Official 2021 Duluth Dylan Fest Schedule Announced

"I was young when I left home..."

Details for the 2021 Duluth Dylan Fest have now been released. This will be the 11th annual DDF here in the Twin Ports where Robert Allen Zimmerman was born. The annual week-long celebration will run from May 22 - 30 in conjunction with Bob Dylan's 80th birthday.

Whereas last year's Fest was restricted to 5 online events due to the global pandemic, this year will be a hybrid mix of live and virtual events.  As DDF Committee Chair Zane Bail explains it in the official announcement, “With Bob Dylan turning 80, the committee wanted to pull out all the stops. Unfortunately, during the planning stages there were few assurances that a live Dylan Fest could take place. Compromises were made in the interest of public safety.  We are excited to have a host of virtual and in-person opportunities.” 

The week of events for Duluth Dylan Fest 2021 will begin with a tour of Bob Dylan sites on Saturday morning, May 22. Highlights of the week will include numerous live-streamed events as well as several in person outdoor gatherings celebrating the music of Bob Dylan. David Engel, author of Bob Zimmerman’s Blue: Bob Dylan in Minnesota, will give this year’s John Bushey Memorial Lecture.  

The streaming events have the benefit of sharing the week's events with new fans who have not been able to attend in the past.

Nov. 1979 -- Photo Bill Pagel

A major highlight of the fest this year is the new Duluth Does Dylan project featuring an incredible line-up of local and regional musicians including, One Less Guest, Rich Mattson and the Northstars, Colleen Myhre, and Paul Metsa.  Tim Nelson, co-producer of the five Duluth Does Dylan record compilations with Tom Fabjance shared, “It's been a blast and super fulfilling to produce the latest Duluth Does Dylan, especially since this year's compilation will commemorate Bob’s 80th birthday and will be released as part of the 2021 Duluth Dylan Fest. It's been 20 years since the first Duluth Does Dylan record was released. The latest compilation again features an incredible line-up of Duluth-centric musicians and I'm excited for people to hear it."

 

2021 Duluth Dylan Fest Schedule

Saturday, May 22

Tour of Bob Dylan Sites in Duluth
Armory Arts & Music Center Annex
1305 London Road, Duluth
9:00 AM | Free

Highway 61 Revisited Radio Show
KUMD 103.3 FM
5:00-6:00 PM | Free

Bob Dylan Revue Livestream Concert from Sacred Heart Music Center
Streaming link to come
7:00-8:30 PM

Sunday, May 23

Dylan Fest Acoustic Jam Session
with host Leslie Black
Bring your instruments and/or voice
Earth Rider Festival Field
1617 N 3rd St., Superior, WI
1:00-4:00 PM | Tickets on Eventbrite

Hard Rain: Bob Dylan and The Band Tribute Band 
Livestream from the Sky Line Lounge in Ballwin, MO
Streaming link to come
7:00-9:00 PM | Free

Monday, May 24

Bob Dylan Front Porch Birthday Party 

with live music by Greg Tiburzi
Dylan childhood home
519 N. 3rd Ave. East. Duluth
1:00-2:00 PM | Free

Highway 61 Revisited Radio Show
KUMD 103.3 FM
5:00-6:00 PM | Free

Duluth Dylan Fest Party
With music by Cowboy Angel Blue
Earth Rider Festival Field
1617 N 3rd St., Superior, WI
5:00-8:00 PM | Tickets on Eventbrite

Tuesday, May 25

Dylan Fest Happy Hour with Heaven’s Door Whiskey: 
A look behind Bob Dylan’s Whiskey brand and stories in between
Livestream on Zoom
5:00-5:30 PM | Free

Duluth Dylan Fest Song From the North Country Songwriter Contest Announcement
Live on Zoom
7:00-7:30 PM | Free

Wednesday, May 26

Dylan Fest Poetry Contest Event
Livestream via Zoom
6:30-8:00 PM | Free

Greg Tiburzi Sings Dylan
Valentini’s Bistro
4960 Miller Trunk Hwy, Duluth,
6:00-8:00 PM

Thursday, May 27

Dylan Fest Livestream from 2104 with Luke LeBlanc
6:30-8:00 PM | Free

Friday, May 28

Duluth Does Dylan Concert
Earth Rider Fest Grounds
1617 N 3rd St., Superior, WI
6:00-9:00 PM | Tickets on Eventbrite

