The Next Dylan Revisited

Nobody will ever have a life that mirrors Bob Dylan with his influence, longevity, relevance and success. Likewise, nobody will have the cannon of apocryphal tales that surround the persona that is Bob Dylan. This is a series of articles that compare different prominent pop culture figures that, at some point in their career, have paralled Dylan. The original Next Dylan ramble can be found here.

Early on in his career, Dylan was the folk music darling. He was connected to the past legends including a relationship with the aged Woody Guthrie. He had a very successful debut into the recording industry and his fans lived and died by his every word and saw him as a messiah who had come to deliver them. He may not have been pinned as a phenom from an early age, but he definitely burst onto the scene relatively young and had immediate success. Whether he had sold his soul or was given his gifts, he was undoubtedly talented beyond measure.

I wasn't around in July of 1965 when Dylan plugged in at the Newport Folk Festival, a stones throw from New York City, and went electric. But I know it has gone down in folklore as being an alientating and momentus event. I'm not sure if Pete Seeger really had an axe and was considering cutting the microphone cable and if he really thought that Dylan was disgracing folk music by going electric. But I do know that people booed Dylan, that he was called a traitor, that his artistic decisions were questioned. Everyone had a comment and a critique about his decision and for years, it would be the moment that defined his career.

There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic, and said 'Hey look, let’s get together and play on one team.' - Michael Jordan

Fast forward to July of 2010. A similar parallel develops just outside of New York City at the Greenwich Boys and Girls Club. A young, talented superstar alienated his fan base and set off a chain reaction of responses and accusations that paralleled those of Dylan going electric. The lore behind his decision is more defined by the media coverage than first hand accounts, but it has still managed to find a way into our pop culture cannon.

Dylan went electric and LeBron made a decision. Dylan went on to release Highway 61 Revisited that has one of the best songs ever written and was the ultimate response to the backlash following his treason. LeBron has gone on to have a fantastic post season and has gone a long way to quiet his critics. And we are about to find out if he has a "Like A Rolling Stone" waiting for us in the Finals.

I'll Go Along With The Charade, Until I Can Think My Way Out

Wednesday Spike and I had the following exchange:

Charlie T: The "W" word that ends in "inning" hasn't even been going around for a week and I'm already tired of it.

Spike: Is this a heat reference?

At the time it wasn't, but as the weekend went on I wasn't so sure.

I originally wrote it to declare my departure from the Crazy Train of Sound Bites and Video Clips coming from He Who Shall Not Be Named. (both to be referred to as CTOSBAVC and HWSNBN from here on out) Thanks to this deluge of pop culture fodder, certain words have instantly lost their meaning. One is a flavor of Sno-Cone and the other is a word used to descibe what happens when you have more points than the other team at the end of the game. The Sno-Cone reference is less relevant here. I'm more interested in the word that starts with "W" and ends with "inning".

During Weekend Update, Seth Meyers ran down the Winners and Losers of the whole CTOSBAVC coming from HWSNBN. The biggest loser was the "W" word. According to Seth, it just doesn't mean the same thing anymore. I thought it was a very valid point and it gave me a clue as to what was going on with the Heat.

Back in August, LeBron completely changed the way NBA players handle free agency. He collaborated with ESPN to have a one hour special to announce his intentions. You may have heard about it. This set off a chain reaction with Bosh and Wade both opting to join him in Miami, which set off another chain of events that led to Mike MIller and Udonis Haslem taking huge discounts to join as well as a bunch of other veterans and 3 pt specialists to join the Heat for the minimum. By themselves, these were not new ideas. But all together, now that was something new. The Heat became the first team to completely strip their roster down to the league minimum of one player. They also became the first team to have 3 of the top 5 draft picks of a single draft. The firsts continued for this trend setting team. They were ahead of the curve, transforming the way things are done in the NBA on the fly.

