Day 41: The Situationists in about 3 minutes of pseudo-cyclical time, un film de Don Shearn

The Situationist International was a primarily European movement of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, political theorists and occasionally activities from 1957 until 1972. Guy Debord was their most prominent member and the only one I ever heard of. He wrote Society of the Spectacle in 1967, It begins, "In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation."

Is a movie about the Spectacle really just another Spectacle?

Day 40: We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog...

Special Announcement:

Today's scheduled post, "Animal Stories" has been postponed due to the number 40. 

Stand by for this brief announcement:

Rare first editions. You can't afford them.

In my 2017 novel, The Five Books of Krinsky, the main character, the author and hopefully the reader travels through the weekly passages of the Bible or Parashiyot. Each chapter of the book is loosely connected to the Biblical passage and is followed by an evenlooser commentary.

Following  Noach: Genesis 6:9 - 11:32, the story of Noah. I offer 40 comments about Noah. Sort of.

(Trigger Warning several references to Bill Cosby)

40 Comments Relating to Noah

1. When Noah was five hundred years old he (and his wife) had three children.

2. The three kids: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

3. What ever happened to Mrs. Noah? I never found her in the research.

4. Methuselah, at age seven hundred and eighty two begot Lamech who as a youngster of one hundred and eighty two years begot Noah. Methuselah is Noah’s grandfather. Adam is Noah’s great, great grandfather.

5. "Methuselah lived 900 years, Methuselah lived 900 years, who calls that livin’ when no gal will give in to no man who’s 900 years."(“It ain’t necessarily So.” from Porgy and Bess, George and Ira Gershwin ) 

6: “It ain’t necessarily so,” is sung by Sportin' Life, whom Sammy Davis Jr. portrayed in the 1959 filmed version of the Opera. Sammy converted to Judaism in 1961.

7. Methuselah lived 969 years according to Genesis 5; 26. Sorry Gershwin's!

8. Substance abuse issues abound in the Noah story. And Noah the husbandman began, and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Genesis 9; 20-22

9. Ham is Noah’s son. Some say that Ham masturbated over his father, which is pretty disgusting. Others say he “sodomized” his father. And still others say that he fornicated with Noah’s wife, whom I think was not Ham’s mother. 

10. In 2014, Darren Aronofsky directed the film, Noah. He also directed Pi in 1998. Did you see that picture? Black and white. Very artsty about Hassidic Jews and the stock market.

         

11. Noah, the film did the following numbers at the box office:

         Domestic: $101,200,044

         Foreign:  $258,000.000

12. Russell Crowe played Noah. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics gave it a 76% positive rating but the audience only gave it 42%. 

13. Flood narratives were popular amongst ancient peoples. The Sumerian flood story is told in broken tablets but the punch line is that the Creator decided to flood His creation. Like Gilgamesh. Like Noah.

14. In the 1966 feature film, The Bible John Huston  reluctantly starred as Noah. 

15. In the 1974 feature film, Chinatown, John Huston starred as Noah Cross, Coincidence. I think not. Water. Water is a big deal in The Bible and in Southern California in the 1930s. And the incest. And the smugness. What about Cross? Is this guy the worst Old and New Testament character imaginable. Great performance by John Huston. 

16. Chinatown had 11 nominations in 1974, won for best screenplay and John Huston was not nominated for best supporting actor.

17. The nominees for best supporting actor were:

         Robert De Niro - The Godfather Part II as Vito Corleone                

         Fred Astaire - The Towering Inferno, as Claiborne

         Jeff Bridges - Thunderbolt and Lightfoot as Lightfoot

         Michale V. Gazzo - The Godfather Part II as Frankie 

         Lee Strasburg - The Godfather Part II as Hyman Roth

18. De Niro won for Godfather Part II. He deserved it. Astaire in Towering Inferno was fine. Nothing against the man. A dancing legend but it is ultimately a silly movie. Jeff Bridges...sentimental favorite, the people loved his father Lloyd. Michael V Gazzo superb as the mobster turned frightened snitch. Who remembers the entirety of Lee Strasberg’s speech about the business of being a gangster? You should look it up.

