Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

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Recorded 16th November 2022

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12/25/22 • 58 min

1 Listener

Lenny Kaye

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

08/07/22 • 51 min

5.0

Patti Smith Group guitarist and author Lenny Kaye reminds us that “Bob Dylan is still experimenting, seeing who he might be, putting on the weirdest shows ever, upending barriers”. Almost in one breath, Lenny gives forth on working with or listening to Suzanne Vega, John Coltrane, Gayle, The Stooges, Brian Eno, The Byrds, Bing Crosby and Janis Joplin (“I wanted her to be my girlfriend”). His colleague Patti Smith fought for “the freedom to have a field of noise, beyond language. But also: a hit single.” Elvis “is an extraterrestrial: a mutation”. And after two tours supporting Dylan, he confirms that “Bob is private backstage. You’re instructed not to look at him. But that was OK. I don’t want to meet my idols”. A wise man. And a perfect podcast guest.

Lenny Kaye has been the guitarist for The Patti Smith Group since the band's inception in 1974. He produced Patti’s first single and worked on the band’s hugely influential 70s albums: Horses, Easter, Radio Ethiopia and Wave. Lenny has also produced and/or played with dozens of artists such as R.E.M., James, Soul Asylum, Kristen Hersh and Allen Ginsberg. His seminal anthology of 60s garage rock, Nuggets, defined the genre. His first book was Waylon, The Life Story of Waylon Jennings. You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon was published in 2004. His current book is Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll. Lenny also wrote the liner notes to the accompanying double CD (he has been nominated three times for Grammy awards in the liner notes category). As a freelancer, he has written for a wide range of periodicals, including Melody Maker, Creem and Rolling Stone.

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Dark Eyes (duet between Dylan and Patti Smith)

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Twitter @isitrollingpod

Recorded 28th June 2022

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08/07/22 • 51 min

1 Listener

1 Comment

David Greig

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

02/23/20 • 45 min

Scottish playwright David Greig was first “cracked open” to Dylan when he heard Desire in a remote part of South Africa “under the influence of the most extraordinarily strong dope”. “That’s it”, he thought, “I’M GOING IN!” He has yet to come out. David wrote his version of Euripides’ The Bacchae by playing the Hard Rain album over and over while drinking red wine and channelling “Dylan as Dionysius, Dylan as shaman”. Quotes that leap out of this most Scottish of episodes: “Bob Dylan couldn’t exist except for Edinburgh”, “I secretly love the glorious oddness of his bad rhymes” and his favourite bit of advice from Bob: “an artist should always be in the state of becoming” (from Scorsese’s No Direction Home). Other names lightly dropped include Kris Kristofferson, Robert Burns and David’s recent collaborator Mark Knopfler. Join us for a special episode that’s as warming as a wee dram. David Greig is Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. His many plays and adaptations, staged in Scotland, London and around the world, include: Europe, Tintin In Tibet, Caligula, The American Pilot, The Bacchae, Midsummer, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Lanark, The Lorax, Touching The Void and this summer’s Old Vic production of Local Hero. Trailer Twitter Episode playlist on Apple Episode playlist on Spotify Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Recorded 6th February 2020 This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

02/23/20 • 45 min

Nathalie Armin

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

05/17/20 • 35 min

Actress Nathalie Armin (speaking at a digital distance) has been a Dylan fan since the age of six, when an unknown voice “showed her the colours in her mind” as she lay in the back seat of her father’s car. She graduated to playing Bob games on stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company (“we’d whisper Dylan song titles to each other. I always won”) and watching him perform at the Royal Albert Hall (“he was 72. I don’t know any 20 year-olds who have that much swagger”). The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 -3 is given a serious going over (“what must it be like to be Bob Dylan’s drawer? Blind Willie McTell – it was almost too private to put on an album”), as is the instant classic Murder Most Foul (only just released at the time of this recording). If you crave freewheelin’ discussions of Moonshiner, Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues, House Carpenter, Catfish, Need A Woman and Foot of Pride, please zoom on down and join us. Nathalie Armin is an Anglo-Iranian actress. She has appeared in many acclaimed stage shows including THE MOTHERFUCKER WITH THE HAT at the National Theatre, LIMEHOUSE at the Donmar Warehouse and Robert Icke’s award-winning production of THE DOCTOR at the Almeida Theatre. Her film and television work includes FINAL SCORE, DENIAL, GROW YOUR OWN, Philip K. Dick’s ELECTRIC DREAMS, the award-wining THE LOST HONOUR OF CHRISTOPHER JEFFERIES, UNFORGOTTEN, MARCELLA and MAIGRET’S DEAD MAN. Nathalie can currently be seen as Yasmine in Channel 4’s hit comedy HOME. IMDb Trailer Twitter Episode playlist on Apple Episode playlist on Spotify Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Recorded 30th March 2020 This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

