Customer Reviews

Dylan Speaks: The Legendary 1965 Press Conference in San Francisco

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In December 1965 - less than 6 months after Dylan went "electric" at the Newport Folk Festival, he was in San Francisco for 3 concerts. Jazz critic Ralph Gleason arranged for a televised hour-long press conference at WQED and recorded it on video. Thanks to the late Gleason's son Toby (who has made many of his father's Jazz Casual" jazz shows available on DVD), the full press conference is now available. This is a MUST for true Dylan fans and an entertaining curiosity for those who were fascinated by Martin Scorsese's documentary on Dylan earlier this year.

By technical standards, the print is top notch and sharp. The sound is the best that can be expected when the questioners did not use microphones to ask Dylan their questions. (You can hear his answers just fine!).

There were about 30 reporters in the room, including poet Allen Ginsburg (who Dylan lists - in answer to one question - as one of his favorite poets).

I won't give away all of the gems which come from Dylan during the 50-minute conference but He's really prophetic when asked: "If you were to sell out to `commercial interests', what would they be ?". He replies "Ladies garments" . 40 years later he was doing commercials for Victoria's Secret!

Dylan is VERY relaxed in his manner and quite open. He chain smokes through the whole session.

This DVD has no bonus features and is sort of budget priced, so it's definitely worth a watching and , if you are a Dylan completist, adding to your collection.

Steve Ramm "In The Groove"

I first viewed this interview long ago from a VHS that was a copy of a copy of a copy...well, long-time Dylan fans know how poorly this material was presented. But long ago, we fans accepted sub-par production because we knew that Dylan's material would always be superior. Whatever the defects of the medium, Dylan would always be entertaining.
But no longer do we need to witness Dylan through faded and distorted images. This DVD offers the viewer crystal clear clarity, sharp black and white images - nothing at all to detract from the interview. Dylan ambles into this den of reporters, plops in his chair, fishes out the first of many cigarettes, and performs his own brand of magic. He listens, sometimes laughing at the absurdity of some questions, but usually answers plainly - follow-up questions usually are treated to his absurdist humor. More thoughtful questions are treated to more expansive answers by Dylan, and he seems to take pains to explain himself.
However, the real show is when some reporters try to frustrate or anger him. He is soft-spoken but never backs away from a challenge. He is at once witty, reflective, absurd, and always hilarious when he responds.
This interview was a long time arriving in DVD format, but well worth the wait. We see a young man who is confident of his abilities, yet always insisting that his role is a musician and songwriter, not a spokesperson for any group or cause. As he continues to tour at the age when other musicians are performing greatest hits, Dylan continues to create music that inspires. This DVD captures a moment from Dylan's back pages where we can see him answer questions unscripted and on the fly - this performance certainly captures his wit, insight, and thoughtfulness. It may very well rank as a fine performance from this "song and dance man."

a hilarious tour-de-force by bobby of one of his legendary press conferences from the 60s: the only one caught in its entirety on film. the mind boggles at some of the simplistic queries posed, not to mention the contempt in which reporters frequently held dylan. of course, he matches them in the contempt level and verbally outspars all comers, while attempting to frequently turn the conversation to a serious discussion of his music -- before another stupid question sets off another riff on the absurd. this is for bob dylan fans only, but for them it is a huge treat.

The quality of this film is great, the other clips from it, that I have seen in the past were always grainy and just overall poor. This one however is magnificent. Bob is so sure of himself, as he should be, and he is just totally screwing with the morons that are asking the questions! It's wonderful to see Bob in action!

This DVD has extraordinary clear images--and I played the DVD on a $50 Walmart TV and a $30 Magnavox DVD player in a room where NBC comes in poorly no matter what TV I use or move around in there.

This legendary press conference is a must buy--a real keeper. This is good for those trying to catch up with the 60's as well as young people learning about this living legend. I really give it 7 points out of 5. This DVD gives a glimse of the person, Bob Dylan, at the peak of his 60's career, his youth, and of course a glimpse into the roaring 60's.

