Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Advanced Artists Like Sports

A friend recently shared this with me:

(from rollingstone.com)

The BOB DYLAN Show will kick off on August 6th in Cooperstown, New York, the birthplace of baseball. Following the show at Doubleday Field, Dylan will go on to perform at twenty-one minor league baseball parks across the country. Dylan, who once immortalized Hall of Fame pitcher "Catfish" Hunter in song, will be joined by country legend WILLIE NELSON and country swing troupe HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN. "What we aim to do with this tour," Dylan said, "is to hit the ball out of the park, touch all the bases and get home safely."


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There is a connection between sports and advanced artists, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. Off the top of my head, I remember that Lou Reed mentions the football team at the high school where the Velvet Underground recorded one of their live albums. He wasn't advanced then, but I remember when I heard that as a younger man that it sounded rather strange coming from the man who wrote "Venus in Furs." Also, Elton John wore the sequined Dodgers uniform when he played that huge concert in L.A. in the seventies. But his most advanced outfit had to be the Donald Duck costume (more on that later). The U2 video that centered around the kicker for a football team and had John Madden in it strikes me as particularly advanced. Now Bob Dylan is touring minor league baseball stadiums. The last quote I find particularly advanced, especially from someone considered the "voice of his generation." It's also great that he once sang about Catfish Hunter.

I guess what I have to say is that people who try to be overtly weird would not admit to liking sports. They might say that they enjoy "football," meaning soccer, because that is not typical of an American. I would assume that European overt weirdos pretend to love anything but soccer. Now, I'm sure that some people only like soccer or don't like sports at all. Those people can still be advanced. But if they don't like sports because they don't think they fit in to their perception of what it is to be weird, then they are overt.

2 comments:

Andrew Beaujon said...

Rod Stewart had a soccer field built in his backyard. I don't know if that's advanced or not, but it's certainly an impressively stupid use of your rock earnings, which has to count for something.

As to oversion: I've noticed a trendlet of British musicians taking an interest in baseball. I think you're right on about that.

Anonymous said...

yeah i was a t a belle and sebastian concert and the singer seemed infatuated with the mets.