“All I can be is me - whoever that is.”
- Bob Dylan/Chronicles, Volume One
One of my favorite stand up comedians is Jake Johanson. I don't see him much anymore, but back a few years ago he had it goin' on. He tells meandering observational stories, frequented with quirky asides, all made funnier by his halting, semi-out-of breath, wide-eyed delivery.
One time I saw him talking about the entertainer Liberace. We're far enough down the road now that many people won't know who Liberace was. Those of us who do remember him, well, he's not somebody you forget.
Jake said he was home in his apartment one day and Liberace was on some TV show. His roommate came bounding into the room and declared, “Liberace! He's the commandant of flamboyancy!”
Jake said that struck him as true and that what he appreciated about Liberace was that he was the most Liberace he could possibly be. He said, “It's not like someone's going to come along in fifty years and people will say, he's a lot like Liberace…only more so.”
As the reign of Bob Dylan as a cultural phenomenon winds down, that idea came to my mind. There's no one ever, ever going to come along and be like Bob only more so. I remember back in the 1970s, record company folks were hot to find someone they could label the “New Dylan” (John Prine, Loudon Wainwright III, Steve Forbert), thinking they could somehow harness Bob's essence and make a dime from it. A fool's errand, they call that.
Since I've been alive, Bob's always been around and like all things that are always present, easy to take for granted. It wasn't until I went to the Bob Dylan Museum in Tulsa a couple of years ago that it hit home for me not only his unique character, but how influential he has been in so many different ways. When they dust for fingerprints from the last seventy years, Bob's are going to be everywhere. I encourage everyone to go, even if they're not a Dylan fan or even a music fan, because he is so much a part of America and who we are. Nowhere else but America could have produced such an original.
Like him or not, one thing's for sure, Bob's like a comet that only passes by once and will never come back around again.
And speaking of true originals, today is the birthday of our dear friend Rod Bailey down in Memphis, TN. As all who know and love him would tell you, “Rod Bailey, they only made one.” Happy Birthday, Roddy!