Andrea Michaels: An Unconventional Life

When my daughter Christina first mentioned Andrea Michaels, she described a woman whose vibrant, multifaceted life seemed almost too extraordinary to capture in a single story. “She’s really cool, Dad,” Christina said, sparking my curiosity about someone whose journey weaves together wit, words, and a deep commitment to community. 

After meeting Andrea this summer, I understood exactly what Christina meant. Coming of age in Minneapolis, Andrea Carla Michaels has lived a life as dynamic and engaging as the crossword puzzles she’s famous for crafting.

From her early days as a chess prodigy and puzzle enthusiast to earning a psychology degree from Harvard at age 20, Andrea’s path has been anything but linear. She’s performed stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, written for TV shows like Designing Women, won a motorhome on Wheel of Fortune, and become a nationally ranked Scrabble player. In San Francisco, she founded Acme Naming, a corporate naming consultancy, and earned the title “Queen of Mondays” for her 85+ accessible, playful crossword puzzles published in The New York Times. Her contributions to the crossword world recently earned her the prestigious 2024 Merl Reagle MEmoRiaL Award, an annual honor presented at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Yet Andrea’s impact extends far beyond her creative achievements. Known in San Francisco as the “Pizza Lady,” she’s been distributing food and clothing to the homeless since 2015, expanding her efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and even reuniting lost luggage with its owners. Her advocacy for rent control and community service earned her a 2023 certificate of honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 

In this interview, Andrea shares insights from her atypical life journey—spanning comedy, crosswords, corporate naming, and philanthropy—revealing how her love for words and people has shaped a life of purpose and play.

Ennyman: Growing up in Minneapolis, you developed a love for puzzles and games, even competing in chess championships as a young girl. How did your early experiences in Minnesota shape your creative and problem-solving skills? Did this all play a role in your later career as a crossword constructor?

Andrea Michaels: Minnesota influenced my career in two ways… We had moved there from Florida. I was in shock so stayed inside and read and did puzzles. But I think I got my naming start looking at the sailboats names on Lake Harriet.

I wrote a paper in 10th or 11th grade asking if people liked their name  or would like to change it or if they knew what their name meant and on and on!

EN: You studied psychology at Harvard? Your later work in comedy seems like quite a pivot. How did your academic background influence your diverse career path, and are there specific skills from your studies that you apply to your creative or professional work?

Talking with Will Shortz, NYTimes Games Editor

AM: These are heavy questions I’ve never thought about. I went there thinking I’d study English and Linguistics but was in over my head in those departments. Certainly psychology has played an enormous part when I taught ESL to Japanese businessman… And every naming client one has to deal with the entirety of their childhood and subjective takes on matters!!!! And that is more an experiment in social/group psychology than stand up!

Generally I just like a great story! [I went to] Harvard just becauce I was a very precocious little girl and learned quickly and wanted to go somewhere that no matter what course I chose (at school/in life) that chances are they’d have a good department in it! I was interested in everything and quite the dabbler /dilettante!

EN: You’ve had a varied career, from performing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles to writing for TV shows like Designing Women and appearing on game shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. What drew you to these entertainment ventures, and how did those experiences lead you to settle in San Francisco and focus on crossword construction and corporate naming?

AM: It’s all connected.  It’s all writing and playing with words. Zero grand plan.

I fell into standup as I like to tell stories and friends encouraged me to do it on stage.

I love Gameshows and thought money was silly and you might as well just win it.

That led to writing for game shows. And as I was doing standup that led naturally into sitcom writing.

I didn’t like LA though and didn’t really watch sitcoms. Didn’t like driving. Longed for San Francisco so I moved back there. Had a friend in branding who’d asked me to help her name things. I asked if I could sit in a corner and name stuff.

Each thing has led to the next. Always solved crosswords and liked trivia so that led to writing them just for fun now and then. 

The big goal was not to work too much.  To have a different creative adventure every day. No one asked me to do any of the things I do. I just want everything to be fun.

