Bob Dylan in Peru

Christmas in the Heart: the Interview

2009-11-25T08:39:00.000-08:00

Spanish

The "street newspaper" organization NASNA (North American Street Newspaper Association) has issued an exclusive Bob Dylan interview made by Bill Flanagan about, Christmas in the Heart, Christmas, carols and more.

Here it is:

The Christmas Album “ The Interview

Here’s the official Press Release from Sony Music:

EXCLUSIVE BOB DYLAN INTERVIEW TO BE SYNDICATED WORLDWIDE
THROUGH INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF STREET PAPERS

Only Dylan Interview To Be Released In Conjunction
With Artist’s Christmas In The Heart Album

Bob Dylan’s only interview in conjunction with the release of his Christmas In The Heart album will be syndicated worldwide through the International Network Of Street Papers (INSP) beginning today. Completed earlier this month with noted journalist Bill Flanagan, the wide-ranging interview includes Dylan’s thoughts on all things Christmas, including his favorite holiday songs, special presents, the making of his new album, Pretty Boy Floyd and Babe Ruth.

According to the INSP, Street papers offer a unique route out of poverty. In recent years, they have become increasingly recognized for their relevance to the developing world. By combining a sustainable social enterprise model with an independent media voice, street papers provide an enterprising means to address poverty and freedom of expression.

As announced earlier, all of Bob Dylan’s royalties from sales of Christmas In The Heart will be donated to Feeding America in the United States , Crisis in the United Kingdom , and the World Food Programme in 80 developing nations around the world.В Dylan’s initial contributions will provide more than four million meals to more than 1.4 million people in the United States , 15,000 meals to homeless people in the United Kingdom during the eight days of Christmas (December 23 - January 1) and 500,000 meals to school children in the developing world during the holiday season.

Christmas In The Heart is the 47th album from Bob Dylan, and follows his worldwide chart-topping Together Through Life, released earlier this year. The first video from Christmas In The Heart, for “Must Be Santa”, has just been released and is available for viewing on http://bobdylan.com.

In the UK, the chosen medium is “Big Issue” and it will vary from country to country. Here’s the interview in full but please do what Bob wanted and go out and buy Big Issue (or equivalent) or make an appropriate donation to a street seller. Mike Sutton tells me that this issue has Bob on the cover.

Bill Flanagan: Is recording a Christmas album something you’ve had on your mind for a while?

Bob Dylan: Yeah, every so often it has crossed my mind. The idea was first brought to me by Walter Yetnikoff, back when he was President of Columbia Records.

Did you take him seriously?

Well, sure I took him seriously.

But it didn’t happen. How come?

He wasn’t specific. Besides, there was always a glut of records out around that time of year and I didn’t see how one by me could make any difference.

What was Christmas like around your town when you were growing up?

Well, you know, plenty of snow, jingle bells, Christmas carolers going from house to house, sleighs in the streets, town bells ringing, nativity plays. That sort of thing.

Your family was Jewish. As a kid did you ever feel left out of the Christmas excitement?

No, not at all.

What’s your idea of a good Christmas Dinner?

Mashed potatoes and gravy, roast turkey and collard greens, turnip greens, biscuit dressing, corn bread and cranberry sauce.

Have you spent any Christmases overseas and been struck by how the holiday is celebrated in other countries?

I was in Mexico City once and they do a lot of re-enactment scenes of Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay.

How do you like to spend the week between Christmas and New Years?

Doing nothing - maybe reflecting on things.

Why do you think Christmas has better songs than other holidays?

I don’t know. That’s a good question. Maybe because it’s so worldwide and everybody can relate to it in their own kind of way.

Very often when contemporary artists do Christmas records, they look for a new angle. John Fahey did instrumental folk variations on holiday songs, Billy Idol did a rock and roll Christmas album, Phil Specter put the Wall of Sound around the Christmas tree and the Roches did kind of a kooky left-field collection. You played this right down the middle, doing classic holiday songs in traditional arrangements. Did you know going in you wanted to play it straight?

Oh sure, there wasn’t any other way to play it. These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs. You have to play them straight too.

There’s something new that happens when your voice goes up against the very smooth background singers and old-fashioned arrangements. It adds a new flavor to the mix. When you do I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, it sounds really forlorn, like you’re singing the song in jail and this is your one phone call. Do you ever approach singing a song like an actor?

Not any more then Willie or Nat King Cole would. The songs don’t require much acting. They kind of play themselves.

Do you try to go for different emotions on different takes?

Not really. The emotions would pretty much be the same on any singular take. The inflections would maybe differ if we changed the key and sometimes that might affect the emotional resonance.

When I hear your version of HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING, it makes me think of a lonely fellow outside the church, looking through the window at the congregation, wishing he were in there. Did any of these songs surprise you when you heard them played back?

No, they were pretty much the same going in as going out. You can already hear them in your head before you begin.

Any Christmas songs you like but you did not think you could do?

Not really. There were ones I didn’t want to do, but not any that I didn’t think I could do. The idea was to record the best known ones.

CHRISTMAS BLUES is an old Dean Martin song. What attracted you to that?

It’s just a beautiful song.

Stan Lynch once told me about you and him slipping out of a rehearsal with the Heartbreakers to go see Dean, Sinatra and Sammy Davis. What appealed to you about those guys?

I don’t know, maybe the camaraderie. On the other hand I wasn’t much into that whole scene actually - it left a lot of people out.

MUST BE SANTA is a real jumping polka. Did you hear a lot of polka bands growing up?

Yeah, I heard a few.

I never heard that song before. Where did you hear it?

I first heard that song years ago on one of those “Sing Along with Mitch” records. But this version comes from a band called Brave Combo. Somebody sent their record to us for our radio show. They’re a regional band out of Texas that takes regular songs and changes the way you think about them. You oughta hear their version of Hey Jude.

The way you do WINTER WONDERLAND makes me think of Gene Autry and Roy Rodgers, the singing cowboys in the old movies. Even in John Wayne films, thereвЂ™d always be a scene back at the fort where an Irish band was playing, or the Sons of the Pioneers were singing. Did you have a favorite cowboy singer as a kid?

Yeah, Tex Ritter.

What about Gene and Roy?

Yeah, they were okay, but Tex Ritter was my favorite. He was way more heavy. There was more gravity to him.

Have you heard “Christmas on Death Row” the rap Christmas record?

No I don’t think so.

Do you listen to rap music?

I don’t listen to rap radio stations and I don’t play rap songs on the jukebox, and I don’t go to rap shows - So no I guess I don’t listen to rap music all that much.

What do you think of rap music?

I love rhyming for rhyming sake. I think that’s an incredible art form.

There’s a lonely quality in the way you do SILVER BELLS. You were a young man when you moved from Minnesota to New York City. Was Christmas very different in New York?

Christmas was pretty much the same in New York, only more so.

Did it make you homesick?

Not really, I didn’t think about it that much. I didn’t bring the past with me when I came to New York. Nothing back there would play any part in where I was going.

Hearing you sing ADESTE FIDELES reminds me of being an altar boy at
Midnight Mass. The priests all had to lead the singing, and it didn’t
matter if they were singers or not, they belted it out. Have you ever sung in a foreign language before?

I’ve sung in French, Italian and Spanish. Over the years, Columbia has asked me to do records in those languages and I recorded stuff here and there. None of the tracks have been released though. It’s hard deciding whether to do a translation of one of my own songs, or an original song in one of those languages - which I’m actually more partial to. I’ve always wanted to do some Edith Piaf songs.

LA VIE EN ROSE?

Yeah. That one and a couple of others. SOUS LE CIEL DE PARIS, POUR MOI TOUT SEULE and maybe one or two more

What stopped you?

Well, I can hear myself doing them in my head, but I’d need written arrangements to pull it off and I’m not sure who could do that.

Which singers do you associate with Christmas?

Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole. Doris Day.

What about Bing Crosby?

Sure, White Christmas was always a big song.

I always get choked up at the end of GOING MY WAY when the old priest’s mother comes walking toward him on Christmas Eve and Bing watches from the door of the church then picks up his suitcase and walks off into the snow “ TURA, LURA, LURA playing in the background. You can’t get any more Christmasy than that. Did movies have a big effect on how you saw the world growing up?

