bob d documentary

[mxmendo]

ok, this is pretty off-topic but have folks been watching the dylan docu on pbs? Started last night and finishes tonight. Fascinating. <p></p><i></i>

[Rigorous Intuition]

Bob Dylan's never off-topic, whatever the topic. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 8) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>I hate to say it, but I had to miss the first part. But the DVD is already out, so I'll be catching it that way.<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/photos/dylanbob_cp_2651742.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Gouda]

I watched the 1st part last night, his New York and Newport period. Many things stood out for me. One was the fact that there always seemed to be a GOOD photographer around, documenting the every move (just in case?) of this very young, relatively unknown upstart ragamuffin. Dylan was always aware of the eye and the eye was always aware of him. He watched elder performers intently. He said this, which I paraphrase: "there was something in their eyes that KNEW something that I didn't and so I wanted to perform like that.." more or less. Then his pilgrimage to see Woody Guthrie in the nut house. There was mention, of course, of the "Crossroads", whereby he left Minnesota a rather average performer and returned from NYC months later light years advanced, as one of Scorcese's interviewees explains from a train cabin (forget who it was). Dylan kind of jokes about it but acknowledges there was a crossroads. I recall he mentioned it in his 60 Minutes interview as well, something about a "deal he struck". Musical, mystical or both. Probably both somehow. <p></p><i></i>

[Corvidaerex]

Watched part one last night, will gladly watch part two this evening.<br><br>It's pretty good, especially the new interview segments with Dylan -- it's a treat just to hear his speaking voice (which sounds wise, funny & about 25 years old) and hear him tell those stories.<br><br>But the whole thing just made me want to read Chronicles again, which I started doing on my lunch break today. Other than the old footage I haven't seen before (and I'm sure the serious Dylan scholars like Jeff have seen it all), especially of the electric shows in England, I can't say I learned much & at times it was boring. A little bit like one of those goddamned Ken Burns' PBS things that could make an alien army attacking Earth somehow boring ... with fiddle music, and a folksy narrator who makes you verrrry sleeeepy. <p></p><i></i>

[OnoI812]

A fine night of television viewing pleasure.<br><br>Scorcese was on Charlie Rose afterward...nice <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=onoi812>OnoI812</A> at: 9/27/05 10:06 pm<br></i>

[dbeach]

did I ever tell ya the time I met Bob D.??<br><br>'don't follow leaders..watch your parkin meters..' <p></p><i></i>

[Gouda]

Tonight, Scorcese lit on the tension generated as Bob crossed from acoustic to electric. The narrative followed the absolute magnetism that Dylan generated as his artistry and fame grew; how this alternately drew the world to him and repulsed them at the same time, to the point of creating a threatening atmosphere around the shows. I love what Dylan said about the booing: "I had a perspective on that. You can get killed by kindness too." These tensions only served to further focus his conviction and path, and the media was absolutely unable to harness him. <br><br>Ginsberg spoke of Dylan as a shaman. <br><br>One former producer exclaimed, "He's got the holy spirit all about him. You can tell that just by lookin' at him." <br><br>Near the end, did anyone else catch what Dylan said in that last interview abroad just before his motorcycle accident? His last tour had just wrapped up in some controversy, with pissed off fans everywhere. He said he just wanted to go home. But he also mentioned something facetiously about not wanting to end up in a plane crashing over Sicily....and then his motorcycle crash he did get back.<br> <br> <p></p><i></i>

[Corvidaerex]

I think he was talking (in his way) about the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.<br><br>The story goes that Dylan was playing with teen-pop sensation Bobby Vee at the time, and the group had to fill a show that Buddy Holly was supposed to headline.<br><br>Or maybe not. But the fact is that many, many talented musicians and song & dance men/women have died in small plane crashes. It is a worthwhile thing to be concerned about, on top of the threats of some nutter ex-fan out there with a shotgun.<br><br>Yeah, I liked tonight's part a lot more than the first part. Maybe there was more real footage? I don't know. But it had a helluva lot more narrative energy.<br><br>At the same time -- and as important as all this stuff was back in the day & still is -- I'm kind of glad the mainstream political / media world kinda lost interest in Dylan after he smartly took 8 years off. While I'd love to watch it, I'm pretty sure there won't be a big-deal PBS 4-hour presenation about "Desire" or "Oh Mercy" or "Love & Theft." Especially "Love & Theft." If the sumbitches ever crack *that* code, we're all in for it more than ever.<br> <p></p><i></i>

[proldic]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Judas!!!<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>

[lilorphant]

