The best of my writing over the last 45 years, with a nod to Bob Dylan and his artistry. This compendium of my work from the late 1970s to now is modeled after Dylan’s vast output of official “bootlegs,” in which he finally released songs he’d recorded but didn’t put on a record – thus the moniker “rare and unreleased.” Some never saw the light of day, others were published in obscure magazines, and some just sat in my drawer (and computers) for so long that I forgot about them. As Bob still sings at 81, “Some day everything will be different, when I paint my masterpiece.” Here’s my chance.
JFK, Bob Dylan, and the Death of the American Dream
I wrote this story at the peak of the coronavirus outbreak at a time of maximum lockdown and sorrow, from coast to coast and throughout the world. It was a scary time, when life was suddenly suspended, human relationships were imperiled, and the future was dark and uncertain. Then, out of the weirdness and the grief, came Bob Dylan with a new song about the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy and how it turned our world upside down. It was also a magnificent tribute to the musicians who brought us through those Cold War years and the importance of culture to our national psyche. It’s one of Dylan’s finest songs.
