Bob Dylan at large again

[calmloki]

Like a complete unknown: Bob Dylan frogmarched to collect ID after rookie policewoman fails to recognise scruffy music legend | Mail Online

Good to see that fame doesn't prevent a person being stopped and checked out by the law. After my stop for "agitated walking" a couple years ago I'm sensitive to this stuff. 'Course Dylan always did look pretty dubious to me.

Interesting that the cops quoted sound so... British.. in the story. Yet those are quotation marks and it's printed in the paper so it must be true... probably just a matter of a strong New Jersey accent.

 

[Leonidas]

She is 22 and from a completely different time:

'The poor woman has taken rather a lot of abuse from us. I offered to bring in some of my Dylan albums. Unfortunately, she doesn't know what vinyl is either.'

I've learned that around my house when you want to talk about some cultural figure from any time earlier than 1999, you have to preface the discussion with some background material. If not, I get blank stares from the kids.

I hope the youngster gets her shot at revenge at the old cops who hammered her. When I was her age I chanced upon a guy who had been wanted for about a decade on a homicide charge. When I got him downtown and was doing the paperwork in Homicide, a couple of old time detectives were marveling about the age of the case. "I was in traffic enforcement when this murder happened", said one. The other replied that she had been "still in patrol". Then they both looked at me expectantly. "Gee guys, I was in 7th grade back then." I'm not sure which made them more angry, the response or the chuckle when I said it. They kicked me out of their office after that and closed the door.

Edit: For kicks I looked at the youngest kid's (17) iPod song list just to see if there was any "old" music on there. Along with more modern music, he's got some Dylan, along with: Bob Marley & the Wailers, Alice Cooper, Arlo Guthrie, Chuck Berry, Elvis, James Brown, Jethro Tull, Roy Orbison, Queen, Sam Cooke, Warren Zevon, etc. Much of that is my music that he liked and swiped, but for someone born in 1992 I think the choices were interesting.

 

[Nords]

Edit: For kicks I looked at the youngest kid's (17) iPod song list just to see if there was any "old" music on there. Along with more modern music, he's got some Dylan, along with: Bob Marley & the Wailers, Alice Cooper, Arlo Guthrie, Chuck Berry, Elvis, James Brown, Jethro Tull, Roy Orbison, Queen, Sam Cooke, Warren Zevon, etc. Much of that is my music that he liked and swiped, but for someone born in 1992 I think the choices were interesting.

I'll take credit for our kid's Blue Oyster Cult, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Buffett. She found Marley on her own. Hawaiian music has revived Van Morrison around here. Jamie Foxx has done wonders for Ray Charles. But she still thinks "All Along The Watchtower" is a Hendrix composition...

 

[mickeyd]

After my stop for "agitated walking" a couple years ago

I surely hope that you have reformed your ways by now.

 

[donheff]

My daughter knows more arcane stuff about "my" music than I do. When we take long car trips he creates iPod playlists of stuff "you will like but haven't heard of" and always gets it right.

 

[bbbamI]

I wonder if she was able to understand him. Neeheedahnaher hee hee neh.....

 

[freebird5825]

Dylan is a very artistically gifted person, which usually means eccentric also. I'll bet he did not pull the "celebrity tantrum" on purpose just for the fun of it.

 

[youbet]

"Residents called to complain there was an old scruffy man acting suspiciously"

Sounds like yet another case of racial/age based profiling. Won't the police in this country ever learn that a person's age, appearance, race, sex, etc., alone don't justify such heavy handed intervention? Of course...... it was New Jersey......

The policewoman sure acted "stupidly!" Hopefully, President Obama will intervene and have a beer with these two and use this as a teaching experience.

 

[ls99]

She probably did not know that it was Zimmerman in disguise.

The first name is/was Bob

 

[quietman]

What's with the fascination that police somewhere fail to recognize a famous person. I'm sure there are all kinds of famous actors/actresses/musicians/politicians/etc who I would not recognize on sight. Why such surprise when some police or security person doesn't recognize them. For that matter what about celebrity look alikes.

There's some story in the news recently that an American security screener failed to recognize an Indian Bollywood star. Good grief. Not long ago there was a congresswoman who threw a fit because a security checkpoint didn't know who she was. Who cares. I'm glad everyone is getting their 15 second/minutes/hours/whatever of fame, but thinking that the WHOLE WORLD will recognize you because if it is absurd. Get over yourself.

In Bob Dylan's defense, I didn't see anything in the story that he was upset in any way about not being recognized. Just the other officers who seemed surprised and the general press reaction.

 

[clifp]

She probably did not know that it was Mark Zimmerman in disguise.

Actually I believe he was born Robert Zimmerman. Question for the law enforcement/lawyers, assuming that Dylan never legally changed his name (not sure if that is true or not) is it illegal to give a cop a ID saying you are Bob Dylan if that isn't your real name.

 

[NW-Bound]

In Bob Dylan's defense, I didn't see anything in the story that he was upset in any way about not being recognized.

Bob Dylan did nothing to require a defense. He's a real gentleman. However, I got quite a kick out of the police's report about Dylan "acting suspicious". I would love to see a video of that so I knew exactly what he did to arouse suspicion walking down the street.

I lose interest and no longer watch the Academy Awards in recent years, but remember one time when Bob Dylan was on stage to sing a song. The MC joked with the audience: "Don't worry about Bob. He always looks like that". Bob just shrugged it off.

