Merrill!!! Bless you for the Toshi screed! As a half Japanese (retired) television producer (I know who does the heavy lifting in same, hence my worship of YOUR work) I went to a fancy screening (got swag, thanks marketing people) but was silently screaming about Toshi’s slight. I haven’t complained too much in public, saying rather “as a general rule, I don’t go for biopics but I’m glad new audiences will discover this music.” But YOU are my Christmas blessing. May Bob’s lights sparkle for you if you want em too.
There are so many silent, bored, cigarette smoking women in Don’t Look Back they could have joined SAG/AFTRA. I think Marianne Faithfull was one of them.
Bravo to this one! Print it out and slip it under Bobs gate in a waterproof bag of course because who knows when he’ll be home! Also I see an op-Ed in here. Xo
I had no idea Toshi was producer, director, festival creator/organizer, and I assume archivist and preservationist. A ton of partners of male musicians are unsung archivists and preservationists by default, never mentioned.
I think that part is not so much the concern of the male partners of female musicians, though some become the managers and controllers (or over-controllers).
But seems like the work of music that's closer to house- and child-keeping jobs is taken for granted if the female half is doing it. (Archival (early on) being like dealing w the 'clutter', 'putting away' and 'taking care/keeping track of'. Unnoticed managerial = 'entertaining', perhaps 'getting the guy to places on time' or 'collecting ticket $'.)
Back to Toshi -- I bet she played instruments and sang, which is never mentioned.
Speaking of who might bother to archive (early on) women musicians without a wife ... (and of course no generalization is true, it's entirely individual) .
I watched part of a video last night about Joan Baez, entering her storage locker to look for some stuff.
Narrator:
(Leslie Stahl, dramatically) "Her mother saved EVERYTHING. Home movies, letters. DRAWINGS. But Joan had never. even. looked at it."
Oh, for fuck’s sake, really? In this day and age? Ugh. That’s..unfathomable.
I was lucky enough to be having dinner in the same restaurant as Pete and Toshi a few years ago, in Beacon. When they got up to leave, v e r y slowly, I heard Pete say to Toshi ‘How about you just get behind me..and PUSH.’ It was delightful. Happy holidays, Merrill!
Thank you for this. I haven't seen the movie yet, but, with your recommendation, I'll put aside my grumpy old fart tiredness of seeing Timotheee's face every five seconds and take in the movie. Also was doubtful about Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, but, again, must put aside my reluctance to see people with whom I'm very familiar played by actors with whom I'm very familiar (Lenny Bruce, Dustin Hoffman). I'm dumbfounded, though, by the film's treatment of Toshi Seeger, but I don't doubt for an instant that your description is spot on. This was such a golden opportunity to correct the longtime invisibility of such an important person in the folk music world, the world that interested me in music in the first place. I never made the Yoko Ono connection, but it was instantly obvious when you brought it up. What a crock of shit! I don't read a lot of reviews, but this is the first time anyone has even mentioned it. Of course, I canceled a lot of subscriptions during the time leading up to the election. To paraphrase the Lone Ranger in the oft-heard Jay Thomas story, "I'll listen to *you,* citizen." Merry Christmas!
Good lord, by the end of this piece the film has started to sound to me less like a biopic and more like some sort of post-modern Godardian experiment. You’ve absolutely established permanent ownership of the “scabrous but breezy” comedy lane.
I actually really enjoyed watching Mr. Chalamet do Dylan. He really nails it. And It was enlightening to be reminded that the dude was 22 years old when this all began for him. Ditto Monica Barbaro playing Joan Baez. It was only after I started noticing the amount that Toshi was appearing in the film and saying nothing that I realized the script actually sucks. But the performances of Chalamet and Barbaro are fantastic.
You might have heard this already but apparently Bob said nice things about “Timmy” and the film, even though he had not seen it at the time he was being interviewed.
