Bob Dylan stopped by cops, asked for ID in New Jersey Shore Town - Freeze-Frame Radio

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

Bob Dylan stopped by cops, asked for ID in New Jersey Shore Town

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

That's sad... but still dang funny. I'm sure it was a first for good ol' Bob.

Dylan · Leader Of The Banned

The man is an icon...even if these 20 somethings never heard one measure of one song, at least the name recognition should have rang a bell. But the officers were professional and Bob was gracious so it all worked out.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

That is exactly why it is so sad. Can you imagine how utterly embarrassed they will both be when they figure out exactly who he is.

Dylan · Leader Of The Banned

Not surprised. I work with alot of officers in their 20's. I can actually picture this scenario with alot of these co workers. In their defense, I dont recognize some of their bands either....but I dont think their bands have reached icon status either.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Yeah, but Bob Dylan is a music god.

Dylan · Leader Of The Banned

That's what I am saying.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

The article I read said he was looking in the window of a house that was for sale, it was pouring rain, and that he was dressed in a rain jacket with a hood on, and sweatpants tucked into rain boots. I mean really, is that how you would expect to meet Bob Dylan? I wouldn't have believed him either. And it's not like she took him in, she took him back to his hotel. I think it's unfair to judge her for not recognizing him, especially when using her youth as a reason.

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

OK, let's give the kids a break & say for some reason they did not recognize him. (There are sporting figures who are very famous who I might not recognize.) But once he gave his name, you'd think it would've clicked!

I thought this was a cute story. And I'm glad to see he wasn't a prima donna about the whole thing. And now I wish I didn't have so much to do, because I would love to go and watch him star in one of my all-time favorite movies again.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Sorry if it offends your sensibilities, Mz, but nobody was coming down on the police officers involved. I was not attempting to imply that they acted in any way inappropriately or unprofessionally. "Sad" was more of a generalized assessment of the situation in which one of the most famous and important musicians and poets in the world actually encountered the "Yeah, I got nothing" effect. I would say the same of a situation involving any incredibly famous (among the masses) person in a similar situation. One would think that a concert of the magnitude to include Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp might have been mentioned on the local news and in the media. Such a thing might attract the attention of the local law enforcement who tend to concern themselves with things like traffic movement and crowd control. One would think the name should have rang a bell somewhere.

Putting myself in the situation, I would be horribly embarrassed afterward if I was one of the officers involved and I found out that the person that I was dealing with was actually an icon in their field, the world over. If I didn't know who the guy was when I met him and upon taking him back to his hotel and talking to some of his people I figured out that he might be "somebody", I'd for sure go Google the guy's name later. Since this story has actually been mentioned on CNN, MSNBC, etc... I'd still be a bit rosey about the cheeks.

For the record, if I were to meet Bob Dylan on the street that is EXACTLY the type of encounter I would expect. He is a tee shirts and jeans or sweat pants "everyman" kind of guy. Finding him wandering around by himself in the rain looking in the windows of vacant houses in this economic climate would seem completely reasonable to me. I'd bet it would even inspire a song or two.

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

Like Dylan said, this wouldn't surprise me at all.

To a 20 year old Bob Dylan is a million years old. It might be better if he'd had some commercial success in their lifetime, but really his body of work was mostly celebrated before they took their first breath.

To them Bob Dylan is their fathers music.

I work with a guy who's 24 years old. I'm consistently amazed at how little he knows about music from the 80's. He refers to Bon Jovi as "old school"

He had no idea who Berlin was. He though Sheena Easton was the black chick that was kinda like Prince (he was thinking of Sheila E.)

Silly young people

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

My point is that some of these articles are making her out to be a silly kid. Really, she was just doing her job. If she didn't have some inkling that he really was Bob Dylan, I'd guess she would've taken him to the station instead of the hotel. But if he was just someone to have enough of a resemblance to Bob Dylan to get away with saying he was, and she let him go, and he broke into someone's house, it would be on her head. To me, that's worth the embarrassment.

Sorry, this poor girl's getting a beating in the media, more so because of her age, and I feel like sticking up for her. It's a nice silly story, but the moral isn't, "kids these days don't know anything." I think the moral is, "Bob Dylan is a cool, normal guy."

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Most of the accounts of this event I have heard have not really come across to me as beating on this female officer for being a silly kid, they have been more from the standpoint that it is really hard to believe that anyone born in this country after about 1970 has actually never heard of Bob Dylan. Not one single account has implied that the officer was in any way irresponsible, abusive, or excessive in her actions. Quite to the contrary in fact.

It is not so much that she didn't just look at him and go "Oh hey... you are Bob Dylan!" it is more that the name didn't seem to ring a bell even. This is kind of amazing given that in just about any pubic high school American History class when you get to the section on modern American history you will find yourself discussing the Vietnam War and the social unrest of the 60's. Somewhere in there you will hear about the war protest rallys and the civil rights movements, and the music of the time reflecting the social unrest. You will definitely hear the name Bob Dylan in those discussions. You will hear his name again in your literature class when you discuss modern American poetry. You will hear his name again in your philosophy class, and again in music classes if you take those. If you go to college, you will hear it all again.

