HEAVY RAIN ON HIGHWAY 301

I left Statesboro yesterday morning to drive up to Athens GA. The rain was phenomenal for the first part  -  just when I had to run across the carpark from the lobby of the Baymont Hotel to my rented car about 70 yards away. Less than a minute, and under an umbrella, yet my shoes, socks, feet, and the lower part of my jeans and coat were absolutely drenched, and three hours' driving in the warm car still had me arriving in Athens with the coat distinctly damp. Just got to the horrible Athens Holiday Inn in time to turn around and get collected by Hugh Ruppersburg to do the soundcheck for my Bob Dylan & the Poetry of the Blues talk at the University of Georgia. Big place. Been before. Big audience, mostly students but also at least one couple in their 80s, I was told afterwards. It seemed to go down well. Good sound system, and a good large screen.

One of the people who came to the Dylan Discussion Event in Statesboro the previous evening, and who introduced himself afterwards, was Jack Sherman, long an LA-based studio sessionman who now lives in Savannah GA. He has worked with Barry Goldberg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Hiatt, Gerry Goffin and others, and played in the studio with Dylan at the time of Knocked Out Loaded. He's on 'They Killed Him' and the 'Freedom For The Stallion' outtakes. It was good to meet him.

STATESBORO SYNCHRONICITY

A great audience tonight at the Holiday Inn Statesboro GA for a sort of compressed version of a Bob Dylan Discussion Weekend  -  on the topic of Dylan & the Southern Musical Landscape  -  with much thanks to Professor Richard Flynn for compiling the music tracks we agreed upon, which ranged from the in-the-field footage of 'Only A Pawn In Their Game' to the "Love and Theft" recorded version of 'Mississippi'.

In a sports bar immediately afterwards, I was sitting over a glass of red wine when on the TV screen in front of me it said NEXT: KEVIN McHALE... What was the likelihood that two famous sons of Hibbing would pop their heads over this southern parapet within an hour of each other?

Kevin, you won't be surprised to learn, comports himself with a lot less cool than Bob.

CURLEY & SOLOMON & TOM WILSON TOO

More births and deaths to note:

Solomon Burke would have been 75 on March 21st (he was born in Philadelphia, 1936), the same day Leo Fender died 20 years ago, aged 81, in Fullerton CA.

Blind Willie's greatest musician-friend, Curley Weaver, was born in Covington GA 105 years ago on March 24: the same day of the year that Dylan record-producer Tom Wilson was born, in Waco TX, 80 years ago.

Blonde On Blonde (and more) musician Charlie McCoy turned 70 on March 28; he was born in Oakhill WV.

HAIL ON INTERSTATE 85

I'm in an airport hotel in Atlanta Georgia en route between the gigs I've done in Alabama & downtown Atlanta and those to come in Statesboro & Athens Georgia and then up on the east coast.

Last night they kept interrupting the TV programmes to give out tornado warnings for a patch about 18 miles southwest of here, and severe storm warnings all over. The weather stations were also reporting record-breaking hailstones, allegedly up to 4 inches across (bigger than your usual golfballs), that had fallen somewhere else, and showing pictures of I-85 South, not far from the patch I'd been driving on the day before, with the hail lying so deep it looked like several inches of snow.

I flew out here on Tuesday, and on Wednesday drove the 205 miles southwest to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to sit in on a Thursday morning World Music class, have a lunchtime chat & sandwiches with some interested students, and give a Bob Dylan & the Poetry of the Blues talk at the end of the afternoon. The academic who had been so keen to arrange my visit was away with a bad back, so I couldn't complain to him about his complete failure to read the info I'd sent him about it. He put me in a room with two walls filled with windows and no way to darken it, at a brilliantly sunlit time of day, so the film footage he might have noticed I'd be showing was near-invisible. The room also had the worst sound system I've ever been given anywhere. Which is saying something. It wasn't the fault of the poor woman who had to look after me all day in his place, nor of the students, who were terrific.

On Thursday I drove back to Atlanta, found my way to a very interesting arty/bohemian enclave very close to downtown, just off Highland Avenue (one of the places Blind Willie McTell had once lived), where in the old Stove Works on Krog Steet I was the second half of an evening about McTell, the first being Mark Miller's gospel trio performing some of Willie's gospel material, plus a live 'Statesboro Blues'. Fine guitar-work and a brilliant harmonica player.

Back on the road tomorrow, heading for Thomson GA and then Statesboro. Weather permitting.

