. .

THE MAGAZINE FOR TO

i EASY
r
J.
FEELING
~ PRETTY
LOOKING
PARTY
FASHIONS
How Do
... Your Friends
~ Fit Into
~ Your Life?
"'
SENSIBLE SEX:
WHEN TO GIVE IT
THE GREEN LIGHT
Quick Beauty Change:
~
Funky To Exotic
-1 Dreamy To Daring
Special Interviews:
BOBBY SHERMAN
MELANIE .·
KURT VONNEGUT
Meet a rock revolutionary-
--
the world's only Dylanologist

It's practically deserted on the drafts of letters to Johnny "gifts" from Subterranean Homesick
corner of Bleeker and Bowery in the Cash and cancelled checks Blues, Love Minus Zero and Like a
East Village in New York City. and other items that he considered Rolling Stone . .. . Then he intones:
Abandoned cars, stripped of their evidence Dylan was going commer- " 'And fools and jewels and
chrome and wheels, line the street. cial, that, worse, he was swapping diamonds and lollypops and gifts
Alcoholics wander on to the block to his halo of hair for a hard hat. of glad tiding just don't do nothing
grub cigarettes and nickels from for the soul'-no, that's not a song,
occasional passersby. It's not
the kind of neighborhood for an
afternoon stroll in the sunshine.
le Weberman-Dylan story
!n
really began back 1962 when A.J.
it's from a letter Dylan wrote to
Broadside Magazine.
" I decided that Dylan was a poet
But A. J. Weberman, free spirit, became a Dylan fanatic. Somebody on a level with Blake and
rock revolutionary and historian, told him there was a singer around Shakespeare. To figure out those
sits in his second-story loft, who looked a little bit like him cats, people use concordances-
blissfully unaware of the squalor in (Dylan does-a little), and alphabetical indexes of the
the street below. He's preoccupied Weberman was hooked. principle words of their works. So I
with the notion that it's his duty to "I turned on to him immediately started a concordance for Dylan.
bring rock singers to social con- when I realized that his politics and Eventually I fed all of his poetry
sciousness. Revolution through rock mine were similar. I became the and his letters plus his novel,
and roll. And the principal object of biggest Dylan •groupie' around. I Tarantula (then unpublished)
his attack is Dylan- Bob Dylan, admit it. I loved the cat," A.J. grins, into a computer. I was the first
singer of protest songs, champion indicating that the affair isn't over one to do that."
of lost causes, hero of a generation yet. "I have the largest collection The print-out from the computer
of activists. Yet, A .J. sees Dylan of Dylan tapes in the world ••• next takes up two volumes, each the
as a slacker and a sell-out. to his own, and In 1966, when size of a telephone book, containing
Highway 61 was released, I began almost every word that Dylan has
the Dylan archives. I saw that Dylan ever written, in alphabetical order
W o is A. J. Weberman, any- was no longer singing literal songs, along with a line of context.
way? He's the world's only Dylanol- but was singing In some kind of A.J.'s research fo r the Dylan
ogist- and he has been carrying on abstract poetry. concordance amounted to six boxes
a love-hate thing with Dylan for years.
For a long time, he made nightly
pilgrimages to the street where
"At first I was afraid that he'd
given up politics. But then, I decided
that he was hiding his message
of computer cards with 5,000 cards
in each box. All that work ... all
that effort, and then Dylan chose
•.
Dylan lived in Greenwich Village. in heavy symbols. So I developed a Blue Moon, " ii love song strictly
A.J.'s objective was Dylan's garbage new thing. Rather than look for a from the forties," to include in one
cans, set out on the sidewalk, to universal meaning for a particular of his albums. Weberman was
await a Department of Sanitation word in his poetry, I tried to dig horrified . In a frantic and rather
pick-up. Dylan was in his apartment out what Dylan himself associated obscure try at retribution, he gave a
inside, and since he wouldn 't come the word with, every time that he copy of Tarantula to the Bobby
out, A.J.-working on the premise used it. Take the word 'gifts,' for Seale Defense Fund. Mostly he
that you are what you throw away- example. If you want to know what carried on the attack in classes In
became garbage trasher to a star. that word means to Dylan, Dylanology he was teaching at the
Leaving the orange peels strictly listen to the ways he uses it." Alternate University, now defunct.
alone, Weberman dug out a gold ("You know, it was a university for
mine of Dylan miscellany. He found people in the alternate culture.")
discarded Polaroid shots I n an A-1 imitation of Dylan, A.J. Weberman discovered that Dylan
of Dylan's five kids, first croons lines containing the word had investments in the stock market

30
-- WHO
by Ellen . . . .

IS
A. J. WEBERMAN
and that he owned several high-rise
AND
buildings. "What are you doing for
the people?" Weberman asked the
next time he was caught rifling
WHY
Dylan's garbage on MacDougal
street. "You've got ten million
dollars, and you 're sitting on it."
IS
" I'm g ivin' it to kibbutzes in Israel
and Far Rockaway," Dylan told him.
A.J. threw a block party for Dylan
HE
on his thirtieth birthday. It made
Dylan's address public and forced
him to move. The object of the
·SAYING
party, A.J. claims, was to bring
Dylan back int o the activist fold.
What it chiefly accomplished was to
ALiJ.
make A. J . Weberman a celebrity.
Suddenly the media-square as
well as underground-was after
THQSE
him for interviews and opinions.
A .J . is moving to greener pastures
-or cleaner garbage cans. His
TER t-~
current target is Paul McCartney.
"He's not doin' anything either,"
A .J. complains menacingly.
THIN
" Sitting back getting fat. "
As an opening gambit, A.J.
staged a demonstration in front of
ABC!)
the New York residence of the
family of Linda Eastman, Paul's wife,
apparently ~>n the t heory that if you
DYLAN1
can't get to the subject, launch an
attack on the mother-in-law.
Although A.J.'s forays are often
humorous (he gave Dylan a garbage
can with a padlock on it for his
birthday), they also are purposeful.
He says, " I saw Dylan eventually
as a way to get my ideas across to
the mass media-a kind of rip-off."
Crusader and charlatan, idealist
and man with his eye on the main
chance, A . J. Weberman is as
contradictory, as puzzling and often
as stimulating as the rock culture
that so fascinates him.

31
1 drunken fiuher .2: emptygin /Jottle 5 .ra.bid rar +.b<!aten moTher 5.unpiJ.JVniW!e object 6.remains ofher wedding
dress 7.fror.en robin 8.morto wor1'ed in human hair 9. dying child 10. caseless pillow II . World 11-iihout End qw1t
12. Christmas tree 13. string, bones, and ticket stubs from the 5utter 14. Sfr Giles Crockby, the P/lc hard Ifin!J

lJ. R.u.ssian saiJle pelisse 16. bespoke spars q. his Thi"betan. chauffeur i8 . ba.,sket or!fld.Zed tropic.a.I frui ts i9. the
Works of Goethe boundin lJ/ue Lera.ntmorocco 20. terrine ofpate de foie gra.s with truffles :u.a.n&ique automa.tcn
that sings 'JJal dolor cota:nto oppresso'from La Clemenza di Scipione 22 . box of a.bPinthe.f1lledchocola.res
r
I

c
~
~'
~-------------------------------~~
Dear Sha-Na-Na: hlm what made him think he knew so
My name is Cynthia Goodbead. I much and all, and he told me that he'd
am fourteen years old and I have never figured out all the Hidden Meanings of
had an orgasm. I have had crabs, how- Dylan's lyrics!!! Well I asked him to
ever, and believe me they are no sub- give me an example and he said, HI'll
stitute!!! My best friend, Suzy Star- bet you didn't know that Dylan has
fucker, who has met you (she v.ras trip- joined the Playboy Club."
11
ping backstage at the Fillmore and mis- Are you sure about that?" asked I.
took you· all for a box of Tampax)- "WoUld i lie to you?" replied he.
Suzy, anyway, tells me that you know "Now why would he go and do a
all kinds of secret sectual things, like thing like that?" wondered I.
What Ramalamdingdong Really Means "It's all right there in the lyrics,"
-and how to do it! If this is the case, said he.
~P..o~~
PATCHES. GLASS PIPES. CLIPS
"Well why, then?" demanded I. HANDMADE STERLING SILVER. MORE.
won't you please get in touch with me? "Do you mind paying a little less?"
I've tried just about everything else, "To Be Alone with Hugh, of course." Wholesale only-Free catalogue.
and a little extra grease might be just Well, it sounded logical. And Web- Retail Catalogue-$1.00
the ingredient I need. bermann went on to explain how joining UTiivcrsal Poster Cor)J., Dept. L
5424 Vilieland Avenue
I i:ecently returned from Paris, where the Playboy Club had been Dylan's life- J:\Torth Hollywood, Calif., 91G01
orgasms are out of season and the long closet .ambition, or-in Dylan's
people speak French. The first thing I very O\vn words-" All I really wanna
did when I got back to N.Y. was I went do is baby be friends with Hugh.'' Well,
to see Bob Dylan, because Suzy says it really blew my mind. And then Web-
he is Deeply Concerned about V\7omen's bennann got do\Vll to some real nitty- RUSH JAY WARD $i4.95 AND
Problems, like for exarnple in such gritty-he told me that Dylan had be- JAY WARD WILL RUSH YOU
songs as "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only come a Junkie!!! "At this point he is
Bleeding" and "Nashville Skyline nothing but a strung-out sybarite, an
Rag." Well,' it took me awhile to find his ideological eyesore, a teleological turn-
house, and by the time I got there I coat, a mainlining miscreant, a nar-
was really worn out, so I sat down on -cotized nabob of nebulous nectarian
the garbage can in front of his building nonsense-and a Shithead," said Web-
and started to read my horoscope. bermann.
Well suddenly this strange little man "But," protested I, "how do you
jmnped out from behind a lamppost, know he's a Junkie?"
grabbed the garbage can, and carried it "Because," rejoined he, "over the
away (v.rith me inside itl!t), running past two years I have found upwards
like mad and shouting "Liberate Dy- of six thousand empty Yoo-Hoo Choco-
lan!" and "Disavow the dialectical did- late-Flavored Beverage bottles, Yogi
dlies or die!" He ran all the way over Berra's faVorite drink, in Dylan's gar-
to the IND sub-Way station on ,West bage-AND NOT ONE YOO-HOO
Or any one of the other 17·jewel, water and shock resislarit
Fourth Street, jumped the turnstiles, CHOCOLATE-FLAVORED BEV- watches shown below!
and locked himself into the men's roorh, ERAGE BOTTLECAP!!! Dylan has ~FREE! Order \'110 w3tches and r;et 3 free framed color
~ scene Jrom one ot hi Ward's Animated TV Cartoons!
where he finally put me down. Then obviously been using these bottleca:Ps r----CHRISTMAS DEL.IVERY GUARANTEEDl·--- 1
he set to work sorting out the garbage to to6k up his fL""'{eS. What other explan- I J•l'''"'° .,ooumo~•· 0111 , •• ,., "•«~·"•~•·'·«"'· "'" NL.4 I
alphabetically, pausing only just long ation could there possibly be for all that 1~~t.~lt:~.".";,".';;:'~;! \,.-;" 001 . . !fui0,:::~;"c:;:,::::~:.'..~~~;·::~ tt;..,;, '~:r''' 11 l
I-< I
enough to :introduce himself. His name Yoo-Hoo?'' !' 00
""$ I
@
satt
was K. J. Webbennann.
IC~tTY
~ ~ ~
Well, it sounded logical. Anyway, I
"You'd be surprised at some of the decided to ask Webbermann about or- \ ' ! , 1
thlngs I've discovered :in Dylan's gar- gasms-but when I brought up the Sub-
bage," he informed me. "YVhy jUst a ject he didn't Seem to know what I \Vas
! 00
I i. -· '

couple of years ago I found 'Joan Baez talking about. He told me he had never
in this very can." found one in Dylan's garbage (at least
l~':'" .~gm·<':, <ji)!·:·.':'" ~i~~a,ir, i
\ ,-, " l

