bob dylan birthday blues

May 24, 2018August 21, 2024 ~ jama ~ 42 Comments

“The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I’m more at home in the vacant lots.” ~ Bob Dylan

Since the man is turning 77 today, we’re gonna sing a little birthday blues by featuring some of Dylan’s “blue paintings” paired with bits of his song lyrics.

Did you know that besides being a 12-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, poet, author, small-batch whiskey entrepreneur, metal works artist, and Nobel, Pulitzer, Medal of Freedom, Oscar, and Golden Globe winner, Dylan is also an accomplished painter?

We first saw his work gracing the covers of two 70’s albums (Self Portrait and Planet Waves), but he didn’t start seriously exhibiting and selling his paintings until 2007. Like many extraordinarily gifted creatives, his output benefits from the cross-fertilization of art forms.

Dylan is that rare person who can move effortlessly between music, word, ink, paint, as if he’s just futzing around with a few different instruments in the studio. Yet again and again he reflects life back to us with a truth and simplicity that defy words . . . seemingly unworried about how something looks, he’s not after artistic perfection, but something larger, a moment, a feeling. The effect is enthralling.

~ Marisha Pessl, New York Times

I love his frequent use of blues, and of course how often he depicts eateries. It’s fascinating to see the world through Dylan’s (blue) eyes 🙂 — he’s drawn to back streets, alley ways, country roads, bridges, train tracks — landscapes and urban scenes “unpolluted by the ephemera of pop culture.” There’s a noted absence of people in most of these paintings, conveying a sense of loneliness and a nostalgia for simpler times.

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friday feast: nibbling on janis ian’s the tiny mouse

December 6, 2013September 1, 2017 ~ jama ~ 37 Comments

Squeaking of mice, I’m simply head over tails in love with THE TINY MOUSE (Lemniscaat, 2013), veteran singer-songwriter Janis Ian’s jaunty, whimsical song-turned-picture book masterfully illustrated by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert.

Janis’s rollicking tale of adventure on the high seas is packed with whisker twitching, nose itching suspense, salty humor, and many a well-turned phrase set to a catchy tune that’ll have readers of all ages joyfully singing along in seconds flat.

There was a tiny mouse
who lived in a tiny house
full of drafts and doubts, and incredible things

But this dapper little fellow soon grows bored with the high life, so decides one day to go to sea so he can drink grog and sniff “occasional snuff.”

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friday feast: over the moon!

September 14, 2012September 15, 2017 ~ jama ~ 41 Comments

Most everyone reading this has in some way been affected by breast cancer. Either you know someone currently battling the disease, have relatives or friends who are survivors, are a survivor yourself, or have sadly lost someone.

I know at least nine survivors and one person who lost her battle, and of course, we all recently learned that Judy Blume was recently diagnosed.

Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project is a beautiful collection of lullabies written by eminent Broadway composers and lyricists and performed by Broadway singers to benefit breast cancer research. It’s available as a 26-track two CD set, an eBook, and a hardcover picture book with a 17-song CD illustrated by Broadway set designers and some of our most beloved children’s book artists, including Wendell Minor, Jon J Muth, Sean Qualls, Peter H. Reynolds, Marc Simont, Melissa Sweet, Paul O. Zelinsky, Barry Moser and Richard Egielski.

*“Onesie” illustration copyright © 2012 Paul O. Zelinsky*

The project was conceived and created by Kate Dawson and Jodi Glucksman, two veterans from the New York theatrical community whose own lives were touched by breast cancer: Kate lost a cousin who was just 45 years old with two small children, and Jodi lost her beloved grandmother.

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friday feast: food, glorious food

December 23, 2011December 23, 2011 ~ jama ~ 17 Comments

“It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas.” ~ Charles Dickens

“Food, Glorious Food” is my personal anthem. I sense Lionel Bart was thinking of me when he composed it. Okay, probably not, but one can always dream. ☺

When I lived in London, I got to see “Oliver” in the West End.

Those were the days when you could get great tickets to a musical for only $15.00! I love love loved it when those ragamuffins sang, “Hot sausage and mustard!” I don’t know what it is about those four words. Till today, whenever I hear them, I want to hug myself. Just so very British. Definitely a good thing.

I’ll always remember the time we went on a class field trip to the Dickens House Museum on Doughty Street (his only surviving town residence, where he wrote Oliver Twist). I was teaching 9th and 10th graders, and a student teacher from Kentucky was working with me. We’d collected admission fees from the students ahead of time, but when we got to the museum, we almost didn’t get in — Miss J. thought I had brought the money, and I thought she had!

What to do? Hit up one of the students, of course. Peter (who reminded me of Augustus Gloop) had quite a bit of cash on him. Perhaps he’d robbed a bank on the way to school. After a little cajoling, he lent us enough for about 30 tickets. So, in a fortunate “twist” of events, two adults picked a kid’s pocket.

But back to my theme song. Sing along and sing it loud, with f-e-e-l-i-n-g!! I can’t wait to hear my favorite four words again!

Whether you have cold jelly and custard, pease pudding and saveloys, peaches and cream, a great big steak, or the glorious hot sausage and mustard, I wish you an uncommonly delicious holiday!

saveloy and chips — Just in case you were wondering, saveloys are bright red sausages, usually served with chips.

The dynamic Doraine Bennett has this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at Dori Reads.

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friday feast: happy birthday e.e. cummings!

October 14, 2011August 20, 2017 ~ jama ~ 34 Comments

“It takes courage to grow up and be who you really are.” ~ E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)

It’s his fault I sign my name in lower case. Ever since I first encountered his “little lame balloon man” in high school, Cummings has remained one of my top five favorite poets of all time.

I find it interesting that while he loved to experiment wildly with form, diction and syntax, his subjects were pretty traditional — nature (especially Spring), childhood, and love. He was such a great champion of individuality, someone who believed poetry was a process rather than a product, and since he was also a painter, it makes perfect sense that he created poems as visual objects on the page. How could I not love such an out and out lyricist who toyed with typography? A playful innovator with a joyous childlike perception, Cummings infused his poetry with his own brand of vitality that never loses its freshness.