so who's looking forward to bob dylan's chronicles volume one book?

I'm on the "Oh Mercy" section... Some pretty funny stuff: Dylan talking about hanging out with Bono in his kitchen, all the casual mentions of his nice house and property... It's so perfect that he does a song-by-song discussion of "Oh Mercy," and throws in some extra verses for each song... as if this is what everyone was waiting for!

Some of the details in the "early NYC days" section are a little boring: his long lists of the books he was discovering and the people on the scene. The "New Morning" (trapped by fame) section is great. And his long discussion of the new guitar playing/singing approaches he discovered in the late '80s is really interesting. I wish I knew a musician who could sort of demonstrate what he's talking about.

As a memoirist, he's no John Fahey, but the book is so perfectly Dylan. I can't wait to finish it and pass it on to my dad.

The best part of working with him, though, was strictly gastronomical -- all the French fries and hamburgers I could eat. At some point during the day, Tiny Tim and I would go in the kitchen and hang around. Norbert the cook would usually have a greasy burger waiting. Either that, or he'd let us empty a can of pork and beans or spaghetti into a frying pan. Norbert was a trip. He wore a tomato-stained apron, had a fleshy, hard-bitten face, bulging cheeks, scars on his face like the marks of claws -- thought of himself as a lady's man -- saving his money so he could go to Verona in Italy and visit the tomb of Romeo and Juliet. The kitchen was like a cave bored into the side of a cliff.

Right now, I strolled into the dusk. The air was murky and intoxicating. At the corner of the block, a giant, gaunt cat crouched on a concrete ledge. I got up close to it and stopped and the cat didn't move. I wished I had a jug of milk. My eyes and ears were open, my consciousness fully alive. The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds -- the cemeteries -- and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchres -- palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay -- ghosts of men and women who have sinned and who've died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn't pass away so quickly here. You could be dead for a long time. The ghosts race towards the light, you can almost hear the heavy breathing -- spirits, all determined to get somewhere. New Orleans, unlike a lot of those places you go back to and that don't have the magic anymore, still has got it. Night can swallow you up, yet none of it touches you. Around any corner, there's a promise of something daring and ideal and things are just getting going. There's something obscenely joyful behind every door, either that or somebody crying with their head in their hands. A lazy rhythm looms in the dreamy air and the atmosphere pulsates with bygone duels, past-life romance, comrades requesting comrades to aid them in some way. You can't see it, but you know it's here. Somebody is always sinking. Everyone seem to be from some very old Southern families. Either that or a foreigner. I like the way it is.

There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better. There's a thousand different angles at any moment. At any time you could run into a ritual honoring some vaguely known queen. Bluebloods, titled persons like crazy drunks, lean weakly against the walls and drag themselves through the gutter. Even they seem to have insights you might want to listen to. No action seems inappropriate here. The city is one very long poem. Gardens full of pansies, pink petunias, opiates. Flower-bedecked shrines, white myrtles, bougainvillea and purple oleander stimulate your senses, make you feel cool and clear inside.

Everything in New Orleans is a good idea.

You can learn a lot from Mr. B. It's funny to have him as a companion. He wears a monk's robe and drinks endless cups of coffee. Too much sleep clogs up his mind. One of his teeth falls out, and he says, "What does this mean?" He questions everything. His clothes catch fire on a candle. He wonders if fire is a good sign. Balzac is hilarious.

Sun Pie!

i wonder when/if there'll be a vol. 2?

hopefully it'll have a detailed description of the Christmas in the Heart sessions.

i just read this. so great. and so inspiring. i want to be a genius now.

When I read this, I was so excited I practically forced a friend to borrow my copy. Then I started getting antsy because it wasn't around. Finally I had a brain wave and bought another copy. It was even better the second time. Maybe I'll just keep buying extra copies until v. 2 comes out.

I was so hoping this thread had been revived because there had been a release date for Volume 2 announced.

i just read this. so great. and so inspiring. i want to be a genius now.

I reread the New Orleans chapter every few months.

some news:
Bob Dylan has signed a six-book deal with Simon & Schuster, according to Crain's New York Business, encompassing two sequels to his acclaimed 2004 book Chronicles: Volume One as well as another book based on dialogue from his Sirius/XM radio show Theme Time Radio Hour.

It's unclear what the other three books are going to be. According to the Crain's, Dylan's literary agent Andrew Wylie was seeking an eight-figure deal for the books. (Dylan has not responded to Rolling Stone's request for comment).

this is a pretty crazy article about chronicles
http://newhavenreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/NHR-006-Warmuth.pdf

it's really funny how these traditions of borrowing and copying (on which Bob Dylan built his career) do not sit well in this age of legality and intellectual property.

^ cont'd.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/18/bob-dylan-s-da-vinci-code-revealed.html

man this is good, kicking myself for taking so long to getting around to it

I've read this a few times -- this and Miles' are the two music autobiographies I frequently return to. And both feature encounters with Cecil Taylor and Thelonious Monk!

probably my two faves as well

the ephemera that he champions in this book is really interesting, I didn't even know this existed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6wtzIUtcs

so when he's talking about his post-motorcycle crash work, he offers some cheeky descriptions of Nashville Skyline and Self-Portrait, and also mentions an album based entirely on Chekhov's short works - wtf is he talking about here, John Wesley Harding? Or something that never came out? tyler?

Think he claimed or broadly hinted at one point that it was Blood On The Tracks? Oh yeah, here 'tis: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dylans-bloody-best-album-40-facts-about-the-40-year-old-blood-on-the-tracks-20150121 You might wanna search "Chekhov" here and spare yourself the surrounding RS effusions.

looks like that's just RS speculation though

in chronicles he says something like "critics claimed it was autobiographical" which seems to point in the blood on the tracks direction ... but who knows. A lot of Chronicles is kinda suspect (even though I think it's great)

Iirc he borrowed a ton of passages from Really the Blues by Mezz Mezzrow, also worth reading if you haven't.

some people think the whole book is an exercise in cut-up techniques. i wonder when there'll be a Room 237-style doc on Dylan conspiracy theories.

Current mood: Bob Dylan in the ‘We are the world’ video. pic.twitter.com/Ki8xzt08A8

— Sam Hammond (@vomcruise) October 18, 2017

that's hilarious