Flashback Friday: An Introduction to Gaming Cheats from the Wild West to the 21st Century: Magician Terry Roses

Writers need to be careful not to overuse words like astonishing and amazing and awesome. The reason being that one day you will encounter something that really is astonishing, amazing and awesome. This is what I experienced Saturday in the presence of Terry Roses.

Saturday I had the privilege of viewing a portion of Terry Roses' "laboratory of magic" and his various collections of rare books, cool geological items and remarkable (rare) gambling cheats. In addition I became a one-man audience to what are probably a few of his favorite, mind-blowing card tricks. Space and time will not permit me a full discourse on this visit, so I will save a portion for later this week.

Besides being a first-class professional magician, Roses is a collector and an inventor; his inventions are the result of an inquiring mind that never ceases from asking questions and delving deeper into the mysteries of perception.

But let's start with the cheating devices. As everyone knows, magic is all about deception. Magicians fool your eyes and your minds, and audiences love it. They know they are being deceived, but they don't really care.

On the other hand, no one wants to be deceived and cheated, whether playing poker with friends or gambling at a casino. Modern casinos make their fortunes by being above board, by creating honest gaming. True, the odds are always in their favor, but they tell you up front what the odds are and you play at your own risk. Nevertheless not everyone is so transparent, and it's not surprising to discover how many and varied are the ways people have cheated to win. A portion of Roses' collection is devoted to a variety of such items. In fact, Roses has a whole display case of such items.

For example, here is a roulette wheel that at one time was in operation at a private establishment. And here are a variety of dice cheats, including cheats for some of the popular Chinese games. In addition to his array of rigged dice, Roses owns some of the equipment for rigging dice.

There were contraptions from the Old West that show you how wild the Wild West really was. Check out this device for delivering a card you need from under your sleeve. It's one of the "holy grails" of cheating devices, produced by the Will & Finck Co.

Many of the cheats Roses discussed pertain to card games. Here, for example, is a pipe into which a mirror has been affixed to what appears to be a plug of tobacco. When the card sharp deals, the mirror enables him to see the cards everyone is receiving. This is but one of many clever devices designed to discover what your opponents have in their hands before you put money on the table.

Of course the most efficient way to know what your opponents have in their hands is to have marked cards that enable you to "read" what you're not supposed to see. This is one of Roses' specialties. 

Methods for marking cards fall into various categories and I get the impression this master has seen them all. I myself own a couple decks with markings coded into the artwork designs on the back, but Roses has seen batches of other systems. Some involve invisible printing that you can only see with special lenses or under UV light or polarized glasses. According to Rosen there's been a huge influx of marked cards like these from China over the past six years. I was shown examples in Roses' Invention Lab.

Various tools of the trade. Even the pretzel is a fake.

In addition to cards marked on their backs, I also saw cards marked on their edges with invisible infra red ink. Intriguing. And then I was shown a deck of cards with RFID sensors inside the individual cards. When dealt, an analyzing device voice would dictate into a miniature hearing device in the dealer's ear the value of each card being dealt. An insurmountable advantage for the cheater. 

No kidding. New technologies have raised the bar on what cheaters are capable of. When high stakes power games take place, and real money is on the line, you can bet that somebody is going to try to find a new way to shift the odds in their favor. 

Throughout the afternoon Roses kept asking, "Are you ready for the good stuff?" From the start it was all good stuff.

I never knew there were so many ways to rig dice. 

His stage name at one time had been The Honest Cheat, and he was good. He demonstrated numerous tricks that showed his abilities to be nearly supernatural. For example, he said pick a number. I said 12. He then cut the cards and handed me the smaller portion of the deck. I counted out the cards one at a time. There were twelve. He then said to pick a number between 1 and 52. I said 21. He cut the deck, handed a group of cards to me and I dealt them out, counting 1-2-3-4 etc. There were 21.

