest performer appears, someone talks about them.
The story of The Band’s creation and growth through sixteen years of living on the road unfolds through a series of interviews with band members interspersed among the songs, mostly answers to questions posed by Scorsese himself, questions provided by a professional screenwriter. Many of the answers are funny, some ironic, some poignant, but one feeling permeates the whole movie, a sort of good natured humour, an amused observation of the world at large and a sincere appreciation of the music.
The Band were aware that the odds of survival for such a long time in such a high risk lifestyle, were against them. Robbie Robertson says, at the end of the movie, “The road has taken some of the great ones” and “You can push your luck”.
Three of the Band’s songs were filmed on an MGM sound stage where Scorsese could control everything and was free to use a crane and a camera as in normal movies. The Weight, in which Pop and Mavis Staples sing verses and all four harmonize on the choruses with members of the band, Evangeline, which is filmed in stunning colour with Emmy Lou Harris doing an achingly sweet call an
Ho ho ho and a jingle jangle morning to you!
My favorite song and dance man has put out a Christmas album!
Go out and purchase Christmas in the Heart pronto, because:
♥ you will help fight hunger in America -- 100% of the artist's royalties will go to Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, which works through a network of member food banks.
♥ that's a guarantee of 4 million meals to 1.4 million people in need, including children and seniors.
♥ Dylan has also partnered with two international charities (Crisis and the World Food Programme) to provide meals during the holiday season for the needy in the U.K. and 80 developing nations around the world.
♥ all royalties will be donated to Feeding America and the international charities in perpetuity (foreverness)!
♥ this is one funky collection of holiday favorites: who'd have thought in a million years the self proclaimed Archbishop of Anarchy would go all traditional and adeste fidelis on us?
Dylan sounds like your favorite uncle on this CD, hitting hard on the eggnog and making merry, and comes across as surprisingly "normal." My favorite tracks: "Must Be Santa," "Christmas Island," "Winter Wonderland." Nothing weird or experimental here -- he does the standards in a straightforward way, serving up lots of festive energy, nostalgia, warmth and fuzziness. At 68, this is Dylan's 47th album, and it definitely endears him to me in a "I'm not Bing Crosby or Perry Como but I care a whole lot about feeding the hungry" kind of way.
Check out this video of "Must Be Santa." LOVE when he sings, "Who's got a great big cherry nose?" Also his variety of hats! First video he's done of his own music since the late 90's. If this doesn't get you in the holiday spirit and dancing the polka there is something seriously wrong with you.
P.S. If you purchase the CD through one of these independent music stores, you'll receive a bonus collectible limited edition 45 rpm vinyl record (while supplies last).
Last week, PBS aired, "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement." This special program was hosted by President and Mrs. Obama in honor of Black History Month, and featured readings from famous civil rights speeches and writings in addition to songs performed by such luminaries as Smokey Robinson, Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Hudson, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan.
Bob was in fine voice that evening with "The Times They are a Changin'." It's a softer, more subdued acoustic version, quite poignant in these difficult times. I thought about where we were as a nation when the song first came out in the 60's. These days, we have an African American President in the White House listening to it with his family. I wonder what he was thinking, and whether Dylan was at all nervous.
If you missed the original broadcast, you can view it in its entirety at the PBS website. Well worth your time!
photo source.
The one-and-only self-proclaimed Archbishop of Anarchy is 69 years old today!
And there simply is no stopping him. After a two-month break, Dylan will launch yet another overseas tour, opening on May 29th in Athens, Greece.
"Backyard" and "Dad's Restaurant" from the 2010 Drawn Blank Series.
On May 22nd, his 2010 Drawn Blank Series was officially unveiled in the Castle Galleries, U.K. This is the third collection of limited edition graphics available for purchase following unprecedented worldwide acclaim and demand. The series is limited to 295 pieces signed by the artist (more info here), and are impressions of people, places, and things he encountered while on the road. How much do I love that he sketched the exterior of a restaurant?!
Meanwhile, stumbled upon a couple of fascinating old photos.
