What's Life Without the Occasional Detour?

After all of these years, Bob Dylan still keeps us guessing. Far from calming down in his old age, he's certainly done some things to surprise us in recent years. In 2003, he appeared in a Victoria's Secret ad, for which his song "Love Sick" served as the soundtrack. Controversy ensued.



A few years later, Dylan's appearance in a commercial for the Cadillac Escalade raised some more eyebrows among his fans who are less than enthused about gas-guzzling SUVs.



In recent weeks, I've learned of a couple of things relating Dylan that have made me scratch my head. Taken separately, each one isn't terribly eccentric. But taken together, I have to wonder if he's in a particularly mischievous mood right now.

First came the news that he was detained by cops in Long Branch, New Jersey--on the charge of being an "eccentric-looking old man" and wandering around looking at houses before his gig with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. The cops didn't recognize him, apparently, but someone on his crew vouched for him and all was forgiven. Insert your own Henry Louis Gates reference here.

Then came word, from his excellent "Theme Time Radio Hour" that Dylan might be lending his dulcet tones to a car company to be the voice of their GPS navigation system. Well, I can certainly say that I, and many other Dylanaholics would certainly buy that. But it seems pretty likely that was a joke.

Now, I hear that Dylan, the former Jew, former evangelical Christian, and current . . . (well, like anything else in his life, who the hell knows what his current religious proclivities are?) is releasing a Christmas album this year. A strangely conventional gesture for a man who has never been very conventional. But he's donating all the profits from the album to charity, which is a nice touch. And I really hope this means that we'll get to hear him growling through "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in supermarkets, pharmacies, and department stores very soon.