Well, this comes as kind of a blow for Bob Dylan fans—turns out Bob has been clearly plagiarizing a ton other artists lately. Breathe easy, though, music fans—the rip-offage comes not in his music, but in the singer/ songwriter’s series of paintings on display in the Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan.
In an unexpected but certainly welcome bit of news, Spinner reports that the Chinese government has decided to allow Bob Dylan to perform in Beijing this April. Few expected this to occur, as Dylan–at least, 1960s era Dylan–is an icon of youth movements and revolutionary ideals. Not exactly values the Chinese government is known to fully support.
It’s not official, but Bob Dylan reportedly has signed a six-book deal, according to Crain’s New York Business.
The singer is expected to release the books through Simon & Schuster. The deal is rumored to include the next two volumes of Dylan’s New York Times bestselling Chronicles series and a collection of material from his Sirius/XM radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour.
What do Bob Dylan and Lil’Wayne have in common? pretty much nothing, although these two artists have made this week’s top 5 featured albums. Of course the cake winner is Dylan, with years of raspy crooning and twangy guitar tunes under his belt, still managing to please the critics and awe fans 30-some odd years down the road. Check out these other artists who’ve released new music as well, and see what critics have been saying about new music this week:
Yesterday, in an interview with the L.A. Times, Joni Mitchell dropped a bomb (well, for classic rock/ folk fans it was bomb, to everyone else it’s probably more like distant thunder or that noise your new MGMT record makes when you turn it down super-low out of embarrassment when people pass by your car) in insisting that Bob Dylan—you know, that guy who wrote some of the greatest rock songs and lyrics in the American canon—is nothing but a liar and a fake.
The more times a-change, the more they stay the same—though Bob Dylan has moved beyond the protest movement that he really only involved himself in from ’62-’63, apparently China still views the rock ‘n roll bard as something of a mind-altering threat. Therefore they don’t want him or his “crazy” music entering their country.
As more and more summer music festivals announce their lineups (and Lollapalooza? Please, please, please don’t make Green Day and Lada Gaga headliners), Kent, England’s three-year-old “No sponsorship/ No branding” Hop Farms festival just snagged a Major—NME reports that none other than rock ‘n roll bard Bob Dylan will headline the Saturday, July 3rd event. And while some may carp that Dylan’s a little too far on the other side of fifty to be the tentpole act of a rock festival, c’mon—this is the guy who wrote “Like a Rolling Stone”!
LL Cool J otherwise known as Ladies Love Cool James is mostly known as an emcee who has rippling muscles, pouty lips, and riské hip-hop music videos, but he’s also served as a pioneer in the rap genre for starting out as a teen and sustaining a career for over two decades. Back when LL Cool J was still putting out raw material like “I Need Love” (which Amanda Blank has recently sampled), one of his biggest hits was “Mama Said Knock You Out.” However, have you ever imagined what it would sound like if Bob Dylan spit the lyrics from that song?
