Desiring Machine

Far and away my favorite Bob Dylan song of all time is Shelter From the Storm. However, I have only been keen on the Blood on the Tracks album version. I have not heard many versions that capture the emotional intensity of the album version. And quite frankly they have always felt quite flat and lacking. However I stumbled across a live recording from 1976 on youtube that lives up to the full expectations of the song. It is certainly different than the album and does not reproduce the mood of the album but it delivers the song in a stunning and dynamic way that redefines the meaning of the song for me. Hope you enjoy.

And by the way, what is with those hats? Crazy hippies. But they are cool in a way that only 70’s Dylan could make cool.

Have been exploring the guts of wordpress lately. So I decided to build my own theme from the ground up rather than simply bolt onto someone else’s theme. I have borrowed some layout ideas from other themes, but for the most part this theme is a substantial rewrite particularly in the CSS department. I am feeling in a Red mood, so I went with a Wharhol inpsired Mao header. Of course this is not to say I am a card carrying member of the Chairman’s movement. To me this is more an attempt at subversion in a post-ironic age. Besides, China has enough human rights problems that followers of Mao would do good to remedy. For example what they have been doing to the Falun Gong is not good.

Anyway, the header image in this blog comes from an original photograph I took last year at the Andy Wharhol museum in Pittsburgh. I will be working on this theme in incremental stages with additional improvements so stay tuned.