Now back to the "W" word. The Heat had to stay ahead of the curve. The word had lost all meaning and significance. They wanted nothing to do with this bandwagon. Almost instantly the world shifted its view from "W#%&ing is Everything" to "Everything is W#%&ing". So like all good trend setters, the Heat decided that they were done with the "W" word. Even if it was painful and might come with some sad eyes, there would be no more W#%&ing.

And so it was. They settled in trying out as many different methods of not W#%&ing as they could. Close games, blowouts, last second decisions, against good teams, against contenders, blowing big leads. It has proven to be a fairly difficult task, requiring creativity at the end of games and poker faces during press conferences. We know this is some of the best talent in the NBA, so I have faith that they will be able to keep this up as long as they need to. If I could be on how long the CTOSBAVC will last versus the Heat's counter-culture movement, I would be the farm on the Heat.

While I don't doubt the Heat's resolve in standing up to HWSNBN, for my sake I hope HWSNBN folds. And soon.

The Album Box Score

Months ago Spike and I had a long debate analyzing and criticizing the current landscape of album reviews. There are different approaches. The star method and the number method out of 10 or out of 100. There are others that review music but they generally fall into these categories. Accompanying the score, there is usually the paragraph or two that accompanies the review that usually lacks any bit of explanation as to why the album scored the way it did. We are left guessing as to why the Jonas Brothers scored equal to Dirty Projectors or why Rob Thomas' new album is apparently as good as the new Levon Helm. Sometimes we are left without this useless paragraph and sometimes we are left without any sort of score. Both are equally as frustrating as unhelpful.

Shifting gears to sports, there is always something to look at to see who had a better game, series, season, etc. Baseball is built upon the box score. Arguments are started and ultimately settled on the numbers. Boxing is settled on a scorecard and golf is determined by a measured count of the golfers' strokes. We see that a scorecard/box score is ultimately the most important record and key to settling debates. So why not apple the same theory to music? Why can't we have a detailed box score outlining why an album is good or bad, where its strengths and weaknesses are and ultimately how it compares to other albums.

So we proudly present to you the beginning of THE ALBUM BOX SCORE.

Allow me to explain the intricacies.

Like most sports box scores, there is no ceiling to the amount of points that can be accumulated.

Categories are selected based on the strengths and/or weaknesses of each artist. Its sort of like saying "These categories are what makes Bob Dylan Bob Dylan to me." So they change for each artist, but remain the same number (10) to make the box scores comparable.

The top songs are highlighted, and high numbers called out for ease in determining what the highlights are.

With that, we hope you enjoy. Like anything, it will be a work in progress. Feel free to send in requests.

Playoff Musing pt II

A quick apology for being off the grid for a stretch. To paraphrase Bob, "Ain't it just like the day to be busy when you're trying to be so un-busy." Oh well. As Elvis Costello sang, "Life intimidates art."

(Not that this blog is art. Moving on.)

What did we see on Day 1?

- The premiere of another player that commentators can lay their superlatives on. A word of advice to the Doug Collinses of the world: take it easy with the shining reviews and Derrick Rose; save something for the honeymoon. The kid can play. So could Derrick Coleman.

- Subtraction by subtraction If you looked down at Boston from space, you could see the hole KG left. Spin it how you will, fellas, (we still have 2 all-stars, we're still the reigning champs, these are guys who thrive on challenges) but this ain't looking good.

- Yawn. Maybe it was me, but Spurs/Mavs kind of had the feeling of the ol' Old Timers Game, where they used to roll out the retired legends on all-star weekend. I was so bored, I started on next year's taxes. Also yawnful? Portland getting shellacked by Houston. I believe that Portland has it in them, but they didn't show it yesterday.

- Expected. With his dash to the Finals looking less and less troublesome, nobody really thought LeBron would stumble in Kickoff To Coronation, did they? If it weren't so terribly square (and, ahem, anglo saxon), I would suggest Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business" as the theme song for the Cavs' postseason. I don't believe they'll be messing around.

The Next Dylan Revisited

because my Pepsi told me so. (And all along we were pushing for the guy who did the crotchslide at halftime...)

They're Selling Postcards of The Hanging, featuring Lionel Hollins

(AP) MEMPHIS- Today, the Memphis Grizzlies introduced replacement head coach Lionel Hollins. Whether or not the Grizzlies organization intended the poetry of using the term "replacement head" is unknown, but suffice it to say: it was tough to ignore the still-bleeding head of former coach Marc Iavaroni as it continued to roll off the guillotine and past the podium.

(Candidates for the position of Last Thought Going Through Iavaroni's head are:
- "But I played with Dr. J! I STARTED! WE WON A CHAMPIONSHIP, MAN!"
- "Finally, I can go back to my calling in life as a movie extra, specializing as 'Midlife Crisis Corporate Pencil Pusher.'"
- "Funny how no heads rolled after the team gift wrapped Pau for the Lakers last year..."
- "At least we hosed the Blazers..."
- "FREE DARKO!"
- "Avenge me..."

Were the Grizzlies trying to prove a point to Mr. Hollins by holding the press conference on the gallows? Time will tell.

Either way, Marc Gasol is probably relieved to not have to turn his head every time somebody says, "Hey, Marc."

Dream Team-Up, Pt.1

Team ups have been happening for decades.
Marvel Team-Up
Dylan and Cash doing Girl From The North Country
Dylan and The Dead
Dylan and Anybody

Even the I'm Not There soundtrack had some legendary pairings.
Stephen Malkmus with the Million Dollar Bashers (members of Sonic Youth, Wilco, Television, Medeski Martin & Wood)
Eddie Vedder with the Million Dollar Bashers
Jim James and Calexico
Roger McGuinn and Calexico
Willie Nelson and Calexico
Calexico and apparently anybody

In anticipation of the forthcoming all-star Nick Drake tribute compilation, Dark Was The Night (which is a veritable who's who of indie rock pairings), the NBA All-Star festivities, and Obama bullying his way around to make changes in all sports (including the long awaited College Football Playoff), we're creating our ultimate All Star Team-Ups.

Everyday until its release, Dark Was The Night will be posting a new song here. Likewise, we'll be posting a new pairing from our hypothetical (for now) 16 team Two-on-Two All-Star Tournament. It's our jocky way of paying tribute to Nick Drake through both inspired and ridiculous pairings.

In the spirit of Obama's change and our forebearer Bill Simmons' constant desire to change All-Star Weekend, we propose a massive 2-on-2 tourney. The rules are simple: make your own team. Play in a seeded tournament (part John Hollinger, part David Stern, part PT Barnum). Winners go home with a million apiece. Simple.

These are the teams we'd like to see, starting with:

Pairing #1

Team Name: Round 2, or Cuzzins
Team Members: Vince Carter and TEEmak

Team Synopsis: Look at all of the unrealized potential of those bygone Raptors days. Both players have learned a lot. Probably. Maybe. A few things are uncertain: Will TEEmak be injured? Will Vinsanity show up? Or will The Great Canadian Postage Stamp be the one making the appearance? Can they peacefully coexist? Or will this turn into some Tyler Perry Family Reunion montage of guffawful hilarity? Are there even enough ill-advised shots to go around? Not to mention failed hero moments? One thing is for certain: this team is NOT tasting the second round.

The Next Dylan

WILL THE NEXT DYLAN PLEASE STAND UP?

Spike Woolridge: First point of clarification: Are we talking about the NEW Dylan or the NEXT Dylan? And is there a difference? Whichever way we go, we need to define the term.

Charlie T. Hustle: How about who is the heir to the Dylan throne, whether they are there or well on their way, yeah?
Spike Woolridge: Right, but what’s “the Dylan throne”?

Charlie T. Hustle: Good question
Spike Woolridge: I guess what i think we need to clarify is "what does it mean to be heir to the Dylan throne?" or "if there's a next Dylan, what does it mean to be Dylan in the first place?"
Charlie T. Hustle: right

Spike Woolridge: And, yes, as "I'm Not There" proved, there's no one way to pin the guy down. so we just need to set a basic, broad criteria and run with it.

