Great Regulars: What this book finally does--this is me,

not [Sean] Wilentz--is establish [Bob] Dylan as the 20th century's Walt Whitman. Like Whitman he sings the songs of America in the conviction that they say something that can be said in no other way. And, like Whitman, he commits himself to travelling the roads of America, looking and remembering.

From the shelves full of Dylan books this and one other--Christopher Ricks's Dylan's Visions of Sin--are the ones to read.

from Bryan Appleyard: The Sunday Times via Selected Articles: Bob Dylan in America

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"There is a strong feeling in the arts," [Colin] Tweedy continues, "that when the government comes to it, they will not cut the arts. One of the problems in the arts community is this entitlement view that has developed in the past 15 years. It has been a golden age of arts funding. But things have got to change, and the arts community is absolutely resistant to that change."

The big picture here is as follows. In the 15 years since the national lottery got going, money has poured into the arts on an unprecedented scale. Partly this was because of the lottery, partly it was because of Tweedy's efforts, but it was also because of the startling generosity of the Blair-Brown administrations.

from Bryan Appleyard: The Sunday Times via Selected Articles: Cutting the Arts

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