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V

And one other thing. Forever
tagged a Jewish momma, Mrs. Z.
did say something else about early
times: when he was a child, and,
she says, all along, Bob was "very
religious." He went to all the
churches — not just the synagogue
— every denomination and sect he
could find in Hibbing.

Jesus Christ! Dylan a religion
freak?!

Well, maybe not...

...but about five years ago I
experienced my one and only
Dylan concert. This is difficult to
describe, the feeling I recall from
sitting there, near the stage —
Friday night, indoors, in seats $5 a
shot in the front orchestra — with
some friends.

The feeling is more a sort of
composite vision, I suppose —
"Rainy Day Women...and Blowin'
in the Wind..." all mixed up oddly
together. It had been as if the sage
were living, before our eyes, outliving
the very culmination of his
prophecies, and in so doing had
become a modern myth, and then a
metamorphosis himself. By himself
(and "Mr. Tambourine Man")

Dylan a modern prophet: if the
"religious" part — anti-kitsch — is
unclear, then Toby Thompson's
book is a good place to go. It's
quite a zap.