Unmasked and no longer anonymous in New York city

Nancy Cobb found her Union Sundown as she waited for Bob

Union Sundown

I came into the city (the one and only New York City) early for Dylan’s first concert at my beloved Beacon and headed to the venue to take my obligatory photo of the marquee.

The first thing that I noticed was that the Beacon Bar was dark. What happened? I asked at the hotel reception and was told that the bar was “permanently closed.” I asked what he meant by that, and he said “until at least 2025.”

I thought that this was crazy because this bar must be a favorite hangout for concertgoers other than just the Dylan fans. When bars could reopen after COVID-19 rules in March, the Beacon management decided to keep the bar closed rather than keep the current employees who are unionized or pay them a higher severance in lieu of being rehired. 

As Woody Allen obviously knows, reputations can change in a hurry.  Another thing about the Beacon is they have a very lax policy about mask wearing and vaccination.  They only require masks for unvaccinated people!  Now how does that work?  If anyone associated with Bob Dylan came down with covid and it was traced to the Beacon run that theatre would have a very hard time. 

But I also think that it is possible for an entity or person to work and be successful at changing a reputation for the better and I will offer two examples: New York City as a tourist destination for the ordinary person, and United Airlines.

First, about New York City, a UK friend who is very well traveled and a Dylanophile proclaimed on Facebook that New Yorkers were “the most polite people in the world!”   I said that he must be kidding, but he was serious.

He told me that in New York everyone says please, excuse me, thank you and you’re welcome. Young people stand to let older folks sit on buses and subways, and people are always ready to help when you are lost, disoriented, or need help with the subway.

From what I have learned the city has paid for people who have tested positive to quarantine in nice hotels and free rapid COVID-19 lateral flow tests are available practically every two blocks all over the five boroughs. Also the outdoor dining options are pretty, comfortable, and some are even elegant. This beats California (where I am from) by a long mile.

As for United, for a long time I thought they were the worst airline in the world or maybe second to American. But now after United Airlines mandated covid vaccination and mask wearing, I have noticed the flight attendants are much more cheerful, the wait times in the airport shorter and there are texts about boarding times and connecting gates that are helpful. Even the food choices are improving! 

Now for the first Bob Dylan show. For me it was mortal bliss.

The songs sung so you hear every word clearly, the mix between vocals and the various instruments was perfect and maybe the secret is everyone is not playing at once, but rather mini duets and trios and call and response like a jazz combo.  I loved his new style of piano playing … sometimes jingle jangle and other times a flowing wild mercury sound and even different riffs each night on the same song.

I hear in addition to Scott Joplin, some Thelonius Monk and Alan Pasqua in the piano mix. Every Grain of Sand gets more glorious with each performance and that was my favorite of the Friday evening songs. BUT I also want to say that Dylan’s Melancholy Mood both the vocals AND THE BAND beats any Sinatra recording!

In fact the songs from Shadow Kingdom are better now in live performance with a (real) audience as are the Rough and Rowdy Ways songs much better than the record, and Every Grain of Sand now outstrips all previous recorded versions.

As an aside, people who have been to Key West seem to have a different opinion of that song than those who think it must be some kind of Shangri-la hearing it from Bob. When Martin Newman (the author of EDLIS Café Press book Bob Dylan’s Malibu) first heard Key West he thought it was a tribute to Bob’s friend, Jimmy Buffett.  I think Bob is actually talking about his home and environment in Malibu, where he has spent more than half his life.  His large property is surrounded by as impenetrable a mass of tropical jungle as you can possibly have in Southern California … and of course,  Bob would rather have people visiting Key West than Malibu.

Masked and Unmasked 

2021-11-19 

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