Minneapolis Star Trib Features Bill Pagel and the Two Homes from Bob Dylan's Childhood

Bill Pagel, 2019

This was a fun story to read. Jon Bream of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (nicknamed the Strib by locals) has published a story about the the two homes Bobby Zimmerman lived in while growing up, here in Duluth and in Hibbing, both now owned by collector Bill Pagel.

Pagel, a relatively quiet behind-the-scenes kind of guy, was featured in chapter one of David Kinney's The Dylanologists, which mentioned in passing that he was in possession of Bob Dylan's high chair from when he lived in the duplex at 519 3rd Avenue East. At the time, the collector owned one Zimmerman house and that high chair. Since retiring he's devoted himself to filling the upstairs of this Duluth home with period furniture in accordance with the photos he's acquired from the time.

When I first got to know Bill he owned the house next door to the Hibbing home where Bob and his brother David grew up. He was like a mountain lion set to pounce the moment it became available. Today both properties are well on their way to being re-creations of their original forms.

Bass player Billy Peterson with Jon Bream during Paul Metsa's
Hour of Power program upon release of Bootleg #14

Jon Bream's article begins with this paragraph:
In his teeming Bob Dylan collection, Bill Pagel has more than 15,000 photos, 4,000 concert posters and 18 four-drawer file cabinets filled with manuscripts and ephemera. He owns the Minnesota native’s childhood homes in Duluth and Hibbing, not to mention little Bobby’s highchair.

The article includes 31 photos, including Bob Dylan's childhood high chair, which you can see online here at the Strib website.

Obviously not Bob Dylan Drive when Bob lived there.
The home he grew up in, today.

Related Links
Review of Jon Bream's book Bob Dylan: Disc By Disc
Archivist Bill Pagel Seals the Deal

Lives Touched and Energized: Dylan, Blood, Tracks, Metsa--Part 3

Dateline: Tuesday, October 23 (Part 3)

This is a third a final segment of notes and observations as a guest on the set of Paul Metsa's Wall of Power show this week featuring Bob Dylan's superbly rendered Blood On The Tracks album in the mid-70s. The occasion for this show is the release next week of Bootleg #14: More Blood, More Tracks.

When I say "guest" and I am referring to a bystander role in the peanut gallery. This is just a mop up post of a few additional details and the close of the recording session which will air in three successive weeks beginning tonight on the Metro Cable Network--Channel 6 in Minneapolis.

You can catch Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.

* * * *

Taking notes, chatting with Gregg Inhofer
Photo: Rubin Latz.

The musicians who were part of this event all came from different places. Gregg Inhofer and Billy Peterson were playing extremely complicated jazz-rock fusion at the time. Gregg was playing Weather Report, Chick Corea, John Mclaughlin.

Gregg, who was the keyboards here, stated that the ideal outcome is for everyone to feel, “What a great session.” Not, “What a crummy session but wasn’t that organ player great.”

Paul Metsa asked about the bond between the musicians since then. Peter Ostroushko agreed it was something special. Billy Peterson said, “We had never played together before that session. It goes unsung what David Zimmerman had done.”

Inhofer repeated what had been stated already, that serendipity is what made it happen, a simple twist of fate.

Metsa then admitted that he initially did not like the album Blood On The Tracks, a sheepish revelation that he saved till later in the afternoon. He had been so enamored still by Dylan’s “wild mercury sound” on Blonde On Blonde that he failed to appreciate this for what it was. He eventually came around to appreciate what he calls the “mild mercury sound” of Blood On The Tracks.

Someone then noted that, "Trust is what brought these guys together, a Minnesota thing and a great Minnesota moment."

Veteran bass player Billy Peterson (L) with Jon Bream.
Photo courtesy Rubin Latz

Strib music critic Jon Bream said, “For me, it’s my favorite [Dylan album]. Maybe because of these stories, and because it’s his most personal one, a breakup album. It’s a Minnesota album,” he said, adding that it could be called “Blood on the Range, on the Twin Cities, on Minnesota.”

Metsa’s enthusiasm was evident as he stated that Dylan “is an example of Anything’s Possible.”

Kevin Odegard pointed out that it was Paul Metsa who brought them all back together. They began keeping BOTT alive since 2001. There was a concert at 1st Avenue in which it seemed “First Avenue became a spaceship that went around the universe and back” when they played "Tangled Up In Blue."