BOB DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA GREATEST HITS CD

Although release date for the CD isn't till April 27, I'm pleased to say that it can now be ordered from my website (www.michaelgray.net). And here's the YouTube promo video:

The Leaves We Eat: Harvesting, Cooking, and Preserving Greens

Along with the few scattered days of sunshine come my cravings for anything fresh and green. Whether I am picking the last of my winter greens, with their characteristic sweetness from the cold, or just planting my spring lettuces, I just can't get enough of them. Greens were perhaps one of the last vegetables that I acquired a taste for (second only to beets), and now I eat them with most meals, sautéed in butter and folded into an omelet, or simply tossed with a few other ingredients into a salad.

Harvesting

There are 2 different ways: by cutting off the whole plant about 2 or 3 inches above the ground, and by picking only the outside leaves and leaving the center ones to develop. If you cut off chard, endive, lettuce, mustard, and spinach the first way, they'll grow back just like grass. But for collards, kale, and New Zealand spinach, you must do it the second way. Take those outer leaves by cutting with a scissors or snapping them off by hand. If you keep up with them, you'll keep the outer leaves tender. If they get ahead of you, the outer leaves are likely to get tough. In that case, give them to chickens, cows, etc., and go in an- other layer to get the now-tender ones.

Cooking

Which greens to eat cooked is really a matter of opinion. Some people eat anything and everything raw. Some greens you can eat raw at one stage or in small amounts, but at maturity (or over-maturity!) or in quantity you'll definitely want to cook them. An advantage of cooked greens is that you can preserve them by canning, freezing, or drying. To cook greens, first wash your leaves. Boil with or without salt. To add flavor, use water in which meat or vegetables have been cooked. Or serve buttered and peppered. Or with vinegar. Or season with bacon drippings, salt, and hot sauce. Mustard, kale, and turnip greens are specially good cooked in the water in which the meat has cooked and then served with the meat.

Preserving

Step-by-Step Greens Freezing

1. Wash off bugs and dust from leaves. Put a big pan of water on to boil. (I bring greens into the house by the 5-gal. bucket.)

2. Cut in lengths of about 21⁄2 inches.

3. Drop a load of greens into the boiling water. Let boil 3 minutes. (You can also blanch by steaming or even stir-frying!)

4. Scoop greens into a colander to drain. (I fish the greens out of the water using 2 potato mashers, the same way I do corn on the cob, one masher on each side.)

5. Hold under running cold water just long enough so that you can handle them. Or cool (immediately!) in ice water.

6. Pack in baggies, squeeze out most of the air, and fasten the neck with one of those little wires or tie it in a knot. Pack enough chard in the baggie for 1 meal for your family.

7. Immediately put in the freezer.

8. When you want to eat frozen greens, just turn out the frozen lump into a little water. Thaw and heat. Either butter them or serve them with vinegar.

Canning Loose-Leafed Greens.

It is safer and tastier to freeze greens than to can them. If you do can, you must use a pressure canner. Choose fresh, tender greens. Wash and cull out bad leaves. Remove tough stems and midribs. Make sure you have rinsed away all the dirt. Blanch by steaming, briefly boiling, or stir-frying until wilted. Loosely pack hot greens into hot jars. Optional: Add 1⁄4 t. salt per pint, 1⁄2 t. per quart. Pour over enough boiling water to cover, but leave 1 inch headspace. Process in pressure canner: pints 70 minutes, quarts 90 minutes. If using a weighted-gauge canner, set at 10 lb. pressure at 0-1,000 feet above sea level; at higher altitudes, set at 15 lb. If using a dial-gauge canner.

WEEK'S BIRTHS & DEATHS/FRED NEIL

The 16th saw the 105th birthday of Sleepy John Estes' mandolin & guitar player James 'Yank' Rachell; he was born in Sleepy's hometown of Brownsville Tennessee. It was also the 35th anniversary of the death of Arthur 'Baby Let's Play House' Gunter in Port Huron MI aged only 50.

The 16th would also have been the 75th birthday of Fred Neil. He was born in Cleveland Ohio and became one of the stalwarts of the folk revival scene in Greenwich Village. "Neil," as Dylan writes in Chronicles Volume One, "ran the daytimee show at the Wha?...was the MC of the room and the maestro in charge of all the entertainers. He couldn't have been nicer... he said I could play harmonica with him during his sets. I was ecstatic." Neil's own recollections made him an invaluable interviewee for David Hajdu's book Positively 4th Street, not least for his memories of Richard Farina.

As it happens, I was sent a CD in the post yesterday, a new album by the Newfoundland-based Superpickers! called Blues on the Ceiling. The title is that of a song by Fred Neil, and the album contains a fine version of it. The uncredited sleevenotes describe him as "the highly original and dark blues songwriter". He died in July 2001.

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the death of Tampa Red (in Chicago, aged 78). Dylan credits him with 'It Hurts Me Too' on Self Portrait and opened most of his great 1978 concerts with a song by Tampa Red: mainly 'Love With A Feeling' and 'She's Love Crazy' but occasionally 'But I Forgive Her' too. Michael Bloomfield knew Tampa Red  -  and describes visiting him in his memoir Me and Big Joe (1980). Finally  -  or rather, not, since this is not a death  -  Wyclef Jean has been shot in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during the presidential election campaign. On a 1998 track, 'Gone Till November', he sang the line "Gotta do some knockin' on heaven's door like Bob Dylan'. Dylan appears in the promo video. Wyclef Jean duly appears in the Mark Ronson 'Most Likely You Go Your Way' re-mix video.

NEW WEBSITE BUILT AND UP ONLINE AT LAST!

I'm very pleased to say that today has seen the launch of my website, www.michaelgray.net.

It won't replace this blog or my Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes blog -  though both can now be reached via the new site as well as by the traditional routes  -  but the aim of the website is to offer a solid body of material and information, actively maintained & developed; a way for people to contact me without having to log in to a blog to send a "Comment"; and, since my work is my living, a clear, consistent way of being able to offer my work for sale without having to post recurrent blogs about these things.

As ever, your views and suggestions are welcome.

Jumpstart Your Spring Garden with Transplants!

For all those serious about self-sufficient gardening, planting early and growing late-transplants are necessary. Plants such as green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and cabbage are great to start from seed and germinate indoors. Just start them about 2 months before transplanting.

Read on for Carla Emery's advice for starting transplants:

Sunshine: Start your seeds in the house or greenhouse rather than in a cloche or cold frame, because most seeds require much warmer soil to germinate than they need to grow. Inside you can give them ideal conditions in their tender early stages. They don't need much space. You can grow your transplants on a windowsill that's sunny at least part of the day. For more plants, make shelves across your window. Remove anything underneath that could be harmed by dripping water.

Water: You'll want to water the plants every other day or whenever they look dry. Several light waterings beat one big flood, which has a tendency to go right through, leaving the plant still dry.

Containers:

Milk Cartons?

Mary Ann Shepherd, Del Mar, CA, wrote me, "I use milk cartons as collars to blanch celery, around my new lettuce seedlings to discourage cutworms, and to start all sorts of cuttings (both flowers and vegetables) and seeds. For collars, cut off tops and bottoms. For all else, cut off tops (or open up) and use a tri-cornered beverage opener ('church key') to cut a drain hole on all four sides at the bottom (not in the bottom itself). When I go to transplant I slit the sides and bottom and plant the whole thing - the carton eventually disintegrates and you don't disturb the roots that way. My pine seedlings take about year to germinate and grow to about 4 inches tall, and they have lived happily in milk cartons for up to 2 years before I've transplanted them." Cardboard Boxes.

I sometimes start the plants in "seed flats" (for me, that means a cardboard box with dirt in the bottom) and then transplant to tin cans. If I don't get them out of there pretty fast, the bottoms get too soggy.

Cans.

Cans of any size are good. I like those big tins that canned hams come in, and gallon tins are great. You have to punch small holes in the bottom. Big containers of dirt are better than small ones. I use 1 plant to 1 soup can or peat pot once they are started in the seed flats, or about 6 to a ham can.

Peat Pots.

Plants in peat pots dry out fast and have to be watered every day. Set them out, pot and all, or you'll be breaking off roots that have grown right into the pot side. Tear off the part of the rim that's above ground to prevent it from acting as a wick and causing the plant to lose water. Other than that, and the fact you have to pay for them, peat pots are great. NOTE: Be sure to label each flat with the variety of plant in it.

When to Transplant? The best time to set transplants out is the beginning of a cloudy, rainy spell. Cabbage sets are hardy and can go out in the garden when you plant your green onions. But in my garden, if I plant too early I risk losing my plants to cutworms. A little later is perfect. Tomato sets can go to the garden when you're positive the frosts and near-frosts are over. Green pepper and eggplant sets should wait till the nights are not cold at all. Because plants I set out too early may be wiped out by cutworms or cold, I first set out a sampling and then wait a few days to see what happens.

DEAD HEAD

Owsley S & Jerry G

I'm sorry to report that, as the New York Times news report/obituary put it, "Owsley Stanley, Artisan of Acid", has died in a car crash in Australia. Their report maintains a fine tone of voice throughout, and is online here.

The MMO guide: The first point of contact for any type of query

Thinking on the gold is always important in the game of World of Warcraft. The Arena tactics and the leveling of builds as well as the raiding are really possible with the help of unified MMO wow guide for World of Warcraft. The secret is no more secret when you really go through the MMO guides. The secrets are revealed at each and every single class of MMO. The team of guild leaders, community moderators and professional gamers are doing the research to make at least 200 gold in a given time and it is possible very much with the support from the MMo guide. The mmogameguide.com is the only WoW website where you can find the wonderful secrets are reviled to get the most out of the game.