19. Here is the most resonant portion of the Hyman Roth's speech to Al Pacino as Michael Corleone (Roth is referring to the murder of Moe Green in The Godfather)

"And I said to myself, this is the business we’ve chosen. I didn’t ask who gave the order. Because it had nothing to do with business."

AKA, Norton

20. The nominees for best actor in 1974

         Al Pacino, Godfather Part II

         Jack Nicholson,  Chinatown
         Albert Finney, doughy, in Murder on the Orient Express

         Dustin Hoffman not funny in Lenny, so it didn’t ring true

         The Oscar goes to Art Carney for Harry and Tonto. Go figure!

21. Huston also directed the 1966 film, The Bible.

22. The film did 33 million. Allowing for inflation, this would be about 180 million in 2014. About half the box office of Noah, the 2014 version.

23. In 1963, Bill Cosby’s first comedy record Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right! recorded live at the Bitter End in Greenwich Villages includes “Noah.” His bit about God asking Noah to build an ark takes up three tracks of the album. It peaked at #18 on the Billboard Charts.

22. Here is Cosby’s version of God’s communication with Noah.

         

         Noah!

         Somebody call?

         Whoompa, whoompa, whoompa

         Noah!

         Who is that?

         It’s the Lord, Noah

         Right!

         Where are ya?

         What you want? I’ve been good.

         I want you to build an Ark

         Right!

         What’s an Ark?

23. Here is the Bible’s version:

And God said unto Noah: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; with rooms shalt thou make the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Genesis, 6:13

24. I read the 2014 Cosby biography, Cosby: His Life and Times by Mark Whitaker.

It was assailed at the time for not pointing out the many sexual improprieties in the minds of some and felonies to others that Mr. Cosby participated in or perpetrated upon. It is very Noah-like somehow. 

25. Noah was not Jewish. The Lord did, however, make a covenant with Noah and his offspring.

“And the (rain) bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah: ‘This is the token of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” Genesis; 9:17-18

26. The rabbis who interpret the Bible (and you know who you are) established 7 Noahide laws. Laws so basic that even the Gentiles should follow them and even the Congress of the United States.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson 1902-1994-????

27. In 1991, The Seven Laws of Noah were recognized by the United States Congress in the preamble to the 1991 bill that established Education Day in honor of the birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad movement:

      
   “Whereas Congress recognizes the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded; Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the        bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws. H.J.RES.104 -- To designate March 26, 1991, as ‘Education Day, U.S.A.’. (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate] 

29. Robert Henry “Bob” Michel, Republican, the House Minority Leader 1981–1994 from the 18th district in Illinois which included his home town of Peoria introduced the bill. Incidentally, when the Republicans won control over Congress in 1994, Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House stepping past Michel. Gingrich and his conservative cronies thought Michel was too chummy with the Democrats        

The House Resolution.

Details of the Bill including Co-Sponsors.

30. Newt Gingrich loves zoos. He has visited over 100 zoos in the United States.

31. There were 225 co-sponsors of the H. J. RES 104 recognizing the Noahide laws as the bedrock of civilization. It passed by unanimous consent which means that there was no actual up and down vote on the law. President George H.W. Bush signed the bill into law on March 20, 1991.

32. I contend that after researching any Jewish topic on the internet, it takes between 3 or 4 searches to uncover an anti-Semitic or anti Zionist comment or slant to the issue. My research into H.J. RES 104 supports my theory.

Congressman Bill Dannemeyer, Orange County, California from 1979 to 1993 virulently opposed H. J. RES 104 and wrote among other things. 

Bill Dannemeyer, 1929-2019, Homophobe and Anti-Semite

         “Your U.S. government can now legally kill Christians for the “crime” of  worshipping Jesus Christ!  A diabolic deception has been perpetrated on the American people by their OWN leaders, Senators and Congressmen, who have sold their soul to the devil... U.S. Senators and Congressmen passed a law that is so outrageous – and frankly unconstitutional – that it forces the American people to be bound by a set of monstrous rules, called the Noahide Laws, rules that make the belief in Jesus Christ a crime punishable by decapitation by guillotine.”

33.    The 7 Noahide laws: The prohibition of idolatry.

34.    The prohibition of murder.

35     The prohibition of theft.

36.    The prohibition of sexual immorality.

37     The prohibition of blasphemy.

38.    The prohibition of eating flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive. (I totally support that one.)

