There's a reason Robby Vee and his Rock N Roll Caravan are in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. They're just that good. And they make you want to move your feet.
Last night Vee & Company produced mounds of smiles at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, the former Christian Science Church building that sits across from St. Luke's. Despite the bitter rains, the house was packed for the kickoff to Duluth Dylan Fest.
The show opened with Nelson French of the Armory Arts and Music Center (AAMC) board welcoming us and giving an update on the status of the Armory for which this event was a fundraiser and awareness raiser. French shared that there is an investor ready to do the renovation once the last hurdle is overcome pertaining the parking. He then introduced three students from the AAMC who did an admirable set of five songs before yielding to the main event.
Robby Vee proved to be the perfect entry into the week. Nearly every hard core Dylan fan is familiar with the Dylan/Buddy Holly connection. What many have forgotten is the Dylan/Bobby Vee connection. You can read the details here and here. Vee's show last night demonstrated how all these events were intertwined in Bobby Vee and Dylan's careers.
The acoustics at Karpeles are second to none. This is a sanctuary designed for effective music appreciation, whether chamber music or last night's rockabilly. The band had perfectly modulated their sound for the occasion. (It would have been easy for them to have blasted us out of the place.) You could tell Jeff "Crash Boom Bang It Out" Bjork on drums had his kit set up so he could indeed bang it out while not blowing us away.
In fact, the show opened with Bjork giving a wake up call that brought to mind the Gene Krupa classic Sing Sing Sing and made you appreciate what drums can add to a show.
Robby Vee and the Caravan are not only talented musicians, they're also professional showmen, as was demonstrated on many occasions during their two sets. The second half of the show featured a lot of music by Vee's father Bobby and the great rock inspiration Buddy Holly, and of course a bit of Dylan along with heartfelt comments showing his appreciation for the Northland's Native Son.
I had an epiphany last night during Robby Vee's slammin' set of classic Buddy Holly covers, perhaps it was during Peggy Sue, or perhaps it was during one of his father's hits like Rubber Ball and Come Back When You Grow Up Girl. The insight was something like this. I've always felt there was a great divide between the dance music of early rock and roll and the intellectual themes that Dylan injected into the pop music scene. That would not have been so terrible to see two different streams of rock and roll, but what I've done most of my life is to see the latter as superior and the former inferior. As a result I never embraced what Elvis had brought to the table, nor Buddy Holly to the extent that we've since come to call his death "the day the music died." It's apparent that Dylan himself never made this distinction, speaking most highly of these important singers, including Robby's father. Dylan's inspiration came from mining all of the "great American songbook," internalizing it and making it new.
There's no business like show business.
By the second set last night there were a lot of people on their feet, shuffling, potato digging, doing the watusi, and just plain having fun. If you weren't there you missed a great show. You can make up for it, though, as they will be playing at the State Fairgrounds during the Back to the Fifties care show June 24. Classic cars and classic music... a nostalgic walk through time.
I'll write more about the Bill Pagel exhibit soon. Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.
There's no business like show business, they say. How many children of entertainers have taken up the occupations of their parents? There are plenty of examples in Hollywood. And in the music scene, Jakob Dylan and Julian Lennon immediately come to mind. This weekend here in Duluth we'll warmly welcome Robby Vee, son of Bobby Vee, to kick off the eight-day Duluth Dylan Fest in a concert sponsored by the Armory Arts & Music Center at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.
The connection? A young Bob Dylan briefly performed with Bobby Vee under the pseudonym Elston Gunnn. You can read Bobby Vee's 1999 account here at Expecting Rain. Now the son of Bobby Vee is preparing to visit the town where Dylan was born and was raised till his family uprooted to the Iron Range.
After his father got into show business he moved to Los Angeles where the action was, but once he had a family the Midwest seemed the preferred world in which to raise his brood. As Robby puts it, "I 'm from Los Angeles originally. I live in Prior Lake, MN. Dad was entertainer. Started family in L.A. but felt the Midwest was a better place to raise a family."
"Mom was a show business mother, Robby says. "She met my father when he was 15. Watched him carve out a career in the entertainment business. She tried to deter me (from Show Biz) because it's such a hard business." But the young Vee had opportunities to perform at a young age and took to it. 'My father put me in front of an audience," he explined, and he liked it.
