Posted on 08/15/2009 11:41:02 AM PDT by Dadofmany
Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood. Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood. A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley said Friday. "I don't think she was familiar with his entire body of work," Woolley said. The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses. The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued: "What is your name, sir?" the officer asked. "Bob Dylan," Dylan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Didn't those cops know who he was?
What; a white man can't be in a black neighborhood?
Straight up racism, yo!!
Seriously; What the hell was Dylan doing walking around in "the hood"? The cops probably saved his life.
Right on.
Oh. Nevermind. He bought "carbon offsets" from al gore.
Some how me thinks the "buck" would stop when it came to HIM having to pay...
Ok, so I certainly agree with the sentiments about officious police officers. It gives one a sick or angry feeling. Having said that- a great cliche. I saw the officer interviewed on ABC GMA. A link was provided by a Freeper. I double checked on the original post yesterday re the Daily Mail column about it.
The police officer is and I do hope I am right, a minority person. Her account completely disarmed any person who has had a nasty experience with police.
If only more persons were like her.
You seem to paint with a broad brush on a subject that you don’t know.
Dylan’s actually pretty tight-lipped about that sort of thing from what I’ve seen. He pretty much sticks to the songs. Some of his very early stuff had a political impact, but he very openly walked away from the political crowd years ago. He just travels about singing in various place because he’s a minstrel. I wouldn’t be real surprised if he doesn’t even really know how much money he has. Much of his life is intentionally vague, it seems, just to avoid the pigeon-holing. I know a number of folks who’ve worked with him and he is sometimes strange, but so are a lot of artists.
Exactly. Dylan also, notoriously, considers himself as a 'non-celebrity' even though our pop culture and media try to portray him as one .. he isn't .. he shuns the spotlight, except when onstage, and even when onstage its just to sing his songs and thats that, end of show .. no fanfare, no gymnastics, no dancing, no fireworks .. sings the songs, period.
Politics aside, and I don't consider Dylan as any sort of 'political' type or ideologue .. he *is* what any freedom loving American is all about ... FREEDOM ... "You go your way, I'll go mine" .. THAT's Bob Dylan
You should have read the article. BD cooperated completely with the cops. He didn't act like he was a god.
"He couldn't have been any nicer to them," Woolley added.
The last even vaguely topical political thing I can recall from him was the “Hurricane Carter” thing and he had that exactly right as a matter of justice. No, like a few others, he just goes and plays his stuff without the nonsense and the smoke bombs. Lightfoot does pretty much the same thing. Doesn’t need the money, but plays the shows because that’s just what he does. Or maybe a person’s “on the road” so long that it’s all the same and there is no “home”. I go out a few nights a week and do little local stuff here around Nashville, but I’d die out on the road at this point. I just want to write a song or two that might pay the bills.
Right. You have to keep those born-again Christians in their place.
The point of the post is to compare Dylan's civilized behaviour to that of Gate's uncivilized behavior.
Take the train down from the city
Get sick get well hang around the Inkwell .
Consider the probability of bad things happening to elderly white guys who roam low-income minority neighborhoods. Consider the possibility that the cop thought she was dealing with a demented old guy who she didn't want ending up in a body bag on her shift.
I can see why the officer called for backup.... singers, that is!!! Harhar.
Exactly!
Bob Dylan might have been foolish to wander around a tough neighborhood by himself and not to have some sort of I.D. on him but he was hardly mistreated by the young police officer and he certainly acted like a gentleman, minus the egomanical 'Don't you know who I am?" stuff and yelling about harassment Professor Gates displayed in a slightly similar situation just a few weeks ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The irony (and subsequent humor) lies in the fact that this aging, 'legendary' music star (and multi-millionaire) was casually strolling around the rundown, minority-populated neighborhood close to where he was appearing, with no entourage (and no identification). When approached by a police officer and asked for I.D., the 'legend' didn't bristle or complain, he simply gave his name and when that didn't get him any recognition, he meekly went back to his hotel with the officer and was identified, there. No drama, whatsoever.
However, one has to stop and wonder if Bob Dylan was bemused by the fact that his world wide fame was lost on a 20-something police officer in New Jersey.
Good story.
Please. Are you trying to justify an unlawful search and seizure on the basis of police concern for the violated person's safety? Is the state here to make us all safe now? And if they choose to seize Americans off the street "for our own good" will you meekly climb into the SWAT van and hold hands and sing patriotic songs with your fellow formerly free but currently "unsafe" citizens?
You have surely drank the kool-aid, friend. You are exactly the kind of person I was referencing in my first post.
It's not that I didn't know who he was.....I just didn't care.
LOL! A friend of mine was fueling Garth Brooks plane a few years ago and told Brooks to get out of the way.
>>Dylan’s actually pretty tight-lipped about that sort of thing from what I’ve seen. He pretty much sticks to the songs. Some of his very early stuff had a political impact, but he very openly walked away from the political crowd years ago.
I’ll second that. I’ve seen some interviews where the interviewer very clearly had an agenda of trying to get Bob to agree to / endorse some Leftie stance on some issue, and Bob generally quietly demurs and gently makes them look like fools in the process.
I think he just lets the interviewers go ahead and make fools of themselves. He walked away from the folky/political types in 1965 when he came out with a Stratocaster and a full band at Forrest Hills, made a country album in Nashville with his friend Johnny Cash in 1969 while the hippies were up at “Woodstock” which was only a few miles from his home at the time. But moron interviewers are still looking for some sage political insights. I find it amusing as hell. 40 some years and they still just haven’t caught on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.