Cf.;Ui._jt? Jri.b . Sw1, St1ff1€rtifvr/ 5we>eks ~!

Bob Dylan up to of l~fe? Just ask A.J.

By Mark Faris ; diapers (Dylan has five children). And he still is, at least enough to esling and entertaining because the
But it wasn't just Dylan's garbage study Dylan tapes at weekly meetings messa~e is so unwavering.
UNLESS YOU'RE into garbology that interested A.J. It was everything of the Dylan Archives in Lower A.J. says he sees other results of
(the study of garbage), the name Alan about the ,man, absolutely Manhattan. Dirlan·s religious conversion-some
Ju\es Weberman prohably doesn't everything-incluaing the garbage. Because Alan Jules Weberman g'ood, some bad.
,; ll}llount lo a hill or beans wrapped in From the moment he first listened lo seems to know more about Dylan than On the negative sicle, Dylan bas be-
' wet newspaper. Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby most people, and because Dylan is not come anti-Semitic " because J ews kill·
Bllt it was little more than a decade Blue," A.J . became a man obsessed. granting interviews, A.J . was con- ed Christ," A.J. said.
•It lhat A.J. (as he's more commonly He was obsessed with the imagery, tacted by phont: at his home and asked On the · positive s ide, A.J believes
, known) was making a name .'for him- the symbolism, the music, the mys- to com ment Ofl the legendary figure. Dylan ha s become extremely anli-

I
~

:
'* ..
lllf revealing the contents of one .of tique and-most importantly-what it
i8fibor's garbage cans.
Now that may not seem like a note-
all meant.
He called himself a Dylanologist a nd
Ile was also asked to comment on
why this" man who was born a Jew has
publicly e,nbraqed Christianity.
racist and has performed benefits for
Christian gro~ps.
Undoubtedly, however, A.J .'s most
. ' worthy pastime, even when you con- what Dylan wrote, he c alled the "I haven't talked to him in a long pressing, most intense interest in Dy-
~ ·. sider the fact that A.J.'s neighbor-at · Dylanese. time," saltl A.J., a writer who also has lan is of a very personal nature. Bob Dylan
J the "time, a mere eight blocks down If something had anything to do with written about Jack Ruby, Howard He says he wants Dylan to answer a
· ~acDougal Street in Greenwich Dylan, be wanted to know about it. Hunt, and the science of garbology. few questions with his hand resting on two Ievels--Onc for tne masses and
:VUJage-was Robert Allen Zimmer- · He ' memorized every word Dylan " But I know he's sincere about it the Bible. another for those who understood " the
man (more commonly known as Bob wrote. He assembled a computer print- (Christianity).•• That's because Alan J ules Weber- secret language" of rock.
lan). out containing every word of every· A.J. says he has hc_ard tape re- · man is frustrated. Much of that music dealt with whft
' Nevertheless, A.J. · would rifle Dylan song. cordlngs of concerts on Dylan's cur- He's frustrated because he -says Dy· A.J. says was Dylan's well-concealed
ib Dylan's trash and retrieve all Re even argued with Dylan about rent nine-rponth tour. And although he Ian refuses acknowledge that his "heroin addiction"-a problem A.J.
a( things. the true meaning of the music. says be befievos the conversion is a (A.J.'s) laborious translations of his believes came lo an end about the
ncomed a partially written let.- ' A.J. said it was all in code; Dylan step forward !o~ Dylan as a person, he music are accurate-or at least on the time of his (Dylan's)/ conversion.
to .JohanJ Cash, Polaroid snap- said it was just simple music. says lt is a step backward musically. right track. "There arc a lot of ex-addicts who
of Dylan'• family, discarded fan At any rate, lt's sare to say A.J . was According to A.J., Dylan's postcon- A.J.1 insis ts that Dylan's pre- become Jesus fn·aks ," said A.J.
1111 beape of &Oiled disposable ~Dylan. ver:sion music has been far less inter- Chrlslianity music communicated on· Knoghl·Rlddet Nfw9p..,a

\
 Bob Dylan on Current Concert Tour

Dylan's Latest Sound

Troubles 'Trash' Fan
By MARK FARIS meetings of the Dylan Archives ln
knight-Ridder H•w• Service Lower Manhattan. And he has plen-
.,.....-~~;t;w.~.~~~~iioiliiiPJii~~:-~ty ff to say about Dylan's recent con-
study of garbage , venttOiMl'OlilJUllilsm "to hristiant-
Jules Weberman probably doesn't ty and its effect on his music.
amount to a hill of beans wrapped .., haven't talked to him in a long
in wet newspaper. time," said AJ, a writer who's also
But it was little more than a dee- written about Jack Ruby, Howard
ade ago that AJ (as he's more com- Hunt and the science of garbology.
monly known) was making a name "But I know he's sincere about It
for himself revealing the contents (Christianity). There's no doubt
of one of his neighbor's garbage about that."
cans. AJ says he's heard tape record-
Now this may not seem like a lngs of a concert on Dylan's current
noteworthy pastime, even when nine-month tour. And although he
you consider the fact that AJ's says he believes the conversion is a
neighbor - at the time, a mere step forward for Dylan as a person,
eight blocks down MacDougal he says it is a step backward musi-
Street in Greenwich Village - was cally.
Robert Allen Zimmerman (more According to AJ, Dylan's post-
commonly known as Bob Dylan, or conversion music has been far less
just Dylan). interesting and entertainJng be-
cause the message is so unwaver·
NEVERTHELESS, AJ would rifle ing.
through Dylan's trash and retrieve "IT BECOMES boring," said AJ.
all sorts of things. "The irony and subtle, obscure
- He recovered a pa.rtlatty -w rltten -symbolism th&t- made bis--earlier
letter to Johnny Cash, Polaroid music so timeless ls gone. It's all
snapshots of Dylan's family, dis- just religion, just Christianity.
carded fan maU and heaps of soiled "It's not difficult to figure out.
disposable diapers (Dylan has five It's lost its mystical appeal."
children). AJ says he sees other results of
But it wasn't just Dylan's gar- Dylan's religious conversion -
bage that interested AJ. some good. Some bad.
No. It was everything about the On the negative side, Dylan has
man. Absolutely everything - in- become anti-Semitic "because Jews
eluding the garbage. killed Christ," AJ said.
From the moment he first lis- On the positive side, AJ believes

I
tened to Dylan's It's All Over Now Dylan has become extremely anti-
Baby Blue, AJ became a man ob- racist and Dylan has performed
sessed. benefits for Christian groups.
He was obsessed with the Image- ..-------- -------,=--
ry, the symbolism, the music, the
mystique and - most importantly
- what it all meant.
AT ANY RATE, It's safe to say
..
AJ was into Dylan, at least enough
to study Dylan tapes at weekly
----

Stewart
Kicks Off
Madison Square Garden was
definitely ready for Rod , but first
came Bull Angus, an appropriate
name for that group, and then Cac-
tus. Cactus almost got the crowd.
but fell short. Everyone was there
for one reason: Rod Stewart.
The lights dimmed; the entire
garden seemed to draw in it's
breath: and then . . . what's this?
Five middle aged. very straight,
tuxedoed musicians appeared on
stage with trumpets and started
playing a fanfare! Here they are
folks, Mickey Mouse. Donald Duck
and three bears! Had Ringling
Brothers changed their date? One
will never know. After cavorting
about the stage for three or four
minutes, like a mirage, they were
gone, and finally the real thing. Rod
Stewart, the Faces, AND a riot.
Kids have run the aisles before.
hysteria has hovered, but this was
in a class of it's own. Kids were
jumping over the rails onto the gar-
den floor, police converged from all
sides, barricades splintered, kids
were beaten and one boy was drag-
ged by the throat all through the
press section behind the stage, and
out.
For the last year or two the
grapevine has been filled with ru-
mors that Bob Dylan was turning
conservative. Bob had supposedly
gone back to calling himself Zim-
merman, returned to old-style reli-
gious beliefs, invested money in
some questionable "capitalist"
ventures, and begun to contribute to
right-wing movements. Then, two
months ago, came "George Jack-
son," a song that took a frankly
radical stance. What turned Dylan
back toward radical politics?
According to A.J. Weberman.
who dug up the Dylan rumors in the
first place, Bob was brought back
to "the Movement" by a series of
chance acquaintances. Weberman
says he introduced Dylan to a
one-legged Yippie named Terry
who s h ared Dylan's interest in
Jewish problems. Terry, " who had
attended many demonstrations and
had fought police in D.C. with his
crutches," began by teaching Dylan
a bit of Hebrew , and ended up
reintroducing Bob to Movement po-
litical workers and radical causes.
r
Meanwhile, Rod looked magnifi-
cent in pink satin suit, meta llic
pink shirt and red suede shoes.
Ronnie Wood was wearing a Span-
ish-style black satin, two piece bro-
cade outfit. AB the Faces had taken
on a new super-sensational, star
look.
Rod's first song, "Gasoline Al-
ley," was all but lost in the melee,
and "Maybe I'm Amazed," his sec-
ond song was swallowed by the
sounds of the crowd.
This had to be one of the Faces
best performances ever . despite the
ruckus. The entire group was very
up, Rod performed his microphone
maneuvers in a manner which had
been all but lost of late.
They camped it up (and down) as
Ron Lane fell to the floor with the
inevitable bottle of wine in hand.
Contrary to prior opinions, they
did do s ongs from Rod's album, Ev-
ery Picture Tells a Story. During
the drum break in "Losing You"
(performed by Mick Waller on the
album), Kenny Jones pounded
away while Rod kicked 24 soccer
balls into the audience.
For those who might be unaware
of the fact, Rod, at one time was
going to become a professional soc-
cer player.
The crowd kept waiting and fi-
nally the Faces played the opening
llars..of "Maggie-ivfdy." Agamhys--
Why Dylan Did
George Jackson
" Another good infl uence on Bob,"
Weberman reports "was folk sing-
er Eric Willia ms, a black freedom
fighter who's been thrown around
by the cops so much he's learned to
bounce.''
When George J ackson was shot
at San Qu;ntin prison, above-
ground newspapers a nd television
commentators spread the claim
that he had been killed while trying
to escape. Meanwhile, a different
version went out in the under-
ground circles frequented by Dy-
lan's new friends. The underground
story was that Jackson had been
shot because he was hated and
feared by the prison guards and ad-
ministration.
Why was Jackson a llegedly
feared, and why did he inspire Dy-
lan's " love?" The convict had writ-
ten an eloquent book denouncing
injustices in the prison system, and
revealing the brutal practices used
teria. but this time only vocal.
As Rod left the stage, the police
started hustling photographers and
press backstage, saying "Move, ya
wanta get killed?"
Rod reappeared, having changed
to a flowered satin jacket, and the
Faces did three more songs.
Another skirmish broke out
backstage as police escorted Rod
off and almost knocked down a
very respectable looking. suited
gentleman who turned out to be a
well-known correspondent from a
New York newspaper.
Though the Faces did include
some songs from their latest album,
A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a
Blind Horse, it was the Stewart
standards that the a udience want-
-eel to hear.
How did the boys in the band feel
about the audience's enthusiasm?
They were flabbergasted! Rod had
been so nervous before the concert
that, according to his chauffeur, he
had nearly been climbing the walls
of his limousine. But when Kenny
Jones called England the next day,
he reported in astonished tones
that •·at the end we were all hug-
ging each other as if we were soccer
players who had scored a winning
goal. The audience stood up as soon
as we arrived on the stage. n s in-
credible to think they were doing it
for us."
behind penitentiary walls. Thou-
sands of people, including Bob Dy-
lan, had read Jackson's charges and
looked forward to hearing more
from him at his upcoming trial.
Jackson was cut down the day be-
fore he was scheduled to appear in
court.
Dyian: Ref ormc?d by a one-legged Yippie.
:=Ql
....,
~
.c
Cl.
"'Tl
rT'1
ClJ
~
c)>
:::0
-<
N
\.0

--i
rT'1
::z
(")
rT'1
::z
--i
en
 ln the last issue we told you that members of NEWS
PROJECT - Bob Zaidman, Mark Ziss, DolphSchifrin,,
Larry Sloman - got together with Allen Weberman,
who teaches Bob Dylan at the New York Free School
and who is in the process of a .500-page manuscript
book- to-be on the author of "John Wesley Harding."
The rap was at Weberman's Ayenue A walkup and this
week the talk ls on music.
Zaid: Let me try to say something about his music.
His music comes out of folk tradition. It doesn't
come out of any other tradition except folk
tradition; nothing near to it. Perhaps you go
deeper and deeper into the Scotch and English
ballads, and you find that they were affected to
some extent. You don't have to go that far.
They were affected to some extent by classical
lute music and things like that. But there's a
deflnite folk music that has nothing to do with
the music that J .S. Bach sat down and planned,
nothing to do with the music that Mendelssohn
or any of the people that were writing music
then. Ws something that developed out of
pe~ple: Dylan's melodies, fo1· the most part,
are folk-oriented, folk-based melodies. A lot
of the rhythms are folk-oriented and folk- based
rhythms. In his album, to me, what Dylan is
doing, is he's really creating his own folk
music. He's creating John Wesley Harding and
he's making his own folk • • .
Alien: Yea, l thought that was really good, con himslef
into a hero.
Zaid! What?
Allen: He's John Wesley Harding, as I've said before.
Zaid : You think he is?
Allen: I'm sure he is.
Do lph: 1 don't think so at all.
Allen: Do you think my interpretation is wrong?
Dolph: No, no, I think Dylan is ui there •• •
Zaid: He is, sure. But so are you. You're John
Wesley liarding.
Allen: Dylan is.John Wesley Harding.
Zaid: But so a.re you and so am I. That's the beauty
of folk music.
Allen: He's speaking about himself.
Zaid : He's speaking about everybody. He says, "If
you can't bring good news, then don't bring any
news."
Allen: He was censored. He's not talking about every-
body, he's talking about himself. If you want
I'll explain the song to you.
Zaid: O.K . If you want I'll explain it to you. What I'm
trying to say is that what this represents to
me is Bob Dylan creating his own folk music.
Let me show you something on this guitar . The
first melody I'm going to play for you is a
Scottish folk tune. I'm going to relate it to the
melody that Bob Dylan uses . There's a song
that comes out of about 1860, 1862 called
The Blind Fiddler, It's a song that 1 know Bob
Dy Ian knew because 1 know who sang it to him 1
I know w~o collected these songs. It's the
melody, basically, that he uses in I Am A
Lonesome Hobo. The song starts out, •1 was
blinded in a blacksmith shop in the year of '58. "
Dolph: Eric Anderson has a cut on his fi rst albu,m
called "The Blind Fiddler" with different voices.
His opening line is "l was blinded in a black-
smith shop in the year of ' 58" • •• His is "I lost
my eyes ln the Harlem pits, and the year
was '56" •.• That's his interp,retation.
Z aid: A11 he's added to this Scottish tune fs a bass
line to this melody, that comes outofthe 1860s,
1870s. He's taken a part in the folk process,
whfol,l is something that he believes in and that
he knows about, which is something that Woody
Guthrie believed in and knew about. This· is'
indicative 011ly, as far as I know right now,
of a few people who are working in the pop
music field. Bob Dylan is one of them. He's
gone back to folk music.
Allen : What about "I dreamed I saw St. Augustine"?
Zaid: He's added mysticism. Musically, and also in
the mysticism. He doesn't open'it up any more,
he doesn't throw out the flashy images, he
doesn't put in electricity. The band is there,
the drums are there. Let's talk abbut it
musically. Now we can't divoroe any one
specific time in this conversation the fact
that Bob Dyl an is also a musician. Besides
being a writer, he is a musician. If you just
look at his words , that's only half of his a,rt.
Allen: I dig his music, but I dig his words much more.
Zaid: But if you put the words of "John Wesley
Harding" to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony it just
wouldn't work. Somewhere along the line, Dylan
picked the right key , at the right moment, the
right melody to brtng that message of "John
Wesley Harding" across, both to you the way
you perceive it, and both to me, and we both
like the song, obviously. Otherwise we wouldn't
waste our time on it. How do you like the
album?
Allen: Yea, I like the albwn. But 1 dig folk- rock
more than 1 dig this.
Zaid : He finds ' a way , and the way pe finds is to me
the folk process. Let's examine where he gets
some of his stat,ements from. Some of his
statements come from Woody Guthrie. Whethe.r
or not Woody Guthrie's death influenced this
album, we don't. know. We'd have to ask Bob
Dylan, and Bob Dylan might say "Well, 1 don't
know. Sometimes I think so. People have been
Continued on page 8

Dylan Rap
Continued from page 6
telling me that. Maybe that's the
truth. " Or Bob Dylan might say
no, or might say •woody Guthrie
has influenced everything I've
done." Let's look at Woody Guth-
rie, let's look at Bob Dylan and
let's look at the world of pop
music as it is today. How come
pop music is the way it is today?
Let me trv to explain to you why
.1 think Boo Dylan ls responsible
for just most of the music tha~
the Beatles are pr oducing now,
most of the music ••. You start
with a statement. talking to people
through music aJ;X>ut social prob-
lems . 'l'nis is something thatgoeE
up and down in history.
You find songs about prostitutes.
ln "Greensleeves," a song about a
prostitute that comes out of 13th
century England. "Alas my love
you do me wrong, to treat me so
discourteously. I have loved you
so long, delighting In your com-
pany." Greensleeves is what pros-
titutes were forced to wear in
England at that time. This is a
known interpretation. It Isn't
something that I'm superimpos-
ing. It's something you can learn
in textbooks. If you study the
history of England you know that
Greensleeves is what a prostitute
was called. What I'm trying to
say is that protest music is an
integral part of folk music. It's
come out in different ways.
(At around 2 A.M. a strong smell per-
vades the Weberman household. Weber-
man's in"estigation finds no symbolism
but very real dog shit in an unlit corner.
Mass laughter. Rap on.)
Dolph : Did you know that in India and in
some parts of China, but especi-
ally in India, so many ceremonies
began by spreading dung in a
room, cow dung, which is shit.
It's part of the ceremony. When
somebody' s going to be married,
they spread cow dung •••
Zald : l' m trying to r e late not only the
music of Bob Dylan b11t the music
of the past folk tradition to what' s
happening now in other musics.
I'll speak about the Beatles pri-
• • ...... •• -1!-I'_
a good range of popular music.
Why, it's him specifically who's
done it. It's Dylan and his bringing
forth of the folk tradition ttµit's
setting off the other impetus that' e
happening in the Beatles ' music,
that's happening in the music of
even Judy Collins and other folk-
rock artists. Getting away f~om
Greensleeves, le t's go to the other
part of the century. Let's get
into songs about union troubles,
the union troubles that were hap-
pening in.the 1920s orevenearller
in the beginning of the 20th een-
tury. You get songs like "Which
Side Are You On?" Have you
heard that? Perhaps the greatest
writer of social commentary up
until Dylan, the greatest musical
writer of social commentary was
Woody Guthrie. Throwing out the
word greatest, the most prolific
writer of social commentary. He
may have written a thous and songs ,
two thousand songs , maybe five
thousand songs. Nobodyknowshow
many songs he's written. His
family doesn't know how many
songs he wrote. He used to do
radio shows and he'd write songs
specifically for the radio pro-
grams and then throw them away
because the aongs he wrote were
so topical that he figured nobody
would want to have anything to
do with them. Somebody that he
knew got beat up by a goon- squad
and he'd write a song asking why
they did it to him, and sometimes
he'd throw it away and sometimes
he'd keep it.
Oscar Brand was once telling a
story about bow every day Woody
would come into the studio with
a new song that he'd written on
the back of a napkin, or anyplace
he could write it, the back of a
check from a r estaurant, and he'd
take a stick of chewing gum, and
he'd stick it onto the microphone
with a stiok of chewing gum,
and he'd sing into the microphone
and when he was finished he'd
leave the song stuck to themicro-
phone, so a good deal of his
songs would end' up in the garbage.
Woody Guthrie was a man who
was constantly writing. He was a
man who had a lot of folk experi-
ence from the midwest and from
J..l __ -
listening to the Carter famUy,
)VhO wrote origfual melodies for
a lot of songs .
What Woody Guthrie did was he
soaked up all of these melodies,
and he used them, sometimes
making up his own melodies, and
most often he used melodies he
knew because he was interested
in saying what he had to say , what
he wanted to get across was the
words; and the melody to him, ii
be needed a kind of Dmelody he'd
play it in a minor key. You know,
"Pastures of Plenty" is a lot
different from "Reuben James,•
which is a ballad saying • .• Guth-
rie's approach is very direct,
very physical, and very literal. He
just tells you exactly what's hap-
pening and he asks of you what
he wants to ask you. Why are
you going to let this happen? How
long does this have to happen?
"i've never seeu an outlaw drive
a family from its home." To him
that was valid. He had seen out-
laws do a lot of ugly things, and
he wasn't ff@~ it, but he'd
never seen an outlaw drive a
family from its home. In his
time the outlaw was the villain.
The villain of the federal govern-
ment, yet he'd never seen anyone
but bankers throw people off their
land and let them rot on the
Dustbowl, let families and tradi-
tions decay. Bob Dylan comes into
this picture really late in the
game. He comes into it after
Pete Seeger, Briny McGee and
Sonny Terry came into it. We
can't overlook the fact that Lead-
belly brought a tremendous am-
ount of protest material into the
folk type song. He did it in more
subtle ways. If you're not sure
I'll sing you a Leadbelly song.
"We're in the same boat brother,
We're in the sarpe boat brother :
And if you shake one end
You' ve got to rock the other,
It's the same boat brother."
And then he goes on, and anytime
Leadbelly feels like it, he makes
up a verse about this happened
over there and he'll speak about
a specific place, and then he' 11
say but you got to understand,
"We're in the same boat." So if
you do this to me, you're actually
..An '"- ~• +~ ... ,..... _,.. .... 1.e
in in 1961 (into New York). He
meets Woody Guthrie in ahospital
in New Jersey in 1960, but he
doesn't come into the tradition
as late as that. He comes into
the tradition in his childhood. He
grows up with Elvis Presley, with
Hank Wllliams , he grows up with
all the mid- western and western
country artists. It's their music
primarily that he hears. He
doesn't hear the Broadway show
music that comes over the eastern
radio. He hears rock and roll.
He hears Jerry Lee Lewis. He
doesn't hear Beethoven, really
probably, until he gets to college.
He runs away from home, they
say, and runs to the city and
maybe he hears blues there, Negro
blues. But 1961, he'sinNewYork,
and he's on the American Scene,
the American folk scene, the new
Amer ican folk scene. There's· a
tremendous revival in folk music.
He's a latecomer, he really is
because there was a folk festival
in Newport, I think the first one
was in '57 or '58 or something
like that. 1 don't know the dates.
I think the first folk festival was
in '58. So there is a tremendous
upsurgence in American folk mu-
sic, with the protest song just 1
being a prot of the folk music.
He hits on Woody Guthrie and
Woody Guthrie's music, something
that he was not unfamiliar with
when be was out westbutcertainly
be becomes a lot more familiar
with it.
Allen: No No No, he dug it at the Uni-
versity, man.
Zald: Yea, but he becomes a lot more
familiar with it as he travels
across the country, be is into
what Guthrie was in. Guthrie was
a traveler for a long time. He
starts picking up Guthrie songs
because there are a lot of Guthrie
songs around, Pete Seeger has
them, they're in all kinds of an-
thologies. H~ specifically goes to
see Woody Guthrie, one of the
first things he does when he comes
to New York City. And on his
first album, be writes a song
called "Hey Woody GuthrielWrite
You A Song." He's also developed
his own style and his own tech-
~ique.s, and. his p.o etry.is no longer
T"\-11-- - - - - - -

by WEBER MAN
By A.J. Weberman
There are superimposed pic-
rures on the cover of NASH-
VILLE SKYLINE, somewhat si-
milar to those which appeared
on the cover of JOHN WESLEY
HARDING. This time they are only
in one location: where half-
tones are created by the re-
flection · of Dylan's arm on the
shiny surface of the acoustic
guitar.•. ! see a profile shot of
Dylan playing the electric gui-
tar. Since the JOHN WESLEY
HARDING album cover many
other rock poets have picked
up on the hidden picture--like
for example, there's a picrure of
a bearded cowboy superimposed
on the half-tone picture of Ro-
ger McG.tinn on the bR. BYRDS
AND MR. HYDE lp near Mc-
G.iinn 's left nostril and The Bea-
tles ad for BALLAD OF JOHN
AND YOKO b/w OLD BROWN
SHOE (the picrure with Yoko
in it) also contains a superim-
posed picture•.•this time it's in
George Harrison's pants, near
his zipper, and looks like an
acoustical guitar player.
Dylan's pose on the cover is
· somewhat reminiscent of the pic-
1 ture of Dylan on his firs t lp•.•
like Dylan has come full circle...
speaking of cirles dig how the
guitar string is tied in a circle
•.. like this Is a part of Dylan's
symbolism I can't really go into
but let it suffice to say that
we will continue to see 'circles'
on many picrures where Dylan
can set up the pose (Dig The
Saturday Evening Post cover,
Nov. 2, 1968 and the one in
ROLLING STONE of Dylan roll-
ing a tire, Nov. 29, 1969, p.25).
The trees are also symbolic--
they a red on J OHN WESLEY
A number of months after I
wrote this paragraph putting down
Cash's "poetry" Dylan wrotethe
following set of liner notes for
his friend ERIC VON SCHMrrrs
new Smash-Mercury album YOU
KNOCKED THE BRAINS our
OF THE SKY-- "(This record is
an invitation) to the glad, mad,
sad, biting, exciting. frightening.
crabby, happy, enlightening, hug-
ging, chugging world of Eric Von
Schmitt. For here is the man
who can sing the bird off the
wire and the rubber off the tire.
He can separate the men from the
boys and the note from the noise:
the bridle from the saddle and
the cow from the cattle. He
can play the tune of the moon,
the why of the sky and the commo-
tion of the ocean. Yes he can
and he also is a helluva guy."
NASHVILLE SKYLINE starts
out with a Cash-Dylan duet of
GIRL FROM THE NORTH
COUNI'RY. Now dig-it, when Dy-
lan went electric many report-
ers asked him howcomehedidn't
sing his old songs anymore and
Dylan replied that he no longer
sang them because he wouldn't
feel honest singing the songs
he wrote years ago since they
wouldn't reflect the way he was
currently feeling. I don't think
Dylan has completely changed
his mind about the validity of
this statement--lt's like GIRL
FROM THE NORTH COUNI'RY
on NASHVILLE SKYLINE is a
goof on the GIRL FROM THE
NORTH COUNfRY on THE
FREEWHEELIN BOB DYLAN.•.
dig what happens at the end
of the song••. Dylan sings''Sbe
~ a true love of mine'' and
then Cash sings "She was a
.
true love of mine " ... like whose
r
-,
a really lame bag now--he's
really fucked up--lt's funny be-
cause all the critics agree that
'Dylan's finally found contenanent·
judging from NASHVILLE SKY-
LINE' bullshit-Dylan is unhappy
and uptight and no longer in con-
trol. I'm not the only one who
thinks so•.. many oftheroclcpoetS
who know Dylan personally or
through his poetry concur ..• like
The Beatles, Simon and Garfun-
k.el, Ginger Baker, Tim Buclcley,
Leonard Cohen, The Incredible
String Band, Earth Opera and
The Doors have written songs
to or about Dylan putting him
down for doing what he's do-
ing. Maybe Dylan will eventually
get himself together, cause if
we ever needed him •.• it's now.
Okay, so in TO BE ALONE WITH
YOU Dylan tells us that he's
living a certain way whic h will
be termed 'the night' ('ignor-
ance' in his pre-NASHVILLE
SKYLINE symbolism).
The lyrics of this poem and
I
all the others on the record are
really simple compared to the
ones on JOHN WESLEY HARD-
ING and BLONDE ON BLONDE.
Well dig this •.. in an article in
I
The East Village Other on Jan-
uary 26, 1968 I wrote that judging
from the lyrics of l'LLBEYOUR
BABY TONIGHT "Dylan is in-
timating that his next lp (NASH-
VILLE SKYLINE) is going to be
aimed at...the lames I••• "Well
that mockingbird is going to sail
away/ We gonna forget it" (Dy-
lan isn't going to mock anyone
8llymore) "That big fat moon
is going to shine llke a spoon
but we're gonna let It/ You won't
regret it" (Bob's poetry will
ostensibly be on the level of
the moon- spoon-June
. ..
crap crank-
li'WI~.:::,~•::-..
 ''The win ows high above
trees" Dylan ls into a Dylanized
Country- Western bag. Dig-it.
everything Dylan does in theme-
dla is an extension of his poetry•..
his interviews, the pictures of
himself which he chooses to re-
lease and where and when he •
chooses to 'expose himself' to
the public.
A cat named Stoller writing
in THE VILLAGE VOICE hit
it right on the head, so to speak,
when he said that rather than
tipping his hat hellow in this
r.icture Dylan is actually saying
Catch you later down the line'
since, as we shall soon see, Dy-
lan's poetry reinforces this
theme.
The back of the album con-
tains a poem by Johnny Cash
which has to be the most off
the wall set of liner notes ever
pasted on the back of a Dylan
album. Cash begins by bad-rap-
ping 'imitators' ..• like he takes
about ten sentences to say that
'emulation' is cool but 'imitation'
ls not, possibly implying that
Dylan is ' emulating' as opposed
to 'imitating' him. Cash goes on
to state that although Dylan is
a 'being complete unto himself'
(whatever that means) he is con-
stantly changing. He says this in
sixteen lines ... it's like poetry
Is a few words for a complex
thought and not visa-versa. As
an afterthought Cash satirizes
one of his own similies--like
he said that Dylan was a man
unto himself, like a mountain
and now he says, "So where are
your mountains to match some
men." It seems as though Cash
Isn't being serious in this poem.
Johnny then begins to list Dy-
lan's attributes, some of which
don't make too much sense. ''This
man can rhyme •.. the what of
sane" and then he tells us that
Dylan acts by " •.•math of trend"
(by digging what people want?).
Finally Cash writes that Dylan's
been through a lot of shit and
then, after all of Cash's lame
metaphore, he tells us Dylan's
really "a hell of a poet .•. and
a lot of other things" (this
sounds like the only honest line
in the whole "poem"),
JOHNNY CASHIX>CUMENTARY; ·
at the end of the song they·
seemed to be arguin~-- "A thou-
sand miles behind' •.. "No ten
thousand miles behind" etc. etc.
A couple of months ago there
was an article in THE VILLAGE
VOICE by Toby Thompson in
which (he?) stated that Dylan
wrote GIRL FROM THE NORTH
COUNI'RY toa chicknamed Echo.
This is false. Ulring Dylan's
first radio show (which was
broadcast around the time Echo
claimed Dylan was stlll madly
in love with her} Dylan said
that GIRL FROM THE NORTH
COUNI'RY was dedicated to "all
the North Country girls." Now
this chick claims that Dylan came
back to South Hibbing after he
made his first al.bum and ask-
ed her to live with him in the
city. This is her ego-trip since
Dylan •was very very hung-up
on a chick named Sue after his
first album was issued (Sue had
been with Dylan during the re-
cording s~sion) and he men-
tioned her in many of his songs,
"I got a womanfivefeetshort•.• "
"I got my little lady right by
my side." (Dig how short Sue
is •.• her picture appears on THE
FREEWHEELIN cover.•• Dylan is
only about 5'10".) It's like Dy-
lan was living with Sue at the
same time he allegedly asked
Echo to live with him •.•
Just before the third a.it, TO
BE ALONE WITH YOU, Dylan
asks "ls it rolling (is the tape
rollJng) Bob?" (Bob Johnson ls
Dylan's producer.) I think he
does this to show us that not
only has his singing voice changed
but his speaking voice is also
different. Now dig it, this is
very weird. •. like there's a lot
that I know about Dylan that I
can't write•.. I am torn between
two forces--one ls the force that
says you owe it to your read-
ers to say what you think is
happening or bas happened to
Dylan and jhe other is a force
that says be cool man, like
you owe it to Dylan as another
human being to keep what you
know to yourself. ' Well, let's
put it this way, Dylan ls into
here" (and lt Will contain simple
symbols) "I'll be your baby, to-
night." When I first arrived at
this interpretation I that that--
''the tone of this song ls sar-
castic. and Bob lsn'tgolngtostop
commenting on what he sees go-
ing down around him, but ls
merely pretending to do so in
order to get the Jame's atten-
tion." This was wishful think-
ing on my part since I really
didn't want to see Dylan stop
protesting... and It's like he has.
There isn't one political song on
this entire album ... the closest
thing to a protest song is I THREW
rr ALL A WA Y•.. all the songs on
NASHVILLE SKYLINE are auto-
biographical.
I THREW rr ALL WYA Y, a
lift from Elvis's I WAS THE
ONE, seems pretty straightfor-
ward until verse three which
sounds somewhat sarcastic--
"Love is all there is" (this sounds
like The Beatles song--ALL YOU
NEED IS LOVE) "It makes the
world go 'round" (in The Beatles
symbolism when 'the world's
going 'round' the world ls in
turmoil) "Love and only love,
it can't be denied" (who's go-
ing to deny lt? Everyone claims
to be on the side of 'love')
"No matter what you think about
it" (What group actively attacks
love in their rhetoric?) "You
just can't do without lt{fake a
tip from one whose tried" (the
last time Dylan was really 'do-
ing without love. ' that is when
he talked about it in bis poetry,
was on ANITTHER SIDE OF BOB
DYLAN la BALLAD IN PLAIN D,
in which be finally resignedhim-
self to loosing Suzie. This poem
was written aroundJanuaryl964.
After BAU.AD IN PLAIN D the
lost love theme in Dylan's more
literal poetry was replaced with
the jealousy theme. (Dig LEO-
PARD SKIN PILL BOX HAT on
BLONDE ON BLONDE.) So once
again I think that Dylan ls goof-
ing on us •.•
PEGGY DAY, a reworking of
PRIMROSE LANE, is giving me
trouble as far as Interpretation
goes and LAY LADY LAY is
too farout for m: to go into.
 ....
-~-e'~~------------------------------------ KALEIOOSCOPE
In ONE MORE NIGHI' Dylan
says the same thing he did on
the painting he did for the cover
of MUSIC FROM BIG PINK...
like dig the painting•. . lt's a pa-
norama of the current pop mu-
s ic scene. In the foreground of
this painting there is a rather
loudly dressedflgureplaying what
16oks Uke an electric guitar.
The most exagerated part of
this relatively r ealistic fi gur e
are his lips whi ch are circled ·
by red stains. I think that this ·
cat s ymbolizes the r ock and roll
musicians who sing about 'true
love, ' and the red circles are
residual lipstick stains. Behind .
him there sits a shoeless, sitar-
playing hippy-cat with a pot on
his head--pot on head--pot head--
a pothead! I think this cat ls
cat is George Harrison and he
s ymbolizes the music ofThe Bea-
tles, the second most popular
type of rock and roll music. At
least the width of an elephant
apart in dis tance and popularity
we find an Indian on bass. Drawn
t o the same scale as the Indian
is a cat proping Up another cat
wpo ls playing piano. I think.
t
these three figures symbolize
Dylan and his Country- Western
extension--The Band. The cat
who is proping up the piano play-
er is Dylan, since, as I have
s aid, Dylan ls behind the scenes
writing the Band's lyrics: No-
tice how light is shining on the
ass of the cat Dylan is proping
up but not on Dylan--whlch brings
us to the theme of ONE MORE.
NIGHI'--that tonight no light will
shine on Dylan. (The last cat on
the painting is like way back in
popularity--dig the size of the
tree, and ls beating a drum and
wearing what looks like an offi-
c ial hat of some sort. I think
this cat symbolizes the national-
ist.le music of Kate Smith, Pat
Boone and Barry Sadler which
has had it. And dig this ... after
I arrived at my interpretation of
this cover I found that Robbie
Robertson's explanation of the
painting valid8ted my interpre-
tation to some extent. He told
Tony Glover, interviewing him
for EYE MAGAZINE that the
BIG PINK cover could be in-
terpreted as "almost a panorama .
. at the rock and roll scene").
So with all this in mind let's
dig ONE MORE NIGHI', "one
more night" (One more record
released during Dylan's 'night
period'} "The stars are insight"
(the underground recording ar-
tists are doing their thing} " But
tonight I'm as lonesome as can
be" (but during Dylan's 'night
period' he will stay away from
the mainstream of pop music}
"The moon is shining bright,
lighting everything in sight " (ar-
tists like the Beatles, The Doors ,
The Stones and Leonard Cohen
and others are doing radical
poetry similar to the kind of ra-
dical poetry Dylan did during
his so called 'folk-rock' period}
"But t onight no light will shine
one me" (but Dylan will no longer
seek fame} "Oh it's shameful and
it.'s sad/ I lost the only friend
I had" (Sarcastic--'It's a real
drag that Dylan has finally got-
ten the teenagers off his back'}
"I just could not be what she
wanted me to be" (Dylan couldn't ·
make It as a teenage Idol} " I
will tum my head up hi~h/ To
that dark and lonely sky • (Dy-
lan will record m.~ied Cou!irry-
I '
DECEMBER ll, 1969 PAGE 5
Western tunes) "But tonlJ?.it no DYLAN" article in the East Vil-
light will shine on me." 'I was lage Other (Ocotber 25, 1968)
so mistaken when 1 thought that Dylan often used 'a woman' to
s he 'd be true" (Dylan made a symbolize his teenaged fans--dig
mistake when he became a su- Jusr LIKE A WOMAN for in-
perstar) "I had no idea what stance, and this further confirms
a woman In love would do" (since my Interpretation.
he didn't realize how it would If TELL ME IT ISN'T TRUE
effect his life) "One m!)re night has an Ironic meaning, like I
I will wait for the light" (Dy- can't find it, It makes too much
lan's night period wlll continue sense on a literal level to have
until it reverts back to his ironic meaning. But dig It, the
'light' period) "While the wind jealousy theme coupled with a
blows high above the trees" (and suburban or rural setting (''I
will be symbolized by Country have heard rumors all over
Western music) "Ob I miss my town") along with a literal pre-
darling so/ I didn't mean to sentat.lon reminds me of LEO-
see her go" (Sarcastic--Dylan PARD SKIN PILL BOX HAT which
ls glad to be rid of his teen- also stressed a literal jealousy
a ge fans since he deliberately In a rural or suburban setting
tried to turn them off•.•like If ("You forgot t o close the gar-
he wanted mass fame he would age door") Now digthls ... there's
have r.eleased 'The Basement a woman who appears In the 'Next
Tape' as an Ip) "But tonight of Kin' picture on the MUSIC
no light will shine on Dylan" FROM BIG PlNK album cover
The end segment of this poem ls wearing a fur LEOPARD SKIN
a rejwctapositon of some of the PILL BOX HAT (when Dylan
lines in the poem In which Dy- sang this song in White Plains
lan tells us that 'the only pal it was called FUR LEOPARD
he had' and his 'darling' ls a SKIN PILI,. BOX HAT) who "re-
woman. As I have said in my sembles" Dylan's wife. (She aP-
"HEY . JUDE--A MESSAGE TO peared before in Kramer's book
of photographs on page 169 and
I thlnk she also appears Inside
the cover of old BLONDE 0N
BLONDE album covers biting
her llP--in the new BLONDE
ON BLONDES this picture has
been deleted. There are also
pictures of her with Bob at the
Isle of Wright Festival). I really
can't say FOR SURE It's the
same chick In every picture.
COUNTRY PIE ls black humor
and TONIGHr I'LL BE STAY- ·
ING HERE WITH YOU ls a very
important poem, As I have said
many times before Dylan often
saves the last cut on his lp's
to lay a taste of what's coming
next on his more perceptive lis-
teners .•. '°Throw my ticket out
the window" (I'ake writing poetry
out of my role-- 'window' sym-
bolizes 'role' from other con-
texts, most notably PLEASE
CRAWL OUT YOUR WINDOW}
. "Throw my. suitcase out there
too'' (I'ake touring out of my
role too) '°Throw my troubles
anymore/ Because -t~~gbt-·rii
be staying here with you" {thue
lines can mean one of two things;
it could mean that Dylan has
found something which has solved
all his problems or it could im-
ply that Dylan has been trapped
by a problem of such tremen-
dous magnitude that it has eclip-
sed all of his minor problems.
We"ll have to skip the next verse
--not that I can't come upwitban
interpretation that would make
you do the take to end all takes-
but it's llke I just can't say it
yet--so let's cut to the last
few lines, "l find it so diffi-
cult to leave" (Dylan finds it's
difficult for him to get out of
the bag he is currently into) "I
can hear that whistle blowin'
(In ABSOLUfELY SWEET MA-
RIE Dylan wrote, "I don't know
how it happened but the river-
boat captain he knows my fate"
and like there aren't anymore
riverboats or riverboat cap-
tains around anymore since
they've become extinct. so in
this line from ABSOLUfEL Y
SWEET MARJE Dylan ls imply-
ing that he's going to meet with
the same fate as the riverboat
capca.ln, that is, eventually people
are going to stop listening to
his records. In DEAR LAND-
LORD Dylan wrote "When that
steamboat whistle blows ru give
you all I got to give." This was
a carry-over from the SWEET
MARIE symbolism and also re-
ferred to the time when Dylan
would stop selling records. So
when Dylan hears "that whistle
blowin"' it means that he feels
obscurity coming on.) "I see that
stationmaster too" ("the station-
master" is a new character in
Dylan's mythology and I am not
sure who he symbollzes--hemay
be Dylan's biographer) "If there's
a poor boy on the street" Dy-
lan started off as a ragged-foll::-
singer on MacDougal Street)
''Then let htm have my seat'"
(then let htm take Dylan's place
as an underground superstar)
"Cause tonight I'll be staying
here with you" (Because <ilring
Dylan's 'night period' be will
be doing what he's doing) So
long Bob Dylan•••lt's been good
to know you.
I have written a book about
Dylan with concentrates on his
poetry. I am looking for a pub-
lisher and can be contacted ca,..,.
of ibis newspaper~ /. .....!ll!ii~
 Page 16
Weberman on Dylan
(For those who have not heard of
him, Allan J. Weberman is the
uhimate fan. He has had Bob Dylan's
every published word, songs, poetry
and prose, ptogrammed into a com-
puter for a ·complete lexicon of
associations and images He has
gone so far as to regularly steal
Dylan's garbage and minutely
examine and catalog the contents.
(More recently, Esquire magazine
asked him to examine the garbage
of other famous people, from Abbie
Hoffman to Muhammad All). He has
I crlllcized Dylan long and loud for his
failure to be more committed to the
Lefl and has held protest demon-
I strations in front of Dylan's house in
Greenwich Village.
Not long ago, Weberman came up
to music writer Karin Berg He was
smiling from ear to ear.
"Hey Karin, Dylan hit me in the
mouth," he said.
" That's good," she replied. "He
should have done that a long time
ago."
"That's what I told him," said
Weberman.)
7Al, 1• might H well give up.
You ain't gonna change me •..
~ob Dylan
ALLAN J. WEBERMAN
When I first heard that Dylan's new
single was about the murder of
George Jackson, I didn't believe It
since the guy who told me, a dude
named one-legged Terry, would do
anything to protect his friend Bob.
I'd introduced Terry to him while me
and Bobby were 1n the midst of
weekly negotiations (we never got
past the shape-of-the-table stage)
and they really hit it off and soon
were very close friends. Terry then
became my aroh enemy and chief
apologist for Dylan and so when
Terry hinted that Dylan's next single
was about a polltlcal prisoner named
George I figured It was just another
scame to prevent the Dylan
Liberation Front (a group whose aim
was to expose, through demon-
,
strations and the media, the fact that
Bob Dylan had become a good Ger-
man and refused to speak out
against Amerlka in order to take junk
in peace and that he'd become a
mulli-mllllonalre capitallst who
owned war stock, office buildings,
etc.) from breaking the temporary
truce unilaterally declared by our
Minister of Defense after the Bengla-
Desh Benefit. About a week later my
phone started to ring llke crazy -
"Hey A.J .. did you hear It on the
radio, Dylan's new single Is about
George Jackson, we won, we won" I
stlll didn't believe it. "Just a rare
tape given to some FM station which
would eventually appear on some
esoteric bootleg," I thought. But I
went up to Columbia Records the
next day and heard it and found out
It was being pressed that night I got
a copy and played ii a hundred times
_ although It's a serious song,
everytime 1 hear it 1 just can't help
but smile . . • .
1 sti ll don't believe it ... 1 never
thought It would happen Convinced
that Dylan had become a hard-assed
Shitkickin' rightist 1 was prepared to
hassle him for the rest of his life. His
garbage would never be safe. You
see. as the ultimate Dylan fan, a cat
who was sure that If anyone was sin-
cere and honest and incorruptible 11
was that little curly haired Jewish
poet-singer who turned so many
people on to the struggle of the op-
pressed with his pop songs and who
wrote the most incredibly obscure
poetry which required a com-
puterlzed word concordance to tran-
slate from the Dylanese, 1 WAS
GONNA FIGHT. It was my realization
that Bob was a genius and a very Im-
portent person In terms of the
revolution that caused me to devote
what many believed to be an
lnrodinate amount of time and
energy to ''Freeing Him From Him-
self." In other words. It was my love
for Dylan that made me hate him so
_ although when 1 brought 500
pe(lple In front of his townhouse for
a mock 30th Birthday Party complet~e~=='.::~='.'.::~~======~~.,-------~=:=:::::::::==========
with a cake that had candles carved
Into the shape of hypodermic
needles and birthday
congratulations from Ylpples Abbie
Hoffman and David Peel you
couldn't have convinced him or that
in a million years ....
I guess it worked - something
made Dylan start thinking again.
George Jackson "has made him the
most radical superstar In the rock-
world in terms of lyrics (Lennon's
stuH Is great but he hasn't realty got-
ten too specific, that Is, written a
song about a particular Instance of
injustice happening now, since he Is
afraid of getting deported to
England and not getting custody of
Yoko's kid. Lennon does give more
bread to radical causes than Dylan.
though.) and I hope the cat puts his
money where his mouth is. But Bob,
If you read this, don't worry man, I
consider singing a song about
Amerika concentration camps and
Front demands Weberman apology
We ask A.J. Weberman to publicly
apologize to Bob Dylan for leading a
public campaign of lies and
malicious slander against Dylan 1n
the past year. It Is about time
someone came to Dylan's defense
when AJ. published articles and
went on radio calling Dylan a junkie
- which he never was - attacked
Dylan for "deserting the movement"
- when he was there before the
movement and helped create it -
and publicized Dylan's address and
phone - exposing Bob and his wife
and children to public em-
barrassment and abuse
Dylan is more than a myth - he Is
a human being, like you and me. He
has feelings and sensitivities hke
you and me. Who is there among us
who has not had his consciousness
shaped by the words and music of
Bob Dylan? Yet who raised his or her
voice or uttered a word to defend
Dylan when A.J. Weberman began
his personal campaign of slander
against Dylan - In the true tradition
of the sensationalistic press wllling
to print anything about someone
famous - even organizing demon-
1'tratlons al Oyla1 s home - tor
the atrocities that go down In them
'doing something' since when you
speak through your songs millions of . Dylan was into junk came lrom his
people listen. And I aln t gonna mess
with yqu or yer garbage nomo
And ~ the song is no-b141lshlt,
straight from the heart stuff, his best 1 According to Dylan his LPs ate
since 1965 . . . like part of his
motivation for writing this song may
be to get me off his back, but
judging from the lyrics I think the cat
really feels for Amerika's victims.
Looking back at Dylan' s life
retrospectively, II seems that being
addicted to junk from about 1966-
1970 had put Dylan outside the law
and had given him a consciousness
which had revolutionary potential -
more so than the materialist middle
hippie consciousness of most other
rock singers. (Dylan would often
remind me that when I judged him I
Should remember that "I'm not like
them"). Now we come to one of my
big boo-boos - thinking that Dylan
god's sake: - can't Dylan have
some privacy! Can't he have some
peace of mind In his own home to
think and write and make music and
be with his family?
Weberman took advantage of
Dylan's fame. If Bob Dylan attacked
AJ. Weberman, who would listen or
publish fl? If AJ. Weberman has
some "inside gossip" or " the real
truth" about Bob Dylan. everyone is
all ears because everyone wants to
talk about Bob Dylan. Stories spread
from person to person In an ever-
widening circle of exaggeration and
bullshit. No one cares to find out the
truth about Bob Dylan. the person.
They are too busy amusing them-
selves by telling outlandish stories
about Bob Dylan - the myth -
whom they have never met.
Weberman tried to make a name
for himself by attacking Dylan and
proclaiming himself a Oylanologlst
or something lif<e that. No one else
named Weberman an expert on
Dylan. Webennan calls himself an
expert, and all of a sudden the press
Is all over him tryl{lg to get lnfor·
mation or gossip at)Jut Dylan. Now
wlionever someone writes about Bob
··-----
was still a junkie when I LJIO{.tllm in
late 1970. Ltke .'lli9 eviGlenee that
poetry. a lot of which turned out to
be about Junk after applying the
analytic. method of exegisise to it.
1
about a year behind his life . . . so
there I was looking for tracks on his
arm cause of the outdated tracks on
his records. Now many a Christian
ex-doper has become a Jesus freak
so ylddle Zimmerman turned to the
JDL and I don't mean the Jesus
Defense League. He contributed lots
of bread to these rightist Jews and
even took Karate lessons from them
Bobby dln't dig It that much and I
recently learned that a week after I
Introduced him to Terry he dropped
out of Karate and used the time to
lake Hebrew lessons from the one-
legged convicted hash smuggler
Dig. I hate to say 11, but Terry was a
(plea.se turn to page 17)
Dylan. they also interview A.J.
because he is a self-proclaimed
authority on Dylan's music. A.J.
claims everything Dylan writes 1s
either about Weberman or about
heroin. What bu llshit!
Weberman is to Dylan as Manson I
Is to the Beatles - and Weberman
uses what he interprets from Dylan's
music to try and kill Dylan and bu1 lt1
l
his own fame. Now A.J Weberma'i
takes credit for Dylan's " GeorJ8
Jackson" song. More egocer1ric
bullshit. Dylan wrote it In spite of
Weberman and in spite of " the
movement .. Dylan wrote 11 because
he felt It
A.J. Webennan's campaign_ and
the movement's compllclly In 11 _ ls
in the current fad of everyone in the
revolution attacking each other and
spreading false rumors about eaol1
other. It's time we defended and
loved each other _ and saved our
anger for the true enemy, whose
Ignorance and greed destroys our
planet.
_The Rock Liberation Front:
David Peel. Jerry Rubin
Yoko Ono, Joh,, Lennon
1
 )
j
Weberman on Dylan
(continued from page 16)
)
good influence on Bob cause aside
j from being a stoned Zionist Terry's
a lso a bit of a Yipp1e (Terry has at-
~
tended many demos and has fought
y
pigs with his crutches in D C - he
s
has a sheet as long as rny arm).
n Another good influence on Bob was
n
folksinger Enc Williams. a black
freedom fighter and DLFer who's
l-
been thrown around by the police so
e
much he's learned to bounce.
e
Id Enough o f this behind the scenes
d bubam1ca Dylan begins '"George
Jackson" by singing " I woke up this
.in rnoming." To " Wake-up" in D's sym-
he oolism means " to become aware"
ee and "morning" means " early or
nd beginning." For example in
gh " Maggie's Farm" he speaks of
to blacks as " waking up in the mor-
nd ning" - becoming aware early in
life. "fo lding their hands" not playing
of the game of life with the inherently
Jm inferior hand dealt them by this
lso racist society and " praying for rain"
- hoping fo r some revo lutionary
violence ("rain" is vio lence from
many other c ontexts most notably
" Hard Rain") smce they " got a head
full of Ideas that are driving them in-
sane" - a lot of• unrealizable am-
bitions (" It's a shame the w ay she
makes me scrub the floor") and
.. \lee Amerika assigns blacks all the shit-
t~ work. So Bob became aware again
and had " tears in my bed" (" tears"
tn's are thoughts from many other con-
are texts while "bed'' js ..mind." In
\ey " Tomorrow rs a Long T ime" he
de me would I e in my bed once
us again" - w ould peace come to my
ie troubled mind. Tha t's the last line
ie that requires Dylanolog1cal inter-
(e pretation - the rest of the song is
t- stoned literal - "They killed a man I
)f really loved / Shot him thru the
1- head" (What's the JDL gonna think
f, - George was a field-marshall in the
BPP and they consider Panthers
r. 3kin to Nazis and Arabs,.
cursed him from above," since if
George's thought spread they were
d oomed - 'They were frightened of
his power they were scared of hlS
love." So they murdered Brother
George and clumsily tried to make 1t
look like an escape attempt
although anyone who wanted to
could see right through their shrt -
he was killed alleg edly running for a
20-ft. wall with three guards w ith
machine guns stationed in towers on
top o f 1t' which led to 150 yards o no
man's land with a 15-foot-barbed-
wire-to pped c yc lone fence at its end
BLLLSHIT " Lord, lord. they sho t
George J ackson down. Lord. they
laid him in the ground" thought the
prisoners and soon after two guards
and tw o ''nazi" inmates were offed.
George Jackson died fighting the
forces which fuckover tens of
millions of non-white people here
and abaord . . . the forces of
Amerikan Imperialism. " Sometimes I
think this who le world is one big
prison yard." By putting gangsters
and capitalists in power in countries
under our 'spheres of economic 1n-
riuence.' the pigs are able to np off
the nations· natural resources and
import them to Amerika for prac-
tically nothing. By not allowing these
nations to industrialize we freeze
them in history and so visiting them
is like going back into time - ~
people only live until 35 (Mrage
third world life span) and are lucky
to own the shirt on their back.
A ltl'iough the amount o f death t h is
caused by crematoriums of Nazi
Germany. It is done in a much more
covert fashion and Amerlka has
been able to get away with it for
decades. It's these "prisoners" and
slaves of Amerika who make us so
materially wealthy - " Some of us
are prisoners and some of us are
guards." That's why we' re willing to
spend billions of dollars to prevent
communist reyolutionaries. whose
..
Dylan goes on to -iatK abOUt now
Amerika's prisons are really concen-
3 tration camps for poor blacks -
"They sent him off to prison for a
$70 robbery" (a white, middle class
I kid would have gotten probation).
"he "They closed the door behind him
by and threw away the key" (Bro.
Its. George was given an indeterminate
teir sentence. While in the joint he
began to read and got some insight
nts into why he was there and what had
out to be done to prevent otherS from
•at- expenenclng the same shit. He
be realized It was capitalism and the
Joll racism it engendered that had to be
oys destroyed, anyway, at all costs. He
Yed threw off the misdirected violence of
law criminality and was In the midst of
ielp organizing white and black prisoners
when the repressive prison system
un- came down on him and he was
ln denied parole and placed in solitary
scar for months. When a guard was
the assassinated In retribution fM the
is Is murder of an inmate ("He wouldn't
a." take shit from no-one I He wouldn't
that bow down or kneer· the pigs blamed
rime. 1t on the three most political
brted prisoners in Soledad. George
>lent Jackson, John Clucette and Fletta
case Drumgo who soon became known as
vh1ch the Soledad Brothers. They were in-
years dicted and brought to a "triar· which
ubhc, turned into a shootout where the
ways pigs were so uptight that they killed
1uate the judge rather than let these
mally political prisoners escape - " The
authorities they hated him beeause
lllxon he was just too real"
Biii. After this George Jackson became
.rking an even stronger symbol in the
•alive minds of poor blacks and whites
dren. with any degree of leftist political
the consciousness in prisons throughout
;xJld Amerika Frightened that the black
~ ng and white inmates would umte and
es: instead of fightrng each other would
of tight their real enemey - the system
Ip and the guards ltlat enforced it. the
cowaroly pigs e; f San Quenth1 plot-
ted George's ceath "The pnson
guards they watc!JE'd him and they
program Is 'throw out the Amenl<ans
and nationalize their property,' from
taking power. If tooure, impri90n-
ment. and murder on a small scale
doesn't work the US is willing to
destroy an entire nation - Vietnam
- rather than see 1t go Red since
the Amerikan economy is so depen-
dent on cheap imports from the Em-
pire.
What's Dylan's answer to all this?
In the harmonica refrain on the elec-
tric version he plays "the answer is
blowin' in the wind" - It's whafs
happening In the freedom
movements of today - it's there, all
you got to do is reach out and seize
ll
Just as the inmates of Attica took
their cue from Jackson's
assassination I hope that other rock-
people will take a cue from Dylan's
latest single and speak out against
Pigamerika. In the past five years
I've seen "'hip" become a
meaningless plastic cult of
longhaired, dope.smokln' rock mUStc
listeners who don't give a shit about
anyone but themselYes - pigs in
strange disguises. Rock culture
heroes like Paul McCartney and
James Taylor have encouraged this
"psychedelic fascism" •.. that's why
the Rock Liberation Front (the
cultura arm of YIP) has been formed
and we vow to get these "hip" pigs
good (for more info on the ALF
write POB 340. Canal St. Sta. NYC
10013).
George Jackson 1s copywritten by
Rams Hom Music - a rams horn or
shofar was played before the walls
of Jericho fell to the ground (accor-
ding to biblical myth). Let's hope
Dylan blows that shofar and the
walls or Amerika's concentration
camps come tumbling down. Per-
sonally I relate more as a freak than
as a Jew bUt 1f Judism comes to
mean standing up for the nghts ot all
.-,ppresseG peoole - Jewish or not
- all I can say is .. Bring ttlat
Yamulka over here •... ··
 Dylan Fan Sours
By John Carman
ofTbeJournalStaff
A. J. Weberman gained
some degree of fame as a Dy-
Ianologist Now he is a thorn
in t h e side of ideologically
wavering rock stars.
Dylanology ls the study of
Bob Dylan, the song writer
and performer whose bitter
social criticism influenced a
generation of young people.
Weberman, 24, of N e w
York City, ls a Yipple who
has pursued the study of Dy-
lan with scientific thorough-
ness. He was in Milwaukee
last week, s t a y i n g with
.. friends.
Weberman said in an inter-
view that he "started off as a
hip person with political in-
clinations who was attracted
to Dylan."
When Dylan tu r n e d to
electronic folk-rock in l 965,
Weberman said, "I began to
wonder w b a t happened to
Dylan. Was he becoming the
Ogden Naab of the Top 40?"
Weberman decided there
was something significant in
Dylan's style change. He des-
erted h I s leadership of the
Haystack Calhoun (a 600
pound wrestler) Fan Club to
devote himself to a careful
study of Dylan.
Webennan collected rare
Dylan tapes. He opened a Dy-
lan Archives in his New York
apartment. He spent $300 on
a computer study of e a ch
word that h a d recurred in
Dylan's lyrics.
Th e computer puncbout
sheets are now amassed in
two volumes, each weighing
about 10 pounds. "It's heavy
stuff, Dylanology," he ex-
plained.
Weberman said he found
that Dylan's increasingly ob-
scure lyrics in the late 1960s
were understandable in con-
sistent symbolic terms.
"Rain" was used to denote
violence. "Stranger" meant
Turn to Dylan, page 11, col. l
 .Part 2 Sunday. October 3, 1971
Jlan
Follower of Dylan Hurls
Brickbats
..
After Study
From fHJge 1
leftist, "door" meant mind,
,,.c:_o111er" meant stage
Another Change
Weberman said Dylan un-
derwent another change that
w a-s first signaled with his
".{phn Wesley Harding" al-
bum. The change, Webennan
insists, is that D y I a n was
using heroin.
"Then I went through a
ch&oge myself,'' Weberman
said. "I stopped worshiping
h i m and began to wonder
about the man."
The study continued. One
night Webermar. and a friend
were walking by Dy I an 's
Greenwich V i I I a g e town-
house a n d decided to rum-
ma&e through the musician's
trash cans.
~ "The first night we found a
half finished lette::r to Johnny
Cash. We said, 'My God, this
iS no garbage can, this is a
gold mine.' "
. Webemian's opinion of Dy-
'-'--=======~~;;;;;;;,:;;;;;:=========-
-
lan was undergoing a com-
plete reversal.
''When Dylan started to
use heroin he abandoned all
political lyrics," Weberman
said, thus hurting the radical
political c a u s e. Dylan has
consistently denied using the
drug.
Furthermore, according to
Weberman, Dylan had pur-
chased l a r g e quantities of
stock in war related indus-
tries.
Job Offered
Weberman described a
number of personal encoun-
ters with Dylan that included
shoving and shouting match-
es. He s a i d the musician
once offered him a job as his
chauffeur ''to buy me out."
According to Weberman,
Dylan now s e l d o m uses
drugs. He made a rare public
appearance recently at a
Madison Square Garden ben-
efit for East Pakistanis and,
....,.,
said Weberman, "I decided to
, b i s fondness for Haystack
lay off him for awhile and get
into PauJ McCartney."
W e b e r m a n and others
formed a group they called
the R o c k Liberation Front
and staged a symbolic funer-
al in New York last August
for the former Beatie.
"McCartney is dead here,"
Webennan said, tappii:g his
index finger on his skull. He
described McCartney's song
lyrics as childish and s a i d
McCartney wasn't contribut-
ing money to political causes.
Criticizes Magazine
Among Webennan's other
current targets is Rolling
Stone magazine, sometimes
called the ''gospel" of the
rock world.
"I w a n t to show kids
th ere 's an alternative to
being r i p p e d off by rock
stars," he said. "All it has to
be is adverse publicity.
They're very susceptible to
this .
"There are very few rock
superstars around who have
r~e1rtnteg-
rity."
Weberman, who is unmar-
ried, supports himself primar-
ily by writing. He w r i t e s
what he described as a gossip
column in New York's East
Village Other and said he'd
written the cover story in
next month's Esquire maga-
zine - about famous p e <>-
pie's garbage.
Weberman bas an outgoing
and methodical personality.
He is something of a celebrity
now himself. He seems food
of the fame but not desirous
of earning much money. He 1
hands out blue matchbooks
with the word "Yippie!"
blazoned in red.
Weberman we
son eight daYc to attend
a demonstration in support of
jailed t1rpie Dana Beal, then
ca t.oMnwaukee to be in
demonstration against
Art Linkletter Friday night.
Link.letter spoke at a Republi-
can fund raising dinner.
Although Weberman h a s
been disillusioned with many I
rock stars, he has retained h
Calhoun, whose f a v o r i t e ti
wrestling move was to jump o
on opponents.
Weberman's eyes bright- t~
ened when be recalled that C
sight. He thinks of Calhoun at
as "one of the first freeks, fo
that's for surf'." SQ
_;;z;
 PAGE 4 BERKELEY BARB DEC. 24-30, 1171
ROCK LIB SEEKS A.J.
DYLANOLOGY APOLOGY
WE ASK A. J. Weberman to publicly apolo·
gize to Bob Dylan for leading a public campaign
of lies and malicious slander against Dylan in
the past year. It is about time someone came to
Dylan's defense when A. J. published articles
and went on radio calling Dylan a junkie-which
he never was-attacked Dylan for '"deserting
the movement''-when he was there before the
movement and helped create it-and publicized
Dylan's address and phone-exposing Bab and
his wife and children to public emb.1rra~ment
and abuse.
Dylan is more than a myth-he is a human
being. like you and me. He has feelings and sen-
sitivities like you and me. Who is there among us
who has not had his consciousness shaped by the
w.ords and music of Bob Dylan? Yet who rai.s ed
his or her voice or uttered a word lo defend
Dylan when A. J . Weberman began his persona l
campaign of slander against Dylan-in the true
tradition of the sensationalistic press willing to
print anything about someone famous-even or-
ganizing demonstrations at Dylan's home-for
god's sake:-can't Dylan have some privacy! ·
.can't he have some peace of mind in his own
.. home lo think and writt! and make music and be
with his family?
Weberman look advantage of Dylan·s fame. If
Bob Dylan attacked A. J . Weberman, who would
listen or publish it? If A. J . Weberman has some
"inside gossip" or "the real truth'' about Bob
Dylan, everyone is all ears because everyone
wants lo talk about Bob Dylan. Stories spread
from person to person in an ever-widening circle
of exaggeration and bullshit. No one cares to
find out the truth about Bob Dylan, the person.
They arc too busy amusing themselves by
telling outlandish stories about Bob Dylan-the
mytb--whom they have never met.
Weberman tried to make a name for himse](
by attacking Dylan and proclaiming himself a
Dylanologist or something like that. No one else
named Weberman an expert on Dylan.
Weberman calls himself an expert , and all of a
I
11
sudden the press is all over him trying to get in-
II
11
formation or gossip about Dylan . Now whenever
someone writes about Bob Dylan, they also in-
terview A. J . because he is a self-proclaimed au-
thority on Dylan's music. A. J . claims every-
thing Dylan writes is either about Weberman or
about heroin. What bullshit !
Weberman is to Dylan as Manson is to the
Beatles-and Weberman uses what he interprets
from Dylan's music to try and kill Dylan and
build his own fame. Now A. J . Weberman takes
credit for Dylan's "George Jackson" song. More
egocentric bullshit. Dylan wrote it in spite of
Weberman and in spite of ' 'the movement.' '
Dylan wr_ote it because he felt it.
A. J . Weberman·s campaign-and the move-
ment's complicity in it-is in the current fad of
everyone in the r evolution attacking each other
and spreading false rumors about each other.
It's time we defended a nd loved each other-and
saved our anger for lhe true enemy, whose igno-
rance and greed destroys our planet.
-The Rock Liberation Front:
David Peel. Jerry Rubin,
Yoko Ono, John Lennon
AND GETS 111
Dear People
Please accept my apologies for past unrrue
statements and also the harassment of Bob
Dylan and his family. From now on l •u leave
them alone. If any nasry articles come out about
him 1•m sorry. I wrote them long ago and l'm
doing my best to have them killed.
Sincerely,
A.J. Weberman
Minister of Defense
Rock Liberation Front
-
 •