Robby has been playing with his current band for ten years, calling them the Rock N Roll Caravan. "They're truly some of the greatest rockabilly players out there." Vee acknowledged that one of the advantages of having the same team is that you can draw on some of the same music you've worked out over the years and know where you're all going with it.
Vee has produced six albums now. I asked which is his favorite.
"Good question. They're really different. My rock-a-billy albums got me to the Hall of Fame, but the more recent are Americana," he said. His most recent album, Blue Blue Blue, was produced in part for the purpose of raising awareness for Alzheimers, which overtook his father beginning in 2011.
Robby, raised on Eddie Cocker and the rock 'n roll of the late 50s and early 60s, enjoys the light-hearted fun of early rock, yet he also appreciates where rock evolved to post-1965 and beyond. "Rock became more intellectual," he said, citing artists like Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot and Cat Stevens (EdNote: All favorites of mine as well.) "I really appreciate both sides of the fence," he said. "I don't have to be one or the other."
"Here's one you might like."
I also learned that like Dylan Robby Vee is a painter. It began with this statement. "Records to me are like paintings. You should be allowed to push the envelope with experimentation." He then added that, "painting is what I do when I am home." I asked if he had a website so we could see his work, and he said he didn't, but that sometimes he puts them on Facebook. "Painting is an outlet to get away from music."
Robby's website includes praise from a number of legendary names. "Your Caravan show is getting kudos from Dion, Sir Paul and Robert Plant," I said. "What is it that makes your show so special?"
"Dion liked our first couple records, live and from the hip. Not too heavy, recorded live, raw energy.
Paul McCartney invited us over (to England) to play Buddy Holly music... He loves the same kind of music I love. Paul said, 'You guys could play on any stage.'"
Carl Perkins' quote, happened like this. "When I did a show with him once he sat on a chair next to the amp and afterward gave me a pick." That was an honor.
They played together when they were young.
"What kind of relationship did you have with your dad?" I asked.
"We had a good relationship. We were both painters, guitar players, singers and writers. At a pretty young age he encouraged me to do my own thing and not be like him. My career has been separate and different from him. I took off and didn't look back much. When he got sick I was the one who was with him almost daily and taking care of him with my sister." Vee has a younger sister and two older brothers. All of them do art of some kind, graphic design and production work.
Does Robby Vee have any favorite Dylan albums or songs? Of course.
"I would say there's a handful... The Man in Me, a song my father I played together. And Forever Young. We used to have mass at our house on the lake. We played Forever Young at every mass it seemed like."
When Dylan performed in St. Paul in 2013 Robby took his father to see him. It was his birthday but distracted by other things he forgot to get tickets. He called Dylan's office and they were able to get special treatment. "We watched the entire show from the monitor board. After the show Dylan visited with my dad and it was really great." Here's Dylan giving the nod to the Bobby Vee, singing one of Vee's signature songs, Susie Baby.
In 2012 I interviewed a attorney who has been representing musicians to help them get better contracts. As it turns out Robby gives a nod to the friend of a friend on his website, Brian "kool-hand" Lukasavitz. Small world, eh?
For what it's worth, Saturday's concert should be killer. Special thanks to St. Luke's for making available several of their parking lots for those who wish to attend.
For more information about this coming week's Duluth Dylan Fest events, see today's News Tribune.
To book Robbie Vee, or follow him in the future, visit and bookmark RobbyVee.net. For what it's worth, you know who else likes rock-a-billy? Bob Dylan does. His 1998 concert at the DECC here in Duluth opened with a zinging rock-a-billy set by David Allen and the Guilty Men.
Meantime, I'm in the mood. How about you? Let's have some fun!
* * * * Bonus Track: Here's a cartoon about Elston Gunnn's brief stint with the young man who filled in for Buddy Holly way back in time. (Click to enlarge)
Though we celebrate poetry, art and history (Dylan Trivia) during Duluth Dylan Fest, and the centerpiece of the week (his birthday), music is the major thread that runs through nearly everything. Here's a rundown of who is performing, when and where.
The official kickoff is Robby Vee and His Rock N Roll Caravan at Karpeles, an Armory Arts & Music Center benefit concert. If you're curious how Robby Vee intersects with Dylan, this YouTube video will give you the inside skinny.
The tour bus headed north where the Dance Party continued in Moorhead, Minnesota across the border from Fargo.. Who stepped in to fill Buddy Holly's shoes? None other than a 15-year-old Bobby Vee,
Robby Vee's latest release is Blue Moon Blue, a project directed toward increasing awareness for Alzheimers. His father Bobby stepped down from touring in 2011 when he was diagnosed with the disease, and passed away this past year.
