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Rock Reads: Bob Dylan New York by June Skinner Sawyers
Reviewed by Kevin Wierzbicki
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The latest in the Music Place Series from Roaring Forties, Bob Dylan New York tells the story of Dylan's early experiences in the Big Apple through the places where significant things happened. The book is good for basic armchair amusement and for adding factoids to your Dylan-lore if that's all you want out of it. But if as a Dylan fan you're more of a mind to be a wide-eyed gawker turned loose in NYC then you'll absolutely adore Bob Dylan New York as it is set up like a travel tour guide complete with map. That means as you taxi your way around the city you'll come to places like 11 W. Fourth Street, where once was located Gerde's Folk City, the place where Dylan first met Joan Baez at a "hoot night." Or you'll find the place where Columbia Studio A used to reside; that's where Bob laid down tracks like "Desolation Row" and "Positively 4th Street." Some of the places of interest are still in existence; find your way to Trump Park Avenue and you'll be at the building that used to be called the Delmonico Hotel, the place where Dylan famously introduced the Beatles to the joys of smoking marijuana. In all more than fifty sites are covered, their Dylan significance mostly in the '60s, but there are also places referenced that tie-in to Dylan's adventures through the early 21st century.
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