Comments on: Bringing Dylan to the gente http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html updated every Monday in the wee hours Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:57:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Steve Cotton http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-25 Steve Cotton Tue, 27 May 2008 17:09:01 +0000 http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-25 I just noticed that I turned you into Peter Brice in my link to your page. Perhaps, I was christening you with a new blog name. You are once again "Rice." Blog on. I just noticed that I turned you into Peter Brice in my link to your page. Perhaps, I was christening you with a new blog name. You are once again “Rice.” Blog on.

]]> By: Peter Rice http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-24 Peter Rice Tue, 27 May 2008 13:44:38 +0000 http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-24 Steve: Keep the faith, brother. Steve: Keep the faith, brother.

]]> By: Steve Cotton http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-23 Steve Cotton Tue, 27 May 2008 05:15:06 +0000 http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-23 A gringo once lived in the village. A teacher. A wise young man. He brought us the magic music of a poet-philosopher from the fabled land of many lakes. We took the gift and made it our own. And that is how Minnesalsa was born. A gringo once lived in the village. A teacher. A wise young man. He brought us the magic music of a poet-philosopher from the fabled land of many lakes. We took the gift and made it our own. And that is how Minnesalsa was born.

]]> By: Catalyst http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-22 Catalyst Mon, 26 May 2008 16:55:04 +0000 http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-22 Great story, Peter. But I do wonder if Mexicans can make any more out of Dylan than Americans can. Great story, Peter. But I do wonder if Mexicans can make any more out of Dylan than Americans can.

]]> By: Tess http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-20 Tess Mon, 26 May 2008 13:59:12 +0000 http://peterbrice.com/bob-dylan-mexico-american-music.html#comment-20 You need to enlist someone to apply a 'grito' line to Dylan's ballads, "Ai jai jai jai jai!" Then see how fast it catches. Chistes aside, without knowing it, you bring up the subject of immigration: --Deep breath--The newest Homeland Security trend especially makes "No Direction Home" a sardonic twist, not one to be romanticized, even if the Mexicans you are trying to convert did have 100% comprehension of Dylan lyrics. Who wants to hear an American complaining about not wanting to go home, when you can’t go home? When you risk being arrested, thrown in jail and/or barred from the only country where you can earn an income to support a family, for 3-10 years, or life (depending on past border encounters), when you cross back for the next planting/harvest season? Migration flows into the country are nothing new, but recently, ironically, the anti-immigrant political climate is making it harder for them to leave. Are you seeing evidence of this? This was a phenomenon I was seeing last year among workers trying to make it through a long Colorado winter of limited work and then obediently file taxes because of continued physical presence. And it was backed up by an NPR special or two on comparing braceros lifestyle 40 years ago to today's guest worker programs. I know for me, it would put me in a totally different mental state if I couldn’t come home whenever I wanted to, and I have much less at stake in the journey and what I stand to lose than most of these people. Of course, in defense of Dylan’s tunes, we should establish "Is he truly lamenting a sense of rootlessness and lack of belonging, or romanticizing American nomadism?" Because this would evoke two very different reactions. But my guess is that what makes soul-less American music saleable is precisely this generic glamour that comes from Someone's Perfect Life, not our everyday human lives that include suffering. Therefore, it can be launched in any (or no) cultural environment. Bob Dylan speaks to you and many other Americans of something that is part of your Americanness, admit it! Check out corridos. This might be the closest Mexican musical equivalent that I am aware of to Dylan’s ballads, and speak of themes of transience and sometimes, narco-trafficking and immigration. But they might be, as you suggest with Dylan, more than just encapsulating a phenomenon. Bob Dylan is to an American time capsule as ___? is to a Mexican time capsule. Your quest is over, but it begs this question, the next step in your exploration. All I’m saying is, the angst of emotional suffering can speak to anyone, but you love the most what’s closest to your life story or what you can apply to it, so my proverbial marketing dollars towards Mexico are on Britney Spears. Or maybe JLo. You need to enlist someone to apply a ‘grito’ line to Dylan’s ballads, “Ai jai jai jai jai!” Then see how fast it catches.

Chistes aside, without knowing it, you bring up the subject of immigration: –Deep breath–The newest Homeland Security trend especially makes “No Direction Home” a sardonic twist, not one to be romanticized, even if the Mexicans you are trying to convert did have 100% comprehension of Dylan lyrics. Who wants to hear an American complaining about not wanting to go home, when you can’t go home? When you risk being arrested, thrown in jail and/or barred from the only country where you can earn an income to support a family, for 3-10 years, or life (depending on past border encounters), when you cross back for the next planting/harvest season?

Migration flows into the country are nothing new, but recently, ironically, the anti-immigrant political climate is making it harder for them to leave. Are you seeing evidence of this? This was a phenomenon I was seeing last year among workers trying to make it through a long Colorado winter of limited work and then obediently file taxes because of continued physical presence. And it was backed up by an NPR special or two on comparing braceros lifestyle 40 years ago to today’s guest worker programs. I know for me, it would put me in a totally different mental state if I couldn’t come home whenever I wanted to, and I have much less at stake in the journey and what I stand to lose than most of these people.

Of course, in defense of Dylan’s tunes, we should establish “Is he truly lamenting a sense of rootlessness and lack of belonging, or romanticizing American nomadism?” Because this would evoke two very different reactions. But my guess is that what makes soul-less American music saleable is precisely this generic glamour that comes from Someone’s Perfect Life, not our everyday human lives that include suffering. Therefore, it can be launched in any (or no) cultural environment. Bob Dylan speaks to you and many other Americans of something that is part of your Americanness, admit it!

Check out corridos. This might be the closest Mexican musical equivalent that I am aware of to Dylan’s ballads, and speak of themes of transience and sometimes, narco-trafficking and immigration. But they might be, as you suggest with Dylan, more than just encapsulating a phenomenon. Bob Dylan is to an American time capsule as ___? is to a Mexican time capsule. Your quest is over, but it begs this question, the next step in your exploration.

All I’m saying is, the angst of emotional suffering can speak to anyone, but you love the most what’s closest to your life story or what you can apply to it, so my proverbial marketing dollars towards Mexico are on Britney Spears. Or maybe JLo.

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