Sara Collantes: Bob Dylan's "Hurricane"

What’s music for? What’s its aim? Does it have a particular purpose? Can a single song change someone’s life? Many people would say that music is only there for our amusement and for the sheer pleasure of listening to it. Music itself is filled with emotions and feelings but when good lyrics are added the meaning is perfectly conveyed.

A legendary duet: Dylan & Baez

During the 60s and 70s a new wave of singer-songwriters made social problems and contemporary events known through their music. Those songs dealt with the current social situation of the time. They had a strong content of civil disobedience and were characterized by their political and social commitment. Those are the bases of the so-called protest song. It presented common issues such as women’s and civil rights, politics, or the anti-war movement. Its messages of non-conformity were spread by the likes of John Lennon, Joan Baez, Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, The Clash, Bob Marley, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bob Dylan as well as many other less renowned. They are some of the best exponents of this kind of music, which came to a climax in the Woodstock Festival in the summer of 1969. Woodstock quickly became the symbol of a young generation of Americans who were weary of politics and war and claiming for peace and love as a way of life while showing their rejection of the “Establishment”.

This opportunity of giving a voice to those who didn’t have one was seized by Bob Dylan many times but particularly, on one very specific occasion, in 1975. Some songs simply tell us a story and while others become part of history.

“Here comes the story of the Hurricane …”

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a black American boxer who, accused of the triple murder of white people in 1966, was imprisoned for 19 years. Almost ten years later, during the mid-70s, Bob Dylan read The Sixteenth Round, the autobiography Carter had written in prison, in which he claimed his condition of a wrongly convicted innocent man. After visiting him in Rahway State Prison, Dylan started writing the song “Hurricane”, where the unfair story of Carter is told, and organizing benefit concerts in order to raise money and help him pay his lawyers’ fees. 

Dylan meets "the Hurricane"

After the release of the song in 1976, the case came to light and Carter had a second chance of proving his innocence on a new trial. But once again he was found guilty. Both trials were a bit obscure and misleading and in the subsequent years a huge controversy emerged both over the case and the song. The two trials, full of irregularities and racial prejudice by a jury consisting only of white people, were based on the testimony of two burglars who later on retracted their allegations. Thanks to the song, Carter’s case was known worldwide, aired in all newscasts. And so it was how black people took to the streets to denounce this gross injustice and how important leaders of the black community gave their support to the former boxer.

Finally, in 1985, Rubin Carter was freed and all charges against him were dismissed by a Federal Judge, who said that the punishment was “based on racism rather than reason”. After his release he worked as director of the AIDWC (Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted) for twelve years. Hurricane died last Sunday 20th April at the age of 76.

So, is music useful? Of course it is! Not only is it nourishment for the soul and a pleasure for the ears, but also a way of knowledge and possibly the most powerful way of communication. Music is indeed one of the most influential factors in the creation of a culture. There’s no need for it to be so specific or direct as Dylan’s “Hurricane”, but it is always great when a song gives us food for thought. Zack de la Rocha, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine, once said, quote: “Music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue”.

You can’t touch music, but music sometimes can touch you.

Another fantastic post, so thanks a lot, dear Sara! Hurricane is not my fave Dylan song but it’s great anyway, isn’t it? I do love its committed lyrics and I can only say that I’m really proud of the way the blog looks right now.

You know, I’d been thinking of writing something myself , and it’s only coincidence that it also deals with Mr Dylan - yet in a completely different light.

I guess you guys might have seen an advert for ING which is being shown on television these days. It features the legendary singer-songwriter in London in the mid-60s and at the end of the commercial you can hear the familiar tune of arguably Dylan’s most iconic song, “Like a Rolling Stone”. Actually, the scene where Bob does the funny, nutty play on words is part of a famous 2005 Martin Scorsese documentary called “No Direction Home” (in fact, a well-known phrase among Dylan’s fans, as it is is part of the lyrics of “Like a Rolling Stone”, which you can read here)

The thing is this campaign, designed with the consent of Mr Bob Dylan (once, as Sara mentions above, the archetypical anti-establishment singer-songwriter) has caused quite a stir among his followers here in Spain, so much so that many of Dylan’s staunch fans have bitterly criticized, to say the least, his approval for allowing the popular Dutch bank to use both the funny scene and his most famous song in order to promote the corporation’s image in Spain. The slogan reads like this (let me translate it into English to kind of “honour” Mr Dylan):

TO THOSE WHO RECONSIDER THINGS. We broke ties, we broke the ground. We improved everyone’s conditions. We created the new banking. We have turned 15. It’s only the beginning. ING Direct. PEOPLE IN PROGRESS.