Here's Dylan with one of his sons and George Harrison. You idolize someone and judge him by his public persona, oftentimes forgetting he's a family man doing "ordinary" things.
from dag's photostream.
And okay, let's just stand around and shoot the breeze with Neil Young and Eric Clapton. *swoon*
from dag's photostream.
I've noted that Sony Entertainment and others have removed hundreds of Dylan videos from YouTube.com -- amateur videos of concerts, fan-made compilations, bootleg copies of official videos, etc. They're cracking the whip on copyright infringement and now there are only a handful of videos available for public viewing and sharing (prefaced by annoying Vevo ads). I like this one from 2000, "Things Have Changed". Dylan shows off his dramatic flair (love the way he holds a sandwich, and the bits in the coffee shop), and there are some fun cameos by Katie Holmes, Michael Douglas, and Robert Downey, Jr., among others. Enjoy!
Now, go forth and crank up your fave Dylan song. Just for today, your response to all questions: "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind." Alternately, if you're feeling especially frisky, approach a stranger with, "How does it feel?"
Connect, engage, cherish the humanity!
View all posts tagged Bob Dylan here.
Copyright © 2010 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan's alphabet soup. All rights reserved.
“In this age of fibreglass I’m searching for a gem”
Planet Waves
B. Dylan
I don’t know who started it or how it started but it became a tradition and a ritual. We (Dave, Robin, Frank, Norm, Paul, Al and Mike to name some of the main participants) lived in a house on the corner of 4TH Ave and Balaclava in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver. They say it has become very exclusive and expensive there now. Then we had a single mother with an almost teenage daughter living next door to us. She was convinced that the RCMP (she called them “The Horsemen”) had killed her husband who had been a heroin dealer.
The tradition was turning a Saturday (if we were working or any afternoon if we weren’t) into a Tequila Sunrise or Bloody Caesar or Harvey Wallbanger day. We all supplied the ingredients if we could plus whatever beer and smoke were available, threw open the doors and windows and cranked up the stereo.
It is incumbent upon residents of Vancouver to take advantage of every sunny day there. Even the British climate doesn’t seem as depressing as the long, grey, cold, wet stretches of days and weeks which occur in Vancouver winters. Maybe it’s not so bad for natives but we weren’t natives and knew very few. Everyone was from somewhere else.
I remember Meddle and Band on the Run and Peaceful Easy Feeling blaring out across the postage stamp lawn as we played frisbee or catch with a football.
The one which was played the most on those days was Planet Waves.
It was the last time Dylan recorded in a studio with The Band. They had already toured with him as The Hawks and they toured again in support of Planet Waves. Not a bad backup band.
They honed their chops in Toronto backing up Rompin Ronnie Hawkins, The Hawk.
In The Last Waltz (1978) Robbie Robertson describes Ronnie Hawkin’s pitch upon hiring the talented teenagers as something like, “the money ain’t great, but you’ll get more pussy than Frank Sinatry”.
The Hawk was from the southern US and had plenty of experience in small bars there where the band onstage was separated from the audience by chicken wire to protect them from missiles like beer bottles thrown their way. He says he was a hard taskmaster. He didn’t want a backup band which learned songs on stage or made a lot of mistakes. He made them practice and practice hard.
The Hawk was recently interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulis on Canadian tv about his miraculous recovery from pancreatic cancer. A young healer (an underground healer, one not recognized by the established system) heard of his plight and helped him recover. Now he’s still laughing about the miracle and, as he tours, sharing his joy.
The best known song on Planet Waves is Forever Young. It’s obvious when you listen to the lyrics why Rod Stewart covered it. I don’t know whether he added some words of his own, but every parent, rock star or not, can understand the sentiment behind the lyrics of the song.
On side 2 of Planet Waves The Band whipped up one fast version with their electric jug band style, but the slow version on side 1 with Robbie Robertson’s tasty licks is one of the best rock songs ever written in my opinion.
