In you, my friend, I find no blame
Wanna look in my eyes, please do
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you
All across the peaceful sacred fields
They will lay you low
They’ll break your horns and slash you with steel
I say it so it must be so
and O My Soul
thanks for the reminder
Bob Dylan does not need to play Omaha, Nebraska or Sioux City, Iowa. I don’t mean financially, though there’s that too. Even when you grant that he does still want to perform for people, he could just play a dozen big cities every year, do a short residency in each, and make the fans come to him. Many of his peers do some version of that. They ain’t gonna play Sioux City.
But he does play Omaha and Sioux City, not to mention Wichita and Topeka and Eau Claire and Peoria—all stops on this spring tour of what the music business would call “B and C markets” (no shots, I live in one too). He brings his music to the people, even the people very fair from any major cultural center. If everybody’s going, I wanted to go too.
For personal reasons too boring to explain, the “obvious” stops for me (Tulsa opening night, or somewhere closer to my hometown of Chicago) didn’t work, so I decided to pick somewhere random—“random” simply meaning somewhere I’d never been and might not have reason to visit otherwise (again, no shots)—and see, what is it like seeing Bob Dylan in the heartland in 2025? Omaha and Sioux City seemed like perfect options, two places I could use Dylan as an excuse to see. The fact that the theaters were both named the Orpheum seemed like a sign (though one is “Orpheum Theatre” and one is “Orpheum Theater”—how do they decide these things?).
Oh, and flights were cheap.
Bob Dylan has only played Sioux City twice before. By chance, I’ve written about both those shows. In 1994, he played a rare Blood in the Tracks three-pack. In 2001, he debuted “Floater (Too Much to Ask)” and high-fived the audience. 24 years later, he was back. And the venue made the most of it. Check out the light display they set up in the lobby:
In keeping with Iowa tradition, the crowd was pumped too, reacting much more enthusiastically than Omaha. No stage-crashing, but I saw a woman playing air-piano along to Bob’s “Desolation Row” solo. Many clapped along with “To Be Alone with You,” and we won’t nitpick whether they were anywhere near on-beat. One particularly loud dude made himself heard during the quietest moments of “Key West” and “Mother of Muses” with “We love you Bob!” and “God bless Bob Dylan” shouts. Bob seemed to be blasting the harmonica extra loud to drown him out. “God bless—tooooot”
I realise you have been waiting for Silent Way to post more of this fascinating series and it really made me sit up and listen to the Nirvana output for th first time in some while . . . it’s worth it!
After a long and painful struggle with throat cancer Val Kilmer has left us his family announce his death after contracting pneumonia and is mourned by many and I always enjoyed his work. My favourite character being Doc Holiday but his work on the Doors restored my faith in a project I was deeply suspicious of. I enjoyed it!
You will be sorely missed Val and as tributes pour in from the film and music word (not least from Bob Dylan who enjoyed his company
Tombstone - Doc Holiday
Very rare interview with Val Kilmer made for Norwegian Television recorded in 2014 or 2015,
just before he lost his ability to speak.Gylne Tider - Øyvind Mund, Steinar Marthinsen, Ingar Thorsen.Filmed in Malibu, California, United States.
This came in this evening from Popbitch and it made me smile . . . . . .
I think Val would have enjoyed this
Val Kilmer Dancing in a lift dressed as Mark Twain!
I liked him!
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"You can lean on me brother, I can see you've carried too long..." This lyric is something we can all relate to. Sometimes life gets to be too much or too hard and we need somewhere positive to put our troubles so we can move on. Music is one of best places to put your problems and lay down your burdens, and when you hear Luke Winslow-King, Vasti Jackson, Dr. John, and Roots Gospel Voices of Mississippi sing these words, you know everything is going to be alright. “Everlasting Arms” is the second song from our Listen to the Music series — our newest body of work comprising 12 new Songs Around The World and featuring Buddy Guy, The Doobie Brothers, Warren Haynes, Dr. John, Jack Johnson, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and many more. All music in this series was recorded live outside with a mobile studio and features over 200 musicians from 25 different countries. The album will be released on April 20th, 2018 (pre-order available now), with one new video from the series dropping every month! 100% of Playing For Change’s profits from this album will go to the Playing For Change Foundation, helping to support music education across the globe. Listen to the music; change the world! JOIN THE MOVEMENT Subscribe to our newsletter: http://bit.ly/1x9CAfJ
Ain’t that the truth!
Happy birthday to Richard Thompson, born in Notting Hill, London on this day in 1949.
"Rhiannon Giddens has joined with music writer Kristina R. Gaddy to create the songbook 'Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo,' due in September 2025 from University of North Carolina Press. Presenting music from 1687 through the 1850s in modern treble clef and banjo tablature, along with the stories behind each song, Gaddy and Giddens take readers on a journey from the Caribbean across the Americas."
Country Girl - The Carolina Chocolate Drops
where I first found her . . . . . .great sound and research par excellence!