39.    The requirement of maintaining courts to provide legal recourse.

Nothing about killing Christians here.

40. Back to Cosby:

         And I’m gonna burn down this Ark 

         And I’m going to Florida somewhere

         ‘Cause you haven’t done nothin’

         I’m sick and tired of all this mess

         You foolin’ around

         And you haven’t done nothing!

         And you got it rainin’

         It’s not a shower is it?

         Ok Lord, me and you right

         ‘Cause I knew it all the time

Thanks for all the nominations for the Donnies™. Still accepting them until Friday, May 1.

Day 39: Who are the people in my neighborhood and why are they waving at me?

We've been going for walks nearly everyday and you just have to wonder who are these people? What did they do? What are they doing now? Don's Basement just had to find out.

Don't forget...nominations for the Donnies™ end this Friday!

Day 38: Richie Havens-things I didn't know or maybe I forgot

Richie Havens is one of my all time favorite musicians. He is on my musical Mt. Rushmore The passion and emotional depth he put into his music has been inspirational and at rare times aspirational for me.

I have already posted about him since this confinement begin. Bob Dylan is also on the granite face of my imagination. Next Monday, I will post about the third face

Here are some facts about Richie Havens that I didn't know or maybe forgot.

Woodstock

The most striking image most of us have of Richie Havens is opening at Woodstock. He improvised his epic version of Freedom which was the closing number of what became a 3 hours set.

What I didn't know was that his bass player, Eric Oxendine had abandoned his car and walked 20 miles. By the time he got to Woodstock, Richie Havens, percussionist Daniel Ben Zebulon and guitarist Paul ‘Deano’ Williams were riffing on Freedom.

Williams-Havens-Zebulon...no Oxendine

Handsome Johnny

This song also performed at Woodstock was written by Lou Gossett Jr. who performed at Cafe Wha? before launching his movie career.

Louis Gossett Jr. and Richie Havens: The Troubadours of Folk Festival in 1993.

Greased Lightning

Richie Havens had a long film career as an actor and a composer. In 1977, he played Woodrow in Richard Pryor's first lead role, Greased Lightning, a biopic about Wendell Scott, the first African American Nascar driver.



Left to right: Beau Bridges, Richie Havens, Cleavon Little, Pam Grier, Richard Pryor


Married with Children: Rock of Ages

In this 1992 episode of MWC, Al Buddy passes himself off as Axel Buddy for reasons that are not clear to me. Here is a clip of Al playing the sandwich with among others, Richie Havens.




I'm Not There

In the odd 2007 Bob Dylan biopic, Richie Havens shows up on a front porch at .54 mark of this clip jamming with "Woody," played by Marcus Carl Franklin.



I've got to be jamming myself.

Click here for the Richie Havens web site and an excellent Richie Havens bio.

Don't forget to nominate your favorite confinement images and videos for the Donnies™. Nominations accepted until May 1.

Day 37: It's Sunday...Still Accepting Nominations for the Donnies™

We interrupt Sunday FACEBOOK style for a special message.

Big Announcment: The Donnies™ ARE Coming! Send in your nominations. 
Closing DATE: May 1, 2020

Don's Basement has had a serious meeting with an L.A. editor/producer/director to work on the first annual and hopefully only presentation of  The Donnies™, Don's Basement will award a Donnie™to the best videos and images that have been sent to me since the confinement began (in Illinois).

The categories (subject to change without a second thought):

Best Image: JPEGs preferred

Best Short: Video under 30 seconds

Best Song Parody

Best Video: Single Camera

Best Video: Muti-Camera

Please send your nominations via text, E-mail, or direct message. If you read this blog, you have my contact info...

During the week of May 10th, I will post the nominees, betting odds, predictions and commentary. Keep tuning in for details of the award ceremony.


It's that time again. To kick back, relax, close our eyes and just whisper WTF.

FACEBOOK STYLE:

Walk on the mild side....

The Title of "Rainy Day Women 12 and 35"

Someone asked my what the title of this song means. Here is what I discovered.

