Monday, May 31, 2021
Memorial Day: Remembering the Sacrifices of Those Who Served
Sunday, May 30, 2021
A Few Things Things I Learned This Week During Dylan Fest
Bob Prophet (Claude-Angele Boni') |
Friday, May 28, 2021
Dylan Inspires Visual Artists, Too
Bob Dylan's creative spirit delivers inspiration in a variety of ways. One of these has been the inspiration he's generated in the visual arts. While exploring the various other facets of Expecting Rain this past winter I clicked on the Exhibition tab and discovered a four page gallery of artwork by Dylan Fans. The visual arts have been part of the Northland's Dylan celebrations for some time as well. Here are a few selections from Expecting Rain and our own local artist community.
Bob Dylan (Paul Butler) |
Triumph (Jack McInroy) |
In Dylan There Is Light (Mike Fratangelo) |
Bob Dylan (Claude-Angele BONI) |
Young Bob (Becky Perfetti) |
Blowin' in the Wind (Ed Newman) |
Forever Young (Daniel Botkin) |
Looking Back (Margie Helstrom) |
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Throwback Thursday: Together Through Life, 10 Years Later
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Photos from Our Duluth Dylan Fest Birthday Celebration at the Hillside Home of Bob Dylan
It was 80 degrees here the day before, then 40 on Monday the 24th as we shivered against the cold on Duluth's Central Hillside. The forecast had been for rain, but the weather gods smiled and we were blessed. A crowd of 90 people or so came to hear music, a few short talks, a reading of the Proclamation of our Year of Dylan and lots of camaraderie as we celebrated Bob Dylan's 80th birthday.
Souvenir pens for fans and collectors. |
519 North 3rd Avenue East. First home of Robert Allen Zimmerman. The family lived upstairs in this duplex. |
Greg Tiburzi has been providing accompaniment for longer than I can remember at this annual event. |
Miriam Hansen (L) keeps the flame lit as host of the KUMD radio show Highway 61 Revisited. With Zane Bail. Notice how they are mugging for the camera rather than listening to the speaker. (wink) |
County Commissioner Frank Jewell read the Official Proclamation. Jewell has served 10 years as commissioner, 4 years on the City Council and a lifetime as a community organizer. |
View from up the hill. |
A volunteer hands out copies of the Proclamation regarding our Year of Dylan in St. Louis County. |
Monday, May 24, 2021
Bob Dylan Turns 80: Too Many Events, Too Little Time -- Photos from Saturday
The Zimmerman home in Hibbing where young Bob lived before setting off on his life adventure. |
Saturday was also the opening day of the Dylan @ 80: TU Institute for Bob Dylan Studies, the first of three days of streaming roundtables, presentations and information about the historic Bob Dylan archives which have been acquired, assorted and will be studied for years to come.
And finally, Saturday was the kickoff of our nine-day Duluth Dylan Fest, honoring Duluth's native son with music, poetry and other events.
Saturday in Duluth began with a tour of historic places related to the Bob Dylan story, which technically begins in Duluth. (Theoretically, you can go deeper into Dylan's roots and find elements of his family history that prove relevant to his formative development. Some of that is covered in Dave Engel's book Just Like Bob Zimmerman's Blues. Mr. Engel will be our featured speaker in the John Bushey Memorial Lecture Series this coming weekend.)
8 VIPs with gold shovels. Bill Pagel hoped to steal one for his archives. |
* * *
The city creatively embellished the crosswalk in front of Bob's home. |
TODAY IS BOB DYLAN'S BIRTHDAY
This week is Duluth Dylan Fest. Join us.
Many events this week will be streaming, some
will be live, like the Birthday Party on the Porch
here in Duluth where young Robert spent his 1st six years.
1:00 p.m. CST. We'll meet you there.
Duluth Dylan Fest Links
www.duluthdylanfest.com
Sunday, May 23, 2021
A Happy 80th Birthday Crossword Puzzle for Dylan Fans
My granddaughter Lena is also a Dylan fan. |
One of Christina's puzzles was published on January 1, 2020 the first NYTimes puzzle of the new decade. |
SOLUTION:
Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos
This week is Duluth Dylan Fest
Many of our events will be streaming.
Duluth Dylan Fest Links
www.duluthdylanfest.com
Saturday, May 22, 2021
Claude-Angele BONI's It's Alright, Ma + Eden
"It's alright Ma I'm only bleeding and there are no truths outside the gates of Eden" |
In 1993 she published a book of her Dylan-themed paintings and collages titled Stuck Inside of Mobile (With a Rhapsody for Bob Dylan.) The more I see of her work the more I have been enthralled, not simply by the imagery but by the stories behind the pictures.
Here are some notes from our correspondence that help shed light on the painting here displayed.
She first heard "Gates of Eden" and "It's Alright, Ma" in 1966. Though she did not speak English she was impressed by the few words she was able to understand. For years she listened to his songs translated into French, so it wasn't until 1976 that found Writings and Drawings and was able to understand exactly what he was talking about, word by word. "I was amazed! I started to analyse those songs so mysterious and clear at the same time, like some "charade", some enigmas, so I left aside the conception I had of him based on his special voice and his fragile and innocent look and I started to consider him as a wise sphinx," she says.