I know some people can’t stand Dylan’s music and his voice even though it’s in key and timed properly, but anyone who admires the power of the English language has to, at least, respect him as a writer.
“Twilight on the frozen lake, North wind about to break...” are ten words which open Never say Goodbye and an instant image is conjured up in the listener’s mind.
Planet Waves also contains Going, Going, Gone which is another song created with great lyrics and the collaboration of musicians which doesn’t overpower the lyric content. It is a good example for all b
By Phoebe Vreeland, The Children’s Book Review
Published: September 16, 2010
MAN GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS
By Bob Dylan (Author), Jim Arnosky (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Sterling; Har/Com edition (September 7, 2010)
Source: Publisher
I had been trying to introduce Bob Dylan to my four-year-old daughter with entirely the wrong song. Clearly, dancing around the house together to Dylan’s “Everything is Broken” was a crazy idea. Recently, Bianca Schulze handed me the new children’s book Man Gave Names To All The Animals—a beautifully illustrated picture book by Jim Arnosky with Bob Dylan’s lyrics as text. The book includes a CD of the original recording with its jumpy island beat and soft female background vocals. With the right groove and stunning pictures, a new Dylan fan is born.
Few adult Dylan fans rave about this song from the 1979 release Slow Train Coming, but the song actually lends itself well to a sing-a-long with its simple chorus and predictable rhymes. While repetitive, it won’t become an annoying ear bug like so many kids songs can. Those new to the song may appreciate the book’s text since Dylan’s signature gruff, nasal vocals are at times hard to understand. It’s a playful song and children will delight while calling out the animals’ names.
However, the true reason why I am happy to have discovered this book is it brought Jim Arnosky to my awareness. As a mother of a four-year old daughter I read a lot about pink princesses and cuddly creatures. It’s refreshing to have discovered someone who is passionately committed to connecting children with the natural world. Arnosky has written and/or illustrated over a hundred books about nature—books with titles like Slither and Crawl, Crocodile Safari, and Every Autumn Comes the Bear.
Using nature as the underlying theme, his books are as varied as they are plentiful and appropriately adapted to all ages. He has reached the very youngest with his “Mouse” series of picture books and the adorable Rabbits and Raindrops and Otters Underwater. Arnosky writes books for the older child that draw him out into the natural world while engaging in it—teaching outdoor skills, identification, sketching or merely observing—inviting them to “see as an artist would and observe as a naturalist would.” He has been praised for not romanticizing or humanizing animals. Influenced by the great nature writers John Burroughs and Ernest Thomas Seaton, Arnosky has said that their writings enticed him out into the natural world and he hopes his books will do the same for others.
Living and working in a rural Vermo
By:
tara,
on 10/20/2010
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Venerable LA Times rock critic Robert Hilburn recently penned Corn Flakes with John Lennon and Other Tales from a Rock n’ Roll Life, a revealing memoir-style series of vignettes featuring the great rock icons of the last 50 years.
In the book, Hilburn recounts his seven-piece Times series on the most influential and prolific songwriters of the rock era, which was published earlier this decade. He chose Bob Dylan as his first subject. Hilburn wanted to learn about a songwriter’s creative process: what inspires them, how they begin to lay down the music and lyrics, if success or failure of past work influenced future songs. The interview with Dylan earned Hilburn his third Pulitzer Prize nomination. And, Dylan’s words may give other writers—perhaps even picture book writers—inspiration for their own work:
“Some things just come to me in dreams,” Dylan told Hilburn. “But I can write a bunch of stuff down after you leave…about say, the way you are dressed. I look at people as ideas. I don’t look at them as people. I’m talking about general observation. Whoever I see, I look at them as an idea…what this person represents. That’s the way I see life. I see life as a utilitarian thing. Then you strip things away until you get to the core of what’s important.”
And picture books are indeed about what’s important; every picture book features an emotional truth, whether it be about family, friendship or fitting in. If you strip away what’s on the surface—the pirates or the penguins or the princesses—what remains is a story about the human experience.