I think so. I lived in a small town and movies were a window into the outside world.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND is a wacky song! Santa's going to sail in with your
presents in a canoe. Where did that come from? You ever been to Christmas Island?

No I’ve never been there. I have no idea where the song comes from, who wrote or even if there is such a place.

Your song THREE ANGELS always reminds me of the holidays. Did you ever sit down to write a Christmas song?

I have never done that. It’s something to think about though.

You have grandchildren. What do you think they’ll make of this record? Did it occur to you making this record that years from now your grandchildren will play this album for their own kids?

I don’t know what my grandchildren think of any of my records. I don’t know if they’ve even heard them. Maybe the older ones.

You’re a lot more loyal to these melodies than you are to the melodies of the songs you’ve written. Do you figure these tunes can’t be messed with?

If you want to get to the heart of them they can't be, no.

Your version of THE CHRISTMAS SONG is right in the pocket. You slide into that song like you’ve been singing it all your life. You also sing the intro (“All through the year we waited”) which most people leave out. I don’t think Nat King Cole used that intro Why did you bring it back?

Well, I figured the guy who wrote it put it in there deliberately. It definitely creates tension, predicts what you are about to hear.

I think you did drop the “goodies” on the sleigh. Did something about that bother you?

No not really. I don’t think I thought of it until you mentioned it. I try my best to be exact, but sometimes things just fall away. We probably recorded the song, got the feel right and moved on. Most likely we didn’t even listen back. Just moved on to something else. I don’t think that’s something I would have noticed anyway.

You really give a heroic performance of O’ LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM The way you do it reminds me a little of an Irish rebel song. There’s something almost defiant in the way you sing, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” . I don’t want to put you on the spot, but you sure deliver that song like a true believer.

Well, I am a true believer.

You know, some people will think that Bob Dylan doing a Christmas album is meant to be ironic or a put-on. This sounds to me like one of the most sincere records you've ever made. Did anybody at your record company or management resist the idea?

No it was my record company who compelled me to do it.

Why now?

Well, it just came my way now, at this time. Actually, I don't think I would have been experienced enough earlier anyway.

Some critics don’t seem to know what to make of this record. Bloomberg news said, “Some of the songs sound ironic. Does he really mean have yourself a Merry Little Christmas?” Is there any ironic content in these songs?

No not at all. Critics like that are on the outside looking in. They are definitely not fans or the audience that I play to. They would have no gut level understanding of me and my work, what I can and can’t do - the scope of it all. Even at this point in time they still don’t know what to make of me.

Derek Barker in the Independent, compared this record with the shock of you going electric. So many artists have released Christmas records, from Bing Crosby to Huey Piano Smith. Why is it a shock if you do it?

You’ll have to ask them.

The Chicago Tribune felt this record needed more irreverence. Doesn’t that miss the point?

Well sure it does, that’s an irresponsible statement anyway. Isn’t there enough irreverence in the world? Who would need more? Especially at Christmas time.

The profits from this album are going to buy Christmas dinners for folks who are having a hard time financially. When I heard that I thought of the Woody Guthrie song PRETTY BOY FLOYD “Here’s a Christmas dinner for the families on relief.”

Exactly. PRETTY BOY FLOYD. “Pretty Boy grabbed the log chain and the deputy grabbed his gun.” Did you ever notice how Pretty Boy Floyd looks exactly like babe Ruth?

Yeah, I have.

Did you ever think it could be the same guy?

Maybe they’re interchangeable?

Yeah, in the real world Pretty Boy would be batting clean up for the Yankees and Babe Ruth would be robbing banks.

Yeah, and they’re both legends.

Right.

Why did you pick Feeding America, Crisis UK and The World Food Programme to give the proceeds of this record to?

Because they get food straight to the people. No military organization, no bureaucracy, no governments to deal with.

Do you still send out Christmas cards?

I haven’t for a while.

Do you have a favorite Christmas album?

Maybe the Louvin Brothers. I like all the religious Christmas albums. The ones in Latin. The songs I sang as a kid.

A lot of people like the secular ones.

Religion isn’t meant for everybody.

What sort of gifts do you like to give?

I try to match the person with the gift.

Are you a last minute shopper?

Always.

Do you drop any hints about what you hope to get from your family?

Nope. Their well-being – that’s enough of a gift for me.

I know we’re out of time but I have to ask, what’s the best Christmas gift you ever got?

Let me think… oh yeah, I think it was a sled.

Bob Have Read my Heart

2009-11-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

Spanish

The frase that titles this post was the one that i wrote in my Facebook account an hour ago, and I did it with the whole conviction of someone that believes that Bob though in me. Yes, it can sound crazy, to believe that Bob, yes, Bob Dylan saw me, met me, got into my deepest dreams and decided to give me the best gift.

But I feel strongly that it was so, and that the little box that I have in my hands and that contains Christmas in the Heart, in gold color and red letters, with two horses pulling the sleigh in the snow, the sexy Santa Claus-girl in the back cover, the red labeled CD and its exquisite carols that are playing now, the greeting cards to gift with their white envelopes, all this beautiful pack that contains Christmas, Christmas and Christmas was made for me.

Because, ever since I remember, I adored, idolized, dreamed with this celebration, persecuted it al along each month of the year between the pages of the books, my plays and the memories of each one of those Christmas eve that I lived, which was not provided of leafy decorated trees, lots of gifts wrapped in colored ribbons under their feet, or huge and golden turkeys on the table, surrounded by salads, plums, jams and cakes.

My Christmas were the most simple but the most beautiful for me because what has been called for generations the Christmas spirit, the true feeling of harmony, peace and solidarity with the neighbor was there in the middle, outside and around my table, with its discreet baked chicken, a cup of chocolate and Christmas cake.

Today this overwhelming feeling has subsided thanks to the turbed magic of the adulthood, everything returns to my memory as a rough trip, while Bob's Christmas runs all along the carols sung, with his voice rough and hard as the sandpaper through the angelic voices of the choristers, respecting the original pattern of the compositions and, at the same time, puting their old and incomparable mark.

Thanks Bob for this gift that combines the two things I love most in this world, your music and Christmas.

New album on sale from october 13th

2009-08-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

Dylan the Christmas

In Spanish

And finally it became public. The insistents rumours of a Dylan's new discographic issue made bigger the expectations among the fans; and more because of the topic. Could we say that, not even our laconic and austere uncle Zimmy could escape from the clutches of the Christmas spirit, that one that has broken the hardest hearts each year and that there are thousands of stories written about, starting with Ebenezer Scrooge or the Grinch and passing through Jack Skellington?

Well, this is what it seems. And it's just that Dylan, not only has dealed this topic, but has chosen the romantic-clacisist side of this celebration in the album cover -which remind us those typicals Christmas postcards of the XIXth century- and among the tracks of Christmas in the heart (this is the name of the album) there will be covers of several classic Christmas carols like “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Must Be Santa”.

And to seal with a double knot the ribbon of this surprising present: all the royalties of Christmas in the Heart, will be donated to the organization Feeding America, to try to guarantee 4 millions meals for this Christmas.

Related links:

New in Bob Dylan's web page
New in Rolling Stone
Pre-order in Amazon.com

Bob Dylan in Facebok - First Debate

2009-06-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

In Spanish

As many people who read this blog knows, our Bob Dylan Club Peru have already a space in Facebook; place where we can upload pictures, articles, links and comments about the life and work of Bob Dylan. The first topic in the section "Foro de debate" is about if Together Through Life deeserves, qualitativement, the applauses in EE.UU. like in the U.K., where it has reached the top´after almost 40 years. Now, I post a detailed analysis made by a friend and member of the club, Christopher Rollason:

BEYOND HERE LIES … NOTHING? - some impressions of Bob Dylan's album TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE (2009)

Christopher Rollason, Metz, France (rollason54@gmail.com)

If nothing else, TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE has produced a new crop of firsts for Bob Dylan. It has become his first-ever album to reach number one in both the US and the UK, and has made him the oldest living artist ever to top the British album chart (a feat he had already achieved in the US with MODERN TIMES), and, again in Britain, the artist distinguished, if that is the word, by the longest time-gap between successive number one albums. Indeed, probably only fact-file obsessives will have known that prior to this album Dylan had had four number ones in his home country and/but six totally different chart-toppers across the Atlantic. The new album's success does, then, suggest there must be a consensus in the air about something.