Well, he proceeded to bad-mouth not that he knew of)., and if an orgasm l v. I

' I

!~~~@!
Dylan, calling him things like: "a karmic (whatever it was) wasn't dispoSable
cop-out for cultural coupon-clippers"; then it came under the heading of Prop-
"a decadent droner of dialectically erty, and Property (according to Pier,re-
deadhead drek"; "a pusillanimous pan- Joseph Proudhon, the great nineteenth- I oU•n• w.c. N~clANO !
J -S~1'P -"'-"'ON -"!:lD> --"C•sE I
derer to prepubescent peter-pullers"; century anarchist) was tantamount to L----· 30·DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE----...!
and "Shithead." Well naturally I asked legal Theft, which made the orgasm (if
continued

NATIONAL LA1'1POON 13

-
 continued
indeed such a thing existed )'--R<ltBi~
but a tool of the Power Brokers (and in
all probability counterrevolutionary ) .
Well at this point I thanked him and
went running out the men's-room door
and he came running after me, waving
an empty Yoo-Hoo bottle and hollering
for me to stick around.
" Stick around\" hollered he. " Stick
around and I'll let you in on all the
JUNE, 1970/ BLIGHT: With Sludge Magazlno, Beauty Tips for Mutants, Our Threatened Nazis, Jean details of how Dylan murdered P aul
Shepherd 's S.P.L.A.T., Mort Gerberg's Po llutlonland, and Michael O' Donoghue's Extinction Game. McCartney!"
.4 JULY, 1970/BAD TASTE: Don't miss The Liz Tayl or a nd Richard Burton Gift Catalogue, tho Special Well, I just kept on running. I guess
Mediocrity Supplement, A Photographer's Gulde to Art and Pornography, and the Most Tastoless maybe that was sort of a little rude on
Arti cle Ever Printed!
my part, but I was in a hurry to go and
AUGUST, 1970/PARANOIA: What would America be like as a second-rate power? Read We're Only look up Power Brokers in the Yellow
Number Two. Also, a Paranoia Map of the World , Is Nixon Dead? (well, is he?) and The Secret of
San Clemente. Pages.
SEPTEMBER, 1970/SHOW BIZ: Get your mezzanine seals now tor the MGM Blackmail Aucti on,
Well, when this turned out to be just
Screen Slime Magazine, Raquel Welch Laid Bare, Diary of a New Left Starlet, and College Concert another dead end I was really pretty
Com ix ! bummed out. I decided to go to a con-
NOVEMBER, 1970/NOSTALGIA: A spin out on Memory Lane. Read reminiscences by Jean Shepherd; cert, bu t when I looked in the news-
the 1896 Sears, Roebuck Sex Catalogue; The Fi fties: A Special Section; 1936: A Space Odyssey; paper it turned out to be Sunday and
and The Death Song Game.
nobody was playing anywhere, so I
DECEMBER, 1970/CHRISTMAS: Prepare now tor the next ghastly hollydaze with Gahan Wilson's decided to go to a football game. Well,
Xmas Horrors, The Santology Handbook, I Remember Jesus, and Tricia and the Prince Comics.
there was a big advertisement for a
JANUARY, 1971/ WOMEN'S LIBERATION : Combat the Pink Peril with tho Women 's Lib Naughty
Pinup Calendar, t he Anll-Sexlsl Chi ldren's Book, a speci al Cosmopolitan Parody, and the expur-
Pre-Season Exhibition so I took a sub-
gated best seller ... The Censorless Womanl way out to Shea Stadium, but it turned
MARCH, 1971/CULTURE: Tote thal tome and lift that pinkie with Michael O' Donoghue's How lo out there wasn't any game-just Lance
Write Good, The Gracie Slick Handbook ol Radical Dos & Don'ts, The Undiscovered Notebooks Rentzel. There weren't any other play-
of Leonardo da Vi nci, The Mantovanl Strai n, and The Li fe and Times of Captain Brlngdown. ers around for him to play with, so he
APRIL, 1971/ADVENTURE: Good God, Professor, it's • •• It's • . • Derby Dames on Parade , Tarzan was playing with himself. Well, I would
of the Cows, Real Balls Adventure Magazine, The Philosopher Detective, The Great American have asked him about orgasms, but he
Cereal Box, and free Booblegum Cards.
left early with a police escort.
MAY, 1971/THE FUTURE: Hop Into our steam-powered Time Trolley end stumble backward info lhe So I subwayed back to Manhattan
World of Tomorrow. You'll be del ighted that you won't Jive to see: the Zero Gravity Sex Manual
(The NASA Sutra), Ti me Warp Comics, t he Special Pull-Out "If" Section, the 1906 National Lampoon,
and sat down on the steps of the P lay-
Attack of the 90-Foot Macrobes, and Toilets of t he Extraterrestrials. boy Club, thinking over all the strange
JUNE, 1971/RELtGION: Listen, It's getting to be a real pain In the ass coming up with kicky l ead-ins things K. J. W ebbermann had told me.
to stuff like Nat/amp' s I nterno, Magic Made E-Z, The Prophet by Kahlil Glbrish, I Dreamed I Was And all of a sudden whose voice should
There In Overd ose Heaven, and Buckmlnster Fu ller-Charles Reich- Marshall McCluhan-Kate Millett I hear but Bob Dylan's himself, right
Utopia Four Comlx. behind me, singing Tonight I' ll Be
JULY, 1971 / PORNOGRAPHY : Get It up, off, and out of your system with My Secret Life by David Staying H ere with Hugh!!! Well I
Ei senhower, The Breast Game, Dirty Dick & Jane, Fiithy Sherl ock Holmes, Are You a Homo? and
Everythi ng You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (Aren't You Sorry You Asked?).
turned around and there he was--the
AUGUST, 1971/BUMMER: Have a bad trip without illegal substances with Defeat Comics, Welfare
real Bob Dylan!-grinning through his
Monopoly, the Special Canadian Supplement, and Right On! , the fll ck Jane Fond a was making
little beard, jingling his Playboy Club
whl le you thought she was working for the revolution. Key, drinking a Yoo-Hoo Chocolate-
SEPTEMBER, 1971/KIDS: Visit Eloise at the Hotel Dlxee, meet high adventure with the Hardy Flavored Beverage-and holding hands
Boys, laugh al ong with Chl ld ren·s Letters t o the Gestapo, and test your wits with Commander with Yogi Berra.
Barkfoather's spicy rebuses. Oh well
OCTOBER, 1971/ BACK TO SCHOOL: Have a few "brews," gross out some chicks, "moon" a At least he's not a junkie.
lownl e, barf In the quad, and road the M ad parody, Magical Misery Tour, The Campus War Game,
and 125th Street , the educational TV show that teaches ghetto kids thei r place.
Up against the wall for peace,
NOVEMBER, 1971 / HORROR : Step into Ghost Editor Michael O'Donoghue' s gas chamber of horrors
and meet The Phantom of t he Rock Opera, The Mammal That Suckled Its Young , Dragula-Queen
of Darkness. Dr. Jekyll's Surgical Supply Catal ogue, and X-Rated Foto Funnies.
9~
To order these back issues, just check off the ones you want In the coupon below. Return the
coupon to us with $1 In blll, check, or money order for each copy you'd Ilka.

f
I
THE NATIONAL LAMPOON, Dept. NL1271 , 635 Madison Ave ., N.Y.C. 10022
Send me the following :
l]
I No. of copies Issue No. of copies Issue I
I JUNE, 1970 APRIL, 1971 I
] JULY, 1970 MAY, 1971
I AUGUST , 1970 JUNE, 1971
SEPTEMBER, 1970 JULY, 1971
I NOVEMBER, 1970 AUGUST, 1971
I DECEMBER, 1970 SEPTEMBER, 1971
I JANUAR Y, 1971 ___ OCTOBER, 1971
I MARCH, 1971 NOVEMBER, 1971
I I enclose a total of $ at $1 for each copy requested. This amount
I covers purchase plus shipping and handl ing.
I My Name_ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Address.____________________ ______ _
I
I City_____________ State______ _ Zip _ ____ _

'
14 N ATIONAL LAMPOON
pe~ la mort et devra rester UD mois au Jit a pres avoir connu
une breve pCriode d'amnesie et de paralysie.
Pour tous ses fa ns, c'est le cataclysme final, le drame d'un
nouveau James D ean. E n ga rd ant le silence pendant quinze
mois, D ylan perpetue le m ythe. II se donne aussi le temps
de reflcchir, de rctrouver un equilibre physique et mental.
Ses musiciens s' insta llent pres de chez Jui, a Woodstock : ii
jouera avec eux. pendant toute sa conva lescence.
Une periode s'acheve. La folle sarabande est terminee, Jes
la mpions sont ctci nts, on range Jes pots de creme et Jes
s oies. D ylan ne peut guere aller plus loin qu'en reniant sa
jcunesse, comm e Elvis ou Frank Sinatra, vieux crooners
vieillissants sous le smoking a paillettes. Tente par Jes
triomp hes de casi no , on peut craindre pour !ui cette hor-
rible fin : ii ecrit Lay Lady Lay, il chante Blue Moon,
s'attacha nt a scduire ces mem es sudistes qu'il couvrait d'in-
ju res trois ans auparavan t. Phantasm es re angoisses s'erivo-
lent : « Je ne m'expose plus clans mes chansons, dit-il alors.
Je Jes chan te, un point c' est tout. Je fabrique mes chansons
comm c n'importc que l produit \..Jllaoufacture, pour n'im-
porte qui ... » II est passe de I'autre cote du spectacle et
sa musique s'en ressent.
En octobrc 1967 ii cnregistre John Wesley Harding a Nash-
vi lle, accom pagnc par trois musiciens. D ylan tourne le dos
a l'elec lron iq ue et aux progres les plus recents du rock.
Au moment meme ou Jes Beatles earegistrent Sergent
Pepper, il rctrouve la simplicite du style country et de
)' instrumentation acoust ique. Jl restc a Woodstock av e ~ · sa
femme el sei. trois enfants, co ntinue a improviser ave.: ses
music iens qui se nommenl desormais Th e Band. C alme,
dctendu. il ecrit des chansons heureuses et £rivoles. A la
fin de 19 68 il retou rnc a Nashvi lle ct enreg istre Nash ville
Sk" li ne. il n' av ait prepare que quatre chansons, mais
Johna\ C:'.~h vient un jour lui rendre visite au studio. lls
chantcnt cnscm hlc <1 Girl from the North Country ». Dylan
co mp o~e 4uc lqucs c hansons pendant la nuit qu'ils chante-
ron t en d uo . G ro'>sman n·aime pas les nouveaux albums :
Dylan sc brou illc avec lu i et ne reno uvelle pas son contra!
au printcm ps 1969. La reaction du public le preoccupe
plus q ue jamais mais ii n'a p lus de manager. Oubliant ses
anciennes co leres. ii se compose un no uveau personnage
po li ct a ffab le.
Cc Dylan campagnard ct fam ili al ne durera pas longtemps.
' Bob re\ ie nt :1 cw York a l'ete l 969 ct s'etablit dans UD
grand nppartement de Mc Dougal Street, en plein village,
tou t pres d e~ c luhs de ses debuts, le Gaslite, le Kettle of
r-i'>h. le Oi 11cr End. G crdc's. Il sort Self Portrait, plein de
musique;, douceatre et de vieill es chansons country eculees.
Violcmmcnt a ttaq ue par ses anciens fans, il decide de
renouer un pC'u avec son passe ct se rachete quelques mois
plus la rd avcc New Mornin1:;. II trnva ille, dit-il, a son auto-
bi o!!ra Dhie et se cherr he des « racines »'. Subitement, ii
verse dan s le jud:.i'isme, apprend l'hebreu, et udie les livres
~a ints. se rend en Is rael a plusi.e urs reprises : ii aide Iinan-
cierement plusieurs kibboutzim el assiste a des reunions
de !'organ isa tion sioniste militaole Jew ish Defense League.
La riposte nc se fait pas allcndre : "'' D ylan Liberation
Front, c rcc de 'toutcs pieces par le seul dylano logiste vivant,
A.J. Weberman, cristallise la fraycur ct J.'C!onncmcnt des
freaks. On visitc ses poubelles, o n !'acc use, on le vilipen-
d ic. Bref. on oublie que le izenie ce n·est pas toujours
d'e tre Jc premier ou le plus honnele, mai s le meilleur.
~ II est tres cpro uvant d'etre la proic du jugemcnl des
au tres q ua nd o n ne s·aime pas so i-m eme », dit un jour
Dylan. De tou te faco n, il se detourne du • trip Presley •.
ii n'cs t pas dcvcnu show man et se souvie nt avec une nos-
talg ie a peinc voi lce de son vicux public. Le disque d'or
u'est pas sa grande ambi tion . Peu a peu, on le rctrouve.
J; met a nouveau le nez dehors, apparalt impromptu dans
des concerts, r eflcchit encore, s'engage a ]'occasion -
comme apres la mo rt de Jackso n. La vie n'est pas une
equation et D ylan se dt!robe aux prev is ions comme aux.
ukhases. Charles M uraine •.
d'apres A. Scaduto, Bob Dylan -
(Grosset ct Dunlap, ed.), ct bien d'autres choses.
14

LESP()UBELLESDELAVERIT£
Entre D ylan e t Weherman
la guerre la plus ordu1'ie1·e a du rc pres d'un an.
Une treve rece nte e t precaire est interve nue au debut de l'armee.
Voici l'histoire e pique de ce combat houffon.

e coin des ¢ artistes > de analyse de la degenerescence de D ylan, 11 etait deja rentre dans sa forteresse.