Dylan's tie to Bobby Vee was as Elston Gunnn. Young Robert Zimmerman talked his way into playing piano for a Fargo gig with Bobby Vee and his boys, and got his own first taste of what would become his life.
At Monday's 5-7 p.m. art reception there will also be some live music, and an opportunity to purchase T-shirts and prints from art by Kristi Abbott. I've been told these may not last the week, so you might wish to show up and purchase one to wear on the train Thursday. (A portion of the proceeds will go to defray the costs of Duluth Dylan Fest.) This is a Free event.
Tuesday, Sir Ben's will be the place to be. Greg Tiburzi will entertain from 6-8 p.m., followed an Open Mic hosted by Marc Gartman.
I've heard rumors (you may have heard them, too) of a pop-up Bob Dylan Birthday Party at his house on the Hillside, Wednesday mid-afternoon. With music, naturally. And a birthday cake. Our Poets of the Northland event will run from 6:30 - 8:30 in the Spirit of the North Theater, followed by a very special performance downstairs at The Rex: The Basement Tapes Concert. Tickets at $7 in advance (here at Eventbrite) or $10 at the door.
And then there's the Blood on the Tracks Express, our annual North Shore Railroad Excursion which keeps getting bigger and better, is always insanely memorable. If you've never been, there are a string of railroad cars featuring rock music at one end of the train and acoustic at the other. Upon arrival in Two Harbors there's a feast of Dylan music by the Freewheelers (a.k.a. The Boomchucks).
FEATURED MUSICIANS on the train this year include: Red Mountain; Rich Mattson & The Northstars; Gaelynn Lea & Al Church
Erik Berry & Ryan Young of Trampled By Turtles. Kyle Ollah will be performing in the V.I.P. "Million Dollar Bash" car, a historic dining car featuring a private cash bar, finger foods by Chef Jonathan Berthel, and a private bathroom.
The train will board again this year at the Depot, 5:30 p.m. When the train leaves the station it should be 6:00. Get your tickets here at Eventbrite.
Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby Can’t buy a thrill Well, I’ve been up all night, baby Leanin’ on the windowsill Well, if I die On top of the hill And if I don’t make it You know my baby will Don’t the moon look good, mama Shinin’ through the trees? Don’t the brakeman look good, mama Flagging down the “Double E?” Don’t the sun look good Goin’ down over the sea? Don’t my gal look fine When she’s comin’ after me? Now the wintertime is coming The windows are filled with frost I went to tell everybody But I could not get across Well, I wanna be your lover, baby I don’t wanna be your boss Don’t say I never warned you When your train gets lost
Bob Dylan It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
* * * *
Dylan T-Shirts & prints by Kristi Abbott
will be on sale all next week.
One of the great traditions of the Northland Dylan celebrations has been the Singer/Songwriter contest, originally in Hibbing but now resurrected in Duluth. Each contestant will sing an original song and a Dylan song, and you are all invited to Clyde Iron to take it in.
Saturday evening you're invited to return to Carmody's to feast on the music of Cowboy Angel Blue, a fave Iron Range band much loved by Northland Dylan fans for their Dylan and Neil Young renditions.
The final music event will be our Farewell Brunch with music by Jim Hall at the Zeitgeist Arts Cafe.
* * * *
If you like encores, then you may wish to slip on over to Canal Park afterwards for the annual Battle of the Jug Bands, from 1-6 p.m.at the Amazing Grace Cafe. This is a one-of-a-kind family-friendly event.
This week I read that 81% of all statistics are made up, so last night I wrote an article tentatively titled An Alphabet Soup of Made Up Statistics. Not sure when I'll share it, but for now it's something I'll keep in my back pocket, Betty Davis style.
This is a Dylan-themed post because we're one week out from Duluth's 2017 Dylan Fest celebration. Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot have both notified us that they will be unable to attend, sending their condolences in a letter that we may or may not read during the Singer/Songwriter Contest on Friday evening, May 26 at the Clyde Iron Works here in Duluth.
How interesting that Dylan himself just last week played at the Clyde... in Glasgow. The Clyde Auditorium that is. You can read the reviews here at Bill Pagel's Boblinks site.
The Clyde... Nicknamed the Armadillo by locals.
