Wednesday, June 5, 2019

World of Bob Dylan Symposium - June 1 - Presentations Return to the Hyatt Regency


H4. Panel Stardom: Celebrity, Fans, and Covers

David Shumway - Dylan on Celebrity and Identity

Dylan, of course, is an icon.  The star actually creates the persona.  Fans want to know the person behind the persona.  The role, persona and the person are all separate.  Everyone has heard of Bob Dylan, but nobody knows who he is.  I mentioned the book Alias Bob Dylan by Stephen Scobie.  Dylan's identity crisis went on for years.  His midlife crisis was his evangelical period.

James Adams - The Fugitive World of Bob Dylan's Fanzines

Fanzines about Dylan started in 1964.  They became more common in the 1980s when photocopying became more common and cheaper.  Some fanzines:

  • The Bridge
  • Isis
  • On the Tracks (defunct)
Many fanzines are held at the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame library.   http://library.rockhall.org

The Internet and Podcasts have in part replaced fanzines.

Keynote by Ann Powers - Bob Dylan's Body: Sex, Love and Gender

Ann is a music critic on NPR and has published - Powers, A. (2018). Good booty: Love and sex, black & white, body and soul in American music.

Bob Dylan has always been a sex symbol;
  • How does it feel from Like a Rolling Stone
  • All I Really Want to Do
  • It Ain't Me Babe
  • Lay Lady Lay
  • Simple Twist of Fate
  • One More Cup of Coffee
  • Victoria's Secret commercial

J2.  Different Voices Politics and Fandom

Nicolette Rohr -Them Screamin' Girls - Folk, Rock and Dylan Fandom

Dylan is often aloof and even hostile to his female fans.  Young women often pick their music on the cuteness of the performers.

Laura Tenschert

Laura Tenschert (host of Definitely Dylan).  Please see my review of this radio show.

What is a Sweetheart Like You Doing in a Dump Like This?  Women in the World of Bob Dylan. A Case for Diversity in his cultural reception.

She strongly feels that there is sexism in criticisms of Dylan.  Out of 88 books about Dylan, only 5 are written by women.  She specifically singled out Clinton Heylin who criticized Dylan's use of women backup singers.  Heylin also criticized Helena Springs and Clydie King who collaborated extensively with Dylan.

K1. Dylan at Work: Blood on the Tracks

Blood on the Tracks (BOT) is arguably Dylan's best album.

Ann Margaret Daniel - Blood on the Tracks:  The Notebooks and Drafts

There is a small spiral notebook shown at the Morgan Library where Dylan wrote out the lyrics for the songs in the album.  There is a facsimile of that notebook in the book included with the boxed set More Blood More Tracks.  The extent of the revisions is large as Dylan is a perfectionist.  All BOT songs were composed at once.

Kevin Dettmar - Dylan Plagiarized Emotion and the Phrasal Imagination

Dylan has often "borrowed" from other writers.

BOT is considered the breakup album

Anastasia Karel - Tangled up In Tracks

She is the librarian at the Rock 'n roll Hall of Fame

She states that all of the songs in BOT are linked.  BOT is not the "Divorce Album".

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