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Hey, everyone, it's Jim Salvucci from the Dylan Tons. Today we're talking to Christopher Vani. He's the author of two sub stacks, one about Bob Dylan and one on Gene Clarke. He's an advisor for the Bob Dylan Book club. It's all right, Ma. I'm only reading. And he's the creator of a Bob Dylan quiz that can be found on YouTube and his feed on x. Formerly known as Twitter, he's also passionate about golf, classic films and history. So welcome, Christopher.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Jim.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Yeah, it's great to have you here. So tell me, what is it about Bob Dylan?
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Oh, boy. He just brings me so much joy. I can't help but just smile and marvel when I listen to his music. And for lack of a better word, I would say there's this undercurrent that's positive to me, to his music. I would never, and he's very funny. So I would never describe his music as sad, which makes it very listenable for any sort of mood. It's always uplifting. Now, that doesn't mean his music isn't full of rage or I longing or anger, negative emotions, but it's just not sad to me. So it's very listenable. It could even be apocalyptic. He has this apocalyptic thing, as we know. And there's this great interview from 1985 on the tv show 2020. And your fellow million dollar basher, Erin Callahan, she quotes it in her book power and Politics of live performance, where Dylan says, after the apocalypse, there'll be something else. And I just love that line because it's never over with Dylan. He's in perpetual motion. He's constantly moving forward. I love that about him. What else about him? I love the way he sings. His phrasing is intoxicating, has a very expressive voice. And when you become in the bobbed orbit, you get so many other great musicians with him. So you're not just getting him, you're getting the band. And Joan Baez and Jim Keltner, Clytie King, Sly and Robbie, the Heartbreakers, Grateful dead, Tony Garnier just goes on and on the list. So that's another thing that, what is it about him? It's, you get so many other incredible artists, and he's also a fan of music, and I would say a music historian as well. So he uncovers certain songs and teaches you things about, about american music. So I love the songs that he chooses to cover or interpret in his own way. He always, when he takes a song that I've heard by another artist, I usually just really connect with what he's doing. He respects the song, but he'll do something in it that really makes it his own. So I love that about him as well.
And I guess lastly, of course, are his own songs themselves. Right? He's just built these incredible songs to last. And I love how he reinvents them in performance. He's a great live performer. So that's Bob to me.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: All right.
Always look at the bright side of the apocalypse, right?
[00:03:17] Speaker A: I still. Exactly.
Only Bob would find something after that, after the end.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: I love it, I love it, I love it. So let's talk about your background. What do you think we should know about you beyond the little biography, the two biography?
[00:03:33] Speaker A: I can give you a bit of like how I came to know who Dylan is. It's a bit of an interesting story. If that's okay.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: That's the next question anyhow. What's your Bob Dylan origin story? So give me the whole thing.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: I think so. A little bit about me is very, just in terms of other music. My parents, they're baby boomers, so they introduced me to a lot of great music of the fifties, sixties and seventies, but pretty much everybody except Bob Dylan. So pretty interesting, pretty noteworthy, right? So I wasn't really. So I'm very much a fan, as you mentioned, classic films, classic movies. I definitely have the affinity for old stuff. Even though, as you're about to find out by this story, I was born in 1985. So it's still, I'm a millennial. And that's where the story begins for me with Bob, it's 1995, I'm ten years old and it's Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday celebration. And I'm at this point, Frank is my idol. I'm a huge Frank Sinatra fan. Bizarre for a ten year old. So that's what you're getting here. But anyway, I love Frank. I still do.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Just so you know, I was into Tony Bennett view my father at that time.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: We love Tony and the Vani household as well. All of those guys. So yeah, I'm a ten year old and watching this Frank Sinatra birthday special. And out comes Bob Dylan. And this truly is my first exposure to him. I'm like, who is this guy? He's like an alien in that performance. Cause he's not crooning, he's nothing. Doing a standard. He's not singing a Frank song. So my first exposure is just like, who does this guy think he is? I don't get this. I'm too young.
