Bob Dylan – American Journey 1956-1966
at
Skirball Cultural Center

The Experience Music Project - Bob Dylan - American Journey 1956-1966 is coming February 8 through June 8, 2008 to the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, located near the Getty, off the 405, at the top of the Sepulveda pass. Convenient parking at the center too.

Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956-1966 Experience Music Project presents Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956-1966, which has traveled to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City and the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, now to the Skirball here in Los Angeles. Few figures in the history of American popular music have reached the status of Bob Dylan. As the man who showed the world that popular music could be classified as art, Dylan has created a distinctly American body of work to match the legacies of Walt Whitman, Louis Armstrong, and his early musical hero, Woody Guthrie. Many people have declared Dylan's lyrics to be poetry; his songs also unearth and revitalize the American folk and blues tradition, serving as a key link in the chain that extends from Southern work songs, blues and Anglo American ballads to the many contemporary singer-songwriters for whom Dylan is a main influence. But Dylan's story is not simply that of a musical evolution. As a public figure and artistic innovator, he has taken and chronicled a journey emblematic of modern America's own development.

Bob Dylan's American Journey, 1956-1966, features more than 150 artifacts, including Dylan's 1949 Martin 00-17 guitar, typed and handwritten lyrics, rare concert posters and handbills, signed albums, and dozens of photographs, as well as unique artifacts from artists such as Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Carolyn Hester, Bruce Langhorne and D. A. Pennebaker. The exhibition features five films exploring different facets of Bob Dylan's career, with rare performance footage and interviews with Dylan and other key artists such as Baez, Langhorne and Robbie Robertson. In addition to the films, two viewing stations allow visitors to watch excerpts from the Dylan films Don't Look Back and Eat the Document, as well as excerpts of interviews with Dylan reflecting on his early career.

Throughout the exhibition space are six listening stations that enable visitors to hear Dylan's musical evolution and innovations during this 10-year period. Each station includes tracks from his first seven albums, as well as outtakes, bootlegs, cover versions and other songs that influenced Dylan's work. An hour-long audio tour features Bob Dylan and other artists and individuals such as Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson, Mavis Staples and Izzy Young, sharing their stories and insights about Dylan, music and the turbulent sixties.

Exhibition design by Wonder Mine

Exhibition Includes:
Five exhibition films featuring rare performance and interview footage of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Byrds, John Cohen, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk and othersSix listening stations featuring Bob Dylan's first seven albumsA viewing station featuring excerpts from two Dylan documentaries: Don't Look Back and Eat the DocumentBob Dylan's 1949 Martin 00-17 guitarWoody Guthrie's Martin guitar, with "Woody" and "This machine kills fascists" carved in the backTyped and handwritten lyrics for songs, including "Blowin' in the Wind," "Chimes of Freedom" and "Mr. Tambourine Man," among othersNever-before-released recording of Dylan's first concert, at Carnegie Chapter HallAlbums signed by Dylan with song lyricsDozens of images by photographers such as Barry Feinstein, Daniel Kramer, John Cohen and othersLarge-scale map of Greenwich Village showing the key folk clubs where Dylan and others played

Birthdays in Music

Who do you share B-days with?

January 11, 2008:
Saxophonist Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is 66.
Country singer Naomi Judd is 62.
Guitarist Vicki Peterson of The Bangles is 50.
Guitarist Tom Dumont of No Doubt is 40.
Singer Maxee Maxwell of Brownstone is 39.
Singer Mary J. Blige is 37.
Musician Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers is 37.

January 12, 2008:
Country singer Ray Price is 82.
Country singer William Lee Golden of the Oak Ridge Boys is 69.
Trumpeter Cynthia Robinson of Sly and the Family Stone is 62.
Singer-keyboardist George Duke is 62.
Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 56.
Radio personality Howard Stern is 54.
Keyboardist Charlie Gillingham of Counting Crows is 48.
Singer-filmmaker Rob Zombie is 42.
Singer Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine is 38.
Rapper Raekwon of Wu Tang Clan is 38.
Singer Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay is 35.
Bassist Matt Wong of Reel Big Fish is 35.
Singer Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) of the Spice Girls is 34.
Singer Amerie is 28.

Happy Birthday to everyone born today, January 11th and 12th.

Why are signed bands using Hothouse Rehearsal? Here's what they're telling us. "The equipment always works". "Has the cleanest bathrooms I've ever seen in a rehearsal studio". "The staff is super attentive." "Best sounding and maintained rehearsal rooms." But mostly they say it's because the "Hothouse cares about the artist and their rehearsal". Why not come tour the hothouse facility and find out for yourself.