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Episode: Connections: Bob Dylan 80th Birthday Special
May 24, 2021 special episode of Connections on WPKN with Eric Cocks. It’s spontaneous! It’s non-linear! It’s a birthday celebration of Bob Dylan!!
We all have our own versions of Bob Dylan, his music, his art, what the songs mean to us and who we believe he may be as a person. Some of that or all of that may be fluid, seeming to change over time.
It feels like an honor and privilege to live in the same time as Bob Dylan, to have have seen him perform many times, to have appreciated and loved his music from the early days to the present time and to be able to play his music and celebrate Bob Dylan on WPKN on his birthday for more than a decade.
I believe his work is still going to be known and loved hundreds of years from now.
This show is in the moment. It’s what felt right and what happened between 5 and 7 pm at a radio station, joined by my friend Pete Stewart.
The music comes from different eras. It also includes covers by Harry Nilsson and Emma Swift, along with Traveling Wilburys and a song by Tim Moore.
There are many hundreds of songs that could have easily gone into this show. And each would have been every bit as important, relevant or meaningful on a personal level.
Part of the fun of Dylan is that you never quite know what to expect. That goes for his live performances and his albums. More than any artist I’ve ever seen, he stays in the moment. And those moments often transcend time.
In addition to thanking Bob for his amazing vision and his brilliant music, I’d also like to thank the author Paul Williams, founder of Crawdaddy Magazine, for opening up a way to gain very personal insight into Bob and his work and how to enjoy it in my own way. And to my friend Steve Addabbo, for his brilliant mixes of several hundred Dylan songs in The Bootleg Series. And to my friend David Warner for the stories about performing with Bob on a 1963 BBC play Madhouse On Castle Street, and to all the musicians, engineers and producers and behind the scenes people that supported Bob through all these years and made it possible for him to work his magic and bring it to all of us.
Thanks for tuning in!!
The show is also a low key fundraiser for WPKN. If you’d like, you can still donate to the station online at wpkn.org or by calling 203-331-9756 during business hours.
For anyone who might enjoy this, last Friday’s episode of Connections is also available in archives:
Connections: Nilsson, The Kinks, Pet Sounds and Blonde On Blonde Outtakes plus new and vintage music:
For info, updates and occasional videos, photos and articles, please join the Facebook page Connections on WPKN.
Show: Connections... with Eric Cocks
Connections... with Eric Cocks
Explores the connections between songs, songwriters, musicians, producers and people... often in surprising ways.
Vital, intelligent music with true artistic vision. Or just because it sounds good...
Includes extended features on specific artists such as Bob Dylan, The Kinks, The Beatles and far more. Also comedy by Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Eddie Izzard, Paul Krassner and others with a rock and roll renegade attitude. In depth explorations of early electronic music (and how it relates to current music). Vital new music that deserves to be heard. Surf music. Garage bands. British invasion. Rock and Roll. John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Jimi Hendrix, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, The Blues Magoos, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Dr Fiorella Terenzi, Beethoven, Bo Diddley, The Rolling Stones, Alex Chilton, Nilsson, Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams, Jon Brion, Aimee Mann, Tame Impala, Grimes, The Pretenders, Blondie, Caitlin Rose, Juana Molina, Mojo Mancini, Elliott Randall, Marshall Chapman, Jessy Lanza, Big Star, demos, rarities, unreleased new music and far more may be part of any given show. Also live interviews of performers, writers, producers, engineers, session musicians and people behind the scenes. Plus unexpected surprises...
Previous in depth interviews include Sam Phillips, Peppy Castro of The Blues Magoos, author/comedian Paul Krassner, Chris Frantz of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, Neil Innes of The Rutles, Tommy James, legendary session musician Carol Kaye, Warren Zanes, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, Rod Argent of The Zombies, Oscar Winning Composer Alan Menken, Patty Larkin and more. All are available in archives for about 385 days. (Maybe that'll get extended some day.) Stay tuned for future interviews and special features.
The show will keep changing over time.
Tune in every 1st and 3rd Friday afternoon of each month at the new time of 4 to 7 pm eastern. Also special editions at other times. Available live over the air at 89.5, online at http://wpkn.org, tunein radio or listen later in the WPKN archives.
For further info, updates, news, videos and special features, please check the FaceBook site: Connections on WPKN
Thanks for tuning in!