In 2020, as the world struggled to deal with a burgeoning, and worsening, global pandemic, Bob Dylan released a 17-minute song about the Kennedy assassination.
Happy New Year. Really enjoyed this. I think you meant that he didn't attend his own Nobel ceremony, unless he also skipped a Pulitzer ceremony somewhere along the line.
I've always been fascinated by Tangled Up in Blue and the fact Dylan says he wrote it sitting in the same room with the past, present and the future.
I have now retired, Mr. Black. Thanks for your advice several years ago. Now was the right time, not then. The Saul Bernstein syndrome is resolved.
As far as Miles, another great Miles quote was something to the effect when a reporter asked him what it was like to be a legend, Miles replied...A legend walks with a cane and doesn't do it anymore. I still do it and don't have a cane.
Miles also said...there are no mistakes (in playing and particularly improvisational performance). That's a personal favorite.
Miles' Bitches Brew was out when I was ten and is an amazing merger of rock and jazz. That's one HUGE change that arguably led to the creation of several sub-jazz rock genres like fusion, etc. Of course, in the 50's Miles was with composer Gil Evans doing Porgy and Bess and other greats and then Miles did the be bop thing, which has never been a genre I could get invested in aside from listening to stellar musicians solo, as be bop does often involve highly creative and talented players doing fantastic, unfathomably technical solos filled with soul. I'm just not likely to hum Coltranes' 'Round Midnight anytime I'm ready to be filled with song. Or any of Miles tunes.
I've always thought that Bitches Brew album could have led his guitarist, John McLaughlin, to take it one step in a different direction the next year with the highly successful and literally full of virtuoso players in the short lived Mahavishnu Orchestra, although John did release his first album in 1968 venturing into merging rock guitar with jazz music and instruments, so he might have influenced Miles instead of vice versa.
Isn't there an apocryphal story about how they asked Dylan early on if he would be in a commercial and he jokingly said, only if it's for women's lingerie, and that's how they got him to do a Victoria's Secret ad decades later? He appreciated the humor of it?
I am a fan of Dylan. My love of him as an artist started in 1962 when I first played an album that belonged to my Dad's youngest brother. His voice was terrible, but I listened intently to the words. I have paid attention to his words from that point on.
When he dies a piece of me will end as well. Despite his weirdness, drugs and alcohol purclavities I still listen. Hopefully I can see the film in a few weeks.
Prometheus suffering the punishment of being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle every day for eternity, captures just how I have felt since the election. I haven’t been able to put my feelings into words until you just did.
really love this story: "There’s a story of Miles Davis at a White House dinner in 1987. He got to talking to the woman beside him who asked him what he’d done to deserve being there (I don’t think she meant it in a snobby way, but how the hell do I know?). Davis replied, “We’ll, I’ve changed music five or six times.”"
Happy New Year. Really enjoyed this. I think you meant that he didn't attend his own Nobel ceremony, unless he also skipped a Pulitzer ceremony somewhere along the line.
Have not heard this one yet but it reminds me of the one about Rubin Hurricane Carter. Looking forward to seeing the movie.
"I imagine Bob Dylan must have looked at his own times (including these, of course) and wondered how he found himself here, as so many of us have."
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Fuckin' A 🎨
Damn you’re good. Haven’t seen the movie yet but I appreciate your perspective and how you’ve tied in Greek Mythology. A murder most fowl, indeed.
I've always been fascinated by Tangled Up in Blue and the fact Dylan says he wrote it sitting in the same room with the past, present and the future.
I have now retired, Mr. Black. Thanks for your advice several years ago. Now was the right time, not then. The Saul Bernstein syndrome is resolved.
As far as Miles, another great Miles quote was something to the effect when a reporter asked him what it was like to be a legend, Miles replied...A legend walks with a cane and doesn't do it anymore. I still do it and don't have a cane.
Miles also said...there are no mistakes (in playing and particularly improvisational performance). That's a personal favorite.
Davis replied, “We’ll, I’ve changed music five or six times.”
Sure is a hell of a thing to say.
Gotta love that. 💖
That is a fabulous quote.
Miles' Bitches Brew was out when I was ten and is an amazing merger of rock and jazz. That's one HUGE change that arguably led to the creation of several sub-jazz rock genres like fusion, etc. Of course, in the 50's Miles was with composer Gil Evans doing Porgy and Bess and other greats and then Miles did the be bop thing, which has never been a genre I could get invested in aside from listening to stellar musicians solo, as be bop does often involve highly creative and talented players doing fantastic, unfathomably technical solos filled with soul. I'm just not likely to hum Coltranes' 'Round Midnight anytime I'm ready to be filled with song. Or any of Miles tunes.
I've always thought that Bitches Brew album could have led his guitarist, John McLaughlin, to take it one step in a different direction the next year with the highly successful and literally full of virtuoso players in the short lived Mahavishnu Orchestra, although John did release his first album in 1968 venturing into merging rock guitar with jazz music and instruments, so he might have influenced Miles instead of vice versa.
Isn't there an apocryphal story about how they asked Dylan early on if he would be in a commercial and he jokingly said, only if it's for women's lingerie, and that's how they got him to do a Victoria's Secret ad decades later? He appreciated the humor of it?
I am a fan of Dylan. My love of him as an artist started in 1962 when I first played an album that belonged to my Dad's youngest brother. His voice was terrible, but I listened intently to the words. I have paid attention to his words from that point on.
When he dies a piece of me will end as well. Despite his weirdness, drugs and alcohol purclavities I still listen. Hopefully I can see the film in a few weeks.
Michael,
Prometheus suffering the punishment of being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle every day for eternity, captures just how I have felt since the election. I haven’t been able to put my feelings into words until you just did.
Thanks
Nice. Good thoughts.
Interesting how Dylan pops up every few years. I think you could say he was the "voice of a generation," but he never wanted the job.
The voice of several generations.
dear michael,
love this!
really love this story: "There’s a story of Miles Davis at a White House dinner in 1987. He got to talking to the woman beside him who asked him what he’d done to deserve being there (I don’t think she meant it in a snobby way, but how the hell do I know?). Davis replied, “We’ll, I’ve changed music five or six times.”"
thank you for sharing!
love
myq