Real Life or Something Like It: Bob Dylan and the Asia Series

“I only ask you one thing; to have your eyes wide open.” ~ Albert Kahn

Art and Commerce

Here’s a one dollar bill, which can be exchanged nearly anywhere for goods and services to the value of one dollar. Correctamundo?

Wrong, because this one dollar bill has been signed by Andy Warhol — making it a Pop Art collectible. A Warhol painting of a dollar bill fetched over 30 million one dollar bills in 2015. Just imagine what this baby could go for — at least thousands and thousands, right?

Wrong, wrong wrong. Because on closer examination, the Warhol signature is a crude forgery — my god, it’s even misspelled as “Whoral” — so now instead of a bucket of money, you’re holding a bag of shit.

But wait! What if I told you that I have here a certificate of authenticity that proves that the forged signature is by none other than Bob Dylan, done during his one-and-only visit to the Factory! Now, how much is that dollar bill worth? (based on Mr. Nobody’s soliloquy in Grant Morrison’s “Magic Bus”)

“There’s no logical answer to that”

In the Spring of 2011 Dylan played seven shows in Asia, including his first career appearances in China and Vietnam. Those latter shows are not without controversy, with…