like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

I am an avid Dylan listener and believer in the power of his delivery and the transformative nature heard in every music generation to follow him. The extent of his influence is seen into even today's most acclaimed artist. That is why the image and discussion of Bob Dylan broached by Ryan this week really led me to think about ownership and the originality of ideas. I have always praised, as did a generation at his emergence, the willfulness of a man to ignore the norm and embrace folk ideas and non-traditional ideologies. The quote Ryan talks about in his blog reminds me that Dylan too was just a product of societal convention and a sponge absorbing his collective experience discharged through his own productions. However one can be aware of this without loosing motivation to create. Living amongst discontent with the government, the fear of the other, and the need for change saturated Dylan's consciousness beyond his control. His admittance of this reminds me of a passage in Barthes on page 142 "The responsibility for a narrative is never assumed by a person but by a mediator, shaman or relator whose "performance" - the mastery of narrative code - may possibly be admired but never his "genius." I think Dylan was willing to denounce being the origin to remain an anchor instead. Even though he can not take responsibility that all his ideas were purely his own it did not stop him from releasing and promoting those ideas. It did not snuff the desire for experience and the ability of the individual to acquire knowledge and liberate them self. "You don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows" a line from Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' inspires me to experience in light of experts and mediators because there is still something of my own to feel and that I can add to this snowballing collective state of being.

-Sam