05/17/20 • 35 min

Nish Kumar

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

03/22/20 • 47 min

Comedian Nish Kumar says: “Bob Dylan is the most enduring and important creative relationship of my life. If you can’t think of one Dylan song you like, then a part of your humanity may be missing”. When Bob and his band played the Hendrix arrangement of All Along The Watchtower at his first (and only) Dylan concert, it was “one of the greatest moments of my life”. In other words, he’s our sort of chap. Cheerfully agreeing that “there’s no bore like a Dylan bore”, Nish gives us his takes on Tangled Up In Blue (“I don’t think he’s ever finished it”), The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream and I Shall Be Released. We get the inside story on using Bob as a role model when being booed (“bloody-minded obstinance in the face of people being dicks is very inspiring”) and for personal grooming inspiration (“my hair grows the way it grows because of the Blonde On Blonde album cover”). Nish Kumar grew up in Croydon, South London. He has a degree in History and English from Durham University. His sold-out solo shows have won awards at the Edinburgh Fringe and toured nationally and internationally to huge acclaim. Nish’s TV appearances include a Netflix Special, The John Bishop Show, Have I Got News For You, Alan Davies As Yet Untitled, QI, Mock The Week, and Live At The Apollo. He has been the presenter of the topical comedy show Newsjack on Radio 4 Extra, hosts television’s very popular The Mash Report on BBC Two and chairs The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. Website Trailer Twitter Episode playlist on Apple Episode playlist on Spotify Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Recorded 24th February 2020 This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

03/22/20 • 47 min

Jonathan Lethem

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

12/15/19 • 47 min

On the BobPhone from the USA: it’s award-winning writer Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn, with a supremely quotable episode. On his “Big Kahuna” interview of Bob for Rolling Stone: “he was direct and generous; we had a good time”. An advocate for Dylan’s latter-day stuff, he believes that “humour is underrated as a feature of the operation”.

Among Jonathan’s many provocative thoughts: “The power of (Dylan’s) negativity is a form of creative dynamism” and “how many people could have turned down the coronations he’s been offered”? He praises the “fiasco methodology” of Under The Red Sky, has mixed feelings about Together Through Life (“if you underrate a thing it can kick your ass”) and condemns the Sinatra years as “a fatally tasteful hiding place”. Did Dylan stay in Mississippi a day too long? Join us and find out.

Jonathan Lethem is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer. His first novel Gun, with Occasional Music, which mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success: the movie adaptation by Edward Norton has just been released. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times bestseller. His most recent novel is The Feral Detective. A Brooklyn native, Jonathan lives and teaches in California.

His 2006 Rolling Stone piece on James Brown

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Recorded 19th November 2019

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12/15/19 • 47 min

Andy Kershaw

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

12/01/19 • 50 min

Broadcaster, journalist and “swivel-eyed Dylanologist” Andy Kershaw, “a radio station within a radio station” during his time on Radio 1, gives us his unvarnished thoughts. From arguments with his dad about Bob’s greatness to his first sighting of “the human American bald eagle” at Earl’s Court in 1978, to his unravelling of the identity of the “Judas!” heckler, to Bob’s actual response (“he doesn’t say “play fucking loud!”), this is a delightful and surprising episode. Andy’s encounters include a meeting with Keith Richards (“he nicked my cigarette lighter!”), tracking down long-lost soul singer James Carr in Memphis; and his impromptu November 1985 visit to Dave Stewart’s Crouch End recording studio: “I gave Bob a jar of hedgerow jam. It was like handing a mobile phone to a chimpanzee”.

What hasn’t Andy Kershaw done? He was Billy Bragg’s roadie, a presenter of Whistle Test and Live Aid, and a subversive yet respected DJ. His shows on BBC Radio 1 and 3 provided an outlet for his love of world music, soul, reggae and blues. He married this with many forays into journalism, reporting on the Rwandan genocide and travelling to 97 countries including Iran, Iraq and North Korea. When he moved from London to the Isle of Man in 2006, he continued to host his radio show there and organised concerts featuring Robert Plant, The Who, The Kinks and Lou Reed. Andy currently reports for BBC 1’s The One Show. His autobiography, No Off Switch, is “an amazing read” according to Stephen Fry. Stephen is correct.

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Twitter: @THEAndyKershaw

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Twitter @isitrollingpod

Recorded 7th November 2019

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12/01/19 • 50 min

Barney Hoskyns

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan

12/26/19 • 41 min

Rock journalist Barney Hoskyns comes on board for a special episode that focuses on The Band, with Dylan as their “weird” sideman. Tears Of Rage is compared to Philip Roth’s novel American Pastoral. Barney suspects it might just be “an anti-hippie song”. His “deeply emotional” attachment to the town of Woodstock is explored in depth: “overwhelmed by the mythology of the place”, he raised his kids there and explored its musical history in his book Small Town Talk (title taken from the song by Bobby Charles).

After writing the acclaimed Band book Across The Great Divide, he reports on the feedback he received from Robbie Robertson: “Oh Barney, Barney, Barney, Barney...” while he praises the remarkable Woodstock-based novella Music From Big Pink by John Niven. He remembers an awful interview with Prince: “he sat like a sadistic cat, waiting to maul me” and connects the Minnesotan “Imp of the Perverse” with Bob. Is Barney ultimately a Dylan man? While admiring the early work, he’s also put off by its “sadism and cruelty”.

“Barney Hoskyns is the finest British rock writer of his generation” - Charlie Gillett.

He graduated from Oxford with a First Class degree in English and began writing about music for Melody Maker and New Musical Express, British Vogue and The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Observer. He has also contributed to Harper's Bazaar, Interview magazine, Spin magazine and Rolling Stone. He was Associate Editor and then U.S. Editor of Mojo. Barney has written over fifteen books: investigating Bowie, Prince, Led Zeppelin and The Doors; plus Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted: Country Soul In The American South, Across The Great Divide: The Band And America and Joni: The Anthology.