POSITIVELY MAIN STREET

by Toby Thompson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 1971

In hot pursuit of culture heroes, Toby Thompson undertakes a pilgrimage to Hibbing, Minnesota, home town of Bob Dylan, ne Zimmerman. The attempt to demythologize the demigod is pressed to the point of monomania with the author interviewing Bobby's baby-sitter, high school English teacher, a couple of uncles, a wise-guy kid brother and -- ah, wondrous joy -- Echo, the mysterious ""Girl From the North Country."" Visits to the Zimmermans' ancestral mansion provide contact with sacred artifacts. (""Bob Dylan's ice skates?"") The townspeople remember Bobby Zimmerman as a quiet, wellmannered kid who kept to himself a lot. His records don't sell very well in Hibbing. Hibbing is square. Not so Thompson, a kind of panting male groupie writing ""hi-octane prose."" The holy grail is never attained (Bob's mother does finally consent to an interview), Dylan remains as mysterious as ever, Thompson has nothing to tell us about his music but he has been on some trip. Parts of the book appeared as a series of articles in The Village Voice.

Pub Date: March 19, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION