I am alone in the house when the phone rings. In no mood to talk to anyone, I let the machine get it.When the outgoing message is over, I hear an unfamiliar voice: “I’m pleased to tell you that you’ve been chosen as one of the artists to go to Japan. You’ll be getting confirmation in the mail in the next few days. In the meantime, if you have any questions, give me a call.”I replay th…
Th e following book on Bob Dylan’s songs does not directly concern Bob Dylan a.k.a Robert Zimmerman, either the actual person or the musical-cultural celebrity. Nor does it claim to make claims about what Bob Dylan intended in or when composing any one of his songs. Instead, I mostly refer to Bob Dylan’s work and certain biographically relevant events in terms of a fi gur…
The beloved soil of my fatherland gives me joy and grief once more.I’m up now every morning on the heights of the Isthmus of Corinth, and often, like the bee from flower to flower, my spirit flits back and forth between the seas to right and left that cool the feet of my glowing mountains.One of those two gulfs would specially have delighted me, had I stood here some…
Benjamin Franklin was born in Milk Street, Boston, on January 6, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler who married twice, and of his seventeen children Benjamin was the youngest son. His schooling ended at ten, and at twelve he was bound apprentice to his brother James, a printer, who published the “New England Courant.” To this journal he became a contributor, and later …