L Greenwich Vill age, c'est l'en-

vers de New York, un assem-
blage boiteux de petites mai-
sons de brique d'un rouge crasseux. Une
sortc Je Coron ameJiore, Un peu plus
son «current bag>. Un enorme accor-
deon mecanographique vient a l'appui
de ses theses. Toute l'a:uvre de Dylan y
est passee au crible implacable de l'or-
dinateur IBM. Le grand flash Jui est
La porte close mene tout naturellement
Weberman a !'analyse des dechets, seul
contact intirne possible avec le maltre.
Les premieres poubelles sont riche:;. Mais
la so urce se tarit rapidement : Dylan
riche. Dans une ville qui se decompose, veau !ors d'un trip : la face cachee de l'apprend et se mefie. Un jour, on ma-
on ne ramasse pas les ordures a l'aube. la poesie de Dylan , obscure et esoteri- nifeste pour l'anniversaire de Bob, cinq
Une chance, pour le petit bonhomme que, lui apparut dans toute sa splendeur cents freaks, trois arrestations. Une au-
rondouillard qui fouine sans la moindre et !es contresens semblaient coller. JI tre fois, Weberman mene sa classe de
retenue clans une poubell e bien garnie fa llait tout traduire, exprimer la pensee Dylanologie a l'Alteraate University en
de Mac Dougal street. Alan Jules We- du maltre en termes clairs, montrer son travaux pratiques : une fouille de pou-
berman, dylanologiste distingue, remue, desengagement progressif. belle publique, observer c la seule pro-
cherche, renine, secoue a pleine mains, Trois cents heures de bandes magneti- duction de qualite de Dylan depuis
hu rle parfois : « Ouawww ! Une merde q ues recuperees ita et la, mille pages H ighway 61 revisited ... :. Ll, Dylan
de chieo ! Une immonde merde de tapees a la machine, deux ans de tra- commence a s'enerver. Weberman ra-
chien ! :. La voie qui mene a Saint Dy- vail : « rain > (la pluie) devient ¢ vio- conte : c J'en avais vraiment plein le cul,
lan est jonchee de bicn grossieres realiles te.n ce "• et ¢ pick i> (ramasser) devient le jour ou j'ai rencontre D ylan. Une
mais les poubelles, cntrc une bolte cven- ¢ ti rer >, ¢ stranger > (l'etranger) n'est tonne de merd ~, Jes flies, et la tete qui
tree ct une godassc sa ns semcllc, laissent autre que le revolutionnaire, etc. La n'allait plus du tout. J'ai ete faire ma
echapper quelques perles. Un brouillon science se devant d'etre au service de classe hebdomadaire sur Dylan et j'ai
de lettre de Johnny Cash - le chanleur !'action, la Dylanol ogie conduit Weber- decide : ce so ir on se lance dans ['expe-
de country qui croit encore, el trop, a u man au Front de liberation de D ylan rimentation, on va chez Jui. A ci nq uan-
vieux mythes americains - , une vieille (DLF), fonde en 1970. te, on a descendu Ia Sixieme avenue vers
Caisse d"oranges de Jaffa, un poeme a L'archeologie de la poubelle est une pra- Mac Dougal street. En passant dans la
maman Zimmerman, une vieille couche tique neuve. Son inventeur ne voula il Quatrieme rue, ou Dylan habitait en
encore humidc, tous .c es inestimables que renconlrer Dylan mais ii est aussi 1963, j'expliquai a mes eleves qu'elle
indices disparaissent dans le sac en pa- complexe d'aborder une super-idole que avait inspire la chanson Positively Fourth
pier kraft de A.J. Weberman. Ce cher- de croiser Marcellin aux Beaux-Arts ou Street mais un ivrogne bavard m'a
cheur consciencieux a 'hesite pas a s'en- d'embrasser Garbo. A.J. risque un pre- empech e de continuer. En chemin, on
foncer au ca:ur du probleme. mier essai. Avec sa copine Ann Duncan a ramasse qnelques beatniks qui tral-
Fin limier d'excelleot pedigree - celui - qui peint inlassablement des Dylan naient par la et on s'est bientot retrouve
des yippies d'il y a trois ans - , ii debute naifs - ii se rend tranquillement au devant chez D ylan. J'ai commence a
glorieusement a 1'5.ge de douze ans domicile de Bob, sonue au bouton mar- hurler « H e, Bobby, mets un peu le nez
comme revendcur de H. Etudiant stu- que des cinq etoiles de la pop star, a ta fenetre ! l> Un autre mec cria :
dieux au easier judicia ire bien rempli, c . ....... >. La porte s'entrebaille, rete- c Ouvre-nous, Bobby ! i> A l'etage, [es ·
ii effectue mille petits boulots avant de nue par une chalae de surete. Un a:il lampes s'allumerent et s'eteignirent pl u-
se vouer corps ct ame au culte de Dylan. indifferent observe l'impor tun. ¢ Ouvrez, sicurs fo is, u n des gosses de Dylan re-
Comme Abbie H offman, qu'il conaalt Je veux entrer, je veux voir Dylan. > gard a par la feoetre. Nous firoes silence
depuis Jes New-York provo, groupuscule Clac ! on ferme. U ne demi-heure apres, el je penetrai resolurnent dans Jc hall de
pre-yippi e de 1967, Weberman possede nouvelle offensive. La femme de D ylan, J'immeublc. Mes elcvcs se separerent en
un humour inquieta nt, corrosif et impre- Sarah, est dans l'escalier. c Laissez-moi deux fac tions : cell e des dur du Front
visible. Les yippies regne nt en maltres voir Dylan. l> Fatiguee de son role de de Li beration de Dylan qui rentrerent a
incontestes au royaume de Ia combine : chien de garde, Sarah se ' laisse parfois ma su ite, et celle indecise des groupies,
Weberman dctient cinq cartes de presse, flechir. A.J. penetre ainsi pour la pre- restees dehors. Finalement on est res-
toutcs fausscs, imprimees en serie par miere fois dans le Saint des Saints. Dy- sorti, et la classe decida d'etudier de ce
run de ses amis. Chez lui, uae immense lan app ara.it bientot : ¢ Que voulez- pas les poubelles de Dylan. Mais <:omme
publicite de Coca-Cola, decrochee nui- vous? :t - c Je suis A.J. Weberman, j'avais deja ecrit un articie sur le sujet,
tamment d'une fac;:ade, mange tout un je voudrais... vous parler, et... ~ on n'a rien trouve de bien interessant.
mur. Dans un coin, Lm type en ecrase : ¢ Adressez-vous a mon manager, c'est lui Sharon <tenclance groupie) arriva a ce
c·cst un militant en liberl e provisoire. ! Is qui traite toutes mes affaires. i> - ¢ II moment pour me signaler un fait nou-
vivent taus de petits coups, d'astuce, de ne veut rien savoir. Voila ... J'ai ecrit un veau : ¢ Regarde de l'autre cote, ii y a
detournements divers. livre ... l> - ¢ Adressez-vous a . moo ma- un mec q ui resscmblc a Dyla'n comme
A peine rentrce, A.J. me conduit devant nager i> , repete D ylan qui . s'apprete a deux gouttes d'eau... » Sainte Merde.
une ctagere : quelques enveloppes, des q uitter son fidele apotre. ¢ O.K. man, je me dis, qu'est-ce que je vais foutre
trophees, Jes meilleures ordures de D y- comme tu veux " - c Que vouliez-vous maintenant ! Voila que Dylan me prend
lan, de Cassius Clay, de Rockfeller. Sc- d'ai lleurs ? i> - « M'entretenir avec vous la main dans la poubell e. 11 pourrait de-
rieux comme ·un pape, ce grand maltre de votre poesie... >, fa it bien humble- vcni r violent. E n effet, Bob etait la :
du canula r me remct, comme a chaque ment A.J. Et D ylan sarcastique : ¢ Par- avec son costume blue-jean et ses lu-
visi tcur, un volumineux dossier : son ler de ma poesie, comme c'est gentil. .. > nelles sans monture, une epaisse fu mee
 15

steacks a moltie entames et des boites de truffes ou de ·caviar.

