How did you get into Bob Dylan?

Getting into it.

This is a question I’m often asked in interviews (as a minor celebrity of the online Dylan fandom.) There’s a couple of answers, and I’ll tell either story based on how well I know the person and how much I feel like talking. The first is tied up in where I was at in life: about to graduate college, forced to move back in with my parents, my future taken away, because *drumroll* it was spring 2020. I had been assigned the documentary I Am Not Your Negro for a class. I had actually already been assigned the film at the beginning of my college career, and it launched a deep love of James Baldwin, so I was excited to revisit it. There’s a significant chunk of the film dedicated to young Bobby in the civil rights era, which intrigued me. It being 2020, it felt really apt to learn more about the world in the 1960s. The craziest thing to me was learning that Dylan performed at the March on Washington, and was around to give an interview where he spoke about the murder of George Floyd. So that inclined me towards learning more about him.

The second part of the story that I don’t often tell, that ACTUALLY got me to watch Dont Look Back and embark on this crazy part of my life, was a show called Documentary Now. I’ve been a John Mulaney fan for a long time, and he writes for the show along with Seth Meyers, brilliantly acted by leads Bill Hader and Fred Armisen. The show lovingly parodies classic documentaries with an insane level of love and detail. Each episode opens with a montage of real documentaries. The first one: Subterranean Homesick Blues. Having just learned about Bob in James Baldwin film, and still on my learning journey, I watched Dont Look Back, and fell in love.

The way significant things enter our life is often through unexpected means. The story of it often requires lot of backstory and knowledge of niche interests, which doesn’t always feel worthy of other people’s time. In other cases, the genesis can feel embarrassing or stupid, especially if it feels like it’s something that’s existed for a long time. Like, it would be cool if I had gotten into Bob Dylan because I got to see Rolling Thunder or something.

My favorite film is Donnie Darko. Here’s my story of that, and it’s a little more of a walk. Remember the song “Pompeii” from like, 2013? it goes like “eh, eh, oh, eh oh.” My girlfriend at the time was a huge fan of the band who did that song, Bastille. Subsequently, I got into the band. They released these free mixtapes online called “other people’s heartache” where they covered and mashed up songs, sometimes interspersing movie quotes. I don’t think they’re even available anymore due to rights issues. Dan Smith, the lead singer of that band, is a huge cinephile. One of the songs sampled Donnie Darko, so I watched Donnie Darko…Only to realize he sampled a deleted scene! So now, my favorite film is actually the DIRECTOR’S cut of Donnie Darko.

I have an artist who is very dear to me who I first heard in a youtube video about an anime I watched in middle school. That’s all the details I can give without truly embarrassing myself. But it’s the truth!

Musical theater dominated my life in high school. This is because in eighth grade, my previous obsession was the Jonas Brothers. Nick Jonas was playing Marius in the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables, which was screened in AMCs for maybe one night. Because I was excited to see Nick Jonas sing, I went, and I cried, and it changed my life. But I’ll never forget the old lady next to me who turned to me at intermission and was rude to me about Nick’s singing. “Everyone’s great except… I won’t say who!” she said to me while rolling her eyes. She knew why I was there and still chose to upset me. There was no need for that!

Anyway, I’m hopeful about A Complete Unknown and will embrace the Chalamet stannies. Be kind to them! How you got into the thing you love is inconsequential to the love that comes after.