And something I guess I could have mentioned in the intro as well. I love that Bob will subvert your expectations. So right from. He's doing this for me as a kid. Right away, I'm like, okay, he's a bit of a mercurial figure off the bat. I continue to basically see him on television due to him having a bit of a moment being more mainstream. I distinctly remember watching the Grammys and seeing the lovesick performance and watching him accept album of the year for time out of mind. And I remember distinctly the buddy Holly comment. And again, I go, what is? Because he mentioned Buddy Holly as being the spirit with him in the studio, but I'm like, wow, that buddy Holly sisty's rock and roll. I didn't hear that in love stick. So again, he's like. He's a continually perplexing figure for me. And then saw him again, television, things have changed. Winning his oscar. So I was fortunate in that sense. I guess the moral of the story is I watched a lot of television as a kid in the nineties as well, and we like award shows in our house, but I'm grateful for that sort of mainstream exposure to Bob. And he was having a bit of a moment there, because in the. I'm actually gonna see him live. Oh, this is 2001. He releases love and theft, and I actually see him live as a 16 year old. This is my first performance to see him live. But it's really a strange story, because, again, I'm not really a fan of his. My friend, who also, curiously, had never really mentioned Bob before. This point is just like, let's go see Bob Dylan. We'd gone to see Billy Joel and Elton John, and at the. It was at the fleet center in Boston, so the biggest arena. Dylan's playing these massive venues. Let's just go. And we did not like it. We did not get it. I'm 16. I'm still too young to appreciate what Bob is doing. So I have this kind of. That's my origin story of being disposed to Bob, but definitely not getting him right away, except I can tell you when I can. Well, if you want to know when things really click, I can get there, but it's not till much later, so.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Okay, give us that.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah, so it finally clicks for me, it's 2018 now, so skip ahead many years, and I pick up. I'm in Newbury comics, and I pick up the bootleg series, volume five, which had been out since 2002. So it's just a used copy. That's the Rolling Thunder, the two disc set. And I'm just blown away by the live performances. So prior to that, I'd definitely been now at this point, familiar with the sixties output in the albums. And I was like, okay, there's something here. I didn't know what it was still, but then I hear these live performances and I really was like, wow, I was blown away. And then the one two punches, that's coupled with the bootleg series that was current in 2018, which was trouble no more. That's volume 13. And the gospel stuff I just loved. I just thought, wow, the band is cooking, the singing is so engaging. And now I'm equally, because I don't really know all the backstory. I'm like, wait, this is the stuff that he's, like, not known for. His fans don't like this, and I love it. So I'm also, at this point now getting interested in the how does he go from don't follow leaders to follow Jesus? This is another fascinating turn of events for me. So I've gone down the Bob Rabbit hole since 2018 and listened to everything since and tried to read and learn and listen as much as I can. And I don't think I'll ever get over it now, but it was a long time coming, long time to get there. But I was older than. I'm younger than that now.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: And that's the way it goes.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Yeah, right.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: I love that. Don't follow leaders, but do follow Jesus. Yeah.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: All right.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: That's Bob.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: So you have a delightfully personal substack blog on Bob Dylan called the world don't need any more blogs. Bob Dylan, how did you get started with that and where do you see it going?
