I will survive with a little help from my friends

Cast:
Bob Dylan - Count Dracula
Joanna my BFF - The Mummy
Tony Garnier - Werewolf
Charlie Sexton - Frankenstein
Leo - The Witch

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Only A Rose

My husband and I smelling the roses at Swarthmore College Rose Garden.  We never realized there was such variety and individuality in the scent of roses. I thought all roses smelled alike.  So, it is not completely true that a rose is a rose is a rose.  Some varieties seemed to our untrained noses to have no fragrance at all. The roses we are smelling in the above pictures is a hybrid tea rose named Rosa Swarthmore which I detected to have a delicate scent with a tinge of lilac, my husband thought it had a spicy smell.  

The Annotated “Flowers” Theme Time Radio Hour - Episode 11 (Part 2)

Being the 2nd Part of a Complete Transcript with Commentary 
on Episode #11 of Theme Time Radio Hour, Flowers 
Original air date: July 12, 2006

Bob Dylan: Well there’s no shortage of rose songs, and here’s one I first heard through the grape vine. It’s from a young Welshman named Geraint Watkins. He played piano and accordion with Dave Edmunds and Shakin’ Stevens. But more recently he’s been in Nick Lowe’s band and has recorded and toured with Van Morrison. Here’s a beautiful song that he wrote, “Only a Rose.” Geraint Watkins.

Bob Dylan: Geraint Watkins, “Only a Rose.” And remember, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.

Took this picture yesterday at the rose garden at Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College

 Bob Dylan: I wasn’t gonna play any more rose songs, but how could I not play this one? It went to Number 3 in 19 and 67 and it’s called “I Threw Away the Rose.” We’ve talked a lot about Merle, so I’m just going to play the record.

Bob Dylan: That was Merle Haggard, “I Threw Away the Rose,” with his story of unrequited love. This is Theme Time Radio Hour, and we’re discussing flowers. Buddha said, “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.”

Norsk Dylanologisk Selskab

A heartfelt thank you to
Norsk Dylanologisk Selskab / The Norwegian Bob Dylan Society
for allowing me to share these recent adventures
of Bob Dylan and his Band
with my blog readers.
Oh, and I can't neglect to thank
my friend Joanna for introducing me to
the Norsk Dylanologisk Selskab page on FB.
Joanna knows where it's at when it come to
Robert Allen Zimmerman. 

Stockholm 2013 

Renaldo & Clara

I love these words from Dylan's "Idiot Wind" .  You'll see why they are relevant to this blog post and the film "Renaldo and Clara" if you read the synopsis below.

"You'll never know the hurt I suffered
or the pain I rise above
And I'll never know the same about you
Your holiness or your kind of love
and it makes me feel so sorry"


From what I (Leo) can decipher from uploader and viewer comments, the youtube video below is the second half of the film.

Uploader: "This is the only video I have and it was labeled Renaldo and Clara part 2 so I think there's more footage out there but this is all I have sorry."

Viewer:  "The scenes are all out of order. At least according to the 'Renaldo and Clara' synopsis I'm reading. Google it and you'll find it too, it helps explain what's going on"

Find an excellent  synopsis, let me move that up a few notches to a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious synopsis HERE

Here is a darned good review of Renaldo and Clara by Sadi Ranson- Polizzotti of Tant Mieux;

Renaldo and Clara - A Review  

 Excerpt from Ranson-Polizzotti's review:

"The problem is, even for the most diehard Dylan fan or no matter how much you love or like Dylan, watching Renaldo and Clara, is, as most critics agree, a painful and arduous task (yes, task) that takes about five hours or longer. I’ve watched and read everything Dylan and would do a lot, including watching five hours of Renaldo and Clara to review it. But there is little here to review, despite five or so hours of footage. That said, let me do my level best to tell the story of Renaldo and Clara."

The Gates of Dylan

Image credit: Bob Dylan, 2013 © John Shearer

  

Of his new exhibition, Bob Dylan said: “I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country -where you could breathe it and smell it every day. And I've always worked with it in one form or another. Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference.”

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/65197/Mood-Swings--Halcyon-Gallery-in-London-to-present-new-Bob-Dylan-iron-works-exhibition-#.UlWm1BAQrTo[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

Of his new exhibition, Bob Dylan said: “I've been around iron all my life ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country -where you could breathe it and smell it every day. And I've always worked with it in one form or another.

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/65197/Mood-Swings--Halcyon-Gallery-in-London-to-present-new-Bob-Dylan-iron-works-exhibition-#.UlWm1BAQrTo[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

Halcyon Gallery will present a major exhibition of new works by artist and musician Bob Dylan, which will open at Halcyon Gallery this November.  Mood Swings will show iron works by Bob Dylan for the first time, alongside original works on canvas and signed limited editions, all of which will be for sale.

Seven iron gates welded out of vintage iron and other metal parts created by Dylan in his studio will be featured in the exhibition and will be displayed publicly for the first time. These gates and other objects are the outcome of the artist’s lifelong fascination with welding and metalwork.

Paul Green, President of the Halcyon Gallery, commented: “The forthcoming exhibition will be the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Bob Dylan’s art to date. While Dylan has been a committed visual artist for more than four decades, this exhibition will cast new light on one of the world’s most important and influential cultural figures of our time. His iron works demonstrate his boundless creativity and talent. As these artworks are made at home, not on the road, they give us a rare glimpse into another part of the artist's own personal universe.”

