Tag Archives: Bob Dylan

Dylan & the Dead Data Point Expanded

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Rolling Stone Magazine published this data point in The Dead by the Numbers end-note article in the Grateful Dead, The Ultimate Guide (Special Collectors Edition)

There are 38 Dylan songs in the Dead’s live catalog.

I have gravitated to one collaborative recording in particular, “Queen Jane Approximately” from Bob Dylan’s 1965 double album, Blonde on Blonde.  I am torn as to which is my favorite live rendition. I first listened to the Dylan cover compilation recording on Postcards of the Hanging (Grateful Dead/Arista). It was recorded on December 29, 1988 at The Oakland Coliseum in California. Bob Weir handles the lead vocal with Dylan inflections on a couple of stanzas.

I next listened to the Dylan & The Dead  live recording on Bob Dylan’s Columbia label. This live recording happened first on July 19, 1987 in Eugene, Oregon.

I located a video on YouTube that underscores the English Tudor symbolism of Queen Jane. However, in 1965 Dylan himself told journalist Nora Ephron that “Queen Jane is a man”.[4][8]

It is amazing that Bob Dylan and The Dead performed live in concert together at all. If you attended in person any of the Dylan and Dead live shows you probably never knew that it was indeed a simple twist of fate that Bob Dylan and The Dead gelled as a performance nucleus.

Read this Open Culture educational media article about the Dead and Dylan rehearsals to learn more about what finally changed Bob Dylan’s mind to agree to the tour. Bob Dylan’s wry wit about the often Dead rumored “acid-trip” is expressed about the shows at the end of his two-level quote. There is also an audio link on that page that lets you play individual tracks from the 74 song five-hour+ rehearsal!

In Chronicles, Volume 1 he writes:

After an hour or so, it became clear to me that the band wanted to rehearse more and different songs than I had been used to doing with Petty. They wanted to run over all the songs, the ones they liked, the seldom seen ones. I found myself in a peculiar position and I could hear the brakes screech. If I had known this to begin with, I might not have taken the dates…. There were so many [songs] that I couldn’t tell which was which-I might even get the words to some mixed up with others.

Dylan eventually excused himself from the studios, intending never to return. But an encounter with a local jazz band — call it a simple twist of fate — brought him back. Dylan and The Dead started playing through his big repertoire. It was tough sledding at first. “But then miraculously,” he adds,  ”something internal came unhinged.” “I played these shows with The Dead and never had to think twice about it. Maybe they just dropped something in my drink, I can’t say, but anything they wanted to do was fine with me.”

 

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The Spirit of Richie Havens

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May Peace & Tranquility Forever Bless Your Spirit Richie.

I have always treasured listening to Richie Havens interpret the songs of Bob Dylan. His heart and voice communicated the exact essence of Dylan’s words with unique reverence. I often wondered what Bob Dylan felt when he heard Richie Havens performing his works. I received my answer yesterday in the NY Times Richie Havens Obituary.

Mr. Havens played many songs written by Mr. Dylan, and he spent three days learning his epic “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” A man who heard him practicing it stopped him on the stairs as he headed for the dressing room of a nightclub, and told him it was the best he’d ever heard the song sung.

“That’s how I first met Bob Dylan,” Mr. Havens said.

Citation: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/arts/music/richie-havens-guitarist-and-singer-dies-at-72.html?ref=music&_r=0

Performed at the tribute to Bob Dylan concert…

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Inside Llewyn Davis and Dave Van Ronk

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Yesterday I blogged about the six week music education series Rhapsodic City: Music of New York presented by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. It just so happens the third week focuses on the Folk Music Revival in New York that took place in the 1950′s and ’60s. Greenwich Village became the artistic setting for performers, artists, and club owners.  The Village invokes a warm nostalgic feeling within the music of our heart. Our son lives there today and we love to visit the clubs, restaurants, and stores around this historic neighborhood.

Building on the April 2nd event Sing Out! with Elijah Wood I reconnect with Dave Van Ronk. Elijah Wood and Dave Van Ronk co-authored the book Dave Van Ronk: The Mayor of MacDougal Street. The book is a memoir of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village. It has inspired the Coen Brothers to make the film, Inside Llewyn Davis. 

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS follows an aspiring singer-songwriter (Isaac) as he navigates the 1960s folk-music scene in New York City’s Greenwich Village.  Grammy®-winner T Bone Burnett produced the film’s soundtrack which includes music performed by, among others, Oscar Isaac, Marcus Mumford and Justin Timberlake.  Robert Graf served as executive producer, T Bone Burnett served as executive music producer and Marcus Mumford as associate music producer.