He showed me various ways to force the four aces to the top or bottom of the deck, and other ways to cause an audience to marvel. One trick went like this. He had me look at the deck and mentally select a card, which neither of us touched. He then spread the cards on the table and had me point while he was holding my wrist. He said that the muscles on my wrist would telegraph to him what card it was and, sure enough, when he stopped my hand my finger was pointing at my card. It had the feeling of something akin to a ouija board.

Terry Roses challenged the leading card sharks around the world to defeat him in a duel at the gaming table. You can see that his mind is perpetually inquisitive and his skills fine-tuned, so it's not surprising to learn that. One thing that he has going for him that is especially valuable. He has a conscience. Cheating is not his game. Rather, as a public speaker and consultant, he's the guy helping the good buys bust the cheats.

It's fun to be entertained by magic and and fun to guess how the tricks are done. But it's also fun to see how the cheating is done, too, and in this area Terry Roses clearly enjoys sharing his knowledge.

Related Link

Terry Roses' Wonder-Filled Box of Wonders

Flashback Friday: Italy

It's well known that Florence played a central role in the birth of the Renaissance. During my visit to Italy this past spring I learned about the various factors that converged to foster an environment conducive to intellectual and artistic flourishing. These factors included economic prosperity, patronage of the arts, political stability and civic pride.

While there I learned how much the Florentines valued intellectual exchange and the love of learning. Purportedly the literacy rate in Florence was twice that of other cities in Europe and Italy itself. (EdNote: I read this in a book about booksellers row during the Renaissance. Fact-checkers are welcome to correct me here.) Books were highly valued and ancient books most of all.

All this to say that my selection of Florence as a destination was richly rewarded when I planned my Italy trip, a 70th birthday gift from my daughter and son-in-law, this past spring. While there I took 40 pages of notes and what seemed like a thousand photos. Upon my return I began processing my experience by writing about it. Here are 16 blog posts about my trip abroad.

1. Initial Thoughts after my first trip to Italy

2. A Brief Overview of My Italy Adventure

3. 850 Years Old and Still Looking Good: The Battistero di Parma
4. The Galileo Museum in Florence Is Worthwhile Destination

5. Liberation Day: Italy Celebrates Victory Over Fascism, With Expressions of Gratitude to the U.S.

6. 1000 Rooms of Splendor: The Palazzo Pitti
7. Bob Dylan in Italy

8. The Death of Galileo

9. The Scarpelli Mosaici

10. Michelangelo’s David… A Showstopper

11. Daniela Meza Sigala: Florence Artist’s Seriously Whimsical Paintings

12. The Teatro Farnese in Parma

13. The Duomo in Florence: A History, plus Photos

14. One of the Most Famous Paintings in Florence: Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), by Antonio Ciseri

15. The Bargello: Another “Must See” Museum In Florence

16. L’Ippogrifo Stampe d’Arte: Mastery of a Grand Tradition 

Have you been to Italy? 

Where should I go next?

Leave a comment.

Flashback Friday: Master MEME at the PRØVE

Dan Hansen (left) with Lucas Anderson

FLASHBACK FRIDAY 

This blog post was originally published on 28 September 2012. Dan has since become one of my very best friends.

PRØVE AND LIZZARDS PROVIDE GREAT EXCUSES FOR HEADING DOWNTOWN TONIGHT 

Fans of the local Twin Ports visual arts scene have had plenty to buzz about in recent years. And it just keeps getting better. Tonight, the PRØVE Collective and Lizzard's Gallery offer two great excuses for heading downtown. And if you're checking out one, there's no need to move the car because the other is just around the corner. 

Master MEME: Art by Daniel Hansen and Lucas Anderson

Daniel Hansen is a local disabled artist exploring pop culture, '80s pixelation, and contemporary issues. Lucas Anderson teaches art locally at Marshall Academy. The show features individual work and art they have created collaboratively. This is the capstone show for the PRØVE's first year, and it's nothing short of a "must see", even if only for the spirit in which the work has been generated and generously shared with our community.