However, in the British case further examination reveals that Dylan's three previous number ones were NASHVILLE SKYLINE in 1969 and SELF PORTRAIT and NEW MORNING in 1970 - all decidedly minor works. Before those three, he had spent 13 weeks atop the UK chart in 1968 with JOHN WESLEY HARDING, an album generally considered a major artistic achievement but whose commercial success had much to do with the groundswell of sympathy arising from Dylan's near-brush with death in his famous motorcycle accident. Is the commercial success of TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE, like that of MODERN TIMES before it, a reflection less of the album's quality than of a comparable sympathy vote, brought on by the artist's advancing years and the realisation that he won't be with us forever - that 'it's not dark yet, but it's getting there'?

My own feeling at this stage of the game is that we are dealing with a musically agreeable, cleanly produced and perfectly listenable Dylan album, but not one that is saying anything much of interest about anything in particular. Regarding Dylan's 21st-century output, I was and remain highly enthusiastic about 'LOVE AND THEFT' (and wrote at length about that album in THE BRIDGE, No 14), but have yet to be convinced by MODERN TIMES; and intuit that, for all the Latin warmth of David Hidalgo's accordion, lyrically this new offering will have a hard time winning me over. The fact that all but two of the songs are the product of collaboration with Robert Hunter doesn't help the evaluation of this as a Dylan album, but as with the earlier joint efforts with Jacques Levy and Sam Shepard, we may suppose the bulk of the writing process to have been Dylan's own (after all, it is, like 'Desire', billed as a Bob Dylan album) while not concluding therefrom that the resultant songs must be a priori brilliant.

Simplicity appears to be this album's hallmark, but, as with NASHVILLE SKYLINE and PLANET WAVES (the latter, incidentally, being another of Dylan's US number ones), a question mark hovers as to whether this is the simplicity of blissful enlightenment or the naïve simplicity of the banal. One of the questions I was expecting before the album came out, after all the well-known intertextual revelations surrounding its two predecessors (Junichi Saga for 'LOVE AND THEFT', Ovid and Henry Timrod for MODERN TIMES), was, 'Where are the quotations'? I may yet be proved wrong, but this time round, the answer seems to be, mostly 'nowhere' - neither literary nor musical. The one self-conscious literary-cum-musical line, 'I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver / And I'm reading James Joyce', stands out like a sore thumb, as if put there to point to a general dearth of allusions.

Meanwhile though, what, if anything, do we get from Bob Dylan on this album? Technically, the songs are carefully constructed around clear rhyme-schemes (this may be Hunter's doing), and they are (mercifully) shorter and more economical than the diffuse, rambling MODERN TIMES songs. Nonetheless, on an actual majority of tracks the writing comes over as thin and gruel-like. 'Jolene' is a flat and featureless slice of country blues, and (sorry, Bob) far less memorable than the Dolly Parton song of the same name. 'Shake Shake Mama' is a clichéd blues number in the undistinguished mould of 'The Levee's Gonna Break': I fail to see the interest of lines like 'Shake shake mama like a ship going out to sea' (where is the resemblance?) or 'Down by the river Judge Simpson is walkin' around / Nothing shocks me more like that old clown' (whoever Judge Simpson may be, he's a pale shadow of Dylan's grudge-holding and stilt-walking or false-hearted and web-spinning magistrates from the past). The would-be social criticism on 'It's All Good' is simply anaemic by the side of, say, 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)' or even, God help us, 'Slow Train'. As to the most place-specific song, 'If You Ever Go To Houston' (the one Dylan chose to bring out first in live performance, in Dublin on 5 May 2009 - and which does look as if it might perhaps be about something), yes, it may be a critique of George Bush's Texas or the Second Amendment, and it does have a potentially interesting anachronism in the Mexican War reference - but any impact it might have is undermined by the sheer bleating pointlessness of a line like 'Mister policeman, can you help me find my gal?'.

All in all, after a few plays I began to wonder whether Dylan had positioned the album's opening track, 'Beyond Here Lies Nothin'', as a warning to the listener, to expect precisely … nothing. Should future listenings sooner or later honour any of the tracks as redeeming this album's lyrical blight, I might just about hand a nickel or a dime to 'Forgetful Heart' and, perhaps, 'This Dream of You'. In both, we find a sliver of intertextuality interacting with some just-about rescuable writing. In the first, the lines 'Forgetful heart / like a walking shadow in my brain / All night long / I lay awake and listen to the sound of pain' recall both Shakespeare's Macbeth ('Life's but a walking shadow') and the Edgar Allan Poe of 'The Raven', and the song also has a Kafkaesque door that may never have existed; the second offers, again, Poe-like imagery - 'shadows ... on the wall / Shadows that seem to know it all'. In these two tracks, there is, perhaps, a faint flickering of the old 'flames in the furnace of desire' - and yet, and yet, surely at this stage in Dylan's career, could we not have been given a bit more to reflect on than whether or not this album is up to the standard of ... well, of NASHVILLE SKYLINE?!! Bob, whatever colours you have in your mind, couldn't you have shown us one or two more of them on this record?

Related Links:

Bob Dylan en Peru - Facebook

Bob Dylan in Huaraz - Video

2009-06-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt of the big Dylan party in the Café Andino in Huaraz, Perú the past may 24th . An unforgettable moment between friends and that points out not only to the warmness of the people from Huaraz but the great preference for the work of the master Dylan.

In this take, Adam Christopher Benway sings "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", with Richard Colonia in the keyboard and Sebastián Olaza with Connor Lamphier in the guitars.

Enjoy.

Spanish Version

An Unforgettable Party

2009-06-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Spanish version

Querococha lake with the White Mountains in the backgrounds.

Writing, writing… I have to put in form of letters, words, what my travel to the north was, from the coast’s gray skies where the amount of cement just get lost, the thick and savage fog, the car’s horns, the hurry, the cold, the stress of the city, until the Andes’ mountains whose picks touch the blue skies, surrounded by flakes of cotton from time to time: clouds-flakes of unique whiteness and the shine sun, happy, shinning over the Santa river, to whose waters my grandparents, their parents, and their parent’s parents sang.

And the Huascaran Mountain, the most beautiful of all the mountains, vigilant and silent like a god watching us to come from the snake-road. The eight hours of travel finishes and Ysa receives me in the bus station with the warmness that only in Huaraz I will find and that I almost had forgotten.

Down, the bar side from the Café Andino.

Huaraz is a bustle, its people goes from one side to other but not like in the capital of Peru; their faces are happy, relaxed. They laugh, talk, doesn’t have any hurry. And Querococha, the Conchucos “alley” (long and narrow space between mountains) and the Chavín ruins, the rising road to Wilcahuain until the beautiful lodge of Wayne and Diana, the delicious “caldo de cabeza” (head’s soup) of the morning in the market of Huaraz, the visit to Anta, my lovely granny’s town, which I always wanted to know; they are some of the previous destinations to the big day, may 24th, in the Café Andino, ,where my host Ysa, her brother in law Julio, A.C., Chris,

Richard Colonia in a

musical ecstasy

Connor, Sebastián, Dylan and the inmense Richard Colonia… all the new friends that i’m meeting little by little, conspire to the great Bob Dylan hommage.

That special night, the coffee looks full, an unexpected fullness; people from everywhere are there expectant, "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" sounds in the speakers while the equipments upstairs, in the reserved space for the stage, wait the last tunings.

I ask for a beer.

Suddenly, the voice of Richard summon us he mades the presentation and then sings "Blowin In the Wind". There are a big silence, everyone is listening attentely… I am not the exception, there, lost in the bar side among the people who fill it. Jake DeBerry, volunteer of the Peace Corps, continues, singing a surrealistic version of de “Masters of War”.

Connor Lamphier

A soft voice, an angelic face sided by black curles and a thin body appears to take the next turn: is Connor Lamphier, and almost-encarnation of that shy Robert Zimmerman who went to the Greenwich Village to make his first steps in the 60’s. And "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" was what he sang.

