You Gotta Serve Somebody

One of my favorite song-writers is Bob Dylan. I really dig people who are able to look at the world around them and produce art that conveys to a broad audience the realities they observe. I think Dylan does it well. CLICK HERE to read more

THE GOSPEL SONGS OF BOB DYLAN FEATURING THE 80 VOICE MELBOURNE MASS GOSPEL CHOIR

MEDIA RELEASE
THE GOSPEL SONGS OF BOB DYLAN
FEATURING THE 80 VOICE
MELBOURNE MASS
GOSPEL CHOIR

2 SHOWS ONLY
SAT 19th NOV @ 8PM AND SUN 20th NOV @ 3PM
CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS
180 Palmerston St, Carlton, corner Drummond St.

For the first time ever in Melbourne, Bob Dylan’s Gospel Songs will be performed by the 80 voice Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir with guest singers Suzannah Espie, Tracey Miller, Lisa Shergold, Timothy Slater and others. They’ll be backed by a crack band featuring some of Melbourne’s finest musicians James Black and Peter Luscombe from the Rockwiz Orchestra, Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool), Steve Hadley and Damian Smith.

This is a unique opportunity to hear this truly amazing body of work featuring songs from Dylan’s 1979 album ‘SLOW TRAIN COMING’ and the follow up ‘SAVED’.

When first released, these powerful songs of conversion and salvation created a critical uproar and fan backlash reminiscent of the 60’s when Dylan went electric. Thirty years on, these songs are now rightfully acknowledged as amongst the best Gospel songs ever written. In 2003, America’s top gospel singers including Shirley Caesar, Rance Allen and Aaron Neville recorded a tribute album of these songs ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’, realizing Dylan’s original vision for how his compositions should sound.“After hearing the tribute album of Dylan’s gospel songs a few years ago I knew these incredible songs could be made into something quite special with the power of 80 voices combined with brilliant soloists and a top band” said Phil Heuzenroeder, Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir. Phil has written the original arrangements of the
songs for these shows.

Melbourne now gets a chance to hear these wonderful songs performed by Melbourne’s best communitybased gospel choir along with some of Melbourne’s finest singers and musicians. It’s a unique experience definitely not to be missed. To avoid disappointment book online now!

BOOKINGS : www.trybooking.com/VEE
$25 full/ $20 concession/ $15 children under 15 (under 5 free) Family ticket $65 (2 adults 2 child)At the door (if available) $30 full/ $25 concession
mmgc.net.au
youtube.com/melbmassgospelchoir

MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Phil Heuzenroeder: 0402 812 428 phil@mmgc.net.au
Ian Lovell: 0419 502 917 imlovell@bigpond.com Poster image attached. High Res images are available on request.

To my fans and followers

Allow me to clarify a couple of things about this so-called China controversy which has been going on for over a year. CLICK HERE to read more

Religion: Bob Dylan protests in China, in his own way

Dylan veered into alternative lyrics for "Gonna Change My Way of Thinkin'," written for a duet with gospel star Mavis Staples. These lyrics added a clear reference to "end times" doctrines and the second coming of Jesus -- subjects Chinese authorities have tried to curb in sermons, music and religious education. CLICK HERE to read more

Gonna Change My Way of Thinking

Gonna Change My Way of Thinking as performed in Beijing
(Alternate Version w/ original last verse)
as recorded by Bob Dylan & Mavis Staples on the compilation Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan (2003 Sony/Columbia) originally recorded on the album Slow Train Coming 1979. Words and music by Bob Dylan

Change my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules
Change my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules
Put my best foot forward, stop being influenced by fools

I’m sittin’ at the welcome table, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse
I’m sittin’ at the welcome table, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse
I’m gonna revitalize my thinking, I’m gonna let the law take it’s course

Jesus is calling, He’s coming back to gather up his jewels
Jesus is calling, He’s coming back to gather up his jewels
We living by the golden rule, whoever got the gold rules

The sun is shining, ain’t but one train on this track
The sun is shining, ain’t but one train on this track
I’m stepping out of the dark woods, I’m jumping on the monkey’s back

I’m all dressed up, I’m going to the county dance
I’m all dressed up, I’m going to the county dance
Every day you got to pray for guidance
Every day you got to give yourself a chance

Storms are on the ocean, storms on the mountain, too
Storms are on the ocean, storms on the mountain, too
Oh Lord, you know I have no friend like you

Change my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules
Change my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules
Put my best foot forward, stop being influenced by fools

Bob Dylan Approximately: A Portrait of the Jewish Poet in Search of God : a Midrash

In a mean spirited rant Stephan Pickering Author of Bob Dylan Approximately: A Portrait of the Jewish Poet in Search of God : a Midrash calls Dylan a "pathetic crucifictionist." See comments posted below the article. CLICK HERE

Done Crossed Over – Belated Notes on Holy Days and Dylan’s Conversion

Passover is my favorite Jewish Holiday. It’s neither high nor holy. Rather than on temple and authority, it centers on a meal with family. One tradition is always to have a non jewish guest at the table, where the food is good and the story better. Revolt from slavery, exodus, good guys and bad, vengeance, plagues. CLICK HERE to read more

Gonna Change My Way of Thinking MP3 Tokyo 3/28.

Kudos to Markus Prieur in Ireland. First performance of any version of the song outside the USA. Anyone else hear "Gonna put my best friend forward"? CLICK HERE to listen.

Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan

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The hymns, they are a-changin' St. James Episcopal Church offers Mass featuring Bob Dylan songs

He's been a figure in popular music for five decades — and more than that, is "always one step ahead" of the curve.

So, the Rev. David Warner Peck said, he and others at downtown Lancaster's St. James Episcopal Church got to thinking, why not a service that features the music of Bob Dylan? CLICK HERE to read more

Fact or Fiction? Woody Guthrie Christians?

Rare book sale reveals Woody Guthrie's deep spiritual faith. In this signed and annotated book, Woody Guthrie reveals his unknown love for Jesus Christ and his great belief in God. CLICK HERE to read more

Dylan the mysterious ‘true believer’

I will say that I see no reason, during the past decade or two, to believe that Dylan has stopped believing that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. I see all kinds of reasons to believe that Dylan has stopped believing that Bob Dylan is the messiah, the great genius who defined a generation. I’ll leave it at that. I also know that lots of music journalists in their ’50s and ’60s still care about this issue. CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan Saves Christmas

Mr. Dylan has given the world a present. He and his band play these songs like they mean something. They sound like they are having so much fun, like Christmas came early for them this year. Dylan is not afraid to throw choruses in that sound just the way they might have sounded in the forties or fifties. His music is blending folk, blues, rock, pop, big band and country all in a great happy jumping celebration of Christmas and all its familiar symbols. CLICK HERE to read more

Merry Christmas, signed: Bob Dylan

(It needs to be observed that Slow Train Coming was praised - sometimes years later - by many critics, even some who didn't resonate with Dylan's overt Christian lyrics on the album. And many songs from this phase of Dylan's career have been recorded by some of today's best known gospel artists - Shirley Caesar, Dottie Peoples, Aaron Neville, Helen Baylor, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Mavis Staples - on the 2003 album entitled Gotta Serve Someboddy: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan. This is a poweful, moving album of music! It's a testament to just how good these Dylan songs are; how well they hold up over time, and how well they translate when interpreted by other artists.) CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet Jeremiah, Nostradamus and Allen Ginsberg all Rolled Up Into One

Dylan’s wide-ranging knowledge and interest in the Bible is clear, and Rogovoy skillfully sketches original examples of how biblical curiosity and interpretative depth animate the songs. Yet, in focusing on what he conceives of as a Jewish lens for Dylan’s biblical influence and concerns, Rogovoy limits his review of the singer’s equally rich contemplation of the New Testament, which from his earliest days as a rebel folkie through the so-called “born again” period until today has been a source of poetic inspiration. CLICK HERE to read more

SLOW SLEIGH COMING [some thoughts on “Christmas In The Heart”]

Thirty years after recording “Slow Train Coming” in Alabama in May 1979, Bob Dylan went into a recording studio in California in May 2009, after ending his fine European tour in Dublin. CLICK HERE to read more.

Better Watch Out From Bing Crosby to Bob Dylan, holiday classics have a strange and powerful lure for pop stars.

How anybody could act like Scrooge about a rock or pop artist's Christmas album is beyond me. CLICK HERE to read more

Gotta Serve Somebody - The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's songs are nearly always the record of a struggle - between appearance and reality, or between justice and its opposite, or between the demands of the self and some higher truth. Nothing is taken for granted; one is always choosing. CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan: Investigating the icon's 'Christmas In The Heart' album

Making an album of Christmas music would seem to be about as middle-of-the-road and as polite and inoffensive a project as a singer could have. So it would seem. CLICK HERE to read more

Bob Dylan “Saved” By Ilford

Two years before Bob Dylan’s “Saved” was released Estabrook was attended a Dylan show in Fort Worth, Texas. He carried a Nikkormat ELW loaded with Ilford HP-5 film. The photograph was taken from that show, the amazing thing is the film was that he did not developed until recentlyTwo years before Bob Dylan’s “Saved” was released Estabrook was attended a Dylan show in Fort Worth, Texas. He carried a Nikkormat ELW loaded with Ilford HP-5 film. The photograph was taken from that show, the amazing thing is the film was that he did not developed until recently. CLICK HERE to read more