[00:00:00] Speaker A: This show is a part of the FM podcast network, the home of great music podcasts. Visit
[email protected] you are listening to the Dylan Taunts podcast.
Welcome to the Dylan Taunts. What is it about Bob Dylan? I'm here with Michael Johnson. Michael is a major Bob Dylan fan. Some people like to use the term bobcat. I don't know, Michael, do you like that term at all?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: I use Bobcat.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Okay, so Michael is a pretty massive bobcat here. He has an interesting background. He started a career in teaching pretty late in life at age 42, and he's transitioned from 8th grade English to school librarian, which he says is a survival move.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: I agree with it.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I know what you're talking about. He's had a lot of experience seeing Bob Dylan and seen him quite a few times recently and has actually seen Dylan in concert. What'd you say to me over 300 times?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: I'm up to 302.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: So you kept strict count.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: I'll tell you how I got to the 302. I think it was Clinton Halen wrote a book like Bob Dylan day to day or something. And I was substitute teaching and I was killing time, like in a study hall or something. And I said, oh, this guy's got every show. And I started counting and I got into the. That's where I started my count. From that point, after reading the book and going, I was at that show. I was at that show. So that's how I started keeping track.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: It's really hard to keep track sometimes, right?
I had to go back and make my list myself fairly recently, and I come with a mere 27.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Tickets are on your phone. You can't pull out a bunch of ticket stubs and count them up. That's true, too.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: So I want to ask you our perennial lead off question. What is it about Bob Dylan?
[00:01:58] Speaker B: So what is it about Bob Dylan? So it's really everything. When I got into Dylan, it was basically because a friend of mine got the lottery ticket and we got to go to the 74 tour. Growing up, Dylan was on AM radio all the time. You would hear. Sometimes you'd hear like a Rolling Stone, obviously.
I guess it was edited down for radio, maybe not. And you'd hear positivity fourth street, you would hear lady lay. And so I knew who he was and I was listening to different stuff at the time. But once I got the ticket and I read this caduto book and I'm like, this guy is amazing. He changed the course of music. Some of the things I started listening to are a result of these bands coming out of the Bob Dylan vein, so to speak, country rock, or, if you want to call it that, away from the typical love songs to the more complex stuff. And a lot of times I'd listen to a Dylan record, and it would be his attitude or his performance on how he's coming at you. And then once I started getting into it, it just opened so many doors. And now I'm looking at Ginsburg, I'm reading Carawak, I'm listening to Muddy Waters. I'm expanding rapidly as a result of having this connection to the Dylan music.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: So Dylan, your gateway beat, basically.
So listening to Dylan got you reading poetry, listening to the blues.
And then that leads to other things, right?
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
I love it.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: When you first got into Dylan, you just talked about that a little bit. But what were your friends listening to? What were you listening to at that time yourself?
[00:03:47] Speaker B: In the beginning, when I was younger, like, my first concert, I was. I think I was 14, living at the shore. You'd go. You'd either take the train or get somebody to ride and take you to Asbury park. So the first show I ever went to, the opening act was Black Oak, Arkansas. And the headliner was Black Sabbath. Right? So that's my first concert. My second concert was humble pie. And so you're getting a white blues singer there with Steve Marriott. And then I was in a record club. And if you didn't make your choice and send in the card, they send you their album of the month. And so the first record I got that was not metal ish or rock and roll was an Orlo Guthrie record running down the road. And I'm like, this stuff is cool. This is great. And then the next record was stage fright by the band that came. And that really redirected my listening tastes big time. So that was the transition from, like, black Sabbath. Or we listened to a lot of. We'd sit around and when somebody's room or whatever, and we'd get high and listen to this stuff. And at the same time we watched. I remember after school, watching a lot of soul train.
Because that stuff was always on the radio and listening to the temptations and things like that. And a little bit of Hendrix was starting to come in. And then he died when I was in 8th grade, I think he died 1970, I think. And then, ironically, I think I listened to him more then than when he was alive. Which is the case for everybody now, right? I was heading in a direction when I got that band record that really turned me on to that, and I started seeking their music out. And then I didn't even know there was a Bob Dylan connection there yet until they got back together for that 74 tour.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Maybe you can explain to us, for the younger generations who may be listening, who have no idea what you're talking about with Columbia Records Record club.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Yeah, there was a club. And you'd sign up for it, and you'd pay whatever a month.
