Exclusively in the new print issue of CounterPunch

HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.

Weekend Edition August 31-33, 2012

Breaking Your Habits

Dylan’s Whistle

by GREG MOSES

Silly, narcissistic cutie pie gets his ass kicked, and so be it, says the visual track on Dylan’s new single, “Duquesne Whistle.” Meanwhile the music track calls to mind a concert-induced rhythmic euphoria such that I saw the Dylan gang stoke up when they blew through town.

Contradiction is a word I’ve seen used to describe the relationship between sound and sight in the Dylan video release. Does he contradict himself? Very well. How else do we grow old and stay young at the same time?

But the video never lets you see what you want to see more of. Like the street scene at the beginning. The “establishment” shot. What’s on that marquee? And who’s that way over there, like some F. Scott Fitzgerald billboard, always looking on?

The Dylan posse is riveting, but of course it must also move too fast. Iconic in its symbolic heavyweightedness, the moving image speaks to purpose, arrangement, and taking care of yourself. Precisely it contradicts sentimentality, heteronormativity, and careless regard.

There’s a cultural revolution in the works, and somebody in this experience looks and sounds like he knows it. Like he knows it, and it’s right on time.

Once again, the Medal of Freedom poet socks you right up your expectations and breaks your habits for you in case you hadn’t troubled to break them for yourself.

It’s just a train whistle after all. What you do with that semiotic, well, just don’t go forgettin’ that karma’s going to instantly reply to you.

GREG MOSES is editor of TexasWorker.org and author of Revolution of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Philosophy of Nonviolence. He can be reached at gmosesx@gmail.com.