freewheelin-on-line take
31 Freewheelin
229 Here at Freewheelin House, our
front door and our mail box are never locked. We welcome all visitors and
we are always pleased to receive any kind of missive from the outside
world. It kind of keeps us and things generally in place. You know that we
are here and we know that you are there but Freewheelin House is a place
for all of us to meet, so come on in. One of our visitors, Jeff Gitter,
decided to write to us at Freewheelin House and his letter, which includes
some wise observations regarding our passion for Dylan’s work, can be
found in Take 31 of Freewheelin-on-line (which is taken directly from
Freewheelin 229). Take 31 also has a party feel about it as many
Freewheelers attended the 20th anniversary of The Cambridge Bob
Dylan Society and their reports, together with photographic evidence of
the usual suspects, are included here. You will also find lots more Dylan
meat upon which to feast which has been carved nicely by this bunch of
historians, collectors, observers, thinkers and revelers. Don’t leave the
house empty handed. Take this one away with you.
freewheelin-on-line take
32 Freewheelin
230 If this
months Freewheelin-on-line came gift wrapped with an index, then the
following are just some of the names you would find among the glitterati
mentioned in our pages: Billie Holliday; Blind Willie McTell; Bobby
Neuwirth; Daniel Kramer; Father Christmas; Frank Zappa; George W Bush;
Greil Marcus; Jean Jacques Rousseau; John Cordwell; Keith Butler; Paul
Williams; Robert Johnson; The Grateful Dead; The Incredible String Band;
Tony Blair; Tony Curtis; Willem De Kooning; Woody Guthrie. Alas the
provision of on index is a luxury too far but the aforementioned list
gives you an idea of just how eclectic the contents of Take 32 of our
Dylan internet magazine (taken straight from the binders of Freewheelin
230) really are. So if you wish to check out the placements of these
various names, there is no great need for maximum effort; no great need
for New Years resolutions; even no great need for greed or hunger. You may
say we are dreamers – and you are probably right! But we have great
delight in inviting you to click away at this current installment in our
series of dreams. And, best of all, you can access our dreams for free.
freewheelin-on-line take
33 Freewheelin
231 In December 2004 something happened to make us
Dylan twitchers sit up and take notice. We didn’t need binoculars to spot
this unusual outing of our favourite song bird: all we had to do was turn
on our T.V. sets and there was a full face Dylan chattering like he hasn’t
done for almost 20 years. A very rare sighting indeed. But don’t worry if
you didn’t catch the screening, for courtesy of Chris Cooper we have a
full highlighted transcript of the ‘60 minutes’ interview in this Take 33
of Freewheelin-on-line (taken word-for-word from Freewheelin number 231).
Now if you really do enjoy the outdoors then you will also be taken by the
first part of a lengthy treatise by Patrick Webster which approaches
Dylan’s work from an ecocritical point of view. Look out for that one
among the pastures of plenty in this 50 page issue of your Dylan magazine
on the internet. All you have to do is log on and download for our birds
are not chained to any skyway. Have a go and you will soon see how good,
ah how good, it feels to have something for free.
freewheelin-on-line take
34 Freewheelin
232 For Bob Dylan fans, the year 2004
was something of an annus franticus – there just seemed to be so
much going on that we hardly had time to draw breath Bob-wise: Masked
& Anonymous was released on DVD; The Bootleg Series Volume 6 was in
the shops; there was a myriad of new books on Dylan, including his
very own masterwork Chronicles Volume 1; an updated version of ‘Lyrics’
was published; Bob appeared in his first TV interview for almost 20 years
and in between all this frantic activity there were some 114 live shows to
delight us. In his 63rd year Dylan seems to be following the
philosophy of his name sake poet Dylan Thomas who declared that old age
should burn and rave at close of day! At the end of the year the
Freewheelers were set the task of choosing their Top Ten Dylan and other
events of 2004. The results are found in this Take 34 of
Freewheelin-on-line (taken directly from Freewheelin number 232). Of
course those Top Tens are mixed in with our other regular features which
makes this one a bonus maximus. Whether or not you get ten out of
ten for Latin (and I certainly don’t) we hope you enjoy this one: it’s
yours for free.
freewheelin-on-line take 35 Freewheelin 234
[published on-line 24 March 2005]
Now and again visitors come to Freewheelin House bearing gifts. As
Freewheelin House however is a concept of the imagination rather
than a structure of bricks and mortar, the gifts our visitors bring
are normally works of their own imagination rather than potted
plants and kitchen ware! The problems is that, once the resident
Freewheelers have had their say, there is no space inside the House
for much else and so we have no room to display the gifts of others.
