Comments in Response to Dylan Singing Hard Rain at Town Hall, 1963

Painting by the author. Acrylic on panel, 36"x 24" $300

For sheer entertainment value, one of the best features of many online publications is the "Comments" section that follows many articles we read. Reason magazine, The Unherd and others have some pretty invigorating tussles. 

YouTube likewise enables comments as well. Reading them can tell you a lot about an an artist and his work. Last night I was listening to a few of Dylan classics from the early 60s and reading the comments. Here are some comments I gleaned from the 1148 comments on the video A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall {Live at Town Hall 1963}, one of Dylan's most significant concerts from his early career.

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I'm a 17 year old from England and I think Dylan is simply the greatest and no one will ever come close to him in terms of song writing. I saw him live back in November and it was one of the best experiences of my life (see a video on my channel). Long live Bob

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73 years old and I still get chills listening to his lyrics and the comfort knowing that there are people who actually see what is in front of them.

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"I met one man who was wounded in love, I met another man who was wounded in hatred." My favorite lyric of all time.

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I was there in Newport sitting on the wall at Freebody Park in '63 when he sang "Blowin' in the wind" for the first time on stage. Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seger and all accompanied him. It turned out to be so monumental. He dedicated it to Megar Evans. I was 12.

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the most visionary song ever and fifty years later it's still one of the greatest poems ever sung

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He was only 22 years old... How can you write such a masterpiece this young ? Definitely one of his top work in terms of poetry.

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My Gosh. I love some of Bob Dylan's later stuff but his early stuff is so raw and soulful. His voice is amazing. I don't know why people say he can't sing. Gives me shivers.

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The first time I heard the last verse from "And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it.." to the end it gave me chills down my spine to the tips of my toes. The clarity and vividness of his vision takes my breath away every time. The song up to that point is like waves slowly building, one greater than the one before, until it all comes crashing down as Dylan brings us from the past into the present, him standing in front of us "reflecting from the mountain."

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No matter when this song was written, its significance is residual and always relevant. Bob is such a genius.

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When i hear the applause at the end of this song, those folks had witnessed an event. Not an event like a concert or other gathering of people, but an historical event. A summary point in time usually reserved for great leaders to give a needed oratory of inspiration. Instead a young poet/troubadour steps up and delivers a performance so important they just don't clap, they are cheering. I can hear incredulity in their voices as not believing what they have just seen and heard they go bananas.

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It never fails to amaze & send shivers down my spine when i hear this recording, amazed that Bob wrote this at such a tender young age, it's no wonder that the force of nature that was/is Jimi Hendrix held him in such awe, Peace.

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Related Link 51 Years of Hard Rain

There's an immense quantity of Dylan material on YouTube. If you've never scanned the comments, this aim here is to prod you to do so. I especially enjoy seeing both teens and seniors sharing the same enthusiasm for Dylan's work.

EdNote: I do not know the protocol with regards to sharing other peoples' comments, whether I am supposed to identify them or leave them anonymous. I hotlinked the name of the video when I identified it above. Fwiw, it was posted by Jack Frost's alter ego Elston Gunn.

Photos and a Note from Glasgow as Dylan's Never Ending Tour Leaves Fans Warmed in the British Isles

Bob and his band at the Clyde in Glasgow.

This week I read that 81% of all statistics are made up, so last night I wrote an article tentatively titled An Alphabet Soup of Made Up Statistics. Not sure when I'll share it, but for now it's something I'll keep in my back pocket, Betty Davis style.

This is a Dylan-themed post because we're one week out from Duluth's 2017 Dylan Fest celebration. Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot have both notified us that they will be unable to attend, sending their condolences in a letter that we may or may not read during the Singer/Songwriter Contest on Friday evening, May 26 at the Clyde Iron Works here in Duluth.

How interesting that Dylan himself just last week played at the Clyde... in Glasgow.  The Clyde Auditorium that is. You can read the reviews here at Bill Pagel's Boblinks site.

The Clyde... Nicknamed the Armadillo by locals.

In April Bob Dylan and His Band kicked off yet another European tour, which they completed this week in Dublin. The first stop was Stockholm where he answered the question "will he or won't he?" He did and it was done, what he needed to do and received his Nobel Prize. From there the tour skipped about through Scandinavia, then down to the Continent, making a series of stops throughout Northern Europe -- Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium before hopping over to the British Isles.

Here are some stats from this spring fling across Europe: 22% of the those who attended have seen Dylan ten times or more. 13% of these have seen Dylan 100 times or more. 19% of those have seen Dylan 300 times or more. And a few of these have been here to the Northland for Duluth Dylan Fest.

The photos here are from the Glasgow concert, shared by Bill Macfarlane and Barbara Calder, who visited us here in 2015 during DDF. They wrote:

Bill M in his Bob Dylan Way T-Shirt by the NET Tour Bus.

We have been a huge fan of Bob for many years and in fact met Bill Pagel in Duluth in 2015 at the Dylan Fest. It was an awesome trip. My first concert was in around 1985 in London. I have seen Bob 24 times, twice in the USA, Spain, Prague, Austria and throughout Britain. The Glasgow Concert, I have to say, we thoroughly enjoyed all of it but the Highway 61 arrangement was especially good. My favourite Bob song is Sylvio and I am particularly enjoying the Triplicate album at the moment.

The venue is the first time we have attended a concert in that particular building and, yes, the acoustics were very good and the size was intimate. Glasgow has a few good venues that host many big stars of today. We live only a few miles from Glasgow city centre.,which took us only 30 minutes compared to November 2016 we flew to Clearwater, Florida and saw Bob's gig in the Ruth Eckert Hall. We also have a few of Bob's artworks from his Drawn Blank series, Brazil series and the newly released Beaten Path, so yes you could say we are huge fans.

This email from Scotland underscores why we include an art show in our Dylan Fest. The opening reception will be Monday, May 22 at the Zeitgeist Atrium. There will be some refreshments, and some new work by Daniel Botkin, along with pieces by several other artists including Kristi Abbott, a fave artist from Down Under whose Dylan design will be featured on crew-neck T-shirts available for sale next week. (Be sure to bring cash.)

Earlier this week I finalized the Trivia Contest which will be held again at Carmody's, Sunday night heading into the week. I'd worked on it over the winter and must have done it while feeling mean-spirited because it was just a little too difficult for the average passer-by, which would not have been a disaster since everyone participating would surely learn something new, as in minutia that might have little relevance to anyone's quality of life. In fact, I didn't even know some of the answers myself, and I've read about 25 books about Dylan. At the urging of friends I revised the questions so nearly anyone can play and not feel ashamed. And, as always, there will likely be some lovely parting gifts.

Looks like Robby and Bob are trading CDs. 

The official kick-off event is the concert at Karpeles Saturday, May 20: Robby Vee and His Rock 'N Roll Caravan, an Armory Arts & Music Center Benefit Concert. The acoustics are fabulous anywhere in the house. I considered buying two tickets so I could sit up front and sit in the balcony. Those balcony seats are stellar for sound. Purchase tickets here at Eventbrite.

Of Robby's dad, whom young Robert Z performed with as Elston Gunnn, Dylan once said, "Vee had an edgy tone to his voice as musical as a silver bell."

Robby sent word that, "We will be celebrating the earliest roots of Elston Gunnn aka Bob Dylan and my father's career, along with our good ol' foot stompin' style of rock n roll."

For what it's worth, I hope we see you there.

Special thanks to Bill and Barbara for the photos from Glasgow, and Robby Vee for the unposed snapshot at the end.