CRITERIA:

1. Legendary Songwriter – best of his/her era and an all-time great.
2. Legendary Streak of Albums (two albums is no streak)
3. All Time Get Out Of Jail Free Passes – issued on volume, prolificity, legacy of great work
4. Voice of a Generation – the quintessential Dylan tag
5. Re-Invention – has to have a drastic change in style, a "Newport" is preferred.
6. Steeped in Tradition but also Creates the Tradition
7. Cultural Relevance / Political Presence with more weight on the cultural than the political.

THE NAME GAME:
Dylan Dylan Bo Bylan Banana Fana Faux Cobain?
aka
Some Candidates

Spike Woolridge: Now let’s toss out a list of some people who have been called The New/Next Dylan, just for reference. They may or may not be actual contenders, but they have been, at one point, tagged as such. Or are on our minds as possibilities
Charlie T. Hustle: Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)

Spike Woolridge: Bruce Springsteen

Charlie T. Hustle: Ryan Adams? (large body of work)

Spike Woolridge: Steve Forbert is one of the first to have his career destroyed by the premature New Dylan tag.
Charlie T. Hustle: Josh Ritter

Spike Woolridge: Jakob Dylan has the most literal, genetic claim to the title. If anyone’s the New Dylan, I guess he is.
Charlie T. Hustle: Maybe Glen Hansard (The Frames)
Spike Woolridge: Dan Bern. Donovan got the tag.
Charlie T. Hustle: yep
Spike Woolridge: Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) sure gets it. Steve Earle has gotten it. How about some females: Joni Mitchell was too close to Bob’s time (and sucked later), but Tracy Chapman and Ani Difranco got the tag.
Charlie T. Hustle: I‘ve heard Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs)
Spike Woolridge: Elvis Costello, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Beck. And then i have a few ideas that I’ll save for later. Just to keep a little something for the honeymoon.
Spike Woolridge: Obviously most of these are going to fit, in some way, the songwriting criteria or else they wouldn't make our list. They have proven themselves, at least to us, in that realm.

Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah, it always starts with the songsmithing.

Spike Woolridge: How many of them can live up to the other criteria?
Charlie T. Hustle: Most have had missteps aside from maybe Ritter and Tweedy, but, like Dylan, the missteps get passed over because of "pantheonic" work.

Spike Woolridge: In terms of the String of Records, i think the ones with the strongest cases are probably Springsteen (Born To Run up to Born In The USA) and Tweedy (Being There to now). Ritter is good, but maybe has too few albums (hypocritical, given my Don’t Disparage Them For Their Youth policy).

Charlie T. Hustle: Is Springsteen the voice of a generation?
Charlie T. Hustle: Tweedy has the "reinventiveness," but probably lacks the “voice of a generation.”
Spike Woolridge: Tweedy definitely has the reinventiveness. If you go back to Uncle Tupelo and to the Mermaid Ave stuff, you hear most directly how he gets a lot of the “steeped in tradition” part. And then, listening to the last handful of albums, how he has also evolved as a writer (words ampersand music) with his audience. Wilco gets the dad rock title somewhat deservedly. He's writing songs about the kids he and his audience are having, about the concerns of middle age, all that. So there's at least a twinge of speaking for a generation there, albeit on a scale far diminished from Dylan's.

Spike Woolridge: Before we forget, this guy should also get some consideration for the New Dylan.



Charlie T. Hustle: That’s him! The next Michael Jordan!

Spike Woolridge: The next Jordan thing is an intriguing and not unrelated tangent. Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway and everyone else all failed to live up to the billing. Kobe and LeBron, despite their dominating talents, aren't. The lesson was this: We were looking for the New Jordan in the wrong place. The New Jordan is Tiger Woods. He's the closest thing to Jordan we've seen.

Spike Woolridge: On that note, i have a few candidates who aren’t exactly in the traditional singer/songwriter Dylan mold, who might fit in with that “Looking In The Wrong Place” theme.

