RUSH: Something happened over the weekend that I think is a fascinating thing, because I watched a little TV over the weekend. Not a whole lot, but I saw all of the Drive-By Media going back to Woodstock, they had their reporters there reliving Woodstock, ‘Oh, it’s so important, such a major cultural shift in our society. It happened 40 years ago and its effects are still being felt today.’ But I’ve got a couple stories here, maybe three stories that all in one indicate what BS this is. The Woodstock generation media types are making the 40th anniversary of Woodstock out to be something that it is not. They’re blathering over its influence on today’s society. Even as they were doing this, we have a real-life reality check. Bob Dylan is of that generation. Have you heard of Bob Dylan, Brian? Do you know, Dawn? Wait, you think I’m trying to be funny. You know who Bob Dylan is? You think everybody’s heard of Bob Dylan, right? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Bob Dylan did not go to Woodstock. He couldn’t get there because his son was sick. But still, he is of that generation. He is of the Woodstock generation.
He was on a concert tour in New Jersey and he went out for a walk. Where he walked and what he wore sent warning flags to the neighborhood. The neighborhood where Bob Dylan was taking a stroll called the fuzz. For those of you in Rio Linda — well, you know it. That’s sixties lingo for the cops. They called the pigs. So the pigs, the fuzz, showed up after the neighborhood called and said some weird guy is running around, kinda threatening with the way he’s walking and the way he’s dressed. So the cops show up and they asked him his name. He said, ‘I’m Bob Dylan,’ and they had no idea who Bob Dylan was. Here we are the weekend where we are marking the important 40th anniversary of Woodstock and how important a cultural shift it was and how its effects reverberate today, the fuzz, the local New Jersey fuzz had no idea who Bob Dylan was. So they drove him to his alleged hotel — he told him he’s staying at a hotel — they drove him to his alleged hotel to check his story.
So here we have the post-Woodstock generation not recognizing a Woodstock icon. Now, the situation was resolved uneventfully, the peace officers and Bob Dylan going their own way. There were no problems, not like Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant Crowley. You contrast that with what I call the Boston massacre, the insult that rocked the nation, the Professor Gates affair. The police didn’t recognize a professorial professor, and they reacted when he got confrontational. They said, ‘Wait a minute, we’re going to arrest you, dude. You’re being contentious here with no reason.’ Now, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that Bob Dylan, the name, is a zillion times more known that Henry Louis Gates, and so is Dylan’s face, and so is his voice. Now, the learning experience here is that a rock composer and singer 40 years back can teach civil behavior better than a tenured college professor. Somebody from the Woodstock generation who hated the fuzz, the cops, he cooperated and they resolved the situation peacefully.
There’s going to be no need for Bob Dylan and the cop to go to White House to smoke a joint, which is what they did at Woodstock and more, or have a beer or an adult beverage or whatever. I mean, Bob Dylan, he’s a famous singer who can’t really sing. That was the amazing to me about Bob Dylan, he can’t sing, but so many of these sixties icons couldn’t sing but it didn’t matter because everybody was so stoned and blown away they thought everybody could sing. So the attempt here, the State-Controlled Media of the Woodstock age are trying to tell us how important that era was and that it still has effects today and yet the local fuzz in New Jersey had never heard of Bob Dylan. I don’t know what he looked like, but it’s kind of interesting that he could be walking around a neighborhood in New Jersey on a concert tour and the local nabe is feeling threatened by it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Everybody asked, ‘What did Dylan do, Rush? What did Dylan do to have the neighborhood in New Jersey call the cops?’ I didn’t want to have to mention this but I’ll mention this. Bob Dylan, say white Jewish guy, his real name is Zimmerman. By the way, Dylan is a social conservative, he believes in hard work, and he’s worked very hard his whole life. He was in a black neighborhood. He was walking around and he got profiled. He got profiled, and that’s why they called the fuzz. It’s real simple. By the way, the Woodstock reunion at Max Yasgur’s farm has been postponed. Such a huge event. You talk about a town hall meeting that got out of control? That’s (laughing) Woodstock.