In the next session, a kid came to the stage and took his violin, he was Adam Christopher Benway, A.C. to the friends, who made a spectacular performance, surrounded by his violin professor, Richard in the vocals, and Sebastián Olaza in the guitar, of the intense "One More Cup of Coffee". The people was amazed because of his professionalism and applauded hard for a while.

A.C. Benway singing "Knocking on Heaven's door".

But that was not all what A.C. had prepared for us, he took the micro and sang "Knockin' on Heaven's door" so tender and nicely at the same time that he had all of us in his hand. I could not believe and the ecstasy came when he asked us in his perfect English "sing with me"...... in other part of the song they sag the chorus that was the one of the whole night … ... "happy birthday uncle Bob", and everyone sang together.

Then was the turn of Wayne Lamphier from Lazy Dog Inn, who brought a very feeling version of "Girl of the North County" . Delicious. Sebastián played with him with a very lyric riffs , that turn into song time after, when this boy dedicated us "Just Like a Woman" with a stunning quality. Downstairs the people was already dancing, it was incredible… the party was in its top and, among them, a guy from Spain just danced like a restless snake...

Down, the Dylan party at the top time.

"Forever Young" came from Richard's hands and company and then, after all who sang with them, from the benches from the bar, the comfortable sofas next to the firing chemnee , the stairs until the crowded railing and the chairs and tables from upstairs who surrounded the stage, to whom everyone was looking like seeing a vision The harmonica touches of the ex Turmanyé were spectaculars and with the eyes closed and lot of passion, Richard took out the best notes. A real master.

And thanks to the public askings, the promoter of the show , to the stage, the second woman Dylan fan of Peru that I know and the best person , Ysabel Meza, went upstairs to take the micro and lead singing "My Back Pages"... the strophes fblew from voice to voice with all the participants in the stage remembering that magnific collective version sang in the 30° Anniversary Concert... precious hymn of that night and now ours...

Down the party continued, up, Richard sang us "Like a Rolling Stone", down the rolling stones enjoyed; in some place of the world, the tributed man was also singing ...

Ysabel and Dylan Mateo.

And then it was my turn. Yes, I was out of the schedule, i mean, I was only behind the curtains but, suddenly I was on the stage thanks to the Richard asking and sang that Hymn called "Forever Young", with everyone and surrounded by unexpected environment so compromised and total that I'd like to feel in Lima also; the nerves, the doubts, my past city-life of fog and behind a desk left behind ... the Dylan party in the mountains of Peru did'nt finish, was barely starting , and I sang with all my forces.

The souvenir of the Dylan Bash

I will never forget those four days in that I could breathe the most fresh air, in that i had the cjance of meeting a wonderful, warm people: starting with Ysabel, her husband and their bewautiful children: A.C. y Dylan Mateo; Richard Colonia, Julio Olaza and his wife, Sebastián, Felix the mountain guide and his girlfriend Jocelyn, the admirables Wayne y Diana, Connor, Sebastían, the China, the girl who attended us in the bar... now to write, to puta in this ecran of pixels is not so hard to me, now, even words are missing to continue and whis that this Dylan reunion in the mountains happens once more...

Bob Dylan in Huaraz

2009-05-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Poster of the Dylan event in Huaraz-Peru.

Spanish translation

The title of this post is not wothout a purpose, and for my happiness, it contradicts what I was believing from decades: that only 4 or 5 people were the ones who knew about the music of Bob Dylan here in Lima, and that, with one or two exceptions, the rest of Peru were territories where the work of our great trovadour hasn’t reached to captivate their people, like it did here, with us.

But, as the title says, Dylan will be in Huaraz, in the spirit of the organizers and participants in an event that will celebrate not only his birthday but the issue of Together Through Life. And Café Andino, the very well known restaurant run by Ysabel Meza (new Bob Dylan Club Peru member, to whom I will be pleased to know that day) will be the place where the reunion homage will be. Now, I post the program reserved to the big day, may 24^th. All of us are invited.

***BOB DYLAN BIRTHDAY BASH***

May 24th 2009

Café Andino, with a lot of enthusiasm and energy is establishing a tradition, to celebrate one year more of life of the great composer, poet, and musician, Bob Dylan.

People who were here last year, enjoyed the experienced of being together children, young and adults, all together because of the music of this great man.

It was a very funny and special night for those ones who were there.

This year we hope the same, and more, and I say more, because, with the last uncle Bob’s issue, we have double reason to celebrate.

Richard Colonia is the man in charge of the musical part. He is a musician with a great history, and founder of the rock band Turmanyé. Richard was born in Huaraz and from his teen years he has played and composed songs against boredom and conformism.

He is still on the road and is singing to human unfairness, nature, to friends who leave home without saying good bye, he has cried in silence for the friends who stayed lost in the mountains; he has broke for illusions who wanted to take his heart out, and for feelings unfinished; enough reasons for he to feel forced to take his guitar this may 24^th and breake its cords and scream more than ever Like a Rolling Stone, Knockin´ on Heaves Door, Just Like a Woman, I Want You, One More Cup of Coffee, Mississippi, Rainy Day Women... and other gems from our great prophet.

Another artwork from the Dylan Bash.

Date: may 24th

Hour: 7.30 pm

Place: Café Andino, Lucar y Torre Nº 53, 3rd floor, Huaraz - Perú.

Friends participants:

Sebastian Olaza (14 years): young passionated musician who explores the musical world with his guitar.

Adam Benway (7 years):Last year he surprised us singing Blowin' in the Wind. He continues with his classes of violin and guitar.

Connor Lamphier (Canada): he has lived the last months near the mountains, taking care of the greenhouse Lazy Dog Inn… and in the meantime he plays his guitar.

Jake DeBerry: Café Andino’s friend and volunteer of the Peace Corp.

Special Invited:

Wayne Lamphier

Aknowledgments:

Ysa (in love with Bob J), Chris, A.C. & Dylan : Owners of Café Andino.

Tito Olaza, owner of the hostel OLAZAS B&B, he collaborates with the design of the T-shirts and posters.

Richard Colonia, founder of the band Turmanyé and in charge of the musical coordination.

By: Julio Olaza

Good rock –n- Roll fan and expert in bycicle- tours in the Cordillera Blanca y Cordillera Negra.

R.E.M. in Lima

2009-03-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

Spanish version

The title of this post meant for lots of people -and, until the last moment- an impossible. And it was not a lie. Even though some good things had occured (like the reduction of the taxes for musical events and the visit, among others, of a legend like Roger Waters in march 2007) this facts should make make us feel that the miracle would occure, and the skepticals waited the "the tickets will be returned" or "cancelled" announces.

But it happened. The band, leaded by the inmense Michael Stipe rubbed their hands and even announced their presence in an interview that made for a local Tv station weeks before the great day: noviember 14th.

And after that, they started with the South American tour and came to this discret but noisy city of Lima that have not only cumbia or local music lovers. It also knows about the universal genres. 40 thousend people can scream it again if theyre called to José Díaz stadium.

Here there are two videos, one of the another great band like Travis who make us enjoy the show with its melancholic touch; like "Sing" . The other vid, from R.E.M. and one of my favorites "The one I love". Disfrútenlas:

"Sing"

"The one I love"

R.E.M. will give a concert in Lima

2008-09-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Spanish version

A great new have just came and we are happy to announce here in our web: the american rock band R.E.M. has included Peru in his fall tour 2008.

Their official web site has set that they are added some more cities in their south american tour, which will start on october 24th in Dallas and will include also Mexico D.F., Bogota, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile.

Peru will recieve the rock group leaded by Michael Stipe on november 14th at Jockey Club del Peru.

Here the tour schedule:

October 24th: Dallas, Nokia Theatre (with Old 97s)
October 26th: New Orleans Voodoo Festival
October 29th: Bogota, Colombia, Parque Simon Bolivar
November 1st: Buenos Aires, Argentina, Club Ciudad BA
November 3rd: Santiago, Chile, Movistar Arena
November 4th: Santiago, Chile, Movistar Arena
November 6th: Porto Alegre, Brazil, Zequinha Stadium
November 8th: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Arena
November 10th: Sao Paulo, Brazil, Via Funchai
November 11th: Sao Paulo, Brazil, Via Funchai
November 14th: Lima, Peru, Jockey Club Del Peru
November 16th: Caracas, Venezuela, Caracas Festival
November 18th: Mexico City, Auditorio National

Related links:

R.E.M. official webpage

My Dylan Chronicle in a Spanish Magazine

2008-09-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

Desolation Post web page. In the item number 17 my chrinicle appears
(click on the imagen to see in detail).