Dylan a riposte : sa bonne n'abandonne plus ses ordures ql!'au
II mange en realite plutot sobrement. Vous pouvez volr une boile
seul eboueur. Weberman y avail recolte, en plualeurs fols, trols
couches usagees qu'll garde en souvenir : « II apparut, dlt-11, que de pizza en haut a gauche. Je lrouvais quand meme un ob)et de
valeur : une lampe que j'alme bien, et plusieurs ecrlts revela-
Sasha, le chlen de Dylan, ne savalt pas se retenlr et ~u'un chat,
teurs : tels un debut de lettre a Johnny Cash, le chanteur Coun-
au moins frequentalt les lieux. De nombreux joumaux dB· rock
montrent que l'homme es• sensible a la prose des critiques. II se- try et reac, ou une ebauche de portrait d'Hendrix, dessinee le
ralt plalsant de declarer que la malson de Dylan tetalt des soir de sa mort et dechlree peu apres. ,,
lui sortait de la tete : ii y avail de c J'cn ctais pas sur, m ec, la General l'immeuble. ,, .... ,,...,.
l'O.K. Corral dans !'air. Je murmurai : Motors a bien essaye d'elim ioer N ader . - Ouais, dis done mec, je vais te parler
c Oh ma Dylar.0logie, nc m 'abandonne En tout cas, t'as intfret a le faire d iscre- un peu de ta politique, une politique de
pas ! • tout en m 'avan9ant vers D ., a tement ... ,, genocide. Quand je vendais mon edition
qui je trouvai !'air batard d 'un etudiant C'est alors quc je dem a rrai, balan9ant a pirate de Taran111/a dans la rue, les gens
du Talmud miitinc de Pop star. Je pris D . un grand discours sur l'imperialisme, me disaient, d'apres · ce qu';I savaient
!es dcvant : c Comment 9a va mec ? > Jc racism e ct le sexisme (ii n'avait pas de toi, que tu soutenais la guerre du
c Arrcle le magneto •, fit-il en guise !'a ir d'ecoutcr), et pu is je Jui a i signifie Viet-nam. 11 y avait notamment une in-
de reponse. J"arretai le magneto quc que Nash ville S kyline fn isait chier, ct terview dans Sing Ow ...
j'avais a la main ct ii ajouta : c Pour- q ue Self Po rtrait, c'eta it d u vol. Les - J'ai fais cette interview pour que Jes
quoi t' ame ncs to us ces types autour de gens l'ont ache tc sur son nom e t n'ont freaks me foutent la paix une fois pQ.ur
chez moi "! » - « On etait parti pour jamais pu l'eco utcr. Aucun de ces deux toutes. Quand j'habitais Woodstock, il
des travaux pratiques, je Jui rcponcls, albums ne traduisait vraime nt la realite y avail toutes les cinq minutes un type
mais c'est 11 devenu unc m anifesta tion o bjective. Dylan rcpondi tranquille- qui sonnait a la portc. La celebrite en
contre toi. el contre tout ce que tu re- mcnt : dehors de tout controle, je n'avais pas
presentes > - « Viens Alan, qu'il fai l, on - Sans eux, je n'aura1s pas iait N e w pense un seul instant que 9a irait jusque-
va causer un m oment. > II me saisit par Mom inR. ct d 'a illcurs, jc commence j u~ e Ja. et,, J'AlME PAS <;;A! Partout ou je
le bras avcc une vigueur q ui ne laissail a m 'y rcfro uvcr en mus14uc ... Dis <lone, vais. rncme d a ns lcs bleds Jes plus re-
guere le choix. J e c riai : 4; Relax, m ec, Al , tu prentls tics am phcs '! culcs, ii y a toujours un groupe de
9a fair, m aJ ! Pas de violence ! • - - N o n m ec. si j'a i tant d'cncrgic c'cst freaks qui vient me coller au cul.
c Al , qu'il dit, jc ne t'ai done jamais quc jc me branche a fon d sur la vie, - Achete-toi une perruque !
parlc de mon karate ? • (... ). D ylan JE VIS, MFC... ! - Pourquoi tu m 'en achetes pas une....
~· assi t sur !cs marches d' un petit immcu- - Pourquoi s'ohsl111er sur le <,1_uotid 'en Al ?
ble a quelques centa incs de metres de la al o r~ que... (...) Pendant toute la conversation, le
el la conversatio n sc poursutt . JI me de- - Et tu crois q u"il faut q1,1e JC m'intcr- telephone n 'a pas arrcte de sooner. Quel-
hite to utcs ses 1mbecillites du genre : roge sur lcs m a rt icns. npn ? qu'un entra pour donner a D . une lettre
c. La guerre d u V iet-nam n 'es t qu'un Tu es s(1r quoi. Al ? de fan accompagnee d'un recueil de
Karm a, IOU~ le mo ndc a tort », CIC. Le joint ct la cafc inc. ct oi '! poemes. II parcourut la Jettre et me
JI n'a imait pas les Panlheres Noires, a Ricn . tendit le bouquin. c Rega rde un peu,
cause de Jeur attitude s ur le Moyen- B,11:;)tin ! ct dis mois cc que L'en pcnses ... Tu sais,
Orient : c L petit Israel contre to us J e tlois neanmoins adm cttrc q ue j'ai tou- j'aurais du publier un livre de poemes ii
ces ... > Je dus lui expliquer que to ut jours vu Dylan 41.vc l'dil frai~, Allcz, y a deux ans ... •
le monde avail le droit de vivre. !es salu t Al. q u'i l fail . h n se ve,rra bieo tot. ,, -- Bof. .. et toi, qu'cst-ce que tu penses
juifs, Jes arabes. mais aussi Jes rcfu- Je Jui tend" k poing f ·rme ct ii se ti(a. de ce 4ue je Cais?
gi6 pales1iniens. C'cst a lors qu·u •I de Quam.I j'armai che1 m oi, j plana is - Tu y crois. dit-il
mes clcves s'est pointe, mais je 11ii ai d'cmot1on. J c pa 1la1s avcc Harvey. u Et moi : c Dans unc autre epoque, j'au-
dit de se tirer, qu'o n n'avait pa, de potc avocat, q 11a nd le t~le pho11 e so nna. ra is pcut-etre ctutlic le Talmud. •
temps a perdre. Dylan pretendit avoir c Salut. Al. c·e~t Bo b ~ - M oi a ussi, fait Dylan, qui ajoute :
voulu m ' invitcr; deux mois auparavant , D ' un scul co up. le telepho ne reson na Lu vcux voir le rcste du studio?
dans sa m aiso n de W oodstock . « Pour- com m c unc cha inc stereo clans une c , - On trave rsa une piece encombree d'ins-
quoi du !'as pas fa it - je lui demandai thed rnlc. truments de musiques et de tableaux. de
- . ii faut manifester devant ta po r tc - Tu veu x veni r me voir dcm ain '! D . - des trues. des peinturcs d'un im-
pour quc LU te decides a negocier ? Tu qu' il pours uit. prcs. ionnismc abyssal. c Aime~tu ma
conna is pourta nt mon devouement a to n - Qucll c q uest ion. JC d1'. c'esl comi:nc pc.mture? >, me dcmande-t-il.
a:uvre. • -
0
c J e sais Al, un jour jc dema nder i1 un m ec en manquc s'1l veut - T u ferais mieu x de t'en tcnir a la
l em m enerai faire un tour et je t'aiderai un fixe ! pocsie
a interpreter mes poernes, t u en as dro- - Al. jc vcux vra 1111c111 It' remercier. re pcins cc que j'ai clans le crane.
lement besoin. • - c <;;a serait pas un avec l0 ll5 tcs trues tu 111 'as fail vc ndrc -- " est plu1l\1 vide.
to ur du cote des docks, des fois ? > - un sacre ""paq110.: t u d isqucs. M a .rupo se dut le satisfairc parce que,
~ Non. Tu sais, Al , tu as fait pet.Ir a - Ouais. c 'csl un , speer dt' la Oylan0- po ur la. premiere ois, ii ril. ET FAUT
mes voisins en cria nt comme 9a, to ut a logic quc jc n 'aiml" pa' hca ucoup. On V l~A I MENl SE DONNER m r MAL
J"hcurc. • - c D esole m ec, que je lui va essayer d \ 111ell re 110 tcrm e POUR CE FAJR E R IRE. La, j'cu pro-
dis. je ne voula is pas nuire aux nutres. Dis do ne. Al. tu sa1s cnndutrc ., fit a i JJOU t 15.c her Jc m o rccau :
Seu lement. tu vois, les militants du DLF. - Non. j'a i 1ama1' 'ill Dvl nn. t u dois ctre a la hauteur, assu-
depuis qu'ils savcnt ou t'e n es, ils sont - Dommago.:. f .1v, t\ •11,t.: ment 1'csotn mer. la rcspom abilttc! de heros culture!
devcnus vachem ent violents et j'ai du d' un cha (1I fo.: ur. - tu c~ D yhl!), mcc. Tout freak te
mal a !es retenir. T'es pas sympa pour Non ma is d is dnnL t'c~\a 1 c 1-.1" pas gardo.: dans son cccur un pctit coin sen-
tes fa ns. lu n'es plus a la ha uteur... > de m·achctc . d ' s h••' ' J',1 im.: autant sible II-; l'a1ment, mcc. Tu es Dylan.
- c Tu sais Al , moi aussi je connais de prcvc1111 , 1 ~ l P lJ:'\ ARR El FR DY i AN . D Y-LAN. - c Dylan, c'est
des gens q ui ne t'ai menl plus bcaucou p, TOUT DE SU IT[ I pas m oi. C'cst toi. > - c Jc sais. En
surt o ut depuis que tu ~ou ill es dans mes Le lendem a in. j'alla1s k ' tr ;1 son stu- fo ll. t'es quclqu 'un d 'aulre, hcin? •
poubelles. Je commence a en avoir dio. 11 m e dc ma ml a d'cmhl cc cc q uc JC Nous retournamcs a l'cntrce du stu-
ma rrc de to us ccs mecs qui ~ iennent pen sa i ~ de T im I ea ry: Je le Lrouve dio. II m e dcmanda si je voulais quel-
y ramasser des souvenirs pour accrocher extra , c'est un revolut ion na irc de la pre- que~ di sque~. c Non . quc je fais, jc me
dans !cur\ piau les ! T'aimerais pas 9a miere heure. II a compris q uc po ur debrou ille pas mal avcc lcs maisons de
no n plus. si i;:a r a rrivait > - « Achetc- plai rc a la classc m o yc nne, ii fa ll ai t disqucs. ;>
toi un broyeur et fa is-m oi signe une- fo is parlcr un Ja ngage mystique. U n vrai « Unc pho to dedicacce ? »
par scmainc. > - c J'a ime pas les ma- heros national de W oodstock N atio n. « J c t 'ai dit q ue j'ai deja tout <;a dans
ch ines. > - c Dis done, Bob, tu vou- Et Loi , qu'e n pc nscs-tu ? > Dyla n hcsitc , mes a rchives... mais continuons. Tu
<lra i!. pas me faire eli mincr, par ha- puis : « Tu sa is. jc nc suis pas branche crois quc c 'cst !'argent qui t'a corrompu .
~ard ? > - T'as peur ? > - « Tu sais, sur la politi que. • Tu as memc declare une fois que plus
rargcnt donne le pouvoir, et quand on - He di ~ ! a d'autres ! co m ment cx- o n partic ipc au systeme, plus on est
en a hca ucoup ... > - « Non, je ne le pliques-lu tous ccs jou rna ux que j'ai conserva te ur, rappcllc-toi : c les rela-
ferai pas, Al, tu peux dormir tranquille. tro uve da ns ta poubcllc '! tions de pouvoir t'cmpcchent de planer.
D e loute fa~o n . c'est trop tard. • - - C'est la m cme poubelle pour tout etc. >. Oua is, mec, t'as utilise la lutte
 meurent.
- Allons, tu ne vas pas me dire que tu
crois en Dieu ?
- Evidemment que j'y cr.ois.
- Tu ne tro u ves pas que c'est contra-
dictoire avec ce que lu disais dans ta
chanson With God i11 Our Side. Tu
cro) ais en Dieu a l'epoque ?
- Oui ... probabl em e nt.
- Et si tu te servais de tes cinq millions
d e dollars pour aider Jes ge ns ?
- J'en a i pas tant.
- Tu parles ! ii y a e u des fuites. Tu
n'es qu'un sale multimillionaire, d'a il-
leurs tu te proclamais d e ja millionaire ·
en 1965 ... et les concerts gratuits, c 'est
pas too genre, e n plus, tu fai s des chan-
sons apolitiqucs comme Nash ville Skyli-
ne, de la guimauve. Tu t'es co upe les
c he veux, tu ne joues qu'a vec des musi-
ciens de rock qui se foutcnt complete-
menl d e la politique, tu pues. Le DLF
et moi. o n va en pa rler. On a quelques
projets qui vont le peter la te te. ( ... )
Q uclqucs jo urs aprcs, D y lan m'appela
d e nouveau. 11 sa va il bi e n q ue j'allais
po nd r-c u n a rticle u parl ir de nos con-
versatio ns cl <ra n·avait pas !'a ir de lui
pla ire. Des que le te lephone SC mil a
~o nn er. jt: 111e Lle m erda i s upe rvite po ur
branche r 1110 11 m agne lo : cette fo is au
m o ins. ii nc me prcndrail pas de vitcs-
~c. I I insisla po ur que .i e lui li sc le texte
ii u teleph o ne. ce que je fi s. II g ue ula .
hie n sur. mais n'appo rl a que d es correc-
tio ns d e detail. Puis ii m e dem a ncla :
- Di ~ done, Al. l'es en l rain d e t"en-
registre r tout 9a . hein ?
- Euhcuheuh ...
- Ah ! jc peu x pas avoir co nfi a nce en
