Althouse: "By the middle of the evening, I was flying, absolutely out of my mind, when a scruffy-looking guy I didn’t recognize wandered into the party. Who the hell was he?"

October 22, 2019

"By the middle of the evening, I was flying, absolutely out of my mind, when a scruffy-looking guy I didn’t recognize wandered into the party. Who the hell was he?"

"It must be one of the staff, a gardener. I loudly demanded to know what the gardener was doing helping himself to a drink. There was a moment’s shocked silence, broken by the sound of Bob Halley’s voice: 'Elton, that’s not the fucking gardener. It’s Bob Dylan.'"

From Elton John's autobiography, "Me."

50 comments:

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Didn't Bob get picked up in New Jersey because they thought he was homeless.; 10/22/19, 3:47 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Before or after the charades incident?; 10/22/19, 3:53 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I remember a guy saying Elton showed up at Sturgis and they booed him.; 10/22/19, 3:54 PM
Dave Begley said...: Ann:

As you know, Dylan will be in Milwaukee on Oct 26. I wouldn't be surprised if he swung by Madison and dropped in on his biggest fan.; 10/22/19, 4:03 PM
Dave Begley said...: From the Lincoln newspaper,

"After two songs at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday, Bob Dylan put down his guitar, walked over to an upright piano, pulled up the microphone and began pounding away and singing “Highway 61 Revisited.”

As he and his five-piece band cranked out a rock ‘n' roll take on the 54-year-old classic, I thought "This is going to be good" and, indeed, it was — the best Dylan show I’ve seen in at least a decade, maybe longer."; 10/22/19, 4:05 PM
rehajm said...: Meh. He was hiiiiiiiiiiiyiyeye as a kite by then...; 10/22/19, 4:06 PM
Dave Begley said...: I love this!

"Of course, the songs were reimagined from the recorded version — that’s been Dylan’s live style for decades. They weren’t singalongs — my theory is that eliminating that possibility and making the audience concentrate on the music and lyrics is a large part of why he puts a fresh spin on the songs live."

When I go to a concert, I want to hear the artist sing. Not some drunk from Wahoo, Nebraska.; 10/22/19, 4:08 PM
madAsHell said...: I saw the movie Rocket Man on the airplane. I'm looking forward to reading the book.

I think "Yellow Brick Road" was released in 1975. It was fairly apparent that he was manic, and tormented.....I mean, look at that album cover. He stopped dismissing the homosexual rumors. This was about the time I stopped reading Tiger Beat, and switched to Rolling Stone for my inside music news.; 10/22/19, 4:17 PM
Fernandinande said...: I remember a guy saying Elton showed up at Sturgis and they booed him.

Did he get drowned out by a bunch of muffler-free junior psychopaths?; 10/22/19, 4:24 PM
Retail Lawyer said...: Demeaning to gardeners.; 10/22/19, 4:25 PM
Tomcc said...: Amusing. It suggests that Reg has (had) attained sufficient social status to not mingle with "fucking gardners". That, my friends, is success!; 10/22/19, 4:51 PM
tommyesq said...: What an arrogant jackass.; 10/22/19, 4:56 PM
Narayanan said...: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/elton-john-spent-pound40m-in-20-months-622287.html
_______
Commenter on Zuckerberg billionaire thread wondered about spending more than 6 Million a year!; 10/22/19, 5:02 PM
Dude1394 said...: Elton sounds like a prick.; 10/22/19, 5:03 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Elton never saw a hippie before that? He didn’t know that every rock musician who didn’t dress like a transgender astronaut (just Elton and Bowie, AFAIK) dressed like a hobo, or at least a glam gardener?; 10/22/19, 5:08 PM
Nichevo said...: So I'm thinking it's Elton John Proves He Is A Piece Of Shit Out Of His Own Mouth Week at Althouse. What do we have to look forward to tomorrow?; 10/22/19, 5:13 PM
Fandor said...: Even at a cocktail party, trust, but verify.; 10/22/19, 5:14 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ I saw the movie Rocket Man on the airplane. I'm looking forward to reading the book.”

The actor from the movie reads the audiobook.

Does a great job.

My favorite thing is when he does the accents of royalty (Princess Margaret, Prince Philip, and the Queen Mother).; 10/22/19, 5:29 PM
Ann Althouse said...: He agrees that he was an arrogant jackass at this point. He’s extremely critical of himself about substance abuse.; 10/22/19, 5:30 PM
jaydub said...: Elton knew it was Dylan when he started to sing, because couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.; 10/22/19, 5:50 PM
wild chicken said...: Wasn't there another megastar autobio called Me a couple year ago? Great title.; 10/22/19, 5:50 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: ...the mystery tramp, but now you realize...; 10/22/19, 5:50 PM
Howard said...: I thought it was going to be Carlos Santana instead of Bob; 10/22/19, 5:57 PM
h said...: Thanks to Althouse for putting this in perspective because this is the second posting (the other being about Brian Wilson of the beach boys) in which Elton John's biography paints him in a bad light. If his point is "even a famous person like me behaves badly when under the influence" I can accept that.; 10/22/19, 6:02 PM
Pugsley the Pug said...: Don’t know if Elton got booed at Sturgis, but he did get booed at the Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversay Celebration on Aug. 31, 2003. The biker crowd was hoping that the surprise rock musician was going to be Bruce Springsteen; instead they got Elton. Harley apparently didn’t know their audience as well as they thought...; 10/22/19, 6:03 PM
bagoh20 said...: I would have then asked, OK, Bob whoever, can you make me drink before you cut the grass?; 10/22/19, 6:05 PM
Big Mike said...: “Scruffy gardener” is a look Dylan deliberately cultivated.; 10/22/19, 6:30 PM
Paul Doty said...: Because stuck-up, chubby little fags are eminently qualified to pass judgement on someone's worth simply by looking at them.; 10/22/19, 6:32 PM
glacial erratic said...: I don't think I care what degenerates do when they get high. Or are we supposed to think that his skill in one area compensates for his other failings? If so, tell that to the Confederate generals whose statues have been puled down.; 10/22/19, 6:35 PM
Fandor said...: I think all "celebrity"bios and autobios are tedious, to be kind.
Their lives are just uninteresting.
Imagine someone writing your life story. How interesting would that be?
What is interesting is their God given talent and how it was promoted, above and beyond others, who were equally talented, but not as fortunate to have the mentors or promoters they had to lift them up.
One of the best musical bios I ever read was by Will Friedwald.
It is called "THE SONG IS YOU".; 10/22/19, 6:39 PM
Fandor said...: You know, I loved Bob Dylan's DJ gig on THEME TIME RADIO. Each broadcast was a priceless gem of music, known and forgotten.
Bob knows his music. All kinds.
His taste is impeccable.
Ann, I'm sure you must have heard some, if not all of the programs.; 10/22/19, 6:46 PM
BJM said...: Tell me it isn't true.; 10/22/19, 7:04 PM
Jack Klompus said...: I think all "celebrity" bios and autobios are tedious, to be kind.