Spanish version

This is not a recent new, but, anyways, I would like to share it with you. My chronicle about my first Dylan concert, "Chronicle of an Announced Dream" has been issued in Desolation Post, one of the most important Dylan magazines in Spain.

Although the article was written to share my experiences with Bob "face to face", live (my dream that came true) it was created also to point ouit that Im not the only one. There are thousands of good music fans here, some of then that like to mantain annonymous, but most of them just "behind the stage"; all of them with knowledgment and preferences appreciables about rock, jazz, blues or even classic music. And lots of them, like me, took up the packages that time, to fly to Buenos Aires and not to miss that only one chance for us, who are in this part of the world.

I'd like to thanks to the managers of Desolation Post for this chance of publish my work and to spread it. You can read my chronicle just clicking here.

Martin Scorsese 's Shine a Light Trailer

2008-09-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

¿You are not still decided to see the last Scorsese's movie? well, now you can see the Shine a Light's trailer, an advance of this revealing documentary that is now on theathers of Lima. The director of Raging Bull and The Departed show us with masterfully, the magic of this four riders of the Apocalypse...

The Scorsese's Rolling Stone

2008-09-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

Scorsese and the Stones. (*)

It is not a secret to anyone that one album of The Rolling Stones will be always near Martin Scorsese's stereo, and in his CD case, some of them (or all) will have a preferent place. If not, you can wonder how many times it is possible to hear "Guimme Shelter" in his movies (for example in Casino or in Goodfellas).

And his golden dream of catching in the ecran the magic that these four long-heired men have spreaded on stages, was done where they accepted to be part of Shine a Light, a documentary, or a silent work under the shadows of the musicians, who over, behind the stage, or in the studio, get naked, nearly unexpectedly. The Beacon Theatre in Manhattan is the place where all the power of the band concentrated, in two prerformances that they gave, together with guests like Buddy Guy and Jack White, and not to forget Christina Aguilera. All this to point out the importance and, after all, the permanence that these rebels of the humid and vibrant tonge have through generations.

And, this rockumentary is on theathers now. So, let's not miss it and enjoy that movie, because with the music of the Stones and the touch of Scorsese, the quality is guaranteed.

Related links:

Cine schedule
New in El Comercio (spanish)
Complete report in El País (spanish)

Image: Newspaper El País

A Dylan poem book will be issued

2008-08-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan and El Apostolado from El Greco. A Barry Feinstein photography.

Spanish version

The literary talent of Bob Dylan so claimed, discussed and even prized with a Pulitzer is widely accepted . And this time, we will have time to confirm and enjoy it. A book with 23 poems of his own, never published before, and that was in a drawer for more than 30 years, will be issued.

The poems that will be part of a photography book, were found by Barry Feinstein, a well known photographer in the music scene, who, while checking his archives and papers in his Woodstock home, found the poems with 75 photos.

In those years (60's), Feinstein encouraged Dylan to write notes for his photographs (that would be published soon in a book). The poems were born then.

The book will be issued next november with the title: “Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript.

Related Links:

Barry Feinstein, official web page
New In newspaper La República (spanish)
New York Times review

Soul songwriter Isaac Hayes dies

2008-08-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Spanish version

Once of the big voices of the soul has gone. Isaac Hayes whose baritone voice and enchantement was an important influence in the american music from the 70's on, was found dead in his home in Memphis, Tennesee.

His life was full of happy and desperated stories, however, his talent wrapped all, and, with the years accuired and an enough artistic maturity reached with them, he became the top voice of Stax Records, the music company who spreaded soul, funky and R&B, rythms, ignored for the "white" radio stations in the early times.

Otis Reading, Sam & Dave, Booker T & The MG's, The Staples, John Taylor are some of the names who are known below this company but, among all of them, Hayes used to shine with all his splendor.

For those one who don't know who is him even with these dates above, we can point iut also that Hayes was the voice for "Chef" the character in the irreverent cartoon South Park.

Here, in our Dylan window, as a sort of homage, we publish a video of the song that Hayes composed for the movie Shaft, with whom he would win an Academy Award for Best Song.

Dylan will issue new material in Tell Tale Signs

2008-08-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

The mytical songwriter gives to his avid fans, once again, new and interesting rarities, outtakes, and demos in his new issueTell Tale Signs, which will be in stores on october 7th.

Tell tale Signs will be part of his saga called The Bootleg Series; this one will be the Nº 8 of it and will appear in 3 formats:

1) 2 CDs featuring 27 songs plus a 60 page booklet with rare photos and in-depth notes by author Larry "Ratso" Sloman

2) As above plus Bonus CD with additional 13 live songs, plus 150 page deluxe photo book of Bob Dylan "singles" from around the world, plus 7" vinyl single of "Dreaming of You" and "Ring Them Bells" (the latter is a Bob Dylan Pre-Order Store Exclusive).

3) Four 180 gram vinyl LPs featuring 27 songs plus the 60-page booklet as above.

Here the track listings:

2CD Edition

Disc One
1. Mississippi 6:04 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
2. Most of the Time 3:46 (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
3. Dignity 2:09 (Piano demo, Oh Mercy)
4. Someday Baby 5:56 (Alternate version, Modern Times)
5. Red River Shore 7:36 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
6. Tell Ol' Bill 5:31 (Alternate version, North Country soundtrack)
7. Born in Time 4:10 (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
8. Can't Wait 5:45 (Alternate version, Time Out of Mind)
9. Everything is Broken 3:27 (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
10. Dreamin' of You 6:23 (Unreleased, Time Out Of Mind)
11. Huck's Tune 4:09 (From Lucky You soundtrack)
12. Marchin' to the City 6:36 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
13. High Water (For Charley Patton) 6:40 (Live, August 23, 2003,Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)

Disc Two
1. Mississippi 6:24 (Unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
2. 32-20 Blues 4:22 (Unreleased, World Gone Wrong)
3. Series of Dreams 6:27 (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
4. God Knows 3:12 (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
5. Can't Escape from You 5:22 (Unreleased, December 2005)
6. Dignity 5:25 (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
7. Ring Them Bells 4:59 (Live at The Supper Club, November 17, 1993,New York, NY
8. Cocaine Blues 5:30 (Live, August 24, 1997, Vienna, VA)
9. Ain't Talkin' 6:13 (Alternate version, Modern Times)
10. The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore 2:51 (Live, June 30, 1992,Dunkerque, France)
11. Lonesome Day Blues 7:37 (Live, February 1, 2002, Sunrise, FL)
12. Miss the Mississippi 3:20 (Unreleased, 1992)
13. The Lonesome River 3:04 (With Ralph Stanley, from the album Clinch Mountain Country)
14. 'Cross the Green Mountain 8:15 (From Gods and Generals Soundtrack)

Deluxe edition contains this extra cd and vinyl 7:

Disc Three (Deluxe Set Only)
1. Duncan & Brady 3:47 (Unreleased, 1992)
2. Cold Irons Bound 5:57 (Live at Bonnaroo, 2004)
3. Mississippi 6:24 (Unreleased version #3, Time Out of Mind)
4. Most of the Time 5:10 (Alternate version #2, Oh Mercy)
5. Ring Them Bells 3:18 (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
6. Things Have Changed 5:32 (Live, June 15, 2000, Portland, OR)
7. Red River Shore 7:08 (Unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
8. Born in Time 4:19 (Unreleased version #2, Oh Mercy)
9. Tryin' to Get to Heaven 5:10 (Live, October 5, 2000, London,England)
10. Marchin' to the City 3:39 (Unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
11. Can't Wait 7:24 (Alternate version #2, Time Out of Mind)
12. Mary and the Soldier 4:23 (Unreleased, World Gone Wrong)

7" Vinyl (BobDylan.com Exclusive)
1. Dreamin' of You 6:23 (Unreleased, Time Out Of Mind)
2. Ring Them Bells 4:59 (Live at The Supper Club, November 17, 1993,New York, NY

Now the golden question: Will it come to Peru? trying to be not so pesimistics, we believe that it can be hardly possibly that the 2 cd version can be brought, some months after the issue. But at least, and thanks to God, we have Internet and its lots of possibilities to get the album finally.

