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60 reasons to be
tangled up in Bob
A look at the legendary refrains of
Dylan, on the occasion of his 60th birthday
By Scott Mervis
Weekend Editor, Post-Gazette
Deflecting full credit for his magnificent body of work, Bob Dylan
once said he didn't really write all those songs, he just pulled them
out of the air. And to that one can only say, well, that was some
pretty rarefied air. Whether or not those words were just blowin' in
the wind, when it comes to songwriters, there's Bob Dylan and there's
everyone else.
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Essential Dylan
By Ed Masley
Post-Gazette Pop Music Critic
It isn't easy narrowing the revolutionary output of a man who, even
after all these years, remains the most significant American rock 'n'
roll icon of the post-Chuck Berry era (with apologies to Britney
Spears) to 10 essential albums.
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He not busy bein'
born is busy dyin'
By Tony Norman
Post-Gazette Columnist
Every day, I toil under two very large, framed posters of Bob Dylan
and Miles Davis. Many deadlines have come and gone without a whisper
from the Muse that inspired so much of their best work, dashing my
theory of creative osmosis to smithereens once again.
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Editorial:
Voice of America
Wednesday, May 23, 2001
Tomorrow Bob Dylan, the man who penned the words "I was so much
older then / I'm younger than that now," will turn 60. As the
acknowledged voice of his generation, Mr. Dylan's pre-eminence in
popular culture has been beyond dispute for decades.
Former President Bill Clinton credits Mr. Dylan with providing those
who protested the Vietnam War with a moral compass as accessible as
the nearest radio. Mr. Clinton conferred a Kennedy Center award on the
singer-songwriter several years ago, but he wasn't the first president
to invoke Mr. Dylan's name.
When Jimmy Carter campaigned for the Democratic presidential
nomination in 1976, he buttressed his anti-
establishment candidacy by quoting |
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Illustration
by Stacy Innerst, PG
Personal
myths elude Dylan
biographer
By Scott Mervis
Weekend Editor, Post-Gazette
It's clear from the start of
"Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan" (Grove Press)
that Howard Sounes did his homework when, recounting the
singer-songwriter's early life, the author tells us what kind of
furnace was used to warm the Dylan family household.
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1969 (AP)
the man who once sang "don't
follow leaders / and watch the parking meters."
Perhaps wary of being co-opted, even by those who claim
to love him, Mr. Dylan has mastered the fine art of zigzagging. The
man who sang "Masters of War" with so much anti-military
vitriol is the same man who performed at West Point decades later.
At 60, Bob Dylan is still his
generation's troubadour
Recently, the National
Review, hardly a journal of '60s-era nostalgia mongering, published
a long, rhapsodic piece about Dylan's positive influence on the
culture. This is, indeed, a sign that Mr. Dylan has passed beyond
the realm of Right/Left politics into the rarefied region of general
acclaim.
In turning 60, Mr.
Dylan is within a few years of qualifying for Social Security
retirement benefits. Fortunately, he is in no mood rush to start
knockin' on heaven's door. |
Milton Glaser poster, c Artpost
With "Soy Bomb" prankster,
1998 Academy Awards (AP) 
