European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 19, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                T lonely atthe top the dark Side of super stardom Bob Dylan above a survived Trie  of Fame Whereat the rolling stones Mick Jagger lop continue to delude himself. By Stephen Holden new York times n Dylan a scrappy unauthorized new biography of Bob Dylan by the journalist and former Rock manager Bob Spitz one or the Tew scenes in which the secretive Star is shown pouring his hear out describes an evening Dylan spent in 1975 with a Young writer named Madeline Beckman. Dob romanticized his brother s modest lifestyle in contrast to his own Public spectacle the author writes. David s got it Alt Bob told Madeline a Good marriage and a family and. Anonymity. Wish i had some of what to had especially privacy. In the music business everybody wants a piece of you until there s nothing left to give throughout the Book Dylan is pictured As a figure imprisoned by the poet Genius mystique that he created Tor himself in the Early 60s and has shrewdly exploited Ever since. The Star s 1966 motorcycle Accident the author suggests was an apocryphal event devised to camouflage the shaking of a drug habit his lunge into fundamentalist christianity is portrayed As the capricious contortion of a rudderless artist grasping for instant moral authority treated As a King Lor the last 25 years by an adoring entourage Dylan is shown playing games of mental cruelty on his family and followers because the author finds much to Admire in Dylan s work his biography in t a character assassination like Albert Goldman s hate tilled Hatchet Job on John Lennon. But along with Goldman s Book it reveals the destructiveness of a certain kind of Fame on its recipient. No Mailer How much Dylan May loathe tame he has. Never turned his Back on it Lor Long being lonely at the top May be hell but god forbid he should Ever have to fact being Happy at he Bottom. Contradictory feelings of being cursed by stardom end being obsessively addicted to it Ere shared by almost every pop Star and All things considered Dylan is a relatively Hardy survivor. Having periodically sunk to self parody he has intuitively rediscovered his own voice just when retirement seemed to be his Best option. In his recent National tour he dug into. His own classic songs to deliver Sharp new contemporary resonances. And the enigmatic spirit of the eternal. Troubadour breathes Lite into the songs on the travelling wilbury vow. 1, which he wrote and recorded with George Harrison jell Lynne the late Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. But if Dylan has managed to protect his Art he has t transcended the Law of nature by which pop superstars invested with Adelic mystique often turn into. Spoiled brats.  the very famous pop musicians Are probably the most insecure Breed because of the contradictions built into pop s Starr making apparatus. Pop stats have almost no professional guidelines. Indeed since the 60s, the. Notion lha everybody is or can be a. Star has been a recurrent theme in pop lyrics. Popi music like sports is one of the Lew areas of american life where regardless of class and education one can ascend almost overnight to lame and Fortune. But athletes at least know the limited Lime Span of their earning Power and that loft keep winning they must slay in shape and almost no one invests them with spiritual authority. Most pop stars emerge As instant grassroots politicians cultural sexual icons with fickle adolescent constituencies. In dealing Wilh the evanescence of their stardom pop performers face Basic questions should you try to maintain that initial constituency or attempt to stay forever Young and compete for the next generation and what about creativity How do you reconcile marketplace formulas with the natural impulse to explore new Moro sophisticated territory pop stars Are artists after All who often write their own material. But where is there room to grow unlike novelists and poets whose careers accumulate in weight and recognition As tried mature most of the biggest pop stars can count on five or six years at the very top usually near the beginning rather than the Middle of a career. There Are powerful forces working against a pop Star with Strong artistic ideals. If you aspire to speak for the people How do you maintain populist credibility having been elevated from the workaday world and put on a Pedestal surrounded by people who Are paid to Speed your career along and shield you from life s unpleasantness How do you maintain an Independent self critical perspective. One of the most revealing show business spats in recent years has been the Campaign waged by Keith Richards to startle Mick Jagger into cultivating a More mature image before the rolling stones re form to make a new album. Jagger at 44 still refuses to give up the voluptuous adolescent jumping Jack Flash Persona he has flaunted Tor More than two decades. ,. According to Richards Jagger is suffering from a Peter pan  and indeed the sight of a gaunt wizened Middle aged Star kicking and flapping about the stage is in object lesson in pop Slor sell delusion. Richards explained that he is the Only person with the guts to hit his rolling stones colleague with the truth because the people surrounding him have been paid not to. Watching the ascent of major Young pop talents like George Michael and Tracy Chapman who bring a real artistic vision to their work one worries that like so Many pop idols before Thorn the omnivorous worship that bombards them will destroy them As it did boy George. Or in not destroy then stunt their growth and turn them into unhappy monsters. It enough people insist that they re geniuses How can they res a falling for it ". The most fruitful path to career longevity and sanity seems to be in Pursuit of a studious Este Choim. Looking into musical worlds other than the Poos that made to Stern stars Paul Simon Unda Ronstadt and sting have found crucial artistic inspiration and. Rejuvenated their career Sand in casting their sights beyond the narrow formulaic thinking of the pop world they May also have found the kind of personal objectivity that the pop celebrity Machina often Saems determined Todes Lroy. Monday december. 1988 the stars and stripes Page 17