Sting has announced he will join a multitude of other artists including Adele and Dave Matthews that are contributing songs to ‘Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International.’ All songs will be Dylan covers by some of the most high profile artists working today, and proceeds from the album will benefit the human rights group.

Sting announced that he will join the Dave Matthews Band and indie rock group My Morning Jacket for a cover of “You’re a Big Girl Now,” off Dylan’s 1975 masterpiece Blood on the Tracks. Another collaboration will find alt-country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams teaming up with Los Angeles punk band Bad Religion to cover “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” from 1997’s Time Out of Mind.

Although it may not be too much of a stretch to imagine Adele performing a Dylan cover—in this case “To Make You Feel My Love,” also from Time Out of Mind—Ke$ha could seem like a stretch due to the stylistic difference between her music and Dylan’s, though she says this is not necessarily the case.

When the Nashville pop singer recently spoke to Rolling Stone about the project she said, “When you think of me, you wouldn’t think of Bob Dylan. My music is more about going crazy than politics. But he’s a huge influence—he writes his own music and means what he says. I write my own music and I…mean every word I sing.”

Patti Smith will contribute “Drifter’s Escape,” from 1967’s John Wesley Harding, and punk/hardcore band Rise Against will cover the protest classic “Ballad of Hollis Brown.”

The album is set to be released in the United Kingdom on November 21 and the following day in the United States. Amnesty International was formed in London in 1961 and has grown into one of the largest and most well-known human rights organizations working today.

For artists like the Eagles, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, there is some light at the end of the tunnel due to the fact that soon copyright laws will be allowing them to have control again over their master recordings.

During the 1970s, there were revisions made to copyright laws to provide artists with the right for regaining control of their outputs through termination rights. Thirty-five years after being released, albums become eligible. According to a report in the New York Times, albums dating from 1978 are the first that will gain eligibility. This means that “52nd Street” by Billy Joel and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” by Bruce Springsteen will be two of the more famous moneymakers who could be seeing a change in ownership soon.

However, there are two hitches. The first one is artists are required to file two years before the eligibility date to make a claim on their albums as well as the royalties associated with them. In addition, artists can claim ownership for individual songs. Musicians such as Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and others have begun pursuing this already.

The second hitch, which is more of a concern for the artists, is that record labels won’t be letting the cash cows go without a fight. Steven Marks from the Recording Industry Association of America said, we don’t believe the termination right applies to a majority of sound recordings.

Eagles band member and artist advocate Don Henley, who is a Recording Artists Coalition founding member said, a gazillion dollars have been made by the recording industry on the masters, with the artists making a lot less. There is an issue of fairness, of parity. This bone of contention will be getting even more contentious during the next few years.

Joel and Springsteen representatives have declined to comment about any plans the artist may have in attempting to capitalize on the copyright issues. The termination claims are processed manually by the U.S. Copyright Office, making it impossible to obtain concrete information about the number of artists who to date have filed.

Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America said, year after year more and more songs will be returning to songwriters and influence the market much more. The music is still valuable and will own it.

Europe will be getting one of this year’s best tour packages when Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan set out for the continent starting in October.

Knopfler and Dylan, each touring with their own band, will kick off the outing on October 6 at O2 Dublin in Ireland and then head over for Scotland for shows on October 8 and 9 at Braehead Arena in Glasgow. They continue on from there to the UK. On October 10, they will perform at Manchester’s Evening News Arena; on October 11 at CapitalFM Arena in Nottingham; on October 13 at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff and on October 14 at International Center in Bournmouth.

The tour will then head over the channel to Lille, France where they will perform a gig on October 16 at Zenith Arena. Other stops include October 17 in Paris; October 19 in Merksem, Belgium; October 20 in Rotterdam; October 26 in Munich; November 4 in Stockholm; November 12 in Rome and November 15 in Geneva. Currently, the trek is scheduled to wrap up on November 16 at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland.

Dylan and Knopfler have been associated since the late 1970s. Dylan invited Knopfler to perform on his album “Slow Train Coming” after seeing Knopfler’s band Dire Straits performing at the Roxy in West Hollywood. Later, Knopfler produced the Dylan album “Infidels.”

Details for tickets haven’t been announced yet. For more information, visit bobdylan.com or markknopfler.com.

Legendary musician Bob Dylan will be hitting the pavement back home this summer as he launches a 22-city tour from coast to coast spanning from July till August, but not until he closes his current European trek which still has 7 cities in its itinerary plus a lone stop in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 20.

Dylan’s US trek will kick off on July 14 in Santa Barbara. His other west coast stops include Costa Mesa on the 15th, Las Vegas on the 16th, Phoenix on the 18th, Tucson on the 19th, Albuquerque on the 21st and Thackerville, OK on the 23rd. He’ll have a longer east coast itinerary starting with a show in New Orleans on the 26th and winding up in Bangor, ME on August 20.

