Michael Gray's Blog, page 17
February 7, 2013
BOB DYLAN & HIS NEW ORLEANS PAINTINGS IN MILAN
Bob Dylan visits his art exhibition (of the New Orleans Series of paintings) in Milan, with an absolutely thrilled mayor of the city. And the museum curator shows us the paintings:
February 6, 2013
QUAINTNESS OF THE RECENT PAST NO.26
Regent Street, London, 1960, during a 24-hour London rail strike.Once upon a time I had an Austin Somerset like the car in the middle of the shot. It was wonderful: bench front seat, column-change gearstick, handled like a boat.
February 4, 2013
BARRY BECKETT WOULD HAVE BEEN 70 TODAY
image c/o invaluable Dylan resource Searching For A GemKeyboards player Barry Beckett, so significant a figure on Dylan's Slow Train Coming and Saved albums, would have turned 70 today (February 4, 2013). Here is his entry in my Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, updated to include the details of his death:
Beckett, Barry [1943 - 2009]
Barry Beckett was born in Birmingham, Alabama on February 4, 1943. He started his musical life as a pianist for a dancing school, but moved on to become a keyboards session player and eventually a record producer. He first became involved with Rick Hall’s Fame studio, on a session for James & Bobby Purify, and then replaced SPOONER OLDHAM in the Muscle Shoals band. He co-produced Mel & Tim and his later production credits include work with JOAN BAEZ, Joe Cocker, Etta James, JOHN PRINE, Delbert McClinton, Alabama, the Staples Singers and McGUINN-Hillman.
Beckett was co-producing with JERRY WEXLER when, in 1979, Dylan called on Wexler to produce the Slow Train Coming sessions in the Muscle Shoals studio in Sheffield, Alabama. Beckett not only co-produced the album but played piano and organ throughout. He did not go on the road as a gospel tours musician behind Dylan, but he was back in the studio with him in February 1980 to co-produce, again with Wexler, the album Saved, on which he was replaced on keyboards by Spooner Oldham and TERRY YOUNG after the session of February 12, 1980 and so does not play on ‘Saving Grace’, ‘Pressing On’, ‘In The Garden’, ‘Are You Ready?’ or ‘Covenant Woman’, but does play on the album’s title track and on ‘Solid Rock’, ‘What Can I Do For You?’ and ‘Satisfied Mind’. On the album liner notes Beckett is billed as co-producer and as ‘special guest artist’.
In 1985 Beckett moved to Nashville, working with Warner Brothers’ A&R department before running an independent production company. He was also a partner in BTM Records. He never worked with Dylan again after the Saved sessions. He died of natural causes at home in Hendersonville TN on June 10, 2009. He was 66.
February 3, 2013
January 31, 2013
NEWS ON DYLAN DISCUSSION WEEKENDS!
Confirmed bookings have already been made by four people for the Bob Dylan Discussion Weekend here in France on April 12-14, announced just 12 days ago. This means there are now only places still available for either 1 couple or 1 individual.
Therefore Sarah and I are now adding in a second weekend, April 19-21, for which a maximum of six places are offered.
On previous weekends we have had guests from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, the USA, Canada and Australia. Feedback has been brilliant, as you can see from the webpage.
Anyone interested should get in touch as soon as possible. All details and booking procedure here.
Therefore Sarah and I are now adding in a second weekend, April 19-21, for which a maximum of six places are offered.
On previous weekends we have had guests from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, the USA, Canada and Australia. Feedback has been brilliant, as you can see from the webpage.
Anyone interested should get in touch as soon as possible. All details and booking procedure here.
January 30, 2013
MAP 10: THE ROLLING THUNDER REVUE TRAIL
This lovely map was created and drawn by
Thomas Cozzolino
, and drawn to my attention by the indefatigable Harold Lepidus of
the Dylan Examiner
. You can download a 97MB tif file of the map from
here
.PS. For some reason, the Comments facility isn't working on this post today. Through my website Thomas Cozzolino has sent me this message: “Thank you for your the mention on your blog. A slight correction, however: I do not know the original artist; I saw a picture of Dylan with the map in the background (probably in the 80's). That began a long search for a copy. I finally found one (via an expectingrain.com post) - that was the low-res version posted by Patrick Leer. Here's what I did:
- printed Patrick's version on 22" x 33" plotter paper- traced each line, letter and dark area by hand- sent to a printing lab for high-res scanning and printing on canvas.I framed mine and posted the 100MB scan for the world to enjoy (and so that no one would ever have to trace 1 billion tiny line segments by hand :-) ... I would love to know who the original artist was.
If you could cite me as the contributor and perhaps ask the true artist to identify themselves, that would be fantastic - I could not take credit for creating something so wonderful. Thank you again - cheers!
P.S. I very much enjoyed reading Song & Dance Man III, many years ago.”
January 28, 2013
MAP 9: FICTIONAL MUSICAL STREETMAP
From Dorothy, the Studio c/o http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles..., with thanks to Jules Stone for tweeting this URL
QUAINTNESS OF THE RECENT PAST NO.26
The wonderful Ronnie Spector in her prime; photographer unknown, c/o tumbrJanuary 19, 2013
NEW BOB DYLAN DISCUSSION WEEKEND
Delighted to announce a first Dylan Discussion Weekend of 2013: this will be from Friday April 12 to Sunday April 14, at our home in Southwest France. A maximum of six places are available. Prices have not been raised since last year. Bookings have opened this afternoon. Full details here!
Painting of the house by Nancy Petley-Jones
Painting of the house by Nancy Petley-Jones