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/65197/Mood-Swings--Halcyon-Gallery-in-London-to-present-new-Bob-Dylan-iron-works-exhibition-#.UlWm1BAQrTo[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

ul Green, President of the Halcyon Gallery, commented: “The forthcoming exhibition will be the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Bob Dylan’s art to date. While Dylan has been a committed visual artist for more than four decades, this exhibition will cast new light on one of the world’s most important and influential cultural figures of our time. His iron works demonstrate his boundless creativity and talent. As these artworks are made at home, not on the road, they give us a rare glimpse into another part of the artist's own personal universe.”

More Information: http://artdaily.com/news/65197/Mood-Swings--Halcyon-Gallery-in-London-to-present-new-Bob-Dylan-iron-works-exhibition-#.UlWm1BAQrTo[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

 Halcyon Gallery

Gates of Eden
At dawn my lover comes to me
And tells me of her dreams
With no attempts to shovel the glimpse
Into the ditch of what each one means
At times I think there are no words
But these to tell what’s true
And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden


Long Distance Operator
There are thousands in the phone booth
Thousands at the gate
There are thousands in the phone booth
Thousands at the gate
Ev’rybody wants to make a long-distance call
But you know they’re just gonna have to wait


Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide
To show you the dead angels that they used to hide
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
Oh, how could they ever mistake you?
They wished you’d accepted the blame for the farm
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms
How could they ever, ever persuade you?
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

2 X 2
Seven by seven, they headed for heaven
Eight by eight, they got to the gate
Nine by nine, they drank the wine
Ten by ten, they drank it again


Everything is Broken
Broken bottles, broken plates
Broken switches, broken gates
Broken dishes, broken parts
Streets are filled with broken hearts
Broken words never meant to be spoken
Everything is broken


Golden Loom
 I walk across the bridge in the dismal light
Where all the cars are stripped between the gates of night
I see the trembling lion with the lotus flower tail
And then I kiss your lips as I lift your veil
But you’re gone and then all I seem to recall is the smell of perfume
And your golden loom


Day of the Locusts
 Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin’
The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees
The man standin’ next to me, his head was exploding
Well, I was prayin’ the pieces wouldn’t fall on me
Yeah, the locusts sang off in the distance
Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody
Oh, the locusts sang off in the distance
And the locusts sang and they were singing for me


Simple Twist of Fate
 A saxophone someplace far off played
As she was walkin’ by the arcade
As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin’ up,
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
And forgot about a simple twist of fate

Absolutely Sweet Marie
Well, your railroad gate, you know I just can’t jump it
Sometimes it gets so hard, you see
I’m just sitting here beating on my trumpet
With all these promises you left for me


You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 
Clouds so swift
Rain won’t lift
Gate won’t close
Railings froze
Get your mind off wintertime
You ain’t goin’ nowhere

These Are The Days

Our beautiful son

Still not out of the woods with the editing process but managed to slice out another portion of our home movies from the DVD.  This includes our only son when he was about 3 yrs old and we took him and his sisters to the Jersey Shore in 1971. 

What I Inherited From My Father

Me and 3 of my 4 beautiful daughters:  The one in blue is our first child, in red is our second, and in green is their baby sister, daughter # 4 (they were married with children of their own when #4 was born).  Daughter # 3 was missing in action that day, off climbing a mountain in Colorado.

Daughter # 3

I have been in a deep nostalgic state for the last couple of months.  Recently I had all of our old home movies, from 1964 - 1976, transferred to a DVD.  I am most certainly my father's child, not that there was ever any doubt about that; I got my looks from him (it took me forever to adjust to having his Italian nose),  my values from him, and my love of documenting the lives of my family with a movie camera from him.  I used Walgreen's to do my VHS to DVD transfer but I will not use them again and would not recommend them.  Instead, I will go to Best Buy and invest in my own equipment.  I have "tons" of VHS tapes, from 1974 to the present, including a 30 day North American rail tour I took with my youngest child and her best friend in order to show them there was more to life than what they were experiencing in our dinky little town.  We took the rail tour when they were 16 years old, today they are 30 with families of their own.  So, all of my treasure trove has to be transferred and edited, and I refuse to work within the limits that outside parties put on my movies and my creative vision.  Even Windows Movie Maker, which was once so user friendly,  has found a way to limit me and trip me up.

At any rate, the following two videos are the first ever taken of my own family, and. in spite of their imperfections and abrupt endings, they are precious beyond value to me. They feature daughters 1, 2, and 3. 

Each of these, my three babies - Sinead O'Conner

So much love that I cannot hide - John Prine

Anecdote:  Thanks to my Technical Assistant - my 11 yr old grandson, a major obstacle has been removed from my path.  This kid has had a computer since he was 3 yrs old.  He discovered that after we copied the disc to my desktop, the video segments somehow acquired a faulty extension.   The  extension had to be changed from VOB to AVI.  He did this within minutes after I told him I was having a bad day and couldn't find a way to edit the videos on the DVD.  Technical Assistant?  Who am I kidding.  He is my superior in all things technical - time to give him a promotion.  He will now be known as my Director of Technology.  It's in his blood, he inherited his genius from his father who is Technical Director for a local major non-profit.  Ah, life is good when you have live in tech support.  I'm still going to get my own equipment though.  With the amount of work I have ahead of me, it will save me the expense of paying an outside source to do the transfer work.  My Technical Director agrees: "that would be the best way to go"

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