BRATTLEBORO — On Saturday, April 21, at 8 p.m., Cracked Glass Productions presents “Dylanophrenia, Classic Dylan for the Age of Trump.”
The Same Thing Band performs classic songs of Bob Dylan chosen for their relevance to our current political scene. For more than 20 years, The Same Thing has been dedicated to giving voice to Dylan's music.
“Dylan was instrumental in so many political awakenings, including my own,” Jon Mack, manager of the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery and a member of the band, said in a news release.
Now, members of the band from New York join with local Brattleboro and Guilford bandmates to perform Dylan songs that carry a sharp political edge.
Like most groups who perform Dylan's music, this isn't an attempt to “cover” or do a “tribute” to Dylan, but rather to give voice to the poetry and intensity of the words and music that resonate as intensely today as when they were first written.
From songs that have fueled demonstrations over the decades - such as Blowin' in the Wind, A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall and Masters of War - to less familiar tunes like License to Kill, The Same Thing brings its energy to the Hooker-Dunham Theater in a set of tunes that are frighteningly appropriate to the current political reality.
“After more than 20 years playing together, we felt there was no time like the present to bring our band to the Hooker-Dunham in Brattleboro,” Mack said. “We aim to bring to life the hopefulness in the face of despair that, to me, is at the core of Dylan's music.”