A rather witty, intelligent message, ain’t it?

Well, some of you guys could know this is not the first time that Mr Robert Zimmerman, who’ll turn 73 in barely a month, has sort of “sold his soul” for the “easy buck”, as it were. Back in 2004, Bob briefly yet strangely appeared in an ad for American lingerie company Victoria’s Secret featuring supermodel Adriana Lima to the tune of his 1997 song “Love Sick”.

More recently, barely three months ago, the iconic American singer infamously used his public image - and own voice! - to shoot another commercial which was aired during the celebration of possibly the most popular sports event in the USA, the Superbowl. There was huge commotion across the Atlantic as this campaign triggered wide criticism among his home fans too, especially since Dylan was advertising a car make, Chrysler, which is now in foreign hands, namely Italian motor giant FIAT.

When I saw the ING advert, I myself thought: Poor old devil, Dylan’s succumbed for good to the charms of mindless, greedy capitalism. Long gone are those days back in the 60s when he used to write the lyrics below in his fantastic 1963 song “Masters of war", where he heavily panned both the US government and military, financed by big banking corporations during the Cold War:

Let me ask you one question / Is your money that good? / Will it buy you forgiveness? / Do you think that it could?

But Dylan is complex and multi-layered, both musically and as a public figure, as you will find if you read an interesting article by American libertarian magazine Reason.com on this link, dealing with the controversy around his recent endorsement of Chrysler. Incidentally, “Hurricane” is mentioned too.

I couldn't agree more: whatever the reason, music certainly touches people, as Sara says above. And advertisers know, don't they!

Fernando: My view of Glasgow

From the outset of my trip to Glasgow I was well aware of the trouble of understanding Scottish accent properly, but I had no idea of the complexity of the task I was going to undergo. When I flew into Edinburgh Airport, I took a bus to Buchanan Bus Station. The Express Coach was certainly comfortable, with a very convenient timetable (departures every 30 minutes). I sat on one of the front seats in order to have a better view of the road and also to listen to what the two bus drivers were talking about. 

To my dismay, I immediately realized that I couldn’t understand a word. I took a chance on another place so that I could focus my attention instead on three cheerful, lovely ladies in their mid-seventies sitting next to me. They were exchanging jokes with the bus drivers and having fun all the time, and funnily enough, not without a big struggle, I managed to understand this phrase: “Just in case he were to kiss me” after half an hour eavesdropping their conversation. It seemed to me that I was listening to a Germanic language and the whole situation was utterly frustrating to me as a student of English. In that precise moment I felt how much I missed the accent of our dear Chris, so clear by comparison with his fellow countrymen.  

The Royal Concert Hall

On arriving at the hotel I was scared I wouldn’t understand the language to talk about my reservation and stuff. Luckily, the guy on the reception desk had a mild accent that gave me the opportunity of grasping the explanations somehow without being committed to accepting something different from what I had booked. I was determined to do the same things I do whenever I travel, namely, apart from watching the main tourist attractions while observing the locals’ day-to-day life and, if possible, talking to them, as every tiny detail matters to me because I always learn so much just by noticing what happens around me.

Buchanan Galleries

The hotel was perfectly situated in the city centre, next to the Buchanan Bus Station, which is something really convenient as you can walk around the whole city centre. Heading down to Buchanan Street you can find, barely 400m away, the Royal Concert Hall, where the most important artistic events take place. I am not interested in shopping at all. However, my wife wanted to have a look at the famous Buchanan Galleries Shopping Centre and I must admit that it is a magnificent building where you can buy all kinds of stuff. Buchanan Street Subway and Queen Street Train Station are almost next to each other, which gives you the chance to wander around the metropolitan areas and also outside the city. 