Joe Satriani in Lima

2008-08-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Spanish version

Lima, our little great city will see tonight (in some hours) the mytical guitarist Joe Satriani, considered one of the best musicians ever.

Satriani is not only a experimentalist that have given the best contribution to the genre of instrumental music based in guitar. He even have colaborated with the creation of some intruments in the eternal pursue of new sounds, like the Peavey JSX amp.

Many people consider his style like too much technical, or too much cold even but it cannot be denied the high quality of his arrangements in Surfing with the Alien (his best known album) nor the big influence he has left as inheritance in musicians that conform top bands in the heavy metal scene today like Metallica and Megadeth.

I will post videos of the great concert soon.

image: www.alconcierto.com

Help for Thomas

2008-07-31T07:04:00.001-07:00

After the tragic facts around Thomas's passing away, we are awared that he is not resting in peace yet, while the investigations continue through the Italian police department to find out really what happened, his body cant be given back to Germany where his relatives await. The repatriation cost is very expensive, so some friends are making a collection of money to support the family, via Paypal in the forum The Never Ending Pool. Here¡s the link:

The Never ending Pool, for Thomas, with a little help from my friends

The donnation button is on the left side, up in the top page of the thread.

A words for Thomas

2008-07-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

Go to Spanish version

Thomas in Rotterdam with other fans, 2005.

This morning, visiting, as always, the most popular web page about Bob Dylan, Expecting Rain, I was learned about a bad new, Thomas Eckhardt was passed away. He was gone to eternity doing what he loved the most: following Bob Dylan each time he used to go to Europe. Just when he was playing in Italy, a tragic car accident occured. This was two weeks ago. But from my corner here in Lima I wasnt awared but until today, in this cold winter morning of this month.

From his webcam.

I met Thomas via Internet in 2004 as far as I can remember, just when I was surfing through bobdylan.de. From this time on, we started to exchange emails , mails, postcards, pictures and any new about Bob Dylan Thomas was a real fanatic and he had'nt any doubt in put the backpack on and follow the Master each time when he crossed the sea in his Never Ending Tour, and he wasnt alone, Thomas used to do this with other people who, hypnotized by his music -like him- were the eternal Bob fans, his unconditionals.

Email from him

I used to envy him and dreamed of having the chance to see Dylan even one time. When I did it, in march, I wrote him an email with a link to this blog when I told everything about this experience. From this time I knew less about him. What was about him? is hard to know when thousands of kilometers separate a friend from you and life stuff doesn't allow you to be in touch as much as you wish. And I wasn't awared that Thomas, like a Quijote, was following the Master, once again in his european tour.

This time, however, God has called him to be at his side. I will miss the few lines he used to write (the email above is an exception), and about I complained always, the joy with which he told about each one of his adventures around Bob and his enthusiasm. And the email I wrote him two weeks ago will be not replied and it will remain only these sad words in this little blog remembering.

Rest in peace friend Thomas

Chronicle of an announced dream (complete)

2008-04-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Spanish version

This is the story of a dream that started one afternoon of January while chatting with a friend. A dream that turned into a crusade and that couldn’t fulfill its target, however, it was the impulse to grab the packages and to start the odyssey to reach it. And that target was called Bob Dylan.

The Great White Wonder, Mr. Tambourine Man, the Trovadour. Bob Dylan, the eternal roving traveler, who hangs around the world in an endless tour, since years ago. Never ending tour, the endless trip, that I used to follow from the screen of the cibercafe’s computers since 1995 and with my imagination only since 1990. They were other times: you had to wait 15 minutes to see a web page wide open, half an hour to load a picture and pay 5 soles (1.5 dollars) for one hour of Internet service; but I didn’t care, Internet was my window to the world and the only one way of knowing and having the trovadour a little bit closer in this part of the world.

Because only cities like Toulouse, Roma, Sevilla, Berlin, Kansas, Dallas, Toronto, Sapporo were part of Robert Allen Zimmerman’s visit calendar, a man who can be able of play a repertoire of songs in ten different ways; and that’s the transcendental part of his shows, the reason why there’s big demand of his fanatics who load and upload on Internet the audios, pictures and videos of each one of them, and, after all, the reason why the powerful validity and influence of this singer on the contemporary music is, stronger than ever.

But this side of the world seemed not to appear in the artist’s schedule. Except for furtive and amazing performances in Chile in1993, Argentina in 1998 (as an invited singer of The Rolling Stones), Mexico and Brazil; Peru seemed to be condemned to see Dylan and his Never Ending Tour from far away only. And from bad to worse, in those times when I was poor and undocumented, it would have been impossible to me even to dream of taking a plane immediately to reach my idol in some of these places.

But suddenly, in an afternoon of January 2008, everything changed. A friend from Germany gave me the new, via chat. Bob was planning a South American tour. I couldn’t believe it !!! Dylan would be close again ¡!! And there were no more words to say: I had to see him. It was now or never more.

Peru, once again was not part of this tour. And I started a media- campaign to make it know and ask shows managers to bring him here. And, although this project could not reach the results, this put over the top the fact that more people than those ten guys who form the Bob Dylan Club Peru from 2002, were thinking like me and wanted the same: to see Dylan live, to have a rock legend on stage, to be included in the world music maps. Lots of them wrote to me and supported my intention, lots of people who share with me the same taste in Dylan music, lyrics, everything.

And with those new energies, I decided to put in practice the quotation that says: if the mountain doesnt't come to Mahoma, Mahoma goes to the mountain. And this is what I would do.

I found for someone who can buy me the ticket to the show, I made a reservation for a plane ticket, opened up my money box, collected my coins from nowhere. I spent all january and february working so hard to achieve my goal. And, although Buenos Aires is a old known lady to me, anyways it was so nice to me to see it again with the musician on its stage. A good friend from this city accepted to buy me the ticket to the show and then, in that moment, I knew that all was done, for my happiness...

Second part

An antology night

Buenos Aires, march 14th, the airplane landed two hours and a half late and full of old men, women, cruing children full of handbags and packages. The exhaustion feeling was terrible and it was so hot, but the expectation matained me stood up like a tree. After having left the suitcases in the ruin-room i rented, I run to find the person who had my little treasure: my ticket to the concert of my life

Bob Dylan had performed brightly in Dallas, Guadalajara, México D:F. Sao Paulo, Rio and Santiago de Chile.The critics fell down under his enchantement, even though the master had a little bit serious with his public, cold even indifferent, but if, on the other side he gave us a high quality performance from the beginning to the end, we could forgive him all. And that was precisely that I commented with Lorena, the girl who carried in her bag my precious treasure, here in a mall in the zone called Liniers where we were killing the thirst with a very cold beer. Of course she withouth being a Dylan fan understood me: having crossed hundreds of kilometers to see Dylan live was a very high reason.

Now, with the ticket in hands, I couldn't sleep that night; the expectation was growing, I thought hardy if he opened up the show with Rainy day.... like in Mexico, if some daring girl would climb the stage to hug him, if he would do something bozarre, and the most important, if I would be close enough to see all this.

March 15th the big day. In front of the National Congress Javier was waiting for me; he was other one of the braves, from the Bob Dylan Cub Peru, who crossed South America to be in the show. Whit him and other friend, we would meet later, in a few hours, in Velez Sarsfield stadium to seeRobert Zimmerman and his howls, who changed the rock music in this late 50 years, live. It didn't matter what the rest of the world said about his voice, I loved his rough and tired yellings that made history.

Javier and me in the previous celebration to the Dylan concert.

Unforgettable Trovadour

Then continued Spirit On The Water; a discret sound of harmonic opened the song and , y you wasn't anymore in Velez Sarsfield,but in a little unknown Grenwich Village's coffee house, listening to an old bluesman between the shadowns and lights of a simple stage, giving smooth and elegants with his cavern voice, out of time. The organ solo and the guitar who showed up once more was so simple like absolute.

When everything was wrapped in a whisper, the pounding of drums announced Things Have Changed. That song is so appreciated by who writes this, and made Bob suddenly felt emboldened to run some small steps dance while playing the organ.

Then Dylan played Workingman's Blues # 2 with lyrical touches and moving us to the ground with lines such as "No man or woman knows / the time the sadness will come / In the dark I hear the night birds sing / I can hear the breathing the lover / I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the corridor / Sleep is like a temporary death ...

And almost without respite executed another great classic: Just like a woman.

He opened this song with a spectacular harmonica solo which left the audience without reaction. His voice twisted in a lamentreally deep and vibrant when he said "She makes love just like a woman" and then in the opening stanzas, all welcome, and I mean everyone in the stadium because the sound was a great echo.

El track just closed with another harmonica solo that meade me think in those old lyrics trovadours that hypnothysed with their verses ad turn the beloved one into inmortal. Unforgettable.

Honest with Me fue la siguiente. El público finalmente ya parecía enganchado, aunque conservaba sus modismos. No al loquerío ni a los gritos y silbidos destemplados. Y dejen cantar al Señor de la Pandereta. Y luego la ovación cerrada. Pero de pronto, todo se sumió de nuevo en un susurro. Bob empezó a cantarnos sobre lo ancestral, la vida y la muerte, la sabiduría que se acrecenta con la lucha... era When the Deal Goes Down; y de allí apareció otro gema: Highway 61 Revisited. Las notas que seguían a los coros me parecieron lúgubres pero sensuales a la vez, otra vez destacaba la primera guitarra soltando agudas sonatas que se interrumpían por silencios y luego volvían a sonar.

En Nettie More, ocurrió para mí, algo inpensado: a mitad de canción, el público empezó a aplaudir al compás de ella. Las ovaciones vinieron desde las tribunas y fueron seguidas por los espectadores de a pie, los que estabamos sentados y llegaron hasta los pies de Dylan quien inmutable, seguía cantando.

Summer Days venía perfectamente para el momento en que nos citábamos para ver a nuestro ídilo: una noche despejada y calurosa propia del fin del verano bonaerense, la luna brillando con todo su esplendor justo sobre el escenario, el viento que pasaba de cuando en cuando refrescándonos. Y los teclados del protagonista sonando alegres y vibrantes.

Like a Rolling Stone siguió, o apareció mas bien, como rodando, desparramándose desde el escenario hasta las butacas, pasando por el campo y entre las rendijas de las tarimas hasta el grass y luego subiendo hacia las tribunas. Nadie quedó a salvo de ella. Y aquellos embrujados ya como yo, se atrevían a cantarla y a sentirla vibrar dentro de nosotros. La performance estuvo brillante y la gente ovacionó al final de pie un buen rato.

Parecía el fin, las luces se apagaron. Pero yo sabía que eso no era todo, así que no me moví de mi asiento. A mi lado algunos comentaban las incidencias, otros compraban gaseosas, se levantaban, otros se iban. ¡Se iban ! no lo podía creer... ¿acaso no sabían que allí mismo vendría lo mejor? y claro que vino, porque ahí mismo las luces volvieron para el encore con Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again . Bob aparecía de nuevo sobrio e inmóvil frente al órgano pero ejecutando el tema con maestría junto a sus músicos que se lucieron esa noche y ante el público que se rendía y ya comenzaba a dejarse llevar, ya no se sentaron esta vez, todos de pie, continuaban con el show.

De pronto, veo delante de mí, a una rubia que lentamente comienza a avanzar por entre los pasillos formados por las filas de asientos. Todos, seguridad incluídos, mientras embelesadamente miraban al escenario, no notaron a la susodicha que atravesó el cordon que separaba la zona Vip con la Vip Gold (las primeras localidades). Entonces fue que decidí segurla, y para bien porque en un santiamén, estaba a 50 metros del escenario, junto a uno de los parlantes.

No lo podía ceer, era mi sueño hecho realidad, Bob super cerca de mí y esta vez pude verle hasta la expresión de su rostro, la franja blanca que adornaba los lados de su pantalón, sus rugosas manos arrancándole notas al órgano. Todos los de esa zona, estaban de pie, cantando y aplaudiendo ordenadamente. Un loco a mi delante era el único que bailaba. Yo lo seguí.

Luego de aquello, Dylan presentó a su banda, fue lo único que dijo al público en toda la noche, para luego deleitarnos con All Along the Watchtower. Una gigantesca banderola con el ya clásico logo Dylan del ojo servía de pared a los artistas.

Dylan cantaba y a ratos se acomodaba, ora poniendo un pie hacia atrás, ora el otro, ora reclinándose hacia un lado. Tras esta joya, tanto Bob como sus músicos se juntaron al frente como para hacer una venia respectiva, pero no se animó a decir palabra. Estuvieron casi un minuto contemplando el estadio en pleno, hasta que hicieron oídos del clamor y volvieron a sus lugares para regalarnos otro gran tema, un himno del rock llamado Blowin in the Wind. No tengo palabras para describir esa maravilla, simplemente véanla y disfrútenla.

El show terminaba y los presentes nos resistíamos a aceptarlo. Dylan y su banda, nuevamente al frente, miró a su público cautivo de lado a lado que de pie lo ovacionaba rabiosamente. Observó lentamente, primero a su derecha, luego al centro. Sus músicos murmuraban. De pronto se fijó en mi zona. Allí la gente aplaudía, silbaba y pedía más. Todos de pie, pero nadie sobre las sillas ni haciendo más aspaviento que eso. Entonces yo comencé a dar saltos y a agitar los brazos, a llamarlo. Tenía un bolso de cartón en la mano donde estaba mi polo del show. Con éste, le hacía señas. ¿Acaso tenía alguna chance de ser vista entre los 10 mil o 15 mil asistentes?.

Sin embargo lo que a continuación diré no es un producto del delirio porque vi que Dylan detuvo una fracción de segundos su "paneo" visual que iba de vuelta al centro del escenario, para mirar de nuevo hacia mi zona, hacia mí. Era simplemente mi delirio. Y no había nadie más que yo saltando como loco, haciendo señas y descollando entre la multitud, me volteé luego para asegurarme de ello. Todos estaban solamente aplaudiendo.

Y así fue el final de una gran noche, una velada perfecta e inolvidable para quien vivía por primera vez una experiencia de esa naturaleza, y para quien haya tenido la suerte de repetirla, porque significó ver allí a un hombre discreto y sencillo de sombrero y traje frente a mí y saber que tienes frente a ti, al mismo tiempo, a quien revolucionó la música contemporánea, quien se atrevió a desafiar a los puristas en Newport con una guitarra eléctrica, quien fue el primero en atreverse a salir maquillado como un mimo en una gira multitudinaria, quien ganó el Principe de Asturias, y doctorados Honoris Causa en muchas Universidades del mundo, quien infuenció a los Beatles y a tantas otras figuras del rock, quien es nominado al premio Nobel desde hace más de diez años, y finalmente, quien es una leyenda viviente de la música que hizo historia.

A night that, no doubt about,I will never forget que nunca olvidaré.

Tickets on sale to Bob Dylan in Argentina and Chile

2008-01-24T06:01:00.001-08:00

The tickets to Bob Dylan shows in Argentina and Chile is already on sale. Theres no indications, until now, about how to buy them online, this operation can be done only inside their territories. Here the prices:

Chile ( San Carlos de Apoquindo Stadium)

Tickets on sale from tuesday january 22nd de with 20% off if yo u buy with Ripley Card, throug PuntoTicket system:

Platinum: $115.000 ($135.000)
Golden: $80.000 ($100.000)
Cancha: $20.000 ($30.000)
Tribuna Fundadores: $55.000 ($65.000)
Tribuna Campeones: $30.000 ($40.000)
Galería Norte: $15.000 ($18.000)

Argentina (Estadio Velez Sarsfield)

The tickets prices

campo vip 1 a 380 pesos,
campo vip 2 a 330 pesos,
campo vip 3 a 280 pesos,
platea baja preferencial a 220 pesos,
platea baja a 170 pesos,
platea alta a 90 pesos
general con acceso a campo a 75 pesos.