I lost on jeopardy! Army captain set a record on my show and the final question was on the civil war. :(

EN: More recently you have been labelled or titled or crowned the “Queen of Mondays” for your New York Times crossword puzzles. You’re known for creating accessible yet lively puzzles. Can you walk us through your creative process for designing a crossword, and what makes a Monday puzzle distinct in terms of challenge and appeal?

AM: I think I like to think in terms of catch phrases and idioms from having been an ESL teacher… and it fascinates me how people talk especially when they unconsciously mix metaphors… or talk in cliches.

I also like rhymes and even rap (when not profane or misogynistic) as I like to hear how folks play with words. I never consciously set about to create a puzzle. I’ll just hear something or notice some fun gentle word play and think it might make a cute puzzle.

But then I have to sit down and be conscious of matching word lengths and all the mechanics of a grid which interests me not! (Which is where your lovely daughter* comes in!  She actually enjoys that part which is why I now collaborate all the time.

I like helping others' ideas come to fruition by being “worked out” and then if they LIKE making grids… then yay!) Then I’ll clue just to make sure it is clear and light and hopefully bouncy.

I never specifically think I’m making a “Monday” but that’s just where my ideas fall on the spectrum. They were never meant to be easy or “gateway” puzzles but have been so assigned which is fine but I never intentionally dumb anything down or whatever… I’m just practiced in making them “accessible.” Unlike many creators, I’m never ever trying to stump anyone or be tricky. I’m trying to bring a little smile or trigger a fun memory or say, “Look! Have you ever noticed this!”

 

Related Link

Meet SF’s Pizza Lady: Fighting Waste While Feeding the Hungry

Talking New York, Dylan and More with Peter McKenzie (Part II)

Includes recent Peter McKenzie interview

When I heard this spring that Peter McKenzie's book Bob Dylan: On a Couch and Fifty Cents a Day was coming out soon,  I asked for an introduction in hopes of obtaining an interview. I'd heard that it contained new insights into young Bob Dylan's first year in New York. After we'd spoken a couple times, the interview was delayed because he'd made a promise to ISIS that he would wait till they'd published an interview he'd done with them. 

By the time my turn had come I'd purchased and read the book. Ironically, all the questions I'd initially prepared to ask during the interview were answered in the book. I set about to adjust my game plan and just follow our conversation wherever it went. 

Peter was 15 when 19-year-old Bob Dylan took up a form of residence in his home. There's a sense in which they were like siblings who shared a special bond. Peter admits, "Yes, I idolized him. He was like the big brother I never had. He treated me like a kid sibling. He talked to me about a lot of stuff." 

What follows here are a few anecdotes about Peter's Harvard experience, his career, Bob's songs and insights about the choices we make. At the end there's a link to the book and the first part of this two part interview.

School Days

My senior year at Harvard I had a solo suite with my own bathroom. I was painting, and had a window overlooking the Charles River. Right next door to me were two roommates with whom I became good friends. We used to have breakfast and dinner together a lot. One was Al Gore and the other Tommy Lee Jones.

When Tommy Lee was shooting the first Men In Black, they were doing a scene right outside my now wife’s apartment. I went downstairs and they were on a shooting break. I tapped him on the shoulder and he almost choked. He turned around and said, “Hey Pete!” and I said, “Hi, Tommy, how are ya. I see how well you’re doing. I don’t want to disturb you while you’re at work.” 

Peter's Career

Illustration for Joseph Papp, NY Shakespeare
Festival; Peter McKenzie

I went to the Harvard Graduate School of Architecture. I was going to become an architect. I didn’t like it, so I left. Then I went to Europe and I wound up meeting a couple people in France who were Dutch. I had my harmonica and harmonica holder with me. We went and played on the streets of Paris. They had a guitar with them, so they gave me the guitar and it was the most money I made in an hour, playing on the streets of Paris. “Bob Dylan! Bob Dylan!” It was very funny.

They invited me to visit them when I went to the Netherlands (they lived just outside Amsterdam) and I wound up playing for a couple months in their rock and roll band. 

