No Failure In America, Whether Of Love

Elvis Transcends His Talent To The Point Of Dispensing With It Altogether.

Along With A Lot Of Other Things, Becoming A Bob Dylan Fan Made Me A Writer. I Was Never Interested In Figuring Out What The Songs Meant. I Was Interested In Figuring Out My Response To Them, And Other People's Responses. I Wanted To Get Closer To The Music Than I Could By Listening To It - I Wanted To Get Inside Of It, Behind It, And Writing About It Through It, Inside Of It, Behind It, Was My Way Of Doing That.

Farber Had A Huge Effect On Me As A Writer. I Don't Mean I Write Like Him. Farber Is, First Of All, A Great Stylist, A Great Writer. Anyone Can Read Manny Farber's Film Criticism, Whether That Person Is A Novelist, A Poet, Another Critic, A Historian, And Learn A Lot About Writing By Reading Him.

Bob Dylan Continues To Release Odd And Unsettling Records, And To Do Odd And Unsettling Things On Stage. So The Term "still" Seems Meaningless To Me. But The Real Answer Is Simple: I Listen To Bob Dylan For Pleasure More Than I Listen To Anyone Else For Pleasure.

I Never Find Myself Even Catching Lyrics Until Something In The Sound Has Taken Me Captive. Thinking About Anything Else Is Just The Pleasurable Byproduct Of Wow.