Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is among the artists nominated for a W.C. Handy Award for blues song of the year. Dylan, better known for his folk and rock work, was nominated for his first Handy Award as songwriter of "Stepchild," recorded by Solomon Burke on the album "Don't Give Up on Me." The Blues Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes the genre, announced the nominations in 25 categories Monday. Shemekia Copeland and Magic Slim & the Teardrops led the list with five nominations each.

With two platinum-selling records and a Grammy Award for album of the year, the fast-rising folk-rock blokes in Mumford & Sons have already entered their inevitable object-of-scorn phase, at least among mouthy young successors such as Jake Bugg. He's the 19-year-old English singer-songwriter who recently told the Guardian that Marcus Mumford and his mates "look like posh farmers with banjos. " Bugg's implicit criticism - that Mumford & Sons come by their rootsy vibe dishonestly - is of course balderdash, to use a term the artisanal folk-rock crowd might appreciate.

Bob Dylan in America Sean Wilentz Doubleday: 390 pp., $28.95

Some people wonder if I can really work with music blaring on my headphones--especially music with distracting lyrics. But my brain is hard-wired a different way: The lyrics inspire me, and help the creativity kick in. It's like this amplification effect: Most of the Column Ones take emotions to a higher level, be they joy, or grief or amusement. To borrow from “Spinal Tap,” the music turns the volume of feelings up to 11. This week, though, a story-song combo for an upcoming Column One was almost too much.

Two luxury apartment buildings under construction in West Hollywood are aimed at mobile, creative tenants who make a living on the go, often tapping on their laptops in coffee bars and other hangouts. The goal of developers Essex Property Trust and the Monarch Group is to rethink apartments for people who don't work 9 to 5 in a traditional office - a generally younger demographic found in abundance in West Hollywood. Named the Huxley and the Dylan, they are being built on two busy intersections on La Brea Avenue at a cost of more than $150 million.

They've got a lotta nerve, to say he stole some words. That's essentially Bob Dylan's response to criticism that has sprouted up periodically throughout his half-century (and counting) career that he has quoted or outright plagiarized other writers' words in some of his songs. Talking to Rolling Stone contributor Mikal Gilmore in the Sept. 27 issue of the magazine - which hits newsstands Friday--Dylan blasts such critics with harsh words. The exchange with Gilmore , who cited specific instances over which Dylan has been slammed for lifting thoughts and phrases from Japanese author Junichi Saga and Civil War poet Henry Timrod, begins politely, with Dylan shifting into musicologist mode: “In folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition,” Dylan said.

What follows are a few random observations and notes about Bob Dylan's set at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday night. --As a 15-song display of his work, Bob Dylan's show was unimpeachable. Few of his fans could complain about one that began, for example, with his saucy “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere” and ended with a frolic through “Blowin' in the Wind.” In between he played “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Love Sick,” "Make You Feel My Love," “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Desolation Row,” among others.

Paul Williams was returning to his dorm room when a fellow student relayed a message that was radical even for the 1960s: "Hey, Williams! You got a phone call from Bob Dylan. " Not long before, it was Paul Simon who had rung Williams up on the hallway pay phone. He too wanted to let the Swarthmore College freshman know how much he enjoyed his writing. At 17, Williams was the founder and editor of Crawdaddy, a tiny journal of rock criticism whose first edition he mimeographed in a friend's Brooklyn basement and distributed to record stores, clubs and concert halls.

Bob Dylan "Tempest" Columbia 3 stars Not to be morbid, but every time I take a day off or leave for vacation, I say a little prayer for the health of Bob Dylan. So large is his presence on generations of American music fans that when his heart strikes its final beat, encapsulating his body of work will require so much sorting and brainpower that the pressure to produce big thoughts on such a towering figure will no doubt overwhelm the Internet - and my ability to process his enormous influence.

