Gilbert meets with other people that had been in contact with Dylan regardless of their connection to Feinstein or even the tours in question. Gilbert interviews documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, who made Don't Look Back about Dylan's 1965 tour of England. Pennebaker was along for the tumultuous 1966 tour as well. Gilbert shows him some of Feinstein's pictures and they talk a little, but not much is gained in the experience for the viewer.
Other segments get stranger and more off track. Gilbert interviews A. J. Weberman whose claim to fame is that he constantly harassed Dylan when he lived in Greenwich by going through Dylan's trash, by recording and releasing the phone calls when Dylan asked Weberman to stop bugging him, and by having hundreds of people show up on the street outside Dylan's apartment on his birthday. Weberman is shown to be a complete nut the longer he talks; he believes that Dylan put out a hit on him in a song, yet garners no sympathy when he talks about Dylan beating him up. While Weberman admits he was wrong for what he had done, there's no reason to give him any more attention; however, he does make Gilbert's Dylan obsession seem normal in comparison.
Gilbert also interviews Al Aronowitz who introduced Dylan and The Beatles. Aronowitz' voice is almost unintelligible as he talks about the legendary meeting and how they all smoked pot together. It wasn't until I did some research that I discovered it took place on August 28, 1964, which is two years before the '66 tour, so I'm not sure why it's included.
Gilbert is the main weakness of the project. He says that he keeps in mind the work of Pennebaker in the work that he does, but his choices certainly don't reflect it. He makes bad decisions as the director, such as leaving in a phone-call interruption during the interview with Pennebaker. The footage is poorly put together and looks horrible. Some of the interviews are presented with the interviewee in a small box on the screen that moves around to different corners while the background is the same image from the small box, except that it is blown up and colorless. It is very distracting.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
good stuff El Bicho. i picked this up today, and look forward to the interview with Weberman, a truly demented character.
2 - Daithí Mac Lochlainn
...for further info on A.J. Weberman:
http://gaelicstarover.blogspot.com/2005/02/patriot-act-potheads.html
3 - AJ Weberman
El Bitcho is a good name for this little bitch who should be bitch slapped all over the real estate. AJ happens to be the only dude who can interpet Tarantula, who has any insight into Dylan's symbolism and is willing to write about it. McCartney ain't about to do this nor is Paul Simon nor is John Lennon of course. Check http://home.nyc.rr.com/dylanology/ and find out what Weberman has to say for himself.
4 - Eric Olsen
never trust anyone who writes about himself in the third person
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
-COUGH-
6 - Eric Olsen
in a comment
7 - ClubhouseCancer
"...only person who can interpret Tarantula..."
This is a lie. I speak fluent Tarantula, and have been Tarantuland's official interpreter to the UN since 1975.
8 - Eric Olsen
El Bicho, very nice job - sounds very strange.
Regarding AJ, hey, relative to Mark David Chapman, he's hardly obsessive at all!
9 - Alan Weberman
LAU: “Entering the pink (pinko " a Communist or Communist sympathizer) highway (express road to fame in America) - your black (doomed to failure, hopeless) mongrel (impure) vagabond (unfaithful lover), your rat (a traitor to your beliefs not involved in a fierce, unending competition for success, wealth) from Delphi (an oracle, a prophet) - now he shall tattle on your nauseous (rejected) bra (supporter " Dylan himself) - your hair (and will also expose the style of your art) in chains (linked and dependant on the socialist realism that came before it).” (Tarantula 1966)
10 - AJ Weberman
Chapman - Lennon was close friend of mine sports fan.
11 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
can i be a weberman too? last night i went through my neighbours garbage to see if any might be in the taliban. they weren't, but i think one of them was Donovan.
12 - ClubhouseCancer
Duke, yer better off sittin' home investigatin' yourself.
Hope you don't find anything!
Love,
"Zimmy"
13 - Eric Olsen
Duker, kindly interpret "Sunshine Superman" based upon your refuse gleanings
14 - AJ Weberman
address yourself to the tarantula translations. Garbology is a science taught at several institutions of higher education and an accepted journalistic practice. What have you invented?
15 - Eric Olsen
The words of the late John Vernon come to mind: "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son"
16 - ClubhouseCancer
For the life of me, I will never understand what drives a person to deliver the ultimate profane insult " one that would literally be illegal face-to-face " to someone whom they have never met.
It's sad, really. But above that, it's just tiring to people who actually want to exchange ideas and information.
17 - Eric Olsen
yes, it is unfortunate when we have to edit and then ban people for being deranged fuckplugs
18 - ClubhouseCancer
Yes, and that.
19 - Eric Olsen
but then it would be unrealistic to expect temperate behavior from a documented obsessive-stalker-trash picker, wouldn't it?
20 - ClubhouseCancer
That actually didn't sound like the real Weberman, in truth.
21 - Eric Olsen
I wouldn't know
22 - Eric Olsen
the IP for all the comments is th esame, and all but the last one link to his website
23 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
really? wow. so we may have been in the presence of THE al weberman. well thats just absurd.
Clubhouse, incidentally, i LOVE that song. heh. I did hear a version of it recently, well, couple years ago, were the references to communism were changed to terrorists. i thought it might have been todd snider, but a google search reveals only the lyrics to said ditty. Any ideas?
And it turned out Sunshine Superman was about crows. I don't know either. Hippies, man.
24 - ClubhouseCancer
Never heard it ("Talking John Ashcroft Blues?"), but I have been reminded of the song many times in the past three years or so, Duke. Sounds like a good idea.
And if that WAS Weberman, whatever. I've had run-ins with him before. Boring.
Is Todd Snider good? Heard of, but haven't heard.
25 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
todd snider is fantastic. There's a thing hidden away in the back-pages (no pun intended) of my site, so far back that i have even included it in the brand-new look type stuff.
http://www.mondoirlando.com/mondo_mash.html
it's just a few songs one after the other in one file, but there's one of Sniders more comedic efforts up first.
I intend to delete that page sometime soon, but not for a few days i'm sure.