Brilliant! A couple of months ago there was an article about actresses who said more silently without much dialogue (ie Saoirse Ronan, Isabella Rossellini)but this is beyond the pale. Hooray for writing about Toshi in depth. Silent, creative and talented woman syndrome indeed. I look forward to an investigation on Suze Rotolo who wrote her own interesting memoir which included the bit of info that Bob couldn’t bother to put on the phone any one of the the band members of her favorite group, The Beatles, while hanging out with them in their hotel rooms. Here’s to women!
i love your dissection of the Toshi parts of the film.( I loved your Bob Xmas tree lights essays and deep thoughts about those). I have my tickets to see the film on Xmas day and i'm sure i'll laugh and remember your analysis and everyone around me will stare because they do not know what the fuck I'm laughing about. These are serious Bobfans in this theater, shhhhhhh! I love Bob and have for 50 years. Jesus I am old, but also privileged to have had his music in my life for so long. He is second to none and he contains multitudes. Bob biopic and then eating latkas sounds like a gift to me.
I LOVE this—just as I loved Rainbow Bridge when I was a kid trapped in the suburbs with no direction home. All hail Toshi Seeger and Merril for brilliantly shouting her out.
Another fantastic post, Merrill! I thought you might enjoy knowing that it was your study of Dylan‘s Christmas lights that first brought me to you. I read about it and was like oh my God. I would love to know this woman. Subscribed immediately and haven’t been disappointed once.
Thank you!!! I was wondering why they kept cutting to Toshi's disapproving reactions over and over again. Like is she the 'silent but judgmental' Asian stereotype? You have
got to be KIDDING me, she was a Producer?!! I wonder if they cut out her dialogue too. Unbelievable! Thank you, Merrill for this brilliant investigation.
I would have had those same questions about her constant inclusion and concluded it was just Asian woman stereotyping if there were no google. And probably that would have been correct. But thanks to EVERYONE of note being findable on google, I was able to make it ten times as infuriating. Finally a reason to praise google!
love love this. as the quintessential Dylan fan, I will see the movie, but now that you’ve pointed this out, it will irk me too. If it wouldn’t have already.
Merrill!!! Bless you for the Toshi screed! As a half Japanese (retired) television producer (I know who does the heavy lifting in same, hence my worship of YOUR work) I went to a fancy screening (got swag, thanks marketing people) but was silently screaming about Toshi’s slight. I haven’t complained too much in public, saying rather “as a general rule, I don’t go for biopics but I’m glad new audiences will discover this music.” But YOU are my Christmas blessing. May Bob’s lights sparkle for you if you want em too.
So Toshi is the complete unknown!
Omg!! Thank you so much. This is so classic and so fucked. Merry Christmas. To women.
There are so many silent, bored, cigarette smoking women in Don’t Look Back they could have joined SAG/AFTRA. I think Marianne Faithfull was one of them.
Bravo to this one! Print it out and slip it under Bobs gate in a waterproof bag of course because who knows when he’ll be home! Also I see an op-Ed in here. Xo
I had no idea Toshi was producer, director, festival creator/organizer, and I assume archivist and preservationist. A ton of partners of male musicians are unsung archivists and preservationists by default, never mentioned.
I think that part is not so much the concern of the male partners of female musicians, though some become the managers and controllers (or over-controllers).
But seems like the work of music that's closer to house- and child-keeping jobs is taken for granted if the female half is doing it. (Archival (early on) being like dealing w the 'clutter', 'putting away' and 'taking care/keeping track of'. Unnoticed managerial = 'entertaining', perhaps 'getting the guy to places on time' or 'collecting ticket $'.)
Back to Toshi -- I bet she played instruments and sang, which is never mentioned.
Good points. Happy Holidays Lily. Thanks for all your very interesting and meaningful continued correspondence. I enjoy it.
Speaking of who might bother to archive (early on) women musicians without a wife ... (and of course no generalization is true, it's entirely individual) .
I watched part of a video last night about Joan Baez, entering her storage locker to look for some stuff.
Narrator:
(Leslie Stahl, dramatically) "Her mother saved EVERYTHING. Home movies, letters. DRAWINGS. But Joan had never. even. looked at it."
Ah, of course !
Oh, for fuck’s sake, really? In this day and age? Ugh. That’s..unfathomable.
I was lucky enough to be having dinner in the same restaurant as Pete and Toshi a few years ago, in Beacon. When they got up to leave, v e r y slowly, I heard Pete say to Toshi ‘How about you just get behind me..and PUSH.’ It was delightful. Happy holidays, Merrill!
Happy Holidays to YOU, Sally.