Saturday, May 29

John Bushey Memorial Lecture
featuring Dave Engel, author of Just Like Bob Zimmerman’s Blues: Dylan in Minnesota Livestream from the Zeitgeist Teatro Zuccone
Streaming link to come
1:30–3:00 PM | Free

Highway 61 Revisited Radio Show
KUMD 103.3 FM
5:00-6:00 PM | Free

Bob Dylan Revue Concert
Earth Rider Festival Field
1617 N 3rd St., Superior, WI
6:00-9:00 PM | Tickets on Eventbrite 

Sunday, May 30

Song From the North Country Songwriter Contest Showcase
featuring Shane Nelson
Earth Rider Fest Grounds
1617 N 3rd St., Superior, WI
2:00-4:00 PM | Tickets on Eventbrite

Dylan Fest Livestream with Danny Fox
Streaming link to come
5:30-6:30 PM | Free

Blowin' in the Wind. Acrylic, 24"x 36" -- Ed Newman.

For interviews or more information:

Zane Bail, Duluth Dylan Fest Committee Member 218-393-7438

Ed Newman, Duluth Dylan Fest Committee Member 218-341-0480

Tim Nelson, Duluth Does Dylan Co-producer 218-348-4557

About the Duluth Dylan Fest

The Duluth Dylan Fest’s mission is to celebrate the spirit of artistic freedom, intellectual honesty and integrity of Duluth’s native son, Bob Dylan.  The Fest is dedicated to showcasing Duluth’s vibrant art scene.  The group of volunteers is committed to providing creative events that tap the talents of artists, poets, and musicians in Duluth and surrounding region.

www.bobdylanway.com

www.duluthdylanfest.com

www.facebook.com/duluthdylanfest/

Links to the Livestream events will be posted

on DuluthDylanFest.com and our Facebook page.

Boomchucks Drummer Brad Nelson Talks About Life, Music and Duluth Dylan Fest

I met Brad Nelson through our mutual involvement with Duluth Dylan Fest. It's interesting how much we interact with people without really knowing them. I'd known of his former involvement with the Brewhouse, of course, and that he was the younger brother of Tim Nelson, former co-owner of the same (and several other local eating establishments) with Rod Raymond. I knew he was also a drummer with the Boomchucks, who annually changed their name to The Freewheelers to entertain during Duluth Dylan Fest. But when I learned recently about his involvement with the U.S. Olympic Skiing Team, I suddenly felt a desire to share his story, in part that I would myself learn more about this Director of Information & Propaganda and all things publicity for Duluth Does Dylan.

EN: Where did you and Tim grow up and how did you end up in Duluth?
Brad Nelson: We were born in Duluth. My dad is from here and my mom moved here to take a social work position. But we moved to Brainerd when I was six and we grew up there. My dad took a job teaching auto mechanics at the Brainerd Technical College. My parents bought a little farm where we kept a horse, rabbits, chickens, a dog and cat, and several veggie gardens.

EN: Were you both skiers?
BN: Yes, we are both skiers. I decided to join the ski team when I was in 7th grade and talked my brother into doing it with me. The sport ended up changing both of our lives. I still think of it as the most "punk rock" of sports because it's hard as can be, arguably the most physically demanding sport there is, but kids at school used to make fun of us, calling us "forest fairies" and stuff like that. Taking on that challenge made us the opposite of cool. I guess that fit me. 

EN: How did you come to be involved with the Duluth Dylan Fest committee? 

BN: Jamie (Ness), Jim Hall and I played a couple of the early Bob Dylan birthday parties, which were simple gatherings at a brewpub with birthday cake and us playing Dylan covers in the corner. I don't know why, but I approached the organizing committee and asked them for their thoughts about growing the event into a weeklong festival. It was just one of those things where I thought something should happen and seeing the idea come to life was the drive. Everyone on the committee was on board and the rest is history.

EN: You're also a drummer in the Boomchucks, with Jamie Ness. When did you take up drums and how did the Boomchucks get started?
BN: When Tim was in 7th grade and I was in 4th he asked for a drum kit for his birthday. He was gifted a beat up two-piece drum kit that changed our lives. We spent hours in our shared bedroom learning the beats to songs, just playing along. But we also started writing our own songs from the start and called ourselves The Apollo Rockers. We would write songs and put on concerts for our parents, sister, aunts, uncles, pets... anyone that would listen. I still remember some of the songs we wrote. At first Tim usually played the drums and I was the singer. But after a while we started taking turns.

