Bon Iver performs Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side” at McMenamin’s Edgefield in Troutdale, OR on September 24, 2011.
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
What a night!
It was billed as the “Rock ‘n’ Soul Circus: A Cavalcade of Stars,” and it featured a great group of music journalists, rock critics and musicians who each read from recent books or from books that haven’t been published yet.
It was held at The Make-Out Room, an atmospheric rock club in San Francisco’s Mission District, and that club was the perfect venue.
I’d never read in a club before, and it was a thrill.
A video excerpt of me reading — the first word, “She,” is cut off (video shot by Jackie Bryan). I had to sub in audio for the last part of this clip and so the audio and video stops syncing. But you’ll get the idea. Or just list to the entire audio clip below.
Reading at a book store is great, don’t get me wrong, but a cool club is really set up to highlight the performers.
When you’re standing on that stage, the stage lights making it impossible to see the audience, a microphone in front of you, it’s hard not to feel like a rock star.
Crazy I know, but it did feel a bit like that.
A stage, stage lighting, a PA system, a near capacity crowd of over 100 people fueled by alcohol — perfect for rock ‘n’ roll stories about the guy who discovered Van Morrison, the importance of Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville, the trials of making Dino Valenti’s 1968 self-titled solo album, Motley Crue’s crazy antics and more.
I read from my new novel, “True Love Scars,” and you can listen to the audio below.
I love how author Denise Sullivan, who organized the event, introduced me:
He interviewed everybody, everybody you’d want to read an interview with, he interviewed them. OK, so that’s part of his story. Another part of his story. Does anyone remember the dawn of the Internet? We didn’t have Internet and then we had the Internet? Remember that? He basically invented music journalism on the Web. OK, so that’s another distinction of our next author, whose latest book is ‘True Love Scars.’ But the reason that he lives large in my imagination, and this is true, he is the guy – he doesn’t know I’m going to say this — he snuck recording equipment past security so he could do the jailhouse interview iwht Rick James. Can I get a hand for him for that. Michael Goldberg!
Audio of my reading:
The other writers: University of San Francisco professor/ former rock critic Gina Arnold (author of the book “Exile In Guyville”), former San Francisco Chronicle pop music critic Joel Selvin (“Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues”), Kerouac/Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally (“A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead”), musician Bruce Cockburn (“Rumours of Glory”), rock journalist and author Denise Sullivan (“Shaman’s Blues: The Art and Influences Behind Jim Morrison and the Doors”), rock historian and college teacher Richie Unterberger (“Jingle Jangle Morning: Folk-Rock in the 1960s”) and best-selling authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman (“Shining Star: Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire”).
Camper Van Beethoven cofounder Victor Krummenacher performed a short but tremendous two-song set. After hearing his transformation of Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home,” I immediately bought his CD with that song on it.
Thanks to Jackie Bryan for the video!!!
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
Bob Dylan and play “All Along the Watchtower” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” and more this past Friday night in Seattle at the Paramount Theater.
Here’s a review of the show headlined: “The Legendary Bob Dylan Mesmerizes fans at The Paramount.”
“Long And Wasted Years”:
“Scarlet Town”:
“Spirit In The Water”:
“High Water (for Charley Patton)”:
‘Tangled Up In Blue”:
“All Along the Watchtower” and “Blowin’ in the Wind”:
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
Here’s a 1991 performance by Neil Young and Nicolette Larson at the 1991 Bridge School benefit concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.
They duet on Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.”
Young plays his old pump organ.
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
One of my favorite bands of all time, and one of the most important to emerge during the ’90s, Sleater-Kinney are back from an eight-year hiatus and will release a new album, No Cities To Love, on January 20, 2015.
During the break Corin Tucker has released to Corin Tucker Band albums and devoted time to her family. Most recently she was recording and performing as part of a supergroup with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck that they were calling super-Earth. Carrie Brownstein played in Wild Flag and co-created and co-starred in “Portlandia.” Weiss has played drums in a number of situations including Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.
First song to be released is “Bury Our Friends,” with a lyric video featuring director and longtime Sleater-Kinney friend, Miranda July.
“Bury Our Friends”:
In an email to NPR, guitarist/singer Carrie Brownstein wrote:
“I feel like creativity is about where you want your blood to flow. Because in order to do something meaningful and powerful there has to be life inside of it. Maybe after The Woods that blood had thinned; we felt enervated, the focus had become disparate and diffuse. We drifted apart in order to concentrate on other elements of our lives and careers. Sleater-Kinney isn’t something you can do half-assed or half-heartedly. We have to really want it. And you have to feed that hunger and have the energy to. I’m not saying we need to be in a dark place to be in Sleater-Kinney. In fact, we could be in the best places in our lives. But we have to be willing to push, because the entity that is this band will push right back.
“We had no desire to revisit sounds and styles and paths we had treaded before. But in order to move forward, Corin and I worked together in a way that was more reminiscent of earlier albums like Dig Me Out. Meaning that we would write just the two of us and then bring songs to Janet later on in the process. I think we had to go back to an earlier model of writing in order to reacquaint ourselves with the language of the band. It’s a sonic vernacular that isn’t easily translated into other contexts in which we’ve played. This was a very deliberate writing process, there were many edits and iterations of the songs. We thought a lot about melody and structure.
