Dreamtime - Commentary Inspired By Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

Catch You Later

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:00:03 PST

"Now that you're relaxed
the best on wax will call it a day
Look us up again the records will spin
when we come your way..."

We started Dreamtime back in July 2006. Sixty-two podcasts, 477 blog posts and three years, three months and three days later, we think our work here is done and it's time to move on.

It's been fun, gang. Sploghm! ~ Top Cats Curly Lasagna and Shaggy Bear, Jailbait Jones, and Your Host, Fred Bals.

Dreamtime's 2nd 3rd Annual Halloween Encore Special

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:37:06 PDT

As we've said before, what's good enough for Mr. D. and Eddie G. is good enough for Dreamtime too, and so it's time again for our traditional rebroadcast of one of our favorite shows. First released in October, 2007, Episode 44 - The 2nd 3rd Annual Dreamtime Halloween Show.

Direct link to mp3.

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Welcome to your other home for Halloween schemes, ghostly themes, and Kandy-Korn dreams. It's Dreamtime's 2nd 3rd Annual Halloween Show, the one time of the year where we get to let down our hair and pretend to be our favorite monster, superhero, actor, or deejay...

... and we all know who that would be, don't we?

Playing in the background, Haunted House, from Leon Redbone's first album. A dead man's party is where we're headed to first on tonight's musical Halloween tour. Here's Oingo Boingo with Dead Man's Party. See you on the other side, and make sure to leave your body at the door.

[Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo]

Oingo Boingo was founded in 1972 as the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, later changing their name to Oingo Boingo, and then to Boingo. If the band had stayed together they might have shortened it down even further to just Boing, but they broke up in 19 and 95.

The original Oingo Boingo appeared on Chuck Barris' The Gong Show in 19 and 76, getting a score of 24 points out of a possible 30 with an act that featured both a rocket ship and a dragon, and winning them $500 to boot. You can see that appearance on YouTube. Go check it out. As Chuck Barris says, "[They're] an act who may first shock you, but once you get to know them, they'll boggle your mind."

We all know Lord Invader from TTRH. Well, there was another calypso lord - Lord Intruder - who wrote a song called Jumbie Jamberee back in 19 and 53. "Jumbies" were spirits in the song who danced "back to back, belly to belly" in a Trinidad graveyard. Intruder published Jumbie Jamberee, but it would take some other groups to make the song popular in the United States. And they changed "jumbies" to "zombies" and the graveyard location to New York along the way. The Kingston Trio had a big hit with Zombie Jamboree in the mid-'50s, and Harry Belafonte liked the song so much he recorded it three times during the `60s and `70s. One of those versions is what we're going to listen to right now: Harry Belafonte and Zombie Jamboree.

[Zombie Jamboree - Harry Belafonte]

Did you hear that line about Bridget Bardot? Back in the '60s she probably been voted as the girl you'd most want to dance belly-to-belly with. At least, I would have voted for her.

You're listening to the Dreamtime podcast - where every show we do is an encore for somebody somewhere.

If you're a regular Dreamtime listener you already know our love of all things witchy, and what better time to do some more witch songs than our Halloween Special?

Kip Tyler and the Flips recorded She's My Witch way back in November of 19 and 58. Although you don't hear much about Kip these days, he and the Flips were a major California rockabilly force and the pride of the legendary El Monte Legion Stadium rock shows back in the `50s. Kip never made it to the big time, but members of The Flips would later work with Gene Vincent, Duane Eddy, and the Beach Boys. Spooky, sexy, and pure rockabilly: Kip Tyler and the Flips with She's My Witch.

[She's My Witch - Kip Tyler & The Flips]

Louis Armstrong had his first big movie break with this Johnny Burke tune from 19 and 36 we're going to play next. Satchmo originally recorded it with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and he and the song were featured in a spooky nightclub scene complete with dancing skeleton in the Bing Crosby musical comedy, Pennies from Heaven.

[The Skeleton in the Closet - Louis Armstrong]

We get all sorts of email in at Dreamtime, and I gotta tell you, I've fallen way behind in answering them. But, when you think that the Dreamtime team is just me, two cats and a couple of honky-tonkin' good-time gals, I'm lucky to get anything done. Anyway, here's an old email from last Halloween that I'm just getting around to answering. It's from a Peggy B. of New Harbor, Maine:

Dear Dreamtime: Love the show, although Jailbait and Joyride Jones aren't on enough. They should do their own show! But that's not why I'm writing. I was watching The Simpsons' Halloween Special and Bart Simpson said that Casper was the ghost of Richie Rich! I never thought of it before, but they do look a lot alike. Any truth to the story?

Thanks for writing, Peggy, but I think you need to get out more if you're starting to believe what a cartoon says.

No, there's no truth to the urban legend that the Friendly Ghost, Casper, is really the spirit of Richie Rich, even though it is a bit suspicious that you never see the two together. However, there's always been a question about whether Casper ever died or not, and whether he's a real ghost. Casper started his career in the early 1940s as the ghost of a little boy, but by the 1960s he had ghost parents, who apparently had ghost sex, and Casper was the result. But by 1995 and the Casper movie he was the spirit of a dead person again.

A very confusing situation, and we haven't even gotten into the question about how The Ghostly Trio became his uncles.

The Dreamtime podcast - answering all your ghostly trivia questions whether you asked them or not.

Two more witchy songs are coming on the turntable. You heard this first one last Halloween on Theme Time, with Screamin' Jay Hawkins doing the honors. Jay first cut the song back in 19 and 49, and it was the first single he ever released under the name Screamin' Jay. Nina Simone would cover it about 20 years later, in 19 and 65, and use it for the title of her autobiography: You already know what song I'm talking about, so let's get going.

[I Put a Spell on You - Nina Simone]

Nothing more needs to be said about our next artist or the song except this: here's Ol' Blue Eyes with the classic, Witchcraft.

[Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra]

[Trivia: Halloween around the World]

[Poetry reading: Halloween (excerpt) - Robert Burns, spooky poet]

We were just talking about that fender-bender of a poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Bob Dylan read his Annabel Lee on the Women's Names show back in Season One. So I don't need to, which you're probably all relieved to hear.

Poe wrote Annabel Lee in 18 and 49, and was his last complete poem before his death that same year. A lot of good artists have put Annabel Lee to music over the years, including this pretty version by Joan Baez, who included the song on her 1967 album Joan.

[Annabel Lee - Joan Baez]

Joan Baez and Annabel Lee on the Dreamtime podcast Halloween Special.

You might be familiar with Gene Simmons' - the other Gene Simmons, not the guy from Kiss - version of Haunted House from 19 and 64. We're not going to play that one, but the original from Johnny Fuller, which has a faster beat and a more interesting sound, I think. Listen to that wild guitar plucking to understand what I mean.

Johnny Fuller began recording in 1954, and probably is best remembered for his single All Night Long. That one and Haunted House landed him a spot on one of the `50s package shows, where he toured with Paul Anka and Frankie Avalon. Here's the first of the two 45s he'd cut for the Speciality label: Johnny Fuller and Haunted House.

[Haunted House - Johnny Fuller]

Bruce Springsteen covered that song too, during The River tour on a Halloween show. Bruce was carried onstage in a coffin.

By 19 and 62 Johnny had more or less retired from the music business, although he'd release one more album in 19 and 74. He worked as a garage mechanic until his death in 1985. I think he might have worked on my car once.

You're listening to the Dreamtime podcast, where we've commandeered Studio B of the Abernathy Building for Halloween night.

One of the hardest things about putting together tonight's Halloween theme show was finding a good country song about Halloween. You want songs about drinking, car wrecks, and fooling around, they're easy to find. But goblins, spooks, and monsters, no. I was thinking about using Porter Wagoner's Cold Hard Facts of Life, but I want to do a Murder show later this season, and that song's too much a natural for that one. (Porter Wagoner passed away during the production of this episode: He'll be sorely missed. - fhb)

I finally settled on Eddie Noack's Dolores. You remember Eddie, we featured Eddie's Psycho back in Dreamtime 28. You can go read more about him there, but right now we're going to play his Dolores.

[Dolores - Eddie Noack]

The 100-proof Texas honky-tonk, Eddie Noack, who would drink himself to death by age 47.

Dreamtime has a lot of listeners and readers from Great Britain, and we wanted to thank you with what I think is the oldest song on tonight's playlist, recorded on October 30, 1931 by Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Orchestra. I don't have a lot more information on this one... maybe one of my listeners from Merry Olde England can help me out. A trip through yet another haunted house on tonight's Dreamtime Halloween tour, here's the New Mayfair Orchestra and The Haunted House.

[The Haunted House - The New Mayfair Orchestra]

Dreamtime has a long history with this next artist. I'm part of the crowd noise on the album Where's the Money recorded live at the Troubadour back in 19 and 71, when Your Host was all of 19 years of age. And in about a year I'd find myself at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco watching Symphony Sid Page and Papa John Creach do a burn-the-house-down duet on this song. I Scare Myself is about... it's about.... Well, it's about five minutes long.

[I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks]

Dylan told us to "go Google" Kay Starr after he played her Wheel of Fortune on the Luck episode, and Dreamtime has another Kay Starr cut for you, appropriate, as they say, to the season.

Bing Crosby originally recorded The Headless Horseman in 19 and 49 for Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad. Kay covered the song a few months after the movie. She's backed here by the Billy Butterfield Quintet and - I kid you not - The Three Beaus and a Peep. Kay Starr and The Headless Horseman.

[The Headless Horseman - Kay Starr]

Kay Starr with a pretty spooky thing. And that sounds like a cue for our last song. We couldn't let Rocktober pass without at least one Classic Rock song, and here's a good one, the Classics IV with their first national hit. From 19 and 67 on the Imperial Records label, the original (non-instrumental) Spooky.

[Spooky - Classics IV]

I hear the banging on Studio B's door, so I think it's time to get out of here before they start using the fire axes. Tex, thanks for letting me sit in The Man's Seat for this Halloween. Hope I filled his shoes in my own small way and if there's anyone from Cadillac out there - the address is dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com . I'm always available to fill in.

[Close]

Tonight's Playlist

1. Haunted Mansion - (Disney)
2. Intro (Bed Music) Haunted House - Leon Redbone
3. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
4. Zombie Jamboree - Harry Belafonte
5. She's My Witch - Kip Tyler & the Flips
6. Skeleton in the Closet - Louis Armstrong
7. I Put a Spell on You - Nina Simone
8. Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra
9. Annabel Lee - Joan Baez
10. Haunted House - Gene Simmons
11. Dolores - Eddie Noack
12. The Haunted House - New Mayfair Dance Orchestra
13. I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
14. Headless Horseman - Kay Starr
15. Spooky - Classics IV

Many of the songs for tonight's show were inspired by Mark Harvey's article for the on-line Halloween Magazine.

***

You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.

Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.

Remember that the Dreamtime team loves to get email. You can write us at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com

The Dreamtime top cats are Curly Lasagna and Shaggy Bear. Our announcers are the notorious honky-tonkin' sisters, Jailbait and Joyride.

Until next time, dream well.