The film has completed shooting in New York City and the International release date will be November 6, 2013 (France). Projected US release dates are unknown as of this writing. I have ordered the audio edition of the memoir to better immerse myself in the experience. The first trailer fascinates me to no end. Listen closely to the Bob Dylan track “Farewell” that plays underneath.

I think you will be asking as I  have been who does Llewyn Davis represent? Is he Dylan, Van Ronk, Phil Ochs or is a he a microcosm of that male folk singer of the time? Llewyn Davis will strike a chord in hopeless romantics who identify with living the life of a folkie in that halcyon age from our American culture. Perhaps this picture clues us in ;)

There are several reasons why I relish Dave Van Ronk’s spirit. I find him funny, compelling and engaging as an artist. He was quite the character as his recordings and live performances attest. He was a mentor and inspiration for Tom Paxton, Christine Lavin, Joni Mitchell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan (who described Van Ronk as “the king who reigned supreme” in the Village)[27]

I had the rare opportunity to meet Dave Van Ronk in person in Hermosa Beach, California one Sunday afternoon years back. My brother-in-law and I attended an early evening solo appearance at The Lighthouse Cafe. We sat at the bar before the show and shared drinks, stories, holding an intimate conversation with Dave Van Ronk. My brother-in-law was the one who turned me on to Van Ronk from his record collection when I started dating my wife in 1969. I went on to feature Dave Van Ronk regularly on my college FM radio shows in the mid-70s.

This early 80′s opportunity to sit across the bar and comfortably chat with Dave Van Ronk was a privilge. He answered our questions openly like an friend indulging old friends. He wiped away that fans talking to a legend sensation to show who he truly was a down to earth soul of a man. He spoke about Bob Dylan in a fatherly way which I liked a lot. We ended up being just two of the 12 people who stopped by that night to hear him play a raucous 90 minute set that was quite animated. Dave Van Ronk played excellent guitar and I will never forget his gravely yet pearl toned voice.  “Cocaine Blues (Rev. Gary Davis Traditional)” was the highlight and we thanked him for playing that song for us all. :)

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Music Journalism A-Z – Paul Nelson

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Music journalism is an arduous task. I have gained a better insight into what it takes to acquire journalism success in researching this A-Z series. Let’s review the dramatic effects that can befall a writer by examining the life and legend of Paul Nelson.

In the ’60s, Paul Nelson pioneered rock & roll criticism with a first-person style of writing that would later be popularized by the likes of Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer as “New Journalism.”

Paul Nelson and a college buddy, John Pankake started their own Minnesota-based folk-music criticism magazine in 1961–Little Sandy Review. While Nelson stood in the audience and watched fellow University of Minnesota student Bob Dylan turn his acoustic-strumming folk music into an electric guitar thunderstorm, others in the audiences booed and threw various objects at Dylan. Paul Nelson however was quite mesmerized and wrote about Dylan’s new music stating rock would never be the same. Damned if he wasn’t right about Dylan way before others figured him out.

Mr. Nelson moved to New York City in 1963 where he became the managing editor of the folk music revival’s most important magazine, Sing Out! Two years later, when Mr. Dylan played his first electric concerts and was being booed by folk die-hard fans, Mr. Nelson wrote in defense of that musical change, and then quit Sing Out!

He was a pathfinder on to something profound in his 20s during the early ’60s. Paul Nelson crystallized the assertive nature of  the rapidly maturing rock scene producing an honest and direct criticism. The passionate yet literate pop-music writing he developed helped elevate the idiom to a respectable level.

In 1970, he took a job at the publicity department of Mercury Records and then became an A. & R. man there. He signed the New York Dolls, the anarchic glam-rock band later recognized as a major influence on punk. When the Dolls failed to sell, he was fired. He returned to Rolling Stone, where he wrote features and edited the record reviews section until 1983.

Reviewing Neil Young’s ”Rust Never Sleeps” for Rolling Stone in 1979, he wrote: “For anyone still passionately in love with rock & roll, Neil Young has made a record that defines the territory. Defines it, expands it, explodes it. Burns it to the ground.”

Mr. Nelson left Rolling Stone when a new format drastically shortened the reviews. He later lost interest in writing about music. He took a job working in a video store in Greenwich Village. He was found dead in his apartment of malnutrition and a heart attack in 2006. A tragic end to an innovative writer for arts and entertainment.

A posthumous work, Everything Is An Afterthought, The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson was assembled by ardent admirer Kevin Avery. The book collects 29 criticism essays and long articles of various kinds that Nelson wrote for Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and other publications, mostly during his prime years as a writer, from the mid-70s to 1990.

