If you go by the review in Salon magazine, then Suze Rotolo’s forthcoming memoir of her life with Bob Dylan in early 1960’s New York ( “A Freewheelin’ Time” ) is more affectionate and well-intentioned than the promotional teasers might have conveyed.

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Thanks to Fred for the link to this Power Line post, which includes a YouTube video performance of Stuck with Jeremiah in the Pastor’s Pews again, or, if you prefer, Obama, Can This Really Be Your Friend? That is, it’s a commentary on Senator Barack Obama and his spiritual mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, by means of a song parody of Dylan’s Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. It’s funny, although I don’t know if I would have tried to make it equally as long as Dylan’s original (!)

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Thanks to Anthony for his e-mail:

As a lifelong Orthodox Christian (my family converted to Orthodoxy when I was about 1), I appreciate the Happy Easter wishes on the website. Seeing your recognition of us Orthodox, I was reminded of the prominent Dylan connection to Orthodoxy. In “Thunder on the Mountain,” as I’m sure you know, one of the lines goes “I’ve been to St. Herman’s Church, I’ve said my religious vows.” What’s interesting is that a quick google search of “St. Herman” or “St. Herman’s Church” will show that there are no Catholic or Protestant churches (presumably in the whole world) that are named “St. Herman’s,” they are all Orthodox. Also, there’s not even really a respectable St. Herman in the West to name a church after anyway (there are a couple of obscure ones from the 11th and 12th centuries but no one anyone’s ever really heard of). However, the aforementioned google search brings up reams of pages related to St. Herman of Alaska, a very popular Orthodox saint in America, considered the patron saint of the Americas by Orthodox.

Just as you would not claim Dylan is a registered Republican, I would certainly not claim that he is a chrismated Orthodox Christian (though I do believe he is a believing Christian of some sort). However, it’d be hard to write a line like that (unless he just picked a random name that he liked, which isn’t out of the question with Dylan) without having some conscious knowledge of the Orthodox Church and it’s most prominent American saint.

Just thought I’d point out an interesting connection, keep up the good work!

And there’s one St. Herman’s church at this link.

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