Checking In with Michael Twente of Hard Rain, Headliners for the 2023 Duluth Dylan Fest Kickoff Party

As many of you know, Duluth Dylan Fest will commence this weekend with events at the Historic Duluth Armory in the a.m., a Heaven's Door bourbon and whiskey samplings at Cashwise Liquor and Super One Liquor (Central Ave.) plus a special Highway 61 Revisited airing on The North 103.3 from 5 - 6. 

That evening we'll be celebrating the Duluth Dylan Fest Kick Off Party with music by Hard Rain – All Things Dylan. 

Earlier this week I finally caught up with Michael Twente of the St. Louis-based Dylan tribute band Hard Rain. Twente and his bandmates will be center stage delivering the goods at the Earth Rider Festival Grounds. (Tickets at Eventbrite.)

The band officially got its start in 2002, Twente said. It was originally going to be a one show deal featuring Bob Dylan songs. It went over so well they thought, “Why don’t we keep this going?” 

And they did keep it going for a little bit. "We opened for Leon Russell a couple times." But after a while, some of the guys didn't want to just do Dylan. This led to the next iteration, a Bob Dylan and the Band tribute band.

This was followed by an All Things Dylan period that included music from the Traveling Wilburys as well as the Band and even some Wallflowers, the band Dylan's son Jakob assembled.

At this point the band would kick off with a long Dylan set, then follow with other stuff, eventually bringing it all back home to Dylan.

Twente's musical awakening began at age 7 on February 9, 1964. "My sister made me watch it. The Beatles are what got me into it. I became a huge Beatles fan."

Even so, it wasn't till the breakup of the Beatles that Twente discovered Dylan. He had been a George Harrison fan and when the Concert for Bangladesh triple album came out, he was all in. When he came to Side 5, which was Dylan, he was blown away. "When I heard Hard Rain, I’d never heard anything like that before." He was 14 at the time, but his mind was fully charged. "Mom took me to the store and I bought a bunch of Dylan's albums. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was painting pictures with words."

It was his love of the Beatles that led him to Dylan. Twente ultimately took up guitar, seeking to share the music he was passionate about.

You can tell who the die-hard Dylan fans are. They know exactly how many concerts they have seen. Twente says he's seen Dylan 202 times now. But it started with that Concert for Bangladesh. "I was too young to drive but my mom took me to the theater to watch the Concert for Bangladesh film." When the film ended he phoned his mother to ask if he could stay and sit through it again. She said yes.

Twente says it was difficult finding musicians who only want to play Bob Dylan. "These guys who I’m with now have become real fans though. I have some really good musicians."

When asked about his mentors, Twente says he modeled himself after Bob Dylan. Having seen Dylan over 200 times in concert, he said "I always watched his stage persona.  There’s nobody cooler than that. Arlo Guthrie and Leon Russell influenced me and maybe Neil Young. These were my mentors. I’d include Robbie Robertson in that mix."

Hard Rain isn't Twente's only musical outlet. He's also in another classic rock band and does a lot of solo gigs.

When asked to name his favorite album he initially balked. It's not really possible to name one, though if forced he might concede Blood on the Tracks. His Dylan education began with the Greatest Hits and Freewheelin', but his "short list" of faves would include Time Out of Mind as well as Highway 61 Revisited, for sentimental reasons.

The group created some interesting playlists over the years. "What we used to do when we did a show, we’d figure out what album anniversary it was, for example of in September such and such was released. The first set would then be that album starting on track one all the way to the end."

Band Introductions
(Seasoned musicians all.)

Ray Greenfield 

Drummer. Only. No chewing bubble gum at the same time for this one :)

Playing snare since 3rd grade, a drum set since 1967. Experience with the following genres: Soul, R & B, Rock, Alt Rock, Blues, Country, Greek, Tribute, Original, Etc.