[00:09:00] Speaker A: Yeah, so thank you for this question because, yeah, the world don't need any more blogs is a play on a quote that Bob said about a decade ago, which is the world don't need any more songs. And this is a bit of my self deprecation that you probably don't need my blog, because as you said, it's just, I'm just one. I'm just one guy. I don't have formal dylanology, creds, so to speak, but I was in. I also chose that because then Bob, of course, after saying that, I should say, wrote rough and ruddy ways, which I think is a masterpiece. So maybe there's some hope for me to write something worthwhile. That's where that comes from. And it was really encouraged by, we have such a welcoming online Dylan community where I started participating in different Zoom groups and meetings and everyone was always asking like, oh, like, what's your personal connection or background? And everyone seemed to be so open and welcoming to the idea of, like, we're just all fans and we all have unique perspectives. And so I always thought, if it gets it out of my head, I have a lot of thoughts, I'll get it out of my head. And if anyone reads it, great. And if they don't, that's fine, too. So it's really been started as more just a exercise of something to do with my thoughts. And I'm not sure where it'll lead long term because I'm not like, pumping out content on a schedule. I really only write it. I feel like I've got something that maybe that's interesting to me and that I hopefully haven't seen somewhere else. So I'm not really interested in, like, let me just do a review of an album for the heck of it, unless I feel like a light bulb's gone off, that there's something different. So, for example, like, again, I don't know that these are the first time these things have been written about, but I hadn't recalled reading about Dylan and dew wop music again. That doo wop music is. I love it. My father got me into it, so I saw some fun connections. I'll write about it. Same thing with Bobby Darin, huge Bobby Darin fan. Saw some parallels and I just like, I like connecting those dots and doing like. I don't think I've seen this somewhere. Maybe I'll put it out there. And it's been great. I've had a good response to it, so it's been fun.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Yeah. That's one of the great things about the Dylan community. Right. People contribute what they want, which gives an incredible variety. Sometimes in the academic community where you're forced into a topic or you're limited in what you can say, but in the wider Dylan community, it's a lot freer and I think it's archivally much more interesting.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Like the back, I loved your. I think the doo wop one was your latest. Your latest post, right?
[00:11:30] Speaker A: I think so. I've got some queued up now and that I've done since then. So I'm like. I'm not sure, but I think so.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a lot of fun, though. I like the tie in with the Wilburrys and all that, so.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Very cool.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Thanks.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: So you have another blog that I have to ask about on Gene Clark of the birds originally.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: Called the fabulous exploration of Gene Clark. You're taking a 1 minute little explication of a song. Right. And you're doing that every week, I believe. Yeah.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Every Friday.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Yep, every Friday. Okay, so tell me a little bit about that. How'd you get into this?
[00:12:05] Speaker A: Yes, got into the birds, really, through Dylan, but then quickly.
And I liked the birds, like, all of them, but then, yeah, got really into Gene Clark and specifically his solo music, which a lot of people don't know. So I really. I think he's a fabulous art solo artist, and I really just wanted to shed some light on him because, as you said, a lot of people don't know. They just think he's a thunder of the birds.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: They even know that many people haven't heard of him at all. And certainly there's no Gene clark community, per se the way there is for Bob. So there's so much less content. There's so much less out there about him. So here I was like, okay, I feel like I can actually do a service, and I just feel passionately about him. And I think other people should hear his music. And I do. I like to keep it hippy and just really make it about getting people to hear him. So it's like I do a little blurb, but then there's a link to listen to the song. So for me, it's really like, I want you to listen to Gene clark. So the people that are subscribing to that, here's a weekly Gene Clark song, and that's gone great, too. I have a lot of subscribers. I found them through online Facebook groups. There are Gene Clark fans out there, which is great. And of course, I hope some of my Bob Dylan friends will get into Jean, too, because that's the other thing. In researching Jean, there actually is a lot of Bob Dylan overlap, even though you, I feel like you haven't heard it, certainly from the Bob Dylan side. But there's Johnny Rogan, who's a biographer of, like, all the birds, has some interesting books that I read, where he's got interviews with Jim Dixon, who was the birds manager, saying Bob was really into Gene. He was the guy when he met the birds in 65, saying, this guy's going to be huge. He's a tremendous talent, tremendous songwriter. And then stories later from his producer, Tommy Kay, say Bob Dylan called him up on the phone and said, I heard Gene's cover of Mister Tambourine man, which he did in the eighties. And he thought it was one of the best versions he'd ever heard. And I've never heard those stories anywhere. So I was coming at learning things about Bob, but now through the gene Clark ones, which was really fun. So I also tried. This is another one of those. I like the connective tissues, and I like to overlap and mix the people that I'm interested in. So it's been cool. And there's a lot of. So Bob definitely has respect for Gene, and it certainly goes the other way. Gene was absolutely inspired by Dylan. He's covered either on record or in concert. I pity the poor immigrant, tears of rage, Gates of Eden. I shall be released. So, yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot there. If you're a fan of either one of these guys, just find out more.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: All right, great. So I guess I have to reprise my question. What is it about Gene Clark and Bob Dylan?
