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48 Friday Are 4 1 999 Concert From IB magical concert If not concert --goers may sense this is just toother marketing ploy to mate money Mumm says he’s a “pretty big Dylan fan” In fact he put together a Dylan special in November as part of a fund-raisfor the radio station - three hours of Dylan music AS big a fan as he is Mumm won't be there that night “I just can’t justify going" he said "I've seen Bob Dylan a couple of tunes and to be honest his shows can be off and on It can be a gamble" What's more Mumm doesn't chensh the idea of seeing Dylan and Simon at the massive and acoustically unfriendly Delta Center "I don’t think they’re arena musicians” he said “Their music is more intimate it’s more suited to smaller venues” And finally tickets are just a little too nch for his blood “They’re pricing out people who are real fans" Mumm said “Most of us can’t put out two hundred bucks for an evening” er Pioneer of folk Dylan was bom Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24 1941 in Duluth Minn According to the “Encyclopedia of Rock Stars” by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton Dylan ran away to Chicago at the age of 10 and traveled with a Texas carnival a couple of years later He began learning the harmonica and guitar at age 12 and in high school formed several rock ’n’ roll bands including the Golden Chords After a brief stay at the University of Minnesota Dylan left school to concentrate on his music In 1960 Dylan spent a short stint as a pianist with Bobby Vee’s group the Shadows before heading for New York City with his newly adopted stage name (courtesy of poet Dylan Thomas) John Costa an associate instructor of music teaches a class on the history of rock ’n’ roll at the University of Utah He calls Dylan’s contributions to popular music “incredibly important” “He was the spokesperson for an entire generation” Costa said “He didn't invent folk music but he started the folk movement Because of Dylan folk became popular” Sandard-Examine- And then at the height of his Marketing G popularity Dylan changed course Costa says it may have had something to do with a meeting with the Beatles He says Dylan and the Beatles met at a hotel in New York City in August 1964 Costa isn’t sure what transpired at that meeting but says that afterward things changed immediately for both “After meeting Dylan went electric and the Beatles got more senous more gntty with their music" Costa said "They had a big influence on one another” Dylan's sudden move to eloctnc music shocked the folk world many considered him a sellout But critics have since hailed this evolution And Dylan has continued to evolve and continued to influence music His most recent album “Time Out of Mind" went platinum and picked up three Grammy Awards -including Best Album It’s his biggest-sellin- g release in two decades From IB perhaps even gives Simon a bigger crowd McKay said And for both of them it may make life on the road a bit easier “It might take a little pressure ofT of each of them” McKay said “Touring with another superstar might make it a little safer a little less threatening There’s less pressure to be THE superstar” Ufa cycte of a pep group - The Garfunkel days Where Dylan left off in the 960s Simon - and Art Garfiinkel - picked up During the late ’60s and early ’70s Simon & Garfunkel were in the center of the folk movement Costa said At a time when “acid rock LSD and soul music” ruled Costa says S&G held their own “They kept the folk torch burning as it were” he said “When Dylan went ‘blues’ Simon & Garfunkel took folk to the next level - they made folk ” music into The primary difference between Dylan’s folk music and the folk Simon & Garfunkel played according to Costa is that whereas Dylan’s featured voice and acoustic guitar Simon replaced that folk-styaccompaniment with bass and drums Simon was bom just five months after Dylan on Oct 13 1941 in Newaik NJ the son of a session musician and bass player for early TV shows Simon and Garfunkel met in grade school and played the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat respectively in a production of “Alice in Wonderland” according to the “Encyclopedia of Rock Stars” They began writing songs together in 1955 and for a short time performed under the stage name Tom & Jerry After high school the two drifted apart then reunited in 1 then-partn- folk-rock- le Boulet said the musk industry is lamenting the lack of stadium acts these days The 1970s were the heyday of the arena concerts groups like Aerosmith Emerson Lake & Palmer and Styx selling out large venues like the Salt Palace But in the late 1980s and early 1 990s all that changed Boulet believes it has to do with the life span of celebrities these days "Thirty years ago artists careers were longer” he