Highway 61 in Elegant Style

Bob Dylan is adding another product to his short list of ads. So far he has done Victoria's Secret and iPod ads. Now, he's heading out to Highway 61 in a Cadillac Escalade while listening to satellite radio. His own show, no doubt.

The Star-Tribune asked the instant poll question if this add hurts Dylan's street cred as a counterculture icon.

Hmmmm.

Don't get me wrong. I am an incurable Dylan fan. Only the Beatles have more songs on my iPod. But Dylan is over 60. He cannot be a countercultural anything these days. He is Dylan. He is beyond that. He is above that. He is more than an icon. Icons don't change. Icons represent a window into something transcendent. Dylan may be a remarkable poet and song writer and musician and even writer. But that has nothing to do with counterculture. That has to do with opening us up to the possibilities that are found around us, challenging us to stop and think. That's what poets do.

Hopefully they also continue to grow and change and become wiser in what they say and do. If he wants to make some money on the side by appearing in a Cadillac commercial while pushing his own show - so be it. Don't make him into something he has always said he never was- an icon.

Now, can we get back to the business of music.