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Right.
It's funny. And I have a. I do have an entry under. Which one is it now? I think it's my first one, actually, that I wrote for Bob under that blog, which relates a lot of things about the two of them. And there is a quote from that I pulled out of one of those Johnny Rogan books where it's like, Gene and Bob. It was from Jimmy Cider, I think, who's somebody that worked in the industry. And he just says something like, Gene was like Bob Clark. Gene and Bob were like similar types of guys. Wherever. They would just take out a guitar and play. It didn't matter if it was in tune. They just wanted to jam and riff. And I'm like, okay, so maybe there's a similar sensibility about the two of them, because they're not all that similar. But I definitely. I love both of them, and they are fascinating characters as well. And the thing with Gene Clark, too, is so much of. He's had a. He had personal challenges, and so much have been made of, why didn't he make it big outside of the birds if he's so talented? And I'm less interested in exploring that and more just saying, let's just give him credit now and let's just try to analyze his songs and. Yeah. And again, and give people a chance to hear him. Cause I really think he's tremendous. And just one more weird thing about the two of them is Jean Clark actually died on Bob Dylan's 50th birthday. So he also lost Jean Clark much too young. But also, my two artists are forever linked by May 24, 1990. 91.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it was 91.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So weird. But loved him. Just died, thrown in, sunk. Odd fact for you.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: So you're an apostle of Gene Clark. Apostolatizer.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: I really am.
Thanks for letting me hijack a show about Bob to talk about Gene. Appreciate it. Because as I said, there's no Gene Clark podcast out there, and I'm happy to talk about Gene as well. Anyway, that's cool.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: That's cool, though. I love that. I love your passion for it.
So let's change it up a little bit. We'll get back to some of the other things you're doing, but I want to talk a little bit more about your Bob Dylan history. You mentioned your first Bob Dylan concert.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Right. Tell me about your experience seeing Dylan. I know you've seen him a bunch of times. And were there any highlights, standouts?
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, yes. So since the 2001 show, take 18 years off, and then 2019, I see him again. And 2019 is amazing. Simon Lowell and it was just, yeah, an unbelievable show. And it was finally, like, as I said, I got deeply back into him, 2018. So I'd made up my mind that next time he comes around and every subsequent time, I'm gonna keep seeing him, and that's what I've done. So 2021 was rough and rowdy ways. 2023 was also rough and rowdy ways. And that show in particular, I guess I'd have to highlight as a favorite of, just because I got to sit in the front row. And once you do, that spoils you. Just whether it's, I don't know, but you're, because you're maybe getting, like a sound mix from the stage or whatever it is, but, like, it just sounded so good and just be that close to be so close to him. That was a really special night. That was the night he played three nights at the Orpheum. I only went to the last night, but that's the night he debuted footlights. And that was such a special moment because nobody has their cellphones in there. Nobody knew the song. He hadn't sung it before. And there was, and then the lyrics to that song, to me, are so perfect for him, what he's doing out every night on the road. So that was, like, incredibly moving special. He just came out behind the piano and right there in front of me, soaking in the adulation. It's a great moment for me. That was very special. And then most recently was the outlaw tour this summer. And that was fun as well. That was fun because I was there with Paul Haney and Aaron Callahan. So I had often just been a sort of solo go to concert kind of guy, and it's been fun to, through the online thing, meet, meet some people to actually see a show with. So that added another fun dimension to spend time with them and outlaw tour also musically was very exciting as well. Hearing him play harmonica was moving to hearing some deep cuts that I really like. Shooting star. Yeah, they've all been great, so they're all special and I just hope to continue to see them as much as possible.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Don't we all?
