According to an exclusive report by Pajiba, we can add one more potentially epic project to the countless films, poems, music, and art inspired by Bob Dylan’s oeuvre: Screenwriter Jay Cocks (The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York) was handpicked by Dylan himself to pen the script for a film project based on 1986 Knocked Out Loaded cut “Brownsville Girl,” which Dylan composed with help from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright/actor Sam Shepard.

Earlier today, Crawdaddy mentioned some excellent front row footage by Urban Agrarian of Minneapolis duo Peter Wolf Crier reinterpreting Nick Drake’s softer folk version of “Place to Be” as a rowdy garage-rock jam atop a bed of digital delay loops. If that live clip — shot at Madison, Wisconsin’s Memorial Union Terrace last month — doesn’t inspire you to check out Peter Pisano and Brian Moen on tour with Rogue Wave and Midlake this fall, I don’t know what will.

What’s more, upon further inspection of the Urban Agrarian site, which I will certainly be following from here on out, I found that Spencer Wells also filmed/recorded a living room show with Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan recently, in which Bob Dylan’s 1970 New Morning standout “The Man In Me” was performed for an intimate group sans microphones or a PA. Download audio of that entire performance here and check out both videos below (big thanks to Wells and Co. for letting us share these clips):

Ahead of the October 12 release date for Antony and the Johnsons’ forthcoming, Björk-guesting Swanlights LP, Antony Hegarty will release a 5-track EP, dubbed (presumably after the full-length’s first single) Thank You For Your Love. In addition to the titular track, the EP includes a recording of The Crying Light bonus cut “My Lord My Love,” new song “You Are The Treasure,” and covers of Bob Dylan’s “Pressing On” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Though the Lennon cover is no big surprise, given Hegarty’s past duets with Yoko Ono and at least one previous Beatles cover, the choice of Dylan’s “Pressing On” off his 1980 gospel album Saved caught me off guard. (Perhaps Antony enjoyed actor Christian Bale’s rendition in I’m Not There after he worked on his own Dylan cover for the film.)

Thank You For Your Love is available on Amazon, Boomkat, and other sites to pre-order for either late this month or early September (an exact release date is not yet confirmed). Previews are streaming here, but they’re disrupted by pauses every 30 seconds, so I do suggest holding off on hearing at least the single until a full stream is available. In the meantime, check out the full tracklist and album cover… **Update: Stream the first single in full below, as well:

Truth be told, this track has been hanging out in my queue for a spell, but I just don’t know what to make of it. Tom Jones teamed up with our favorite recording engineer, Ethan Johns, for his latest record, Praise And Blame, an album that recalls the Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash American series of yore and opens up with an uber-intimate take on Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy song “What Good Am I?”

Jones’ skillful vocal performance is undeniably more controlled than Dylan’s original, but what’s missing? Dylan’s off-the-cuff delivery? Call me Carlton Banks, if you must, but this is the Tom Jones I love most.

Johns’ production is understated and gorgeous, as usual, and yet this is certainly no “Call Me On Your Way Back Home.” We’re torn on this one, kids, but something tells me that’s a good thing this time. Hear it here.

As far as rap/rock collaborations go, I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a more exciting combo than Jack White and Jay-Z. We know that the pair have at least one song in the can, but with all that kinetic creative energy White described from their session in NYC, are they plotting something more (album, EP)? Perhaps.

“I would love to,” White told Times Online about a possible LP. “If we can find the time.” Those exciting pull-quotes are preceded, however, by an even more intriguing bit from interviewer Craig McClean which states that White and Hova are set to reconvene “in a few weeks” at the Third Man record shop/studio/headquarters in Nashville.

Great news, of course, though that wasn’t the only potential future collaboration White discussed in the Q&A…

Joni Mitchell has been on my mind (and iPod) a ton this month, ever since reading Emily Gould’s excellent piece on This Recording from the day after April Fool’s Day. I’ve never been so intrigued by a musician that I can barely stand listening to. She’s brilliant and beautiful, for sure, but I’m inexplicably intolerant of the feelings her songs induce. Maybe Mitchell’s work moves and irritates some like Joanna Newsom’s “Sadie” moves me and inspires my friends to demand I turn the Milk-Eyed Mender down. Either way, Mitchell just added some fuel to the fire…

The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, Jesse Malin, Norah Jones, Sean Lennon, the Strokes’ Fab Moretti and Nikolai Fraiture, and many more will descend on NYC’s Bowery Ballroom next month for an epic one-night event dubbed simply, “Dylan Fest 2010: A Night To Get Drunk And Celebrate The songs of Bob Dylan!” Everybody must get stoned wasted.

According to the event description (via CoS and Time Out New York), Malin will lead the so-called Cabin Down Below Band for a celebration of Dylan’s 69th birthday with an evening of… well, I guess that title pretty much says it all.

Ready for more of the to-be-inebriated special guest performers? In addition to the names mentioned above, Little Joy’s Binki Shapiro, Nicole Atkins, Tracy Bonham, Mooney Suzuki’s Sammy James Jr., Jody Porter from Fountains Of Wayne, All American Rejects singer Tyson Ritter, Longwave’s Steve Schiltz and others are also piling on.

What’s more, tickets are only 13 bucks for the May 27 event, so grab a credit card, harmonica, and flask, and click here to join in the festivities.

Here are a few choice morsels from the queue before we get cooking…

• Whereas Cursive picked the absolute least likely song to cover in A.V. Club’s Undercover project, Justin Townes Earle did his middle and last name proud, and opted for Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” from Nebraska.
• Combing through Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour for Tom Waits spoken word segments is a daunting project. No worries, though, Aquarium Drunkard has Tom and Bob talking fun facts here.
• I’m sure Jimmy Fallon himself doesn’t book the musical guests on his show, but you have to give him props for hiring the person that does: The Specials performed in the U.S. for the FIRST TIME IN 30 YEARS last night. Watch them play two classic cuts from their beloved debut album at Stereogum.
• Finally, after a week or two of leaked tracks surfacing via YouTube, MP3 demos, and mysterious .zip files from LCD Soundsystem’s new album, This Is Happening, James Murphy and company are officially streaming their (final?) record on the official LCD site.

If you’ve been following current events you may be aware of China’s opposition to Google’s decision to end its censoring of search results in the country—unfortunately, they’re exchanging one form of censorship for another: The Chinese Ministry of Culture has refused permission for Bob Dylan to play his scheduled dates in Shanghai and Beijing this month, the Guardian reports. This has led to the canceling of shows in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea (though Dylan was previously able to complete the Japanese leg of his tour).

According to promoter Jeffrey Wu, Chinese “officials ha[ve] become more cautious since Björk, the Icelandic singer, chanted ‘Tibet! Tibet!’ after performing a song called “Declare Independence” in Shanghai in 2008.” Wu, of Taiwanese promoters Brokers Brothers Herald, said that “What Björk did definitely made life very difficult for other performers. They are very wary of what will be said by performers on stage now.”

On a brighter note, Dylan (the composer of the forthcoming My Own Love Song soundtrack) now has the entire month of April off until his tour resumes late next month in Greece.