Yes, he was most famous in the 60's but was also a big part of USA for Africa and Live Aid. His commentary in the 80's was the inspiration for Willie Nelson to form Farm Aid, and if you have ever watched the We Are The World video I believe he is right there in the front row. All of these things get some form of mention in modern American history classes to this day. Flat out and simple, its a miss to not have a reference for this name. Imagine 30 years from now some 24 year old American anybody being unfamiliar with Barak Obama. It would be right up there on that scale of "WOW! How could that happen?"

-- Edited by Mad Mema on Saturday 15th of August 2009 10:52:33 PM

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

I agree with the majority of your points Mema, except the last one. I don't think it would be even close to similar with someone 30 years from now not having heard of the first black President in US history.

While Dylan certainly was associated with civil unrest in the 60's he's still primarily an entertainer and much to Lady Stranges surprise (

) some people don't really care all that much about aging entertainers.

Like I said, I agree 100% that it's shocking that you could have been on this earth for the last 20 - 30 years and not even heard the name Bob Dylan, but yet it doesn't totally surprise me.

Now, if he said he was Bob Dylan and she thought "yeah right, SURE ya are", and took him in thinking he was lying I could believe that much easier.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Jeremy Riggs wrote:

I agree with the majority of your points Mema, except the last one. I don't think it would be even close to similar with someone 30 years from now not having heard of the first black President in US history.

While Dylan certainly was associated with civil unrest in the 60's he's still primarily an entertainer and much to Lady Stranges surprise () some people don't really care all that much about aging entertainers.

Like I said, I agree 100% that it's shocking that you could have been on this earth for the last 20 - 30 years and not even heard the name Bob Dylan, but yet it doesn't totally surprise me.

Now, if he said he was Bob Dylan and she thought "yeah right, SURE ya are", and took him in thinking he was lying I could believe that much easier.

I can literally believe that a young adult might not have heard of Bob Dylan. I too just find it shocking and disappointing. I would totally not be surprised if she had just disbelieved his claim to be a very famous person, particularly if they were using this as an excuse to get out of some sort of illegal behavior. I'm fairly skeptical by nature, so I might not believe it right off either.

I also totally agree with Mz's point that he was really decent in his way of handling this and that is very cool of him.

I disagree with the idea that youth is an excuse for ignorance. In my opinion it is horribly patronizing to say to a young person "It's okay if you don't know much. You aren't old enough." There are plenty of young, informed, intelligent people in this world. NOTE: I did not say stupidity. There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is simply not knowing something. Stupidity is willful refusal to learn combined with gross negligence. I am not saying this young officer is stupid. She might have a bit to learn about the history of her country and some of the people who have influenced it. Perhaps the Obama example I gave is a bit extreme, but the point being that if we keep allowing youth as an excuse for ignorance we will keep dumbing down society and eventually there won't be anyone who knows anything about anything that happened before they were maybe 5 or 6 years old. What a shame it would be to lose the lessons we have learned through our history. How much of that history would we be doomed to repeat? How many times will we have to reinvent the wheel?

Youth IS an excuse for inexperience. Unfortunately, gaining experience is frequently painful. Since this story hit the national media for a day, I would venture a bet that this young officer is a bit less ignorant and a step more experienced. That is not entirely a bad thing.

squonk · RetroMan

Mad Mema wrote:

Yeah, but Bob Dylan is a music god.

He's looking more like Satan these days!
Did anybody ever see "Masked and Anonymous"? Cheech, Bob and some others.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

Jeremy Riggs wrote:

Now, if he said he was Bob Dylan and she thought "yeah right, SURE ya are", and took him in thinking he was lying I could believe that much easier.

That's what I'm trying to say. How do we know that's not what happened? For example, from other articles:

'"I've seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn't look like Bob Dylan to me at all," Buble told ABC News. "He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head."'

or:
Since the "Like a Rolling Stone" singer was carrying no I.D., the cops were skeptical, with one saying, "We see a lot of people on our beat, and I wasn't sure if he came from one of our hospitals or something."

And this isn't the first time he hasn't been recognized:
In May, Dylan joined a public tour of John Lennon's childhood home, according to the BBC. A spokeswoman for the National Trust, which runs the home as London landmark, said Dylan "took one of our general minibus tours.

"People on the minibus did not recognize him apparently," the spokeswoman told the British news agency. "He could have booked a private tour, but he was happy to go on the bus with everyone else."

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

what I kinda dont like was that perhaps dylan was trying to have a "normal person" moment and that kinda blew up on him. I don't of course know for sure, but maybe he just wanted to walk around the friggin block and not be the legend for a bit. Who knows how often he gets that.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

But normal people need ID.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

It is sad for him that his "normal person" moment (if that is what it was) was interrupted and turned into a news story, happily one where he didn't go to jail and it really doesn't look like the police officers involved acted inappropriately. The guy probably hasn't carried ID on his person in several years, but then again he probably hasn't had to since he has people to handle his business and travel arrangements for him. I would bet that there are a lot of celebrities who don't actually carry ID. Money and celebrity have a tendency to change the rules for those who have them, right or wrong. Should he have been in posession of ID while on his walking trip? Sure.

As to the point of had the officer actually heard of him or not... the initial stories were that she had never heard of him. Later on, some say that well yes... of course she had heard of him, but was just skeptical. The real answer to that is something only she will know. I don't think it is too far fetched to see where after a little national coverage of something kind of embarrassing like that, one might fudge a little and say "Well, of course I'd heard of him! He just didn't look like his pictures." It is called saving face.