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Jumping in 18 years later to 2019, that's quite a. I think I saw him. I did. I saw him every year in that.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Period, which tells me that I wasn't doing that, by the way.
[00:19:25] Speaker B: Some of them weren't the best shows. Right. They weren't bad, but they, you had to be a real Dylan fan to get into them. Lots of people walking out, that kind of thing. But 2019, I think, was a very special tour, so that was a great place to jump back to.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. I got in at the right time. It was really special.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I saw a couple of shows in that and it was amazing. So I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the Bob Dylan book club.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: So tell us a little bit about that. What's been the best part of that experience for you? Why should people jump in on that?
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's been really fun. Peter White founded this about over a year ago, and I jumped in a couple months after because I was actually reading another billion dollar bashard. Greeley Herons great book on time out of mind. I just happened to be reading it because I'm a Greylee fan and Robin har was good enough to say, hey, did you know we're actually doing this thing at book club? I said I didn't even know book club was a thing. So. Great. So that's my entry, I think. Was there like third or fourth book and it was just, I quickly, just due to my enthusiasm, I think Peter wanted to enlist me to be more of an advisor to help out. So with, along with Roberta Rakove, the three of us have now just communicating to come up with the schedule each month to do a book and do some outreach to authors to get them to join. So that's a special, fun part of it, right? That you have a little bit of a Q and a opportunity potentially to speak with somebody that wrote the book. And, yeah, it's just been really fun to see different people join and take lead on different things, share their opinions and yeah, I love reading, I love Bob, love to learn and get more time with the online community. So it's just been win all around. And yeah, we're always looking for more people to join and bring their book choice and come leaded discussion like any other book club.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Yeah, the last two months, the book club was addressing the philosophy of modern song.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: So Dylan, you couldn't get Dylan to come, but I and I joined in and we, several of us, each took chapters and talked about the chapters, which was a lot of fun.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Yep. That was really great. As I said, just yesterday was our second session and everyone exceeded my expectations for what I thought it could be just a fun thing. And everyone really did their homework and took it seriously and it was such an enriching conversation. And philosophy of modern song is very near and dear to my heart along my Dylan journey. Because to go back around to my parents, who again, have never been Dylan fans, sharing that with them has been such a joy because now I'm the one bringing Dylan to them. They go, oh, wait, Dylan likes Dean Martin. Oh, okay. I gotta consider he did some standards. So like, it's really been fun to re explore the music I grew up on, which is my parents music. And see that, no, Dylan is like you. He actually likes some of the same things you do. So that's been really a joy for me to love that book. And again, love Dylan's ability to connect to so many different breads of songs.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that's neat. That's neat that you can bring your parents in that way. Such a backdoor way.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: Yeah, they've introduced me to so much great music. It's the least I can do to just share this one guy that they'd overlook.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Absolutely. So how do people join the book club?
[00:22:43] Speaker A: Yeah, so we're online. They can subscribe there and get on Peter's email chain to learn about the different zooms he just sends out every month. But yeah, we have a website which is, I think it's bobtaillenbookclub.com. so that would just get all the info you can see past sort of impressions of people, their experience and links to different things and the books you've read. So yeah, there's a lot of materials on there too. So if you've missed out, there's always time to fill in the, the back pages too.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: What's the next book?
[00:23:13] Speaker A: The next book actually is going to be a double dip. So we did the power of politics and live performance of which you also have a chapter which we enjoyed. And we had, so we had Aaron in court on when we did that. Now we're having Laura Tenshirt come back or come on to talk about her chapter there and her chapter in Dylan at 80. So it's going to be, Lara's the guest, do a little Q and A, have her talk about her two chapters there, maybe have her talk about her podcast. So yeah, it's going to be, it'll be fun and that. Yeah. As I said, that's our sort of first dip back into a book we've already done, but it brings in Dylan at 80 and we like some of those. I like to bring in books that have multiple chapters also in the way that philosophy of modern song does, because I think there's opportunities for people to say, I didn't read the whole book, or there's just one chapter I might want to dig in. So I like some of those books like that for that reason. So I've been pushing for some of those to get in more.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: And do people have to have read.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: The book to participate? And they don't. And it's one of those guilt free, no pressure. So I think you can get a lot of enjoyment, just as I said, coming to listen so you don't have to read it. We all comers are welcome.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: So you're a what we might call prolific online contributor to the Bob Dylanosphere. I don't know.