I played the trumpet in the school band. Drums were something I enjoyed because they belonged completely to me. I didn't have to worry about being correct, I could just play. I still think of myself as more of a "musician" than a "drummer," if that makes any sense. I really care more about the song and how to breathe life into it than I do about being a technically great drummer. Of course those things overlap all over the place, but that's how I approach it.

I've known Jamie a long time, I think we met in 1999. We crossed paths musically a couple times early on, even though he was living in Minneapolis and starting to stand out in that scene as a City Pages "Picked to Click" artist. We recorded together for the first time on the first Duluth Does Dylan CD 15 years ago. In 2006, after Jamie had moved back to his hometown (Duluth). We somehow started talking about musical influences and decided we should play together. We sort of had in mind Johnny Cash "Live at Folsom Prison," lots of train beats, almost a punk-rock country sound. The collaboration has been important to me on a lot of levels. Jamie remains one of my most important friends and playing music with him has been a huge part of my life for the past decade.

EN: Who have been the prime movers behind the Duluth Does Dylan CDs?
BN: Tim somehow came up with that idea as a way to document and market the Duluth music scene. Tom Fabjance jumped on board right away and the two worked together on it. That was 2001. They have consistently created a CD every five years since, for a total of four. I wrote the liner notes for the first CD as the publisher of the Ripsaw, Duluth's alt weekly at the time. I helped Tim and Tom more on the latest effort, "Bringing It All Back To Duluth Does Dylan."

Tom has been a huge but quiet influence on Duluth's music community. Few people realize he has a gold record as the engineer for the Smashing Pumpkins "Gish" record. He moved to Ashland to start his family and has since worked for Big Top Chautauqua, Trampled By Turtles, and many more. He's going out on the road with the Manhattan Transfer this winter. We're lucky to have him involved.

Midpoint, BOTT Express, "home" of the Freewheelers.*

EN: Where did the idea for the Blood On The Tracks Express come from?
BN: When the Duluth Dylan Fest was coming up with ideas to extend the festival I stole the idea from previous chartered trains, like the Halloween "Terror Train." Creating a Dylan-themed train seemed like an ideal fit as trains loom large in Americana music—and Dylan's songs are no exception.

EN: Why is Dylan important to you personally?
BN: I was weened on Americana music, it's just incredibly sentimental to me. My dad had an awesome record collection of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and stuff like that. Dylan wasn't played as much but it was around. As I started to grow beyond 80s punk rock and then 90s indie rock and was able to understand Dylan's music better, it occurred to me that he was as punk rock as they come only with less distortion. "Masters of War," for example, is a punch in the face. It just blew me away by how hard it was. But a lot of my Dylan discovery has been through playing his music with Jamie, listening to John Bushey's radio show "Highway 61 Revisited," and being a part of the Duluth Dylan Fest. Of course the more I've delved in the more important his music has become for different reasons at different times, like "Threw It All Away" a couple years back.

Besides being artistically inspiring, Dylan is a legend that was born where I was born, he drank the same water and breathed the same air. It's helpful to remember that everyone comes from somewhere. I hate the term "local musician" because it lowers the bar for the musician and the listener in terms of what's expected, like the audience should prepare to hear mediocrity. I guess Dylan turns the term "local musician" on its head in an inspiring way. I try to bring that mindset to everything I tackle, that it's possible to contribute to what's come before no matter who you are and where you come from.

* * * *
Thanks, Brad. May you stay forever young.

* One evening each year the Boomchucks perform as The Freewheelers during Duluth Dylan Fest.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Duluth Does Dylan Birthday Bash at the Rex

Scenes from the Duluth Does Dylan  Birthday Bash at the Rex, May 24

Friends, Romans, Countrymen... Lend us your ears.

Fans from near and afar all gathered together to celebrate this special occasion... 

@ the CD release party, Bringing It All Back Home To Duluth.

The Players

Happy Birthday, Bob

* * * 

Here's where you can purchase Duluth Does Dylan IV

And if you need further convincing that this is a Must Add to your collection, 

here's my review of this very fine offering.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.

Bringing It All Back To Duluth Does Dylan -- Inspired Local Musicians Step Up Their Game

Although we heard poets, saw artwork and films, and experienced events last week, what really struck me was how much great music we heard during Duluth Dylan Fest. One of the highlights was Tuesday's CD release party for Bringing It All Back to Duluth Does Dylan. The party took place at the Rex, featuring most of the bands who recorded this year's 15 tracks for the CD. It was like a week of Homegrown compressed into a handful of hours.

