镜子的另一面：纽波特民歌艺术节1963~1965

Bob Dylan's 1965 Newport Folk Festival performance, "Like a Rolling Stone," is one of the most iconic moments in rock history. It's not just a fleeting event that's only known through word of mouth; filmmaker Murray Lerner has documented the performances at the festival for several years, and his documentary "The Other Side of the Mirror" gathers footage from Dylan's three-year stint at the festival, allowing us to witness Dylan's rise through the folk scene firsthand. What's most remarkable about watching Lerner's documentary is how much Dylan changed over the course of 36 months. In 1963, he was a young folkie performing nervously on the side of Joan Baez, singing his wordy tunes while chopping away at his acoustic guitar and energizing the crowd without knowing exactly what he was doing. By 1964, he was almost owning Newport, commanding the stage with confidence and new material like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "It Ain't Me, Babe." When the audience demanded an encore after Dylan's set, Peter Yarrow tried to keep the show moving along while Dylan beamed at the crowd's adulation, quickly becoming a rock star. By the time the 1965 Newport Festival rolled around, Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" had started to climb the singles charts, and the hardcore folk audience was divided over his success. Dylan's performance of "Maggie's Farm" with Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, and the rhythm section from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was a mix of enthusiastic cheering and equally emphatic boos. While legend has it that the version following was a shambles, the song still cooks despite drummer Sam Lay's difficulty in finding the groove. After these two numbers, Dylan and his band left the stage, with Yarrow citing technical problems. Dylan returned to the stage with an acoustic six-string to sing "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," before vanishing into the night without comment. While much of the audience at Newport in 1965 wanted the "old" Dylan back, his strong, willful performances made it clear that the scrappy semi-amateur we saw at the beginning of the movie was gone forever. The ovations suggest more than a few people wanted to see Dylan rock. Lerner's film tells us a certain amount of what we already know, but it gently debunks a few myths about Dylan during this pivotal moment in his career. His performances are committed and forceful throughout; no matter how many times you've read about Dylan's Newport shoot-out of 1965, seeing it is a revelatory experience. Lerner has assembled this archival material with intelligence and taste. This is must-see viewing for anyone interested in Dylan or the folk scene of the '60s.