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"One of the Ancients" - The Muddy Waters and Alexander Pope Connection

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:23:04 PDT

Although unrelated musically, no one can hear the title of the first song aired on Theme Time, Muddy Waters "Blow Wind Blow" without thinking of Dylan’s own "Blowin’ in the Wind." Before playing the song, Dylan makes a cryptic remark about Waters calling him, "one of the ancients by now, whom all moderns prize."

I’ve had days while writing “Dreams, Schemes, and Themes” where I become convinced that Bob Dylan had nothing at all to do with Theme Time past lending his name to it, even to the point where I would get so bull-goose crazy that I would start wondering whether the TTRH team had hired an impressionist to mimic Dylan’s voice on the air, ala Rich Little doing Stacy Keach’s “Mike Hammer” voiceovers while the actor was in jail.

Why not? Who could guess the difference? I mean, how many people actually know Bob Dylan’s speaking voice well enough to tell? Maybe the entire scheme had been put together as a carny act by Dylan, Eddie Gorodetsky, Penn Jillette and Ricky Jay just to see once and for all how much they could get away with. Maybe it was a bet. “Hey we’ll have Bob do a radio show and Bob won’t even be there.”

Maybe that’s why Dylan’s peeps had been so damned adamant about not giving me any info or access to any of the TTRH crew. IT WAS ALL A HOAX! A SCANDLE! QUEL DOMMAGE! Yes! I would uncover the whole damn pitiful scheme and win a Pulitzer, or at least get into the Daily News. I’d find the voice impressionist, probably living in a flophouse on a Skid Row somewhere by now, money from Theme Time gone, hands trembling, in need of a quick fix, eager to tell me the true story for a couple of bucks.

Then I’d come back to reality.

Dylan's "one of the ancients" line is the first salvo fired in the great “did Bob Dylan contribute anything to TTRH?” debate, and a definite point for the “Yes” side. The line is a paraphrase taken from Alexander Pope’s 1711 poem, “An Essay on Criticism,” an unlikely reference for Theme Time producer/writer Eddie Gorodetsky to be making in relation to Muddy Waters, no matter how literate the ex-radio jock and comedy writer may be. On the other hand, if we had the opportunity to browse a certain deejay's bookshelf, I suspect we'd find "An Essay on Criticism" sharing space with Sax Rohmer's "The Hand of Fu-Manchu," and Joan Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem."

The Ancients only, or the Moderns prize:
Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism" (Line 394)

There’s much for Bob Dylan to like in “An Essay on Criticism,” including Pope’s argument that all good writing stems from “the imitation of the ancients,” and his contention that bad criticism is much more tiresome for the reader than bad writing. Dylan may have adapted the “one of the ancients…” line to acknowledge one of the primary tenets of his career: all artists owe a debt to their predecessors, a thread that would run through many of his Theme Time commentaries.

Although little-remembered in these modern times, “An Essay on Criticism” has made several contributions to the popular lexicon including, “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” and “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” both dictums worth remembering as I continue on with my book.

The Theme Time Radio Hour team seem to have a certain nostalgic fondness for "Blow Wind Blow," perhaps because it was the song that launched a 100 Theme Times. I received an email from one of the show's many associate producers after I posted a video of Waters performing the song, who thanked me but noted that the TTRH team favored another version; a November 28, 19 and 70 performance at/on The Beat-Club music show broadcast from Bremen, Germany. It's posted above. Enjoy one of the ancients, who all moderns prize.

100 Theme Time Radio Hour Polaroids

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:30:39 PDT

I think even the most diehard, hopeful fan would admit that Theme Time Radio Hour is over. Sirius XM shows no sign of ending the re-runs, although I suspect one Wednesday we'll tune in and the show will have been replaced with "The Wit & Wisdom of Tom Waits" or something. But over or not, there are still many things to document about TTRH, and we expect to be around for a while longer.

One of the things that has always delighted us about Theme Time was how it inspired so many people in so many ways. Over the past three years, we've heard more than a half-dozen hommages to the show, using anything from reggae to Canadian artists to movies to Bob Dylan's own work as source material. Many were as good as any episode of TTRH. We've seen the show, its artists, the music - even jokes and recipes - all artfully documented. And several fans have created "cover art" for the episodes, including my favorites from a fan who calls himself simply "Man-on-the-Street."

MotS has updated and uploaded all 100 of his TTRH "Polaroids" on Flickr. Whether you use them as CD cover art or not, you'll want to take a look at the collection if you're a TTRH fan. Many of the 100 covers are very funny visual puns, worthy of the show itself. If the TTRH team wander across the 100 Theme Time Radio Hour Polaroids at some time, I think they'll be pleased with what they inspired.

"[He] hates for you to tell him how much he meant to you all your life, through your young years -- he doesn't want to hear that. What he wants to do is tell you the good things about you, so that you can do your own work; he doesn't want you to be involved with him, he would rather inspire you to do your own work..." ~ Patti Smith on Bob Dylan

Haunted By Bing Crosby and Judy Garland

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:26:51 PDT

If you hadn't noticed, "Christmas in the Heart" was officially released in the U.S. last Tuesday. Before we overdosed on the nth review that tried to come up with a new analogy for the effect of Dylan's ravaged voice on the listener's ears, Dreamtime skimmed through somewhere around 50 of them... almost all uninspired whether the writer was for the album or ag'in it. In our opinion, one of the few reviews worth reading was by Sean Wilentz, perhaps not surprising as Wilentz is the Dylan site's "official historian." As Wilentz pointed out...

"...much as Charley Patton’s shade presides over Dylan’s superb album of 2001, Love and Theft, the benign spirit of Bing Crosby haunts Christmas in the Heart."

It's a good, thought-provoking article, linking CITH to everything from Tin Pan Alley to Theme Time Radio Hour and everybody from Judy Garland to “Whoopee” John Wilfahrt, both Minnesota-grown.

As perceptive listeners to CITH's version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" have noticed, Dylan reverted back to the song's original lyrics, most notably using "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" rather than the more familar "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."

The original "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was introduced by a 22-year-old Judy Garland in 19 and 44's classic Meet Me in St. Louis, which the clip above is from. In 1943 Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane were hired to pen the songs for Meet Me in St. Louis, which would pair Garland with her future husband, director Vincente Minnelli. Though Martin and Blane shared credit for the tune, Martin was actually the sole writer according to this Entertainment Weekly article tracing the song's history, confirmed by interviews Martin gave in later years.

The original lyrics were so melancholy that both Garland and Minelli asked for changes, which Martin reluctantly made. The lines "It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past" became "Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight," for example.

"Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow" survived until Frank Sinatra's recording of 19 and 57. Asking for yet another rewrite, Sinatra told Hugh Martin, "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?" Martin jollied it up with, "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough," and with several other changes, altering the song to focus on today's Christmas happiness, rather than on a better future holiday.

Given these hard times, perhaps that's why Bob Dylan went back to the Meet Me in Saint Louis version.

A bit lost during the release of "Christmas in the Heart" was the widget posted on bobdylan.com, displayed above, which - if you have a blog or Facebook account - we highly recommend you get on your own Web page and help drive donations to Feeding America. When all the media shouting about CITH fades away and the parade marches on, the album's lasting legacy will be in how much money was raised for Feeding America and its sister charities in Great Britain and Europe. 2009 has been a tough year for a lot of people. If you can help, please do.

Many generous Dreamtime readers bought "Christmas in the Heart" through one of our affiliate links. We deeply appreciate all who did, and will be sending our own matching donation to Feeding America in acknowledgement. Thank you all.

Betties & Ditty-Bops: Deconstructing Christmas in the Heart's Credits

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:06:44 PDT

I have the admittedly weird tic of reading credits and acknowledgments from beginning to end, word-for-word, partly because I dated a lady in the movie biz who got me into the habit of watching a film's end credits as the rest of the audience filed out. "I like to see which of my friends is working," she told me as gaffers, sound synchers and "best boys'" names scrolled down. So be it movie, book, or music, it's always interesting to me to to see the credits of the team that put a project together. Here's some background on the "Christmas in the Heart" credits.

Front Cover

Designer Coco Shinomiya found the CD's Victorian sleigh cover illustration - which many people feel has a distinctly Russian bent to its look - at visuallanguage.com, one of the 150 images on a CD titled "Victorian Scrapbook Treasures II."

As all true Theme Time Radio Hour fans should know, Shinomiya is a graphic designer and art director and two-time Grammy nominee. Look at the credits of any Bob Dylan project of recent years and it's likely that Shinomiya had a hand in its design, including creating the Theme Time Radio Hour iconic logo.

Inside Photo

At the beginning of this article, a detail from Leonard Freed's inside photo for "Christmas in the Heart," a 2000 image taken in Rome of Italian street musicians breaking from their Santa rounds.

Born in Brooklyn in 19 and 29, Leonard Freed began his career in photography while in the Netherlands in 1953. He moved to Amsterdam in 1958 and photographed the Jewish community there, pursuing the theme in numerous books and films. His book on Jews in Germany was published in 1961, and "Made in Germany," about post-war Germany, appeared in 1965.

Working as a freelance photographer, Freed photographed blacks in America, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and a series documenting the New York City police department from 1972 through 1979. He passed away in 2006.

Back Cover Illustration

The back cover illustration of the Three Kings following that Star of Wonder was created by the delightfully named Edwin Fotheringham, a name which sounds as if it could easily belong to "Christmas in the Heart's sleigh driver. Fotheringham was educated at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, where he lives today with his family.

According to his on-line bio, "...Fotheringham made a career change from fine artist/stockboy to illustrator in 1992...Having certain band members as housemates afforded Mr. Fotheringham the opportunity to illustrate their CD covers..."

Among his other credits, Fotheringham has illustrated album covers for the band, Mudhoney, and provided illustrations for Neiman Marcus, The New Yorker and Ladies' Home Journal. He's also illustrated two children's books, "What To Do About Alice?" and "Mermaid Queen." "Mr. Fotherigham," as he appears to like to refer to himself, has a great web site, well worth the visit.

Mixed Voice Singers

If anything gives "Christmas in the Heart" that late `50s/early `60s vintage feel it's the "mixed voice" chorus which sounds as if teleported directly from a Ray Conniff Christmas Special. Two members of that chorus - Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald - are better known as The Ditty Bops, an L.A.-based duo with five albums to their credit.

Six of The Ditty Bop's songs have aired on the TV show "Grey's Anatomy," with their song "There's a Girl" appearing on the series soundtrack. The duo has also made appearances on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.

The "Notorious" Bettie Page

The once and forever "Queen of the Pin-Ups," Bettie Page lived as complicated a life and career as Bob Dylan. Somewhat like Bob Dylan, Page's public image evolved into a series of archetypes - Jungle Queen, Girl Next Door, Good Girl Gone Bad - during the `50s. She faded away into obscurity and then saw her legend revived once again in the 1980s.