I came back to the states and embarked on a career as an illustrator and a graphic designer, which I did for many many many many many many years. I had my own little company. I worked for myself designing books, illustrating books and illustrating book covers. That’s what I did. 

Bob always liked to talk to me about my art. It’s the one subject he never challenged me on. You know, he’s the musician of the family; I’m the artist in the family. And I make no comment about Bob’s art other than to say I think he has a great color sense, a great sense of color. God bless him that he likes to draw and paint. 

As the musician and writer, that’s his thing, his talent.

I haven’t met half as many people as he has, and if I lived to be 200 I wouldn’t. Who hasn’t he met? He’s met everybody. That can change a person. That’s his life. As for me, I’ll always look at him different from anybody else. He used the gifts he had to get the life success he could. He had a great way with words and he was an excellent musician. And he was pretty cool at the stage that we were really close. That’s what I can say about him.

Bob’s Songs

1962. Photo credit: Ted Russell. 
Courtesy William Pagel Archives

You have all these people analyzing his songs.    I mean, I will give you two songs that I will tell you about. Obviously, most songs that a songwriter writes are going to have some kind of personal touch and say something about their life, but I will tell you two songs–and I want you to listen to them again. A lot of people know about them but they don’t understand the depth of his connection.

If you want to listen to two songs to try to understand Bob Dylan – and there’s also an earlier song – but if you really want to know the personal Bob Dylan, that’s real with no bull, (listen to) "Girl from the Red River Shore," and "When the Deal Goes Down." Listen to those two songs. You’ll understand what I mean after reading the book. That is personal. That’s feeling. 

So’s the one about Suze very personal, "Boots of Spanish Leather," but I’m talking about later on in life when he’s had all these life experiences. 

Those two songs… and they’re not angry songs, but I’m talking about when he’s sitting and reflecting about life, trying to make sense of it all. They mean a lot to me, because they really do reflect what’s going on in his head. It’s absolutely 100 per cent personal.  You don’t have to analyze every line. You just listen to the song and you get a sense of where he’s really at. They’re amazing.

Luckily, there was a tissue in my pocket the first time I heard “Girl from the Red River Shore.” It’s a knockout for me. I’m just condensing them down to a sensible core of what’s within his soul. It’s just unbelievable to me.

I’m sure there’s part of him that absolutely loves being famous, and loves to be adored the world over, but man, when he said that he walked into a diner and “everyone recognized me, that’s when it all changed.” That’s a horrible price to pay. He’s paid a big price. I couldn’t tell you, in all honesty, if he knew what was in store for him maybe he would’ve decided to just be a teacher. You know what I mean? I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you. 

His dream was to be as big as Harry Belafonte. That was it. He had no idea what was ahead. That’s why those two songs... that’s him away from the rest of the world. The reason he can say stuff like that is because most people don’t know the person he is. It shows what he’s gone through. And some of the longings he’s had and some of the loneliness and so forth.

We All Make Our Choices. 

I never thought of it this way, where people say he wouldn’t have made it unless he had the drive… I don’t think of it that way. I think of him as someone who had a dream, and had the guts to go out and try to fulfill it. 

The only thing I wrote about in that book were my experiences, my past experiences or maybe an experience that was told to me by somebody very close to me. For example, my friend Eric Herter went to a concert that I didn’t attend and told that funny story about the curtain almost knocking Bob over and he made that comment about leprosy. I’m sure I could read a million stories in books about Bob that I don’t know. That’s his life, not my life. There’s plenty about Bob I don’t know, but that wasn’t the point. 

Historian/author Sean (Wilentz) told Peter, “What you’ve done with your book is showed a big foundation of what made Bob who he is. Rather than trying to analyze every song or why he did this or why he did that, you’re showing a fundamental grab of the root of the person, and then the career happened." 

When I say what’s in that book is what all these people have been looking for, I meant it.