You'd have to send in money. I probably sent in money. I had a paper out, and I worked in a restaurant.
And then the record would come to you in the mail. It would be vinyl, obviously. And I think I actually bought my first stereo through that record club. I think it was capital Records.
And so you got a card and you could pick out a genre. Usually they'd have a bunch of choices. And you could check off what records you wanted. And if you didn't, they had the record of the month. And then you would get stuck with the record of the month. And I got stuck with Gutsri. And I've seen Arlo a bunch of times since I got, quote, stuck with that record. That's the one with coming into Los Angeles on it, which is just so much fun. I think he does a couple of his father's tunes on there, Oklahoma Hills. I know he does. So I kept missing. To mark off my choice. I kept getting these records that were absolutely outstanding. The one after the band, I got a quicksilver messenger service record. So I'm really far away from Black Sabbath at this point, to say the least.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: I think my experience with the Columbia record club, I came of age in the late 70s, so the record of the month was more perilous.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: We'll just say the way they got you was like, you send us a penny and we'll send you five albums or something like that. I probably owe them hundreds of dollars, who knows?
[00:07:12] Speaker A: So you've seen Dylan hundreds of times? 302 times. How many times do you see him on this latest tour?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Seven times this year.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: And how do these shows hold up.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: Compared to the past? I'm really happy with the shows. I think one of the things I noticed about Bob and when people are walking out complaining, not on this tour, but at other times, maybe you see him in a place where the sounds not great, or you always hear, I didn't understand a word he was saying. I don't think you were listening hard enough, or you didn't know the song, songs he was singing. But for the most part, I haven't seen a male in a lot of shows in the last 20 years, I'd say. And he's really up there trying most of the time, I would say. And that impresses me. And these shows around, obviously, he crafted this set list, and this is what he wants to deliver to people. And I think even within songs that he's playing this time, you hear little changes. I heard really big change on I'll be your baby tonight. The last show I went to, he started almost, like doing the. Wasn't, like, the up singing, but he was quickening up the pace on the lyrics a little bit. And he was fitting them in different spots within the song, it seemed like, to me, anyway. And I always think it's a privilege to be in the same room with Bob Dylan. I always think people are like, why do you go so many times? I'm like, if you were alive during Beethoven's time and you knew he was going to be conducting a new piece of music once a month or something, you'd go every month. Like, why wouldn't you go? And here's a guy who is celebrated and known the world over. He's playing, played shows in Slovenia, for God's sake. And to be able to see him this many times, it's just, why pass up the opportunity? And even though I did sell my ticket to Baltimore, I will say you, does these things do cost money. It does get to you.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I lived in Baltimore for a long time. He was playing the Meyerhoff, and I know that venue very well.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: It's probably nice, right?
[00:09:14] Speaker A: It would have been a nice place.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: To see Bob Dylan.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: I was really tempted.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: And on this tour, the best sound I got was in Waterbury. I was, like, a little bit up off the floor, right behind the soundboard. And I had a clear view and lined up directly with Bob, and its sound was great. And unfortunately, there was an idiot in the back yelling, like, almost every song, at least twice. Yeah, he's shouting out for cold iron sound. And I'm like, you're a little late on that one, dude. And I should have said, that's one of my big things, is when people are talking or disrupting the music, it's just, shut up. They got the rest of your life to talk about this stuff.
Be here now. Which I love the thing with the phones. Now I don't have to look through a screen to see anybody else's phone. The only problem is I don't wear a watch. So I'm like, what time is it? What time is it?
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Yeah, the yonder bags were a game changer a lot of ways. It's also you don't have the ushers shining the flashlight in your eyes because the person behind you has got their phone out.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: I'm innocent.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Why are you shining.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Where people late get to the show late and walking in and disrupting a little bit? I think that's annoying as well.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: He means it when he says 08:00 p.m. It is 08:00 p.m.. Sharp.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Yeah. No more of that ten minute grace period. Yeah, not at all.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: So were there any standout shows either recently or in your vast history?
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Recently.