“I spent a lot of time writing choruses for this record. Melody is what I was most picky about. I really drove Corin crazy sometimes. We would have choruses that we would work on for hours, days, maybe on and off over a matter of weeks. And we’d think we had solved it, but then I would listen to it later on and decide to discard it, that it wasn’t good enough. I did that with my guitar parts too. In the end we were all more scrutinizing with our own parts than we ever have been. I think we didn’t want to take any second of the song for granted, everything had to have an intention and earn its place.”
No Cities To Love Track List:
1. Price Tag
2. Fangless
3. Surface Envy
4. No Cities To Love
5. A New Wave
6. No Anthems
7. Gimme Love
8. Bury Our Friends
9. Hey Darling
10. Fade
And there will be a tour:
2015 Tour Dates:
02-08-15 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
02-09-15 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
02-10-15 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
02-12-15 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02-13-15 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
02-14-15 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02-15-15 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
02-17-15 Chicago, IL @ Riviera
02-22-15 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02-24-15 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
02-26-15 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
02-28-15 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
03-01-15 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
03-18-15 Berlin, Germany @ Postbahnhof
03-19-15 Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Paradiso
03-20-15 Paris, France @ Cigale
03-21-15 Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
03-23-15 London, UK @ Roundhouse
03-24-15 Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
03-25-15 Glasgow, UK @ O2 ABC
03-26-15 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
—
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
This 1993 documentary looks at the significance of Highway 61, the road that runs south from Bob Dylan’s home
town of Hibbing, Minnesota and inspired one of his greatest albums. Produced by Arena, the acclaimed British company known for its documentaries.
You can watch the whole thing here.
It’s in four parts on YouTube but some of the audio is missing.
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
Part Four:
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[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
Jesse Malin and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins covered Bob Dylan’s “From a Buick 6” at photographer Danny Clinch’s book release party last night (Tuesday, October 14, 2014) at the McKittrick Hotel in New York.
Plus check out Gary U.S. Bonds covering “From A Buick 6”:
More on the Danny Clinch event here.
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
R.E.M. will release on November 24 a 6-DVD set that features all of the group’s live performances on MTV dating back to 1991 – plus lots of outtakes.
I’m an R.E.M. fan from way back, you know, “Radio Free Europe” days.
While I never cared much for MTV, I was always glad to see R.E.M. videos there, and they gave R.E.M. a lot of coverage.
So it’s very cool that, finally, all of MTV’s R.E.M. coverage will be available. So much good stuff!!!
Check out two live performances — “Everybody Hurts” and “Drive” — from the 1993 MTV Video Awards.
The set will also include a brand new documentary, “R.E.M. By MTV,” put together by MTV using archival footage. According to R.E.M.’s website, “Drawing exclusively on archival events, the film traces R.E.M. and MTV in real time, which makes it feel as exciting and immediate as it did when it was happening.”
This is what’s in the set:
Disc 1
UNPLUGGED 1991
(04/10/91)
Half A World Away
Disturbance at the Heron House
Radio Song
Low
Perfect Circle
Fall on Me
Belong
Love is All Around
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Losing My Religion
Pop Song 89
Endgame
OUTTAKES 1991
Fretless
Swan Swan H
Rotary Eleven
Get Up
World Leader Pretend
UNPLUGGED 2001
(05/21/01)
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) *
Electrolite
At My Most Beautiful *
Daysleeper *
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Losing My Religion
Country Feedback
Cuyahoga
Imitation of Life *
Find the River
OUTTAKES 2001
The One I Love
Disappear *
Beat a Drum *
I’ve Been High *
I’ll Take the Rain *
Sad Professor *
The Great Beyond *
Disc 2
VH1 STORYTELLERS
(10/23/98)
Electrolite
Daysleeper *
Losing My Religion
Perfect Circle
Sad Professor *
Fall On Me
I’m Not Over You *
The Apologist *
Man On The Moon
STORYTELLERS – OUTTAKES
New Test Leper
Parakeet *
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
Suspicion *
Walk Unafraid *
At My Most Beautiful *
THE CUTTING EDGE
(06/14/84)
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
Driver 8
Wendell Gee
Smokin’ In The Boys Room
Time After Time (Annelise)
Driver 8
LIVEWIRE
(10/30/83)
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)
MTV 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
(11/10/91)
Featuring members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Losing My Religion
VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS 1993
(09/02/93)
Including Brian Harris and Duane Saetveit
Everybody Hurts
Drive
VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS 1995
(09/07/95)
The Wake-Up Bomb
EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS 1998
(11/12/98)
Daysleeper *
EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS 2001
(11/08/01)
Imitation Of Life *
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION 2007
(03/12/07)
Begin The Begin
Gardening At Night
Man On The Moon
THE COLBERT REPORT
04/02/08)
Supernatural Superserious *
Disc 3
R.E.M. IN DALLAS
(09/19/95)
I Took Your Name
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Crush With Eyeliner
R.E.M. UPLINK AT BOWERY BALLROOM
(10/28/98)
Losing My Religion
Lotus *
Daysleeper *
E-Bow The Letter
The Apologist *
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Walk Unafraid *
Man On The Moon
Radio Free Europe
LIVE IN COLOGNE
(05/12/01)
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) *
The Lifting *
Imitation Of Life *
The One I Love
She Just Wants To Be *
Walk Unafraid *
Losing My Religion
Man On The Moon
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
LIVE IN COLOGNE OUTTAKES
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Cuyahoga
Electrolite
I’ve Been High *
Find The River
I’ll Take The Rain *
At My Most Beautiful *
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Disc 4
R.E.M. AT THE TABERNACLE, LONDON
(03/02/99)
Losing My Religion
Daysleeper *
Walk Unafraid *
Man On The Moon
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
MTV SONIC MILAN
(05/02/01)
Losing My Religion
The Great Beyond *
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Daysleeper *
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) *
The Lifting *
I’ll Take The Rain *
I’ve Been High *
Man On The Moon
She Just Wants To Be *
Imitation Of Life *
ROCK AM RING
(06/03/05)
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Leaving New York *
Imitation Of Life *
Electron Blue *
Man On The Moon
ROCK AM RING OUTTAKES
I Took Your Name
Bad Day
Drive
The Outsiders *
Leave
Me In Honey
Wanderlust *
Everybody Hurts
Electrolite
Orange Crush
The One I Love
Walk Unafraid *
Losing My Religion
Imitation Of Life *
The Great Beyond *
Animal *
I’m Gonna DJ *
Disc 5
LIVE AT ROLLING STONE, MILAN
(03/18/08)
Living Well Is The Best Revenge *
Drive
Accelerate *
Hollow Man *
Electrolite
Houston *
Supernatural Superserious *
Bad Day
Losing My Religion
I’m Gonna DJ *
Horse To Water *
Imitation Of Life *
Until The Day Is Done *
Man On The Moon
LIVE AT OXEGEN FESTIVAL
(07/12/08)
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Drive
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Man-Sized Wreath *
I’m Gonna DJ *
Supernatural Superserious *
Man On The Moon
R.E.M. IN ATHENS, GREECE
(10/05/08)
Living Well Is The Best Revenge *
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Drive
Man-Sized Wreath *
Bad Day
Electrolite
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
The Great Beyond *
The One I Love
Losing My Religion
Let Me In
Orange Crush
Imitation Of Life *
Supernatural Superserious *
Man On The Moon
Disc 6
R.E.M. BY MTV
DELETED SCENES
Peter
Politics
Golf
The Hornblower Affair
The Year 2000
For more info head here.
—
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
During the summer of 1967, up in Woodstock, New York, Bob Dylan wrote a batch of song lyrics that he didn’t set music to and didn’t record.
Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes is an album of those songs produced by T Bone Burnett due out November 10, 2014. Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Marcus Mumford are the artists that came together to record the songs.
Today, one of those songs, “Spanish Mary,” was released and I was able to get a copy of Bob Dylan’s notebook page, on which he wrote the lyrics to the song.
For this one, Rhiannon Giddens wrote the music and her performance on the recording is very powerful.
She stays true to the lyrics as Dylan wrote them.
In examining Dylan’s notebook page, there are a couple of lines he crossed out.
In the second verse, the second line, “Upon their ship quite scary” was crossed out and replaced by “no longer could they tarry.”
Dylan crossed out the beginning of the third line, “it was to see them,” leaving only the end of that line, “Swoon and Swerve.”
Off to the side Dylan tried out some alternatives, writing “Some sing like,” and then right under it, “Song sing like a canary.”
In the third verse, “In Kingsport town was changed to “In Kingston Town,” and minor changes in the line that follows were made.
Minor – one or two word – changes were made in the third, fourth and fifth verses.
Check out the video:
In a press release, Giddens, who wrote the music for the song and sings the lead vocal, says of the track:
“Out of all the lyrics I looked through for the New Basement Tapes project, the one for ‘Spanish Mary’ attracted me first – here was a ballad, and I know ballads! It’s also set in the Caribbean, so I felt the deep African sound of the minstrel style banjo (circa 1856) was appropriate. It was an absolute thrill to get to set music to Dylan’s lyrics, what an opportunity! This project is marked with utter generosity from everyone involved.”
—
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —
Here is “Spanish Mary,” the latest song off Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes to be made available prior to the album release on November 10, 2014.
In a press release, Giddens, who wrote the music for the song and sings the lead vocal, says of the track:
“Out of all the lyrics I looked through for the New Basement Tapes project, the one for ‘Spanish Mary’ attracted me first – here was a ballad, and I know ballads! It’s also set in the Caribbean, so I felt the deep African sound of the minstrel style banjo (circa 1856) was appropriate. It was an absolute thrill to get to set music to Dylan’s lyrics, what an opportunity! This project is marked with utter generosity from everyone involved.”
—
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
— A Days Of The Crazy-Wild blog post —