The MMO world of warcraft guide is the first point of contact for any type of query which comes from the game; this can also be posted in their forum for the better and different response. There are so many strategy available in the guide website and the best eighteen strategies are Leveling, Builds, Equipment, PVP, Raiding, Macros and add-ons, Character creation, Skills, Playing solo, Playing in groups, Class specific quests, Gold making.

ODDS & ENDS AGAIN

1. Change of time, and added venue & price details, for my event Searching for Blind Willie McTell at the Cúirt International Literature Festival in Galway, Ireland on April 16th:

TIME: 3pm

VENUE: The Druid Theatre, off Quay Street, Galway City

PRICE: €8 (€6 concessions)

2. Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Doc Pomus (of lung cancer, age 65) in NYC.

3. Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the birth of Elvis' great Sun Records drummer, D.J. Fontana, in Shreveport Louisiana, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lightnin' Hopkins in Centerville Texas.

Greatest way of making the personal blogging: Learn from Jodi

Life is always great if you have good partner, kids, brother or sisters, relatives and of course good friends. In this way we should make a diary to track what we have done so far and what is actually good to have. This kind of approach can easily followed by many in this world. I come across a wonderful blog which is nothing but the personal information about Jodi. She is really a good example for maintaining the personal blog. She is a mother for 2 kids and active member of MMC but still she shares the experience of her life every day. I love to be there in her site and wanted to follow the same. The important of being personal is such a wonderful things and Jodi’s blog is teaching me to maintain one such blog. Please have a look at it and be happy in like as like Jodi With My Life as Mama Jodi blog.

The art of travel and vocation details from myworld this moment

There are thousands of ten thousands of websites and blogs for the travel, vocation, leisure and travel destination but the ultimate help can only be achienved with the presence of the wonderful blog in the internet. Vocation walk is the wonderful blog for any kind of travel information that you are looking for. The blog is very simple but good design and the required information is very much visible and easy finding of information from the blog. The simplicity of the blog is really taken care in terms of putting the right font and placing ad and everything. This blog is really good for people who are looking for vacation,travel,hotel reservation,travel destination. My only concern for my visitor is that please visit once before giving the honest comment and see how it makes the real difference in travel and tourism area.

The Indonesian Arena

Are you looking for the good business purpose sites, marketing related sites to improve or boost your system of business? I have come across really a very useful Blog this is full hits business, marketing, article and opinion based in Indonesia. People may find huge number of blogs from Indonesia among all other blogs and website; I would recommend this blog for the shaped Indonesia opinion, Indonesia article and the Indonesian marketing. The complete package for people who are new can be availed here. It is not just a blog of data but it actually represents the best out of the Indonesia. Hope the changes in Indonesian blogging is really making big difference.

The extreme happiness is assured

Life is always personal and you cannot be open hundred percent. The personal topics are excellent ngracillaextremes.blogspot.com and it has lot of information for self improvement as well. It is really a great place to visit and can find good amount of information on various topics which includes personal, self development and attractive way of product reviews for people who want to create honest product reviews can easily use this to increase more income. The other important part is about the family and travel. The blog is really includes so many picture that are related to family and travel. I can approach this site as the complete package for learning and of course the joy of happiness is always touched and sensed in our hearts just by visiting the Extremes. Hope people can really make use of it and also feel the same enjoyment as like me.

The great Indian Republic

It is my great pleasure to introduce the Indian republic web blog for all the people who want to know the fact of India and what is the future for the India and to the world with the help of India. There is no doubt the Indian are the emerging world. They are the super power in the world and can change the world with the kind of attitude and knowledge that they have. They are not just play around within India but the kind of work they do is really giving the security for their future. It makes me proud to share this wonderful The Indian Republic web blog which share all that is part of India. It speaks about the history, it speaks about the myth, it speak about the India life, Indian culture and I would say that it is a blog that size is equal to Indian Encyclopedia.

MICHAEL GRAY SPRING TOUR, 2nd LEG: USA & IRELAND

Just a few extra bits of information coming through about this:

First, I'm pleased to say that at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on March 24, ahead of my Bob Dylan & the Poetry of the Blues event at the Gorgas Library at 5pm, I've been invited to sit in on that morning's World Music Class run by Dr. Jennifer Caputo, at 9.30am, to talk about Blind Willie McTell.

Second, an extra Searching For Blind Willie McTell date has now been confirmed for 7pm on March 25th, at the City Church Eastside in Atlanta. The address is: the Stove Works, 112 Krog Street NE, Suite 5, Atlanta 30307. This event also includes live performances of some of McTell's gospel songs by Mark Miller and his band. Details here.