Noted illustrator Jim Arnosky found inspiration in Dylan’s music. “From the first time I heard [Man Gave Names to All the Animals], the lyrics created pictures in my mind of a land of primeval beauty,” said Arnosky. Dylan gave his permission to create a picture book, and the work was released by Sterling in September.
So that’s your inspirational thought for the day. Well, two inspirational thoughts! People and songs.
What do other people’s actions say to you? How do those actions translate to story? What music boosts your creativity?
And don’t forget, there’s much more inspiration to come when PiBoIdMo begins in November. Consider this a warm up, or as Dylan might say, a sound check.
7 Comments on A PiBoIdMo Warm-Up with…Bob Dylan?, last added: 10/20/2010
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| Me and a Gun |
It's not Bob Dylan's best by any means, but for quite a while I've had a fondness for his little-known early folk song,
"Let Me Die in My Footsteps", which I first heard in a recording by
Happy Traum (with Dylan in background) from the
Best of Broadside album, a marvelous collection that I gave to my mother as a Christmas present ten years ago.
When I first heard the song, this verse is one that quickly stuck in my mind, and is one that has a habit of floating through my mind's ear with some regularity:
If I had rubies and riches and crowns
I’d buy the whole world and change things around
I’d throw all the guns and the tanks in the sea
For they are mistakes of a past history
It was a constant earwig this weekend after I learned of the
massacre in Arizona.
I think John Scalzi, among others, has
sensible things to say about the politics of all this -- it's entirely likely that Jared Loughner was, in a vernacular sense at least, "crazy", but the national conversation has turned, for good reason, to the violence implied by much right-wing rhetoric -- and overtly stated by slightly less such rhetoric.
I have lived most of my life in a state where it was recently
declared legal for people to carry guns in the State House. I lived for the first 18 years of my life with a gun shop attached to my house. When my father died in 2007, I inherited that gun shop, and had to get a Federal Firearms License to sell off the inventory. I know the gun culture in this country well, because though it's never held much appeal for me, it is a world I have never fully escaped. Mine has not been a world just of hunting guns, either; I shot my first machine gun when I was about 9 years old, maybe 8. (I've written about all this in some detail in
my Rambo II essay.) I still have many well-armed friends, some of whom, in fact, I sold guns to.
Despite my left-wing tendencies in nearly every other realm, I'm not a big fan of most gun control proposals and legislation, but my reasons for not being a fan would probably cause people more comfortable with our gun culture to label me anti-gun -- most of the legislation seems to me ineffective. Dylan's utopia in "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" is one I fiercely yearn for -- a world of no weaponry.
But that's a utopia, and while utopian thinking has its place, I don't think it should be the base of legislation.
Ours is a nation of hundreds of millions of guns legally owned by civilians. It's just about impossible to know how many illegal guns are out there in addition to the hundreds of millions legally available. That's not a fact you can just legislate away, and broad attempts to do so only play into the fears of gun owners who think the government wants to take their guns -- and playing into those fears just causes more people to h
According to a Crain’s New York report sourced by “several industry insiders,” music legend Bob Dylan will write six books for Simon & Schuster. Literary agent Andrew Wylie reportedly handled the deal with the publishing house that handled Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One.
Here’s more from the article: “The books include two follow-ups to Chronicles and a collection of riffs from Mr. Dylan’s radio show on Sirius XM … Mr. Wylie had been looking for an eight-figure offer, according to another editor, who didn’t know the deal’s final value.”
Chronicles: Volume One covered Dylan’s 1961 arrival in Greenwich Village, entering a bustling literary and musical scene. Follow this link to read an excerpt.
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As frequent visitors here know, music holds an important place in my creative life. I’m a listener. I don’t play, can’t carry a tune, but I’m fairly sure I loved songs long before I loved books, and the words of songs touched me in a such a way that I wanted to pick up a pen to face (and fill) a blank page of my own.
Today I’m inspired by the first song on the new Iron & Wine disk, Kiss Each Other Clean.
Sam Beam, AKA, Iron & Wine.