I was truly mesmerized and fascinated in watching this press conference.

As soon as Bob Dylan walks in and sits down, he quickly steals the show. Throughout the conference, he is alert, relaxed, unasuming, expressive, and playful (in a nice way). He quickly answers questions sometimes with deep insights uncommon for his young age. He demonstrates intelligence beyond his years, charm, poise, style and humor. He is the Star of the show, without any doubt. He never raises his voice in irritation or defensiveness even to the most stinging questions. At one time an ash escapes his lit cigarette and Dylan playfully searches for it on his lap and about, and a reporter apparently irritated at his cute antics tries to gain control of the show by shooting a stinging question at Dylan to which he quickly responds with great poise and dignity without any trace of irritation which immediately puts him back in control of the show. It is fascinating to watch! Dylan (in a more informal setting in another DVD) has a much more passionate exchange with a sort-of reporter, but that was okay. In this case the setting was more formal and Dylan mastered it to perfection. There are ALSO some FRIENDLY folks there that watch Bob with utter amazement and admiration. Don't think everyone there is out to get him. Pay attention to the reporter up front and the middle-aged lady in the back--especially.

He fidgets a bit and smokes a lot, but surprisingly, this only adds to his charm rather than the opposite. (smoking is 100% wrong today--these were different times).

There are gorgeous close-ups with amazing detail--but you have to wait a while until the R E A L CLOSEUPS BEGIN. Don't despair if the shots go back to normal because there are close-ups all over again before the press converence ends. He was truly very good looking with gorgeous eyes and lips!! I never realized how stunning he really was at that age until now! GEE Wiz! I was only a teenager until the end of the 60s and the first record I ever bought of Bob Dylan was Lay Lady Lay (don't kill me "since '64 fans") (I now have lots and lots more records from him and trying to catch up with all that was going on back then). So kids, if you see him today aged beyond his years, remember he was once young, with extraordinary talent enough to outshine millions of people.

I think the price is fair indeed and well worth the investment--it is only a press conference, however, and it is not the length of a regular movie. You can view this DVD time and time again alone just for fun or share viewing fun with friends and family!!

Oh by the way, the famous poet, Allen Ginsberg, who is also a friend of Bob is there helping Bob with the right question. I also like Allen Ginsberg because he was in CA in the late 60's protesting whale hunting with folks that later became the organization Animal Protection Institute (now together w/Born Free). (I just had to add that). Thank you Allen!

Nadia

It's impossible to watch this gorgeous print and not be charmed by Dylan's humor and (obvious?) nervousness at having to perform in front of a crowd that ranges from the weirdly obsessive to the completely clueless. While Dylan the singer has been documented on tape and film more than any other artist in rock history, this very unusual public appearance shows a side of Dylan that has rarely been seen over the 45 years of his fame. Sure he blows a good bit of smoke, and yet between the quips he takes the time to answer some questions seriously (particularly those from Ralph Gleason). It's such a treasure to have, and belongs in the collection of any remotely serious Dylan fan.

...can be found by googling 'Dylan Press Conference'. Look for the Dylan Pool link. There you can access the pictoral article entitled 'A Closer Look'.

This DVD is a must have for any serious Dylan fan.

I am fascinated time and time again how incredibly weird Bob Dylan is. I watched the interview, impressed with his every word. It was shorter than I'd hoped, but it was just a press conference.
I think this interview shows the Dylan that wasn't just going to play along with everybody's game. He wasn't going to be this stooge of an artist, grateful for all his fans and his fame and his money. He didn't care about what a journalist is going to write about him, or what some guy reading the article is going to think. All the journalists in the room were all stumped when he wouldn't answer their vague, leading questions with flowery answers that would please readers and not really mean anything.
Favorite line, "We all have different definitions of those words."

What you get here is an hour of Bob Dylan answering questions. Is it worth ten bucks? Oh, you betcha.

