The 2021 A to Z Dylan Digression

Bob Dylan Way Manhole Cover

I recently visited the blog of a friend from Texas who had an interesting "concept" for her blog themes for a period of time and a half time. That theme was called the 2021 A to Z Challenge. It worked the way prompts do for writers. In her case the first day of the challenge was to write about some that began with the letter A, followed the next day by a B themed topic. 

This triggered the notion that I should do an A to Z Dylan Challenge. The problem for me would be that I have so many other things I want to share that I was certain to deviate from any plan that stretched more than a few days.

This led me to conceive of the 2021 A to Z Dylan Digression. Instead of writing 26 blog posts going forward, I thought maybe it would be fun to come up with 26 topics from the past. Most of these are things I've written over the years. A few are links to songs themselves. The letters are my fetters.

A -- Art -- Dylan Mural in Minneapolis

B -- Bootleg: More Blood, More Tracks

C -- Changes

D -- Duluth Dylan Fest

E -- Every Grain of Sand

F -- Freewheelin'

G -- Grateful Dead: Influence

H -- Heaven's Door

I -- I Shall Be Free #10

J -- John Bushey, Host of Highway 61 Revisited

K -- Knockin' On Heaven's Door

L -- Love & Theft 

M -- Masked & Anonymous

N -- Nashville Cats

O -- Oh Mercy

P -- Performed Literature  

Q -- Queen Jane Approximately

R -- Ramona

S -- Shakespeare

T -- Twist of Fate 

U -- Umbrella

V -- Visions of Johanna

W -- Watchtower

X -- Extras*

Y -- You Angel You 

Z -- Zanzinger

* Wasn't sure what to do with the X. Got any ideas?

Duluth Dylan Fest is 11 days away. Here is a link to the schedule.

Local Art Seen: A to Z at the PRØVE

Last night I peered into the Prøve Gallery's current exhibition TYPES: An Exploration of Typography, and imaginative celebration of the letters of our language. Each of the 15 artists selected a letter or pair of letters and generated images that conceptually corresponded. The list of artists included Andrea Campos (AB), Mike Davis (CD), Flo Matamoros (EF), Cody Paulson/Taylor Bjork (GH) Scott Fuller (IJ), Jake Durham (J), Tommy Kronquist (KL), Luke Lieske (MN), Samantha Villavicencio (OP), Joni Van Bockle (QR), Stephen Pestalozzi (ST), Emily Mohrbacher (UV), Jaco Walker (WX) and Tyler Johnson (YZ).

With the alphabet writ large across the length of the gallery I couldn't help but think of Gary Belhower's poem First Song which he recited at the poetry event during Homegrown in June.

Prøve Gallery, located at 21 No. Lake Avenue on the ground floor of the Sons of Norway Building, is open Thursdays thru Saturdays from 4-7 p.m. The Prøve is currently on a Member Drive seeking once a year donations. Having recently received 501c recognition, your donations are now tax deductible. Details here are the gallery website.

Cody Paulson and Taylor Bjork re-created their favorite font, Futura Light, in two mediums, as a printed poster, the 1200 pt "G" and as a 3437 pt "H" that you can sit on. Cushion not included.

Jaco Walker's engraved axe heads were awesome.

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Of Note: Jeffrey T. Larson is giving an artist talk this afternoon at the Tweed Museum of Art from 2 - 4 p.m. on the UMD campus.  ALSO the Armory Annex has a Fire Festival from 3 - 9 p.m. with the local Forging community, glass arts, fire dancers, return of the Snoodle and more. Martin DeWitt's opening at the Zeitgeist will be Monday evening. Visit my calendar of July happenings post from last weekend for other dates and spaces where you can see local art here in the Twin Ports.

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Meantime, life goes on all around you. Engage it!

Sunday Morning A to Z: A Dylan Digression

All Along The Watchtower  (2257)
Ballad For A Friend   (0)
Cold Irons Bound  (423)
Day of the Locusts  (0)
Every Grain of Sand  (185)
Farewell, Angelina  (0)
Gates of Eden  (217)
Heart of Mine  (46)
I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine  (39)
Jokerman  (157)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door  (460)
Lay, Lady Lay  (407)
Marchin' to the City  (0)
No Time To Think  (0)
One Too Many Mornings  (237)
Pledging My Time  (21)
Queen Jane Approximately  (76)
Roll On John  (2)
Seven Curses  (2)
Tell Ol' Bill  (0)
Unbelievable  (29)
Visions of Johanna  (215)
What Was It You Wanted  (22)
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go   (12)
Z   (0)

Duluth Dylan Fest Armory Arts and Music Center Benefit Concert

Information and tickets here.