mg contract ·w11hou1 record:< a

band can·1 develop. YC>u can p lay -
J- --~ ~t
-,_
I expected Webern an to be
hvrng in garbage up to l11s

·~
every mghl. but 11 you·vc got no eyebrows. but hos apartment
record out. people h;ive gal turned ou t to be meticulously
nothing 10 remember you by." _/ c lean. and tastefully decorated
D .L.
,~ " f, f with some pr 1m11tve·s t yle

o If you managed to dissuade

your auntie from giving you one
~ I
·, i I paintings dep 1c11ng Great
Momenrs 1n the h istory o f the
counter -culture. such as Pere
of those ghastly c alen dars lush
with picturesque t echnicolou r ft'
;-G\ _ l .( Townshend swinging his guitar a1
Abbie Hoffman's head at the
scenes of bucolic England fo1 l ii
W oodstock FesJrval. and. of
Christmas. yet st ill w ant to know
what day it is in 1 974. you can
get a B lack Music Calenda r by ,
\,,, , ... ...
,)·, :1
course. Mr. D shoottng up.
Any Freudian worth his f ee will
sending th e equivalent of S2 to . tell you t hat an obsess ion with
the Black Music C entre. School ~· ~")_,
n eatness usually stems from an
Of Music. Indiana University,
Bloomington. Ind iana 47401.
.ij . .
)r~! I -
~
} .I.
'- -
\· over-strict toilet training. so 11 was
cha rming to see A .J indulge his
USA. Contents include " a ,..,......., f obsession wtth garbage 1n the
selection of n ames of ind ividuals
and p erform ing groups and their
I
'
t'l' _.,,
I
,'
most spotless and analytic way.
He w as art1s11c too. arranged on

~·- /
sign ificant accomplishmen t s and
the floor was J ohn and Martha
contribution s. as w ell as items of
historical interest ... So. if you .... - M1tchell's g arbage, which A .J .
want to find out who w rote 1 was turning into a college portrait
·carry Me Back To Old Virgin ny ' of these two great A mericans. He
as w ell as the dat e of your n ext showed me his b ook recording his
visit to the dentist. you know pursuit of t he science of garbology
what to do. and the d irty facts he had un-
covered. B ella Abzug. New York 's
Re-cycling A. J. radical a nti-war congresswoman
was exposed by A.J. to be holdtr g
Weberman
." A. J. WEBERMAN sprang in to the
.., shares in compan ies connect ed
wit h the mi ltt ary- mdustr1al
limelight some fi ve yea rs ago. '... \ complex. A.J. had also discovered
(via a contact in the office of Bob
~
around the time that students and ( Dylan's stockbroker) that the man
banana-smoking intellectuals \.
everywhere loved to argue about r __ ...
'
'
who wrote "Masters O f War'
owned shares rn companies
Bob Dylan: " Who was his Dear
Landlord?" ·was Dylan m drag on
·----;-- -:·· connected with th e war effort. It 's
possible that Dylan does own such
the cover of Bringing It A II Back
A. J . Webberman Mick Gold shares. but in W eber man's system
Home?" "Was Joanna really
anyone compromised enough tc
Joan?" and other 1rres1s11ble
Joh n M itchell's garbage as analysed hyA. J W ebberman earn hrs hv1ng from a s traight 1ot
· pieces of t rivia. In an age when
or company seems to be a f ull\
Dylan students were two a penny.
paid-up member of the C.I A Tc
A.J. was king of 'em all: more
- preserve one's punty, one has- tc
complex. more fan aucal. crazier m
every way. Even Dylan was
. captured by the charisma of A .J .
Perhaps bothered by the way
f live on thin air . . or garbage.
asked A .J. how he brought h1msel
to wrtte an article for Esquire
analyzing famou s folks g arbage
W eberman kept ra1d1ng hrs
Wasn' t that money ta1nted7 ·
garbage cans and spying on his
g ave 1t to a f riend in prison.
house. Dylan confronted his
· answered A.J. quickly
greatest crittc. offered A.J. a 1ob as
By t he end of the afternoon.
his chauffeur, and ended their
realised A J . was dead r1gh1 aboL
conve1sation wi th the cosmic
the significance of garbage.
insight, Tm not Dylan. A .J .. you're
Dylan.'
I rea lly 1s a crystal -clear record c
one's life-style and act1v11 1es i
Eventually the anist and his
Bob Dylan's drawings and Joh
critic vanish ed togethe r: Dylan
Mitchell's vodka bo11les and Bell
became less visible and less m -
Abzug 's investments lay the re;
leresung. and A.J. 's t heories got
crazier and craz ier. I lost interest
in both of them around the ttme
- '
s tuff of the tr existence (R 1char
Nixon and his h eavy fri ends kne•
th is too - that's why there wer
W eberman organrzed a 30th
t wo paper shredders at C R E.E I
birthday pany for Dylan and
headquarters The people with t~
delivered a cake decorated wnh 30
d1rt1est secrets don t leave ar
n eedles to publ1c1se his theory that
garbage). But as far as 1d eolo~
D ylan was a heroin addict. But
went. A .J . seemed to be beyor
when I recently found myself on
the hmrtcd realm of reason. r
the Bowery. nea r to Weberman·s
was more like an alchem1!
residence a t the murky end of
d1st1lhng symbohc truths out
Bleecker Street. I d ecided to pay a
u np rom ising material A
v1s11 to see whether the Dylan
wouldn' t argue with a M arxist
archives were s till flourishing
he'd simply search hrs dus tbin r
At f11st A .J was unenthus1as11c.
caviar tins and cognac bottles a1
explaini ng over the phon e thiJI he
clout h im with his bourgec
was real busy w ith hts book on
garbage Our socie ty IS rtddl
garbology: the analysis of garbage.
w ith contradic tions between wh
This sounded like an even more
w e say and what we do. b etwe1
c1Jmprehens1ve science than
w hat we are and what we bche
Dylanology so I cracked a couple of
in. It wil l be a long 11me before A
anti-Scaduto 1okes. and t alked my
runs ou t of dirty facts to uncovpr
w ay into W eberman's HQ
M.
 •

A.J. Weberman interviewed by

FREEDOM: Stanislav Demidjuk.

D: Now that Dylanology has temp-

orarily gone into cold storage, what
is happening?
W: Right now we're broadening our
targets to include many rock singers
who claim to represent the youth
culture and who have long hair and
have the trust of the kids, but are
really no better than businessmen
- except instead of producing Kun-
ga butter they're producing records,
they produce culture.
Our first target was Paul McCartney
and we had a mock funeral for Paul
McCartney in front of the Eastman
apartment in Park Avenue and 7th
Avenue. I gave out samples of Mc-
Cartney's garbage, which turned out
to be reprints of McCartney's po-
etry: I read a funeral oration over
McCartney's casket, we had a '49
Cadillac hearse and we had this
coffin - we did that in order to
dramatise that a lot of musicians
like McCartney don't do shit for
nobody but themselves. The only
people they're interested in is them-
selves and McCartney's a good ex-
ample. He's like an aristocrat living
in a huge estate in England, catering
to the taste of Life magazine by
-. having pictures of him and his fam-
L

ily living in a typical bourgeois

existence and by his egotism, break-
ing up the Beatles and that whole
number, and his lyrics like 'Love
Me Linda oo oo oo' - just a bunch
of garbage that don't say anything
about anything; his whole attitude
is just very aristocratic, and I felt
he's a good example of the capital-
ist. non-involved. egotistical
~---=~~~--'--- •
rock
. _.__ _..._.__

FRENDZ KULTURE13 October 281971

..·.·.·.---.
 •
Anyone who wants information
on Rock Liberation can write to me
c/o P.O. Box 340, Canal Street
Sta~on, New York City, 10013,
U!llted ,s~tes of Amerika (spelt
with a k ) and I'll send you free
information on dylanology and rock
liberation and let you know what's
happening and answer every letter
personally if you have any questions
and shit.
Start Rock Liberation Fronts in
England; there are plenty of fucking
rock performers there. Find out
where they live, rifle their dustbins
and print what you find They live
h"ke fucking pigs and waste a lot of
shit. Have demonstrations, embar-
rass these ~eking people, make
them look like the fools they are.
You've got to look away really bard
not to see that this shit is going
down, and let me tell you Amerik-
ans are really expert at that. So
that's my advice ........do something!
-~.
anything mr anybody in England?
Nothing at all. Your tactic seems to
be that you first demonstrate pub-
licly and cause a response, rather
than approaching the party first
with your demands.
I dramatise my charges, in other
words. Like if I were to say write a
little article and say McCartney ;., p
pig and this and that, maybe it
would be published in the East Vil-
lage Other, maybe some other und-
erground magazines would pick it
up, and then eventually it would be
forgotten about. So what I try and
do is dramatise it, by putting on gu-
errilla theatre. The overground med-
ia is very hungry for this kind of
thing, it's human interest and some-
thing new - it doesn't happen very
often so they'll give me wide cover-
age since they're basically divorced
from this whole thing, they don't
care about rock one way or another.
They'll take up my charges and act
as a sort of weapon against these pe-
ople. With a liberal publication
like the Village Voice, they didn't
print any of my charges against
McCartney, all they said was Weber-
man thinks McCartney is a pig. In
their report all they commented on
was the show, it was like a theatre
review; like a theatre critic had
come to the guerrilla happening &
said 'this isn't good theatre, where's
the stage, where's the make-up,
where are the actors?' - she- was dis-
appointed but the whole thing was
just to get the idea across. Then
again, the Village Voice could see
the same thing happening to them,
see me accuse them of piggery bec-
ause I wanted to kill two pigs with
the one stone and get stoned at the
same time, so we marched to Roll-
ing Stone afterwards.

We believe that Rolling Stone
got corrupted by Kinney - Kinney
Lei.Sure Time - which owns Warner
• Bros. Records, Elektra and Atlantic
Records and all their subsidiary
companies like Abco; Elektra has a
lot of subsidiaries and shit like that.
Kinney is mafia controlled?
Kinney's links with the Mafia .w ere
explored in Forbes Magµine ·of
JW1e 1 1970, a superstraight busin-
ess magazine. If even they're saying
it, well, I don't know if it's control-
led by the mafia but the mafia has
an interest in it. The entertainment
thing in Amerika has traditionally
been controlled by organised crime.
Nightclubs have been big Mafia or-
ganisations for years and years.
Lord Buckley was playing in Chic-
ago and a couple of the mafia boys
liked him, and they control the
police force in Chicago so they let
him do his thing.
Kinney does this, they own a lot of
companies, a lot of their companies
advertise in Rolling Stone. When
Rolling Stone is in financial trouble
they borrow huge amounts of mon-
ey from Kinney.
When you raided their offices you
got tremendous amounts of eviden-
ce?
We stole their files. Straight Arrow
Books, a Rolling Stone subsidiary,
contracts Kinney to distribute their
books. Kinney has this idea they
want to monopolise the whole fuck-
ing thing - they tried to buy A&M .
Records, and there's an injunction
out against them doing it by the
Justice Dept. They're not allowed
to buy any more record companies.
It would be uncool to try and buy
Rolling Stone outright, Kinney has
never tried, Xerox has, because if
they did it that way, even the stupid
kids who believe Rolling Stone now
- ..,., it when they
.. ~ you think the causes of the present
covert manner - rather than putt-
ing people in gas chambers, Amerika
freezes people in historical ~es &
back in the 1900s, back in pre-
industrial age. Amerika goes in there
sets up puppet go\rernments, which
is much cooler than what Britain
did with imperial governmenting
right? Amerika couldn't do that
'cause by the time Amerika became
a world power, which was after
World War 1, there was this whole
tide of rising nationalism, and sec-
ondly Amerika was a colony of
Britain and it would look very un-
cool for Amerika to be an out and
out colonial power. So what they
did was set up spheres of economic
influence in these countries, which
meant freezing them into historical
time, depriving their future tech-
nology; which means the average
life span of pe~ple under Amerikan
imperialism is 35, when people in
the western world live to 70, so
literally millions and millions, a
billion people are being cheated out
of hal.f their lives by Amerikan
economic imperialism.
Freedom is often a function ·of
affluence. Amerika can afford to
have revolutionarie~ going around
saying 'let's smash the state' bec-
ause they're not really afraid be
cause of technology bas reached a
fever pitch in Amerika. The capital-
ists can still take 75% of th~ wealth
and the other 25%, ~;s+.ributed
among the workers is enough to
keep them satisfied because of tech-
nological advance&.
The movement and general move-
ment activism in the States seems to
be at a low now. Even general UPS
circulation is going down all over,
what.with EVO alone down to 3000
per issue. The whole thing seems to
corning down rather badly. What do
FREND? KULTURE13 October 28 197l
number of other things. The govern-
ment eventually assigned a four man
federal task force whose job was to
do nothing but to try and track this
guy down. They found him and
now they,re holding him on 10,000
dollars cash bail in Dain County in
Madison, Wisconsin. They're not
saying when they're putting him on
trial so we can have demonstrations.
They're very cagey about that and
they've even dropped some NeV/
York charges because they're afraid
to bring him back to New York
'cause they know people like me
are here who are going to · fucking
raise hell. So that's one of my plans,
to raise money. Abbie Hoffman's
gonna give 22% out of Steal This
Book for Dana. Both he and Jerry
Rubin said that Dana's writings
were more important than their
own. They did a good thing in
terms of press relations.
Are his writings available?
Both Weather Yippie and'" Right On
Culture have been published all
over in many underground news-
papers.
Why hasn't there been more of a
movement to free John Sinclair?
Well, there has been quite a stir,
but nobody really cares that much.
JohnSinclair's received plenty of
publicity. People know he's there,
they know he's got ten years. He
had a good lawyer, the judge senten-
ced him anyway. He had a letter
writing campaign and demonstrat-
ions, that sort of thing. Hippies
haven't really got it together to
really care about their brothers, it
seems. It's a fucking sad thing but I
don't see any other way to interpret
it.
Al. caught stealing garbage
Both Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoff-
man, who 've been heroes for num-a pes to go over to Hanoi, but the
government seized the taoes at the
ber of years, now seem to have a
rather dubious stand, in term
th1a · ·mo.Jl o.nd how . D.P" •
 a:ren-t' gonna oem...
see Kinney owns it. So rather ~·-
.J(
--o-- . ~vple see
them now.
Well, Jerry is in Chile now, he's
going to do a book on Chile.
When Jerry was in New York he
came to all the demonstrations. He's
kinda quiet, listen,ing, taking it all
in. He likes to get high and make
love and make revolution. He's
still the same Jerry Rubin, but it's
time for new ideas, new leaders.
Abbie has been kinda driven into
. fucking seclusion by a lot of really
stupid people, like a cult of medio-
crity in the U.n~_ergroupd. Like peo-
ple who have never quite made it
get together and they try and fuck
him up cause they're all very fuck-
ing jealous. And this has happened
to Abbie in many respects. Also
people just hassle Abbie all the
time.
Don't you think that Abbie added
fuel to his own 'fire in a way?
Well Abbie's always been kind of
removed and ·an elitist. I wouldn't
say Abbie ripped-off Steal This
own it outright, they've kind of deflation are r . Book.
weaseled their way in; they im- The economy. Hip is often a funct- If I had to criticise Abbie, I'd
plicitly control it and so it's general- ion of surplus economy. Kids can say that he doesn't live an open
lx apolitical. afford to drop out. Amerika's in the life style like Jerry does, or I do, or
Tht; Rock Liberation Front is once shit now. The recession is forcing a David Peel, or someone like Country
again virtually an extension of the lot of people down. Joe. He lives a private life style, so
whole Yippie philosophy. What are your plans for say the that would be my criticism of Abb-
Right. I'm a yippie myself and next year? ie. He's one of Amerika's greatest
aside from my anger at the artists First of all I want to get my friend, cultural revolutionaries. He has a
who fail to speak up and say some- Dana Beal, out of jail. He is a polit plan for a TV program which will
thing about mass murder, I also ical prisoner in Madison, Wisconsin. completely blow everyone's fuckin'
fighf against the government and He was the foremost yippie theorist mind. I'm not going to tell what's
large corporations and the police,. and leader for the last couple of going on but it's totally incredible
which are really all the same. Our years underground. He did things if he can pull this fucking shit off,
philosophy is based on the idea that like saving the Georgia Straight in the whole government will be fuck-
Amerika isn't really that much bett- Vancouver from extinction, he com- ing shaking at tlie roots.
er than Nazi Germany except for pletely raised hell on the lower east Before all this shit started he was
its kind of death; Amerika causes side in '67, he organised the smoke- into organising but now he's lost a
as much death as Nazi Germany in at the yippie convention, the anti lot of his enthusiasm. He had this
but it does so in a much more heroin march, and an m~:redible radio station, WPAX, producing ta-
I_
- ~--- --
... __ --., ~
whole thing. Abbie'd invested five
grand of his own money into equip-
ment, so what happens, these people
from Radio Free People in Attica,
New York come down, find out
where it is and steal it all. They
rationalise it by saying Abbie has a
lot of money from Steal This
Book. Abbie has given a lot of
money away. He bailed a panther
out, he's given money to the Weath-
,ermen etc., but he must have some
. money to keep himself out of jail,
for legal expenses. The Law Com-
mune gets a certain amount off the
top of everything he does, to keep
him on the outside.
The Weathermen have recently issu-
ed a communique saying they 're
changing their tactics from bombing
sabotage, to other tactics they have
not actually disclosed yet.
There's a rumour they're going into
bank robberies.
Now during that time of the bomb- llJ
ing episode, what was the general
support for it, in terms of the
underground, the movement and
the street people, how did they feel.
The yippies supported it. They are
like overground weathermen, they
can relate to it, but most other
people in Amerika couldn't relate
to it, they say 'terrible, terrible ...
violence!' One man got blown up
in the N AF building - who was
working for the government any-
way - and they always talk about
that one guy. They never talk about
the million people, innocent civil-
ians, the children who are shot
down in the free fire zones in Viet-
nam. A lot of people could relate to
blowing up property but when that
one guy got killed they jumped on
that to say the whole thing was
shit.
 War declared on
By JOE TENERELLI
They called it a press con-
ference. But when peo ple like
David Peel and A.J. Weberman
start giving " press conferences,"
maybe it's about time they
changed the n ame.
David Peel is the rock
musicia n who, along with th e
"Lower East Side," blessed the
world with an album titled
" Have A Marijuana." Contained
in the a lbum are such rustoric
cuts as " J Do My Bawling In The
Bathroom," and " Up Against
The Wall Motherfucker."
Weberma n' s -- claim to fa me
came o ut of Bo b Dylan 's trash
ca n. He used t o go through
Dylan's garbage, select a fe w
valu ables, and the n write stories
about th em. He picked other
peo ple's garbage, t oo.
FETISH IS FlNISHED
Well, Peel isn' t bawling in his
bathroo m anymore and Weber-
man's trash can fetish is fin ished.
They're into more serio us things
no w.
Wearing a red ascot, dark
wire-rimmed sunglasses, white
sneakers and a yellow le i ·
wrapped around his neck, Peel
sounded just like h e loo ked as he
rant and raved that he a nd
Weberrnan and a host o f un-
known others were "declaring
war o n rock-and-roll."
" Duh people have ta be edu-
cated abou t d uh rock business
b eca u se they are getting
ripped-off," Peel proclaimed in
his heavy New York accen t.
" If dey h ave ta prostitute vour
co rd ~ they 'll do it. Big business
has the oowe r.
" We do n' t wanna get rid of
rock," Peel explained . "We just
want to raise the con scio usness
of rock musicians. Just because a
lot of people d on' t k n ow how ta
make music doesn't mean they
should be exploited because
somebod y else d oes."
ONWARD MARCH! Street singer Da11id Peel (left) and "Dylanologist" A .J. Webemurn (right )
" We' ve got ta get the super
powers (big rock stars) ta help
peop~ ," he con tinued. " It will
more or less force people to ge t
involved. We' ve got ta get
musicians like Ario Gut hrie and
. Mick Jagger invo lved , because
they're sipho ning off the
spiritual, sex ual and emo tion al
senses of the people."
To stress the power of the rock Somehow We b e r m a n
business. Peel cited the Beatles ma naged to express a few o f his
as being the pinnacle of sentiments about t he apo calyp-
ro ck-and-roll's power. tic power of rock-a nd-ro ll.
" Duh Bea tles have m ade su ch "T echnology has shown that
an im pact world-wide that its rock is not music any more," he
frigh tening what they could do said. " I can stop this whole press
if they wanted to," he said. con fe ren ce by hooking up two
" They've sold over 500 miUion
KLH speake rs a nd b lasting
reco rds - that's powerful! everybod y o ut. "
NO ACTION
Whe n asked what he and
Weberman had done so far, to
co mba t the evils o f the rock
business, Peel said no action has
been taken as of yet.
' 'We go tta le t peo)le k no w
what's hap pening before we
act," Ped said. ·'Acli on requires
ti me and we can 't act un til we
stop talking.
"We've gotta coordina te the
efforts of people throughout the
cou ntry Lo get this started ," he
co ntinu ed. ''We be lieve in
co mmo n sense, you know .... this
is a ' •orld-wide thing. "
POPE SMOKES
Peel sa id that he is donating
the proceeds fro m his records to
diffe r e n t grou ps such as
Wo men's Liber:itio n and rehabi-
litation centers for d rug addicts.
His next al bum, " The Pope
S mokes Dope," will be released
o n April Fools Day.
The " war o n rock" will be
officially declared by Peel and
Weberm an at the rock festival
taking place in P u~rt o Rico this
weeke nd.
And wh o knows, if Peel,
Webcrman and Com pany get
 c 0 ,.. ..:

UT ·Daily Beacon
DENNIS JONES

•i
DEBORAH BOWDITCH
editor
POLLY PETERSON
managing editor
LYNN LEWIS, newa editor
PAT THOMASON, copy editor
STEVE K.ELLFY, sport• editor
LINDA CHESTNUT, nilht editor
KITTY WEL'-'H, entertai.nJnent editor
PA'l" CAMPBELL, makeup editor
business manager
DEJEAN MILAN CON
advertising manager
WW
MICHAEL A. CONLEY, wlre editor
GARY MOORE, editorial assistant
-
,.,
DANNY WALSCH, asaoclate news editor
WENDELL POTTER, associate news editor
HARLAN HAMBRIGHT , chief pho to1tapher
PATTY FORINASH, national ad mana&er

Wednesday, April 26, 1972

Page 6
l~ Vol. '1 No.117
..

revision bill faces at least a year or two "Here's some cereal boxes: A.J. w
of congressional hassling, according to always interesled in his heallh." Tmac
reliable estimates. Tn the meantime, the a note: sevenleen boxes of Whealies, ti
U.S. is taking an active role in the global
bl'eakfast of champions. "HerE
anti-piracy treaty now being worked out something else. along the same line."
in Geneva. letter from lhe Charles Atlas School •
In the face of all this national and Body Development, rejecting h
international vigilance, record buyers application and referring him to ti
had best stock up on bootlegs while Mayo Clinic. "There's some pape
there's still time. Frank Fillchockhere," said Mr. Johnson, digging deepE
A subscription renewal for "Heap, Tl
Garbage Quarlerly ," and two tickets ·
Andy Warhol's '·Trash." Next,

THE GARBAGE summons for littering, dated July 1

1964.

