October 7, 2005

Bob Dylan

Finally saw Scorsese’s Bob Dylan documentary last night. Listening to "Live 1966" right now. I found it inspiring…to wanna be a rock star. I don’t think about being successful with my songwriting very often. I’m more obsessed with being a successful writer. An ex-girlfriend once told me that if she had a choice between being a rock star and a fiction star, she would choose rock star. I chose writing star. These are the stupid conversations I sometimes have.

Anyway, now I want to be a rock star, instead of scrounging for my next job and having three people hear my songs at a time.

People have said I look like Bob Dylan. Just look:

dylan

That’s me hanging out in an apartment.

The documentary was also somewhat dispiriting, in the sense that it focused a lot on his malaise during the 66 tour--people’s booing and the inane questions at press conferences. It didn’t show the other half--that this was the most creatively explosive time of his life. It had to be fun too. I didn’t realize that he went electric at Newport well after "Like a Rolling Stone" came out. I always figured that it was his electric coming-out party. But really the booing was done out of self-righteousness rather than surprise. My parents were at that show at Newport. They didn’t boo--they’re not the type to care if someone stops playing folk music. They also saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium. Cool.

Another revelation was that Dylan’s drummer was this guy:

228_mickey

He’s been in hundreds of movies playing white trash/rednecks/bikers. I thought Levon Helm was the drummer, along with the rest of The Band. I read a biography of the band once, Across the Great Divide. The main thing I remember about Levon Helm is that he has a gigantic cock. That must mean something.

2 comments:

Natalia said...

I prefer writing star, definitely. A whole lot less people are interested in you, and are therefore unaware of what you look like. I want my fecking anonymity when I'm running to grab coffee with unwashed hair at seven in the morning.

Anonymous said...

I sorta check in now and again so don’t know if you posted about reading Dylan’s “Chronicles” which is great. If you do decide to read it, I also highly recommend David Hajdu’s “Positively Fourth Street” about Dylan, Joan Baez, Richard and Mimi Farina to be read soon thereafter. Talk about your choice between being a writer/rocker. My man, R. Farina sorted it all out for you. At least PFS w/all its inaccuracies 1) ain’t the hagiography those most Dylan bios are, 2) covers roughly the same era as the PBS docu – up to Farina’s crash and death and 3) isnt the obscurant text that is “Chronicles” in a lotta places (though it goes where you least expect it: David Duke being movie star handsome – whoa.

JB

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