[Dixielandjazz] : Bob Dylan-- Nobel Prize for Literature-- Steve Cheseborough's belatd reply

[Paul Kurtz Jr]

I’ve thought about this since my first comments a year ago and although I still have my skeptic’s opinion, I have thought about it. Dillon went through so many phases in his musical and literary lives that they sort-of show a panorama from folk, to hippy, to religious convert, and on forward. 

Since I’m a studier of music more than words, I’m curious as to whether he reflects this panorama in his writings. That would be the only thing that would qualify him in my book because his music didn’t really do so.
Paul Kurtz Jacksonville, FL
> On Jul 14, 2017, at 10:40 AM, Norman Vickers <nvickers1 at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> To:  Musicians and jazzfans list;  DJML, Pensacola Mencken List
> From: Norman Vickers
>  
> Well Steve Cheseborough, guitarist/folklorist/author now living in Portland, OR gets the prize for REALLY belated reply to my comment from Oct 2016 about Bob Dylan’s award of Nobel Prize for literature.  It’s still pertinent, so I also include my post—in case you missed it first time around and/or need to refresh your memory.
>  
> Steve  travels soon to Mississippi to honor the life of folk musician Bo Carter.  Here’s Steve’s  comment about the Carter event:  
> I am pleased and honored to be part of an upcoming event, 5 p.m. July 29 in Nitta Yuma, Mississippi: the dedication and celebration of Bo Carter's grave marker!
> Bo Carter was one of the pre-eminent blues artists of the 1930s, one of the most interesting and creative of all American musicians, and my personal favorite and biggest influence. I perform and teach his music, and wrote my master's thesis on him. 
>  
>  
>  
>  
> F.Norman Vickers
> 5429 Dynasty Drive
> Pensacola, FL 32504-8583
> Home 850-484-9183; cell 850-324-5022
> Jazz Society of Pensacola 850-433-8382
> www.jazzpensacola.com
> nvickers1 at cox.net
> http://jazzpensacola.com/vickers/
> Member Jazz Journalists Association
>  
> From: Steve Cheseborough [mailto:chezztone at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2017 5:20 PM
> To: Norman Vickers
> Subject: Re: Bob Dylan-- Nobel Prize for Literature
>  
> Here I am reading through old messages from you! Sorry to comment so late but I have a few comments on the Bob Dylan question. Since they're so late I'll just address you rather than the list, although feel free to forward if you want.
> First, my own feeling is to agree with you completely, not just on Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize, but on him being so highly esteemed in general...add me to the list of people who don't get it, and consider his talents quite modest if they exist at all. His guitar-playing is nothing to write home about but it certainly is better than his singing, which is annoying at best. And his harmonica playing is so awful that I believe it set back the whole image of that instrument in most people's minds. It especially disparages rack-harmonica playing (of which there are some excellent practitioners in the blues field).
> So if Dylan has any great talent to account for his popular and critical acclaim, I guess it must be his songwriting. (Because I don't think he has a lot of charisma or dynamism onstage, either.) And at least two musicians who I admire are big fans of his music: 1) Jimi Hendrix, who a girlfriend said used to listen to Dylan constantly at such loud volumes that they almost got kicked out of an apartment over that. And Hendrix recorded a terrific studi version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," as well as playing "Like A Rolling Stone" in concert. 2) Dave Van Ronk, who writes about Dylan quite admiringly in his excellent memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street. Van Ronk considered Dylan the best composer to come out of the flowering of musical creativity that was the pre-Beatles folk scene of the 1960s. He admits, however, that the scene did not produce any composers at the level of Ellington. 
> So anyway, maybe Hendrix and Van Ronk (and the Nobel committee, and many others) hear something that you and I miss in Dylan!
>  
> 
> Steve Cheseborough
> www.stevecheseborough.com
> Recent performance at Alberta Rose Theatre
> Twitter: @SCheseborough
>  
>  
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:53 AM, Norman Vickers <nvickers1 at cox.net> wrote:
> To: Pensacola Mencken List;  Musicians & Jazzfans list; DJML
> From: Norman Vickers
>  
> OK.  So Bob Dylan, in an unusual nomination, receives Nobel Prize for literature!
> Now that’s a first—one who’s  known primarily for his music ( such as it is) gets a literary prize as THE best!
>  
> What’s next?  Donald Trump gets the prize for chastity?
>  
> I must say that, as a member of the older generation, I didn’t venerate any of the musical  or lyrical compositions of his.
>  
> Sometime approx. ’78 or ’79, Dylan put on a one-man show locally at the University of West Florida’s field-house.  My (then) young son and I went.  He sang, played guitar and at one point played guitar and had a neck-piece to hold his diatonic harmonica.  I must say that I was unimpressed and we left about halfway through his show.  I confess that I didn’t listen to enough of the rest of his material to be able to evaluate his lyrics.
>  
> Note that I  still like  Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives so it’s not the genre that I 
> am unappreciative, it’s that what little I’ve heard of Dylan has failed to generate interest for me.
>  
> Any thoughts?  What have I missed that the Nobel committee was enthralled with?
>  
> Norman
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