When you are listening to music at full blast and singing into your hairbrush, do you ever stop and think, "This song is about my life. They are saying exactly what I wish I could say"?
If you're a Bob Dylan fan, odds are that he's taken the words right out of your mouth a time or two. His fans believe his music is so timeless, in fact, that his words could reach anyone.
"He writes about things that are going to matter later on, no matter the time period or political climate," said Paul Williams, owner of Audiomania in Midtown.
For die-hard fans, old and new alike, the release of "No Direction Home" last Tuesday on DVD is another Dylan essential.
The film features performances seen only by those in attendance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 as well as many others.
The documentary will air on television in two parts starting this Monday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. on PBS, and will conclude the following night in the same time slot.
The four-hour documentary, directed by Martin Scorsese, reveals how Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan, a musical and cultural icon. The film also gives insight into Dylan's early years in music, from 1961-1966. Scorsese was given unprecedented access into Dylan archives and also conducted numerous in-depth interviews with Dylan and others that were along for the ride in the early sixties. Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg and Pete Seeger are all featured in the film.
The 1960s were some of Dylan's most controversial and groundbreaking in his more than 40 years in music. During this time he was hailed as "the voice of a generation," only to be later labeled as a traitor to the same generation when he plugged in and went electric.
Although these events occurred during a time before most students at The University of Memphis were alive, their repercussions are still being felt and discussed today.
Books, bootleg collections and the successful autobiography, "Chronicles, Vol. 1," have made Dylan more accessible to a new audience.
Exhibits of rare photographs by Daniel Kramer from the same time period featured in "No Direction Home" were on display at Stax Museum over the summer. The exhibit brought out Dylan fans from past and present generations.
"We had great attendance which included a younger generation as well as people in their sixties and seventies that were fans when Dylan first started," said Tim Sampson, communications manager at Stax.
A new book, appropriately titled "The Bob Dylan Scrapbook", features the photos, which were on display at Stax, as well as other rarities.
"When Daniel Kramer did a book signing, it brought out a lot of college-age kids in particular," Sampson said.
Throughout recent years, these same younger fans have been filling the seats during Dylan's many tours.
"He tours constantly and he noticed the crowd was changing, so he began to write new songs for a new audience," Williams said.
