The Plot is Revealed … ...2:02 pm
… for the upcoming musical “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” based on the songs of Bob Dylan, “conceived, choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp.” It’s in the words of an apparent press release today, as quoted in Playbill:
The Times They Are A-Changin’ is “set within a low-rent traveling circus run by Capt. Arab (Kandel), whose wagon hasn’t moved from its location in some time - though not by lack of effort from his ragtag band of clowns and performers,” a release states. “One such performer is the animal trainer Cleo (Colella), a young woman exploited by Capt. Arab and loved by his son, Coyote (Arden). Coyote longs for a world outside the confines of the family business, and as the circus show plays out, he must decide whether to flee or stay, and if he does stay, how to inspire change within the troupe.”
That’s Capt. Arab, I have yuh understand.
Anybody want to take bets on who wrote the book for this musical (although that credit has not so far been made public)?
It sounds like an absolute riot to me. And it’s delightful that it will thoroughly confound those who had been speculating that it would be something about the Vietnam era.
2006 is sure shaping up to be another fun year, huh?
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Thursday, December 15, 2005
Democracy in Iraq ...9:26 am
Two and a half years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, despite the continuing bombings and murders, despite a declared war by al-Qaeda, despite the pessimism, defeatism and persistent lying of the American left, despite meager help from the UN and the “international community,” despite even the opposition of France: Iraq becomes the first constitutional democracy in the Arab middle-east. Hearty congratulations are due to the Iraqi people, and an unpayable debt of gratitude is owed to the U.S. Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force, as well as the armed forces of America’s staunch allies. Promises made, and promises kept.
Yet another mission accomplished.
…
Addendum 9:35 pm: And lest we ever forget … not in their name.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
You Go Girl ...9:04 pm
Via The Political Teen, but also saved here on my server (wmv file), is this clip of Iraqi citizen Betty Dawisha (voting in the United States, clearly enough) with the unrestrained version of a message many would like to deliver to the world.
“Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to hell.”
This on a day when President Bush gave a detailed speech about the election in Iraq, about the reasons for this war, and about the future, and most major news outlets chose to headline it as … well, see below.
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Iraq Wins ...8:41 pm
Who knew? On Thursday last, Iraq’s soccer team beat Saudi Arabia, 2 - 0. That won them a place in the final of the “West Asian Games,” facing Syria, on Saturday. They came out victorious by a score of 4 - 3 (penalty kick shoot-out), and so earned the gold medal for themselves. Congratulations to the only team worth rooting for in the Arab world.
Now, in a few years’s time, let’s see what kind of baseball talent they can produce …
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- Detroit Tigers: 6; New York Yankees: 0
- Modern Times Not Number Three of a Trilogy; Dylan a Tigers Fan?
- Detroit Tigers: 8; New York Yankees: 3
Iraqi Election ...7:02 pm
Via Michelle Malkin, this link to Dustin Hawkins who is one of those posting photos of Iraqi voters.
This one seems particularly appropriate for the time of year:
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No Boundaries ...1:10 pm
From the XM site:
While Bob Dylan defines the poetry and imagination of our era, his radio program will humbly explore the music that moves him and engage the people who need to be heard. Without any boundaries or playlists, Bob’s show will cross genres and offer a peek into the musical soul of one of the most important songwriters and artists of the 20th Century. More show details coming soon.
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What Was It You Wanted? ...9:53 am
It sure in interesting to compare reactions relating to the Iranian regime’s fearless rejection of the holocaust, blunt demand for Israel’s destruction, and brazenly headlong pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: “The repeated outrageous remarks of the Iranian president show clearly the mind-set of the ruling clique in Tehran and indicate clearly the extremist policy goals of the regime.
“The combination of fanatical ideology, a warped sense of reality and nuclear weapons is a combination that no one in the international community can accept,” Regev added, referring to allegations that Iran is developing nuclear bombs.
Seems like a reasonable, reality-based reaction to me (other than that last wishful part about what the “international community can accept”).
