A. J. Weberman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alan J. Weberman (born May 26, 1945), better known as A.J. Weberman, is an American writer, political gadfly, and self-styled founder of the fields of garbology and Dylanology. He is best known for his controversial personal confrontations with the musician Bob Dylan and for his 30-year involvement with the Yippies, a counterculture network.

Contents

[edit] Dylanologist

Weberman's 2005 work on Dylan
Weberman's 2005 work on Dylan

A.J. Weberman early took a great and abiding—perhaps obsessive—interest in the life and works of Bob Dylan, leaving college to focus on creating a word concordance of Dylan's lyrics. Although a strong advocate of Dylan's importance as an artist, he is less supportive of Dylan the man, holding him to be an apostate to "the movement" for failing to speak out against the Vietnam War, and maintaining that he is a longtime heroin addict and that he has been HIV positive since the late 1980's but has failed to speak out against unprotected sex.

Weberman's literary analysis of Dylan's work, which he has termed Dylanology, is centered around the concept that, to Dylan, many words have lesser-used meanings differing, sometimes greatly, from their common definitions. "Rain", for instance, often means "destruction" in a Dylan song, as it does, conventionally, in poetry and fiction.

The example below, based on a passage from Weberman's 2005 work Dylan to English Dictionary discussing two lines of the Dylan song A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, shows this approach. Note, for instance, the illustration of Weberman's contention that the word "alley" in Dylan's lyrics is often specifically a reference to Tin Pan Alley (and thus to commercial, non-artistic music):

Dylan Lyric Weberman Interpretation
Heard the song Heard the characteristic manner
Of a poet Of a poet
Who died Whose career died
In the gutter; As a result of low public opinion due to ignorance;
Heard the sound Heard the musical and lyrical expression
Of a clown Of a second-rate performer who was just clowning around
Who cried Who performed publicly
In the alley And made hit records in Tin Pan Alley

This reading of "alley" as meaning "Tin Pan Alley" is based on Weberman's analysis of his extensive database showing every use of "alley" in Dylan's lyrics, as well as many of his writings, interviews, and comments, and the context in which the word is used. Similar analysis gives the meanings shown for "clown", "died", and so forth. At this point Weberman has translated 700 words out of approximately 2000 in Dylanese.

Although this hermenutical (hermenutics) approach is not too different from what is used by some academics in studying the Bible modern poetry, Weberman tends to focus on euphemisms for, and allusive references to, common everyday experience and objects rather than on meanings associated with the unconscious mind, mythic symbols, and the like. Weberman's lesser used meaning must be found in a dictionary be it a standard one or a specialized one. Another factor Weberman takes into consideration is what is going on in Dylan's life at the time he wrote a particular poem. If Dylan is being jeered by his folk fans because he switched to rock and roll, he might write sarcastically, "When you whispered in my ear / And asked me if I was living with you or her."

Weberman's application of hermenutics to Dylan's lyrics has yet to win accolades from scholars of popular culture, yet he has focused on Dylan's work as have few others, and offers analyses of Dylan lyrics that, while sometimes outré, are certainly the product of painstaking thought and cannot be dismissed out of hand. In addition, his extensive concordances and word lists have been found useful by some students of Dylan's work.

[edit] Public controversies

Weberman first came to public notoriety in the late 1960's with his controversial research method of examining and interpreting the contents of Dylan's household garbage cans (ash bins).

This activity raised the question of legality, but it was concluded that household trash placed on a public way has been effectively abandoned as property and is, legally, fair game.

Legal or no, Dylan and his friends found this methodology, along with what they regarded as Weberman's haruspice-like tortured reading of meaning into discarded household items, to be an annoying and alarming invasion of privacy.

But even more than his garbage-sifting, it was Weberman's public hectoring of Dylan and his recruiting of like-minded individuals (styled the Dylan Liberation Front) to picket Dylan at home, that made Weberman such an annoying figure, both to Dylan—who physically assaulted Weberman at one point[1] — and to some of Dylan's fans.