It's called a number of things, but one of your contributions is the Bob Dylan quiz. Yeah, let's hear about that.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So that, I'm a jeopardy. Fan, and I had seen a category on Jeopardy. For Bob, but the questions were all just so easy for the bobsessive people. And I was like, that's an idea. And I love just quizzes and learning, obviously. And as I mentioned before, I have this sort of connective thoughts go in multiple different directions, just connect disparate things. And I was like, it would be fun to organize a quiz around Bob because he's like, jeopardy.
There are slews in the questions and there's themes, and it's like doing theme time radio for Bob. I was like, we got all these songs about the wind. Sure. Well, I'll give you a lyric and you say, what song is it? Or what's on Bob Dylan's bookshelf? Or Bob goes to the movies. He overlaps with all these other artistic mediums that it was just like, it was a fun way. Honestly, before I had maybe the blogs to be a more traditional outlet of, like, I just want to put some random things together and group them and, yeah, thought it would be a fun thing. I did that. I've done that a couple times in different sort of formats, trying to find the best way to put it out into the world. So I had, like, a Google form version, then I did a YouTube version, and now I'm just trickling in some questions in the Twitter feed. But, yeah, that's been fun, too. I've gotten good feedback on people that just think that's a fun, fun opportunity to learn or to challenge yourself with some weird bob stuff.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I saw the version that's on YouTube, and there were some tough questions there. I mean.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: No, it was a serious quiz. A lot of them are bogus. A lot of the quizzes rarely look at the quizzes, but, yeah, that's great. So what other, besides Dylan and Clark and Bobby Darren and Frank Sinatra, what other sort of music do you listen to?
[00:26:45] Speaker A: I mean, I honestly don't listen to that much new music. It's really bad. There's probably good artists out there that I'm not aware of. But, yeah, I'm very much an old school.
All my cds burned into my iTunes, and I might, most days, I literally will put it on shuffle unless there's, like, a new release out that I want to listen to. But, yeah, it's very much, at this point in my life, very.
A lot of Gene Clark and Bob and less so much on the other artists that I've listened to in the past or just not getting exposed to new music, although I'm not opposed to it. Every time somebody points out something new, I usually enjoy it, but I won't. Like, I don't get the desire to follow up and continue to be like, okay, I'm gonna now be a fan and follow this person. And maybe that's just because these other two are occupying so much brain space. I don't know. But if. Yeah, it's not like the radio. Like, being a child of the nineties, I absolutely loved MTV and loved the radio in the nineties. The nineties was, like, to me, a sister decade to the sixties, where you had such an eclectic mix of, like, everything from novelty songs to whatever, all different genres mixing and melding. And I love that. I love nineties music from a nostalgia standpoint. But do I listen to it all the time? No. But did I grow up and was my first concert NSYnC? Yes, it was. So that should tell you why you go from NSYNC to Dylan within a year. You're probably not going to get Dylan if you're, if you, if that's the music you're into. So I, I like to think I don't, I like to think I like all types of music, but do I actively listen to other stuff that often? No, it's very much these guys, at least these days, like, maybe that'll change.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: Yeah. It's funny you bring that up because I've been thinking a lot about this biopic that's coming out. Yes, I've seen the trailers.