to i. Wehe rm an. je pe u x v raiment pa'
:ivoir confiance e n loi ...
- Eh h ic n e u h... jc pe u x pas.. . J"a i
p a ~ .... eu h. j"vais ... j"peu x rien e n fai re
de toutc fac;:on. mec. pas v rai ? Jc pcm
ricn en faire ...
Alors t'as tout enreg is lre. he in ?
- Euh non pas vraimenl . no n ... juste
un p ... c nfin, e uh , unc pa rti c. quo i. .. le
m ag neto m a rche tres m a l. alo rs 1u vois ...
des Noirs pour devenjr c elebre, Blowing Bracero ~a rime avcc sombrero.
Q u·esl-ce q ue t'as pris ?
in the ll'ind, _,a le <.l it r ie n ?... Tu as di- Oua is, ce type, ii pensa it mc mc q ue
- J"sa is pas. j"sai s pas ...
gere leur musiq ue e n y ajo utant ta sau- les commuoistes elaie nt des m ed io cres
- Al ors comme <;a tu vas fa ire ccou-
ce. Tu leu r dois bea ucoup, non ? :o - oo lui avait bien la ve le cer~eau ! -
« Possible. > ... sa baraque etait jus te e n face d u d epot
ter la bande a tes eleves ... Bravo mec .
1u \' pe rds : je ne t'appell era i pl us ja-
C'est alors que je co mmem;ais a lui ex- d 'ordure .. . Avec cette c ha nso n, tu vois.
111a1s. fini ssons-en.
pliquer ce q ue je pensais des g uerres d e ii faut coovaincre les Americaios q ue
M ais jc re pri s c a rrc111en1 :
liberation du Tiers Moncle. Je Jui parlai leu r d evo ir est de so utenir les g ue r res
d"un pauvre type d e mes amis qui c re- de liberation. - Dis done, Bob. pourquoi est-ce que
vait de faim au M exique . <;a lui donna Et voila ce que D yla n ava it trouve co m- t u fais jamais I.a preuve que tu as le
une idee : « Tiens, on va ecrire une me refrain : « La- bas a Progresso, un creur a gauche ? En donnant un concert
chanson sur ton voyage et o n partagera bracero vivait c;laos uo sombrero p lein po ur J o hn Sinclair. par exe mpl e, o u pou r
les royalties. ~ d"exp resso. » les pri sonniers poli liques.
Tu peux envoyer ma part a ux grevis- « Quo i ! bord el ! qu'est-ce que c;:a veut - E n ce mo m e nl. j'ai pas plus envie
tes de Cal ifornie. d ire ? Avec de telles a ll egories tu ne d 'a ider Sinc la ir que de donner des con-
Dis-moi seulement ce qui s"est pas- vas convai ncre pe rsonae . > - « C 'est certs, mcc.
se. je vais ecrire q uelques lignes. c;:a m o o tr ue, Al. :o - Tout ce que t'as a fa ire, c'est sor-
A Progresso, dans le Y ucatan, j'ai (...) A lors la, · je l'1mgueulai : « Oua is tir de chez toi. bra ncher la g uitare et
habite chez ce lrava ille u r ... Tous les cli- mec, un vra i reac voila ce que t'es, tu cent mille freak s e mergeront de !curs
ches du Tiers-Monde, tu vo is, pauvrete, ne te sers pas de ton influence pour ai- gourbis ...
famine, malad ie - un vra i cauchemar, der Jes gens. Tu pourrais sauver des - D eso le, A l, je ne peux pas fa ire 9a
une intermi nable ag o nie . Bref, pour evi- vies si tu vou lais. R egarde un peu ce mais j'ecrirai une cha nson s ur le<> pri-
ter Je crever de faim , le mec est deve- qui vien t d e se passer au Pakist1U1. > sonniers politiques d ans mon prochain
n u un bracero, u ne so rle d e journalier - Je me demande b ie a pourquoi le album .
agricole . Bon Dieu a voulu que tous ces gens - Pas de promesses pour dans neuf
 mois, Bob ! Jc vcux de !'action, et tout nerable et ri9icule , mec. ll y a trop de League, organisation sioniste de ,Aroite,
de suite. Tu comprcnds, tu fais la loi gens malheureux a cause de toi et de il est le seul a toucher .de-¥-a~enl~cin­
dans le rock. Condu is-toi en ho rnme, ii ce que t'es devenu. Je re-ecoute souvent quante centimes par alburi17sur le disque
y en a des tds tl'autres q ui se conduiront tes chansons, el c'est vraiment depri- collectif Bengla Desh, etc.
en hommcs ... A propos, comment veux- mant. Et !'inevitable affrontement survient un
tu quc je finisse l'a rticlc ? - Ouais, mais je les ai rendus plus heu- jour ou A .J . c faisait une poubelle >
- J'e n sais rien, c 'esl ton article, no n ? heux que malheureux. Leur plaisir vaul pour un photographe de !'Associated
- O .K . rncc ... tout ce que je t'ai lu largement leur tristesse ( ...) Tout ce que· Press. Alors qu'il avail le nez dedans,
tout a l'hcurc, c 'ctait vrai, non ? je sais, tu vois, si j'etais un petit mec, je Sarah D ylan l 'obse rvai~ du pre mier eta-
- i=n gros, oui, m a is pas vraiment.. . veillerai a changer de trottoir quand je ge derriere ses jalousies. N'y tenant •
j"ai dit quelque chose d'approchant, te croise. Tu portes deja un petit badge, plus, elle descend dans la rue, agresse
mais tu le dcformcs en l'utilisant, tu ci- la, juste au-dessus du creur, on devrait le photographe ct prend a parti Weber-
tes hors du contexte, comme Look Ma- plutot t'accrocher unc grande pancarte man , le chiffonnier de la Table Ronde :
gazi11e. dans le dos. ~ Laisse tout c;a, sale parasite ! " Deux
- Aaaah, tu n'as pas le courage de cc - <;a te va bien de dire era ! LID type couches a la main, A.J. Jui repond, SU- .
q ue tu dis, mec ! qui a ecrit des chansons comme toi et perbc « Mcrdc, tu jettes des tas de
- Et puis quoi encore ? qui vi t comme tu vis ! trues interessa nts, laisse-moi do ne !es
- Tu ne defends meme pas tes pro- - Oui mec, et qui done a ecrit de prendre. Je fais du recyclage ... > Plus
prcs chanso ns, c'cst clair. m e illeures chansons que moi? De s a vant dans la journee, alors qu'A.J .
- Mee, je cro is que je vais ecrire un noms ! ctait sorti acheter un coca-cola, ii se
article sur to i. o u mieux, je va is ecrire c Voyons... Creedence Clearwater? » trouve moleste par un sinistre individu.
une chanso n sur toi. - D e la me rde. D ylan qui n' aime pas qu'on parle haul
- Bo nne idce, era me fera de la publi- - Gordon Lightfoot n'est pas ma! du ii. sa femme, etait passc a ('action direc-
cil e. tout. te. e n lui sautant sur le dos.
- Oua is. d'a ille urs. c'est la seule raison - Ouais, pas m a!. De puis !ors, sur le front D ylan, la pro-
po ur laq ucll c jc ne l'ecrira i pas, mais - II ecrit de bans t rues, des chansons gression des forces revolutionnaires s'est
c'est un hon sujet pour une chanson. asscz choucttes. Et un autre type qui a averee remarqua ble. Fin scptembre, Dy-
Commen t tu vas l'appeler ? pas ma ! d' imagination. attend, comme lan ecrit une chanson e ngagee sur la
- Le pore. d ans Tarantula ... ah oui, Barba ra Keefe ... m a rt de George Jackson. et !es vieux
- Alors, je sui s un pore, c'est era que Hum .. . freaks de fri ssonncr d'emoi. Bob Dylan.
tu veux dire ? John Lenno n '! a retrouvc Allen G insberg, il enregistre
- · Ouais. exacte m enl. En progres. plus OU moins avec lui. Tous deux eeri-
- Putain de merde que je suis un pore, George Harrison ? vent un pocme sur la convention repu-
mec ! Mmmm ... mouais. bl icai ne de Sa n Diego ou lo us !es yip-
Sihemcnl , mec. J im M c G uinn ? pies. zi ppies et autrcs freaks sont con-
C'est plut ot loi. le pore ! Quoi ! vies le 12 juillet pour s'opposer a la re-
Et ton magneto. ii court toujours? Proco! Harum. e t le parolier, Keith e lection de Nixon.
Ouais, mec. Reid '? c A ller a San Diego. pousscr un cri sa-
11 est pas cassc ? Oua is, habiles ... cre
Non. c·est un bon m agneto. Et G race Slick? Trop politique? A ller a San Diego, no us ne Luerons plus
Tu devrais pas faire era, Al , tu vaux J'sa is pas, ellc ecrit des trues ? Les politicicns nc ~cront plus des putes
pas plus chcr que les fli es avec leurs Oua is, elle ccrit, mais c'est trap po- Aller a San Die go. nous sommcs de-;
lable!> d"ccoutc. Et en plus, tu fo uilles litique, hein '! pacifisles
dans Jes poubclles comme un vieux co- - Si tu le dis ... Ecoute, Al, faut que Le vieux Ni xon doit s'effacer devant le
cho n ! jc me tire. <;a suffit. pour !'article? peuple. »
-- Cc quc je faisais, Bob, c'etait po ur - Je fera i les c ha ngeme nts que tu m'as Une Lelle conve rsion, meme demagogi-
ton bien. Mttis tu -n 'es qu'un eynique. demande. quc. coupait court aux o peratio ns du
- Non mee. c'cst triste ce qui t'arrive. - Je peux voir lcs corrections? Front de Liberat io n de Dyla n. ct Wc-
- N on. c'cst toi que dcformes tout. Quand era !'arra nge. berman s·est formellement e ngage ii ne
Qu 'e!>t-ce que j'e n ai a faire de tes pou- -- Demaio ? pl us !'importuner. D'aille urs. ce ne soo t
belles. je nc Jes ai pas vendues a Life - Dem a in ? Non, JC dai s aller cher- pas lcs poubcll cs qui manquent, m eme
Magazi11e, non ? ! cher des badges. si leur abord est dangereux. On ne rode
- (incredule) Paree que tu crois que Ah oui? pas impuncment autour de celle de D a-
Li/e Maw1Zine aurait achete mes pou- J'en ai fait imprimer un bon nombrc. vid Rockefell er, grand banquicr. frcrc
bclles ? Et qu'est-ce qu' il y a dessu s? du gouve rneur de l' Etat de New York
- J's ui~ pas comme to i, mec, je fais Li berez Bob Dylan. « J'~sperais y trouver quelque c hose. a u
to ur pour rien. Je crois que Jes choses <;;a c'est extra, mec. J'en fais fa bri- moins de !'argent use. quelques grosses
dcvruicnt ctre gra tuites . M es articles ne quer moi aussi ... co upures tachecs de confiture, je nc sais
me rapportcnt pas un rond. Les gens qui Quoi ? Liberez A .J . Weberm an ? pa~ ... • . dit A .J. I I n·a pas eu le temps.
m'ceri vent pour me remercier, voila mon Non. Si Lot le couvcrcle Ieve sur trois beltera-
sala ire. Quant! j'ai besoin de ble, je fa is A.J. le pore ? ' e~ ct q uelqucs os de poulet. dcux flies
la plonge dans une des bottes de Green- Ouais, mec, tu l'as d it, A.J. le p o re, peu affab les /ui beuglem dans cctte
wich Village. c'cst commc era que je vis, avec ta photo dessus. oreille gauche qu'il a s i tendre : c Qu'est-
moi ! L'affaire D yla n-Weberman faillit se ter- ce que tu mets dans cette poubelle ? » -
- Que Dieu le benisse ! miner, en septembre, dans un bain de « R ien. i'cssaie plut6t d'enlever ... • -
- Tu sais cor.nbien m'a rapporte la D y- sang . Culbutes yippies contre karate dy- « Quoi ! Tu te fo us de nous ! ,, Et no us
lnnologie ·7 Vingt-cinq dollars, il y a lanesque. un combat de titans. A.J. de- entendrons longtemps reson ner la fiere
• • lrois an -;, pour un pa picr dans un jour- venait feroce. fl traitait sans cesse D ylan repo nse d' Alan Jules Weberma n c Im-
••• na l au moment tie N oel. Et j'en suis fier, de junkie, de « pore capitaliste >, un beciles, vous connaissez bien des collee-
•• mec .
- Tu as bicn raison, m ec.
homme capable d' invcstir un million de
francs dans des immeubles, d 'acheter
ti o nneurs de timbres, de cartes posta-
les, de ca illoux, de diamants, de jarretcl-
' - Et si j'ai envoyc des articles gratis, cent mille francs d 'actions de societes les, de femmes, de fleurs en plastique.
c t s i j'ai foui ll e dans tes po ubelles, c'etait compromises dans la · guerre du V iet- de poupecs, a lors n' importunez pas un
•• pas. tu vois ... Tout ce que je voulais nam, le conglomerat Ling Tempo Voight collectionneur de dechcts ... "
•••
fai re, c'etait montrer que tu etais vu!- par exemple. II aide la Jewish Defense J11/ie11 Vladimir .

