15 Questions for Bob Dylan, Plus an Anecdote

Original painting by the author

OK, it has been my privilege as a writer to interview hundreds of interesting people. Whether Congressmen, writers, artists or street people, everyone has stories, and I've always enjoyed ferreting them out. 

For the last couple decades I've been asked what I would say if I met Bob Dylan. My standard reply was that I really wouldn't know what to say. Lately however, as I reflected on these matters I began re-thinking my standard reply. There's plenty I would like to ask if he were in the mood for it, hence this list of 15 questions I'd ask if given the chance, knowing that any answer could lead to side-streets as way yields to way. 

Here's my list, followed by an anecdote about a Dylan-related anecdote that happened just today.

15 questions I would ask Bob Dylan if I could:

1. What is your creative process like? How do you come up with your songs? I've read some answers to this but maybe there's something you'd like to add but have always been reticent.
2. What are your thoughts on the state of music today?
3. What's the most important thing you've learned in your career?
4. What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
5. What is your favorite song that you've written and why so?
6. What's your favorite song that you have covered? 
7. Do you have a favorite book? What is it and why? 
8. Do you have a favorite movie? What was your favorite film when you were a kid?
9. You've been so many interesting places. What's your favorite place in the world? 
10. What is your relationship with your fans like? I read a rather disparaging quote about this and wondered if that was an off-the-cuff statement at odds with other feelings you have.
11. What is your favorite thing about performing live?
12. What is your biggest challenge as a famous musician? Critics? Lack of privacy? Inability to just be yourself when with others?
13. Do you have a favorite memory from your career? Was it something from the beginning or later?
14. What is your vision for the future of music?
15. You seem to have taken your art (painting, sculpture) pretty seriously. When did your interest in visual arts cross over from pastime to a more serious pursuit?

Thank you, Bob.

ANYWAYS, here is that anecdote I mentioned earlier.

This afternoon I stopped at the library to pick up a Taylor Swift that I'd requested. After writing something about the Taylor Swift phenomenon last week I wanted to hear what she sounded like.

As I was checking out, the librarian at the checkout window noticed and told me she was a Taylor Swift fan, which was cool. Then she commented that Taylor Swift has been compared to Bob Dylan as a singer/songwriter. Then she said, two people (one of them from Germany) came into the library asking where Bob Dylan Way begins (right across the street) and she knew the answer because she was reading Bob Dylan In Minnesota, the new book that I'd contributed seven chapters to, primarily the ones about Dylan in Duluth. She seemed to enjoy having been able to answer their question thanks to our book.

That was fun to hear.

It's nice to get a little lift like that once in a while. I hope you heard something new or interesting or cool that gave you a lift today.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.

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