{"id":17784,"date":"2025-10-21T10:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T14:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=17784"},"modified":"2025-10-21T15:04:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T19:04:53","slug":"episode-659-ron-rosenbaum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-659-ron-rosenbaum","title":{"rendered":"Episode 659 – Ron Rosenbaum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 659:
\nRon Rosenbaum<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_659_-_Ron_Rosenbaum.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m always looking beyond the surface of the words to deeper meanings. Or sometimes shallower meanings.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of my fave writers, Ron Rosenbaum<\/a>, returns to the show to celebrate his amazing new book, BOB DYLAN: Things Have Changed (A Kind Of Biography)<\/a> (Melville House Press). We talk about how his lifetime fandom of Dylan led to this book, why he opted for a biographical meditation over strict biography, the week he spent with Dylan in the ’70s for a Playboy<\/em> interview<\/a>, what our response to Dylan’s songs say about us, and how he got over his sense of betrayal when Dylan joined a Jesus-cult for a few years. We get into his insight into Dylan’s Nobel acceptance and the Rosebud-moment therein, the question of theodicy (radical evil) and Dylan’s argument with God, Ron’s experience falling in love with someone to Dylan’s songs, and how Dylan’s post-Jesus songwriting methods became a reflection of his One-Mind consciousness. We also discuss authenticity vs. sincerity, the discontinuity of being, the impact of Salinger & Dylan on American language and outlook, Ron’s top 20-ish of Dylan’s songs, the 4+-hour movie Dylan made<\/a> in the ’70s and how it may have led to his crack-up (and why Ron thinks it should be reissued), and more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read BOB DYLAN: Things Have Changed<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“I probably wouldn’t have found my way so deep into his songs if they hadn’t found their way so deep into me.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n