Anthony Kiedis Nabs Dylan For New American Music Union Festival

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I was scooting around backstage at Lollapalooza last weekend when I got a phone call from Anthony Kiedis, ringing to talk about his upcoming New American Music Union festival. During a summer when every major fest attempts to diversify its bill, New American Music Union's line-up coheres beautifully by focusing on an array of acts who likely already share fans. Plus, Kiedis -- who curated the selection of artists -- managed to get Bob Dylan to agree to play alongside the Raconteurs, Black Keys, Spoon, Gnarls Barkley and the Roots. The event will be held at Pittsburgh's Southside Works this Friday and Saturday. Here's what the Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman had to say about booking Zimmy.

I'm assuming Dylan was always on the short-list of folks to book for the inaugural New American Music Union?
Bob Dylan is definitely someone I would love to go see, but I also wanted to do it for all my friends who are dead who loved Bob Dylan. And all of my crazy friends that were actually alive when Bob Dylan first came on the scene. And then I’m doing it for all the really cool teenagers that managed to tap into Bob Dylan -- kids that look a little less predictably into places to find cool music and found Bob Dylan.

Was it difficult to get him to do it?
Uhhh… yes. And fortunately, that wasn’t so much my job. My job was more to write the words "Bob Dylan" down on a piece of paper. A month later, after a number of phone calls and all kinds of jostling, it happened.

Have you seen him play before?
I've seen him before from afar, at a time when I couldn’t even appreciate Bob Dylan, under less than optimum conditions. That was on the island of Oahu in the Eighties, when I was completely mental and not ready to get on that wavelength.

What are you hoping he’ll play?
I’m not even really gonna get my hopes up, because if I start getting my hopes up and have my favorite Bob Dylan songs in the expectation chamber and he doesn’t play them, I’m gonna be disappointed. I’ll just be waiting the whole set, like, 'Play my favorite, play my favorite!' And I just want him to play whatever he’s gonna play that night, and be grateful for that. -- JENNY ELISCU