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West of Memphis: Voices for Justice

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West of Memphis: Voices of Justice is an album of music from and inspired by the new documentary, West Memphis Three. Your purchase of this album will in part directly benefit the West Memphis 3. The album becomes available on January 15, 2013. Pre-order here

West of Memphis: Voices For Justice – Track Listing

1. Henry Rollins (feat. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis original score) – Damien Echols Death Row Letter Year 9
2. Natalie Maines – Mother
3. Lucinda Williams – Joy
4. Camp Freddy – The Jean Genie
5. Tonto’s Giant Nuts feat. Johnny Depp & Bruce Witkin – Little Lion Man
6. Marilyn Manson – You’re So Vain
7. Band of Horses - Dumpster World (Live)
8. Citizen Cope – DFW
9. Eddie Vedder – Satellite
10. Bill Carter - Anything Made of Paper
11. The White Buffalo – House of Pain
12. Bob Dylan – Ring Them Bells
13. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – West of Memphis Score Suite
14. Tonto’s Giant Nuts feat. Johnny Depp (feat. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis original score) – Damien Echols Death Row Letter Year 16

BONUS TRACK
15. Patti Smith – Wing (Recorded Live at Voices For Justice Benefit Concert – August 28, 2010)

DIGITAL ONLY BONUS TRACK (iTunes)
16. Bill Carter – Road to Nowhere

The movie poster for ‘West of Memphis,’ a documentary that stars Damien Echols, Lorri Davis, Jason Baldwin, Jesse Misskelley, Jr., and Pam Hicks

Neil Young Says Pono is Hawaiian for “Righteous”

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I have loved Neil Young‘s book, Waging Heavy Peace where he writes extensively about what was then called “Puretone” his solution to save audio,  ”Puretone”, has now become Pono, pronounced “Pohknow”, which is Hawaiian for “Righteous”. Neil Young has a home in Hawaii where much of Waging Heavy Peace was authored. Last night on David Letterman he showed a prototype of the Pono cloud music device. Imagine holding and hearing studio quality sound finally. I must have one!!!

When I finish Neil Young’s audio book I will offer a more extensive write-up on Neil Young’s “Righteous” solution. I was psyched to learn that Neil Young was working with the Sony Bob Dylan master tapes of Highway 61 Revisited and Freewheelin (with Bob Dylan’s full blessing) to make them Pono based. This is how Pono will succeed as the music artists want 100% high-resolution audio representation of their music heard not the 5% sound we get scrunched and distributed to us by MP3.

The most comprehensive article I have read yet about Pono from an industry analysis point of view was published yesterday by Rolling Stone Magazine. I urge you to read and process Patrick Flanary’s column entitled “Neil Young Expands Pono Digital-to-Analog Music Service”. Mr. Flanary wrote a thorough study of how much Neil Young and his Pono team are positively influencing RHCP‘s Flea/Anthony Kiedis, producer Rick Rubin, along with the Big Three record labels, Warner Music, Sony and Universal Music Group.

Neil Young is getting a lot of traction with Pono, deservedly so. I don’t agree with the perception that it is an Apple iTunes “Killer” as naive members of the press are reporting. That’s being written to get you to read content. After all Neil Young met and corresponded with Steve Jobs to discuss Pono and the audio music dilemma. I see a future partnership in the offering with Pono and Apple very much along the lines of cooperation Pono is achieving with the major labels. Can you say industry standard, I knew that you could ;)

It is pure speculation on my part coupled with intelligent guessing that Pono and Apple come together at some future music technology juncture. If I look at the throw down Apple needs to leap-frog or better HTC, HP and Beats by Dr. Dre, Pono could be that secret sauce for Apple. I found the one technology advancement that was missing from the iPhone 5, iTunes announcement was an improved music audio experience to match or better HTC/HP/Beats. Pono needs a device manufacturer, Apple distributes via iTunes the music of the industry. As Pono becomes the definitive, next level standard for music data files Apple must follow suit with a Pono story as will HTC for that matter. We could see iPono in the next generation iPhone/iPod, say it ain’t so Ed, hehehe (sorry Neil and Apple) couldn’t resist…

Now that’s what I call waging heavy peace alright ; Neil this note and more’s for you!

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Bob Dylan’s Timeless Classic, Blood on the Tracks

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The superlative release Tempest is Bob Dylan’s 35th studio recording has reawakened my passion for Dylan’s 50 year library of work. Rolling Stone Magazine recently asked its readers to vote on the best Bob Dylan album of all time. I cast my vote without provocation for Blood on the Tracks. The readers of Rolling Stone Magazine validated my choice by choosing Blood on the Tracks as that best Dylan album of all time.