1. From Tony Attwood,  "Allegedly the final title came from Proverbs 27 v 15, “A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike,” the religious input coming from the fact that the accompaniment (and afterthought once the recording session was underway) was added to give it a “Salvation Army” appeal."
2. From an article in Time Magazine, July 1, 1996, "a 'rainy day woman' as any junkie knows, is a marijuana cigarette." 
3. "The 'official' explanation of how this song got its name: A woman and her daughter came into the recording studio out of the rain. Dylan guessed their ages correctly as 12 and 35." I have no idea where this 'official' explanation came from other than the Internet.

George Jackson's Wig

There was strong interest in this week's post on Bob Dylan's Real People and when I say strong I mean three people made reference to it.  Specifically, in 1971, how did George Jackson conceal a 9MM pistol under a wig in San Quentin? Here is an unpublished comment...A gun and clips under a wig. Do you really thing prison guards are that dumb? With an avowed revolutionary career criminal? After the Marin Courthouse shootout?"

In the 1997 trial of Steven Bingham who was accused of smuggling the weapon to Jackson, defense attorney, Susan Rutberg demonstrated the difficulty of balancing a gun that weighs two pounds on one's head for 75 yards. She also proved that the wig could not be found for nearly 3 days after the shootout in the prison yard.

I listened to The Dollop's podcast about George Jackson and the shootout. They said there was evidence found at a dry cleaner's weeks before the escape attempt. While The Dollop is a comedy show, they do quote sources.

In a review of "Who Killed George Jackson" by Jo Durden Smith, the reviewer concludes "Durden-Smith came to California to prove that Jackson had been assassinated by San Quentin guards and by the police; to a significant degree, he does prove that. But he also found out much that he did not want to know: that as a convict Jackson fought not only for control over the destiny of his people but for control over prison rackets"

Was George Jackson set up by prison guards or rival inmates or killed in a failed prison uprising? I don't know. But the wig story seems pretty contrived. The basement apologizes for any confusion.

Day 36: Coming Distractions...On a Double Chai Shabbat

I think it's safe to say that it's been another week. Interestingly (to me anyway), there have been 18 views on the last two days of the basement.

18 + 18 = 36. Double Chai

Here is what is coming up next week....

Thanks for reading or watching or whatever. AG. AG.

Day 35: Top 11 Fictional Bands

We're counting 'em down. The top 11 fictional bands.

Dedications going out to Windsor, Ontario, The Zocce Boys, Sheboygan,  Port Townsend, Rio Rancho, Bezerkley, Kirkland, The Repeat Offenders, Beverly, Brooklyn, the Highland Park in California and Illinois, and that woman who lives upstairs...

Be safe everyone!!!

.

Day 34: Pack Up Your Troubles...The Story Behind the Song

It's a "What Passes for Thought Thursday" and today I will tell you all I know about the song, "Pack Up Your Troubles."

The tune is taken from the 1965 song, "Pack Up Your Sorrows"" recorded by Richard and Mimi
Fariña. The couple married in 1963. He was 26 and she was 17. Richard died in a motorcycle accident just 3 years later while returning from a book signing event for his memoir  Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.

Richard Fariña

The song is credited to Richard and Pauline Marden. Pauline Marden is the older sister of Joan Baez and Mima Baez Fariña. According to the Internet, "The expression "pack up your sorrows" was used by Pauline Marden and picked up by Richard Farina. So, when he wrote the song, he attributed her contribution by giving her co-writing credits. "

At the time, Pauline was married to Brice Marden, a New York artist of some renown.

Baez sisters: Pauline, Mimi and Joan

The song has been covered many times, notably by Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary,  and Louden Wainwright III and Iris DeMent. Johnny Cash and June Carter released the song as the "B" side of "Jackson" in February of 1967.  "Jackson" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May of that year.

Richard plays mountain dulcimer and Mimi plays guitar on their version of the song released on the album, Celebrations of a Grey Day" released in 1965.



Here is the "Pack Up Your Troubles"...again





Recording:

Don's Basement studios
April 15 and 16, 2020
Don Shearn: Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Peggy Shearn: Harmony, Mountain Dulcimer
Andres Segovia: Lead Guitar
4 track recorded on Garageband.