••
 'S' ;' ' -<"

2. Alfash
Do you see yourself as a new kind of pop personality, a sort
of Boswelli;m figure who interprets and chronicles a
star's life and work? A pop parasite, so to speak? Obviously
you feel what you're doing is valid.

Collector'sView
A.J.: Yes. I don't see myself as a parasite.
Charlie: Well, that's facile.
A.J .: The parasites in the rock business are the
promoters and the entrepreneurs, the middle men who really

ofBobDglan don't do any creative work themselves, but just kind of

weasle their way into a position where they can get some
bread out of the whole deal. Because, I work very hard at
what I do. I think I spend more time interpreting Dylan's
poetry than he spends writing it.
By Eleanor Moore
In a sense, though, I am ripping Dylan off for his fame.
I'm using Dylan's name and reputation in order to get
access to the media. But I feel that what I have to say is a
The pop scene has produced any, number of freaks, but hundred times more important than what Dylan has to say.
A.J. Webberman deserves more than just a place in the Charlie: Why?
Pantheon. He's the High priest of pop. Like all true A.J.: Because all Dylan says in his lyrics is heroin is
religionists his lifestyle is humble. And approaching his . beautiful. He sings the praise of heroin in his lyrics.
Bleecker Street loft su"ounded by decrepjt warehouses and Charlie: But that's only your interpretation.
falling down apartments, I had second thoughts. Access to
the holy temple is made only if A.J. deigns to look down
from his street-front window and hears you calling out on
the street below. He 11 come down and unlock the door and
lead you up two very unstable flights of stairs, past the
communal toilets, up to a lacquered green door embossed
with gold letterings:
A .J.
Dylan Archives
A portal to a better world? A distinct relief from the dark
stale hallway.
A.J. 's manner is diffident as he settles himself into the
wingbacked canvas chair (in front of a fake fireplace) in
this symbolically well-lit, frifndly sanctuary. The relics of
his Dylan scholarship bespeak themselves: his volumes of
computerized lyric concordance comprise the Gospel; these
famous garbage graftings, the New Testament; and the walls
and shelves are everywhere invested with comprehensive
Dylan iconography - photos, stories, albums.
As A.J. begins to speak about himself, I realize that his
beginnings were anything but messianic. This 26-year-old
Dylan scholar grew up in Brooklyn of all places, and his A.J.: Oh, no. I'd bet my life on it. It's not just one thing.
father was an attorney. But when A.J. was 15, he It would take me hours and hours to explain why I think
discovered dissent and decided to be a socialist and atheist it's happening. I have been recognized as the leading
(after brief devotion to that right-winged sect, Young authority on Dylan's lyrics, and I can tell - it's the only
Americans for Freedom). His Orthodox-in-every-way way it makes sense.
parents sent him to Michigan State to cool off And his The main theory of Dylanology really isn't that far out.
non-directed activist head discovered Dylan 's politics and It's been used before by other people. It's the theory of
poetry in the early songs like Freight Train Blues and analytic criticism. I've studied each word in Dylan, and I've
Blowing in the Wind A.J. was hooked and discipled: seen how Dylan uses each word - in various contexts to
"Dylan was my brother, someone you could trust. "But he find out what that word means.
returned to New York and lost Dylan-track for awhile in Charlie: You take in the oeuvre, not just specific songs,
sporadic bouts working for a "blatant ripoff employment to develop this elaborate key.
agency" for unsuspecting blacks and Puerto Ricans and A.J.: And it works. It's consistent, and people believe it.
defending himself with a "disabled bb gun" in various And nobody's come up with a better system. Being a big
apartments on the lower east side. Dylan fan, I have no reason to want the cat to be a junkie.
"Bringing it all Back Home" renewed A.J. 's Dylanesque And yet, this is what it comes out, his poetry's abo ut junk.
devotions and begin surely one of the weirdest, all-time What can I tell you?
crazy freak (self espoused) careers of pop-time. As my Charlie: You sound like T.S. Elliot How do you feel
interview with him indicates, A.J. 's a man possessed, a true about multi-layered symbolism?
phoenatic. A.J.: WeU, on some levels, Country Pie is about food :
Charlie: I'm curious about how you see yourself today. But on it's most significant level, in Dylan's secret language,
 ,, . ,6"
it's about heroin. I'm not the only one who understands over to the Cafe Gaslight. We happened to be walking past
these songs - there are many other artists who understand Dylan' s house, and we saw Dylan's garbage lying
them, too. And they write songs in this secret language, outside there .
putting him down for being a junkie. Charlie: How'd you know it was his?
Charlie: Who? A.J.: Well, we figured it was in front of his house , and
A.J.: Oh, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, we looked through it, and sure enough, there was letters
Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater, written to Bob Dylan. So I said, wow, I've got a great way
they all use the same symbols as Dylan and put him down. to find out about Bob Dylan and study him: I'll go through
It's there clear as day, once you know the secret language. his garbage. So after that , we went through the garbage
Once you know French or Spanish, the minute you know every night. I heard from a friend of Dylan, that pretty
the language, understand the symbols and how they're soon Dylan became aware that somebody was going
used, you start to listen to rock and see what it's all about. through his garbage, dealing his garbage! Somebody said,
Dylan is the founder of rock poetry, and there are many, "It's Webberman." And he said, "The thought crossed my
many, many other Dylanologists, but they are all into the mind. Let's call the police on him."
music thing. I'm the only one who talks about it in literal And they said, "No , that's just what Webberman wants.
terms. They all write songs and sing about it, but I talk He wants you to call the pigs in so he can have a whole
about it in literal terms. cause: Dylan has Webberman arrested and he can get in the
Charlie: Why does it have to be this conscious? establishment press, and have a whole human interest story
A.J.: It has to be this conscious because there 's-so much as a guy who studies another cat's poetry for years and
information tP.at's transmitted. what does the cat do - has him arrested for going through
Charlie: What kind of feedback have you gotten? his garbage."
A.J.: John Lennon's mentioned my name. I interpreted So Dylan decides against that. But he wants to make
his lyrics and Lennon mentioned my name. In Give Peace A
Chance he says "Everybody's talking about Webberman."
Paul Seaver wrote a song to me called "Jasper in the
Minors." "Jasper told the miners, Dylan told his critics not
to dig too deep, cause they might find something he'd
rather keep asleep ."
Charlie: I meant Dylan - what kind of feedback have
you gotten?
A.J.: I've talked to Dylan. I think just the fact that he's
willing to be my friend and talk to me and wasn't afraid @
that I was going to shoot him. Because, if it was true, if I
was inventing all this and going around saying this on
television, in Rolling Stone, all over the media, if it wasn't
true, Dylan would say, "Wow. Webberman'sjust a nut, I am
what I am - I have a bunch of kids, I own real estate." But
that 's just a front that he has to keep the heat off him. Or
that's his lifestyle. Dylan has retained some of the hip
lifestyle , but the ugliest parts.
Dylan would say. "All I'm singing about is country pie
and love - this Webberman is crazy." But Dylan doesn't sure it's me, so he hires some guy to watch his garbage for a
treat me that way at all. week.
Charlie: Maybe he doesn't take you seriously . How does Charlie: A garbage guard ?
he treat you? A.J.: Right. And they saw me and then they started
A.J.: The cat admits that I'm right, and he asks me to taking all the good stuff out of the garbage.
play it down , not to talk about it. Charlie: They left you the coffee grounds?
Charlie: He said this to you? A.J.: And the diapers. I didn't save any of that., just the
A.J.: It's on a tape between me and Dylan. I said I'm papers.
going to New Haven, and he says, " Don't talk about my Charlie: Like what.
uhh, don't talk about my hmmm," what I call his current A.J.: I found a letter to Johnny Cash, apologizing for
bag - or scag! not being down in Memphis, showing they were really close
Charlie: When did you meet Dylan? friends. I found a list of songs from "Self Portrait." Dylan's
A.J.: I met Dylan after I had a demonstration in front of kid's scribblings. A letter from his mother in Fort
his house with my Dylan class. We called it a field trip, and Lauderdale saying, thanks for the candy , having a
he finally came out. He wouldn't meet with me before wonderful time in Florida , something from his Uncle
then. Morris ... Ali kinds of really weird stuff. Advertisements
Charlie: In Woodstock? from fashion stores, and ads for all these weird cosmetics
A.J.: This was on MacDougal Street. And then we had a for Dylan's wife.
series of meetings afterwards. But I found his garbage was So then I wrote an article about that called "Dylan's
much more interesting ... Garbage's Greatest Hits" which a lot of people really dug.
Charlie: Let's get into that! That was the beginning of when Dylanology really started
A.J.: . . . than the meetings. Well, Anne and I were going to become popular. That and the fact that people were
 "' ... , ~

really starting to become sick and tired of Dylan's Scudutto's just an idiot. He can't study Dylan's poetry
reactionary politics. And they started to give me some or anything like that. He has no idea of what he's saying,
exposure as a way of getting back at Dylan, and breaking and he let Dylan censor the book, and he doesn't have
the Dylan myth. much political consciousness and doesn't really know
Oh, and in the garbage article, I also included things what's happening. But he did do a good job of researching
from this letter I had from a friend of Dylan's wife to a it, talking to his friends, spent some time and some money
friend in England which managed to come into my doing it, so I respect him for that. Toby Thompson , on the
possession. It had Dylan and his wife fighting it out, and all other hand, made one trip to Hibbing and wrote a book
this gossip. In my garbage article there was a hatchet job on about it.
Dylan - I wasn't really trying to be objective, I was just Charlie: Two.
picking out all the bad things about Dylan. I admit it. A.J.: Pure exploitation. It's unfortunate that the book
Because the cat. wasn't singing about life anymore in his will sell .
lyrics. On th~ literal level, it's all these love songs and Charlie : But anyone who envelops himself in this veil of
singing the praises of monogamy. secrecy lays himself open to what Thompson is doing, and
Charlie: When you say reactionary· politics, I assume for that matter, what you are doing.
what you mean is absense of any previous substance. But A.J. : But I don't look at Toby Thompson as a
isn't that Dylan' s choice? Dylanologist.
A.J.: Right , absense of any substance. No , when Charlie: An opportunist?
somebody has access to the mass media the way Dylan A.J.: Yeah. But my book will be out soon, in bootleg
does, it's their duty to talk about what's happening. If you edition. It should tell you what Dylan is saying in his
walk down the street and see a little child being poetry.
machinegunned by somebody dressed in a uniform, and Charlie: What 's going to happen to Dylan?
you just walk on by and never say anything about it for the
rest of your life, you're as guilty as the guy who's doing the
machinegunning.
Charlie: If that's the way you feel about it. But his
choice is passivity.
A.J .: No, it's his duty to talk about it. He can do his
thing, but I can do my thing, too . All these thing I've said
about him, I've said many times and he's never sued me.
Charlie: But calling attention to you would give you
® credence.
A.J .: Right. But I could prove it if it ever came to court
- I have my concordance, my computerized concordance.
Here, take a look a Volume 1.
Charlie: This puts the Interpreter's Bible to shame.
A.J.: I could have college professors come in and testify
that there is definite reason for Webb erman to believe .. .
Charlie·: What did you think of Toby T hompson's book?
A.J .: 1 thought Toby Thompson's book was a rip-off. I
really don't have an objective view, being someone who is
also doing a book on Dylan, but I'd say that the fact that A.J.: I don't know what direction his life will take, but
this book is published in America and will probably sell is I've certainly become a potent force in hi~ life. I'm
indicative of the fact that the revolution HAS NOT COME moblizing public opinion against him. Either he's going to
YET. People will still be fooled. It should be called "My stay a reactionary in spite of Webberman or e lse he's going
Trip to Hibbing." That's all it's about. He takes the most to have to give in. It's going to be hard for him to continue
minute, insignificant instances and he blows them up to ripping off the public. I'm going to make it difficult for him
major proportions. just to fill up the book. to walk the street.
Charlie: He's grasping? Dylan is two different Dylans. There's Dylan the old
A.J.: Yeah, just filler, all those blank pages. guy , the old cat who was into politics; and there's the new
Charlie: What do you think of the veracity of Echo's Dylan who's into heroin and who's a capitalist. Dylan the
portrait of Dylan, or Ellen Baker's? I'm sure you don' t agree heroin addict capitalist/ is exploiting the reputation of the
with his mother's. old groovy beautiful Dylan to sell the records. Dylan has
A.J. : Tony Scudullo is coming out with a book which told me, "I'm not Bob Dylan anymore." I'm not going to
will negate a lot of Toby Thompson's findings. stand by and Jet this happen, because I could really do a
Charlie: Is it fallacious or just fatuous? number on Dylan. I can expose him.
A.J.: It's fallacious. What Echo says is just her Charlie: A.I., you obviously don't accept personal
imagination. "Hey baby, want to come back to New York change.
with me, huh, huh?" And she takes it seriously. As I said, A.J.: You have to understand, I don 't look at things like
this book is a stone rip-off. Although I don't dig th.is cat a pig. I look at them from somebody's who's oppressed
Scudutto very much, at least he put some work into his which is the majority of the world. I don't think it's moral,
book, talked to a Jot of people, there's some substance in and ultimately, it's selfdefeating. My politics is the basis of
there. Dylanology. 8
i
·• 2