This month we are making an exception. When Padraig Hanratty tore
through these quarters with a manuscript underneath his arm and a
coat of green and gold, we just had to give him the space. Part 1 of
Padraig’s Dylan inspired short story ‘Flowers in her Hair’ can be
found in this Take 35 of Freewheelin-on-line (taken from Freewheelin
number 233). And if you prefer your reading to be in parts, like a
Shakespeare play, you will also find part 2 of Patrick J. Webster’s
amazing ‘Conspiracy to Kill the Free’ here. Those two gems are among
many others in this flaming ring of fire. And, just in case you
haven’t noticed, those two Masters of the Universe namely Bob Dylan
and Pablo Picasso are together again on the cover. This one is too
good to be left on the shelf. Take it away, the only cost is your
time.
freewheelin-on-line take
36 Freewheelin
234 There’s a wind of change blowin’
around Freewheelin House. Some say it is a wicked North wind, others say
that it is fresh from the Caribbean, warmed by the breath of a tequila
sunrise. Whilst certain mindsets may be bringing everything that’s near to
me nearer to the fire, there’s still lots to see and do here in the
library of the house that Bob built. For a start we have the conclusions
to two major pieces of work by Patrick J. Webster and Padraig Hanratty.
Then we open Mark Carter’s treasure chest of writings and drawings. Anyone
who regularly takes our internet magazine will not want to miss this
months instalment of Mark’s search for Dylan in the pages of the press.
Look out also for some excellent drawings from Mark’s imaginative pen.
Chris Cooper is back with Magnetic Movements and Michael Crimmins joins
the gang in the Rolling Thunder Revue. And if you sense that there may be
some connection between Chronicles and William Blake then let us entertain
your notion with an article on that very subject. Although Take 36 of
Freewheelin-on-line (taken from Freewheelin number 234) is a delight to
behold, you may feel that some of us here are trying to catch that wind of
change. There’s no need for you to worry for its just a shadow that you’re
seeing that we’re chasing. All you really have to do is press the right
keys and its yours. With nothing to pay.
freewheelin-on-line take 37 Freewheelin 235
[published on-line 2 July 2005]
The residents of Freewheelin house are not often seen standing on
the side of the road with rain falling on their shoes. We always
seem to be on the move and you will thus find that this Take 37 of
Freewheelin-on-line (taken from Freewheelin number 235) has a strong
sense of movement about it. The wonderful illustrated article
‘America Over The Water’ by Richard Lewis epitomizes the kind of
movement I am talking about here. Richard relates an amazing journey
of discovery and realization that he took across America in the
summer of 1967 which included a sighting of Dylan in Woodstock.
There is also a to-ing and fro-ing here between the ancient town of
Hastings in the county of Sussex, England and the not so ancient
town of Hibbing in the State of Minnesota, USA as Paula Radice
discloses her private correspondence with a resident of Dylan’s home
town. Michael Crimmin’s article ‘Most Likely You Go Your Way (And
I’ll Go Mine)’ talks about another kind of journey and Patrick
Webster joins in a tug-of-war with all those who rate ‘Chronicles’
so highly. And, talking of Chronicles, our librarian in residence
Mark Carter takes a trip through the newspapers to find out what the
world’s press made of Dylan’s own story of discovery and realisation.
As always with Freewhelin-on-line, there is lots more and to join us
on the journey you don’t have to pay any dues or get tangled up in
any kind of rope. Whether you be a mathematician or a carpenters
wife, just make some movements with your right hand and we’ll take
you down the road to ecstasy. For free.
freewheelin-on-line take 38 Freewheelin 236
[published on-line 24 January 2006]
On the basis that the road of excess leads to the Palace of Wisdom,
here at Freewheelin House we’ve had an excessive lock-in for the
last six months. We’ve been having a perpetual party; a non-stop hoe
down; a mammoth rave: all of every day and all of every night. The
Freewheelers have had on their dancin’ shoes and we’ve done ‘em all
– from the foxtrot, to the lope and pace. We’ve thrown sand on the
floor and done the double shuffle – with one hand waving free. The
reason for the celebration is that we’ve witnessed a complete turn
of the wheel: it’s taken 20 years for the wheel to come full circle
and now the rolling has ended with a total, exquisite, sunset.
Lighting the candles on our cake, and indeed shining his light at
every turn of our wheel, has been a guy who never wanted to join in
the dance, a kind of lonesome hobo, a shady drifter always on his
own. He’s made the dancing shoes for everyone here but he still
walks round the house barefoot. But we continued with the festival
anyway. We’ve had a festival of words, thousands of them jingle
jangling down onto every page of the biggest Freewheelin in history.
And do you know what? We just can’t do better than this. We can’t
mix a better medicine than the one we’ve brewed here. So it’s time
for us to quit while we’re ahead of the game. For a while or
forever? The secret lies buried in the garden of Freewheelin House.
One thing that we are going to do before the party ends however is
open our front door and let that drifter escape into the world
outside with a million thanks and kisses. He’s got plans to remake
his own world at large. And as we open the front door to let him go,
so you can all come in and join our party. You can read our festival
of words which have a common theme and which are contained in this
Take 38 of Freewheelin-on-line (taken from Freewheelin number 236).
So put on your dancing shoes and click away your blues for free. A
word of warning though: you’d better be careful: you might want to
stay in here forever.