mAn~amETH
;;;;,-==~-----------==--t- down-a deerstalker hat, false mustac~
~After reading A.J. Webennan's
analysis of some famous people's
garbage in this month's Esquire, we
thought it might be interesting to see
what his trash could tell us.
Accordingly, we hired an investigator to headed back to the
take a look. His report follows:
"Say, here's some of A.J
professional equipment.'' said M
Johnson, with surprise. T write
magnifying glass, and two boxes of He(j
bags. Under some banana peels, w.
another piece of equipment, a large c1
of industrial-strength Right Guaj
"A.J. needs a lot of that," said ~
Johnson with a smile.
Nearing the bottom of the can, !
Johnson was practically standing on
head. "These are A.J.'s p1
momentos ... he must've tossed th
out by mistake." He showed me a cc
of "Alice's Restaurant,'' person!
autographed by Officer Obie. And ti
we found the piece de resistance
handwritten rough draft of
Weberman's forthcoming be
"Ripoff: The Bob Dylan Story." Ttl
it had been a fruitful mornine
thanked Mr. Johnson for his insi11'"
this remarkable pers<'-
clutching a dripping H
side.
..
Upon receiving the assignment, I
went to Mr. Weberman's building and 1-----
made contact with his janitor, Gus
Johnson, who seemed only too happy
to talk about his famous tenant. He bad
Wiiodllmlillm_..llillllll-~for Mr. Weberman's
garbage, saying it was certain!
cuts above the average, in both content
and presentation. He explained that Mr.
Weberman seemed to have a feel for
trash that most people don't. "It's not
somethinl! vou can learn; you've either
got garbage in you or you don' t."
Mr. Johnson modestly admitted to
being a strong influence on Mr.
Weberman's career. " I remember seeing
him when he was a kid, rooting through
the cans, looking for old comic books,
or a half-eaten sandwich. I took him
aside one day and said, 'Look, son, if
you think small, you'll end up being
small. You've got Lo set your sights
high, plan to make something of
yourself. When you get older, you
should plan on joining the service.
There's nothing like a uniform to give
you pride in what you do. 1\vo or three
years on the back of a truck in
Brooklyn will really make a man of
you.' "
As be spoke, Mr. Johnson led the way
through the cellar to the place where
the trash cans are kept. "I'm proud to
say he took my advice," he continued;
"Look what it's made him today.
Writin' for all these newspapers and that
Esquire magazine. Who would of
thought people would pay to read about
things like that'? It took a mind like
Weberman's to see the possibilities in
trash."
We had arrived at the cans. "Well ,
there it is," said Mr. Johnson in

hmv he keeps er all

shined up? lt's attention to details like
that that make him what he is."
We began pulling things out of the
can and sturfing them in the sack I'd
brought with me. (You will note that
the bag accompanying this report does
not contain all the items mentioned
here. M.r. Weberman had apparently
thrown out some personal items by
mistake, and Mr. Johnson set these
aside.)
September 18. 1971
BOB DYLAN Is a classic case of the vanishing per-
sona&ty: now you see bim, now you don'L Every
aspect or bis career and personal life bas been c&s-
cussed and qpalysal on a grand scale, f.rom the Green-
wich village rolk-poet days through the motor-cycle
speed-f'reak era to the country blU-biOy and ramlly man
kick that be presents to the world today.
And each successive at
tempt to locate the real Dylan.
to pin his anaesthetised psyche
down on the specimen table
and fix it for posterity, like
some rare and elusive butterfly
immobilisied in t he museum's
display case. ends up like the
confrontation with the cater-
pillar: the answers are all
there, but when you" try and
grasp hold of them and reduce
them to a coherent form. they
vanish through the fingers like
a puff of smoke fram the
hookah.
They come in an embryonic
form, and it's down to you to
read between the lines, develop
them in a comprehensible
form. So Dylan analyses
alwavs tend to reflect the
author"s preoccupations rather
than the s ubject's. They
charge around with increasing
degrees of desperation at the
matador. who nimbly side~tep~
as the crowd roar\ its appro-
val. So who c an shed any new
light <ln the subject ?
PUZZLE
As there arc rcw who would
claim to have met him and
fewer still who know him per
son ally. the only guide b
hearsay. And of one thing at
least we can be absolutelv cer ·
tain : Dvlan is an absolute
matter of exploiting hearsay
and rumours. It's difficult to
judge whether this is a con
scious desire to mystify him
self as a defence on the conti-
nual assault on his person-
ality. or a taste of obscurant -
ism. or just an intelligent man
reservin! the right to con -
By Martin
Hayman
are pieces from more than one
jigsaw in this puzzle. But even
if you think you know what
the final picture shoud be, the
pieces don't add up. There
have been rigorous attempts to
take it from the outside, and
they run to the ludicrous. to
coin a phr'llse.
There is A. J. Weberman.
of course. the ··Dylanolog-
ists" •• leader. who in his fran ·
tic attempt to put the picture
together in his own way (or
"re-radicalise"' Dylan. as he
puts his policy). is reduced to
taping telephone calls to the
man and sorting through the
dustbins outside his New York
home to find some more clues.
Lunatic though this may seem.
it is just a logical extension of
the attempt to discover ond
dem\ stif\ Dvlan fro m the ex
terniil clues he leave5 around.
But the statements arc in
the music. ~ult elusive and con
tradictory. but infinitely more
personal than the detritus of
everyday life. One garbage
can is much the same as an
other. but •·Positively 4th
Street.. is about one man at
one point in time. Webcrman
places a hidden revolutionary
construction on this. but it's
not necessary.
FAMOUS
It's no more helpful really
Lr.... AS.
....! t..
Arthur Gorson. who was
around the Village cafe scene
at the time when the single
was recorded. ··wcberman is a
million miles away from Bob
Dylan. he just doesn't know
what he"s about. At the time
Dylan was suddenly becoming
famous and all at once every
.. ,
~. . ··· -•- ~ ._ ·u.;,..,o__,..__ _..,neri_._bL.realiw:Lhi_'LJUDhiLion
But you don"t need to know
the external facts of his cir-
cu111stanccs to appreciate what
the song is all about. Like the
very grcatc~t creations. it
stands or falls irrespective of
the creator: and this one is
not just a song about the way
everyone turned on Dylan
feels when the people who
claim to love him turn on him
and shout "Judas"!. as the
folkies and politicos did to
Dylan in New York and
London in 1965.
On the record of the Albert
Hall concert Dylan and the
Band play stunningly. The
crowd stamps. boos and whis
ties. Then that one remark is
shouted out above the melee.
And Dylan's riposte: ·•t don"t
believe you.·· It is one of the
few really unguarded
moments. It carries the weight
of total incredulousness: the
Messiah betrayed. Suddenly.
the heat was on Dylan .
Pushed into a comer. back to
the wall. some of the finest
and most real music evtr
played came from him.
FIGURE
Dated from the same period
are "Highway 6 1"' and
"Blonde 011 Blonde"'. At a
guess. and guesswork is "inter
pretation·· by another name.
some of the s0ngs arc real ex
periences. Sometimes that 's
casilv sussed: we all know
ahout Mr. Jones. whom Dvlan
turned On With the fury of a
man getting towards the
breaking point. But Mr.
Jones is not just one reporter
\\ith has p.:ncil in his hand. but
C\ er} gU} \\ho ever tried to
hustle his wav into vour
psyche. The particular is -suh
sumed into the j!encral. The
song li\'es long after the
barney with the press is for
gotten. after Mr. Jones is ror
gotten. probably after Dylan
has ceased to be a public
figure . But what about
everything else 011 those
records?
There is little with
the specific location in time
and space of "Ballnd or a
Thin Man··: how do you ap
proach a song which starts
··well your railroad guage.
vou know 1 iust can "t iumn
SOUNDS Page 13
impressions. scenes that ran
through his head with no dis
tinction between fantasy and
fact: all these occur, shuffied
at random from one song to
another. One of the key lines
occurs in " Tombstone Blues":
'"I need a steam-shovel
momma. To keep away the
dead. I need a dump-truck
baby. To unload my head'".
The music which follows is
an attempt to do just that. Jt"s
a picture which, taken in toto.
represents a crumbling uni -
verse where the nightmares
take O\'er the consciousness
and illuminate in brilliant relief
the brief glimpses of light: lost
in Varez at Easter-time in the
rain. watching the sunrise with
a blown mind. ~crrible scenes
in a room where country
music on the radio wards off
the silences- "you just hap-
pened lo be there. that's an:·
set against the odd lucid
~oment\ of beauty. ··1 really
dad try to get close to you:· u
girl with her fog, her ampheta
mine and her pearls who
slipped out of reach and who
you"ll never be "close to again.
Who needs to suss D) Ian
out? Who needs to tilt at
immovable windmill? The
ston is all there. if vou but
listen. The point is noi 10 find
out about him. but about
yourself and everybody el~e.
The experiences are his. but
they relate to us all. Who can
blame him if now he has with ·
drawn total!\. found the strain
or being Evcrvmnn impossible
to ustain '! •
 NOW O N SALE! ISSUE NUMBER TWO OF
THE NEW MAGAZI NE FROM THE PUB LI SHERS OF CAVALIER:

Dylan/ Weberman
God save us all from instant histor-
ians. [ refer specifically to the article
"Who Is A.J. Weberman?" [Sept.] . I'll
admit that the world is moving pretty
fast, but how can Bob Dylan or
anybody else be judged for their ac·
complishments or lack of them before
the cat has even half-finished doing his
thing? It's a big mistake for anybody
to attempt to define someone's place
in history before they have any idea
where that person fits in. It is con-
ceivable that Dylan may very well have
accomplished something that we can
look b ack on and say, hey, that was
good. But it is also within the realm of
possibility that, like Calvin Coolidge,
nobody will hardly notice w hen he
goes.
I also think it' s a w aste o f intelli-
gence for someone who is obviously a
nut, but bright, to waste his time on
something as ridi culous as a pre-analy-
sis of Dylan. In that same vein, I think
it is a waste of Richard Gilbert's time
writing about Weberman talking about
Dyla)1 and so fo rth. It takes a lot of
the impact out o f anybody's accom-
plishmen ts to analyze them to death.
Alice I n Wonderland was a lot more
interesting before it was annotated,
and Dy lan is a helluva Jot better
without Weberman telling us what we
shouldn' t even know unless we have
the sense lo figure it o ut for ourselves.
- Jim Cuthbertson, Miami, Fla.
Now on sale at your favorite newsstand .
Fan Mail
Or, send $1.25 (o ne dollar per copy p lus 25c J am known to b e a very, very
for postage and handli ng) to: picky person w hen it comes lo girls,
but I know what 1 like. You have a girl
----------------------------------------------------- in your July issue, Alena, who has to
be the cutest doll I have ever seen.
Dugent Pu blishing Corp. - B.J. Holland, Sacramento, Calif.
236 East 46th Street 1 just recently purc hased your
New York, N.Y., 10017 August issue and found your Miss
1orth truly outstanding. Any way
possible I could get h er comple te
Enclosed is $1.25. Please send me a copy of the Fall issue of a ddress? ... Thanks for a great maga-
Yo ur Land Magazine. zine.- Sgt. Steve Vail , APO Seattle.
Sorry, Steve, but addresses-and addi-
tional p h otos, for that matter- are not
Name ............................ ...................................................... ........ . available.
Add ress ......................... ..... ................................... ................. ..... . Re: your September issue and
Annki Oldgard. Most sensation al gal
City ............. ............ ................. State....... ....... ............ Zip ........... .
you've ever publi s h ed! - Robe rt
Arthur, San Franc isco.
-----------------------------------------------------
 BOB DYLAN
WEGEN Bf IHJLFE ZUM VOLK£RMORD#~
BESCHREI&mG ZUR PERSON: "DYLAN, viell e i c ht me hr a ls i r gend j emand
anders auf dem Geb j et der ~.i usik , i st von
Anfang an ein wahrer Prop het des neuen BewuBtseins gewesen. 11
-(Charl es A. Reich: 'The Greening of Ameri ca' S . 2~9)
+ + +
TATBESTAND: Ankauf von Aktien im Nerte voo minde s te ns $20.000 der
Firma LD~ G -TE llft.PKO-VOI GHl' (LTV) , ein amer ikan i sc her
Aktiengigant, der Bomben zum Einsatz ge gen die Bevolkerung Vietnams
herstellt. Dieses besagt ein Informant im Biiro eines Herrn Braves ,
Borsenmakler fur BOB DYLAN.
Investionen im Werte von ~250. 000 in e i n Bi.irogeba ude an
Times Square und Broadway (1 500 Bdwy) New York. Hierri.iber berichtete
die New York Post (11. 1 . 71 ) und das New York La w J o urnal. Man nehme
das Geld der Protestgeneration und gebe es dem reichen Establishment
zurliok.
Unterstlitzung der rassisti s ch-und konterrevolutionaren
Organisation 'Jlidisoher Schutzbund' (JTIL ) , e i ne mil i t a nte Organisa-
tion. Erkla rtes Ziel der JDL ist die Verfolg ung aller ihr als 'ant i -
semitistisch' erscheinend e Personen. Der Fiihrer di eser Bewegung hat
ein Buch na mens DAS JtlDI SCHE WAGNIS IN VIETNAM ge s c hr i eben . Laut
einige Vert reter der JTIL Jugend gibt DYLAN dem Schutzb und Geld unter
den Namen seines Va te r s, Abraham Zimmerma n. Nach Aussage ei nes sein-
er vertra uten Freunde soll DYLAN die s er Organi sati on bere i ts an die
~5,000 ge ge ben haben. Studenten an der Columbia University wissen,
daB die JDL an einen Tr a nengase i nsa tz mitverantwortli ch war - auch
wenn es noch nie im Gericht nachge wiesen wurde -, der sich ge gen
eine Versammlung richtete d i e einen Friedensvertrag mit der Volks-
re gierung Su dv ietnams schiieBen wollte • Nieviele d i eser Studenten
hatt en d urc b d en Kau f von DYLAN-Platte.n den Tra nengaseinsatz gegen
s i ch selbs t mitfinanziert?
2
ACH fl •NGt
DA DYLAN - TROTZ VOR3PRACHE BEI SEINEN RECHTSAN .:V.AELTEn - SICtl ZU D.i:SR
V ~RCE FFENTLI CHJN G DIESES SACHVERHALTS N I C H T GE AEUS.ERT HAT,
BESTE HT AKUTE 'NIEDERHOLUNGSGEFAHR ! ! VOR ANKAUF ODER G3BRAUCH DER
PLATTEN UND ANDERS KONSUM-ARTI KEL BOB DYL.ANS UND ALLE ANDEREN ROCK-
MUSI K 3TUETZEN DER RNAKTION NIRD GfilNARN l1 ! LE iJTE, L.AJ, 3ST EUCH NI GHT
VON BOB DYLAN UND DIE VERT~ TER DES ROCK- MUSI K KONillJM-TE RRORS EINSE I F-
EN 1 Wer mehr liber die DYLAN BEFREIUNGSFRONT (DLF) oder Rock-Texte
allgemein wis s en mochte oder wer einf a c h sei ne Emporung liber die Ver-
breitung dies er Aspekte aus d em Lebe n de s "Propheten des neuen Be-
wuBtseins", BOB DnAN , Luft mache n mochte , der schreiba a n:
A.J.Weberman , POB 340, Canal Street Station, NYC 10013 , USA. Weberma n
gilt als d i e Autori t at in uachen -d0.i3 Dr"LA.:' .
Que lle : IT LO!\DOX NR 106/1971
Verantwortlich: kommunikations-buro p.j ae nsch
62 wiesbaden I t ~ unusst r. q
 di1
jm
Up Fro1n the Streets 'I
fici:
~ The essential David Peel seems to be mostly dark adn'
~ 1!:'asses, blindingly white teeth and a rapid-fire open-ended seer
i::Q < i:-~ount of his activities delivered in a rasping speech pat- wer1
~ t •rn that sounds as if his English teachers were the Dead
fed
}!-

u End Kids. to I
r:l Regulars at Washington Square Park and Bethesda Fountain
Q
know David as the Pied Piper of a musical group called the Lower
;:...~ East Side made up of shifting per~onnel who seemingly follow him
< around, providing musical accompaniment with tambourine, penny-
P \vhii<tle, washtub bass or whatever is al hand at the moment. The
oo songs have primitfre, energetic melodic Jines and most of the time
P:: the lyrics are an aggressive praise of marijuana.
;:> 'This made him a natural to uppear on the list of entertainers
lJ::: at the John Sinclair rally in Ann Arbor last weekend, even though
E-t Ann Arbor doesn't know Peel the way ::-.lew York does. It was a
suri)rise, though, to see Peel and his Lower East Side appearing
W ns uackup band to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Jerry Rubin earlier
~ in •.he rally referred to the new musical alliance as "the first event of
r:l lhe Rock Liberation Front."
Z Allen Klein's office said that a record album by Peel, to be
produced by John and Yoko for Apple Records, is "in negotiations."
~ ll would include two new songs, tributes t<. Bob Dylan and to John
..4 and Yoko, written by Peel and performed publicly by him for the
';; lirst time at the rally.
Q The Rock Liberation Front is something like ESP: the particulars
of its existence :ire subject to interpretation. An early mimeographed
manifesto issued from Peel's East Village apartment stated, "The
Rock Liberation Front has been formed by David Peel & the Lower
En:-;t Side and A. J. Weberman, Dylanologist, to establish a relation-
i<hip of understanding and participation in the world of rock." The
2:!-point program includes "free rock seminars," "lower prices for
rock concerts" and "international rock culture exchange."
Peel recently said, "I started the RLF and A. J. Weberman
helped me make it into a reality." Two weeks ago, Village Voice
readers saw a letter demanding that Weberman apologize for Ir
ju1
u.
Jo

b<
in
p•
tt
J1
t}
m

P•
SJ
w
$
a
NEWS photo bv Jack Clarltv ti
Behind the rlaues and the vocal attack liea David Peel. 0
iJ
impugning the integrity of Bob Dylan and signed: "The Rock
Liberation Front: David Peel, Jerry Rubin, Yoko Ono, John Lennon." e
The following week a black-bordered apology ap~e~red addressed to t
"Dur People" and signed "A. J. \Veberman, Minister of Defense, 3
Rocle Liberation Front." a
Leaving the complexities of politics and examining personality, t
Peel has an inexhaustible energy and a charm to match. Wben b• h
removes the sinister barrier of those dark glasses, he reveals be- 3
nign eyes. Lunching at the Z restaurant, for instance, he became $
aware of a table of women office workei·s celebrating a birthday.
He clapped when the cake was lit and wished them a happy birthday g
as they left, making them beam with pleasure. Leaving a cab after- l!
w:ud, he 1-asped: "Have a nice day!" at the driver. Now who says
that to a cab driver? And he means it. G
Later on, a paper place mat taken from Z was stapled onto one R
of the many milk crates which form filing cabinets in bis ap~
ment. The apartment is a smashing example of decoration by accu- ta
mulation: posters, photos, flags, old Oriental rugs, a gilded horse- R.
s hoe crab, a faded peach-colored parachute spread across the ceiling.
But mikes, ta.pe recorders and speakers dominate one end of the
main 1·oom and meticulously organized files in those milk crates
attest to a computerlike mind at work.
There is something magnetic about his rough-cut style, developed
by playing in the streets, and to hear him singing, "Happy Mother's
Day, I am your son. I am a runaway" or "Hey, Mr. Draft Bo-ward-uh,
I don·t wanna go-uh" to a street audience is to know you're listening
to an original personality. His first LP, done on the streets, sold well
for Elektra. The second, in a studio, didn't. Nevertheless Elektra is
reissuing it with a new cover as a second try. The Apple record would
be balf streeL<;, half studio.
He promises the best of both worlds for )lew Year's Eve by
playing in Times Square at midnight and then repairing to the Fat
IDaclL.Euggv Cat.in Gr1111nwich...V. laJZ ERNEST L£0G.RAN.D
L
--
-_.

August 9, 1969

u By CARL LaF ONG

At fixst, ma n wo rs h ipped t he fo r ces of nat u re. Then, a li t tle
more sop histication, and prim itives began wor shipping a nima ls,
food a nd othe r s ai ntly humans.
Afte r 100,000 r ecorde d year s of man ' s histor y, he is n ow r ea dy
to wor s hip so ngw r iter s-s pecifica lly Bob Dylan.
The in vento r of t h is new quasi-his torical, qu asi-r el ig ious fo rm
is A.J. (fo r A la n J ules ) Weberma n, a n h on or stu den t dr op out
from Mic h igan State a nd C.C.N.Y. wh o became a Dyla n freak
afte r hea r ing t he s ingle of " L ik e a Roll ing Stone" backed w ith
"Gates of E den."
" It was t ha t on e th a t started m e on t his kick. I had h eard t h e
.- ~· ---=- fi rst f ew a lbu ms bu t th ey didn 't knock me out.
P lus, a t t h at time, I was under t h e impression
t hat Dy la n ha d begun to s low down on his
rad ical messages . L uckil y, I really got into
t h os e two son g s, a nd I beg a n to see tha t h e was
j ust cloakin g h is r a di cal t hought in son g fo rm.
From t h en on, I sta rte d t o co llect everyt h ing
I could a bout him a n d began m y book whi ch is
no·w fi nis h ed."
T he book is volume on e of Weberma n's p ro-
jected critique a n d hist or y of Dylan a n d covers
L ,. - Dy la n from h is beginn ings through May, 1966.
H is r esea rch has b een s urely t h at of a t r ue believer. Wl10 else
wou Id ha\7e located, r ead a n d d igested m ore tha n 1,000 n ewspaper
a nd magazi ne a rticles on on e man ? I n add ition to t h is re latively
easy-to-obta in sou r ce mater ial , Goberman co llected every s ingle
a nd a lbu m r eleased on Dy lan p lus the follow ing esoter ica :
• All th e out -takes from "High way 61 Rev is ite d" whi ch Dy l a n
t a p ed a n d sen t a s a gift to t he Byr ds .
• Th e fa mous unrel ea sed "basement t a pe" of songs t h at Dy la n
wr ote a n d r ecorded wit h t he Ba nd. Says We be rma n of t his, "If
Dy la n h ad ev er soug ht s olely commer cial s u ccess t h is is t h e
albu m that woul d h ave sold mill ion s of cop ies . Maybe t h at's wh y
h e didn't r elease it."
• A r ecordi n g of unr eleased and un copyr ig h ted son gs fr om t he
f;i.11 -of 1962 inclu ding r a re Dy la nan ia like "Cub a n Missile Cr is is"
a nd "Wher e You Gon n a Be on Th a.t J udgme n t D ay."
 AUGUST 7, l9b9

Seehes =
• ~ W~n '• p1iiiiiiiiliiltl
FAN CLUBS have always rum, "See tlae retiring p•Dliil!l1 t
provided the liturgy for hysterical cool bi& radical opinions/
star-worship. Thia one goes
beyond speechless adoration to
feverish academic research and
the one& who endow tile
university make the
motion/ Hear the pmt-.
ii..,.._
analysis, and calls itself the wha.e bead is so lost on nebalollf
"Dylan Archives." Probably more comiderations that he c:an"t
than the Beatles, Dylan bas locate hls knees."
undergone such rab id deification Weberman not only diMeeta
because be is so difficult to (i.njeet.s, infects) Dylan' • 1yrlea
fathom. The Archives, beaded by but. also solves the album ciowr
24-year-old A. J. Weberman, 1 problem. Here he interpieta a
boasts a catalogue of more than de&ail from Dylan's primiUff
1000 articles on Dylan in i-iD'in& on the Big Pint album:
chronological order, more than -rbe cat who is propping up the
100 unreleased tapes and demos piano player is Dylan since, u I
of sessions, rare uncopyrigbted mw said, Dylan is behind the
songs, and a copy of Dylan's acene writing the Band's lyrica.
unpublished novel "Tarantula." Notice bow light is shining on tile
Weberman himself bas pledged . . of Uw cal. Dylan ia proppiD&
hls time to explaining Dylan , his . .. but not on Dylan. Which
o_!Jllnizati"" sprang out. of us to the theme of ' One
.-pome courae be-taufbLat ':that tonight no light
the Free UniftnitJ .aw.cl .aie OD Dylan. "
• Tbe rea Uy 1trange part is that
"Dylanology L " Now be ii Welle"!faq wa Ile bas never tried
to find a publisher for w; e!Olltact D~lan himself. Pm
500-page dissertation on Dylan'• one thing, he knows that In
lyrics, the first volume in a l8'ies previous intervie ws Dylan haa pat
" which introduces hi1 OD people who ask questions
systemization of the Woodltock about his poetry. "He might
Bard's "pyramidal symboliml." dilapee with some of my stuff.

a key, like Kittredge'• no•

From what I can tell, the book ia Aleo I quote a lot of stuff that
OD bun't ~n copyrighted yet. Also
Shakespeare, to eYerY liDlle rilbt now Dylan's into a very bad
word, verae, and image In the bal. ~messed up now."
whole of Dylan's works t bUI far. On the other hand he suspects
For example, Weberman ' ndlord" was written to
maintains that the song "Vialom Wm.: He applied his ubiquitous
of Johanna" concerns Dylan'• .,..._ to the song and found it
idealism. Johanna repraeail wu direCted at someone who was
idealism, and Lu uise repn181da ~ Dylan. Like the line,
"the rotten way things are." Tiie ' 'My che9ms are beyond control"
verse which contains "See &he Of course, Weberman's work
primitive wallflower freeze/ Wiim mltbt aD be in va in if it should
the jelly-faced women all _...J tam oat to be true that Allen
Hear the one with the m ........ 01"1Mll has been ghosting
I': d
_., 'Jeez, I can • t •Jn my 1r--..•
,..-:-~
.. J lfrics all alont, llrith Phil
• m bolisH he un We ,lill• tm •itching in oa the muaic.
 August 9, 1969

u By CARL LaFONG
At first, man wo r sh ip ped the forces of nature. T hen, a littl e
more sophistication, a nd primitives began worshipping ani mal s,
food an d other sa intly humans.
After 100,000 reco rded yea r s of man's history, he is now ready
to worsh ip songw r iters-specifically Bob Dyla n.
The inventor of this new quas i-historica l, quasi-rel ig ious form
is A.J. (fo r Alan Ju les) Webe rman, an honor stude nt d r opou t
from Michi gan State a nd C.C. .Y. who became a Dylan freak
after hearing the s ingle of ·'Like a Rolling Stone" backed with
"Gates of Eden ."
"It was that one t hat sta rted me on this kick. I had heard the
.._ ...:_- first few a lbums but they didn't knock me out.
Plus, at that time, I was under the impression
that Dyla n had begun to slow down on hi
radica l messages. Lucki ly, I really got into
those two songs, and T began to see t hat he was
just c loaking his radi cal thought in song fo rm.
From then on, l started to co llect everyth ing
I cou ld about him and began my book which is
now fini shed."
The book is volume one of Weberman's pro-
jected critique a nd history of Dylan an d covers
Dy lan from his beginnings through May, 1966.
His re earch has been surely that of a true believer. Who else
wou Id have located, read and digested more than 1,000 newspa per
and magaz ine articles on one man? In addition to this relatively
easy-to-obtain source material, Goberman collected every single
and album released on Dylan plus the following esoteri ca:
• All the out-takes from ·'Highway 61 Revisited" w hich Dy lan
taped and sent a a gift to the Byrds.
• The famous unreleased '"basement tape" of songs that Dylan
wrote an d recorded with the Band. Says Weberman of th is. "If
Dylan had ever sought solely commercial succe s this is the
album that would have sold millions of co pies. Maybe t ha t's why
he didn't re lease it."
• A recording of unreleased an d uncopyl'ighted songs from t he
fall -of 1962 in clud ing ra re Dylanania like "Cuban Miss ile Crisis"
a nd "Where You Gonna Be on That Judgment Day."
,...

• A r ecorded duet with P hil Ochs of an unreleased so ng called

"The Balla d of Donal d White."
• Dylan's ori g inal demos for Witma rk Mu s ic in cl udi ng "Paths
of Victory," "Let Me Die in My Foots teps" an d " Moonshine
Blues."
• A tape of Dylan pe rforming live at the Gasl ight Ca.f e in 1962
featu ring an un released tune called " T a lking Bea r Mou ntain Pi c-
nic Massacre Disaster Blues" and a duet with Dave Van Ronk on
"Car Car."
• A non-put -on interview from May, 1963, with Chicago radio
personality Studs Terkel.
• A tape of Dylan warbling "Q uit You r Lowdown Ways,"
Elvis Pres ley's first single for Sun Records.
Also included are LP's on whi ch Dyl a n plays under assumed
names-Roosevelt Gook on a Tom Rush Elektra LP a nd Blind Boy
Grun t on a Broadside topica l song collection.
H av ing collected all this material, Weberma.n has proceeded
to make a n a me for h imself. H e cla ims that Dy lan's song " Dear
Landlord" is addressed t o h im personally a nd that Dylan sent
friend s to tape Weberman 's course in Dy la nol ogy a.t New Y ork's
Free University; v that he new John
" i e P eace a Chan ce contarns a me

is recen y comp e e m an u scnp is now m, ing the round s

of publis hers. It may be some time before it is published due t o
the depth of Webe rma n's criticism. For instance, b e claims t hat
the "Baby Rule" contained in "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
r efers to capitalism in general and s pec ifi cally capit alis m in
Cuba. Weberman a lso maintains that " Restless Farewell" is a
( Continued on page 54)

1······,,:;:;·;~~;;;·ii;:;;;;;~·~;:;·······
i (Continu.d from P•Y• 28)
slam at all m ed ia, particularly Newsweek Magazine w hich h e
I
a ll eges wr-0ng ly accused Dylan of fa lsely claiming authorship of
"Blowin' in the Wind."
Weberman says, " After that Newsweek stor y, Dylan never gave
a rea lly st ra ight interview again excep t to ver y close friends. He
refined the a rt of the put-on to a n unpara lle led degree. The re is
also a lot of eviden ce t hat Dy lan was never inte rview d by Play-
boy Maga zin e but instead wr ote t h e entire interview himself."
Weberma n cla ims to be the world's l eadi ng auth ority on Dy la.n
but does not pretend to fully comprehend his idol. "I have a copy
of 'Tarantula,' his unpublis hed novel, an d frankl y I can't under-
stan d it at a ll. I 've only read a small pa rt of it. T o read i t, y ou
would h a ve to hav e a key like t hose p r ovi ded with Joyce's 'Finne-
gan's Wake'. But I do t hink I under stan d more of Dylan than any
other critic."
T he Dylanolog ist cla ims that t he bat-tipping photo of Dy la n on
the cover of "Na s h ville Skyline" is his way of bidding goodbye
to pop success. " I t hink, from now on , Dy la n intends to continue
in his new bag of very simple ly rics cloaking radical t hought and
if the public doesn't dig it, t hat's too bad."
We will keep in close touch with Weberm an. For the latest
news and views on R obert Zimmerman, stay tun ed to this station.
 ibt ~t\tr fork iimts
Is 'El Topo' a Con?
By VINCENT CANBY

man. . . . Each man readS

what he wauts to iuto the
film. A. J. Webberman reads
Dylan and revolutionary poli-
tics into it, as he does into
everything. The reYiewer
from Rolling Stone reads l11s
own ineptitude into the film
by his inability to use his
eyes.•.. "

Rock Makes the Academic Scene

By MeCANDUSR PHILLIPS

~
~ - A.J.
;'\Veberman, e expert on Bob
Dylan.
Mr. Luckman said Mr.
Webennan "makes it his
business actually to go rum-
maging through Dylan'y
rubbish pail" to add to his
~llectigp of Dylagobilia

Tarantula
By Bob Dylan.
137 pp. New York:
The Macmillan Company. $3.95.

! By ROBERT CBRISTGAU

AMajor Yippie Theorist

Seized on Drug Charges
Effect of LSD Studied
A. J. Weherman, an unnffi-
cial biographer of Boh Dylan.
the singer, said that while at-
tending New York University
night school. Beal became con-
vinced of the importance of
psychedelic drugstoyouth pol-
itics.
"His first paper was on the
effect of LSD on the politics of
~ies and he decided acid
radicalized them," Mr. Weber-
man, a formt>r roommate of
Beal. explained in a telephone
interview.
"He woulcf have nothing to
do with 'death drugs,' which is
what he called speed and hero-
in," Mr. Weberman said.
He said that the police dis-
liked Beal because he "organ-
ized the freak quarter.. and
therefore set out to arrest him
and curb his activities on the
Lowe!' East Side.
INTERVIEW WITH DYLAN

' There's a cat nmr1ed Alan

Weberman who writes in the
, East 'Village Other. He calls
himself the world's leading
'\ J)ylanologlst. You know him?
No . . , ob, yes, I
did. Is this the
guy who·
tears up all _
my songs?
Well, l
he oughta take a rest. He's way off.- I
saw something he wrote about "All Along
the Watchtower," and boy, let me tell
you, this boy's off. Not only did be cre-
ate some type of fantasy-be had Alan
Ginsberg in there-he couldn't even hear
the words to the song right. He didn't
hear the song right. Can you believe
that? I mean this fellow couldn't bear
the words . . . or something. I bet he's
a hard working fellow, though. I bet be
really does a good job if he could find
something to do but it's too bad it's
just my songs, 'cause I don't really know
if there's enough material in my songs
to sustain someone who is. really out to
do a big job. You understand what I
mean?
I mean a fellow like that would be
much better off writing about Tolstoy,
or Dostoevesky, or Freud . . . doing a
really big analysis of somebody who has
countless volumes of writings, But here's
me, just a few records ODL Somebody
devoting so much time to those few
records, when there's such a wealth of
material that hasn't even been touched
yet. or hasn't even been beard or read
. . . that escapes me. Does it escape
you'
I understand putting time into it, but
I read this, in this East Village Other;
1 read it . . . and it was cl.OYer. And
I got a kick out of reading it (laughter)
on some level, but I didn't want to
think anybody was taking it too seri-
ously. You follow me?
He's jusf representative o/ thousands
of people who do take it seriously.
Well, that's their own business. Why
don't I put it that way. That's their
business and his business. But . . . rm
the. source of that and I don't know if
it's my business or not, but I'm the
source of it. You understand? So I see
it a little differently than all of them do.
n J • It f I
INTERVIEW WITH DYLAN

There's a cat nfmied Alan

Weberman who writes in the
• gast Yilla1e Other. He calls
himself the K-'Orld's leading
. D)•lanologist. You know him?
No • . , oh, yes, I
did. Is this the
guy who·
tears up all _
my songs?
We~
he oughla 1ake a re~I. He'i. way off.- I
saw something he wro te about "All Along
the Watchtower,'' and boy; let me tell
you, this boy's ofi. Not only did he cre-
ate some type of fantasy-he had Alan
Ginsberg in there-he couldn't even hear
the words to the song right. He didn't
hear the song right. Can you belie1•e
that? I mean this fellow couldn't hear
the words . . . or something. I bet he's
a hard working fellow, though. I bet he
really does a good job if he could find
something to do but it's too bad it's
just my songs, 'cause I don't really know
if there's enough material in my songs
to sustain someone who i$ really out to
do a big job. You understand what I
mean?
I mean a fellow like that would be
much better off writing about Tolstoy,
or Dostoeveslty, or Freud • . . doing a
really big analysis of somebody who has
countless volumes of writings, But hcre·s
me, just a few records oaL :&>mcbody
devoting so much timo to those few
records, when there's such a wealth of
material that hasn't even been touched
yet, or hasn't even been heard or read
. . . that escapes me. Doca it escape
you1
I understand putting time into it, but
I rud this, in this East Yillago Other;
I read it . . . and it was c&Dver. And
I got a kick out of reading it (laughter)
on some level, but I didn't want to
think anybody was taking it too seri-
ously. You follow me?
He's ju.rt. representative of thousands
of people who do take It seriously.
Well, that's their own business. Why
don't I put it that way. That's their
business and his business. But . . . rm
the source of that and I don't know if
it's my business or not, but I'm the
source of it. You undeIStand? So I sec
it a little differently than all of them do.
 ...
CHICAG ~ILY NEW
satura_a&av_Anri\ 11-1s. 1971
VV HEN BOB DYLAN first - DYLANOLOGY was a joy "ALAN," 1 s a I d , " Dylan
arrived In New York city in be 1 ore 1967 when Bob was rolled up his sleeves for yolf
1960, he was 19 and Al an J. singing "A HanS ~italn"I a· and you still believ~:he's shoot-
Weberman was 13. Gonna Fall.'' •'Masters of ing heroin?"

Just call him Dylan, as everybody now

DylanllliUl ~
By MARSHALL ROSENTHAL
Alan I,
Weberman:
''There's a whole
secret language
of rock music . . •
One night I~
' flashed t~ ..
Bob Dyl~_ IOng
'Maggie's 11trm'
i$ really about
capitalism."
Deilv News fJo'1nWlllte
knows, was then a folk singer
from Hibbing, MIJiD., and Web-
erman, as everybod y doesn't
know, was the retired president
of the Haystack Cillhoun Fan
Club (Haystack was a 300-pound
rural wresder in the early days
of iIV).
Now, Bob Dylan, 30, Is as
much a symbol as a singer, and
Alan J. Weberman, 24, is "the
W or I d ' s Foremost Dylanolo-
glst."
IT has taken seven hard
years of scientific study for
Alan tO attain that title. First
he quit his job as an inter-
viewer at a New York employ-
ment agency and dropped out
of night school to take up
DyJanology as a full-time pur
suiL
Today, he teaches Dylanolo-
gy at the radical Alternative
Un i v er s i t y in New York,
writes about Dylanology for
one of New York's under-
ground newspapers, the East
Village Other, and recently
was afforded international rec-
ognition In the world of rock
through an 8-page story in
Rolling Stone magazine on
"The Alan J. Weberman Sto-
ry.'•
BUT what Is Dylanology?
Alan told me all about It this
week.
"There's a whole secret lan-
guage of rock music," he said.
"I'd been listening to Dylan
since about 1965, and one night
that year I discovered that his
song 'Maggie~s Farm' is really
about capitaltsm. Dylan sings
'I ain't gonna work on Mag·
gie's Farm no more' and I
flash that that means he's not
going to take part ln Amer-
ica's materialism. Pretty soon
I'm remembering oU!er lines
and words from other songs,
and it's all beginning to fall
into place."
To make it all fall further
into place, Alan devised the
first "Dylan Concordance."
First fn his hea~ then on index
cards, and now computerized,
Alan has taken eaclt 1'ord that
Dylan has 8*' SUftl'Or ~en
and brougbt:fWm..~1n a
maplflc~.fe­
tails their ~~~~­
ence, date of ntterance.:anctlhe
context in which it appears.
War," "The Times, They Are
a-Changin' ", and "Blowin' In
the Wind." He was talking
about politics then, anduelng a
"secret .language" to get It on
AM radio, Alllfl believes.
'"Rain' means 'violence' ln
Dylan's code," says Alan. "It's
easy to figure out. In the Con-
cord~ 1 fmd that Dylan
sings ~ rain.' 'pray for
r~ ~11se 'e11;.i>eetln' rain,'
and ~tears are like the
rain'·~ dHferent songs.
Then J.'1fi0k at these phrases
all together and look for the
l ea s t ambiguous context:
'Hard rain' is nuclear war, so
It means 'violence'.''
But things have changed
since 1967. Dylan is no longer
singing about violence. He's
gone soft. Or rather, accord·
ing to Alan. he's gone hard.
Alan believes that located
within the ostensibly simple
lyrics of Dylan's most recent
work lurks the shadow of a ter·
rible heroin addiction that has
turned him away from revolu·
tionary social concerns.
" Just look at 'Wlnterlude'
(on Dylan's current album,
N e w Morning); be sings,
'Come back and we'll cook up
a meal,' which means, 'we'll
take a fix.' On 'Day of the Lo-
custs' he says, 'Storm clouds
are r a g i n g all around my
door,' and that means, 'I'm
bemg exposed as a heroin ad-
dict' Then he says, 'I think to
myself J may not take It any-
more,' which means, 'Weber-
man is going around exposing
me; I better not take heroin -
anymore.'"
EARLIER this year, Alan
met Dylan, and Rolling Stone
reported this encounter:
" 'You know,' said Bob, 'A
lot of people have been asking
m e a b o u t your theories.
They're going around saying
you're telling people I'm a jun-
kie.'
" 'Well • • . man . . . are
you?'
"Then a most incredible
scene h!lppened: slowly and
deliberately, Bob Dylan re-
moved bis jacket and rolled up
his sleeves. 'Clean,' be said,
pointing to his arm. 'No track
marks.' ..
I
"If someone Is a public fig·
ure like Dylan,'' Alan replied.
with a gl"eat intensity, "he
could very well shoot In his
leg! I don't know if he's using
heroin now His song. 'One
More Weekend,' sounds like
he's only using It on weekends
now. I talked to him on the I
phone once and asked if I
could see him. He answered. •
'I'm all tied up for the week-
end.' See, he was going to tic
up his arm to shoot smack1"
Alan also has organized the
"Free Bob Dylan from IDm-
self" movement in New York.
"He's become a victim of
capitahsm and heroin. I never
thought he'd sell out, but J
guess l was wrong.
"There's nothing redeeming
about him anymore. Sure, he's
nice to me when I see him, but
that's just diplomatic - we're
still talking about the shape of
the table.
"What I'm doing now ls raJ.
lying public opinion against
Dylan. My thing is exposing
him and letting people judge
for themselves where he's at.''
AT THA'I POINT, our con·
versation was interrupted as
Alan picked up the phone to
check the time"of his next ra·
dio interview.
"Dylan. you've got to I UP:
to your responsibility as a cul-
ture hero," said Alan J. We-
berman to Bob Dylan, as re-
ported by Alan J. Weberman
in the East Village Other.
"You're DYLAN, man, eve
freek has a soft spot for y
they love ya, you're DYLAN,
DYLAN, DYL-AN."
And Alan J. Weberman,
World's Foremost Dylanolog-
lst, reported that Bob Dylan
replied, "I'm not Dylan, Al
yQ\Cre Dylan."

A. J. WEBERMAN, who as you
j A. J. WEBER:\IAN is achieving
..._f
~~1¥ know by now styles
as '·the -w«a~y liv-
ing Dylanologist," ¥ whose
radio and magazine revieWS bave
made him an ode> t>ump on the
rock scene, will 6e teaching his
course in "Dy~' at the Al-
I ternate U. every \fiiaesday at 6
p. m. beginning November 4.
The main attraction of the
course will follow the ~
Dylanology raps, when Jr.,
I berman will play some ~
hours of rare tapes from his
collection. The ~ which for
part · of the ''DYian Archives,''
include the out~ d e fear that prospecllve subjects
records Dylan oil•-~-~ C~
lumbia, all of Dylatl~iews.
some rough "blisement" tapes
as well as finished bootleg
albums and some rock tapes that
Dylan recorded with the Band in
England in 1966, which a lot of
people say is some of the best
music Dylan ever made.
Although he's &be helter
part of the past' ytlrs
putting together ~ ly
complete collectfob. We......._LU
is not interested in keeping it all
to himself-6tudents who want to
bring their own equipment to the
class will be welcome to la»8
anything they want.
1.J.l_~~===~~~::~~iii~I necessarily
national repute as garbage col-
lector to the stars. No longer con-
tent to expound on the hidden sig-
nificance of anchovy tins and used
Pampers :matched from among
Dylan·s lhrowaw:iys, A. J 1s put-
:-msg fus Fam&i bylanological
mflbod ,f interpretatiOQ to use to
l'e¥e8l untii-now unknown faets
about s~ diverse culture heroes
as Abbie Hoffman and Neil
Simon And Esquire magazine,
according to sources, will catalog
the revealing results.
A. J told me be will be analyz-
ing the ga.rbage of some 30 wcll-
knowns for the article He didn't
want to discuss any names for
mil!ht begm to incinerate; the
onfv reason he mentioned Nell
Simon and Abbie\\ as that he had
,.already completed hll> sea rch
jhrough their dispo.sed_-0fs.
Garbage analysis 1s used by
\\ eberman as a sort of ecological
litmus test : he rates people ac-
cording to how much they y,aste
and expoc:es their political preten-
sions. I asked him how Dylan
fared b~ this -.tandard I y, 1sh l
could sav that the motl1er fucke1
threw away uneaten teaks But
the truth IS that Dylan had very
modest garbage " I wondered if
rummaging through trash didn't
reqwre a strong stomach. "Not
Fortunately. I only
look through rich people's gar-
bage, so it's ah\ ays rresh. ll nevi:r
sits around for three weeks !'O it
never has a chance lo get moldy."
Does Weberman really believe
vou can learn anythmg about peo-
ple by studying their trash? · ·Yes.
I firmlv believe that you are what
you tru=ow away." If anyone has it
in mind to out-A. J and expose
the stars in all their intimate real-
ity, they'll have t? don overalls
---
and pose as sewer inspectors.
----
FOB- str.'iwE STRANGE re
Al~pp decided to invite
eberman to be his guest on a
pilot for a new radio show Capp
was taping several weeks ago. I
beard a tape of the interview and,
although Capp seemed to have
formatted the show as a Joe Pyne
bait-the-guest affair, A. J . cer-
tainly bested Capp at his own
thumbscrew methods.
Capp began by introducmg A. J .
as a ··revolutionary com-
munist... and kept referring to
him sarcastically as a Cai'tneyism. Paul's personal mJ
"fascinating and inspiring
yolDlg American:· As Capp's
heavy-handed snidery droned on
and on, A. J . grew impatient to
get into his standard Dylan-~e­
ripoff artist rap. Capp egged him
on: "Mr. Weberman's hobby is
going through people's garbage,"
and Weberman retorted lhal the
precedent for reportorial trash
collecting had been set by colum-
nist Jack Anderson " Anderson
went through J. Edgar Hoover's
garbage: · A. J. claimed." And he
went through yours too. t's
re he found out about your
bein~ arrested for exposing your-
self. ·
Capp, the righteous defender .of
right-wing morality, countered 11"-
relevantly with a vague threat:
" We won't mention that on the
show. just like we won't mention
Mr. Weberman's Michigan arrest
for dope peddling." Somehow, A.
J. didn't feel that the fact he had
once been busted for selling grass
would destroy his image or ca-
reer. "How can you compare
selling a harmless drug with ch!ld
molesting? A nice way lo m-
troduce young k1~ to se~.
showing them your wizened gem-
tals.'"
"I think we·ve had enough or
Mr. Weberman," Ca pp broke in,
and the interview came to an end.
A. J. had broken the unwritten
talk-show rule that a guest must
never confront his host per-
sonally, and that confrontation
and baiting only go so far.
...
- ~
TJIE DYLAN LIBERATJO
Frd-an ever-ehanging amo
pbiSm centered on David Peel at
A. J. Weberman-is now the Ro
Liberation Front. They fe
they've done the job as far
Dylan goes, and that bis surpri
appearance at the Bengla De
benefit proves he's taken one st•
in the ·•right" direction. "I
looked like the old Dylan, a:
sane: his old, political songs-th
shoftiJlbJ'"lll!ad must be char
ing.-"
Their new goal: to eembat Iv.
tJque ~ many reck fans
been oftle wane since his
1plit from the Beatles
appearance of cutey
"we're jUst folks .. exposes of
life with I.Inda and the kids
such places as Life magaz·
And then there's the shoo-be
style of his two solo albums. A
\fSY, it'• been enough to make
Dy)aq ,ftbbers dub him
"S~oftbe '70s" and dee·
re~is memory as to wh
bis roots are. "McCartney
become the epitome of the a
tical, aristocratic rock star,
tally lacking in commitment
revolutionary concern," cla
the RLF.
To .d@matize its new-fo
anti-Pm&in. the group will
tried and true
methods : they're holding a d
onstration in front of Jais
York home at 895 P~ A
<off 79th Street) on AQ1USt 28
p.m . Predictably lDlpredlct~
entertainment from David
and his legions will be
terspersed wilL fiery speech
nouncing Paul and Linda,
show of movement "stars'
hoped for . Samples of the
Cartney garbage-cbaracteri
as "salient and revealing"
be examined and comment
Finally, a mock funeral will
held <complete with re
hearse> to answer affirma ·
once and for all that time-hon
question-Is Paul Dead?
 ...

New Yort Posl

F OUN DED BY AL EX ANDER HAMJllON IN 1801

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1971

'Cc.-~ c 1m New Ylll'k ,.., Cllr!Mlr•llon
;:&

8:45-WBAI-nI, P ublic Affairs Magazine. Bob Dylan

scholar A. :r. Weberman. • .J

lO:S0-(1.S) Free Time Cl12 hours). San

Francisco Mime Troupe; Boy Dylan
scholar A. :r. Webennan. Julius Lester
and :Jonathan Black, hosts.

ClI-IlKCAGO
.- - -~-

======~======· CmCAGO DAILY NEWS, Monday, April 19, 1971 43

iele-visiOn listings
11:30 Underground News • . . . . 44
Guesr, Alan J. Weberman, " World's
foremost Dylanologisf."

Friday DECEMBER 3, 1971

EVENING
I -
m ,· -····-- - · .
_ IERTOll -
I........ ~
Pierre's guest: A.J . Webennan, who
believes "you are what you throw
away."
 Pop Sc~ne
ALFRED G. ·ARONOWITZ

That Block Party

1 hate e,·en to put A. J . Weberman's name Into print.
because he feeds on publicity like a soap bubble Olt ~- They
both ,:.arry as much weight. But A. J. ran a llttle'. ~b:W
yeste~y that simply can't go unnoticed.
Armed with an inflamma-
tory °IPeech, he staged a have led to violence. Weber-
de~onSµation on MacDougal man knew that Dylan wasn't
St. designed to attack Bob home. He told people on the
Dylan as an enemy of the street that Dylan was in Is-
people. What's more, he rael.
stageitll right in front of the * * •
hou~ ~'!!hich Bob 8:"d his Naturallv ._~ a.te vd didn't
family ~ been trying to go fnr. ~et s'3,\<l· e There
settle cloWii to a life of com- u,.'o\1\\."0 ..,e " 0 ..,i 1.. there
parative anonymity. _ ~ \et\. e~~ \\\t\"\' f. one
* * "<> • :1\'\. unOl ~ -i«\\\\ -a.ined
A. J.'s greatest cl t #- "'lJOu\d. c\a.tc~ \. :1\ and
fame Is that he once oH-"'a.1\ a.s~0 ~\ns1"°te '>Oda
through Dylan's garbagl. J\ t \O <oe tauo1\ ~e u,.1\g ,,.as
an accomplishment whi~ se'I. c'n 'J\~ ~ Ct '$ 0 ~'$ )n-
since won him a fat ~ s~ \st ~~e t _
mcnt from Esquire. TI a.~-r we \)\a.tl. 1.JC ~e 0
want him to go through ~to ei'<~ 'le· . c'I ;t..e<l
garbage pails of a lot of oth ~e"t a.\\' e,ct '~ 'ltt:<l \1\
.famous people. A. J.'s th o ~· l · ~ o t ne to 6 U\e
type who can handle thi . ti'<'o~a.'\et\.C ge &.1\~~a,a.1
kind of mission. <l\S Mf w-- rpt'oa a)l...8 'o\ ~
fouch is the way with non- cb~\~~ t. a l ~e\l· 'll\W
el'ltities who yearn for the -P~a.- P ~t\S ~tell
talent of their Idols. Dylan's l \l \t•~ oee!' es· i ~e
most ob,·ious transgression b ca.a.'le ~ted. a "t\<l
against A. J. is that he has A. . c ~~t \\t! QO\-s\.ef' a.
enslaved A. J. with his da." l· f t"ne a 'J.'CJ at·

I'
charisma. The garbage pick- tJ:ie ~~e~ s o~ a tot \\\C
er has been hung on Dylan hmi n'0 · we co\> e e\S8 iect\~
almost trom the beginning. ~· ~net\ 50n'e0~te<l c~ v,o\~
He h;, llfo •Tit- to~1 ,,.._.a_ ~"' '"""' ,;o ,.._.
Ing iOn Interpretations of mit f~..f\o\a.t'0 tu.no· ~et tift! e:>~~t
Dylan's , all of them so Crom a. 'oa\\ wa.t o \l'?,; :~,~
.fu.r-fet
if he's
tJtal you wonder ap_Pllca to \et {o~
g to the same said that t.\\C ~~o 'jO "" \\e el'le \).\3.
0
!\)\~e~\.

songs ~ neig1hb<\ \\\~· b\lsted to-tJe¥<. ened o\.\1'.

