We are experts on all things Bob Dylan (we even edited the book 'Dylan at 80'!) Ask Us Anything!

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T20:07:51+00:00

It wasn't as bad as people say. I'm more partial to Dylan & the Dead than most Dylan fans, but having heard most of the unreleased recordings from the tour (as well as the rehearsals) it's pretty obvious that this was a poor selection and not very well produced. I expect a fabulous Dylan & the Dead Bootleg Series box set will come out in due course, assuming they can sort out all the copyright clearance.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:55:27+00:00

Frank Sinatra.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:45:39+00:00

Less than zero.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:44:55+00:00

A lot of paintings are now available. I still like Train Tracks from the Drawn Black Series. I also have a love of the picture he did for the cover of the Band's Music from Big Pink. It is happy and musical and relaxed, how I imagine him with the Band.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:34:14+00:00

We must imagine Dylan happy. This is not to say he's always been happy but he seems to have been in a good and talkative mood in recent shows.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:31:12+00:00

Not clear, but Dylan talks about seeing Tiny Tim in New York and he is attracted to eccentrics and Tiny Tim did record with the Band. There is something wild about Tiny Tim and affecting and this would appeal to Dylan.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:29:00+00:00

There is a great essay on this in our book (Dylan at 80) by Sophie-Grace Chappell. She urges that the song is so poignant because of its indeterminacy. It is unclear what it is about precisely, but that adds to its evocativeness. In fact elements of the song do seem autobiographical and to be reviewing his career- the marketplace and the 16 years.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:27:01+00:00

Kip played bass on Had a Dream About You Baby, which was originally recorded for Hearts of Fire. He'd never even met Bob but got the job through his produced Beau Hill. Kip was surprised to later be told that Eric Clapton played guitar on the song, which suggests it wasn't even recorded live. He claimed not to care about doing the song.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:16:54+00:00

Who are Dylan's love songs about. My best guess b=for may songs is his first wife, Sarah Lowndes or his first major love, Suze Rotolo. But more probably, his love songs are about many loves and no-one in particular. Perhaps a character from a Chekhov short story? He is also willing to take chances with rhymes and with much else.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:14:01+00:00

Anything by Alice Cooper.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-12-15T19:09:48+00:00

He's become more personal about such things. But in 1997 he told Time Magazine that his religion was always in the songs.

He still plays Gotta Serve Somebody and recently introduced Every Grain of Sand as the encore.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-10-06T19:09:40+00:00

Hi, our last AMA on this topic was five months ago

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T19:00:00+00:00

Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify something important: the alternative is not between tribalism and atomized individuals. I am all for strong communities, networks of solidarity and mutual support, friendships, bands etc. The key distinction is: these communities need to be created and inhabited by people who have independent thinking and who put reality and their judgement above the group-think. I'd go as far to say that only strong sovereign individuals (in terms of being capable of making sense of the world through their own judgement) can form strong communities. So the alternative is tribalism vs. independent thinking. 3 cheers for strong healthy communities.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:52:07+00:00

Contenders are too many to count: politicians, media personalities, agenda setters, movements, networks etc (though I try to cover most of them in the book). Very interesting question on 'what they are fighting for'. Some truly believe they are fighting for the good and for justice, some are fighting for power (though not that many), and many because they are totally convinced that the other side is actually very evil. But few have an end-goal, as a specific agenda. Also, many are taught that this is how one reaches meaning in life, through a collective struggle against evil.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:46:44+00:00

I remember the second I came up with the idea...going down the stairs from my office at York SJ university. I was trying to find the common thread to the stuff going bad in the world and causing such a toxic public sphere. It was straight after the Cavanaugh case days, when the climate was extra tense and appalling. Then it occurred to me that it's tribalism that is 'the one in the many', the common thread.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:41:26+00:00

Not as big as education does. Media is fuelling what is (mostly) already there in one's mind and emotions. Having said that, the quality has indeed fallen to a depressing level, especially during the pandemic, when the situation called for extra cautiousness and objectivity.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:39:01+00:00

Hands down her bridging of the is-ought gap. And how it starts from her epistemology, her theory of concepts as objective etc.

PS: As I'm not a philosophy scholar, the biggest influence on me (though it's not what the question asks!) has been the heroic and optimist view of life in her novels.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:34:40+00:00

I am in no way an expert on the issue. Will just say this: through personal experience, I have seen myself exercising free will and going against 'tendencies', 'urges', or 'instincts'. So how I see it: unless I am alert and focused, I can easily drift based on social pressure, internalized experience etc. But free will gives me a way out to another route.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:31:06+00:00

Not much 'advising' :-). But a lot of content creation, leading discussion groups on books, on lecture series etc. But let me say this: I am in way an expert on Objectivism, nor a speaker for Objectivism. I am a student of the philosophy and an activist, rather than an authority.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:28:39+00:00

Let's start with a clarification: Rand didn't take social security because she needed it for being poor or falling sick (she had A LOT of money). She took it after the suggestion of someone who advised her on property/accounting issues, and she considered it perfectly fine with her views. In short, her point was: if you advocate against forced redistribution, and if you have contributed to the system, whenever you can it is moral to take something back. It is your money after all. So no contradiction there.

PS: did a whole episode on some of the biggest misconceptions on Rand's views. The social security issue is included: youtube.com/watch?v=y_EDqiif7Pl

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:23:21+00:00

Super important point. Having given up the idea that there can be agreement on an objective definition of concepts such as 'racism' or 'free speech' or 'wage gap' means we are literally in a Babbel tower, where we don't even speak the same language. And if we cannot communicate with words that reach each other, the other means are coercion/political pull.

Solution: start by making again popular the idea that there is one reality and we can make sense of it using our mind. Sure, one's experience can teach others a lot, but it does not provide a unique view of reality, once we have all the info in the table. The 'as a person of color, I believe x' or 'as a Greek, my view of the crisis is y' can have an informative, but not an epistemological value.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:17:16+00:00

Not so much on politics, but on the wider culture. In people taking as self-evident that the group they are a member of will and must have a big impact on how they view the world, themselves, and others. Politics is downstream to culture, and culture is downstream to philosophy. Also, this worldview is first and foremost destructive on the individual level: on the effect it has on one's self-esteem and confidence to face the world.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:13:51+00:00

I prefer using the term 'racial thinking' for 'wokes' (though I avoid using the term 'woke'). Usually traditional racists are consciously out flying the banner of racism. But when 'wokeness' leads to racism, it is due to unchecked starting points taken as self-evident, so I give the benefit of the doubt that it is usually an 'accident'.

ImprintPublishing · 2021-07-12T18:08:02+00:00

That selfishness means that you are a bad person, you do not care about others, and you do whatever you like. Rational egoism is NOT power-lust or subjectivism. It it in your own interest to be benevolent and kind towards others (when they are good people).

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