The best Bob Dylan stories you know

Glyn Johns anecdote (from 2014):

“Dylan’s a fascinating character,” says Johns. “When I finished recording his European tour in 1984, he and I had to choose which performance of which song to use from eight or nine concerts. He single-handedly chose the worst performances. I assumed he was testing me, because he let me win in the end. Afterwards, I had him on the phone every night for a week, talking about songwriting. He was very pleasant.” Did he go to hear Dylan in concert still? “No, the element of risk in getting your money’s worth is too great.”

lol

Ian McLagan has some funny stories from that tour in his autobiography. Apparently there were few (if any) rehearsals, and if Bob called a tune Ian didn’t know, Ian had to just figure it out on the spot. After one of the early dates on the tour, Ian went up to Bob in the hotel bar and made some suggestions for the setlists. Bob said, “Tell you what, write all those songs down and slide the list under the door to my room.” Ian did so, and for the rest of the tour, none of those songs were played.

McLagan was also present when Peter Grant introduced himself to Bob. “Hello Bob, I’m Peter Grant. I manage Led Zeppelin.” Bob stared at him for a second and said, “I don’t come to you with my problems.”

Ian did so, and for the rest of the tour, none of those songs were played.

Amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CIOhY4ysRE

xp lol

And insanely/predictably, someone bootlegged a subsequent audition/rehearsal that must have been recorded not long after after GE's anecdote. Maybe later that night? Next day?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD0ZfFsYTDI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5zn8lblVeI

G.E. Smith's recollections are great. Gonna sit down later and listen to the entire interview with him. He's a natural storyteller.

The first and best time I saw Dylan was in Ottawa 1988 when he was backed by G.E. and band. No idea how closely they were adhering to a set list. You could see how he was following Dylan's hands for clues and then indicating the song to the rest of the band. Clearly not an easy task but he pulled it off brilliantly.

Jack White to Release Bob Dylan Collaborative Performance of “Ball and Biscuit”

White sat in with Dylan during show his show at the Detroit State Theatre in March 2004. As The White Stripes frontman recounted in a 2012 interview with The Wall Street Journal, the entire moment was by sheer happenstance. “That was just by accident. I went and saw him play in Detroit and he said to me, ‘We’ve been playing one of your songs lately at sound checks.’ I thought, Wow. I was afraid to ask which one. I didn’t even ask. It was just such an honor to hear that. Later on, I remember I went home and I called back. I said, ‘Can I talk to the bass player?’ I called the theater. I was like, ‘Did Bob mean that he wanted me to play tonight? ‘Cause he said some things that I thought maybe – maybe I misconstrued. Was he meaning that he wanted me to play with him tonight? I don’t want to be rude and pretend that I didn’t hear or something like that.’ So turned out yeah, we played together that night. He said yeah, come on, let’s play something, and we played ‘Ball and Biscuit,’ one of my songs. It’s not lost on me that he played one of my songs, not the other way around.”

My friend worked on Shadow Kingdom. She was given the basic “don’t bother Bob” instructions. So she had zero interactions during the shoot. But when the finished he went right up to her, kissed her on the lips and then walked out the room without saying anything.

How did your friend feel about this?

Totally cool with it. She described it as a comedy bit.

But I also heard probably untrue, but super dark Bob story from an acquaintance of Tony Garnier if any one wants to hear it.

Well if it’s “probably untrue”…(?)

Let me preface this with all caveats about third hand stories. I cannot confirm any of this and it’s just something a guy who said he knew Tony Garnier told me.

But he was a motorcycle guy. Bob and Tony were big riders in the 80s and 90s. That’s how they would spend time before shows and. So part of Bobs circle and security team were Hells Angles.

Around this time Bob had a pretty intense stalker. She legally changed her name to Sara Dylan and she would show up backstage because she was able to convince people she was his ex wife. She would contact his kids, show up at his house, do the things a stalker would do. One day, according to the story I heard, she just disappeared. Any it was implied that the security team of Hells Angels made her disappear.

Again this is just a story a guy told me. I think it’s probably untrue

I’m pretty skeptical, including the part about Hell’s Angels being his security detail, but he does indeed love motorcycles and others like Mark Howard also remember bonding over that.

His week long affair with Nico and “I’ll keep it with mine” from that new Lou reed book

That song isn’t much by BD standards