Dylan’s Nobel in Perspective
by Stephen SchwartzThe Swedish Academy has a strange idea of what “the great American song tradition” is. Continue Reading »
The Swedish Academy has a strange idea of what “the great American song tradition” is. Continue Reading »
The First Things Podcast, Episode 12. Also featuring: Pope Francis’s failure and Bob Dylan’s Nobel. Continue Reading »
1) This is another odds n ends sort of post. Lets begin with Dylan and the most music-heady of the bloggers over at an interesting Christian site called Mockingbird, David Zahl. Zahl takes the recent Rolling Stone interview and highlights some of Dylans more religious language . . . . . Continue Reading »
The last Songbook post considered rock Fame and its relations to Celebrity and Honorable Ambition with plenty of help from political philosophy, and a little from ALMOST FAMOUS, too; moving back to the film (which is proving rich enough for, look out, two more parts after this!), this part will be . . . . Continue Reading »
Keep the Louisiana parishes in your prayers this week . . . looks as if Isaac didnt hurt NOLA so much, but out in bayou and Cajun country, tough times. And since, alas, our Louisiana trip has been delayed, I can only musically travel there via you-tube. Unlike some, taken in as per usual by . . . . Continue Reading »
Terry Teachout says it wasnt 1968 that began the big cultural shift, but 1962. 62 is a good year to zero in on indeedCuban Missile Crisis, early SDS days, right before Philip Larkins beginning date for sexual intercourse, Dylans Freewheelin gestating . . . . Continue Reading »
Heres the basic schema I laid out in #26 : 1) quasi-modernity approximately 1776 to 1918 2) intermediate modernity approximately 1919 to 1965 3) full modernity approximately 1966 to the present. Now, for some flesh upon these analytic bones. Everyone knows WWI and the 20s . . . . Continue Reading »
Great Paintings shouldnt be in museums. . . . Museums are cemeteries. Paintings should be on the walls of restaurants, in dime stores, in gas stations, in mens rooms. Great paintings should be where people hang out. The only thing where its happening is on the radio and records, . . . . Continue Reading »
Marilynne Robinson is not Rock, and this is not a song. Rather, it is simply a three-word sentence dropped by the acclaimed novelist last fall, when I heard her speak at Skidmore College. But the following was initially provoked by another writer, Bill Kaufmann. Kaufmann is a hard one to . . . . Continue Reading »
Back to war, and the anti-war stance. Part of the conclusion of Songbook #6 was that the stance of songs like Blowin in the Wind and New Years Day could easily lead to despair and overindulgence of anger. Masters of War certainly is a . . . . Continue Reading »