Today’s post comes from perennial sophomore Bubby Spamden at Wendell Wilkie High School.
Hey Mr. C.,
Me and my buddies were talking last night about how weird it is that Bob Dylan’s electric guitar from the 1965 Newport Folk Festival sold for almost one million dollars.
Believe it or not, we studied this in class – how revolutionary it was to play a plugged-in instrument at a folk festival and how Dylan got booed for doing it. Our history teacher, Mrs. Barbary-Allen, said Dylan was a traitor and she hoped he spent the rest of his days tormented by remorse for the horrible thing he had done. Then she went on for a while about how Dylan couldn’t feel any remorse because he was the Devil and he killed Buddy Holly and threw his body off the levee from the back of a Chevy and there was no justice in the world and then told us to read chapter 7 and put her head down on the desk and wept.
It was kind of awkward.
We found later that Dylan left the guitar on a plane and ignored the guy who tried to give it back to him, so that guy’s family finally sold it and got all this money.
I bet someone’s feeling remorse now!
As high school sophomores, whenever some kind of real-world surprise comes along we’re always told to “let that be a lesson to you.” But in this one, we’re not sure what the lesson is. That’s why I’m writing to ask for you help.
Trail Baboon 
Good morning. In the 60s I knew a guy who wrote letters to famous musicians asking them to share some of their money with him because he thought they probably were not making good use of it and he could make better use of it. I don’t believe any of those musicians sent him any money or at least he didn’t say anything about getting any money from them. Perhaps he should have followed Dylan around and picked up anything he didn’t seem to want.
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Love this guy’s attitude. No sense in that money being wasted if it’s not being well used!
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Too bad that doesn’t work. I occasionally think that if Bill Gates gave me $50,000, I would be in the greatest shape and it wouldn’t even make a dent in his wallet. If only I could figure out a way to explain this to BG.
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Back in the early 70s, while going to college full time and being a single mom to my three kids, I hatched a scheme: plan a trip to Jamaica, then ask the millionaire owner of an office building I cleaned for enough cash to actually make this trip. I researched air fares, what to do on the island, who’d baby sit my kids, what I’d pack, etc. I had fun for several weeks imagining myself lounging in the Jamaica sun, sipping an exotic drink. The only part of my fantasy trip needed to make it happen was the money, and my only plan for getting it was to outright ask my boss for it.
The day came to make my move. I marched right up to him and said, “Would you give me some money to go to Jamaica?”. He replied, “Why would I do that?”, to which I said, “Because you have more than you need”. He laughed at me. I never regretted this, however, because I got to have all the fun planning and imagining this wonderful getaway for weeks. Besides, it never hurts to ask as long as hearing “no” is to be expected.
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See? Good attitude, CB.
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Bubby’s question is really simple. True artistic creativity is one of the most precious and fugitive gifts anyone can have. To sustain artistic creativity an artist simply must follow that elusive inner voice, even when it dictates taking a painfully difficult new path. I wish Bob Dylan had not been such a snotty wanker when he plugged in, but he was doing the only thing he could do without trashing his creativity. An artist who allows the audience to pigeonhole him (or her) is no longer an artist. Creativity cannot be put in chains. Audiences don’t have the right to force artists to stagnate in comfortable niches. It’s an old, old story. Audiences hissed Beethoven when he tried new stuff, and other audiences have done the same as long as performers have performed.
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And Joni Mitchell comes to mind. I lost track of her after she left the acoustic folky scene, but admire her for branching out.
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i loved her jazz. some of her best stuff. the early purity is so strong its incredible but she never waivered in putting out great stuff in whatever genre she went after.
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Today we are joining our bell choir in Medora, ND to perform indoors (Thank you, Lord) at the annual Cowboy Christmas celebration. We perform in the Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. I don’t know what our audience is expecting. We will play chimes instead of the bells, since we just don’t feel like hauling the hand bells, and the chimes are much lighter. I don’t think they will boo us out of the conference room when they see the chimes. We shall see.
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Report back, OK, Renee? Wish I could be there!
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Just back from our travels. It was bitterly cold and there were far fewer visitors to the town than the organizers had hoped for, but we had a decent sized audience and played for about an hour. During our lunch break we were entertained by the locals sitting nearby. Bill Lowman, the local cowboy poet, was in town for some shopping and socializing and started declaiming his latest poem, just for the heck of it. We played in the Cowboy Hall of Fame, which is decorated up and down with wonderful photos of old time cowboys and ranch women. We then sped to Bismarck for some last minute shopping.
