lovejammin

Monday, February 10, 2014

Bob Dylan In A Very Revealing Interview Refreshingly Honest As Reflective Successful Look Back. Openness During The Climb Is Much Less Common.

My brother and I used to sing his songs and were impressed when one of our friends memorized "Like A Rolling Stone". "It's Alright Ma" was one of our challenges, though at 14 the raw experiences of a guy on the road were for the most part lost on me. I've had access to the wellspring of creativity he mentions, though. It has a quality when it flows of being timeless and unlimited, the way I later experienced love to be; not a quantifiable, limited commodity. Sometimes it's just like a tap that flows whenever it's opened for improvisation, but, unfortunately for me, I could only get about three sentences of "flow" in words. After all, "He not busy being born is busy dying," are punchy words to sing and are another way of saying as Lewis Carol did,"It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place." My first real feelings of being in a meditative state which I later understood were singing songs while playing the guitar. With improv, I used to have these "out of body" experiences as though I were watching my hands move on their own and it was fun, fun, fun! Later, those meditative states worked their way into love making and some very connected conversations here and there. I may write songs that don't get to the place I want, but there's a guarantee that if I don't try, they will never get "there"! Dylan's albums were large enough to have quite a few photos. I remember on one album he had Joan Baez massage his head while he was writing and here in this interview, he mentions how the period he was wring his earlier stuff is inaccessible to him now. That honesty is admirable. When he went through his periods of electric after acoustic, I felt as though he'd violated some kind of trust with the rest of my generation as though he'd sold out his brooding and moody introspective soul, much the same way Canadians and the rest of Sarah McLachlan's fans felt abandoned when her music moved beyond the early tortured emanations. "Angel" was the first of hers that captured me, so I was mildly amused by the personal slight experienced by her fans of her earlier stuff. I've developed more of an understanding of Dylan's experience with "The Band" at the pink house (The Music From Big Pink) especially since, "I Pulled Into Nazareth" (whatever it's called). Then there was "Highway 61 Revisited", the wellspring for "Love Minus Zero", another song I enjoyed playing tirelessly. My acceptances was certainly cemented after hearing Dick Glass talk about his traveling experiences with Bob Dylan and the Doors during their respective periods. His mentioning how he was on a plane in a lightening storm with Jim Morrison when he wrote "Riders On The Storm", while they were all wondering if they were going to survive! After all, "Music is what life sounds like" (unknown) and time spent experiencing such beauty, both playing and listening, is precious!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Joni Mitchell - In Concert (live at the BBC 1970) [720p]

I didn't know what a "paradigm shift" was when I saw Joni Mitchell play during this period, but that was certainly the effect of this women's musical and poetic sense. The sense of elation I had at the natural fun she was having while singing and playing was pivotal in my own interaction with music and guitar playing and I never looked back.

This video shows the elements that had such a lasting impression, not only on my sense of music, but also on my life in general. She had the added advantage of being brilliant at being able to command a framework for publishing her music that made her lifestyle one of permanence and progressive ease, unlike most of the guitar players of our generation. Oh, and did I mention her natural beauty emanating from an old soul with a wisdom expressed in her exceptionally fluid compositions? I, however. lacked the brilliance that might have propelled me beyond "admirer", but I'll take that moniker. I played at many impromptu parties around campfires and such and a wonderful time was had by all! Playing music has been a major form of communication throughout my life, through folk, fusion, rock, jazz, both acoustic and electric.

Watching this video looks almost anachronistic, until I realized that this was the essential Joni Mitchell and she has managed to become an anachronism within her own life, if that makes any sense? There are nuances within this recording that lead me to believe this was used as a source for some albums.

a·nach·ro·nism əˈnakrəˌnizəm/Submit noun 1. a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, esp. a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned. "everything was as it would have appeared in centuries past apart from one anachronism, a bright yellow construction crane"

I had been experimenting with "open" tunings like the "E" tuning she used in "Chelsea Morning" here. It's used in "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" from the original "Crosby. Stills and Nash". I realize now there may have been some cross pollinization there because they were hanging out together during that period. As I recall, Neal Young was from the same area in Canada as Joni. I went to a concert at Pauley Pavilion at UCLA with some good friends where Joni was to sing with Zubin Mehta conducting after the orchestra started the show. Joni's singing was so powerful! When she followed the orchestra accompaniment, she appeared a bit shaken and walked off stage briefly. When she returned, she apologized mentioning she had been so emotional about pouring out her songs with the orchestration behind she'd been a little overwhelmed. Her emotional honesty was elating to witness, knowing she was giving it her all and then some. It was a special moment that bonded something inside of me. Thank you, Joni!