Dylan

[Drunk Monk]

I love Dylan. One of the greatest music moments I've ever experienced was Dylan at the Warfield. He blew me completely away at that show. As a writer, I have overwhelming respect for Dylan's lyricism. He often helps me stave off writer's block with a good poached lyric. And I love the new album, Modern Times. I didn't at first, but it crept up on me over time.

That being said, Dylan can suck. He's a tortured artist and a malevolent prankster and I remember him walking out of a show after three songs because the 'sound wasn't right.' Graham nearly strangled him for that. With the success of Modern Times, he's coasting this tour.

Kings of Leon opened. I didn't hear a note. I was cleaning barf buckets. I was told I didn't miss much.

Dylan was playing cowboy for Halloween, replete with black cowboy hat and similarly adorned band. They had an almost southern-fried-rock sound, not one of my favorites at all. A decent steel pedal player and a soldi bass player who alternated between electric and standing. Dylan played keys and harmonica.

They opened with a lackluster Maggie's Farm, went through some new stuff, touched some old stuff, almost got me with I Shall Be Released and Watchtower but in the end, like the rest of the songs, they were only a cruel tease of what might have been if the bard had put his heart into it. The shining moment was a blazing Hwy 61 Revisted. Rolling Stone wasn't bad either, but it didn't push through. The band was technically solid, of course, but Dylan wasn't channelling god like he sometimes does. He wasn't channelling much of anything.

It was the worst Dylan performance that I've seen so far. I don't think he's lost it. I think he just didn't care. Such is Dylan. So disappointing. I still bought a pin, which I almost never do at shows, mostly because I've enjoyed his latest CD so much I thought I'd throw a few more bucks in his guitar case.

[The Queen]

...but things have changed.

[Drunk Monk]

there may have been times when he was hungrier and put out more, but he never cared. i remeber a great tale of his christian period (before my time). he did a several show run at the fillmore or some old venue and only played his new christian crap which everyone hated. word got out pretty quickly that he wasn't playing well, and by the end of the series, attendance had dropped sharply. by the last show, the house was almost empty, and that night, he put out. an old buddy of mine said that show as totally incendiary, one of the best he'd ever seen, and he's been working in the music industry forever.

according to skinner, intermittant reinforcement is the best way to solidy a behavior. it certainly pays the bills in vegas.

[El Dingo]

I'm not a biig Dylan fan.

I do like quite a few of his songs when performed by different singers. Roger Waters' "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is great.

However the one time I saw him at the Shoreline I was very impressed. It was a beautiful night and between Rock Med duties we would go sit up onthe lawn and watch the show. Even the Christian numbers were good.

I don't remember what year that was (Rock Med = No Tickets) but it was long ago when dinosaurs walked the Earth, usually onstage at The Shoreline.

I'v heard most of his new album and still don't much care for his voice.

[Drunk Monk]

The next time he played was in '93 alongside Santana, but I'm thinking that was after your time with RM, ED.

I love Dylan's voice the same way I love Tom Waits voice. It's the way I would choose to sing if it didn't make me cough like a cat chucking hairballs. Note that he chooses to sing that way. Just compare it to Lay Lady Lay if you want to hear his 'pop' singing voice. That's the thing with Dylan - he can be quite the chameleon. It sucks when he's bad, like this recent tour, but it's astounding when he kicks down. But I totally hear you about other people doing Dylan tunes. I can't think of anyone who's even in the ballpark lyrically. Jerry lifted heavily from Dylan's songlist, and every time I hear Dylan do one of those, like this last tour, I think Jerry did it better. Dylan confessed that the Dead taught him a lot about his own music after their historic tour together.

BTW, I hear Waits has a new 3-disc thing coming out real soon.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

My friend Lyndell loves the man to death. I remembed one performance Dylan did on some award show (The grammys maybe?) and Dylan was horrible. He mumbled his way through the entire song. Grr. Lyndell loved it for exactly that reason. It was Dylan the artist doing a performance piece to take the piss out fo the audience. Absolutely brilliant. Blech. He mumbled. I love some of his songs. I even like the songs when he performs.

Maybe he still hasn't gotten over the fact they booed him when he switched to electric?

[Drunk Monk]

#9 used to play TU&B and I must say, KB had a fine handle on that song. I think he learned a lot from hearing how Jerry played it. Both John Kahn & Phil led the way. Once Jennifer asked KB if he had written it for her. If only, if only...

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

TU&B remains one of my favorite songs of all time. Verse five feels like it was written in my soul.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I thought #9 was a snake. Killed by the cat no doubt. Who is KB? Why did Bailey get involved? Are we going to have to all start talking in the third person to be noticed.

