Tuesday, March 03, 2009

TRAVEL PLANS

I may not be able to blog again till next week. Tomorrow Sarah has a six-hour drive to take me to Carcassonne airport and herself back home again. I fly over to Liverpool (the John Lennon Airport, motto "Above us only sky" - honestly, it is), and then get a bus and a train to Malton, North Yorkshire, to go and see our new grandson Freddie (Freddie James Hodgson, a son to Jessamyn Beattie and Chris Hodgson) and to eat a No.63 from the local Thai restaurant (Tui's, in Yorkersgate); on Thursday it's back to Liverpool for an interview live on the Billy Butler Show on BBC Radio Merseyside and to stay overnight on the Wirral. Friday I'm back in Liverpool and back on the radio, pre-recording things for two more Radio Merseyside programmes and one on Radio 2, then back 'cross the Mersey to Birkenhead for my BOB DYLAN & THE POETRY OF THE BLUES event at their Pacific Road Arts Centre at 7.30pm. Saturday is free, and then on Sunday I fly home again, early in the morning. Anyway that's my excuse for not blogging again this week. Unless I do, of course.
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:19 pm

    Good luck with it all. Let us know if your radio interviews will be streamed on the web. Cheers/Y

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  2. poetsparty5:29 pm

    Dear Michael,

    I'd like to share with you some information regarding some of the uncirculated Dylan material referenced in your Dylan Encyclopedia.

    "Just Because" by the Shelton Brothers is suggested as being one of the songs recorded at Acme Studios in Chicago during the 1992 aborted Good As I Been To You sessions. The song was in fact "Just Because You Didn't Answer" (written in 1976) Wireless Music, BMI, music and lyrics by Thom Bishop.

    'Su Su's Got a Mohawk' was also included. That song was actually "Sue Sue Got a Mohawk", (written in 1984), music and lyrics by Thom Bishop and David Bromberg, Wireless Music BMI and Sweet Jelly Roll Music, ASCAP.

    For nearly ten years, while he was living in Chicago, David would sit in with the Thom Bishop band, primarily at a club called Orphan's. When David was tapped by Dylan to produce those sessions, he offered a number of songs for Dylan's consideration, and those two were among the ones Dylan selected.

    I know all this, as Thom Bishop was my given name when I released "Just Because You Didn't Answer" two different times: The Wireless Wonder (Stuff Records, 1981, on vinyl only), and Feed Me a Dream, Coyote Records, 1996, still available on cd.

    After releasing Feed Me a Dream, I focused on writing other things besides music and have published extensively under the name Junior Burke. Both of my careers are substantially documented on the World Wide Web.

    Dylan has always been a profound inspiration to me and I trust that someday those two songs will be made available. Before then, it would be great to get the information concerning them documented. I have only your hardcover edition, but assume these two songs were presented similarly in the paperback. If there are subsequent editions of your very fine book, I hope you will include some version of these details.

    Of course feel free to post this message, but it's really for your personal reference. If you have any questions or want any further clarification, don't hesitate to contact me.

    Thanks for your time and all best for the future,

    Junior Burke
    Chair, Writing & Poetics
    The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics
    Naropa University
    Boulder, CO 80302
    jrburke@naropa.edu

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  3. Anonymous9:04 pm

    Michael-great night at Pacific Road last night-you have kick-started all sorts-I am truly grateful!!

    Good luck in the states-Donnie may be a come-down....but I will see you there!!!

    Regards,

    Steve

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  4. Michael Gray5:38 pm

    Thanks to all, but especially to Thom Bishop / Junior Burke for the invaluable information he gives re Dylan's Acme Chicago sessions of 1992. (As I've said before, I have a strong feeling that this is the Great Lost Dylan Album - or more accurately the great unreleased one.) I'm publishing his message because unfortunately there is no prospect of being able to update the Bromberg entry in the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia in the near future - or any other entry, come to that.

    In general, though, the current paperback edition, available in North America and the UK, is up to date to 2008.

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  5. Anonymous6:50 pm

    Thanks, Michael, for your gracious response. Thom Bishop aka Junior Burke

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