ZOOT MAGAZINE # -2 & Holding/ a werepuke publication

This is the special ZOOT dry-run, composed of a bunch

of stuff from ZOOT #1, some of it mimeo'd and some of

it offset from original manuscripts. It goes something

like this•
4 by Jon Eisen,,.,,,,,,p. 3
Leopards Rose by George Paul Csicsery •••••• p. 4

A,J, Weberman Interviewed by Ko I.a.nkester •• p. 5

I'm A Whip Freak by Ed Sanders ••••••••••••• p. 9

The Rest of You Men Come With Me by Jon Eisen •• p. 10

The NHRP Story by Jon Tiven ••••••••••••••. p. 14

Outer Pumice by R. Meltzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p, 17

Guitar Moll Poesies by Kathy Dorritie ••••• p. 18

Trick*Belly*Moan by Nick Tosches •••••••••. p. 19

1970 Album Awards by__Jqn ..T~"..~!J. . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 20

Diary Excerpts by Taylor Mead,, ••••••••••• p. 22

The first real issue will feature Bobby Abrams

on graveyards, lots of graphics by the likes of

s. Clay Wilson, Rolandalgo, The Mad Peck and Kim

Deitch. Plus the first totally complete John Coltrane

discography ever. Plus excerpts from a forthcoming

book by Jon Eisen & Nick Tosches. Plus an extensive
record review section. If anybody sends us books, we'll

do those two.

Zoot Magazine/131 Williams Avenue/Jersey City,

N.J. 07304/201-332-3609, shoot for zoot,
 BY
HIS DUTCH COLL'::AGUE

"I knew Alan 1Teberman for about a year---via letters

and exchanr;ing of tapes---before I finally met him in June,
1970, at his Dylan Archives. In Hollc.nd I was doinr; the
same thine; Alan did in New Yorl<---wri ting articles about
Dylan, tryi;1g to intorpret his songs and poetry; only Alan's
articles were more articulate and no doubt more correct than
mine (for one reason because he had an awful lot of tapes,
articles, interviews, et ceter2,, that I did not have and
also because it is pretty hard for a non-American, who
doesn't even speak Enc;lish afl a native language, to understand
the American society that Dylan was singing about for years.
"I stayed at the Dylan Archives for about two weeks before
hitch-hikine; G,000 miles across the country in six weeks. The
first part of the intei·view took place on the evenine; before
I left, the second part aftP.r I had returned, This interview,
needless to say, is the longest and most comprehensible A.J.
Weberman has ever given."
---- Ko lanl>ester

Is it rolling, ~o?

Yes, it is. Question number one: ;Jany articles have been

written about Dylan and du:rino; the last four or five years
I have read anything I could get on the subject, but nine
out of every ten a.rticles left me with exactly the same
lcnowledge about Dylan's poetry. The articles discussed
Dylan's "philoso1)hy of life," they compared. him to Kant,
to Nietzsche, to '.·'.afka, but they hardly ever singled out a
certain song, a certain verse, a certain word, and they tried
to get to the heart of the matter asking the obvious question:
"What does Dylan mean?" It took me four years, until the sprine;
of '69, to find somebody who was really trying to find out
what tl'le songs and poems were all about, and who did a 13:ooc1-
job in findi.ng some answerG, too. When I read a short
interview with a cat named A.J. Heberman I knew I had found
that man.

Let me co1Jllllent on this question---

I'm not finished,

Yeah, I J;:now it's not finished. ii.lot of people have

compared Dylan with Kant. I think he was the one who started

~
that bullshit rumor by saying that he read Fant in college,
but I don't believe it. I have read ~ :ant and I find very
little similarity between Dylan and :~nt. They seem to be
on different trips. Dylan isn't into that heavy metaphysical
trip, although both of them are very ohscure. ::ant is one of
the most obscure philosophers to read and f' ylan is one of
the most obscure poets, but after that the similarity ends.
I don't find too much similarity he tween Dylan and :n.etzsche ,
al though there is some between Dylan and. :::·.afka, especialljr
of late, since he started this DTIIFTTI:R '.S ESCAPE , this whole
courtroom/sentencing metaphor. Also, :::afl'\a wrote alle g-ories,
prose alleg ories, whi le I'ylan wri tes poetic alleg ories,
which is another example of similarities, and, also, they
were both anti-establishment and had radical tendencies---
more so in Dylan's case, I 'd say. It's true that i n most of
the articles that I've read the people completely avoid the
issue of what the lyrics mean, or else they say they're
meaningless .
Tell me, Alan, can you d i r; why nobody tried to analys e
these sone;s ? I mean, those other writers , people liJce Paul
Nels on and Paul Williams, did not fail to und.erstand the
songs---I could have understood that much---but they
9.id n,ot_ even. try! Why? Are the words too difficult? Or do
you neeo a special sense of humor to trace Dylan's way of
expressing his feelings?
Tl ell, I"o, J think one reason is because it's too fucJr: ing
difficult. You have to spend so much of your time 0oin~ it
that it's hard to function as a critic. rhat's why I call
0

myself a "Dylanologist, " because I found that I was spencling

so much time studying Dylan that I didn't have much time to
study the entire rocJr. scene. I t's the a ge of specialization,
and I decic'.l. ed to specialize in Dylan's poetry. l\Tow people
lik e Paul i\Telson and Paul 1 !illiams---I ' m not sure about
Paul Nelson; he was a friend of I'y1an ' s back in Ilt nnesota
and he was pres ent when they made the Hotel Tape, I' m sure---
but I ' m familiar with Paul Uilliams' views that you can't
understand, that the poetry is meanine;less, and , you k now,
the words are there to elicit an emotion. Now I think this
stems from the fact that he considers himself to be a really
intelliu;ent, avant- gara.e k ind of person who was really into
wha t's happening and since he couldn't understand them he
decided , " Well, d i g me, man, I'm so fuck ing smart ana every-
thinc; that if I can't understand them, then they must be
meaning less." So, I think that it was partly his e go gettinB
in the way and this has been true of many critics who have
stud ied rock poetry. For example, Robert Christgau, who's a
roe};: critic for The Villar;e Voice and who wrote for The
~;;-ew Yorl;: Times for a while. Re had something in Cheetah
which was later reprinted in a n anthology, The Ap;e of Rock
or somethinr; , about rocl: lyrics which he claims is a
definitive article about rocJ.( l yr ics, wherein he saicl that
many of them are meaningless, that rock lyrics aren't poetry

r- f>
because he can't find an ironic meaning, implying at best
that they're nonsense poetry, which is another example of
someone trying to analyse and not finding anything, not
because it was not there but simply because they were not
prepared to apply the analytical method to Dylan's poetry
or to other roclr poets' lyrics, A prerequisite to applying
the analytical method, which relies heavily on recurrent
symbolism, is Jmowing the soniss by heart, You have to lmow
all the songs by heart so that when you come across a
symbol in one context---"lady" for instance---you can thinl{
bacJ.: without having to go throu13h hundreds of pages of
poetry, and say "The LADIES treat me ldndly",,, "In the empty
lot where the LADIES play ... " Or else you have to do what
I'm doing, which is a isreater hassle than memorizing the
poetry: I am feeding all the l'rord.s into a computer, ancl
checJ;:ing the concordances in the various trends and pairing
words, sort of, I'm having the computer do it because it's
impossible to memorize Tarantula, which is about eighty
pages of poetry.
So one reason that they did not do it was because of the
difficulty involved. Another thing is that if they had that
much imagination they generally would become rock singers
and writers, not just critics, and it's lilre rocl-;: poetry
seems to be years and years ahead of rock criticism. I am
trying to bridge that gap. So I'm really dol'm on people like
Paul ~Iilliams, Dylan once told Paul Uilliams that there are
alot of people around who think they know what's happening
but really don't. And Williams quoted this in one of his
articles and thought it referred to other critics outside of
himself, when, in reality, I think Dylan was telling 'lilliams
in a nice way that he really didn't J<:now what· was happening.
Some of them try, some of these rook critics try. Jack
l\Tel'rfield for instance, who was slated to be Bobby Jeennecly's
press secretary. He wrote a boo];: about radical politics. He
also writes for The Village Voice. Deing into a radical head,
he wrote some e;ood articles about Dylan. Ralph Gleason made
some half-assed attempts in an earl3r issue of Ramparts, in
a cover story on Dylan called. "The Children's Crusade." He
made some half-assed attempts at interpretation. lut, I've
never seen anybody interpret a verse, line by line. The only
thing they've done is take a couple of words out of Dylan and
say that they mean somethine;, that they mean this or they
mean that. To support their m,m particular bag. They've looked
·: :· ·'.:· ·~'.· · .' .; i· ·:'.· .; :· ..;:· ·::· .; '.· ·: :· ·::· .. :. ·i:· ·: :· .;;. ·::· -::·..; :· ·: .•-;-;. -lE- -:t--; '.·.;: -:~- -:;--::·.; ;- -;:--; '.· -:~ ·::.. -::· -::--; ,. ·:: .; ;. ·::--: :-·::- -:~- -:'.· ·: :- ·!:· {:· ·: :··:!· .;:- -::- ·:f·-l:· -; :· -::--::- ·::--;;- -:~- -i:-~
{fj___c&o CjQ/j;:][J}~[j/)t)o~ofl,
~:-

'.'.
~.:·

-:.-
@> (Po @o @~ [:5~9;J\3'.J'CJ:J_J}:,
~,Y .. 1 cV-Y. too13
2]Yo 8V/.9Jo : ;.
-:~
-::- -: :- ·:~-.; :· ·: :· -: :-·: :· -::· ~<- -: :· ·:: -::· ~ :..;:· ·: :· ~: ~.· -:r ·:;. ; :· ~:· -::· ;:. -::· ·:~· ~:· ·:: •. :..::· -: :..;; -::-~ :--:~· -::· ·: :· .; ~· ·: :. ·::..;.;. -: : ·::- ·:t··::-·::· ·: :..::·; r·:} -::· ·::· -:~ ·::· ·: :· -:to·::·~~·::·~:·
MORE WEBERMAN •••
at it almost completely subjectively. There is another
possibility---that rock criticism is corrupt, that the
society is such that it tries to read out any kind of
creativity that the individual may have in school, and
turn him off to literature and turn him off to poetry.
By making him read all of this irrelevant shit like
A Tale of Two Cities and all this shit that was going
on in the eighteenth century, which has very little
relevance to our lives in technological society, so in
some ways the talents of creative people are definitely
at a premium. Rock criticism is such that these people
who do have this modicum of talent don't really push it
much further, because they know they can get by on what
they have, so they are corrupt in a sense. I think alot
of rock critics are corrupt. Although the rock critics
don't tune into the secret language, the Dylan-secret
language, many rock writers did, they spent their time,
memorizing all the Dylan songs, and got very much into
them on a very significant level. They learned Dylan's
secret language to communicate with Dylan in that lang-
uage. So I'm not the only one in the world who can do it.
It's o~en to anyone. As long as you know the method you
can carry it over and interpret Dylan's songs. You have
to have a good knowledge of Dylan's career. It helps to
live through things like Newport and Forest Hills and
experience them first hand. Like I did.
About a year ago, Alan, when I wrote to a friend about
you I called you "The Freud of Dylanology" •••
(surprised) The Freud of Dylanology?

