Sunday, February 27, 2011

Suze Rotolo 1943-2011


we learned this evening that Suze Rotolo passed away on Friday.

I never met Suze Rotolo, but obviously (for those following along) I spent a lot of time in the Village last month researching all those 50th anniversary Bob Dylan pieces. and as Ms. Rotolo, truly an iconic figure for her appearance on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, was undeniably present for pretty much everything I wanted to write about, I reached out to her.

and she didn't want to be interviewed - "Everything I have to say...and remember...about those long ago years I've written in my memoir," she wrote me - but she was kind, terribly kind enough to engage in an e-mail conversation, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth over the course of a couple of weeks of fairly intensive work, clarifying points of puzzlement, guiding me on my journey.

and when it was over and the six or so pieces that week had all been published, including a print piece on the sex shop located on the ground floor of the building where she and Bob Dylan shared an apartment, Ms. Rotolo sent me another e-mail that simply said, "Nicely done! Suze"

I e-mailed my editor.
"Suze Rotolo wrote me," I said. "It made me happy."

No comments:

Post a Comment