IT GETS WEIRDER

The 'Dylanologists" are in a frothing tizzie this week due to the release of 6000 items from Bob Dylan's personal possession into the hands of George Kaiser and the University of Tulsa.

It has been described as 'an endless ocean' of goodies for fans to ponder and scholars to study. We could be here for quite a while going through it all….


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/arts/music/bob-dylans-secret-archive.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/inside-bob-dylans-historic-new-tulsa-archive-its-an-endless-ocean-20160303

From the New York Times:
So he (Glenn Horowitz) pitched the collection to the Kaiser foundation and the University of Tulsa as a magnet for both scholarly study and international tourism. Most of the material will be housed at the Helmerich Center for American Research, a facility at the Gilcrease Museum, which is affiliated with the university. The Gilcrease has a vast collection of western art and early colonial archives, a fittingly historical setting for a songwriter whose words are regularly cited by Supreme Court justices. Although plans are still being made, the Kaiser foundation is also considering a spot next to the Guthrie museum for a new Dylan gallery that will be open to the public.

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There's really not much 'weird' about America's greatest living artist and poet deciding to share his personal keepsakes. It wasn't completed without a price tag and I, for one, think that Mr. Dylan has every right to sell his items for profit.

But Bob is busy. He's busy touring, recording, welding iron gates, being a grandfather….many things, I reckon. Mostly, he's busy being Bob Fucking Dylan.

So his OFFICE and his people have been very busy working on this deal for up to two years.

As the NYT article explains, Dylan's office retained an archivist and a broker.

WEIRD FACT:
That broker just happens to be my friend and personal training client, Glenn Horowitz.

I've known Glenn for several years and I've always known him to be a consummate professional and THE big dog in his specialized field. He was the best man for this job and I'm proud to have a chance to pat him on the back for his good deed.

WHAT A SMALL WORLD!

Glenn Horowitz, Bookseller

He was an out of shape blob when I started training him and now he's in much better shape and a smaller blob but he's MY blob. (KIDDING!)

He's quite a unique personality in a city full of them. He's legit, folks. He has learned quickly that millions of people are VERY interested in Bob's archives. Thankfully, Bob also cares for his keepsakes and they've been cared for up to this point. Now, they will be cared for and poured over for decades to come.

The 'holy grail' or 'Maltese falcon' of the collection is something known as the ''little red notebook.''

WEIRD FACT 2: I've had a chance to peer into the 'LRNB.'

Let me tell you, it's fucking cool. Poems and songs unknown to the public…until now.
(if they were meant to be recorded, they would have been)
Some of these poems were written during the "Blood on The Tracks'' period. Notes and lyrics seem to be transcribed from previous drafts and placed into one spiral pocket book. MB, hypnotist collector, feels that it appears to be part editing process, part memorization exercise. I agree.

''Don't want to be followed around by a man wearing shoes half my size''

My personal opinion is that Bob wrote very small for a couple of reasons. One is that it was a tiny book forcing him to squeeze 16-verse songs on to just a few pages. Another reason MAY be that these were personal and private writings about his dissolving marriage to Sara and the tales of his life at the time. He probably wanted them to be kept private. And that he did….until now.

So this week, with all the international fanfare and Sunday's (today, March 6) New York Times spread, Dylan fans may start counting the days until the wing is built on the Guthrie Museum site and we can drag ass to Tulsa to gawk and wow and take smartphone pictures and pretend that we can understand it all.

I, for one, am eager to see the next dose of 6000 items.

Bob Dylan and Mike Porco were friends. As Bob gets older, his attic becomes less cluttered and we get closer to volume two of 'Chronicles.' His autobiography still has much to tell us, part of which may be his feelings toward his surrogate father…I hope. I can only guess that Mr. Dylan still has many more items, stories and tangible pieces of paper that he prefers to keep closer to his heart.


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Well done, GLENN!
Thank you Jeff and BOB.