Jim Carroll

"So why do people attack him? "
Why...
Why...
Why...
Why...
You tell me.

I don't know Jim, but I'd like to. Poking around some old threads, I have found a clue though. In 2009 you said -

"I agree entirely that Ewan could be bloody unreasonable at times.
I observed it on several occasions, though I have to say I never experienced it personally. Occasionally his pig-headed single-mindedness got the better of him; he certainly didn't like being wrong, but I discovered if you stuck to your guns and put your arguments well he quite often took your points on board (though he was reluctant to admit that you were right!)"

So, basically, he pissed some people off. He told people they were wrong but was unwilling to be told he was wrong. He put people's backs up. Is it all that surprising that some might respond to his unreasonableness by being unreasonable themselves. By his attitude he made enemies.

You end that post with - "None of this altered in any way his (IMO) genius."

Fine. The two qualities are not incompatible in the same individual; they may be inextricably linked. (Isaac Newton was a thoroughly nasty piece of work.)

I responded to Derek's posting by pointing out that the only evidence of MacColl's opinion of Dylan that has been produced here is the existance of a satirical article written around 1965 (no quotes from it)

Yes, it would be nice to get a look at that but I can't really afford to get up to Ruskin College at the moment. Anybody have a copy?

and a reported private telephone conversation

Reported by his son. Are you saying Hamish MacColl was lying about his father?

There also seems to be an issue of Sing Out! where he expresses his opinion fairly strongly judging by the quotes. (Somewhere up this thread.) Again, anybody have a copy?

You "completely ignore what Frankie Armstrong said in the programme"
I was not around at the time of the break-up of the acting group,

Eh? In a programme about the Critics Group broadcast last week (which you have now listened to), Frankie Armstrong said "He was, at that point, very definitely badmouthing Bob Dylan, saying he was the McGonagall of his age." Do you have any comment on that?

I do believe that, for all it's flaws, some valuable work was done by the group that might be of use to others - that is my sole interest in MacColl and his work, and has been for a very long time.

Really? You seem to be selling him a bit short. Surely there was more to the man than that. Aren't we allowed to know about the whole man?