Writer Jonah Lehrer resigned from the New Yorker on Monday after admitting that he had fabricated quotes from Bob Dylan in his nonfiction book "Imagine: How Creativity Works. " The book has been recalled by publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Published in March, "Imagine: How Creativity Works" has spent 17 weeks on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. Now it will be pulled from bookstore shelves. Its e-book edition has disappeared from retail sites such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Paul Williams was returning to his dorm room when a fellow student relayed a message that was radical even for the 1960s: "Hey, Williams! You got a phone call from Bob Dylan. " Not long before, it was Paul Simon who had rung Williams up on the hallway pay phone. He too wanted to let the Swarthmore College freshman know how much he enjoyed his writing. At 17, Williams was the founder and editor of Crawdaddy, a tiny journal of rock criticism whose first edition he mimeographed in a friend's Brooklyn basement and distributed to record stores, clubs and concert halls.

Phil Ramone, the veteran record producer whose work with A-list artists including Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon made him one of the most respected figures in the music industry, died Saturday at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Billboard reported. He was 79. Ramone was hospitalized last month following an aortic aneurysm. Born in South Africa, Ramone studied classical violin at New York's Juilliard School before moving behind the board. His extensive credits include Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," Billy Joel's "52nd Street" and Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," for which he shared the Grammy Award for album of the year.

Two luxury apartment buildings under construction in West Hollywood are aimed at mobile, creative tenants who make a living on the go, often tapping on their laptops in coffee bars and other hangouts. The goal of developers Essex Property Trust and the Monarch Group is to rethink apartments for people who don't work 9 to 5 in a traditional office - a generally younger demographic found in abundance in West Hollywood. Named the Huxley and the Dylan, they are being built on two busy intersections on La Brea Avenue at a cost of more than $150 million.

Bob Dylan has become the first rock musician inducted into the New York-based American Academy of Arts and Letters , an elite group of composers, artists, authors and architects that the group describes as “the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States.” "The board of directors considered the diversity of his work and acknowledged his iconic place in the American culture," the academy's executive director, Virginia Dajani,...

The traditionally staid American Academy of Arts and Letters is both charmed and flummoxed by Bob Dylan. The academy announced Wednesday that it voted the musician into its ranks -- its first rock musician ever. But he will be an honorary member: Not for the first time, people couldn't figure out how to classify Dylan. " Bob Dylan is a multi-talented artist whose work so thoroughly crosses several disciplines that it defies categorization," executive director Virginia Dajani told the Associated Press.

PARK CITY, Utah -- Muscle Shoals, Ala., has been at the heart of popular music for decades, a melting pot for the cross-currents of rock-and-roll, R&B, country and soul. Artists such as Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers Band, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Bobbie Gentry and countless others have recorded there. The new documentary "Muscle Shoals," which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, takes a look at this distinctly American place.

Bob Dylan “Tempest” (Columbia) Bob Dylan 's new album, “Tempest,” which arrives Sept. 11, is already generating considerable attention for the title track, his take on the sinking of the Titanic during the centenary year of the tragic disaster at sea. And rightly so - it's one of the most extraordinary compositions from the most acclaimed songwriter of the rock era. We'll have an in-depth review of the entire album by...

The first words to escape Bob Dylan's lips on his 35th studio album, “Tempest,” which hits the streets Sept. 11, are those of the rollicking opening track, “Duquesne Whistle.”  “Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowin'/Blowin' like it's gonna sweep my world away,” Dylan sings in a craggy voice that mirrors the lyric's image of an aging locomotive belching black smoke full of pulverized coal particles as it burns down the tracks.  ...

This post has been updated. See note below for details. There's one thing Bob Dylan fans will never agree on: whether his concerts over the last decade are terrible, excellent or just plain weird. This was certainly the case with Friday night's performance at the Hollywood Bowl, which alternately thrilled, confused and frustrated fans -- at least according to the feedback my review spawned. Both in the comment section and in emails, a lot of people were pretty disappointed with the show they witnessed at the storied Bowl.

What follows are a few random observations and notes about Bob Dylan's set at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday night. --As a 15-song display of his work, Bob Dylan's show was unimpeachable. Few of his fans could complain about one that began, for example, with his saucy “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere” and ended with a frolic through “Blowin' in the Wind.” In between he played “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Love Sick,” "Make You Feel My Love," “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Desolation Row,” among others.