Third, as suggested on the poster for the March 29 event in Statesboro GA, tickets ($35) are on sale at Georgia Southern University's Zach Henderson Library, at the Statesboro Holiday Inn and at the local Book & Cranny bookstore. This event, Throw My Troubles Out the Door: Bob Dylan & the Southern Musical Landscape, starts at 6.30pm at the Holiday Inn, Statesboro, and the ticket price covers the event (discussion with music led by me and GSU's Richard Flynn) plus two drinks plus a gourmet buffet.

Fourth, that at Connecticut College, New London CT in early April, in addition to delivering a version of my event Bob Dylan & the Poetry of the Blues at 4.30pm on April 4, I'll also be taking part in Janet Gezari's and Charles Hartman's Dylan class at 11.50am on April 5.

Fifth, at Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland, on April 13, the ticket prices have now been set, and tickets are on sale, for my Dylan event, which starts at the late-ish time of 8.30pm. Tickets are €12 (€10 concessions).

Lastly, I hope to publish the poster for these Irish dates soon. The venues for the Blind Willie McTell and Early Elvis dates are generating their own artwork.

For the full list of the gigs (now updated) see here.

BOB DYLAN DISGUISED AS HENRY ROLLINS

Henry Rollins, c/o www.streetteaminterviews.com

I've followed with keen interest the indefatigable research by Scott Warmuth and Ed Cook, tracing what 21st Century work by Bob Dylan is, er, not necessarily by Bob Dylan. We've had the archeology of Henry Timrod; we've had the plethora of works by Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and others smuggled into Chronicles Volume One (I commend Warmuth's excellent New Haven Review essay about this). And now most recently there's this discussion of what Dylan might be said to have mined from the prose works of HenryRollins: see Scott Warmuth's blog  -  not least as it affects that tremendous "Love and Theft" song/recording, 'Mississippi'.

But the thing surely is: these lines read better, and sound better, and manage to be so Dylanesque, coming from Dylan. Which is what he's so often achieved when he's reprocessed lines and phrases from old blues songs (as I've long been saying in my own work). This isn't meant as an adequate argument against all notions of plagiarism on Dylan's part: just as an observation about the Rollins-Dylan case.

Best place to buy and sell websites, business brokers, Internet business on sale tips

The internet has grown in ways people could never imagine. People can now do any kind of business with a website and reach people all over the world. The website is the first point of contact for many people who want have questions they need answered or a product they wish to purchase.

For this reason many people have an interest in owning an internet business. Some may follow this interest and create a website business, but their interest may be more in the design and starting of the website, and they may then choose to sell a website they have created. There are many internet businesses for sale. So if you are wishing to sell a website, what is the best way to do that?

One great option is the website websiteproperties [dot] com the site of an internet business broker group made up of internet entrepreneurs who have been in the business for over 10 years. This business broker service can list your website business for sale and also provide consultation and tips on selling your website and also any internet businesses for sale.

For information on the complete line of brokerage services available visit the website, websiteproperties.com.

Secrets of Getting the Most from a Small Garden

Although I grew up ten minutes from Seattle, I was fortunate enough that my parents had about four acres of land to plant and garden, not to mention the plant nursery next door and tracts of undeveloped land. We had space enough (and irrigation enough) that our only concern for planting was the sunlight needs of the plants. A patch of corn would easily be moved to the other end of the property the following season if it needed more light, the rabbit hutches were displaced by plum trees if needed, and we lost track of all the blackberries, apples, and strawberries that grew wild in neglected parts of the property.

Now, I have twenty square feet to grow a garden, half of it heavily shaded and a good portion on a street, and for the first time in the Northwest, I have run out of space. Luckily, Carla Emery knows how to get a small plot to produce to the maximum it can:

1. Make use of semishaded areas unsuitable for tomatoes or root vegetables by growing leafy vegetables like lettuce, chard, mustard, or endive there.

2. Don't overplant herbs. Two parsley or chive plants can quite likely produce all you need unless your family is large.

3. Avoid sprawling varieties. You can plant 6 rows of carrots, beets, or onions in the same square footage that one row of squash would take because squash simply will spread out all over the place, but root vegetables don't. So limit or refuse summer squash, winter squash, cucumbers, watermelons, muskmelons, cantaloupes, and corn, because they take more space than they're worth. Or use the recently developed compact "bush" kinds of melons, squash, cucumbers, and and pumpkins.

4. Consider interplanting so that fast-maturing vegetables use the space between slower-maturing ones that will later spread; for instance, plant radishes or lettuce between vine plants like squash or pumpkin. They mature so fast that you get a crop before the vines need that space.

