Encounters with Bob Dylan [Paperback]

Tracy Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Fifty first-person accounts of fans who have had a close encounter (usually face-to-face) with Bob Dylan, one our most enigmatic and reclusive public figures and the 20th Century's most influential songwriter.

The contributors come from around the world, and some even have recognizable names, such as mandolinist David Grisman, journalist Nat Hentoff, the late Hall-of-Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, rapper Kurtis Blow, and noted groupie/author Pamela Des Barres. Collectively, their stories provide compelling, sometimes amusing, insight into Dylan and his long and complicated relationship with his legion of devoted admirers.

The book also includes 24 photographs, many of them previously unpublished images of Dylan.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Bob Dylan is a reclusive, enigmatic musician who, through his compositions and songs, has had a widespread influence on a generation of fans, composers, performers, and singers. Encounters With Bob Dylan: If You See Him, Say Hello is the first biography to examine his life and career from his fans' perspectives. Included are fifty first-person accounts of fans who have personally met this elusive entertainer.

The stories are presented chronologically, beginning in 1956 with Margaret Stark's account of her high school date with Bobby Zimmerman and their subsequent meeting at Bob's 10-year Hibbing High School reunion. Due to the constantly changing circumstances of these fifty encounters, each story is unique in character and impact.

Compiled and edited by long-time Dylan devotee Tracy Johnson, and enhanced with 24 photographs (many of them previously unpublished), Encounters With Bob Dylan is must reading for all Dylan fans and serves as an example of "fan history" that would work admirably for other influential public figures. -- Midwest Book Review, March 2000

With so many quite pseudo-intellectual books on Dylan out there, I found it very refreshing to have a work that manages to both plainly entertain and give a bit of a psychological view on the man. These stories tell a lot about Dylan without ever claiming to do so.

"Encounters with Bob Dylan" is a very nice collection of interesting snapshots of moments served in bites, exactly the right thing for subway rides or the 30 minutes between going to bed and falling asleep. A highly enjoyable piece of work which I recommend to each of Dylan's fans. -- Christian Zeiser, Edlis Germany

About the Author

Tracy Johnson is a freelance writer and longtime Dylan devotee who currently lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Humble Pr (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964700921
• ISBN-13: 978-0964700925
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #722,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( D ) > Dylan, Bob

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting if you're a fan, July 31, 2002

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Encounters with Bob Dylan (Paperback)

As the greatest - not to mention most important, in every sense of the word - songwriter of the 20th century, Bob Dylan has, unsurprisingly, inspired a legion of devoted fans. Although every major artist has their share of obsessives and fanatics, the ones who follow Dylan have far surpassed mere "groupie" or "hard-core" status: they reside in a legendary status - even mythological. Some of these, branded "Dylanologists", have achieved a level of notoriety compared in a small way with the artist himself. Many fans know of the famous (or infamous) "Garbologist", A. J. Weberman, who even went so far as searching through the dumpsters outside Bob's house for his baby's soiled diapers - allegedly looking for clues to obscure lyrics, and even conjuring up a paranoid fantasy conspiracy that the government was out to get Dylan for raising sentiment against the Vietnam War, and that Dylan knew it, and alluded to it, through subtle messages in his songs. Bob Dylan's history is filled with many other such characters and ancedotes. Perhaps it comes as no surprise, then, that Dylan is a very mysterious character, and known for his ambivalence towards fans. Securing a personal meeting with Dylan is a difficult thing to do, and those fans who do manage it are held in a kind of revered awe by the faithful. This book is a record of such encounters. There are many books available on Dylan (certainly more serious and scholarly works than on any other rock musician), but this is just about the only one where the air of pretentious intellectual refinement is removed, and you hear it straight from the mouth of the ones who really matter: the fans. These are the fans personal reminisces of meeting Dylan, or otherwise coming close in some way. These are the normal, everyday fans - people like you and me (although there are certainly a few obsessives - such as the man who keeps a "Dylan shrine" in his house), although there are a handful of semi-famous names in here as well. The accounts range from revelatory (people being personally invited backstage by Dylan, a record store employee purporting not to know who he is, a man who retrieves Dylan's stolen cap); to hilarous (a fan who meets Dylan in a cafe and asks him a strange question, a meeting between Dylan and a fan in an alley before a concert), to just plain boring and inane. You are hearing these recollections as told straight from the fans - granted, then, the prose is often crude, and some stories are better than others. This, then, is a book you'll want if you're looking for personal, often funny, sometimes touching stories from the fans themselves - rather than pseudo-intellectual exposition from so-called "rock scholars." I would not rate this as an essential Dylan book: rather I reccommend it if you are a fan and want a slightly more personal and unique book about Dylan than you normally find.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bobcat's Delight, April 2, 2000

By 

D. Locke (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Encounters with Bob Dylan (Paperback)

Each story in this book is such a treat and a treasure, I had to ration them and limit myself to reading a few a day, to make the pleasure last as long as possible. Some of the stories brought tears (because they were so touching), and some brought chuckles, and all were inspirational and uplifting because they let the rest of us less priveledged obsessed fans know that it IS actually possible to meet Bob. What I especially appreciated about the book was the fact that it wasn't heavily edited and rewritten, like Reader's Digest, for instance, and that we are able to experience the unique writing styles and 'tone-of-voice' of each writer. I have many books about Dylan, but this one will be my most treasured; it is a gem of a book. All of those ponderous volumes of analyses and suppositions can't compare to reading about people's actual encounters with The Man, in thier own words. Except maybe for Daniel Kramer's worshipful account of the time he spent with him... BUY this book, so the author will be encouraged to bless us with more stories like these!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Look at the Human Side, February 19, 2000

By 

Larry F. Parham (Jackson, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Encounters with Bob Dylan (Paperback)

"Encounters With Bob Dylan" runs the gamut of Dylan's personalities. This is not musical analysis or lyrical analysis, but a look at sometimes momentary encounters by musicians, technicians, and ordinary Dylan fans. Truly reveals charisma of Dylan the human.