Petition letter

2008-01-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

This is a petition letter that we have spreading among our contact lists. It is necessary that we can disseminate it as much as we can. The list of poeple who have joint our project is also included in this post. We will join forces and wil attract the attention of the media if we collect more signatures.

PETITION: Bob Dylan in Peru – South American tour 2008

This letter pretend to spread a blog that reflects a petitory for Bob Dylan to come to Peru.

Bob Dylan in Peru
http://bob-dylan-in-peru.blogspot.com/

(Spanish version) Bob Dylan en Peru
http://www.bob-dylan-en-peru.blogspot.com/

As it is known, Bob will be on tour next february and Peru is one of the countries not included (as always) in the list of countries that will luckily will have the Master in their stages. Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Chile y México have already confirmed shows.

I know that who write this is a Dylan fan but I think that, achieving this goal through a blog, goes on besides a personal dream. If a big singer, band, painter or sport player with worldwide recognition thinks in doing a Latin American tour, the same countries will be the first ones in have him among them.

Peru is outside of the World cultural map from decades. With some great exceptions (Roger Waters, Yes, to mention some of them) always, who have visited us are outdated groups and out of routine. And not to say about those one-album-artists that sound so loud in poor radio stations, or that ones who issue one fashionable song that people will forget soon, but here will be always well received. They always get a place in our stages.

We have to change the story and to do something important that set our country in the Worldwide panorama. Let’s erase, through this Project, the idea they have about us like a delayed banana-country whose people lives inside ourselves running behind their own tails.

The blog is oponed and who wants to write about this topic can send me to my mails their reports, articles, chronicles, comment, Photo or videos and I will upload on it with its respective signature.

Also you can send me your complete name and location to make the signature list that will be distributed among the media to pay their attention about this cause (with copy to your contacts and to me).

My emails:
yo.carla@gmail.com
bob_dylan_club_peru@yahoo.com.mx

You can click in the “Demand it” button-link (at the bottom of the blog) where I have booked my asking and maybe through this way we can collect more signatures. And, if you disagree with this purpose, please only spread this request among your contacts.

Thanks for your time and hope your help

Sincerely

Carla Vanessa
Bob Dylan Club Peru
BOb Dylan en Peru
http://http/www.bob-dylan-en-peru.blogspot.com/"

Signature list

Hildebrando Perez - Lima
Christopher Rollason - Metz, Francia
Nancy Castro - Lima
Vladimir Terán - Lima
Carla Vanessa - Lima
Dennis Dávila - Lima
José Gaillard - Lima
Martin Santivañez Lima
Iván Barrionuevo - Lima
Guillermo Ramírez - Lima
Renato Odar- Lima
Javier Jaramillo - Lima
Miguel Avalos - Lima
Olga Infantes - Lima
Rosalyn Polanco - Lima
Oliver Batz-Alemania
Quique Max - USA
Omar Becerra - Lima
Yris Aréstegui - Lima
Gian Carlo Mantilla - Lima
Bernardi Bringas
Paul Saavedra -Lima
Sandro Medina - Lima
Maria Del Carmen de De Gorbitz
Luis Alberto De Gobitz
Karl Erik Andersen - Noruega
Thomas Eckhardt - Alemania
Livio Pastorino - Lima
Javier Rubio del Valle - Lima
Alberto Vásquez Encalada - Lima

PD: plus 21 people who visited the Demand it page.

The taxes barrier

2008-01-23T10:53:00.000-08:00

María Iribarne

A topic that was on top long time ago, and was the central point in Peruvian media lately, is about the taxes that is applied to all shows considered non cultural or non artistic.

This charges was so varied and so expensives, compared to other countries, that they represented an important barrier when someone wanted to organize a mega-show in our country.

It is known that city hall governments of Peru used to collect for these shows (which were considered as “any cultural interest-events”, and, therefore, they were affected with taxes) 15% of the total collecting, plus the so called “Impuesto a la renta” (income tax) for all artist who doesn`t live here (30%), also, the Peruvian Association of Authors and Composers (APDAYC for its initials in Spanish) collects a percentage for the copyright (6%).

Its also included 19% for the selling tax (Impuesto General a las Ventas) and this kind of megashows doesn’t escape of it (but folk concerts does, for example).

Actually and thanks to a law project created and impulsed for the congress-woman Luciana León, the city hall tax was eliminated and the incoming tax was reduced to 15%.

There is no doubt that her idea had a lot of acceptance, and have had had a happy history that contrasted the idea that people don’t enjoy the big shows while the rest of the world does. And here, there are some examples: Börk, Toto and Soda Stereo (this last band from Argentina) performed in Lima in December 2007. Also, we can mention the big amount of people (more than 10 000 souls) that filled the Monumental arena for the wonderful show that Roger Waters gave in march 2007.

However, beside all this auspicious causes that could change the cultural scenary of Peru, it is mandatory that the State, through its cultural institutions, promote this kind of shows. And there was a big step done: the president García, in December, stated in favor of this kind of shows and the reduction of the taxes; but beside this, it is necessary the promotion of our country as a cultural showcase, as a country where people enjoy and understand the importance of this events that enrich the way of thinking of a community who share it.

And finally, understand that rock music is inside in the category of cultural interest – shows, as much as ballet or classical music. Rock music is not seen anymore like a hippies and hobos and delinquent – music in any part of the world.

As the musician Gerardo Manuel said, rock is culture. And who is not able to accept this undeniable truth is, definetly out of time.

Related Links
Falta de infraestructura impide realización de grandes eventos (Spanish - Diario El Comercio)¿Por qué los grandes grupos de rock no llegan al Perú? (Spanish - Diario El Comercio)
Apdayc culpa a municipios por altos impuestos a espectáculos (Spanish - Diario Correo)
Congreso peruano aprobó rebaja de impuestos a los espectáculos no deportivos (Spanish - Diario La República)

The Ignored Peru

2008-01-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

Errased from the artistic and musical map, here it is a resumé about who pass only next to us

Carla Vanessa

For a reason or another, or maybe for the same reason (we are not business place for big artists) Peru is always outside of the cultural map of the world. When an important singer or band looks to South America to plan a visit, they only see Mexico, Argentina, Brasil and sometimes Chile, like possible places to perform. Curiously the countries who form the Andian region are put aside.

Here is a list of artist / groups who have come only nex to Peru. Maybe you, dear readers, can complete it:

U2 (and with an embarrassing story ; the showed in their big screens, in a concert in Buenos Aires, a list with all south American countries, with their flags and all, except Peru)

Paul Mc Cartney
Queen
Coldplay
Rod Stewart (he cancelled at last minute)
Michael Jackson (personally i hate his music but I include him because he represent the pop music and culture of the 80s – also cancelled at last minute)The Rolling Stones
Bob Dylan (He came to Chile in a anti – Pinochet concert in 1993, in a Rolling Stone tour as invited artist in Buenos Aires, 1998m and If my memory doesn’t fail me, performed in a Rock in Rio concert).

And more names will follow….

Why Peru can’t have Bob Dylan in concert?

2008-01-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

Iván Barrionuevo L.

Bob Dylan the great american songwiter has trascended the limits of the music. Nominated to the Nobel Prize of Literature and winner of Principe de Asturias Prize, Dylan has mixed song and poetry in a masterpiece that determinate the sentimental education of millions of people. Also he has been a reflex of a spirit of an era that looks for the answers in the wind.

Dylan is not only a musician and songwirte but a poet and writer and his lyrics became in a catalyzer of the social concerns of America in the 60s and was crownded as one of the referents of the pop culture in the last fifty years.

Bob Dylan will start a south American tour and Peru can’t miss that chance. The fans of Bob Dylan in Peru are more than thousands of people. The point is that, this people have a good cultural formation, lots of them are opinión leaders and selective with their musical choices.I t’s true that Bob Dylan is not a massive artist here, but he can gather a lot of people who will be ready to pay even to hear some words from him. Let’s not forget that he is a living legend of the folk rock.

We won’t have another Dylan and maybe

Peru

won’t have another chance to have him in our stages, singing and playing his wonderful lyrics: God hear to us and bring us the great Bob

Shalom.