Bob’s remark at the top occurred while he was sitting one night in late August 1961 with his friend, Kevin Krown, in our living room. He was serious. My mother, Eve, had just come in from the kitchen.
From May through September 1961, our Manhattan apartment on 28th St. was the best place for Bob Dylan to be. It became his own space where no outside force would bother him and he could work out all his moves. I was 15 then.
In April 1964, he was scheduled to give a concert at Harvard in The Rindge Tech auditorium in Cambridge. I had told as many of my classmates as I could to be there. It was an amazing concert. The crowd went wild. Afterwards, a swarm of people tried to get backstage. I was the only one let through after Bob was told I was there. Imagine my surprise when he put his arm wound me saying there was someone he wanted me to meet. I couldn’t believe it when Joan Baez was standing right in front of me with a big smile on her face and said, “So you’re the Peter of the McKenzie family Bob has talked so much about. Pleased to meet you.”
You could have waved a feather in front of me and I would have fallen down. Joan Baez saying it was a pleasure to meet ME. Bob loved to pull surprises.
Mister D., over the years, has revealed many things and written an autobiography, “Chronicles Vol. 1.” In that book he left out quite a bit. That “left out quite a bit” is the most crucial part of Dylan history. It is that missing piece which is the foundation from which all else springs. Writers, historians, fans have been trying to uncover it for over 60 years. I was lucky enough to witness it all unfold in real time, first hand. Since neither Bob or me will be around forever, the time to share it is now, before it would be forever lost to the dustbin of history.
Here is the link to “BOB DYLAN On A Couch & Fifty Cents A Day.” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BDXC2VR