The song, “Walking Far from Home,” instantly reminded me of the imagery in the apocalyptic Dylan tune, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” I enjoy it when writers trod familiar ground, mine traditional forms, like tourists visiting the same old plots, where the structural restrictions require the artist to dig deeper for his reward.
Both songwriters in this case, Sam Beam and Bob Dylan, were working within what I’ll call (for lack of a more accurate term), The Peripatetic Structure. Or more colloquially, The Where You Been? Song. Simply: the narrator goes out walking and encounters a world that is broken, wounded. I went out and saw this and this and this and that. But the telling of the journey becomes something far more than a laundry list of observations. In the hands of a craftsman, the observed, exterior reality functions as a reflection of an interior (spiritual) state, where the objective and subjective meet in hallucinogenic clarity, where nothing and everything is real.
Here’s Sam Beam:
WALKING FAR FROM HOME
I was walking far from home
Where the names were not burned along the wall
Saw a building high as heaven
But the door was so small, door was so small
I saw rain clouds, little babies
And a bridge that had tumbled to the ground
I saw sinners making music
And I dreamt of that sound, dreamt of that sound
I was walking far from home
But I carried your letters all the while
I saw lovers in a window
Whisper “want me like time, want me like time”
I saw sickness bloom in fruit trees
I saw blood and a bit of it was mine
I saw children in a river
But their lips were still dry, lips were still dry
I was walking far from home
And I found your face mingled in the crowd
Saw a boat full of believers
Sail off talking too loud, talking too loud
I saw sunlight on the water
Saw a bird fall like a hammer from the sky
An old woman on the speed train
She was closing her eyes, closing her eyes
I saw flowers on a hillside
And a millionaire pissing on the lawn
Saw a prisoner take a pistol
And say “join me in song, join me song”
Saw a car crash in the country
Where the prayers run like weeds along the road
I saw strangers stealing kisses
Leaving only their clothes, only their clothes
Saw a white dog chase its tail
And a pair of hearts carved into a stone
I saw kindness and an angel
Crying take me back home, take me back home
Saw a highway, saw an ocean
I saw widows in the temple to the Lord
Naked dancers in the city
How they spoke for us all, sp
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I bet that’s a really good picture book! When people talk about not being preachy in pbs I often wonder if they include ‘human experience’. I agree that if you take away the trimmings there is usually always a message of some sort.
Great post, Tara! I love Bob Dylan! (We even have a cat named “Dylan,” and he’s 19 years old, so you can tell I’ve been a fan for awhile…)
I love the way Dylan plays with words, like his song title: “Tangled Up in Blue.” Great stuff.
I was so glad to hear that you’re doing PiBoIdMo again this year. Count me in!
See you in November.
Sheri
Catherine, I’m glad you brought this up. When people talk about not being preachy in a picture book, it means not to come right out and say, “John felt so glad to be accepted by his friends!” If a book is about finding your place in the word, those exact words shouldn’t appear it the manuscript or else you’re being heavy-handed. I’ll take a movie as an example. Monsters Inc.’s message may be that “it’s better to make kids laugh than to scare them.” But never do the characters say this. It’s shown through the playful, humorous story. You can dissect most PBs to find an emotional truth. In fact, emotional change is what makes a story. If your character doesn’t change by the end of the tale, it’s not a satisfying read.
Excellent inspirational post! I am trying to re-focus my mind to be able to find inspiration in everyday encounters to gear up for PiBoIdMo. I realized I need to glean inspiration from whatever sources I have available, not just wait for a thunderbolt from my muse.
This is just what I need to read today! Thank you, Tara! A great, inspirational post!
This is very inspiring – I love the thought of seeing people as ideas. I’m definitely thinking about doing PiBoIdMo in November!
*taps mike* Is this thing on? “Check. Check. Sibilance. Sibilance. Check.”
I’m very excited about PiBoIdMo this year. I’m fishing out my composition book to get ready!
Love this Dylan quote, although it must be weird to live life looking at people as ideas – still, there’s merit to the notion when it comes to writing!