Pretzel Logic – 5: In Concert: Brandeis University (Bob Dylan)
by Logan K. Young
As any major dude will tell you: writing about music can be exhaustingly subjective.
So, Rikki, here’s your Logic 101 homework done for you. Easy A.
Bob Dylan, In Concert: Brandeis University (Columbia Legacy)
If given a choice between this half-an-hour album or its half-hearted liner notes, then I’d stop and ponder if life is even worth living. Ultimately, I guess I’d have to go with the latter. After all, Michael Gray did write The Bobbie Dylan Encyclopedia. Show some respect, for Chrissakes.
Let a = the Brandeis album
Have b = Brandeis, the notes
Allow g = Gray is a trusted authority on Dylan
Premise 1: (a ∨ b) → g
If Gray’s an expert Dylanologist though – on par with the old guard of Williams, Christgau, Marcus or even Yan Wenner – then don’t call me Ishmael because I must be the Queen of Albion.
So q = I’m the Queen of England
Premise 2: g → q
Of course, while I indeed was the ‘King Of Wishful Thinking’ (insofar as this one’s storied potential, while it sat gathering 40 years of dust on Ralph Gleason’s shelf), I can’t even command a Macintosh keyboard shortcut. My kingdom – a reasonable one where greedy, cash-strapped suits don’t re-purpose every gig, tune or fart Dylan ever made – is not of this world. Like the former Mr. Zimmerman heard here, I’m just a callow country boy.
Premise 3: ¬q
Thus, these liners b/w of a record from the rich man’s Phil Ochs suck giant, day-old matzah balls from the Brandeis student union. L’chaim!
∴¬b
[[(a ∨ b) → g] ∧ (g → q) ∧ ¬q] → ¬b
(4 out of 10 Booles for the essay; 3 outta 20 Freges for the record)
