Post by sgev1977 on May 26, 2023 0:20:49 GMT
I hope that they respect the objectivity of the book. It’s almost impossible because the author includes almost all versions even when they are contradictory about what happened. The movie should have to decide for one or two versions!
For example, there is the classical version of Dylan scandalizing with his rock and roll/electric guitar (even when there were other rock bands in the program during that year and years before it) but also that the music was exaggerated loud (that was Seeger frequently said) and that they played horribly. I loved a kinda conspiracy theory that involved Dylan’s very hated manager. You see, the day before Dylan arrived another rock bad caused a scandal that anticipated the issue with Dylan. The leader was Mike Bloomfield, a white musician who had great blues credentials but who happened to be white and the presenter, who had never listened to the group, wasn’t happy that them were invited to represent “blues” instead of a “genuine” blues black musician and he made it clear in his introduction to the band. They had the same manager that Dylan and he was so angry that actually got in a physical fight with the guy in front of everyone. So there was already tension between purists and “rockers”. This without mentioning all the prejudices against pop music that was already displacing the Folk revival as the hip youth preferred musical style. But that wasn’t all. Dylan wasn’t there yet but when he arrived he suddenly decided to play with that same band so a few think that maybe the manager was behind everything. And that they intentionally played too loud.
About Seeger, he was extremely agitated during Dylan’s presentation but the thing with the axe seemed to be just a myth. Early in the festival, he played a song alongside another musician and for whatever reason they chopped some wood with axes on stage (!!!) so apparently when they saw him angry at Dylan, someone screamed that he was looking for his axe! There are versions of him crying but there are also versions that it was Dylan who cried (the author said that it was probably sweat) Dylan was also very disturbed with the booing and didn’t understood what happened.
Anyway, it quickly became legend and considered as something that represented what was happening at the time.
Here is an interesting quote,
The great irony of how Dylan’s fans portrayed Seeger as a conservative figure/the father who tried to stop the rebellious kid who represented youth was that Dylan was by then partying with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He was in his way to be a huge star and, as the author says, he was welcomed everywhere he wanted to go meanwhile Seeger was still vetoed on American TV by then. The author said that even in 1969, Johnny Cash complained that he could get Dylan for his ABC show but that they forbidden him to invite Seeger and that the New York Supreme Court had to intervene in 1966, when Seeger was banned to play at a high school because the school board had decided that he was “a highly controversial figure” who could trigger a dangerous disturbance in their property!
It’s very fascinating and contradictory so I really hope they could make justice to both mythical figures as the book does. It really resonates with a lot of what’s happening nowadays.
For example, there is the classical version of Dylan scandalizing with his rock and roll/electric guitar (even when there were other rock bands in the program during that year and years before it) but also that the music was exaggerated loud (that was Seeger frequently said) and that they played horribly. I loved a kinda conspiracy theory that involved Dylan’s very hated manager. You see, the day before Dylan arrived another rock bad caused a scandal that anticipated the issue with Dylan. The leader was Mike Bloomfield, a white musician who had great blues credentials but who happened to be white and the presenter, who had never listened to the group, wasn’t happy that them were invited to represent “blues” instead of a “genuine” blues black musician and he made it clear in his introduction to the band. They had the same manager that Dylan and he was so angry that actually got in a physical fight with the guy in front of everyone. So there was already tension between purists and “rockers”. This without mentioning all the prejudices against pop music that was already displacing the Folk revival as the hip youth preferred musical style. But that wasn’t all. Dylan wasn’t there yet but when he arrived he suddenly decided to play with that same band so a few think that maybe the manager was behind everything. And that they intentionally played too loud.
About Seeger, he was extremely agitated during Dylan’s presentation but the thing with the axe seemed to be just a myth. Early in the festival, he played a song alongside another musician and for whatever reason they chopped some wood with axes on stage (!!!) so apparently when they saw him angry at Dylan, someone screamed that he was looking for his axe! There are versions of him crying but there are also versions that it was Dylan who cried (the author said that it was probably sweat) Dylan was also very disturbed with the booing and didn’t understood what happened.
Anyway, it quickly became legend and considered as something that represented what was happening at the time.
Here is an interesting quote,
It was not Dylan who was transformed by that weekend; it was Newport and the delicate balance of alliances that had formed the folk revival and the spirit of the 1960s…it was not Dylan who was transformed; it was Seeger. That was how Nelson ended his characterization of the audience’s choice: they could choose the past or the future, and they chose Seeger. It was not news that Dylan was the future; the news was that Seeger was the past.
Not just any past, either: he was the straitlaced, conservative past- the principal of Hibbing High School- standing with an axe in his hand
Not just any past, either: he was the straitlaced, conservative past- the principal of Hibbing High School- standing with an axe in his hand
The great irony of how Dylan’s fans portrayed Seeger as a conservative figure/the father who tried to stop the rebellious kid who represented youth was that Dylan was by then partying with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He was in his way to be a huge star and, as the author says, he was welcomed everywhere he wanted to go meanwhile Seeger was still vetoed on American TV by then. The author said that even in 1969, Johnny Cash complained that he could get Dylan for his ABC show but that they forbidden him to invite Seeger and that the New York Supreme Court had to intervene in 1966, when Seeger was banned to play at a high school because the school board had decided that he was “a highly controversial figure” who could trigger a dangerous disturbance in their property!
It’s very fascinating and contradictory so I really hope they could make justice to both mythical figures as the book does. It really resonates with a lot of what’s happening nowadays.