Bands previously worked with: 

Johnnie Johnson, Blues Express, Tight Squeeze, Mojo Syndrome, Threshold, Buffalo Bob & his Bedroom Blues Band, Soul Seekers, Mad, Mad Greeks, Wyndow, Etc.

Focused on dynamics & a wide range of acoustic drum sounds to bring Hard Rain's huge catalogue of Bob Dylan, Band, Traveling Wilburys & Wallflowers,Etc. to life. 

My best work always brings out the best in those I play music with. 

Doug Raymur 

Keyboards, Piano, Organ, Synthesizer, Accordion, Cello, Bass, and Guitar.

    Since 1964 has played in orchestras, musical theater, Big Bands, Dixieland, Klezmer, Western, Country (yes, there is a difference), Bluegrass, Rock bands, dance combos, studio sessions and backup for pop vocalists, basically anything Doug has been asked to play. 

    Has arranged and scored for orchestra, big band, musical theater, vocal accompaniment and recording sessions.

    Played first recording session in 1967 at Commercial Productions in Seattle and in 1978 formed Cascade Recording, a mobile 8-track recording company that laid the groundwork for a major new-age label of top artists. 

Mark Petri

    Based on musical experience and technical knowledge, accepted offers to run front of house sound and design and direct stage lighting at club and concert venues across North America, working with groups that had accumulated over 80 hits on Billboard’s Top 100, 16 of those in the Top 10 and 6 number 1 hits.

    Conducted seminars, classes and lectures on music and music technology and gave private instruction on piano and keyboard. Was selected as a keyboard coach for the earliest Yamaha Rock School.

Mark Petri 

Bass Player, Vocals

A band member with Michael Twente in 1980’s and 2000.

Bass player in worship band at his church. 

Joined Hard Rain in 2019

Lee Bowers 

Lead Guitar, Vocals

Joined Hard Rain in 2022

A multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Lee has played a combination of trombone, guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards in bands since 1977, covering many styles of music from jazz, fusion, blues, rock, country and pop. Keyboards and guitar are his main focus now. He often seeks new opportunities to put himself in positions to improve on his musicality. He is currently lead guitar player for Hard Rain, a Bob Dylan related tribute band based in St Louis MO.

Michael Twente
Performing professionally since age 16.
Played in Top 40 / Classic Rock bands from 1970’s - ‘90’s. In 2002, he formed the Hard Rain - Bob Dylan Tribute Band. In 2016 the band evolved into Hard Rain - Bob Dylan & The Band Tribute Band, acknowledging the connection between both artists and incorporating songs by The Band into the set lists. In 2023, they once again evolved, this time into Hard Rain - All Things Dylan which includes songs by Traveling Wilburys, of which Bob Dylan was a member, and songs by The Wallflowers, fronted by Dylan’s son, Jakob Dylan. 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR SATURDAY MAY 20

Forging Community Dylangate Event, & Historic Armory and Self-guided Bob Dylan Sites in Duluth Tours
Tours at 10 AM and 10:45 AM
Armory Arts & Music Center Annex
1305 London Rd, Duluth
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM | Free

Heaven’s Door Bourbon and Whiskey Sampling Events
Come try Bob Dylan’s award-winning Tennessee Bourbon and Whiskeys
Available to purchase at both locations:

Cashwise Liquor                            Super One Liquor
625 Central Entrance                       208 N Central Ave.
Duluth MN 55811                            Duluth MN 55807
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM | Free Samples with Valid ID (must be 21)

Highway 61 Revisited Radio Show
The North 103.3 FM Streaming online at 5:00-6:00 PM | Free

Duluth Dylan Fest Kick Off Party
With music by Hard Rain – All Things Dylan
Earth Rider Festival Grounds
1617 N. 3rd St., Superior WI
7:00-10:00 PM | Tickets $5 to $40 Eventbrite

 

FULL SCHEDULE FOR 2023 DULUTH DYLAN FEST HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

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

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Related Link 51 Years of Hard Rain

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

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

Getting the Backstory on the L.A. Dylanfest with Andy Hill, Renee Safier and Hard Rain

Andy Hill, Renee Safier with Hard Rain @ Dylanfest L.A.