Jives at 6 ~ to get 't\a.ra e~ ~il
and blocks i~s ~"no "'(\aS> IP -P'i · \:
ed, the per, atl.'io'f\e s n'uc"n~t to. •s a. u
to close Mall" a. "oe s'll'o ~~ ,t: {a.'f\5
tween Bleeck ll ge· 1 ~~
between 2 and ~ ~~ tton
there yesterda ~ '\)e ~P-¥
with loudspeak s"'t\o-J.\n
horn.
·- -
NEW YORK-Bob Dylan has turned
30, which Charlie Brown called "the
most depressing thing I've ever heard."
When a few hundred uninvited guests
showed up to celebrate in front of Bob's
house on MacDougal Street, they staged
a party so dispiriting that you began to
think maybe it was the most depressing
thing you'd ever hc:jllJ.
The thing was l)rOmOtc:d by A. J.
Weberman, wbo .::avenred Dylanology
- and now is b : tumin it into .a five-
synonym for slander. Weberman
stood on a garbage can with a bullhorn
and presented bis case: Dca>ding Dy-
lan's songs proves that Dylan is a junkie;
Dylan bas turned into a capitallit who
b stock in munitions companies; Dy-
lan gave up social protest to avoid har-
assment by the government so be could
shoot up in peace.
For more tangible garbage, Weberman
turned to Xerox copies of an unfinished
letter Dylan wrote to Johnny Cash and
Weberman scored from Dylan's trashcan.
Weberman banded out the copies to peo-
ple who, for the most part, read them
with puzzled expressions and then threw
them away.
It was a beautiful sunny day - the
clearest air ever measured in New York
- and a crowd of about 500 showed up.
When Weberman produced a birthday
cake decorated with hypodermic needles
instead of candles, some of the guests
decided their tastes were incompatJ"ble
and drifted away. Others stayed and ate
free bot dogs, asking "Who paid for the
hot dogs?" The vendors under their um-
brellas just smiled. Jerry Rubin and Abbie
Hoffman paraded around.
A face appeared in one of the win-
dows of Dylan's duplex townhouse and
Weberman shouted excitedly, "Some-
body's looking through the window!" He
grabbed the bullhorn and yelled "We've
got yon surrounded, Bob."
But Bob wasn't home. The face in
the window belonged to John Rosenberg,
age 11. "Everybody thought I was one
of Dylan's kids, but rm just a friend of
the people who live next door," John
said with a big grin.
· The party was punctuated by little
knots of ugliness. A guy who scatteRld
some play money on Dylan's doorstep
was busted for littering and "failure to
comply with a tawful order," i.e., to pick
it up. A drunk tried to punch Weber-
man in the nose. Weberman sang "Blow-
in' in the Wind" in a voice so far off
key as to produce renewed waves of
sY"'8thy for the drunk.
Jlfnally Weberman put on a 1966 Dy-
lan tape on the P.A and it blasted Clllt
some of the greatest rock music ~.
while the crowd stared intently at the
empfy windows of Dylan's home.
 LONDON DAILY MIRROR
August 31, 1971

PAUL McCarloey'a
in-laws, the New
York family
Easlman, were
recently treated to
lhe macabre
spectacle of a mock
funeral for him
being' condueted
outside their smart
Park-avenue aputr
ment.. lo cbarp ol
the riles wa. a
stra~e roana aan
Wled Alan~
Weberman, who
prefers to be 111.nown
as just A.J. Be has
turned his &UaUon
to McCartne, lll&er
a lo~ periotl 91"
harassinr ~
Dylan in sinallar
fashion. He Dald for
advertisemenia tlla&
broug-b l a Slilall· .
~owd along- te Ille
rtloaJ. Whal bM
Webenrutn got
against McCartney ~
'"His lyrics 1aek
lhe slig-latest
llOCial commitment.,"
ays Webermaa.
.. Be's rapidJy
beeomill&' the Sinatra
or the ~venlies."
Weberman ran Info
opposition from
young- drh sUll ea(er
to display leyalty.
Dis rollowers '91ickly
whipped up !'lens
with I.he la!'t wenl :
"McCartney
groapies are
necr@pbiliactJ.•

CHICAGO DAiLY NEWS

Rock scribe hits McCartney
By Robb Baker
NEW YORK-A. J. Weber-
man, the underground reporter
who first made his claim to
fame by waging a kind of holy
war against Bob Dylan for his
"loss of social consciousness,"
drove a hearse up New York's
Pai'rt Avenue to decry cwo new
pop .. music culture culprits:
Paul McCartney and Rolling
Stone Magazine.
\Veberman and his Rock Lib-
eration Front staged a happen-
. ing Thursday in front of the
I a r g e apartment building
where the former BeaUe and
his wife• Linda, are said to be
erate ties of rockdom's leading
publication.
'"Is it true,·• queried one
s P a c e d-<:l u t demonstrator,
"that Linda Eastman used to
be a photographer !or Rolling
Stone and that's 'why they give
all McCartney's albums good
reviews?" Weberman mum-
bled ll probably was and
changed Lhe subjec1.
If the McCartneys (or. as
one reporter called them. the
Eastmans) were home watch-
ing che e,·ent, they didn't let
on. The building attendants re-
mained good-natured and po-
lite, but firmly kept the prot$-
··Hipsters, yipscers and es-
tablishment journalists· knock
me your lobes," he orated in
his worse Webenmanese, with
no apparent apologies to Wil-
liam Shakespeare· "I come
here to lay McCartney out, not
to hip you to him. The bad jazz
this pig blew wails long after
he's cut out."
Weberman then went on to
read aloud lvrices from some
of the someY.hat-less-than-in-
tr 1ca t e McCii.rtnev com-
positions such as "Oo You"
and "The Lovely Linda."
But he attacked McCartney
not only for becoming the Si-
0

living. ters outside the doors. natra of the Seventies" but

Only about 50 or 60 persons
showed up for the mock tuner-
al for Paul, and things were
rel~ively quier.
WITH PORTABLE loudspeak-
er fn hand, Weberman railed
~gainst the sins of McCanney--
ism and the capitalist-ronglom-
WEBERl\fAN FEELS th a t
the "is Paul really dead?"
controversy is a moot ques-
tion. The point is. he insisted.
that McCanney is "dead in the
head" and that the music he
has written since leaving the
Beatles Is "garbage."
also for his lack of social oon-
cem and relevance (bis oRI
gripe against Dylan): "Isn't lt
the duty of the artist today to
say something about what's
happening in Vietnam? What
b a s Paul McCanney said
about the murder of George
.Jackson?"
Vol. 5 No. 8 August 1971

§
Bob Zimmerman 's
Birthday Party
The Dylan rumors this month have
even less credibility than usual but
who knows? Supposedly he's gone to
Israel and is thinking of changing his
name back to Zimmerman. It's also
rumored he is a Ie adin~ financial sup-
porter to the Jewish Defense League.
Meantime on his birthday, a bunch
of so-called political activists called
the Dylan Liberation Front paraded
in front of his house and had an im-
promptu party. D ylan did not appear.
Evidently those tapes that D yla n made
with Leon Russell et al are not pres-
ently scheduled for release.
 DUian Lats
'Em Eat Calla -
Who'd want to miss his own birthday
party? Bob Dylan, that's Jiho. Dylan
has turned thirty, but he wa11n"i around
to attend the celebration in front of his
Greenwich Village apartment. AQd it'&.
just as well, since A. J. Walterman was
hosting the festivities-a supeatar's bad
dream, with the bogeyman_:as master of
ceremonies.
Weberman, for those who are
unfamiliar with his invaluable
contributions to musical and pOetic
truth, Is the self-styled expert ill ttie
pseudo-science of Dylanology. A.~
who made his reputation by going .
through Dylan's garbage pail (literally), ,
Is fanatically well-versed on Dylan's life
and work-but bis far-fetched
interprefationa and .,..-achlngs have
made him a standing joke in the music
world. Fact is, Weberman is a peculiar
sort of parasite who lives by feeding off
of someone else's career while trying to
de&troy.that person at. thesame time.
On this occasion, A. J. took great
pains to set the stage for his birthday
party-crucifixion. He ran adftrtisement.s
billing the event as a celebntion of
Dylan's thirtieth birthday, pure and
simple. Of course, there was no
indication of Weberman's true intent, or
that Bob himself would oot be present.
Moreover, A. J.-who fancies himself as
an uncompromising revolutionary-had
no qualms about. enlisting the
cooperation of New York's Finest: He
succeeded in obtaining a permit from
the 6th Precinct, on groldlds that he
wanted to honor a famous neighbor.
The permit allowed A. J . to close off
MacDougal St. between Bleecker and
Houston-one of the :v illage's busier
thoroughfares-from 2 to 5 p.m. He was
there promptly on time with
loudspeaker and bullhorn.
"Bobby, come on out. We know
~ you're in there .. . we all know you're
home." A. J. is mounted on the garbage
pail which has become bis trademark
addressing a crowd of several hundred
curious spectators. When the house fails
to answer, A. J. crows triumphantly,
"You see-Bob Dylan doesn't care
about people any more. Dyla(l doesn't
care if you or I drop dead."
"Dylan dpes care," shouts baet a
lieckler. "He want.s you to drop deed."
Ignoring such callous remarks, A. J.
continues witb bis aermon on Dylan~
faU from ~ ~Q :f'll81 once Dylan
wrote about ·flOJltlei ~ songs. Then
his songs got different and he was
writing in images and symbols, bot that
was right on too because I discovered,
using the Dylaoological method, that if
you know bow to understand them
\b8Y meant the same thing. Like 'rain:
in all of Dylan's poetry means violence.
Like it's all there in 'Gates of Eden '
wbic:h Is the first song that got me inki
the Dylanological method. I've fed all
Dylan's poetry into a computer and it
aD checks out.
"OnJy now Dylan's not writing about
)Olitics any more. When be sings 'l'U be
your baby tonight' he's really saying
'I'm gonna cuddle up with the
establishment tonight, fuck you.'
"But what he's really saY1DC is I'm
gonna eUddle up with aome smack.
Dy lan•s new son1s ain't about
politic~they.'re about selling out his
soul for smack. Yefi can see it in his
symbols now. Love means heroin in
Dylan ' s symbolism now. It wasn't
money that corrupted Dylan. it was
smack, and the capitalism fit right in
after that. I feed Dylan's poetry into t he
computer now and the computer comes
out with bags of smack. Ha. We had to
bust the computer. That's a joke.
"Now I've been having some long
conversations with Dylan. I see him
twice a week. Right now I'm trying to
approach him as another human being. I
have to try to get him interested in life
again. But if he doesn't shape up fast
I'm going to read the riot act to him."
Meanwhile, "I.rue" Dylan supporters
engage in a diversionary technique,
evidently planned beforehand to
combat the evil A. J. "Hey! Free bot
dogs down the block," they shout.
"Free hot dogs that way!" Several
Sabrett pushcarts are in fact dispensing
free franb-lin event which significantly
distracts from A. J.'s Dylanological
didacticlsm. Weberman darkly hints, "I
was told lhere would be retaliation for
this part ."
The distractions begin to multiply, as
A~ Hoffman wows the crowd with
his repertoire of e~ yo-yo trleks.
The VilJale's any street-musician-in·
residence, David Peel, plugs in a set of
amplifien lnllde · the Scbimphrenia
.. Boutique, aero&& the street from Dylan's
lbouse. The noise and jubilation of
guitar, hannonica, oongas and as;orted
garbage ca.ns add a definite note of
insanity to the proceedings.
But the lhow must go on, and A. J .
readies a special birthday cake he has
prepared for the occasion. Festooned
with play money, the cake is topped
with large candles painted to look like
hypodermic needles. This tasteful little
gimmick brings a soda bottle sailing out
of the crowd-aimed at A. J., but bitting
1
David Peel. Right away, two of David 's
conga players charge into the crowd in
search of the suspected bottle thrower.
David seizes the tray holding Dylan's
birthday cake :ind bashes the heckler
over the head-but the ro uted
,antagonist escapes, vowing to return.
The party continues in this lunatic vein
eventually petering out towards the end
of the afternoon.
At about 5 o'clock, a news team
from 11 BC appears on the scene
knocking at Dylan's door. When no on;
answers they turn to ask Weberman and
friends if this is "Mr. Dylan·s house."
Ohe reporter brandishes the station's log
of story assignments, with an entry
reading "Party at Bob Dylan's house, 5
p.m."
A. J . explodes, literally hopping up
and down with frustration. "But you
missed it! You missed the real party!
I'm A. J. Weberman, don't you know
who I am? I'm very well known. I'm the
spokesman. Do you want a statement?"
"Well, I'm sorry," the NBC reporter
replies, "our log book says Bob Dylan's
party, and-"
"But ! got it on the log book. I called
up. Ifs my party actually. l'U give you a
statement on it. Dylan's not here."
"Well, if he's not, we'll have to go.".
The newsmen rush off.
"That's the trouble with the med ia "
A. J. shouts after them, "you never g~t
the real story . . . "
Happy Birthday, Bob!
Frank Fillchock
 ~ong
L-- -=-c-- - - -- - - - MONDAY, MAY 24, 1971
DYLAN FIESTA
* * * Sanitation Department since Weberman began rifling
'Bob Missed Birthday Fete
An avid fan of Bob Dylan gave a bi r~h day party fo r
the Musician yesterday aflernoon in Greenwich Villa.,e
in t he streel in front of Dylan's two brownstone hous~s'.
He han ded out ''Bob Dylan" buttons, some reproductions
of notes found in Dylan's garbage and birthday cake.
A policeman estimated there were 400 persons s~and­
ing, sitting and milling around.
Singer-song writer Bob Dylan, who was 30 today
did not attend. ' pa rty. This isn't fun."
. Party organizer A. J. Weberman, 24, whose birthday
1s t wo days after Dylan's, is one of the most ardent fans
a celebrity ever had. He has made a two-vol ume concor-
dance of every word in Dylan's lyrics. listing Where each
word occurs and an explanation of it. He calls this Dyla n-
ology and himself a Dylanologist.
His theories about Dylan are his alone.
TALKING INTO a mike to start lhe partv, Weberman
said that when Dylan's music went from folk protest •.o
folk rock he realized that it was still political, but thal
the words were now being used as symbols. So 'he slarLed
cataloguing the words.
Self-st~·led "Dylanologist" A.
J. W eberman, 24, center background, talks to an
estimated 400 persons who turned out for a pre-birthday party for Bob Dylan.
A small boy on a bicycle inttrrupted to say, "You're
having at.I this speaking here, but Bob Dylan isn't here.
He's in Israel."
Dylan, who apparently treats Weberman with benevo-
lent cool, has had his garbage delivered directly to th~
thro ugh the trash in search of more Dylan words. Weber-
man handed out reproductions of two handwritten rough
drafts of a letter to Johnny Cash fo und in the g arbage
lasl August. Weberman had brought a large garbage can
with a lock, on which he stood to speak, as a birthday
present for Dy lan.
W eberman said he had been selling copies of Dylan's
book, "tarantula."
*
SOMEBODY YELLED, "You' re making Lhe money off
Dylan." Somebody else yelled, "1 lhought t.h is was a block
Weberman said he gave half the money away, that he
lives on the Bowery and hadn't paid his gas or electric
bill in three years.
David Peel and the Lower East Side played percussion
rock ru1d Weberman played a 1966 tape of Dylan and the
Band . Peel, whose group performs in the streets, said,
"No rock 'n' rol l singer ever paid t.o see you. Why should
you pay lo see them? Happy bir thday, Bob Dylan, now
you're 30 years old. Never trust a person over 30. Now
we're really going lo watch you."
At the other end of the block hot dogs and soft drinks
were being given away. Weberman said he wasn' t paying
for that and didn't know who was. He guessed it was
14 Disc •ncl Music Echo-September 11, 1971

•
'Paul really IS
dead' screams
the latest
Beatie basher
PAUL McCARTNEY really is dead!" screamed the • McCARTNEY and wife
title ea a release seat out to the Press last week. The Linda: his mbums are the
(Ml~ which was also tacked op on walls around work of someone whose
New Yort's lower East Side, weat on to say that Paul's "brain just ain't
two solo LPs seemed to be the work of someooe whose functioning," claims the.

"brain just ain't function-
ing," AND that McCart-
ney bad aeTer given 8llY
money to "progreaive or-
gan)satiom," hasn't done
a beaelt ill years, and
wrote lyrics with a com-
piete lack of "social c. .
mifnu9d."
So, the "Rock Liberation
Front.. had decided to hold
a dernoostralion-funeral in
front of ~ and Linda
McCartney's New York
residence.
The R Liberation
Front is an oJ(a.lioot of the
"Dylan Liberation Front ...
Both are~ by A. J.
Weberman, both are
concerned ~ he cultural
(as they it) rip-offs of
succe.ssful rock s t a rs .
Recently a birthday party-
demonstration was held in
front of Dy.Ian's house to
j l\
NEW YORK
i ~ Lisa Mehlman
protest against his status as
a "capitalist pig."
When I arrived in front of
895 Park Avenue (actually the
residence of Linda Eastman
McCartney's parents) last
Thursday afternoon at 1.00,
there were nowhere near the
SOO or so people expected to
attend. There were more like
60, and most seemed to be
members or the press, as well
as several videotape crews.
(Weberman is nothing if
not a good Press agent for
himself; in a town where sclf-
promotion is an art form. he
is among the best.)
A hearse was in front of
the building with photos of
Paul pasted on the windows.
There was a mock coffin with
Rock Liberation Front.
"McCartney" and "Ram" LPs
inside. People were milling
about. and Webennan was
attempting to stir things up
be reading a prepared speech.
Even Louis Abolafia, a
mini-famous lower East Side
political personality of the
1960s (he ran for President
of the U.S. on the "Love"
ticket), was there dressed as
an undertaker. No one's seen
HIM for years!
As everyone stood around
not knowing exactly what to
do, Weberman ranted bis
speech . . . "I come here to
lay McCartney out, not to hip
you to him ... the Establish-
ment media hath laid a story
on you that it's cool to be
Sinatra, and if this is so, art
is a sad drag and sadly shall
these pi$ mothers answer for
it . . . it is not time for an
artist to cop out . . . and the
hope of a generation is gone."
"I don't understaad this,"
said the kindly, elderly door-
man of the elegant apartment
building. "This is a fancy
building, why are they com-
ing here, this is 8Qt nice.
Anyway, the Md;artney'a
aren't here, the Eastman's
aren't even here, everyone
goes away for the summer--
this is New York t,;ity!"
Then: were those wtlO felt1hat
it was a rather pitiful 11thedna:
that Webennan sbQuJd ~
waited about anOlbcr.:si" moddas
10 make a new ~~.
and lh8l he was qaUJy be-
coming a joke, Odien ~
seriously angry and ~ed
about Paul McCartm VJlar·
Cnl lack of " social ~­
ment." As the d~
moved on downlown to~
at the offices of a ''pig rock
magazine, we wondered if Paul
McCanney, wherever he was,
would be pleased 10 be called
the "Sina.ua of lhe '70s."
 - ·v•-..
\I ore ancl more the conv1cuon
grm,, th.in Roh Dylan ii. an impor-
tant \merican poet. Thii. year, mas-
ter' thest'' b) the dozem are being
written b) )Otmg English majors and
poeb in the nation\ universities on
thil> i.ubject and one il> even being
ron~ickred 'eriousl) for book publica-
1ion 1)\ a prominent universit y press.
fhe current issue of Brqadsidr (215
V11• 88th St., N.Y. 10025, $5 per year)
i-. mainly d ern ted to a long interview
with a young New York stlldent of
the D) Ian work. His name is Alan
\Vcberman and his rel>earch has !.Orne
illuminating th.ings to say.
"The moM important thing about
lh Ian."' 'Vc bennan believes. "is that
he represent' the collective uncon-
'cious of a lot of people and, being a
great arti\t (I comider him .\merica'!.
~reatt'\l poet) he"i. able to verbalii'e
what i' gning' on in ilH''" man' man'
minds
Dropping Out
"You have a lot of young people
dropping ou1 of our society today
without dearly knowing why. They
move w the East Side or Haight-Ash-
bury or other communes; they do it
and act in certain protesting ways
with clothes, drugs, a separate la n-
guage, a whole different life style.
Bm most of them are incapable of ex-
plaining coherently why they are do-
ing it: they can' t articulate wha t it is
that's so terribly wrong with our tech-
nological sociCt) as to make them
drop om of it ... But Dylan can; he's
able to verbalize all tltis; he's the ver-
ba Ii1a ti on of this collective uncon-
-.cious."
Dylan, Weberman also believes, is
a prophet who "points out some
things years before they come to the
'urface."' In a fascinating analysis of
(;a/es ,, Eden, Weberman expla.ins
1he song in te1ms of the current un-
rest in the universities (" the ·k ing-
llom5 of ex perience") linking Colum-
bia and Berkeley, Dow Chemical and
General l\Jotors.
Personal Expression
Wrberman believes that Dylan, far
from leaving the world of political
protest for personal expression, is still
a revolutionary poet. He interprets
one of Ul t: Jhlan aJbunH, john H't"J-
le)' n 1trdmg, a~ng a person· ac-
count of this in which Dylan has left
Lhe radical position of orthodox ideo-
logtte5 in order to reach young people
poetically with his message.
But he refmes to identify with any
organized group. "What Dylan is say-
ing is th at the days of th e French
Revolution - where they h ad guns
and we had guns-are over with. It's a
, . , , .... \...II
-----
•
A
<
,;
>
A
f-------------
0
0
Bob Dyla n , as he looks todoy witt. Johnny Cn•h bock , tnoP
October 23 rd conce rt .
different \Cene nm' 1ie· , 111rnin!!
away from the old ' "'"' rch 1he 11<'\1
especiall) towards the \Ollt h. B111 h<'
still considers hi1melf a radical .. :·
One of the most in1 cre,1ing poini-
Webemian makes i ~ t ha1 D,Jan i-.
consistently ironic. In the i\'(';t•swcf'k
inten•iew early thi ~ year. \Vebennan
observes that D ylan t0ld Lhe inter-
viewer "Yes, some of m y \Ongs do11 ·1
mean anything, like R r~tlrs.1 Fa1r-
well, for example."
And the point about that. as " ' eb-
erman ex plains, is that R c·stle.1.1 Fan'-
well is really a protest song agai nst
mass media (including Nf'wswee/1
which grossly malig ned Dylan several
years ago by printing a distorted story
to"prove"he had not written Blowi11 '
in the TVind) . R estless Farewell con-
ta.ins the lines "the dirt of gossip
blows in m y face. And th e dusl of ru-
mor covers me ..."
Frankie and Judas
Another interesting interpretation
is that of the song Ballad o f Fra11/1ie
Lee and Judas P riest. 'Vebenmm con-
siders that a parable of Dylan's rela-
tionship with his manager Alben
Grossman (with whom he is rurrentlv
fe11<ling-) and
J\lrorn
°''
I 1rl'11/ 0111 011r
e erman -.ees a!> ex plairr-
ing the episode when D ylan appeared
before the dinner of the .Emergency
Civil Liberties Commirtee in New
York. Several of the Dylan songs, in-
cluding The Might)' Quinn and I
Pit)' the Poor l mmigrnnt, \\'eberman
concludes, are directly r elated to the
Vietnam war.
Dylan has really offered "what
n• r: .. ·~oq., "frt l 1 oftP> Cosh s
! Ill >11111 It I l"lll j tl• • •\•Ill Ill/I d
t dl·ol"~ \ .1 ( lllll !'fC'I " 11 Id ' iC'\\
\\ 1 11, lic \C\.
lic1 111111
I ht· 1mH1 pl of O ~ 1.m a' a prophet
.ind " th(' 1 "Pli1 .1101 of 1he future i-.
1101 01 i.~in .tl P111I .\ll>c11 lkndich at
thl' l ' ni\CT'- il' of Cilifornia more
th an a 'car .1go wa~ pointing out 1ht
':1me thing .. tnd \lich.1d Rn,-.man of
the l·.S. \1. lound ~tan ling paralleh
to the l 1."i. militar) nperarions in
Vietnam in n, Ian's line' in Tn111b-
1/011e Rlun . . \ncl ..\111..· n Girn.berg. al
the Big "iur Folk _I•e,1 iq1J two year'
ago. o ffered 1h1..· concept that Sad-E)•erl
Lady of !h t• l.owla11d1 could be inter-
preted :i.-. a poem about \mcrica.
rather th.111 ont' ha\'ing a pcr~onal
interpretation.
Universal Records
i\kanwhile, the specul:uion and in-
terest in l hlan co ntinu e~ and his rec-
onh han· become a' uni,·crsal to this
gen erati o n a-. the paperhat k co pie~ o f
Catrher in the R ye were to ih older
brother'> and !ti~ters.
On 1 clcgraph •\\'en uc, al> well as
Greenwich \ 'illagc and other gaLher-
ing pbre' of tlH' ' 01111g these days.
line' from Jh 1.111 ,onp,., an· excerpt eel
;11Hl pul 011 l anll>0.1nl -.iµ;n' .mt\
rnckecl on t lte ta bib w/rd't! lite mild
rai'>ing containers and the petitions
im cl the buuons are 0 11 di,play.
To 1111clcr<·Land 1od.I\ \ \nu th. it is
mon.: than 11,l'ful 10 lw lamiliar with
Dylan ·, work, it i<> e"Clllial. .\nd. as
.\Ian \\'c bcrman poinh o u t. o ne
sho ulcl aJ,o li,ten to D\ Ian chronolog-
irall) from the veq fir\t record and it
help~ 10 IH' a re\(1!111ionar1l
JAZZ & POP • Page 37
 DA1LY.41 NEWS
..:JllWJQICJ... . . . . . . . . . . .

Tfie TOP 1
Of Pop
By LILLIAN ROXON
up tl1e former 13eatle as also
Poor Paul McCartney.One the day the women of New York
year, the prettiest face in chose for their second annual
rock and roll; this year, the m_ll;;s march u~fth Avenue.

man everyone loYes to hate. What I think tlle rock people

Ereryo11e's at 11im. His old
friend and workmate, John \
Lennon, has a nasty song _about
him in his new album. HiS old
girl friend and housemate, Fran
Schwartz, has 20 pages aboufthim
in her just-finished and still erJ
hush-hush book. His most d~
fans get into fights with lihn.
And now Rock Liberatioa. has
chosen him as its next big target.
Rock Liberation? Oh, yeli. lf·
vou think Women's LiberatiSit is
·heavy, wait till R~k Lib gets
really steamed up thia fall.
It was R()('k Lib tit~ staged
that big party in the street out-
side Bob Dylan's house on his
birthday this summer. Not '
be was there or anything, bu
sure as hell heard about it, a ii
the next thing we know, there he
was liberated as all get out. Up
on stage at the Bangla Desh con-
cert with George Harrison, sing-
ing all hi s old songs and pouring
money into the pockets of the
poor and needy. Incredible.
. Maybe Rock Lib had nothing
to do with it all, but you can't
blame them ior feeling encourag-
ed. ~o. flushed with success, they
have now turned to Pant Not
early enough to get l1iru to Madi-
son Square Garden, alas, but
still •
In w mu~aW"b'$ffi more
than a cnsual coincidence. the
da\· th liberators chose to shake
were trying to tell us was that
there are all kinds of oppression
and that it's probably better to
be hrn female t11an to have to
listen to another IPMl. )f cCartney
~lo effort.
In any case, there they all
wei<e at 79th and Pari where the
Mceartneys sometimee stay when
in town, waving placards and
making speeches de5igned to gond
Paul, like Dylan, back into the
land o:i the li•ing,
It ~vas no use telling them it's
not B•<'e to parade noisily outside
people's homes and that, besides,
Pa~l 1t: gettini? a band together
1with the talented and beautifuI
Denny Laine) .
It was no use pointing out that
anyone truly interested in liber-
atin!!' rock might do better to use
tha~ en".rgy promoting new, fresh
artists mstead of trying to give
mouth-lo-mouth recuscitation to
old ones.
It was no use because Rock Lib
doN have a point. Paul has been
snotty and isolated. If musical
11ristocrals like Eric Clapton
Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman and
Charlie Watts can come out of
their _isolation to back Howlin'
WolC in one of the most magnifi-
.cent and important albume of
the year ("The London Howlin'
Wolf Sessions"), then it's hard to
see what Paul has been tryin~
p1·ove all aloae there in' .&colland.
The ~ liberated;: if yo~
ask m, r.

~TO,,of Pop.
· •. Car(llyn - file 1·::. a ~~-year-olti Pll.'11
McC~rLn~~ fan from Sa·: L:ike Oity, iii
:\'lO'.I ;>m1hnz. The ex-Beat.e irueted lteC'
of! lus Hizh I;'ark Farm in C,i.mphell-
tow:n, A1-:?yllsb1re, Stotl:md, i•1 a m~i1t
u11g<·11t.l1:manly and rather violent tnan.-

.. -
11<.'r. Pity l'hc missed resterdciy'a "Paul
ls Dt'ad" rlemo11stranon on e!t•"altt Park
.\:·enue-sron~nred b~- v.ell kn•~wn Dylan
Liberator A. J. 'Weberman, wh.J els~ T
The MeCartney Burial: 'His ego was his oniigo'
by Blc11r Sabol
Maybe it's time for A. J . Weberman to change
ript--or better yet, to get off the stage al-
er. Being the foremost Dylanologist, or gar-
ogist, was brilliant for last year's routine,
amping it for Paul McCartney as this year's
listic pig" campaign is like giving an encore
audience has gone home.
e was the pathos of an empty house about
an's "McCartney Burial" last Thursday in
eeEastman's (Linda's dad) Park Avenue
Not only was Paul abse"nt (even when
he never stays with the in-laws) and
n family conveniently tucked away in
pton retreat, but there wasn't even a
er garbage can available for analysis.
on-lookers, Weberman drew only two blase
en, three smartly decked Bergdorf belles on
way to the women's lib proceedings (appro-
y tagged with feminist insignia and 14K gold
ons of the smile button-" Is this a faction of
n? The Times didn 't list a demonstration for
locale"), and one threatened-looking nurse
peek-a-boo from a doctor's office window.
The remaining 30-odd consisted of the full
e of media, including a good cross-section of
tape artists. Evidently Sony video cameras
over the shoulder are taking the place of gas
bags and back packs as this year's accessory.
Weberman gave two performances (that's in
you came late or your tape broke) of his poem
" A. J. Weberman's Funeral Oration for Paul Mc-
Cartney" ("It is time he catered to the lame tastes
of Life Magazine I And broke up the Beatles I Yea
his ego was his amigo so he said cheerio" ), then
pulled a coffin out of his hearse for a rather lifeless
special effect, and finally launched into the second
act of his persecution and assassination melodra-
ma, charging Rolling Stone newspaper with various
and sundry acts of establishment piggery.
After the media dispersed, Louis Abolafia (talk
about old shticks> took off with his "Love Candidate
for '72' ' press releases while the videotape crews
stopped taping themselves and decided to fo~
Weberman down to the Rolling Stone offic~
East 56th Street for an office looting and that ~
routine of pie throwing. (At least they have eco-
nomically changed their flavors from last y
lemon cream pie to a plain plate of Reddi Whi~
Weberman, his tape crew, and his Rock Li~
lion Front entourage were finally admitted, s
minor " man-you-motherfucker" fist fights VIJ
fought, .and a few "you-pig-prick" punches
pulled, after which Weberman left with an 11
portant set of office files (filled with Rollinl S
advertising rate cards and miscellaneous
memos). Perhaps all this was done in h
publishing " the Rolling Stone Papers"
knows ?
But what's worse . .. who cares? At •
Weberman and friends got off on the day's outlie
and surely they'll have one hell of a home e in
the video footage alone. But after all,
what it was all about? In the end it was
A. J . WEBERMAN ies more than theatre. And usually only
enjoys its own show.
 New York. XY. 10017, Friday, August 27, 1971*
llt;H'I~
tt\\'L
reporter
Is Pt11tl Dead? Again?
\Yhile women's liberation group!'; were gathering in
\'al'ious paris of the city in an attempt to raise the con-
-.ciou~-0!' the 11atiun. a c1i~tinctiYely different type of
hl1e-twement wa ... srnthel'iug in front of a eonserva-
tiv~ ~apartment building at Pal'k Ave. and 79th St.
ltJ':.1 ildinir at S~!i Park .he .. is the hui!tlinJ? that is called
ho nm< b -Beatie Paul .McCartney and hh: family when they •isit
thi,; city. :And it was in frnnl of this huilding that A.r. ~\"chennan,
a ~elf-st7Jed D~·!anologist with a flair f•ir puhlicity, liad ~alled" a
n 1:1•ting of the Hock Liberatit•n Front to Combat l\lc:Cartny~as
he spelled it.
Tlit: Dvlanulo~st, who has gained whatewr fame or notoriety
lie has tiy' wllrcting and sorting folk sin1?er Bob Dylan's gar-
b,*e-withoul charge-is no longer quite so interested in pylan.
Re !'!aims the ~inj!er'« appearanc•• at the Bangla Desh benefit con-
c<·rt in .Madison Square Garden last month showed t~at D¥lan'e
ht ad is bal·k where it should be. ~o he has tempo.ranly switched
t:1rg< .s. Now, the Front bas turned on Paul M_cCartney.
y.,...terday, its members and a l!l'OUP of interested and non-
intert:sted peuJ>le gathered at the Park Ave. address to bury Paul,
NEWS photo bv Nick Sorrenlln~
Card.boaird coffin with picture of ~-Beatie Paul McCartney stand•
aprisfat in door of weary- lookin ~ hearioe at mock funeral 1ervice
on 79th St.
110tto ]>raise him, and they bl'oughi along nil the acl'outrements for
an out1luor wak1:. Ever~ thing was thc1·e b1 t a corpse. They el'en had
a permit frl1lll the police to hold the demonstration and t• make a
movie.
Arid while <:everal nurs,·s i1eeped from hi>tween the slats of t he
wmctian blinds covering the windows in tl1e doctors' offices that
line lh£ street lrvel of the a11artme11t honse, the liberation group
arrived ~omplete 'dtli a big hlaek hearse whi~h had obviously '*en
better days and probably better funerals.
Th$ hearse was decorated with h<1ge posters of ~fcCartney 011
ead1 side. and il contained a cardboard t·offin, al:::o decorated with
a poster nf Paul. The ceffin, which for some unexplained reason was
OJ!t'n at one <.>nd, was lined with while satin. Then it was carried on
the ~houlclers of members of the front who acted as pallbearers
while A. J. Weberman l'eacl a eulog-y and another of the group
broUJ?ht up the rear playmg a motu'llful tambourine.
The mourners were dre~se in motley i<tfres. A.J., ·1tli wild,
uncomhed brown hair, was wearing I\ red tie-dye shirt aml jt!an.s.
U>uis Aboh1fia. the Love cantlidate for Pr<:i-ident in 1972, was there.
also, but like a true politirian. was dresse<l more a11propriately for
the oc:c~ioJJ>in a blark mom~ng coat complete with a tie of a suitably
~ Cllor ltnotted around ltis arm in a m ourning band. Others were
•
~ib-type overalls, work s hirts, tank- top shirts and jeans.
aoif'the Liberation Front held this Jillie t•eremony for Paul
ta •ise his consciousnesi;, apparent!~-. ''He's becoming the
. Siuba of the 'ills, li\-in.I! like llll aristocrat on a huge estate in EnJ?-
land, never J!h-es any money to any proJ!ressive organizations and
hasn't dune a benefit in y~.ar!'," A.J. claimed in one of his less offen-
sh·e spe«!4:hei;.
"We're going to l'lldicalize tht• rock musirians and stars. It ,
work1:d on Bob Dylan and we're going to work now on Paul," he con-
tinued, i-houtinl? through his mike while stnnd iI11? on the ba<'k of
the bear:;e, wearing a sa11dwich board which read, "A.J.'s Gonna
Get Paul," in hnml-printed letters. Other board.<1 said things like
"McCartney Groupies are );ecrophiliacs." but there were a ?.tffi
of J?irbl there ""ho were ready to dP.t'eml their i dol, and they did 'So,
loudly, ttyin~ tu d1·own out the speeches by sin1?i11J? as often as pos-
sibl<.', "We Lo,-<' You. Paul," O\'er and over a~ain.
Th(' ~athering cause1l a tramc tie11p for a while on E. 19th Rt,
u Muld be expt•cted. and drew quite a gl'Oup of nnlookers. inclutl-
ing some hicyclists, a number of chilclr<'n anti quite a fe.w doJ!'s.
People stoml in tit(' doorways of several of the builrlings to
sl:u·e for a few moments and move on. and one elderly woman.
gdtinl? out of a t·at in ironL of an apartment house, lorlked ovet· at
the <:cene and turned to the doorman, puzzled. ::.
"\\'110 ·~ l';ml?" she ai;ked him.
Who, inilerd? -PATRICIA O'HAIRE
 iitlJe :!SitlJi!lrf.n Baily
~==========--iiiiiiiii~~~~~~~---~~
Ochs and compa.ny:
Kick out the jams
By RICHARD LEHFELDT
Well, I guess it was just one
of those m ultimedia nights.
They were selling T -shirts. They
were selling newspapers. They
were handing out leanets. As
9 o'clock approached <The con-
cert was supposed to start at 8.> .
The leaflets magically began to
change i n t o magificent paper
airplanes. The emcee <no, no,
that's the wrong word ... l.
sensing the restlessness of the
crowd, took to the podiwn to tell
us that Don Sutherland had
missed his plane and w o u 1 d
therefore not be appearing.
The moderator <ah yes, that's
the word> was promptly replac-
ed by a sort of rock group <de-
scribed by the gentleman in
front of me as "super freaks"')
which played a brief set that
will no doubt be remembered
here in Ann Arbor f o r many
years to come. A. J. Weberman.
the talented cowbell- player of
the group, dashed to the mic-
rophone to tell us the big news:
that Bob Dylan was a pig, in
fact a "stoned pig." that he nev-
er did any benefit concerts, that
be was counter-revolutionary,
that all he did with his money
-was build office buildings in
New York City, etc. Worse than
that, "nobody can relate to his
poetry" because of the h a r d
drug imagery.
The cogency of Weberman's
analysis was matched by th e
musical expertise of the three
songs which his group then pro-
ceeded to perform. Th e first.
called Chicago, was sung with
passion and volume by the pi-
Ann Arbor, Michigon 'January 26• 197 1
..
anist in the group, a lanky fel- bourine con which be was equal-
low who sported a dashing black ly virtuous. Tbe lyrics, all of
T - shirt with a white skull on
the back of it. He also spor ted
them in t he same vein as the
succinct title, said something I
a stunning New Y o r k accent very powerful about the state
of America today. The group
which made me very homesick.
What can one say a bout a song exited amidat a flurry of snores
like Chicago except tha t it real- and hisses.
ly bit the spot - its heavy beat.
its one chord. its innovative use
of two-part harmony, its pow-
erful political message ...
why. the words even rhymed.
and what more could one ask
for?
The second song. Free John
Sinclair <Right no wl. demon-
strated new depths of musical
maturity. This song actually has
two chords. but the musician s
seemed not in Lhe least bit ph as-
ed by this extraordinary com -
plexity; perhaps they even wel-
comed it. One thing is certain:
this group does not dabble in
counter - revolutionary m usic.
Just look at the words of this
powerful political statement:
"He's not afraid to live I He's
not afraid to die I He's not
afraid of anything 'Cause he's
got nothing to hide." If t hat
isn't poetry, I don't know wha t
is.
Up Against the Wall Mother-
f ucker ended this magnificen t
set. This was indubitably t he
most experimen tal of t he songs;
in fact, this one had no chords
at all, the pianist h aving for -
saken his instrument for .a tam-
David Peel and the Lower East Side
 from THE DETROIT FREE PRESS August, 1969

...
,
 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1969

By RALPH J. GLEASON

Dylan Returning to Concert Work .

Bob Dylan is planning to return to concert appear-
..~y December;" he liked ..Like a
8.llee& this fall. Roll- \
big Stone" best recordings and he wllOt.e ••J?ello- ·
Jation of a taxi in New Yori(.
Dylan re\I; s is a long interview in the rock
muf.ic paper Rolling Ston1e--,,--;....-=_:::_:---- -- - : - -_..1
the longest he has given since AJll9l)g the bands and rec-
1.he Playboy interview ~ a few ords 1'iat ~bas heard 91
~ears back, though 'iiot the recent mcmwi -and:: ~edll
first "Sintt his accident. disc called 'Tm AJp_e'...'...llJ~
Dylan would like Elvis Pres· Q 'rlnJIHfer and JiiJlllDut
Jey to record his songs, he says, \b• best popular so~g ~ year
and the one recording by somi?- ""9 John Fogarty s 'Reiling
one else of a. song or his whlcb
he treasures the most is Elvis' ~ the River'' which Creed·
version (on the "Kismet" al· ~earwater Revival did.
bum) or "Tomonow is a Long *
Time" whieh Dylaa has nevB
reoorded.
* * *
'l'tNI Dylan intenlew Is full of
the '1Jiil et eHiQUe psw~rs
that Mftll 11 R d Inter·
viewes.-.~'1lut In the
oourse lo discussion
he* of In·
terest.
What gives the Rolling Stolle
Interview a particularly impres·
stve alr ls the fact that Dylan
1s obviously serious in his an-
swers to the majority of the
questions, something that can't
always be said for him!
When Dylan goes out on the
road again he'll have accom·
paniment that's "real simple"
probably the same kind he had
last time, plus some horns. He
has even considered taking
along other artists, particularly
country and Western artists
such as Marvin Rainwater anrl
Slim Whitman.
* * *
Colombia Broadcast.Ing Syi;-
tem is worldng on a TV speclal,....
,,;._;---"""'...o..------~-"" with Dylan, he says, and there
!1!!l!il.... ....
~9;.;~~~~-------~-_...;.:_...;..-
en busy. The
Js also the second · ti'y !hls he has bee
Donn Penneba DY· consis tently,
Ian's last ylan ds and r
says that John L"1>iijj\ Th~ behaving Ilk
Band and .Johnny Cash are all tive artist he is. Coul
In It. A moflt intere~ting point othe1· way?
concerning films ls ~an -
says he never received a penny I' - -- - - - - - - ---"""--_..:
Aari the receipts of "Don't
Back," which is still sh6w-
to capacity audiences
·-llli...th~tnr ,a.J

Dylan's renewed Involvement with J uda.-
man, the coun
t!JM::.ed
Ism was turtJiero by A. J. W._.,
Intellectual whose
"Dylanologlcal" atudiee have Included arch-
eological expeditions In the singer'1 trash
can.
~. according to Weberman, ha.'3 been
inaldDg an intense study of Jewish literature
and contributed "a tremendous amount" of
m~ to the Israeli government after a trip
there"1ast year. Weberman also asserts that
Dylan has been keeping in close touch with
l'lldlcal Jewish organizations such as th#'
J.ewish Defense League and the Brooklyn
Bridge Collective.
MAGAZINE SECTION
"He a~ters," says the Dylano-
logfst.
)Jost .Interesting of all, Weberman 11ays
Dylan- ht,S coofided that he has legally
changed hfs name back to Zimmerman,
If all. this is true it might come as a
shock even to Dylan fans. most of whom
have learned to anticipate the unantici-
pated from their idol
But the struggle ls still in Its formative
stage and there is no telling where It will
lead. Dylan-watcher WebenQI& predicts.-
that the musician's next album will be •a
religious-type collection of hymns."
 PROGRAM FOLIO

INAUG URAL ISSUE VOL. •, NO. •

JANUARY 10 - JANUARY 24, 196q

January Highlights
MUSIC FROM THE DYLAN
ARCHIVES
Ala n Weberman presents rare tapes of
Bob Dylan ( 1/10)

SATURDAY, JANUARY JO

8: 00 MUSIC FROM THE DYLAN • .\.R- 1

CHIVES Ala n Weberman presen
r~re tapes of1. Bob Dylan, all pre-
viously unreleased on recordings
(1/ 14) .

WEDNE SDA'Y, J ANUARY 14

1:00. MUSIC FROM THE DYLAN AR-

CHIVES (1110)
 the
pierre
berton
show October 25th 1971 .
- - - - - --
Mr . A. J . Weberman,
6 Bleecker Street,
New York, N. Y. 10012
Dear Mr. Weberman :
Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to tape
the program with Pierre .
We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did .
Again, our thanks.

Sincerely,

EF : lg
/£-Y~
Elsa Franklin,
Producer .

SCREEN GEMS (CANADA) LIMITED • 72 CARLTON STREET • TORONTO 2, CANADA

WBZ· WBZ-TV BOSTON

WINS NEW YORK •
KYW • KYW-TV PHILADELPHIA
WJZ-TV BAlTIMORE
KDKA• KDKA-TV P1TISBURGH
GROUP

w
WOWO FT WAYNE

WBZ-TV4
WIND CHICAGO
KPIX SAN fRANCISCD
KfWB LOS ANGELES

mo SOLDIERS FIELD ROAD BOSTON MASSACHUSITTS 02134 254-5670 WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING COMPANY INC

A. J. Weberman
6 Bleeker Street October 28, 1971
New York, New York '
Dear Mr. Weberman,

Many thanks for joining us on October 21 for the

FOR WOMEN TffiDAY program. Whil e it wasn't quite
what we expected, I think we all l earned something.
Bes t of luck with your book.

