« In a Jingle jangle morning » or No Such Thing As Forever
Bob Dylan and the Never ending Tour, 30 years of pictures 1989-2019
In a jingle-jangle morning, during our current forced seclusion, I received from a dear friend the good news that something , of high artistic value, had happened in the course of this year 2020, a year of immeasurable pain. This something has rekindled in me the desire to share, to rekindle souls around a subject that has certainly been part of all of us and has always been : Bob Dylan!
To be precise a Bob Dylan immortalized in high definition , during 30 years of live concerts, in about 250 shots, by Paolo Brillo in a colossal work that came to light on 10th november 2020 “BOB DYLAN / NO SUCH THING AS FOREVER”.
Bob Dylan / No Such Thing as Forever
Reaching the author in South Tyrol, while walking on the Renon plateau, was easier than expected. Once I made contact, the interview almost took place by itself. Accountant in everyday life and amateur photographer, Paolo Brillo never wanted to give up and pursued his dream, managing, over the course of thirthy years, to photograph over sixty Bob Dylan concerts. Dribbling security, camouflaging himself in the crowd to steal some shots, facing all the obstacles that kept him away from his goals. In my opinion, all this has been achieved because, in order to practice, at the top, the accountant profession, one must have in his DNA a streak of heathy madness. A genius of the lamp that materializes, on demand, when you have to attack the most difficult “ double game”
The cleverness that distinguishes Bob Dylan’s songs has generated in Paolo Brillo the desire to bear witness to him by immortalising the artist during his “Never ending Tour”: from 1989, at the Pala Trussardi in Milan until the Hyde Park concert, the July 12th 2019 in London. All concerts where photographing the musicians was prohibited and fans’ cameras banned. Unfortunately in London, Bob Dylan and his “endless Tour” had to stop, due to the relentless Covid war.
London 2013 Royal Albert Hall November 26th Copyright Paolo Brillo
Let’s now ask Paolo Brillo : during these thirty years have you ever calculated how many photos you took during Dylan’s concerts? How many shots were stolen from Dylan’s Security surveillance?
-“It is not easy to calculate how many photos I took, probably between 15 and 20 thousand shots. “
On the stage, Bob Dylan’s charisma is legendary. His magnetism envelops and engages the crowd. What Paolo Brillo’s shots tried to capture ?
-“Dylan’s charisma on stage is unique, no other artist has this talent. It is absolutely thrilling to capture the magnetism of his gaze in just one shot. ”
In 1962, the song “Blowin’ in the wind” immediately became an anti-war icon and trasforms the 21-year-old Bob Dylan into the spokesperson for an entire generation, a spiritual guide to the civil rights movement. In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Dylan has said, “I wrote this song in ten minutes, the words lined up one behind the other like a religious hymn, in the best folk tradition. In a similar occasion of meeting, the artist is a mean, he writes what comes to understand”
The Refrain “the answer is blowin’ in the wind “ has influenced entire generations, we wonder on what occasion did Paolo Brillo immortalized, in a photogram, what the artist represents?
-“As mentioned, I try to do it in every shot and I hope to convey it with my images.”
The “Thirty years of Dylan”, are published, on november 10th 2020, by the British Publishing House, Red Planet Publishing Ltd. Did you ever have contact with Bob Dylan or his agent prior to the release of your book? Where and when?
-“I Was in New York in 2014 for Dylan’s concerts at the Beacon Theater. At the time I was working on the photo book with an Italian publisher but the project did not go through. On that occasion we got an appointment with Jeff Rosen, Dylan’s manager. We met at Dylan’s office in Greenwich Village to talk to Rosen about the project and show him the dummy. Our intention was to involve Dylan’s entourage in the project. We had a long discussion with Jeff Rosen who seemed enthusiastic about the project and we left a copy of the dummy for Dylan to see it. After the meeting in New York, there was an email correspondence between Dylan’s manager and the publisher, but the desire to work on the project together never came. “
Is it Paolo Brillo’s mission to Photograph live the greatest rock and non-rock musicians, from Frank Zappa to Leonard Cohen?
-“I don’t consider it a mission, it’s a passion that I have cultivated since I was a kid. I have always loved music and I started taking pictures at 17th , now I am 60th and the flame hasn’t left me yet ! I hope to be able to go back touring for concerts soon and maybe take some nice pictures. All this has a therapeutic effect on me because it allows me to temporalily detach myself from the routine and thoughts that my profession creates.”
The texts written by Bob Dylan are poems capable of making us dream like the song “Mister Tambourine Man”, published in 1964, still today able to drag us wherever the author wanted to also ….in a jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you!
Nothing better in a period during which you need to escape with the mind, whenever possible! I leave you with a link that makes you think, a young Italian singer-songwriter Eugenio Ripepi and his song “Il cantautore non è un mestiere ( the songwriter is not a profession)” . https://soundcloud.com/eugenioripepi/il-cantautore-non-e-un?in=eugenioripepi/sets/la-buccia-del-buio
Copyright Ely Galleani
