Seth Rogovoy reading from his new Bob Dylan Book!

Come to The Bookloft and marvel as Seth reads from and signs his new book, Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet. 

You will never hear Bob Dylan the same way again. For the first time in a full-length book, BOB DYLAN: Prophet, Mystic, Poet exposes the deep and profound Jewish context and roots of the artist’s life and songs.  From his childhood as the son of parents who were central figures in the Jewish community of the small mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, through his career as a songwriter and performer drawing heavily on the Bible, Kabbalah, and the Jewish prophetic tradition for his imagery, subject matter, and narrative approach, to his lifelong devotion to Israel and Orthodox Judaism, Bob Dylan has always kept his connection to Judaism close at hand.

From his earliest novelty number, “Talkin’ Hava Negilah Blues,” through the central imagery of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” borrowed wholesale from the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, to the midrashic retelling of the binding of Isaac in “Highway 61 Revisited,” from the Hebraic cantillation of “One More Cup of Coffee” through the strong, personal identification with Jewish nationhood in “Neighborhood Bully” to the mystical themes informing “Everything Is Broken,” Bob Dylan has always been a poet engaged with Jewish themes and scripture.

BOB DYLAN: Prophet, Mystic, Poet digs deep into “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” and discovers a retelling of the sexy story of King David. “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” takes its title from the mystical translation of the name of the Lord and its metaphors from the book of Daniel. The album New Morning is revealed to be a restatement in poetry song of the daily traditional Jewish liturgy, while Dylan’s acceptance speech for his Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was a paraphrase of psalm 27, recited daily during the period of repentance surrounding the Days of Awe, the holiest time of the Jewish year.

Upon close examination, even the songs on Bob Dylan’s so-called born-again albums are revealed to be told from the point of view of one committed to the original covenant between God and the Jewish people.

It’s no wonder that Rabbi Alan Berg, a lifelong student of Bob Dylan who has sermonized about Dylan as a Jewish prophet for years from pulpits across the nation, says that BOB DYLAN: Prophet, Mystic, Poet “stands with Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed and Greil Marcus’s Shape of Things to Come … in the clarity of the author’s vision.”

SETH ROGOVOY is a writer, award-winning critic, book author, lecturer, teacher, musician, and radio commentator.

Seth is editor-in-chief of BERKSHIRE LIVING, an award-winning regional lifestyle and culture magazine serving the greater Berkshire region of western Massachusetts, southwestern Vermont, eastern New York, and northwestern Connecticut. He is also editor-in-chief of Berkshire Living’s spinoff publications, including BBQ: Berkshire Business Quarterly and Berkshire Living Home+Garden.

Seth frequently writes about Jewish music and culture for publications including FORWARD, HADASSAH Magazine, and the BERKSHIRE JEWISH VOICE.

Seth is the author of THE ESSENTIAL KLEZMER: A Music Lover’s Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music (Algonquin Books, 2000), the all-time bestselling guide to klezmer music. Since his book was published, Seth has continued to write, teach, and lecture extensively about klezmer. His live, one-man, multimedia program about klezmer, ROCKIN’ THE SHTETL, has been presented at universities, JCCs, museums, cultural centers, and synagogues across the U.S. and in England.

For nearly twenty years, Seth was a rock and jazz critic, primarily for the BERKSHIRE EAGLE, and also for dozens of other newspapers and magazines.

Seth’s cultural journalism has appeared in newspapers and magazines including NEWSDAY, the BOSTON PHOENIX, HAARETZ, the WOODSTOCK (N.Y.) TIMES, the BENNINGTON (Vt.) BANNER, EDUTOPIA, GASTRONOMICA, MOMENT, LEAK CD magazine, AUDITION, the BLACK AND WHITE CITY PAPER of Birmingham, Ala., and others.

Seth has taught a variety of college-level and adult-ed courses on klezmer, Jewish music, and Bob Dylan, about whom he has written extensively.

Seth is also a singer-guitarist and leader of several bands, including the Rolling Rogovoy Revue and Seth Rogovoy and the Grove Street Band. He frequently performs at Bob Dylan tribute concerts throughout the Northeast United States. A graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., where he has taught courses on Dylan and klezmer, Seth lives in Great Barrington, Mass.

Seth’s weekly cultural commentary can be heard on WAMC NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO NETWORK (www.wamc.org) on Fridays between 12:30 and 1 p.m., and he is the official film blogger for the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington.

Seth served two terms as a member of the Board of Selectmen in Pownal, Vt., and is a past president of a food co-op and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Williamstown, Mass. Seth was the founder and lay leader of the South Berkshire Minyan, a traditional Jewish prayer group, based at a shtibl in Great Barrington, Mass., from 2003 to 2006.

Limited availability of Signed Copies.