Links

BOB DYLAN: On A Couch & Fifty Cents A Day

A Visit with Peter McKenzie, Author of Bob Dylan: On A Couch & Fifty Cents A Day (Part One)

Remembering Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: A Profile in Courage

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1974 (Public Domain)

In 1970, the year I left home for college, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature." If you've ever read his works, then you know the force with which he wrote.

The Russian author was both in 1918, the year the "Great War" ended, a year after the Russian Revolution. In college he studied mathematics, which he later said saved his life while he was in the Gulag (the Soviet Union labor camp system). Again, later when he was free he taught math to support his family while continuing his work as a writer.

Though he had been writing since youth, he never publicly or privately shared what he was writing about because of the risk involved. It wasn't until he was 42, after Stalin was dead and Khruschev was in power, that he dared to publish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, compelled by a desire to share his thoughts as well as to obtain some affirmation of his literary value and efforts.

The following anecdote illustrates the source of his reticence about sharing his work:

Nikita Khruschev was giving a speech that was quite critical of Stalin, and suddenly somebody hollered out from somewhere in the audience: "Why didn't you say anything while he was alive??"

Khrushchev slammed his fist down on the podium and hollered, "WHO SAID THAT?"

The room was quiet.

"Now you know why I didn't say anything while Stalin was alive." *

* * * *

During World War II, because of his knowledge of math, Solzhenitsyn served in an artillery-position-finding capacity until he was arrested in February 1945. The grounds for his arrest were some remarks in his private correspondence with a school friend. He was sentenced to eight years in the gulag labor camps. After four year he was moved to a special prison for engineers and mathematicians, which he states probably saved his life.

During his imprisonment he also had a bout with cancer. Two of his greatest works--Cancer Ward and The Gulag Archipelago--were direct out growths of these catalytic experiences.

After the publication of that first novella, he continued to write, but was ultimately expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974.

* * * *
What follows are excerpts and quotes from the Nobel Prize winner's writings and speeches.

You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.--The First Circle

For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.--The First Circle

I can say without affectation that I belong to the Russian convict world no less … than I do to Russian literature. I got my education there, and it will last forever.--The Oak and the Calf

Can a man who's warm understand one who's freezing?--One Day in the Life...

Beat a dog once and you only have to show him the whip.--One Day in the Life...

It is almost always impossible to evaluate at the time events which you have already experienced, and to understand their meaning with the guidance of their effects. All the more unpredictable and surprising to us will be the course of future events. -- Autobiographical sketch, NobelPrize.org

Harvard's motto is "Veritas." Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth is seldom pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my speech today, too. But I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary but from a friend.---Harvard University address, 1978

Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day. There is no open violence such as in the East; however, a selection dictated by fashion and the need to match mass standards frequently prevent independent-minded people from giving their contribution to public life. There is a dangerous tendency to form a herd, shutting off successful development.--Harvard University speech

Should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours.--Harvard University speech

In different places over the years I have had to prove that socialism, which to many western thinkers is a sort of kingdom of justice, was in fact full of coercion, of bureaucratic greed and corruption and avarice, and consistent within itself that socialism cannot be implemented without the aid of coercion. Communist propaganda would sometimes include statements such as "we include almost all the commandments of the Gospel in our ideology". The difference is that the Gospel asks all this to be achieved through love, through self-limitation, but socialism only uses coercion. This is one point. Untouched by the breath of God, unrestricted by human conscience, both capitalism and socialism are repulsive.--interview, St. Austin Review

* * * *

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was an awakened mind fashioned by his times. He dedicated his life to sharing he wisdom and insights revealed to him. His voice ought not be soon forgotten.

Related Links
The Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Literature Prize 
Solzhenitsyn's Indictment of the West Still Stands
Bio of Solzhenitsyn at the Nobel Prize Website

* Source: Lloyd Wagner, co-author of And There Shall Be Wars.

The Year In Review: Ennyman's Top Ten Blog Posts of 2018 Feature a Lot of Dylan

It's that time again, as one year ends and another approaches, a good time for summing up. After taking an inventory of pageviews, here's a list of hotlinks to the top ten stories of 2018 at Ennyman's Territory. Hint: They're all about Bob.

