Perhaps most alarming for The Duke, however, was the revelation that there were Goths in abundance during this historicalised period. Now, I know there were quite a few around, roughly, 370 AD, but surely they went into hibernation until Robert Smith appeared a few centuries later? Not so. Dylan manages to lure a few of them out of the woodwork, inviting them into his increasingly over-populated hotel rooms, and generally allowing them to get all white-faced about the place.
There are apparent similarities between this and the earlier Don't Look Back, but they are mostly superficial. Yes, we get Dylan at press conferences, Dylan playing songs in hotel rooms, and Dylan generally being all mysterious, but here we are granted a further, deeper insight into Who Is Bob Dylan, whilst simultaneously being take further away from the reality of the man behind the alter-ego.
Even the general controversy surrounding Dylan's adoption of rock music is granted little screen-time, aside from the comments of those few British audience members. Nowadays, perhaps, the closest parallel to the tour would be if Napalm Death decided to do a show full of Scandinavian folk music, played only on banjo and spoons. Dylan the director is less concerned with Dylan the musician as he is with Dylan the cultural commodity, preferring to pepper his film with shots of the distant poet staring introspectively, stroking his chin, as a whirlwind of activity gathers around him.
Eat The Document is fascinating, occasionally bewildering, and as far from MTV as one could reasonably hope to get.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Duke, very fine job on both of these. Welcome! Please space your parapraphs fro webby readability. Thanks again.
2 - Marcia Soprou
Funny joke about Bob Dylan might have ever taken drugs! I myself turned him into the DEA in 1989 for his heroin addiction, and actually because he had been making and distributing porn films of me in the 1980s without my knowledge or permission. Keith Richards told me about it, and then helped me with the Bob Dylan problem. Actually, nobody likes Bob Dylan. I am 54 years old and have listened to Bob Dylan's music since 1965. Bob has been a heroin addict and homosexual all his life, actually, and when I started a FBI investigation on him because of the porn, and because they then stole everything I owned as well, I was told by the feds that Bob Dylan is a kingpin member of the Mafia! Bob Dylan is a heroin addict and always has been, an off-and-on practicing homosexual, an always ON Mafia pornographer! When Bob Dylan said, "the 1980s is the age of masturbation," he was actually referring to exactly me! Who was masturbating, because Bob had given me reason to believe he was in love with me! But of course, he could not be a man. So he turned on me, and distributed porn films of me instead, thru wiretapping thru his Mafia connections. What do you think of that? I then was requested by the FBI to send all additional information about this case to the Director of the FBI, which I did, in 1992. Well, anyway, the reason why Bob never toured until the 80s for so long and now has been on-stop on tour since 1989, is because the DEA called me back on the phone and told me they had sent helicopters over Bob's house in Malibu (where I had been going to bring him letters), and in fact, asked me as to the exact layout of his property! So Bob then had to split, and pollute all of you with his wonderous shows for the last 16 years! Have your college friends been so polluted by him? Now you know why! I'd love to hear feedback on this, and I'd be glad to tell you more.
3 - AJ Weberman
Marcia -- I have some videotapes that I retrieved from Dylan's garbage cans that may interest you. E-mail me after you're back from the pharmacy. -- AJW
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
well hells bells, look at this, would you ever. i only just re-watched this the other night, too, and here i am from many moons ago waxing with regards it all.
Ha Marcia, what a maniacal screed that was! i loved it! you should write a book!
AJ, surely not the one and the same famous Dylanologist? i'm guessin that if Scorsese ever makes a flick about the NEXT four years in Dylan's life, you'll be featured heavily.
5 - AJ Weberman
Naw, I was just inspired to light lunacy by Marcia's REALLY inspired lunacy (hoo boy).
I'm not AJ Weberman; I'm actually the anonymous love child of Joan Baez and D.A. Pennebaker. Or maybe it was Donovan or Dave Van Ronk, those were confusing times for everyone. Bob Dylan won't sleep with me either.
Gotta run, there's a Mafia meeting tonight over clams al diavolo at our secret porn rendezvous in Brooklyn, and I need to strap on my wiretap.
6 - RogerMDillion
Marcia, those drugs seem awesome. Where can I get me some?
7 - Pam from the 60's
Hey, throw the bums a dime, will ya? I need some real Dylan info. How can a guy that prefers males fall in love with females and have all the kids this guy has/had? What? Alter ego? I am a freelance writer looking for some real Dylan info...now I am checking under my computer for cameras and wiretaps.
Pam
8 - Marcia Soprou
A.J. Weberman! This is Marcia with the more. I tried to e-mail you yourself last year, but my computer broke (Bobby didn't want me to). So much new news a year later, the Rolling Stones are almost electricuted after their "Bigger Bang" porn deal tour! Patti Hansen, Keith's wife, murders people for the CIA through witchcraft covens and spells, through the HAARP Program through the Black Ops Program from the Black Budget through the Aurora System for the CIA (and on up the line, actually for the still-existing Nazi Party and non-existing (we took them down 3 months ago, me and Bobby) Illuminati, but actually for the Order of the Skull and Bones Club of the Bilderbergs New World Order Agenda (80% of the human beings on the planet Earth must be murdered quickly to make way for the nephilim (sons of Satan) extraterrestrials (check your facts, AJ and you will see that this is true--it's all over the Internet as well, well, other than the "Patti Hansen" name. She works for the Krupp family of the 13 most powerful families in the world. Bobby told me that on July 3, 2006 Patti murdered 30 people in Iraq for the CIA that way, and then Patti herself showed me the 30 people in the dumpster (the shot with the metal on the top and the 30 bodies on the bottom, if you happened to see that one from Miss "something for your eyes" at night--that's Patti. Keith transferred a hit off himself with the CIA onto me, but Bobby since then has told me he has a CIA hit on him also for knowing all this stuff for many more decades than I have. I love Bobby now and he's helped me immensely this last year, actually, since I sent this e-mail to you, AJ Weberman! I know you're really Dylan Thomas, but George W. Bush attached Osama bin Ladin to me, and since then, there's been no attacks on America by either Osama or the Al-Quaeda network. These days I've been working for Robert Mueller, Dubya's choice for Director of the FBI. More later, at your webpage! Thanks for finding my comment and responding!