Since rely,

(' l<A. o ~ \,.._,SL <-

carol yn Wean
Producer
FOR WOMEN TODAY

CW:pr
 CBS Telev1s10 S :at.ans
A D1v's1on of Colu111b1a Broadcast ng System Inc
51 West 52 Street
New York New York 10019
(212) 765-4321

Mr . A. J. Weberman
6 Bleeker Street
New York, New York

Dear A. J . :

Thanks very much for all your help . I enjoyed meeting you, and
the show was great fun.

Enclosed are t he pictures I said I would send.

rely,

ITVs rrog:=eseres Ed1cr H..rr¢e<f&r01

from lo-don \Akekerd ~ Sbronl-b:.tse, f-'atON flood., Wsrrbley McHesex. ~ Ol 902 8846 eex 26()511 " •
11
WOMAN! '!
A.J. Weberman,
6, Bl eeker Street,
1
~ew York Ci t y
NEW YOBK
28th February 72

Dear Mr. Weberman,

Thank you so much for a l l your assistance

whilst we were filming in New Yor k. I am up
t o my eyes i n t he cutt ing of the f i l m at the
moment, but feel confident that I have the programme
I i nt ended. In fact , i t i s going t o be shown
in two one hour Parts - t he firs t wil l be
transmitted here on Saturday 11th March.

Once agai n , thank you, and pl eas e giv e me

a r ing at the above number i f you ' re in London
at any time .

/ Wi t h best wishes ,
 50 ROCKEfEllE~ P
NEW YORK, N. 1 • 10020
- -
t.eo er man with.oenevolent- cool,
has bad his har oase deliver ed
A292 d ir ectly to "t:..e S ~itati~n ::e-
" 1 bylc y-,;rl 3:-;l . -r.ar tn:ent sinc e " e oerr..a.n oe- _
1Jyla~ .tarty 2G 0 gan rifl in.; t1::rou'.)- h t h e trasn in
By ... _L.._l'. ~.L . .:-i::.LL s earc o of co re ..vylan we rd~ .
Ai:· .uusic .. ri te r r. e ber nan harulei out r epro Q-
l{ _7: YC :J~ L - .~n :JV i i uc tio ns oi t ..-:o band:;·;ri ~ten
fan of ~ b _, ~r lan ;av e a birth - r ou::·h ci::a.::ts of a l ett e r 'tO Jo r.n-
day ~ r ty tc -:: -c2e LU3ician o n ny ~e..st. fou11i in t e e -:;ar·t?-s ~
sun .ay a.:J~ernoo n in :rreer:·; 1ic!l l as t 1..u;u::;t . .. e'berrr.an .had..
Vi lla.;e . in t:C:.e street in I' ront of brous h t a. 1~1~; a ~ arba.s e can
.l.>ylan 's · t 110 bro\·:r..s 'tC r:e :.c u s cs . wi t h a l ocL, O!l rl:O.ich he stood. to
.i.e ~.:u:.:. ec. cut; ''..-ob ..... ylan ' ' s :9ea:,, as a ·oir"ttciay yr es ent ~ or
but tcr.s. sor:.e ~ erro c..u ctior.s c:f :Dyl an .
m tes fc ur...:. i:i - 5Tl3.:n •s :;ar ·c:. ~· e r; e beru.an s aid. he hsd 'been
and bi rtcd. ::i. v ca:=~ . - sellin!; co }iias o:f ..... y l an 's rook
A y.oliccr:.:i?'.! esti!l.:>..te:i t~cre c ' '.fa.r e.ntula . ' '
1••e";~-
•• *"""' .:.."4~
--- ••• r
.:.:~ -,,_ _ _ -·
-
- -_,_- -- --_., __
• ., , ....... .. ~-
v Son.e1:oi i; :relled. . '•tou 1re
H..,_ r·
---- -o i~- .:;
....... ,.,•.. ~_ 1
• __i _-i_.,.... _ • .,
·:L ;...--
-\...' ., .,... '
T...~--- . "':a
u. -
"ki·n ..>~ ~...ie
"
r:-.cney of:: ..Jvla!1.
- '
''
4 I~
Si.n.·e r - so:i·- ';";r:.tzr _.-ob ~vlc.n . Sor:1eooti.-:- else
yel l ea. , -
who \1++1 be;;.:..; on-.oL;~:.ay , J.i:i' thou~:nt" ta~ ··•~s a ·010 ck !'arty.
mt a. "t :;e:--.:. . This is !1 't ::ur:... • ~ '
.22.rt. · o r~·:;l.l:i zer A. . J . , ate!'- 7i ebe::n.an S2.l.'.:. he -;av e half
t:an, ~~~ 71i:cse birt.:o.av is t·,"?o t he oo ney a.P9 ','. tbz. t C.e lives
days a:::t~r .!.-ylan 's 1.'3 one or· t :-.e on tne ::.onery ar•.:i. .;:adn 't paid
It.Ost ar~ent ::'::tns a e el e er i ty his ; .'.ls o r e~c ctric ~ill i n t hree
ev er b.·. • ..!. e .::'.:!.::; r:.nct e a t·vo - ye3.rs .
vo l-u~·1e cc nee r:'-.~nce o:: e·• ery J.,2.v~.. C. .= eel ani the I£w~r
word.
, in _vJ..an~s l rri~s .. li.:ti:r - _,· =:ant s 12.. e :· J. •:11rei _-percuss ::.on
w11ere c:&CJ i;;v ...:.J. c ccu r;s ~uL 1.n · ro c ~ ani ,, ebcri1 :ln nJ.ayeJ. ~
e..{ • l.3.ns. t,ic. n c .:: it . . e c:>.l J s th is H i66 tape cf ..... yl~.n 2.~c. t he
.tJy1~ ~o lo ..:y ~~:1 .:::i:::; elf .'.l l,.~r- .c~.ni • .teel, rih~a e ::-c 'l.q:: :.i;_~ r - ,, .
1.a.l'\o lo; is t; . for1>s in t :.c e 1..ree vS , sai..1 ! _,e,,
dis i;2c-0ri..;s aLOut .... -.;rlc.n .'.lre roc 2... ' n' ::O..Ll 3:!.n-~r ever -c 0. id to
hi~ 2..lcne . s ee you • .. 1.y s.uc'! :1 ··.'.? u ::av to
'.l.s.L.:i!"· 1ntc a :-.L·e to s t'lrt see "'t.nec· . . ·· ~ _..., oir_ ..."'-...
• ··- ' --.·,
.... ,. ~ ....
b
t he 1a~~v, c1er. ~n 3~ia ~-~t .JJrll1!1, no·.-1 'iC.t..'re ~o _169.rs~OJ.d .
i7:~~i .v-~-lan":::; ::-113:..:: ·,--;f;r;.~ ~:'C::: i.ever tn:s-c; a ·.erGon c;7e r .:;0~
f o: ~_;1~tc3~ to _c_~ rGc~ he TL!l- ·J.··c·" me•.,..e lC'"'i-1 y ::>:Cir•'-'.:: to m~.v C l'.l
• •• 'If - """"'- - -

i z~"'" :i;.:..:-t 17· ·,·,·as_Et:l.11 :-oli~iC"-1 ,

bu li t~ v t_e ':.'O !... __ ::: ·::6.re ~ r, Y'?.n.Ut·~'
·vLE: o 1.1 .ler
.J..
e~-
'
of +·,,
.,_..0 bloc 1.._-
be in ·~ us ea. ~:., s • _ l) :s • Sc he hot do .s anl sc::t ~:.r~.1 ::s were
st ~r·c;ec.. c~"G.'.l:::.o.~l:.i::: ·· li.'.le ::~:.::.s . b e in · .... i v en s:.1 a. y . ,, e oc.1>::.~n
A sr-3.ll bo:~ on
a biC\ c2.e ln- s aiu .ne r;ao n 't }:G. vir _; to r _tLa.t
t erru'L te_ to ::;ay, ~ • ~~u 're tL1.v- and. u.1d..u.'t .·l.!o 1 o:;;L;JJ .1~s • .u.e
1n:,; all -:;_js 3~e~.1-. 1n~ nere. ·cut gucnseo. it r:a.a ''sorr.e t:;oot per-
'it:> o .... yla!1 is r. ·t ;,i, re. ri e ss · in :s - son. ' ' '""
r :.. el .. ' ' .1.: .....?iC~e:l ... ay ~D
.;...vl.=ln. wl.o a-cr.a.rcntlv tr ea t~ .
If everyone chips in at
least a dollar, our friend
Dana will get out of the
pigs pen much faster.
PLEASE HELP FREE THIS
POLITICAL PRIZNER!!! send
one $ to DANA DEFENSE FUND
PO BOX 340 Canal St. Sta.
NYC 10003 thanx ....
 ot·ters no m o nec:ar.Y µ 1 .1 £.t:: J.L uvt::::.,, uuw e-v c1, vu.. c 1 1.u.:: u o. .;>... ..... ..io ... -r"_

a won her tend beyond Chanukah and towards a livable environment. Get invol v ed fo r " T hos e who do
Christmas and into 1972. not remember the p a st are co:idemned t o rep eat it." G. Sa.• tayana.
· ation of
ixpens i v e
t ends to
on Ne;v
The Big A.J. Webernaan
tn a n cient
giving of
g oddess.
into the
Interview the corner at Bleeker Street, Dy lan now. With his appearance
by Michael Metzger and
1stom s o I heard a bike pedalling behind it the Bangla Desh concert and
Jay Kamen
eis con - me. To my surprise the rider w ith h i s forthcoming album c on-
nch club (A. J. Weberma.n gained his jumped me and as he attacked c erning politics, there is no need
Jo~son rake as the leader of the Dylan I noticed it was Dylan. Know - to harass hi m anymore. Yo :i
1is story Liberatio::i Front, now the Ro::k ing that he was a karate expert know, though, that J o!"m Lea.non is
riate se- Liberation Front. As a self- and shot in the knuckles, I wa s really writing great stuff. O:i
to:.ited leading Dylanologist, h e kind of nervous. I started his next album there are s ongs
program led a successful drive to return s c reami ng for the press, when a b out J ohn Sinclair, the Iri sh
B o b Dylan to politic s. Besid es my old lady, Ann, came o ut. Sh e Republic and Attica State. "(T w o
Club ex-
ofChanu- being a Dylanol ogist, he is an calle d fo~ t he p olice a:id Dyl a n g o t of these s ongs can b e found a t
;;Jev 2 5, it ex c e llent w r iter, a ppear ing r e - ?:i his bike and d r o \•e off. All the end <..f the articl e. )
~I .-the~ ~-eiisez:;:-..!2-.c..Ihi'l,crum""F-g~.J>ege 1
and New York Ace. His other "However, I am laying off (Continued on-P-age 3)
•feate d the
red the ir writings have been s een in Es-
•, one days
eig ht days.
e ach night
quire and Screw. Accom pany ing
him a t this i nterview was David
Peal, the w a ndering m i nstrel of
Winnicki, Lysak Chosen
th e freaks, fr om Against the Wall
tho ugh the
ist attend-
~ were the
fame, and his new sidekick,
Moses Fabrini. )
As Youths of the Month
Jim Winnicki was named as club. Jim also serve d a s del e -
"I fir s t met B o~ Dylan just Youth o f the Month for Decem- g a te to the Am e rican Legion

1ers; a bout a y~ar agq. M">st peo ple

know of the acco unt through . the
Claudia Dreyfus article about me
lass that was featured in Rollingstone.
Howev er, the next time imetnim
was on drastically different
i.s try this terms .
•s iblity of "Earlier that day I went to
Dylan's house wlthanAsso ciated
she s oon Press writer. They wanted to
2ss. She get some pi c tures of me g oing
through Dyl an's garbage. I was
brought happy to oblige them even though
•llander. I had promised to stop haras-
, b:.it his sing Dy lan.
;icb. He "As I was going through the
3 office. trash, Dylan's wife stormed out
d taught of the house and ordered me to
1.ng both get out of the can. She scra tched
part of the repo rter's face and trie d t o
:>rought kick the photographer. After
this episo de we a bandone d the
e l s el •s idea and went home.
'ling to "Thinking nothing of this in-
wh ere cident, I later took a walk down
Elizabeth Street. As I reache d
ber. The Girl of the M onth
Award went to Karen Lysak.
Jim received the Lio::i•s Club
B oys St a te. He h o pes to a ttead
West Point.
The Wo men's Club of Hillside
award fo r the exce:lence he dis- plaque was presented to Karen
played both athletically and aca-
demically. However, sports fig-
Lysak December 7 at the Eliza-
b eth Town and Country Club.
ures greatly in his life: Karen presently is Editor- in-
Jim has shown exc ellence in Chief of the Epoch, the High
three sport s . He h a s made the S chool year book. She is also
v arsity team in football , wrest- a council-at-l arge member of
ling and base- the S. G. A .
ball. Jim is Other clubs in-
most out- clude German
standing in Club and the
w r estling N ational Honor
where be was Society. Karen
named Athlete w a s presented
of the M onth wlth an Ho nor
as a s opho - Roll Key as a
mor e. junior.
Academi cally Jim has always o u t o f 1 school K aren
maintained good grades ena bling serve s a s vice president of the
him to bec ome a member of the C.Y.O. at the Immaculate Con-
National Hon or So ::iety. O:tly c eption Ukra nian C hurch. She
the m o st exc ellent s c h ol a stic also attends a Ukranian youth
studen t s are honored in this dis cus sion group in N enark .
February 18, 1972
The A.J • Weberman Story
(Continued from Page 1)
"Right now our main objec-
tive is to get Rolling Sto:ie in-
to a proper head. We had a
raid at their New York office,
and lifted some material. All
this stuff will appear in the next
;issue of the Realist. A march
is planned later this year at their
main office in San Francisco.
"Other targets include Paul
McCartney. We had pretty good
coverage -of our Paul is D::!ad
funeral last summer. There
will be no demonstration about
the purge at WPLJ, for I don't
,.,,,.P Seienee Corner:
want to take Steve Post 's side
over Alex Bennett. However,
Alex ' s shows haven't been that
good recently and have become
apolitical. ' '
David Peal: "Well, I don't
know about that. He still has
me on his show. By the way,
am I being heard over in Jer-
sey? For all those who en-
joyed 'Up Against the Wall,'
there will be a great sex song
on my next album, 'The Pope
Smokes Pope. ' "
A.J.: "My articles concerning
famous peoples' garbage will no
TH E HILLER
longer appear in Esquire. When
Greg Carpel first contacted me
about the i dea, they were greatly
interested. But after the first
installment they decided that I
degraded the magazine."
John Sinclair
by John Lennon
It ain't fair, John Sinclair
In the stir for breathing air,
won't you care for John Sincl ari,
In the stir for breathing air,
Let him be, let him free ,
Let him be like you and me.
They gave him ten for two,
What more can the judges d:>? .
Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta,
Gotta, gotta, set him free.
If he'd been a soldier man,
Shooting gooks in Vietnam,
If he was the CiA
Selling dope and making hay,
He ' d be free,
They' d let him be,
Breathing air like you and me.
They gave him ten for two,
What more can Judge Columbo
do?
Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta,
G':>tta, gotta set hltn free.
Was he jailed for what he done?
Representing everyone?
Free John now, if we can,
Fro m the clutches of the man .
Let him free, lift the lid,
Bring him to his wife and kids .
They gave him ten for two,
What more can Columbo, Nixon,
Rockefeller, Agnew do?
G':>tta, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta,
Gotta, gotta set him free.
Page 3
Attica State, Attica Sta te
by Yoko Ono and John Le;inon
What a waste of human power,
What a waste of human lives.
Shoot the prisoners in the tower,
Forty- three poor widowed wives.
Attica State, Attica State,
We're all mates with Attica State.
Media blames it on the prisoners,
But the prisoners did not kill
Rockefeller pulled the trigger.
That is what the people feel .
Free the prisoners, jail the
judges!
Free all prisoners everywhere.
All they want is truth and justice.
All they need is love and care.
They all live· in suffocation.
Let's not watch them die in sor-
row.
Now ' s the time for revolution,
Give them all a chance to grow.
Come together, join the move-
ment,
Take a stand for human rights,
Fear and hatred clouds our
judgement,
ancjpm. Na es
• • •
After reading our piece on A. J. Web-
erman, a woman named Marilyn from
the ultra-militant Jewish Defense League
of New York wrote the Dylanologist
to say he was right to identify with the
oppressed peoples of the world. Her
only complaint was that Weberman was
misQefining what ethnic groups were op-
pressed. "I'm sure you'll agree with
me," she wrote, "that Jews are the
most oppressed people in the history of
man."
Weberman wasn't certain. So, scholar
that he is, be showed up at the JDL
offices and spent four houra-t ·
en finally arguing-with America's
modem lrgun. JDL members said Web-
erman was a disgrace to the Jewish
people. Weberman called them a bunch
of racists. The JDL then claimed that
Dylan was one of their active suppor-
ters, actually $Cllding them money un-
der the name Abraham Zimmerman.
wun~ cltpJPinatic
. . . --'--------
Weberman
The meeting was..
dispatches say, " lrant.•
 On With the Wind
Dear Sir:
of After reading "Dylan ~d
view Weberman: A Letter" CV01ce.
xual December 2>, 1 had to laugh at
u is the sarcasm of David Peel
and John Lennon.
ies- Last May. when Weberman
the organized the Dylan birthday
~ of block party, David Peel an~
ted his "Rock Liberation Front
were there. David bang~ng ~n
his cow bell and shouting m
ce rnn11nu ..d on m•%t P'lf."
,. ........................ .

Page :V inelJ·eiglrt
- - - -- - - - - - --
1 et t er s ~o th~ edit)r Hue&'
Continued from preceding page Now David Peel can't get
the microphone "happy recording contracts because Dear Sir:
birthday, Bobby junkie moth- of his radical music, so he In Ster
erfucker." Afterward, David · dumps Weberman and turns cussion
and A.J. became good friends to others for help. paoy" c·
and were often seen together Now everyone is down on refers t
at Washington Square Park, Weberman. who already has naut of
Washington, D. C., and Mi- sent an apology letter to not ass
chigan. David Peel even Dylan. Comp<
wrote a song about A. J. They call Weberman bull- husba
When John Lennon first shit. As for the Rock Libera- jugger
came to NYC with Yoko, he tion Front, "you don 'l need a my wi
wore a "Free Bob Dylan" Weberman toknowwhich way doubt
button given to him by the wind blows." coofus
Weberman, and kept refer- ·-Tony D. La Cova
ring to Dylan as Zimmerman .. West 14th Street

..
 \ 0
' " ,' \., '1 . ' r I ' l \

Marshalling Dylan tacl Page ;:,eventy-twb

as • tor
Dear Sir:
Hip/hype is the moral dualism
port
the I
part
l e t t e ·r $.·t o t h '.? e d f 1: J r in l
ne•
of our quickie, fast-turnover cant. •- •• "• ,• r

mE
media-is-the-measure-of-man w cu ..tinued from ''"Jl" f
gall to blast out theiropimons oP
m2
age. Entrepreneurs in denims. repc performers as the Honest to God
talented performers. A. J. We- tio
I
Corporate rock. Big-business
gurus. Bourgeois guerrillas. A
grand conspiracy looms over all
atta
Wol
ther
ber man is obviously one such par-
asite.
Truth.
The real deserters are the
Webermans of the world, who rid-
th(.
soc
How absurd to seek to make a icule themselves by resorting to ho,
this-the conspiracy of word and Fi
name for oneself by exposing the same cheap commercialistic ti SI
thought. Nici tha
ti mi and/or distorting the private life tactics of the so-<:alled establish·
Bob Dylan has released a single nee
about George Jackson. A. J . of someone who's worked hard to ment they seek to destroy. and all
establish themselves as nothing in the name of truth. pri
Weberman, groupie lo the gar-
bage of the great. tenacious in- more than what they themselves -McKouston Van Klein

I
~ 18-
terpreter of Dylan's lyrics (we
were awaiting his book, " Jew on
Jew··)! recants his dope-baiting
and wtth a bravura invocation of
Ru
Dea
Af
feel they should be.
If Dylan has deserted the move-
ment, so what? It's certainly his
prerogative to be for or against
Queens
W omL for Improvemen
Sf

clion his fetish, the third world. foams Pere anything he so pleases without Dear Sir:
nun- Scar being subjected to the ridicule of I read Ellen Frankfort's article,
"right on·· <"Scenes:· Voice. "Vaginal Politics" <Voice. No-
ness, November 18). leeches such as A.J.Weberman.
even thotJ If, indeed, you enjoy Bob vember 25), with much interest
I like Dylan ... Ah !-I mean I Although I agree with Ms. Fra·
•eally like his songs. Bad grammar. an nev• Dylan's music, by all means listen
rn be to it. But iI you don't, if you don't fort's conclusions, I do not be'
error in syntax, are mylhmakers. rac~
they were strong enour
·oute,
26th
To speak of someone when all you
know is his work is to mistake
..
quot agree with his philosophies.
whether they be for or against public consumption .
Without question.
" for person for image. artist for art. mail whatever movement you support.
smo- The art is yours but not the artist. usin1 then don't listen to his music!
: part And an artist's fidelity Lo his mes- the Don·t buy his records! No one's

Am~
pular sage is bis own affair. wino forcing you.
<ing? So I won "l hear that a song. an walk Dylan isn't God! The wo1 Jd does
st be appearance on Free Time with throL not exist as a result of what Bob
m at- Allen Ginsberg. bespeak lhe Dylan, or any other performer,
rging moral comeback of a man. the re- most thinks of the peace movement, or Con1i--'
1nd to turn of Bob Dylan to his people. 'blacl another movement.
So it really burns me up when we1
-toral Instead I'll say, '·Don't believe in days be
rgies Zimmerman··-listen lo the ac- using blimpies like Weberman have the fj
! had cessible, the music. black r
·alize -Bernard Luslik derst~
·er in Manhattan there.
'!Din bell g·
We Were Overcome have
the pa
r: fear fE

the village VOICE, December 9, 1971

and
iuor
The
r of Parasite Lost
kept Dear Sir :
-Marguerite Cortes
Manhattan
!Res
~
Dear People
The Last Word
Please accept my apologies for past untrue state-
look In response lo the Rock Libera- .OCK on my apart- men.ts and also the harassment of Bob Dylan and his
tion Front's letter <Voice, De- nged last week. I
n the cember 2l. I can only say. it's •on Ninth Avenue family. ~rom now on I'll leave them alone . If any
1se I about time. so used to seeing nasty articles come out about him I 'm sorry. I wrote
y has Ever since time began, there >lastered all over them long ago and I'm doing my best to have them
o do have been those parasites who 1 Tohn, who runs killed.
can only see but lo cash in on the over for the in- Sincerely
fame and public interest of truly tbe discussion I A. J. Weberman
Continued on page 72 [ learned a few
s that every city Minister of Defense
Nell to know. Rock Liberation Front
'? fact that the
·ent po- a thief is determined to get in-all smiths have turned to moon-
ou do ~ offer some deterrent by lighting as theives. " Not so much
a drag for him to in New York" he said, ''because
~,,........m:~
thiru· s is one of the few sta
 !LIFE! MUSIC REVIEW
The paradox
of Bobby Dylan
THE MYTH AND THE MUSIC
T here has never been an American
musician more mysterious than
Bob Dylan. The Edgar A llan Poe of
the pop ccne has played hide-and-
seek for so many years with his fans
that even the most loyal of them have
r given him up as an inscrutable, para-
J noid recluse. Yet paradoxically-as
)
Bob Dylan, a new, informally autho-
rized biography by Anthony Scaduto
(Grosset & Dunlap, $7.95), makes
painfully clear-Dylan, skinny, Jew-
ish, born way off base in a mining
town on the Mesabi Iron Range, was
hell-bent from o.:hildhood on locating
himself in the mainstream of Ameri -
J can mythology. He determined to be-
come a Woody G uthrie hero. H e con-
cocted a past that included such fic-
tions as an Oklahoma orphan child-
hood, a Vegas gambler uncle and
years of roaming in tent shows, blues
bars and street-people hangouts. He
was impatient with history-he wa nt-
( ed to gel through the hero's early
stages quick ly so he could wrest le
with the demons of fame and martyr-
dom before he was out of his teens.
Tiny, scruffy, intolerable, wi th an
ego verging on insani ty and a drive
known only to immigrants, whether
they be from the Old or the New
Country, D ylan arrived in Greenwich
Vi llage at the age of 20 and immedi-
ately attracted the attention of every-
body from Woody down to the cbicks
in the coffee shops. What Dylan knew
or could do was strictly secondary to
what he insisted on becoming: "a star
bigger than Presley." Cramming him-
self with other people's son gs and
ideas, he soon took off on his own cre-
ative course, and in an astonishingly
short time he soared into the highest
heavens of pop invention. A s he got
bigger and bigger, he grew ever more
intolerable. H is tantrums, his hostili-
ties, his freak-outs, his acts of selfish-
ness and exploitativeness, his appall-
ing paranoia made Joan Baez (with
whom he was intimately involved)
conclude that '' Bobby comes closer to
being psychotic than neurotic.''
I f paranoia has its cramping, li fe-de-
nying side, it also has the power to
protect. After his nearly fatal 1966
motorcycle crash, D ylan determined
to make his future goal survival. Over-
n ight, recklessD ylan became cautious
D ylan, strident Bob the finger-point-
er became Easy Bob, the country-and-
western crooner, and Dylan the mal-
content, the hostile, isolated, vindic-
Mystery maker Dylan
tive kid, became D yla n the fami ly
man, fathering chi ldren by a quiet,
dreamy little beauty who asked no
questions. The grea t turnaround en-
tailed even a return to that middle-
class Jewish world he had Bed raging
as a boy. Today, D ylan is a landlord
in the Village, a yarmulke-ed visitor
to I sraeli shrines, a pious mourner
at his father's funeral. D ylan has
brought it all home with a vengeance.
At the same time, he has begun to
concern himself about his public rep-
utation, including the wild charges of
heroin addiction that have been lev-
eled at him by the self-proclaimed
" D ylanologist."' A . J. Weberman.
When Scadulo, a New York newspa-
perman who interviewed the whole
circle o f Dylan's friends, applied l o
the once-unapproachable pop star, he
received an invitation to visit Dylan
and the opportunity to have his manu-
script proofed by its subject. "l like
your book. That's the weird thing
abou t it," Dylan remarked gratefully,
doubtless foreshadowing the reaction
of many readers to this modest, com-
petent, impersonal yet sympathetic
rendering of myth into factual narra-
tive. Scaduto tells it straight, using
wherever possible the tape-recorded
words of eyewitnesses. What emerges
is a book of testimony by Dylan'sown
people, who chorus a consensus so
frequently that there is litt le need for
the author's interpretive intervention.
The book finally achieves a vivid
image of the Artist as an Exacerbatecj
Adolescent Ego. We are made to sec
that the boy-man behind th ose mock-
ing lyrics, those rasping melodies,
those surrealistic prophecies of doom,
madness and apocalypse was simply
- or not so simply-a virt ually hys-
terica l kid projecting out of his own
nigh tmare the angers and anxiet ies of
an en tire generation. How Dylan-or
any artist-comes to divine so perfect-
ly the essential temper of an age is
something this book docs not explain.
D ylan was possessed, that much i
clea r. He spoke, be was heard. Now
one puzzles l o connect the repulsive
little person who sang with the dig-
nity of the message that emerged.
by Albert Goldman
23
ESQUIRE'S U.fll_~ O ICE, July 8,.\?11

HEAVY • J
•ov1e
JOURNAL
by Jona s Meko s
1/
'um>. The best.- thh1gst.J
such as A. J . We r man " Uvlan
garbage tape" <prepared· by
Reilly), \\lbich is very fine. works
not ~ause :;ome new video tech-
niques or language is used~ul
because it's a tape that ~.I
done by Johnny Carson or any-
body and it would look fine
because A J. Weberman's per
sonality is inter esting and inven-
tive, and lhe idea itself of a Dylan
garbage tape is dynam1~ So i!
work$, and with no U1anks lo an~
new Vldeo techniques a l all. And

A. J. Wellerrnan Bob
Dylan's Bd&well. Knows
more about D yla n than
Dylan knows. He even
trashes his garba e.

Fanlous
Garbage

A. J. Weberman, noted analyst of

Bob l)ylan'a garbage, examines

-
other celebrated trash cans.
You are there.

"A ..f. A ..f•.4..J. A.}. Webt>rman.
~· J. A..J. A.J. tf.J. Jreberma~
A. .f. A.J. A./. A..J. Weberman,
.A.J. A•.f. A.J. 'J4.}. Webt>rman.''
From "The Ballad of A. J. Webernum,'
by Dat:id Peel.
By ROBERT MAYER
H...ld·Ntwlllllr Wlre
i knows more about Dylan
NEW YORK - This is
about two young men who
live eight blocks apart in
Manhattan. They are both
human beings, flesh and
blood and ego, born of moth-
er's womb, even as you and
1. Somehow it seems impor·
tant to emphasize that right
at the beginning, to remem-
ber it .all the way through.
One of the young men is
Bob Dylan. He should need
no further introduction, but
let us proceed. He is Bob
Dylan, superstar Or, more
accurately, just "Dylan.'' He
is the Christ figure of rock
music, the poet laureate of
the 1960s (give or take a
John Lennon or two), the
mysterious fountainhead
around whose cosmic legend
golden rumors swarm like
gnats. Dylan.
IN THE WORLD of flesh
and blood, Dylan lives on
MacDougal Street in Green-
wich Village, with his wife,
four young children. a maid,
and a dog named Sacha.
He writes his music and
records it: refuses most re-
quests from the press for in·
terviews, and guards bis pri·
Vitt:Y with great care, a fact
that inspires most of the leg-
en<ls that surround his name.
Jn this busy household the
maid performs such tasks u
maids usually perform, one
of whlch is thr9Wing'OUt the
garbage. Which brinp us to
A. J. Weberman.
• ALAN JULES Weberman:
born in Brooklyn and arrest-
ed in Michigan for peddling
-dope;-'iast -straight "ob:--di~J:==========:=JL!!li~ke_:"~B~lo~w!!in~'~In~th~eJWf~nd."
washer. He Jives on the Bow·
ery at Bleecker Street, in a
loft filled with rare pictures
of Bob Dylan, rare tapes of
Dylan, some bought, some
traded for, some stolen.
.- .
Sacred
He calls himself a Dylanol· -
can. I do harass his garbage Weberman is a pollficaJ
ogist, a practitioner of the radical, a sympathizer with
science of studying Bob a lot."
the poor and the oppresled,
Dylan, and it is probably safe and he used to sit up all · ·11:
to say that A. J. Weberman ~y SCROUNGING in Dy- night, grooving on Dylan's
lan s garbaae can, Weberman
than anyone ahve besides ha~ found such modest tro- music, memorizing the lyrics.
Dylan, his wife and the maid Ph!ea as the start of a letter That was the love period.
Maybe more than the maid. written by Dylan to Johnny I
Weberman can recite in- Cash, the torn remains of fan . IN THE I.AST four ve3rs I
stantly, from memory, the letters, and the negatives of W~berfuan's love for Dylan
Jyr~cs ~f e~ery Dylan song, P~larotct snapshots or Dylan has turned to abusive hatred.
which ts akin to knowing by and his family. He still regards Dylan as a
heart every Shakespearean But the great bulk bas great poet, but he despises
II
sonnet. He carries with him
in a b_:ack attache case a
book that is larger and thick-
been the newspaper-wrapped
leavings of Dylan's dog, who
is not housebroken, and the
him for what he calls Dylan's
indifference to "the crap that
is going down in the world
er than the Manhattan yel· soiled Pampers of his infant all around," for Dylan's mid-
low pages, which is a com- children. And lately even far
die-class life-style, his re-
puter print-out that contains those have been getting fusal to speak out any longer
i~ alphabetical order every scarce. on social issues.
stngle word that appears in "Dylan ls hoarding bis gar- Acc:ording to Weberman.
every Dylan song, followed bage... · Weberman said. all of Dylan's recf'nt songs,
by each line in which the "There's no garbage in the when you break the code of
word appears. ~ ..- their poetry, are really about
can. When we went over heroin. Weberman charges
TIDS SCHOLARLV work there to tape a television that t>yjan is a fraud, a
might be rather .tike Edgar show, the can was empty. .,pig." that he bas turned
Johnson of City COlltge mak- Somebody told me to get against the beliefs or the mil-
ing himself the world's fore. some garbage from around lions of young people all over
most expert on Dickens, ex- the comer, and put it in his the world who bqy bis rec-
cept that Weberman goes be- can for the taping, and I did. ( ords.
yond distant scholarship.
He berates Dylan on the HfHE MAID came out and "DYLAN HAS $12 mllHon
telephone; he organizes dem· denounced me. She said, by my latest estimate," Web-
onstrations outside Dylan's 'That's not Bob Dylan's gar- erman said. "He owns office
house; he sometimes forces bage. I haven't put Dylan's buildings uptown . be
himself into the house; he garbage out today.' T admit· beys stock in com~es that
writes articles and gives Jee- ted on the tape that it wasn't make munitions . . ...
tures attacking Dylan, whom Dylan's garbage. It wasn't 8
he both loves and bates. And
1 Weberman's reaction to
this has been to form the
he rifles Dylan's garbage. big fraud. I don't think Dy· Dylan Liberation Front. an
"I don't harass Dylan that Ian's garbage is sacred, the I ornnization devoted to sav-
much," Weberman protested way some people do." • ,ing Dylan's soul from bim-
the other night. He was He is, after all, only flesh self. The total membership is
speaking to a class in rock; and blood. Remember? ' "a closely guarded secret." A
music at the New School. "I Alan Ju 1 e s Weberman good estimate would be two:
have bis phone number here ' · Weberman and David Peel
and at Woodstock," Weber., (A. J. bas a better ring for an East Village singer wh~
man said. bis awn underground myth ~ntered the rock music field
"T only call him once in abommg) became infatuated for revenge."
awhile. I don't hang around with Dylan's music insthe . And what of Dylan's mil·
his house that much. There's early '60s, when Dylan • hons or worshippers around
nothing here but his garbage- writing social protest s the world, young people wlio
groove on his music? What
t~uld l>ylan say to them
1~µt the meaning of his ]yr.
i~Perhaps he came close to
E g it long ago: You don't
a Webennan to know
ch way the wind blows.
 CtRK

The Harassing of Dylan's Garbage

"A.J. A.J. A.J. A.J. Weberman, contains in alphabetica~ order every single word radical, a sympalhizf'r with the poor and the op-
A.J. A.J. A.J. A.J. Weberman, that appears in every Dylan song, followed by each pressed, and he used to Bil up all night, grooving
.4.J. A..J. A..l. A.-1. Weberman, line in which the wo~d appears. This scholarly cm Dylan's music, memori1ing the lyrics. That was
A.J. A.J. A.J. A..J. Weberman." work might be rather l~ke Edgar Johnson of City the lovP perioci.
-From "The Ballad of A.J. Weberman," by College making himse~~he world's foremost expert In the ·last four years, \Veberman's love for
David Peel. on Dickens, l'xcept th t Weberman goes beyond Dylan has turned to abusive hatTed. He still re-
This is ahout two young men who live eight distant scholan:;hip. He berates Dylan on the tele- gards Dylan as a great poet, but he despises him
blocks apart in Manhattan. They are both human phone; he organiz demonstrations outside for what he calls Dylan's in<liIFerence to "the crap
h< ing.-:, flesh and blood and ego, born or molher's Dylan's house; he son,etimes forces himself into that is going down in the world all around." for
\\Omb, even ar-; vou and I. Somehow it seems the house; he writes rticles and gives lectures Dylan's middle-class lifestyle>, for his refusal to
important lo emphasize that right at U1e begin- 11Uacking Dvlan, whom he boili loves and hales. speak out any longer on social issues. According to
ning, lo rem<>mhf>r it all the way through. Anet he rifles Dvla11's garbage. Weherman, all of Dylan's recent . ongs, when you
One of the young men is Bob Dylan. He should "I don't harass Dylan that much," Weberman break the code of their poetry, are n>al]y about
need no further introduction, but let us proceed. protested the other night. He was speaking to a heroin. Weberman charges iliat Dylan is a fraud, a
He is Boh D:vlan, Superst~r. Or, more accurately, das!'l in rock music at the New School, run by "pig," that he has lurned against th<' beliefs of the
just "Dylan." He is the Christ figure of rock Michael Luckman. "I liave his phone number here millions of young people all over the world who
mu:-ic, the poet laureate of the 1960s (give or take and at Woodstock," Webennan said. "I only call buy his records.
a John Lennon or two), the m:vsterious fountain- him once in awhile. I don't hang around his house "Dylan has $12,000,000, by m:v latest esti-
head around whose cosmic legend golden rumors that much. There's nol,1ing there but his garbage mate," Weberman said. "He owns office buildings
swarm like l!nats Dylan. can. I do harass his garbage a lot." uptown . . . He buys stock in companies that
ln the world of flesh and blood, Dylan lives on By scrounging in Dylan's garbage can, Weber- make munitions . . . " Weberman's reaction to
Macdougal Street in Greenwich VilJage, with his man ha;; found such modest trophies as the start of this has been to form the Dylan Liberation Front,
wife. rour youn~ children, a maid, and a dog a letter writ IP.n by Dylan to Jolmny Cash, the tom an organization devoted to saving Dylan's soul
named Sacha. He writC:'s his music and recorcls it, remains of fan letters, I and the negatives of Pol- from himself. The total men bership is "a closely
refui::es most requests from the press for interviews, Rroid snapshots of Dylan and his family. But the guarded secret." A good estimate would be two:
and guards his privacy with great care, a fact that great bulk has been the newspaper-wrapped leav- Weberman and David Peel, an East Village singer
inspirllS most or lhe legends that surround his ings of D.vlan's dog, who is not housebroken, and who entered the rock music field "£or revenge."
name. In this busy household, the majd performs the soiled Pampers ot his infant children. And Weberman's theory about Dylan's music is that
~ur·h tasks as maids usually perform, one of whiC'h lately even those have been getting scarce. it is written in code, that every word stands for
is throwing out the garbage. Which brings us to "Dvlan is hoardinp; his garbage," Weherman sotn<'lhing else. "Door," he i;ays, is a Dylan symbol
A.J. Weberman. c:ai<l. "Thl're'c: no gar age in the can. WhP.n we for "mind." The word "rain," he ~y!'l, in Dylanese,
Alan .Julr..; Webennan; horn in Brook1vn: ar- went over tlwre to tape&show for Channel 13, the me-ans "violence." The word "lady" means the
rPsted in Michigan for pPddling dope; last straight can was empl,v. Some ly told me to get Fome federal government. ..\nd so on. All of this is
job: dishwasher. He Hvcs on the Bowery at garbage from around t e comer and put it in his proved, he says, in his computerized printout.
Blercker Street, in a loft filled wilh rare pictures of can for the taping. and I did. The maid came out Dylan, in converi-ations with Weberman, has
Bob Dylan. rare tapes of Dylan, some bought, ancl clenounC{'d me. She said, 'That's not Bob denied this. claiming he is writing simple song!'l.
some traded for, some stolen. He calls himself a Dylan's garbage. I haven't put Dyla11's garbage out So it goes, in tape-recorded phone conversatiomi,
Dylanologi!'lt. a practitioner of the science of Rtudy- torlny.' I admitted orj. the tape that it wasn't in interviews that Dylan grants Weberman but
ing Bob Dylan, and it is probably safe lo say lhat Dvhn's µarbagP. It waco1't a big fraud. I don't nobody e}St' (love-hate? hate-love?), conver:'111f ions

11n •one alive besides Dvlan, his wife and the maid. y1ee111le rio."
Maybe more than the Jl'laid.
Weberman can recite instantly, from memory, ber?
t
A.J. Webennan knows more about Dylan than rhin~ Dylan's garbage is sacred, the way some

H4> i<:, afln all, onl flesh and blood. R<>mem-

in which Weberman is usually the abuser, and BoB
Dylan, Superstar, the abur-ied. Just two young men
who live eight blocks apart in Manhattan.
And what of Dylan's millions of worshipers
the lyric.c; of every Dylan song, which ls akin to Alan Jules Webf>rm n ( A. J. has a better ring around the world, young people who groove on his
knowing by heart every Shakespearean sonnet. He for his ov.n undergrou•1d myth aborning) became music? What would Dv!an say to iliem about U1e
carries with him in a black attache case a book infatuated with Dylan} music in the early '60s, mea.nlltg of his lyricsi'Perhaps he came close to
t'.h11t is larger and thicker than the Manhattan when Dylan was writi~f social protest songs like sayinir it long ago: You don't need a Weberman to
yellow pagei::, which is a computer print-out that "Blowin' jn Ole Wind. ' We~rman is a poHtical know which way the wind blow~.
 THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
Dylhn Fan Sours J
By John Carman
of The Journal Staff
A. J. Weberman gained
some degree of fame as a Dy-
lanologist. Now he is a thorn
in th e side of ideologically
wavering rock stars.
Dylanology is the study of
Bob Dylan, the song writer
and performer whose bitter ·
social criticism influenced. a
generation of young people.
Webennan, 24, of New
York City, is a Yippie who
has pursued the study of Dy-
lan with scientific thorough-
ness. He was in Milwaukee
last week, s t a y in g with
friends.
Weberman said in an inter-
view that he "started off as a
hip person with political in-
clinations who was attracted
to Dylan."
When Dylan t u r n e d to
A. J. Weberman
electronic folk-rock in 1965,
Weberman said, "I began to
wonder w h a t happened to
Dylan. Was he becoming the
Ogden Nash of the Top 40?''
Weblrman decided there
was S01Pething significant in
Dylan's style change. He des·
erled h I s leadership of the
Haystack Calhoun (a 600
pound wrestrer) Fan Club to
devote himself to a careful
study of Dylan.
Weberman collected rare
Dylan tapes. He opened a Dy-
lan ~hives in his New York
apat&9nt. He spent $300 on
a computer study of e a c h
word that h a d recurred in
Dylan's lyrics.
T la e computer punchout
sh~ are now amassed in
twO' '1olumes, each weighing
abOUt 10 pounds. "It's heavy
stuff, Dylanology," he ex-
plained.
~ay off him for awhile and get
into Paul McCartney."
W e b e r m a n and others
formed a group they called
the Ro c k Liberation Front
and staged a symbolic funer-
al in New York last August
for the former Beatie.
"McCartney is dead here,"
Weberman said, tapricg his
index finger on his skull. He
described McCartney's song
lyrics as childish and s aid
McCartney wasn't contribut-
ing money to political causes.
Criticizes Magazine
Among Webennan's other
current targets is Rolling
Stone magazine, sometimes
called the "gospel" of the
rock world.
"I w a n t to show kids
there's an alternative to
being r i p p e d off by rock
stars," he said. "All it bas to
be is adverse p u b I i c i t y.
They're very susceptible to
this.
"There are very few rock
superstars around '¥ho have
reaJly maintained their integ-
rity."
Weberman, who is unmar-
ried, supports himself primar-
ily by writing. He w r i t e s
what he described as a gossip
column in New York's East
Village Other and said he'd
written th e cover story in
next month's Esquire maga-
zine - about famous p e o-
ple's garbage.
Weberman has an outgoing
and methodical personality.
He is something of a celebrity
now himself. He seems fond
of the fame but not desirous
of earning much money. He
hands out blue matchbooks
with the word "Yippie!" em-
Job Offered blazoned in red.
Weberman described a Weberman went to Madi-
number of personal encoun- son eight days ago to attend
a demonstration in support of
ters with Dylan that included jailed Y!ppie Dana Beal, then
shoving and shouting match- came to Milwaukee to be in
es. He said the musician th e demonstration against
once offerJ!d him a job as his Art Linkletter Friday night.
chauffeul'''to buy me out. 11 Linkl~tter spoke at a Republi-
Acooftlmg to Weberman, can fund raising dinner.
Dylan p s e I d o m uses ~ltbough Weberman h as
drugs: ij~made a rare public been disillusioned with m~y
appe~ recently at a
rock stars, he has retaid
Madisoif'Square Garden ben- hi s fondness for Haystack
efit for East Pakistanis and Calhoun, whose f a'V or it e
said Webennan, "I decided t~ wrestling move was to jump
on opponents.
Weberman's eyes ~t­
ened when he recall¥ that
sight. He thinks of Calhoun
as "one of the first freeks,
that's for sure."