I'll be sitting in a venue and I'll be talking to the person next to me and they'll say, what's your favorite show? And I usually say, tonight is going to be my favorite show because I'm here now and I'm going to hear Bob Dylan. So in the recent past, especially on this, really, I love the way he's sitting in the middle. There's a half moon around him. Boy, they don't take their eyes off of him, the guitar players. Anyway, I think Tony's really locked in all the time. And I think it's so funny when he introduces Tony, they just goes. And Tony's why, Tony Garnier is the bass player. He's been there for 30 years, although I've heard him introduce his. I can't tell you much about Tony, but I do know he tried to milk a cow with a monkey wrench. I've heard him say that.
But this is an outstanding performance that you're seeing now. The music is tight. The band is right on it. I don't know. Yep.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: I'm loving his new drummer.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that guy's watch. And the other guy was cool, too. Charlie Drayton was great, too. Yeah.
I was at a show once in Tucson, and the guy next to me was Winston Watson, so that was pretty cool. Oh, wow. Yeah, we got him to sign our ticket studs, and he wrote thank you because I guess because we recognized those.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: What about in the past? Were there any shows that really stood out to you?
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Obviously the first show changed my life.
I did get to see one show in a Rolling Thunder review, the late show on November 13 in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a big joint, but it was a hockey rink. And that show when Dylan was doing like Isis with no guitar. And you've seen the video, right? And he's animated and he's whirling around on stage. He's facing the drummers and he's turning around and getting back to the mic and really attacking the lyrics on ISIS, it was like, whoa, this is intense. And then to try to make sense three years later, what's going on in 78, this is really different, but great shows. I always go back to this. The last show that they played when it was Larry and Charlie Sexton together. They played the Patriot center at George Mason University.
And this is when Bob was playing Brown Sugar, old man, some other covers, and they did summer days, and they went wild. Next thing, tony's laying down on his back, then Larry goes down, then Charlie's on his back, and then Bob gets on his back, and they're all playing, still playing the song while they're on their backs. And Bob Dylan was up on the floor. And I run into my friend Jay quite a bit on tour and at other shows, too. And I'll say, we did see that, right? We did see that. That's amazing. A chance to talk to Larry about that a little bit. And he just. And he remembers. So that's a great memory as far as performances. I was lucky enough on what they called it, the paradise lost tour with Patty Smith. I got to see four of those shows.
The duet with dark eyes. Just, I watched that really. It's just so brilliant. And those shows that he did at the electric factory three nights in a row. Wow, that Philadelphia. Yeah, Philadelphia. Yeah. That was just intense. He was playing the last night he played West La fade away. He was doing like, I think he was doing, obviously, five believers. Just stuff you're never going to hear again, probably, unless he decides to go out and do all that.
Then there was another show that keeps popping into mine. One of my favorite things was I went out to the gorge in Washington state, and there was two nights in a row, and it was Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan together. All three played at the same venue. That was really cool, too. I got a lot of them.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: Yeah, it sounds like you've seen some amazing performance.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Van Morrison played together at the theater underneath the Madison Square Garden, the old fell forum.
I think they played five nights. I caught three of them, I think. And it was right around the time that Carl Perkins had passed away. And I think junior wells died around the same time as well. And so Doran Van set, he called out Bob, and they played blue suede shoes together for Carl Perkins. That was very cool. And I was up pretty close for that, too. And I'll tell you one more.
The soy bomb guy, right? So Dylan was supposed to play a show at the University of Delaware. And he had to cancel because he was doing the Grammys that night. When the soy bomb guy did his thing, right? So they did a makeup date on that. And it was at the end of the 99 tour with Phil Lesh and friends. And it was. Phil Lesh was not there, but he had Susan Tedesky open up. And this is the show where Susan came out and played with Bob. And I think she did. It takes a lot to laugh. She was there for Nas. Fade away. And there was a time during a Dylan show where the tangled up in blue was number five. And when number five started, the security guards in their front left.
So you could go up to the stage and nobody would hassle.
Said to this person I was with who'd never seen Bob Dylan before. I said, heather, soon as we hear the first note of the next song, just start coming. With what? Just come with me.
Starts playing. We walk up, we're right in front of Bob on the rail. And it's the night Susan Tedsky came out. So it's just so cool.
And to be up front was cool. Yeah.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: That's always wonderful, to be up front.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Go ahead.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Any shows that you wish you had seen?
[00:16:21] Speaker B: It's funny. He played three nights at the United Palace Theater in New York. Up near the Washington Bridge. George Washington Bridge, almost in the shadows. And he played three nights in a row. And Dion was the opening act. And I went to the first night and the third night, and I missed the second night.
