Bob Dylan Tribute Concert, Talk and Photo Exhibition

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Music & More
Meeting House

Route 57
New Marlborough, Mass.
413.229.2785

Bob Dylan Celebration

Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday will be celebrated in words, music, and pictures with a talk and performance by Dylan author Seth Rogovoy and an exhibition of rarely seen photographs by Ken Regan, one of very few photographers given behind-the-scenes access to Dylan since 1966, as part of the Music & More Series at the Meeting House in New Marlborough on Saturday, September 24, at 4:30 p.m.

Bob Dylan Celebration with Author-Singer Seth Rogovoy and Photographer Ken Regan

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

(NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass.) – Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday will be celebrated in words, music, and pictures with a talk and performance by Dylan author Seth Rogovoy and an exhibition of rarely seen photographs by Ken Regan, one of very few photographers given behind-the-scenes access to Dylan since 1966, as part of the Music & More Series at the Meeting House in New Marlborough on Saturday, September 24, at 4:30 p.m.

Rogovoy, an award-winning music critic, will present a multimedia program based on his book, Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet, followed by a Dylan tribute concert with his band, the Rolling Rogovoy Revue.

Immediately following the concert is a reception in the Meeting House Art Gallery with photographer Ken Regan, who has photographed Dylan over the course of three decades – including the fateful day in 1975 that Dylan and company spent at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass., with Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, and others. That year, Regan also toured with the Rolling Stones, and the next year he was on hand to shoot The Band’s farewell concert, The Last Waltz. Regan also shot George Harrison’s landmark charity benefit, Concert for Bangladesh, for which Bob Dylan came out of seclusion to perform. He worked closely with renowned concert promoter Bill Graham, and he was the main photographer for such historic rock events as Amnesty International, Live Aid, and others.

Regan has over 200 magazine covers to his credit; has worked in film and TV; has been a photojournalist specializing in politics (with a longstanding relationship with the Kennedy family) and war (including Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia and Iraq), and has documented famine in Africa, poverty in Harlem, and gold mining in Brazil. He also specialized early on in sports photography, particularly boxing.

Rogovoy’s multimedia program will include a combination of spoken word, digital imagery, recorded and live music, and rare video footage, all based around Rogovoy’s critically acclaimed biography, which examines Dylan’s life and work from a unique perspective. Of the numerous books written about the rock poet, Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet is the only full-length treatment that explores the deep and profound Jewish context and roots of Dylan’s life and songs.

Following the exploration of Dylan’s life, Rogovoy — switching roles to that of singer, guitarist and mouth harpist – will be joined onstage by his Rolling Rogovoy Revue bandmates Alicia Jo Rabins (fiddler and vocals), Rob Sanzone (guitar and vocals) and Miles Lally (bass). Their performance will feature a mix of Dylan’s greatest hits and some lesser-known songs, including ones from his 1976 album Desire, which is sometimes called his “Hebraic” album, and others that fit with the theme of the program, such as “I Shall Be Released.”

Rabins is internationally known as the leader of her indie-rock band, Girls in Trouble, and as a member of the Yiddish/klezmer ensemble, Golem, and a founding member of the trad-rad folk group, The Mammals.

Bob Dylan has enjoyed a five-decade-long career that’s produced more than 500 songs, 50-plus albums, and over 50 million albums sold. Dylan, who this year turned 70, has won many awards, including Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Awards, and in 2008, the Pulitzer Price jury awarded him a special citation for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

“I’ve been listening to Bob Dylan religiously (pun intended) since I was 14 years old,” Rogovoy said. “I was struck by the raw honesty of his singing, the directness of his lyrics, and the beauty of the music.

“At some point I began noticing that there were a lot of Jewish references in his songs – concepts, images, actual phrases quoted or paraphrased from Jewish liturgy, from the Bible and the Talmud. I began keeping track, taking notes, and eventually I realized I had enough material in terms of the content of his songs and his biography to tell a story about Bob Dylan that no one else had ever captured — that his life and work fits into the Prophetic tradition.”

To complete the celebration, the Meeting House Art Gallery will simultaneously exhibit a series of photographs by Ken Regan, one of the few people to ever hold the title of “official Bob Dylan photographer.” Regan, a well-known photojournalist who captured everyone from Muhammad Ali to the Kennedys, took some of the most iconic photographs of Dylan’s live performances in history. Moreover, Regan had unrivaled behind-the-scenes access, which allows rare glimpses into the personal life of the fascinating and notoriously-private musician. The exhibit runs from September 24 through October 2 (weekends only).

