"I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom." - Bob Dylan
1. Crooning Bob, Hidden Muse
2. Masked & Anonymous
3. Robert Allen Zimmerman
4. Elston Gunn
5. A Star Is Born
6. A Legend Mends A Legend
7. Emergence
8. Bringing It All Back Home
9. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid
10. Grammy Time
11. Pope On The Red Line
12. In Their Father's Footsteps?
13. Albums Of The Year
14. Hollywood Hit List
15. Jack Fate
16. Award Monger
17. The Missing Beatle?
1. Crooning Bob, Hidden Muse
Recently a Japanese writer named Junichi Saga was astonished and
flattered to learn that passages from one of his books apparently found
their way into a few of Bob Dylan's lyrics.
In Bob Dylan's 2001 song, "Floater", he croons - "My old man, he's like
some feudal lord, got more lives than a cat." "I'm not quite as cool or
forgiving as I sound" "Sometimes somebody wants you to give something
up, and tears or not, it's too much to ask."
On page six of Junicihi Saga's book, "Confessions of a Yakuza", he
writes - "My old man would sit there like a feudal lord." "I'm not as
cool or forgiving as I might have sounded." Then on page 182, writes -
"Tears or not, though, that was too much to ask."
The practitioner of Chinese medicine resounded that the revelation of
Dylan calling upon his own work was surprising. This could be counted
as a literary theft of sorts, but the author has stated he has no plans
to sue. "Why would I sue? To take something that made people around the
world happy and try to exploit it for money - that's poverty.", stated
Saga.
"This shows that people in other countries can relate to the harsh
realities of prewar Japan, which was a poor, struggling nation. I'm
just happy somebody read my book and liked it.", said Saga. "My book
hasn't even sold that well, and it's out of print in Japan." He further
added he has estimated to have only made about $8,475 from the
publication.
A few weeks ago, Saga bought his first Bob Dylan CD, "The Best of Bob Dylan".
2. Masked & Anonymous
Would you reach out a hand to save a drowning man if you thought he might pull you in?
This is the tagline for Bob's latest film called, "Masked &
Anonymous". In it, Bob plays, Jack Fate, a singer whose career has gone
on a downward spiral and is forced to make a comeback to the
performance stage for a benefit concert. For this film he was joined by
some of Hollywood's hottest and brightest, all of which reportedly
signed onto the film at scale rates. The cast includes: John Goodman,
Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Reggie Lee,
Angela Bassett, Steven Bauer, Larry Campbell, Bruce Dern, Alex Desert,
Treva Etienne, Dan Frischman, Tony Garnier, Laura Elena Harring, Ed
Harris, Shawn Michael Howard, Val Kilmer, Bruce Kirschbaum, Antonio
David Lyons, Cheech Marin, Chris Penn, George Receli, Giovanni Ribisi,
Mickey Rourke, Sam Sarpong, Charlie Sexton, Jon Sklaroff, Christian
Slater and Fred Ward. On top of all of that, T-Shirt King friend, Keri
Bruno, pulls 2nd Unit Directing duties on the talent heavy film.
The film hits theatres in a limited US release on July 25th.
3. Robert Allen Zimmerman
At 5 foot six inches, Robert Allen Zimmerman might be a slight man, but
under the name Bob Dylan, he is a legendary giant of a musician.
4. Elston Gunn
Robert Allen Zimmerman was born May 24th 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. His
father, Abe, was employed by the Standard Oil Company there, but when
Robert was six the family moved to Hibbing, Minnesota. The one riddling
note about Hibbing is that is very often the coldest place in the
United States. Yikes. Growing up there he taught himself piano and
guitar and formed several high school rock bands. Around this time he
toyed with the stage name, "Elston Gunn".
5. A Star Is Born
By 1959, Robert entered the University of Minnesota and began
performing under the name Bob Dylan at clubs in Minnesota and St. Paul.
6. A Legend Mends A Legend
In 1960 he traveled to New York to perform in various folk clubs
throughout Greenwich Village. While in New York he spent time with his
idol, Woody Guthrie at his hospital room.
7. Emergence
Late in 1961 he landed a contract with Columbia Records and the
following year his debut album was released with two original songs. A
year after that, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" emerged with an all
original album, including a song that became an anthem of the '60's -
"Blowin' in the Wind".
8. Bringing It All Back Home
In February 1964 Dylan and a small group of friends drove south out of
New York City and stopped in unannounced to see poet 'Carl Sandburg' in
North Carolina. Disappointingly, Dylan left only 10 minutes after
arriving when he realized he couldn't get the venerable man of letters
to take him seriously as a fellow poet.
He popped folk-rock into the mainstream after touring with Joan Baez
with his own flavor of electric/acoustic swagger, culminating with his
hit song, "Bringing it all Back Home". Soon after the Byrd's turned his
song "Mr. Tambourine Man" into another hit with their cover version of
the famous tune.
9. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid
Following a motorcycle accident in 1966 which took him out of the
limelight until 1969. Around that time, Sam Peckinpah asked him to
compose the score and appear in his film, "Pat Garrett and Billy the
Kid". This would be the only the beginning of a long and continuing
relationship with Hollywood and filmmaking.
10. Grammy Time
In 1974, Bob Dylan and The Band hit the road to promote their first
number one album, "Planet Waves". The next year they had another
chart-topper with the release of, "Blood on the Tracks". He followed
that with several Rolling Thunder tours, a film called, "Renaldo and
Clara" and then stunned the music world with the release of his
fundamentalist Christian album, "Slow Train Coming". A song from this
album garnered him his first Grammy.
11. Pope On The Red Line
In May 1997, he was stricken with histaplasmosis, a possibly fatal
infection of the heart sac, but recovered to take on a tour of Europe.
He kicked off the trip by September, starting off in Rome by special
request of the Pope.
12. In Their Father's Footsteps?
His son Jakob Dylan has made a good time semi-emulating his infamous
father with his own band, The Wallflowers. However, his Jesse Dylan has
taken a slightly altered route to stardom, opting for the glamour of
Tinsletown. His first major directing gig is about to be released,
"American Pie 3". Jesse also directed a film called, "How High" and
appears with a special thanks credit on "The Matrix Revisited".
13. Albums Of The Year
He is truly legendary, his 1997 album, "Time Out of Mind" and his 2001
album "Love and Theft" were both voted Album of the Year by the Village
Voice's annual critics' poll. Seems like a no-brainer to us.
14. Hollywood Hit List
He has composed and recorded songs or had his recorded songs used in the following films:
Gods & Generals
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Vanilla Sky
Bandits
Blow
Remember the Titans
High Fidelity
Wonder Boys
The Hurricane
American Beauty
Hope Floats
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Big Lebowski
Jerry Maguire
Breaking the Waves
With Honors
Dogfight
Band of the Hand
American Pop
Renaldo and Clara
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
15. Jack Fate
The small $10 million dollar film, "Masked & Anonymous" was
directed by veteran TV comedy director, Larry Charles, who has also
helmed shows for, "Mad About You", "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your
Enthusiasm".
He appeared on the TV show, "Dharma & Greg" playing himself. When
he met Conan O'Brien at a recent concert, Bob was quoted as saying, "I
know you from the TeeVee."
16. Award Monger
He has received numerous awards of note, including: The Polar Music
Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2000, The Commandeur
dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France in 1990, an honorary
doctorate from Princeton University in 1970 and was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springteen at New York's Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in 1988.
17. The Missing Beatle?
He appears on the sleeve of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club".
At the famous "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" concert, Johnny Cash
introduced a song he co-wrote with Dylan by describing his as "…the
greatest writer of our times."