Thank you for this. I haven't seen the movie yet, but, with your recommendation, I'll put aside my grumpy old fart tiredness of seeing Timotheee's face every five seconds and take in the movie. Also was doubtful about Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, but, again, must put aside my reluctance to see people with whom I'm very familiar played by actors with whom I'm very familiar (Lenny Bruce, Dustin Hoffman). I'm dumbfounded, though, by the film's treatment of Toshi Seeger, but I don't doubt for an instant that your description is spot on. This was such a golden opportunity to correct the longtime invisibility of such an important person in the folk music world, the world that interested me in music in the first place. I never made the Yoko Ono connection, but it was instantly obvious when you brought it up. What a crock of shit! I don't read a lot of reviews, but this is the first time anyone has even mentioned it. Of course, I canceled a lot of subscriptions during the time leading up to the election. To paraphrase the Lone Ranger in the oft-heard Jay Thomas story, "I'll listen to *you,* citizen." Merry Christmas!
Good lord, by the end of this piece the film has started to sound to me less like a biopic and more like some sort of post-modern Godardian experiment. You’ve absolutely established permanent ownership of the “scabrous but breezy” comedy lane.
I actually really enjoyed watching Mr. Chalamet do Dylan. He really nails it. And It was enlightening to be reminded that the dude was 22 years old when this all began for him. Ditto Monica Barbaro playing Joan Baez. It was only after I started noticing the amount that Toshi was appearing in the film and saying nothing that I realized the script actually sucks. But the performances of Chalamet and Barbaro are fantastic.
You might have heard this already but apparently Bob said nice things about “Timmy” and the film, even though he had not seen it at the time he was being interviewed.
That's a very strange way to give a compliment. "I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it's great."
I think Dylan approaches compliments with an awkward amount of caution, as one might when walking near a pommel horse.
“Scabrous but breezy comedy”! What a perfect description.
Brilliant! A couple of months ago there was an article about actresses who said more silently without much dialogue (ie Saoirse Ronan, Isabella Rossellini)but this is beyond the pale. Hooray for writing about Toshi in depth. Silent, creative and talented woman syndrome indeed. I look forward to an investigation on Suze Rotolo who wrote her own interesting memoir which included the bit of info that Bob couldn’t bother to put on the phone any one of the the band members of her favorite group, The Beatles, while hanging out with them in their hotel rooms. Here’s to women!
i love your dissection of the Toshi parts of the film.( I loved your Bob Xmas tree lights essays and deep thoughts about those). I have my tickets to see the film on Xmas day and i'm sure i'll laugh and remember your analysis and everyone around me will stare because they do not know what the fuck I'm laughing about. These are serious Bobfans in this theater, shhhhhhh! I love Bob and have for 50 years. Jesus I am old, but also privileged to have had his music in my life for so long. He is second to none and he contains multitudes. Bob biopic and then eating latkas sounds like a gift to me.
I LOVE this—just as I loved Rainbow Bridge when I was a kid trapped in the suburbs with no direction home. All hail Toshi Seeger and Merril for brilliantly shouting her out.
Yes Merrill is brilliant. Heroic. And a comic genius on top of that A national treasure as the saying goes.
That’s Merrill, of course!
Goodness gracious! The talented real-life women in show biz rarely get enough respect.
Another fantastic post, Merrill! I thought you might enjoy knowing that it was your study of Dylan‘s Christmas lights that first brought me to you. I read about it and was like oh my God. I would love to know this woman. Subscribed immediately and haven’t been disappointed once.
Thank you so much. I appreciate the compliments!
Thank you!!! I was wondering why they kept cutting to Toshi's disapproving reactions over and over again. Like is she the 'silent but judgmental' Asian stereotype? You have
got to be KIDDING me, she was a Producer?!! I wonder if they cut out her dialogue too. Unbelievable! Thank you, Merrill for this brilliant investigation.
I would have had those same questions about her constant inclusion and concluded it was just Asian woman stereotyping if there were no google. And probably that would have been correct. But thanks to EVERYONE of note being findable on google, I was able to make it ten times as infuriating. Finally a reason to praise google!
love love this. as the quintessential Dylan fan, I will see the movie, but now that you’ve pointed this out, it will irk me too. If it wouldn’t have already.