••• TO BE CONTINUED

/~
does anyone have access to a
web offset press????????????
????????????????hunh????????
if you do, call nick@ 20133
2 36 09 •••••••••••••••••••••••
 •
MikeJahn

S()UIDS()f
f~~E SEVEIT~ES
from Special Features-syndicate division ofThe NewYorkTunes
FOR RELEASE: Dec.11-12, 1971 With 'photo of writer
A. J. Weberman
The Underqround Rock Writer:
The Press Party is His Dish

By MIKE JAHN

Rick is an underground press writer, and like so many underground press

writers, he is broke and hungry. He spent all day sewing plastic bags into

his clothes, and now is hitting the buffet table very hard.

After three years of free-lancing reviews ($15 each) for an underground

paper, he has become an expert at more than rock. He is also expert at

filling a plate with one hand, while stuffing his shirt with another. Did

you ever wonder why so many people wear shirts with baggy sleeves? With a

quick hand and fast-action cuffs, you can get half a turkey in there.

-- -- - -It's
- - weil-known that record com a~ies support the undergro.und__P%'.ess.

through advertising. Less known is the manner in which record companies

support underground press writers, through parties. There are at least

two or three each week in New York. Eaeh is stocked with enough food and

drink to support a large hippie commune or, in·· this case, the metropolitan

underground press cadre.

Salami Sw~per

According to Paul Colby, owner of the Bitter End, a Greenwich Village

folk club that has about one press party a month, "there was a guy who stole

all the salami at the end of one party. The whole plate. I blew my top.

I happen to like Italian salami."

Others come into parties with shopping bags, and try to take everything
they can. Somebody came in once, took a shopping bag from the kitchen. and

started cleaning up the table," Colby said. "I saw him, but what can you

do? The guy who took the salami, I made a mention of it when I saw him.

He looked embarrassed, but he kept walking.

"He really burned me up. The salami wes on a paper plate. He just

(more)
! material may be used on ly by arrangement with Special Feat ures. For cost and ot her information, please phone (212) 556-1721 collect.
" .
Jahn/Rock Writer--2

folded the plate in half and stuck it in his shirt."

Stealing from the buffet table has become so much a part of things

that when one writer, A.J.Weberman--who went through the garbage of Dylan

and other celebrities and landed a front-cover article in Esquire (October)

for it--was asked whether he minded having his picture taken at a press

party, he immediately grabbed a gouda cheese and began inserting it in his

shirt.

To Introduce an Unknown

According to Pat Luce , New York press agent for A&M Records, the

average press party costs about $1,200. "'!'hat buys an open bar and a buffet

table, which usually is fruit, cheese, potato and macaroni salads and cold

cuts. Stuff like that. I like to have them catered, though, which costs

a few hundred dollars more.

"The bigger press parties, like at a suite at the Hiltcin, they cost

anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000," she said .

The purpose of a press ·party, she said, "is to separate an unknown

ax ttsc nom tne !::htlr':fle of the lire-e-mililon new artists that come out from
4 ,000 record companies each week. The press won't go to see a new and

unknown artist unless provoked, considering the plethora of high-powered

talent around. Your gimmick is to throw a party and yive them things to

eat, things to drink, and have the artist perform for half an hour."

It's generally thought that the critics are kinder to artists if they're

we ll-fed when they see them perform. Also, since half the people at the

parties work for the record company involved, the audience nearly always

gives the performer an outstanding ovation. This too is impressive . If

Broadway producers threw press parties on opening night, there might be

fewer flops. '!'here als o would b e more unde rground pre ss write rs interested

in drama.

Organic Foods Messy

Bob Altschuler, h ead of PR for Columbi a Records, said that CBS has

started providing vege tarian food for press partie s at which the unde rground

pre ss is expected. But nearly all the good thie ve s in the busine ss go for

(more )
.. ..
J ahh/Rock Writer--3

meat and cheese,which is easier and less me ssy to steal than organic vege-

table stew.

"I lean toward cold cuts and fowl," Rick said, "but fruit and cheese

can be accommodated. Last summer all the companies were into fruit, and

my prize was a small watermelon . I put it in a bowling bag I saved from

the days I was growing up in Brooklyn. I a lways knew I would have a use for

that." He decries the trend toward sloppy foods like fruit s alads and things

with beans and rise.

"I ruined one of my b e st pairs of j e ans with a taco last week/' he said .

- 0 -

(c) 1971 Mike Jahn

(Readers may write Mike Jahn in care of this newspaper.)

Editors: Only the following cre dit should be used (c) 1971 Mike Jahn. No
credit should be given to The New York Times Co., The New York Times Special
Fe atures or The New York Times News Se rvice .

---------
 I
/}n~ ~.rp I 2e.f'
I
i
r W~V'orm.s­ (As the price of gold rises, my c h ~nee o f receiving
. . 'that
·~ lo-w f -..;;;: . You worm'.~
-
gold coin goes down
• I•

.
:Off the recof\d
\ ~ _7 1"l 1 con(ess to'·possessing numerous Dylan bootlegs, VVedneSday, March 25. 198 1 • The Mian11 News o
"
5C
-., '~ one in \Vhich somebody hid a tape recorder
~ Jon Marlow'e under .a sofa \Vhi!e Dylan sat and sang acoustic
versions of.some of his "High\vay 61 Revisited"
I
songs. · '.. I
Critic's t}ook , Although bootleg albu1ns and/or tapes are in \ .,, '
.

is bootleg~rjp
\
"violation of: the Jaw, Bruce Springsteen used to
ac'tually. tell" b6otleggers "Roll your tapes" at
many of hi~ concerts. That's V.'hy it \Vas a little
surprising (not to n1ention rather depressing) f
I Let:)OscarMake
into Bob Dy.tan
that Springsteen recently sued a group_ of Cali- I
fornia bootleggers and \Von ... to the tune of j
$20 million. '·
But Cable, as well-3ls many other rock critics
I YG>u a Winner!
_ Once upon a time we had sunk so \o\v that (
.,.\Ve looked to A.J. \Ve~erman to pi_ck.thro_ugh .~ _, ~'~:;.r':_
~Bob Dylan's garbage to get a ne\v 1ns1ght into
·~.
>;-[-
~~

:_ 1. -l:-·;:.:i'-·--: _. ·,
,
i
and music !Overs, feels bootleg records are·justj ...
fied:
·•r
1
• ·-
can't\really·get \vorked up about losses J
suffered by official record companies through
,
}m. Miim1Hew$
·=f~<

A<3DEMY
·the man. r:.. bootlegging.r-· Cable \vrites. "because people
~ That alone says a great ~.'..·~'~ . .'._ . \Vho buy bootleg records of a particular artist in·
.deal about A.J., Dyl.an ... and *"'.! · -; . ?'.:JA'J~fl~.'Aff.--
.'t variably alre~dy own all that a_rtist's official rec·
,.._:us. Granted, the times have :&~··..,:;,~' & ords. In any;'case, \Vith Dyl~n 1t co.uld be argued
1
;changed. -Today you may not , d' that a .record company \Vh1ch onuts 'I Shall Be
:like the fact that Bob Dylan ,•?~yla_n s unreleased recor tngs re- Released' an1d 'lvlighty Quinn' from 'The Base-

A~]~RDS
,._has turned to Jesus. l'ou may vealing ment Tapes' ,deserves anything it gets."
7have hated his last two slight-· . I Ironical\)•,' although_ bootlegging has been
:1y religious LPs: "Slo\V Train No\v Or Have You Ever Been?," "St. Valentine's \vith us sinCe the '40s, it wasn't until a Dylan
:coming" and "Saved." Heck, Day !';1assacre," "Now Your Mouth Cries \Volf," bootleg "The'. Great White Wonder Album" was
...you may no longer care (if IViorlowe "J:fold The Fort For \Vhat It's Worth," "Valenti· released in the late '60s (and sold hundreds of
_:you ever did) wh_at's in his nO Type Tangos," "Tapes From Sherry's Attic," thousands off copies) that bootlegging became a
~trash baskets. But there's no denying_ Bob Dylan "Seventy Dollar Robbery," "See1ns Like A massive and ,lucrative business. In recent years,
:has been one of the most influential musical Freezeout," "Life Sentence" and "Let P.1e Die In bootlegging ,has come under serious legislation

CONrEsr
.•forces of lhe last t\VO decades. M>' Footsteps." and Ja\v enforce1nent. A recent check revealed
... Pop music critic Paul Cable feels the same ··1 :'It's almost in1p6ssible to belie\•e, if it \Veren't that not onel IV1iami record store carried above·
way. In the introduction to his \Vonderful $5.95 sci \vell documented by Cable, thal there are the-counter (.the operative \Vord here is "'above·
Schirmer book "Bob Dylan: i;is Unrelea~e.d Rec- more than 100 bootleg Dylan albums and tapes. the-co11nler"JOylan bootleg ... or any other
ordings,"·Cable \Vrites: _ Ap.d as Cable says, n1any contain vintage Zim- bootleg. for that matter.
"It _co~l? be ar~u~d that, as thcr,e ari: .so m,erman songs - "C~urch With i'~o Upstairs,", \Vharevef our feelin s on buotle records ' .
many s1~n~f1~ant 0~1ss1ons from D~!an s .off1c1a! "I'm Not There," "Sign Of The Cr:oss," "Get and ta es Ca~le's "Bob 13 Ian: His U~released
l'1'

albun1s, it is 11:nposs1ble to look at his musical de· Your Rocks Off" ~that most of us have ne~'er Record)ng's" makes for inrorrnative and intri· Predict .i,tie Oscar winners and you could
velopment \VIthout recourse to the unreleased h.eard Bob Dylan sing. If vie had heard songs hke . , ct' d 't 't help but niake vou
·work. Thus this book is intended to be of interest "Shu'rch \Vith No Upstairs" and "Sign Of The ghu1nhg. reaf ing - .3 ~ 1 can Pl s C ble doe-s . win a CRUISE FOR TWO aboard Costa Cruises'
· not only to collectors,
· but to anyone ac k no\V I· Cross,"
'
~edging the n1assive influence Dylan has asserted come as sUch a shock.
Dvlan's recent Jesus foray mav not have t e ct·
.. ?~Ya
11 o any 1nv1a party.
1 1 ~~au;s e~~~.
d tapeu in
, terms
a n1
of lvr
1 r~i~~ c~~tics al\vays fall ifiL~
T/S )]Jt1i\'1Jf$\, or DINNER FOR TWO at the
·over the last 15 years." Cable not only lists all the bootle~ LPs and ~~~en it cor:fes to D~lan, b.ut also dissects the
Sheraton Bal\ Harbour {if used prior to April 18,
, And so, for the next J 97 pages, Cable takes tap;s and what Dylan songs they contain, he also rnelodv chord changes and the general rnusi- j you will also iee the revue C'est Si Bon) or
:us on an amazing journey through each and rev1ev:s the performances and th: s~ngs, hov.' cianshiP involved ... and he really kno\VS what , ADMISSION fOR TWO to a Wometco, General
.every bootleg tape and/or LP that has eve.r been aqd· \Vhere the bo?lleg was obta1nea and the he's talking about. . !
·issued on Bob Dvlan. It goes fro111 the sublime - oyerall sound quality (some of then1 are \·ery , 1
Cinema, AMQ, Loew's or Plitt Theatre.
:"The Great \Vhfte \Vonder" LP - to the ridicu- p6or). In the end, Cable acco1nplishes just \Vhat he 1
lous - a jingle sung by Dylan into his te!e- It should also be stated here that bootleg rec· set out to dolBy exposing us to this astounding I
1. Check one Dq.x in each of the eight Academy Awards
phone-ansv..'ering n1achine. ords are illegal. They are 1nade \Vithout the per· output of bo~tleg product he really does give us i

':,:::
· Along the \vay \Ve are introduced to such farmer's kno\v\edge, at concerts, off live radio or a ne\\' insight into Dylan. And to think he didn't
categories below. (Note; Only this entry form or a

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