Happy Belated Birthday Bob Dylan
Where did Bob Dylan spend his birthday? An icon for social change for a good part of my life, I wondered where he would spend his 70th birthday, and if anyone was with him. I began with his website to see if he was on tour, last known tour date was April 30th in Beijing, no entries after that. While I was reading the website, I got a view of what a renaissance man Bob Dylan is, musician, painter, writer and thinker, and artist, reading and looking at his work , I enjoyed his writings, some of them, I have always been a fan of his music and his paintings, I didn’t know he painted, were to me like he talks and sings, rough yet deep in vision.
My next stop in my search for what Bob did on his birthday was the Guardian and Observer and Charles Shaar Murray’s article about Bob’s trip to China and what he had to go through to perform, the Chinese government required that he present a set list, songs from Dylan’s play list were removed by the Chinese government, most notably “Blowing in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A Changin”, the social change impact of these songs still have value, concerned about the emotional impact of these songs the Chinese asked they be removed.
Moving on to the next stop on my quest, The Guardian, I found out there was an event at the University of Bristol honoring Bob so I went there to see if he actually attended, the event title was “The Seven Ages of Dylan”, described as an Academic Conference. There were to be works by Dylan, readings of his lyrics, a display of his political art, it was described as celebrating and reflecting on the career of one of the most significant figures in the cultural life of the past 50 years, with some of the foremost Dylan scholars. The list of speakers was very long and reading all the blurbs and the lecture notes it read as if he is dead and they are doing a review of his life. Did Dylan aspire to be a cultural icon? Was he the crest of a wave of cultural change?
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