Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus: Writings 1968-2010 was recently released, just in time for the holidays...

"The book begins in Berkeley in 1968, and ends with a piece on Dylan's show at the University of Minnesota--his very first appearance at his alma mater--on election night 2008. In between are moments of euphoric discovery: From Marcus's liner notes for the 1967 Basement Tapes (pop music's most famous bootlegged archives) to his exploration of Dylan's reimagining of the American experience in the 1997 Time Out of Mind. And rejection; Marcus's Rolling Stone piece on Dylan's album Self Portrait--often called the most famous record review ever written--began with "What is this shit?" and led to his departure from the magazine for five years. Marcus follows not only recordings but performances, books, movies, and all manner of highways and byways in which Bob Dylan has made himself felt in our culture.

Together the dozens of pieces collected here comprise a portrait of how, throughout his career, Bob Dylan has drawn upon and reinvented the landscape of traditional American song, its myths and choruses, heroes and villains. They are the result of a more than forty-year engagement between an unparalleled singer and a uniquely acute listener."

You can buy it at Amazon, or maybe pick up a copy at the Strand tonight, 12/1, where Greil will be speaking in conversation with Stephen Hazan Arnoff, Director of the 14th Street Y, "and special guests Matt and Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, who will perform a few songs."

Eleanor & Matt Friedberger will also be on hand at the 14th St Y and Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday, December 5th, for a day of Dylan events. The concert at LPR is this:

What Kind of Love Is This:
The Music of BOB DYLAN & THE BAND
w/ Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob, Levon Helm Band), John Medeski (Medeski, Martin and Wood), Rob Burger (Laurie Anderson, Marianne Faithful, Iron & Wine), Tony Scherr (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Sex Mob), Kenny Wollesen (Norah Jones, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Sex Mob), and special guests Jolie Holland, Laura Cantrell, Nicole Atkins, John Wesley Harding, and Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. And special Guest Vocalists Chocolate Genius, and David Johansen (New York Dolls).

$35 tickets are still on sale for that part, and $75 tickets which I guess get you into everything at both spaces, are on sale too. If you just want in the symposium happening at the Y, that's $45, described as "a one-of-a-kind exploration of Bob Dylan and the Band's work, featuring scholars, critics, writers, and artists"

Greil Marcus: Author of the definitive book on Bob Dylan and The Band, Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes.

Christopher Ricks: Renowned critic and scholar of English literature and poetry, and author of Dylan's Visions of Sin.

John Niven: Novelist whose book Music from Big Pink vividly imagines the world of Bob Dylan and The Band.

Dana Spiotta: Author of mesmerizing portraits of the 60's underground, including Eat the Document.

Matt Friedberger: Co-founder of the visionary rock band The Fiery Furnaces.

D.A. Pennebaker: Pioneering film documentarian, whose credits include Don't Look Back, the first film on Bob Dylan.

Stephen Hazan Arnoff: Executive Director of the 14th Street Y writes and teaches widely on music, art and religion.

Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding): Singer-songwriter and award winning author of Misfortune.

William G. Scheele: Museum curator and former Equipment/Stage Manager for Bob Dylan and The Band.

Bob Dylan himself, who recently played three nights in a row at NYC's Terminal 5, is not listed anywhere. Maybe he'll come watch. More info on the whole thing at 14th St. Y's site.

John Wesley Harding also has a show coming up at City Winery.

by Andrew Frisicano

David Thomas & Sarah Jane Morris (as Père & Mère Ubu)...

On Wednesday, December 2nd (tonight), Pere Ubu's David Thomas will be appearing at at New School's Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall (66 West 12th St, room 510; 6:30-8pm). The event will be part performance of material from Thomas's spoken word Ghost Line Diaries, part Q&A moderated by Greil Marcus, who's teaching an "Old Weird America" course at the school. The event is open to the public, and to quote from Thomas's UbuProjex site: "Supposedly $5 for non-New Schoolers but no one has ever seen it collected, we are told."

Greil Marcus appeared an an event at Columbia University in November. According to that university's paper, "over 100 people from everywhere on the spectrum of age, music taste, and knowledge of rock gathered to hear Marcus perform the play that was the basis for his book 'Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century.'"

Last year, David Thomas finally got around to adapting Ubu Roi, the 1896 surrealist play that he named his long-running post-punk band, Pere Ubu, after. His stage-show version of the play Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi, debuted in London 2008, and a studio release of the songs, dubbed "Long Live Père Ubu!," arrived in CD form this September. There's also a "Radio Play" version, the first half of which is streaming for free. The show had a European run in fall 2009 (a clip from a Paris stop is below) but still hasn't visited the North America. The only currently scheduled date is in Reims, France, on December 16th.

The show is accompanied by stop-motion animation from Brothers Quay. Their video of the hilarious, catchy, scene-setting "Song of the Grocery Police" and dystopic "March of Greed" are posted below...

Continue reading "New School professor Greil Marcus speaks to David Thomas of Pere Ubu who released 'Long Live Père Ubu!' "

by Andrew Frisicano

The Hold Steady @ Rothbury Festival in July (more by Graeme Flegenheimer)

Craig Finn and Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady, along with author Chuck Klosterman, will be the featured guests at this month's Radio Happy Hour at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Saturday, November 14th (2pm). In past months, the live variety show's hosts have included Andrew W.K., Norah Jones and TVotR's Tunde Adebimpe. Clips of those past shows are below. Tickets are on sale.

Interestingly, Finn is in the process of co-adapting Chuck Klosterman's 2001 memoir Fargo Rock City with writer Tom Ruprecht (of the David Letterman show). It should also be noted that Finn & Kubler's pre-Hold Steady gig Lifter Puller will get its entire catalog of CDs re-released online on December 1st, along with a new book titled Lifter Puller Vs. the End Of and a single/rarities collection.

After Radio Happy Hour, you can catch their Hold Steady bandmate Franz Nicolay at Southpaw for "HARTZVEYTIK! A Heartbreak Survival Society Social." Also on the bill are The Low & the Lonesome, Ariel Schrag, Royal Pink, Soft Power (feat. Mary Timony) and The Shondes. There will be vegan cupcakes. Tickets are on sale.

Then, on Thursday, November 19th, see rock cultural criticism godfather Greil Marcus when he appears uptown at Columbia University's Altschul Auditorium (417 International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th St) at 6pm. The event is a "lecture-performance" for the 20th-anniversary re-release of his book Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, out this month. The book deals with "the cross-currents, tangles, and whirlpools that made such vastly different movements as dada, lettrism, the Situationist International, and punk part of a single current." The event is free and open to the public. A video of Marcus discussing his 2006 book In The Shape of Things to Come is posted below. Greil Marcus wrote the book on Bob Dylan (actually a few of them) - the same night Dylan plays the last show of three shows even further uptown at United Palace Theatre.

Franz Nicolay has more upcoming tour dates, including a show at Mercury Lounge on November 16th (tix). Those and "Lipstick Traces" videos, and the flyer for that event, below...

Continue reading "Greil Marcus, Chuck Klosterman, & members of the Hold Steady - various NYC events & tour dates "