Rock Demonstration
The Rock Liberation Front will
demonstr ate on F r iday,
December3, from l.30to3.30p. m .
a gainst Capitol Records a t their
offices at 1370 Sixth Avenue Cat
56th Sreet) to protest Capitol's
refusal to press the Madison
Squar e Garden Bangla Desh
benefit concert at cost, so that all
• • --
•
a sheet of stationery labelccl.1!'2
Ardrives" :0 New York, from ttii
mable self - proclaimed "Dylanologist,"
Anq. Weberman, comes a sel(-explan-
atorj"'press release":
"Oa Bob Dylan's latest Col. LP, New
Momlilg, there's a cut calJed 'If Dogs
Run F'ree.' The words to this song are
well-articulated and easy to understand
until Bob sings-'Oh winds which rush
my tail to !bee solglet me tone de'. When
~~~~RATION
PICKETS CAPITOL
. A. J · Webbermon is reported · k
h~; iop~tol_ Reco;ds in New y0/kcw~~
e {?he L1berot1on Movement follow-
tr:'·e Beng~ooreDeshprotesting the dela y of
album but apparent
ly they don' t read the trodes be -
th , cause
ere a ~e more parties involved in the
sq uo_bblmg than Capitol. Nemet C0 I
umb1a and A PP Ie. FurthermoreY the
R -

profits from the disc can go
directly to Pakistani refugees in
India. Another purpose of the
demonstration is to stop Capitol
from suing and/or getting an
inj · agains t a ny other
reoor-0 co
press it at cost. tion
call 477-6243.
the last five unintelligi"ble syllables of this
sentence are played backwards at 8: slight-
ly slower :speed one distinctly hears-'IF
N.4IS INVADES US.'"
~ if you play it at a slightly
spM, maybe we'll bear "Let It
t'O • • •
seack ILi;ro tars were still picket ing
h ve ro ays after the entire matte r
a~~n~8e~e~~ed _to the satisfaction of
A I apitol, George Harrison
PP e, Colu mbia, ond Dick Covettl
and the date for release hod been a n-
nounced (most likely Dece mber 20).

Dylan and Weberman: A Letter

WE ASK A. J. Weberman to publicly apolo-
gize to Bob Dylan for leading a public campaign
of lies and malicious slander against Dylan in
the past year. It is about time someone came to
Dylan's defense when A. J. published articles
and went on radio calling Dylan a junkie-which
he never was-attacked Dylan for "deserting
the movement"-when he was there before the
movement and helped create it- and publicized
Dylan' s address and phone-exposing Bob and
his wife and children to public embarrassment
and a buse.
Dylan is more than a myth-he is a human
being, like you and me. He has feelings and sen-
sitivities like you and me. Who is there among us
who has not had his consciousness shaped by the
words and music of Bob Dylan? Yet who raised
his or her voice or utt~ed a word to defend
Dylan when A. J. Weberman be. . his personal
camp aign of slander against DllJl'l-in the true
tradition of the sensationalistic press willing Lo
print anything about someone fa mous-even or-
ganizing demonstrations at Dylan's home-for
god's sake:-can·t Dylan have some privacy!·
Can·t he have some peace of mind in his own
home lo think and write and make music and be
with his family?
Weberman took advantage of Dylan's fame. If
Bob Dylan attacked A. J. Weber man, who would
listen or publish it? If A. J. Weberman has some
" inside gossip'' or "the real truth" about Bob
Dylan, everyone is all ears because everyone
wants lo talk about Bob Dylan. Stories spread
from person to person in an ever-widening circle
of exaggeration and bullshit. No one cares to
find out the truth about Bob Dylan, the person.
They are too busy amusing themselves by
telling outlandish stories about Bob Dylan-the
myth-whom they have never met.
Weberman tried to make a name for himself
by attacking Dylan and proclaiming himself a
Dylanologist or something like that. No one else
named Weberman an expert on Dylan.
Weberman calls himself an expert. and all of a
sudden the press is all over him trying to get in-
formation or gossip about Dylan. Now whenever
someone writes about Bob Dylan, they also in-
terview A. J . because he is a self-proclaimed au-
thority on Dylan's music. A. J . claims every·
thing Dylan writes is either about Weber man or
about heroin. What bullshit !
Weberman is to Dylan as Manson is Lo the
Beatles-and Weberman uses what he interprets
from Dylan's music to try and kill Dylan and
build his own fame. Now A. J. Weberman takes
credit for Dylan's "George Jackson" song. More
egocentric bullshit. Dylan wrote it in spite of
Weberman and in spite of ''the movement."
Dylan wrote it because he felt it.
A. J . Weberman·s campaign-and the move-
ment's complicity in it-is in the current fad of
ever yone in the revolution attacking each other
and spreading false rumors about 1:;acb other.
u·s time we defended and loved each other-and
saved our anger for the true enemy. whose igno-
rance and greed destroys our planet.
-The Rock Liberation Front:
David P eel, Jerry Rubin.
Yoko Ono, John Lennon
 -~~------------byA.J.
-~ll\\:I
BRAND NEW MORNING-BOB DYLAN
When I first heard that the title of the new D re-
cord was New morning I told myself - ··Farout,
< back to him"
~:I
Dyl~n has finally gotten out of his 'current bag·
( whi_ch has dominated his life and poetry since 671
and 1s starting all over ('morning· is ' beginning' in
D·s syml>ology I". Then I got the record and dug
Dylan's pupils on the front cover and began to won-
===! ~ l r'C
der. I looked at the back of the jacket and saw that
New morning was in quotes. MOTHERFUCKER
After digging the cover If not for you came as no
... surprise. Ifs D singing about his c.b. (I'd like to
~ interpret every line of every poem on New morn-
ing for you but who would publish a 25 page Dvlan
review? So let's do a little of each song ..... ) in If
not for you D writes - "If not for you I'd Jay awake
all night" c the night is when D is in his c.b. for
example - "Tonight I"ll be staying with you··: "To
be with you at close of day" & many more. So
thanks to D's c.b. he can ··spend his whole life
sleeping·· as he says while ghosting for The Band
::0
(/) on Stage fright.) "If not for you I'd wait for the
morning light to shine thru " !If not for that 'im-
-l
-< portant component' of D's c.b. the truth - 'light" -
,,0 that he rapped about in the early part of his career -
"the morning· - would appear in his poetry e.g .
~ "shine like spoon" in Baby tonight on J . W.H. J
)>
The next cut. Day of the locusts. seems to be about
-I
m the time D got that honorary degree at Princeton,
:l)
but from previous experience I know that D's poems
r are never what they seem to be. Altho I aint sure
0 ~uarreling everything's gonna be right" for that
0 ~xactly wh3:t he's saying in this poem I really dig
1t when D sings that Line about the cat whose head
~ was exploding cause he sounds like the old D - that
Q)
..... great lifeforce - once again. Quite a change from
ct>
......
0 Portrait which sounds Like it was recorded in a
c funeral home with D singing from a sealed coffin.
Wasnt Day of the locusts a book by Nathaniel West?
0
Time passes slowly contains the ·fish' - 'c.b.'
metaphor - "Catch wild fish.. ("Get the loot .. .
we·re gonna catch a trout"; ··we aint doing much
fishin' " and is autobiographical - "Once I had a
sweetheart" I the teenagers l who would idolize
and follow - "stare" (e.g. "Up the stares ran
J'.rankie Lee ...'' I rock stars - " the stars high above"
like 0 . Bob also says that he aint gonna Throw it
w all away - get out of his c.b. since "there aint no
:J reason to go anywhere ... cD decided in 67 that He
0
aint goin nowhere and was going to stay in that
<
ct> easy chair" altho, as Barbra Keith would say on
3 about th!s ~oem is that D admits that a lot of people
CT her MCM Ip in a song to D in his own language -
...
(1)
" Sitting in that chair you are free to go nowhere.··
W~ also get to hear some of D's rightist political
co
-...J philosophy (··everything is always right when rm
0 a~one with you": ''The judge had the papers in
his nght hand "; some of my interpretations of D's
earlier stuff hurt Dylan all over cause they "dont
seem right"' l when he says he's "trying to stay
right.''
This may strike you as kind of weird. but I think
Went to see the gypsy is possibly about a visit I
paid t~ D on a sunday (I went on sunday cause I
knew 1t was one of D's symbols for his c.b. For
example tbe~e·s a rare tape called Medicine sunday
or ~ke the lmes "Feed man chicken every sunday"
which D ':".rote while _ghosting for Band or "Ape
on Sunday a chapter m Tarantula his unpublished
novel etc. Like I'll even enterpret myself). In
The gypsy Dylan says I'm dumb - " His room
wa~ d~rk... and. full of spurious ideas like ending im-
penahsm, racism, sexism etc. •· ..and crowded "
and I came on the scene with an attitude - "How are
you. he sai~ .. ._" <in Pos. 4th St. Dylan says the
folkies had 1t m for him even tho they asked him,
Weberman
dylanologist ------1
when ~~ey met him i~ ~rson . "How are you. good
luck... 1 somewhat similar to D's - "I said it right
Eventually D came down to the lobby to rap - " l
came down to the lobby to make a small call out"
lthe ' telephone· is the media in D. - "It's vou and
me and the telephone"; " You should be made to
wear the telephone"- line from rare version of Mr
~ones. Other artists are hip to this symbol and u~
it m songs putting down D for his c.b. Ochs-' Tve
only called to say I'm sorry". Rush-" Cant sav much
in phone call. .'" To make a long story short D told
me "not to come around THE house anvmore··
capitalist private proper bullshit and also svmbolic
since. 'house· is 'mind' in D's symbology. So what
be said was " Take me as I am or Let me go"-STOP
BEING A DYLANOLIGIST-"take a rest'" as he
said in the Rolling stone interview". Anyway Bob
goes on to deride and scorn my efforts to get him
to see "the gypsy"-the people of the 3rd World
(w~o are often drafted to commit genocide in S.E.
As1a-" Gypsy Davey with his blow-torch he burns
out °!eir camps": who live in ghettos-" Gypsy gal
the hmds of Harlem· · and who occasionally have
"civil rights bills" passed lo " help them " which are
never enforced-"With your gypsy hymns" . Despite
D's cynicism I still say ALL POWER TO THE
PEOPLE.
~ Win~erlud~ D says he going lo continue " squan-
dering his res1stence"-"Tonigbt there will be no
·important component' of his c.b.-"Come back and
we'll cook up a ... .. Yeah . I can see a bunch of Vic-
torians waltzing to this tune ....
Sign on the window contains some more of D's
politics-:·Looks like_nothing but rain. sure gonna be
wet tonight on mamstreet' ('rain' is 'violence or
~ar· - H~rd rain etc.. so the shit is gonna hit the fan
~ Af!lenk~ l The way D will deal with this is not by
~ightmg side by side with the oppressed in their
~ust stmggl~ for fre~om - as I intend to do - but by
mdulgmg himself m escapism-"Catch a trout"
('f_isb'-c.b. l But D does have second thoughts about
bemg a reactionary ... in The man in me he confesses-
"Sto~m clouds raging round my door maybe I wont
take 1t anymore ...
One more weekend is a variation on the sunday-
c. b. metaphor and is the same old shit. D telling
us how boss his c.b. is. The only noteworthy thing
are begmmng to suspect what his c.b. really is-
"We'll fly over the ocean just as they suspect"
Somebody must be spreading THE RUMOR all over
town. Who the fuck could it be?
Three angles, sung a la Elvis reminds my of Tiny
montgomery because it's list of bizzage images. (Q
even laughs a little when he sings the line about
Montana) This riff and the last cut, Father of the
night, lend a religious tinge to the disc. Bob often
saves the last cut to lay a taste of what's next
on his listeners... although this wasn't the case witlj
Nashville skyline and Self portrait. Who know!
what's next?
In a word, the music on this ip is "very 50's, hip
cool West Coast synthezied" (Jim Brodey sai
that ). the lyrics are the same c.b. Dylan, not reall
conservative but apolitical (A.J . Webemum sa·
thatl and if you're not part of the solutiQP you'
part of the problem (Eldridge Cleaver said .that l.
A.J. Webermen is th• world's only livi119 D
ologist. He teught e course on dylanology et
Alternate University in Y.Y.C. end has ap
in numerous magazines end on radio. He hes
written an fas yet) unpublished book. Oylanolog
 PAGE TWENTY Tll E PHOENIX , DECEMB ER 8 , 19 7 l
c:JVfusic: Allan
ByAllanJ.Weberman~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those who have not heard of him,
Allan J. Webennan is the ultimate fan. He
has had Bob Dy lan's every published
word, songs, poetry and prose, pro-
grammed into a computer for a complete
lexicon of associations and images. He has
gone so far as lo regularly steal Dylan's
garbage and minutely examine and
catalog the contents. (More recently,
Esquire magazine aslled him to examine
the garbage of other famous people, from
Abbie Hoffman lo Muhammad Ali). He
has criticized Dylan long and loud for his
failure to be more committed to the Le{l
and has held protest demonstrations in
front of Dylan's house in Greenwich
Village.
Not long ago, Weberman came up to
music writer Karin Berg. He was smiling
' from ear to ear.
"Hey Karin, Dylan hit me in the
mouth, "he said.
"That 's good," she replied. "He should
have done it a long time ago. "
"That's what I told him," said
Weberman.
- ed.
* * *
"AJ, ya might as well give up.
You ain't gonna change me ... "
Bob Dylan
When I first heard that Dylan's new
single was about the murder of George
Jackson I didn 't believe it since the guy
who told me, a dude named one-legged
Terry , would do anything to protect his
friend Bob . I'd introduced Terry to him
while me & Bobby were in the midst of
weekly negotiations (we never got past
the shape-of-the-table stage ) and they
J. Weberman on Dylan
J still don't believe it . . . I never
thought it would happen. Convinced that
Dylan had become a hard-assed shit-
kickin ' rightist I was prepared to hassle
him for the rest of his life. His garbage
would never be safe. You see , as the
ultimate Dylan fan, a cat who was sure
that if anyone was sincere and honest and
incorruptible it was that little curly
haired Jewish poet-singer who turned so
many people on to the struggle of the
oppressed with his pop songs and who
wrote the most incredibly obscure poetry
which required a computerized word
concordance to translate from the Dylan-
ese, I WAS GONNA FIGHT. It was my
realization that Bob was a genius and a
very important person in terms of the
revolution that caused me to devote what
many believed to be an inordinate
amount of time and energy to "Freeing
Him From Himself." In other words, it
was my love for Dylan that made me hate
him so - although when I brought 500
people in front of his townhouse for a
mock 30th Birthday Party complete with
a cake that had candles carved into the
shape of hypodermic needles and birth- ~
day congratulations from Yippies Abbie
Hoffman and David Peel you couldn' t
have convinced him of that in a million turned out to be abo ut junk after
years .. . applying the analytic method of exegisise
I guess it worked - something made to it. According to Dylan his LPs are
Dylan start thinking again." George about a year behind his life . .. so there I .
Jackson " has made him the most radical was looking for tracks on his arm cause of
superstar in th e rockworld in terms of the outdated tracks on his records. Now
lyrics (Lennon's stuff is great ~ut he many a Christian ex-doper has become a
hasn't really gotten too specific, that is, Jesus freak so yiddlP Zimmerman turned
written a song about a particular instancP to the JDL and I don't mean the J esus ·
of injustice happening now, since he is Defense League. He contributed lots o f ·!
afraid of getting deported to England and bread to these rightist J ews and even took
not getting custody of Yoko's kid. Karate lessons from them. Bobby didn't
 - .- - - - --~ _.,, :SQI ana tney
really hit it off and soon were very close
friends. Terry then became my arch
enemy and chief apologist for
. . . . . .--~;t::;~~~~~,:,4~;;~ ...~,;tln;W..~~llliPwllPwfiiiiliii"'llliiiiii!iijjliiiij;,.lllf!ftiiiiiflMl!"i~rt!~~r~e~w~lhess~onsfiomthe
next single was about a political prisoner
named George I figured it was just
another scam to prevent the Dylan
Liberation Front (a group whose aim was
to expose, thru demonstrations and the
media, the fact that Bob Dylan had
become a good German and refused to
speak out against Amerika in order to
take junk in peace and that he'd become
a multi millionaire capitalist who owned
war stock, office buildings etc.) from
breaking the temporary truce unilaterally
declared by our Minister of Defense after
the Bengla-Desh Benefit. About a week
later my phone started to ring like crazy
- "Hey A.J., did you hear it on the radio,
Dylan's new single is about George
Jackson, we won, we won" I still didn 'l
believe it. "Just a rare tape given to some
FM station which would eventually
appear on some esoteric bootleg," I
t ho ught. But I went up to Columbia
Records t he next day and heard it and
fo und out it was being pressed that night.
I got a copy and played it a hundred
times - although it's a serious song,
everytime I hear it I just can't help but
smile . ..
•
not getting custody of Yoko's k id. run-...., 1t::s:sons nom t nem. tlobby did n't
Lennon does give more bread to radical dig it that much and I recently learned
causes than"Dylan, though.) and l hope that a week after I introduced him to
the cat puts bis money where his mouth ed out of Karate and used
' '.t
man, I consider singing a song about one-legged convicted hash smuggler. Dig,
Amerika concentration camps and the I hate to say it, but 'ferry was a good
atrocities that go down in them 'doing influence on Bob cause aside from being a
something' since when you speak through stoned Zionist Terry's also a bit of a
your songs millions of people listen. And Yippie (Teny bas attended many demos
I ain't gonna mess with you or yer and has fought pigs with bis crutches in
garbage nomo. D.C. - he has a sheet as long as my arm).
And the song is no-bullshit, straight Another good influence on Bob was
from the heart stuff, his best since folksinger Eric Williams, a black freedom
1965 . . . like part of his motivation for fighter and DLFer who's been thrown
writing this song may be to get me off his around by the police so much he's
back , but judging from the lyrics I thin.kk_UletaaIJrn[lJe~dUJtoUb:2o:l!u.!:!n£ce~.
. . _ - - - - -- -- -
the cat really feels for Amerika's victims.
Looking back at Dylan's life retrospec-
tively, it seems that being addicted to
junk from about 1966-1970 had put
Dylan o utside Uie law and bad given him
a conscio usness wh ich had revolutio nary
potential - more so than the materialist
middle hippie consciousness of most
other rock singers. (Dylan wo uld often
remind me that when I judged him I
should remember that " fm not li ke
t hem"). Now we come to one of my big
boo-boos - thinking t hat Dylan was still
a junkie when I met him in late 1970.
Like my evidence that Dylan was into
j unk came fro m his poetry, a lot o f which
BY A.J. Weberman,
SOMETIME
I've said a lot of nasty things about John and Yoko
.in the column during the last few months and I still
stand behind what I wrote but I got to admit that their
new album, SOMETIME, wins the · Rock Liberation
JOHN AND
Front 3eal of Approval upfront. Not only are the songs
on this album both articulate and radical, and not only
is the music enjoyable and moving BUT THE BREAD
FROM THE SONGS ON THIS LP GOES TO THE
YOKO
PEOPLE AND CAUSES THAT ARE SUNG ABOUT.
This is no George Jackson number where even tho
Dylan "really loved George Jackson" (BlJLLSHIT) not
one cent of the bread from the single went to the
Soledad Brothers Defense F~nd, the Panthers, etc.
The 'topical rock' theme of this album is apparent
from its cover which is a mock-up of the New York
Times with the first amendment as the weather report
and the. lyrics of the songs laid out in columns like
newspaper stories. ALL THE NEWS THAT'S ONO TO
PRINT reads the slogan under the logo and beneath
that there's the line THERE ARE NO BIRDS JN VIET-
NAM- N.Y. ACE (they'll get our biJJ in the mail). The
LP which , thanks to Allen Klein, lists at $6.95 (altho
thanks to J&Y it comes with a free LP- an Elephant's
Memory Ono Band Jam) begins with two songs about
the struggle of woman for freedom and equality. In
WOMAN IS THE NIGGER OF THE WORLD John
sings (to a variation of NOBODY LOVES YA WHEN
YA DOWN AND OUT) "We make her paint her face
and dance" (we turn her into a sex-object rather than
letting her be a human being); "If she won 't be a slave
we say that she won't love" (we have her do all the
menial work- dishes, laundry, etc., brainwashing her
with advertisements which convince her that this is the
way she must express love); "Nothin says lovin like
something from the oven and Pillsbury, etc .. ." (of
course John & Yoko have solved this problem- they
have their servants do all the shitwork for them); "If
she' s true we say she's tryin to be a man" (if she acts
like a human being instead of a household robot we
call her a 'dyke'); "While putting her down we pretend
that she' s above us" (altho men shit all over women
they still do many meaningless symbolic things like
open doors, say, after you say don't curse in front of
my wife- Dylan told me that if I ever even spoke to his
wife he'd kill me- which are really subtle put-downs).
1_,,,,,. ..l:l"'IY .l"l..J...JJ;;;J V .&:V-J .
The next song, Yoko's SISTERS OH SISTERS,
sounds a hundred times better than 1t did at the Sin-
clair Benefi~ . Her singin seems to have improved to the
point where she'll be appreciated more widely now
than ever before. The arrangement of this call to action
to women really turns me on .
In Attica State, J&Y pleaded with their audience to
change a system which first creates 'criminals' by ex-
posing them to ghetto schools, the g'. ett .amilies, the
neighborhood dope-peddler (working with the sanction
of the local & federal pigs, etc.) which I0 to 1 will
shape people's lives in a certain "way," then tortures
them in concentration camps (in places like Attica
there are large concentrations- 90o/o -of poor blacks)
for being human and susceptible to this massive condi-
tioning. It's the scumbags like Rockefeller and corrupt
judges that belong behind bars: "Rockefeller pulled the
trigger/ That is what the people feel ... Free all prison-
ers, jail the judges . .." 'cause they've chosen to profil
from death. And there ain' t no arguin with the lines
"Now's the time for revolution/ Give them all a chance
to grow/ Attica State/ Attica State/ We all live in
Attica State . . ."
BORN IN A PRISON is an elaboration on George
Jackson's idea that for many people living in Amerika
is like living in a very minimum security prison, but a
prison nonethele~. Yoko becomes the first to intro-
duce haiku-like poetry to rock music with the lines
"Wood becomes a flute when it's loved/ Reach for
yourself and your battered mate" and "Mirror becomes
a razor when it's broken/ Look in the mirror and she
your shattered fate." The last song on side one is a real
rocker to the music of BACK IN THE USSR.
 e lasf-verse--Oe:JfS~WltO~UIC: tsUVcn rrrn<11 ...-.r-o' '"' "t' •
to deport the pair for exercising their right to freedom
of spec:l;h. The ex-Beatie has chosen to use his access to
the media to give people who would normally be black-
listed (Rubin, Seale, Ono) a chance to be heard and has
himself spoken out for the Harlem Four. John Sinclair
and others that the pigs hate. Because of this, they've
dug up an old marijuana conviction o f John's- an obvi-
ous 1967 psychedelic-paranoia frame-up (in fact , the
Sco tland Yard pig who planned the thing just got
popped himself when this happens, people whom he's
arrested have the right to have their cases reviewed) as
an excuse to deport him and arc willing to overlook the
fact that with the defi cit in th e balance of payments,
they should be encouraging the multi-millionaire el·cen-
tri c to remain in the States. (I can personally testify
that John and Yoko have never given a cent of their
personal fortune to anyone on the radical left) . If the
feds deal with these cheap-skate ultra-fibbers by de-
porting them, Amerika' s radicals are gonna be in jail
pretty soon and freedom of dissent will be imprisoned
with them. That's why the RLF fully supports John
and Yoko's struggle to remain in Amerika as long as
they like . . .
SUNDAY BWODY SUNDAY speaks for itself:
Well it was sunday sunday bloody sunday when
they shot the people there
The cries of 30 martyrs filled the free Derry Air
Is there anyone amongst you dare to blame it on
the kids
Not a soldier boy was bleeding when they nailed
the coffin lids
We you claim to be a majority well you know
that is a lie
Well you really are a minority in this sweet emer-
ald isle
When Stormont banned the march they got a lot
to learn
Internment is no answer it's those mothers' turn
to burn
Sunday, etc.
troops and scotties sent to colonize the
How dare you hold to ransom a peop/e7froud
and free
Give Ireland to the Irish put the English back to
sea
It's always bloody Sunday in the concentration
camps
Keep Ireland away forever from the bloody Eng-
lish hands
Repatriate to Britain all the few who call it home
Give Ireland for the Irish not London or for
Rome
Yoko's singing on this is really effective and scares
the shit out of me while lines like "Internment is no
answer it' s these mothers' turn to burn" may not only
get the song banned from the BBC, but may get John
banned from England. I hear John singing DO IT DO
IT 00 IT on this cut- the Rubin influence- tho Rubin
hasn' t DONE IT since 1968. LUCK OF THE IRISH
(the best song on the LP) and JOHN SINCLAIR are
two songs you're probably already familiar with (J&Y
updated the FREE JOHN SINCLAIR song with a
FREE LEE OTIS- Lee Otis Johnson, SNCC organizer
from Texas now doing 30 years for one joint-actually
for his political beliefs).
ANGELA, sung by John and Yoko, is a very sad,
mournful tune-"Angela they put you in prison/ An-
gela they shot down your man/ Angela you're of the
millions/ Of political prisoners in this land." J&Y em-
phasize the idea that Angela, altho a fairly well-paid
college professor for some of her life, had enough hu-
manity in her not to · become a tool of the establish-
ment and fought the racist-capitalist scum who en-
sJ:aved her people- "They gave you sunshine/ They gave
you tea/ They gave you everything but the jailhouse
key/ They gave you coffee/ They gave you tea (the
fruits of imperialism)/ They gave you everything but
equality." Another really RIGHT ON song.
BUY THIS ALBUM .. . you'U be learning some-
thing, copping some mellow sounds and supporting the
movement at the same time (I just hope Klein the
swine ain't in charge of giving the bread to the Angela
Davis Defense Committe, the Attica Defense Fund, etc.
lest it go into the Allen Klein 4th chin fund). But that's
John and Yoko'~ weakest point and their overalJ effect
is definitely on the side of life.
GOOD TIMES/VOL 5 NO lOiMAY 51 19'7'U7

\
II
One doesn't, I suppose, normally think
much about the possibility of meeting
famous people. Indeed, it's probably not
too much of an exaggeration to say that
such a thought hardly ever passes through
the mind of a denizen of Madison, Wis. If it
did- and the thought became a
desire-one could, perhaps, introduce
oneself to, say, the chairman of the
sociology department, a man who un-
doubtedly has at least written a book.
But, if one were more ambitious, if such
a small potato only whetted one's appetite,
there is a simple remedy open to him. He
can become associated with the Dally
Cardinal, the Big Red one. Why, shit, just
the other day two people from that staff
got to interview Warren Beatty, while 1-1
got to interview A.J . Weberman.
A.J . BEGAN what was to become his
public career teaching Dylanology at the
Alternate University in N.Y.C .
"Dylanology," he says, "is the scientific
study of Bob Dylan's poetry. It's a science
because it's foolproof," A.J . boasts,
"anybody who knows the method can
achieve the same results." But, of course,
t'
-. '1
But such injustice in the world : professors
with co nco rdances get tenure while
Weberman gels abuse.
It's unlikely that anyone would have
paid any attention lo Weberman's
aesthetics, if it weren't for the conclusions
they lead him to. Weberman hated the
work Dylan did after Blonde on Blonde,
and his system explains the degeneration.
It discovered that Dylan was a heroin
addict : Webe rman explains the
background. "It <1967) was a bad time,
lotsa busts ; the Stones got busted; the
Beatles got busted. Dylan was very
paranoid and decided he would no longer
be a youth culture hero.
"SO HE BEGAN TO record albums like
Nashville Skyline, God knows who that
kind of shit appeals to, and Selr-Portrait
which is used in free clinics across the
country to induce vomiting when kids
come in with accidental cases of poisoning.
Sad part was he began to believe it. Heroin
kind of bred cynicism. Dylan lost complete
touch with groovy people and just hung
around with pigs all the time."
In a sense, his system's discovery of
Dylan's heroin addiction must be con-
:\londay. Oct. 25. HJil
night tor months until lJylan got wise."
magazine
My rather predictable question was:
..yhat else did you find." He responded,
"dirty diapers, a list of the ou ttakes from
Self Portrait, Book of the Month Club for
Dylan's wife, liverwurst wrapping, ex-
pensive granola cooki e mix, Dylan's k1ct s
camp diary : 'Dear Diary, I had spaghetti
today. It was very good.' Not too much
really. But the garbage was valuable in
attracting the attention of the media.
They are the biggest garbage freaks
in the world."
WEBERMAN IS MOST often attacked
as an egomaniacal freak on the make for
attention. But that's at least an over-
simplification and finally an irrelevency.
A.J. among other things, is an idealt,
perhaps even a fanatic, albeit one with a
fine sense of humor. He felt deeply about
the tedious, empty crap. Zimmerman was
doing, as did many of us, but unlike us, he
determined to do something about it. His
new national prominence provided him
with a springboard for the beginning of a
one man crusade to free Dylan from
himself. "Free Dylan" buttons sprang up
like mushrooms.
The attention Weberman got became so
offensive to Dylan, who Weberman now
describes as a "stoned pig" for do~ng
things like buying war stock, that the
toungish poet tried to buy the underground
wonder off, offered friendship, a job as
chauffeur.
All to no avail, A.J. hung on like Ho Chi
Minh and went through with the birthday
party that spotlighted Dylan' s shame. I
think A.J. must be given some credit for
Dylan's participation in the Bengla Desh
Concert.
And Weberman keeps going. He founded
the R.L.F . (Rock Liberation Front), and
since Dylan has taken a step in the right
direction, A.J . changed targets. Just the
THE DAILY C'ARDINAL-3
"
~
ot her day he held a funeral for Paul Mr-
~
lllS 1\IOST INTERESTING story came
in response to my question about the
virtuousness of Dylan 's wife. "Dylan's
wife is a vicious woman. The other day I ;,I
was minding my own business standing m
front of Dylan's garbage taking some
pictures for Associated Press for a feature
story they were doing on me for all the
newspapers in America. I picked up this
empty crate of Israeli oranges, a cigar and
some diapers and I was posing with them.
All of a sudden this woman comes out of
her house screaming al the to of her lungs,
'Get out of my garbage.'
" Of course, I ran down the block, not
wanting to mess with Dylan's wife because
he had told me he would kill me with his
bare hands if I messed with his family . I
don't want to get civilians involved
anyway. I left the photographer and AP
reporter to the mercy of Dvlan's wife. She
promptly began to stratch the AF
reporter's eyes and she tried to grab hit
camera and was punching the guy. It was
a sick scene.
"Right that afternoon Dylan jumped me.
He got me in a neck lock or something,
when we wrestled to the ground I ac-
cidently scratched myself. (A.J. was still
bandaged) . I managed to effectively block
his punches. I was yelling, " Hey man, I
gotta go to Madison, Wis.", I was worried
he knew karate. He's supposed to be a
black belt, I heard when he was in Israel
he broke somebody's collarbone around
the wailing wall.
"I JUST WANTED to get the fight over
with as soon as possible. But after I got up
I was pissed off after being attacked like
that. So Dylan was riding away on his
bicycle. I started to run alter him. He
stopped at a light and I picked up a bottle. I
decided, 'What I'm gonna do is after the 11
traffic light starts again, and he starts
I

Cardinal photo by Arthur
to achieve these results one must make the
same assumptions about Zimmerman's
poetry that Wehby does ; one must become
something of a conspirator because A.J.
believes that Dylan works with a " secret
language," "Don't blame me," Alan
f shrugs defensively, " Dyland invented his
own language and all I'm trying to do is
decode it."
A.J .' s explanation of his foolproof
method is somewhat opaque: " I saw how
Dylan used a word .. .I'd examine the word
in all the contexts to see if I could find the
least ambiguous context, or to see if I
could find a cluster of other words around
the word in question."
Apparantly once he discovers the
meaning of symbol by this method he calls ·
"word concordance" he applies that
meaning in every context in which the
word appears. True, a weird way to read
poetry, but not at all a strange way to
intrepret code.
A.J. IS QUITE serious about word
concordance, so serious in fact that he has
given up carrying all lhe contexts of alJ the
words around in his head and has made a
computerized concordance (Vol 1) of
Dylan's work just like professors make.
A.J. \Veberman
Pollpc~
State St'teet
sidered its most glorious moment. Among
other things his system told A.J . that
"Love" meant Heroin and once one has
seen that one can see that snow is thicker
in Nashville Skyline and the rest than it is
in Duluth in winter, for those albums are
studded with love songs. Line after line,
then, takes on special resonances. One
needn't dwell, but consider : "When your
arms are empty/"~ou got nowhere to go."
THE REAL TRUTH, which A.J .
wouhln't deny, is that neither his system
nor his conclusions would have made
Weberman the household word he became
in America. No, what made Webby truly
famous was what he calls his "Activist
Dylanology," which he came through a
strange variation of the proverbial in by
the back door. " I tried to see Dylan. He
wouldn't let me in ... Saw his garbage can
outside, and thought, 'well if he won't let
me in there's something that's outside that
once was in.'
" I reached inside and pulled out a letter
from Johnny Cash. I said to Ann, my old
lady, 'this ain't no garbage can, this is a
gou1 mine. · .t<'rom that day on we went
through Dylan's garbage every fucking
meets
Cartney. " This time he's really dead, dead
in the head," Weberman argues.
AND IN SPITE of the tremendous hassle
by Paul freaks, Weberman perseveres. He
calls McCartney groupies necrophiliacs.
Webby came across the country to help
free Dana Beal. .. he wants every one in
Madison to buy Abbie Hoffman's latest
book, because a $1.50 of every purchase
price will go to the Dana Beal defense
fund. So, all you yippie-symps send $2.25 to
Dana Beal Defense Fund, 340 Canal Street,
N.Y/ 10013.
In spite of the good Weberman has done,
and continues to do, he remains a mocked
man. Just the other day, for example,
while sitting in the Memorial Union, I was
informed that many people in the village
believe that A.J . has never met Dylan.
This is the most destructive attack one
could make, for a good deal of Weber-
man's importance depends on there being
a special relationship between he and the
poet. Weberman is stuffed with Dylan lore
and filled with anecdotes that involve the
great 30 year-old.
driving, I'm gonna let him have it right on ·r
the fucking head with the bottle. knock him
off his bike and maybe he'll get run over.
But that wouldn't look good ; that would be
bad P.R. for me." '
But the piece of evidence that causes me
to believe that A.J . knows Dylan is that
when they met at the Columbia recording
studio in New York, Dylan (according to
Weberman) was listening to "The Velvet
Underground's Loaded. Now even though I
Dylan may be only the wreck of his former 1• •
glory, one assumes that some of his former
insight and power remains. His interest in
Loaded, the finest rock album since
Blonde on Blonde, supports that assump-
tion, and thus Weberman's assertion has
the eerie ring of authenticity. Acutally, in
fact, it's not something Weberman would
know if not true, because he knows nothing
about Loaded and doesn't even like the
Velvet Underground ("counter
revolutionary" }.
The lighting was comforting. The people
were friendly . A.J . doesn't know diddly-
shit about Dylan's poetry, but I'd sure like
to get my hands on that concordance.

Monday, April 17, 1972
Underground's Latest Garbage, Part Two:
AJ ZONKS LENNON, DYLAN
In last issue's Part One of this interview with A. J.
Weberman, garbageologist, A. J. accused Allen
Klein, producer of the Bangla Desh concert and
album, of making illegal profit,s from the album
through an intricate plan of kickbacks and over-
pricing.
WEBERMAN: And that was the reason
I apologized to Dylan-(in an exchange ofletters
in the Village Voice, Weberman had said that
Dylan was doing heroin. It was replied to by a
letter from John& Yoko Lennon, Jerry Rubin, and
David Peel (of the Lower East Side Plastic Ono
Band) criticizing Weberman for making accusa-
tions about Bob Dylan; that this type of criticism
is splitting up the Movement, and should be saved
for a more common enemy- ed.)- they promised
to help Dana when they went on this tour.
COLD DUCK: Dana Beal?
WEBERMAN: Yeah, Dana Beal, political prisoner
in Madison, Wisconsin., They promised to bail
him out, they didn't come through with that, then
they said they were going to help him out on
the tour, they never came through with that. You
know, I believed them -
COLD DUCK: Them?
WE BERMAN: John & Yoko - I talked to them
on the phone once or twice. The only thing they
ever did was they came to the anti-Capitol Rec-
ords demonstration, 'cause they figured they'd use
me to get Capitol Records, because they dislike
Capitol Records more than me.
So as far as I'm concerned, they're liars, and
ab, I don't dig 'em at all. They hustled me, 'cause
I believed in 'em, you know, I believed they were
honest and really good people, and they wouldn't
pull any of this shit, and when they said some-
thing, they'd come through. They had me cancel
an article in Circus Magazine about Dylan, prom-
'Ising me a Yoko interview which I never got. It
was my own fault for trusting them and being
fooled by the whole superstar myth, you know,
and the 'working class hero' myth, and that kind
of ah, shit. The Rock Liberation Front intends
to hold a demonstration in front of their house
in the Village this summer, protesting their treat-
....
Cold Duck
'Fuck you motherfuck, you're trying to censor
my work', you know, 'I'll write any fuckin' thing
I want and you're not going to tell me what to
write.' So that's the end of Dylan and Peel's friend-
ship, 'cause Dylan is such a manipulative bastard.
COLD DUCK: What about this bit on Tom For-
cade in your "Bad Vibes" article? And how come
you call it "Bad Vibes"?
WEBERMAN: 'Cause that's what most hippies
think of when anybody mentions politics. I try
to make those bad vibes into good ones. What
did you want to know about Tom? Oh, you mean
the Youth Exchange Service? Right Well, what
happened between Forcade and Abbie, you know,
I hate to bring up these old conflicts, but what
happened was ah, the old dope dealer trick of
jumping connections. Abbie couldn't get Steal This
Book published, which he wrote after he realized
the Izak Haber had plagiarized the whole thing
from the underground press, he went and wrote
another book, based a little bit- about 253 -
on Izak's research, and the rest on his own re-
search and his own techniques that he's picked
up over the years. So, Abbie had this book, and
no publisher would handle it. So he went to Tom,
and Tom worked out a distribution fee with Grove
Press. And so Tom wanted five grand for doing
it, and for laying out the book and doing a lot
of work. So Abbie says, 'well, why should I deal
through Tom?' You know, 'when I can just go
to Grove Press directly. I'll just jump this middle
man.' So he went to Grove Press directly, and he
offered Tom, he said 'OK, man, I got the distri-
butorship, I got the deal with Grove Press, not
you, and I'll give you two grand or somethin'
for your work.' So Tom says, 'No, man, I want
three grand,' or four or five, I don't know, a lot
more, and Abbie wouldn't give it to him.
Page 5
WEBERMAN: The Zippies are manic Yippies-
you know, like ah, irresponsible Yippies. A lot
of people got tired of the leadership, well, Forcade
doesn't like Abbie that much- I have nothing
against Abbie, I think he's right on, and he'd
be with us, but Jerry . . . these people that have
come to be known as the Yippies-the media like,
this one woman up at AP, Linda Shar, she elects
our leaders, like she writes, 'Abbie Hoffman, lead-
er of the Yippies ... ' - Linda Shar up at the
AP Youth Corps is determining who our leaders
arel It's ridiculous! Anyway, Abbie quit, and Jerry
we don't want. . . . The Zippies are going to Mi-
ami for the convention . . . we're gonna have a
smoke-in in front of Harry Ansliger's pad in Penn-
sylvania- he's the guy who made mariuana ille-
gal . . . May Day, J Day.
COLD DUCK: What?
WEBERMAN: Ansliger added on to the Harrison
Act; he went before Congress, said, 'You forgot
marijuana the killer weed, if you make heroin
and cocaine illegal, you gotta make marijuana
li.1':"-,.. •ll. 1l lNidS to the others', so all the legisla-
tors then, you know . . . He headed the narcotics
squad for years and years and years- he's the
one who got America to sign a treaty in the United
Nations agreeing never to legalize marijuana. You
know, he's missed the turnoff, he says he's devoted
his life to making sure Marijuana stays lllegal-
an archconservative. So we're gonna go to his
house in Holisdayburg, Pennsylvania and we're
gonna blow pot smoke through the windows, and
we're gonna have psychedelic rape; we're gonna
turn on Mr. Turn-off.
COLD DUCK: Wouldn't that just mean a grand
bust there?
WEBERMAN: No, I don't thlnk so- if we get
enough people, they're not going to bust a hun-
dred people. ·And marijuana, they don't hassle
you that much for marijuana anyway. You know,
it's a hassle busting people at smoke-ins if they're
together. If they want to bust us, let 'em bust u s,
you know.
COLD DUCK: Didn't they bust anyone in the
smoke-in last July 4 in D. C.?
WEBERMAN: Yeah, at the end, the cops went in
and picked off people. People were busted, but
when we were all together it was cool, but there I
are occasional busts. At the first smoke-in, no-
body was busted for drugs, the one In 1970. But
1.-ft• ••,.,._ tl... ... ..,, __ ,... ,_____, ., ,. lo.no .... ~ ..... t;.,.._o h°" n 11ao. nf
 - _, ,,;;;,;;:-._..-;;r ~-
done a lot of good things for people. But they've
treated me like shit. And I'm a person, too.
COLD DUCK: Do you think they had justifica-
tion in any way? · up a date. And so ah, that's it, I relate more to
WEBERMAN: Nooo! Yoko Ono tells me, she says
'Dylan doesn't shoot junk anymore, now he snorts
it', she tells me this on the phone. They know the
poetry's about junk, they know where Dylan is at.
But it's the whole thing of 'the superstars gotta
stick together against Weberman.' And I didn't
realize it was so strong.
COLD DUCK: Then why did you write the apolo-
gy in the Village Voice?
WEBERMAN: 'Cause they promised to bail out
Dana.
COLD DUCK: Oh .. .
WEBERMAN: Y'know?
COLD DUCK: Have you read the new biography
of Dylan that's just come out?
WEBERMAN: Scaduto's? I haven't read it yet,
but ah, I know Scaduto.
COLD DUCK: He has a few paragr aphs about
you-
WEBERMAN: Four, yeah.
COLD DUCK: - and about how he's seen a lot
of people who've been on junk, and Dylan isn't
on junk.
WEBERMAN: Right, right. He wasn't on junk at
the time. In other words, he don't snort it when
there's anybody around, you know, but ah I knew
he wasn't on junk when the- I saw him once-
except for one time I saw him, he was on junk,
on a weekend, but ah, you know, I mean he don't
take it all the time, he's not an addict. He snorts
it occasionally now. And George Jackson, he does-
n't really mean George Jackson. 'Cause it he did,
he would've made a whole stink about Columbia
getting his quarter out of every Bangla Desh al-
bum. (The "equalization fee' of 25 cents was a
"use royalty" for the services of Bob Dylan -ed.)
You know, be could say 'You get enough money
from exploiting me already' or something. If he
was really a radical, be woul d go and embarrass
them in public. But he's not, you know, he's a
phony. He did George Jackson just to get me off
his back. And it succeeded. With that he convinced
Rubin and Peel that they should attack me. And
now Peel is sorry for doin' it, because he wrote
a song about Dylan called "The Ballad of Bob
Dylan", it went like "Bob Dy-Ian, Robert Zim-
merman", and Dylan said, •Look, man, if you
write that, I'm never gonna have anything to do
with you again, I'm not gonna be you friend,
I'm gonna make it hard for you.' So Peel said,
David Peel croons to friend A. J. Weberman:
"I never used obscenity in my fuckin' life."
Forcade worked for this group called the
Underground Press Synidcate- Tom has a book
out now by the way called Caravan of Love and
Money, a really good book about the Warner Bros
picture The Great Medecine Ball Caravan and
what a rip off it was; all the money from that
book goes to the Underground Press Syndicate
and it's a good book- I suggest you buy it. Any-
way UPS has always been like an organization
that Tom helped found. He is a very important
member of the callective, which gets all the under-
ground papers in and gets them advertising, goes
through all the papers and compiles all kinds of
interesting articles that everyone might be interested
in, and puts out a issue called "UPS" - I'll "give
ya a copy- once every two weeks. They send
it out to all the underground papers for free - and
ah, does a really together job of repor ting on
what's happening in the world that's relavent to
underground press people and people in general-
so John & Yoko come along and Rubin wants
to get Forcade for attacking Abbie, but doesn't
want to come out and trash him openly. So what
he does is he decides to have John & Yoko start
an organization to compete with UPS- the Youth
Exchange Service, and it's the same thing- they
have an ad 'send us your paper, we'll put out
a newsletter,' just the same as UPS, so instead
of supporting UPS, they start this other thing;
it's totally inefficiant and unnecessary . . . as a
way to get at Forcade.
Now, I talked to Jerry about this and he said,
ah, you know, I (AJ) may be right, yeah, and
he's going to try maybe to do something about
this, and make UPS and YES one and the same.
But all I've heard so far from Jerry is a lot of
talk about how he wants to be friends and he
doesn't want the Zippies to be built on attacking
him.
COLD DUCK: Who are the Zippies?
ica Day -10··July 5, 'cause we went down there,
and they didn't want to have a confrontation with
us. So we actually got the Fourth of July moved
the smoke-ins than to the Miami thing, but a lot
of people are working on Miami, too.
COLD DUCK: How's your garbage picking?
WEBERMAN: Slim. There's not that much hap-
pening. I'm going to be on television pretty soon,
a program called Women, on CBS. We're taping
it on Monday- I don't know if it'll be out when
this thing (CD) comes out. We're going to talk
about my garbage collection. (He pulls some thick
manila envelopes from a shelf.) Here's the gar-
bage of the head of the Nazi party in New York
City: Madoli, Robert MadolL Here's a sample: a
letter to the "National Rennaissance Party": 'En-
closed is my monthly contribution of one dollar
for the month of January. White Power! James
Rey.'
Here's a request for literature from somebody in
Dallas, Texas.
We found a New York Post in his garbage, rip-
ped to shreds.
This is only the stuff I' ve saved. I make out
lists of the rest:
Box of Ritz Crackers, Dairylea milk, Three cans
of High-C, Uneaten chocolate cake, Campbell's
Pork and Beans, Kahn's Weiners, Grandma's old-
fashioned molasses, Libby's sliced carrots, Reiss
Formosan fruit salad, Arnold's white bread, Lucky
Boy Hawaiian pineapples, Del Monte grapefruit
sections, two meat trays, liver loaf, bubble bath,
nosedrops, Idaho mashed potatoes, candy wrap-
pers and a dead cocker-roach.
COLD DUCK: That was a very David Peelian
' cocker-roach'.
WEBERMAN: David Peel, cocker-roach, yeah. Da-
vid Peel got arrested for obscenity in Florida, by
the way, about four days ago (March 6- "He
was arrested", as A. J. W. wrote in the following
"Bad Vibes" article, "after a benefit concert at the
Miami Beach Marine Stadium . . . Peel made this
comment in a telephone interview: 'I go to court
tomorrow on this meatball charge- actually they
got angry 'cause I sang songs praising pot & and
revolution. I never used obscenity in my fuckin'
llfe . . . and I only said good things about the
police- like 'They were the best thing to happen
to Florida since the orange! The cop who busted
me took me around to his buddies and said •I
busted the star'. I feel like the Jim Morrison of
Apple Records.' ")
Garbage continued next week.
Against 1r1usic/s Hepression
By Mike Grosswald
-. ".!.W~re ~eclaringw.ar on the
rock and roll pigs," proclaimed
streetsinger David Peel, com-
mander-in-chief of the RLF
(Rock Liberation Front).
" It's gonna all happen at the
big shindig in Puerto Rico,
right in front of hundreds of
thousands of people." Look-
ing back at Mary sol, I learned
from first hand reports that
only about 40,000 people went
to the shindig and that the
RLF suffered a major setback
in their attempt to ignite the
war with its spring offensive.
"General" Peel is perhaps
better known for producing
such masterpieces, with his
former band " The Lower East
Side," as " Have a Marijuana"
and " Up against the wall
motherbleeper''.
But now, aft.er having been
electrifying on electra, te is,
by his own admission, " rotten
to the core," on the Apple
Label. Yes, his latest Ip " The
Pope Smokes Dope," which
quite appropriately was re-
leased on April 1, was produced
by none other than John and
Yoko Lennon.
Heavy Rocks
In a WXPN interview, Min-
ister of Culture Peel and
Minister of Defense AJ Weber-
man (the world renowned
'Dylanologist' and 'garbio-
logist' l started throwing stones
but quickly moved on and
began o heave the' heavy
rocks :
" We belong in Philly because
Philly stands for liberty, jus-
tice and fraternity, the liberty
bell, but the people here say
that in the village the freaks
are all cracked up, I said,
man if you think we're cracked
up, then look at the people who
sponsor this trophy called the
liberty bell, that's cracked up
too, and if they're cracked up
and we're cracked up then I
want to see why we're not
brothers and sisters. There-
fore, basically we came here
for the comforts of conscious-
ness and awareness," philo-
sophized Peel.
Peel and 'Dylanologist'
Weberman were invited to
Penn as part of a conference
on techniques of raising con-
sciousness. Included among
these were art expression,
psychic research, psychologi-
cal theory, psychedelic experi-
ence and group interaction.
I must admit that David's
gig was somewhat of a letdown
after spending three hours
listening to radical organizer
Saul Alinsky inject his ideas
of consciousness but neverthe-
less AJ and David made it
quite entertaining. They tried
to make awareness show the
effect of the conscious of the
rock media and its influence
Ion the people! emotionally,
psychologically, and physicallv.
Raise Consciousness
"We don' t wanta get rid of
rock, .. Peel opened, " We just
want to raise the conscious-
ness of rock musicians and the
people. Just because a lot of
people don ' t know how to make
muc:ir tinPc;:n't mf:ll_:an thiPv c;:hnnlti
be exploited because somebody idy and Grand Funk. " Grand
else does. ~· . Funk proved that it's better
"The people have to be' edu- o..tn..tell. exag&eratf'd.J.ie.. than lbe
cated about the rock business boring truth. I ie. Their
because they're getting ripped $350,000 publicity campaign
off' ,lie warned. sponsored by Terry Knight
Among RLF's objectives are - it was 'brainwashing in the
to organize musician collec- streets' l." If you program
tives, set up accredited college something effectively you can't
course on rock, sponsor boy- stop the machinery, just 1oolt
cotts, workshops and free con- at what it did for Nixon, it
certs. they' re like the camouflage made him president. "
As Daily Planet editor John of the people. Pell started bis revolution
Zeh wrote in his column : " People must understand by getting fired from a Wall
" Don't get me wrong, I don' t that you eat, drink, smoke, Street bank job in '66. " I went
oppose their goals, as local create your emotions, your to the village and saw that
promoter Larry Magid ( Elec- sex, your prayers. All these people had to condition and
tric Factory> would testify. are controlled by the rythmnic psych themselves to list.en to
It's their style that's unbear- patterns of music. Whether music they didn 't enjoy. From
able. But no matt.er. They you like it or not, whether it's that time on I was going to
claim they're only the 'igni- conscious or subconscious, use music as a weapon and
tion' and the rock fanatics visual or audio." The 'Ralph bring it to the people."
will be the engine of the new Nader of Rock' continued ; " The RLF will provide means
movements.'' " People look up to Jim Hend- to play music cooperatively,
" Rock is a way of life. rix, Jim Morrisson, Brian we will recycle everybody's
Rock stars siphon off people's Jones, Duane Allman, Janis talent, we can't live without
emotional, spiritual energies. Joplin etc. and this is fright- each other. A real music
They play on people's des- ening because it shows the festival is when 400,000 peopie
perations. Rock stars are our suicidal tendencies of the world are playing music and five
worst enemies because they of music." people are listening. :
look like you, they eat like you, Pell emphasized the control We can' t afford to have
they smell like you but they the industry has over the another group like Crosbv.
can destroy you too because masses, by citrng David Cass- Stills, Cash and Run. -
" From F ender to Gibson we
found out that music is domi-
Ardsley Girl, 15, Receives nated by emotions by using
the principles of math, Peel
babbled, " where there's an
Red Triangle 'Y' Award action there is no reaction,
but an emotional response."
You can be assured however,
Lisa G. Richter, 918 Penn that Peel won' t start the re-
~. Ardsle~. w~ ~
1en r.tire"Red.irflan
of the Abington YMCA pre- An active member of l e
Abington Y since December, what's happening before we
sented al the recent annual act," Peel theorized, " Action
meeting of the YMCA of Phila- 1969, she volunteer s her time
delphia and Vicinity. in the pool to assist the swim- requires time and we can't
• Each branch annually makes ming instructors every Satur- act until we stop talking.''
one award to the youth member day morning. Last summer "We ask people to join us
who has shown outstanding she volunteered five hours in our effort. We (not shall
qualities of leadership and every day as a swim instructor. or maybe but we> will change
service. In addition to her Y activi- the rock industry by declaring
Miss Richter, who celebrated ties. Lisa is a member of the war. This won't stop until we
her 15th birthday on Apri I 30, choir at her church and of the can free rock for the people,
is in the ninth grade at Abing- Girls Chorus at school. by the people, with the people."
across about freeing music for the peo-
ROCK WAR... David Peel (leftl min-
ister of culture of the Rock Liberation ple during a news conference at the
Front. and his aide. A.J . Weberman. University of Pennsylvania.
mini<:tP ~ efe nsP driv thei
 il
~~~~: ~eluctant Hero of t e Pop Generation
JPPOSE Bob
0
~·lanr
is the closest
i ing to a culti1.~e hero this genera-
l.io.n .h.a s. ~~·r.· 11. '.pro·p. h<'.t; apart
o.
qm'-~he f~¢t~~)}j]e.'4 ~\sclaimed
t e/
le, •you'd ' ha\ I? be . desperate
scipleship to il.rollow Dylan any-
•· He has nev'r been a profound
r; he is, if anything, both anti-
al and anti-intellectual. But he is
" in the John P. Marquand sense
eone who does something super-
ly well.
an writes good songs. Wilfrid Mel-
the English mu~icologist, thinks
is the one 20th-qentury pop artist
may have the fulk-like capacity
o on creating ("The Beatles haye
nded, Gershwin died young, lt'Yfng
Jn, Crosby and Sinatra re!Dflined
hanently adolescent, Cole PQrter
,...").
ived by becoming exclusively defla-
We admire him for that.
t Dylan's role as hero has been less
ead anyone anywhere or point out
f directions ("I'm not trying to lead
causes for BJ)yone else") than to
nehow enact the dilemmas and crises
e generation which he represents.
stly he's done that through his
1gs-though they, P.f course, are part
a more person~) aJ'1 autobiographical
!>cess. If you loQk tlosely at Dylan's
ogress from aqolesccnt self - hater
Listen, Echo, don't_.ever ask Bob about
being Jewish again. He doesn't like lo
talk about it"), to folk protest singer,
to the hard drug visions of "Blonde on
Blonde." to • crack-up of F. Scott
Fitzgerald proportions (if Dylan hadn't
fallen off bis motorbike he'd have fallen
off the Empire State building), to the
redemptive spirituality of "John Wesley
Harding," to the family-and-love ethic
of "SeU-Portrait" and "New Morning,"
a symbolic pattern emerges. Dylan has
managed to act out in his art the blind-
man's-buff search of young Americans
for an alternate order in polities, drugs,
transcendentalism, communes, love . . .
At exactly the time hip kids in Cali-
fornia were turning~om acid ..tO"Jesus
for transcendental ki s, Dylan was dis-
playing an arm fre of traclcmarks to
self-appointed Dylanologist A. J. Weber-
man and recording lines like "Father
of minutes, Father of days, Father whom
we. most solemnly praise." Even that
smart sideways step to the Right when
the going got heavy ("Sure gonna be
wet tonight on Main Street"), whicly " her of Night" is nothing more or
seemed hke a betrayal to so many rasll- 1
cals, was characteristically "cool": ~o "Y1 don't believe in God!" Dylan: "I
modern hero has been less set on mar.;. s
tyrdom than Dylan. Which ls as it'--
should be. Frail, fallible, fame-contorted,
he's the sort of hero we cleserve. Which
is why we should look a bit closer at
what he's been putting down.
*
One or the consistent strands to
Dylan's work is its Jewishness. No one
· -- hie:: sort of background
.a-..t•-·-~ -- ...... ..,
hn Wesley Harding" is the break-
gh: it is a penitent's album, ridden
shame, guilt and desire for atone-
Dylan's "Ash Wednesday" as
as "Desolation Row" was J11s
te Land." In many ways, in fact,
's metaphysical pilgrimage from
lion to spiritual confusion to ac-
nce is very similar to that of a
whom he has read and sometimes
ed-T. S. Eliot. As an album it's
lure, rescued by two songs: "All
g the Watchtower" and "I'll Be
Baby Tonight." As a religious
ment it is confused and, to me, un-
incing; but as a testament to one
s purgation of the soul, it is unique
odern pop music.
t the logical summation of Dylan's
ous impulse~ad to wait two more
s, till ''New-Morning." "Three
Is" is a quietly affirmative state-
of belief, peace, contemplation;
spoken monologue, the calm low-
background, ~' almost perfect.
than a psalm (A. J. Weberman:
do"). When the album was re-
d, Greil Marcus di~missed "Three
ls" as. a jok~ other critics thought
her of Night" was a typical Dylan
n. A clich! it may be, a put-on it
. If anything, it's predictable: a long
s journey into belief.
second strand to Dylan's music
h has been largely undiscussed is
· •gay" component. It's almost as
-
..._,.,. _ \...---·... .
a woman. He once told
viewer that "Queen Jane
mately," which he regarded
his best songs, was about a
diorus of ''Just Like a Worr
make love just like a wo
only be rescued from bana
really addressed to . . . a
self? Myself?
Dylan's songs characteristi
at different levels; it's one of
that gives them richness,
reverberations in our mind
only half comprehend. Ofte
possible to separate the ma
mask. And, anyhow, it's th!!
counts.
Another theme in Dylan'
a yearning transcendentali
has been present from tl'
disks through to llie Iatei
religiosity is one aspect of;
other has been his involve
drug culture. Like many o
tem)x>raries, Dylan progres
Burgundy to the harder stuf
t!ice the change through
''Mr. Tambourine Man," wilt
smoky images, to the exten
like visions in "Blonde on
·;·~J,
One or the things that bothers me
somewhat about Dylan's current "fam-
ily-man" ethic, as it does about John
and Yoko's overexposed arc-lit love
match, is that if you put too excessive
and too overt a strain upon such a
fragile entity as a personal relationship,
it may blow up in your face. But the
way Dylan protects his own privacy,
and that of his wife and five children,
should help.
Finally, it's worth emphasizing again
the personal nature of Dylan's music.
That he's a hero is sort of accidental;
he's always insisted that he writes
only for himself. He's no Spokesman,
because he has more sense than to
think anyone can be. Throughout his
career he's shrugged off old roles and
adopted new ones like (strait) jackets;
those who hunger after his old declam-
atory songs of dissent, or the apoca·
lyptic visions of the mid-sixties, are
demanding from him a consistency
which he has never claimed.
This capacity fo r growth is one of
Dylan's strengths as an artist, yet it's
one which critics and admirers alike
have found difficult to accept. Thus
llie sourness of Richard Meltzer and
others about Dylan's recent work; the
kernel of their complaint is that it
ain't like it used to be. They're right.
But they're as guilty as the critics who
attacked Dylan for deserting folk mu-
sic; they're asking him to stand still,
and he never has.
In the last few years Dylan's music
has lost some of its earlier intensity
· '•'c: e:ained other vir-
 , Can You
A.J. , r e.
valved with Dyl an was when I heard " Like A Ro lling
Stone" and " Gates of Ede n". " Lik<! A Ro lli ng Stone"
backed with " Gates of Eden". And I tri ed to inter-
pret " Gates of Eden " and I made some head way; I
was satisfied that Dylan wasn' t just fuckin g around
with words, but was writing some sort o f poetry-
crypto poetry. Then I began to discuss Dylan with
my friends and I knew this one cat who had tremen-
dous insight into Dylan. He'd tell me these interpre-
tations and they'd make so much sense and they'd
account for so much irony and poetic device. and
metaphor and the like that they seemed to be true
in a sen se. •
Was he a teacher or a fellow student?
Well, this cat was an escapee from a mental institu-
tion. His name is Dana Beal. He's on the Lower Ea st
Side. He was busted. There was a big article in Evo.
Oh, Yeh, and they had like 10,000 hippies come
down to the jail to get Dana out. He was really an
insane cat-he had to leave the country eventually
because he got himself into so much trouble with
the police. He had a really revolutionary conscious-
ness and he was able to tune into Dylan's ironic level
although he didn't know enough about Dylan's car-
eer to understand all of Dylan's poetry. But the stuff
"'n -u ~ .. _... _. that was kinda universal, radical philosophy, he
s~11e1s sJauMo u~e1ue 1d" a'>j!I 1uappu1 ue a)jl!I p,,a picked up ori and turned me onto it and I flipped . I
uoJJl!I a1ue1-1 10 Dl!lll!(l a u 1 _ a )t11 8uos e 3 }11!1 o a 1.1 - 'ltlOJ UIQ IJ a WV Ue-amodnJiQ1f~APOQCJU ;):;:ne.fa'HllPee at the~

