Into the cosmos, again, with Dylan

I was overwhelmed with Ann Powers’ piece for myriad reasons, but mostly for the very notion of the film, not yet seen by me, and the idea of connecting all those millions of dots. It takes me back to the day.

Sometime last year, after seeing a rerun of the Martin Scorsese Dylan film on PBS, I brought out my Dylan albums (I still have the LPs) to play for my daughter, who is 42. Although my daughter thinks of me mostly as a Beatles/Lennon person (I went to all the California concerts -- pregnant and barefoot for the last one in San Francisco), we’ve never really sat and listened to Dylan together.

I found myself in tears when I listened to “Highway 61 Revisited.” Just hearing those lyrics on that album so moved me that I remembered why I rarely listen to it anymore; it’s like a dream of long ago.

Those images -- “Lost in the rain in Juarez” or “[Einstein] playing the electric violin” -- were so potent to me as a young mother in her 20s that today as a grandma who just turned 70 it immediately takes me back to another time, which of course is the purpose of all important art.

Once, my then-husband and I and friends were at the Trip on Sunset Boulevard to see the Grass Roots and we heard Dylan was in the room. My friend and I casually sussed him out in a booth at the back of the room where he was talking to a long-haired hippy guy. We stood transfixed behind the booth as he proceeded to quiz his new “find” on all things philosophic and my friend and I were positive we were in the presence of something really important and cosmic.

These are my memories and sometimes, when I read introspective pieces like the one Ann Powers wrote, I’m moved to remember.

Sandra Kreiswirth

Hermosa Beach