World of Bob Dylan Symposium - Afternoon of May 30 - The Presentations Begin

This was a professional meeting, not a fanfest.  Most of the attendees were academics who are researching the poetry and music of Bob Dylan from 1962 to the present.  Some have published extensively about him.  This meeting had concurrent sessions, so any person could attend only one session at a time.  I can only comment on the presentations that I heard.  My remarks will be cursory.

A4 Panel: Carnaval  of Characters
Certainly, there were many characters in Dylan songs.  The speakers at this session were:

• Jim Salvucci
• Erin Callahan
• Nina Goss
• Sara Martinez

Here are some notes:

Street Legal was recorded in only 4 days.  It was a crucial album as it was astonishing and strange exultation of the mind.

There were gender issues in several works by Dylan.

The motorcycle accident in July 1966 created a second life for Dylan.  It forced him to slow down.

The basement tapes reinvented traditionally American folk music.  Dylan never intended to release the songs from the basement tapes.  There are many excellent cover versions.  The female characters in the basement tapes created a carnival.

There was multifaceted masculinity in Dylan from 1962-66.  In my opinion, this continued in later years.

B4 panel - England Calling

Speakers were:

• Christine Hands Jones
• John Covach
• David Thurmaier
• Glenn Gass

These speakers were Professors of Music.  They considered many parallels between the Beatles and Dylan, especially in the 1960s.  There were similarities in their album releases of that decade.  Bob Dylan's 115th Dream made reference to a scene in A Hard Days Night.  The horns and drums in Rainy Day Women #12 and #35 were almost identical.