This weekend was the first annual World of Bob Dylan Symposium in Tulsa, hosted by TU’s Bob Dylan Institute and the Bob Dylan Archives. I got to attend.
It. Was. Rad. Besides attending various panels and talks with 500 Dylan scholars and enthusiasts, I got to meet people like Hilary Saunders, the dynamic music journo and managing editor of No Depression, and Gayle F. Wald, author of Shout, Sister, Shout! about Sister Rosetta Tharpe. And on my goddamn birthday, I got to have dinner with two of my heroes: The Ann MF Powers, and Greil Marcus. I still can’t believe it.
The next day, Ann Powers gave the best keynote on anything I’ve ever seen: “Bob Dylan’s Body,” which was really titled, “Shirtless Bob Dylan.” And that evening, I got to see the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn tell stories and break into semi-spontaneous song on acoustic guitar in a hotel ballroom.
Bob, Tulsa - how’d we end up here?