Now, the German foreign minister:
“I cannot hide the fact that this weighs on bilateral relations and on the chances for the negotiation process, the so-called nuclear dossier,” Steinmeier said, referring to European talks with Iran on its nuclear program.
Read: “I wish we could avoid this interfering with our chances of capitulating to the Iranians on the nuclear issue. I wish the Iranians would be more circumspect about their intention to drop atomic bombs on the Jews.”
And the European bureaucrats:
In Brussels, Belgium, European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said the president’s comments were “completely unacceptable.”
“We feel very strongly that Iran is damaging its own interests with these kind of remarks,” she said.
Read: “Please, Mr. Ahmadinejad, don’t damage the interests of your regime by being so honest about your plans to damage the existence of Israel.”
And how about comparing all this to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s own remarks?
“Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in the southeastern city of Zahedan
…
“This is our proposal: if you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country,” he said, developing a theme he raised in Saudi Arabia last week.
…
Ahmadinejad said the West had harmed Muslims, invaded their countries and plundered their wealth.“If your civilization consists of aggression, making oppressed people homeless, suffocating the voices of justice and bringing poverty to a majority of the world’s people, we say loudly that we hate your hollow civilization,” he said.
…
“I assure you that we won’t step back one inch from our nuclear rights,” the president told the crowd, drawing chants of “Death to America!”
His message is as clear as anyone could want, but also has a theme between-the-lines: We believe in something far bigger than that which you sniveling infidels can even conceive; we despise you and we know that you are weak; we laugh at your rules and demands and will gleefully do exactly what we want to do while you huff and puff in your committees and commissions; your lives are worth nothing to us and will be extinguished just as soon as we choose.
Europe has already been rolling over submissively in the face of this kind of intimidation, and is highly likely to continue doing it. The Iranians have a perfect read on Europe and are blatantly peeing all over them (pardon my French) and getting only more submission. Israel will not submit, but will fight for its life, because Israel has no choice (being target number one), and has not yet been overwhelmed by self-hatred. What the United States will do, truthfully, remains to be seen.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Via Satellite ...9:14 am
Dylan signs with XM radio … to host a weekly show.
XM Satellite Radio, the nation’s leading satellite radio service with more than 5
million subscribers, today announced that Bob Dylan will host a new music show
exclusively for XM, marking the first time the music legend has hosted a radio
show. The weekly hour-long music show will feature an eclectic mix of music
hand-selected by Dylan. In addition, Dylan will offer regular commentary on
music and other topics, host and interview special guests including other
artists and will take emails from XM subscribers. The show will debut in
March 2006 on XM’s deep album rock channel Deep Tracks (XM channel 40).“Songs and music have always inspired me. A lot of my own songs have been
played on the radio, but this is the first time I’ve ever been on the other
side of the mic,” said Dylan. “It’ll be as exciting for me as it is for XM.”
…
Addendum 09:43 am: I’ve never even gotten used to the idea of paying for TV; now this?? $12.95 a month! … However, a little research reveals that XM Channel 40 is also available (currently) on XM’s “online only” offer, which is $7.99 per month.
On the other hand, if you subscribe to the main satellite service, you get the online part thrown in for free.
(Of-course, take nothing written here as binding, and be sure to consult your own legal and accounting professionals.)
…
Addendum 9:24 pm: Other than the $ involved to listen, this thing is going to be a blast. Dylan has fantastic taste in music, and very strong opinions about it, and it’s something he’s only been able to hint at in interviews because the interviewers are always more interested in talking about his music. It’s ironic, because when it comes to his own songs, Dylan, quite rightly, has little to say. (He’s already said what he wants to say by writing the song. Adding to it, for him, probably only risks subtracting from it.)
Looking at the XM site, I see this written about Channel 40, where Dylan’s show will be appearing; what they call “Deep Tracks” or “Deep Album Rock”:
Deep Tracks goes as deep as your imagination, playing the nuggets rarely (if ever) heard on the FM dial any longer - the landmark songs, lost gems, offbeat cuts and concert classics. Rediscover the forgotten greatness and depth of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Yes, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Traffic, Canned Heat … and beyond.
Well … “and beyond,” let’s hope. Clearly any labels and restrictions have to be thrown out the window when Dylan is doing the deejaying. I’d fully expect everything from early Louis Armstrong to late Van Morrison, “and beyond” … way beyond. Dylan knows his “rock” too, but he gets the bigger picture, as he’s always conveyed in his own music, and this will be a golden chance for him to share his love of it all. And that’s what works on the radio. You want to listen to records spun by someone who has a deep affection for what they’re playing and can communicate that to their listeners. Then, you’re hearing it through their ears as well as your own.
Who’s he going to interview? I’d bet he mixes it up, but he’s not going to miss the chance to talk to some of the old guys who are still around. Ralph Stanley comes to mind.
Good gracious … what a treasure for posterity these shows are likely to be; God willing that we live to hear them.
Of-course, the news raises a couple of questions for Dylanologists everywhere. Does doing a weekly radio show mean Dylan is going to retire from touring? Some people have been speculating he was going to pack it in anyway. My guess is just plain “no;” I think he’s going to grace the stage till he dies. And the NY Times quotes an XM honcho as saying the show will emanate from “a combination of home and hotel rooms and buses.” So, that seems to be a pretty direct answer to that.
Another question that occurs to me is this: what is the role of the cottage industry of Dylan analysis (this humble web site included), when the artist himself is making himself so seemingly accessible and transparent? A straightforward memoir, with two more volumes to come, and now a weekly radio show. (Are the media going to keep calling him “reclusive?” I saw the word in a couple of stories today.) How can people justify writing reams and reams analyzing someone who is already being so open? I mean, at least wait till he passes on! Well, as alluded to earlier, Dylan doesn’t talk too much about his own songs—and he’s not likely to use his radio show to do so either. So others will continue talking about his own work, and speculating about his motives, and spinning their web sites and books. And RWB is certainly not going to unilaterally disarm (peace through strength, y’know).
I think the show is going to be a music-lover’s paradise, and I can’t wait.
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Monday, December 12, 2005
Times, Changin’, Again ...10:15 pm
The Old Globe Theater in San Diego has a page dedicated to the forthcoming Twyla Tharp/Bob Dylan musical, The Times They Are A-Changin’.
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’
Conceived, Choreographed and Directed by Twyla Tharp
Music and Lyrics by Bob Dylan…
With Bob Dylan’s greatest hits performed by Broadway’s best singers and dancers, this classic coming-of-age tale of generational conflict connects the worlds of music, theatre and dance.
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Election Begins ...7:15 pm
Voting has begun in Iraq, with early votes being cast by the military, hospital patients, and prison inmates.
Iraq the Model has some early photos.
Purple is good color this time of year.
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Death’s Honesty ...10:04 am
A very fine piece of writing by Jody Bottum at the First Things blog:
Once, while I was teaching one of those Logic 101 courses with which philosophy graduate students try to pay the bills, a student asked why we couldn´t follow an infinite regress out infinitely, and I answered, in the snide way of philosophy graduate students, that, if nothing else, death would manage to stop us. What followed, however, took my breath away, for a student in the back raised his hand and announced that he wasn´t going to die, since medical science would cure whatever it was he was going to die before he got old enough to die. And most of the rest of that class of eighteen year olds nodded in agreement. It was one of those moments all teachers know—a proposition so wrong you don´t have any idea how to begin to correct it.
Still, even for eighteen year olds, I didn´t really believe that they didn´t know they were going to die. Mortality is an ache deep in the bone. Death whispers in the blood. Though personal death is not something any human being has ever actually experienced—my completed death cannot be an event in my life, after all—still, from the death of a childhood pet to the death of a parent, the black knowledge has been forced upon the brain. Every mother gives birth astride an open grave, as Samuel Beckett put it. That is perhaps the bleakest imaginable picture of human life, but at some level or another, we all know it´s true.