Verse 1: 

Sunset Delivery Screen...Full or Expired

No use screaming bout the bad streaming.
Of food delivery sites.

When I first tried to use Sunset Foods foods pick up window, I was told to log on after Midnight when slots opened up. I stayed up...no mean feat...and tried to log on. After 20 minutes of hands shaking and  forehead sweating, I managed to get a slot only to discover that I ordered from the wrong online shopping cart.



Just say fuck it, we’ve got frozen nuggets
Got enough for 7 nights.

My solution was to ask Peggy  to take over the food and drink ordering. As for the "frozen nuggets", they are real and were purchased in April 2019. Their expiration date was November of last year but I'm keeping them.

Chorus 1:

Richard and Mimi

Well, if somehow you could pack up your troubles             
And keep them to yourself. 
I can’t use them, let’s have some booze then
There’s cranberry schnapps on the shelf

I used the image of Richard and Mimi playing together for this chorus, primarily because I couldn't find an image of Peggy and I playing together. That will be rectified as some point. But this image is so 1960s pure and optimistic. Although Peggy and I didn't meet till the 70s in my mind we were Richard and Mimi.

As for the booze...no brainer. We're drinking.

Verse 2: 

No use talking, while we’re out walking

I’ve got my bluetooth on.

I’m just chillin, listening to Dylan

Kennedy song goes on and on.

Not literally true. I don't have bluetooth headphones. But I have been listening to lots of Dylan. Even more than usual. And thinking about Dylan and blogging about Dylan. 

Murder Most Foul Part 1

Murder Most Foul Part 2

Dylan's Real People

Chorus 2: 

Well, if somehow you could pack up your troubles

And keep them to yourself. 

Can’t you see now, I’ve watching TV, now

I’d rather watch by myself.

Mitch Cohen (Eugene Levy) and Mickey Crabbe (Catherine O'Hara formed the reunited folk duo in the 2003 mockumentary, A Mighty Wind about a folk music revival concert. We have also been watching Levy and O'Hara and company in Schitt's Creek. 

This works on two levels for me. The characterizations of Mitch and Mickey are sarcastic with an eye roll to the folk era. Not unlike where I was in 2003. I had my own business and was pretty wrapped up in the whole "buying and selling" bit. Not really doing any music except maybe song parodies at our temple. 

In the today world, Schitt's Creek has been a binge sensation. We watch it everyday and are sad because we are almost finished. It tells the tale of the Roses, a wealthy family who must adjust to their loss of money, status and prestige. As we are also in a period of adjustment, it feels very relatable. And very funny.

Verse 3:

Don’t go freakin, while I am sleeping

Telling me about the disease,

Give me the warning, just wait until morning

I really need to catch me some zees.

As some of you know, I am on a news black out. No NPR. No New York Times. No Politico. No Podcasts (except Bob Dylan, Album by Album). If there's something I need to know about friends or family or precautions or whatever, let me know. Otherwise...I'll pass.

Chorus 3:

If somehow You could pack up your troubles


And keep them to yourself.

I don’t need them, let’s smoke some weed, 

And keep our mental health.

I love the idea of John Boehner being a lobbyist for legalizing marijuana. Not sure why exactly because the guy was a pain in the ass during the Obama administration. 

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner released 13 albums together between 1968 and 1980. While confined, our music has drifted more towards the country side. Peggy's primary instrument is the bowed dulcimer and she is learning the fiddle. I see a lot of country in our future. And the photo is aspirational. I want that suit.

It's not just booze, TV and weed. This blog is how I am trying to keep my mental health. Thanks for reading....

Peace!

Day 33: Turn Around and Look at Shee

Oh my!

We are fortunate and grateful to be able to take (near) daily walks around our neighborhood. Last week, we discovered an artist and his sculpture less than a mile from our house. As we crossed Green Bay Road, we saw sculptures of flowers and women and bears....


Peggy noticed the name Shee. I did a search and found the delightful story of the Artist Shee. (I tried to reach out to him via e-mail but got no response. I am too shy to knock on the door.)

"Rejoicing and Beauty"

Sam Shee moved to the United States from Taiwan in 1965. After 30 years as a pathologist, Dr. Shee began painting in 1993. His first oil painting is called "Rejoicing and Beauty." This began transformation into Artist Shee.