In April Bob Dylan and His Band kicked off yet another European tour, which they completed this week in Dublin. The first stop was Stockholm where he answered the question "will he or won't he?" He did and it was done, what he needed to do and received his Nobel Prize. From there the tour skipped about through Scandinavia, then down to the Continent, making a series of stops throughout Northern Europe -- Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium before hopping over to the British Isles.
Here are some stats from this spring fling across Europe: 22% of the those who attended have seen Dylan ten times or more. 13% of these have seen Dylan 100 times or more. 19% of those have seen Dylan 300 times or more. And a few of these have been here to the Northland for Duluth Dylan Fest.
The photos here are from the Glasgow concert, shared by Bill Macfarlane and Barbara Calder, who visited us here in 2015 during DDF. They wrote:
Bill M in his Bob Dylan Way T-Shirt by the NET Tour Bus.
We have been a huge fan of Bob for many years and in fact met Bill Pagel
in Duluth in 2015 at the Dylan Fest. It was an awesome trip. My first concert was in around 1985 in London. I have
seen Bob 24 times, twice in the USA, Spain, Prague, Austria and throughout Britain. The Glasgow Concert, I have to
say, we thoroughly enjoyed all of it but the Highway 61 arrangement was especially good. My favourite Bob song
is Sylvio and I am particularly enjoying the Triplicate album at the moment. The venue is the first time we have attended a concert in that particular building and, yes, the acoustics were very
good and the size was intimate. Glasgow has a few good venues that host many big stars of today. We live only
a few miles from Glasgow city centre.,which took us only 30 minutes compared to November 2016 we flew to
Clearwater, Florida and saw Bob's gig in the Ruth Eckert Hall. We also have a few of Bob's artworks from his Drawn Blank series, Brazil series and the newly released Beaten Path, so yes you could say we are huge fans.
This email from Scotland underscores why we include an art show in our Dylan Fest. The opening reception will be Monday, May 22 at the Zeitgeist Atrium. There will be some refreshments, and some new work by Daniel Botkin, along with pieces by several other artists including Kristi Abbott, a fave artist from Down Under whose Dylan design will be featured on crew-neck T-shirts available for sale next week. (Be sure to bring cash.)
Earlier this week I finalized the Trivia Contest which will be held again at Carmody's, Sunday night heading into the week. I'd worked on it over the winter and must have done it while feeling mean-spirited because it was just a little too difficult for the average passer-by, which would not have been a disaster since everyone participating would surely learn something new, as in minutia that might have little relevance to anyone's quality of life. In fact, I didn't even know some of the answers myself, and I've read about 25 books about Dylan. At the urging of friends I revised the questions so nearly anyone can play and not feel ashamed. And, as always, there will likely be some lovely parting gifts.
Looks like Robby and Bob are trading CDs.
The official kick-off event is the concert at Karpeles Saturday, May 20: Robby Vee and His Rock 'N Roll Caravan, an Armory Arts & Music Center Benefit Concert. The acoustics are fabulous anywhere in the house. I considered buying two tickets so I could sit up front and sit in the balcony. Those balcony seats are stellar for sound. Purchase tickets here at Eventbrite.
Of Robby's dad, whom young Robert Z performed with as Elston Gunnn, Dylan once said, "Vee had an edgy tone to his voice as musical as a silver bell."
Robby sent word that, "We will be celebrating the earliest roots of Elston Gunnn aka Bob Dylan and my father's career, along with our good ol' foot stompin' style of rock n roll."
For what it's worth, I hope we see you there.
Special thanks to Bill and Barbara for the photos from Glasgow, and Robby Vee for the unposed snapshot at the end.
(L to R) Jeffrey Enge-Frey, Mark Poirier, Sue Mageau, & Belkacem Bahlouli.
In April the Duluth Visitor's Bureau (DVB) had been contacted regarding a visitor from France who desired to come to the Northland too see the town where he was born. It's not an isolated event here, especially since Duluth's Native Son's career was christened with a Nobel Prize.
Belkacem Bahlouli is a journalist from Paris who writes for Rolling Stone in Europe. "He (Dylan) played two concerts in Paris last week. 15,000 people. He's very huge in France." During his visit he aimed to see the Central Hillside home where the Zimmerman's lived during the first six years of Dylan's life, and hopefully the Historic Armory where a 17-year-old Dylan caught a spark from Buddy Holly in 1959 shortly before his music died.