Spike Woolridge: Madonna. Look at the popularity, cultural impact and ubiquity, constant reinvention, consistent presence, toying with the media, flirtation with Hollywood, occasional career resurrection, even religious conversion.

Spike Woolridge: Jay-Z or Kanye West, who fulfill the Voice of a Generation better than most and certainly have the broad popularity. Jay Z gets points for his connections to the Beatles, Danger Mouse, Linkin Park, The Roots, etc. Dylan wasn’t afraid to mix it up, singing with Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Kurtis Blow, The Grateful Dead, The Wilburys, etc.

Charlie T. Hustle: Can you get points for mixing it up with Linkin Park?
Spike Woolridge: Kanye dared to say that the President hates black people and bring Jesus back to pop radio. Dylan had a born again period and certainly was politically outspoken, famously calling out members of the Civil Liberties Committee when they gave him an award. Kanye is also probably the hip hopper with the most potential and ambition to cross over

DYLAN GOES PUNK & MAC USERS WRITE A BOOK
or, MORE NAME GAME

Spike Woolridge: And how about some wild cards? JK Rowling (Too commercial? Not heady enough?), author

Spike Woolridge: Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day); Tony Hawk, pro skater; Steve Jobs, Apple magnate; Jon Stewart, talk show host; Maya Angelou, poet

Spike Woolridge: And, lastly, in some ways I see literature as the new folk music, made for people with the patience for a story, the literati, the educated, and like folk music, cultivating more snobbishness than it reasonably ought to. Guys like Vonnegut and Hunter S. Thompson are great. Klosterman, Vidal, and Chabon too. But in the same way Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby spoke for that era and Kerouac's On The Road spoke for that era, I think Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius resonates with this generation, at least those who read it. His other books and social involvement and McSweeneys and so on give him a respectable run at being the voice of our generation. He’s certainly younger than the other authors, so has a better shot at the “string of relevant works.”

Charlie T. Hustle: I could see Klosterman and Eggers, but I don't know if books have the impact that music does. Sure, golf didn't have impact either, but Woods gave it impact. (I haven't read AHWOSG and wonder if I could find five people who have) I think to be truly impacting, the writer would have to bring literature to the forefront…make it something of a phenomenon.

Spike Woolridge: JK Rowling, anyone? Impact is tougher to come by today with so many more outlets for entertainment-- internet, gaming, movies, dvds, amusement parks, texting, IM, iPods, etc
Charlie T. Hustle: Right. That’s why maybe Steve Jobs, Jay Z, Madonna simply have to stay in the mix. Billie Joe Armstrong, though very intriguing, had a shot but hasn't done anything since American Idiot.

Spike Woolridge: American Idiot was protest pop that spoke to people in a mass way, from the kids on up.
Spike Woolridge: I think the cultural impact thing is impossible nowadays--everything's so fractured and, even in music, people are so specifically niched. “Impact” might very well be the hardest of our criteria for someone to crack. To be the New Dylan, you have to be more transcendent.

Charlie T. Hustle: Right...but music was niched then too.
Spike Woolridge: Yes, music was niched, but it was WAY WAY WAY harder to get ahold of. Access was more difficult and there was a lot less of it. Sure, there were folk fans and rock fans and pop fans, but it's so ridiculously subdivided now that somebody can be a HUGE fan of the most obscure little niche subgenre to the exclusion of anything else. Look at the blogs, they hype little bands that will probably never leave the basement as if they were the New Resurrection of Genius.

Spike Woolridge: There has never been SO MUCH music available, which is why, i think we're actually agreeing, a guy like Jay Z or Steve Jobs or Madonna might have the best case.
Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah, to be a persona like Dylan nowdays, you have to be a truly larger than life persona.
Spike Woolridge: And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Billie Joe, because with Dookie he was talking to teenage punk slackers and college kids alike. The breakthrough tells that story. And they’ve had a string of albums that sold well and resonated with a generation that needed something to shout at. Plus the eyeliner.

Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah he was arguably the strongest voice out of the later punk scene where as Dylan was the strongest voice out of the (later) folk scene. (Apologies to Greg Gaffin, Ian MacKaye and so on).
Spike Woolridge: (Strummer, too, is a notable omission, but the fade and his untimely death didn't help him. Or us.)
Spike Woolridge: Green Day’s next record will settle this, though.
Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah, he needs one more album, and maybe a bit of a reinvention and if he can give his fans a total middle finger (though maybe Warning or Nimrod was just that) then he has a decent shot.
Spike Woolridge: We agree on Billie Joe then: He's a contender, but he has to make his next punch.

ROUND ONE SURVIVORS:

I'LL TAKE A PUNCHER'S CHANCE WITH A SIDE OF TALENT

Spike Woolridge: So, the survivors of this round, it seems, would be:
Madonna, Jay-Z, Steve Jobs, Springsteen, Tweedy, and honorable mentions to Klosterman, Eggers, and Billie Joe Armstrong?
Charlie T. Hustle: We never discussed Ryan Adams. I think he’s a wild card here
Charlie T. Hustle: Only misstep = Rock N Roll

Charlie T. Hustle: Got a backing band reinvention with The Cardinals
Spike Woolridge: Right. He has all the prolificity, love/hate relationship with his audience and the media, confidence, quality etc.
Charlie T. Hustle: Prolific, a definite character, a blogger. Not sure if he can be the voice of a generation...but maybe this generation can’t have a unified voice

Spike Woolridge: His inability to self-edit is a weakness, but not overpoweringly so. And he may be TOO steeped in his influences
Charlie T. Hustle: But claims his influences are heavy metal and rap.
Spike Woolridge: There may be some truth to that, but he's not writing songs that go that direction in the least bit.
Charlie T. Hustle: He refuses the label...look at this year’s shenanigans at Telluride.
Spike Woolridge: Yes. Telluride was very punk rock. But, like so many things Ryan Adams does, it was a spot-on impersonation. In this case, an impersonation of Dylan, minus the cultural impact and relevance. Dylan, on the other hand, stopped impersonating Woody pretty early on.

Spike Woolridge: I think the biggest knock against Adams, for me, is how many GREAT albums does he have? Heartbreaker, Pneumonia, Gold is great.
Charlie T. Hustle: Other than Rock N Roll he had a good string. Maybe not quite great like Dylan’s albums.
Spike Woolridge: They’re good and have incredible moments. but i don't think any of them are pantheon, top to bottom. Hold them up against the solidness of Animal Years or The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, and the detours on 29 or Cold Roses can get a little weak.
Charlie T. Hustle: See, I think Cold Roses is one of his strongest.
Charlie T. Hustle: But, for example, is Green Day's string greater than Ryan's? Come on. Nimrod? Insomniac? Warning?
Spike Woolridge: Be nice. Warning is good pop
Charlie T. Hustle: I know they are “good”...but pantheon?
Spike Woolridge: You win. I can’t stand behind those Green Day records as a whole, especially in the glaring light of this discussion. Point: Charlie T. So you would say Cold Roses is as solid- consistent to itself- as Blonde On Blonde or even just The Joshua Tree?
Charlie T. Hustle: Not really but maybe as consistent in the change of style as Highway 61 Revisited. Cold Roses could be Ryan’s Highway 61: got a band, went Grateful Dead style, lost some fans, gained others…

Spike Woolridge: Fill in the blank. Highway 61 was emulating _____ as Cold Roses was emulating The Grateful Dead

Charlie T. Hustle: The Stones?
Spike Woolridge: Really? I don't think he was going for the Stones.
Charlie T. Hustle: Maybe not
Spike Woolridge: I'm just trying to get a picture of what the parallel is there
Charlie T. Hustle: Can you think of what he was going for?
Spike Woolridge: I’m not sure either. Who knows?
Charlie T. Hustle: It’s irrelevant, really, because I’m not talking about the emulation part but the change of sound, addition of a band, alienation of fans, lack of care for what the fans thought.

