© National Archives/Getty Images

According to my online “Monday Briefing” by the New York Times, “Bob Dylan was called ‘impolite and arrogant’ by a Swedish Academy member who criticized the musician’s ambivalence about being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.”  Why am I not surprised?  And why should Dylan’s characteristic personality traits cause comment by the Academy member?

More notable to me is that he received the Nobel Prize at all and for his song lyrics at that!  I’ve never understood a word he has sung.  Though, having said that, I am a bit of a Dylan fan, anyway.  Not like Nyel who really, really likes his music – even though he, too, admits to having trouble getting the gist sometimes.

1969 – Sydney and Another Notable

I think I’m fan only by happenstance.  Back in the sixties when I was married to photographer Bill LaRue, we were in Carmel for some reason and stopped by Brett Weston’s place for a visit.  It must have been late afternoon and close to the cocktail hour because Brett offered us a drink and said something like, “Do you mind if that kid up there joins us?”

We looked out his back window in the direction he indicated and saw “that skinny kid with the big hair” sitting on the ground outside a small cabin.  “He’s waiting for my tenant, Joanie.  She’s renting the cabin from me this summer.”

1961, Bill LaRue © Minor White

After all these years, my mind is a bit fuzzy about whether or not the skinny kid was introduced to us as Bob Dylan or Robert Zimmerman.  Whichever way, the name meant nothing.  Even the reference to “Joanie” only caused a blip on our recognition screens.

What I do remember is that we left as it was getting dark; Joanie still hadn’t arrived.  And, even though we had spent an hour or so with the future Nobel Prize winner, I was left only with an impression of a young and glowering mumbler and wondered what Joanie saw in him.  But as Dylan noted long ago, times change.