It quickly became apparent that Mr. Bahlouli is not your average Dylan fan. The day before when he had flown in to the Twin Cities, he drove his rental car to Duluth by way of the original Highway 61 while listening to Dylan CDs he'd brought along for the occasion. Of course. That's the way to do it.
I was invited to join the small party from our host city as we did the Armory tour, which included Mark Poirier (Armory board), Sue Mageau (DVB) and Jeremy Enge-Frey, a development associate with the Boisclair Corporation, the group currently committed to the Armory's revitalization. "The Armory was the largest venue north of the Twin Cities, all the way up to Winnipeg," he said. Boisclair has been actively planning this historic redevelopment for quite some time. "It will require leveraging every available foot. We hope to be open in two years."
A passage to the underground within.
Mark Poirier had unlocked the fence gate in anticipation of our arrival and led us to a nondescript doorway that led to an interior area where trucks would park. We peered down a cavernous expanse that led beneath the interior, then were led up a small staircase to a large surprise, curious where we would emerge, which turned out to be on the stage itself where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Wayon Jennings and the Big Bopper performed on their Winter Dance Party tour.
"There were lots of dances in armories," Poirier said. The buildings were dual purposed, for military use and community use. He also shared how the cold the weather was the night these Texas and California boys rolled into town. "The high was minus 18 degrees and the low when they left was minus 30." As a result, when the bus broke down on a Wisconsin roadside their drummer Carl Bunch got frostbite in his feet. They were not prepared for this, and that night became "the night the music almost died."
Buddy Holly's dressing room has been suitably marked.
Belkacem Bahlouli is from Montmarte, a historic section of Paris with an elevated view of the city, within the vicinity of the Moulin Rouge. The journalist said he has a neighbor there from Duluth, which for us was something of an "Aha!" He shared a story of how Dylan was introduced to France, and how when young he listened to Dylan on Luxembourg radio. "There was lots of rock and roll." Some of the translations were good, he said, but others had no relation to the original songs. He shared how one artist spent two years making a good translation of All Along the Watchtower.
Here are some images taken as we toured inside the Armory. "There is so much history that happened here."
80,000 square feet makes for a spacious activity room.
There has been a lot of history here...
...with plans to make more.
* * * *
DULUTH DYLAN FEST JUST AROUND THE CORNER
We're just two weeks out from the kickoff event for Duluth Dylan Fest, the Robby Vee concert at Karpeles. The acoustics there are stellar. You can find the rest of the scheduled events here at BobDylanWay.com with links to ticketed events.
Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.
Looks like a Gibson, Clinton Inauguration, Jan., 1993**
Though a longtime fan of Dylan's music since the Sixties, it wasn't till 1998 that I experienced my first Dylan concert in person, an event I described as "an early Christmas." In my review of the concert I included the following observation:
Before the show I walked down to the railing directly overlooking the side of the stage and studied the racks of guitars. There must have been nearly a dozen guitars in racks on both sides of the stage which would be used during the show.
Those guitars weren't all Bob's, but as most anyone will attest who's been to a Dylan concert, Duluth's Native Son does strum more than one instrument during his concerts, commonly alternating between electric and acoustic sets and occasionally taking a stand at the keyboards.
In the same manner as Dylan's history with motorcycles, so likewise he's favored a variety of guitars over the years. For this reason I'd been contacted earlier this month via social media by tech editor John Gilbert of Street Rodder magazine regarding Bob Dylan's guitar collection. He initially reached out with this inquiry:
Ed, What do you know about Dylan's guitar collection? Writing about Bob's gate sculptures I emailed back and forth with Jeff Rosen. Asked Jeff about the 1917 042 Martin I sold to Bob brokered by Howie Hubberman Rosen told me Dylan didn't like Martins and didn't play one. Odd, Bob's first guitar was a '49 Martin. A moment of curiosity struck me. Thanks, John
As a follow up Gilbert, who like Dylan is a musician and artist as well as writer, went on to explain further: Ed, Ramblin' Jack Elliott plays a Martin, and I'm guessing that's why Dylan's first guitar was a Martin. Rosen kind of pissed me off, kind of like he was worried I'd establish a connection with Dylan and make some money from it. It was around 1982 that I sold it. Howie told me Tom Petty's bass player and Dylan were both looking for an 042 Martin. When I picked up the $1,000 Howie said Dylan bought it. 1917 042 Martin five made two with ebony, three with real Ivory. Mine had Ivory. The next time you talk to Bob tell I'll give him $2,000 to get my guitar back. Thanks, John
Well, I don't talk with Bob very often (VBG*) but I do make inquiries with Google and frequently uncover some interesting details. With regards to Dylan's guitars here is what I found, a fascinating blog titled Bob Dylan's Gear.