I don't think a single Dylan documentary exists that doesn't pull footage from this particular press conference. During this period, he was young, feisty, enigmatic, charming, cocky and brilliant. Not much has changed over the years (save the young part), but this is a period in history where Bob couldn't escape the hounding press and actually seemed to be having a bit of fun with the whole thing. Clearly annoyed of answering the same types of questions over and over again, you get an hour's worth of Bob entertaining himself at the expense of the naive newsreporters (not much has changed in that regard either!).

Sarcasm and oddness abound, but legitimate questions are answered with respect. Whatever they gave, he gave back. Gotta love Bob for the whole, you know, human factor thing.

For those not in existence at the time, here's an opportunity to see that we, as fans of the era, didn't know: that Dylan, The Beatles, and everyone else who was a famous performer at the time, was constantly asked the same questions, over and over and over again, by "reporters" who didn't read the prior several newspaper articles, or interviews, and thereby learn the questions had been asked, and answered, one or more dozen times, during one or more dozen prior press conferences. Thus we were treated to baffling, and often apparently serious, "intellectual," "philosophical" -- weighty -- responses from the performers. What did the always-serious Dylan "mean," when asked if he thought of himself as a protest singer or a rock 'n roll singer, when he responded, "I think of myself as a song-and-dance-man"?

Though occasionally "thoughtful," "intelligent," "philosophical" or like responses happened, and one hears it here when Dylan attempts to get across what he is about -- an entertainer; a musician and songwriter -- much of the "controversy" and, with The Beatles and Dylan especially, hilarity and absurity was simply a way to deal with the boredom inherent in confronting the same questions, over and over and over again, from "reporters" who hadn't done their homework. So in an interview, as example, The Beatles are asked, for the umpteenth time, "Why Beatles," to which McCartney gives a slight shrug of a shoulder and says, matter-of-factly, "We could have called ourselves "The Shoes." And he glances at John, who glances back -- "seriously" -- and says, "Yes, we could have been called 'The Shoes'". And then there is a signalling of agreement among the four that this was a real, serious possibility that they hadn't thought of. It appears they are actually on the verge of diving into a serious discussion of that, among themelves, as if there were no one else present.

At the time, we fans thought they were intelligent, creative, clever, witty -- and hilarious; and they were those things. We did not know that mostly they were having fun in effort to deal with the boredom. Thus much of the heavy intellectual analysis of the "hidden" and "philosophical" "meanings" of their responses which came out of that was based upon ignorance of that simple fact: that they were finding ways not to be bored with questions they were by then fed up with being asked, and yet having to answer yet again. Thus things were out-of-control, and got more and more out-of-control, as Dylan and The Beatles made such mode of response the norm for at least themselves (few others could pull it off).

And out of that came the search for "hidden clues" in Dylan's and The Beatles' music, and from there the "Paul is Dead" hoax, and so on.

However, such interviews are well worth watching for the fun, the intelligence, the wit, the effort, which could only have got more and more difficult with the passage of time, to remain patient and be polite, even while pulling the "reporters'" (and readers'/viewers') legs. And for the appalling lack of research effort by the so-called professional "journalists" of the day. A classic instance is that of the "Time" reporter who had the gall to ask Dylan (in England), "Do you believe in what you write?" and the "reporter's" response to Dylan, who furiously goes off on him, that he's only doing his job. That, in short, he knew nothing about Dylan; he was simply assigned by "Time"'s editors to show up at the press conference and try to get an "interview". So, the dumb questions, already answered countless times -- and a question which was a direct insult. And the next day the "reporter"'s assignment is to get a comment from some public figure in some entirely different field of endeavor on some "important" event of the day, again without bothering to do research in advance.

So such "events" were viewed as contentious (they sometimes were) and "controversial" simply becaue we didn't know what was actually happening. And this is a classic of the "form," in which Dylan is "combative" and "non-responsive," as he was described then when he gave the sorts of responses he gave. And yet one sees him attempt not to insult, or hurt the feelings of, the girl who asked the dumb question she got "from a movie magazine".

Alas, the only thing different today is that the performers/entertainers have no wit, nothing interesting to say, even if only as "send up". Instead we get the inane, the unintelligent, and the outright grunt-level rude.