5. Give preference to continuously bearing vegetables; for instance, choose chard over spinach, because spinach has a brief period of productivity but then is done for the whole summer. Chard will keep making harvest for you until frost kills it. Other continuous bearers are tomatoes, broccoli, kale, lima beans, squash of allsorts, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, chard, and Brussels sprouts.

6. Use wide-row and succession planting methods to give you the most vegetable productivity per square foot. For instance, peas have a relatively brief production season, but they produce heavily while they are at it, and then you can till up the ground they were in and plant something else. Succession planting works best with a long growing season, but in most places peas, lettuce, radishes, beets, and carrots mature quickly enough that you have time for a second crop if you plant as soon as the first is harvested.

7. Harvest daily in season. Broccoli, cucumbers, summer squash, beans, and chard, for example, will stop producing if they aren't harvested. But if you keep them faithfully and regularly harvested, then they keep producing and you maximize their production.

8. Encourage your garden to grow up rather than across: Try climbing beans (pole or runners) or cucumber strained to grow up something. Use a big vine such as runner beans, kiwi, or grapes to screen out an ugly area, make shade, or hang from a basket.

9. Plant tall crops such as corn or sunflowers on the north end of the garden so they don't shade other plants.

10. Practice deep watering; it allows you to plant closer together because the roots will go down instead of spreading sideways.

DYLAN IN CHINA

News from channelnewsasia.com (c/o Desolation Row Newsletter this morning):

 

SHANGHAI - American music legend Bob Dylan will play in China for the first time in his illustrious career in two April concerts timed to mark his 50 years as a performer, Beijing-based promoters said Friday. The news comes a year after a Taiwan promoter said its bid to take Dylan to China was scuttled after the Beijing government refused to approve shows by the writer of some of rock's most iconic and politically charged songs. Dylan, who will be 70 in May, will play in Beijing at the Workers' Gymnasium on April 6 and then hold a concert at the Shanghai Grand Stage in that city on April 8, promoters Gehua-LiveNation said in a statement.

"These Bob Dylan concerts are destined to be one of the year's major tours and a musical event of depth, grace and greatness," the promoters said. Tickets go on sale [this] week. Prices start at 280 yuan (US$42) and reach 1,961.411 yuan for VIP tickets. The amount represents the date of Dylan's first official New York gig, on April 11, 1961.

 

I love the idea of Dylan in the Workers' Gymnasium.

 

 

AN INTERVIEW WITH TEITUR, A FAVOURITE OF MINE

This is part of an interview with the brilliant young Faroese singer-songwriter Teitur, published on www.music-scan.de/infos/stories/details.php?id=1135. It starts by asking about his new album, which is called Let The Dog Drive Home. I think it might resonate with anyone interested in the possibilities of the medium Bob Dylan has worked in for so long.
 