I find it interesting that Bob's manager would state that Bob didn't care much for Martins when in fact Bob Dylan's Gear goes into great detail regarding the history of Dylan's love affair with the guitar including Gibsons, Fenders, Martins and more. One blog post states:
Cesar Diaz, Bob’s guitar technician in the nineties acquired many stock and Custom Martin guitars for Dylan and thanks to Dick Boak from Martin & Co. we can see the specifications asked for his guitars like the Spruce Top Specified...thinline Goldplus...and their serial numbers!!!!
Though we have repeatedly been urged not to believe everything we read on the Internet, there's a ring of authenticity here that's hard to argue with, especially when the details are accompanied by photos of Bob in all phases of his career with these selfsame guitars.
Robert Zimmerman & Friends at Camp Herzl. Nice guitar, kid.
* * * *
Since we're talking Dylan here, I might do well to remind you that Duluth Dylan Fest is one month away, beginning on Saturday May 20 with a concert by Robby Vee at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, an intimate kick-off to a very special week honoring the newly minted 2016 Nobel Prize winner for Literature. Here's where you can find the full schedule of DDF events. Will we see you there?
Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it. * VBG means Very Big Grin. Though I have written excessively about Dylan and his music, I hope I've not mislead anyone into thinking Bob and I have ever talked. * * This photo was sent to me without a photo credit. If you own the copyright and object to its use, let me know and it can easily be replaced. Or let me know who sot it so I can give due credit. Thank you.
Like most avid readers I read when I can, and never as much as I'd like. A lot of my reading occurs in snippets during my lunch hours. This week I carried around with me a borrowed Spring 2008 edition of The Paris Review, chiefly with the purpose of reading a fascinating interview with Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Remains of the Daywhich I recently wrote about here.
In this excerpt Ishiguro speaks of his early influences.
INTERVIEWER
What was your next obsession, after detective stories?
ISHIGURO
Rock music. After Sherlock Holmes, I stopped reading until my early twenties. But I’d played the piano since I was five. I started playing the guitar when I was fifteen, and I started listening to pop records—pretty awful pop records—when I was about eleven. I thought they were wonderful. The first record that I really liked was Tom Jones singing “The Green, Green Grass of Home.” Tom Jones is a Welshman, but “The Green, Green Grass of Home” is a cowboy song. He was singing songs about the cowboy world I knew from TV.
I had a miniature Sony reel-to-reel that my father brought me from Japan, and I would tape directly from the speaker of the radio, an early form of downloading music. I would try to work out the words from this very bad recording with buzzes. Then when I was thirteen, I bought John Wesley Harding, which was my first Dylan album, right when it came out.
INTERVIEWER
What did you like about it?
ISHIGURO The words. Bob Dylan was a great lyricist, I knew that straightaway. Two things that I was always confident about, even in those days, were what was a good lyric and what was a good cowboy film. With Dylan, I suppose it was my first contact with stream-of-consciousness or surreal lyrics. And I discovered Leonard Cohen, who had a literary approach to lyrics. He had published two novels and a few volumes of poetry. For a Jewish guy, his imagery was very Catholic. Lot of saints and Madonnas. He was like a French chanteur. I liked the idea that a musician could be utterly self-sufficient. You write the songs yourself, sing them yourself, orchestrate them yourself. I found this appealing, and I began to write songs.
INTERVIEWER
What was your first song?
ISHIGURO
It was like a Leonard Cohen song. I think the opening line was, “Will your eyes never reopen, on the shore where we once lived and played.”
INTERVIEWER
Was it a love song? ISHIGURO
Part of the appeal of Dylan and Cohen was that you didn’t know what the songs were about. You’re struggling to express yourself, but you’re always being confronted with things you don’t fully understand and you have to pretend to understand them. That’s what life is like a lot of the time when you’re young, and you’re ashamed to admit it. Somehow, their lyrics seem to embody this state.
The Paris Review The Art of Fiction No. 196 Issue 184, Spring 2008
The rest of the interview is a good read, though I don't believe you can find it in its entirety online. Once your appetite has been whetted you'll have to make a purchase to get the rest.
