Bob Dylan, born May 24, 1941

Bad company, San Francisco, 1965

Robbie Robertson, Michael McClure, Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg in the alley behind City Lights Books. This photograph is in the booklet that comes with the bootleg series vol. 4 Dylan CD set, Bob Dylan Live 1966, The Royal Albert Hall Concert.

Larry Keenan:

This session was arranged the night before at a party after Bob Dylan's concert at the Berkeley Community Theater. Allen Ginsberg introduced me to Dylan and we arranged to do a photo session (for the Blonde on Blonde album) the same day as the Beats last gathering at City Lights Books. At City Lights we hid out in the basement with Dylan and when the people started to break the door down we climbed out a window and ran down the alley and took this photograph. I was in college and living at home during the Beat period. I had to mow the lawn before I could borrow the car and go to San Francisco to shoot this photo and the City Lights Books "last gathering of the Beats" event.

Image and text from the series of photographs by Larry Keenan, introduction by Mary Sands, at the Empty Mirror Books website.