Grrr! Bob

This morning I am fumed with Dylan. Last fall, before 9/11, he was poised to release an autobiography in which he would launch yet another scathing attack on the current American ethos, materialism, pop culture or whatever. First, Dylan helped to create much of the current milieu in music by his sheer talent. In the 1960s, he was adopted by the protest-culture, and although he has proven flighty about his beliefs since then, he's generally held onto a vague sort of anti-establishment reputation. On reflection, however, Dylan's kvetching before 9/11 reminds me a bit of Revs. Robertson and Falwell saying that homosexuality and pornography brought the murder and mayhem upon NYC. What has he said since? Some goofball columnist writes about Hunter Thompson and Dylan getting together recently to be cynical about the current political scheme, and I am just struck with the hippie-dinosaurishness of it all. I suppose the Beatles were swept up in it to, although Lennon seemed to have moved on from those few years of radicalism to pragmatic home-life by the late 1970s. George is going to seem like the most Dylanish in retrospect: he too thought the world was falling apart. The new album "Brainwashed" will be coming in November - the title has a Chomskyan ring to it. The difference between Beatles on one hand and Dylan and Zappa on the other is one of temperament. It would cliche to say the British are more polite, or Americans more ironic and cruelly honest. Everybody's a hypocrite. Zappa and Dylan are so anti-commercial that they are supremely prolific on major labels, amassing great wealth selling lumps of celluloid. Oh well. Lately I've been finding some amazing vinyl. I've discovered rarely played obscurities from trombonists Urbie Green, William Russel Watrous (wha?), and Kai Winding (doing Beatles covers) in separate locations. Lots of prog on the playlist today: Strawbs and Yes members gone solo.