Did you catch Part I of Scorsese’s Dylan doc on PBS last night? Some incredible archival footage of Bob’s influences. Odetta, Woody Guthrie, John Jacob Niles, Liam Clancy, Allen Ginsberg, Dave Van Ronk, Joan Baez, Bob Neuwirth, Paul Clayton, Gregory Corso, Big Joe Williams … still with me? No?
Well, the good news is Part II (tonight) is supposedly the funny part, chronicling the press conferences where reporters asked Bob questions so clueless, the songwriter went into exile for seven years.
A sampling from Editor & Publisher (via Gawker):
REPORTER: You don’t sing protest songs anymore.
DYLAN: All my songs are protest songs. All I do is protest.PHOTOGRAPHER: Suck on your glasses.
DYLAN: You want me to suck on my glasses?
PHOTOGRAPHER: Just suck your glasses.
DYLAN: Do YOU want to suck my glasses?REPORTER: How many other protest singers exist?
DYLAN: About 136.
REPORTER: You say about 136?-or exactly 136?
DYLAN: Either 136 or 142.
Click here to watch (Real) a clip from last night’s show — Dylan performing “Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat” in Dublin, 5/2/66.
Odetta footage was pretty cool, actually. And Dylan was so coherent… what’s up with that?
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Ok. Scott, Jed, and Jim. When did this become a multiperson blog and why so often boys? Or is it the same person? Help a sister out here.
Here’s when Ginalouise:
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/001771.html
I’m honeymooning for much of next month, so it’ll be just J&J then.
Congrats on the honeymoon but I’ve got to echo some of the (more polite) voices here regarding the new, multiperson Stereogum. I’ve been reading daily for a long time and, not to disparage anyone’s work, I miss the coherence of a solitary voice. Even when you posted sporadically it was worth it because Stereogum had a distinctive tone that I looked forward to. Now, some posts seem thoughtful and some seem tossed up. (*weak-ass critique on aesthetics compliments of the lame-o who doesn’t actually publish his own blog*)I’ll stick with you, though, regardless of growing pains.
Regarding Dylan, Pt.1: A little dry, sure, but he deserves the methodical investigation. Odetta is/was mind-blowing (with that guttural “Whooop!”) and any chance to see Johnny Ray’s crazy histrionics is a good thing.
Disc 2 of No Direction Home contains some pretty rockin’ alternate versions of his songs. Disc 1, I’m not a fan of so much – but disc 2 is just amazing and worth checking out – legitimately or otherwise.
i don’t get the glass sucking thing
wow, i knew reporters were dense but i didn’t know they were that stupid. that suck on your glasses thing is hilarious.
and for what it’s worth, i’m really digging the multiperson Stereogum, since it gives me more of a reason to check the site a hundred times a day.
bob dillon sucks
classc rock sucks
old people suck
this site sucks when its all old people and old crap
NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE STUPID SIXTIES ITS 2005 GET A LIFE HIPPIES
I missed this! But I am thinking PBS will show it again…hey, I grew up and was raised on listening to my mom’s sweet voice singing along to Bob, Odetta and Joan Baez. They inspired her learning of the guitar, which has been passed down to my son. Thanks for the memories…RIP Mom! Why no love for the 60′s blvdofbrokendreams? Lotsa music from this era influences the hear and now-ers.
Peace and love dude! Peace and looooooove…
And don’t forget that Part 2 includes a snippet of the awesomest Dylan outburst of all time, which can be seen complete on the first Dylan doc, “Don’t Look Back”:
Reporter: Do you care about what you say?
Dylan: How dare you ask me that question! What gives you the right to ask me that?! Would you ask the Beatles that question? Why would you ask me that?!
I agree about the singular voice thing. That was cool.
Also, not enough LiLo these days.
Just one man’s opinion.
what really sucks is when you can’t correctly spell a name that appears multiple times in the post you’re decrying.
The odetta footage was the only thing that kept me watching (actually?)
I like it when everybody booed BD. I have always heard about that concert but did not really understand why the audience did it until I saw for myself, chronoloically, how the whole drama played out.
I thought PT1 was great, but probably because all the artists they showed were new to me except Woody Gutherie and Billy Holiday. Still, I have never seen those two either.
Loved it, even though it was missing a few drunk/drug/orgy scenes that surely were going on at the time.
Joan Baez said ‘fuck’ in Part II, but it only aired in NY. I think PBS gave each affiliate a clean version and a Joan-Baez-says-the-word-fuck version.
Wow, are these posters in this thread philistines or what? ‘Far as I care, there are no real rules in life, except: keep a clean nose, don’t murder, don’t get caught doing drugs, don’t let yourself die before you see India & China and?don’t ever trust anyone who doesn’t love Bob Dylan.
Sarah above: orgy, not necessarily orgies but if you are familiar with the history of that era, everybody was constantly high on amphetamines, including Dylan. V. visible he’s incredibly high in the other famous doc?”don’t look back.”
Lady Lazarus:
that is the most intelligent, observant, dismissive, ironic response I have seen in some time. Thank you for that. Well, at least the first paragraph. You must be a true fan. Having seen the majority of the Scorsese documentary, my question is (or maybe was), why did Dylan sit through those ridiculous press conferences. I know he was young and ambitious, but once you know it’s a sham, (which he obviously did, as evidenced by this exchange)
“How many people who labor in the same musical vineyard in which you toil – how many are protest singers?” Dylan is asked by a writer in one typically absurd press conference.
“How many?” Dylan replies. “I think there’s about 136.”
“Did you say about 136?” asks the befuddled reporter. “Or do you mean exactly 136?”
“It’s either 136,” Dylan clarified without breaking a smile, “or 142.”
Pity the poor reporter. Something was happening there, and he didn’t know what it was, did he, Mr. Jones? But “No Direction Home” makes it very clear – and should make viewers very hungry for an encore.
So, I ask again…Why did Dylan sit through those ridiculous press conferences.
WHY DYLAN, WHY?
Well, it made for great material, didn?t Mr Jones?
Because he had to? Because he was told he had to by his handlers/flaks/managers/hangers-on? Because he was v. young and in a certain way quite naive…Because look–I attended some current day junkets where the bottom-of-the-barrel journalists are assembled in one room and unleashed on to the stars/director of a movie. I personally sat through a pretty cringe-worthy junket whereby Gwyneth paltrow or whoever was grilled by people asking her questions about why she posed ass-naked in bazaar mag…I mean, pretty rude and demeaning stuff. Not necessarily in the thrust of the question, but just the way it was asked, so unprofessional, so uncool…
WHy did Paltrow subject herself to the humiliation? She clearly has all the millions she’s gonna need, right? Well it’s not that simple if you work WITHING a system. You still need to obey certain rules. No matter how big a fish you are.
Another thing to remember: in the early ’60s THERE WERE NO ROCK JOURNALISTS. The people you had covering Dylan were probably the same people who were on the cop beat during the weekend. These were not specialized arts & culture reporters…some were eager and earnest at least but still had a semi-rude attitude, because, AGAIN, remember, rock & roll and pop music was considered a very base form of entertainment then. So there you have it…some reasons.
In any case, one can understand why in his “Chronicles” Dylan says that what he wanted to do to the pestering paparazzi and journos was to “set them on fire.”
What was the name of the song Odetta did on the Bob Dylan special?? Somehow I had never heard her before but that little bit I saw of her was awesome. I gotta go out and get it.