“When I gaze at the ‘Mona Lisa’ in the Louvre Museum, I realize that although the painting is 500 years old, the figure’s mysterious smile is unchanged, giving viewers the same message,” said Shee. “Today, we are still freshly struck by the fascination behind it.

“On the other hand, a physician can be quickly outdated in his skill by not keeping up with continuing medical education. A doctor may be able to prolong life, whereas an artist can affect our lives forever. The course of my life traveled from the scientific field to a cultural one.” Downtown Highland Park, March 2015.

Shee has had over 50 solo exhibitions of his work and maintained studios in Taipei, Paris and Highland Park.

Here are some of his sculptures that can be viewed right here and right now on Bob-O-Link Rd. All sculptures are masonry with wood and metal.

Heart to Heart 2011

Tornados and Tsunami 2012

Taiwan contributed the most relief aid to Japan after the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami. 2011 also saw the most devastating tornados in history, the deadliest being in Joplin, Missouri.

Love Panda 2015

 Shee and Formosa Victory Bear 2017

"Sam Shee's art has long been devoted to the goal of peace, harmony and
communicating with others....
 In his beautiful garden, which is another one of his artistic
creations, the Formosa Bear stands proudly, victoriously, next to the Panda, symbol of
China, with whom it lives peacefully. " Gloria Groom, The Art Institute of Chicago.


In the Highland Park interview of 2015, Shee says, "Visual art as part of the basic culture impacts on the kind of society we live in and leads the civilization of mankind as music and literature do. The culture is as important as, if not greater than, the economy for human existence. With a good or superior culture, a country and its people will survive even without a thriving economy.

Something to think about as some of you contemplate the future.

Day 32: The Iranian Hostage Crisis in Under 2 Minutes

Remember the Iran Crisis....

No, not when the US assasinated Qasem Soleimani way back in January of this year.
I was pretty freaked out about it at the time.
Now, not so much.




I am referring to the Iran Hostage Crisis which began on November 4, 1979. Since I started this blog and have been counting the days, I've been thinking about ABC News and Nightline and their coverage of Crisis.

Since you are busy, I made a video of the Iranian Hostage Crisis in under 2 minutes. It has a happy ending.

Thanks for watching....

Day #31: Dylan's Real People

Jimmy Tomasello and fiend

Last Friday, Peggy and I dressed up (I wore a tie) and while properly intoxicated enjoyed a virtual Dylan Songbag with Jimmy Tomasello. In the old days, we would go down to the Old Town School, grab a meal and some beverages at The Grafton  and play and sing Dylan...familiar, obscure or just new to us. We've done religious songs, Rolling Thunder Revue , the 2019 tour and Christmas Songs. (For a good time, click on this Must Be Santa link.)

This Songbag was special to me because I suggested the theme. Here are the songs we played.



"I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine"  ( video of Joan and Bob during Rolling Thunder.) Recorded in 1967 for the John Wesley Harding album. The tune and the opening couplet are recognizable as "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night. Joe Hill was a union organizer executed in 1914. Joan Baez played the song at Woodstock in 1969.  St. Augustine nee Augustine of Hippo converted to Christianity in 386 CE at the age of 31. Augustine took a bible and opened it at random.

Romans 13: 13-14: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.[84]

It has been suggested that Augustine's religious awakening from years of debauchery resonated with Dylan after his motorcycle accident in 1966 (at age 25)

Unauthenticated photo

Did Dylan really meet Elvis as recounted in "Went to See the Gypsy?" (click that link for a long rabbit hole) There are conflicting accounts. Ron Cornelius, a session musician on New Morning, "reported that he asked Bob Dylan what ‘Went to See the Gypsy’ was about and Dylan replied that it was about going to see Elvis in Las Vegas."

Then there is the lyric..."he did it in Las Vegas and he can do it here," that states that the "meeting" took place somewhere other than Vegas, probably in the "little Minnesota town (Hibbing, MN?)

In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Dylan refutes the story. "I never met Elvis, because I didn’t want to meet Elvis. Elvis was in his Sixties movie period, and he was just crankin’ ’em out and knockin’ ’em off, one after another. And Elvis had kind of fallen out of favor in the Sixties."