Read it all, as they say.
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Sunday, December 11, 2005
For Whom the Bell Tolls? ...10:28 pm
This is what’s known as very good news, which is probably why it’s getting little attention. From Reuters:
FALLUJA/RAMADI Iraq, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday’s polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.
In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Graffiti calling for holy war is now hard to find.
Instead, election campaign posters dominate buildings in the rebel strongholds of Ramadi and nearby Falluja, where Sunnis staged a boycott or were too scared to vote last time around.
“We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote,” said Falluja resident Ali Mahmoud, a former army officer and rocket specialist under Saddam’s Baath party.
“Sunnis should vote to make political gains. We have sent leaflets telling al Qaeda that they will face us if they attack voters.”
And the real money quote is at the end:
“Zarqawi is an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation,” said a Baathist insurgent leader who would give his name only as Abu Abdullah.
Well, of-course this guy Abu Abdullah is a little bit nuts … missing, as he does, Zarqawi’s number one allegiance: Halliburton.
Nevertheless, one has a difficult-to-suppress desire to clap him on the back. If Abu Musab is finding himself with a ton of former-friends-but-now-new-enemies in the Abu Abdullahs of Falluja, it bodes rather ill for the continued profitability of his line of work.
I guess good things were bound to follow shortly after Howard Dean’s “we can’t win this war” statement, but this is particularly prompt.
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New Tape ...3:46 pm
At the time of writing, a new tape has emerged, purportedly of al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri addressing the jihadist faithful. However, based on the content, RWB is going to go out on a limb and predict that CIA voice analysis will ultimately find that the recording is of none other than DNC Chairman and former Vermont Governor, Howard Dean (perhaps giving a pep-talk to some American troops he accidentally encountered):
“As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us, there is no hope for victory and there can only be more defeats, tragedies, disasters and betrayals.”
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God Knows ...8:56 am
The song God Knows is from Dylan’s almost universally maligned 1990 album Under the Red Sky (for a completely different and intense take on this album see here).
Dylan himself has consistently played songs from the album in concert. In recent years, God Knows has been played often, as well as Cat’s in the Well and the title track.
I’m not going to try to write anything extended about God Knows, but here for a little while is an mp3 sample of Dylan and band performing it in London a few weeks ago.
The final verse goes like this:
This reminds me of another song:
A million miles away, but God knows those are miles that we can cover.
(On a lighter note, is “a million” Dylan’s favorite number? There’s Million Dollar Bash, the million bucks that she inherited, a million friends, Catfish, the million dollar man, a million faces at my feet, a million dreams gone, and the million years that “I could hold you for.” And about a million other references! Well … alright, at least 9 others.)
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Saturday, December 10, 2005
The Show Goes On ...9:42 pm
From SignOnSanDiego.com:
Tickets to the Old Globe’s next Broadway-bound musical, the Twyla Tharp-directed “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” set to the music of Bob Dylan, go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Balboa Park theater’s box office.
The first 20 people to purchase tickets in person at the Globe box office will receive a free copy of Dylan’s autobiography, “Chronicles, Volume 1,” courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
…
Conceived, choreographed and directed by Tharp, who took up residence at the Globe Thursday, the new show is the follow-up to her Billy Joel-set hit “Movin’ Out.” Unlike that all-dance piece, however, her Dylan musical will include “book scenes” with dialogue. The show begins previews Jan. 25, officially opens Feb. 9 and closes March 5. Tickets are $47 to $75.
So, free copies of Chronicles for $47 and up! Sounds like PBS was involved in that promotion somehow.
Anyhow, it’s “conceived, choreographed and directed” by Tharp, but who wrote those “book scenes,” I wonder? Sergei Petrov? Well, good luck to all involved. To get to Broadway, you need it.
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