I. J. II 1•b1•rmr111 i.,. i,,. hi., 11u-11 ntlmi.,.,i1111. 1wrl,1n1>-'
1/11• 1111/, n11tl .f111·1•11111s1 J>.dn1111/11J!i·'' i11 1/11• 1r/111 /1•
1n1rltl. 1/1• /i n•< i11 ' 1•11· ) 11r/,· C it \. 1r/11•rr• /11• .<11/IC'r·
ris1•.< tlw ··t>.dr111 rtrd1i1 ·1•.<°". rt coll!'cli11 11 of lllf1<'-'· fllW·
'"!!'""!'"·' 1111tl rtr1i..J1•s 1111. /1\.11r ob11111 flob /)~ /a11. Ii i.<
i 1111•r11rr•1111i1111.< 11/ /)_d1111 ·, ·'""!!·' lir11·1• op111•rtr1•d i11
pri111 11111/ 1111 rnrlio. 1/1• /ins 1•r1•11 µ-in•11 n n111rs1• 1111
Odo11 r111d 11°<1.< .f1•rt111n•tl 1ir1111ii111•111J.,· i11 o n•r.<i• 11.l
" G i1·1· f'<'nc1• " C /ir1111·1•. •• T/11· f111/111 1"i11J! i1111•rri1•1r 1rris
rr•n1 rd1•tl for f"11 .<io11 ll"ili1 II 1•/wr111r111 /J\" \/ichrwl
\lrird1 ;,, t•rtrh s,.,,,,.,,,,11·r ;,, , ,.,,. ) 11r/,·.
Wh en did you r involvement with Dylan occur? And
how did it occur?
When I was sitting in th e music room of Emmon s
Hall at Michigan State University, when thi s ca t
came over to me and said hey, man, you look just
like th is cat Dylan, who at th at time w;Vi a singer in
..
~ out ever y possible lead.
E WherC' clicl you go?
0
~
the Village cafes.
What yea r?
This was in 1962. I was real interested. I said, oh, yeh,
a performer that looks like me-tha t's really far out.
And I didn ' t thin k too much o f it un til one night
when we all went into this room to turn on. The
unfortunate part of the fact was ~hat we didn't
have anything· to turn on with except tranquilizers-
except Th o razine. So we took about 1000 milligrams
of Thorazine. This was back in college when things
were rea lly scarce and when we were hig h on this
Thorazine some cat brought out a D ylan record.
Dylan's first record C L 1776.
What wa~ the name-the first album?
Yes. Bob Dylan Folksinger. Some cat brought out
this Dylan record an d played it. I dug him-he
picked all the be~t folk material and did really im-
pression istic version s of it. The time I got rea l ly i n-
17
... 1 .115 •v " '
terpret Dylan than doing my school work. I was just
sitting aro und trying to interpret Dylan all the ti me.
So I said, well fuck this sh it, man . Interpretin g Dylan
is a hundred times more interesting than going to
school so I dropped out o f school and became a
Dylanologist full time. I'd sit around and I' d try to
interpret him all day long and I didn ' t know too
much about D ylan's ca reer at the time but I made an
effort -I really pushed my brain and I began to get
some i nsight into Dylan . This was in '67-the spring
of '67. In th e summer o f '67, I went to England where
I did some research and hung around Europe with
my ch ick. And then when I came back, I found I was
teaching a course on Dylanology at the Free A lter-
nate University in New York City. I was also writing
articles for Evo. This was the timC' John Wesley Hard-
ing came out. After th at winte r I deci ded th at-I had
in terpreted all of Dylan's songs, but I decided t hat
my interpretations real ly weren't th at good and that
I had better get a thorough knowledge of Dylan's
caree r bC'fore going any further. So I went every-
where you cou ld ~o to get Dylan articles. I follow<:>cl
Well, I went to Lincoln Center of Performing Arts.
Th ey hdd back issues of Cash box, Billboard , Variety,
New Mu~ical Fxpress and Melody Maker. I didn't go
by the Musical Index beca use th e Musical In dex
indexes all musical literature. It says: Dylan-he
appears in Cashbox on October 31, 1963. But I went
through each issue page by page because I didn't
trust the people at the Musical In dex. So I went
through everyone of these things, page by page. And
I used to get seasick doing it. And like at th e en d of
the whole thing, I had a 30 dollar a day dramamine
l
habit. But I went through th e whole thing. Then I
went up to Columbia Records and they wouldn't let
me use their Xerox mJchine to xerox th e articles.
Oh, in the Lin coln Cente r Library, I had projection
prints made of the articles and, of course, it's a dollar
an article-it cost me about $200 to get all the st uff
out of Lin coln Center.And then I went up toColum-
bia Records. They wouldn 't let me use their xerox
machine so I had to brin g my own Thermofax ma-
chine up there which was really an incred ible hassle'
- really incred ible.
They'd let you look at the material?
But they wo uldn't let me copy it.
What about-did you ask them to hear any of th e
old scuff?
They wouldn't cooperate.
Why don't you think they'd cooperat e?
I asked them and they said no.
Why don't you think they would?
Why? Because they' re unde r stri ct instructions from
Dylan not to let any of the o ld stuff out for one
thin g. And it's valuable. They don' t want it in circu-
lation until they circu late it. I was thinkin g of taking
Columbia Re~ords off but I knew they'd co me right
he re and arrest me afterwards when they fou nd the
stuff missing.
So now you had all th e mate rial?
I got back. I went to Broadside Magazine. I went to
Sing-Out Magazine. I went to Izzy Young's Folklore
Center where I xeroxed his scrapboo k. I went every-
where-every possible thing that anybody that .had
anything to do with Dylan - that even mentioned his
n-ame.
Dd you go to Minn eapolis?
No, I never made it out there. Beca use my book
doesn't concentrate on his ea rl y life. Because he was
just an average kid until he got to co llege. There was
no thing special about Dylan's life.
What abo ut th e article that appeared in the Voice?
A lot of it is shit. A lot of it's pure bullshit. Especially
the part about " Girl From the North Country" be ing
writt en to Echo. It's just co mplete bull shit.
Why?
Becau se at th e time that Echo claims D ylan was- in
love with he r, he was in love wi th another chick and
h e rea lly dug thi s o th er chi ck. Thi s o th er chick was
hip; Echo was lame and D ylan i sn't going to go for a
lame chick like Echo. He's far too in telli gent a cat.
A nd it was a whole guilt- it was li ke Dylan's gu ilt
co ming up on him-all his guilt and remorse. And
hi m going back to this chick who symbo li zed a way
o f li fe wh ich he had long ago resigned. It's he r ego
trip-th at's all. · But dig it, Eli is also a town 25 miles fro m South Hib-
Do yo ll think it was like Jewish - mo th e r guilt that
Dy/an ,uffN~ from ?
No, I don 't think he suffers from it.
Why do you think h e changed his name?
- ' " kP ;in AmPri can fo lk-
" Ladi es treat me kindly and furnish me with
tape."
" In the empty lot where the ladies play Blind
Man's Bluff with a keychain."
" To hold you dear lady from going insane."
" With his lady by h is side he took a stand ."
" Sad Eyed Lady of the lowlands."
Bu t not "Lay Lady l ay". It's not consistent. Consist-
ent on ly with in certain time periods. It's not consist-
ent, you know-completely co nsistent. Like Nash-
vill e Skyline, Dylan has evolved a new set of sym-
bols. For instance, the night was ignorance in th e o ld
D ylan symbol s. And in the new Dylan symbo lism,
th e night is the present. •
Why has there been this development? What has
come over Dylan?
What's come over Dylan.
Did the night reach Dylan?
We ll, he's changed a lot bu t not really. I thi nk d eep
inside, he's still a radical but he's no longer into that
an ymore, into radical politics o r expressing radical
politics in h is poetry. H e's writing very personal,
auto biographical poems now.
Can you trace Dylan 's political life through his
songs, from his earliest to Nash ville Skyline-his
changes?
From h is earliest, D ylan's like a reformist. He's saying
let's make thi s place a better world to live in. If all us
folks who think alike do what we can do, we can
make thi s grea t land of ours a better p lace to li ve. He
continues to be a radical pol iti ca l except he ex-
presses himself in poetry up until John Wesley Hard-
ing, up until "Down A long the Cove", up until " The
Wicked Messenger". Dylan says good-bye to radi cal
po litics.
He says " th e re was a wicked m essenger"
Dylan.
" from Eli he did come"
Now, dig, Eli is a book of the Old Testame nt
and so Dylan had used a lo t o f Old Testament sym-
bo lism in his earlier political stuff.
" from Eli he did co me"
bing, Minnesota where D ylan was born so
"from Eli he ... 11
It 's ki nda like he really did come from Eli.
' With a mind that multiplied the smallest matter"
He'd take a ~o n g like"The Ballad o f Hattie Ca rro ll"-
he'd take an in ciden t li,ke pl antation owners slaves
· · -- ..... :_"' 1-f p'O
 ~inger named Zim~erm"an seriously. Maybe an ISril-
cli folksinger namC'd Zimmerman.
He could have gone to Israel and made it there.
He· could have, cou ld have.
OK, 'o now you have the material. When did the
book idea enter your head?
Well, the book idea entered my head whe n I came
back in the spring of '67-when I first strated writing
my thoughts down, when I dropped out of school. I
sai d I'm going to write a book on Dylan-1'm going
to wri te the book on Dylan.
Now it 's two books.
Now it's two books because of Al Grossman's greed
for one thin g. He wants $1000 a song to reprint the
lyrics plu s I have to delete a verse so m y publisher
simply can't afford to buy it from Witmark and
Grossman. So we'll have to do it in two books. Also I
got five hundred pages already so it would be an-
other Rise and Fall of the Third Reich affair-I have
to do it in two volumes.
I'd like to discuss a little bit chronologically. How
did you go about i.n terpreting it? What makes you
diffE•rent from other people that have interpreted
his lyrics?
I don't know. My interpretation s account for more
poetic devices, irony. They're more consistent.
That's an important thing. When I say a symbol
means so·mething in one poem and we go on to an-
other poem and the symbol appears again-I don't
say it mean~ somethin g altogether different . I say it
does mean the ~ame thing as it did in the other
poem. I put some kind of restraint on myself, you
dig, so I 'm not projecting on the poem- 1'm inte r-
preting it. People say how do you know you're not
projecting. Well, that 's my schtick-that's m y art. I
inte rpret rath er than project.
Civl' me ~ome l'xample~, certain ~ymboh.
I will. Once ... ce rtain symbols? Rain
" It wa s rainin g at first I was dying th ere of thirst"
" Loui se holds a handful of rain , tempting you to
defy it" , and tear his eyes out and shit like that and so Dylan
"Everybody was making love o r e lse expecting
rain "
" Wh en you're lost in the rain in Juarez and it's
Easter tim e too"
Lady.
made and blow it up to national propuo uv .... ·~ _
take an incident in our society and show how it re-
flects where our society's really at. Such as William
Zan Zinger and all his topica l stuff: " With a mind
that multiplied the smallest matter." " When ques-
tioned who had sent him." Wh en the press said hey,
man , what are you doing on the scene?
He answered with his thumb. He thumbed his nose
up at them; he put them on.
" For his tongue it could not speak but only flat-
ter"
Cause anything he'd say to the establishment press
would be too good. You dig?
" He stayed behind the assembly hall"
He was a folksjnger. Assembly hall-union hall.
" It was there he made his bid"
Profane.
"Often times he could be seen returning"
He failed.
"Until one day he just appeared with a note in his
hand which read 'The soles of my feet I swear
they're burning.'"
Until he c"ame out with songs like "Restless Farew-
ell" which said, hey, I'm going to have to ... The times
that I'll do albums like The Times They Are A-Chan-
gin ain't gonna be too long. And you depend on
this, you depend on albums like The Times They Are
A-Changin; so he said good-bye to h is old folk fans.
He told th em that
" the soles on his feet th ey were burning"
he wanted to change somehow.
" The leaves began to fall"
Th e leaves are money.
" And the seas began to part"
Th e sea is humanity from o th er con text.
"And the people that confron ted him were many."
And a lot of people put him uptight. A lot of ... th e
fo lkniks put him uptight. They confronted h im by
waitin g outside the stage and trying to rip him apart
was really a hassled cat during his rock'n roll career.
" He was told with these kind of words which
opened up hi~ heart"
They literally opened up his heart-fucked him up.
"If you cannot b ring good news then don't bring
any"
If you don't have any good news-he was censo
in other words. If you can 't say anything good ab
our society, then don't say anything. Example
this c~nsorship were the Ed Sullivan Show wher
wanted to sing " John Birch Society Talking Bl
and CBS said no, the news department handles
kind of shit. And then ABC where they wou
give him full control over Bob Dylan Spectacu
hour and a half spectacu lar and so he sent th
ten minute film strip. Burned them for their
gram. They tried to sue him and it was a whole
sle. So he was censored. So in " Wicked Messe
that's when he changed. He said
" There was a wicked messenger''
Dylan is no longer going to write rad ical poetry
it's been that way since then. Country and w
music symbolizes the non-radical Dyl an .
Do you think he's been influenced by his farnil
The family of Th e Band and the womb ot \,
stock.
I think he's been influenced by his chem istr
brain chemistry.
What do you mean by that?
Like it's just Dylan's trip. It's a trip of sitti ng
nervous system like Dylan's. His mind goes
thing to thing. It's hard to explain. I don't kno
can verbalize it.
Where's he at with Nashville Skyline? What
ment is that musically? What statement
poetically? Is it poetry?
Yes, some of it's poetry. Some of the poems a
Simple lyrics, country and western-modified coun-
try and western .
Is this the extent of Dylan?
He says so. He says this in " Tonight I'll Be Staying
Here With You ". No, Dylan ... He can change. Dylan
has changed a lot in the past and he can change in
the future.
Would you project where he might change? What
k~I/ • much nothing-Dylan's symbol for over-affluence.
No, I can't say that. That I can 't. I can only tell yo u
what he tells me. There's no telling what's going on
in his mind-the stuff he doesn't say.
What do you think " Dear Landlord" is abou t?
I applied the system of interpretation that I devised
for all of Dylan's other poetry, to " Dear Landlord",
and it ca me o ut written to someone who is in ter-
preting-writin g a book interpreting Dylan. And as
fa r as I know, I' m the on ly one doing it.
Do you think the interpretation could be...
I' ll give you my interpretation.
No, wait. Do you think the interpretation could
mean management, manipulation, the father-figure
of Albert Grossman?
I don't see what you mean.
Don't you think a manager interpret5 his arlists?Most
people think it was about Albert Grossman.
" Dear Landlord "? Oh, ri ght. That's true. Grossman
was Dylan's landlord for a while. Now that's ... ,1' 11
explain that later on , ok? Now " Dear Landlord"-
" Dear landlord" -
! don 't know why Dylan says landlord but it's like a
letter form . It's. like he's w ri ting to somebody he
doesn' t re all y know.
" Dear landlord, please don't put a price on my
soul."-
Don' t pulverize my poetry with your interpretation.
"My burden is heavy."-
M y life is difficult. From other contexts-burden is
li fe.
" M y dreams are b eyond control" -
Dreams.
"A t times I th in k there are no wo rds but dreams
to tell what's true."
"A t dawn my lover comes lo me and tells me of
her dreams"-
'- -_e.e.
" All of us at times we might work too hard
Too h eavy, too fast and too much " -
But it's not, it's "to have it" according to the lyrics.
" All of us at times we might wo rk too hard"-
1 worked hard.
" To have it too fast and too much " -
To have fame and fortune too fast: I was 22 at the
time that song was written and " too much " -too
But he's saying you 're just trying to get rich by ex-
plo iting my lyrics.
"And anyo ne can fill his lap with th ings he can see
But he just cannot touch"-
Unfortunately I cannot write poetry like Dylan. I can
see all this stuff in Dylan but " I cannot to uch it", as
Lord Buckley wou ld say. I can't write poetry like this.
So
"And anyone ca n fi ll his lap with things"-
Kinda perj o rative-fills his life u p with thi ngs " he
can see". He can see all this stuff in Dylan but cannot
touch, which he cannot even approximate.
" Dear landlo rd
Please don't dismiss my case"-
Don't give up on your book
" I'm not about to argue"-
He's not about to become a poet.
"Now each of us has his own special gift"-
Mine is interpreting Dylan; Dylan's is writing the
poetry.
"And you know this was meant to be t rue"-
And he put in all the i rony in there for me to find.
" And if you don 't underestimate me"-
tr you don 't underesti mate my poe try
" I won't underestimate you"-
1 won't underestimate your interpretations. Now
Sing-Out Magazine O ctober-Novembe r 1968-ex-
clusive Dylan interview.
One suggested interpretation of "Dear Land-
lord" is you wrote it to bring out the lin e "Each of
us has his own specia l gift. "
And that's supposed to be John Cohn speaking. Izzy
Young told me that Dylan edited this seven ti mes
and I think he wrote both th e questions and th e
answers on some of the questions here. Now
One sugges1ed inlerpretalion .of "Dear Land-
!. /or?~ i~ you wrote ii 10 bring o ut th e line "Each of
 Weberman
Which was a con feren ce in San Franchco. Dylan
said, " Someday I m ight b e or may b e h ung a' a
th ief... "
A thief is poet in h is symbo lism.
And h e sa id also in that int erview that h e 'll k n o w
wh en the time is, 50m ething will happen 10 signa l
his retirem ent I d o n 't rem ember th e exact lin e. I
tho ught this would be his· accident. Has D ylan
retired ? Has h e retired aft er Blo nde o n Blonde?
Well, he produced the basement tape whi ch is really
a dynamite tape. Would have so ld a million copies.
But he never released it. He d oesn' t want to be fa -
mous an ymore. H e feels that the hassle that mass
fame entails is like too much . It's not worth it to him
an d he w ants to live out his own personal nightmare
in peace, o ff In th e woo d s somewh ere.
In th e Sin g-Out in tervi ew wiln Roge r M cGuinn ...
Good interview.
M cG uin n claim s that D ylan has felt guilty abo ut h is
success.
I don't think so. I .d o n't see wh y Dylan sho uld feel
guilty abo ut it. He deserved it. He didn 't hurt any-
body by beco ming successful except fo r a co upl e o f
musicians li ke Pat Boone and Frankie Lain e and
peo ple like th at.
A l Koop er.
Yeah.
What ' th e put -on ? Why th e put-on?
In intervi ews?
In int er views.
Yo u know I didn 't fini sh that " Dear Lan dlo rd " riff.
O K.
So he says on e suggested int erp retati on o f " D ear
Land lo rd " was that yo u wrote it to brin g o u t th e li ne
" Each o f u ~ has his own specia l gift. "
So Dylan is telli ng me th at that's th e o nl y valid line' in
th e poem aftN he's read my stuff. Between " UP ar
Land lo rd " and the Sing-Out i nterview, I d id a lot ot
stuff. I was in the p u bl ic mo re. I was o n WB AI a cou -
p le of times and I was p ub lished in EVO ... I w as p u b-
lished i n Broacl sidC' Mag az ine which was my fir st
docume nted article o f Dylanologica l resea rch and it
was su bsequentl y reprinted in many p laces and i t
wa~ a very successful article. So he read th at and he
d ug it. A nd i n here he says
" I don ' t know abo ut th at."
He d idn 't write th i ~ song to bri ng ou t
" Each of us has h is own special gift"
Th ese 50ng, mighr lay around in your head for
rwo or thrC'c year' and you 're a/ways writing
som eth ing p revio us. You learn to do that so the
song wo u ld n o t tc' nd to b C' a r<'action . Someth ing
conte mporary wou ld make it a rea ct ion.
1lere Dylan is being sar casti c. It is a reacti o n
1 E~ ' _ .1 reaction
,J ..., • ..,. 1,
10 m<'. Now he
t. "~.
goc' on
,
04 - -
19~
an ... Li kc " Lay Lad y Lay" is rea lly weird. Isn 't th at
wei rd ? Like issuing an alb um fi r ~t , then issuing a sin-
81c off of it.
He i ssued " I ihrC'w It A ll Away" fir st before " Lay
La(/y Lav".
Right. Bu t even after " I Threw It A ll Away". I'm talk-
ing abou t issu ing a record, issuing Jn alb um, and
th en issuing a si ngle off th at album. You d ig? Usually
yo u issue a single, th en yo u bsue an album with th e
single o n that album .
What about D ylan's ~ingl es and the )ing les ihat ha-
ven '! been released ?
What about them? The re's so man y of them . We
have 90, uh ... We're appro aching 100 rare Dyl an
songs, like unrecord ed D ylan songs. We've got th e
Broadside tape whi ch is a tape Dylan made in
Bro adside Magazine in 1963. We've got the Wit mark
demos-d emos he made fo r Witmark to give to
oth er artists. We've got th e tape he made for th e
Byrds; we got the basement tape ... We've got a tape
o f Dylan at Forest Hills. A tape o f D ylan singing with
Joa n Bae..z. We're gettin g a tape of D ylan o n th e Les
Cra ne Show. We have o ne o f D ylan o n th e Stud s
Terk el Sho w. We have o ne o f Dylan o n th e O sca r
Brand Show and we 're ge ttin g o ne o f Dylan in Min-
nesota 1961, befo re th e first album . r ar o ut tape.
Wh at singles h aven't m ad e it that he 's re lea!>C'd?
" Soo ner o r Later On e of Us Must Kn o w " and
" Pl ease Fall O ut Yo u r Window" on ly wen t up to
number 50.
Wh at abo ut " Mixed-up Confusio n ' ?
Never made the charts. Th at was ano the r o ne.
That was his first sin g le.
Right. Th at discouraged him from be ing a rock
singer. That fast. The re wa sn 't that much accep tan ce
to r D ylan as a ro ck singer at t hat lime.
, to w m uch cont ro l, influ ence has occured thro ugh
h 1 producers? H e's had John Hammon d; h e's had
Wil~ o 11 and he 's had Bob bie Johnston. What influ·
·~n c • do you sec? What prod uction techn iqu es do
VO ti •l'Cjl
Th H' .i good q uesti on . Well, first o f all D yl an re-
mixed Blon d e on Blo nd e h imself. He didn' t d ig
Jo h nston 's mi xing. He dug Jo hnston 's mi xing of
H igh way 61 but he didn 't d ig Jo hnsto n's mi xing o f
Blond e on Blonde and h e remi xed that al bum him-
self.
He mad e the music to tally sub servien t to his vo ice.
That's an importan t thin g wi th Dylan . Like t he music
has always been ... h is voi ce has alwa ys been more
impo rta nt t han th e music and words.
H ow do you kn o w he remixed th i)? What so urce?
Uh , Go Magazine. And John Hammond p retty much
let Dylan sing th e way he want ed to si ng. Did ki nda a
cine ma verite kind of thin g on tape.
A nd Tom Wilson? Tom Wi bon d id Bringing II A ll
,111cl it \ Back Home wh ich was th e first ...
to '·' Y Ri g h i. I l e ra ll c>d i n .1 hunch of ~ t ud i o m u ~ i c i ,in ~ and
... rt ''"'"
• , _ : ...... _
h ::irl th r-•"• ." .. "...- tf r n l.
See thi s guitar. Thi s gu it ar ain ' t sacred. I co uld get
ano th er guitar.
Im plying th at he co uld ge t an electric guit.ir. 1-k wa.,
,1lways i nto th at. It was just th at fo lk m usic wa\ what
was hap pen ing and he du g it. He was in volved in it,
he was involved in civ il ri g h t~, he was invo lvc>d in th e
who le po litical stru ggle at th e timl' and ~o 11atu 1ally
he 'd get into thi s kind o f music. Th en he achieved
such great success with it th at he was standin g at the
side road . He was a folksinger liste ning to th e
Billboard knock. Listening to Billboard kn ock as he
racked up the sales of his LPs. His musical accompa-
niment was minimal but his nerves were ti ckin g,
ti ckin g like a cl ock and his words, people were pick-
ing up on his wo rd s. Th e stuff that his nerves cre-
ated.
Wh en did Dylan m ake it ? Ma~~ m ake it ? With " Lik<'
A Rolling Ston e?
Yes. June, '65. Afte r he came back from his Briti sh
to ur.
Wh al mad e you ,o inl <'re)tNI in " LikC' A Ro lling
Sl on e' '?
What int erested me was " Gal es o f Eden" . It w a'>
just... 1 co uld n 't believe th at Dylan h,1d sold o ut .rnd
had beco me ju st fu cking around with wo rds and ju\ t
bullshittin g and put ting u s all 0 11 and doing a wh o lC'
evil number. I cou ldn 't be lieve it. I h.id fa ith .111d
th at's abo ut it, man , li ke faith. I believed th at all thi s
stu ff was i n D ylan - th at there wa s so mC'thing fim'
Th at D ylan was a g rea t p oe t. I just believed it kind -
a.. .we ll , I had reaso n to beli eve it, I guess. Th ere 's
so me c lemen t o f faith .
W ho C' lse believe' h e~, a grl'a t poet? WhJt otllC'r
peopl e?
Rcl lph GleJ son .
Do generalion s believe lw ') a grC'al poN?
Th ey don 't kn ow yet. Whe n m y book co mes o ut,
everybod y\ go ing to believe he\ a grc.11 poC't.
There's no t going to be any dou bt abou t it.
Do your p u b li , h C'r~ believ(' hC' 's a grC'at po<'I?
Yes, I hope so. They bctt<>r. l v('n i f he\ no t a gre.11
poet, it's a q uesti o n o f if I 'm a great poet , .md I c.in
writ e all this weird stuff around his poe try. You sec',
it doesn 't matt er wh cll Dylan is, 111 a \Cme; what m.ll -
ters is th e aesth etica lly pleasing sys1em 1h a1 I crea t<•,
how complex it is, how com i, tcn t it is. Even i f Dylan
d idn ' t p ut in all th b iron y, my book still d<', N Vl'' to
be publi shed beca use it 's such <1 n incred i bly weird
far-ou t syste m which wo uld tJkc years to devise
around the· sc t of arb itrMy symbol, -11 tfwy Wl'rl'
arbitrary sym bols. But th ey're not arbi trary symbob.
Why d id rhc p ub li c pick 11/) 1u1 " Lik e A Rolling
Ston e'? Wha t \ it about )
" Like A Rolling Sto ne" b abou t oppressed women .
It \ a ~o n g for oppressed women. I'll just do a vcr'C'
from it.
Wh at about " hanging our'? D o th <' " hang ing o ur "
V ('f\('
-' ~ . . I'"' '"' ~ r. th ""
.u ., . ,.-.e...-. . i,. ., f l"\ 1 ttt h \ltH' l'.f"\ - l ! ,. 1 r ~ thor ,-f , '\ -, '1i r"tn d "'.t.'r \l•~r~o ~~·-~-..
 ' v·v •• .................
th an an yone e>h c doe~.
That's sheer bu lbhit. Of cour~c· he know' what it
means. But now he comes to th e heavy part.
Bllt yoll a l way~ have to consider that I would
wri te the \Ong for somebody ehc. I l e might say
something or behave in a ... -
"say somcthing"-my interpretation.
" ... or behave in a certain manncr."-
Like when I was on Bob Fass's show I was confronted
with a lot of hostile rock critic~ who didn't believe,
who though t that I was crazy.
Who?
Ellen Sander and Fass hi mself and Marshall Efron.
He's not a rock critic-he's a rock clown but a beau-
tiful person.
Yeah, anyway, so I wa) confronted with Fass and El-
len Sander on that day and ...
What's Sander from?
She's from ... What is Ellen Sander? Hit Parader. She
writes fo r Hit Parader Magazine. She's not too hip.
And th ey were really hassling me. Like I showed
th em the hidden pictures in th e Jo hn Wesley Hard-
ing cove r. They said, " Oh, you see hidden pictures
here? D o you see t hings to o ? Do yo u hear thin gs
too?" Implying- th at I' m psycho tic, b ut I showed th e
pictures. I sho wed you the pictures. I h ad them
blown up-subsequently blown up so it was a who le
hassle th at night and Dylan dug the way I conducted
myself...
... or behave in a certain manner o r come ri ght
o ut and o ffer informatio n lik e that.
That's th e way I docum ented my interpretations,
through th e D ylan literature in the Broadside article.
And if lr's strikin g eno ugh , it m igh t find an open -
ing.-
And if it's groovy enough, Dylan th in ks my b ook
mi ght get pu blished. So th at's the last I hea rd fro m
Dylan except in Nash ville Skylin e he says
" I can hear that whistle blowing."-
1 take it as the steam boat whistle and he's givin g me
the ok to publish. On kinda a tentative thi ng. I guess
he's gon na want to see th e book fi rst bu t he's sayi ng
the ti me is right because of various factors.
Do you th ink he will con tact you ?
No, I think I 'm gon na h ave to con tact hi m. Eventu-
ally I'm going to have to give him a copy o f the
manuscript. Whether it's done through my publish-
ing firm 's lawyers, wheth er I do it in person is up to
Dylan. I p refer to give it to him in person b ut I need
some sort of wo rd from him before I. ..
Do you think t hat word will be h is next sing le?
No, h is next.. . I don ' t think there's going to be a nex t
single. It will be " Living the Blues" if it is anythin g.
Wh y don 't you think that was released? It was sup-
posed to have b een released in Jun e.
I don't know. You hear all of thi s stuff about Dyl-
ntngact1t1!tt 1La•1 y-, Ff'"'."" ··----· ··- · _
acoustica lly and they played the same lac ks electron-
ica lly so it was pure fol k-rock in a Sl'l1S<'. It l,11cr on
chi'l nged and became more Dylan i1cd. And Dylan
came in there and did the licks.
In Nashville Skyline there') a /in c " /'ti ro lling, Bob?"
And I' ve heard that Dylan 's pulling down Johmto11.
Put ) him down a\ jU\I a pu\h<:'r of butt om and lett ing
the tape roll, having no control.
That could be. That's a possibility. But I looked at
that as Dylan trying to te ll us that not only his sing111g
voice changed, but his speak111g voicl' ha!> also
changed. That's why he chooses to say that. Let me
say something abou t my eva luation of p roducer<,.
I'm rea lly not th at good in the music end of th E' Dy-
lanology. We have o th er Dylanologists who are mu-
sicians anQ who take care of that music end of the
scene. I'm strict ly a words cat so it's hard for me to
answer th ose questions about the producers. There
proba bl y is a differen ce that co uld be poi nted out
by someone more co mpetent in the fi eld o f music.
Wh at stat em ent wo uld you make abo ut th e
accompaniment?
Musak. It was like Dylan told th e musicians no licks,
just pl ay it and that's what th ey did so on ce again th e
music doesn 't d etract fro m the words. Th e wo rds are
the main thin g that co mes across in Dylan.
Thro ugho ut Dylan 's career, it seems wheth er i t be
music, the Playboy interview, th e int erview in sing
Out, an y written material, th e on e word th at would
seem to characterize him is editing. Dylan as the Edi-
to r. Complete contro l of th e enviro nment.
Manipulating media. To some extent he manipu-
lated th e media and made himself, changing his
name, writing t he interviews, pu tting on the press.
When he was confro nted with a lot of stu pid ques-
tions, he mani pu lated the media and used it fo r his
own ends wh ich was to att ain a deg ree o f notoriety.
It seems that Dylan is th e consummate busi nessm an.
No, I think A lbert Grossman is the co nsummate
bu sinessman. He handles the business end of th e
deal and Dylan just writes t he poetry. I'll always be
feu ding wit h Grossman li ke that. I don't know. Li ke I
said, Grossman strikes me as a very greedy cat. He
wants $1000 which is an outrageous price.
H e aho wants complete con tro l of anything that 's
said abo ut Dylan. Wh y?
I don 't know. Maybe th ey're paranoid freaks. I do n't
kno w.
W hat about electric?
Elektra?
Electric! Th e desire to become electric, to go
electric?
Well, that was always th ere. I have thi s interview
with D ylan on the Stud s Terkel Show in May of '63
where he says
21
thE' 'jugglers- anc "lne - now11.,-w11'0"1 1 '"
tri ck~ for you"-
Now clown s-thb 1s the th ird vNsc- now <.lown~
from
"Wh en all the clowm you have com mi!>sionccl
" Li ke a rolling stone.
With no direction known"-
W ith no goals or idea l~.
"Like a complete unknown
Like a rol ling ston e"-
lt's a song to oppressed women and that's onC'
group ol oppressed women. I n the same song, he
ta lks to women who have been knocked up-chicks
who are "hanging out" wit h protruding stomachs,
chicks in college who have to cop off th e street- th e
drug scene-young hip chicks who arc out of col-
lege and have to cop off t he street and spade chicks
who are oppressed like all spades are.
What /in<:' wou ld be for spades?
Spades wou ld be
"You used to be so amused at Napol eon i n rags"
Yo u used to be so amused with th e civil rights
leader.
"A nd the langu age th at he used " -
And his rheto ri c.
" Go to him now he ca lls yo u, you ca n 't refu se
Wh en yo u ain't got no thing, you got no thin g to
lose"-
When you 're at th e bottom o f th e social hierarchy,
yo u can ' t get any lo wer.
" Yo u' re in visible now, you got no secrets to con -
ceal" -
Sarcasti c-no body can see yo u- no body can sec
that you 're b lack. You have no deep d ark secret to
concea l. Actually they can all see th at yo u're black.
He's being sarcasti c:
" You 're invisible now .. ." -
Nobody can see yo v, baby.
" ... You got no secrets to concca l" -
Yo u got noth ing to worry about them fin ding o ut
you're black. You 're not going to be oppressed like
th e rest of the b lack people.
Ta lking about con ceal ment-what about D on 't
Look Back? H e su ed Pennebaker. W hy did he sue?
A nd also th e secon d movie which j ust i nvo lved D y-
lan's electric p hase...
I don 't know about this suing bu sin ess, man . This
suing business has got to go because ...
Wh y did he sue?
I do n' t know. He sued Ro bert Kramer for his book.
He didn't want that out. That I can see.
Wh y?
Because he got hip th at Robert Kramer was a a lame
photographer, whi ch he is, and he got into this
~28