I'd like to believe that I've written a lot of thought-provoking and rewarding reads again this year, so popularity is not always the measure of value. (Example: Danielle Steele.)

Drumroll please...

#10
A Visit with Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas, Author of Why Bob Dylan Matters

#9
Duluth Dylan Fest 2018 Official Schedule

#8
You Never Know Where Bob Dylan Will Show Up Next

#7
More Blood, More Tracks -- The Bootleg Series Thunders On

#6
Why Bob Dylan Matters: New Book Brings Still More Insight Into His Genius

#5
Bob Dylan's Scarlet Town Revisited--Professor Craig Grau Scratches Beneath the Surface of a Complex Roots Story

#4
Start Spreading the News: Dylan Still at the Top of His Game in the Big Apple

#3
Mad Magazine Takes a Poke at Dylan, and Some Additional Dylan-Related Humor

#2
Marking Yesterday's 55th Anniversary of the Release of Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' with Suze Rotolo's Letter to Her Mother

Numero Uno
George Harrison & Friends: The 1971 Concert for Bangladesh


Bonus Track
If you're a Pinterest participant, you might enjoy this Pinterest board titled, All Dylan All the Time.

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

UNDERGROUND 68: A Dylan-Inspired Harvard Project and Kickstarter Campaign

"Blowin' in the Wind" -- 24"x 36", acrylic on panel

This past week I read about a section of the web called Google Scholar. It's essentially a massive library of scholarly papers, theses, articles, abstracts, court opinions. an online repository of all scholarship across all disciplines. Naturally the first thing I did was do a quick search to see what they had about Mr. Bob Dylan.

The first document that came up was something akin to a fact sheet which begins something like a form that you fill out for a job application or vehicle registration at the DMV.  Birth name. Also known as. Born. Origin. Occupation. Instruments. Years active. Labels. Associated acts. Website.

I like the list of aliases under "Also known as." Elston Gunnn, Blind Boy Grunt, Bob Landy, Robert Milkwood Thomas, Tedham Porterhouse, Lucky/Boo Wilbury, Jack Frost, Sergei Petrov.  You can read more about Dylan's aliases at American Routes. (EdNote: If you go there, I believe he misspelled Gunnn, which should have three Ns. Read Bobby Vee's account here.) I find it amusing that the guy with all these aliases took the name Alias in the film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

The amazing thing, which sets scholarly work apart from much of what we find online, is the quantity of footnotes. The dossier on Dylan is 34 pages. In superfine fine print on the last two pages they have 351 footnotes.

* * * *

All this has been a roundabout way to lead into UNDERGROUND 68, a Kickstarter project founded by Harvard folk. The storyline goes like this: the '60s counterculture envelops a Harvard student whose thesis about campus Vietnam War resistance leads her to Dylan and the streets of Rome. An interesting aspect of the project is that it was initiated by a contemporary Harvard student, but features Harvard students from the Sixties.

This spring during the 2018 Duluth Dylan Fest, we had the privilege of hosting a lecture by Richard F. Thomas, the Harvard classics prof who also teaches a class on Dylan, author of Why Bob Dylan Matters. Dr. Thomas is one of the principles behind the film which is summarized this way:

The late 1960s counterculture was a mass awakening. It was a renaissance of music, art, experimental films, underground comics, psychedelic drugs, Eastern philosophy and cosmic consciousness. It was the dawn of the movements for peace, civil rights, environmentalism, sexual diversity and women’s liberation. Ariel finds the distillation of all that in the songs of Bob Dylan.

Guided by a Harvard classics professor and renowned Dylan scholar she also finds deep connections between Dylan's later songs and works of classic Greek and Roman literature, especially Virgil.

UNDERGROUND 68 is infused with Dylan songs performed by a kick-ass rock band of professional grade musicians from the Harvard class of ‘68, songs that reflect back on Ariel’s intellectual and spiritual journey.

"Light yourself a candle" manhole cover,
Bob Dylan Way, Duluth.

