Blood On The Tracks Express Is Ready To Roll

The Freewheelers know how to get people on their feet.

Another year of North Country Dylan-themed events is wrapping up tonight. It's the Blood on the Tracks Express, leaving the station in less than eleven hours as I write this.

If you're wondering why the event got drop-kicked away from the rest of our Dylan Days events, it's because the bridge to Two Harbors has been under repair. According to the schedule it appeared that the train ride could not happen last week but the work would be completed for this week. Haha. Wrong. The weather got the better of everyone's plans and the famous North Shore train ride to Two Harbors is taking a detour. The music will remain grand.

The train will be leaving the station at 5:30 this evening. More than 200 tickets have been sold and today's Trib story will probably bring us even more. The DNT's Wave describes the event like this:

The train will travel in a Duluth-based loop then stop at the Depot for music at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. The lineup of musicians is a sort of “We are the World” of local players, including Black-Eyed Snakes, Freewheelers, Dirty Horse, Red Mountain, Cowboy Angel Blue, Bitter Spills and the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank.

The word "loop" is probably a misnomer as I do not believe we have any tracks in this area that actually go in a circle. But the effect will be the same for the travellers. There will be music at both ends of the train as in years past, acoustic at one end and electric at the other, a bar car in between. The train will go North till it can't go any further, then South for a spell. Eventually everyone will de-board at The Depot for a party there, most likely featuring The Freewheelers. After the party it's back to the train for another tour up and down the line.

Last year Sparhawk and company projected such a mesmerizing psycho-syllabic bannister of sound that the train car nearly splintered apart... Tickets are $25.... and it all begins at Fitgers.