Ep. 64 - A COMPLETE UNKNOWN - Bob Dylan Beyond the Lyrics and the Making of a Poet
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Photo: Searchlight Pictures
In episode 64, The Boston Sisters (Michon and Taquiena) are talking with award-winning poet, literary activist, and author E. Ethelbert Miller about A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, the biopic about musician/songwriter Bob Dylan inspired by the book “Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties” by Elijah Wald.
Our conversation focuses on Miller’s personal connection to Dylan's music and the broader cultural context of the 1960s. We also discuss…
The importance of preserving American folk traditions
The role of artists like Dylan in documenting history including the impact of Dylan's music on social movements
The role of women in shaping Dylan’s life, career and music
The significance of oral and musical literature
SPOILER ALERT -There is some detailed discussion about key moments in the film
Podcast Notes: In the conversation, Miller references Dylan's concerts in the U.K. in 1966. Dylan's infamous "Judas" show, where the musician is heckled, took place in Manchester. The story is included in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary No Direction Home.
Download the Transcript for Episode 64
Episode 64 is part 1 of a 2-part conversation about A COMPLETE UNKNOWN with E. Ethelbert Miller
GUEST
We should teach [Bob] Dylan the same way we would teach [Walt] Whitman. And maybe we should teach Woody Guthrie. Because what are we saying? The literature comes from the people.
E. Ethelbert Miller
E. Ethelbert Miller
E. Ethelbert Miller has authored two memoirs and several poetry collections. He hosts the WPFW morning radio show On the Margin with E. Ethelbert Miller and hosts and produces The Scholars on UDC-TV which received a 2020 Telly Award. Miller is Associate Editor and a columnist for The American Book Review. He was given a 2020 congressional award from Congressman Jamie Raskin in recognition of his literary activism, In 2022 he received the Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and named a 2023 Grammy Nominee Finalist for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.
Miller’s latest book is the little book of e published by City Point Press. Recently Miller was awarded the Furious Flower Lifetime Achievement Award which is awarded every 10 years to a poet or scholar of poetry who’s made a significant impact in poetry.
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“Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties” by Elijah Wald, the inspiration for A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
“Chronicles Volume One,” and “Lyrics: 1961 - 2020” by Bob Dylan
“Fathering Words” and “the little book of e” by E. Ethelbert Miller
Bob Dylan
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, Bob Dylan is one of our culture’s most influential and groundbreaking artists. In the decades since he first burst into the public’s consciousness via New York City’s Greenwich Village folk music scene in the early 1960s, Bob Dylan has sold more than 125 million records around the world and amassed a singular body of work that includes some of the greatest and most popular songs the world has ever known, the most famous being “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Like A Rolling Stone,”
“All Along The Watchtower,” “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “Make You Feel My Love.” His songs have been covered more than 6,000 times by artists as diverse as Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Guns N’ Roses, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, the Staple Singers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Adele and U2.
In 1997, President Clinton presented him with a Kennedy Center Honor at the White House, recognizing the excellence of his contribution to American culture. In October 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature by the Swedish Academy “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” In 2012, he was awarded America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Barack Obama. In addition to winning 11 Grammy Awards, Dylan has achieved six entries in the Grammy Hall of Fame, which honors recordings of “qualitative or historical significance” at least 25-years-old. (Bio Source: Bob Dylan Center)
Listen and read Bob Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Prize Lecture. Visit the website for the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
Trailer for A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (2024)
Directed by James Mangold who co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN is set against the backdrop of a time of dramatic social, cultural, and political change as a vibrant music scene is happening in New York City.
In 1961 nineteen-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arrives in New York from Minnesota with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. On his meteoric rise, Dylan forges intimate relationships with folk music icons Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), and folk music star Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). The film culminates with Dylan’s groundbreaking and controversial performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN also features Elle Fanning as Sylvia Russo, an interpretation of Dylan’s real-life muse and lover Suzie Rotolo, Eriko Hatsune as Toshi Seeger, Norbert Leo Butz as Alan Lomax, Dan Fogler as Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman, Boyd Holbrook as singer Johnny Cash, and Michael Chernus and Will Harrison as folk musicians Dave Van Ronk and Bob Neuwirth.