Cheyenne

I met Anderson this past spring through the DAI-sponsored film series Shock of the New. Last night I met Hansen for the first time as the dynamic duo were putting the finishing touches on what will be tonight's event, which is primarily Hansen's work.

I had asked Hansen how he'd become interested in art as a profession. He explained, "My interest is because it's time to get my art out there. I've been drawing since I was 3. My story is that I've had a progressive neuromuscular disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 2 (or SMA). The onset was at infancy so I've always been confined to a wheelchair."

This handicap has not restrained Hansen from pursuing his passions. In advance of our meeting I asked him to briefly share his story.

"I grew up in Grand Marais the son of Mark Hansen who founded North House Folk School. I've been at the sidelines observing everyone living and achieving normal things that were absurdly complicated or impossible to pull off. Every aspect of my life requires innovation and mastery on account of gradual muscular weakening. It just so happens art is merely a side affect of my paradigm shredding circumstance. The burning desire to defy all conventions and set new precedences is my morning cup of coffee! My medium is digital. The world of illusions are my inspiration. Fun, trans-mutational, fascination are the undercurrents of everything I do...the rest is open to interpretation." 

Last night as I looked at Hansen's work it became that fun really is the operative word in much of what he pulls off here. For example, the large piece titled Chico Strikes Back is a humorous portrayal of the forgotten Marx brother who had not gotten the recognition of his other siblings. Chico is at the piano, but the stock market index atop the instrument shows a declining market value. One wonders what he's doing with that loaded gun in his hand.

Upon entering the gallery one is struck by the scale and vivid color in Hansen's pieces. On the left ad you enter is a picture titled Cheyenne. Cheyenne is a girl Hansen met via the internet whom he has talked with on the phone for seven years. The picture reflects some of the chaos in Cheyenne's life. He says she has been a great influence on him.

Another piece, titled Cake or Pi, Hansen describes as "me jamming out."

Time: 7 - 11 p.m.
Free admission, refreshments by donation
If you've never been, the PROVE is located downstairs from the Sons of Norway Hall on Lake Avenue across from the Technology Center.

Chico Strikes Back

Art About Stories... paintings by Tom Tyler

Lizzard's Art Gallery at 11 West Superior Street (across from the MN Power Building) is hosting an opening reception tonight for their new exhibition of paintings by Minneapolis artist Tom Tyler. The work in this collection is primarily based on quotes or literature, books by Hemingway, Melville, Jack London, Joseph Conrad and even Greek mythology. Though the themes in his work vary, the written word serves as a common thread.

Considering the selection of writers cited, I am already drawn to this artist and look forward to seeing tonight's show.

Tyler's work has texture and movement, undoubtedly influence by the 20th century German Expressionists whom he admires. A full-time painter, he has a BA in studio art from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with painters Jo Lutz Rollins and Cameron Booth. His work has been exhibited in Minnesota, California and New Mexico. 

Can't make it tonight? Tyler's work will be on the walls at Lizzards through November 10. Check it out.

Meantime, life goes on. See you on the beat.

Flashback Friday: Ida B. Wells, Courage Personified

Ida Bell Wells

Courage Made Her Influential
Originally published Jan. 2020

Last week when I shared A Little Girl’s Dream on my blog here, it prompted me to become more familiar with the stories of African Americans who were early pioneers in the pursuit of freedom and justice. Many of their names were familiar to me but I knew very few of their stories, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman preeminent examples.

While doing research this week for Black History Month (Feb 1-29) I came across a list titled the 100 Greatest Books by African American Women. It was an enlightening read. This blog post, featuring one of the women in this book, two years ago on Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

* * * *
Ida born into slavery in 1862 during the Civil War in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Her parents were slaves till the 13th Amendment freed them after the war. In 1877 a yellow fever epidemic killed both of her parents while she was away visiting her grandmother.

The authorities would have split the family but she said she could raise her younger siblings, and took a test that enabled her to get a teaching job. Her only previous experience was teaching her younger brothers and sister.

