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A Complete Unknown
DYLAN.REVIEWS
A Complete Unknown
Part 1 – A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
MOVIE REVIEW by Uncle John MovieRelease 12/25/24.
Available to stream,
rent or buy at Amazon Video
This is the best movie I have ever seen.
The acting in particular
has been creative and inspiring, life transforming.
I have a stack of notes on this movie.
Review to be slowly presented.
Part 2 – SOUND
A look at the Sound team,
the sound mixing engineer
Tod A. Maitland &
supervising music editor Ted Caplan.
Motion Picture Soundtrack
Capturing sound on the set with
original instruments,
studio replication
of the sound equipment
from that specific time period.
Part 3 – DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC!
by Elijah Wald - Book Review
I´m still reading the book.
Dylan´s comment on the movie:
“After you see the film, read the book.”
The
book has the most in-depth information,and best parts of this story
assimilated for the film.
Interesting reading!y
Part 4 –
Guidance Of Dylan
This movie stirred a lot of memories in me,
and sharing some of those stories here.
I went to a Catholic high school,
K
eveny Academy, and in my English class,we would study poetry and the poets every Friday.
One day, the Sister brought in some records and
we listen to Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.
Then she asks the class, "Is this poetry?"
"Yes!" we say in unison.
This inspires me
to write poetry.
Photo:
Joe AlperBob Dylan, Suze Rotolo & Lena Spencer Jan 62
One of Bob's earliest musical performances
is at the Caffè Lena, Saratoga Springs, New York
Lena Spencer is amazing! This is America´s oldest cafe!
I had the grand privilege of meeting her & seeing this picture.
I performed Bob Dylan songs with Lena in the audience.
This is a song from the recording from that night.
TANGLED UP IN BULUE
Uncle John, vocals, acoustic guitar
Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY
Uncle John appears in the music video
"We Built This City" by The Starship
I got a call 7am one morning asking if I wanted to be
in the Starship´s video of a new song they were doing.
I was asked to participate in a group called Dead Ringers
to simulate Sgt. Peppers cover album. I would portray
Bob Dylan, & they asked me to find a hat and come back.
I left the studio in downtown San Francisco that day
returned with no hat, but a guitar instead
I said that I didn´t want to replicate him,
but rather interpret him.
Patrick, the director, asked me to perform
a Dylan song for the audience
of about two hundred people gathered there.
He said there were no mikes available and asked me
if I would be willing to sing into a bullhorn.
I said "Yes",
and he said there was a belly dancer
that wanted to perform behind me and I agreed.
I performed a Dylan song on my acoustic guitar,
while Patrick held the bullhorn and I sang:
"Don´t Fall Apart on Me Tonight"
Just a minute 'fore you leave, girl Just a minute 'fore you touch the door What is it that you're trying to achieve, girl? Do you think we can talk about it some more?
Don't fall apart on me tonight Yesterday's just a memory Tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be And I need you, yeah
Come over here
from over there, girl
Sit down here, you can have my chair
I can't see us goin' anywhere, girl
Only place opens a thousand
miles away I can't take you there
I was visiting my Mom one day,
in Clifton Park, New
York
and I said to her that
Adam and I
(Adam Williams, manager, Uncle John)
were going to
Rochester to see Bob Dylan
play at a college for
the deaf.
"Who´s that?"
my mom
asks.
This shocks me. She
admits she´s never
heard of Bob Dylan.
OMG is he a
complete unknown?!
I tell her he plays
with the Grateful Dead.
Her eyes light up. She
knows the
Grateful Dead
though she doesn´t
listen to the music.
One summer, some
Deadheads got hold
of my Mom´s phone
number,
looking for me hoping
to get
Grateful Dead
tickets I had no
access to.
My mom would engage
them
in conversation
and she felt the good
vibes
that the Grateful Dead
represent and are.
Adam Williams and I are in Rochester, New York to see
Bob Dylan and a girl named Marie. Marie´s parents are both deaf, but her and
her siblings can all hear. Rochester is on the border of Lake Ontario, the
third largest city in New York state, home of the Kodak camera, and the
singing Chickadee, a distinctive looking bird who communicates by its call,
and relays a specific message in its own language. It can sound the alarm to
the flock, relay information, and recognizes an individual or a particular
flock.
Rochester is home to one of the largest deaf populations in
the country. There are street signs alerting drivers to where deaf children
play. The only technical college for the deaf in the country is at Rochester
Institute of Technology, and this is where Dylan's show is tonight. Joining
the five band members on stage is someone to sign the show for the deaf, a
girl with headphones who interprets all of Dylan's lyrics tonight. The deaf
people come to experience the vibrations of each song, and are treated to a
passionate presentation of Dylan's lyrics live.
The girl who is signing/interpreting Bob's lyrics speaks with
deliberate hands, Dylan in her ears. She is like the chickadee, relaying
information, communicating in a special language, identifying with each
other, distinctive looking, and transcribing lyrical singing, which
transforms into her acting out the message. We have the singer, the
song and the interpretation tonight. Oh what a special night! POSITIVELY FOURTH
STREET It´s the day after Christmas, and I´m
seeing Jerry Garcia live up close for the first time.
It is the
day after Christmas that Jerry Garcia, musician Merl Saunders, & Creedence
Clearwater Revival rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, play a small jazz club, the
Keystone Korner in San Francisco´s North Beach.
