(EDITOR’S NOTE : Because I’m a lazy motherfucker today is Bob Dylan’s birthday, here’s something special from August 22, 2008 – GC)
The New York Post’s Page 6 helpfully provides an excerpt from comedian Tommy Chong’s soon-to-be-released tome, “Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography”, including the shocking claim that unlike fellow Minnesotan Prince Rogers Nelson, Bob Dylan most certainly doesn’t have game.
“Bob Dylan wrote and recorded so many meaningful, historic songs,” writes Chong. But his genius didn’t extend to dribbling. “Bob had a good jump shot and some pretty good moves – but when he tried driving past me for a lay-up, the Canadian ice hockey player in me came out . . . I dumped him on his ass.“
Chong also recounts a disastrous meeting with his idol, Jack Nicholson.
“[He] stared at me as if to say, You [bleep]ing idiot! Is that all you can say? . . . Is this why you exist? To bug the hell out of us celebrities who just want to be left alone to drink, snort coke and [bleep] adoring fans? Why don’t you get out of my face and let me continue on my way forgetting that we ever met, OK? . . . My pot high evaporated . . . I vowed that when I got as famous as Jack, I would never disrespect my fans.”
But Nicholson later inadvertently helped the duo score a hit record as they rode with him to a Lakers game and he sped into oncoming traffic to make time. “Whenever Cheech got nervous he would begin to sing . . a popular song and add his own crazy words,” writes Chong. That night it happened to be a version of “Love Jones,” which he sang as “Basketball Jones . . . I got a basketball jones.” It was so catchy, “we recorded the master the next night.”
Next week : Roland A. Duby on the time he broke up a double play with a spikes-first slide into Phil Ochs’ ankle.