said "The life cycle of artists is getting shorter and smaller” For example on the strength of one album Hootie and the Blowflsh sold out concerts everywhere according to Boulet “But now you’d be lucky to sell a thousand tickets to one of their shows” he said Boulet says musicians in the 1960s and 1970s built a career over a number of years Now acts go “from nothing to something and back to nothing again" in a short time Acts like the Spice Girls whose last Salt Lake concert was huge “Six months earlier " says Boulet “and you wouldn’t have sold any tickets Six months later and you wouldn’t have sold any tickets But nght on time and arena” you’ve got a sold-o- er Associated Pn Be proto Bob Dylan has continued to evolve and continues to influence music His most recent album Time Out of Mind” went platinum and picked up three Grammy Awards including Best Album It’s his biggest-sellin- g release in two decades STILL EVQLVUMG: - 1 964 as Simon & Garfunkel and released their first album “Wednesday Morning 3 AM” The duo effectively split up in 1970 and since then Simon has had a successful solo career He is the only artist to have received an “Album of the Year” Grammy Award in three different decades An intro to world music Some might argue that Simon sold out and went “pop” Costa doesn’t agree “He always had something to say in his music underneath all that” he said y Simon almost introduced world music to a ' mass audience with the albums “Graceland” and “Rhythm of the single-handedl- Saints” And while Simon may not have been the same musical trailblazer Dylan was - “Bob Dylan is one of the most important American songwriters of all time” said KRCL’s Mumm “His contribution to popular music is immeasurable” - Costa cautions against dismissing Simon’s contributions In their folk music he and Garfunkel offered a more polished sound with impressive vocal harmonies and more sophisUcated accompaniment Costa said “I’m not saying Simon & Garfunkel were better than Bob Dylan They were just the next step up on the evolutionary scale” he said Whatever their past contributions to music Dylan and Simon are poised to make another as they gear up for what promises to be the concert of the summer Or as USA Today called it: “Mr Tambourine Man meets Mrs Robinson” You can reach reporter Mark 2 Saal at or msaal(ist andardnet 625-427- ut CreaHva pairings Promoters have come up with a number of novel concepts in an attempt to adapt Among them are the a bevy of mega-festiv- al acts packaged together such as Lillith Fair or Lollapalooza the comeback tour (Fleetwood Mac Eagles etc) and “creative pairing” Boulet places the DylanSimon concert in this last category “You try to come up with some creative pairing of artists just to get more people out to a concert” he said Of course that doesn’t always work McKay remembers when 1 r Crosby Stills A Nash was pairoff with the group Chicago It I looked good in theory but it didn’t do so well m practice Another example of a creative pairing that didn't work out was Elton John and Tina Turner according to Brent Aflenbach vice president of event services at the Delta Center “They were only out on tour $ brief period of tune and the last report I got they were going to disband” ABcnbach said “I heard the marriage wasn’t as good as it could have been they weren’t able to work out the ’ kinks” What the market wS bear Further compounding the changes in the concert industry ’’ are higher ticket prices and a more selective discerning patron ' Boulet says promoters will have to accustom themselves to smaller concert venues as well as higher admission prices Although the average ticket ’ price for events has not climbed Boulet ticket says significantly prices for some seats are up 30 to 40 percent in the last four or five years “The industry realized Why try to charge $2750 for front seats when scalpers are turning around and selling them for 70 bucks? ” Boulet said “The fact ' scalpers exist says we haven't done a good job pricing concert ( tickets” Ticket prices have everything to do with what the market will bear according to Boulet If scalpers were for example reselling refrigerators for hundreds of dollars more than at the appliance store you can be sure the manufacturer would rethink pricing he said Boulet calls it “more rational pricing” Rather than pricing all i seats at $30 prices are set according to their value to the patron In putting together the Dylan-Simo- n concert promoters may by banking on a sort of synergy Boulet speculates “A Paul Simon concert might be worth X and Bob Dylan might be worth Y” Boulet said “But then a patron looks at the two together and says ‘Paul SimonBob Dylan is worth X Y andZT Or to paraphrase Paul Simon: They’re just hying to keep the customer satisfied You can reach reporter Mark Saal at 625-42or msaaliistandardnet 72 |
