Wesleyan Argus deletes post on false Dylan GPS story

Early this morning, I received a "Google Alert" about Bob Dylan. It concerned a story from August concerning Dylan becoming a voice for a GPS system:

Google News Alert for: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan Wants to be the Voice of Your GPS
Wesleyan Argus
According to a not exactly recent article in the Daily Telegraph (the Blargus has been on vacation lately), Bob Dylan is now in negotiations with several ...
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This story was never true, even though it was reprinted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and an NPR blog. I sent a comment, which needed to be approved. Lo and behold, the story is no longer available. I saved the entry - here it is:

Bob Dylan Wants to be the Voice of Your GPS
According to a not exactly recent article in the Daily Telegraph (the Blargus has been on vacation lately), Bob Dylan is now in negotiations with several unidentified car companies to discuss the possibility of having his "unmistakeable, rasping tones" used as the voice of their GPS navigation systems. This came as particularly thrilling news to me and my brother Abe '07 (who tipped me on this), because we have made a habit of singing non-Bob Dylan songs in Bob Dylan tropes ("Good, Good, GooOOOd, Good ViBraaAAtionnnnns!") over the course of the last few months:

Bob Dylan, the singer-songwriter who has taken his fans down Highway 61 by way of Lonely Avenue and Desolation Row, is in negotiations to voice a satellite navigation system.

The music star claimed that he has been approached by more than one manufacturer keen to harness his unmistakeable, rasping tones - a voice which one critic memorably likened to sandpaper. He shared the news with listeners to his late-night radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour, which is broadcast on BBC Six Music.

“You know I don’t usually like to tell people what I’m doing, but I’m talking to a couple of car companies about the possibility of being the voice of their GPS system,” he disclosed.

More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/bob-dylan/6082578/Bob-Dylan-to-become-the-voice-of-your-satnav.html

By Ezra Silk, Blargus Co-Editor
Thursday, October 15 2009, 1:43 am

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Here was my comment:

the story was debunked - go here for Bob Dylan's joke taken seriously by The New York Times, Washington Post" and the follow up article here.

don't worry - NPR, The Washington Post and the NY Times all reported this false story



NOTE: If you go here, you can still see the headline and a picture of Dylan, but the link no longer leads to the story.

Please visit my "Bob Dylan Examiner" page.