Glasgow is a bustling city indeed, as there are a lot of people on the streets coming and going but the majority of them were locals, I mean, there were very few tourists, which is quite the opposite to what happened in Edinburgh. Truth to be told, I must confess that I had no objection to that at all. 

The City Chambers

It is not my intention to provide a full description of the history of the most representative buildings of the town. Nevertheless, to my mind there some places that are well worth visiting and all within walking distance: George Square, The City Chambers, The City Halls (a concert hall), The Cathedral and of course of the museums, in particular the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (by the way most of them are for free). 

The impressive Kelvingrove Museum

Breakfast is the most important meal for me and I always like to have a good one which gives me fuel to go through the day so I booked a room with breakfast included and fortunately it was a buffet one, with a wide variety of food. So every morning I felt energetic enough to walk across the streets, which is, in my opinion, the best way to know a town and what I did at least the two first days, until my wife, unable to follow my steady pace, refused to take part in such an adventure. Consequently, the following days we took the underground, which pleased her so much. The tube has a circular trajectory, with only two lines, inner and outer, and although it can be rather noisy and certainly old, it is doubtlessly easy to handle the itineraries. I continued eavesdropping conversations wherever I went in the hope of grasping something more of the difficult Scottish accent and whenever I could I engage myself in small chats with some local people. 

Oran Mor. A pub, can you believe it!

At this point I have to remark that the Scottish are extremely kind and helpful and I witnessed that behaviour: on every occasion I was in the middle of a street checking my map for directions someone would turn up offering useful explanations. Wherever I went I would read every lettering, banner ad, indication or recommendation in museums, train and bus stations, as well as at the airport, the subway, in churches, restaurants and so on. It is amazing how much English you can learn by simply reading the banners!

Glasgow is a city where you can find people eating at every hour of the day until 8 or 9 pm, when the restaurants and bars become half empty. (I must say that I am in favour of timetables, and it is no problem for me to have dinner early. In Spain many people have dinner at 10 or 10.30 and sometimes this can be unhealthy and certainly not practical at all.)  I like knowing the customs of the places where I go as much as possible so I ate the food that the locals tend to eat. As my wife and I wanted to meet a young man who lately we had heard of a lot, we made a reservation to have dinner in a wonderful pub. If I may, I would like to write its name, “Oran Mor”, at the top of Byres Road Street (Hillhead Subway Station). I highly recommend this place to those who want to visit Glasgow, where you can enjoy your meal while admiring a rather unusual environment.

As a regular listener of the BBC, I had to visit the headquarters of BBC Scotland on the other side of the river Clyde. It is a superb, modern building overlooking the river, which reflects its waters on the glossy windows. It is situated by The Science Museum and there was a lot of construction and activity going on where the City Council is currently transforming the area into a modern and dynamic development, highly beneficial to the image of the city. When I saw all of that, a sad thought came to mind and I said to my wife: “there is money here, a big amount of money. I wish I could say the same thing about our country”. 

The modern Science Museum on the banks of the Clyde

In my short experience, it seems to me that Glasgow has huge potential in the future of Scotland, together with its industrial activity and its three increasingly competitive universities (The University of Glasgow, Strathclyde University and Glasgow Caledonian University) as well as a dynamic transport system essential to create wealth.

The magnificent University of Glasgow 

On balance, honestly I must say that Glasgow’s main asset is, without a doubt, its people, very friendly and welcoming, but to my mind also very different from those in the south of the country. I’ll always have fond memories of Glasgow as a place different from the rest.

Fernando, I've thanked you many times before for your invaluable contribution to our blog and I'll do it once again. A beautifully-written post indeed.

You know, I visited Glasgow with some of our language school students in April 2013, almost 28 years after my first and only visit, and I couldn't believe how the city had changed, much to my surprise. I must admit Scotland's biggest city is like paradise for architecture (both modern and classic) lovers, from the ground-breaking work by the great Charles MacKintosh to the awesome modernistic buildings scattered along the banks of the River Clyde. 