And I saw my friend Lee Kaufman. And I said, wow. I heard I missed a good show last night. I wish I was here. And he looked at me and he said, michael, you've seen a lot of good shows.
Is there something I wish I'd seen? I wish I'd been to one of the shows where he played truck. And I would have liked to hear that. And I was hoping for that in New York because it's got the ways and means. But he stopped doing that after the night I met you. The last time he put an extra surprise tune in, there was Stella Blue. The next night after I saw you.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Yeah, we met in Port Chester, played Stella Blue at the Capitol.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: That.
Yeah. And you heard footlights, right?
[00:17:24] Speaker A: No, I was at the Stellar blue.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: I was at the. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it was Cool. It was very cool. Really cool. I don't know, maybe something in Europe. I had tickets to go see Bob and Bam Morrison in Europe. And not in Europe, necessarily, but the United Kingdom and Scotland and England. And I was working in a restaurant at the time. I had to work like 19 shifts in a row to get off, to go to England and had the rail pass, had all my rooms booked and everything. And then that's when Bob got sick in 97. It canceled the whole thing. And I was like, oh, man. So I wish I'd seen those. One of the things was interesting, when I got back home on my answering machine, not all of them, but three out of five venues called my number to tell me that the show was canceled.
Can you imagine the Madison Square garden saying, xr playing tonight?
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Not in a million years.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Sometimes they're not playing when they show up. Right.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: You are an 8th grade english teacher.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: You're a librarian now. School librarian now. Has Dylan ever made it into your teaching, into your classroom in any way?
[00:18:38] Speaker B: I used to use one too many mornings to point out, you are right from your side, I'm right from mine. I love that the kids are all into hip hop and all that stuff and rap and everything. So I would just tell them, you might know who Bob Dylan is, but all the people that you listen to, they definitely know who Bob Dylan is, without a doubt.
You might think they're all street and everything, but they have a craft, and Bob's the master of that craft. So why wouldn't you pay attention to what he's been doing?
[00:19:09] Speaker A: And how do they respond to that?
[00:19:11] Speaker B: They look at me like I'm crazy.
But I did run into somebody recently. One of my former students is a wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, and he had a bye week, and he came back and helped us with our food drive. And you come up and Keith Kirkwood would greet the people dropping off food. And he was getting his picture taken with all the students and everything. And he goes, you remember my fiance, Shayna? And I was like, I couldn't really after a while, so many kids.
And she says, I just remember you singing Bob Dylan songs.
I guess there was the period there where I was leaning on Bob more heavily than other times.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: We had some sort of impact there.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
And I hope she can write a good paragraph.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: So you got married in 2015, and how does your wife feel about all this itinerant Bob viewing?
[00:20:15] Speaker B: She is of the opinion that she's seen Bob Dylan enough at this point in her life. And I try to remember the last time I was trying to get her to go in 2019. I guess I was ago. He sounds so different than the last time you saw him. I think you'd like it. I think the last time that she saw him might have been on that tour. With Wilco. And I forget who else was on that tour. My morning jacket. We saw him in Camden.
I was always of the opinion that Bob can turn it on and off as far as clarity of his voice, and he's always experimenting with things, and we're also not here in the mix that he's getting on stage. Right. So I was like, oh, you should come. He sounds a lot better. I think he would like it more. And she's. I've seen him enough. And she was a trooper, though. We drove to a place called big Flats, New York, along the southern tier there, out towards Erie that way. And this show was in the backyard of a bar with plastic seats set up on a lawn in a makeshift.
Like, Bob will play anywhere, I think. I'm sure he's enjoying playing these nice halls right now, but I've seen him at a place called Solomon Island, Maryland. Do you know where that is? No. Yes. Go to that show?
[00:21:34] Speaker A: No, I did not. But I know where Solomon island is.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: There's like a marine museum there, and once a year they have a fundraiser. So he plays in the park. He played in the parking lot there.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: I saw him play in the parking lot at Hershey park.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: It's outside the stadium in the back of it.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And they just set up metal seats.
They really spared no expense. They took strips of masking tape, numbered them, and you had to find your seat based on the masking tape and the brutal hot sun.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: He was great, but it was.
