I have to set the record straight.
Jacob Maymudes has ripped me off in his recent book ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN.
If
you are looking for a real good biography about Bob Dylan read Robert
Shelton's bio of Bob titled NO DIRECTION HOME. Bob liked it. So will
you. It covers Bob's childhood in Hibbing, Minnesota like no other book
could. Shelton worked closely on the book with Bob Dylan and got his approval.
I had hopes for Jacob's book because I met Victor Maymudes and
Bob Dylan at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1964. I had waited 50
years for Victor to write his book. This is not it. This is something
his son cobbled together.
In 2013 when I learned Jacob was working on his book I emailed him and
told him he could use my material that I had given to Robert Shelton(via
my brother in NYC) and that material is in the book NO DIRECTION HOME. It was published in 1986. I also sent him a link to my blog: Blogspot.com Tally Ho! Search: Mardi Gras
1964 Bob Dylan
Robert Shelton used my material and gave me full
credit. You can read it for yourself in the section on Mardi Gras 1964
in New Orleans in his book NO DIRECTION HOME. I first wrote my memories
of that Mardi Gras in 1967. My brother passed it along to Robert
Shelton in the late 1960s. I later expanded it and added new material on
my blog on Dec. 9, 2009. It can be found on my blog here:
blogspot.com tally ho! Search Mardi Gras 1964 Bob Dylan
Now if you read what I wrote back in 1967 and updated in 2009 you will see the same words and quotes Jacob uses in his book.
Jacob has ripped me and my work off.
I
did tell him he could use my material if he would give me credit. Not
only did he not give me credit he put my writing and words in his
father's mouth. There is no way two people would remember those
incidents and quotes the same way. Jacob stole them from what I sent
him(my blog entry on that Mardi Gras). He changed a few things and made
some mistakes also. For instance: I never called myself "The white
southern poet" during that Mardi Gras in 1964. In fact it was Bob Dylan
that called me that in 1964 on the back liner notes of the ALBUM titled
Another Side of Bob Dylan. Look it up and read it for yourself and read
Bob's telling of meeting me at that Mardi Gras. My name is spelled
Stuart instead of Stewart but if you read Shelton's book you will see he
corrected that mispelling.
The incidents and quotes on that Mardi
Gras were stolen from my writing by Jacob and put to his own use without
giving me credit. There is a name for that and it is plagiarism. "That
is to pass off as one's own the ideas the words of another." that is the
Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of the word.
Now since NO DIRECTION HOME was first published in 1986 it is possible that Jacob's father Victor Maymudes may be the one who ripped me off. It could be that it was Victor who decided to lift my memories and make them his own for the book he was trying to write. Since he did not write he may have just spoken them into his tape recorder as his own memories. But no two people remember exactly the same incidents and the same words.
Since I have found this done from my work it makes me wonder what other Dylan bios he (or his father) has ripped off.
Stay clear of this book. Save your time and money.
I
had great hopes for Victor's book. It is a sad. I liked Victor when I
met him and Bob at that Mardi Gras in New Orleans in Feb. 1964. Jacob and Victor's
book is such a disappointment.
Read my post below this one to read the true story of that Mardi Gras of 1964.