In 1950, during a walk along the Coney Island shore, a 26-year-old Bettie Page met Jerry Tibbs, a police officer with an interest in photography, and a member of what was euphemistically termed an "outdoor camera club." While there were numerous legitimate camera clubs of amateur photographers operating in the `40s and `50s, Tibbs belonged to one of the quasi-legal groups whose main purpose was to photograph young ladies in various states of déshabille... only for "art use" of course.

Within a few months, Page was posing for various men's magazines of the era, with titles such as Wink, Eyeful, Titter, and Tab. In 1955, Bettie won the title "Miss Pinup Girl of the World" and in January 1955, hit the big time as centerfold in Playboy in a photo session that would inspire the Olivia illustration used for "Christmas in the Heart."

Page's life was plagued by exploitation - even of the relatively mild pin-up and stag film "girlie" industry variety - bad marriages, and in her later life, clinical depression. By 1959, she had ended her pin-up career and had refocused her life on Christianity. In the early 1980s, comic book artist Dave Stevens based his hero's love interest on Bettie Page in the ground-breaking series "The Rocketeer." The popularity of the comic, along with a fanzine titled "The Betty Pages," which included photos from the camera club days, sparked renewed interest in Page's life and career. Dave Stevens would eventually become a close friend of Page, remarking in one interview that he could never have imagined that he would be cashing Page's social security checks and picking up groceries for her when he created "Betty Page" in "The Rocketeer."

Bettie Page passed away on December 6, 2008, leaving behind many fond memories for the boys and men who grew up with the images of "That Girl Next Door."

Out of curiosity, I ran "Bettie Page" and "Bob Dylan" together in a Google search, discovering that they had been separated from each other by a mere five degrees of dating, according to one web site. Probably more fantasy than fact, since Bettie Page's "date" with Sammy Davis Jr. apparently consisted of a shared taxi ride, but there's something attractive about the idea.

This Week's Penultimate Xmas Album Roundup

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:53:11 PDT

"It was the best of albums, it was the worst of albums; it was an album of wisdom, it was an album of foolishness; it was the album of belief, it was the album of incredulity; it was the album of Light, it was the album of Darkness; it was the album of hope, it was the album of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

Any week is a good week when you can get to use the word "penultimate," nu? As we head towards next week's final, here's this week's next-to-last roundup...

Lions

- A handful of reporters from various media venues - including the LA Times, Rolling Stone, and Yahoo! - were trucked to an undisclosed location in Los Angeles and plied with eggnog and figi pudding while a mysterio Dylan representative aired six tracks from "Christmas in the Heart" for their listening pleasure.

The reaction was generally favorable, with the word "retro" tossed around a lot in the reviews. As we noted in last week's post, the Dylan rep. must have either had press kit in hand or somehow otherwise very emphatically announced that Dylan's "Must Be Santa," was based on Brave Combo's 1991 version. However the message was delivered, it was obviously delivered, with at least two of the reporters dutifully mentioning the connection in their reviews.

& Tygers

- As we also noted, Brave Combo's charging Texas polka rendition of "Must Be Santa" was played by Mr. D. way back in December 2006 on the Christmas & New Year's special edition of Theme Time Radio Hour, the only title from that special to make it to the "Christmas in the Heart" tracklist. Whatever your opinion of "Christmas in the Heart," Dreamtime is still saddened that the TTRH Christmas show isn't part of the package. It would have made the idea of a "Bob Dylan Christmas album" a heckuva lot more palatable to many people. But, our sources say the timing was impossible with only four or less months available to secure all the necessary rights and permissions.

& Bears

- Speaking of the CitH tracklist, the Dylan rep. apparently insisted - somewhat disingenuously - that the 30-second samples that had appeared for a day on the Amazon U.K. site were "mysterious in origin," and not necessarily representative of what would be on "Christmas in the Heart." In fact, the rep. speculated aloud that in a Grinch-like mood. Mr. D. was still fiddlin' away at the final tracklist with only a week to its release and might add or subtract a song or two just to drop some coal in the Amazon leaker's stocking.

We advise taking all of that with a full salt-shaker. If nothing else, the CitH tracklist 'tis the same as it has always been, as can be heard on the Sony Music site.

Oh My!

- And speaking of that Citibank release, if you follow the link above you'll find that "Christmas in the Heart" is apparently available now in mp3 format to all and sundry if you're a) a U.S. resident and b) have a credit card and c) have $10.99 to spend. Citibank credits not required.

- Listener reports began to filter in to various on-line forums around late Tuesday with no real surprises, essentially covering the spectrum of opinions as reflected in our Dickensian paraphrase above. If you're predisposed to like "Christmas in the Heart" you'll probably be happy with what you hear. If you're not, you won't. Most of the commentary you'll find in forums such as on Expecting Rain quickly dissolved into virtual fist-fights between those who think the album is wonderful - whether they've actually heard it or not - and those who think it a sign of the End Times - whether they've actually heard it or not. And that may be CiTH's somewhat ironical legacy in the Dylan canon... a Christmas album that polarizes Bob Dylan fans into lovers or haters.

- According to reports, Dylan shifted holidays and planted at least one Easter Egg in "Christmas in the Heart" during "Must Be Santa," which seems to be the album's showcase song in more ways than one. Rather than spoil it for you, I'll let you discover the joke yourself. Suffice to say that if you listen closely you'll find that it's not the regular team drawing Santa's sleigh (and, by the way, demonstrating that Dylan was not simply inspired by Brave Combo's version, but in fact is covering their version of "Must Be Santa" ~ thanks to Scott Warmuth for pointing that out)

- And finally, at least one CiTH song has been leaked on YouTube, which is where we got the artwork leading off this article. Again, whether you want to listen to it is your choice, and how long it will be there is anyone's guess, but if you want to hear the full version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" you'll find it here.

And with that last homophonic sentence, we're outta here for another week.

"Christmas in the Heart" album art from Je veit et stelle.

Theme Time Radio Hour F.A.Q.

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:25:16 PDT

If you're reading or listening to Dreamtime, you probably already have some knowledge of Theme Time Radio Hour. This F.A.Q. covers the common TTRH questions I've received over the past few years of writing Dreamtime.

Some of the following information is unverified. When I use qualifiers such as "possibly," "probably" and so on it means I'm making my best guess based on available information. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm right. Feel free to disagree.

Q: Who did the opening "Night in the Big City" introduction?

A: Ellen Barkin. The identity of the narrator was argued among TTRH fans during Season 1 until the Christmas episode was broadcast, when Barkin identified herself.

Except for announcer "Pierre Mancini" and Dylan himself, Barkin was the only continuing voice on TTRH. Barkin introduced every episode in Seasons 1 and 2 except the Season 1 "Halloween" show, which was introduced by comedian Steven Wright.

Barkin's intro was used intermittently during the final season. In some Season 3 shows the intro was dropped altogether. In other episodes, the intro was edited to Barkin's voice simply saying, "This is Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan." During the final "Goodbye" show of Season 3, which did not use an intro, Barkin was heard midway through the episode announcing to listeners, "This is Ellen Barkin. It's time to go..."

Q: What is the background music played in the credits?

A: "Top Cat (Underscore)," which can be found on the CD compilations, Tunes from the Toons: The Best of Hanna-Barbera and Hanna-Barbera's Pic-a-Nic Basket of Cartoon Classics . Both compilations are currently out-of-print, but can be purchased from third-party sellers on both Amazon and eBay.

The music is an acoustic version of the theme song from the cartoon Top Cat, composed by Hoyt Curtin. The more familiar version of the "Top Cat" theme was played as the last song of Season 3's "Cats" episode.

Q: Where can I find playlists of the music played on TTRH?

A: The Wikipedia article on TTRH , "notdarkyet.org ," or the Theme Time Radio Hour Discussion Forum at Expecting Rain.

Q: Who is announcer "Pierre Mancini?"

A: TTRH producer, Eddie Gorodetsky.

Q: Who is Eddie Gorodetsky?

A: Gorodetsky has had a storied career as disc jockey, writer, comedian, and television writer/producer. In some circles he's probably as well-known as Bob Dylan.

Among music collectors and music historians, Gorodetsky and his record collection are legendary. For over two decades Gorodetsky distributed annual holiday cassette tapes and later CD compilations of forgotten, arcane and just plain weird Christmas music to friends and acquaintances. Copies of those compilations - which often resemble a TTRH playlist - are exceedingly rare and regularly sell for hundreds of dollars. They can be occasionally found on eBay, especially around the holiday season.

It's likely that their common interest in music is how he and Bob Dylan first met. Gorodetsky, a Rhode Island native and a one-time Boston deejay, is a member of the so-called "Boston Mafia" circle of Dylan friends and acquaintances, which includes Peter Wolf and Peter Guralnick. He may have been introduced to Dylan through one of those people. Gorodetsky is reportedly a close friend of another musician who values his privacy - Tom Waits - probably one of the reasons that Waits made regular "guest appearances" on Theme Time Radio Hour and, with Dinah Washington, became the show's "most-played artist" by the close of Season 3.

One commercial Eddie Gorodetsky Christmas compilation, Christmas Party with Eddie G was released, the only issue from the Strikin' It Rich label, owned by Bob Dylan.

The 1990 compilation, later re-issued in 1996, is in many ways a precursor of what would become the idea for TTRH. The press release announcing the formation of Strikin' It Rich stated that it would be, "releasing rare and interesting rhythm and blues material," presumably much of it originating from Gorodetsky's massive record collection, and probably with the idea that the label's releases would be curated by Gorodetsky and Dylan himself. Strikin' It Rich's goal of "releasing rare and interesting rhythm and blues material," fizzled out after Christmas Party with Eddie G. and would remain nascent for a decade before being revived for the genesis of Theme Time Radio Hour.

Before TTRH, Gorodetsky's connection to Dylan was best-known through the television series, Dharma & Greg, where Gorodetsky was a writer/producer and arranged for a Dylan cameo appearance on the show. Gorodetsky has also appeared in the movie Masked and Anonymous and in the Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee music video.

Q: What are Big Red Tree and Grey Water Park Productions?

A: Grey Water Park is Bob Dylan's production company, used to produce and finance various Dylan-related media projects, including TTRH. Big Red Tree is Eddie Gorodetsky's production company, filling a similar role for him as GWPP does for Dylan.

Q: Who are the various people named in the credits?

A: Many of the research/production team named are long-time employees of Bob Dylan, or more accurately, of Grey Water Park Productions. Many of the other people named are - or were - employees of XM Radio.

The "associate producer" of Season 3 was one "Nina Fitzgerald," also credited as "Nina Washington," replacing Season 2's "Ben Rollins," who himself had replaced Season 1's "Sonny Webster." The three pseudonymous associate producers giving a nod to jazz giants was actually just one person who prefers, as the saying goes, to remain anonymous.

Jim McBean, who is credited with "production assistance," was the XM Radio vice president of production and an "audio animator" whose staff developed the TTRH promotional announcements as well as supplying some of the vintage radio airchecks used on the show. McBean left Sirius XM in 2008 and formed "Music Fog," a site covering Americana music, with several other partners.

Randy Ezratty's mobile recording company - Effanel Music - was purchased by XM Radio in 2006, and Ezratty became an executive at XM. Engineer and editor Rob Macomber, another member of the Effanel team, also joined XM Radio at that time.