I think that's the last time he played. Sooner or later, one of us must know. And did he do tough Mama that night? Because I know he did tough Mama the night before. He played at Montage Mountain. I don't recall.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: I do not have the recall.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: You do. Yeah. I lost a lot of it. Trust me. I was looking at some of the set lists, because you were talking about the set list book, and I was looking at some of those 81 shows, and I'm like, wow, he played a lot of songs on those tours, too. He played well over 20 songs a night. And I think, like, 26 or something. One night he played. It's crazy.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: I counted one up because I had wrote a chapter.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Book on that on 1981, October. I think one of the nights was 28.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: 28 songs. Yeah. And even now when people are like, how is he? How is he now? I said, first of all, the guy's 82 years old, and it's one song after the other. He's not taking a break. He's just going one after the other. And it sounds great.
My friends just saw him last night in Richmond. They loved it. He took his daughter. You see a lot of now people bringing their kids who've never seen Bob Dylan, whether they're 40 years old or whether they're 14 or whether they're four. That's a show all walks of life. It's a really democratic crowd, I'd say.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: So you talked a little bit about.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: The music you were listening to when.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: You first found Bob. But what do you listen to now, besides Dylan?
[00:23:28] Speaker B: One band my wife really does, and that I really like, too, I think, is the Tedsky Trucks band. They are just fabulous. And we've seen them all over the place. We've been to Red rocks a couple of times to see them. I usually go to wolf trap, see them there. I always try to stay in the same. I know what hotel they stay in. So when we go to wolf trap, we're at the same place. And usually you run into people. You run into the band members.
Which reminds me, I was thinking of a show I saw at Wolf trap with Bob when BR five four nine was the opening act. And that's where Donnie Heron. Right. Because he was in that band. You know anything about Br five four nine?
[00:24:08] Speaker A: No, I don't.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: I never heard of it. They were like a Texas kind of swing band. Or like, doing old Hank Williams type stuff, but with their own modern lyrics.
I think I told you that I knew this guy, Jules, who was the sound guy. And he told me that they saw them on german tv and Bob wanted to get them to open up. And that's where Donnie Heron came from. And Br five four nine is the phone number that the pot and pan salesman on Hehaw, that was his phone number.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: The old television show.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Annie DeFranco was on that tour, too, I think so. It was Harrod, Br five four nine and Bob Dylan. And that night, Bob Dylan played blind Willie McTell. And he dedicated it to. I can't remember if it was Alan Lomax or John Lomax. The guys who went out in the field and recorded all these guys. And the one guy was still alive and he was there. The son was at the show to see Bob. Oh, my goodness.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: And that was all wolf trap in Virginia?
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Yes. How cool is that? And that was 90, I think that was 97, too. Okay.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: That's a nice venue, too.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Beautiful. It's gorgeous. Yeah. It's the only venue like that in a national park. And then what else do I listen to? There's a local guy and a few guys and a couple of dudes from Long island called dogs in a pile jam band. Incredible musicians. Berkeley School of Music guys.
They're just incredible and always want to promote the local guys. I'm not a big Springsteen fan, even though I'm close to Asbury park. And I would always say to people like, why would I go see him when I can go see his hero?
And then there's another place by a local guy and he does this thing called concerts in the studio. He's a photographer in his backyard. He has a detached garage, and that's his photography studio. And he gets people to play there quite frequently, a couple times a month. It'll be maybe somebody you never heard of. Or it could be like Larry and Teresa. Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams. I've seen them there three times. Amy helm, I've seen there at least three times. And it's really not expensive at all. And there's always Potluck. And then you're standing there next to Larry Campbell eating salad or lasagna or something.
Talk to you. And there's 50 people. It holds. That's it.
And it's nice because it's like a lot of times it's like a Sunday afternoon at 03:00 and you're home at six, which is good for. I'm starting to realize I'm getting older.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: So what else do you want to tell us about Bob Dylan? Your relationship with Bob Dylan?
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Like I said before, it's opened so many doors and it still does in a lot of ways.
I was telling you in Portchester that I feel compelled a lot of times, for different reasons, to keep doing this. Right after a while, there's a lot of people I know that they don't go to concerts anymore. And I'm still going to 40 or 50 a year, including the Bob Dylan shows when he's touring. And I did tell you that I got in my car and I drove to Hibbing, Minnesota, set up a deal with Bill Paigel to take a tour of the house. And I did the house tour. And I brought my guitar and sat in Bob Dylan's bedroom and played some chords from girl from the north country, which was a big thrill. And it was the honor of a friend of mine who had passed away. And his sister had given me that guitar.