Musicscan: Please tell me a little bit about how approached this album? Did you do anything differently than with your previous efforts?
Teitur: I wrote for two years and prepared arrangements with my friend Tróndur Bogason for the last few months before recording. The recording itself took only 10 days. I believe strongly that the recording process should be an execution - not a place where you search for something. That's why preparation is everything. You can't bring 30 people into a studio if you don't know what you are going to do. The album was also recorded in an environment where I feel at home, in Copenhagen. All my other records have been recorded in far away locations. Spain, California, London, and my previous record was recorded in an old princess estate on an island in the Baltic Sea. It was time to get comfortable.
Musicscan: Is there something like a larger theme running through the different songs on the album?
Teitur: Yes. Most of the songs are about letting go, about being small, about the fact that you cannot decide everything that happens in your life. I wanted to make a record that was generous and clear. Everything is tuned really well and there is always a solid pace in the songs that drives them, even though the pieces are slow and mid-tempo.  I wanted to make the opposite of intense. I wanted to make body & soul music. For the sake of it being healthy and not driven by fashion or a want to impress or being cool.
Musicscan: How did you grow and develop as an artist from your own perspective since your last album?
Teitur: I feel that I am not driven by fascination anymore, like one does when starting out. I'm older now. I would rather share what I know, say it clearly and give what I have and look forward. I am quite tired of music that is solely driven by the need to be different from others. I think that kind of music is more of a personal identity crisis more than it is great music or art. The best music is the music that only you can make and the song that only you can write. Not music that others have never done or music that tries really hard to be different, weird or cool. You can hear it and feel it immediately. That is pure shallowness and insecurity from an artistic perspective and it doesn't contribute much to the history and heart of music. I think I felt the need to be a bit provocative toward myself and make something that is as uncool and untrendy as West-Coast sounding music. I never think that I was trendy anyway. Why bother? I want to make music that still sounds good in 30 years.
Musicscan: What are you looking for in a song? How would you define something like a perfect song?
Teitur: You know when you are at a family dinner... And your dad tells that story at the dinner table that he's told 17 times. The story that everybody knows? And he'll happily tell it again. About the time when he met so and so - or about the time that this and that happened? That's one of his songs! That's his song, that's the one that only he can tell and write. It will communicate something important, about how he is as a person, about what he has learned, about how life is, about how things work, or something like that. You could take that story and easily accompany it with music. You could re-write it, make it better, shorter, longer, whatever. That's a perfect song for me. And I think that's how songs are naturally born. Not in a studio, from the sound of a keyboard or a guitar amp. That's not where songs should be born. Songs are born from the inside. You could play that song on a plate. No need to go to the studio with the Philharmonics. That's for the process after the song is written. That's for sound and arrangement, for taste, for the art of recording, for sound painting, for more dimension and storytelling. That's not the song. The song is neither words nor music, it's the story.
Musicscan: Is it necessary to create a certain distance between you and the music in order to get a better understanding of its inherent quality?
Teitur: I would actually think that connection would be better than distance. The more you know about the music the better. But you need to have perspective, so you're not just inside of a bubble. You must be able to look at the big picture. Sometimes a producer can help an artist or songwriter do that, sometimes not. Depending on the artist. I am all for collaboration. It's all about making the music as good as possible, like having a wine waiter in your restaurant. That's a good thing. But someone needs to have the eyes and imagination that overlooks the whole thing.
Musicscan: Where do you currently live? How has being from the Faroe Islands influenced your music?
Teitur: I have a small house in the country on the Faroe Islands where I wind down and I also rent a room in Copenhagen. I change between the two. I feel the need to be in familiar places after having traveled and learning about new cultures and societies for so long. I still travel a lot. I think the Faroes are very minimal. You know, the ocean is only blue and the hills are only green and there is only one kind of spider and one kind of ice-cream. But then you see 150 nuances of blue and green in one day and you know the exact taste of your ice-cream. That's minimalism for me.
Musicscan: Could you briefly describe the music and arts scene on the Faroe Islands? Are there any artists that you have collaborated with or that you admire?
Teitur: I like Orka and we sometimes work together. They build their own instruments. We just recorded a song at my house last week. I played a harp made from a satellite dish. Jens, the guy who formed Orka, started to make instruments in his father's barn, his father is a farmer and Jens likes to build things.
Musicscan: Do you think there are still genuinely new sounds to be discovered or can modern music basically be said to be a recombination of already existing forms and elements?
Teitur: Absolutely, new sounds and directions will always be discovered. There is no stopping that. Music is a part of nature. It's not like that's going to stop. I think that a lot of artist and genres in particular run out of ideas if their whole and only motivation is to make something new within their genre or perception... But new music has a life of it's own. Someone will always find it, sense it and make it more physical and bring it to life for others to experience.
Musicscan: What is the difference between art and entertainment in your opinion?
Teitur: I think you will find the answer in motivation. In asking why is this person doing this. Why has this been created....What is the drive behind this. Art is more about discovery and communication.

SOME RECENT BIRTHS & DEATHS

FEB 15: 20th anniversary of the death of Michael Bloomfield (in San Francisco CA, aged 37)

FEB 15: 115th anniversary of the birth of Kokomo Arnold (in Jonesboro GA, 1896)

FEB 16: 15th anniversary of the death of Brownie McGhee (in Oakland CA, aged 80)

FEB 18: 70th anniversary of the birth of David Blue (in Providence RI, 1941)

FEB 24: death of Suze Rotolo (in New York City, aged 67)

MAR 6: 75th birthday of Sylvia Vanderpool Robinson (of Mickey & Sylvia, and more; in NYC, 1936)

MAR 7: 20th anniversary of the death of Little Hat Jones (in Linden TX, aged 81)

BRANDEIS REVISITED

I'm very pleased to learn from Sony Legacy that Brandeis is going to be released as a 12" vinyl LP as well as on CD  -  and the LP will look exactly as it might have looked in 1963. As far as I'm concerned, this is good news.

THROW MY TROUBLES OUT THE DOOR

The March 29th event in Statesboro GA that has long been listed among my Spring Tour dates has re-shaped itself slightly, and been finalised now as this:

Spicy Marinated Bamboo Shoots and Other Grassy Ideas

Perhaps you've seen bamboo groves in the woods or in backyards in the Northwest; they're very popular in gardens. Growing up, my family always had a patch of bamboo on their property and every spring we would watch in amazement as the shoots would grow as much as 30 feet in the year. Of course, we used the bamboo for forts and other crafts, but it never occurred to us that we could eat the new shoots of bamboo asparagus style, raw in salads, or dunking them in a dip. This year, as spring gets closer, I'll be waiting to nab the little shoots to try them in a dinner dish.

