Bob Dylan has apparently gotten so good at maintaining his anonymity that the music legend is starting to get into trouble. While on tour this summer, Dylan went for a stroll in Long Branch, New Jersey in the middle of a rainstorm, wearing black sweatpants, rain boots, and two hooded raincoats. This somewhat strange activity led to a phone call by the residents of a house with a For Sale sign about an “eccentric-looking old man” lurking on their property, ABC News reports.
This story probably wouldn’t have come to light if the first police officer on the scene was familiar with Dylan’s post-1965 appearance, but that was definitely not the case for 24-year-old officer Kristie Buble. “I asked him what his name was and he said, ‘Bob Dylan,’” Buble said. “Now, I’ve seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn’t look like Bob Dylan to me at all.”
Dylan told her that he was in town to perform with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp and that he was staying in a tour bus parked at a hotel near the ocean. Now Buble really didn’t believe him: “He was acting very suspicious,” she added.
Long story short, Buble loaded Dylan into the back of her police cruiser, drove to where he said his tour bus was parked, and verified his identity via passport from his manager. She said Dylan was very polite about the whole misunderstanding, but strangely asked to be brought back to where he was picked up after it was all over with.
Just recently, Dylan managed to go unnoticed while on a minibus Beatles tour in Liverpool, so I’m guessing he kind of enjoys switching into Clark Kent mode from time to time.