 

[quietman]

Bob Dylan did nothing to require a defense. He's a real gentleman.

I didn't mean to imply he did. Many other celebrities in "fail to recognize me" stories threw tantrums of various sorts. I wanted to be clear that I wasn't implying that Bob Dylan did any such thing. He was just wandering around looking scruffy and then cooperated with officers when asked to do so.

 

[Purron]

I apologize in advance in that I'm in a Woodstock frame of mind...

YouTube - Bob Dylan - My Back Pages

I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

He was, and still is, an amazing artist.

 

[freebird5825]

The collection of talent on that stage was unbelievable.
One of my all time faves was George Harrison. He got my attention with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the White Album.
It took me a while to warm up to Dylan. I am enjoying him much more now than when I was <gulp> younger.
Didn't Dylan collaborate with Orbison, Cash and Kristofferson at one point?
The Highwaymen? The Journeymen? Help me out here...

 

[Purron]

Didn't Dylan collaborate with Orbison, Cash and Kristofferson at one point?
The Highwaymen? The Journeymen? Help me out here...

There was the Traveling Wilburys - amazing stuff:

Wiki - Traveling Wilburys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Youtube: a little taste! YouTube - Traveling Wilburys End of the Line

 

[harley]

The collection of talent on that stage was unbelievable.
One of my all time faves was George Harrison. He got my attention with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the White Album.
It took me a while to warm up to Dylan. I am enjoying him much more now than when I was <gulp> younger.
Didn't Dylan collaborate with Orbison, Cash and Kristofferson at one point?
The Highwaymen? The Journeymen? Help me out here...

It was George Harrison, Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty - The Travelling Wilburys.

Doh! Purron beat me to it.

 

[Nords]

There's some story in the news recently that an American security screener failed to recognize an Indian Bollywood star. Good grief. Not long ago there was a congresswoman who threw a fit because a security checkpoint didn't know who she was. Who cares. I'm glad everyone is getting their 15 second/minutes/hours/whatever of fame, but thinking that the WHOLE WORLD will recognize you because if it is absurd. Get over yourself.

I guess that's how we tell whose staff called ahead and whose staff was supposed to call ahead. I'm sure TSA and all the rest of the world's security screeners would be happy to expedite the VIP processing and avoid the potential for disaster.

 

[haha]

This is very interesting. Dylan was arrested for being old and white in an Hispanic area.

Gosh, does this remind anyone of anything?

I wonder what would happen if someone called the SPD and said "there's an old Mexican man in my white neighborhood. Better come have a look."

Ha

 

[Cattusbabe]

Is this a case of WWW = Walking While White or WWD= Walking while Dylan.

 

[harley]

This is very interesting. Dylan was arrested for being old and white in an Hispanic area.

Gosh, does this remind anyone of anything?

I wonder what would happen if someone called the SPD and said "there's an old Mexican man in my white neighborhood. Better come have a look."

Ha

I think it only worked out so well because he was oldish and whitish. He wasn't arrested, just asked for ID and then taken to where he could be identified. I doubt someone younger and more colorful would have gotten as much deference and cooperation. I'm sure he helped by not getting snotty with the police.

But just to enlighten me, can anybody tell me when we started to need to produce our ID on demand? "Your papers please" used to be a sarcastic commentary on governments that weren't as free as ours.

 

[Leonidas]

But just to enlighten me, can anybody tell me when we started to need to produce our ID on demand? "Your papers please" used to be a sarcastic commentary on governments that weren't as free as ours.

I don't think you have to produce an actual physical identification (exception being the requirement to provide your driver's license if you're stopped while operating a vehicle). In general though, you do have to identify yourself if you've been arrested or detained, and in some states (like Texas) you have to identify yourself to an officer who believes you are a witness to a crime. The Supremes ruled in the Hiibel (sp?) case that you can identify yourself verbally and meet the requirement. Of course, absent a credible piece of government issued identification, and given the incredible number of crooks who run around without I.D., no police officer is going to be satisfied that you are who you say you are until he can verify it independently.

 

[Purron]

This is very interesting. Dylan was arrested for being old and white in an Hispanic area.

Gosh, does this remind anyone of anything?

I wonder what would happen if someone called the SPD and said "there's an old Mexican man in my white neighborhood. Better come have a look."

Ha

Ha,

Gotta confess, I'm clueless (as is often the case) What ya thinkin' of my friend?

Purron

 

[Running_Man]

Actually I believe he was born Robert Zimmerman. Question for the law enforcement/lawyers, assuming that Dylan never legally changed his name (not sure if that is true or not) is it illegal to give a cop a ID saying you are Bob Dylan if that isn't your real name.

Bob Dylan did legally do all the filings to change his name to Bob Dylan in the early 1960's.

Of course Bob Dylan did ironically enough release an album called Street Legal that had the following verses in a couple of the songs:

Socialism, hypnotism, patriotism, materialism.
Fools making laws for the breaking of jaws
And the sound of the keys as they clink
But there's no time to think.

Are you so fast that you cannot see that I must have solitude?
When I am in the darkness, why do you intrude?
Do you know my world, do you know my kind
Or must I explain?
Will you let me be myself

 

[youbet]

But just to enlighten me, can anybody tell me when we started to need to produce our ID on demand? "Your papers please" used to be a sarcastic commentary on governments that weren't as free as ours.

I'm surprised by your question. Old White Guys are always required to produce proper ID on demand. It's one of those "what goes around, comes around" things.