Knockin’ about from Mexico to Tibet ...10:04 pm
A glimpse of the artist in his downtime: Bob Dylan’s curious tour of Mexico City. Sightseeing in the subway system and going a few rounds in the ring, apparently.
And then, while we’re violating his privacy anyway, there was also this story in Minneapolis’s Star Tribune today, which gives a peek into how Bob and family have maintained a foothold in the soil of the north country.
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Angelina ...9:30 pm
Some startling sense on Iraq from, yes, Angelina Jolie in the Washington Post, in her role as a U.N. goodwill ambassador.
The request is familiar to American ears: “Bring them home.”
But in Iraq, where I’ve just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country.
In the six months since my previous visit to Iraq with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this humanitarian crisis has not improved. However, during the last week, the United States, UNHCR and the Iraqi government have begun to work together in new and important ways.
[...]
My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.
Today’s humanitarian crisis in Iraq — and the potential consequences for our national security — are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won’t explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?
[...]
As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.
Hearing these kinds of reality-based perceptions from a Hollywood actress (and one of the sexiest women in the world) just underlines how totally off the map are the stated plans of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who continue to promise a wholesale withdrawal of troops, regardless of the circumstances on the ground.
Perhaps Obama should consider picking Angelina Jolie as a running mate. I’m thinking she might give the ticket a little more gravitas.
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Believe it or not ...5:03 pm
From the BBC: Dog’s tricks are ‘better than TV’ :
An eight-year-old dog is amazing her owners and neighbours with an astonishing array of tricks.
Cindy, a pedigree cavalier King Charles spaniel, can balance objects on all four paws while lying down.
She can also keep a golf ball in a spoon held in her mouth while balancing objects on her head.
Proud owner Mark Bucknell, from Wednesfield, in the West Midlands, said: “Who needs the telly when you’ve got a dog like this?”
There are pictures accompanying the article, for those who doubt. And almost as good are the comments from readers boasting about their own animals’ remarkable and unlikely abilities.
Just another story from the web sniffed out by my little terrier Billie.
…
Addendum: And here’s another good one about a dog “adopting” a baby goat.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Kim Jong-il finds “God” ...5:08 pm
Reported today: Eric Clapton has been invited to perform in North Korea.
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William F. Buckley, Jr., R.I.P. ...12:52 pm
William F. Buckley has passed away at the age of 82. His influence has been literally incalculable, although many serious tributes will be coming and greater brains than mine will be taking a shot at quantifying it. One thing is for sure: he was completely sharp until the end. Today I enjoyed reading a recent interview he gave to Bill Steigerwald at Townhall.com.
Q: Can you give us a concise definition of conservatism?
A: Conservatism aims to maintain in working order the loyalties of the community to perceived truths and also to those truths which in their judgment have earned universal recognition.
Now this leaves room, of course, for deposition, and there is deposition — the Civil War being the most monstrous account. But it also urges a kind of loyalty that breeds a devotion to those ideals sufficient to surmount the current crisis. When the Soviet Union challenged America and our set of loyalties, it did so at gunpoint. It became necessary at a certain point to show them our clenched fist and advise them that we were not going to deal lightly with our primal commitment to preserve those loyalties.
That’s the most general definition of conservatism.
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Bob Dylan’s Starbucks collection ...11:19 am
So, I went to one of the 23 Starbucks locations that are within two blocks of my house and purchased the latest edition in their “Artist’s Choice” series of CDs, where famous musicians pick their own favorite recordings made by other people. This new one contains the selections of Bob Dylan. It cost me $15.95, which I thought was pretty darned steep. I mean, you can almost buy a cup of coffee for that price.
The tracklist of the CD has already been reported, including in a previous post here. Aside from enjoying the music, which is indeed highly enjoyable, Bob fans will be interested in the liner notes which he contributes for each song. His tone is just a tad more personal than he usually gets on his “Theme Time Radio Hour” show. He explains from the outset that when he was asked to put together the collection, he …
… just grabbed a bunch of things I was into recently. Some people have favorite songs, but I’ve got songs of the minute — songs that I’m listening to right now. And if you ask me about one of those songs a year from now, I might not even remember who did it, but at the moment it’s everything to me.
Writing about the Stanley Brothers’ The Fields Have Turned Brown, Bob recalls seeing them play in a field in Virginia, where the only lighting was from the headlights of people’s trucks. He says:
I bet you cash money that I wasn’t the only one there who had the hair on his neck standing up. I used to have a really scratched up copy of this record; sounded like they were singing in a windstorm. Someone gave me a real clean version on CD a few years ago. I miss the wind.
Regarding the track Tezeta by Gétatchéw Kassa, Bob writes:
There’s this guy named Harold who usually shows up when I play Fort Worth, and he always gives me a bag of CDs. He never writes down what’s on them. I had to wait till the next time I was in Fort Worth to ask him what this track was. I found out it’s an Ethiopian record from this series of records made during that short window of time when popular music was allowed in Ethiopia. But when I heard it I didn’t know any of that. I thought it was some kind of Cajun record played backwards. There’s something great about hearing music that’s so obviously passionate and so obviously good, and not being able to understand the words. I like to imagine this is what my records might sound like to someone in a country that doesn’t speak English.
