Ruler of the Shadow Kingdom

On Bob Dylan's Streaming Concert

I’ve just returned from Tulsa, where I presented a paper at the World of Bob Dylan Conference on June 1. The panel was called “Dylan’s Early Influences,” and my talk was on Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley based on an essay for the journal Rock Music Studies about “Another Self-Portrait (1969-1971)” from the Sony Music “bootleg” series. My co-presenters were Robert Russell (Bob also acted as host) on Dylan and the Stanley Brothers, and Jim Windolf, an editor at the New York Times, on “Bob Dylan and the Beatles: Disciples of Little Richard.” Jim is writing a book about Dylan and the Beatles, which should be a major contribution to pop culture scholarship when it is published.

I will write about the conference, Tulsa, hotel life, the Bob Dylan Center, and more when I get my bearings: I’m not usually a “wake up at 5 am for a 7:25 am flight” kind of guy, which is what this morning was about. Hello, nap! The Tulsa airport was busier than I thought it would be at 6 am, because a very large group …