(Although his tactics were extreme, it should be noted that Weberman was not entirely alone in holding that Dylan, in turning from political protest songs to more personal material, had abandoned or even betrayed the late-1960s political movement seeking to end the Vietnam War, advance the cause of racial minorities, and change other aspects of American politics.)

[edit] Other pursuits

Weberman later applied his unusual research methods to Richard Nixon, Norman Mailer, and other celebrities, coining the term "garbology" to describe his methods and writing the book My Life in Garbology.

Weberman, in a manifestation of his leftist politics, also attempted to expand his "Dylan Liberation Front" into a "Rock Liberation Front", intended to pressure pop musicians into greater political activity. John Lennon was briefly associated with this effort.[2] More recently Weberman has worked closely with the Jewish Defense Organization in opposing Nazis, the KKK, Lyndon LaRouche and far-left anti-Zionist activists.[1]

Weberman has also studied the 1963 assassination of US President John F. Kennedy and was employed by the late Congressman Henry Gonzalez of Texas and Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania. Weberman's book on the subject, Coup D’Etat In America, postulates the assassination as part of a coup d'etat led by rogue CIA agents Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis (a contract agent) and David Christ, Head of the TSD of the CIA, angered by Kennedy's failure to remove Fidel Castro from power. The book includes transparent overlays, as in an anatomy textbook, so that the reader can compare the faces of the tramps briefly arrested in Dallas with photos of E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis. Weberman's assertion that Hunt was involved in this action led Hunt to initiate a lawsuit, later dropped.

Weberman, an LSD and marijuana advocate, was arrested for marijuana dealing in 2000. He pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges and served a year and a day in jail, where he worked on the Dylan to English Dictionary and was finally able to make his translations transmit a coherent message when the various translations of words appeared next to or near one another.

In 2005, Weberman and other well-known Yippies, including Dana Beal and Pie Man (Aron Kay), joined forces to turn the long-time Yippie headquarters at 9 Bleecker Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side into a counterculture museum. As of 2006, renovation of the building has been partially completed, and a charter from the New York State Board of Regents has been granted. Weberman, who is a member of the Yippie Museum's board of trustees, announced in early 2006, in a typical display of Yippie spoofery, that the museum would house an Institute for the Study of Advanced Political Protest. (See [2].)

A film about Weberman, entitled The Ballad of AJ Weberman [3] won first place in the Raindance documentary competition in the British Independent Filmakers Association (BIFA) competition. He also did research for a book by Peter Lance [4] on an al-Qaeda triple agent who penetrated the FBI and CIA.

[edit] Quotes

One night I went over D[ylan]'s garbage... there were five tooth brushes of various sizes and an unused tube of toothpaste wrapped in a plastic bag. 'Tooth' means 'enforcement', as to put teeth in a law' in D[ylan]'s symbology....but at first I thought it meant electric guitar.

– A.J. Weberman[3]

Weberman discovered, albeit in an odd and interesting way, an axiom at the core of archeology; there is a comprehensible relationship between human behavior and the objects they made, used, and discarded... Weberman’s term garbology, after all, is not that inaccurate in describing what it is archeologists do.

– Kenneth Feder[4]

[I]t's too bad it's just my songs, 'cause I don't know if there's enough material in my songs to sustain someone who is really out to do a big job. You understand what I mean? I mean a fellow like [Weberman] would be better off writing about Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky or Freud... doing a really big analysis of somebody who has countless volumes of writings. But here's me, just a few records out. Somebody devoting so much time to those records when there's such a wealth of material that hasn't even been heard or read; that escapes me.

– Bob Dylan [5]

[edit] Reference material

[edit] Publications

  • Weberman, A.J. (1969). Dylanology. Whitepress, 25 pages. 
  • Weberman, A.J. (1971). Concordance to the songs, poetry, and assorted writings of Bob Dylan. New York: Private printing. ASIN B00072TJ6C. 
  • Dylan, Bob, and A.J. Weberman (introduction) (1971). Poem to Joanie, Limited edition of 300, London: Aloes. 
  • Weberman, A.J. (date unknown). Keep the Fuck Outta My Goddam Garbage. Privately printed, 22 pages. 
  • Weberman, Alan J. and Michael Canfield [1975] (1992). Coup D’Etat In America: The CIA and the Assassination of JFK. Quick American Publishing [originally by The Third Press]. ISBN 0-932551-10-6. 
  • Weberman, A.J. (1980). My Life in Garbology. Stonehill Press. ISBN 0-88373-096-0. 
  • Weberman, A.J. (2005). Dylan to English Dictionary. New York: Yippie Museum Press. ISBN 1-4196-1338-3. 
  • Weberman, A.J.. "Article (title unknown)", On The Tracks, issue 5. Rolling Tomes. 

