Bob Dylan's internet presence is some real enigmatic shit. This isn't exactly a surprise, considering that most things about Bob Dylan are some real enigmatic shit. He continues to find new ways to confound. In the past six months, Dylan has seemingly taken control of his Twitter account, which was just promotional stuff before then. He's talked about old friends and random encounters, and it's been more sincere than one might expect. SNL had jokes about it. Earlier this week, Dylan posted about the late bluegrass banjo virtuoso Don Reno.
Today is Don Reno’s birthday. No offense to Earl but Don was more innovative. Chordal runs, tremolo picking, guitar-type strumming, jazz, swing, early rock and roll – it’s all there in his playing. Strong tenor vocalist and could write songs as well. Bill wanted him but Don went…
— Bob Dylan (@bobdylan) February 22, 2025
Bob Dylan also joined TikTok in January, when it looked like the app was about to get banned. Dylan almost certainly has nothing to do with that TikTok account, which is all archival-promotional stuff at the moment. But Dylan's Instagram account is a different story. Up until about a month ago, Dylan's Instagram was full of "on this day" historical videos and promo for his tours and merch. Dylan's Facebook account is still like that, and some of it still appears on his Instagram. These days, though, Dylan sure seems to be the one posting on Dylan's Instagram. About a month ago, Dylan posted an old video of Eddie Van Halen at a 1988 Les Paul tribute, without commentary. That had to be Dylan himself, right?
On the same day that he posted that Van Halen video, Dylan posted three more clips -- none with any commentary, none of which feature Dylan himself. He posted a Ricky Nelson performance on Ozzie and Harriet, a Marilyn Monroe scene from the Fritz Lang film Clash By Night, and a 1938 Django Reinhart performance. Since then there's been more stuff like that: a song by John Trudell, performances by Tony Rice and Bobby Darin and Little Feat and the Osbourne Brothers, scenes from The Searchers and The Twilight Zone. He posted the Hoagy Carmichael scene from The Best Years Of Our Lives. He posted a dramatic recitation of the last words from Jesse James' brother Frank. He never includes any context, so I don't recognize most of the stuff that he posts, and I have to rely on the comments to fill in the blanks. It's been awesome, honestly. Anyway, Bob Dylan posted a Machine Gun Kelly performance on Wednesday night.
So: What is happening here? It's Machine Gun Kelly in his pre-pop-punk days, rapping an eight-minute medley of tracks from his 2015 mixtape Fuck It at the Orlando record store Park Avenue CDs. The clip was filmed by a fan, and it's got MGK doing four tracks -- "Almost," "Blue Skies," "Rolling Stone," and "Thoed Ass" -- with fans enthusiastically rapping along. Weird shit! I'm not mad! Witness it for yourself below.
MGK responded in a video on his Stories. "I’m in my conversation pit in my house having a whole discussion about, ‘Am I doing the right thing? Is this the right direction for this album? I’m questioning it. And in the same breath that I’m questioning it, someone goes, ‘Bob Dylan just posted a video of you.’ ... Just the originator of doing everything opposite of what people wanted him to do, randomly posting a video of me back in the day rapping in a vinyl shop. I’m just like, ‘What the fuck?’ Just trust the signs, man. That was so cool. I’m so grateful. So random."
mgk responds...
www.stereogum.com/2298498/now-...
— Stereogum (@stereogum.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 2:12 PM
In other Bob Dylan news, we're only a few days away from learning whether Timothée Chalamet will win the Best Actor Oscar for playing Dylan in A Complete Unknown. On Sunday, Chalamet became the youngest person ever to win Best Actor at the SAG Awards. If Chalamet with the Oscar, he'll be the youngest person ever to win that award. Right now, it appears to be a two-man race between Chalamet and Adrien Brody, the current holder of the youngest-ever Best Actor Oscar.
Also, The New York Times reports that a very old reel-to-reel Bob Dylan demo is currently up for auction. It's a recording of 20-year-old Dylan performing at New York's Gaslight Café in 1961, and his manager Terri Thal used the tape in an unsuccessful attempt to convince managers in clubs outside New York to book Dylan. The tape includes a very early version of "Mr. Tambourine Man," and it's being sold as Dylan's oldest demo. It's expected to fetch about $25,000 at auction. So that's what Bob Dylan's got going on this week.
All-time Great Bob Dylan Quote
“I’m afraid to go on the internet. I’m afraid somebody, some pervert’s gonna lure me somewhere.”
Also perfectly encapsulates how the average 60 year old felt about the internet in 2001. pic.twitter.com/tHcR4RwlBO
— Matt Steichen (@Matt_Stike) February 26, 2025