It's early May and that time of year again here with Duluth Dylan Fest just around the corner. One of our Dylan-fan friends from out of town sent me a note about a Dylanfest she attended in L.A. this past weekend. As it turns out, that Dylanfest--produced by Andy Hill, Renee Safier and their backing band Hard Rain--has been running now for 29 years. In addition to near three decades of Dylanfest, they have performed in premiere venues internationally, received numerous awards, and produced 15 CDs plus 3 DVDs.

When I saw what their doing it affirmed something I have been saying for years. Dylan's influence far exceeds the bounds of what is typical for a pop culture icon. This month his 78th birthday will be celebrated around the world, including here at our own weeklong Duluth Dylan Fest. Here are some insights from the West Coast regarding Dylan, music and life.

EN: 29 years is quite a run. How did you conceive that first Dylanfest? Who was involved and what did you do?

Andy Hill: In the liner notes of Bob Dylan’s 1985 5-album retrospective “Biograph,” Cameron Crowe related the story of a party in New York City where guests were invited to dress up as characters, things, interpretations and misinterpretations of Bob Dylan lyrics. In May of 1991 me and Renee and our band The Management expanded the concept by donning costumes and performing 4 hours of live Bob Dylan music to a packed house at the smoke-filled Hermosa Saloon.

Even at the first show, we had at least a couple of guests. A Dylan song is often musically very simple, and as such, acts like an empty vessel into which a singer or musician can pour his or her unique voice and musical expression. In a way, his are the most democratic of songs… in that players from across the musical spectrum of ability enjoy equal access.

In the ensuing years the event took on a life of its own, expanding first into a 10-hour potluck backyard house party. Attracting guest musicians, singers, bands and revelers from far and wide it eventually grew into the music festival it is today. This year, we had a singer fly in from Hawaii, another from Italy, and someone from Northern California, as well as all our local acts. We feature folk music, country, rock and roll, blues, gospel, Americana and more. What a listener won’t hear over the 8 hours of continuous music are any repeated songs. This year, we got through 64. And every year since 1991, someone has played at least one song that has never been performed at any previous Dylanfest.

EN: That's pretty amazing. What prompted you to create an L.A. Dylanfest in 1990?

AH: Initially, I was just a big Bob Dylan fan. We had no intention of producing an annual event. It was the 3rd year, in 1994, when we became conscious that we had created something we could duplicate. It would be another 3 or 4 years before a light bulb went on and we thought, “You know, we could do this at a club or festival ground, and I bet people would buy tickets!” Until around 1999, it was a backyard howler, replete with all the expenses, cleanup, occasional visits from the South Bay’s finest, etc. Dylan had turned 50 back in 1991, the year we first celebrated his contribution to what had become our livelihood. He was so OLD, but so COOL. Now, of course, we’re all older than he was then.

EN: When did you first connect with the music of Bob Dylan? What album would you say was your entry point?

AH: There are two huge moments that I recall vividly: It might have been December of 1975. I was fifteen years old and watching TV in my parents’ family room in Burnaby, British Columbia. Bob Dylan was singing with a small band that included a female violin player. I was unfamiliar with the song, but mesmerized by the performance.

The song was impossibly long, had no chorus, and was in a minor key. Dylan, seemingly unconscious of the cameras, spat out twelve verses, with no teleprompter and no notes. He sang about a boxer, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who was tried and convicted of a triple murder committed in 1966 in New Jersey. “Hurricane” was co-written by Jaques Levy and would be released later in 1976 and become one of Dylan’s classic protest songs. It would take until 1985 for Carter to be exonerated of the crime.
I was playing guitar by this time, and, looking back, I believe it was this performance that set in my teenage mind the idea that songwriting and performance were vastly improved if they were connected in some tangible way to the service of humanity at large. Dylan had absorbed the inclination from Woody Guthrie, and everyone in pop music after that picked it up from Dylan. Dylan had once said “you could listen to Woody Guthrie songs and actually learn how to live.”  One could make the argument that Dylan wrote “Hurricane” because Woody wrote “1913 Massacre.” The protege had learned how to live.

