from Inside A Prune

Welcome to issue 13, hopefully not unlucky for either you or us. This is the first issue of 2005, which makes me think on how many Dylan anniversaries there will be this year; 40 years since ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, thirty since the release of Blood on the Tracks, and the launching of the Rolling Thunder Revue, twenty since, erm, Live Aid, ten since Prague’s famous shows. Spring 1995 was a high spot of the Never Ending Tour and 1965 was a year of miraculous achievements by Dylan, but it is 1975 that my mind keeps going back to.

Even I, you see, am not old enough to remember 1965 as a Dylan year whereas 1975 saw not only the release of Dylan’s pre-eminent album opening with arguably his greatest single song and one of his finest tours and by now I was listening and I heard 1975 Dylan and the core of Dylan’s (official and otherwise) output up until that year. After a year or so of hearing (in the order I got them): Self Portrait, Nashville Skyline, Dylan and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid I was suddenly exposed to all the sixties albums and many bootlegs. Imagine being introduced to all of that at the same time as hearing Planet Waves and Blood on the Tracks for the first time. I even heard the official Basement Tapes release before the bootlegs so, unlike everyone approaching it from the opposite direction, was awe-struck rather than disappointed.

So, 1975 was quite some year for me, but that’s enough nostalgic reminiscence from your editor. If you, however, have any special memories of 1975 you wish to share with Judas! please send them in, particularly if you were fortunate enough to see him that year.

For now, let us turn to the issue at hand. We open with a marvellous article by Michael Coffino. This came about as part of a response to my article in Judas! 11 entitled ‘Lies That Truth Is Black And White’. This sparked a large number of responses, unfortunately only two were marked for publication but one of the others was a delightful pointer from subscriber Patrick Bauer alerting us to an in-depth legal study by Michael concerning ‘The Death of Emmett Till’ and ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ in the Wisconsin Law Review.

Raymond Landry, another US legal expert, then stepped forward to help us track down both the copyright details and the original author. Both of them have worked very hard to get the article ready for this issue. Our gratitude to Patrick, Raymond and Michael is immense, as the article is hugely deserving of a Dylan audience.

Alan Davis produces, once again, an article brief in word count but large in implication, shedding light with his customary penetration.

About a year after we started there were a couple of request for us to ‘try something different’ every now and again. Andrew Davies’s travelogue was one step into new territory for us, and here we present another from a completely distinct perspective, an interview with Claude Angèle Boni. We thank her and Guido Bieri for providing us with this detailed account of her artistic and personal connections with Dylan and also Antonio Iriarte for revising the English translation from the original interview conducted in French.

We are delighted to have a number of letters and responses to share with you too, ranging from the normal kind of letter to in-depth articles as well as Martin van Hees’s regular column and Pádraig Hanratty’s article on ‘Things Have Changed’ which achieves his ambition of ‘4-in-a-row’ in Judas!’s pages.

‘Things Have Changed’ is respectfully dedicated to Patrick Hanratty (1928- 2005) who always enjoyed reading his son’s articles in Judas!

Whilst sadness and dedication are in mind, may we also doff our caps to long term subscriber and friend of Judas!, Canadian Sam Visser who has left us for the great collecting room in the sky.

Just before I sign off, a quick word re a book that our publisher was kind enough to give me as a gift. American Rebels is an intriguing collection edited and introduced by Jack Newfield. Beware of the Dylan chapter though unless you find it reasonable to call ‘Tangled up in Blue’ the stand-out track on Planet Waves or Love and Death the follow-up album to Time Out Of Mind. Compared to those saying that Dylan played three electric and three acoustic songs at Newport 1965 may seem a small mistake but it is made all the more galling by the preceding chapter on Woody Guthrie claiming he played two electric and one acoustic. Apart from it being easy to check, you’d think at least they’d get it wrong consistently.

That aside, however, I am finding it an ideal collection for short journeys as each chapter is brief. This also means that it tends to be the ones on people you don’t know much about that stand out but there is an eclectic mix of both contributors (the Guthrie chapter is written by Steve Earle, for example) as well as subjects (such as Joe Louis, Noam Chomsky, John Garfield). Also what Mr. Newfield may lack as an editor he compensates for in a powerful introduction and there is a nice feeling to the way chapters resonate with each other. For instance, the Steinbeck chapter opens with a marvellous quote of his on Woody Guthrie.

As ever, may I remind you that Judas! relies on contributions from your good selves, be that articles, photographs or letters.

Cheers,

Andrew Muir