What is this world coming to???

You're Bob Dylan? NJ police want to see some ID


AP – FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2006 file photo, Bob Dylan performs as the opening act of the Pawtucket Arts …

• Slideshow:Bob Dylan

By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer Wayne Parry, Associated Press Writer – 40 mins ago

Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.

Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.

A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley said Friday.

"I don't think she was familiar with his entire body of work," Woolley said.

The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.

The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued:

"What is your name, sir?" the officer asked.

"Bob Dylan," Dylan said.

"OK, what are you doing here?" the officer asked.

"I'm on tour," the singer replied.

A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said.

The officers asked Dylan for identification. The singer of such classics as "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Blowin' in the Wind" said that he didn't have any ID with him, that he was just walking around looking at houses to pass some time before that night's show.

The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.


The officers thanked him for his cooperation.


"He couldn't have been any nicer to them," Woolley added.


How did it feel? A Dylan publicist did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Friday.

 

I'd warrant that it was relative bliss to one such as Dylan, who is no doubt inundated with fawning admirers more often than he would wish.

 

I think it was just the age difference between him and the officers, not a big deal.

 

If no harm came, he didnt get arrested or anything, who cares?

 

I'm stunned that anyone in the US wouldn't know who Bob Dylan was but then maybe that my own age difference.

The one thing that I liked though was he doesn't carry ID. Its like he knows who he is even if other people don't.

Now what pisses me off is since when is it against the law to walk around?

 

I was stunned, too, that they didn't know who he was. I mean really!!!

He'll probably write a song about the experience.

 

"The Times They Are Achangin":excited::excited::excited:

 

Mama, take this badge off of me
I can't use it anymore.
It's gettin' dark, too dark to see
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door.

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore.
That long black cloud is comin' down
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door.

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door

 

Oh mama, could this really be the end. To be stuck in New Jersey with the Memphis Blues again.

 

I knew I was old when the cops started looking like kids...the officer was a mere 24yrs old...lol

 

No big deal, most states have vagrancy laws and ID is required when in public and the police ask for it. They also responded to a call, they just didn't pull up on him and begin the hassle. If he looks as bad as his voice is these days there are older folk who wouldn't recognize him either.

 

What's the excotement about

Apart from the fact that many people, like myself, would be hard put to identify Bob Dylan, there is the fact that many Dylan admirers and impersonators wear their hair like his and dress like him.
Last year there were two men who posed as Pittsburgh Steelers in order to attract women and get sex. One of the was, I believe, of a different race than the Steeler he posed as.

 

Different race...too good. Guess he was hoping for a "real" dumb blonde.