Coco Shinomiya is a respected graphic designer and art director, a two-time Grammy nominee, and incidentally, Eddie Gorodetsky's wife. Shinomiya has worked on many Bob Dylan-related projects, and designed the Theme Time Radio Hour iconic logo.

Lee Abrams was the Chief Creative Officer of XM Radio, and the prime mover in bringing Dylan to satellite radio. He left the company in 2008.

The identities of continuity coordinator, "Eeeps" Martin and "studio engineer, "'Tex' Carbone" who would later become TTRH's "Director of Studio Operations" are unknown, as is the correct spelling of their names.

Q: Is the Abernathy Building real?

A: The Abernathy Building and surrounding environs (Studio B, Samson's Diner, Elmo's, Carl's Barber Shop) exist only in the theater of the mind.

Q: How did TTRH start? Where is it recorded? How is it produced?

Creation

Then-Chief Creative Officer Lee Abrams wrote that in 2005 he had pitched Dylan's offices on the idea of Dylan doing something for XM Radio. A "Bob Dylan Channel" was discussed, but the idea was discarded. In ongoing talks the concept of a weekly radio show evolved, and a deal was signed in late December 2005. Abrams went on to write that the premiere show was originally scheduled for a February 2006 release. The first press release about the show names March as the start date, but the premiere was eventually pushed out to May to accommodate Dylan's schedule.

Production

The mechanics of TTRH production were a closely-held secret, due to a desire to preserve the Dylan mystique as well as the listener's "willing suspension of disbelief" that TTRH was a vintage radio show, with Your Host Bob Dylan broadcasting live from Studio B of the Abernathy Building.

In reality, Dylan's narrative was recorded separately from the other show elements and later mixed in, a common technique in modern radio called "voice tracking." Dylan used a mobile recording set-up to lay down his narrative tracks while on tour or at other locations. Final editing and production sessions were conducted in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Most non-musical show elements, such as the celebrity segments and the caller side of the staged phone calls were recorded in Los Angeles, home base of Eddie Gorodetsky, or in New York City, home of Dylan's Grey Water Park Productions.

Music for the various episodes were supplied by members of the TTRH team, most notably Eddie Gorodetsky and Bob Dylan himself. XM Radio representatives noted in interviews that they received the shows in completed, final format, but occasionally replaced some music tracks with versions from the XM music library either better recorded or better suited for satellite transmission.

Recording vs. Air Dates

One hotly-debated topic among TTRH fans was how far in advance the shows were recorded prior to airing. XM personnel have noted in interviews that most Season 1 shows were usually delivered two weeks or less prior to airing. Other evidence, such as Dylan's remark during the "Number One" episode on Ike Turner's death shortly after that event confirms that some shows were still in production as little as two weeks prior to airing.

In an interview conducted in April 2009, Bob Dylan stated that he "had stopped doing those shows a while ago." Additional evidence suggests that Dylan's direct involvement with TTRH had ended as early as 2008.

There is strong circumstantial evidence that Seasons 2 and 3 were originally planned as one Season 2 50-episode block of shows intended to run from 2007 through 2008, similar to Season 1. Likely due to Lee Abrams leaving the company, the then-pending merger of Sirius and XM, and the need for the TTRH contract to be renegotiated, the 50 Season 2 episodes were split into two 25-episode segments, with a six-month hiatus between the two seasons. The segments were aired beginning in 2007 and continued through 2008 and into 2009 as Seasons 2 and 3. While production work continued up to the show's 2009 finale, the recording of Dylan's commentary was likely completed by late 2008.

Dylan's Involvement

Another argument among TTRH fans is how much involvement Dylan actually had with the show past reading his scripted commentary.

The evidence points to producer Eddie Gorodetsky having a strong influence on TTRH content, including scripting most of Dylan's remarks, creating the email and phone call segments and booking the "guest appearances" of the various celebrities, musicians, and comedians who appeared on the show. But it's likely that Dylan also interjected his own choices for the music, as well as speaking his own personal thoughts and opinions.

Various interviews over the years and Chronicles: Volume One confirm Dylan's appreciation for the musicians, genres, and music played on TTRH. Derek Barker's The Songs He Didn't Write catalogs over 50 songs played during the various seasons of TTRH that Dylan has also covered in concert and on record.

It's improbable that anyone but Bob Dylan himself would suggest that he perform an a capella rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, or that he play Blowin' in the Wind on a recorder, both of which he did on episodes of TTRH. Anyone who follows Dylan's rare remarks in concert also knows that he has a weakness for corny old jokes, a regular feature of TTRH. His occasional on-air outbursts on subjects ranging from modern medical care, "commercial affiliations," and country music have all sounded deeply heart-felt and personal.

Perhaps the strongest evidence of Dylan's commitment to Theme Time Radio Hour is the fact that he recorded the narrative for 100 episodes of the show from 2006 through 2008 during a period when he was touring, recording, and involved in numerous other projects.

Q: Which artist(s) had the most airplay on TTRH?

A: At the close of Season 3 (April 15, 2009) Tom Waits and Dinah Washington had tied as "most-played," each with 10 appearances on the turntable over the 100 episodes of TTRH.

Q: What are "deaf poets"?

A: Dylan wasn't fixated on poets with hearing problems in the early days of the show, but instead was using the hip-hop slang term "def," as in "great" or "definitive" during his poetry readings.

According to Wikipedia, "def" originated in New York City in the 1980s and was accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1993. Dylan or Gorodetsky may have taken the "def poet" phrase from the HBO series, Def Poetry Jam, which ran from 2002 through 2007.

Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour poetry readings were featured throughout the show's run, although the segment was reduced in each consecutive season. Likewise, the"def poet" phrase was gradually phased out in favor of Dylan doing variations on the theme, such as referring to Robert Frost as a "frosty poet."

Def Poetry Trivia

The first def poet reading was from Saint Basil (also known as "Basil of Caesarea" and "Basil the Great") and used in the first episode of the series, "Weather," "Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger."

While Dylan calls Saint Basil a "def poet," the theologian is better-recognized for moral homilies than poetry. Dylan may have supplied Eddie Gorodetsky with the Saint Basil quote. However, it's more likely that, as with much of the information used in the "Weather" show, Gorodetsky found it through a quick Web search.

The last full def poetry reading of the series was Delmore Schwartz's "The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me" in Season 3's Episode 21 "Sugar & Candy." In keeping with the episode's theme Dylan calls Schwartz a "candy-coated poet" after his reading.

The Flowers episode from Season 1 had the most poetry readings with Dylan quoting four separate poems from authors ranging from Christopher Marlowe to Anon.

William Shakespeare wins hands down as "most quoted" poet on TTRH. "The kid is good," as Bob Dylan says.

Q: What is and where can I find the TTRH poster?

A: Commissioned by producer Eddie Gorodetsky in 2007 from artist/illustrator Jaime Hernandez, each of the poster's scenes illustrate Ellen Barkin's "It's Night/Night Time in the Big City," introductions from Season 1 of TTRH.

The poster was originally available as a free high-resolution download at bobdylan.com from October 2007 through July 2008, but that link was discontinued upon the launch of the redesigned site. Bootleg print versions have occasionally appeared on eBay. An "authorized" low-quality print version of the poster was offered to the first 5,000 people who ordered any one of the three Bootleg Series Volume 8 packages sold through bobdylan.com. A search through Google Images may uncover copies of the original digital file at various sites on the Web.

Q: How can I contact Bob Dylan about TTRH and will I get a response?

A: During the show's original run, XM advertised the email address bobdylan@xmradio.com as the means to contact Dylan and the TTRH team with suggestions and questions. There were some fan reports that their email to that address either went unanswered or generated an auto-reply noting that due to the high volume of mail received, personal responses were impossible.

Email Trivia

Before and during Season 1, XM advertised that "Dylan will read and answer select emails on his show." Most fans assumed that all the listener mail read on the show was was scripted, as several used names of Dylan friends and acquaintances, or were otherwise obviously fake. However, at least one email read on the "Friends and Neighbors" episode came from a real listener, suggesting that there were probably others over the show's 100-episode run.

Q: How can I listen to TTRH?

A: Check the Theme Time Radio Hour Sirius XM page for current broadcast information.

To listen to TTRH over the air requires an XM- or SIRIUS-capable radio and a subscription to the service(s). DirecTV subscribers can hear the show on channel 840 . U.S. residents with a broadband internet connection can subscribe to a streaming internet broadcast that can be listened to through a computer or iPhone or iPod Touch.

In the United Kingdom, TTRH is available on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music both on air and on line (accessible to U.K. listeners only) and on-air in Ireland on Phantom 105.2. Check local listings for times.

"Dylan Radio," a fan site, (http://www.dylanradio.com ) streams Dylan music and Dylan-related content including Theme Time Radio Hour episodes. Check the site for times.

Q: Are there any commercial releases of Theme Time Radio Hour shows?

A: No. To date no complete TTRH show has been offered as a standalone commercial offering. However, there are over a half-dozen CDs featuring music from the show as well as two promotional CDs of full TTRH shows. For an up-to-date listing, see The Compleat Theme Time Radio Hour Shopping List.

Q: Are there any books about Theme Time Radio Hour?

A: Not yet. The announced "Theme Time Radio Hour Compendium," a tie-in book originally scheduled for October 2008, was never released and appears to have been placed on indefinite hold. The book's original page on Amazon (see link above), has been edited to read "Bob Dylan Untitled Christmas Book." and is no longer cataloged in any form on its publisher's site.

Q: Can I find Theme Time Radio Hour shows for download on the internet?

A: Various TTRH show archives have appeared (and regularly disappear) on the Web. A little judicious searching through Google should identify what's currently available.

It's unlikely that a complete set of TTRH - 100 shows at the close of Season 3 - will ever be released commercially. The non-commercial efforts to distribute TTRH may be the only complete record that will ever be easily accessible to researchers, scholars, and fans .

Q: Where can I find additional information on TTRH?

A: Although incomplete, The Annotated Theme Time Radio Hour is an excellent reference site on TTRH. Lee Abrams's original XM Radio blog is still on-line and includes a lengthy three-part post on the background and creation of TTRH. Vanity Fair published an article on TTRH trivia both in a print version and on line in April 2008. It should be noted much of that article's content appears to have been taken from The Annotated Theme Time Radio Hour site without credit.

Although TTRH has ended, any new news about the show will continue to be found at Expecting Rain, the Dreamtime blog, and DylanTweets a news feed on Twitter run by Dreamtime. Bob Dylan's official web site has also carried news about TTRH.

Expecting Rain offers a TTRH forum, which was renamed to "Picasso's Theme Time Radio Hour " in memory of one of the show's most ardent fans. The archives of RightWing Bob and the Theme Time Radio Hour page on MySpace are also of interest.

Q: Will there be a Season 4 of Theme Time Radio Hour?

A: Although there has been no official announcement, Theme Time Radio Hour appears to have ended in at least its current form on Sirius XM.

