New Dylan

Well the new Dylan album came out today. Together Through Life is the title. And I had to buy it. New releases always come out on Tuesdays. So I biked nine miles to the store and bought the album, paying ten dollars and fifty-nine cents, which included tax. I had no CD player with me (I rarely bike with headphones), but I did open the album in the parking lot so I could see if the rumors were true. They were. The liner notes said: "All lyrics by Bob Dylan with Robert Hunter except 'This Dream of You' lyrics by Bob Dylan."

Nine out of ten songs were written with Robert Hunter. Robert Hunter writing with Bob Dylan! This was exciting news! Good news for Grateful Dead fans, who are of course familiar with the incredible body of work that Robert Hunter has produced over the years. The Dead have always admired Dylan, and vice versa. And we must not forget that when Jerry Garcia died in 1995, it was Dylan who stepped forward with one of the great tributes in the world of music.

The excitement of new Dylan has been building for months. I first heard about the new album a few months ago from my friend Jake Posko, a fellow Dylan fan who is also one of my close musical compatriots. As the weeks went by, Jake and I kept each other up-to-date with the various Dylan news items, including the interview that Dylan did with Bill Flanagan, which in itself is a treasure box of Dylanosity. And along the way I checked in with Rolling Stone to see what they were saying. In the April issue, I found a review of the new Dylan album by David Fricke, one of the senior editors at Rolling Stone, and I smiled with excitement as I dove into the review. But the article soon caused me to question whether further reading would be worth it. Fricke's review started off commenting on Bob's current singing voice. Immediately I thought: "Yeah, David, that's the voice he's been singing with. . .which Dylan were you listening to the last ten years?" To open a review with such an obvious point just seemed like an odd idea. But the review was short and so I read on.

Of course the role of the critic is an interesting thing. I've learned to never trust critics. If a book, or film, or musical recording looks interesting, I'll go and check it out for myself. What right does the critic have to play god and deliver final judgement on the pride and joy that some artist has created out of nothing? Well, the right of Free Speech is the answer to that. And so the critics and the reviewers keep on spewing their opinions in newspapers and magazines the world over. Some critics are more educated than others. And although I'm not crazy about Fricke's recent Dylan review, I still respect him for his knowledge and obvious love of music.

Artists, even the ones who have the strongest self-confidence, can soar or sink by the critic's pen. But in the end, Time is the greatest critic of all. Bad reviews fade away, just like the good ones and the luke-warm ones. People end up buying what they want. Dusty albums and books are passed down from one generation to the next like treasure maps. Collectors and and fans cling to their collections with a fierce pride. We love art for many reasons. And thankfully, artists love art too.

Well, my friends, what we have here with Together Through Life is another piece of art in Dylan's long and famed catalogue. I feel no need to review the album as a whole. How many stars would I give it if I were working for Rolling Stone? Who cares! If you like Dylan, and if you're interested, buy the album and listen for yourself. Or maybe go to a music store--the kind where they have the headphones--and stand there and listen. It's like Warren Zevon said in the interview from the album Preludes: "But I'd have to say, at the end of the day, if the average person hears a piece of music and are really put off by it, there's no criteria by which you can say they're wrong." The morale of the story being: listen and decide for yourself; listen to whatever you want; listen hard and don't look back.

But I was up on my Dylan when I bought the new album, so I kind of knew what to expect. I had absorbed the last three studio albums: Time Out of Mind, "Love and Theft", and Modern Times. And I was ready and excited for Together Through Life.

I've since listened to the new album several times, and I've enjoyed the listening immensely.

First, the musicians: Tony and George, who play bass and drums respectively on the album, have been playing (and touring) with Dylan for many years. Mike Campbell, of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame, graces the album with guitar and mandolin. David Hildago adds a fine accordion. And Donny Herron plays: steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, and trumpet. The big mystery after listening to the album is: who is playing the violin? (No violin credits are given in the liner notes.)

There are moments on the album that speak to me, moments that make me smile:

"Beyond Here Lies Nothing" is the first song, and Dylan must realize the self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek possibilities that this song represents as it's the first song on the album, the gateway of all that is to come.

Hearing Bob chuckle at the end of "My Wife's Home Town," makes me think of something from Dylan's Masked And Anonymous band Simple Twist Of Fate. A bandleader at the top of his game.

And then there's two different lines from two different songs that touch on the futility--yes, futility--of dreaming, an interesting concept, which also, as it happens, turns up in Masked And Anonymous. First: "My dreams are locked and barred, admitting life is hard," from the song "Life Is Hard." And second: "Well now what's the use in dreaming? You got better things to do. Dreams never did work for me anyway, even when they did come true," from the song "I Feel A Change Comin' On."

In the song "If You Ever Go To Houston," the singer is searching for a girl staying at the Magnolia Motel. Maybe it's just chance, but when Robert Hunter, the co-writer of the classic song "Sugar Magnolia" is on board, it's hard to hear the word magnolia and not think of it as a nod to that old Dead tune.

Music is a powerful force. And there's something about warm lilt of "This Dream Of You" that makes me want to reach for my guitar and play along with the band and the mystery violin player. What key is that, guys? Ah yes, the key of G. Play on.

I also want to reach for the guitar on "I Feel A Change Comin' On." This time were in B flat. The lyrics make me smile. I like how Dylan hints at the current state of grace that his 67-year-old voice is now in by singing: "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver, and I'm reading James Joyce. Some people they tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice."

As for my final thoughts on critics: I've learned that we're all critics. We all watch, listen, and read various things, and we love to give our opinions to our friends and families. For me, I've learned to be more patient and less judgmental with my reviews, and more careful with my word choice. Most people ask: "Was it good?" which is a very serious question indeed. My sister Janice and I have discussed this issue at length. She said that most people, when they ask "Was it good?", are really saying "Did you like it?". But still, people are responsible for their words. We must ask ourselves: are we really prepared and qualified to decide if a work of art is good? Liking something--or disliking it--is one thing, but deciding the goodness of something is a whole different game of dice.

Dylan of course realizes the inherent discrepancies of language, and he uses it to prove a point in the last song on the album, which is fittingly titled: "It's All Good."

National Arboretum

My mom and I went to the National Arboretum on Sunday. Marley came too. It was a warm and sunny day, a perfect day to soak in the wonders of springtime.


The symphony of Springtime has been building for some time now, and I can feel the music moving toward its triumphant crescendo. Here are some photos from the arboretum, which is a place for the study and exhibition of trees.


My mom had been to the arboretum before, so she made sure I saw the amazing bonsai collection that was there. The bonsai captivated me. Unlike many normal-sized trees that grow to be very tall, the bonsai are much easier to photograph in their entirety. They are tremendous little trees, and some of them are hundreds of years old. (The cactus-shaped tree is not a bonsai.)

This Japanese white pine is over 400 years old.

Ginkgo biloba (also from the Japanese Collection).

California juniper

These columns, which were once in front of the Capitol, were brought out of storage and set in place at the arboretum, creating an interesting space that begs to be photographed.