Abraham Lincoln grew his beard - the first worn by an American.
president - between his election and his swearing-in. Things Have .
Changed, I believe the message was. Similarly, Bob Dylan grew that.
funny little Clark Gable mustache before being awarded his Oscar but.
some time since the last time you'd had a good look at his face up.
close. Only, when was it that you'd had a good look at his face up.
close? And were you really having one during the Oscars, at that.
triple remove, peering through your television to watch a crowd of.
movie stars watching Dylan beamed in like an astronaut from the.
outback? And yet, for the yearning seemingly beamed back at him by.
those movie stars - certainly for the yearning and love beamed back at.
him through screens and across time zones from the room where I sat.
watching - he was in that moment more present in absence than anyone.
else in the world.
.
That face, it was so damn real, I wondered if I'd ever seen Bob Dylan.
before in my life. Who's ever been so universal and spectral, and at.
once, so sweetly homely and strange as Bob Dylan in 2001? And when was.
it he drifted into that unassailable, holy-humble twilight.
stratosphere he now occupies? Somewhere in 1997, probably, when the.
eerie grace of Time Out of Mind persuaded listeners to relinquish.
can-it-be-as-good-as-I-hope defenses and realize it was better than.
they'd dared hope. The record achieved its own "I'm here/I'm not".
sleight-of-hand, being great in cumulative impact rather than for any.
particular song. Dylan hid in plain sight in lyrics cobbled from blues.
sources and his own catalog but capped the album with "Highlands," a.
laid-back dirge that felt like the unedited Bob's diary he'd never.
actually delivered before, despite all rumors. .
.
Add his metaphoric brush with death - "Bob Dylan Heart Mystery" was.
the unforgettable New York Post headline - plus the realization that.