Before heading to Europe for his short tour, Dylan performed a series of shows in China last May, marking his first time to perform in the country. Rumors had it that the Chinese government tried to censor his songs by asking for his set lists and the lyrics to the songs he is slated to perform. Dylan confirmed the write-up through a statement posted on his website.

“…the Chinese government had asked for the names of the songs that I would be playing. There’s no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous three months. If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play.”

Bob Dylan’s current release, the 2009 chart topper ‘Together through Life’ which also marks his 33rd studio set, is still out on stores, so is his first Christmas offering which he released also in 2009.

Bob Dylan will be allowed to perform in China according to censors who were concerned about China’s government not showing Dylan’s performances due to his purported lack of respect for government in general.

According to a statement by China’s Ministry of Culture on its website, Dylan has been cleared to perform as scheduled in Beijing on dates between March 30 and April 12.

The Dylan fan publication, ISIS, indicated that Dylan was going to hold concerts on April 6 in Beijing and on April 8 in Shanghai, but Dylan’s own website does not confirm this report.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture has not yet approved the date in Shanghai and a spokesperson for the ministry, who said his surname was Zhou, did not reveal whether or not it will be approved. Zhou also told reporters to continue to visit the ministry’s website for more information.

Both of these planned dates have been listed on MyPiao.com, the ticketing service website for China; however, tickets are not yet available.

According to the clearance statement, Dylan’s performance will need to be assessed by ministry authorities, but no details as to what can and cannot be included were given.
Requests for a comment from Dylan’s CBS Records publicist went unanswered.

It was anticipated that Dylan, who is 69 years old, would have trouble performing in China due to his connection with anti-government rallies in the 1960s. His songs “The Times They Are a-Changin” and “Blown’ in the Wind” among others were often anthems for anti-war protests and the American civil rights movement.
Dylan has requested to perform in China one other time.

In 2010, Dylan was supposed to perform in both Shanghai and Beijing; however, the concerts never materialized. Many of Dylan’s Chinese fans pointed their fingers at Dylan’s promoter in Taiwan. However, the Taiwanese promoter says he was not to blame. He indicated that the Ministry of Culture required Dylan to agree to a contract stating that he was “not to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” when he gave his concerts.

One person who has followed the Chinese music situation for many years indicated that he was “pleasantly surprised” that the ministry gave approval for Dylan to sing in China. He estimates that the reason is based on the fact that the American legend is not as politically divisive as he used to be. In addition, he is not very recognizable in China. China did not allow many outside influenced when Dylan was at his height of popularity in the 60s.

People come gather round.  If you think it’s worth spending some of your cash on Bob Dylan one-of-a-kind memorabilia, save the date December 10.  That is when Sotheby’s will be auctioning off the handwritten lyrics for Dylan’s song “The Times They Are a-Changin,” as part of the auction house’s larger sale of manuscripts and books.  Sotheby in their catalog listing described the item up for auction  to be a sheet of three-hole, unruled notebook paper.  Dylan wrote four of the verses of his famous protest song on the sheet of paper using simple block lettering.  Later he recorded the song on his 1964 album that had the same title.   One verse that starts with “come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen” isn’t on the document.  However a fragment of the lyrics from “North Country Blues,” another Dylan song, are on the other side of the paper.

Selby Kiffer, senior vice president for the books and manuscript department of Sotheby’s, said originally the document was given to fellow folk singer Kevin Krown by Bob Dylan.  Once he had memorized his songs, Dylan had a tendency of throwing his sheets of lyrics away.  In the 1990s Krown died, and the lyrics were given to Eve and Mac MacKenzie.  On some of Dylan’s earliest New York visits, the MacKenzies had hosted Dylan in their home in Manhattan.

Mr. Kiffer, speaking of Dylan said, although he does appear to have a propensity for dropping people forgetting them and then moving on, at least in the case off the MacKenzies and Krown they did get some tangible at least from it.

You will need to have deep pockets to have any changing of owning the Dylan lyric sheet.  Sotheby’s says they are expecting the lot to go for $200,000-$300,000.

For years Bob Dylan refused to perform in a town that he hadn’t ever hear of.  However he has agreed finally to grace the Bluesfest in Byron Bay with his saintly folk presence.

East Coast Blues and Roots Festival has scored a huge coupe, announcing an impressive three headlining acts.  Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and BB King will be performing at the festival on Easter weekend.

Peter Noble, Bluesfest director, has been trying to chase Dylan down since 2003.  He was scheduled to play that year but at the very last minute pulled out.

