Hanging out with Dylan

I haven't got round to starting my own MySpace site yet - I keep promising myself to do so, but with a major research project on the go, three blogs to maintain, a weekly newspaper column, a demanding day job, a band and a determination to hang onto some quality time with my wife (plus a dog and two cats), there haven't been enough hours left in the day.

My wife, Chele has only recently set up her own MySpace site but she has wasted no time in 'social networking' with some pretty cool 'friends'. I'm not quite sure how this works but her 'My Friends' list to date includes Seth Lakeman, Randy Stonehill, The Paperboys, Sean Lennon, Los Lonely Boys, Nickel Creek, Dixie Chicks, James Taylor, Neil Young - oh yes and Bob Dylan.

Now neither of us really believes that Mr Zimmerman sat at his computer and personally pressed the key that linked his site to Chele's - although he might have! Social networking does at least give the impression that the internet knows no barriers between celeb musicians and us humble mortals. And for Chele, setting up MySpace friendships with music heroes is proving a fascinating exercise in putting their PR strategies to the test. What started out as a bit of fun ('let's see if we can link up with 'so-and-so') has become something of a revelation. Dylan's MySpace page offers some interesting personal trivia that only 'friends' would share. Did you know, for example, that he prefers Pepsi to Coke and Burger King to MacDonalds?

I'm wondering how big a part MySpace will play in my research into amateur music networks by the time I complete the dissertation. One of my themes is the tension between 'amateur' and 'professional' practices in folk music. Will social networking websites break down the barriers - or is it creating an illusion of egalitatianism in this here global village between the folk mega-star and the humble floor singer?

Filed under:
MySpace    Bob Dylan   music PR    amateur music