A. J. Weberman

Alan Jules Weberman (born May 26, 1945), better known as A. J. Weberman, is an American writer, political activist, gadfly, and popularizer of the terms garbology and "Dylanology". He is best known for his controversial opinions on, and personal interactions with, the musician Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan

Weberman has written on the life and works of Bob Dylan, including creating a word concordance of Dylan's lyrics, and writing the Dylan to English Dictionary published in 2005. One of Weberman's theories on Dylan's songwriting is that some of Dylan's songs are actually about, or addressed to, Weberman himself. Some Dylan scholars and biographers have rejected Weberman's interpretations of Dylan's work while other have not addressed his work.

Rolling Stone magazine called Weberman "the king of all Dylan nuts" and he has been described as obsessively stalking Dylan and being "off the deep end". Dylan, annoyed by Weberman who was constantly digging through his garbage, assaulted Weberman on Elizabeth Street in Manhattan. In another article, Rolling Stone reported that Weberman, "a man that terrorized Bob Dylan during the '60s," had now "returned to hassle his son," Jakob Dylan. Weberman claimed that the younger Dylan was a heroin addict.

Weberman expressed his unhappiness with Bob Dylan to him in a telephone conversation that he recorded and was able to have briefly distributed as an LP by Folkways Records.

Coup D’Etat In America: The CIA and the Assassination of JFK

In 1975, Weberman wrote Coup D’Etat In America: The CIA and the Assassination of JFK with Michael Canfield. According to one account, "Canfield and Weberman propose a basic theory on the assassination, revolving around the CIA and the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and then use the bulk of the book to document and substantiate their allegations." According to Weberman and Canfield, the CIA planned the assassination of Kennedy because he had agreed to stop the Cuban exiles' anti-Castro operations. Among the book's contentions are that Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy and that two of the "three tramps" photographed by several Dallas-area newspapers under police escort near the Texas School Book Depository shortly after the assassination Kennedy were Watergate burglars E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis. Coup D’Etat In America was reported to influence United States House of Representatives member Henry B. Gonzalez to initiate a resolution that would result in the formation of the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

A reviewer for The Harvard Crimson wrote: "Despite its lapses into obsessive speculations about connections between irrelevant figures and dubious arguments by analogy of modus operandi, Coup d'Etat is a chillingly convincing book."

Coup d'Etat in America reiterated Tad Szulc's allegation that Hunt was the acting chief of the CIA station in Mexico City in 1963 while Lee Harvey Oswald was there. In July 1976, Hunt filed a $2.5 million libel suit against Weberman and Canfield, as well as the book's publishers and editor.

Other activities

In 2002, Weberman, along with the Jewish Defense Organization, and JDO chief Mordechai Levy, were successfully sued for libel in Brooklyn, New York. The jury stated that Weberman was responsible for $300,000 of the $850,000 judgement.

In 2005, Weberman joined forces with Yippies including Dana Beal and Pie Man Aron Kay to turn the long-time Yippie headquarters at 9 Bleecker Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side into a counterculture museum. As of 2006, renovation of the building was partially completed, and a charter from the New York State Board of Regents was granted. The museum would house the remains of Jerry Rubin's roadkill (Rubin was killed by a car) and Abbie Hoffman's trash.

Publications

• Weberman, A. J. Homothug: The Secret Life of Rudy Giuliani (New York: Yippie Museum Press)

The Weberman tapes

• Classic Interviews, Vol. 2: The Weberman Tapes (UK: Chromedreams. US: United States Dist Media, Catalog #541, released May 31, 2005.)

Recordings of telephone conversations between Weberman and Dylan, New York City, January 6 and January 9, 1971. Originally released as Bob Dylan vs. A.J. Weberman on Folkways Records, Catalog #FB 5322, 1977, quickly deleted for legal considerations, but circulated in various bootleg pressings. Original Folkways recording also contains an otherwise unreleased version of David Peel's "The Ballad of A.J. Weberman".

• • An excerpt from a transcript of the above
  • Full transcripts:

• • East Village Other (periodical), January 19, 1971
  • Authors or editors unknown. The Fiddler Now Upspoke Volume 1 (Desolation Row Promotions, other publishing data unknown)

Other recordings

• David Peel and the Lower East Side. "The Ballad of A.J. Weberman", on Santa Claus - Rooftop Junkie (1975, Orange Records. Re-released in box set David Peel, Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw — the Apple and Orange Recordings, 2005, Orange Records)
• Weberman recordings, private collection
  • Bob Fass Show With A.J. Weberman & Ellen Sanders, WBAI Radio, New York, 1968 (155 minutes)
  • Bob Fass Show, WBAI Radio, New York (Studio discussion with Bob Fass, Allen J. Weberman & Ellen Zander) (Part 1) 1970
  • Bob Fass Show, WBAI Radio, New York (Studio discussion with Bob Fass, Allen J. Weberman & Ellen Zander) (Part 2) 1970
  • Bob Fass Show WBAI Radio New York (Studio Discussion With Bob Fass, Allen J. Weberman & Ellen Zander) (Part 3) 1970
  • Alex Bennett Show, WPLJ Radio, With A.J. Weberman & Anthony Scaduto, 1974 (46 Minutes)
  • John Roberts, telephone interview with A.J. Weberman for The Telegraph, (July 20, 1994) (12 Minutes)
  • A.J. Weberman, WFMU Radio, New Jersey (18 Minutes) (no date given)
  • The Larry King Show with A.J. Weberman, Garbologist (no date given)

References

• Roberts, John. A.J. Weberman: Dylanologist (1995, private printing)
• Roberts, John. "Dear Landlord: The A.J. Weberman Story" in The Telegraph 51 Telegraph 78-91 (periodical), Spring 1995

External links

• 1969 documentary about A.J.Weberman