Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
As Mercury comes out of retrograde, Valentine’s Day weekend finds itself tripping over the realization that today is Friday the 13th.
I would describe the week as chaotic—there was a lot happening this past week in LA. Despite the small window of free time, I couldn’t resist fumbling through my record crates. As usual, I looked toward my record collection for clarity on the course of recent events. My truth is that music is the vehicle by which I understand the world. In my mind, it’s to satisfy a thirst.
It’s been a long road and it’s taken a lot of doing. These songs of mine I think of as a mystery play—the kind that Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. I think you could trace what I do back that far. They were on the fringes then, and I think they’re on the fringes now. And they sound like they’ve been traveling on hard ground.
It’s through these twenty or so songs that I am processing a moment that happened last Friday at LA’s annual MusiCares pre-Grammy gala. I witnessed Old Bobby Zimmerman take the stage and give an acceptance speech…
Hold on, did I really just experience forty minutes of the real Bob Dylan? Most of us in attendance were surprised that Bob even took to the stage. Stunned, all I could do was turn to the guy next to me. It was Don Was—”Dude, you just got name checked! Fucking Bob Dylan just said your name!”
As he continued Dylan read page upon page, reciting a number of songs like “Boots of Spanish Leather!” More name checks—deep cats like Big Bill Broonzy, Doc Pomus, LaVern Baker, and Sam Phillips. Dylan spoke of MusiCares and how they took care of an ill rockabilly legend named Billy Lee Riley. Did the man who birthed the “modern song” gave us moment of his real time? The beauty is, I could tell, and after a spell Bob left the stage.
It was the rock ‘n’ roll moment of the year, the decade, and this new millennium all wrapped into one. His parting words:
“Let’s hope we meet again sometime. And we will, if, like Hank Williams says, ‘the good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.'”
So, a lover’s playlist with that in mind.
The Idelic Hit of the Week:
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love
After 50 years, kids are still channeling Bob Dylan: young Hubert Chiasson of The Seasons.
