Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

BTW, I was doing a bit of searching for accounts of that night at Folk
City, and came across some pretty amazing stuff from an interview with
Patti Smith, which confirms some of the Dylan/Ochs tension in the air:

http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/intervus/770318bd.htm
  

    
Gary,

First of all that Patti Smith account of Gerde's Folk City is a little
self-aggrandizing and way off the mark.  If you want to see a picture
of Bob and Phil and me taken a few days before that birthday party for
Mike Porco (not press conference to announce the tour as she had it!)
then buy the new edition of my RT book.  I can talk about Phil with
great authority because he was my roommate at that time!  I had
actually inherited his apartment from him and Jerry Rubin.  Rubin was
going back to California to lead the health food movement and take EST
courses and Phil was stuck with no place to go so my roommate and I let
him crash with us on the living room couch!  A lot of the Dylan Phil
encounters are in the book as well as Phil coming to see the Night of
the Hurricane and loving every second of it.  Look, if Phil hadn't been
in the throes of a horrible manic-depression there's no doubt in mind
that he would have been on that tour.  Bob understood that Phil was in
no shape to go.  The awkward situation that Patti talks about in that
article revolved around Phil grabbing Dylan's hat and wearing it
onstage when he performed an incredible few songs at Porco's birthday
party.  The hat was eventually rescued and restored to Dylan's crown. 
But the notion that Dylan was doing some kind of Don't Look Back
Donovan number on Phil is just wrong.  Dylan may have thrown Phil out
of a car when Phil criticized one of his songs in '66 but in '75 Bob
was very sensitive to Phil's feelings (he even stood and listened to
Phil's drunken rap for over a half an hour at that party!) and
seriously considered having him along until they all realized that Phil
was in no shape to tour anywhere.  I could cite many more examples of
Phil's crazy behavior at that time, in fact, I'm quoted extensively in
the good book about Phil (not Marc Elliot's piece of garbage).  I will
say that I still am the proud possessor of a check made out to me from
Phil for one million dollars.
  

    

Wow... I think I must've once known that you were Phil's roommate, but
had long since forgotten. Guess I asked the right guy! And I am relieved
to hear of Dylan's sensitivity to Phil's plight, and that he was still
seriously considering taking him on the tour until it became so clear
that Phil was in no shape to go. I suspected that Phil was already
pretty far gone by then, and it's good to know that Bob regarded him
with compassion.

I agree with your assessment of Marc Eliot's sloppy, inaccurate, agenda-
driven Ochs book. His Springsteen book was trash as well. It's criminal
that this guy keeps getting book deals. I have, for some stupid reason,
never gotten around to reading Michael Shumacher's "There But For
Fortune." But I will have to hunt down a copy, especially now that I've
learned that you were a source!

Damn, I miss Phil Ochs...

Thanks for the info.
  

    
      Rats, understanding that you weren't there, how was the second
leg of Rolling Thunder from what you've heard from Kinky and others?
      What other musicians were there for the second but not the first
and vice-versa?  Did you go to any of the gigs? 
  

    
I'd be interested in knowing the general dates for the 2nd leg of the tour..
surely the music on "Live 1975" must be from the first leg, as its damm
good.. thanks.
  

    
Mikey,

Didn't go to any of those gigs.  And any attempts to get info from
Kinky came up with the old "swiss-cheese" refrain.  For the dates, we'd
have to go to some of those Dylan minute by minute books.
  

    
       "On The Road with BD" is considered a classic of rock and roll
writing.  Why was it initially only issued in paperback and why did it
take 4 decades for it to be reprinted?
       What do you think of "Love and Theft", by da by?
  

    
>Why was it initially only issued in paperback and why did it
take 4 decades for it to be reprinted?

And...the first issue in the UK (which features the Kinky intro) has
only been very recent. I'd like to ask Larry what made him decide on
Helter Skelter Books, if I may?
  

