Bob Dylan rules my fall.It's still summer, I know, but as it wanes I'm reading the biography, Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, and I can't stop listening to Mark Ronson's remix of one one of my favorite Dylan tunes, "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)." The remix adds some horns and a heavier beat to the sarcastic kiss-off song, and it all feels right. Its video is an addictive walk through Dylan's career, with clever references to some of his other songs tossed in here and there.
Next up, on October 1, he releases Dylan, a compilation of his "greatest songs." Have they all been released before? Yeah. Do I have them all in my collection already? Almost certainly. Will I buy this anyway? Yup. Is this what you kids these days call being a fanboy?
Then, on October 15, I'm seeing him live in concert for the first time in 18 years. The show might be great or it might be terrible, and although I'm inclined to lean toward "great" even before I've seen it, I hope he really pours it on so much that even the doubters and the people who don't really want to be there -- say, for instance, wives whose husbands drag them there -- even they enjoy the music. (The next night, just up the road, he's doing a show with Elvis Costello as his opening act. All you other pretentious English majors out there know what I'm talking about when I say, now there's a dream team. Nobody wants to go with me, and I can't go alone, because who will catch me when I faint?)
And the celebration continues on November 21, with the release of I'm Not There, director Todd Haynes' "rumination" on Dylan's life and times. The movie stars six actors as Bob, including the sometimes gorgeous, sometimes cadaverous Cate Blanchett, who plays the cryptic, "gone electric" Bob. Take a peek at this trailer:
Unfortunately for me, the movie opens in New York. Opening night is just a week before my birthday, though, so now you big-city sophisticates and hipsters who were wondering what to get me have your problem solved. Thanks in advance -- that's really sweet of you.
6 comments:
what? i'm confused...
you want me to sneak a video camera in and hide it under my coat and videotape the film and then ship you the VHS? is that what you want for your birthday?
Ah, the first hipster heard from . . .
We kids?
Yeah... you so didn't mean me when you said that...
Dylan was my first concert. I had chills the whole time.
whoo-hooo! someone thinks i'm a "hipster!"
(as i debate whether my blue oxford shirt, or white oxford shirt goes better with my new charcoal pinstriped suit)
Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan and you can't get anyone to go with you? What kind of loser friends do you have?
Elvis is guaranteed to be great Dylan could go either way. Maybe Kelly McGillis circa "Reuben Reuben" could go with you, now that would be an evening.
Man, Louis, you dog. I just saw that Bob was coming to the Queen City and I can't believe the one time he comes, I'm here in Paris (I know, poor me). Since the concert is just a few days before my birthday, I was wondering if my family would notice if I just slipped back home for a few days to catch the concert. I have many Dylan favorites, but "Emmet Till" is such a powerful and haunting social protest/commentary song. Dylan really is unbelievable! Here's to Autumn!
Post a Comment