What if Bob played Woodstock?

A few more Dylan posts on his 85th birthday

Other than maybe expense reports, I haven’t really written a lot of fiction. But one story I had a lot of fun with was what you might call Historical Fiction. It’s well-known, even before Bob Dylan’s diatribe in “Chronicles, Vol. 1” - and yes, we think Bob actually wrote these words, not Robert Louis Stevenson (though Scott Warmuth might disagree) - about how there was no way in holy Hell he was going to appear at Woodstock. Though, of course, to the rest of the civilized world, it appeared they were holding the damn concert IN HIS BACK YARD so he might show up.

So, reading and listening to a lot of Bob, teaching some Henry David Thoreau, thinking about Columbia’s John Hammond, trying to find a way to get Bob recording again, I had an idea. What if he enlisted Johnny Cash, who was hot then?

The two-parter here, Bob’s mythical show at Woodstock (that nobody saw) is a work of fiction and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Karl for helping me resurrecting it from Expecting Rain all those years ago.

There are a few other Bob posts included here. I mean, he’s only going to be 85 once.

Thanks, readers, NOGO

Author John Nogowski has been writing about Bob Dylan since his collegiate days. He’s done three editions of “Bob Dylan: A Descriptive, Critical Discography and Filmography 1961-2022” - up to 322 pages of all Bob. An annotated bibliography, bootlegs, press conferences, movies, all sorts of stuff for the Dylan fan. I have a similar volume on Neil Young due later this year or early in 2027 and am at work on one on Bruce Springsteen. His Substack, now in Year Three, is free and there’s even more Bob Dylan stuff there, if you’re in the spirit.