Life by Keith Richards is one of the most entertaining books period. The Andy Warhol Diaries are really great, too.; 10/22/19, 7:22 PM
Ralph L said...: At least he didn't mistake him for a singer.; 10/22/19, 8:10 PM
Ralph L said...: He’s extremely critical of himself about substance abuse.

In coca veritas.; 10/22/19, 8:17 PM
traditionalguy said...: Bob ain't gonna work on Elton's farm no more.; 10/22/19, 8:25 PM
Mark said...: Every excerpt you have posted repeatedly shows Elton John to be an obnoxious ass. Why would he confess such things about himself?; 10/22/19, 8:32 PM
Iman said...: “ He agrees that he was an arrogant jackass at this point. He’s extremely critical of himself about substance abuse.”

Cocaine is a helluva drug.; 10/22/19, 9:28 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Every excerpt you have posted repeatedly shows Elton John to be an obnoxious ass. Why would he confess such things about himself?

I saw him in the second "Kingsman" movie. He's not a great actor, but he was a good sport, playing himself in a not at all flattering way. I think he got over himself.; 10/22/19, 10:43 PM
chickelit said...: Howard said...I thought it was going to be Carlos Santana instead of Bob

That's twisted Cali humor.; 10/22/19, 10:56 PM
Ken B said...: Left Bank nails this in the second comment. Made up humblebrag.

Unlike Ann, I avoid learning too much about artists I admire. I learned a lot about Dashiell Hammett and Lilian Hellman in high school. That cured me!

Mark asks, why stories that show him being an ass. The answer is, character arc. At this point he’s on drugs. By the end we will see he kicked drugs due to [insert trendy issue here] and emerges as just a swell guy/gal.; 10/22/19, 11:09 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Ann, I'm sure you must have heard some, if not all of the programs."

Yes. I blogged about it a lot when it was on. I used to go out for a drive so I could listen to it on the satellite radio.

You can play all the episodes on line — begin here.; 10/23/19, 6:08 AM
Rosa Marie Yoder said...: Sorry, Dave Begley, but Dylan's Biggest Fan passed away nearly 2 years ago. My ex-husband. Even during Dylan's god-awful years, Ex bought all the albums, went to all the concerts and completely denied that there had been any decline. I think he was in love.; 10/23/19, 6:10 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Every excerpt you have posted repeatedly shows Elton John to be an obnoxious ass. Why would he confess such things about himself?"

Why do people who've reformed write confessions about their bad behavior? It is the great tradition of autobiographies, beginning with, at least, St. Augustine.

As long as we've got a Dylan-themed thread...

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive as you or me
Tearing through these quarters
In the utmost misery
With a blanket underneath his arm
And a coat of solid gold
Searching for the very souls
Whom already have been sold; 10/23/19, 6:12 AM
Ann Althouse said...: (That "whom" has been bothering me for half a century!); 10/23/19, 6:13 AM
Fandor said...: Ann, thank you for the link.; 10/23/19, 6:58 AM
Smerdyakov said...: He's English. In England, even the hipsters are are acutely conscious of class distinctions.; 10/23/19, 7:16 AM
Jaq said...: Nothing is more fascinating to me than people who know a lot less than they think they do running down Dylan as an artist in a comment thread. I put them in the same basket of deplorables as people who claim that Jerry Garcia was a great guitarist. [I kid... I kid.. (sort of)]; 10/23/19, 10:42 AM
Jaq said...: "my theory is that eliminating that possibility and making the audience concentrate on the music and lyrics is a large part of why he puts a fresh spin on the songs live.”

“Nobody shouted out to Van Gogh from a crowd ‘Paint Starry Night again!’” - Joni Mitchell; 10/23/19, 10:43 AM
RonF said...: I watched both the Elton John movie and the Freddy Mercury movie and I was struck by a difference. Both were about egotistical gay guys with tremendous talent. But in the Freddy Mercury movie we got to know something about the rest of the band members. In fact, a lot of the movie centered on how his relationship to the rest of the band members went through multiple changes, and how Freddy became aware of the effect that his bandmates made on the music and eventually came to embrace it and them.

In the Elton John movie the rest of his band was consistently treated as the hired help. I believe that we only heard one of their names, and that only one time. At no point did we see any exposition of his relationship with the rest of the band and no self-awareness on his part of how what he did affected them. There was some exposition of his relationship with Bernie Taupin and with his parents, but nothing about the people he spent 1000's of hours on stage and in rehearsal with making brilliant music.; 10/24/19, 9:00 AM