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can you have someone record it on their cell phone and forward it to dale for an adder to tomorrows posts? id like to see the performance if you could.
or just post it to you tube directly and give us the link
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Next Sunday we are playing a couple of numbers at our church for a local rendition of the Festival of Lessons and Carols, and I will have someone record us.
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great
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Heck, I wonder what I could get for my old guitar.
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ill bet someone could tell you pretty close to accurately. its kind of the luck of the draw. what you bought is valued at the perception of how that guitar company is viewed years later. old gibson are worth their weight in gold. gibson made crappy guitars for a bunch of years but the perception keeps them up there pricewise. alverez made a great medium priced guitar but it never gained acceptance. electrics are a kick too. fenders and gibsone are the leaders but if you have one of the old gulid or rickenbachers they can be a big deal too.
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Hmmm, it’s an acoustic Gibson.
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That was BiR
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dylan seems to me to be the least sentimental composer out there. he likes to view the world in a flux and realizes that it is always changing and turning and nothing can be replicated or appreciated in the same way so why try. the guitar that one guy needs to play his soul through is dylans ax of the moment. i think he has come to understand the stuff you are feeling may as well be what you go with. its true to you and has as good a chance to be the right thing wrong thing to do as whatever other option is available.
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In business, you do need to pay attention to the audience/customer, but they aren’t always right, no matter what the nostrums say. Sometimes they can’t separate needs or wants from what they are comfortable with. Same is true for art. If you wind up doing the same thing over and over (in business or art) you stagnate – freshness may come from sharp left turns in the path, flipping something over or doing something completely different. I am not the most daring person, but I know when I need to upset the apple cart bit for myself at least – sometimes I just throw a couple of the apples at a nearby tree to see what happens, and sometimes I build a whole new cart.
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you can do it one way or the other. if you want to be a yes man to a customer who likes butt kissing then get in line there will be lots of competition. if you want to be the pro from dover who has a different thing to offer you need to be ready for lots more rejection but you can stand alone in the area of competition. if you fail or win at least you can know you did it in a way that rang true. i always tell people who are impressed with my knowledge or presentation that i am a great worker but a horrible employee.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IxUsnG_sko
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Here’s another view on creativity. This is an excerpt from a longer presentation, a presentation that makes a lot of sense to me. Except for a few truly creative geniuses, the process of being creative is plain old work that take time. Many people have said this in different ways. I find John Cleese’s theory encouraging. Give yourself time and space and go for it:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/12/john-cleese-on-creativity-1991/
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Ben, I know your electricity is back on, why are you ignoring us? And, vs, are you off in South Africa or is that coming up?
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Why Hello PJ, Thanks for asking.
I’m so busy getting my ‘Scrooge’ face on for my up coming week of Christmas concerts that I just haven’t had much time to write.
And it was midnight bread baking night again. Me and my apron and my headphones and dancing around the kitchen while I bake. It’s a terrible sight!
Monday I drive to Minneapolis to pick up streamer cannons, snow machines and some light fixtures. Wednesday – Saturday are concerts.
Nothing says ‘Christmas Concerts’ like haze, streamers, fake snow and ‘zero degree beam’ lights!
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OT – If BBC is tomorrow afternoon, I can’t make it (again). I may have fallen off the email list…
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see you next time
3 pm start
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I have also fallen off the list.
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So far, checking under your seat seems to be the winner of the voting. I’m not good at doing that. Perhaps that is a lesson that I need to learn. I have left clothing behind a number of times that I never recovered and didn’t want to loose. On the other side, I discovered that I brought home a jacket that wasn’t mine and I couldn’t figure out where it came from. Now I have an extra jacket and it is a nice one. I am using it. However, I do experience some guilt when I wear it. I wonder if those people who sold Dylan’s guitar feel some guilt regarding the large amount of money they got for something that was picked up that wasn’t theirs.
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I don’t see why they would. They tried to get Dylan’s folks to retrieve it, but it wasn’t important to them. It was a private plane, and the guitar was brought home by the pilot. Dylan’s empire had ample time and resources to reclaim it, and didn’t.
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I agree with PJ. Dylan is a monster talent and the state can be proud of what he has done in music. But he is also a third rate human being. Great artists are often not great people.
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O, off topic but i am confused. Why is the US postal service delivering packages on my street this evening?
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During the Xmas season they are delivering 7 days a week.
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I guess they are keeping the customers satisfied!
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Abandoned and unloved for so many years, its worth is now validated. It’s kind of a nice happy ending for the guitar. It can enjoy its retirement now.
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