Bob Dylan dropped Like A Rolling Stone on the placid pond of pop music the summer I was sixteen. My first listen was in the family station wagon, rolling south on I-81, as a sheet of clouds stretches from Lake Ontario to strip the charm from my central New York homelands. A millisecond after the DJ on the radio says “It’s twelve-thirsty, pepsi cola time,” I hear dit dit boom, then I’m called to attention by a snarl from a Hammond B3 organ.
Up for a Bob Dylan digression?
[The following is recommended only for HardCore Dylan fans] Of the multitude helpful to Bob Dylan in the creation of Bob Dylan, few played as important a role as Dave Van Ronk. Dylan was smart enough to check in with the proprietor of the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village, Izzy Young, who was quick to point the unwashed phenomenon in the direction of Van Ronk, who proceeded to let the kid crash on his couch and whose wife became his first manager. Dave Van Ronk, remembered
More Bob Dylan
Want to know what Bob had for desert the Thursday before Joan Baez looked cross-eyed at him on their way to Sausalito? No problem, the ‘net is at your service. Here are a few sites that would easily consume your spare time straight through to the day before the Apocalypse if you followed all the links and footnotes: