"No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" - PBS Broadcast This Week

PBS will broadcast on the American Masters Series "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" , a film by the auteur Martin Scorsese. Airing on Monday and Tuesday (SEPTEMBER 26-27 AND IN THE UK ON BBC'S ARENA SERIES SEPTEMBER 26). Definitely not to be missed.

Here's a terrific trailer preview movie clip (.WMV file).


And Bob Dylan tangling with the media seems even more fun today. From the Editor & Publisher's "How Bob Dylan Beat the Press":

One reporter asks if he agrees that his early records were better than his latest. Another wonders if he considers himself “the ultimate beatnik.” Bob asks him what HE thinks about that. The man says he can’t comment because he has never heard Dylan sing.

“You’ve never heard me sing and yet you want to sit there and ask me these questions?” Dylan replies.

Sadly, the “Ballad of a Thin Man” continues with today's media ineptitude and corporate consolidation of a free press.


Chromewaves has a nice roundup of some of the latest Bob Dylan offerings in print from UK's The Independent:

The cross-generational appeal of Dylan

The stories behind the songs

His top 20 albums

The story of the man who yelled, "Judas!"

A critical analysis of the man behind the myth

Recollections from Donovan and journalist David Hepworth


And more on the documentary.

From Salon.com 's "No direction here" by Steven Hart:

"Look, I know Dylan's a legend and all, but what's the big deal? Why's he important?"

The only response to such doubters is: If you value popular music as a venue for serious artistic purpose, thank Bob Dylan, who infused rock and folk music with blazing intellectual energy and visionary poetry. If you look back on the late '60s and early '70s as a lost era of pop music ambition and innovation, then thank Bob Dylan, whose 1960s albums were the benchmark that motivated artists across the pop spectrum, from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, to stake claims for themselves as something more than purveyors of disposable junk music. And if you despair of the legions of puling singer-songwriters who followed in his wake ... well, don't blame Bob Dylan. The man can't help it if his imitators lack his outsize talent."

From Washington Post's "The Revolutionary Bob Dylan" by Richard Harrington:

"The film is not the definitive career portrait some might want or expect. It focuses on Dylan roughly from 1961, when he first arrived in New York and immersed himself in the Greenwich Village folk scene, to 1966. That year, after a tumultuous tour of England during which angry folk purists greeted his decision to go electric with shouts of "Judas" and "traitor," Dylan was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, N.Y. After that he became a recluse for close to a decade.

But in the mid-'60s, Dylan changed popular music, and popular culture, and Scorsese shows us how."

From Telegraph's "Definitive Dylan" by Mick Brown:

"Inevitably, the most compelling witness to Dylan's life is himself, and it is his interviews that form the spine of the film. Here is Dylan at his most candid and laconic, a constant flicker of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth. On his college years: "I didn't go to classes. I just didn't feel like it." On Woody Guthrie: "You could listen to his songs and learn how to live." And on his own artistic ambitions: "All the great performers had something in their eyes. It was that 'I know something that you don't know.' And I wanted to be that kind of performer." "

From MTV.com's "Dylan Documentary A Monument To A Major Artist And A Legendary Time" By Kurt Loder:

"Seeing Dylan move through this rich period in the company of people like folkie queen Joan Baez and Johnny Cash (who gave the young singer his own guitar as a sign of respect), and seeing the wondrous array of live clips of performers who influenced him (from Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie to Gene Vincent, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and even Billie Holiday), you have to marvel at the architecture of this film. The performance footage — especially the extended clips of Dylan onstage with his most ferocious group, the Band — brings the era swarming back to life; the songs offer an understated commentary on the events we see (and of course on the man who wrote them); and the Dylan of today, now grizzled and gray, offers his own tart views on just about everything."

From The Observer's "The Supreme Troubadour" by Robert McCrum:

"The instinctive juxtaposition of savagery and tenderness, the extraordinary marriage of material, ancient and modern, articulated in that feral note of self-laceration have always been keys to Dylan's art. Like all the greats, including Shakespeare and Blake, he also has a spooky ear for the radioactive, associative power of language. So 'Tangled up in Blue', for instance, one of the great songs of all time, takes us into the locked room of the broken heart and also reminds us that it's poetry, not prose, which reconnects us to our childhood selves."

From MSNBC by Eli Lehrer:

"Martin Scorsese's recent documentary about Bob Dylan's early years, No Direction Home, is such a godsend.

Although it has some interesting footage from and insights into Dylan's folk years, the movie really takes off when Dylan leaves behind topical songwriting and, soon after, plugs in. The heart of the film is the footage that was shot for Eat the Document on that 1966 tour and then either butchered or completely ignored by Dylan when he went in to 'edit' the film. Now, it finally sees the light of day, and it manages to be even greater than imagined. From the performance of Like a Rolling Stone that opens the film to the infamous 'Judas' performance of the same song that closes it, virtually everything Scorsese uses from the tour is gold. This is the Dylan (alongside his 22 year-old self singing Blowin in the Wind) that is locked in the popular consciousness, and it's refreshing to be reminded that he really was as revolutionary and remarkable as the hype. It also a reminder of how contrarian he can be - his own in 1967 took footage that was almost perfect and purposely destroyed it."

And, lastly, over on BBC, they examine the question: "Bob Dylan - why the fuss?". Lots of folks reply back with the answer.

Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Eric Clapton, Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992

Also, see more on Bob Dylan's music.

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The Bridge School 2005 Concert Lineup Announced

The 19th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert performers have been announced.

The concerts are scheduled for Saturday, October 29th and Sunday, October 30th, 2005 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.

Featured artists scheduled to include:

Crosby Stills, Nash & Young
Dave Matthews (Solo, Sunday only)
Norah Jones
Emmylou Harris
Jerry Lee Lewis
Good Charlotte
Bright Eyes
Los Lobos

Tickets go onsale this morning, Sunday, Septemeber 25. Good luck to all!!!

More on last year's Bridge School Benefit Concert 2004 with Tegan & Sara, Los Lonely Boys, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Vedder, Tony Bennett, and Paul McCartney and previous year's concerts reviews and photos. Updates on this year's Bridge School Benefit Concert 2005 will be posted here.


Neil, Pegi & Eddie at Bridge 2004 Concert
photo by Craig Abaya

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Wilco Live Album Due In November

Wilco at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, PA - June 23, 2005

From Billboard:

"Wilco will release their first-ever live album, Kicking Television -- Live in Chicago, on November 1st. The two-CD set contains twenty-three songs recorded over four nights at the Vic Theatre in the band's hometown. Tracks included on Kicking are "Handshake Drugs" and "Hell Is Chrome," from 2004's A Ghost Is Born, as well as a cover of funk icon Charles Wright's "Comment." The band have begun recording the follow-up to Ghost and will head out on the road this fall for a few dates, including a performance at Farm Aid on September 18th and an opening slot for the Rolling Stones on October 15th.

The track listing for Kicking Television:

Disc One:

Misunderstood
Company in My Back
The Late Greats
Hell Is Chrome
Handshake Drugs
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Shot in the Arm
At Least That's What You Said
Wishful Thinking
Jesus, Etc.
I'm the Man Who Loves You
Kicking Television

Disc Two:

Via Chicago
Hummingbird
Muzzle of Bees
One by One
Airline to Heaven
Radio Cure
Ashes of American Flags
Heavy Metal Drummer
Poor Places
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Comment

More on Wilco's music.

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Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast

Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927"
Last night's broadcast of "Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast" to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims was about sincere as television can be.

An array of musicians donated their time and music unselfishly much as they did for the 9/11 "Tribute to Heroes", Tsunami Aid benefit telethon, and the recent Live 8 concerts.

While politicians finger point, blame shift and blather, at least our musicians try and give us all a little hope and try and make a difference.

Randy Newman's began the concert with the apt "Louisiana 1927" about a hurricane that the Army Corps of Engineers assured New Orleanian's that the levees would hold but they didn't in 1927 or again in 2005. Newman sang:

"President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man, isn't it a shame what the river has done
To this poor crackers land."
Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away."

U2 and Mary J. Blige on "One"


Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl


Neil Young's "When God Made Me"

More commentary and analysis of Neil Young performing "When God Made Me" from the forthcoming Prairie Wind CD. Also, photos from Young's ReACT NOW performance.


Paul Simon


Dixie Chicks with Robert Randolph


Cheryl Crow


Kanye West's "Jesus Walks."


More on Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast

Information on how you can help - Hurricane Katrina Resources

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Son Volt on NPR

Son Volt recently did an in-studio performance and interview on NPR Radio's World Cafe program.

From the NPR website:

"To many listeners, the album's blazing guitars are sure to bring to mind some of the greatest recorded moments of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Lyrically, Farrar continues to reinterpret the myth of America, as he did in his former group, Uncle Tupelo."

Jay Farrar discusses the new album 'Okemah and the Melody of Riot' and play several cuts including "Afterglow 61".

Interestingly, he discusses driving Highway 61 from Minneapolis to New Orleans.

From an interview in OffBeat by Cree McCree, Farrar is asked what he absorbed from the New Orleans music scene:

FARRAR: "I did get out to clubs occasionally to see zydeco people like Boozoo Chavis. I even made it to a couple Cajun festivals. And I did two sessions at Chez Flames, that Keith Keller recorded. Several of those songs wound up on the Rhino retrospective. My friend John Maloney played drums on “Rex’s Blues,” recorded in 1995. The other two songs, “Ain’t No More Cane” and “Tulsa County,” were recorded in 1997 with Son Volt on all the instruments."

Also, from JamBase's "JAY FARRAR: 6-STRING BELIEFS" by Dennis Cook:

FARRAR: "Without Highway 61, we may not have had Bob Dylan or Leadbelly."

"There's an immediacy and a starkness that's there. I think a lot of Leadbelly's arrangements and his use of the 12-string guitar were atypical, especially the 12-string, which showed his individuality. I guess he approached it that way because the 12-string was louder. Leadbelly and the punk rock aesthetic - maybe there are some similarities there."

From Nada Mucho's review of Okemah "This album cover is not as frightening as a tomato with teeth" by S. Takeuchi:

"Musically it is less experimental than his solo releases but it does contain a variety of tempo and dynamic changes. The bottom line is that this is a rock record that does not feel like a band album. Farrar’s vocals sit deep within the mix and he is often singing in a higher register which calls attention to his voice, almost as if picking out a cry for help in a crowd. Purposefully or not it is compelling to have to strain to pick out the lyrics he is singing. It gives weight and urgency to the songs, as if Farrar is racing and escalating his voice to get out what needs to be said before he is drowned out.

There is even a point where Farrar appears to 'force' a line, which, while all too common in other songwriters these days, is not something Farrar has done before. On "Afterglow 61" he repeats this line again and again and despite the extra syllable and a half bridges the gap between his intent and delivery. That is the crux of this album, all these songs are what Farrar wants to say, musically, dynamically and lyrically, but housed in his conception of what a rock and roll band sounds like."

And this jaw dropper from Americana UK News via PitchFork on the latest issue of Relix Magazine's article titled "THE LONG CUT" by Anthony DeCurtis:

"It was big news when Uncle Tupelo broke up in 1994, with founders Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar embittered over one another’s actions. While Tweedy went on to form Wilco and Farrar Son Volt, only Tweedy would publicly discuss the dissolution of the band—until now. Farrar sat down with Anthony DeCurtis this past January, while putting the final touches on Son Volt’s latest, to tell, for the first time, his side of the Uncle Tupelo story.

Tweedy has spoken freely about the event from the beginning, allowing his story of Tupelo's disintegration to be generally accepted as fact. Here's his version: Farrar and Tweedy meet in high school. Tweedy, unexperienced as a musician at this point, looks at Farrar, who has been in a number of bands with his older brothers, as a role model. The two teens, along with drummer Mike Heidorn, form Uncle Tupelo. The band's first two albums are heavily influenced by Farrar, but Tweedy improves and takes a greater hold on the group, which (as the story goes), Farrar found hard to swallow. This creates tension and the men stop communicating. Around this time, Heidorn leaves, worsening the situation. A major-label deal brought Tupelo up from the underground, putting on the pressure that led to Farrar's departure. A crushed Tweedy groups the band's remaining members together to form Wilco, and Farrar meets up with Heidorn to create Son Volt.

Farrar does not necessarily disagree with all that, but has his own (juicier) side to contribute to history. In the lengthy Relix interview, Farrar tells journalist Antony DeCurtis that things started to unravel after he saw Tweedy stroke the hair of his girlfriend of seven years, Monica Groth (now his wife), as she was sleeping. "I found out later that he was telling her stuff, like, he loves her," says Farrar, who attempted to quit the band the next day."

Eeek! Ouch. Love stinks.

Also, here's a review of Son Volt's "Okemah and the Melody of Riot" and more on Neil Young's influence on Jay Farrar and Son Volt's music.

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