Dear People,
I know, I know, I just called yesterday, but this is good, and so worth your time. Many of you will have *seen or read it already.
Here is a link to a transcription of an acceptance speech by Bob Dylan, from the LA Times. You will want to read it if you like Bob Dylan, if you sing, if you listen to or play music, if you make things, if you write, if you read, think, wonder, or ponder.
To sum up its key message, a few words from Elliott Perkins, who is on staff, here at the Dodo:
I think what [Dylan] said about playing songs and sharing songs contributing to writing songs [is] compelling. I mean, it's obvious to anyone who's ever made anything that there is a basis for the things, so it's not news, but the examples he gave were so clear that it was illuminating to read them.
I think that in contemporary discussions of art, particularly visual art, but writing also, there is a focus on originality, where Works of Art stake out a space that can't be shared. It is refreshing to hear someone of such obvious accomplishment and clear vision dismiss that, explicitly.
*
Years ago, here at the Dodo we followed the advice of a bumper sticker that one used to see regularly, and we killed our television. There is a television set in the house, but it lacks 'reception,' and it only plays what we permit it to: The occasional dvd or vhs tape.
PS
What did the newspaper tell? What did the television squall? They said: I'm troubled and I don't know why.
