February 25: On this day in 2011, Suze Rotolo died. + Bob Dylan Boots of Spanish Leather, Springfield, MA 1992

 

https://youtu.be/opFd2PeHchk 

Bob Dylan’s early love/muse was immortalized both in song (“Don’t Think Twice” - “Tomorrow is a Long Time” - “Boots of Spanish Leather”) and visually, on the iconic cover of 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. She’s credited with awakening her beau to political concerns - a major advance in his evolution as an artist.

The two parted by the fall of 1963, and for many years, she avoided discussing their time together before succumbing to the inevitable and penning, A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties, in 2008. A Hollywood version of her was depicted by Elle Fanning in the recent Dylan biopic (with the name changed). I suspect she would object to the characterization.

Bob Dylan Boots of Spanish Leather, Springfield, MA 1992

Artur Artist presents "The Casper Collection" YouTube

On October 16, 1992, a who's who of music stars came out to help Bob Dylan celebrate the 30th anniversary of his professional musical career.

A week later he was back at his more usual kind of gig, playing lightly publicized shows in small, intimate theaters, particularly old movie palaces, one of his favorite type of venues.  One such is the historic, approximately 1,500-seat Paramount Theater in Springfield, MA-- more recently known alternately as the Paramount or Springfield Performing Arts Center.  This pretty version of "Boots of Spanish Leather" was recorded in that once grand movie palace 12 days after the gala tribute bash.