In an April 2009 interview with ROLLING STONE magazine, Dylan implied that his contract to do the show was completed and stated that while Sirius XM wanted to renew the program, he wasn't sure he wanted to continue. Sirius XM declined to comment when contacted by ROLLING STONE about Dylan's remark.

***

Dreamtime friend and correspondent Heddy Richter was kind enough to review and edit the TTRH F.A.Q. for spelling, grammar, and consistency. All errors or omissions remain our own.

In Memory of Pierre Ponette ("Picasso From Belgium")

Last updated October 2009

Brave Combo: The Christmas in the Heart/Theme Time Radio Hour Connection

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:01:42 PDT

Randy Lewis's "First Listen" article in yesterday's LA Times offered an interesting comparison of "Christmas in the Heart's" "Must Be Santa," with the fairly obscure "Texas Rock-Polka" group Brave Combo's (pictured above) version from their equally obscure 19 and 91 album “It’s Christmas, Man!” Lewis called the former "directly inspired" by the latter.

Even more interesting, Chris Willman, over at the "Pepsi Music blog" at Yahoo had this to say...

I was most delighted by Dylan's take on the rarely covered "Must Be Santa"—a polka, and probably the fastest-paced thing Bob has recorded in his 48-year career. The exact style of it was surely influenced by a recording of the song made in the early 1990s by Texas group Brave Combo; as hardcore fans have noted, Dylan played that cover on a Christmas edition of his XM/Sirius satellite radio program...

Being one of those hard-core fans, I'll note that Mr. D. did play Brave Combo's "Must Be Santa," on the Christmas/New Year's Special edition of Theme Time Radio Hour, commenting, "...“They say their mission is to expand the musical taste of their listeners. We have the same mission here on TTRH” And indeed, if you go back to the TTRH show or check out the "It's Christmas, Man!" page on Amazon and preview Brave Combo's "Must Be Santa" you'll hear virtually an identical polka arrangement as the snippet we currently have from Bob Dylan.

Reporters Willman and Lewis may both be hard-core Brave Combo fans for all I know, and perhaps made the connection independently. But, I think that the "Dylan rep." mentioned in Willman's article who held the listening party for the reporters was a certain TTRH associate producer who occasionally moonlights as Mr. D's factotum. Whether that was Sonny Webster, Ben Rollins, or Nina Fitzgerald-Washington, I don't know, but I'd bet a figi pudding that whoever it was that person was supplying the reporters with background information for their stories, a very usual and acceptable practice in journalism.

Thus, we also have in all the articles I've read to date the snippet that Mr. D.'s version of "Here Comes Santa Claus" is a hommage to the Gene Autry original (and all missing the opportunity for another TTRH connection, given Our Host's fondness for Autry's Cowboy Code) and comparisons to Mitch Miller and Ray Conniff.

One other other nice connection between the TTRH Christmas Special and "Christmas in the Heart." As well as guest appearances by announcers Steven Wright and Ellen Barkin, the show also featured a Christmas greeting from David Hidalgo.

I wonder whether "Christmas in the Heart" will have liner notes by Pierre Mancini?

"The Polka Rhythms of Old Hibbing": This Week's Ever So Retro Xmas Album Roundup

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:29:55 PDT

Before Bob, there was Jimi, also taking a whack at "Little Drummer Boy" including it in a jam medley with "Silent Night and "Auld Lang Syne." You can hear two different versions on the 19 and 99 "single," Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as well as an out-take from the Electric Ladyland sessions, "Three Little Bears." The photo of Jimi as Santa was originally taken for New Musical Express magazine to promote the December 1967 release of Axis: Bold As Love.

But I digress.

"Must Be Santa" Becomes a Video

In Christmas in the Heart news we have two items. Sean over at RightwingBob.com shouted out literally only hours after the shoot was shot that Mr. D. had filmed a promo video of "Must Be Santa." As we related on Sunday, an actress/comedienne who had been tapped for the shoot told of her long day's journey into night with Dylan to a friend who wrote it up for the NeverEndingPool; a surreal account that included polka, Russians, defenestration, and 3 am crooning with bad accordion backing. You can take some elements of the story with as many grains of salt as you deem necessary. After we published an excerpt on Sunday, Dreamtime received a few emails from people whose credibility we trust, and who wrote that the story's general details were accurate. The "Dylan Digest" section of ISIS, which has been spot-on with "Christmas in the Heart" info to date also reported, "the video which featured singers and people dancing to the polka rhythms of old Hibbing, is set in at the time of Dylan’s childhood– the 1950s."

Christmas Comes Even Earlier at Citibank

No news yet on when we can expect the video, but "Christmas in the Heart" as mp3 tracks will be available a week earlier than the "official" release date of October 13th... that is if you're a Citibank customer, participate in their "Thank You Network" rewards program, have the requisite points in your account, and are cool with downloading. Media reaction to the Citibank announcement was as always ah, mixed, with terms such as "curious," "unimaginable," "unpredictable," and so on being thrown about by the guys and gals of the press. Even that favored ol' epithet, "sell-out" was trotted out by Perez Hilton, who complemented his article with a doctored photo of Dylan peppered with "$" signs, apparently unconcerned with the fact that Dylan's piece of the "Christmas in the Heart" action is going to charity. On the other hand, it may have been a slow news day, and you gotta write something to feed the puppy, right?

While trying to avoid terms like "curious" and "unpredicatable," my first reaction was that it was a ah, unique, yeah that's the ticket, unique marketing scheme to allow the release of the CitH tracks into the wild a week before the CD hits the virtual and brick`n-mortar shelves. If the tracks are available for paid download at 12:01 on October 6th, it's guaranteed that they'll be floating all over the interwebs for free by 12:15. Sony has to know that, too, as they must have at least one person on the payroll under the age of 50.

But on further reflection, my reaction evolved to "So what?" The Citibank thing is good publicity, and if you've been tracking the CitH news it's obvious that it's being carefully orchestrated for maximum effect, just as carefully as the Together Through Life news was handled. The album has always seemed a whim and a throwaway - his good intentions still acknowledged - by Mr. D. If the songs end up in the Bittorrent and download sites a week early, so what, indeed? They'll be downloaded by people who just can't wait - who have to be first - and chances are who will be buying the album anyway, out of a sense of charity or because they're fans. People who aren't into Dylan or Dylan doing Christmas songs won't care. There will be a flurry of stories about the songs in the media - including Dreamtime - as soon as the full-length versions start popping up, And those stories, which will almost certainly contain terms like curious, bizarre, and unpredictable, will keep the Christmas fires burnin' yet another week.

It's a wonderful life.

Pick A Card, Any Card: A New Literary History of America

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:11:58 PDT

If you follow DylanTweets or browse our news column to your right, you know that I've been beating the drum hard with links to reviews of the massive new anthology, "A New Literary History of America," edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, published by Harvard University Press.

I've been skimming through the book - which is the best way I think it can be read - for the past several days, and can't recommend it highly enough. If you love American history, Americana, American trivia, or just great writing, you want "A New Literary History of America." If your sweetie is putting together a birthday or Christmas list with your name on it, demand that it includes ANLHA. If you can't wait for the holidays, you can pick up the weighty volume, which lists at the equally weighty $49.95, at a much more reasonable $29.21 new at Amazon (or even lower in the "Used" section). ANLHA is also available - although only at a slight discount - through Amazon U.K. Disappointingly, ANLHA isn't currently available for the Kindle, although if any book ever cried out to be Kindlized, it has to be this one.

Over 1,000 pages. Over 200 essays on subjects ranging from "The Wizard of Oz," to the surrealistic comic "Little Nemo in Slumberland," to Sarah Vowell's wonderful essay on Grant Woods' "American Gothic." From the first time the word "America" appears on a map (1507) to the election of Barack Obama (2008). For the Theme Time Radio Hour aficionado (hey, folks, making connections is Dreamtime's business), we have essays on blackface minstrelsy, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the Winchester rifle, New Orleans, "Alexander's Rag Time Band," and that frosty poet, Robert Frost. As one would expect from Greil Marcus, American music and musicians are also regularly featured, including articles on Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," Jelly Roll Morton, Bebop, "The Birth of the Cool," "Roll Over Beethoven," and on Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody."

Still not convinced you want, probably need, "A New Literary History of America"? Go check out the book's web site (ah, what modern times we live in, when a book has its own web site. Can Twitter accounts for books be far behind?). On the home page you'll find links to samples of a dozen essays from ANLH, including one on "Moby-Dick" by Greil Marcus himself. Don't miss John Picker's essay on "Yankee Doodle" and "The Star Spangled Banner," which can be found through the guitar icon.

As you'd expect from an undertaking this large, there are some clunkers among the gems, but from my reading so far, I'll bet you'll find much more to like than dislike in "A New Literary History of America," With each essay limited to a maximum 2,000 words, the book offers the perfect bedside reading of an entry or two, reflection, and then sleep. With that exercise in mind, I expect ANLH to be a regular on my bedside table for the next year... or more.

'50s Polka In a Decrepit Mansion, Russians, And a Fight Where Someone Gets Thrown Through A Window

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:08:53 PDT

Why, "It Must Be Santa!" And it is. Dreamtime reader "CompleteUnknown" passed on this report from the NeverEnding Pool, from an actress who was at the filming of the "Must Be Santa" video last Wednesday/Thursday and contacted her friend in the Pool, "Wild About You Babe," with the details. In turn, "Wild About You, Babe" was kind enough to post the full report at the Pool. Thus, the "She" below is the unnamed actress.

I've edited the original a bit for clarity and to take out some extraneous stuff. You can read the full report at the link above. Moral of the story is that if see a casting call for "Video shoot with popular musician,”unlike with panthers, you should anthah.

... she remembers submitting for a job that said only- ‘Video shoot with popular musician” She said she rarely applies for those kind of things. When she got the call informing her she was selected for the Bob Dylan video, she said, “I didn’t apply for that’ “Yes you did” she was told, “ The producers didn’t want his name on the announcement because they didn’t want vast numbers of people applying for it.”

The filming took place [September 23rd] at a large house in Los Angeles. It sounded like no one is living there because my neighbor described it as deteriorated. She said she could tell it had once been a beautiful home, and couldn’t believe how rundown it was.

The video is for the song “Must Be Santa” She said it is a fast polka beat and she is exhausted from dancing all night. When she got there, she was the only one that knew the words to the song, so she was assigned to teach it to the rest of the cast. She was the only one of the group that got to sing a whole verse with Bob. The rest of the singer/dancers were fed a line each, one at a time, to sing with Bob. Then they all joined in for the chorus. The scenes moved from room to room and when the chorus came in, Bob would pop up in a different room. She was in the group of ‘polka dancers’ She was dressed in ‘fifties’ style clothing. She also mentioned some Russian dancers. The video also has a fight scene and one cast member was ‘thrown’ through a plate glass window at the front of the house. She also described a scene where Bob was sitting on top of a tall porch surrounded by pillars.

The shoot went from about 9 am Wednesday to 3:30 am Thursday...