"As soon as I had been free to paint again, in 1974, I made a painting on those two songs. It was the one I chose to offer him in 1978, the year I saw him in the flesh for the first time. It changed my life. Then I started to read a lot of books on history and psychology... The Pandora Box was opened! I started to consider my environment with my eyes wide open... "
Of the painting itself she writes:
"It's alright ma I'm only bleeding'' is the main title. It refers to the struggle of life and "Gates of Eden" refers to resilience and faith. The complete title might be: "It's alright Ma I'm only bleeding and there are no truths outside the gates of Eden.
This painting is about a son who has stayed long enough with his mother and needs to 'cut the cord' as we say in French when a boy remains too long dependent on his mum. Bob Dylan on the first plane is thinking about what it takes to reach his goal only by himself. Just on his left Bacchus and his bacchanalia will show him the good side of the emancipation, but first he has to 'kill the father.'
Beginning with Elvis laying down in his swimming trunks in Hawaii, like the young David, he will have to fight his opponents with courage using tricks and weapons. Many times, he will remember his mother who blessed him when he left and as soon as his trip really begins he will have a look at the door he has to close behind him, and take a deep breath before he enters the purifying waters.
I copied David from a picture I had of a bronze by Donatello. I had just visited the city of Firenze (Florence, Italy) and the museum Palazzo Bargello. When I saw the statue, I felt like I was meeting again someone I used to know... I felt a lot of affection for this little David.
At the Uffizi Gallery I also had the same feeling when I saw the painting by Caravaggio of a young "mischievous" Bacchus. So It gave me the great need to start a painting with Bacchus and David and the idea to add Bob Dylan came as an evident link to David. At the back, the Virgin Mary is a copy of The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci. As I have, first of all, an Italian background I have a lot of affinity with the Italian painters.
Thanks for making me have this look back at my beginning.
* * * *
Related Links
French Artist Claude-Angele BONI Explains Two Dylan-Inspired Treasures
Fun With Collage: Claude-Angele BONI's Lily, Rosemarie and the Jack of Hearts, Vers. 1 & 2
This week is Duluth Dylan Fest
Many events this week will be streaming.
Duluth Dylan Fest Links
www.duluthdylanfest.com
Friday, May 21, 2021
Flashback Friday: The Case for Celebrating Dylan's Home Town
Don't Look Back (Avail. as print or original) |
"There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed..."
Hibbing, MN, in recent years began to capitalize on this notion of place with regard to Dylan, creating an annual celebration called Dylan Days. And it's about time, because a lot of people want a time and place for seeing the school auditorium where Dylan first played, and the surrounding neighborhood he grew up in.
Included in this email was the link to a 22 minute film he created based on the 1966 Dylan concert in Manchester's Free Trade Hall. The film is essentially three men reminiscing about that critical juncture in Dylan's career when he careened into a new path, going electric, which many fans thought was a betrayal of his own ethos.
"My interest in the Free Trade Hall 1966 stemmed from my interest in the notion of place and its link to music and emotion (my first degree was in Geography.) The film is dedicated to my friend Ruth Schmidt with whom I wrote three Dylan related papers on that topic. Ruth loved Dylan and her adopted city of Manchester. She passed away on May 17 2011 – the 45th anniversary of the concert and every time I go past the FTH I think of her."
Message to Duluth: Remember, these visitors are emotion-driven customers who spend without thinking. Duluth and Hibbing deserve the same recognition as Memphis and Nashville, don'tcha think? Have a great day!
Duluth Dylan Fest Links
www.duluthdylanfest.com
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Dylan Weighs In on the Disease of Conceit
From the disease of conceit
Whole lot of people struggling tonight
From the disease of conceit
Comes right down the highway
Straight down the line
Rips into your senses
Through your body and your mind
Nothing about it that’s sweet
The disease of conceit
And when he sees his reflection, he’s fulfilled
Oh, man is opposed to fair play
He wants it all and he wants it his way
Narcissus by Caravaggio |
--Our Inner Conflicts, p. 97
That the doctors got no cure
They’ve done a lot of research on it
But what it is, they’re still not sure
From the disease of conceit
Whole lot of people seeing double tonight
From the disease of conceit
Give ya delusions of grandeur And a evil eye
Give you the idea that
You’re too good to die
Then they bury you from your head to your feet
From the disease of conceit
The Metamorphosis of Narcissus (Salvador Dali) Tate Museum © Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/DACS, London 2020 |
Oscar Wilde's ironic twist on the myth of Narcissus
And when they saw that the pool had changed from a cup of sweet waters into a cup of salt tears, they loosened the green tresses of their hair, and cried to the pool, and said: "We do not wonder that you should mourn in this manner for Narcissus, so beautiful was he."
"But was Narcissus beautiful?" said the pool
"Who should know better than you?" answered the Oreads. "Us did he ever pass by, but you he sought for, and would lie on your banks and look down at you, and in the mirror of your waters he would mirror his own beauty."
And the pool answered: "But I loved Narcissus because, as he lay on my banks and looked down at me, in the mirror of his eyes I saw my own beauty mirrored."