“Bringing It All Back Home” Bob Dylan Cover photo by Daniel Kramer.

I went to Bard College and spent a semester living in a mansion-turned-dorm called Ward Manor. It was campus legend that Dylan had spent time hanging around Bard in the sixties and I was told this cover photo was taken at Ward Manor (but I think I read recently that it was actually shot at his manager Albert Grossman’s home. The woman on the cover is Grossman’s wife). Other rumors floating around Bard years after the facts were that the lines “Must bust in early May/Orders from the DA” in his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues” refered to the annual Bard drug raids by local cops. And that in the same song, the couplet “The pump don’t work/Cause the vandals stole the handles” refers to an incident at Bard. There was an old water pump just off campus, and true or not, it was somewhat magical. Steely Dan formed at Bard and so did the Beastie Boys (but those are stories for another post).

My friend Fred wrote in his blog about the recent passing of Bob Altshuler who was the head of publicity at Columbia  for many years (and who could probably clear up many of the Dylan rumors we all cling to).  For Fred’s personal remembrance check out www.frederatorblogs.com

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