I'm not happy, but go ahead.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I would, I don't like to put negative stuff out there and people are very excited. So I've tamped down my, let's just say my, again, I'm a classic film guy, so I don't watch a lot of new movies, but I see trailers like that and I'm like, that just seems like a lowest common denominator. Again, I don't want to be snobby about it. I get that this is going to be, I'm happy again. I grew up with the mainstream Bob. I like that he's going to be to the masses. That's fine. I want more people, big tent. No problem with that. But Bob is such a unique, singular artist that it's like, I think he just might deserve better than a run of the mill type movie, which I think it has the capability of being. So that I just, I support it. I like it. But I'm not maybe overly excited as some of the other people, but that, again, I think that's probably because I probably have a bias towards liking older movies and I'm not really like, I'm not into news stuff. I would only, I don't go to the movies. I would only be seeing this now because it's a Baldeme event. Right. So anyway, I want to hear your.
I'm surprised to meet another person who maybe isn't excited. I feel like you. That's interesting.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: I don't think there, I think there's, there's some people who are excited just because the bob thing. I'm not a big fan of musical biopics.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: I am a very big fan of. I'm not there. And we did cover that on the million dollar bash.
[00:30:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: And as court Carney kept pointing out throughout our discussion, because the new biopic up coming up, we're all talking about a movie. We haven't seen evidence. So there is that. And I take that seriously. But I guess what it made me think of was this idea of you going from NSYNC to Bob Dylan in a year. Right. That, that concept. What do you think it's going to be like? I've talked to some people, I've talked to my nieces and friends and family friends and whatnot, who are younger, I, who are like in their twenties or even younger, who are big Timothy Chamolay fans.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Right.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: And they're a little bit excited about this movie because Timothy Chamberlain movies coming out and they're going to hear Dylan. Right, right. They're going to hear sixties Dylan, but they're going to hear Dylan. They're going to be exposed to that. What do you think it's going to be like? I'm having you speculate. What do you think is going to having them having for them what it's going to be like for them to, to go from, I don't know, Taylor Swift.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: It didn't go great for me, obviously. Cause it took 18 years off. But, yeah, it could be tough. I think it will, though, inspire some people to see something like the other side of the mirror or no direction home. Go see the real stuff if you're so inspired to. And I think some people will be. Definitely. A small percentage will be. And others will just take it for what it is, which is, I think Timothy. I'm not super familiar with Timothy. I think he'll, he seems like he's taking it seriously and will do a good job. And that's important. That's good. Even if the film itself isn't good. I think that's the thing with biopics. A lot of biopics aren't great movies, but the portrayals sometimes are. And hopefully that'll be enough to carry it, that people will say this. Bob's kind of an interesting character, and that's, maybe it will spark something, but I think it'll be, yeah, I think it'll be somewhat jarring for, if you're not used to the voice. And the lyrical content of his sixties stuff is very potent. So I don't, again, being out of the music scene again, I could be wrong. So I don't want to speak, but it's hard to think that. Yeah. It'll just seem foreign. I would think to a lot of.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: People that was a totally unplanned and unfair question.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: I can handle it very well, thanks.
No, it's great. It was completely unplanned. Yeah. But it's good. This is great.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: All right, I have one more question for you.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Where can people find you? Online?
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Yep. So online, Stevani 621 on X, formally Twitter. And yeah, that's just been. It seems to be where people are congregating around Dylan. But I know there's some other platforms, but that's the main one. If you want to interact with me online, and certainly the substacks. Christopher v. Substack, come comment, subscribe. We'd love to. Again, have you hear Jean Clark and have a dialogue over there, too. So, yeah.
[00:33:19] Speaker B: All right. And we'll put that all in the show notes.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: And of course, the book club, the.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: Bob Dylan and the Bob Dylan Book Club, of course, which I think of as Peter White's baby. But, yeah, he's been really supportive of getting me involved, and it's been great. So, yeah, Bob Dylan Book club also.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: And just for the record, I have Peter scheduled to get on the Dylan hunts.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: Oh, fantastic. In the future, I don't feel too much of his thunder. I don't know.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: It'll be fine. There's plenty to go around. Plenty of Bob for everyone.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: There always is.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: Christopher, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: And you take care of yourself.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: You too. Thanks.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Thank you for listening to the Dylan Ponds podcast. Be sure to subscribe to have the Dillentons sent directly to your inbox and share the Dylan tons on social media.
