Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1973)
ode tile emerald s weekly entertainment section Bob Dylan is at it again. He is in preparation for his first major tour since 1966, which is expected to gross between $4 and $4.5million. The tour begins Jan. 3 at the Chicago International Amphitheater and ends Feb. 16 in Hawaii at the Honolulu International Center. As of Tuesday, the word is that Bill Graham’s FM Productions of San Francisco is setting the dates, those being 39 concerts in 25 cities. Graham’s office has reported that concert locations (particularly in major cities) are subject to change, but definite times, dates, and locations will appear Dec. 2 in the entertainment sections of all city newspapers where Dylan will play. He will not be performing in Oregon. University students interested in seeing Dylan have the following alternatives: the Seattle Coliseum (2 shows), Saturday Feb. 9, or the Oakland Coliseum (2 shows), Sunday Feb 11. These are the closest dates to the Eugene area Dylan, no longer with Columbia records, is con sidered hot material in the label biz these days. Check out all the hustle: David Geffen, 30-year-old manager direction head-record company executive for Elektra Asylum, has shown more than casual interest in the signing of Dylan. He told Rolling Stone, “Of course, if Bob Dylan or the Band suddenly came over and said, ‘We want to sing with you,’ I mean, we’re not gonna say, ‘No, you can’t.’ But that hasn’t happened.” Geffen is the primary driving force behind the whole Dylan-Band reunion. Planned for release before the tour is a joint Dylan Band effort of new material and a live recording of the tour to be released later. At the same time, Columbia Records has announced that they too are releasing a Dylan album, featuring previously unreleased material recorded in 1969-1970. The songs on the album include Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr Bojangles,” two songs from Elvis, “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and “A Fool Such As I,” Pete Segger’s “Ballad of Ira Hayes,” as well as “Lily of the West,” “Sarah Jane,” “Marianne,” and “Spanish is the Loving Tongue.” No release date has been set for the album and Columbia claims to be “holding” it. Bob also has just finished co-producing Barry Goldberg’s new album. Dylan also does backup vocals for the album. Felled by a motorcycle accident in 1966, Dylan has not done a major cross country tour since that same year, and since then he’s done only small token ap pearances—at the Isle of Wight Rock Festival in England (1969), a New Year’s performance with the Band in New York City (1972), and the Concert For Bangla Desh also in New York (1971). He has also completed a role in the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, with a soundtrack album recently released under the same name. There are numerous reasons for the sudden and unexpected Dylan tour. Some say it’s because Bob Dylan is becoming stale, which stands to reason as there has been very little new material out (not counting “Pat Garrett”). Others believe it to be promotion for an up coming album due on an as-of-yet unannounced label. Whatever the reason, this tour will be a strong deter mining factor in Bob Dylan’s future as a rock and roll legend. Also appearing with him will be The Band, riding high on the heels of their new album, “Moondog Matinee.” The Emerald will publish the addresses of where you may buy tickets to the Dylan concerts as soon as the information is available. Watch next week’s "ode” section for further details. Tickets will be on a “mail order only” basis. Greg G. Lee