One day Ida took a seat on a train but was forcibly removed to the smoking car. She sued the railroad and actually won a $500 settlement. The headline in the papers read, “Darkey Damsel Gets Damages.”

Naturally, the railroad didn’t like that outcome and took the matter to a higher court where the decision was reversed.

Ida wrote about these experiences for her church newspaper The Living Way, and even though she never received the money, she saw the impact her writing had on people who reacted to what she wrote. She was learning the power of the written word. In 1889 she became part owner of a black-owned newspaper called Free Speech and Headlight. For two more years she also continued teaching until she was dismissed for writing about conditions at the black schools.

Ida learned early the power of the written word, but it was her courage that most stands out. She wrote about what she saw in order that others would know what was going on.

Ida had friends who ran a black grocery store called The People’s Grocery, which was in competition with a white grocery store. An incident occurred which escalated. Three black men were taken to jail. Then, in the middle of the night 75 masked men came, took them from the Shelby County Jail and shot them dead.

It was this event that led Ida to begin investigating and writing about lynchings. After writing an editorial about another incident, her newspaper office was burned to the ground.

Ida married in Chicago and raised a family there.

Ida was in New York at the time her office was looted and destroyed. She was urged not to return and began writing from up North. She later moved to Chicago.

In 1892 Ida Wells began publishing her lynching research in pamphlet form It was titled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. The following year her lynching research was compiled in a book titled The Red Record. Frederick Douglass wrote the introduction.

She was invited to speak in England and Scotland. She spoke with eloquence and passion about the unfair treatment of blacks. Her pamphlets included disturbing photos of actual lynchings.

Ida claimed that "ten thousand Negroes have been killed in cold blood, [through lynching] without the formality of judicial trial and legal execution." She believed that the massive rise in such killing after the Civil War was because previous to the war Blacks had more value as “property” of the slaveholders.

Ida found support from white women involved with the battle for women’s rights, becoming friends with Susan B. Anthony and others in the movement.

In 1928 she began working on her autobiography, but it was never finished. She died in 1930 after an influential career. Her story was published posthumously four decades later in 1970. For more than half a century she used her writing skills to promote freedom, safety, and justice.

* * * *
Information for this brief bio came from the Walter Dean Myers' book Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told and Wikipedia.

Related Link

Strange Fruit

 

Trivia: Have you seen those shiny new quarters with Maya Angelou on them?

Flashback Friday: Nietzsche Quotes and a Few Comments on Sex

"Sensuality often hastens the growth of love so much that the roots remain weak and are easily torn up." 

--Friedrich Nietzsche

This blog post was originally published in 2018 as I was reading Beyond Good & Evil.  The book is a collection of aphorisms, including the one at the top of this page which I've been thinking about lately because one can hardly escape from noticing how much we live in a sex-obsessed culture. 

Unrestrained sexual activity is a normal part of the landscape in Huxley's dystopian portrait of the future of humanity, Brave New World. As sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll became a mantra for many in the Boomer generation, they may have been blind to the corrosive effect it was having on long term relationships as they became trees without roots. This may explain why the U.S. divorce rate exploded in our generation. 

 

* * * 

May 2018

I Think, Therefore I Am... Or Am I?

The past couple weeks I’ve been accompanied by Nietzsche’s Beyond Good & Evil (audiobook) while commuting here and there. Nietzsche is probably one of the most maligned philosophers in history, pigeonholed as either a kook or as the author of the provocative “God is dead” proclamation.

The reality is that the feisty German was an astute observer with quite the sense of humor at times. He loved his mustache, for example, which he gleefully wore like a mask. He also got a kick out of kicking over sacred cows. At least that’s been my take.

In one place he takes aim at Descartes, who after a lengthy attempt to determine whether he existed or not concluded, “I think, therefore, I am.” The declaration, Nietzsche explains, rests on a questionable foundation. That is, do we really think? By way of illustration he notes how thoughts frequently pop into his head out of nowhere. Where do these thoughts come from? Is that really thinking?

