Judas! four may seem like just
another issue four to you all. Here at Judas! central however
it carries much more significance. When we started out we wondered if
we would gain enough support to go on for more than a year. We committed
ourselves to four issues and agreed to review where we stood at that
time. Thanks to you good subscribers we are ahead of where we needed
to be at this date, so we have rewarded your faith in us with a bumper
issue and a pledge to keep bringing you the best magazine we possibly
can in the next year.
It is good, too, that this issue coincides with a New Year, as it is
a time for us to take stock of what we have done and look forward to
what we can do for you in the coming four issues.
To look back (sorry, Bob) first, we said we would try to bring you writers
from a wide range of callings, as well as well-known names from the
world of Dylan writing. With articles by Peter Doggett, Gavin Martin
and Mick Gold from the worlds of professional journalism and broadcasting,
a number of dissertations from academic establishments, a host of sparkling
new writers and contributions from a number of admired amateur Dylan
commentators, we feel we have kept that pledge. Plus we have featured
professional writers such as Michael Gray, Clinton Heylin, Stephen Scobie
and Paul Williams (plus the luminaries from this issue’s question
and answer forum) in our first year’s pages.
Indeed, contributors to this first year of Judas! are too many to list
here, so we have put their names and details on a new section of our
website at www.judasmagazine.com, with our thanks for all their work.
The pages they supplied have been illuminated by a number of fine photographs,
thanks to the sterling efforts of Duncan Hume and the generosity of
those that supplied other originals for us to use, including the cover
provided by John Hume for issue three.
Looking forward, we have more exciting contributors lined up. Besides
these, we are eager to find writers from the world of musicians for
example and the no small matter of over half the world’s population
- women. Yes we want female contributors and have been working hard
in this respect for most of the year. Elaine Jackson and Michelle Engert
saved us at the last from having a male-only year. Something that would
have disappointed me - let’s not have the possibility of one ever
again, please.
We need to keep improving what we have been doing and follow through
on our promise to further develop the website. Sorry that we ran out
of time this year to do as much there as we had first planned.
Meanwhile, it has been an enthralling time on the Dylan front since
issue three. Was it not wonderful to have all the buzz surrounding the
October and November shows? From the opening surprise of a piano-based,
acoustic ‘Solid Rock’, many a song was transformed by the
new approach. There were numerous additions to the Never Ending Tour
list of transcendent covers. The word ‘lonely’ alone from
‘Accidentally Like A Martyr’ oft delivered a whole world
of Dylan to us, and ‘Mutineer’ was simply astonishing, more
of which inside this issue. And who could resist the fun of ‘Brown
Sugar‘ or the poignancy of ‘Something’?
Plus there was a magnificent official release, The Bootleg Series
Vol. 5, Bob Dylan Live 1975. It is dynamic, vibrant, overpoweringly
moving and sensuous. Then when you manage to put the booklet down and
put the music on, that’s damn hot too.
So hot we felt we had to review it, step forward ‘volunteer’
Nicholas Hawthorne, who was given hardly any time to write a quality
review of this important release, and take a bow for managing that so
well. To make room for this I have moved my book reviews to Issue Five.
So many books are now being published on Dylan, and from such a variety
of angles, that I intend to look not just at the individual books but
at the overall ‘publishing on Dylan’ picture.
In addition, some of the welter of proposed autumn 2002 books have been
delayed. The ‘most likely to be delayed’, Chronicles,
is already beginning to feel similar to the saga of that ‘second
most likely to be delayed’ book, Christopher Ricks’s Dylan's
Visions Of Sin. It is definitely coming this time, 25th September
2003 is the expected publication date.
Stephen Scobie’s updated and revised Alias Bob Dylan
has also been delayed, in the naïve expectation that a new edition
of Lyrics might enable a more up-to-date system of page references.
Happily, this delay will allow Stephen time for further expansion of
his thoughts on “Love And Theft” and give him a
chance to cover all recent Dylan activities. There will be full details
in the next issue, along with an in-depth interview with Stephen.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New
Year. I hope you have a Bob-full 2003 and that you remember in your
busy lives to take time out to re-subscribe to Judas! and make
ours a happy year too. With your support we can go from strength to
strength, but without your subscriptions and contributions we cannot
flourish. We hope we have done well enough for you to stay onboard for
another sure-to-be-exciting year.