The nightclub is full of smoke, from smokers smoking, that it creates a fog,
and someone spreads a rumor that Bob Dylan is here tonight. What was
different, weird to me, is the audience thought I was Bob Dylan hanging out
with them. I can´t compare myself to him. He’s the premier wordsmith,
literacy lord, savvy, wise, aware, true to himself song poet. He’s like an
older brother to look up to. As prolific as I’ve been, I dwarf in his
shadow. He’s truly a great musician. I don’t want to imitate him.
Poetically, emotionally, what we do is real. And the more I insisted I
wasn’t Dylan, individuals continued to press through to get a look. People
kept watching me, crowding me, studying me, pointing, smiling artistically,
having expectation, empty to give, and for that moment on that evening, I
felt a little of what it is like to be in his shoes. This is a small crowd,
and when Jerry Garcia sings Bob Dylan’s "Positively Fourth Street", everyone
gathers around me. I was uncomfortable but intrigued. Garcia is flawless. He
is like Old Man River singing Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.
Late into the morning I leave the club with Garcia, introducing myself as a
playwright, and walk with him, sharing my story of the luminous revelation I
had at a Grateful Dead concert, stepping into another world of amazing
wonder, the reality of Jesus Christ, and Jerry responds, "That’s entirely
possible!"
and he invites me to the Grateful Dead’s New Year’s Eve show. "It’s gonna be
a scene!" he says with a smile.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
|
No. |
Title |
Performer(s) |
Length |
|
1. |
3:45 |
||
|
2. |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:31 |
|
|
3. |
"I Was Young When I Left Home" |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:04 |
|
4. |
Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro |
2:04 |
|
|
5. |
Monica Barbaro |
2:33 |
|
|
6. |
Timothée Chalamet |
3:05 |
|
|
7. |
1:51 |
||
|
8. |
Monica Barbaro |
2:08 |
|
|
9. |
1:44 |
||
|
10. |
Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro |
3:08 |
|
|
11. |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:25 |
|
|
12. |
Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro |
2:52 |
|
|
13. |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:27 |
|
|
14. |
Boyd Holbrook |
1:41 |
|
|
15. |
Timothée Chalamet |
3:14 |
|
|
16. |
Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton |
2:19 |
|
|
17. |
Monica Barbaro |
1:43 |
|
|
18. |
Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro |
3:37 |
|
|
19. |
Timothée Chalamet |
3:08 |
|
|
20. |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:21 |
|
|
21. |
Timothée Chalamet |
3:23 |
|
|
22. |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:21 |
|
|
23. |
Timothée Chalamet |
2:20 |
|
|
Total length: |
58:44 |
||
Bob Dylan & His Band
8/21/10 Monterey, California
Review by Uncle John
“Thunder on the mountain, rollin' like a drum
Gonna sleep over there, that's where the music coming from
I don't need any guide, I already know the way
Remember this, I'm your servant both night and day.”
Bob Dylan and his band return to the seaside town of Monterey and fill the Fairgrounds with a sold-out seated crowd. Dylan’s music rather than showmanship always surprises, how good he and his band are, and knowing his songs by heart, that part of him is always open, searching the air for old melodies, new revelations, singing vintage songs with a fresh breath, igniting the sounds as the watchman passes as new & familiar phrases flow through our ears, and the world nearby seems like “The Truman Show”.
I am privileged I’m sure to be on the balcony of the hotel where I’m staying and sometime 3 or 4 hours before the show, Dylan’s band does a sound check and they do the best and loudest version of “All Along The Watchtower” I have ever heard. Maybe because this is where Jimi Hendrix once performed that reminds me of the song it seems so electric and the band hot wired, the music on fire and the loud fire engines that were going by during this sound check seem to add exuberance to the musical mix. I called my daughter on the phone to let her listen in. This song is the first song she wanted to learn when she got a guitar. I am amazed at the length and strength of the song, and blessed to hear it as it’s not performed in tonight’s repertoire.
When Bob Dylan is introduced about three hours later, a booming voice, with a long red carpet welcome, sounds like thunder coming from the sky. Bob takes the stage and the crowd is pleased when he opens with “Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35” and “To Ramona” seems like a new song but really is an old one they were rehearsing that day. Everything he sings, no matter its age, sounds fresh and new in a familiar tune. He sings to us history lessons. Like the song “The Battle of New Orleans” sung by Johnny Horton and written by Jimmie Driftwood, a school principal who got students interested in learning history communicating his lessons through music, and it encouraged my interest in history and when I heard the song on “American Bandstand” I started listening to rock ‘n roll. Dylan has songs like that to teach us from the lessons of life around us, and tonight he performs “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, a true story that happened in Baltimore in the early sixties. The New York Times calls this “an almost journalistic song”.
Suddenly, as Bob is singing "Cold Irons Bound" and “come sailing through the air” when an airplane that seems like a giant because it is so close and shows up so suddenly making a landing, and the runway is a layer of air over our heads, but Dylan continues in a staccato beat and the song communicates a lesson from Proverbs. Bob Dylan has always been a spiritual individual, from the days he touches ground in New York at the beginning of the sixties decade, his gift God-given, he humbly continues to share it with us. “Every Grain Of Sand” touches the hearts of the people here and then the band lights up the place with “Highway 61 Revisited”, a song he’s been rehearsing a long time, and we’re really pleased that he does “Shelter From the Storm” tonight and then “Thunder On the Mountain”. A giant shadow of Bob appears on the back screen and the crowd is lifted to its feet as the chords of “Ballad of A Thin Man” rock the grounds. Bob plays the harp to his taunting lyrics of Mr. Jones to close the show, and everyone is rocking to the beat. The encore is “Jolene” and then the rocket-ignited, with the spotlight on the crowd, the parting pleaser, Bob Dylan performs “Like A Rolling Stone”