For more information on the tastiest varieties of bamboo and more bamboo recipes, take a peek inside the Encyclopedia of Country Living.

Spicy Marinated Bamboo Shoots

Slice 1 lb. bamboo shoots. Cook (as for bitter shoots, if needed) until just tender. In blender (or with mortar/pestle), blend or mash together hot chili to taste, 4 cloves garlic, and 2 T. fresh cilantro or mint (different tastes, both good). Toss the bamboo shoots in the seasoning mix until coated. Then put them in a jar and cover with rice wine vinegar. This will keep several weeks in the fridge.

Using and Preserving Bamboo

Serve your boiled bamboo slices hot in stir-fry recipes or soups, or fry them in miso. Or serve cooked and then chilled, mixed into a potato or green salad. To freeze bamboo, bag slices (boiled if bitter) in plastic and freeze. To dry bamboo, boil the shoots 15 minutes, slice, salt, and dry.

Health Tips of the day

Are you really looking for the place where you can get the best tips for the health and as well as the nutrition tips. Today I come across a wonderful place that can give most number of health tips. The health tips and related articles are really working out wonderfully. I read some of the interesting topics from the blog such as the importance of garlic and the best exercises that can be covered in five minutes. It is also talks about some of the very good article for the changing need of the people like carpal syndrome and related info. It is the complete package of health related information. Some of the interesting things such as body maintenance, vegetable and its effects, etc. Overall this is the place for Good Health & You.

Online wealth guide review from the best place

Most of our life is going with the search of good and better wealth. The search will never end for many and it is of course the changing factor for more life in the world. Those who are looking for the good wealth guide it is the right place to get the reviews. The better reviews of the online wealth guide from this blog are really amazing and the people can stop searching for the good wealth. It is not only the online wealth guide reviews but also it is providing the information on the most promising products and the services in the wealth area and of course it is the place to make the good opportunity to make the money and honey online. So start proceeds the best ways to make money online by reading the reviews and get the most out of it.

8-Pound Preemie: The real experience guide for the people

The life is always crazy and I want to be happy with my growing age. I have always used to say that the child birth and the parental age is wonderful and it gives the maturity to the people. This is also can be traced back with the interesting blog 8poundpreemie. This blog is dedicated information sharing on various topics which are required for the parental requirements. The 8-Pound Preemie is great with hundred good posts. The very interesting hundred’s post is most promising to me. I love to read the most of the posts and also suggested to read the same.. Hope the experienced blog owner like the eight pound preemie is a great example ahead for us to learn more about the parental things. It is not just post but also the great experience.

My blog visit of the day: sweethestia

Life is always learning the new things but if you are not searching the new things then you are out dated and not fit for the world. As part of my searching I always go for the random blog and it is the day of sweethestia.ph blog. I love to look for more information from that blog. It is been a very good in design where as you can clearly get the information from the center of the page. The left side is also good looking the information about the other links and chat place as well.

I love to be there and it is updated every day. I have recalled my old post on cricket avatar and compared now with this post.. I have many things to learn in blogging with respect to how the blog owners are doing excellent blog. I love being in Sweethestia and hope you can too.

BOB'S BIRTHDAY, BRISTOL FASHION

Philadelphia Law Firm for the best services in personal injury cases

Personal injury, Auto Accidents, Truck Accident, Motorcycle Accidents, Medical Malpractice, Slip and Fall, Wrongful Deaths, Bankruptcy Law, Civil Litigation, Employment Law, Workmen's Compensation, Dog Bite Cases, Product Liability and more cases in every day that the people are struggling for. The Personal injury lawyers are really important to get the rights of each individual and they are the one who cares for people to get the money. There are so many agencies who can cheat the people in the hard times but people should always go for the right place as it is their life time issues. The best personal injury lawyers are very few and can be found only with Philadelphia Law Firm (www.mwsdlegal.com).

The Philadelphia law firm is really expert in any case when they going to handle for. They are practicing since 1994 and now they are 6 attorneys and 10 support staff to protect their clients. They are dealing for the clients in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Along with their affiliated law firm Weinstein & Associates is in New Jersey. Their effort and the consistent performance can be justified with the great honor of highest rating (AV) by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory

The law firm is working on a contingency fee basis. If you are not getting any benefit then the company will not charge anything to you and it means that you no need to pay anything from the own money but the same can be recovered from the insurance company. I don’t think the best can be more than this one in this world because the money place the vital role in any place but it is full of service oriented approach for the people. Hope the best is always available from the website www.mwsdlegal.com by Philadelphia law firm