Where It All Began

Back in 2006 when I first began work on Everything Is an Afterthought, I began blogging about the project at LiveJournal. All that material, years' worth, is still there if you'd like to check it out: kevin-avery.livejournal.com.

What's there? My review of Neil Strauss's Everyone Loves You When You're Dead, pieces about Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, Lou Reed and Andy Zwerling, Michael Seidenberg and Jonathan Lethem, Mike Seeger, David Forman, Bob Dylan (of course), Paul Nelson's White House Connection, Rod Stewart, my obituary of David Gahr, and at least one piece about  the New York Dolls. And much, much more.

Artist/Thief

Writing about "Dylan's Latest Brush with Plagiarism" in this article from the Boston Examiner, William Routhier opens with the legendary story about the young singer-songwriter swiping Paul Nelson and Jon Pankake's choice folk records.

Pop Culture Vultures

This Malaysian review of Neil Strauss's Everyone Loves You When You're Dead ties the book's significance and sincerity to--you guessed it--Paul Nelson:

Whatever doubts one has in the author’s motives for the book is dispelled by his piece on a predecessor: former Rolling Stone record reviews editor Paul Nelson (1936–2006). Strauss admits that it was hard to pen, and not just because of his respect for the late Nelson and the people who would read it. “Every word brought me closer to my own cautionary tale – or that of any writer, creative person, or dedicated follower of art, entertainment, or culture. Because it makes you ask: In the end, is it worth it?”

Probably not for Nelson. The man who’d done so much for the likes of Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart died alone and broke. A pair of baby shoes that belonged to Nelson’s son, found hanging near his bed, still haunts Strauss: “... because as someone who’s sacrificed personal relationships for the pursuit of culture and career, I know what (those shoes) symbolize: the regret of someone who has spent his entire life with his priorities wrong.” I could say the same about many of today’s pop culture vultures.

It's totally wrongheaded to compare Paul (who, as an aside, was not broke when he passed away) to "many of today's pop culture vultures." He never wrote about something simply because it was popular; it had to have some meaning--or some significant lack of meaning--for him to subject himself to the often painful process required to write about it.

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Redux

As a follow-up to my earlier post about this film (which Paul thought was "wrongly underrated"), this is what he had written vertically across the first page of his notes:

KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR/FINAL THEME

The most mythic music I know:

music for marriage and funerals

PN Quoted in UK's Daily Record

"In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History Of Rock & Roll, Paul Nelson wrote: 'In the mid-60s, Dylan's talent evoked such an intense degree of personal participation from admirers and detractors that he could not be permitted so much as a random action.

"'The world used to follow him around, just waiting for him to drop a cigarette butt. When he did, they'd sift through the remains, looking for significance. The scary part is they'd find it - and it really would be significant.'"

Click here to read the entire article.

Paul's entire piece appears in Everything Is an Afterthought, being published this November.

Happy Birthday, Bob

What better way to celebrate Bob Dylan's seventieth birthday than to go back and read three of Paul Nelson's writings about his old pal's work? Simply click on the title beneath each album cover to access the reviews.

Nashville Skyline, 1969

"That smiling face on the cover tells all—and isn't it wonderful?"

The Basement Tapes, 1975
Paul's review basically served as a rough draft for his classic 

6,400-word essay "Bob Dylan," which appears in 
Everything Is an Afterthought.

Shot of Love, 1981

"To know him is to love him, as they say, 
and it's pretty difficult to do either these days."

Cap off your Bob Dylan-Paul Nelson  experience with this great little ditty that Loudon Wainwright III performed on NPR twenty years ago today—on the occasion of Dylan's fiftieth birthday.

"Talking New Bob Dylan"