" I used to Care" is one of my favorite Dylan songs.

[Drunk Monk]

The only band that DOOM ever produced. It was 50% DOOM and glorious in its day.

Here's the set list for this Dylan show:
Set 1: Maggie's Farm, She Belongs To Me, Lonesome Day Blues, Simple Twist of Fate, Rollin' & Tumblin', Boots of Spanish Leather, Till I Fell In Love With You, I Shall Be Released, Highway 61 Revisited, John Brown, Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine), Workingman's Blues #2, Summer Days, E: Thunder On The Mountain, Like A Rolling Stone, All Along The Watchtower
courtesy of setlist.com

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

KB's band had a name? It wasn't just called, Bob's band. I think I saw them perform at San Jose State. Don't ask for the set list for that one. All I can remember is that our other brother in the band pulled off his shirt and the audience asked him to put it back on.

[King Bob]

We also used to play Maggie's Farm and one guy thought I wrote that too. We've been getting together lately to play, and last week we ran through TUB, but I couldn't remember most of the words.

I thought the best Dylan show was with Tom Petty at the Greek. They played in a really rockin' Highway 61/Bringing It All Back Home style. (Those are my favorites of his albums.) And they did an incredible I and I which totally blew away the album version.

I think his show with the Dead at the Oakland Coliseum must be a contender for his worst.

[Drunk Monk]

@ the Greek 10/10/9

I wasn't that fond of the new CD. Dylan collaborated with Robert Hunter, lyricist for the Dead, so it was two of my favorite lyricists together and they sort of canceled each other out. The Cd didn't grab me, and the last 3 Dylan Cds were awesome. The show was freaking cold, the season closer for the Greek. it sold out tight, leaving tons of Visa Platinum or Uranium or Plutonium card holders in the lurch. They had a special roped off section that was totally full, so they stood about complaining with their stupid poseur lammies and souvenir poseur ass cushions. That was funny, very funny.

Dylan is unapologetic and unrepentant. His voice sounds worse than ever, but at least its full. The band was hecka tight. Everyone was dressed like the Blues Brothers. Lots of harmonica jams. A lot of new material, which I now like a lot more, but still don't love. Most people were lost, as usual, hoping he'd throw down some pop hits, but he stayed mostly in new songs - smoking bluesy rock versions Jolene, My Wife's Hometown, Cold Irons Bound. Dylan gargled through Like a rolling Stone and Watchtower for the encore, like a grumbly old man saying 'fuck you' to his pop fans. He's still the master at being Dylan. I left mildly inspired, not moved like he's moved me over a decade ago, but entertained.

[Drunk Monk]

The place was empty - less than half sold. It's the first of a 3-night Bay Area run, the 1st 2 @ BGC, the last on Friday at the Greek. I could only make it out for this one.

Mark Knopfler opened and while I respect him, I've never been that much of a fan of him or Dire Straits. Just not my sound. He delivered a quiet, intoning Scottish folk songs, so quiet that the staff kept asking if it was intermission already.

He was totally upstaged by the DEW TOUR, which has taken over Civic Center. It's a huge X-Games style promotion for Mountain Dew, and while not nearly as cool as Red Bull sponsoring Felix Baumgartner's 23 mile jump, it was still pretty cool. There were these stunt bikers doing incredible jumps right in front of city hall and we could get right up close and personal to the action. What a scene! The weather was freakishly greenhouseffect warm - I was in a t-shirt in Oct in SF.

I got out for Dylan right as he went into Tangled Up and Blue, which I called as they were just starting it. Dylan's vocals were horrid, like Tom Waits with a throat cold, worse even, barely comprehensible and I know TU&B so well. Then he picked up his harmonica and literally blew down the house. He went over to his keyboard later, but didn't dazzle as much as he did with the harp. It was all about his harmonica. Later I caught Like a Rolling Stone, and again it was almost incomprehensible lyrically, but great harp. There was a lurch from staff so I knew something went down and by the end of the song, I was first on scene for our lone patient, a diabetic crash. All those hungry young EMTs and I was still first. I still gotz it. I caught Blowing in the Wind later and I had to get a full verse into it to identify the song. How does Dylan get his voice to do that? It sounds so painful. It must be great to be a lyricist of such high regard that you can totally slaughter your own lyrics and still have the audience applauding.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

My friend, Lyndell, likens Dylan's voice styling to Impressionistic paintings. And that if you really knew Dylan you would get it. I don't get it.

[Drunk Monk]

Doesn't mean I like it, but I get it. Lyndell is right.

There's no one like Dylan.