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Jacobson, Mark (April 12, 2001). "Tangled Up In Bob". Rolling Stone #RS 866. ; photograph here
  2. ^ Weberman, A.J.. Bob Dylan Who's Who. Expecting Rain.
  3. ^ Eisen, Jonathan, editor (1971). "Dylan's Garbage's Greatest Hits", Twenty Minute Fandangos and Forever Changes. New York: Random House, page 179. ISBN 0-394-47163-6. 
  4. ^ Feder, Kenneth (2004). Linking to the Past: A Brief Introduction to Archaeology. USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515919-5. 
  5. ^ Quoted by Weberman here, from source given as "Rolling Stone Magazine" with no further publication data.

[edit] References

  • Roberts, John. A.J. Weberman: Dylanologist (1995, private printing)
  • Roberts, John. "Dear Landlord: The A.J. Weberman Story" in The Telegraph 51 Telegraph 78-91 (periodical), Spring 1995

[edit] The Weberman tapes

One of many bootleg versions of the Weberman tapes
One of many bootleg versions of the Weberman tapes
  • Classic Interviews, Vol. 2: The Weberman Tapes (UK: Chromedreams. USA: United States Dist Media, Catalog #541, released May 31, 2005.)
Recordings of telephone conversations between Weberman and Dylan, New York City, January 6 and January 9, 1971. Originally released as Bob Dylan vs. A.J. Weberman on Folkways Records, Catlog #FB 5322, 1977, quickly deleted for legal considerations, but circulated in various bootleg pressings. Original Folkways recording also contains an otherwise unreleased version of David Peel's "The Ballad of A.J. Weberman".
  • East Village Other (periodical), January 19, 1971
  • Authors or editors unknown. The Fiddler Now Upspoke Volume 1 (Desolation Row Promotions, other publishing data unknown)

[edit] Other recordings of interest

  • David Peel and the Lower East Side. "The Ballad of A.J. Weberman", on Santa Claus - Rooftop Junkie (1975, Orange Records. Re-released in box set David Peel, Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw — the Apple and Orange Recordings, 2005, Orange Records)
  • Weberman recordings, private collection, cataloged here:
  • Bob Fass Show With A.J. Weberman & Ellen Sanders, WBAI Radio, New York, 1968 (155 minutes)
  • Bob Fass Show, WBAI Radio, New York (Studio discussion with Bob Fass, Allen J. Weberman & Ellen Zander) (Part 1) 1970
  • Bob Fass Show, WBAI Radio, New York (Studio discussion with Bob Fass, Allen J. Weberman & Ellen Zander) (Part 2) 1970
  • Bob Fass Show WBAI Radio New York (Studio Discussion With Bob Fass, Allen J. Weberman & Ellen Zander) (Part 3) 1970
  • Alex Bennett Show, WPLJ Radio, With A.J. Weberman & Anthony Scaduto, 1974 (46 Minutes)
  • John Roberts, telephone interview with A.J. Weberman for The Telegraph, (July 20, 1994) (12 Minutes)
  • A.J. Weberman, WFMU Radio, New Jersey (18 Minutes) (no date given)
  • The Larry King Show with A.J. Weberman, Garbologist (no date given)
  • Weberman appears in the film Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974 - Through the Camera of Barry Feinstein directed by Barry Feinstein, Joel Gilbert, and D.A. Pennebaker (DVD released March 8, 2005 by Music Video Distributors and/or Highway 61 Entertainment)

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Weberman, A. J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weberman, Alan
SHORT DESCRIPTION Dylanologist, Garbologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/2E/_/A._J._Weberman_fc6d.html"