I'm sure I could mention many more places that made an impression on me but I guess the photos above are a good example of Glasgow's charm. However, if you are not satisfied and wish to see some more snaps I took myself (this time on my daughter's compact Canon) during the school trip last year, click on this link.

Maite Garcia: Dallas Buyers' Club - a chance to live

A homophobic, drug addicted womanizer, this is the way Matthew McConaughey's character is introduced, a Texan rodeo cowboy called Ron Woodroof, whose life has been a path full of big excesses. Based on a real story, Woodroof's adventure works as a pretext to present the terrible HIV virus and its consequences during the eighties.

The behaviour of this selfish guy is cut short when he is diagnosed AIDS and given only a few weeks to live. After some intense moments of doubts and a gloomy relapse, Ron Woodroof doesn't give up; instead of passively accepting his fate, he decides to look for an alternative treatment to delay the effects of his awful disease, since up to that moment the only commercialized drug is AZT, but with little success. Therefore, he acts decisively and faces up to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) after travelling to México in order to buy non-approved medication. 

Rapidly, he becomes a genuine smuggler of antivirals, vitamins and peptides. Woodroof changes many people's lives as well as his own, as this cause connects him to some unknown figures; one of them played by Jared Leto, a transvestite homosexual infected with the HIV virus. Together, they will start a large distribution center called "Dallas Buyers Club", which will be constantly fighting against the United States' legal system. 

The two Oscar-winning actors in action

As all critics have agreed, the film’s plot is punctuated by extraordinary, emotive performances. Most remarkable has been Mathew McConaughey's. Until today he was known to the Academy as a leading man from the genre of romantic comedies, but thanks to his fantastic role in Dallas he has achieved the highest recognition from the American industry, an Oscar for best actor in a leading role. Not only have we been impressed by his extreme physical transformation but also by the roller-coaster of emotions he manages to transmit. The other Oscar-winning actor, Jared Leto, fills his acting with several tinges, so that the audience connects immediately with his feelings since he oozes sensibility and charm. I guess the director Jean-Marc Vallée has contributed to the success of their performances, as even Jennifer Garner, in a modest secondary role, has improved her acting skills significantly compared to previous films. 

I love this movie, especially because of the way all these characters, each one of them coming from different origins and having such distant ideologies or lifestyles, intertwine their lives. However, their differences are not a handicap to fight for life.  Dallas Buyers Club is a marvelous, thought-provoking film in which the director deals with issues which unfortunately are so contemporary. If I had to underline a particular scene, I would recall one when Ron is portrayed surrounded by butterflies; it seems to me a gorgeous metaphor of our existence. Simply fantastic! 

Thanks Maite for another great post! You hadn't written any stuff since that early review of Nosferatu, so welcome back.

As you know, I saw "Dallas ..." too and I really loved it, even if it's rather tough to watch at times. Films dealing with the plague caused by HIV since the mid-1980s in America are always extremely gruesome (Philadelphia and The Hours, to name a few, are two titles you may remember). 

Honestly, I'd never thought much of Matthew McCounaghey as an actor before his awesome role in this film. To me, maybe wrongly, he was just the classic "rom com" ladies' man. But all of a sudden he puts so much of himself into this character, both physically (seemingly he lost some 50 pounds) and emotionally. Also worth mentioning is Jared Leto's heart-rending performance - no wonder they both scooped well-deserved statuettes at this year's Oscars.

So let me just embed the film's trailer for those of you who may have not seen Dallas Buyers Club yet, arguably one of the best, most successful independent films of 2013. 

Sara Collantes: The French "Iron Maiden"

A few days ago, in late March, one of the most recognizable symbols of modern architecture in Europe turned 125. I mean, the most praised Parisian inhabitant, the Eiffel Tower of course. This magnificent iron structure is an iconic landmark, not only for Paris itself but for the whole France.

L'exposition universelle 1889 

Conceived as the imposing gateway for the 1889 World’s Fair in honour of the centenary of the French Revolution, it was originally condemned to be dismantled after 20 years (just like the other constructions built specifically for the exhibition); but in 1903 the French Army placed a transmitting antenna on the top, which was absolutely essential during the Great War, changing its fate forever. Because of its great value for communication, it was allowed to stand and now we all can admire its slender fragility and cold beauty.

Mr G. Eiffel proudly poses at the stairs

Nowadays we can’t even imagine the City of Light without its Eiffel Tower. We can only picture the skyline of Paris, with the worldwide known tower patiently dominating the whole town. As Guy de Maupassant said, “the tower is the one place in Paris where the tower is not visible”. Take the case of the films. No matter in which hotel the lead actor is staying, they’ll always open a great double-door balcony with breathtaking views of the Tower. But the Big Lady hasn’t always been there. There was a time when its construction was the target of criticism and heated discussion between artists and intellectuals, on one side of the wrestling ring, and engineers on the other.

The dispute between architects and engineers goes a long way back. Since the appearance of the so-called iron architecture in the 1800s, which came as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the purpose of new constructions turned into a more social role. Engineering and new materials were now at the service of a new concept of architecture, which opposed the traditional train of thought. And so then, the Eiffel Tower symbolized the “grandeur of the science and French engineering”. 

Even before the beginning of its construction in 1887, it was surrounded by a unbreathable atmosphere of distrust and controversy among prominent figures of the world of literature and art. They defended their opinions tooth and nail and left proof of their common disagreement in a scathing announcement:

“We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate

devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all

our strength, with all our indignation, in the name of slighted French

taste, against the erection of this useless and monstrous

Eiffel Tower...” 

Le Temps, 14 February 1887.

A view of Trocadero

Rather than the massive structure, its daring excessive shape or the pointless of its use, the major concern they had was if it was even feasible to be erected. These personalities thought that the tower would collapse before it had been completed or, provided it didn’t, they were sure that Gustav Eiffel would look ridiculous in view of the misunderstanding and astonishment by the attendees of the World’s Fair. But the result was completely different, and the Tower was a smashing success since two million people had climbed to the top by the end of the exhibition.

I was tremendously lucky to walk up the tower, even though only to the second floor. I was only 9, so I can’t remember much of the experience, but what I do remember clearly is standing on tiptoe just to be able to see over the railing how vast Paris was in a bird’s eye view. I was astonished to see how countless buildings spread out as far as the eye could see. And at night it was absolutely awesome, a real dream of light.

To finish, just one infantile yet equally enlightening question: when playing Pictionary, if you are supposed to draw Paris, what is the first thing that springs to mind? Think of it, mon amis!

The Eiffel Tower in numbers:

Height: 324m

Weight: 10.100 tones

Foundations depth: 15 m

Steps: 1.710

Iron pieces: 18.038

Rivets: 2.5 million

Light bulbs: 20.000

Lifts: 9

Construction time: 2 years, 2 months, 5 days

Painting time lapse: every 7 years

Highest building from 1889 to 1930 (when the Chrysler Building in NY took over)

Such a fantastic post - as well as the photos and the great video - , dear Sara! 

Who can deny the lure of the City of Light, the ever so romantic Paris. I'm sure if you guys have been to the French capital yourselves you will find it really hard to choose just the one spot that sticks to mind, but surely the majestic iron structure will undoubtedly be in the top five, won't it? 

When we went to Paris (I mean, my wife and kids and myself) and I first saw the Tower in the distance, I thought it didn't look as high as its huge proportions would obviously indicate, but how wrong I was! Only when I stood at the very top of it, did I realise how mesmerizingly amazing the view is!

So I suddenly remembered I took some (to my modest mind) fantastic photos on my Pentax. Truth be told, it was rather easy to do so, as we were extremely fortunate that the weather was gorgeous, simply spectacular, that glorious day we had booked the tickets online to get to the top. So hey, I just decided I wanted to share with you this link. Hope you like the pics! 

If any of you guys have also been to Paris, would you indeed like to share your memories? ...