What Is It about Bob Dylan? Christopher Vanni is the author of two Substacks, one about Bob Dylan and one on Gene Clark, he’s an advisor for the Bob Dylan Book Club—It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Reading—and he’s the creator of a Bob Dylan Quiz that can be found on YouTube and in his feed on X. He is also …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable The 1974 album Planet Waves marked a series of firsts for Bob Dylan. It was his first official album with The Band. It was his first record not on the Columbia label. And it was, believe it or not, his first No. 1 album. The music represents, if not a return to form, a reset …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable We are entering a season of maximum hype for the Timothée Chamalet vehicle, James Mangold’s biopic of Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown. The release date is December 25, 2024, and I, for one, can wait. It’s not that I don’t dearly love movies about Bob Dylan; it’s just that I don’t trust this particular director …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable Last time we discussed just the covers that Bob Dylan and the members of what would become The Band recorded during the 1967 Basement Tapes sessions. Be sure to check out part 1 if you missed it. Today we are back with part 2 to explore the Bob Dylan originals recorded during those sessions. The common explanation is that …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable “It feels like this is probably what it sounds like in his head all the time.” -Graley Herren The Basement Tapes occupy a unique place of honor in the pantheon of Dylan legends. Coming just after two other legendary events—the “going electric” performance and subsequent tour and Dylan’s motorcycle accident—the 1967 recordings were a collaboration …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Scott Warmuth is a writer and musician from Albuquerque, New Mexico. His research and observations on the writing strategies of Bob Dylan are widely acknowledged and frequently referenced, notably in Bob Dylan’s Lyrics 1983-2000. In 2014, writer Jonah Raskin dubbed Warmuth the dean of Dylanologists. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss …

An Experience of Erasure, Dissonance, and the Consequences of Collection to Collective Memory Back in September 2022, I posted a piece on The Dylantantes called My Fraught Visit to the Bob Dylan Center. It tells the tale of my friend and I traveling to the Center for the first time and our experience with activists in the Greenwood section of …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable Only one year after the triumphal release of “Oh Mercy,” Dylan came out with 1990’s “Under the Red Sky.” The album is known for its all-star musicians—George Harrison, Slash, David Crosby, Bruce Hornsby, Al Kooper, David Lindley, and others—and was produced by Don Was. It is filled with the language and structure of children’s songs …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Phil Hale lives in NYC and first saw Dylan live in ’81 in London. Since then he has seen Dylan more than 100 times. While having no regrets he’s not completely sold on the idea that it’s the best use of his time either. That dichotomy has led to some attempts to write about …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable Twenty-one years ago, the whole wide world was stunned by the release of a new Bob Dylan project unlike any before, a feature-length movie of his own creation aimed at a generalish audience. Led by a future Nobel Laureate co-crafting the satirical script, populated with a brilliantly star-studded cast, and helmed by a maverick director …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? You may know Dan Brown as the author of the bestseller The DaVinci Code, but you’ve got the wrong guy. This Dan Brown was born in Tarrytown N.Y, and after a stint in the United States Air Force he moved to New City, NY, entered into a career in the restaurant industry. For the …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable Bob Dylan’s 15th, 16th, and 17th studio albums, Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, and Desire, had been solid successes when he released Street-Legal in 1978. The album was not universally well received by critics although it was a commercial success. There is an Extended Version of this episode available on FM+. Details below. The …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable Bob Dylan’s 31st studio album, “Love and Theft,” was released on September 11, 2001. The album’s lyrics are among the first to be heavily researched for references to and lifts from other works, and there are many—perhaps most notably some lines from Japanese true crime writer Junichi Saga’s Confessions of a Yakuza. The songs are rich with characters—men and …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Michael Glover Smith wrote and directed the feature films COOL APOCALYPSE (2015), MERCURY IN RETROGRADE (2017), RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO (2018), and RELATIVE (2022), all of which won awards at festivals across the U.S. and were the subject of rave reviews. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper wrote that “Smith has a deft touch for creating …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Last year a New York Times article opened with “Henry Bernstein has seen Bob Dylan 27 times in concert and owns three items autographed by him: a copy of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ album, a photograph of the singer and a “John Wesley Harding” songbook. His favorite song is “Tangled Up in Blue.” Henry …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable As much as we love Bob Dylan’s many versions of his own music, we at Million $ Bash would be remiss if we did not discuss some of the gazillions of covers of Dylan’s work. Given the buzz emanating from Cat Power’s reconstruction of Dylan’s set from his 1966 British tour, it makes sense to …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Bella Napolitano is a nineteen-year old from Baltimore, and is currently a Psychology major at Bard College in Upstate New York. Bella is an aspiring child psychologist, loves creating visual art, enjoys going on long walks, and is a live-music enthusiast. She has had lifelong exposure to Dylan’s music through her father and has developed a taste …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Michael Johnson is a Dylan adventurer. He was born in 1956 and grew up at the Jersey Shore. His first concerts were at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, starting with Black Sabbath in 1971. The next 3 plus years saw a huge shift largely as the result of him not filling out the selection …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable In this latest episode of the Million $ Bash roundtable, the gang goes at the surprise 2009 release of Christmas in the Heart, Bob Dylan’s first and perhaps only album of Christmas music, at least until there is a Bootleg Series box set of the session outtakes. The album is, unsurprisingly, contentious, and the M$B …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable In this latest episode of the Million $ Bash roundtable, the gang talks about their contributions to the new collection, The Politics and Power of Bob Dylan’s Live Performances: Play a Song for Me, edited by our very own Erin Callahan and Court Carney and published by Routledge. M$B Roundtable Panelists: Rob “Rockin’” Reginio teaches …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Roberta Rakove is a partner in the firm of Rakove and Strassberger which advises and trains nonprofits and foundations on how to build effective advocacy. Prior to that she served for many years as the Senior Vice President for External Affairs for Sinai Health System in Chicago advocating on Medicaid(as in Shot of Love …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Elizabeth Cantalamessa is currently a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at the University of Miami and an instructor at the University of Houston-Downtown. She grew up in Houston, Texas, and has published on topics including political speech, disagreement, and copyright law. This interview was recorded about two months before it was released. Thanks for checking …