Intersting thought i had while watching the show-wouldn't it be funny if he turnd out to be a CIA asset? He said at the beginning that he wanted to join the CIA or military. Anyone catch that in the first few minutes of the first part?<br><br>Okay- maybe I do not really believe he was part of CIA, but he mainstreamed the counterculture, and he had exclusive access to many in the counter-culture that were considered "threatening". <p></p><i></i>

[dbeach]

..'get jialed jump bail join the Army if ya fail"<br><br>Dylan .Beatles. stones I think all eventualy "go with the agents who waited in the black limoseine out in the rain'<br>Lyrics by Neal young<br><br>'Did you see them?'<br><br>song Broken arrow by Young <p></p><i></i>

[proldic]

and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>of course</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> that explains the cult of american 40-60 yr olds...he <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>was/is</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> them, his path was their justification via song...<br><br>Scorcese's lessons:<br><br>arts for arts sake above all else<br><br>the organized left at that time as degrading force<br><br>reinforce the cult of personality, grind down the actuality of the time into -- spit -- complete disdain for/inability to relate to others in person, pure obfuscationary meaness..'Dylan vs the media' my ass!<br><br>judas subtext <br><br>...and from the mouths of babes:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Fake neurotic!<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[OnoI812]

and the pump don't work cause the vandal took the handle! <p></p><i></i>

[john darmy]

According to Alex Constantine, in "The Covert War Against Rock," Dylan's music became apolitical after the motorcycle accident. So maybe that was a warning. <p></p><i></i>

[proldic]

This is something I posted here about that book awhile back. Curious to know if your copy is missing the kidnap story or not:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>McGowan, Constantine, and the Kidnapping of Jimi Hendrix<br><br>...Before Alex Constantine's (nom de plume) book "The Covert War Against Rock" came out it was being promoted pretty heavy on the "conspiracy" net. Similar to McGowan's "There's Something About Henry" chapter, Constantine pre-released a chapter called "I Don't Live Today: The Jimi Hendrix Political Harassment, KIDNAP, and Murder Experience". <br><br>When I read the chapter on-line, it most definitely contained a whole section (sourced from what I remember was a Crawdaddy story from the seventies) detailing how Hendrix had been actually physically kidnapped, I think at gunpoint, for one whole day by the mafia in New York City. Supposedly something to do with the fact that his spooky manager, Michael Jeffries, was sabotaging his career, which Constantine does go into a bit.<br><br>Now I happen to think that the "Kidnapping of Jimi Hendrix by the Mob" story is one of those things I'm sure would freak alot of "regular" people out if they knew about it. Of all the parts of the book, it seemed one of the most powerful. At least it might lead r&r folks to actually begin considering the importance of evaluating the role of these pop cultural figures more seriously, especially in their relations with powerful forces in society, like the mob, or the FBI, or even the CIA - despite their seeming "insignificance" due to their drug-addled debauchery. <br><br>Anyway, when the book came out, a friend of mine pointed out to me that, although the title of the chapter remained "I Don't Live Today: The Jimi Hendrix Political Harassment, KIDNAP, and Murder Experience", the entire section detailing his kidnapping was not there. Nothing, nada, poof! The whole section was just excised right out of the chapter. Something I had missed when I initially read the book, even though I had read the other version just a few months beforehand. And even though the word "Kidnap" is right there in the chapter title I'm holding in my hand. I scoured that chapter up and down - not a mention of his kidnapping besides the title. <br><br>Another twist is that my buddy, who's a bulldog when it comes to this stuff, went and called up Adam Parfey, the publisher of the book and owner of Feral House, and according to my friend, Parfey claimed to have no idea at all about any of it. He promised to get in contact with AC to "straighten it out". He never heard back from him. Apparently AC was impossible to get a hold of as well. Weird, huh? And Parfey is a strange cat, no doubt. McGowan points that out in PTK. <br><br>Since then I've been reminded how tricks such as that are par-for-the-course in the publishing industry, when it comes to certain more controversial books. Apparently, besides actually redacting books at the printer, blanking out certain pages, there's a whole phenomenon that's barely acknowledged, but apparently pretty widespread, within the publishing industry called "privishing", which essentially means purposefully suppressing the distribution of a particular book on the level of the publisher. <br><br>I'm not saying that AC didn't know about the excised chapter. He seems to have some credibility issues overall, from what I can see. Maybe driven crazy a bit by psycho-tronic harrassment? Or just a CIA-fake? I don't think so. But I see where his sometimes-ally and Aquino-basher Karen Curio-Jones seems to have gone off the deep end. Maybe Constantine/Feral House was threatened with a lawsuit by someone? But then why keep the title of the chapter the same? Just an oversight?<br><br>Any insights on Constantine, etc.? Can anyone ask him about this? Can anyone find a copy of the original chapter mentioning the kidnapping on the net? Any old hippies out there with back issues of Crawdaddy in their attic?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>