Spike Woolridge: Sure. i can buy that. I think Highway 61 was more of a departure/risk for Dylan than Cold Roses was for Adams, and maybe less obviously derivative, but i can concede Adams as a strong candidate.
Charlie T. Hustle: Okay. So Ryan Adams makes the cut with Madonna, Jay Z, Steve Jobs, Springsteen, Tweedy, Klosterman, Eggers, Billie Joe, Ryan Adams, Ritter?
Spike Woolridge: Ritter has snuck back in. We are both probably suffering from recency and homerism, but i'll keep him..

Charlie T. Hustle: I was just going back through the transcript and you were using him as an example of strong top-to-bottom records, so I figured he was still in.
Charlie T. Hustle: He’s from small town, goes to the city for success

Spike Woolridge: Critical acclaim, that string of albums
Charlie T. Hustle: Is he as big after 5 albums as Dylan was after 5 albums (Bringing It All Back Home was Dylan's fifth)?
Spike Woolridge: Ritter’s case is most weakened by his relative lack of popularity. Most of these will be, though, when contrasted with Dylan But his case is especially tough because Ritter may never be as big as Dylan was at his smallest. Or at least his low periods.
Charlie T. Hustle: Ritter just played with the Boston Pops (sold out).
Spike Woolridge: But isn't Boston his adopted hometown?
Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah it is, AND he hasn't had his "Newport Folk Festival"
Spike Woolridge: He can stay in the conversation, but we both know that, at the end of the day, his achilles heels are his lesser popularity and the fact that he's easily the most green on our list. Though he DOES have great Dylanesque hair.

Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah.
Spike Woolridge: Klosterman and Eggers probably fall next, as much as I'd like to believe that the book can compete. They would speak to a generation if the generation knew how to read.
Charlie T. Hustle: Yep. Could Bill Simmons (ESPN.com writer and The Black Converse favorite) be Dylan?

Spike Woolridge: Simmons is too cult. Ask somebody "have you heard of Bill Simmons?"

Spike Woolridge: crickets
Charlie T. Hustle: He might be “too cult” but he fits the blogging/internet voice of a generation.
Spike Woolridge: Voice of a market, voice of Boston. I just don't think he's even close to the conversation.
Charlie T. Hustle: The same could be said for Chuck Klosterman, David eggers, Josh Ritter, less so for Ryan Adams and Wilco

Spike Woolridge: Eggers is less provincial-born in Boston, grew up in Illinois, moved to San Francisco.

Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah...but to be honest, a year ago I wouldn't have known who Eggers is. But thats the reading aspect again. Since I started reading more I know.
Spike Woolridge: Way to step up to the literacy plate.
Spike Woolridge: I admit Eggers is out (but not more than Simmons is and not without a fight from me-- the fact that he's on Beck and Aimee Mann records is not smalltime. The fact that he has his own volunteer centers across the country is no small deal.)
Charlie T. Hustle: No, that’s true.

Spike Woolridge: That he FOUNDED McSweeney's is huge and that he has organized amazing concerts that draw top drawer acts…
Spike Woolridge: He’s at the bottom of this heavy hitter list, but he has some significance
Charlie T. Hustle: He can stay in...everyone has their hole. It’s going to come down to who's holes are the least important

4th street or E-Street?

