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Forever young
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At 65, Bob Dylan is still reinventing himself
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THE LEGEND LIVES ON Bob Dylan continues to entertain
"M's' for the many things she gave me. `O' is for the other things she gave me. `T' is for the things she gave me. `H' is for her things, which she gave me. `E' is for everything she gave me. `R' is for the rest of the things she gave me. Let's talk about mothers."
These are not lines from a super-mushy Hallmark card. These are lines a certain DJ used to introduce his show on Mother's Day. The DJ is none other than Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan — the very same — voice of the generation, (Dylan's reaction when he was introduced as "the disturbed conscience of young America" was "I was so mad I wanted to bite myself") and counter-culture icon. The same person who nastily sang with his whiplash voice — you got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend/ when I was down you just stood there grinning/... . I wish just for one moment you could stand inside my shoes/You'd know what a drag it is to see you.
Dylan, who celebrated his 65th birthday last week and has officially become a senior citizen, is busy doing what he does best — reinventing himself one more time. He turned DJ, has appeared on an advertisement for lingerie major Victoria's Secret, done deals with the coffee chain Starbucks, written his autobiography (Chronicles Vol. 1), been muse for Martin Scorsese's rocking documentary (No Direction Home), been charming and gracious on 60 Minutes, and competed with son Jakob (frontman for Wallflowers) for the Grammys. And there is more coming in the shape of a Broadway musical, The Times They Are a Changing, a book with a compilation of interviews and, of course, the Never Ending tour.
There are so many "other sides" to Dylan that it is no surprise that Todd Haynes, who is directing a Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, commissioned by the man himself, has actors as diverse as Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and believe-it-or-faint Cate Blanchett playing Dylan! Blanchett, after playing the Virgin Queen and Galadriel, has the right attitude to play rock 'n' roll royalty if not the gender! She will apparently play the legend's early life. Dylan made his radio debut on May 3 with the programme Theme Time. The show, which was aired on XM channel, has Dylan in yet another avtaar — a happy silly side where he cracks mother-in-law jokes.
Scorsese's Dylan is Christ-like, suffering mightily on the cross of celebdom. As Dylan says in his autobiography: "Roadmaps to our homestead must have been posted in all 50 States for gangs of dropouts and druggies." Everyone wants a piece of him, whether he is willing to give or not. His answers to questions of life and the universe and everything have been blowing in the wind forever and successive generations tune in to the tambourine man.
He could be sarcastic (Positively 4th Street), tender (Lay Lady Lay), intimate (Ramona), humorous (Mona Lisa has got the highway blues, you can tell by the way she smiles), or surreal (They're spoon-feeding Casanova/To get him to feel more assured/Then they'll kill him with self-confidence/After poisoning him with words).
That Dylan has a following in India is a given. Over the last 30 years, Shillong has celebrated his birthday with concerts while pubs elsewhere have Dylan specials on his May 24 birthday.
There is something about his lyrics that refuse to be dated. In 1965 Dylan sang All the clowns that you have commissioned/ have died in battle or in vain (Queen Jane Approximately) and 40 years later the lines still resonate. Even if he is a reluctant prophet, the world cannot be such a bad place if one can have him to put a lyrical, whimsical, satirical spin on it!
Smoking hazards
* Much like men, women smokers have a high risk of chronic bronchitis as also of cancers of the cervix, larynx and the lung. The latter is more potent than breast cancer.
* Smoking reduces fertility, induces miscarriages and stillbirth and results in low birth weights. Cases of early menopause, reduced oestrogen levels and thereby menstrual disorders are prevalent in smokers.
* Smoking while on the pill is lethal making the women 10-20 times exposed to heart disease and stroke.
* Early wrinkles and skin problems strike on the beauty front.
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
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