...Jf/jj~
I '
:
~
I
, .
I •
~
. ,:z·C.E~·l. r.'J~.
~·
. ,... .i ,-
• .r, · . -..,,,..
.
::.- .. ..
7 : 3 o wns a copyri ght on .
. E
0
I-
o• far out for me to go into, because a lot of times I
I like I 'm let into personal secrets, knowin g Dy-
' s symqoli sm so well and I don 't want to betray
,Y of these personal secrets that have beer:i en-
sted to me.
at secrets? Wh at songs?
rather not even go into that but I could say
untry Pie", " Lay Lady Lay", " Peggy Day", " To-
t I' ll Be Staying With You " -most of th e m, most
1em. But I can go into some of them. I can go
" One More Night"
t do you think about that?
at song Dylan is saying that he's going to-he's
going to perform for teenagers in public an y-
e.
,'s why he's go ing to England for th e Isle of
t Festival?
.i nda weird, isn't it? The re he is up in Wood stock
y and he makes it his bu siness to get out of
stock before th at who le thin g ca me o ff. A nd
does he go to pe rfo rm- in England. Th at's
wei rd alth o ugh he digs th e English . He digs
glish a lo t. But Dylan d oesn' t want. ..
o you th ink he digs the English?
use th ey're more ad va nced socially and in te l-
ally th an A merican s-the Eng lish gen erally
i ng. Education b mor ~w id e l y diffused in Eng-
You d o n' t fi nd th e ~a m e social types as in
ica. It's a less vio lent society.
xt album-what is it going to be? What t yp e o f
,thing as thi s. Same thin g as Nashville Skylin e.
:>O"Trom ore-am, 1-1<n ow th at-o·r ea111 '" ,.,J ....--··r- ..... ~
from co ntrol , I know contro l is o rder. So my poetry
is beyond o rde r.
"My dreams are beyond control
Whe n that steam whi stl e blo w s"
or
" I do n't kno w how it happened
But the river boat captain,
He knows my fate"-
He'll let me quote what I want to quote whi ch he
"And I do hope you receive it w ell
Depending o n the way you f~ el you live" -
lt's pretty literal.
" Dear landlord
Please heed these words that I speak" -
Listen carefull y to what I say.
" I know you suffered much"-
You've been through a lot of changes-and I have.
"But in this you are not so unique"-
Now " in this"-According to Dylan, the nature of
life is inherent in the negative. In "Visions of Johan-
na" he says
"Ain 't it just like the night
To play tricks when you ' re trying to be so quiet" -
Ain ' t it just like fate to pl ay tricks to make you ali ve
" .. .when you're trying to be so quiet-'' -
Wh en you really don't want-to be.
" We sit here stranded."
We're all here lost on th e life trip which is essentially
a lost trip and we're all doing our best to deny it.
And everythi ng we do in life-drugs, sex, thin gs like
th is-are just kinda futile mo tio ns to d eny inher-
ently negati ve phe nomena. And so, " in this".
" I know yo u suffered much
Bu t in this... " -
Due to t he na ture of li fe, according to Dylan , th ose
three words " but in this" become signifi cant.
" ... you are no t so unique"-
Due to th e natu re of life, yo u are not so unique.
"A ll o f us at times we mi ght work too hard
To have it too fast and too much " -
Now a lo t of peopl e when they hear that, th ey th ink
it's " heavy". I talked to a lo t of people abo ut this.
mon ·c o nsciousness o t many people as to what th ey
believed " Dear Lanl o rd " w as abo ut, he wo uld have
said, as you d id " Th at was when you wro te to Gross-
man, eh? He w as your landlo rd for a while"
whi ch is perfectly reasonabl e wh en yo u look at it on
a relatively superfi cial leve l. By Dylan says that th e
most common suggested inte rpretation of " Dear
Landlo rd " is that yo u wrot e i i to bring o ut th e line
" Each o n e has his own speci al gift."
It's D ylan tellin g me that the onl y goo d line in th e
whole poem was th e o nly valid line, after he du g my
work. You dig? Because when Dylan wrote " Dear
Landlord", h e was very ... All h e had was a tape of me
at the Free University lecturing on Dylan and an
appearance on Izzy Young' s show. That was my only
public action at the time.
Lord Buckley used the phrase " Bend an end". How
did Dylan know you were the " bend an end" in
t erms of you were the one? How did h e get your
message and find out about you?
Well, Dylan is very interested in what' s being said
about him so he sent somebody to the Free Univer-
sity to see what th e course on him was like. H e said
holy shit, thi s cat has more insight th an anybody else
in the past has had, yet he's still pretty lame.
Who are Dylan 's friends?
Who are Dylan 's frie nds?
What kind o f people are his friends?
I don 't know. Robbie Robertson , The Band. I
couldn 't tell you . I don' t know him p erso nally. He
hasn 't mentioned any of his fri ends
Wh y haven't you seen him? Wh y haven 't yo u seen
him in p erson? Wh y have yo u been so o bjective?
First o f all, h e's no t any easy pe rson to cont act. I 've
tri ed to co ntact him and ask h i m if he wants to see
me and I got no respon se. So I fi gure he doesn' t
wa nt to see me and he wan ts to co mmunicate i n his
poetry, whi ch he does, and i n h is wo rk and have th e
co mmun ication go down th at w ay.
What was his accident all abo ut?
As his broth er said, i n th e Village Voice th ing, th e
accident was just a way of getti ng o ut of a lo t of co n-
tractu al engage men ts that Dylan had at the time.
'
In th e Dylan intervie w which appeared in Ro lling
St on e which appeared and was transcribed from .. .
December '65.
-21
I

e -•
ON SCOOPING.ESQUIRE
1\;
Trashman as'Superstar
- Stick out your can, baby
Yeah, stick out your can, baby
Well, stick out your can, baby
Cuz I'm your garbage man
-anonymous blues lyric
All you people who are into
Bob Dylan, well, you've been
fooled all these years. Dylan ain't
nothin but a pig capitalist. A pig
capitalist junkie, at that. I know
because A.J. Weberman, world's
foremost Dylanologist , told me
so. over a tuna fish salad sand-
wich.
But I get ahead of myself.
Let's back up to the beginning,
and examine the facts with a
cooled-out head.
Last Wednesday noon in a
rather shabby nouveau-lumpen-
intelligentsia-respectable flat on
North Racine St., A.J. Weberman
lay curled in his sleeping bag.
Become famous, he is rather
blase about keeping appoint-
ments.
As he rises [am reminded that
sometimes even the President of
the United States must have to
stand naked. A.J. Weberman ,
however, is not naked. His T-
shirt is an anonymous tie-dyed
purple. His shorts are soiled. He
does not sleep in his socks.
Feeling un~omfortably inti-
mate ,(afterall, getting up is a
very personal thing) , I retire to
up to see A.J. present a cake
decorated in candles shaped like
hypodermic needles, and hand
out "Free Bob Dylan" buttons.
It is Bob Dylan's garbage,
however, which has lifted A.J.
Weberman from the ranks of
underground weirdo to the re-
spectability of Esquire's Novem-
ber issue. It seems that one night,
as A.J. and his woman (his em-
phasis) were strolling past
Dylan's McDougal St. brown-
stone, they were simultaneously
struck by thoughts of the golden
opportunities going to waste in
the singer's trash can. They
dumped its contents into their
car, and sped off into the New
York night.
What did they find? A.J. Web-
erman is wary of that question.
For sure, there was a draft of a
letter to Johnny Cash. Other-
wise, A.J. is vague; a couple of
snap shots of Dylan 's kids, and
maybe parts of a manuscript.
Mostly there was garbage.
When Esquire heard of the
exp loit, they commissioned A.J.
to explore the trash cans of other
well known people. It wasn't
easy. Celebrities are often sensi-
tive about their garbage. Without
giving away the plot, let's just
hint that some of its comes from
a well known Movement figure
who recently cut his hair and
symbol for heroin." I didn't have
the . heart to tell him that Dylan
cqdn 't write that line.
"New Morning is somethjng
different because Dylan has been
'y ing to kick after four years of
being addicted. On that record
he's talking about using drugs
only sometimes-instead of being
strung out all the time. That's
e message of 'One More Week-
ehd'; he on ly shoots up on week-
ends."
So how, you are asking your-
sel f, does A.J. Weberman know
all this? He has several answers.
•1First", he says, " I used to be a
d e aler- nothing heavy, you
nderstand , just some grass and
acid - but I had to learn how to
recognize junkies and speed
freaks. To protect myself from
heir ripoffs.
"Second, I've seen and talked
to Dylan, and he looked like a
junkie. His eyes were pin holes.
ife even admitted to me that
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
is abo ut smack. But Dylan's a
bastard ; he threw me out and
wo uldn't talk to me anymore."
Most of "the evidence, though,
comes from Weberman 's monu-
mental, 3000 page Dy lan Con-
cordance; wherein each word
that Dylan ever sang or wrote has
been categorized according to its
:z;:iF' ~. J
f11:;4
~~ ....
• - ... •
7
t
By Jack Hafferkamp
'violence.' Thus, "A hard rain's a
gunna fall" means that shit's·
gunna hit the fan. Similarly ,
'do9r' always equals 'mind,'
'stranger' = 'leftist,' and 'foreign'
= 'communist.' 'I' also means
' mind ,' but, of course, there is
bound to be some repitition.
Weberman thinks 'pipe' means
vein, but he's not positive.
Sitting across from Weberman
in Roma's Pizzeria wtrile he eats
his tunafish, I find it hard to
believe that A.J. is called a luna-
tic. He agrees.
"You know those people at
Rolling Stone? They think I'm
crazy or some bullshit, so they
try to act ce111descending. Like
well, its only A.J. Weberman , so 'II.;
it can't mean anything. Well ,
that's bullshit. I'm not crazy. I
know Dylan's a junkie. Once he
even offered me a job as his
chauffeur, but when he found out
he cou ldn 't buy me off. he
threatened to kill me."
A.J. Weberman grows more
animated as he builds to this
l~
verbal climax. He waves his sand-
wich for e mphasis, until just as
the word 'kill' pours from his
mouth , a Jump of tuna salad goes
splat on the table. He misses the
point.
"Anyway, I'm off Dylan now.
I've kicked, you might say. Gone
~~ tho M1>thadvlan program. I've
•
Q.&.11.&..Y"Oir. ....... .._.......... _
cigarette butts. The air is foul.
On the mantel is a life-size
photograph of a young girl's
face. The eyes have been cut out.
As an ice breaker, I ask, "Who is
she?"
"That's Dianne Linkletter. We
had a demonstration against her
old man, Art. He killed her, you
know . Everybody wore o ne," re-
plies A.J. Weberman, as he
pushes hl.s zipper into place and
peers into the mirror over the
mantel.
Looking much like a balding
you or me, A.J. Weberman is
dressed and prepared for the'day.
His fingernails are dirty, and he
has oot brushed his teeth. Never
trust a man who does not brush.
A.J. Weberman has a reputa-
tion as a crazy. On Dylan's 30th
birthday, he held an in-absentia
celebratipn in front of Bob 's
house. Over 500 people showed
_
when a friend turned him on to
the hidden meaning in the lyrics.
He was listening to "Maggie's
Farm" when, Whamo, it came to
him that the song was about
capita lism. He Listened to other
Dylan songs with new ears, and
found himself captivated by their
revolutionary political conscious-
ness.
But along about 1966, Weber-
man says, Dylan's songs began to
change. They turned from poli-
tics to drugs, particularly heroin.
At first the songs (like "She
Belongs to Me") were anti-
heroin, but that, too, began to
change. " 'From a Buick Six' was
the first definitely pro-H song,"
Weberman insists. "From then
on, his records have always been
about heroin. Just listen to side
three of Blonde on Blonde. If
that isn't abo ut smack, l don't
know what is." All in secret
language, mind you.
"Even that smiling country
sound on Nashville Skyline is just
a cover for smack lyrics. And
likewise for Self-Portrait. You
know that line, 'I'll give you
more gold than your apron can
ho ld '? Well, gold is a Dylan .
JUl~f. lL L\JVJ\. nvvvau.-.. . ...... - - ... · --
oman (ditto) a whole month of 'Tm into different things now
eady typing to prepare all the (he produces xerox clippings
ds. "But it only took the from a Paul McCartney is Dead
mputer 3 hours to digest it." demonstration), more political
According to Weberman, the things. I work with the Yippies
ncordance proves conclusively in New York, and on the Dana
t almost every word Dylan Beal Defence fund . Stuff like
used is a non-changing that. ... "
bol for something else. If As I'm dropping A.J. Weber-
u don't trunk that is an earth man off at the WGLD-FM studio,
king revelation, just listen to I phrase my last question with
me of the translations. For some delicacy. Afterall , A.J. has
.ample: 'rain' always means invited me to crash at his apart-
ment in the Bowery if I' m ever in
New York, and in the Big Apple
its nice to know where you can
crash. "A.1." , l say, "What
would you say to people who say
you are only doing this for the
publicity?"
He looks at me over the top of
his glasses and says, "That's
right."
~. ~
~
 Page 16
I Weberman on Dylan
(For those who have not heard of
him, Allan J. Weberman Is the
ult/mate fan. He has had Bob Dylan's
every published word, songs, poetry
and prose, programmed Into a com-
puter for a ·complete lexicon of
associations and images. He has
gone so far as to regularly steal
Dylan's garbage and minutely
examine and catalog the contents.
(More recently, Esquire magazine
asked him to examine the garbage
of other famous people, from Abbie
Hoffman to Muhammad All). He has
criticized Dylan long and loud for his
failure to be more committed to the
Left and has held protest demon-
strations In front of Dylan's house in
Greenwich Village.
Not long ago, Weberman came up
to music writer Karin Berg. He was
smilmg from ear to ear.
"Hey Karin, Dylan hit me In the
mouth," he said.
"That's good," she replied. "He
should have done that a long time
ago."
"That's what I told him," said
Weberman.)
7 Al, ya might as well give up.
You ain't gonna change me •..
-Sob Dylan
ALLAN J. WEBERMAN
When I first heard that Dylan's new
single was about the murder of
George Jackson. I didn't believe It
since the guy who told me, a dude
named one-legged Terry, would do
anything to protect his friend Bob.
I'd introduced Terry to him while me
and Bobby were in the midst of
weekly negotiations (we never got
past the shape-of-the-table stage)
and they really hit it off and soon
were very close friends. Terry then
became my arch enemy and chief
apologist for Dylan and so when
Terry hinted that Dylan's next single
was about a political prisoner named
George I figured It was just another
scame to prevent the Dylan
Liberation Front (a group whose aim
was to expose, through demon-
stratlons and the media the fact that
Bob Dylan had become a good Ger-
man and refused to speak out
against Amerika in order to take junk
in peace and that he'd become a
multi-mlllionalre capitalist who
owned war stock, office buildings,
etc.) from breaking the temporary
truce unilaterally declared by our
Minister of Defense after the Bengla-
Desh Benefit. About a week later my
phone started to ring like crazy -
"Hey A.J., did you hear it on the
radio, Dylan's new single is about
George Jackson, we won, we won" I
still didn't believe It. " Just a rare
tape given to some FM station which
would eventually appear on some
esoteric bootleg," I thought. But I
went up to Columbia Records the
next day and heard It and found out
1t was being pressed that night. I got
a copy and played it a hundred times
- although It's a serious song,
everyt1me I hear it I just can't help
but smile ....
I still don't believe II ... I never
thought It would happen. Convinced
that Dylan had become a hard-assed
shltklckin' rightist I was prepared to
hassle him for the rest of his life. His
garbage would never be safe. You
see, as the ultimate Dylan fan, a cat
who was sure that if anyone was sin-
cere and honest and incorruptible it
was that little curly haired Jewish
poet-singer who turned so many
people on to the struggle of the op-
pressed with his pop songs and who
wrote the most incredibly obscure
poe try which required a com-
puterized word concordance to tran-
slate from the Dylanese, I WAS
GONNA FIGHT. It was my realization
that Bob was a genius and a very Im-
portant person in terms of the
revolution that caused me to devote
what many believed to be an
lnrodlnate amount of time and
energy to "Freeing Him From Him-
self." In other words, It was my love
for Dylan that made me hate him so
- a lthough when I brought 500
people in front of his townhouse for
a mock 30th Birthday Party complete
December 31, 1971
with a cake that had candles carved
Into the shape of hypodermic
needles and birthday '
congratulations ftom Ylppies Abbie
Hoffman and David Peel you
couldn't have convinced him of that
in a million years .. . .
I guess it worked - something
made Dylan start thinking again.
George Jackson "has made him the
most radical superstar In the rock-
world In terms of lyrics (Lennon's
stuff is great but he hasn't really got-
ten too specific, that is, written a
song about a particular instance of
Injustice happening now, since he Is
afraid of getting deported to
England and not getting custody of
Yoko's kid. Lennon does give more
bread to radical causes than Dylan,
though.) and I hope the cat puts his
money where his mouth Is. But Bob,
if you read this, don't worry man, I
consider singing a song about
Amerlka concentration camps and
Front demands Weberman apology
We ask A.J. Weberman to publicly
apologize to Bob Dylan for leading a
public campaign of lies and
malicious slander against Dylan in
the past year. It is about time
someone came to Dylan's defense
when A.J. published articles and
went on radio calling Dylan a junkie
- which he never was - attacked
Dylan for "deserting the movement"
- when he was there before the
movement and helped create it -
and publicized Dylan's address and
phone - exposing Bob and his wife
and c hildren to public em-
barrassment and abuse.
Dylan is more than a myth - he Is
a human being, like you and me. He
has feelings and sensitivities like
you and me. Who Is there among us
who has not had his consciousness
shaped by the words and music of
Bob Dylan? Yet who raised h1s or her
voice or uttered a word to defend
Dylan when A.J. Weberman began
his personal campaign of slander
against Dylan - In the true tradition
of the sensationalistic press willing
to print anything about someone
famous - even organizing demon-
strations at Dylan's home - for
the atrocities that go down in them
'doing somethmg· since when you
speak through your songs millions of
people listen. And I ain't gonna mess
with you or yer garbage nomo.
And the song Is no-bullshit,
straight from the heart stuff, his best
since 1965 . . . like part of his
motivation for writing this song may
be to get me off his back, but
judging from the lyrics I think the cat
really feels for Amerfka's victims.
Looking back at Dylan's life
retrospectively, ft seems that being
addicted to junk from about 1966-
1970 had put Dylan outside the law
and had given him a consciousness
which had revolutionary potential -
more so than the materlallst middle
hippie consciousness of most other
rock singers. (Dylan would often
remind me that when I judged him I
should remember that ''I'm not like
them"). Now we come to one of my
big boo-boos - thinking that Dylan
god's sake: - can' t Dylan have
some privacy! Can't he have some
peace of mind in his own home to
think and write and make music and
be with his family?
Weberman took advantage of
Dylan's fame. If Bob Dylan attacked
A.J. Weberman, who would listen or
publish it? If A.J. Weberman has
some "inside gossip" or "the real
truth" about Bob Dylan, everyone 1s
all ears because everyone wants to
talk about Bob Dylan Stories spread
from person to person In an ever-
w1denlng circle of exaggeration and
bullshit. No one cares to find out the
truth about Bob Dylan, the person.
They are too busy amusing them-
selves by telling outlandish stories
about Bob Dylan - the myth -
whom they have never met.
Weberman tried to make a name
for himself by attacking Dylan and
proclaiming himself a Dylanologlst
or something like that. No one else
named Weberman an expert on
Dylan. Weberman calls himself an
expert, and all of a sudden the press
is all over him trying to get Infor-
mation or gossip about Dylan. Now
whenever someone writes about Bob
Los Angeles Free Press
was still a iunkie when I met him In
late 1970. Like my evidence that
Dylan was Into junk came frQm his
poetry. a lot of which turned 'Out to
be about junk after applying the
analytic method of exegisise to ft.
According to Dylan his LPs are
about a year behind his life . . so
there I was looking for tracks on his
arm cause of the outdated tracks on
his records. Now many a Christian
ex-doper has become a Jesus freak
so yiddle Zimmerman turned to the
JDL and I don't mean the Jesus
Defense League. He contributed lots
of bread to these rightist Jews and
even took Karate lessons from them.
Bobby dln't dig it that much and I
recently learned that a week after I
Introduced him to Terry he dropped
out of Karate and used the time to
take Hebrew lessons from the one-
legged convicted hash smuggler.
Dig, I hate to say it, but Terry was a
(please turn to page 17)
Dylan, they also Interview A.J
because he Is a self-proclaimed
authority on Dylan's music. A.J
claims everything Dylan writes 1s
either about Weberman or about
heroin. What bullshit'
Weberman Is to Dylan as Manson
is to the Beatles - and Weberman
uses what he Interprets from Dylan's
music to try and kill Dylan and builo
his own fame Now A.J. Weberman
takes credit for Dylan's "George
Jackson" song. More egocentric
bullshit Dylan wrote it in spite of
Weberman and in spite of "the
movement." Dylan wrote it because
he felt 1L
A.J. Weberman's campaign - and
the movement's comphcity in It - Is
in the current fad of everyone in the
revolution attacking each other and
spreading false rumors about each
other It's time we defended and
loved each other - and saved our
anger for the true enemy, whose
ignorance and ' greed· destroys our
planet.
-The Rock Liberation Front:
David Peel, Jerry Rubin,
Yoko Ono, John Lennon
Id.
(continued from page 16)
111
good influence on Bob cause aside
to
from being a stoned Zionist Terry's
nd
also a bit of a Y1pp1e (Terry has at-
ng
te nded many demos and has fought
ay
a· s pigs with his crutches in D .C . - he
has a sheet as long as my arm).
on
Another good influence on Bob was
folksinger Enc Williams. a black
m
freedom fighter and DLFer who's
m-
been thrown around by the police so
the
much he's learned to bounce.
he
Enough of this behind the scenes
uld
I nd bubam1ca Dylan begins ·George
Jackson" by singing "I woke up this
morning." To " Wake-up" m D's sym-
an
bolism means " to become aware"
he
and ··mommg" means "early or
ree
beginning ." For example in
md
Jgh " Maggie's Farm·· he speaks of
to blacks as "waking up in the mor-
md ning" - becoming aware early in
life, "folding their hands" not playing
of the game of life with the inherently
1o m infenor hand dealt them by this
1lso racist society and "praying for rain"
- hoping for some revolutionary
violence ("ram" 1s violence from
many other contexts most notably
'"Hard Ram") smce they "got a head
full of ideas that are dnvmg them in-
sane" - a lot of• unrealizable am-
bitions (" ifs a shame the way she
makes me scrub the floor" ) and
ace Amenka assigns blacks all the sh1t-
war woik. So Bob became aware again
un- and had "tears in my bed" ("tears··
n's are thoughts from many other con-
ire texts while "bed" 1s " mind." In
1ey 7gmegsw !§ a I QQ8 ljey" t e
cursed him from above," since 1f
George's thought spread they were
doomed - ' They were frightened o f
his power they were scared of his
love." So they murdered Brother
George and clumsi ly tried to make 1t
look like an escape attempt
although anyone who wanted to
could see nght through their shit -
he was killed allegedly running for a
20-ft. wall with three guards with
machine guns stationed in towers on
top of 1t which led to 150 yards o no
mans land with a 15-foot-barbeO-
w ire-topped cyc lone fence at its end
Bl,,L LSHIT " Lord, lord. they sho t
George Jackson down. Lord. they
laid h1m m the ground" thought the
prisoners and soon after two guards
and two " nazi" inmates were offed.
George Jackson died fighting 1"9
forces 111<h1ch fuckover tens o f
millions of non-whrte people here
and abaord . . . the forces of
Amerikan Imperialism. "Sometimes I
thmk this whole world 1s one big
prison yard." By putting gangsters
and capitalists m power in countries
under our 'spheres of ecom;>m1c in-
fluence; the pigs are able to np off
the nations' natural resources and
import them to Amerika tor prac-
tically nothing. By not allowing these
nations to industrialize we freeze
.them in history and so v1S1ting them
1s like going back into time - their
people only live until 35 (average
third world life span) and are lucky
to own the shirt on their back.
• '?Z 1
 sings; ·on~myiMl'i true love was ~ greater than tffiit
of beside me would I lie in my bed once caused by crematoriums of Nazi
us again" - would peace come to my Gennany. it Is done in a much more
he troubled mrnd. That's the last line covert fashion and Amerika has
he that requires Dylanological inter- been able to get away with 1t for
Ne pretation - the rest of the song is decades. It's these " prisoners" and
Jt- stoned literal - "They killed a man I slaves of Amerika who make us so
of really loved I Shot him thru the materially wealthy - "Some of us
Kl- head' ' (What's the JDL gonna think are prisoners and some of us are
as - George was a field-marshal! in the guards." That's why we're willing to
of BPP and they consider Panthers spend billions of dollars to prevent
)r. akin to Nazis and Arabs). communist revolutionaries, whose
>m- Dylan goes on to talk about how program is 'throw out the Amerikans
Amerika's prisons are really concen- and nationalize their property,' from
as tration camps for poor blacks - taking power. If torture, Imprison-
un- ''They sent him off to prison for a ment, and murder on a small scale
$10 robbery" (a white, middle class doesn't work the US is willing to
a kid would have gotten probation). destroy an entire nation - Vietnam
'he " They closed the door behind him - rather than see it go Red since
by and threw away the key" (Bro. the Amerlkan economy is so depen-
Its. George was given an indetennlnate dent on cheap imports from the Em-
jeir sentence. While in the joint he pire.
began to read and got some insight Whafs Dylan's answer to all this?
nts into why he was there and what had In the harmonica refrain on the elec-
:>Ut to be done to prevent others from tric version he plays "the answer Is
at- expenencing the same shit. He blowin' in the wind'' - it's whafs
be realized It was capitalism and the happening In the freedom
-Oil racism it engendered that had to be movements of today - it's there, all
roys destroyed, anyway, at all costs. He you got to do is reach out and seize
twed threw off the misdirected violence of it
law criminality and was In the midst of Just as the inmates of Attica took
llelp organizing white and black prisoners their cue from Jackson' s
when the repressive prison system assassination I hope that other rock-
un- came down on him and he was peopte will take a cue from Dylan's
in denied parole and placed in solitary latest single and speak out against
'Car for months. When a guard was P#gamerlka. In the past five years
the assassinated in retribution for the I've seen •·hip" become a
is murder of an Inmate ("He wouldn't meaningless plastic cult of
take shit from nCH>ne I He wouldn't longhalred, dope-smokin' rock music
i at bow down or kneer· the pigs blamed listeners who don't give a shit about
fie, it on the three most political anyone but themselves - pigs in
:ed prisoners in Soledad, George strange disguises. Rock culture
!nt Jackson, John Clucette and Fletta heroes like Paul McCartney and
1se Drumgo who soon became known as James Taylor have encouraged this
ich the Soledad Brothers. They were in- "psychedelic fascism" ... that's why
ars dicted and brought to a "triar• which the Rock Liberation Front (the
lie, turned into a shootout where the cultura arm of YIP) has been formed
1ys pigs were so uptight that they killed and we vaN to get these "hip" pigs
ite the judge rather than let these good . . (for more info on the ALF
illy political prisoners escape - "The write POB 340, Canal St, Sta, NYC
authorities they hated him because 10013).
on he was just too real" George Jackson is copywrltten by
ill. After this George J ackson became Rams Hom Music - a rams horn or
ng an even stronger symbol In the shofar was played before the walls
ve minds of poor blacks and whites of Jericho fell to the ground (accor-
m. with any degree of leftist po litical ding to biblical myth). Let's hope
he consciousness rn prisons throughout Dylan blows that shofar and the
ild Amerika. Frightened that the black walls of Amerika's concentration
1g and white inmates would unite and camps come tumbling down Per-
IS: instead of fighting each other would sonally I relate more as a freak tharo
of fight their reat enemey - tne system as a Jew out . 1f Judism comes to
Ip and the guards that enforced it, the mean standing up for the rignts of all
cowardly p1os 0f San Quentrn plot- 0ppressea people - Jewish or not
le ted George s death " The prison - all I can sa11 1s ··enng that
of guards they watc'led him and they Yamutka over here ... .

Rock Demonstrati<.
The Rock Liberation Front.: .,....,
demonstrate on FriQlay,
Dec.e mber 3, from 1.30 to 3 _30 P m
a~mst Capitol Records at tt -,,.
offices at 1370 Sixth Avenue <at
SBth Sreet) to protest Capitr. ·l's
refusal to press the Madilk 'ID
Squa~e Garden Bangla D1t1 a
ben~frt concert at cost, so that all I .
p~of1ts from the disc can so
drr~ctly to Pakistani refugees .ill
India Another Pllrpose of tilt!
demonstJ:ation is to stop Capito)
fr~m ~mg and/or getting an
•nJunction against any other
r~d. company that agrees to
press If at c~ For information
call 477-6243.
- 1ser
CARBACE MAN -
(Continued from Poge 1)
ment which will welcome Webermon
with 'open arms. " Chuck Collins (syn-
' gon to
it
·n
<-
dicated in Chicago, Philodelphio, and
other underground centers) will give
ie me all the time I wont with garbage. "
Weberman's most delicious bit of
news was the revelation that the ace
garbage analyzer has latched on to
a full botch of garbage from none
orher than Hugh Hefner. As of this
moment it may be tempting to some,
Weberman's garbage stance is rigidly
honest: " I om not going to falsify
garbage," he soid firmly. The young
garbage wizard went on to soy that
on a recent trip to Canada he noted
with interest that "it is not uncom-
mon to find a s much as 75 % Ameri-
can brands in Canadian garbage."
Shocking.
Lastly under the all.inspiring ban-
ner of ~'youth culture," Webermon
plans to launch a "rock liberation"
movement to be directed against Roll-
ing Stone magazine. Claiming vari-
ously that Rolling Stone "sold out the
youth culture," that i~ is "cor:itrolled
by Kinney Leisure Services beh1r:id th_e
ey
rly scenes," and that the magazine is
lly "psychedelic fascism," Webermon an-
r .he nounced that he will be conducting a
:ed forge demonstration in Son. Fron~ isco,
faS the main attraction of which will. be
to his interpretive reading of Rolling
uld
ing
Stone's garbage.
Oddly enough Rolling Stone W?S one
ws- of the first to poy any otte~!1on t.o
to Webermon's rather bizarre 1nvest1-
lb., gotions " and many close to the scene
iod feel th~t Webermon is biting one of
·ec-
to
lays
the hands that helped launch him as
a celebrity.
•
:her Five out of seven Americans who
hove won the Nobel Prize for_ Litera-
1use ture were clinically categorized as
me " alcoholics, " and the sixth " drank
rist-
heavily." The other was Pearl Buck.
1rtitude
;eemed GARBAGEMAN
to pay
LASHES OUT AT
Jd lost
o pub-
T.V., HEF, STONE
. Lynn DRAW FIRE
s time New York - Underground buffs
room. will be interested in the latest proc-
lamations of A. J . Webermon, the
under- man who rose to stardom by doing
;pecial a compu terized analysis of Bob Dy-
to ·ac- lan's garbage, and hos most recently
d mis- published a piece in Esqui re analyz-
ing the garbage of Neil Simon, Abbie
Hoffman, and Muhammed Ali. In the
first place, Webermon claims that
he hos been blacklisted from "over-
ground TV"; secondly, he soys that
he hos a load of Hugh Hefner's gar-
bage being shipped in for analysis;
and thirdly, that he will launch a
" rock liberation" movement on the
coast soon, a movement almost sole-
ly aimed at Rolling Stone magazine.
About his " blacklisting," there
ore these facts: weekly Variety re-
ported that a Weberman visit on
John Bartholomew Tucker's morning
show in New York was cut short when
Tucker become annoyed at Weber-
man's a na lysis of Abbie Hoffman's
garbage. A. J. was about to read a
note he claimed was in Hoffman's
garbage when Tucker's opinion that
this was on invasion of someone's
privacy overruled. After a commer-
cial break W ebermon was gone.
Webermon claims that he hod dis-
cussed the garbage in question with
the producer of the show and had on
ok to read it on the oir. "I hod per-
mission to read the gorboge," he
stated. Webermon also claims that
the story in Variety and the followup
story that ran the next week hos
totally ruined my overground tv ca-
reer." He soys that several other tv
talk shows hove since canceled his
scheduled appearance, including the
Mike Douglas Show.
Though his overground tv career
may hove been damaged, there is
the budding underground tv move-
(Continued on Page 6)
~cc co 0 n--
~
J. THE INTRO AND THE OUTRO, ETC.
This article is obliquely supposed to be yet another
commentary on the Dylan-Weberman phenomenon
which swept the media last year, starting out as a
small, one-man crusade to interpret Bob Dylan and
ending up as a mass movement to "liberate" Bob Zim-
merman from the self he had become. I am, perhaps,
objectively the worst person to write this article;
throughout the entire brouhaha I made a major effort
to avoid any stories I saw in print, heard in conversa-
tions, or might have picked up on passing down
Macdougal Street. I just couldn't understand how or
why anyone could take A.J. Webei;man and his Dyla-
nology seriously enough to devote time, energy and
space to them.
Which is why I am subjectively an absurdly logical
choice to do this article. The focus of this piece is
obliquely Dylan/Weberman; it has to be, for the
whole resultant mess raised enormous questions in
people's minds: questions about the ethics of rock and
roll, which are often a whole lot less than pretty;
questions about rock stars being, after all, simply
human beings; questions about what they've done
for us, and what we're doing to them.
"Between the Buttons between the fibres / we know
a lot have called us liars. Between the Buttons behind
the dirt / you know at times you've often hurt." The
question is, did they ask for it, and do they deserve it?
11. WHO WANTS YESTERDAY'S
PAPERS?
From a show biz point of view, A.J. Weberman
arrived when news broke that there was actually this
cat who was going through Dylan's garbage in an at-
tempt to find out more about the reclusive Mr. Zim-
merman. The idea that there was actually this guy
crusading around, calling himself a Dylanologist,
setting up The Dylan Archives, sending out newslet-
by Anne Marie Micklo
Wherein it is revealed that nothing is re-
vealed. Or that the answers, my friends, are
still blowin' in the wind.
ters saying that Dylan was indeed writing to him,
A.J., in his songs, decoding the hidden messages-all
of this culminating in the fact that the man was
creeping around back alleys through garbage cans to
absorb sweet inspiration-was too much of a gimmick
for most people to ignore. What an article for the
East Village Other. And what an outrageous invasion
of privacy,
At the beginning, A.J. Weberman was treated as
a kinky tinsel on the Christmas tree of rock journalism.
He was "that nut" (or words, somewhat harsher, to
that effect). But press coverage builds press coverage,
and mystique. And press builds mystique, and mys-
tique builds press. Prelly soon Weberman. much like
"Trash," was almost a household word. Dylan, almost
inevitably, confronted him in the flesh (one doesn't
know whether the spirit was involved). New York's
finest issued a parade permit for A.J. to hold a block
party outside Dylan's brownstone. Rolling Stone
devoted innumerable pages to a feature story, and
soon Esquire plastered Dylanology on the cover.
And the bizarre thing about it all was that it was
a perfectly predictable snowball of events, and as out
of control as an avalanche. There's a sucker born
every minute-or is it every second?
Ill. CAUGHT LIKE A SKUNK IN SPACE
AND TIME-IT'S A RIPOFF.
The above line is Marc Bolan's definition of what
it's like to be a rockstar in this spaced and 01,11-of-
time debris. Skunks are actually quite beautiful crea-
tures, alluring because of their pelts, vulnerable be-
cause of their size. They're also exceedingly unap-
proachable, due to both fact and reputation. When
pressed they can defend themselves quite well, but
most skunks will go to great lengths not to have to
attack for preservation, and many people, under-
standing this, will give them wide berth so they don't
have to.
Is it a ripoff? If so, by whom against whom?
One of the major attacks made by Weberman (and
others) against Dylan was that he had made millions
off of the protest songs of an entire generation, and
was now ignoring that generation's needs in favor of
minting ever larger mountains of millions. What was
being begrudged, I believe, was Dylan's present lack
of involvement in those protests, which are still being
warred with slow but tremendously frustrating success
-and with new problems adding every year. There
were stories spread that Dylan had taken some of his
money and invested in Real Estate, namely down-
town Manhattan office buildings. There were rumors
that he said a flat "No" to any and all solicitors knock-
ing at his doors.
Dylan made a lot of capital, but he lost the freedom
to walk down streets. He awakened a lot of people's
minds, and gave up a part at least of his own. Like his
music, Bob Dylan became a commodity, and people
would have bought him up at any price. Did he, in
fact, owe anybody any more?
IV. I MIGHT EVEN END UP A ROCK
AND ROLL GOD; IT MIGHT TURN INTO
A STEADY JOB.
The bitch about being a rockstar is that it's such a
fucking trap. On the one hand, nobody goes into it
blind; there is something in the ego that requires star-
dom, notoriety, and candles burning at both ends;
there is a craving for the adulation of faceless masses
that fosters the myth, gives it a life of its own, and
relinquishes the resultant lack of control once it's
running at full speed.
But on the other hand, of course, is the person:
the person who sooner or later runs into his myth
in some town and doesn't recognize it, or looks at it
with horror, or cannot ever hope to match it. It's
at this point that the rockstar comes full circle: "I'm
only human" he screams, and then wonders why no
one understands him.
John Lennon is, of course, one of the most obvious
examples of the man in the trap; almost anyone else
you can name, to greater or lesser degrees, is too.
When Lennon decided not to believe in Beatles, when
he exposed himself as a person full of doubts, insecuri-
ties, grandeurs, humors, hostilities and a whole range
of human emotions, a Jot of people simply wrote
him off. Flat. Just like that. They simply weren't in-
terested in accepting the gap between the myth and
the reality, or perhaps weren't capable of giving up
the mystique in favor of the fact.
I remember the first time I saw Bob Dylan in the
flesh, after one of Loudon Wainwright's first perform-
ances at the Gaslight. People wandered upstairs to
the Kettle of Fish for a beer; it was crowded and I
started to move to the back toward an empty table
when a friend grabbed my arm and whispered, "If
you're smart, you'll sit here." I started to ask why,
but by then we were ushered very brusQuely to the
rear table by the bartender. While we waited for our
drinks I noticed people were wandering conspicuously
into the kettle and then just standing there; they re-
ceived a rude reception from the waiters, who hustled
them out with little grace. It was only then that I
noticed Bob Dylan at a comer of a center table, next
to the table my friend had tried to convince us
to sit at. The people from the street had been coming
in to gawk- word spread that quickly--and it was
obviously laying very much on everyone's nerves.
Soon Dylan got up and left; all I could think to say
was, "I never knew he was so short."
Later that night, however, I was embarrassed for all
of us; for the people from the street, for my friend
at the table next to Him, for myself for having gone
there in the first place even though I hadn't known
Dylan was there. I felt tremendously guilty for having
- -~ ----
ruined Bob Dylan's night, and there was no way I
could say I was sorry.
Now that I look back on it, through the perspective
of years and several head changes, I realize Bob Dylan
asked for it. Lennon asked for it. McCartney, Joplin,
Jagger-they know what they're giving up, and to
them the price is worth it. It's just not worth it all
the time. There's a poster out on the market now that
reads something like, "Sometimes I just sits and
thinks, and sometimes I just sits." Sometimes I'm a
rock and roll star, and sometimes I just am. Do we
as an audience have an obligation to differentiate be-
tween those times? Does a rocksta r have a right to
expect us to? And do we have a right to expect
him to?
V. BUT WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT DE-
STRUCTION, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT
YOU CAN COUNT ME OUT (IN)
The Rock Liberation Front is a somewhat nebulous
organization, operating from apartments on New
York's Lower East Side and including such names as
David Peel, Jerry Rubin, A.J. Weberman, and now
John and Yoko on its roster. Its aim is simply what
the name says: to liberate rock from the capitalistic
monolith it's become, to take it (both the music and
the profit) back to the people who make it grow, and
to hassle the shit out of performers and record com-
panies who don't happen to see things the same way.
It was the Rock Liberation Front, for instance, who
organized a demonstration outside of Capitol Records
when they held up shipping of the Bengla Desh
album because of contract (read "money") disputes.
Capitol, of course, eventually backed down; whether
the demonstration had anything to do with that, espe-
cially since George Harrison had already smeared
the company coast to coast on the Dick Cavett Show.
----,,-.- ....,...._ -.._ . ~ -~ ~..__-~.,-~
, -~---~ __
, ___
..,,,_
is debatable, but it was a ha5"Sle.
Until very recently, the Rock Liberation Front had
been extremely supportive of the "Free Bob Dylan"
movement--he was, after all, a perfect first target
for their theories. But the first week in ·December, a
letter appeared in the Village Voice, signed by The
Rock Liberation Front: David Peel, Jerry Rubin, Yoko
Ono, John Lennon, which called for Weberman to
"publicly apologize to Bob Dylan for leading a public
campaign of lies and malicious slander against Dylan."
The letter went on to point out that " Dylan is more
than a myth-he is a human being, like you and me.
He has feelings and sensitivities like you and me."
But then it threw a curve that almost no one had
been led to expect, by asking why no one had stood
in Dylan's defense during the attacks, and by criticiz-
ing the press for having given any attention to it to
begin with. Ah! Pandora's box has nothing on this!
Just to start with the obvious inconsistencies:
1. Why did the Rock Liberation Front support the
"Free Bob Dylan" movement at all-which it did?
2. If Rubin and Peel disagreed with the policy of
Weberman's attacks, why didn't they say so, if not as
members of the RLF, then simply as "human beings"
-like you and me?
3. Why did it take until December of 1971 for
them to become aware that Weberman's campaign was
built on "lies," "slander" and "bullshit"?
4. And does Bob Dylan need defending by any-
one?
VI. EVEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES MUST SOMETIMES
HAVE TO STAND NAKED.
To answer the last question first: Bob Dylan ia
both a star and a person-he can't escape it. He is not
simply a hul'(lan being like you and me; he can never
~----~-~-~----
again have that freedom. When he visits Jerusalem,
Wide World Photos will plaster his arrival all over the
front pages of the world. When he writes a song
about George Jackson, it will be given more credence
than one written even by Jackson's mother. It's in-
escapable.
At the same time, however, ~Ian is also an ex-
ceptional human being. At the core of the adulation
of millions of fans is, in most of them, recognition
of the spark of the divine. He is at the mercy only
of his own internal voice, or spirit, or creative energies,
however you'd like to call it. And he is, I think, re-
sponsible only to that voice.
I personally couldn't care whether Dylan owns the
Pan Am building; he wrote "It's Alright, Ma," god-
damnitl He gave me more for my own humanity than
the $4.95 I spent on his record wilt ever bring him,
and how he feels about his own spirit is, when you
come right down to it, up to him.
Rockstars are like every other haphazard categoriza-
tion of people: some kinky, some glittery, butterflies,
pimps, assholes, poets, philosophers, artists, and con
artists on a par with any murphy man who ever worked
the streets. Some of them know intuitively the mean-
ings of words like humanity, or spirit, or heart. Some
of them will never fathom such concepts and never
even know they've missed anything. The latter category
are the ones who need defending, assuming they ever
get attacked; the former, like Dylan, have an integrity
that sails on through it; the defense is so much dross,
like the slander. Just more words, that's all.
The week after the demand for the apology ap-
peared in the Voice, Weberman added his: "Please
accept my apologies for past untrue statements and
also the harassment of Bob Dylan and his family.
From now on I'll leave them alone. 1f any nasty
articles come out about him I'm sorry. I wrote them
long ago and I'm doing my best to have them killed."
Is this to be taken at face value, 1 asked him? A.J.
simply hedged.
Although there does seem to be a real change going
on over at the Dylan archives. "I'm willing to let
bygones be bygones," he said, "if Dylan will do the
same." In my opinion, that's asking a lot. Weberman
is happier now that Dylan has once again become
active, in terms of playing at the Bengla Desh concert,
of giving some of his money away-although anony-
mously-and of having written the George Jackson
song ("I couldn't have done better myself," A.J.
beamed). But I doubt Dylanology is far from dead.
VII. DON'T LET ME DOWN-CAN YOU
DIG IT?
As for the Rock Liberation Front, I'm not so sure.
Jerry Rubin, it seems, is home very little; I, at least,
couldn't get ahold of him. But David Peel was another
story.
Peel, whether or not you like his music, whether
or not you lhink he's a little spaced, has at least always
appeared committed to an ideal of liberated music.
He's played for free every . weekend in Washington
Square Park longer than l can remember. He's ap-
peared at more benefits, demonstrations, and chance
happenings than anyone can count. And even if you
can't always follow his rap, he at least seems to have
it worked out in his own head.
Which is why when he refused to speak to me
about the letters in the Voice on the grounds that I
might be a "policeman" or "an FBI informer" I was
really thrown. Totally. l had to speak to him on the
phone; time and my own physical circumstances didn't
allow me to come by his apartment, as he would have
preferred. But his accusation raised doubts in me that
are frightening on two levels. The first concerns my
own naivete as far as the hassles to which David
Peel has really been subjected at the hands of police
and informers. I can't see that talking about the Rock
Liberation Front, and about Weberman's reply to
their request for an apology, could lead to anything
incriminating enough to warrant an informant's inter-
est. If it could, then I am that naive, and that's fright-
ening. The second doubt, then, centers almost obvious.
ly on David's own paranoia. If that's all it is, then
life is hell for him, and that's equally as frightening.
Either way, that's where it stands as far as I know
with the Rock Liberation Front. Questions 1 through
3 are therefore, at this point, left unanswered. And
maybe the fact 'that there are still some questions is
good enough.
VIII. REMEMBER TO LET IT INTO YOUR
HEART, THEN YOU CAN START TO
MAKE IT BETTER.
I'm not sure at all that rock and roll is in fact an
enemy. It seems to me there are better targets, cer-
tainly more potentially dangerous to all of us, that
are being avoided simply because it's easier to attack
&ob Dylan, or John and Yoko, or James Taylor than
it is to expose-really open up--General Motors, or
Boeing, or the CIA. When I asked Weberman whether
the RLF had any plans for the Rolling Stones, he an-
swered that they're in Europe and therefore more dif-
ficult to reach. It was, I think, a very telling statement.
Criticize a rockstar for being unattainable, and then
gun him down the moment he gets within grasp.
If the Rock Liberation Front feels, really feels
that its aims are right, and that the profit made from
the people should be turned back to the people-
then I can't argue it. But care has to be taken that
they're not simply laying the sins of the fathers on
the wrong sons. Whatcha see is not necessarily whatcha
get, don't kid yourself.
.(
f Continued .from page 1)
8'1est cance~d the night ~fore.
He sala he had forebodings ~b9ut
using the writer, but Yielded t1>
the Idea because time was ;growing
short.
Tucker said mbis two years on
~the Show, this wu only "the sec-
ond or third tlme" that n guest
llad to be cut short. On one other
·occasion, an ex:-eonvict guest was
blacked out be~use of hJs tnablllty
to soften hls langlia_ge on the live
show.
Earlier this year, NBC.TV's Ed·
Win ~ shut off George Jes·
sel on the '·Tol!a;Y" sh~hen the
latter referred to the N.Y. Times
arid the Washmgtol'l Post as "Prav·
da."

WHO IS,A. J. WEBERMAN, ANYWAY?

v:U r";;rticle on A. J. Webermon (Decem-
berl-was it really worth printing? I mean,
all the man is d oing is criticizing people.
He say' that all Dylan and McCartney do
is sit and get fat. Well, Bob Dylan writes
and composes music, and Paul McCartney
makes record s and is raising a family. If
Weberman wants things to get done, why
doesn' t he give it a try and see how far he
can get?
Pam long, Indianapolis, Ind.