It made me think of Martin Luther’s response to a person whose mind is being pestered by evil thoughts. Luther said, “You can’t stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can keep it from building a nest there.”

In other words, in that scenario our thoughts (often) come flitting in from elsewhere like birds or, more annoyingly, mosquitoes.

And yet, my brain is working as I work out how to construct this series of statements to make a point of sorts. To what degree am I thinking and to what degree are associations being assembled by my subconscious or unconscious, thus bypassing real thinking? I dunno. I suppose it’s something to think about.

* * * *
10 Nietzsche Epigrams and Interludes*

Some pointed, some pithy, some that make people apoplectic--Nietzsche was famous for his epigrams and aphorisms. 

73a
Many a peacock hides his peacock tail from all eyes--and calls that his pride.

97
What? A great man? I always see only the actor of his own ideal.

98
If we train our conscience, it kisses us while it hurts us.

106
In music the passions enjoy themselves.

120
Sensuality often hastens the growth of love so much that the roots remain weak and are easily torn up.

125
When we have to change our mind about a person, we hold the inconvenience he causes us very much against him.

141
The abdomen is the reason why man does not easily take himself for a god.

161
Poets treat their experiences shamelessly: they exploit them.

166
Even when the mouth lies, the way it looks still tells the truth.

170
Praise is more obtrusive than a reproach.

* * * *
Related Links
Notes from a Lecture on Nietzsche
Nietzsche's Concept of Eternal Recurrence

* Extracts from Beyond Good & Evil

Flashback Friday: Dylan's She Belongs To Me, Regenerated

Haight-Ashbury Mural, 2008

This week I've been having a blast playing with an A.I. writing assistant called Sudowrite. What follows is a blog post from seven years ago this week about Dylan's "She Belongs To Me." As an addendum I've added Sudowrite's reconfiguration of the lyrics. Or rather, I have used four lines from the first stanza as a seed prompt to see what Sudowrite would generate. At the end of this post you'll find three versions using the same prompts. 

EdNote: It will be awhile before A.I. can outdo Dylan, but the results are still curiously fun.

24 November 2014

As everyone following the current edition of the Never Ending Tour is aware, the playlist is pretty much set in stone, beginning with "Things Have Changed." Most of the songs in the two-part show are of more recent vintage, many from his last studio album Tempest. The second song of the set, "She Belongs To Me," is not. With the exception of his eternal classic "Blowing in the Wind" which has become the kickoff to his encore, it's the only one from the Sixties, with Bob at center stage and Donnie on pedal steel.

"She Belongs To Me" is a song Dylan has now performed 362 times as of Saturday night, and in some ways it seemed a curious selection considering all the scintillating songs of that period. But then, there may be good reasons for its inclusion.

First off, maybe it gives him a chance to play his harp early in the show, though a hundred songs could have given him that chance. So maybe the answer lies elsewhere.

It's a truly intriguing song. When you inhale the lyrics you find it contains a variety of flavors difficult to identify. Perhaps when released on Bringing It All Back Home it got lost between the kicker "Subterranean Homesick Blues" which opens the album and "Maggie's Farm" which produced a deep resonance with a portion of that generation, my generation, when it appeared. In fact, that whole album is so loaded with treasures it's easy to see how a subtler, nuanced song might get lost.

The song's structure is traditional blues where the first line is repeated twice followed by a payoff. The Delta blues classic "Rolling and Tumbling" is an example of such a structure, recorded by a host of performers from Muddy Waters and Cream to Jeff Beck and Fleetwood Mac. (Dylan himself created a whole new set of lyrics for his Modern Times CD, only retaining the first lines, tune and structure.)

