Some remarks about some things

notes, investigations, digressions galore

Ted Burke

Ted Burke
Location
San Diego, California,
Birthday
July 15
Title
Bookseller, writer, musician
Bio
Bookseller, musician, writer and poet living and working in San Diego, California. His writing has appeared in the San Diego Reader, Kicks, San Diego Door, Roadwork, Revolt in Style,and City Works.His poems have been included in the anthologies Small Rain: 8 poets from San Diego (1996,DG Wills Books),Ocean Hiway: eight poets in San Diego (1981,Wild Mustard Press) , and is the author of many chapbooks, including Hand Grenade, Open Every Window,No One Home and City Times,limited editions published by his own Old House Press.

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MAY 23, 2011 11:45PM

Fuck Dylan

Rate: 3 Flag
Bob Dylan is 70 years old, and I say so fucking what? It is time to stop worshipping this guy. I don't care how many good songs he's written, no one deserves the kind of sycophantic , unquestioning adoration this man has received. We are critical of all other things in our popular culture--rap music, Lady Gaga, name your pet annoyance--but Dylan gets a pass despite the over praise and reviewers over exposure. The molding heaps of cliches of what's already been written about Bob Dylan over the last give decades and ponder some as yet unremarked upon essence about the songwriter. What this was, though, was a bit of head scratching , a desperate attempt to force some enthusiasm for a subject while at the same time avoiding saying what everyone is painfully aware of: Dylan has had it as a live performer, and that his genius is something that is long ago, left in another generation's hey day. What this cliched-clogged "review" is saying, in essence, is that Dylan gathered a paycheck with little regard for presenting the music as his audience remembers it, and the faithful kissed his ring and gave him fresh roses. It's a sad thing that Dylan has become a professional celebrity. He has become a bore, and it's painful to read reviewers who insist that he hasn't. Enough. Fuck Dylan.

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way to gore the sacred cow man!! even bigger cows gored in my blog, wink
vzn
May 24, 2011 12:40 AM
Can't argue with the current state of affairs, still, the work he did in his heyday outshines 99% of the crap that passes for music today. Has he lost it? Of course he's 70 for crying out loud. Was he amazing? Yes. Time to retire? Long ago. I think he lost it about the time of "Long Train Running" .
bobbot
May 24, 2011 10:09 AM
I saw Dylan perform with Paul Simon several years ago. Paul Simon was incredible, low-key, so talented. Dylan looked out into the audience like he didn't know who we were, why we were there, or why we were looking at him. He forgot the words to All Along the Watchtower, and Paul Simon came out, unscripted, and finished it for him.
Jaime Franchi
May 24, 2011 10:31 AM
ok, done, give me another hero -
am common -
am a troll,
I need a hero to rock an roll

R~

rated for the graphic - looks like you did it yourself, it is good
Rolling
May 26, 2011 01:18 PM
If it's so painful why read them?
Matt Paust
May 26, 2011 01:23 PM
Dear Matt, it is ok - you do realize that he must read everything - we have to know everything bef we decide what we want or not want, we cannot possibly do that unless we have given everything a chance, so it is right that he read it all and then decided, he doesn't want any of it. I however, ask Ted Burke for an alternative :) Give us one.
Rolling
May 26, 2011 02:01 PM
The alternative is up to each of us, individually. It is one thing to have a hero while young because he or she sets an example of how to be your own person, apart from the creature comforts of conformity. This, however, should be the transition point where we discover our own interests, trust our own instincts and take the risks that are of our choosing; we should become our own heros. We should have grown up and embraced an interesting world of music and art quite beyond Dylan; we genuflect to him, however, even as we gain speed into our sixties. We cannot get over our youth , we have aged badly in some regards. Our worship of Dylan , for good or ill, becomes the same thing as claiming that Lyndon LaRouche is merely misunderstood. This strips Dylan of his true worth and makes him merely another dime store cult hero.
Ted Burke
June 14, 2011 03:03 AM
Yeah. And fuck Hank Williams too, while we're at it.
whirlwind
June 14, 2011 03:16 AM

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