Bob Dylan Best
Magnhild Mongolo
Louie Kemp has known Bob Dylan since before the times a-changed. The North Country native met me in Minneapolis for a candid conversation about his legendary friend, his new book Dylan & Me, and his portrayal in the new Martin Scorsese documentary about the Rolling Thunder Revue.
Bob Dylan is obviously a singular artist in many ways, but he's also similar to other celebrities, in that it's clearly been important to him to maintain close friendships with the people he knew from his childhood. Why do you think it is that people like Bob Dylan, other celebrities, like to stay close to people who knew them from before they were famous?
Let's talk about the Rolling Thunder Revue. You've played personal and professional roles in Dylan's life over the years, but the one that's right on the cover of the book here is, "Producer of the Rolling Thunder Revue." There has been so much more attention paid to that in the last couple of years, with the Bootleg Series release, and, oh, look at that...
Yeah. I'm a northern Minnesota boy. I wasn't impressed by any of that entertainment stuff; I was there because Bob was my friend. He asked me to produce it, and I was there to look out for his interests. These stories I tell in the book explain that to some extent, like the story with Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Columbia Records.
So I said, "Well that's too bad, Walter. Because if you're not going to be supportive to Bob on this tour and put some of Columbia's money in the pot, I can't cooperate with you on the tour." I said, "There'll be no tickets for Columbia Records, and I'm not going to give you the itinerary. Maybe you can buy some tickets on the street if you're lucky."
If I was in the business, and I represented other people, I couldn't have pulled that off. Because I would've had a conflict of interest. I would have to go in front of Walter for my other clients, and I could never talk to him like that. But being that my only interest was Bob, I could play hardball on Bob's behalf. And that's what I did throughout the whole process of working with him.
So she gave it to me, I called up, I got a hold of his assistant, told her my name, I said, "I'm working for Bob Dylan, I'm on the tour he's about to do, I'd like to see Walter to coordinate between Columbia and the tour, for maximum benefit for Columbia."
So that's when I went up and had that meeting, and basically shook him down for a hundred grand that he didn't want to give. So I went back, and I told Bob's business manager to expect a check tomorrow for $100,000, and she was amazed. She said, "I don't believe this."
Two days later, Bob was having a meeting with the camera crew. We had a camera crew, because Bob decided about three or four weeks before the tour that he wanted to shoot a movie. And that's where all this footage for Rolling Thunder came from. We actually had a camera crew that traveled with us.
So that part of the movie is amazing. And the other, original footage that was shot offstage, like the CVS footage, and other stuff with the original people is all precious, actual footage. Bob is a prankster. And it turns out it looks like Marty [Martin Scorsese] is a prankster also. You get two pranksters together, they start feeding off each other: "Let's do this! Let's do that!"
Not only self-financed. Many professional promoters had come to him and said, "Let's do a big money tour; arenas and auditoriums. You'll make a lot of money, you'll fly in private jets, everybody wants to see you." That's basically what tour '74 was like.
When he was in New York recording Desire, in that summer, June, July of '75, these people that approached him and they tried to talk him out of it, he said, "We'll do a musical caravan, carnavale style. Go town to town unannounced, and really have a fun experience."
So when I came back from Alaska that summer, for my fishery there where I go every summer, I got back to Duluth, and he called me the next day and said, "Come down to the farm, I want to talk to you about some stuff." So I went down to the farm and stayed with him four or five days. After a day or two, he told me about this idea for his tour.
In the documentary, Dylan says, "There's nothing left of that tour. What is there of that tour?" It must have felt that way for a while, but now all this documentary evidence is coming out: the movie, the Bootleg Series set.
That obviously is part of his prankster side. We shot, I don't know how many hundred hours of footage for that tour, which is what Marty worked off. And we recorded many of the shows. Audio as well. So this tour was well-preserved, and is now being shared with the world.
Yes. It pleases me, because I want, not just a new generation...many of the original fans who could not go to a Rolling Thunder tour because there were just a handful of them in certain locations. There are many people who I hear say today, "I wish I could have been able to go to the Rolling Thunder," as well as the new generations who are now being turned on to it.