The filming is complete, to they're on the last leg of production. Their target goal is $36K, but anything above that will be applied to getting the film into film festivals, college campuses, art houses, etc. Their primo ultimate aim would be to raise $100K to fund a traveling show that includes film screenings, Dr. Thomas' lecture on Why Bob Dylan Matters and the Harvard band doing an all-new Dylan setlist. (Is the name of that band The Harvard Classics, by the way?)

COOLEST FEATURE: Pledge $10K and you will be listed as Executive Producer of the film. I'm sure Steve Jobs would have bit on that. For all I know, Steve might have gone ahead and funded the whole thing.

Anyways, HERE IS THE KICKSTARTER INFO
Or you can cut-and-paste:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1409581093/underground-68?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=UNDERGROUND

EdNote: Deadline to reach goal is August 1.

Related Links
Article by Brian Lloyd: The Form is the Message: Bob Dylan and the 1960's
* Steve Jobs Film Leads To Dylan Insights for CEOs in New Forbes Article
Trivia: According to the Dylan entry at imdb.com 745 movies us Dylan music as a portion of the soundtrack. Will Underground 68 be number 746?

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

Bob Dylan's Scarlet Town Revisited--Professor Craig Grau Scratches Beneath the Surface of a Complex Roots Story

Historic Hibbing High School

When Pulitzer-prize winning journalist David Kinney added yet one more tome to the increasingly high stacks of Dylan literature he needed a new angle, and thus created a study not of Bob but of the various kinds of fans and followers he has generated over the course of a career. The title of his book reflected its angle: The Dylanologists. Categories include the concert-going Front-Rowers, the Tapers, the Scholars and others. Last but not least are the Lyrics-Dissecters, a tribe I ascribe to at times. These categories are not really cleanly drawn boxes, since many of the scholars are dissecting lyrics, and many concert goers collect memorabilia.

Through my association with the annual Dylan Days and Dylan Fest activities here in the Northland I've had the privilege of getting to know many interesting people over the years. One of these is UMD's former Associate Professor of Political Science Craig Grau whom I met through mutual friends, and a former student of his.

When Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in 2016 Gabriel Rubin, a journalist from the Wall Street Journal, flew in to Duluth to see some of the touchstones of our town associated with the city's Native Son and to meet a few of the people who might shed light on his story. Professor Grau was one of those in attendance as we met in a board room of the Northland Foundation downtown.

At that time he shared several insights about the song Scarlet Town, which appears on Dylan's last album of original songs, Tempest. A few months back Prof. Grau was sharing some of the deeper layers of the song and I asked if he might allow me to share them here. He was initially reluctant as it seemed to him this song is powerfully personal. And yet...

What I find personally fascinating is the way in which creativity works, the manner in which reality is transfigured by imagination to produce art. Here is the song, and a suggested interpretation.

Bob Dylan's Scarlet Town
by Professor Craig Grau, Political Science, University of MN-Duluth.

As an artist Bob Dylan uses allusions and license to create masterpieces of music. Tucked in the center of his album Tempest is the song "Scarlet Town". In a web article from October 14, 2012, Jim Beviglia sets forth interesting elements of this song (www.americansongwriter.com/2012/10/bob-dylan-scarlet-town/). The title and death scene remind one of the centuries old ballad "Barbara Allen" which Dylan was intimately acquainted with. Certain phrases and beat are from 19th century poet John Greenleaf Whittier. And Scarlet Town seems located near Dylan's famous "Desolation Row."

It will be maintained here that Beviglia is guessing correctly. Scarlet Town and Desolation Row are both references to the geographic area where Dylan was born and raised. Scarlet Town is not about Barbara Allen. It is about Bobby Allen (Zimmerman), known to the music world as Bob Dylan.