Back row: Sonny Earl, Kevin Odegard, Billy Peterson
Front row: Gary Lopac, Paul Metsa, Stan Kipper, Gregg Inhofer.

Phil Harder: Ready on the Set.

This, naturally, became a perfect lead in to a resurrection performance of the now classic story in song, "Tangled Up In Blue." But what you'll see on television will be nothing like what actually happened in one respect. There were 12 or 14 microphones to place and seven musicians each singing the various verses. So the mics were set out front, sound checks following, and then mics moved to the rear and overhead and beneath in a variety configurations so as to enable each vocalist and each instrument to be heard and appreciated in a performance that can be only described as heartfelt.

* * * *

Something I've noticed over many years of writing about Duluth Dylan Fest and reading concert reviews on Boblinks.com is that seemingly everybody has a "Bob Moment" in which a Dylan song or lyric or album spoke to them in a special way and hooked them in. I've never been in a fraternity, but there's a fraternal sense amongst the faithful, like a family bond.

Matt Steichen, caretaker of Heaven's Door.
Photo credit: Nelson French.

Naturally for myself it was nice to meet more "members of the family" last Tuesday. By mid-morning I was getting to know Mark Odegard, a vet who returned from Viet Nam in 1967 during San Francisco's Summer of Love, perhaps impetus for the song "Summer of Love" on Kevin Odegard's Artifacts CD.

Another member of the clan whom I met Tuesday was Matt Steichen, a writer and Dylan fan who shared some really great Dylan-related stories. On his 18th birthday, 17 years ago, he was in the front row for a concert and "Bob high-fived me," Matt said. How cool is that? Well, it gets better. He actually met his wife at a Dylan show. They now have four kids, ages 9, 7, 4 and 2. Last year when Dylan performed at the Excel Energy Center he brought his son Levi to his first concert and the kid knew almost every song. Obviously some people know how to raise children.

The Pioneer Press did a nice feature on the Steichens which I'm sure you will enjoy: "Without Bob Dylan this Lakeview family might not exist."

Here are a few additional photos from the day.

Paul Metsa, Billy Peterson, Gregg Inhofer

Kevin Odegard, Nelson French, Marc Percansky

EdNote: Nelson French has just notified me that Heaven's Door 

is now on the shelves of Hibbing liquor stores. One more reason 

to visit the town where Dylan grew up.

Meantime life goes on all around you. Engage it.

Paul Metsa's Wall of Power Featuring Dylan's BOTT Studio Musicians from Sound 80 (Part 2)

Dateline: Tuesday, October 23 (Part 2)

One of the images from the Deluxe set
of Bootleg 14: More Blood, More Tracks.

Tuesday was a fairly dramatic historical moment. The six Minnesota musicians who contributed to Bob Dylan's 1975 double Platinum Blood on the Tracks were gathered together to celebrate the release of Bootleg 14: More Blood, More Tracks. (Technically, four were present and two joined the filming of Paul Metsa's Wall of Power show by means of technology.)

Yesterday I wrote about getting set up, and a little background on the significance of this particular Bootleg Set for the Minnesota musicians. Mr. Metsa was producing several upcoming half hour shows, so there were numerous intros and outros along the way. What follows are my notes from what I believe was the second segment onward, though anything can happen in the editing booth. Anyone looking for sound bytes and new revelations would have loved being a fly on the wall Tuesday. For background, here is a link to yesterday's blog recap.

* * * *

The guests were seated in a line that arced forward on the right side of the set. Paul Metsa sat to the left facing a group that was spread in this order: Kevin Odegard, Gregg Inhofer, Peter Ostroushko, Billy Peterson and Jon Bream on the far end.

This segment opened with Metsa introducing the cast, beginning with Kevin O who kicked it off with, “It was a cold dark night. I was watching Kojak & the phone rang. It was David Zimmerman." And so it began.

Of the musicians, KO stated, "We came from different places… and were glued together.”

They acknowledged the role Steve Berkowitz and Jeff Slate in putting this bootleg together.

Continuing with introductions, of Gregg Inhofer, Metsa stated, “He’s the bees knees.” Peter O's achievements were noted. Of Billy P: “He’s the #1 bass player in the Twin Cities for 40 years. I saw him first with Leo Kottke.” Of Jon Bream: One of the most astute music critics.

Bream replied, “With this project, the musicians receive the validation and recognition they have long deserved for their contribution to this, Dylan’s greatest album.”