I can't say enough about this latest CD. This is the fourth Duluth Does Dylan, a new one released every five years. And it is sensational. Local painter Adam Swanson created the cover art, with liner notes by Dylan archivist Bill Pagel. Referring to this series of CDs, Pagel writes, "These albums have, in a sense, become a time-capsule of the growing and ever-changing Duluth music scene over the past 15 years. Contrary to what some believe, Bob Dylan is both proud and fond of his roots in northern Minnesota. Duluth is proud of its local artists and musicians. This latest CD is a tribute to Duluth's musicians and the music of Dylan, who many consider one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century (and into this 21st century.)"

Here's my attempt to convey a sense of the songs as performed this fourth time around.

Boomchucks Maggie's Farm
The Boomchucks version of Maggie's Farm has become a familiar feature of their Two Harbors performances during the annual Blood on the Tracks Express. Jamie Ness and Brad Nelson rename themselves as the Freewheelers one night a year, but we all know who they are. Brad Nelson batters his drum kit with machine-gun efficiency, energizing whole enclaves to move their feet. Their popular for the force of their driving rhythms. Is rock about anger? Not necessarily. Not they way they play it. It's explosive and fun. For this album they were joined by Erik Berry (of Trampled By Turtles) and Dicky Brooks.

Dave Simonett ~ Boots of Spanish Leather
Heartfelt is all I can say. A wonderful rendition, with musical accompaniment by Lee Martin, Nathan Weiler, Russell Sackett and Brad Nelson. A favorite among favorites.

Murder of Crows ~ One Too Many Mornings

Gaelynn Lea with Alan Sparhawk

Alan Sparhawk's various bands remind me of the inimitable Lon Chaney, Hollywood's "Man of a Thousand Faces." His pairing up with Gaelynn Lea to form The Murder of Crows has produced another sound that translates One Too Many Mornings into the most sublime lament.

Devil's Flying Machine ~ Quinn the Eskimo
Charlie Parr is one of a kind, laying down a grinding undercurrent of churning energy. Here he is joined by Christian McShane and David Frankenfeld.

The Social Animals ~ I Want You
Dedric Clark reproduces that quavering voice of unmet need. The band (Tony Petersen, Boyd Smith, Roger Whittet) revives this Blonde On Blonde classic with style.

Tin Can Gin ~ Subterranean Homesick Blues
Fiddling and jammin', riddling, pickin' and grinnin'. This song's a fun one, and Tin Can Gin was up for it. "You better jump down a manhole, light yourself a candle... The pump don’t work ’Cause the vandals took the handles."

Timothy Martin & the New Norm ~ Like A Rolling Stone
Daring to tackle the classic like this takes stones. They do it well. Timothy Martin is backed by the big sound of Brian Wells, Peter Knutson, Russell Sackett, Dicky Brooks, Rio Daugherty and Bryan Johnson.

Feeding Leroy ~ Billy 1

These folks played the acoustic car last week on the Blood on the Tracks Express, and they will be performing with Mama's Stolen Horses at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum on Thursday July 21. They're clearly in a good groove when they weave their vocals, steel guitar and melodic strings into delicate harmonies. Some nice harmonica licks, too. "Billy, you're so far away from home." Sonja Bjordal, Lee and Luke Martin, Adam Staupe.

The Social Disaster ~ Going, Going Gone
Song selections are fascinating on this CD. Two cuts were taken from Dylan's 1974 album Planet Waves. Though several of his mid-1960's albums established Dylan's reputation, Planet Waves was actually his first album to touch #1 on the charts. Rachel Phoenix, Jacob Swanson, Ryan Nelson, Jake Larson, Jesse Hoheisel.

Superior Siren ~ Isis

These women also played in the acoustic car on the BOTT Express. Many of the selections for this year's CD are lesser known or unexpected. Isis hails from Dylan's 1976 album Desire, featuring the violin accompaniment of Scarlet Rivera. Superior Siren features strings and a drummer with a light touch. Laura Sellner, Rachel Gobin, Nyssa Krause and Emma Deaner.