Spike Woolridge: The time has come to cut through the crap.
Charlie T. Hustle: Top 3
Spike Woolridge: These honorable mentions are sort of interesting to discuss, but we have to cut.
Charlie T. Hustle: Billie Joe has been the most interesting but hasn't done anything in a few years
Spike Woolridge: Yeah. He’s had more widespread relevance than many.
Spike Woolridge: My Top 3: Springsteen, Jay Z, Madonna. Steve Jobs is #4, interesting for the sake of argument and gets wicked creative/innovation points
Charlie T. Hustle: Springsteen...might be "bigger" than Dylan. Steve Jobs gets the Tiger Woods Factor, the falling apart publicly and storming back a la Time Out Of Mind.
Spike Woolridge: Yeah, and the RABID Apple fans. Imagine the outcry if Jobs pulled a Newport.
Charlie T. Hustle: My 3: Jobs, Springsteen, Jay Z, but none of them have a "Newport." And isn't that part of what makes Dylan Dylan?
Spike Woolridge: Yeah. So Madonna and Jobs stay in there for the time being. Let's talk Springsteen and the HOVA.
Spike Woolridge: Here's why i think Springsteen gets the nod:
Charlie T. Hustle: Okay, shoot. I've got some ammo against but I want to hear your argument
Spike Woolridge: - discovered by the same talent scout (John Hammond) as Dylan was.
- played the Village like it was his home
- talkie, rambly singing in early career
- storyteller first, he's a pantheon writer
- commercial success over a prolonged period of time
- rabid, loyal, time tested fans
- resurrections (can't count him out)
- carries on a tradition, but adds his own thing to it
- speaks for people (in his case, mostly the blue collar world)
- his string of records is indisputably impressive:
meaning The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle-->Born To Run-->Darkness on the Edge of Town-->The River-->Nebraska-->Born In The USA is a formidable run, even for a guy like me who is admittedly not the biggest Boss fan
Charlie T. Hustle: (Born In The USA = 15x platinum, wow. FIFTEEN TIMES.)
Spike Woolridge: :: then the late 80s/early90s gave us Tunnel of Love/Human Touch/Lucky Town/Streets of Philadelphia/Secret Garden era, which has highpoints in spite of some critical backlash
:: and then finally he has Ghost of Tom Joad (which is amazing by any definition)>The Rising (topical, political, of the day)>Devils & Dust (ditto)>The Seeger Sessions (basically Bruce's version of Bob's World Gone Wrong/Good As I Been To You covers records)> and now Magic
Charlie T. Hustle: That is a very similar parallel
Spike Woolridge: There’s more.
Charlie T. Hustle: Can't forget the politicalness of Born In The USA
Spike Woolridge: Exactly
- his refusal to be a political cog---calling out Reagan for misappropriating Born In The USA and then pushing Mondale away when he wanted to capitalize on it.
Charlie T. Hustle: You brought in some things I would have missed.
Spike Woolridge: - but he also showed a sincere willingness to be involved, lending “No Surrender” to John Kerry, pushing the Vote for Change tour, and being involved with Amnesty, Viet Nam protests, the list rolls on.
Charlie T. Hustle: - he is also, like Bob, on the cover of almost every album.
Spike Woolridge: - he laces in lyrics that can be topical, references to current events, political, (admittedly less humorous than Dylan), and is prolific enough
- he passes the songwriter test
- he only really falls short with the Reinvention thing
Charlie T. Hustle: YEAH. And he doesn't have a Newport. And is he a mythical personality?
Spike Woolridge: The Boss is larger than life for sure. He also tours in ways that would be respectable to Dylan's, with a legendary live show that would shake up night-to-night with less reliance on stock setlist.
Spike Woolridge: The question is: who has a Newport? Who else has middle fingered their core audience like that?
Charlie T. Hustle: I don't know...I guess nobody else has really had that and come back from it in the way Dylan did.
Spike Woolridge: The Beatles did smaller evolutions with Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt Pepper’s. Radiohead followed OK Computer with Kid A, which may be the closest. The Dixie Chicks sort of alienated country too with the Bush comment. Chris Gaines? My Morning Jacket’s new record?
Charlie T. Hustle: Yeah, aside from the whole "Newport" clause, he has basically paralleled Dylan without being a copycat.
Spike Woolridge: Even a lot of the same influences, just a decade later.
Charlie T. Hustle: Definitely more mainstream, more palatable because he spoke for the working man. But it seems like though Springsteen was the Dylan of the 70’s-80’s…he isn’t the Dylan of today.