Springsteen and Human Rights: “Chimes of Freedom”
Since the beginning of his career, Springsteen has been haunted by his label as “the next Dylan.” Though promoted by John Hammond at Columbia Records (as Dylan had been), and admiring Dylan greatly (as he recently articulated while reflecting on Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature), Springsteen consciously chose to distance himself from Dylan’s musical style and forge his own path as a songwriter, embracing instead a carefully orchestrated, hard-rocking sound.
Hearing New Music Through Vinyl Instagram
I was headed to Los Angeles’ Moroccan Lounge to see grunge-pop band Great Grandpa on March 13th, when a state of emergency was declared for COVID-19. The show was immediately canceled, as were all the others I had tickets to in 2020. Next to go was my favorite in-person music hobby: digging through vinyl bins … Continue reading Hearing New Music Through Vinyl Instagram
On the Vagaries of Aesthetic Appreciation
In 1978, at age thirteen, I became a Bob Dylan fan thanks to his side of the multi-artist Concert for Bangladesh three-record set. My knowledge of Dylan’s life and work was extremely limited, but I was eager to learn and hear more, and my interest was piqued by his appearance that year in The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese’s … Continue reading On the Vagaries of Aesthetic Appreciation
