Bob Dylan fans

[Spiritinthesky]

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[5thBeliever]

Huge Bob fan, seen him upwards of 15 times. Mando slips into his work in unexpected places; Together Through Life especially.

[KEB]

I've seen Bob a couple of time -- he's definitely in a different phase of his career than he was when he was as a young man. I still enjoy his live stuff, but he's much more hit or miss than he used to be. If you end up going to one of his shows and it's a clunker of a show, it can be painful.

When he's on though, he can be as expressive as ever. If you're not into Tom Waits/Leonard Coehn-style thoaty vocals, you should probably avoid though. I really enjoy his bluesy later stuff though.

[Spiritinthesky]

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[Chief]

Huge Dylan fan here. Have seen him twice live, and actually live in his hometown, Duluth Mn. I grew up about 6 blocks from where Bob grew up, until he moved to Hibbing Mn.- about 50 miles from here. One of the highlights of my musical career took place last spring when my group, the Deja vu Drifters played a concert on the front porch of Dylan's boyhood home in honor of his 70th. birthday. The mojo was heavy in the air. We were waiting for Bob to show up (he was invited), but he never did.

[Spiritinthesky]

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[Jon Hall]

If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be Bobby. I've never seen him live but have listened to and played his songs since 1965. Currently our band includes "One More Cup of Coffee" and "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" in our set lists.

[Fretbear]

"No Direction Home" is an amazing DVD, and an absolute must for any fan. In the beginning he talks about where he came from and who he was, simply a "musical expeditionary." I don't know if I would have found the courage and determination to be a songwriter without his (and Steve Earle's) overpowering influence, and I am very grateful to him for it.

[barney 59]

I have seen Bob Dylan a couple of times way back in the day and a couple of times in more recent years. I have been a huge fan almost from the beginning and probably starting from him came my interest in folk music. First came Bob and then came Woody....on and on. Bob can do what ever he likes in my book but I have to say that having seen him recently I am a little disappointed in the fact that coming from the person that has written,in my opinion,the greatest,most inspired lyrics ever I couldn't understand a freakin' word!

[Rick Nelson]

Tried reading his autobiography. No three sentences combined to make any sentence. a shame what happened to his voice. Someone should tell him to stop touring and recording and let the legacy live on.

[Fretbear]

After watching "No Direction Home" I finally got something that had eluded me up until then.
As a folk music practitioner and fan of singer-songwriters, I had always held him in the highest regard, but never realized that by 1965, he had already finished writing a huge part of his folk catalog.
He just wanted to get an electric guitar and a band and continue to lead the way as a musical expeditionary into the sixties and beyond. All that nonsense of him and The Band being booed at Newport Folk and during the English tour was like someone yelling at a mother giving birth because her new-born child is not fully grown and reading and writing books yet. I always saw him and people like Jimi Hendrix, etc. as in completely separate categories, but he was the first and only member of the counter-culture recording on Capitol in the early sixties which was unheard of at the time, after Vanguard and Folkways records both threw him out of their offices and wanted nothing to do with him. He states that when he began to play electric music in large venues, that the sound-men had no equipment or idea of how to go about it, and in fact would continue to not have a clue for a good number of years more to come.
He was way more involved in the actual birth of modern rock and pop and it's public performance as we know it than would seem immediately obvious.

"I own the Sixties.....you want them.....?"
Bob Dylan

[retroman]

Just to make a correction to the last post, it was not "The Band" who backed up Dylan at Newport 65, but Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield along with others from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. I believe it was the Hawks (later became The Band) that backed him up for the following England/Europe tour, after Mike Bloomfield declined.

I have seen Bob a few times, and found his live performances in recent years to be disappointing. I wonder why he still tours, because he does not seem to enjoy it. I have a slight personal connection to Bob - my grandmother (who lived with my family since I was born) became friends with Bob's mom after another family member moved to the Duluth area. In 1954, she baked strudel, packed it in her suitcase, and travelled to Duluth, where she attended Bob's Bar Mitzvah, and her strudel was served there...

[John Flynn]

His first "Greatest Hits" album was the first album I ever bought with my own money. It was on 8-track tape! I played that thing until it wore out. I still love his early stuff.

[Elliot Luber]

An old friend of mine writes the daily Bob Dylan Blog for the UK's Examiner newspaper Website.

[Chief]

Just saw the movie "I'm Not There" again last night. What a great movie. If you're into Dylan at all, it's a don't miss. Dylan himself is not in it, but his music is. It's a very non traditional flick that has Dylan portrayed by 5 different people, including Cate Blanchet, who's incredible. Highly recommended.

[SternART]

David Grisman once gave Dylan a mandolin lesson.

[barney 59]

I wonder if was with the mandolin that Bob Dylan snaked away from me? I was at a music store and they had a Martin 2-30 that I was looking at. I called the next morning to say I'd buy it and was told that Bob Dylan had bought it. Turned out Bob was doing some recording with the Grateful Dead at that time and this particular music store was near the Dead's studio.

My son, when he was in high school -- maybe 15 -16 was writing poetry and got noticed by some of The "City Lights" crowd. Getting published in periodicals and awards and all the while failing English at school. He goes to a party that some of his new friends were holding at a loft in San Francisco. When I went to pick him up I found him sitting on a sofa talking to Bob Dylan!

[Elliot Luber]

Just saw the movie "I'm Not There" again last night. What a great movie. If you're into Dylan at all, it's a don't miss. Dylan himself is not in it, but his music is. It's a very non traditional flick that has Dylan portrayed by 5 different people, including Cate Blanchet, who's incredible. Highly recommended.

I really did not like that movie. It was a bit too abstract for me, and too much hero worship when you think of it. Reminds me of the people who wanted the Ghandi movie to portray him as only a beam of light.

[jaycat]

All that nonsense of him . . . being booed at Newport Folk and during the English tour was like someone yelling at a mother giving birth . . .

Then again, I read somewhere that when he was performing songs from his Christian period, he was picketed by atheists! For whatever reason, he has always been an artist whose audience felt they had the right to dictate to him what he should be doing.

Have to agree that "I'm Not There" did nothing for me. At least the first 15 minutes, which is all I could make it thru.

Saw him live in '74 with the Band, then in '95, and '00. The last two were really superfluous. Nevertheless, I feel he is the preeminent popular musician of the second half of the 20th century.

[KEB]

Then again, I read somewhere that when he was performing songs from his Christian period, he was picketed by atheists!

To be fair, someone needed to protest "Man Named All the Animals"

[neil argonaut]

Yeah, have to agree about not really feeling "i'm not there"; the only thing that kept me in the cinema was the soundtrack. I did really enjoy the autobiography though. Saw him live about a decade ago, and enjoyed it, though nearly everyone else I've talked to that was there hated it, as he was massively changing his classic songs (which I expected, having heard he tends to do massively different versions now).

[jaycat]

To be fair, someone needed to protest "Man Named All the Animals"

Not his finest moment, I agree.

[retroman]

and there's this....

[Fretbear]

Give it to "Little Mo'" McCoury, he'll turn it into gold......