Police officers in Long Branch, New Jersey were called to a scene where an older, disheveled man was acting mysteriously; walking down a street looking into old houses. A 24-year old officer stopped the man at the scene to find out who he was and what business he had in the neighborhood.
Apparently, all went well from there. The man produced his I.D., explained that he was taking a break from work and was simply checking out the old neighborhood. The matter was settled and everyone went their separate ways.
And now the rest of the story:
The man was no other than Bob Dylan! He has been on tour, and was set to play in Lakewood, N.J. that evening. The fact that the responding officer was so young, failed him in recognizing the aging music man, even after he saw his name.
If you ask me, Dylan wasted an outstanding opportunity.
All he had to do was "get big" with that young cop. You know, resist a little. Remind the pushy cop about who he was! Call him some names. Maybe protest that he was being pushed around simply because he was older. Wasn't he a big part of that early counter-culture movement that tried to fight "the man", the "pigs", the "fuzz", anyway?
Dylan's career hasn't exactly been on fire lately. He could have used some publicity.
Maybe best of all, some high-profile person would have accused that cop of acting stupidly. And then maybe invited Dylan and the bigoted cop over to share a beer together.
I think this could have been a teachable moment. Some elitist using this event as a stage to demonstrate that old and young can sit down together over a beer and learn to respect one another. That rap and folk-rock can indeed coexist.
There's only one man who could have pulled it off. Only one man with the vision and the gift to bring people of so vastly different backgrounds together in a simple act of enjoying a beer together.
Yeah. I think you blew it Bob.
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