...After the shoot, She, Bob and (as she described him) “this horrible accordion player they hired” were just sitting around singing. Bob did not want to sing any of his songs. They sang a lot of Elvis (including Love me Tender) The Beatles and The Everley Brothers. She was amazed at how Bob knew all the words to the songs. She tried to sing harmony with him during an Everly Brothers song but said, “there’s no harmonizing with that voice!”. She said the accordion player couldn’t hit two notes if his life depended on it but apparently he was well connected to Bob, thus getting all of Bob’s attention. They hadn’t seen each other in forty years. He taught Bob and Sarah the Lamaze method of childbirth back when they were having the kids...

This Week's Global-Spanning Christmas Album Roundup

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:16:45 PDT

Above, a "Christmas in the Heart" ad from Germany. And keeping our international flavor, the World Food Programme announced on September 24:

NEW YORK -- Royalties from Bob Dylan’s forthcoming Christmas album will be donated to the World Food Programme (WFP) at a time when a growing hunger crisis threatens the lives of 108 million people worldwide.

The artist’s international royalties in perpetuity** from his forthcoming album of holiday songs, Christmas In The Heart, to be released 12 October, will be donated to WFP, the agency said today. WFP said this extraordinary gift will bring help and hope to hungry families who have been dealt a devastating blow by the financial crisis and stubbornly high food prices.

"Bob Dylan's generosity to help WFP feed the world's hungry couldn't come at a better time. Starting this Christmas, we can give thousands of meals to hungry school children all over the world, a gift for a lifetime," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of WFP, the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide, adding that for just 25 US cents a day, WFP can fill a school child's cup with porridge to help them learn better and succeed in the future.

"The number of hungry in the world -- many of them children -- has hit an historic high while food assistance has reached a historic low. Today in the United States and in much of Europe, more people are relying on government safety nets for food and support than perhaps ever before, but for 80 per cent of the world, a safety net is little more than a dream. Bob Dylan's new album will help change that."

Bob Dylan commented, “That the problem of hunger is ultimately solvable means we must each do what we can to help feed those who are suffering and support efforts to find long-term solutions. I’m honoured to partner with the World Food Programme and Crisis in their fight against hunger worldwide.”

Christmas In The Heart will be the 47th album from Bob Dylan, and follows his worldwide chart-topping Together Through Life, released earlier this year. Songs performed by Dylan on this new album include, “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Must Be Santa.”

(**all international royalties except for the UK where Crisis UK is the recipient).

And finally, Sean over at the always interesting RightWingBob.com reports that the rumored video supporting "Christmas in the Heart," will be "Must Be Santa," will feature Mr. D., and will, according to Sean, "likely contain a fight scene."

As one of the characters on the Fringe TV series recently said, "There really is no point where things just can't get weirder, is there?"

The "Tarantula" Photo Session

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:25:39 PDT

A thread over at the Expecting Rain forums had me searching out the history of the photo to the left, one of a series taken in March 1965 by Daniel Kramer at a cabin located on Albert Grossman's Bearsville estate. Bob Dylan is in the foreground with Sara Lowndes - soon to be Sara Dylan - standing in the doorway.

This is one in a group of five or six shots taken by Kramer and intended (as Kramer relates in his 1967 book of photos, Bob Dylan) for the cover of Tarantula. Kramer and Dylan intentionally tried to replicate the look-and-feel of Kramer's iconic cover for Bringing It All Back Home, a little too successfully, as the photos were ultimately rejected as being too similar.

As with the Bringing It All Back Home photo, Dylan is surrounded by a variety of weird ephemera, and as with the better-known photo, there's a tendency to read more into their significance than they probably deserve. Both Kramer and Sally Grossman have said in various interviews that most of the props used in the Bringing It All Back Home shoot happened to be at hand and Kramer used because he thought they fit. The same can probably be said of the props for the unused "Tarantula" photos.

I've only be able to identify a few of the props. From the bottom center and moving clockwise:

Playing Cards: Ace of Spades, Facedown card, Queen of Spades, Jack of Spades, Joker

Woman's Day Book of American Needlework by Rose Wilder Lane (1963)

Unidentified box. The word "Religious" can be read at the upper right corner.

Cardboard cut-out of Beagle.

Unidentified magazine.

Paper with Handwritten ALWAYS!!! A faint sketch of a face can be seen below the words.

Unidentified photo.

Unidentified record cover. Label is Verve.

Unidentified record cover (not seen in all photos in the series): "The (unreadable) Jug Band"

Needlepoint reading "Be True To Me. Let Me Be True to Myself."

Dylan is holding a copy of The Bhavans Journal in his right hand, probably belonging to Sara, a magazine focused on Indian culture, life, and literature, established in 1954 and still being published. His cloth "sailor's cap" is in his left hand.

The full series of photos can be found at Dylanstubs.

From The Hank Williams Project: Lucinda Williams - I'm Happy I Found You

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:24:48 PDT

Sometimes you write an article so you can write the article. I was hoping that if I tossed some bread out on the water it might get returned threefold, and lo and behold, Dreamtime correspondent "Joe," wrote to tell us,

"...I was in Minnesota Friday (September 18, 2009) for Lucinda's show and her on-stage wedding. Before the ceremony she sang her Hank Williams collaboration..."

With a little luck and judicious searching, I found this well-shot video of Lucinda Williams performing for the first time live her song from The Hank Williams Project, "I'm Happy I Found You." Her introduction to "I'm Happy I Found You" begins at 4:52 seconds into the clip.

"...this was written by Hank and me. The reason I say that, it's interesting, because some lyrics were found of Hank Williams without the music. So I was asked to choose a song and write the music... for an album that Bob Dylan was putting together... it's still not out yet, I don't what's going on with it...but anyway... it's a very unusual set of lyrics for Hank. The other, special reason I'm doing a Hank Williams song is because Hank Williams was married on stage. And I figured... if it's good enough for Hank, it's good enough for us. This is called, 'I'm Happy I Found You'."

After the song Williams married her manager and sweetie, Tom Overby, in an on-stage ceremony, borrowing the idea from Hank Williams' wedding to Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar on October 19, 1952. Williams actually had married Eshlimar a day earlier in a private ceremony, but staged two public ceremonies on the 19th at the New Orleans Civic Auditorium where 14,000 seats were sold for each ceremony. Apropos for Williams' complicated life, a judge ruled after his death that none of the weddings were legal due to Billie Jean’s divorce not being finalized until eleven days after she had married Williams. A quarter of a century after the marriage, a federal court finally ruled it valid.

"I'm Happy I Found You." is another pretty piece, equal to Norah Jones "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?" and as Lucinda says, has an unusual sentiment for a Hank Williams song. Here's hoping we get to hear the remainder of the songs from The Hank Williams Project before the end of 2009. If any of our readers have any news to add, let us know at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com.

"Even a hooker should get to wear white on her wedding day..."

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:13:10 PDT

Above, a clip from the most recent "Bob Hates Andy" episode, "Traditional."

"Bob Hates Andy" is produced by Joshua Cicerone, who's been doing monthly "episodes" of the web comic since 2007. BHA is a series of imagined conversations between the Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol personas of circa 1965, allowing Cicerone to do riffs on anything from holidays to masturbation to Michael Jackson. As the site's banner page notes: "Andy loves small talk. Andy loves labels. Bob hates Andy." The comic won't be to everyone's tastes, but if you like it, you'll like it a lot.

Why Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol? Cicerone answered in this 2008 interview:

I’ve always loved the photo of Dylan and Warhol at the factory, in front of the Silver Elvis painting. That painting is loaded with symbolism about idolatry and American pop... then you have the two most influential artists of the second half of the 20th century standing there. When you look at the photo, there’s something uncomfortable and self-conscious about it all. I was aware of those stories and their supposed animosity, and I just wondered what they were talking about. One day, I got stoned and started doodling…

The photo was taken by Nat Finkelstein, who was one of the primary documenters of the Factory scene from `64 to `65. In 1965 Bob Dylan visited the Factory, ostensibly for one of Warhol's "screen tests," although as usual with the short, silent films, it was more about the visit than about an actual audition. Most accounts, including from Warhol himself, says he gave the Elvis to Dylan. Other accounts have Dylan and Warhol doing a "you're cool, man," "no you're cooler, man" potlatch dance around each other that ended with Warhol reluctantly giving the Elvis to Dylan. Still another account has Dylan saying "I'll take that (the silver Elvis) as payment [for the screen test]," and Dylan's crew, which included Bobby Neuwirth and Victor Maymudes, hustling the painting down the freight elevator before anyone in Warhol's camp could object. Almost everyone agrees that Dylan's people strapped the extremely valuable painting to the top of a station wagon and drove off. There's reportedly a photo of that, possibly taken by Finkelstein or by Billy Name as the station wagon departed, but I've never been able to locate it.

Reports later came back to Warhol that Dylan was variously storing the painting in a closet and using it as a dartboard. All accounts - including from Dylan himself- have him later trading the Elvis to his manager Albert Grossman for a sofa/couch. Grossman's widow, Sally, later sold the painting at auction for a reported $750,000. In a Rolling Stone interview, Dylan called the trade, "...a stupid thing to do. I always wanted to tell Andy what a stupid thing I done, and if he had another painting he would give me, I'd never do it again."

I have more trouble with my "Bob Hates Andy" subscription than with anything else I read on the Web. Sometimes a new issue ends up in my spam folder, although notices that I've won £1,000,000 sterling from entities ranging from Toyota to Marlboro to the British government are ignored and arrive in my Inbox daily. At other times the mailer at "Bob Hates Andy" breaks down, occasionally sending duplicates, often stopping altogether. Eventually it occurs to me that I haven't seen a BHA episode in a couple of months and I'll go check the web site to catch up.

It's always worth it.

Where the heck is the Hank Williams Project?

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:35:37 PDT

In an article that looks like it started life as a press release, country music legend Ray Price mentions,

"...an upcoming collaboration with some of his friends, including Willie Nelson... 'It will be me and Willie, Billy Bob Thornton, Leon Russell and Bob Dylan,' [Price] said. 'We’re going to do a CD. I don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing, but I’m sure Willie will let me know about two minutes just before they turn the mic on.'

The article's first appearance seems to have been on September 15th 2009, making it improbable that Price was talking about The Hank Williams a.k.a "Lost Lyrics" a.k.a "Shoebox Songs" Project which has been rumored for the last half-decade and reportedly completed in 2008. On the other hand there's still no word of the Project's release date, and just as with the late Don Helms, when you think "Hank Williams," you think "Ray Price."

Williams mentored Price throughout his short, unhappy life, introducing him to the wheelers and dealers of the Grand Ole Opry, talking him up, bringing him on tour, and giving Price use of his band, the Drifting Cowboys, in the studio. They wrote one song together, "Weary Blues (From Waiting)." After William's death, Ray Price brought two of the Drifting Cowboys, steel guitarist Don Helms and fiddler Jerry Rivers, into his group, the Cherokee Cowboys.

Although I've heard reports to the contrary, it's entirely possible that The Hank Williams Project still remains incomplete, perhaps still waiting a contribution from Bob Dylan. And given that Don Helms' last recording was reportedly for the Project, backing Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell on, "I Hope You Shed A Million Tears," it'd be appropriate to have Price make an appearance too. Of Ray Price, Dylan wrote in the liner notes of his 2008 Artists' Choice CD...

"Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys were the first band I ever saw in Nashville... A lot of great musicians came in and out of the Cherokee Cowboys-Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons and Johnny Paycheck. Just like Ray got a lot from Hank Williams, the next generation would get an awful lot from Ray Price."

Here's a 19 and 76 recording of Dylan performing Hank Williams and Ray Price's "Weary Blues (From Waiting)."

Maybe we'll get something from Ray Price too on the Hank Williams Project, or maybe his collaboration with Nelson, Thornton, Russell, and Dylan is something completely different.

To recap what is known about The Hank Williams Project:

2005 - A Sony representative states that the administrators of the Hank Williams estate had approved the idea of Bob Dylan 'taking a run at putting music' to the so-called "Shoebox Songs" lyrics, and that the lyrics had been sent off to Dylan in 2004.

2007 - In an interview with Paste Magazine, bassist Dominic Suchyta talks about working with Jack White on a song for the project, "You Know That I Know."

2008 - The Sons of Champlain web site reports that Champlains' drummer, James Preston, worked on Sheryl Crow's contribution to the Project, "Angel Mine." The site reports the CD will be released in late October, 2008.

March and September, 2008 - Nora Jones publicly unveils her contribution to the Hank Williams Project, "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?" in early and late 2008. Her second performance of the song is taped for the "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..." television show, and broadcast in January 2009.

May 2008 - A representative for Alan Jackson confirms a report that the country star contributed to the Project but declined to share any details, saying only, "We are not talking until the album is finished."

August, 2008 - An obituary for legendary steel guitarist, Don Helms, notes that one of his last recording sessions was with Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell on a song for the Project, "I Hope You Shed A Million Tears."

February 2009 - Lucinda Williams plays a recording stored on her MacBook Pro of her contribution to the Project, "I'm Happy I Found You," for two fans after a performance in Birmingham, Alabama.

September 18, 2009 - Lucinda Williams performs "I'm Happy I Found You" live before her on-stage wedding, remarking in her introduction, "...I was asked to choose a song and write the music... for an album that Bob Dylan was putting together... it's still not out yet, I don't what's going on with it..."

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" Last Week's Slightly Delayed Christmas Album Roundup

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:52:07 PDT

I was contemplating a Dreamtime podcast on the "Christmas in the Heart" samples that appeared on the Amazon U.K. site last week. But I found I just couldn't get my head around writing about Christmas music when Summer has barely left the room. You can only imagine the difficulty Mr. D. and company must have had keeping the Christmas spirit bright while recording in Santa Monica in May.

In any case, 30-second audio snippets from the fifteen "Christmas in the Heart" tracks appeared on the album's mp3 page last Wednesday to the delight, amusement, and consternation of Dylan fans everywhere. Within a day the samples had disappeared from Amazon, but nothing ever really disappears on these here interwebs, as you can see/hear in the above video.

If one were a suspicious soul, one might contemplate whether the samples' mysterious appearance/disappearance and now release into the wild might be a masterful marketing move by someone who wants the drum beating loud. But in keeping with the spirit of the season to come, we won't get into that.

Reaction to the samples was, let us say, ah, "mixed," with many commentators noting that the overall feeling of the music was reminiscent of an Andy Williams or Perry Como holiday special. An examiner.com columnist came up with this clumsy but accurate fantasy:

Imagine it’s the late fifties. Dean Martin has a Christmas TV show going on, and he brought over the Lawrence Welk orchestra and singers for the occasion. The womens' hair is all done up in stiff, perfect perms, they’re wearing white chiffon dresses and red bows, the men are in tuxes and their hair is slicked back with Vitalis, there’s a sleigh and fake snow all around, Dino is pretending to be slightly drunk when he does the scene around the fireplace with the Christmas tree and presents.

Then he announces his special guest. “Here’s a cat whose music I really dig. He’s from the future. Crazy, huh?" Dino takes a drink and rolls his eyes. "Ooo, that's nice. Ladies and genltemen, the one and only, Bob Dylan.”

Bob hesitantly steps out, at his current age, thin mustache, wearing an ill-fitting white tux, set off with a red bow tie. He's weating a Santa hat. He shuffles nervously. The band starts up and Bob begins croaking out “Here Comes Santa Claus,” trading lines back and forth with the Lawrence Welk singers. A glockenspiel plays little descending notes to make it extra Christmassy. At the end, the audience applauds warnly. He goes on to croak-croon “The Little Drummer Boy,” singing it sincerely, doing the par-ump-a-pum-pums. He finishes his set with a duet with Dean, of Dean’s hit, “The Christmas Blues.”

I've been waiting for something from way out of left field... something like an all-instrumental Christmas CD, or Dylan and the band backing guest vocalists. I figured it was a long shot that he was actually going to tackle the songs himself. But a lesson you should learn if you follow Mr. D. is the one taught by Mr. William of Ockham, that the simplest answer is usually the right one. Bob Dylan said he was doing a Christmas album. Here we have samples from a Bob Dylan Christmas album.

From a personal perspective, I went from initial horror ("My God," I thought. "Dylan has recorded something that's going to get played annually on the Dr. Demento show."), to grudging acceptance that some of the clips weren't so bad, to the point where I've come to like a few for their sheer goofiness and Dylan's chutzpah if nothing else.

The Perry Como and Andy Williams comparisons are on the mark. But what the clips remind me of more than anything else is one of Ray Coniff's or Mitch Miller's holiday albums. Go listen to "Christmas with Coniff" or "Holiday Sing-Along with Mitch" to hear what I mean. Same retro arrangements; same use of male and female backing singers. Same overall feel. There's a point in "I'll Be Home for Christmas" where Dylan sings, "if only in mah dreams..." and the chorus comes in with "oooo, oooo, oooo" that brought me back to my family's living room in 1965 and listening to that same arrangement playing on my father's monolithic piece-of-furniture Electrohome transistor-based stereo system (with the sliding doors to hide the speakers).

That's not a bad thing, and I agree with the various opinions I've read that "Christmas in the Heart" is going to appeal mainly to people who have fond memories - as I do and as Bob Dylan apparently does - of that era and that type of music. There's an interesting case presented in The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, among others, that "Christmas in the Heart" is an extension of the same spirit and tastes that brought us Theme Time Radio Hour... and perhaps it is.

Do I think everything works? No. The traditional songs such as "Come All Ye Faithful" sound like they could be a train wreck in the making from the 30 seconds we have of them so far. But, I remember talking to a friend about why we both liked Jonathan Richman, an artist with his own quirky style. "He's just so damn earnest, Fred," she said. And that's another thing that comes across from the "Christmas in the Heart" clips. Bad or not, a pose or not, Dylan sounds so damn earnest. Sometimes greatness of soul is measured by what you're willing to tackle, even when you suspect you'll fail.

I've gone from thinking I'd take a pass on "Christmas in the Heart" and just donate the full album price to Feeding America (and we're doing matching donations for those who buy it through the Dreamtime Amazon links to your right) to now thinking I might pick up a few of the mp3s for use in homemade Christmas compilations.

And who knows? By Christmas I may want the whole album.

New Season of "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..." Taping Begins Sept. 21....

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:24:05 PDT

.... and you can get free tickets if you're in the NYC area.

http://www.1iota.com/shows,Spectacle:-Elvis-Costello-with...,134.html#rectix

SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH... fuses the best elements of talk and music television and invites viewers to enjoy an intimate conversation between host Costello and his guests, punctuated by rare musical performances by Costello, his guests and a wide variety of musicians.

Sundance Channel in the US, along with CTV in Canada have picked up the show for a second season, with taping scheduled at New York City’s famed Apollo Theatre at the end of September.

September 21, 2009 (Monday) @ 7:00 PM with Nekko Neko Case, Jesse Winchester, Sheryl Crow, and Ron Sexsmith

September 23, 2009 (Wednesday) @ 7:00 PM with Ray Lamontagne, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine

September 24, 2009 (Thursday) @ 7:00 PM with Levon Helm, Allen Toussaint, Richard Thompson, Nick Lowe.

As we've written before, if you enjoy Theme Time Radio Hour, it's likely you'll enjoy Spectacle. If one of our readers goes to the shows, Dreamtime expects a trip report.

Howard Stern on 'The Family Hour', With His Usual Sense of Class

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:19:40 PDT

Howard Stern: ...bringing up Dylan. So Gary's driving in his car the other night aaaah, listening to Sirius XM. And y'know, it's really kinda funny, 'cause when Sirius and XM were two separate companies, I used to be somewhat envious of the fact that XM had Bob Dylan doing a show. Like I had only heard about it. I never actually heard the show. But I was envious saying, 'Wow, it's really cool that they had Bob Dylan.' They probably had to pay him some decent money to get him to do it, because he's such a recluse. That's a cool move, being such a recluse than when you do anything it's a big deal. So I said, 'Wow, if there's any programming I'm envious of on XM it's because they've got the Bob Dylan... it's like called 'The Family Hour,' and he would spin records and he would talk about his life.

But I never actually heard the show. And Gary called me over vacation and he goes, 'Did you ever actually hear the Bob Dylan show?' And I go, 'Uh, no. Is it awesome?' And he goes, 'I don't know a fuckin' thing he said.'

It's a cool thing to say you have Bob Dylan, but if you actually listen to the show, he's unintelli-- it's like his music, when he performs [does stock bad Dylan imitation] - he sounds like a rabbi or something. When he's talking, I defy you to figure out what he's talking about. And the music he plays is kinda out there. It's nothing, y'know it's nothing you'd really want to hear...

It's been a depressing week for Theme Time Radio Hour news - the anniversary passing of when we could look forward to the start of a new season; the unofficial cancellation - apparently - of the TTRH Compendium book. I debated with myself on whether to bother to post the clip above, nine minutes of Howard Stern and crew insulting Bob Dylan and Theme Time Radio Hour. But Self pointed out that Dreamtime's mission statement is to be the premiere source of TTRH news and commentary on the Web, good or bad.

So here it is. I should point out that some of the audio and accompanying visuals could be considered NSFW, so be forewarned. As I said, the clip is nine minutes plus, with Stern playing what sounds like deliberately distorted clips from TTRH to bolster his "unintelligble" argument.. I say "deliberately distorted" since I have better-quality copies of the show, so you would think someone with the resources of Howard Stern could find them too. I'm not sure when this clip originally aired. It was posted on YouTube about a month ago.

Stern goes on to make predictable fun of the various Dylan commentaries and ends on the usual Howard Sternesque whiny note, reading glowing excerpts about Theme Time from an old Washington Post article while complaining about how his show is treated by the Post.

I wonder why.

A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:58:04 PDT

A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes. - "Dark Eyes" by Bob Dylan

I'm not a great fan of Dylan's duets. I don't think his voice lends itself to working with another singer. And since he regularly changes phrasing, timing and emphasis on any given song, it must be near-impossible to stay with him.