A Million $ Bash Roundtable In this latest episode of the Million $ Bash roundtable, the gang takes on the Dylan songs they think deserve greater attention and recognition. Will sparks fly? Will inspiration flare? Well, there is only one way to find out! We assembled our regular panelists for this roundtable, but when Nina Goss tried to join us, …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Laura Tenschert is a writer, podcaster, and musician living in London, UK. She is the creator of Definitely Dylan, a podcast about Bob Dylan’s work and creative process. The episodes on Rough and Rowdy Ways, Shadow Kingdom, and Dylan’s visual art have established her as a crucial voice on the artist’s recent work. Laura …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Harold Lepidus is the author of Friends and Other Strangers – Bob Dylan Examined He also hosts the Boston Harold Podcast. Let us know what you think! Thanks for checking out The Dylantantes! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, …

What Is It A Million Dollar Bash Roundtable Bob Dylan? The Stoics taught us the concept of momento mori, the contemplation of the fleeting nature of life, which helps prepare us for the end, encourages us to appreciate and make the best of the present, and softens the blow as we lose those we care about. In that spirit, The …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Rebecca Slaman is a freelance writer and editor. She has a BA from Fordham University in English and Classics. Her writing specializes in fan communities on social media. She has been cited as a Bob Dylan expert in speaking engagements at University of Tulsa and Florida International University. You can find her on Twitter …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Dr. Keith Nainby is Professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Stanislaus. There, his primary academic interests include pedagogy, philosophy, and performance. Keith currently focuses on the cultural contexts of musical performances, such as listener engagements and fan communities. He has published a book and four essays, with a fifth forthcoming, on Bob …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Dr. Anne Marie Mai is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast (interview by Erin Callahan). The discussion ranges widely before zeroing in on Dylan and masculinity. Anne Marie Mai is currently the chair of humanities at the University of Southern Denmark and serves on the board of the Bob Dylan Research Institute. She earned …

A Million Dollar Bash Roundtable In June of 2023, the University of Tulsa Institute for Bob Dylan Studies held The World of Bob Dylan conference in Tulsa in conjunction with a new cultural event called Switchyard. The panelists start their postmortem of the World of Bob Dylan 2023 with a critique of this “mash-up.” Roundtable Panelists: Rob Reginio teaches modern …

The Philosophy of Modern Song and the Ambi-Modernist Impulse A panel from the World of Bob Dylan, June 2, 2023, Tulsa, OK Court Carney (chair),‘The Laws of Time Didn’t Apply to You’: The Philosophy of Modern Song and the Zeitgeist of the Discontent Erin C. Callahan, ‘Lame as Hell and a Big Trick’: Dylan’s Comment on the Commodification of Art …

Roundtable Panelists: Rob Reginio teaches modern literature at Alfred University. He’s currently at work on a book about Dylan’s album John Wesley Harding. Nina Goss is Editor of or contributor to the volumes Tearing the World Apart: Bob Dylan and the 21st Century and Dylan at Play. She is a contributor to various anthologies and presented at the first World …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Culture critic, artist, prolific podcaster, and host of Pod Dylan, Rob Kelly, is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast. Rob Kelly is an award-winning writer, illustrator, and pop culture historian. He was the creator/editor of the book HEY KIDS, COMICS!: TRUE-LIFE TALES FROM THE SPINNER RACK, and writes the Reel Retro Cinema column for …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Music and cultural journalist Allison Rapp is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast. Allison Rapp is a music and culture journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Brooklyn Magazine, Rock Cellar, City Limits, and more. She currently works as an assistant editor at Ultimate Classic Rock where she’s interviewed the …

Just a few months ago, Bob Dylan released his second book of prose (third book ever), and loftily entitled it The Philosophy of Modern Song. The reviews have been mixed, but the book has already become the latest folder for the academic industrial complex. Here at The Dylantantes, we have decided that enough is enough and that it is time …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Dr Nina Goss is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast (interview by Erin Callahan) Nina Goss was born and raised in New York. She earned her BA from University of Rochester and her MFA and PhD from the University of Washington and currently teaches at Fordham University. She is quite prolific in her work …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Dr. Robert Reginio is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast. Rob Reginio is a professor English at Alfred University in Western New York. He is the editor of and contributor to the collection Samuel Beckett and Contemporary Art. He has published and presented widely on modernism and memory and has published pieces on Dylan …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Dr. Graley Herren is our guest on The Dylantantes podcast. Graley is Professor and Chair of English at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He is the author of Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, published by Anthem Press in 2021 and now available in paperback. He is also the author of books …

For all of my life, I have not met Bob Dylan. In fact, not meeting Bob Dylan is a big part of my day-to-day. I can honestly say that my close, personal relationship with Bob Dylan, established when I was a teen and more deeply developed over subsequent decades, only exists to the extent that it has not happened yet …

What Is It about Bob Dylan? Dr. Court Carney is our second guest on The Dylantantes podcast. Court is a history professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He is the author of Cutting Up: How Early Jazz Got America’s Ear and is currently finishing a manuscript on the public memory and image of the infamous rat-b*****d …