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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
  • Bob Dylan

    Freewheelin' in the Years

    For 45 years, she was known as the woman clinging to a young Bob Dylan's arm on a legendary album cover. Today: Suze Rotolo talks about being Dylan's muse and shares her memoir about Greenwich Village in the 1960s. Later: operatic bass Hao Jiang Tian came of age during China's Cultural Revolution. He talks about his remarkable journey from a factory floor to the Metropolitan Opera stage.

Suze Rotolo

When they lived in Greenwich Village in 1961 they were cherub-cheeked kids. She was 17, came by subway from Queens and was called Suze Rotolo. He was 20, came from Minnesota and was called Bob Dylan. Almost 50 years later, Suze finally wrote a memoir of her life next to the American icon, just before and during the start of the flood of fame. Suze Rotolo joins us to talk about her book, "A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties."

Our blog: John Schaefer on bearing witness to music history

Tell us: Were you part of a historic moment in music? Did you know it at the time?

"A Freewheelin' Time" on Amazon.com

Journey From East to West

The Chinese-born operatic bass Hao Jiang Tian worked in a factory as a teenager, yet also was able to develop as a singer during the Cultural Revolution. Today, he is a regular fixture at the Metropolitan Opera, where he recently sang in a production of Tan Dun’s "The First Emperor." He joins us to talk about his new memoir, Along the Roaring River: MY Wild Ride from Mao to the Met.

"Along the Roaring River" on Amazon.com
Hao Jiang Tian's web site

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