Space Carpet ~ Things Have Changed
An unusual sci-fi ambience opens this song and provides an undulating undercurrents as Space Carpet gives us a suitably dystopian vibe, dark and amorphic. "People are crazy and things are strange, I'm locked in tight and out of range... I used to care, but things have changed.." Rory Isakson, Jen West, Steve Isakson, Ken Thiemann, Tyler Dubla.

Actual Wolf ~ Something There Is About You
This is the second cut extracted from Planet Waves, and indeed it rouses. Furthermore, this is one songs with an undisguised reference to the town where Dylan was born.... walking the hills of Duluth. Yes, all Duluth snakes along hillsides, with fabulous vistas wherever you let it take you. Actual Wolf brings a sparkling kind of sound into the mix here, and it's easy to lean right into it. Eric Pollard, Steve Garrington, Russell Sackett and Alan Sparhawk.

Wood Blind ~ Million Dollar Bash
Another more than pleasant surprise. Million Dollar Bash has never received a treatment like this, and how it soars when interpreted by this lively component of the Duluth music scene. Don't know Jason and Veikko? This piece alone should make you buy this CD.

Mary Bue ~ Desolation Row
Now I've always loved Mary Bue's music. Her live performances always add brightness to any setting. She's a more than capable performer and very popular here in the Midwest, but her self-assured interpretation of Desolation Row is inexplicably strong. Every line is delivered with such piercing authenticity. So tell us, Mary, what new insights have you gained by performing such a classic as this? Bue is backed by Kyle McLean, Zac Bentz, Heather and Scott Millis and Brett Molitor.

The Weary Tunesmiths ~ Lay Down Your Weary Tune

Though not previously familiar with the Tunesmiths by this name, I'm quite familiar with a number of the players.  What a perfect summation for this fabulous collection. The song has an anthem-like quality here that lifts the soul. Each vocalist rises up with solo renditions and then gets joined by a chorus of harmonies that can literally bring tears. Such perfect splendor, glorious and majestic. If only humanity's seas would unite in such harmony.

Struck by the sounds before the sun
I knew the night had gone
The morning breeze like a bugle blew
Against the drums of dawn

I keep thinking, how did one man write so many great songs? And then, how truly wonderful that this next generation of musicians is taking up these anthems.

The Tunesmiths are comprised of Rich Mattson, Germaine Gemberling, Tim Saxhaug, Marc Gartman, Eric Pollard and Russell Sackett. Rich & Germaine also performed at Saturday night's concert at Sacred Heart.

The album is dedicated "In honor of John Bushey, host of KUMD 103.3's Highway 61 Revisited Radio Show for 25 years and counting." You can find out more and purchase your own copy here at duluthdoesdylan.com/

* * * *
Noteworthy News Item: A very special concert, aptly titled the Rolling Thunder Reunion, is taking place at Weber Hall Saturday July 23 featuring Eric Anderson and Scarlet Rivera. Tickets on sale here. The concert is a fund raiser for the Armory Arts & Music Center. More stories about Eric and Scarlet coming soon.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Don't forget the DuSu Film Festival.  It's Free.

PHOTO CREDITS: The Weary Tunesmiths photo and the Lea/Sparhawk image were borrowed from their Facebook pages without permission. Permissions and photo credit will hopefully be acquired soon. 

All Along the Watchtower, Revisited

Every Sunday evening Carmody's Pub in Downtown Duluth offers up a trivia contest, and this week was no exception. Being that we're in the middle of our North Country Dylan Celebration, the theme was properly oriented to the man whose 72nd birthday is being honored this week.

Twenty-five multiple choice questions were presented, and as last year many were pertained to exceedingly obscure details from the life of our contemporary bard. One in particular produced an especially amusing answer. The moderator, a bearded fellow suitably named McKinnon (this being an Irish pub), had asked the question, "Which Dylan song has he played more than any other?" The answer, if you wish to verify, can be found at www.bobdylan.com where the lyrics of every Dylan song can be found, along with the number of times each has been played in concert. Several, like Ballad of a Thin Man and Highway 61 Revisted have been played more than a thousand times, 1082 and 1780 respectively. But none exceeds All Along the Watchtower, which Dylan has played in concert 2,125 times to date. 

It was comical to overhear a group of young people say somewhat confusedly, "But that's a Hendrix song." It has to make you smile.

Hewitt Station performing All Along the Watchtower.