Metsa stated that the Bootleg, More Blood More Tracks is a cleaned up version of those original sessions but without the reverb. “It’s incredible. And we’ve been given the O.K. to play it as much as we want.”

Jeff Slate wrote the liner notes. Steve Addabbo did the mix.

The day before (Monday) the new version was played in the studio and I was told that Kevin O, Billy and the cameramen were in tears. This later came out on the show and the men made no pretension of macho-ness.

INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS WEBER

Chris Weber Skyping in on the monitor behind Paul M.

After some dialogue there was a brief break and then a segment with Chris Weber who was Skyped in from California.

In 1974 Chris had a guitar shop called The Podium. Kevin O called Chris because Dylan was looking for a Martin guitar of a specific vintage, a 1937 00-42. Chris cited the line “take what you can gather from coincidence.”… He happened to have one but the guitar was in his possession on consignment and he couldn’t sell it, so he said, “I go with it.” As a result Chris arrived, guitar in tow, because he couldn’t let the guitar go without him.

When he arrived there was a lot happening in the studio, but there was a small vocal booth the size of two phone booths. Dylan nudged him and said, “Let’s go in there.” It was this very small space with two chairs. Dylan then asked him to play something he himself had written so Bob could hear what the guitar sounded like. He played something he call “A” Rag. Then Chris was asked to sing something he’d written, and he sang, “Come Home With Me.”

Bob asked him to play something, which he did. He then asked if Chris wrote songs and when he played a second, Bob replied, “That’s a nice song. Maybe Linda Ronstadt should do that.”

Chris is thinking, “Go ahead, Bob. Make the call.”

Next, Bob taught Chris the chords for “Idiot Wind.”

As a result of these serendipitous events, Chris became the 12-string we hear on "Tangled Up In Blue" and ended up playing on all the songs except "Lily Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts."

Paul asked, “How does it feel to now see your name on the record?”

Chris replied, “That’s a thrill. We contributed a lot to an album that gave his career a boost, an acoustic album that went back to his roots."

PETER OSTROUSHKO

Peter O’s story was similarly intriguing.
“I was sick that day. Pneumonia,” he said. He had been in bed the entire week. “I was tired of being and bed so I drove to The Podium. Someone said, “Have you seen Chris Weber?” Chris told Peter the story and then said, “They asked me to come back tonight.” Peter O said, “You tell Bob that if he needs a banjo or a mandolin player give me a call.”

Later he was playing pinball at this place he hung out at all the time, and he got a call there after they tried his home. This was the pre-cell phone era. “Get your instruments and get down here,” he was told. "The miracle was that Jim know where to call me."

For Peter O it was the first recording session. He had never been played in a recording studio in his life.

When he arrived Bob said, “What do you got?”

Jim said, “I’ve got a banjo.”

Peter said, “I’ve got a mandolin and a violin.”

Bob said, “Oh, let’s do this song with a mandolin.”

They kept playing it until they found a key that fit his voice.

After recording Peter O went home and went to bed. When he woke the next morning his fever had broken and he called Jim. “You wouldn’t believe the dream I had last night. I dreamt I was in a recording session with Bob Dylan and you were there, too. We did five takes."

BILL BERG SEGMENT (by phone)

Bill Berg, an experienced drummer, tapped in by telephone. His background including work with Cat Stevens & Leo Kottke. Billy P and Bill B performed all kinds of stuff, all over the map.

Metsa: "How did Bill get roped in to play drums on Blood on the Tracks?"

Bill, who hails from Hibbing, had played with Dylan's brother David Zimmerman in a jazz trio. He stated that at one time he saw Buddy Rich at Hibbing High School and “it almost made me quit.”

Growing up he never ran in the same circles as Bob, he explained. There was a music store in Hibbing that he went to, Jeff Crippen Music Store, and he had this old cymbal from the basement with a crack in it that was used on "Idiot Wind."

Bill Berg said he was in a rock band in the 60s, no jazz stuff yet. Used to play in Battles of the Bands at the Duluth Armory. (EdNote: Paul Metsa’s band won in 1974.) Berg was initially a drummer with Billy Peterson as they got into progressive fusion music. They played at the Poodle Club on Hennepin Avenue together in 1973 before it burned. When he got the call he was in the middle of moving to California. His car was already packed. Everything was in his car, all his equipment and possessions.