"She Belongs To Me" carries this same format, but what a marvelous piece of lyrical craftsmanship. John Hinchey, whose book Like A Complete Unknown analyzes the poetry of Dylan's Sixties music, writes this about the song:

"She Belongs to Me" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" are the other two songs that magnificently manage to escape the limitations of the simplistic myth that informs side one. [of Bringing It All Back Home] In both songs Dylan invokes his muse -- perhaps for no better reason than to flaunt her before the bourgeoisie -- but having invoked her, he finds himself in the presence of someone beyond his reach. Her very inaccessibility seems to activate Dylan's deepest artistic impulses, forcing him to acknowledge -- and provoking him to attempt to overleap -- the limits of his imagination.

"She Belongs To Me" demolishes bohemian sentimentalities from the inside, with a surprising portrait of the muse as unapproachable yet imperious dominatrix.

The song's complexity is part of what makes it compelling. And if you've ever been there, you understand.

SHE BELONGS TO ME

She’s got everything she needs
She’s an artist, she don’t look back
She’s got everything she needs
She’s an artist, she don’t look back
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black

You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees
But you will wind up peeking through her keyhole
Down upon your knees

She never stumbles
She’s got no place to fall
She never stumbles
She’s got no place to fall
She’s nobody’s child
The Law can’t touch her at all

She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks
She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks
She’s a hypnotist collector
You are a walking antique

Bow down to her on Sunday
Salute her when her birthday comes
Bow down to her on Sunday
Salute her when her birthday comes
For Halloween give her a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy her a drum

Copyright © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music
 

* * * 

She Belongs To Me, Regeneration One

She’s got everything she needs

She’s an artist, she don’t look back

She can take the dark out of the nighttime

And paint the daytime black

She’s got everything she needs

She’s got a strong foundation

She can build a bridge to the other side,

Or just use the walkway over the river

She can take a stand or sit on a bench

She’s a woman, she don’t need no man

She’ll do it all by herself,

she don’t need nothing at all from nobody.

Sitting here, I can hear her singing

I can hear her voice in the wind, wild and clear

She’s got everything she needs.

She Belongs To Me, Regeneration Two

She’s got everything she needs

She’s an artist, she don’t look back

She can take the dark out of the nighttime

And paint the daytime black

She can cause commotion

She can put your house out of order

She’s got everything she needs

She knows if she don’t look good

She ain’t going nowhere

She’ll wear high heels just to go shopping

She can shake, shake, shake

It don’t matter to her if it rains or freezes

She’s got a lot of love to give away

And there ain’t no way she can lose

She can give you everything, everything, everything, ooh

And you know that she loves you

And you know that she cares.

She Belongs To Me, Regeneration Three

She’s got everything she needs

She’s an artist, she don’t look back

She can take the dark out of the nighttime

And paint the daytime black

She takes the sorrow out of the morning

And throws it all away

She’s got everything she needs

And if you ask her how she’s doing

She don’t look back that way

She’s got everything she needs

And if you want to leave her

Well, that’s just a mistake

She can take the guilty out of the guilty 

And throw it all away. 

I’m not what I appear to be 

I’m just a poor boy in a rich man’s world. 

Oh, when you ask me what I want in life 

I tell you that I’m not a woman, I’m a man 

Man with a capital “M” 

I want a woman with a capital “W” 

That’s what I want in life 

That’s what I am. 

I think I know who I am 

But you can never tell. 

* * *

Flashback Friday: Rilke's Dedication

I originally shared this here on August 19, 2010.

Dedication 

A poem by Rainer Maria Rilke 

I have great faith in all things not yet spoken. 

I want my deepest pious feelings freed. 

What no one yet has dared to risk and warrant 

will be for me a challenge I must meet. 

If this presumptuous seems, God, may I be forgiven. 

For what I want to say to you is this: 

my efforts shall be like a driving force, 

quite without anger, without timidness 

as little children show their love for you. 

With these outflowing, river-like, with deltas 

that spread like arms to reach the open sea, 

with the recurrent tides that never cease 

will I acknowledge you, will I proclaim you 

as no one ever has before. 

 

And if this should be arrogance, 

so let me arrogant be to justify my prayer 

that stands so serious and so alone 

before your forehead, circled by the clouds.

For more poems by Rainer Maria Rilke and others visit PoemHunter.com

Flashback Friday: Contemporary Artists Frank Baker Holmes and Jill Mackie

Frank Holmes & Jill Mackie

I met Frank Holmes through the fine arts program at Ohio University in the early 70s. His paintings were impressive, so much so that he won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1973.

A few years ago we re-connected, sharing a backwards look at our mutual careers. It seemed that his path as an artist had many valuable lessons for other artists with their lives ahead of them, so I wrote a couple blog posts in which I shared his story and his paintings. 

When I visited his home and studio in Narrowsburg, NY I met his wife Jill Mackie, an artist in her own right, who has had paintings displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. 

Here are some links to my interviews with these two impressive painters whom I am grateful to have known.

Veteran Painter Frank Holmes Discusses His Prix de Rome (Part I) 

Veteran Painter Frank Holmes Discusses His Prix de Rome (Part II) 

A Most Unusual Portrait: The Sarcophagus

Frank Holmes's Personal Agony and Ecstasy: The Ohio Theater 

My 2018 Studio Tour

A Jill Mackie Interview

Jill Mackie Studio Tour

Backstory on The Big Date

* * * 

"Dusk Call" An example of three-point perspective.

Flashback Friday: The Case for Celebrating Dylan's Home Town

Don't Look Back (Avail. as print or original)

TOMORROW IS DAY ONE OF DULUTH DYLAN FEST 2021. THIS BLOG POST WAS WRITTEN 10 YEARS AGO SHORTLY AFTER DDF 2011.

A few weeks ago I mentioned a gentleman from Manchester with whom I had visited during my Dylan-themed show at the Ochre Ghost Gallery, the week of Dylan Fest. Since that time we've begun a correspondence and it turns out he is no ordinary Dylan fan. He's a professional who has written extensively about the topic of music-based tourism. 

 

Last week I received a 17 page document co-authored by David Leaver and Ruth A. Schmidt of Manchester Metropolitan University titled, "Before they were famous: music-based tourism and a musician's hometown roots." The paper opens, "Music-based tourism is well developed and growing, especially in countries featuring both mature tourism and music industries, such as the USA and the UK." One sources estimates that destination travel related to music involves as many as 55 million annual visits worldwide. The destination points rely on evidence of cultural activities, incidents and tangible artifacts that can be photographed. 

 

The paper cites Liverpool as one community that increased its incoming tourism dollars by 40% when they deliberately embraced this concept, that people want to visit and see the places the Beatles actually once were. Graceland in Memphis attracts 600,000 visitors a year now. Buddy Holly's birthplace, Lubbock, Texas, is another lodestone for the rock 'n roll faithful. 

 

As the Beatles once sang,
"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. 

 

Last week I talked with someone who said the first day that he got his motorcycle license, the very first thing he did was ride to Hibbing to see where Dylan grew up. At the time, there was nothing to see. Today we have Zimmy's and more. There are things one can photograph and save for a scrapbook of memories, and touch and feel.
 

Some people think all this nostalgia quest is just a bunch of aging Baby Boomers trying to keep the flame alive. "Come gather round people wherever you roam...." But the Leaver/Schmidt study notes that 34 per cent of the people who visited Graceland in 2008 were under 30. Not only is the music being passed down to new generations, but the significance of the places and people is being noted. 

 

In David Leaver's recent email to me on this topic he wrote, "I learnt a long time ago that it’s not the message sent out but the message received that’s important so we will all have different takes on it."

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." 

 

When you have time, check out this film about Dylan at Manchester's Free Trade Hall 1966.

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!

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Related Links

David Leaver Shares His Views On Dylan and the Nobel Prize from Across the Pond

Music-Based Tourism and Placemaking in Dylan's Northland

Duluth Dylan Fest Links

www.bobdylanway.com

www.duluthdylanfest.com

www.facebook.com/duluthdylanfest/