    
Mikey,

Four decades?  I'm not THAT old!  It came out in 1978 as a Bantam
Paperback Original because that's the deal my then-agent could get.  It
was my first book.  It got good reviews and was even chosen as the
best original paperback of that year by School Library Journal but
after a year, as happens to many mass market paperbacks, it went out of
print.  I'd been approached over the years by many people asking me to
put it back in print and I alwas resisted.  First, I planned to do a
hardcover version of it with 200 pages that were edited out of the
original manuscript restored.  An auteur's cut, so to speak.  I will
still do that, but I figured that getting it out as a trade paper would
enable me to reach the new generation of Dylan fans that have sprung
up.  The book came out at the end of the summer - shortly after I was
approached by Dylan's people and told that Bob was releasing a live two
cd set of Rolling Thunder performances and asked to do the liner notes
for that.  So all of a sudden there was this great RT synergy.  I'm
still hoping to get that limited edition hardcover out in the next few
years.

As for Love and Theft, it's absolutely brilliant.  It seems to me it's
"Mind Out of Time".  The songs are truly timeless and for me, a
pleasant surprise because I thought for a second that Bob had painted
himself into a corner, especially with "Highlands" closing that
previous album.  I like the looseness of the production, and its
refreshing to get a respite from that heavy Lanois vibe (mind you, I
loved both the records he produced for Bob).  What can you say about
the lyrics?  Nobody writes songs like those.
  

    
Jules,

Helter Skelter approached me years ago to do the book.  One of the
reasons that the book was never published in the UK before was that my
co-agent there in 1978 actually asked me who Joni Mitchell was.  Helter
Skelter managed to get the book reviewed favorably in the London
Times, another mention in the Times, and they placed a long, long
excerpt in Uncut Magazine that featured amazing never before seen
photos by Ken Regan.  As Leonard Cohen says when you ask him how he is,
"Can't complain."
  

    

> 200 pages that were edited out of the original manuscript

Could you be persuaded to share a few choice passages with us here?
  

    

Great stories everyone,  thanks for writing them.  It's great to 
hear folks still talking about Bloomfield,  one of the smartest
guys ever.   Wish he was still around,  but he'd be going crazy
about the politics in the mideast.  
  

    

>>>  still hoping to get that limited edition hardcover out in the next few
 years. <<<

I'll buy that.  But please not to dilly-dally; none of us are getting any
younger.
  

    
dgault:
      Just out of curiosity, what WOULD Bloomfield's take on the
Mideast today be?

Rats:
      Speaking of post-book reactions, how did our pal Chet Flippo
react to his less-than-flattering portrayal in your book?
  

    
David,

I'd love to post a few passages but unfortunately the original
manuscript is in cold storage.  This was all pre-computer of course. 
When I get a breather, I'm going to scan the whole thing.
  

    

I don't suppose that'll be while this interview is running.
  

    
David

Maybe early 2005.
  

    
Michael,

Having heard from Chet this go round but he wasn't too pleased the
first time the book came out.  He told me that he was putting me on
during those conversations.
  

    
      Rats: Did Dylan have any other reaction to the book other than
his now legendary "The War and Peace of Rock and Roll"?
       
  

    
He once told me that it would be the largest-selling book I ever
wrote.  Who knows, in a hundred years he might be right.
  

    
Ratso
Your RT tome was the most but I'm also a fan of your book on the NY
Rangers. How did the two experiences compare?
Oliver
  

    

Hi Ratso!


Any illuminating observations on Dylan's political attitudes? Drug
proclivities and attitudes?

RU Curious
  

    


It's obviously difficult to put words in  the mouth of 
of a brilliant renegade who's been dead for 20 years,  but 
I do remember that Bloomfield was very disappointed with 
Israel based on his short visits there in the 70s.

The best thought I've heard recently about mideast conflict
involved locking the disputing parties in a room with 
unlimited beer and pizza.  I suspect Michael might have liked that
idea.
  

    
hold the sausage.
  

    

Listening to Live 1975 this morning, I noticed that Dylan's little intro
to Romance in Durango mentions Larry--something along the lines of "do
you remember Durango, Larry?"  Is there a backstory to this, or is it just
some random playfulness, Larry?