When he arrived at Sound 80, he walked into the studio ready to go. "It was surreal. Bob was standing in the door wearing a leather jacket. I was told it would be one song," but tit went so well it ended up being five songs.

BILLY PETERSON

Gregg on keyboards, Billy with his stand up bass.

"We were sidemen," he said. While sharing he mentioned that Leo Kottke played loud, whereupon Jon Bream noted that Kottke was deaf in one ear, having been a Navy man. His hearing in one ear had been damaged by loud guns.

Billy P noted that it was end of December and very cold that night. Warming up before starting meant literally giving the instruments time to get warm inside.

Another observation he made was that Bob doesn’t ever small talk. The whole session, though, was a fabulous group effort.

The first song Billy B played was "Idiot Wind." He locked in on the tempo pretty early. "When you first put your headphones on and hear Dylan’s lyrics coming through…" He never finished but everyone could complete the thought. It was breathtaking.

Billy P: I was always comfortable with Bill (Berg). In those days nearly every bar was live music. We played every kind of music at night, recording commercials by day. All genres, that was our job.

Bill B. was capable of playing all kinds of music at the highest level. We knew how to showcase an artist. Bill & Bill were a Twin Cities version of the Wrecking Crew.

NEXT SEGMENT: JON BREAM

Metsa welcomes us back to interview Jon Bream.
Bream is a Minneapolis Star Tribune critic who is clearly a Dylan fan, having authored Dylan: Disc By Disc, an overview of his first 36 studio albums. Bream knew Kevin Odegard from way back then, calling KO “a great self-promoter.” After the session with Dylan, Odegard called Bream the next morning. Bream called KO “the singing brakeman” because like many musicians they maintained a day job, his being a brakeman for the railroad.

Like many writers, critics and journalists, Bream received a pre-release copy of the album and went straight over to Kevin’s to listen to it. To KO’s surprise Dylan had used five of the songs they recorded in the two Sound 80 sessions.

Kevin said his mom thought “it was the greatest thing David Zimmerman had done for me.

* * * *

One of two performers who participated on all five songs recorded was Gregg Inhofer. (Bill Berg was the other.) Inhofer played with Billy Peterson in a band called Natural Life. When Kevin called Inhofer the deal went down like this: “Can you come Friday to the studio. I can’t tell you who it is.” It was all “hush, hush.”

Billy described the one rather famous moment like this: After Bob played “Tangled Up In Blue” the first time, he asked KO’s opinion. Kevin, trying not to offend, gave a soft response. “It’s passable. Let’s try moving it up to A.”

Bob’s response was a long pause. Kevin said, “I sweat right through my clothes.” He was on pins and needles. But Dylan took the suggestion. They did that first take and when finished there was a very strong silence as everyone recognized they had done something incredible.

This segment ended with Paul Metsa noting that Jon Bream had been writing about his own work since 1984, a gesture of gratitude.

* * * *
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Courtesy Marc Percansky.

There were a number of others present who will get more digital ink tomorrow but worth noting here before closing. Marc Percansky's cheerful managing of many smaller details so that Paul could focus on the bigger objectives was no doubt appreciated. Marc brought a partially consumed bottle from Bob Dylan's new Heaven's Door whiskey line, which was generously passed around to the principles later in the session. Nelson French took care to make sure there was a little left in the bottle for a toast at the end. (Nelson has about eight bottles of Heaven's Door up near Silver Bay. In the event that you are unable to find a bottle in your own home town, the North Shore of Lake Superior is a beautiful part of the world. Stop in and tell him you're lost... and then ask, "Oh, do you know where I can find Heaven's Door.)

It didn't take long for documentarian Rubin Latz to create an album on Facebook. Andy Watson of ANDVD Media held the reigns on the TV production, and Mark Odegard--whose website odegardletters.com is worth checking out, and who is no relation to Kevin--is the one who provided the insight about Kevin' last name meaning "empty farm" in Norwegian. Matt Steichen and Sonny Earl will be part of this story in Part 3.

(L to R) Billy P, Gregg, KO, Paul Metsa, and Peter O.

Related Links
NPR Shares 10 Selections and an Overview of More Blood More Tracks 
Rubin Latz Pulls Back the Curtain at MCN6
The much loved Peter Ostroushko suffered a stroke followed by a heart attack this past year. He has been in rehab ever since. A Go Fund Me campaign has been set up for Peter and his wife Marge which can be found here at gofundme.com/peter-and-marge 
Here is Peter O & Better Angels in his last live performance
Schedule for Wall of Power on Metro Cable Network 6.

