Musical and Financial Icons

I've been on a bit of a Dylan binge lately. I spent a bunch of my Lexis points on a few Dylan CDs. (Quick explanation: Lexis and Westlaw actually reward law students for using their sites by giving us points that can be spent on CDs, books, and electronics. Ridiculous, I know). I also just finished reading Chronicles: Volume I (A strange but oddly enchanting read. I guess everyone should have known Dylan could write - but who knew he'd be so magnanimous...). So Wabes and I thought it might be worth checking out the new Bob Dylan exhibit at the Morgan Library.

The Library only recently reopened after an impressive expansion. The new space is somewhat similar to the MOMA, with an open atrium and lots of natural light. The Dylan exhibit was in a small room accessible via a hydraulic elevator that vaulted us up to a balcony from which we could enter the second floor.

The exhibit is small, but is somewhat the better for not trying to be too exhaustive (and for not taking its subject to seriously). Early life is illustrated with high school yearbooks (in case you're wondering, young Robert Zimmerman also wrote how it was "great getting to know you") and English papers. The Village portion of the story was more interesting, especially since I apparently lived two blocks from Dylan's old apartment. Only a few of the places where he played early in his career remain (Cafe Wha, The Bitter End), but it was interesting to see all the pictures after reading Chronicles. And once the story moves to Dylan's recording years, the exhibit provides just the right amount of interactive media. For each album discussed, visitors can stop into booths and listen to entire songs or just a snippet.

The other reason for our visit to the Morgan was also somewhat literary. Ever since reading the novel Ragtime - in which Coalhouse Walker violently invades the Morgan Library in turn-of-the-century New York - I've wanted to see the reading room that Doctorow describes. It is an impressive place; ornate and stately, with rare volumes all the way around. Even more impressive, however, is Morgan's audacious study across the hall. Above the fireplace in this two story room is a giant portrait of the man himself, peering down as people invade what appears to have been his inner sanctum.