Last night Duluth Dylan Days moved to Beaners Central for an open mic night. Singer/songwriters were invited to sing a Dylan tune and one of their own compositions. Hewitt Station hosted, opening with a gravelly Girl from the North Country. Later in the program Hewitt sang a heartfelt rendition of All Along the Watchtower and one couldn't help but be reminded of the evening before.

* * * 

If anyone is interested in simply studying the poetry of Bob Dylan, that is, to study his songs and their lyrics as poetry, I commend to you John Hinchey's Like A Complete Unknown. Hinchey at one time taught literature at Swarthmore College. He brings insights that often might escape the casually listener, especially in the more surreal and ambiguous songs.

What Dylan does that many (if not most) great writers do, is to derive insight and imagery from direct observations of literal, concrete things. His language, however, explodes with splashes and starbursts of creative exuberance.

Hinchey himself is a vibrant writer, so writer-critic meets songwriter-artist in this 270 page overview of Dylan's poetry from 1961-1969. Hinchey stated his intention to write four subsequent volumes, a decade by decade panoramic overview of the tapestry that Dylan has woven with words.

Hinchey called Dylan's John Wesley Harding album "the comeback of all comebacks." It is an album very different from his previous series of in your face snarl and vim, following on the heels of Blonde On Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited. This was not my favorite Dylan album at the time, in part because I didn't care for the recording quality. It felt thin. But the songs have plenty of meat.

The most evocative song in this collection, and most memorable in part because of Jimi Hendrix's wonderfully haunting rendition, is All Along the Watchtower. From the first line, it carries you into a vivid sandstorm of expectation.

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

"There must be some way out of here" said the joker to the thief.
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief

Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth

None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.”

"No reason to get excited", the thief he kindly spoke.

"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke;

But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,

So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view

While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,

Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

Copyright ©1968; renewed 1996 Dwarf Music

So, what does it mean? Here we are forty-five years later and the song still intrigues. Who are the joker and the thief? What is the moment in time that is being defined here? 

There are a variety of websites where song meanings are discussed. Some of the interpretations of songs are quite amusing, but a brisk read often unveils new glimmers of light for previously shadowed text. Songs like Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harem or Horse Latitudes by the Doors will bring on interesting comments. So does this song, wrapped in mystery as it is.

For me it's the first line that gets you. "There must be some way out of here..." Out of these circumstance? Out of this corner I've painted myself into? Out of this world and it's sorrows? The next line unveils a little more. Confusion. "I can't get no relief." The situation is a conundrum that toys with his mind.

Hinchey sees the joker and the thief as representing the sacred and profane parts of his Dylan the trickster, "mythic master of limits and boundaries." Hinchey writes that the difference between the two, both here and elsewhere in Dylan's work, "is that the joker merely evades limits; the thief finds ways to render them permeable."

The commentary in Hinchey's book is too lengthy to re-record here. Needless to say that he and others writing of the song see in it an "apocalyptic moment" toward which this scene is leading. I myself get mesmerized by how much vivid content this tightly coiled song contains while still remaining shrouded.

What follows here is an alternative shade of interpretation from one of the websites I noted where people share their attempts to explain lyrics. This was posted by someone with the handle eveland on 11-30-2004.

I remember reading an article about this song when it first came out (I believe 1968) by Paul Williams in Crawdaddy magazine, which was a cheaply produced, but very serious, intellectual magazine published by Williams. The thing that stuck with me from the article was that Williams compared the structure of the song to a moebius strip (because the starting point of the lyrics is actually in the middle of the song & the song opens with the middle part of the lyrics) & felt it gave the song a claustrophobic feel (because you come into it & leave it in the middle). The starting point would be "All along the watchtower" & then after the line "Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl", the next line would be "There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief", the joker & the thief being the two riders who were approaching, of course. This makes perfect sense to me & seems right. As far as the actual meaning, my own opinion is that it's a philosophical piece about how one finds meaning in a chaotic & very imperfect world. The joker sees this world & can't take it seriously because it's so false & is depressed because he can't find a way to make sense of it. The thief has come to this same realization in his past, but has found a way to move beyond it & create his own meaning. So it is, in effect, a parable about existentialism. Or maybe I'm totally wrong... 

As I was saying, the song toys with your mind. Pure Dylan.

Tonight you will not want to miss Dylan movie and music night at Redstar Lounge at Fitgers. John Bushey has assembled an underground film collage of live Dylan performance which will be shared beginning at 8:00 p.m. Music by Snobarn to follow. Celebrate with us.