To begin let's refresh the Barbara Allen story. The British ballad is about a man often called "Sweet William." Who loves Barbara Allen. In the month of May he sends a friend to bring Barbara Allen to his bedside where he is dying for the lack of her love. She empirically notes that he is indeed dying, but does not return his love. When she hears bells tolling to announce his death, however, she feels remorse and insists that when she dies that she be buried next to Sweet William. Eventually from his grave sprouts a rose and from her grave a briar and the two intertwine.

The Dylan Tempest album has a British theme, but it is argued here that "Scarlet Town" can be heard as a Dylan autobiographical song - one with major themes of his life. The first concert that he gave after the album's release was in Winnipeg, Canada. "Scarlet Town" was the only song from Tempest that he sang.

Of course what follows is not definitive. Only Dylan knows of what he wrote, but this author believes he is trying to tell his audience something about the people and places of his youth.

Biographical references come from, among other sources, No Direction Home, The Life and Music of Bob Dylan by Robert Shelton, (New York, Beech Tree Books, William Morrow, 1986); and Just Like Bob Zimmerman's Blues, Dylan in Minnesota, by Dave Engel, (Rudolph, WI, River City Memoirs-Mesabi, 1997.

So let's get started -----

"Scarlet Town" (Boldfaced type -- Written by Bob Dylan) --- (Lighter lines by Craig Grau, Feb. 11, 2013 ©, Revised by Craig Grau, Nov. 19, 2016 ©; Revised and edited by Craig Grau, Nov. 27, 2016 ©.

In Scarlet Town, where I was born

This is a common first line from versions of Barbara Allen, but Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941 and his family a few years later moved north to Hibbing, Minnesota on the Iron Range, with its open pit iron mines.

A mineral form of iron is Hematite. Its red powder has been a source of the cosmetic rouge for centuries. Visitors to the mines of the Minnesota Iron Range may find that they reflect its reddish color. Indeed the year book of Hibbing High School from which Dylan graduated is called Hematite.

There's ivy leaf and silverthorn

While the Barbara Allen ballad speaks of roses and briars, Dylan writes of ivy and silverthorn.

Ivy is the symbol of colleges and Duluth had two when Dylan lived there. Silverthorn can be a symbol of immigrants, which included Dylan's grandparents and many others in the region.

--------------

Uncle Tom still workin' for Uncle Bill

In 1946 Bob's father, Abe Zimmerman, was hit by polio and he moved his family from Duluth to Hibbing to be near family members (Shelton, 32).

Abe went to work for his two brothers, Bob's two uncles (Engel, p. 49).

Scarlet Town is under the hill.

The famous Hibbing High School auditorium.

Bob lived near a hill in Hibbing (Shelton, p.32) and under a bluff in Duluth.

Scarlet Town in the month of May
Sweet William Holme on his deathbed lay
Mistress Mary by the side of the bed
Kissin' his face and heapin' prayers on his head

Recall in Barbara Allen in the month of May, Sweet William asked for Barbara's love, but she spurned him. However Dylan adds "Holme" to Sweet William and a Mistress Mary treats him much differently than Barbara Allen. William Holme, who lived in the 15th century, was referred by a contemporary Thomas Thorpe as the "begetter" of Shakespeare's Sonnets. (Shakespeare's last play was "The Tempest")

Abram Zimmerman was the begetter of Bob Dylan.

Governor Dayton honors Minnesota's Native Son.

Interestingly, in Britain in the 19th century there was a William Holme Sumner who had an estate called Hatchlands. The most famous member of that family was granddaughter Beatrice (1862-1946) who was called Beatie. She was strong willed and ended up marrying a very good cricket player and they became well known in the first half of the twentieth century (See The Indomitable Beatie, by Ronald Morris). In the famous nursery rhyme about a contrary young woman the British version begins - Mistress Mary quite contrary ----. (See Tom Thumb's (Pretty) Songbook, 1744) .

In May 1968, Bob's father Abram Zimmerman who had been very athletic before being stricken by polio died. His wife was Beatrice, who had a strong will and was called Beatty (according to Engel she pronounced it "'beat-ee'" ) (Engel, pp. 33-34).

