Re: [Harp-L] Taking the Bob Dylan discussion on a bourbon-soaked tangent

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Sep 9, 2008, at 8:27 AM, IcemanLE@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Sometimes a greater appreciation is developed when one spends the  
> time to
> learn about the origins/history of an artist. To understand Dylan  
> and his
> impact, one has to go back to the Beat Generation poets and writers  
> and grasp  how
> they changed America. Dylan was the next natural extension of this  
> wave of
> change, with humble beginnings and a unique view of America. The  
> fact that
> Dylan, like Miles Davis, continued to change to satisfy his own  
> drive, also
> angered many of his loyal fans at certain junctions along his road.  
> However, he
> chose to be true to himself - an admirable trait. This is the  
> backdrop upon
> which he pulled out his harmonica and  played.

I think it all comes down to hero worship (of a certain level). On a  
scale of 10, people tend to be sheep. I don't mean that in a bad way.  
But people will either:
1... adore someone to the point of obsession.
2... think that they did ok as an entertainer, but not like  
everything they did
3... think they were no big deal
4... be totally oblivious to them
5... take them or leave them alone
6... say "whatever"
7... want to be EXACTLY like them
and boop boop. bip bip

I fit category #3

Beings that we are the same age, I should know a lot more about Dylan  
than I do. But I don't. While I didn't dislike him, I didn't really  
think he was anything special. First of all, I wasn't a hippie type.  
I was a blue collar working slob. I didn't have time for protest  
songs and songs about things that were basically 'downers'. A lot of  
his stuff seemed like they were the laments of a looser.

He himself didn't care for hippies. He even opted out of Woodstock  
because of his disdain for the great unwashed unshaved. He probably  
(?) thought of himself more as a beatnick and intellectual. He WAS  
very articulate and could debate with the best of them. According to  
some of the clips I have seen of him giving interviews. As far as a  
harmonica player. I don't think that was what he eschewed. A  
songwriter has a leg up on all the competition. To get to hear HIS  
songs, you had to get HIM. He wasn't selling them to anyone else. He  
was selling them to US. (in one way or another). And anything that  
was a means to that end was what he did.

I think the kid was brilliant in that respect. Would I cross the  
street to see him. Probably. Would I pay big bucks for a ticket.  
Probably not. Did I think he (his total package) was Ok? Yeah, he was  
Ok. I feel the same way about him as I do about MOST of the super- 
heros of the music world. Some are Ok, some have no talent. They are  
just people. Like you and me. They're not Gods.

smo-joe