Seems like 2011 is a great year for big birthdays… SpeedPoets turns 10, this Lost Shark turns 40, Dylan turns 70 and the Penguin Modern Classic clocks up a neat half century. And they are doing it in style by releasing a box set of 50 literary hits from the likes of Saki, Chandler, Nabokov, Camus, Kafka, Woolf & Beckett. Looks like this is due to hit stores in April.
Rubbing my hands together already…
Filed under poetry & publishing
Just this week, the Dylan rumour mill went into overdrive with the news that Bob has signed a six book deal with Simon & Schuster, two of which are rumoured to be the much anticipated follow ups to the stunning, Chronicles vol. 1. There is also talk that one of the books will collate material from Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, which clocked up 100 shows over its three year stint. So that leaves three spaces… in reading recent articles I have come across comments such as, ‘let’s hope there’s nothing like the unreadable Tarantula.’ Well, I have to differ strongly in opinion to that… I can’t imagine Bob would be interested in repeating what he did with Tarantula, but I would love to read some revolutionary prose from the great man. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what materialises…
In the meantime, if you are after a Bob fix, here’s a link to a killer show from 1965: Bob Dylan, Live at The Hollywood Bowl, 1965.
How does it feel…
Filed under poetry & publishing, who listens to the radio?
For many, the release of the legendary Witmark Demos is something of a goldmine… 47 tracks from a fledgling Dylan (1962 – 1964) that until now, have been the stuff of scrappy sounding bootlegs or legend.
To celebrate the release, Rolling Stone are featuring a track from the album, with an accompanying video. Watch Bob singing, Guess I’m Doing Fine.
This is Bob in full ‘mono’ glory.
For more information on the release (and it looks like it’s going to be a cracker), head to the Bob Dylan Website.
Filed under who listens to the radio?
Workshop #1 with Emily XYZ hit the mark, with each of the participants selecting a poem that they believed worked well to read to the group. The voices were diverse in style, content and experience which made for some really interesting discussion and Emily brought the group together superbly, creating an atmosphere for honest critique to be given and received.
As part of the group, it was a real pleasure to have three uninterrupted hours to just talk poetry, the purpose it fulfills and how our aesthetic choices can advance this purpose or hinder it. I am now looking forward to tomorrow night’s class where we discuss the question of culture. Some of the questions Emily has raised include:
Where do you fit in as an artist?
What historical precedents do you recognise in your own work?
Who do you most admire/relate to?
What influences, if any, can you see in your work?
What are you obsessed with, what are the recurring themes in your work?
So in preparation, I thought I would share my responses… and just like last week, I would love to have you join me in the sharing process, after all, as poets, we’re all in this together.
Where do you fit in as an artist?
As an artist, I see myself as having a strong connection to the aesthetic of some of The Beat Generation poets - Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder & Philip Whalen are names that spring immediately to mind. For me, these writers have a strong, spiritual connection to the land and their place in time, much like many of the Asian voices who influenced them (and continue to influence me); writers such as Basho, Li Po & Ko Un. Their spare, simplicity is something that I will always use as an artistic beacon. As Kerouac said… ‘one day I will find the right words and they will be simple.’
What historical precedents do you recognise in your own work?
There are two moments that I go back to… two moments in my life that drew me to the path of poetry.
At the age of 13 I heard Bob Dylan’s ‘Jokerman’ for the very first time… it was like a spell, I simply couldn’t listen to it enough. That first verse spoke to me on the deepest level:
Standing on the water, casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist
You were born with a snake in both of your fists
while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with truth so far off, what good will it do.
And 26 years later, I go back to this song and regularly draw from its wisdom… for me, its gift is bottomless.
The other moment was aged 27 when I picked up a copy of Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac. I had read On the Road and Lonesome Traveller (and really enjoyed them both) but this hit me like nothing else… the haunting loneliness, the longing, the confusion… I felt I was right beside Jack when he wrote:
on Starvation Ridge
little sticks
are trying to grow
Who do you most admire/relate to?
First and foremost… Dylan. I never stray too far from his work.
More recently, I feel a deep connection with the work of Robert Adamson (another Dylan fan). His obsession with The Hawkesbury River is something I can really relate to…
What influences, if any, can you see in your work?
Adamson has definitely influenced my own writing as have poets like Sam Hunt, Basho & Kerouac… writers who have a deep respect for the natural world are the ones I keep coming back to.
What are you obsessed with, what are the recurring themes in your work?
The ocean… I once wrote that each year I go there to measure the depth of my nature… and I continue to. Nowhere on earth do I feel more at home than standing at land’s edge, with nothing but the ocean to seduce me.
Filed under poetry & publishing
Christies Auction House has got its hands on a poem written in 1957 by a young Bobby Zimmerman for his summer camp newspaper.
The poem, about the death of a dog at the hands of drunken man who beat him beacuse he barked in joy, captures the fledgling voice of the man who would go on to become one of the most important voices in modern song and literature.
Here’s the poem in its entirety:
Little Buddy
by Bobby Zimmerman
Broken hearted and so sad
Big blue eyes all covered with tears
Was a picture of sorrow to see
Kneeling close to the side
Of his pal and only pride
A little lad, these words he told me
He was such a lovely doggy
Story continues below
And to me he was such fun
But today as we played by the way
A drunken man got mad at him
Because he barked in joy
He beat him and he’s dying here today
Will you call the doctor please
And tell him if he comes right now
He’ll save my precious doggy here he lay
Then he left the fluffy head
But his little dog was dead
Just a shiver and he slowly passed away
He didn’t know his dog had died
So I told him as he cried
Come with me son we’ll get that doctor right away
But when I returned
He had his little pal upon his knee
And the teardrops, they were blinding
his big blue eyes
Your too late sir my doggy’s dead
And no one can save him now
But I’ll meet my precious buddy up in the sky
By a tiny narrow grave
Where the willows sadly wave
Are the words so clear you’re sure to find
Little Buddy Rest In Peace
God Will Watch You Thru The Years
Cause I Told You In My Dreams That You
Were Mine
The poem will go up for auction this month.
Filed under poetry & publishing
I believe we all have artistic beacons… those shining lights that guide us through the years and soundtrack the highs and lows of our lives. For me, Dylan has always shone brightly. His words have circled me for my entire 39 years and I have to say, I cannot imagine life without Dylan. Sharing a birthday with him, well that’s just icing on the cake!
In 1985 I saw my first ever concert, it wasn’t Bob, but it was a man inspired by him – Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band. I still remember the sheer exhilaration of that show, the incredible feeling of having music flood over me in the live arena. The following year, I had my second concert experience… this time it was Bob, backed by the legendary Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
When I look back on this, I cannot help but thinking I was spoiled. It’s an almost unbeatable one, two punch (three including Petty!). I have since seen Bob five times and live in hope that I have not had my last live Dylan experience. Each time, Bob has shifted shape and delivered set lists that have left audiences guessing. I never would have imagined Cat’s in the Well from Under the Red Sky being the opening number when I saw him last in 2007 (here’s the full set list from the show). But that’s part of the magic…
So to celebrate my 39th and Bob’s 69th, I have dug up a link where you can download a concert from Bob’s ‘Together and Alone’ 1986 tour with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. My memory of this show includes Bob adorned with big bauble earrings and leather vest, Tom smoking one of the biggest joints I have ever seen, Mike Campbell’s shredding solo in So You Want To Be A Rock’n'Roll Star and rousing versions of Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, When the Night Comes Falling, Ballad of a Thin Man and Positively 4th Street.
This concert recorded live in New York on the 4th of July, 1986 features many of those songs… and has stripped back the years and filled me with the same sense of wonder and awe. So here it is in its entirety:
Bob Dylan w/ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers live in New York
And as a thank you to everyone who posted their favourite tracks on my recent Dylan post, here’s a treat for you… I have rummaged around to come up with clips of ten of the songs as a way of saying thank you.
Enjoy,
Ballad of a Thin Man
Tangled Up In Blue
Series of Dreams
Things Have Changed
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Subterranean Homesick Blues (w/ Neil Young)
Highway 61 Revisited
Romance in Durango
Brownsville Girl
Lonesome Day Blues
Filed under who listens to the radio?
It’s just twelve days until Bob celebrates his 69th birthday, but the Coowonga Folk Club in Rockhampton (Central QLD, Australia for those who may not have heard of it) is starting the party early with a concert this Saturday night, featuring 69 of their favourite Dylan songs. 69 songs in one concert… I know, I gasped when I read it, but Bob is an artist that inspires such devotion (or fanatacism or whatever else you care to call the love of Bob). Two members of the group were recently interviewed on 612 ABC Radio to talk a bit about the event, their favourite Dylan songs and to play a version of Just Like A Woman from Dylan’s 1966 classic album, Blonde on Blonde.
But if like me, you are not able to make it along to Bobfest, never fear… you can have Bobfest in your own home. And what better way to do that than to get a taste of what Bob’s recent shows have been like and the good folk at webinfront have made that all possible. You can download two of Bob’s 2009 shows in their entirety and the setlists are crackers… drawing heavily from his recent albums:
Together Through Life
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
Jolene
My Wife’s Hometown
Modern Times
Nettie Moore
Thunder on the Mountain
Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Love and Theft
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
High Water (for Charley Patton)
Po’ Boy
As well as playing a good selection from his back catalog:
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
Highway 61 Revisted
All Along the Watchtower
I Don’t Believe You (She acts like we never met)
Tangled Up In Blue
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
So, here’s the links to your very own Bobfest:
Bob Dylan live at the Hollywood Palladium 13.10.09; and
Bob Dylan live at the Roundhouse, London 26.4.09
And while you are at it, why not send me your favourite Dylan songs… we can make our own list of 69 songs in celebration of his upcoming birthday!
Filed under who listens to the radio?
Jules and I have been working hard all day, merging our libraries into one ‘super-library’ located in our newly renovated Reading Room… We now have our complete library mapped out in the followwing sections:
Poetry Anthologies (General, American, Australia & New Zealand, Asian, European & haiku)
Penguin Modern Poets
Gargoyle Poets Series
Australian Poets (incl. Adamson, Tranter, Dransfield)
New Zealand Poets (incl. Hunt, Baker, Bornholdt)
Asian Poets (incl. Po, Un, Basho)
UK Poets (incl. Patten, Henri, McGough)
Russian Poets (incl. Yevtushenko, Voznesensky, Mayakovsky)
European Poets (incl. Neruda, Lorca, Ritsos)
Canadian Poets (incl. Cohen, Turner, Rader, Bachinsky)
American Poets (the Charles Bukowski & Diane Wakoski collections are mightily impressive)
Poetry Journals (incl. Island, Overland, Blue Dog, Versal, Rattapallax)
Beat Literature (everyone from Burroughs to Whalen)
Bob Dylan (yes he gets his own section!); and
Writing by Musicians (incl. Nick Cave, Willy Vlautin, Steve Kilbey)
Here’s a few pics to show the fruits of our days work!
So what did you do this Easter?
Filed under discussions, Reading Room
A while back I made a post: A Poet Is… What Bob Dylan Has to Say and there was some interesting debate about Dylan being a poet. Well a good friend of mine recently turned me on to Bob performing a killer version of Jokerman back in 1984 on the Letterman show, which for mine has to be one of the greatest example of song lyrics working as poetry. If you need any convincing, read this:
It’s a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray
A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet
He’ll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat
Take the motherless children off the street
And place them at the feet of a harlot
(read the full lyrics here)
And I also recently came across this poem published in The New Yorker, which is taken from a book titled Hollywood Foto Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript, which collects previously unpublished poetry by Dylan and photographs by Barry Feinstein.
after crashin the sportscar
into the chandelier
i ran out t the phone booth
made a call t my wife. she wasnt home.
i panicked. i called up my best friend
but the line was busy
then i went t a party but couldnt find a chair
somebody wiped their feet on me
so i decided t leave
i felt awful. my mouth was puckered.
arms were stickin thru my neck
my stomach was stuffed an bloated
dogs licked my face
people stared at me an said
“what’s wrong with you?”
passin two successful friends of mine
i stopped t talk.
they knew i was feelin bad
an gave me some pills
i went home an began writin
a suicide note
it was then that i saw
that crowd comin down
the street
i really have nothing
against
marlon brando
Is Dylan a poet? Let the debate roll on, but I know what side of the fence I am sitting.
Filed under poetry & publishing, who listens to the radio?
Dylan is one of the most quoted artists of our time, and rightfully so. Just check out these nuggets of wisdom if you need any convincing:
A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.
No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.
I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.
But there is one Dylan quote that has always niggled at me and that is, I think a poet is anyone who wouldn’t call themself a poet.
This niggles at me for many reasons… one, Dylan readily calls himself a poet, in fact has been quoted as saying he will die like one (although he also says he doesn’t like the word… prefers the term trapeze artist); the fact that the word poet is undeniably misunderstood in our society; and the fact that I struggled to come to terms with calling myself a poet for many years and am only now beginning to feel any sense of comfort with the term.
Personally, I struggled with the term because I value it… deeply. For the last decade the art of poetry has been the driving force in my life. I have high expectations of my work and only now feel that I am starting to produce the work of a poet.
So why is it that, the word poet is often uttered under one’s breath? Why has the title poet, become a thorny crown?
I would like to suggest that one of the main reasons is the lack of poetry in our national curriculum. I don’t want to harp on this, as I know I have said it before, but quality poetry is sadly missing in our schools today. I saw an example of the work that a visiting poet had done with students recently and it was in a word… uninspired. We are seriously missing the mark in schools and as a result, fewer and fewer people are being equipped with the skills to engage with poetry.
But this is just one of the reasons… I could also cite elitism as a significant reason as let’s face it, for too long prestige has been found by pleasing a small group of like minds, rather than reaching out to a wider audience.
Dylan has certainly redefined modern music through his lyrical brilliance. I just wonder what it will take (or who) to redefine poetry.
Feel free to add your suggestions (or disagree with any of mine).
Filed under poetry & publishing