Bob's father enjoyed smoking cigars (Shelton, p. 33). Dylan's mother was an extrovert who did not need her father to teach her how to drive his car (Shelton, p. 28). On the Tempest album Dylan is pictured with his band smoking a cigar.

So brave, so true, so gentle is he
I'll weep for him as he would weep for me
Little Boy Blue come your blow horn
In Scarlet Town, where I was born

Dylan knows that he loved his father and his father loved him. When father Abe died Dylan took it very hard according to biographer Shelton and when his mother needed money since the family accounts were frozen Dylan took care of his widow mother financially Shelton, pp. 60-1). As a teenager Dylan's first musical instruments of choice were horns (Shelton, p. 37). Little Boy Blue is also in the British book Tom Thumb (See Tom Thumb's (Pretty) Songbook, 1744).

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The Seven Wonders of the World are here
The evil and the good livin' side by side
All human forms seem glorified
Put your heart on a platter and see who will bite
See who will hold you and kiss you good night
There's walnut groves and maplewood
In Scarlet Town cryin' won't do no good

As life ends those you have known are dying. You offer yourself to others, but accept rejection if necessary. Crying over dead relationships or those who have died does no good.

Walnut Grove in southern MN is was the home of Laura Wilder. Maplewood is a northern suburb of the MN Twin Cities.

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You've got legs that can drive men mad
A lot of things we didn't do that I wish we had
In Scarlet Town, the sky is clear
You'll wish to God that you stayed right here

Are the legs those of a woman or a man with polio. Maybe he wishes he had spent more time with his father and stayed in Scarlet Town.

Set 'em up Joe, play "Walkin' the Floor"
Play it for my flat-chested junkie whore
I'm staying up late, I'm making amends
While we smile, all heaven descends
If love is a sin, then beauty is a crime
All things are beautiful in their time
The black and the white, the yellow and the brown
It's all right there in front of you in Scarlet Town

In 1941 the year Bob Dylan was born Earnest Tubbs recorded "Walking the Floor Over You". He was known as the Texas troubadour. Dylan is now known as America's troubadour.

When some of Dylan's maternal relatives lived in Superior Wisconsin it was described in a Dylan biography as the "flat-chested little sister of Duluth Minnesota, inclined to saloons and whore houses" (Engel, p. 17).

He is making up for mistakes of the past.

"Scarlet Town," as does the album Highway 61 Revisited (1965) has references to Dylan's boyhood region. But they are not alike. In the title song of that earlier album Abe is asked by God to kill his son, but in "Scarlet Town" Dylan declares that he loved his father as his father loved him. In Highway 61 "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues" is a scary journey while in "Scarlet Town" Mistress Mary is a caring wife and Little Boy Blue a dutiful son. The concluding song of Highway 61, "Desolation Row" begins with residents of his home town selling postcards of circus workers that had been lynched in 1920. While in "Scarlet Town" persons black, white, yellow and brown are all beautiful where he was born.

The phrase most associated with Bob Dylan is "a rolling stone" who could find "no direction home" as described in the most famous song on the Highway 61 Revisited album. In "Scarlet Town" he declares that the seven wonders of the world are there and one wonders why one left. "You'll wish to God that you stayed right here."

Dylan displays a kinder, gentler, loving Bob. He is still America's Troubadour with his magnificent "never ending tour", but he seems to indicate in this song that as Harry Chapin often sang "All my life is a circle," but perspectives change.

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Duluth Dylan Fest Update

Duluth Dylan Fest 2018 will feature lectures by two author/professors as part of the John Bushey Memorial Lecture Series. SMSU English Professor David Pichaske, author of Song of the North Country, will open the week on Saturday May 19 at Karpeles Manuscript Museum. Saturday May 26 will feature a talk by Harvard Classics Professor Richard F. Thomas, author of Why Bob Dylan Matters. Stay current on Duluth Dylan Fest activities here at the Bob Dylan Way website or here on Facebook.
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Photos on this page taken during Governor Mark Dayton's visit to Hibbing to make a proclaim the day Bob Dylan Day after he was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature