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.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 5 December 2021 13:29 (two years ago) link
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.”
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 5 December 2021 13:32 (two years ago) link
Ian did so, and for the rest of the tour, none of those songs were played.
Amazing.
― hocus pocus, alakazam (PBKR), Sunday, 5 December 2021 14:34 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CIOhY4ysRE
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 5 December 2021 14:49 (two years ago) link
xp lol
― Cow_Art, Sunday, 5 December 2021 14:51 (two years ago) link
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
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 5 December 2021 14:54 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5zn8lblVeI
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, 5 December 2021 15:33 (two years ago) link
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.
― doug watson, Sunday, 5 December 2021 15:59 (two years ago) link
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.”
― birdistheword, Friday, 6 October 2023 18:11 (five months ago) link
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.
― bbq, Friday, 6 October 2023 19:56 (five months ago) link
How did your friend feel about this?
― Cow_Art, Saturday, 7 October 2023 03:35 (five months ago) link
Totally cool with it. She described it as a comedy bit.
― bbq, Saturday, 7 October 2023 15:47 (five months ago) link
But I also heard probably untrue, but super dark Bob story from an acquaintance of Tony Garnier if any one wants to hear it.
― bbq, Saturday, 7 October 2023 19:12 (five months ago) link
Well if it’s “probably untrue”…(?)
― Chavez video on MTV, July 1995 (morrisp), Saturday, 7 October 2023 19:14 (five months ago) link
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
― bbq, Saturday, 7 October 2023 19:30 (five months ago) link
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.
― birdistheword, Saturday, 7 October 2023 20:09 (five months ago) link
His week long affair with Nico and “I’ll keep it with mine” from that new Lou reed book
― calstars, Saturday, 7 October 2023 21:32 (five months ago) link
That song isn’t much by BD standards