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Here is Bob Dylan receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Given to the 71-year-old musician by President Barack Obama, the medal honors Dylan’s contributions to the arts, literature, and American culture.

It’s unclear whether Mr. Dylan removed his sunglasses at all during his ceremony, but reports say a pianist played his 1963 classic “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” as guests entered The White House for the event.

Besides this medal, Dylan has won 11 Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.  He’s also been filmed for a Martin Scorsese documentary, used as a plot point on Mad Men, and embodied by Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, and 11-year-old Marcus Carl Franklin in I’m Not There. (Dylan reportedly enjoyed the film so much, he sent a note to director Todd Haynes; by contrast, he threatened to sue the makers of Factory Girl for suggesting he was responsible for Edie Sedgwick’s death.  Hayden Christiansen’s character remained unnamed throughout the entire movie, though credits list him as “Billy Quinn.”)

If you love Bob Dylan but don’t know too much about him, we suggest the excellent biography “Positively Fourth Street,” which chronicles both Dylan and his one-time girlfriend, the folk singer Joan Baez.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Press Play. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.