In the Mix

Bob Dylan hasn't exactly endorsed Barack Obama. The always elusive, often obfuscating songwriter has been fleeing the Spokesman of a Generation tag ever since it was pinned on him in the 1960s. He once said: "I've never written a political song. Songs can't save the world. I've gone through all that." But he was uncommonly direct when asked last week about American politics by The Times of London. He said this: "Poverty is demoralizing. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up — Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to."

Dylan talked to the Times because he has an art show opening in London, so there's not much music discussed, though he does say "the music world's a made-up bunch of hypocritical rubbish," though he probably actually said "garbage," not "rubbish." And when asked about what future painting projects he has in mind, he says he's interested in “the idea of a collection based on historically romantic figures. Napoleon and Josephine, Dante and Beatrice, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, Brad and Angelina ... " Dylan's back at the Borgata on Aug. 16th.