BB King and Bob Dylan are rock royalty, Noble said.  In particular we wanted Dylan due to the protest music and counter culture from the early part of his music career representing much of what Bryon Bay at one time was all about.

At one time Byron was a hippy, anti-establishment town.  Getting Bob to perform here always has been a Holy Grail for us.

Bob used to say to not put him in a town he hadn’t heard of.  We did it finally.  Although I think by now he knows about Byron.

The icing on our cake is Elvis Costello.  It’s our best line-up in years.

While the trio will be playing their first Byron Bay shows- and the first appearance for King in Australia since 1955- Bluesfest will see some familiar faces returning, including Rodrigo Y Gabriela, the Mexican duo, Spearhead and Michael Franti.

Ben Harper will be introducing Fist Of Mercy, his new super group comprised of Harper along with Dhani, George Harrison’s son and Joesph Arthur.  Harper will also play with his band Relentless Seven.

The Blind Boys Of Alabama will be pairing up with Aaron Neville in another collaboration for their very first Australian performance.

Other international visitors scheduled to perform include Tony Joe White, Robert Randolph And The Family Band, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks Band and Eric Bibb.

Trinity Roots from New Zealand is returning after being recently reformed.  They will also bring Little Bushmen, their side project along.  Local acts will include Saltwater Band, CW Stoneking, Kate Miller-Heidke, Xavier Rudd, Washington, Ash Grunwald and The Cat Empire.

There will be two additional line-up announcements made in forthcoming months.  However, Dylan’s inclusion alone will most likely move tickets fast.

“Pawn Stars”, a docu-reality show about a family owned pawn shop in Las Vegas which is aired once a week by History Channel, is the very show which marks the TV appearance debut of legendary troubadour Bob Dylan, after a long, long while, so long, no one could actually remember where the famed musician was last seen in the small screen.

He appeared on the show not as a pawner or as a pawnbroker, but as the source of a potentially valuable item that could be of interest for pawnbrokers.  “Chumlee”, one of the show’s leads, had his copy of “Self Portrait”, one of Dylan’s double records released in 1970, signed by the music legend.

What started out as a semi-scripted run-off on the Vegas strip between Dylan and Chumlee ended with a fist-bump with Chumlee obtaining the prized autograph (but of the many releases Dylan had, the big question is, why “Self Portrait”?).

Is “Dancing with the Stars”  Dylan’s next TV stop, or maybe, “The Bachelor”?  It is unlikely for now, but who knows.

Some of the never publically displayed artwork of Bob Dylan‘s will be shown at the National Gallery in Denmark.

Kasper Monrad, the gallery’s curator, said 40 acrylic paintings made specifically for the exhibition opening on Friday in Denmark will be displayed.

The paintings, called The Brazil Series, features figurative scenes of Brazil’s beaches farms and slums.

The exhibition will be running through January.

The sixty nine year old Dylan sketched the scenes while visiting Brazil.  Then in his studio painted the scenes on canvas.

In a statement Dylan said, I picked Brazil as my subject due to the fact that I like the atmosphere there and have visited several times.

Monrad said Dylan’s art and music have connections.  The imagery is different.  The music and paintings are like two different worlds.

So how did the great Bob Dylan ticketless concert experience at the Warfield go?  The one where the legendary rock musician asked the fans to stand in line outside the concert venue for several hours, holding $60 in cash to be able to get inside without having to worry about scalper markups, printer errors or extra fees?

It was okay.

Outside the Warfield starting at noon on Wednesday there was a long line, with local news vans swarming the area.  However just after 8 pm when the show started the room with 2,250 capacity was visibly undersold.

David Lefkowitz, Goldenvoice Vice President said, it didn’t turn out they way everyone was hoping it would, however it was worth trying the experiment.  The buzz and attention created in the music industry did make this worth doing.    I think what this proves is that people are quite accustomed to having the convenience of buying tickets from home from their computers.

The much more expensive tickets, by comparison, for the Dylan concert at Oakland’s Fox Theater the night before sold out, fees and all, within one hour.

There were a few factors that Lefkowitz thinks that were working against their ticketless model where concert goers were admitted first come first served.

The line might have intimidated some people, he said.  Some people might not have wanted to leave their homes without having a ticket due to the uncertainty.  Probably a majority of Dylan fans have jobs.  It might have been a stretch for them to get to the venue before 6 pm or 7.  It was a challenge.

Dylan came up with the idea himself, maybe to give a nod to doing things old school style.  In the end, however, it may cause people to stop complaining about convenience charges which can cause ticket prices to be double that of the face price.

So will Goldenvoice give it another try, perhaps with an artist with a more foolhardy, fervent following?

Lefkowitz said under the right circumstances I would try this again.  Definitely yes.