Tickets to the Bob Dylan Celebration cost $25/$20. Students with ID and children with parents are admitted for free.

Visit Music & More or call 413.229.2785 for tickets, discounts and information.

Enjoy a 10% discount for a post-concert dinner at the historic Old Inn on the Green (rated “Best in the Berkshires” by Zagat) just next door. Call 413.229.7924 for reservations, which are required.

About Music & More

Directed by Harold Lewin and in its 20th year, Music and More was founded with the goal of bringing a diverse and distinguished group of authors, musicians and films to the Berkshires. This year, Music and More is comprised of eight events at the historic Meeting House in New Marlborough, Mass. Visit Music & More or call 413.229.2785 for further information. Music & More is sponsored by the New Marlborough Village Association.

BBC Radio Program on Bob Dylan’s spiritual journey

Thursday, May 26th, 2011
Bob Dylan in Jerusalem for his son's bar mitzvah

Bob Dylan in Jerusalem for his son's bar mitzvah

Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, Simon Round reports on Blowing in the Wind: Bob Dylan’s Spiritual Journey, a production that aired on BBC Radio on May 24, 2011, on Dylan’s 70th birthday, and one in which I took part. Round calls it:

a brilliantly put together and thought-provoking radio documentary, presented by Emma Freud, assessing his journey from barmitzvah boy to evangelist Christian, to synagogue attender. It was a story which made perfect sense – and you can’t say this about many aspects of Dylan.

At 70, Bob Dylan Remains the Reluctant Prophet

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

The Forward asked me to chime in on the significance of Bob Dylan at 70. Here’s some of what I wrote:

old bob dylan“Bob Dylan turns 70 on May 24. So what? Well, for one, let’s see you continue to perform two-hour concerts 100 nights a year, as you’ve been doing practically nonstop for the past quarter-century or so, all over the world, keeping things new and fresh, while the music industry around you falls apart; your body is battered by so many aches and pains that you can barely hold a guitar, and your singing voice — never the greatest to begin with — is nothing but a hollow shell of what it once was. You’re lucky if you can even spit out the lyrics of songs from throughout your 50-year career in a talking voice, much less even remember them.”  READ MORE….

The Kabbalah of Bob Dylan: Multimedia Program, 70th B’day Tribute Concert and Booksigning, May 22, Club Helsinki, Hudson, N.Y.

Saturday, May 7th, 2011
Club Helsinki Hudson
405 Columbia St.
Hudson, N.Y.
518.828.4800
The Kabbalah of Bob Dylan
Multimedia performance with live music and booksigning
Through spoken word, digital imagery, recorded music, live music, and rare video footage, Seth Rogovoy — author of “Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet” – will explore the Jewish Prophetic roots of and influences upon Bob Dylan’s life and music.
Immediately following the presentation, Seth Rogovoy and band will perform a 70th birthday tribute concert to Bob Dylan.
This event is part of Club Helsinki Hudson’s multi-evening celebration of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, which continues on the actual birthdate, Tues, May 24, with “Forever Young: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Bob Dylan,” in which Seth Rogovoy will also perform.
There will be a Q&A and a booksigning immediately following the presentation. Stockbridge Library; Sun Feb 13; 5:30 p.m.

Club Helsinki Hudson
405 Columbia St.
Hudson, N.Y.
518.828.4800
The Kabbalah of Bob Dylan
Multimedia performance with live music and booksigning

Through spoken word, digital imagery, recorded music, live music, and rare video footage, Seth Rogovoy — author of “Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet” – will explore the Jewish Prophetic roots of and influences upon Bob Dylan’s life and music.

Immediately following the presentation, Seth Rogovoy and band will perform a 70th birthday tribute concert to Bob Dylan. Following the concert, there will be a booksigning courtesy of Spotty Dog Books & Ale of Hudson, N.Y.

This event is part of Club Helsinki Hudson‘s multi-evening celebration of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, which continues on the actual birthdate, Tues, May 24, at 7, with “Forever Young: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Bob Dylan,” in which Seth Rogovoy will also perform.