I've seen Bob in 42 different states. So it's always part of the adventure. Bob has put me on the road to adventure. So one of the coolest things I did was I went to the Iowa State Fair in 2000, I think. And I got to Iowa early, so I got to go to the surf ballroom and walk on the stage where Buddy Holly played.
I went out to the cornfield where the crash was. And I brought my guitar and my camera out there. And I hung out for half an hour or so playing some songs. And that was one of the things that Bob led me to. Things like that. Museums around the country when I have time, just different things. And the music and the references.
I'm not a scholar. I see that Christopher Rick's book. And I keep trying, and then I put it away.
But I don't think you have to be a scholar to love Bob Dylan or love his art or love his music.
Everybody comes to it from their own background. And they take what they want from it or what they can get from it. And when I hear something one year might be different, the next year, what I get from just. It's seemingly endless.
The music. Yeah, that's beautifully put.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: I love how you're following Bob Dylan around. Seeing him all these different places led to all these other cultural experiences.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Because I'm not sitting on a luxury bus with a king size bed in the back after this show and drive to the next joint. When I first met my friend Jay, who has seen him easily twice as many times as me. And I know a bunch of the bob freaks out there on the stands, as they call them, and 800 times, I bet. But the thing that differentiates me from a lot of people is, and it's just a function of my age, is that in January, I'll be coming up on 50 years of going to Bob Dylan shows, which amazes me that, first of all, that I'm that old and still doing this and still able to do this. And I talked to my friend Bob, and he goes to a lot of shows, too. Not necessarily Dylan, but just a lot of concerts. And I go with him and I said, do you think that you'll ever not do this? And he goes, as long as I can get in the place I'm going, I feel about it, because music is. I love it when I don't really love it, but I see it on Facebook or something in these Bob Dylan rooms or fan clubs or whatever. I'm a big fan. I'm going to see him for the first time. I'm 60 years old. Where you been? The guy gives you enough opportunities to go see him. It's not like he's hiding out. Maybe in a cowboy band. The cowboy band's there.
It's accessible. And I love when he said, he said something like, they were saying, oh, you tour a lot? When he goes, no, king tours a lot. He plays 250 shows a year. I only do about 100. And he knows the music tradition that he's coming from, that's for sure. And even now when he's doing, like, when he does the standards and stuff, that version of old black magic is just really incredible. It's so cool. And I don't go out and buy Frank Sinatra records. That was his tribute to New Jersey. And in New Jersey, I saw Patty Smith in the lobby.
I ran into Elvis Costello at the to. I heard he went to four of the Dylan shows and then saw something. That guy, Lee Ronaldo from Sonic Youth was there the same night with Patty Smith.
So people are still going out to see him, have been influenced by him.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: Patty Smith, right after the Port Chester show, I saw her perform in Kingston, Europe.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Oh, cool.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: She did all along the watchtower. And when she introduced it, she said, I think Bob's playing around here somewhere.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: She's playing all cool on that tour. When she came out and did dark eyes, she did wicked messenger every night. And she also would do not fade away and play the harmonica and say, let's have a party for Jerry Garcia.
I thought that was very cool. And Patty Smith's group opened up for the dead, I think, in Boston or something. One time at Foxborough, I have a cool shirt from a Patty Smith show at the Bowery Ballroom from New Year's Eve 2009, I think. And it's a picture that Maple Thorpe took, and the picture is the mirror of her brushing her teeth and spitting into the sink, which is perfect Patty Smith picture.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: But we're going down the Patty Smith rabbit hole here, so maybe I'm leaning.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: This in a little bit.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Michael, this has been great. I really enjoyed talking to you, and.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: I love your experience with Bob and.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Seeing all these Dylan shows and giving us that perspective. It's really tremendous to talk to you and an honor, frankly.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: There's a bunch of us out there.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: I appreciate your specific memory, too. You got a much better memory than I do.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: I have to go look these things up all the time. It's wired into Bob Dylan. You can pretty much take all roads will lead to Bob. I love it.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: In your case, pretty literally.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Dylan Tones podcast. Be sure to subscribe to have the Dillon taunts sent directly to your inbox and share the Dillon taunts on social media.