In the meantime, if you were being interviewed today and were asked about your own early influences and interests, what would you say?
* * * * The above story originally appeared on this blog in 2010.
Here's a quick reminder: DULUTH DYLAN FESTIVAL will kick off on May 20 with a concert featuring Robby Vee, son of the great Bobby Vee whom our local Nobel-prize winning Bobby Z (later Bob D) performed with once.
The Armory Arts and Music Center has announced the headliner for this year's annual benefit concert to get things in motion for this year's Duluth Dylan Fest, and it sounds exciting. Here's the news I read today: Join us for an evening of electricity and music hosted by Second Generation Rocker & Rockabilly Hall of Famer Robby Vee and His Rock-N-Roll Caravan featuring Vee Sings Vee - classic rock-n-roll!
Robby Vee "The Prince Of Twang” was born Robert Velline named after his father Bobby Vee. He is recognized by both the American and Canadian Rockabilly Hall of Fames and has been performing his unique style of Rock-n- Roll music for years on stages across the globe. Having been on tour with the legends and architects of rock-n-roll, Robby has learned from, and shared credits and stages with the best, from James Burton to Carl Perkins, Albert Lee, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Dion, The Righteous Brothers, Buddy Holly’s Crickets, Dick Clark and his ‘Caravan of Stars Rock ‘N’ Roll Show’, his father, 60’s pop rocker Bobby Vee and many more. Robby is known for combining elements of his vast repertoire telling stories that bridge the generation gap from “the roots of Rock n Roll to the new sounds of Americana music of today”. As an Entertainer with many studio records to his name, countless guest artist credits, and a history of extensive touring, Vee has captured the attention of audiences and respected industry professionals both Nationally and Internationally. Robby's dad Bobby Vee got his start in music at the age of 15 with his group The Shadows when they filled in for Buddy Holly in Moorhead, MN in February 1959, the day after the fateful plane crash. Later that year Bobby would hire a young Robert Zimmerman - then going by the name Elston Gunnn - to play piano for a few shows. The rest is history for both of these fine artists. They stayed in close touch over the years. Bobby Vee went on to perform at the Historic Duluth Armory many times over the years. We are thrilled to have his son Robby grace the stage on behalf of our efforts to restore the magnificent Historic Duluth Armory.
Visit Robby Vee's website for more details about the man and his Rock 'N Roll Caravan.
When Dylan performed at the DECC here in Duluth, 1998, the opening act was David Allen and the Guilty Men who performed with such a palpable rock-a-billy energy that a portion of the crowd no doubt temporarily forgot why they had come. They rocked.
Note the connection. Dylan, Vee, rock-a-billy, Duluth Dylan Fest.
The Elston Gunn connection between a very young not-yet-named Bob Dylan and Bobby Vee is a most amusing story of the kid's gumption, a.k.a. chutzpah. And Dylan never forgot that brief moment in time when he got a chance to perform with a big name band that was the real deal. After performing in Duluth's Bayfront Park in 2013, his tour bus made its next stop in St. Paul. Guess who was in the audience that night? Bobby Vee, and the now legendary Dylan paid a tribute to the guy who gave him a chance once.
It's pretty remarkable how things come full circle. The day Buddy Holly's plane crashed in that Iowa cornfield had such finality, it never enters one's mind what happened next. That is, did the tour bus continue on its way? There were people who'd bought tickets for the next show. That Bobby Vee would step in and give that the Moorhead crowd their moneysworth is just another detail that might be worth extra points in a trivia contest some day.
SPECIAL NOTE: The Robby Vee show will held at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, located in the former Christian Science church building across the street from St. Luke's Hospital at 902 East 1st Street. In other words, do not show up at Sacred Heart and wonder where everyone is.
This is the kickoff event for Duluth Dylan Fest 2017. There's a great lineup of events taking place as we firm up our traditions. Coming in from out of town? We're only nine weeks away now. Book your flights and your rooms. New faces from out of the way places are always welcome.
A year ago Bob turned 75 and the DDF team pulled out all the stops to make it a stellar week. Even the weather was cooperative. In the backs of our minds many of us, however, thought 76 would be a but of a letdown after that. 75 s a big one. What we didn't know was that Nobel Prize Committee would soon lend a hand to make this year's celebration special yet again. Join us.