Having said all that, above is a duet from 1995 with another great artist who has always walked her own path, Patti Smith. It's a song of survival, by two survivors, and never fails to move me, as rough a reading as this live version is. One of the reasons I love Smith is that she's a perfect example of sheer will overcoming the limitations of her talent - and I mean that in the best possible way. Patti Smith was a talented poet who wanted to become a rock-and-roll star. And she did.

“I wasn’t much of a singer,” Smith noted in a recent Goldmine interview. “But I had bravado, and I could improvise. I would almost burst into tears ’cause of all the stuff that was happening. I’d look out at that long line of neon beer signs over the bar, and the dog running around shitting while I’m in the middle of a beautiful ballad, and all these drunks are throwing back shots. It was the greatest atmosphere to perform in; it was conspiratorial. It was real physical and that’s what rock’n’roll’s all about — sexual tension and being drunk and disorderly.”

Barry Miles conducted a wonderful interview with with Patti Smith in 1977 that remained unpublished until eventually appearing in Wanted Man: In Search of Bob Dylan, edited by John Bauldie and released in 1991. Smith talks about meeting Dylan in 1975 during the time he was germinating the idea that would become the Rolling Thunder Tour. Dylan invited Smith to join the tour over several wet nights at various bars and parties punctuated by Bette Midler and Phil Ochs throwing their drinks at Patti for reasons unknown... maybe to show her how punky they both could be. "What is this?" Patti said to Dylan after Ochs poured a full pitcher of beer over her head. "Every time I'm around you I get doused with beer!"

"One time he was telling me what my gifts were -- he has great humility but he doesn't like flattery -- hates for you to tell him how much he meant to you all your life, through your young years -- he doesn't want to hear that. What he wants to do is tell you the good things about you, so that you can do your own work; he doesn't want you to be involved with him, he would rather inspire you to do your own work -- he's not jealous and possessive about that. So he was trying to teach me just what my worth was, and we did some neat stuff together." ~ Patti Smith on Bob Dylan

In 1994, Smith was nearly broke, her husband Fred Smith and her brother Todd both dead, and she was trying to decide whether to go onstage again after a 16-year-hiatus. Although Dylan seldom tours in the winter season - a time he usually sets aside to recharge his batteries before bringing The Bob Dylan Show on the road again - he started prodding Patti to come with him on a 10-date joint tour in the winter of 1995 - the so-called Paradise Lost chapter of the Tour of Many Names.

According to Clinton Heylin's Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades, Dylan told Smith,

"Patti, I was worried about you. You gave your soul away to somebody else. Don't ever do that again."

Whether the words are exact or not, the sentiment appeared true. "Bob and I spoke privately and I thanked him for giving me the opportunity, and he really encouraged me to come back into the fold," Patti related in an on-line interview with Kirk Elder at the Alternatives to Valium blog. "He said the people would be happy to see me. I truthfully wasn’t certain how I would be received, or what I should do, and being encouraged by him was very important to me."

Smith has always been a fan of "Dark Eyes," often prefacing her performance of the song with a reading of "dog dream (Dylan's Dog)," a poem she noted was "...dreamed simultaneously by me and sam shepard in april 1971"

have you seen
dylans dog
it got wings
it can fly
if you speak
of it to him
its the only
time dylan
cant look you in the eye

The full poem can be found in Patti Smith's book, Seventh Heaven.

On the "Dark Eyes" duet, Smith said in the Kirk Elder interview: "...he gave me the opportunity to choose any song from his catalogue and we could do it together. So I looked through his lyric book, and I realised what a profound opportunity this was. This was somebody that I had adored and admired since I was 15 years old, giving me the opportunity to sing any one of his songs with him. So I chose Dark Eyes, and Bob and I sang it for the next several days. Ending, I believe, in Philadelphia, where I’m from."

Theme Time Radio Hour Compendium, ah, Update?

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:13 PDT

The little book that wasn't there, the Theme Time Radio Hour Compendium, recently had a title change on its Amazon page to: "Bob Dylan Untitled Christmas Book" (Hardcover). The book, which has been listed on Amazon since 2008, also had a publication date change, now advanced to November 1, 2011.

You'll note if you go to the Amazon page that it still uses the TTRH Compendium cover mock-up, pictured to your left.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd guess that this is simply a placeholder by Amazon for a book that may or may not get published and probably won't have anything to do with TTRH if/when it does get published. It's worth noting that the book, under any title, no longer appears in the Simon & Schuster catalog.

I know something of the background of the planned Compendium, as I was in discussions at one point with the TTRH team to do some work on the project. But eventually they decided they couldn't do the book they wanted to do within the delivery time that Simon and Schuster wanted, which was for a Christmas `08 release.

That begs the question of why the book wasn't moved to the Christmas `09 season, and for that question I don't have an answer. Timing may have had something to do with it. My impression was that Dylan's camp already had its attention turned towards other projects by late 2008 and from their perspective TTRH was a closed book (no pun intended).

I also don't know what the planned content for the Compendium was - I'm not sure the book even got to the planning stage. But at its advertised 176 pages I suspect it would have been a piece of mostly visual ephemera similar to the Bob Dylan Scrapbook, probably a good Christmas present for the Dylan fan or TTRH listener in your family. "The Bob Dylan Scrapbook" sold a very respectable 125,000+ copies in 2005 according to Publishers Weekly, and perhaps the Compendium would have done as well. In any case, an opportunity missed for them - and for me - but maybe it will turn out to have been a Good Thing for me and my book in progress.

There was also some talk in the TTRH camp in late 2008/early 2009 about a series of "Theme" books, too, tying into and extending the TTRH franchise after the show's radio run. Again, I don't know whether that idea has been back-burnered or abandoned, probably the latter would be my guess. But it's possible that the "untitled Christmas Book" might be the first of those theme books. It's just as possible that, still under contract to deliver a book, Dylan's people said, "Yep, yep. We'll have that book for you Real Soon Now - sometime between now and when the contract expires in 2011."

This Week in Theme Time Radio Hour History

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:57:04 PDT

A sad milestone this week. Two years ago, on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, Season 2 of Theme Time Radio Hour began with the "Hello" show. As well as airing some notable shows, "Classic Rock," "Lock & Key," and "California" among them, Season 2 would hold several surprises for listeners:

While never completely phased out, email readings would gradually lose ground to a new segment - listener phone calls to Studio B.

TTRH finally aired the series' long-promised "Classic Rock" episode, with music featuring rocks of the mineral sort.

The first TTRH rerun aired on October 31st 2007, a repeat of Season 1's "Halloween" show.

TTRH would do a second "Countdown" show with all-new material, the series first theme to cross two seasons.

Season 2 would end without explanation with the "Cold" show on April 2, 2008 after only 25 episodes being aired, in contrast to Season 1's 50 shows.

I get email on a regular basis asking if I have any information - positive or negative - about a Season 4 of TTRH. Season 3 of TTRH began on Wednesday October 3, 2008 with almost no fanfare...only mentioned in a press release from Sony and in some media articles a week or so earlier. Given that Dylan's Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart, is scheduled for release on October 13, there's a very slim possibility that October 14 would be the logical start date of a Season 4. But, there's currently no evidence of that likelihood and, in truth, more evidence against the possibility. Mr. D. made it clear in his May 2009 Rolling Stone interview that his work on TTRH was over, although he did offer up the slight hope that he "didn't know" whether he would continue, and that Sirius XM seemed eager for more episodes. While Sirius XM continues to mention Dylan and TTRH in its publicity materials, it has yet to make an official announcement on the show's future. At present, the show has become the I Love Lucy of radio rebroadcasts, as one commenter pithily put it.

All good things come to an end, and my opinion is that the series has ended. But we have those 100 shows, and our memories. During an interview with one of the members of the TTRH team, I asked if there had been any resentment on their side about the show being copied and distributed over the internet within days - sometimes within hours - of being broadcast on XM.

"We were much more concerned about a show getting bootlegged before it 'officially' aired on the radio," he answered. "And we devoted most of our energies to making sure that didn't happen, rather than trying to stop what we knew we couldn't stop. Actually, we thought it was kind of cool that all the shows ended up on the web. It means Theme Time Radio Hour will live forever."

iTunes Store To Release Highway 61 Revisited Deluxe 9/15/09

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:20:19 PDT

Thanks to Dreamtime correspondent Rupe for the tip... From the iTunes Store "album notes..."

"Get this watershed album with iTunes LP (only for use on a Mac or PC with iTunes 9 or later) for 13 bonus recordings taken from the original sessions, live videos recorded at the Newport Folk Festival, photos and more..."

See http://tinyurl.com/hwy61rvs for full info at the iTunes Store. Note this link will attempt to launch iTunes. You can also go to the iTunes Store and put in "Highway 61 Deluxe" to find the info.

"Wagon Wheel" a.k.a. "Rock Me, Mama"

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:06:20 PDT

Bob Dylan has collaborated over the years with writers as varied as Jacques Levy to Michael Bolton, including his recent partnership with Robert Hunter on Together Through Life. There's even been some imaginary Dylan collaborations, such as his mythical team-up with ex-Monkee Mike Nesmith supposedly co-authoring Nesmith's Rio.

Wagon Wheel is a real collaboration with an unusual twist. Dylan originally developed Rock Me, Mama, later to become Wagon Wheel, during the 1973 studio sessions for his sometimes under-appreciated movie soundtrack album Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. As with many of the songs recorded during the Mexico City and L.A. sessions, Rock Me, Mama was never completed past a basic melody and the refrain,

"Rock me, mama, in the wind and the rain,
Rock me, mama, like a southbound train.
Rock me, mama, anyway you feel.
Rock me mamma, like a wagon wheel."

Rock Me, Mama was left off the final release of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, but surfaced in the bootleg Peco's Blues [sic], which can also be found under the alternate title Lucky Luke. As an aside, if you can lay your hand on the bootleg under either name, the completist Dylan fan will probably find it rewarding. The tracks contain several nice instrumentals that never made it to the finished album plus studio chatter from the recording sessions, including a comment from Dylan saying he wanted to get into the movie director business.

Ketch Secor, a member of one my favorite Americana/Roots groups, Old Crow Medicine Show, came across Peco's Blues at some point and revised/finished the song under the title Wagon Wheel. Secor later called the song "a collaboration with about 25 years in between the collaboration." The adaptation was obviously done with Dylan's blessing, as the copyright reads: Wagon Wheel by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor (Bug Music, BMI). Old Crow Medicine Show was performing a version of the song as early as 2001; one of its first uses being to commemorate Dylan's 60th birthday during a live performance in Nashville. Wagon Wheel was officially released on Old Crow Medicine Show's 2004 album, O.C.M.S. The song was one of the hit singles from their that album (a major hit among Americana fans, selling well over 100,000 copies), and numbers among its fans Garrison Keillor, who regularly requests Wagon Wheel during Old Crow Medicine Show's appearances on A Prairie Home Companion.

Above, the "official" video of Wagon Wheel, with a slightly ribald 1800 hootchie-cootchie-flavored carnival theme. As a special bonus, look for a cameo by OCMS friends and sometimes collaborators, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.