Who is that man? : in search of the real Bob Dylan

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Title:

Who is that man? : in search of the real Bob Dylan

Personal Author:

Dalton, David, 1945- author.

ISBN:

9781401311124

Edition:

First trade paperback edition.

Physical Description:

xiii, 383 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Contents:

Foreword: Letter to Bob -- Prologue: Something was happening but I didn't know what it was: that afternoon with Bob -- Introduction -- Creation myths -- The Hall of Early Folk Memories -- Woody Junior -- Li'l Abner on Bleecker Street -- Folk Messiah -- The Zimmerman letter -- From a Buick 6 -- The hallucinated alphabet -- Bob gets wired -- How does it feel? Self portrait at 24 frames per second -- Ballad of a thin man -- Godzilla vs. Mothra: two icons of the '60s meet under false pretenses -- That wild Mercury sound: what are Shakespeare, Memphis Minnie, Jackie DeShannon, John Lennon, Achilles, Napoleon XIV, Lesley Gore, and Johann Sebastian Bach doing on this album? -- After the ambulances go -- Somebody got lucky but it was an accident -- Fifty-four minutes inside Bob's brain -- Who is Tiny Montgomery? -- The cowboy angel rides: John Wesley Harding -- The invisible man goes to Nashville -- The amnesia -- How Dylan became Dylan, sort of -- Under the rings of Saturn -- The second coming of Bob -- Bob's wild west (village) show -- Epiphany in room 702 -- Down the road -- When I paint my masterpiece -- The enigma variations.

Abstract:

"Drawing upon extensive interviews with Dylan's friends and fellow eyewitnesses--including Marianne Faithful, Steven Tyler and Allen Ginsberg--the founding editor of Rolling Stone presents a kaleidoscopic biography of the rock icon, providing a new perspective on the man, the myth and the musical legend."--Publishers description.

Personal Subject:

Dylan, Bob, 1941-

Dylan, Bob, 1941- (OCoLC)fst00010041.

Subject Term:

Singers -- United States -- Biography.

Singers. (OCoLC)fst01119301.

Geographic Term:

United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155.

Genre:

Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686.

Electronic Access:

Contributor biographical information https://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1621/2016560540-b.html

Publisher description https://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1621/2016560540-d.html

Language:

English

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Location
Searching... Lebanon Junction Branch	Book	B DYLA	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Now in paperback and with a new foreword, a kaleidoscopic look at the many faces of Bob Dylan, legendary folk singer-songwriter and winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

For almost half a century, Bob Dylan has been a primary catalyst in rock's shifting sensibilities. Few American artists are as important, beloved, and endlessly examined, yet he remains something of an enigma. Who, we ask, is the "real" Bob Dylan? Is he Bobby Zimmerman, yearning to escape Hibbing, Minnesota, or the Woody Guthrie wannabe playing Greenwich Village haunts? Folk Messiah, Born-Again Bob, Late-Elvis Dylan, Jack Fate, or Living National Treasure? In Who Is That Man? David Dalton--cultural historian, journalist, screenwriter, and novelist--paints a revealing portrait of the rock icon, ingeniously exposing the three-card monte games he plays with his persona.

Guided by Dalton's cutting-edge insights and myth-debunking point of view, Who Is That Man? follows Dylan's imaginative life, integrating actual events with Dylan's words and those of the people who know him most intimately. Drawing upon Dylan's friends and fellow eyewitnesses--including Marianne Faithfull, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Stampfel , Larry "Ratso" Sloman, Eric Andersen, Nat Hentoff, Andrew Oldham, Nat Finkelstein, and others--this book will provide a new perspective on the man, the myth, and the musical era that forged them both.

Author Notes

David Dalton is a New York Times bestselling author, founding editor of Rolling Stone , recipient of the Columbia School of Journalism Award, and winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Best Rock Book of the Year award for Faithfull . He has written some twenty-odd books, including biographies of James Dean, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Sid Vicious, the Rolling Stones, and, in 2009, a critically acclaimed biography of Andy Warhol, Pop . Dalton is the coauthor (with Jonathan Cott) of Get Back , the only book ever commissioned by the Beatles. He lives in upstate New York with his family and an assortment of llamas, horses, sheep, and a pig named Tiny (hint, he isn't).

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bob Dylan's life and legacy have received plenty of coverage, but few biographers have had the insight and writing chops of Dalton (Get Back), a founding editor of Rolling Stone who is at the peak of his powers in this engaging examination of Dylan's ever-changing persona. Though he hits the obligatory career highlights (e.g., Dylan's quick assimilation into the New York City folk scene, his electric set at Newport, the motorcycle accident that supposedly almost cost him his life, etc.), it's Dalton's keen observations of Dylan's chameleon-like qualities that make this study such addictive reading. Fully aware of the power of the public image, Dylan carefully cultivated his influences from the beginning (many of which he would adopt outright, such as that of Woody Guthrie), skillfully crafting an image of a larger-than-life folk messiah that eventually morphed into a grumpy, hoodie-wearing recluse, and back into a formidable presence in the music world. Dalton is at his best when he's examining Dylan from a thousand feet; his retrospective audit of the artist's early years and his career path are spot-on and full of critical insight. He artfully dances between fan and critic, fully admiring Dylan's work and putting it into a cultural perspective, while remaining somewhat awestruck by the artist's talent and creativity. This approach would have crumbled in lesser hands, but Dalton does a stunningly good job. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Dalton (Living with the Dead: Twenty Years on the Bus with Garcia and the Grateful Dead) is the latest in a series of eminent rock critics (Robert Shelton, Paul Williams, Clinton Heylin, Michael Gray, Greil Marcus, et al.) to take on the enigmatic Bob Dylan. Is there anything new to say about Dylan? While the musician's output hasn't slowed, critical studies of Dylan's work appear even more frequently-most recently David Yaffe's Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown and Michael J. Gilmour's The Gospel According to Bob Dylan. Dalton's book is a blend of biography and music appreciation. He deftly traces the familiar contours of Dylan's career and his many shape-shifting personas. The liveliest portion of the book deals with the creative and audacious peak of Dylan's career in the mid-1960s, with brief forays into the writing of Tarantula and Dylan's relationship with Andy Warhol (that chapter is amusingly titled "Godzilla vs. Mothra"). The book is light on Dylan's recent accomplishments, though Dalton hits the highlights and assesses several later albums and live performances. Verdict Dalton's insights will be of interest to both die-hard fans and anyone who wants a good introduction to Dylan's life and art.-Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.