An Open Letter To Bob Dylan

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 10:03 PM

Coffee retailers like Starbucks should be blamed for meny things, but to blame Starbucks for empty stages is like blaming Jay Leno for killing vaudeville. The coffeehouse scene that nutured Bob Dylan was gone by the mid 60's. As soon as people began making money in folk music, the coffeehouses like the Gaslight faded from prominance to be replaced by commercial venues.   Folk music was "saved" by groups of fans who began presenting the music in church basements.

To answer an earlier question, Starbucks will be issuing a CD of Dylan's "Gaslight" tapes. They have exclusive rights to sell the CD for a period, which I think is 18 months.   They have done this with other artists.   They also sell CD's from many acoustic artists, something that isn't done in many places these days.

Don't get me wrong, I don't support Starbucks for many of the reasons named. However, I think the group that signed that letter is using Bob Dylan and other artists such as Alanis Morrisette as an excuse to get their message out. There may not be anything wrong with that, but I think they should be honest.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: GUEST,weelittledrummer
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 08:52 PM

Of course Bob hangs out at The Mudcat. And Bob, if you still fancy a gig at Market Rasen Folk Club, I'll put in a word with Les.

Book this guy Les, he's pretty good.

Don't think it was Starbucks that finished off the folk music in coffee bars - rather it was a generation that couldn't shut the f--k up and listen - check out Elijah Wald's magnificent recounting of the life of Dave Van Ronk - and how a very talented musician had a pretty depressing period in his life waiting for the skunks to shut up.

Coffee retailers are not the villains of this piece

all the best

Big Al Whittle

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Cluin
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 07:27 PM

LH, I would expect you to know that the "open letter" format does not anticipate a response from the person supposedly being addressed.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 07:15 PM

Correct! Senior moment!

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 07:09 PM

Times must have changed more than I thought---those words used to be in "Blowin' In The Wind".

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Max
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 07:07 PM

Starbucks is going to release a live show from the Gaslight in '62. Irony?

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: bobad
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 07:00 PM

Peace

I believe $tarbuck$ is to have exclusive distributorship of a release of either another Dylan bootleg or the soundtrack of Martin Scorses's documentary, I'm not sure which, but I'm sure someone will let us know forthwith.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Peace
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:55 PM

It could be because the times HAVE changed, and this is what we got.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:50 PM

I was in a shop the other day and the radio played Dylan's simple acoustic "Times they are a changing", and the verse came with the words;
"How many deaths will it takes till he knows
That too many people have died"
Beside me was a man about my age (60's) and we glanced at each other.
"Good to hear some decent music for a change" he said.
"Yeah, but it didn't make any difference and that's the sad thing" I said.
"Yeah" he agreed, "But maybe he should sing it again."
And we both smiled and shook our heads.
And that's the sad thing.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Peace
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:45 PM

OK, so I'm outta the loop. What does Dylan have to do with Starbucks?

Folks, there are only so many ways I can ask the question, no offense.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Steve-o
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:43 PM

"I doubt Dylan would have clue f*kin' one..." Well, there's a thoughtful response. What a bozo....

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Peace
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:40 PM

OK, so I'm outta the loop. What does Starbucks have to do with Dylan?

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:36 PM

This is not the kind of thing that Bob responds to, to put it simply.

To expect he would seems a bit naive.

Subject: RE: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:33 PM

"What would match those fertile coffeehouses nowadays?"

I doubt Dylan would have clue f*kin' one...

Subject: An Open Letter To Bob Dylan
From: Frankham
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 06:31 PM

 This in. Kinda' interesting i think.

Frank
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Rev Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping
Date: 08/21/05 13:22:02
To: Rev Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping
Subject: Open Letter To Bob Dylan
 

Dear Bob Dylan,
You sang in the Gaslight and Cafe Bizarre and the Figaro and such places in the early 60s. What would match those fertile coffeehouses nowadays? Is there an empty stage and an open mike waiting for some kid who might change everything? In 2005, daily life is so depoliticized we really don't know how change would come. But even those of us not born when you sang A Hard Rain Is A-Gonna Fall -- remember your anthems. And oh, we wait for that new madflow singer, we need that song of change, with the way things are now.
By dealing what you created in the Gaslight Cafe to this transnational chain store Starbucks, you make the revolution that will blast from some dark little stage all the more urgent. Starbucks kills the Gaslights. You should know about their real estate practices. They kill Gaslights and diners and local hang-outs and replace them with their mass-produced fake bohemia. This is A Change Is NOT Gonna Come. Starbucks wants to silence the cafe that features that powerful unknown singer that we're waiting for, using your famous voice like a silencer.
Sincerely:
Reverend Billy
Savitri D
Kurt Vonnegut
Larry Harvey, Burning Man
Laura Flanders
Malachy McCourt
Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
Sidney Lanier
Rosalie Sorrels
Alisa Solomon
Ricardo Dominguez, Electronic Disturbance Theater
Carl Hancock Rux
Benjamin Ferguson, Starbucksunion.org
William Etundi
Frank Morales
Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association
James Solomon Benn
Jonathan Kalb
Jill Lane
Lafcadio Cortesi, Forest Ethics
Johanna Lawrenson,
the Abbie Hoffman Activist Foundation
Edward Ziter
Eileen Clancy
Beka Economopoulos, Not An Alternative
Florindo Troncelliti
Marc Kasky, Kasky Vs. Nike
Julie Talen
Sean Basinski, Street Vendors Project
Bob Fass
Ben Shepard, Reclaim the Streets
Una Chaudhuri
Dee Dee Halleck
Jerry Goralnick
Stephen Duncombe
Kate Crane
Elizabeth Chin
Robert Cole, Robert Cole Productions
Laura Hart Cole
Gregory Sholette
Patricia Ybarra
Joel Kovel
Dee Dee Halleck, Deep Dish TV
Susan Smulyan
Scott Loane
John Bell
Jo Littler
David L. Wilson, Weekly News Update on the Americas
Deanna Zandt, Not an Alternative
Ron Hayduk
Ursula Ruedenberg, Pacifica Network
Coco Fusco
Tony Perucci
Jonathan Moll
Amy Gentry
Michele Smith
Richard E. Lyons
Fred Askew, Fred Askew Photography
Michael ONeil
www.revbilly.com
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