TO BE CONTINUED

A Brief Review of Jon Bream's Dylan: Disc By Disc

I'm just finishing Jon Bream's 2015 book about the first 36 studio albums of Dylan's career, a career whose influence pervades nearly aspect of modern culture, a culture that itself has been oscillating and ever shifting before our very eyes throughout the course of our lives. The book sets itself up as both a reference tool and orderly critique of the music of the Northland's native son.

The setup is this: each Dylan album, from his first to Shadows in the Night, is presented with a listing of the songs and several paragraphs of context. This is followed by a discussion between Jon Bream and various commentators, selected for their obvious knowledge about and appreciation for Dylan's music and career, Bream asking questions interview-style to two people with sometimes disparate points of view, more than 50 in all, each of them briefly introduced in the chapters and more elaborately in an appendix.

As I see it, this book can be a useful tool for people unfamiliar with Dylan's lesser known albums who wish to start collecting but don't know where to begin. The discussions help acquaint readers with many of the good tracks on these albums, but are also candid enough to shine a bit of light on which albums might not be suitable for first-time listeners. To this end Bream includes an Appendix 3 in which the albums are ranked, based on the opinions of our reviewers.

A partial overview of my Dylan library. 

It would be easy to say that the book could have been expanded, that there is not enough space in four pages per album to adequately cover his greatest albums. As I see it, that's not the aim of this book. Greil Marcus wrote a whole book on Like A Rolling Stone, and you can read Kevin Odegard's A Simple Twist Of Fate for the definitive review of Blood on the Tracks. In short, the book makes Dylan accessible without striving to be comprehensive. All writing involves setting down rules and Jon Bream's process made for an easy-to-follow summation of Dylan's studio history.

Here's an observation from one Amazon reviewer that I could relate to.

One (of the) the fascinating things about this book is the enjoyment mirrors the arc of Dylan's career. The setup, two people from different but knowledgeable backgrounds, commenting on the albums in chronological order from earliest to latest, works. And the first half of Dylan's albums recreate the incredible spark he brought with his genius. As he becomes, let's say nicely, less popular, the reviewers strain to point out the bright spots. It is amazing to have recounted all the songs he did that didn't have legs. But the masterpieces are fun to revisit. I really enjoyed this book.

Not only are the masterpieces fun to revisit, it's a heady experience to count how many truly great songs he produced over the years, right up through to Tempest, the last studio album of his own songs.

When it comes to ranking the albums I can't say I line up with the "experts" other than to note that their top five could safely be considered five of the top ten albums ever produced. Blonde On Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing It All Back Home, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan--in case you want to know. (The other five would include the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, The White Album... what else? Thriller?)

Local Dylan fans might be interested in learning that a number of the contributors have had connections to the Northland's Dylan festivals, including Paul Metsa. Eric Andersen, who put on a concert here last summer with Scarlet Rivera, is also featured, along with the Twin Cities' Kevin Odegard who weighs in on Tempest in addition the album he wrote about, Blood on the Tracks.

I see that I neglected to mention that for the Dylan fan there are a pallet-load of photos throughout, more than enough new and original snaps to satisfy. My only criticism has to do with the marbled paper effect which occasionally makes reading a challenge in low-light conditions.

About the Author: Jon Bream has been a journalist covering the music scene for the Minneapolis Star Tribune since 1974. Here's where you can find Mr. Bream's book on Amazon. He's also written about Hendrix, Neil Diamond, Prince and other notables, most notably Led Zeppelin.

* * * *

For what it's worth, Duluth Dylan Fest is three weeks out now. It might be a good time to purchase tickets for the various events that require them, from the Hibbing Bus Tour to the Blood on the Tracks Express, and our kickoff event featuring Robbie Vee and his Rock & Roll Caravan.

This year, our Bob Dylan Birthday Party will begin with a Poets of the North Country event from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Spirit of the North Theater at Fitger’s, a suitable tribute for the Nobel Laureate. This will be followed by The Basement Tapes Band from 9:00 to 11:00 PM at The Rex Bar at Fitger’s. Tickets for The Basement Tapes Band can be found here on Eventbrite.

Find the full week's schedule here on Facebook.

It's all good. Will we see you there?