Turn That Racket Down

On Sunday, I watched the Newport '65 section of No Direction Home, the Bob Dylan documentary. If you don't recall or haven't heard or really don't care, one of the "Dylan goes electric" stories concerns the backstage activities of Pete Seeger. Seeger says he thought the distortion on the voice sounded awful and said that if he had an axe he'd take it to the cables. Scorsese then follows the Seeger footage with Maria Muldaur talking about how Pete Seeger had an axe in his hand. The tale, as the saying goes, grows in the telling.

Was watching the documentary with Sam Flesher, who had a few stories of his own. Sam had just been visiting a friend, Michael K., who had recently been hospitalized and faces a difficult recovery. Michael K., had been a sound engineer, and used to work for Pete Seeger. While he was working the boards, people would always tell him to turn up the volume. Pete Seeger, on the other hand always told Michael K. to ignore their instructions. "Keep the volume down. I want to make sure they're listening."

Dylan did go loud. People did pay attention. But I'm starting to get what Pete Seeger said. The saying goes, "If you want people's attention, sometimes you have to whisper." Of course, Pete never played the BBT after the rugby team has had a few.