![]() ![]() You've played personal and professional roles in Dylan's life over the years, but the one that's right on the cover of the book here is, "Producer of the Rolling Thunder Revue." There has been so much more attention paid to that in the last couple of years, with the Bootleg Series release, and, oh, look at that. Let's talk about the Rolling Thunder Revue. So it's good to have a close friend there to cover your back, and that you're comfortable with. Of course the Band was there, which he knew, but basically everybody else was just people who were working for Bill Graham - didn't know Bill Graham either, just met him. When I would travel with him - he invited me to go on tour in '74 - he was with people he basically didn't know. Maybe keeping someone like you close helps keep you feel real and connected to your roots? And that's what we all have in common - it's hard to come by once you become famous. You share the same values and you bond, or you don't. Once you're famous, it's always suspect, their ulterior motives. Once you become famous, I think it's really hard to make close friends of the type and quality that you had before you were famous. Why do you think it is that people like Bob Dylan, other celebrities, like to stay close to people who knew them from before they were famous? But we stayed close with him.īob Dylan is obviously a singular artist in many ways, but he's also similar to other celebrities, in that it's clearly been important to him to maintain close friendships with the people he knew from his childhood. And he was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. And then he had this tragic accident when he was 16 he had a diving accident off of a retaining wall in Florida, and he broke his neck. He would take his parents' car for joyrides when they fell asleep at night. ![]() He stole his parents' car when he was 14 or 15, and headed out for California, got as far as Iowa. Larry was very much like we were, he was a maverick, he was a wild kid - he was more wild than we were in many ways. And we maintained a lifelong friendship from that experience. We were at camp for five summers together, the three of us. Larry and Bob and I bonded right in the beginning. The book is about the story of your friendship with Bob Dylan, but also about your third friend that the two of you met in the same cabin at summer camp. He died six months later, so I had to keep my promise. So to make a long story short, he got me to promise him to write the book. So I walk in there, and he says that to me, and I say, "Wow, I don't know, I haven't really thought about it." And he said, "No, you gotta write the book." And I said, "Well, I'm here to see you - you have cancer, how do you feel?" He said, "I feel like s-t, but you gotta write this book." He was that type of guy he was just a great guy. I walk into his place, and almost right away, he said, "When are you going to write your book?" Because he was one of the people that knew my stories he had great stories too, so he would say to me, "You gotta write this book." Ultimately, everybody said, "These are amazing stories, you have to write a book." And I would say, "Yeah, one day," not really serious about knowing whether I would do it or not.Ī couple years ago, a very close friend mine, his name was Tzvi Small, he was a producer of the Grammys for 21 years, and for the last five years of his life he was a producer of America's Got Talent - just a great guy. So why have you chosen now to tell your story in the form of this new book?įor years, people would ask me - I'd be at dinners and luncheons and gatherings, "Tell us a story!" So I would tell a story here, and a story there. You've known Bob Dylan for 66 years now, if I'm doing the math correctly. When I'm long gone, they're going to be carrying on my legacy, the things I taught them, and the things that are important. I was blessed with having a big family - and that keeps reproducing. I go right to my children and my grandchildren. What would you say, overall, are your greatest accomplishments in life? We spent 50 years of adventures together, which is part of the theme of this book. But Bob and I met when I was 11 and he was 12. So I have those two different worlds, and a few other worlds. Other people know me as Bob Dylan's best friend. Some people know me through the fish business, because that was my career and my business for all my life. Like you mentioned, I have and had a big life - besides being friends with Bob Dylan. I'm sure many people in Minnesota and beyond recognize your name, and don't even know about your friendship with Bob Dylan. Your new book is about Bob Dylan - your friendship with Bob Dylan - but you've done much more over the years than just hang out with your friend.
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