And it does sound exactly like a Cajun record played backwards.
The CD can also be ordered online.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A story of Africa ...7:24 pm
It is getting and will get virtually no real coverage in the mainstream media, but it is a story that no one should miss, and one that was told today by President George W. Bush in an address at the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation. Full text and video is at the White House website.
America is on a mission of mercy. We’re treating African leaders as equal partners. We expect them to produce measurable results. We expect them to fight corruption, and invest in the health and education of their people, and pursue market-based economic policies. This mission serves our security interests — people who live in chaos and despair are more likely to fall under the sway of violent ideologies. This mission serves our moral interests — we’re all children of God, and having the power to save lives comes with the obligation to use it.
This mission rarely makes headlines in the United States. But when you go to Africa, it is a visible part of daily life — and there’s no doubt that our mission is succeeding. You see it when you hold a baby that would have died of malaria without America’s support. You see it when you look into the eyes of an AIDS patient who has been brought back to life. You see it in the quiet pride of a child going to school for the first time. And you see that turning away from this life-changing work would be a cause for shame.
[...]
At the clinic, we visited with a man and woman who learned they had HIV while they were dating — but went on to get treatment, get married, and have a little baby boy who is HIV-free. We saw many others who have new hope because of PEPFAR — including a 9-year-old girl who is HIV-positive. She was smiling at the clinic with her grandmother, because — sitting at the clinic with her grandmother because her mom and dad had died of AIDS. For the past year, Catholic Relief Services has been paying for the girl to receive treatment at the clinic. And I want to tell you what her grandmother said: “As a Muslim, I never imagined that a Catholic group would help me like that. I am so grateful to the American people.”
[...]
And so throughout our trip, Laura and I were overwhelmed by the outpouring of warmth and affection for the American people. Again and again, we heard the same words: “Thank you.” Thank you for sparing lives from malaria and HIV/AIDS. Thank you for training teachers and bringing books to schools. Thank you for investing in infrastructure and helping our economies grow. Thank you for supporting freedom. And thank you for caring about the people of Africa.
Americans should feel proud, mighty proud, of the work we’re doing in Africa. At every stop, I told people that the source of all these efforts is the generosity of the American people. We are a nation of compassionate and good-hearted folks. We recognize the extraordinary potential of Africa. In schoolchildren waving flags on dusty roadsides, to nurses caring for their patients at busy clinics, to artisans selling their products in scorching heat, we saw people who have been given great challenges — and responded to them with clear eyes and big hearts.
In Rwanda, a school teacher was discussing the fight to eradicate malaria and AIDS with her class. And she explained her attitude this way: “It can happen here.” With those words, she summed up the new spirit of Africa: confident and determined and strong.
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Headin’ south ...4:00 pm
Bob Dylan’s shows at the House of Blues in Dallas got largely rave reviews. He and the boys kick off their tour of Mexico and South America tonight at a concert in Mexico City.
If you search YouTube today for “Bob Dylan Dallas,” there are a few clips, mostly short, from the shows at the House of Blues. There’s also this here audio clip of Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) from the February 23rd gig. I think it’s a wonderful performance, including some very spirited organ playing from the band leader.
…
Another Dylan news tidbit worthy of remark: Musician Jack White talked to MTV News about the Hank Williams project to which he has recently contributed, put together by Bob Dylan. (Previous post here.)
“Bob’s putting together an album,” White said. “He came upon, somehow, 20-25 unfinished songs by Hank Williams: just the lyrics, no music, and he started to ask people if they would finish these songs. He did one, asked Willie Nelson to do one, asked me to do one, and I think Lucinda Williams and Alan Jackson are on it too. I think it might come out this year. It’s a cool record.”
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Sunday, February 24, 2008
Preaching the gospel ...10:48 am
On his most recent “Theme Time Radio Hour” show ( “DOCTORS”), Bob Dylan made some comments that I think are worth highlighting outside of the usual summaries of that program that appear here. It was right after he played You Done What The Doctor Couldn’t Do by the Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi. He said the following:
Y’know we’ve gotten a bunch of e-mails, people saying they don’t like gospel music. Mostly they say they don’t like it ’cause of the subject matter. They don’t wanna hear religious music.
Let me just point out: You can just listen to it as music. The beautiful part of it is that the people singing believe it so much. Anytime people sing about what they believe, it elevates it.
You don’t have to be a junkie to enjoy the Velvet Underground song Heroin. You don’t have to have horns and a pitchfork to enjoy Sympathy For The Devil … but it does help.
The thing is, it’s all music, and when the people believe what they’re singing, it’s just that much better.
You’re listening to “Theme Time Radio Hour” — your number one musical consultant.
On YouTube there’s a clip of the Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi singing Lord You’ve Been Good To Me. Click here or play below.
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