Poetic license. Vivid dream. Faulty memory. Good story.

During a flight from California around 1970, I sat next to a "straight" (as opposed to a hippie). The guy was an English professor and for some reason we talked about Dylan.  I remember him quoting. Desolation Row, Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood with his memories in a trunk. I can't remember what he said about it. It had something to do with myth, relativity, and the atomic bomb. Which I guess it does.

One of the coolest things about the Dylan Songbag is just being able to play songs like Desolation Row. It's like Berkeley in the 70s.

Speaking of the 1970's I remember reading an autobiography of George Jackson. He had been killed in prison escape attempt. from San Quentin. And a pretty bizarre one.  In 1971 during a prison visit, his attorney, "allegedly passed a handgun and several clips of ammunition to Jackson, who slipped the weapon under a wig. When the visit was over, Jackson used the gun to take a guard prisoner, and forced him to unlock the cells of more than two dozen prisoners." When it was over, 3 guards and 2 inmate had been killed along with Jackson. The Black Panther Party paid the attorney's fees for the survivors of the melee during their numerous trials as the San Quentin Six.   


Dylan's song peaked at #33 on the Billboard charts in January 1972. It's most memorable lines...
Sometimes I think this whole world
Is one big prison yard.
Some of us are prisoners
The rest of us are guards.

3.75 Million. Used to be a lot of money

We hadn't heard Catfish, the 1975 outtake from Desire (click to read Rolling Stone's not great review) This bluesy number is remembered by Eric Clapton who was present for 3 takes of the tune (but not the one that was released in 1991 bootleg collection  Clapton recalled, "He (Dylan) was just driving around, picking musicians up and bringing them back to sessions. It ended up with something like 24 musicians in the studio, all playing these incredibly incongruous instruments - accordion, violin... It was very hard to keep up with him. He wasn't sure what he wanted. He was really looking, racing from song to song."

Jim 'Catfish' Hunter  began his career with the Kansas City Athletics who became the Oakland Athletics. Hunter lead the Oakland A's to three World Series, 1972-1974. I attended my first and only World Series games and sat in the left field bleachers. In 1974, Hunter through a loophole in his contract was able to become a free agent, a rare instance. way back when. He went on to star with the New York Yankees. Sadly he died at age 53 of ALS.

We played Joey from Desire. Another favorite from my 1970s living room jam sessions. What can be better than being really high and singing....

"Joey, Joey,
King of the streets, child of clay.

Joey, Joey,
What made them want to come and blow you away?"

Joey Gallo  began his mafia career working for the Profaci crime family until he kidnapped them. The song follows his career in and out of prison until his untimely death by mob execution at Umberto's Clam House in 1972.

Scarlet Rivera's violin really soars in the album's recording. During our virtual Songbag, Peggy was unmuted and provided cool backing and fills on her bowed dulcimer.

I hadn't heard the song, Blind Willie McTell until a previous Dylan Songbag. It has since become a favorite of mine. McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was not only a blues musician, he played ragtime and religious music. He also became "an accomplished musical theorist, able to both read and write music in Braille."

The tune was inspired by (or appropriated from) the song St. James Infirmary which itself has a long and distinguished career. An outtake from 1983's Infidels, the song was released in 1991 Bootleg Series.


Julius and Ethel was also an outtake from Infidels. It was a new one for us. It has a surprising punk-pop feel to it as it relays the story of the Rosenbergs who were executed in 1953 for passing nuclear secrets to the then Soviet Union. There were international protests against their arrest, conviction and trial. Some saw it as anti-Semitic and others an example of the post-war anti-Communist frenzy.

 Many Americans agreed with President Eisenhower who wrote in denying clemency, “I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world."

Dylan's take seems pretty apt.

Someone says the fifties was the age of great romance
I say that's just a lie, it was when fear had you in a trance 

The last song of the night was the recently released masterwork, Murder Most Foul, which I previously blogged about on March 30 and March 31. Jimmy and Vera traded verses of this retelling, reconceptualizing, and great narrative catalogue of the music, movies and event of the era.

A truly inspiring end to an evening to remember what we love about music and not think about all this other shit going on.

Here are the songs and chords for Dylan Song Bag.