More from Duluth Dylan Fest: Bob's Birthday, Poets of the Northland and The Basement Tapes Band

Long Journey Home, Tim Beaulier

"We live here in the present time. We get up and have to deal with today. Yesterday's gone, tomorrow's not promised. So this is all we have really."
Bob Dylan, 1986 press conference, Sydney Australia

Today is hump day for most workers, defined by the Urban Dictionary as "the absolute best day of the week, the day of maximum hope that maybe, you might make it out of this week alive."

Today is also Bob Dylan's birthday, and if you've been attending all the events here at Duluth Dylan Fest this week, then you may be happy to know that today we're half-way through, and if you make it through today then there is hope that you will also make it through this week alive.

Today's events include:

3:00-4:00 p.m. Music and birthday cake at the duplex a young Robert Zimmerman called home till he was six years old and the family moved to Hibbing. 519 Fifth Avenue East, a block and a half above Positively Fourth Street.

6:00-8:30 p.m. Poets of the North Country, at the Spirit of the North Theater in the Fitger's Complex. Five poets laureate from Duluth and Wisconsin, plus additional local talent.

9:00-11:00 p.m. The Basement Tapes Band, at The Rex, downstairs at the Fitger's Complex. Tribute to Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes recordings with an all star line-up including Marc Gartman, Teague Alexy, Sarah Krueger, Tyler Dubla, Lee Martin, and Veikko Lepisto. Advance tickets are on sale at Eventbrite -- $7 plus fees. $10 cover charge at door.

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Someone sent me a link to a YouTube video featuring Bob Dylan at a press conference in Sydney, Australia in 1986. There are a number of insightful remarks. At one point he's asked if he sees his fans as "Christian fans" and "non-Christian fans" (this was about three years after his "Gospel period") to which he replies that they are all just people.

What's interesting is that this video clip was posted four years ago, in 2013, on Bob's Birthday.

Watch the press conference here:

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See full schedule of events at BobDylanWay.com

Here's a birthday tip that I give everyone on their birthdays:

The secret to long life is to keep having more birthdays.

Happy #76, Bob
And congrats on that Nobel Prize!