December: Music

"Somehow you can tell the difference when a song is written just to get on the radio and when what someone does is their whole life. That comes through in Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson. There is no separating their life from their music." – Lyle Lovett

"I think that Bob Dylan knows this more than all of us: you don't write the songs anyhow. So if you're lucky, you can keep the vehicle healthy and responsive over the years. If you're lucky, your own intentions have very little to do with this." --Leonard Cohen

"If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself." – Bob Dylan

NOTES:

On a quick break from the fiction and thought I'd scribble a few notes. For me, the holidays have a dark streak. I'm grateful for my partner, grateful for my family, grateful for my friends, but still, it takes a bit of work not to slip into winter's teeth.

I fill these reviews with things that keep me moving forward. This month I am featuring music, especially live music, that keeps me standing upright.

Let's start with a film about music. The rumor is they did not screw up the new Bob Dylan movie "A Complete Unknown." I'm in Maine and will have to drive two hours to see it, but I will. Meanwhile, I'm promoting it.

Because at a red light in downtown Stockton, sitting in the backseat of my father's Chevy, "Like a Rolling Stone" playing through a dashboard speaker, my father turned to me and asked, "What do you think of that?" Our eyes locked. It was like he was asking me who I was inside. I didn't want to tell him, but I said, "I like it." He said, "Okay, I'll put it out." He meant he was going to buy 45 singles for his juke boxes. 1965. There is nothing else to say, really, except, Dylan is a miracle.

LIVE MUSIC:

It has always been a singer's expression, the words, the warmth, the mistakes, the musicianship, the songwriting, and the lack of perfection in live music that I love.

There is not a lot of live music happening where I live right now, though I do have a few shows I am looking forward to seeing in the future. So I turn my attention to video of live performances that have excellent sound. I don't need to watch the visuals, though I do at times, but I love the immediacy of the live takes.

What follows are some of my current favorites that reach my heart over and over again. Give yourself a gift. Listen.

And finally, Bob Dylan. Twenty-five years old.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

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