Five Bullets 8.22.25
Doodles, Dead, Dylan & more.
Good Morning Friends.
I’m in sunny California this week on a much-needed vacation so next week I’ll be sharing Circles In Space “greatest hits”. I’ll be back in September with a fresh five bullets.
Here’s Five Bullets capturing my attention this week:
Before traveling I watch Van Neistat’s Essential Travel Packing Tips. Referencing the importance of packing in great adventure tales like Moby-Dick and Endurance, Van believes packing has a direct correlation to a successful and enjoyable trip. He advises to begin packing when you know your departure date even if months or years in advance; always bring a bathing suit and extension cord since you never know when you’ll need one; and to bring a item that you only use or wear on trips, sort of a gift to yourself for being on the trip. [Check out my post on Shackleton’s List for his 850-mile voyage through some of the toughest seas imaginable].
Last weekend I had a chance to see The Grateful Dead Movie on a giant IMAX screen. I’ve seen the movie before but never like this; the band sounded incredible! The film documents the Dead’s five-night run at the Winterland Ballroom in 1974 (also the site of The Band’s Last Waltz two years later). The setlist, the jams, the seamless transitions. The Dead were really cookin’ at this point in their career but it was almost their last shows ever! Following the run of shows the band went on hiatus and their future seemed shaky, but they returned to full-time touring in 1976. The movie premiered June 1, 1977 at New York City’s Ziegfeld Theatre. You can view the full movie on Youtube.
After reading John Jeremiah Sullivan’s profile on Rhiannon Giddens and What Folk Music means I rewatched Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued. In 2014 producer T Bone Burnett assembled musicians Elvis Costello, Jim James, Marcus Mumford, Rhiannon Giddens and Taylor Goldsmith to finish uncompleted lyrics written by Bob Dylan during the 1967 Basement Tape era. After a motorcycle accident Dylan retreated from the limelight to Saugerties, New York where the prolific songwriter met up with The Band to record their own album in the basement of the house lovingly dubbed Big Pink. The house would become synonymous with Dylan/The Band lore and remained their spiritual and creative home in the Hudson Valley hills. Lost Songs picks up where Dylan left off when Dylan’s lyrics resurface nearly 50 years later (did they resurface or did Dylan himself entrust his confidant and frequent collaborator Burnett to do something with the unused material?) Once the initial surprise of getting to work on Dylan’s lyrics wears off, the musicians set to work harmonizing, jamming, and re-arranging. Burnett did his homework when he put this group together, clearly envisioning the way they’d work independently but also bounce off one another, adding their own influences to the mix. Lost Songs continues the folk tradition of reviving forgotten songs and allowing a 1967 Bob Dylan to collaborate with some of today’s great songwriters.
Kenton Smith searches for hidden doodles on electronic and computer chips. The doodles were left by designers to prevent theft. Looking under a microscope, Smith finds doodles like smiley faces, a T-Rex drive a car, or a sketch of the space shuttle. Who knew there was microscopic art on tiny chips most of us never see?
Central Park’s resident coyote couple Romeo and Juliet continues their love story. Photographers David Lei and Jacqueline Emery chronicle the pair’s activity in the park, lounging at the Delacorte Theater and hunting geese or rodents. Researchers believe the couple might have pups one day soon.
That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.