Books: August 2005 Archives

A new "documentary portrait" of Bob Dylan by Martin Scorsese No Direction Home will air on PBS'S American Masters series, September 26-27 (check local listings) and in the UK on BBC'S Arena series September 26.

The two-part film, which focuses on the singer-songwriter's life and music from 1961-66, includes never-seen performance footage and interviews with artists and musicians whose lives intertwined with Dylan's during that time. Dylan talks openly and extensively about this critical period in his career, detailing the journey from his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, to Greenwich Village, New York, where he became the center of a musical and cultural upheaval, the effects of which are still felt today.

For the first time, The Bob Dylan Archives has made available rare treasures from its film, tape and stills collection, including footage from Murray Lerner's film Festival documenting performances at the 1963, 1964 and 1965 Newport Folk Festivals, previously unreleased outtakes from D.A. Pennebaker's famed 1967 documentary Don't Look Back, and interviews with Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Maria Muldaur, and many others. In anticipation of the film, members of Dylan's worldwide community of fans also contributed rarities from their own collections.

While I like many of Scorsese's films, he seems to always excel when he deals with music. Remember The Last Waltz, his contributions to to the PBS series "The Blues" and even the musical New York, New York. I'm looking forward to it.

While I'm on the subject of Dylan, the first volume of his memoirs, Chronicals, Vol. 1, is a remarkable book. Different from any musician's biography that you will ever read.

The End Of Faith by Sam Harris is a profound book for me. This quote from Natalie Angier in the NY Times well sums up how I felt while reading it:

“The End of Faith articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated, almost personally understood… Harris writes what a sizable number of us think, but few are willing to say in contemporary America… This in an important book, on a topic that, for all its inherent difficulty and divisiveness, should not be shielded from the crucible of human reason.”

In today's world, particularly in the US, it is becoming a dangerous thing, not to believe. The similarity in goals of the "faith-based" movement in the US and the government structure that appears to be emerging in Iraq are all too close in the way that those in power seek to impose their beliefs on their respective societies. Harris' book promotes rational thinking about the complexity of life, morality and other issues without having to resort to blind-faith and un-provable assertions while still honoring the wonder and preciousness of life and the universe.