Sean Wilentz defends Dylan against Joni Mitchell’s purported charges of ‘plagiarism’
Saturday, May 1st, 2010CONCERT REVIEW: Jakob Dylan, Albany, N.Y., 4.17.10
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Cut to the chase: he played only one hit song by his “other” band, the Wallflowers: “Three Marlenas,” which fit in swimmingly with the rest of his set list, drawn entirely from Jakob Dylan’s two recent solo albums, 2008’s Seeing Things and this year’s Women + Country.
And no, for those who still expect it, he did not play any songs by nor acknowledge his relationship to his father. Duh. Why should he?
Then again, he doesn’t need to, because as Dylan matures – he turned 40 last December – he looks remarkably more like his father every day (check out the photos accompanying this review).
But what Jakob Dylan did offer was an intense, if somewhat monochromatic, 90-minute run-through of his more recent roots-rock. He played the entire Women + Country program and most of Seeing Things, and made it all sound of a piece, backed by the ensemble named Three Legs for this tour, but typically working as singer Neko Case’s backup band.
Case, along with Kelly Hogan, were on hand to lend backup vocals, harmonies, and occasional duets, and those were some of the highlights of Dylan’s show.
If not voluble, Dylan is certainly a more genial frontman than his enigmatic father, but he’s learned some lessons well, including how to stand motionless at a microphone to intone his haunting ballads and mid-tempo country-rockers about, well, women and country for the most part.
Bob Dylan’s Passover history – from Bob Dylan Examiner
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010Today’s post on Bob Dylan Examiner recounts Dylan’s long relationship with the holiday being celebrated around the world tonight. The Examiner also asked for my own comments on Dylan’s reliance on the Passover story in song, which begins with “When the Ship Comes In” and extends throughout his career, including so-called Christian songs like “When He Returns” and “Saved” and, more recently, “Thunder on the Mountain,” the kickoff track of Modern Times.
Bob Dylan’s Hometown Wants Him Back – At Least for a Show
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010The tourism bureau of the Iron Range, the region of Northern Minnesota where Bob Dylan grew up, has launched a campaign ostensibly to lure the famed rock poet back home for a performance.
Presumably what the bureau also had in mind in launching a new website, Come Home Bob Dylan, was garnering a little publicity for the isolated area renowned for its stark beauty and cold winters.
The website includes an online petition calling on Dylan to come home to Hibbing, Minn., as well as sharing pages for photos and video, and links to informational pages on Hibbing and the Iron Range.
Artwork Inspired by “BOB DYLAN: Prophet Mystic Poet”
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Bernard Zalon is a printmaker in New York City specializing in etchings. He does great work – a lot of it inspired by his urban surroundings – which you’ll see when you visit his website.
In The Heights by Bernard Zalon
Zalon contacted me recently to share one of his newest creations, called In the Heights, which on the surface seems to capture a typical scene out front of 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which some may recognize as the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish outreach movement.
The artist honors me by telling me that while he was working on the piece, he heard me being interviewed on a radio program talking about my book, excerpts of which he had read online. “So I was inspired to add something. I just finished it, and I think you will appreciate it,” he wrote.
I am immensely humbled by Zalon’s generosity. I can’t think of a better way to have my own work appreciated than by having it somehow inspiring or becoming a part of another’s — especially someone with the talent and vision of Zalon.
If you look closely at the etching, you can see a Dylan-esque figure — perhaps Bob Dylan himself — hanging out among the Hasidim.
Detail from "In the Heights" by Bernard Zalon