Playing Blood on the Tracks is like spending time with an old friend that you haven’t seen in a while and it feels like no time has passed. I love the feeling that comes over me when Blood on the Tracks unfolds on the car or home audio system. Bob Dylan’s stream of consciousness inside his series of songs is acute, articulate, piercing and truly memorable. The common thread through all the songs is the pain that comes when love dies.

I am eager to read the Rolling Stone interview with Bob Dylan conducted by Mikal Gilmore. All the quotes I’ve read so far tells me we are in for another insightful session with Mr. Dylan, poet extraordinaire.

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Bob Dylan – Tempest and Fall 2012 Tour

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It was announced yesterday that Bob Dylan will be releasing Tempest his 35th studio recording with ten new, original songs, on September 11, 2012..

I love that you will be hearing lots of guitar work from David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on Tempest. David is one of my favorite guitarists.

“He’d say, ‘Wow, what’s that?’” Hidalgo said from a tour stop in Fort Collins. “He liked the sound. So we’d get it in there.”

Hidalgo appreciated Dylan’s embrace of the Mexican sounds. But he has an even bigger appreciation of Dylan’s outlook on music generally. The recording session, he said, was nothing like the earlier ones he had done with Dylan.

“It was a great experience. And different. Each one has been different, all completely different approaches. It’s an amazing thing, how he keeps creativity. I don’t see how he does it.”

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20120309/AE/120309831

Here is the full track listing for Tempest:

“Duquesne Whistle”
“Soon After Midnight”
“Narrow Way”
“Long and Wasted Years”
“Pay in Blood”
“Scarlet Town”
“Early Roman Kings”
“Tin Angel”
“Tempest”
“Roll on John”

I was sitting in the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena last night waiting for Kenny Loggins to perform his private concert for us. The Bob Dylan and his Band Tour announcement kept flashing on the electronic marquis and concert screens.

Bob Dylan

Then I saw today that Mark Knopfler will be part of Dylan’s tour this fall. Unfortunately this does not apply to the Mohegan Sun 9/8/2012 concert date.

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Levon Helm Drums On Above Us, We Will Miss Him

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We mourn the loss of drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Levon Helm. He waged a courageous fight against cancer.

I reflect upon when I first heard Levon Helm’s voice with The Band. It was on the vinyl recording, Music From Big Pink. I borrowed that record from my wife Rosemary when were first dating in the spring of 1969.  We loved the song, “The Weight“. I wasn’t aware Levon Helm was the lead vocalist at the time. I thought of The Band collectively and that they were recording with Bob Dylan in Woodstock, NY.

In his autobiography This Wheel’s on Fire, Levon Helm explains that the people mentioned in the song were based on real people The Band knew. The “Miss Anna Lee” mentioned in the lyric is Helm’s longtime friend Anna Lee Amsden.[5][6]

Bob Dylan wrote of Levon Helm: “He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I’m going to miss him, as I’m sure a whole lot of others will too.”

Rosemary and I saw Levon Helm perform live in concert twice. The first time he was part of the all-star orchestra ensemble for the 100 year Salute to the Blues at Radio City Music Hall. The concert was filmed for DVD and titled, Lightning In A Bottle. 

The last time we saw Levon Helm play was at the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, Ct in 2009. He appeared with the Levon Helm Band. He was advised by his doctor not to sing that night so Bob Weir and others stepped up to that task for him.

Last night at The Lumineers concert in Fairfield at Stage One, we all sang in loving memory, “The Weight” as the last song of the night. It was fitting and just to send our voices up into the sky as the last song of the night. We became his voice adding to his legacy, as we celebrated this great musician who showed us so much  heart.

Cover of "Music From Big Pink"

Cover of Music From Big Pink

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Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International

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 Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International. Two weeks from today on January 24th, 2012, “Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International” a four CD set with over 80 artists and 75 songs will be available for purchase and download. It is a mutual celebration of Bob Dylan‘s first recording in 1962 and the founding of Amnesty International 50 years ago.

It’s available for pre-order at the hyperlink above.

Amnesty International is a cause I have supported since 1979 when I purchased The Secret Policeman’s Ball vinyl LP as an import. I have made many contributions over the decades to this vital cause. I plan to do so again with “Chimes of Freedom”.

Will there be a “Chimes of Freedom” concert? Karen Scott, Amnesty International’s manager of music relations, expresses hope for such an event.

“We would love for there to be a tour or concert behind this album,” she says, pointing out that Amnesty’s incredibly successful Human Rights Concerts in the ’80s and ’90s featuring the likes of U2, the Police and Bruce Springsteen were led by the artists themselves. “We’ve found that the most successful concerts happen when the artists stand up and say they want to do this for Amnesty.”

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