Bob Dylan accepts Nobel Prize at last

After months of uncertainty and controversy, Bob Dylan finally accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature at a jovial, champagne-laced ceremony yesterday, the Swedish Academy announced.
The academy, which awards the coveted prize, ended prolonged speculation as to whether the 75-year-old troubadour would use a concert stopover in Stockholm to accept the gold medal and diploma awarded to him back in October.
They were handed to Dylan at a "private ceremony in Stockholm" attended by 12 academy members, Sara Danius, the academy's permanent secretary, said in a blog post.
"Spirits were high. Champagne was had," Danius confided.
"Quite a bit of time was spent looking closely at the gold medal, in particular the beautifully crafted back, an image of a young man sitting under a laurel tree who listens to the Muse," she added.
"Taken from Virgil's Aeneid, the inscription reads: 'Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes,' loosely translated as 'And they who bettered life on earth by their newly found mastery'."
The first songwriter to receive the prestigious award, Dylan joins a celebrated group of laureates including Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Doris Lessing.he meeting took place at a secret location ahead of Dylan's first concert in Stockholm, the first stop on a long-planned European tour for his latest album of cover songs, "Triplicate". His second concert is on due Sunday.
Dylan had not been expected to deliver his traditional Nobel lecture at the meeting -- the only requirement to receive the eight million kronor (837,000 euros, $891,000) that comes with the prize.
He has until June 10 to provide his lecture, which could be anything from a short speech to a performance, a video broadcast or even a song. Failing that, he risks losing the prize money.
"The Academy has reason to believe that a taped version will be sent at a later point," Danius said on Wednesday.

No thank you

Several Academy members, including Danius, were present at the concert as Dylan, wearing a white hat, western-style black blazer and cowboy boots, performed "Love Sick" and "Full Moon And Empty Arms," part of a playlist of standards and self-penned hits.
The American rock enigma's performance was met with a cheering crowd, which gave repeated standing ovations, especially when he played a harmonica.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pakistan tour rejected by Bangladesh

Image
Bangladesh have refused to tour Pakistan for a proposed two-match T20I series sometime before July this year. In a bid to bring international cricket back to the country, the Pakistan Cricket Board had extended an invitation to their counterparts in the Bangladesh Cricket Board after they had successfully hosted the PSL final in Lahore three weeks ago. Among the people who were present at that game was Major AKM Anisud Dowla, a BCB representative. On Friday, Jalal Younis, the BCB's media and communication committee chairman, told  Dhaka Tribune  that, "the reports were not satisfactory enough due to which we had to pull back." PSL chairman Najam Sethi was adamant about hosting the final in Lahore on March 5 and had taken extensive measures to ensure its security. There were bulletproof buses for the teams and five tiers of security extending 2 km from the Gaddafi stadium. Paramilitary forces and local policemen were on hand to monitor the situation as well. Th
Read more

Shakib likeliest to succeed Mashrafe: Hassan

Image
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan said today that the board knew that Mashrafe Bin Mortaza would step down from the captaincy of the T20I side, but not that he would retire from the format altogether. Hassan also said that Shakib Al Hasan is the likeliest candidate to succeed Mashrafe as captain in T20Is. Bangladesh's limited-overs skipper Mashrafe announced his retirement from the shortest format during the toss of the first T20I against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa International Stadium yesterday. "I had a meeting with Mashrafe, Tamim [Iqbal], Mushfiqur [Rahim] and Shakib [Al Hasan] day before yesterday [Monday night]," Hassan told reporters at the holel in Colombo this morning. "I told them that they had such a contribution to the nation's cricket that barring a disciplinary issue no one, not me, not anyone could drop them. They would have to make their own exit plans. "Mashrafe had told us for some time that this series
Read more

Name of NYC Bridge Has Been Misspelled for More Than 50 Years

Image
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge crosses New York Harbor.   It has done so for more than 50 years.   But there is a problem.   The name of the bridge is spelled wrong. The bridge is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano.   (Unlike the bridge, his name has two  Z s.)   He was an Italian explorer.   In 1524, he was the first European to explore New York Harbor. The state office that controls the bridge has said the same thing about the name for years: We know it's wrong, but we're not changing it. An Expensive Change Changing the spelling would be expensive.   Signs, maps, and websites would all have to be changed. New York's Triborough Bridge was changed to Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in 2008.   The change cost $4 million. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964.   No one is sure how the error was made.   The writer Gay Talese described the building of the bridge in a book.   He wrote that in the 1959 building contract, Verrazzano's name was spelled with one Z. &
Read more