29 March 2022
Since singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, one of the greatest icons in the history of well-known music, returns to Township Auditorium on Tuesday, 03 29, my thoughts convert naturally to, of course , Kanye West. I see a lot of parallels in the two — these people both rose to fast, overly-grandiose acclaim as they reeled off early masterpieces using a clear desire to avoid getting pigeonholed. Each had their own apostate moment — Dylan famously going electric from Newport Folk Festival, Western embracing Autotune on his 08 album 808s and Heartbreaks (or, perhaps, coming out as being a Trump supporter). There’s a sponsor of other parallels, along with many, many differences, however the reason I mention these specific details is the recently-released “jeen-yuhs” documentary, which spends a lot of its run time taking a look at West’s early career plus commercial ascendence. Dylan will be chronicled in similar style in Don’t Look Back again (sic), a documentary which usually covers his 1965 visit of England. Both right now serve as a reminder associated with just how young both guys were when they began to grapple with the desire, and then unexpected realization, of fame. And not simply fame, but “voice of the generation, ” decoder from the zeitgeist fame, something that is available both in relation to, but also is certainly somehow severed from their real art.
Nibbles & Sips
In some interesting ways, I believe Dylan’s patented blend of blatant lies, absurdism and humor in response to many of the overly-serious queries he gets asked (and which persisted, to various degrees, throughout his career) is a way of understanding West’s own frustrating public histrionics (I want to set aside the particular recent and uncomfortable assaults on Pete Davidson for your moment). Most celebrities often stick to consistent, often banal ways of describing their professions that fit narratives that will serve narrow PR passions. That tact offers several protection against the scrutiny from the public eye, while others often messily share far too many information on their private lives.
Movie theater Review
Dylan and Western both take a less typical, far more antagonistic third path. Instead of proceeding cautiously or even openly, their public display takes on a different kind of artwork, creating larger-than-life characters that may not only co-exist with their creativeness, but can provide an active evade for it. You really see this particular in the bulk of Dylan’s songwriting, which eschews both the demonstration and confessional frameworks associated with his early writing to turn into a kind of free-association musical magpie, dashing through juke bones and jazz saloons just like a postmodern trickster, writing words that flitter with shadowy characters and storylines just like a pastiche artist. He’s cagey and wiley, armed with a good encyclopedic knowledge of roots plus early rock music which he only uses to wink at his audiences along with. It’s stunning, but also mostly inscrutable. For West, beginning a bit with 2007’s Graduating album but even more completely beginning with 2010’s My Lovely Dark Twisted Fantasy, their frequent outbursts, zealous statements of genius and persistent engagement with tabloid chat become an indelible component of his craft, becoming the particular raison d’etre behind their larger-than-life, cinematic approach to album-making and the narrative by which their lyrics could either straighten up with or undercut. Within each case, a generally fabricated, ostentatiously self-created general public persona nonetheless becomes a type of fact, and then inextricable, in the creative output in a way that continues to be relatively rare. In a planet of paint-by-numbers celebrity, probably there’s something to be stated for daring to be a little bit messier and weirder, as well as for hanging with artists exactly who aren’t afraid to mistake expectations, again and again.
Arts & Entertainment