Bob Dylan's Visit to the James Dean Gallery in Indiana

Larry Kegan. Photo: courtesy 
Marc Percansky

This is an excerpt from a 2015 blog post.

In late 2014 a friend send me a portion of the late Larry Kegan's unpublished 1999 memoir Some Get the Chair. For those well-acquainted with Bob Dylan's life story, Larry Kegan was a close friend from his teen years whom he met at a summer camp in Wisconsin. Tragically, as a result of a neck injury Kegan was wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. The title of his unpublished book shows his wit and humor about this situation: Some Get The Chair.

Over the course of many years Bob invited Larry to go on tours with him. (See: Remembering Larry Kegan.) In the memoir he writes about many events that show the importance of place. One story is about events that occurred after a Friday night concert at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds on a hot summer night in mid-July 1988. The next stop was to be Detroit, but Dylan gave instructions for the tour bus to take a middle of the night detour through the small rural town of Fairmount, Indiana. Kegan wrote:

"No Money Down." Larry Kegan, vocals. Bob Dylan, sax.
Indianapolis, 1988. Photo courtesy Marc Percansky.

Bob had already gotten out of his bus and was heading down the main drag. Dave, the bus driver, came over to the van and I asked him what we were doing here. "This is James Dean's town, where he grew up and where he's buried." "Where's Bob going," I asked? "He's going to check out the High School where he attended," he said. We hung out for a while around my van and Bob's bus.

Next thing you know a couple girls come over -- it's 1:30 in the morning -- and they learn that there's a James Dean Museum in town. (Actual name: The James Dean Gallery.) One thing led to another so that two Fairmount police escorted Bob to the museum which was opened for him and his friends. The place was handicapped accessible so Larry also had the privilege of getting the tour.

James Dean.

The place was a real trip into the Fifties. James Dean stuff everywhere. Posters from all three of his movies, EAST OF EDEN, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, and GIANT. Clothes he wore in the movie and around town, They even had his basketball trunks he actually used in high school.

I'm sharing this to set up a longer post I'm working on about James Dean and the ever-recurring "What if...?" question. What if he hadn't died young? What if Jimi Hendrix had continued his career? What would have become of Jim Morrison? Marilyn Monroe? Janis Joplin? What is John Lennon hadn't been shot.

Sometime soon I will attempt to suggest an answer regarding James Dean.