You just mentioned the farm, Bob Dylan's property in Minnesota, earlier. One of the interesting things to me about reading your book, is it's about Bob Dylan's connection to you, but then more broadly, it's about his continuing connection with Minnesota, and Duluth.
We're both northern Minnesota boys. You can take the boys out of Minnesota; you can't take Minnesota out of the boys. Our values, and our experiences growing up formed who we are, and are a big part of who we are today. We both have a strong affinity for Minnesota.
One of the most amazing stories in your book is that chapter about the ski trip to Spirit Mountain. Between the two legs of the Rolling Thunder Revue, he was back here with Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn.
I'll tell you what happened. When the tour was over in New York, after we had done the benefit concert, "The Night of the Hurricane," at Madison Square Garden, for "Hurricane" Carter. I stuck around for a couple more days, we did a few things around town. We went to Sam Shepherd's play, which is in a chapter in the book, and a few others. And then it was time to go home for me. I started packing, and people said, "Where are you going?"
I said, "I'm going to Duluth, that's where I'm from. And I have a fish season going on, I have to get back there." The lutefisk season was going on; we were big packers of lutefisk. The largest, as a matter of fact. And we had a Lake Superior herring season going on. So I said, "I got to get back."
And Bob said, "That's a good idea, let's do it." And Joan Baez said yes, and Roger and a bunch of other people. So we got on the phone and called Spirit Mountain, and we booked a whole bunch of their bungalows, and we went to Duluth. It was great. We skied all day, and hung out in the chalet at night. I took them to Chinese Lantern for dinner one night. In that story, I talk about the food fight that Joan Baez and I had in the middle of the Chinese Lantern.
Bob and I were actually living together in a house that he rented in Brentwood, California, during that period, so I wouldn't have to drive him from Malibu when he wanted to be in the city. He said, "I have plenty of room." He said, "Why don't you move in with me?" So I did. We lived there for three years together.
It was pretty interesting, when I got back to the house in Brentwood, Bob is studying the New Testament, I'm studying the Old Testament, in rooms right across from each other in the same house. And then we'd meet in the kitchen, and we'd try to persuade each other about what we read. I made up my mind that I was going to do my best to bring him back to the religion of his ancestors and his heritage.
He said, "Sure, I'd be happy to." So I went back, arranged the ticket, and I brought him to the house, and they got along great. And that was the beginning of him starting to study Judaism in a deep way, that neither of us had ever done as children.
Yes. That was a great experience. A mutual friend of mine had introduced me to Marlon. Because Marlon had told her, "Do you know any real people that own business outside of California? I want to get my son Christian out of L.A., he's hanging out with the wrong people, I'm afraid he's going to get in trouble. He's been with all of the fast Hollywood kids, whose parents are in the industry." And Marlon could see that that wasn't going to work out for the kid. "And I don't want him around here at all until he gets his feet on the ground."
She called me back and said, "Come up to Jack's house at such and such time tomorrow, and you'll meet Marlon." I had been to Jack's house quite a few times with her. Jack was a partier and they used to have some fun parties up there, and we used to hang out. So I knew Jack that way. I went up to the house, and I was sitting on Jack's couch with Helena [Kallianiotes].
After about five minutes, in walked Marlon. This was just a few years after The Godfather. He walks up to me...I was sitting on the couch, and he took a chair right across from me and sat down. He said something like, "I understand you have a fishery in Alaska."
I said, "Okay. That's something I can do for you, Marlon. You can get him the job, but only he can keep the job. Because it's hard work up there, and he's going to be working with a lot of college kids that go up there for the summer to make enough money to support themselves through the year, and everybody is expected to pull their weight. So if he is able and willing to work hard, he can keep the job. If he's not, they're going to send him home. All I can do is hire him, and send him up there, but the foremans are going to make the decision if he stays or not, and that's up to him."
Yeah. So when I would come to L.A. after that, Marlon and I would get together. Marlon was not a Hollywood person at all; he liked to be with real people. He wasn't into hanging out with Hollywood people. So he and I got along good.
He knew I was in town on that particular trip, and he called me at the hotel where I was staying, and invited me out to dinner. I said, "Marlon, I can't. Tonight Passover starts, and I'm going to a Seder."
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