The second incident was when I was in high school. In 1978-79 disco music was so pervasive that my friends and I began buying albums at random by artists we had only heard of because you had a better chance of hearing a good song that way than by checking the top 40. I was 18, and I picked up something by Neil Young, and The Doors, and I bought the double album “Live at Budokan” by Bob Dylan. I had chanced upon the only Dylan album to date that included the printed lyrics to his songs. As a kid getting ready to enter college, I was stunned by the song “It’s Alright Ma.” It was longer than any song I’d ever seen and it seemed to contain the whole world. I read the lyrics and thought, “This is why this guy is so famous…” and simultaneously, (as an aspiring songwriter), “THIS is what you have to do??”

EN: Thanks, Andy. "It's Alright, Ma" was my real immersion point, too. It connected with my inner personal struggle--the feeling of being out of sync with the culture I was living in--like nothing eve had before. Renee, when did you begin to get immersed in the music of Bob Dylan? Are there any songs or albums that especially speak to you?

Renee Safier: Andy was really the person who exposed me to the depth and breadth of the Bob Dylan catalog. I had heard the hits as a kid...Blowing In The Wind, Tambourine Man, All Along the Watchtower, and Like A Rolling Stone, and an acoustic trio I played with in college played Tangled Up In Blue, but as Andy and I built our performance songlist (now at 470 songs), he introduced me to more and more Bob Dylan. By the time we started doing Dylanfest, we played quite a few Dylan tunes, and that number has grown over the years. My love and respect for the material has deepened as well, and I am always moved and amazed at how deep and wide his music goes lyrically, melodically and poetically.

EN: Are you surprised that 29 years later your Dylanfest event is still growing? What were the highlights of this weekend?

AH: I’m not sure that “surprised” is the right word. Renee does the work of ten men in promoting this event. It is easy to say and believe, but I think it’s actually unfair, to characterize the event’s success as hinging entirely, or even mostly, on the quality of Bob Dylan’s catalog, as astonishing as that catalog is. I’ve said for awhile now, that without Renee’s dedication, Dylanfest would be me playing acoustic guitar in my living room for our friends every May. And I would know an exhausting amount of his material. But anybody who’s produced an event knows that getting people to choose your event over everything else that’s available in a city like Los Angeles takes both a good idea, and a relentless dedication to the non-artistic elements entwined with public awareness.

For the 25th Dylanfest we engaged a group of super-fans to be volunteers. With the added muscle, and the additional set of skills they brought to the table, everything got bigger and better. We got a better sound system, a billboard, a program for the event; We had a team, instead of two or three of us, spreading the news by word of mouth, etc. We’ve had a lot of help along the way, and that’s why it’s still growing.

Of course our biggest team of volunteers are the singers, musicians and bands themselves. No guest sings more than 2 songs. But they come from far and wide to perform, because year after year there is a big, happy audience welcoming them back. It would be an oversight not to acknowledge that Dylanfest has a huge reunion component to it -- that people who used to live here, choose this weekend to visit their old friends, etc. And people who live here know that all their friends will be in one place at one time.

In our 29th year the highlights for me were both big group things and small personal things. We assembled about 15 acoustic players, both professional and amateur, for a rousing sing-along rendition of Quinn, The Eskimo. Because the stage volume was low, we could really hear the audience sing along. It was joyous and big. On the other end of the spectrum, I was playing rhythm guitar, standing maybe 3 or 4 feet from singer/guitarist Luis Oliart as he ripped his closing guitar solo to “Sweetheart Like You.” While he played, he kept eye-contact with me for what seemed like at least half the solo. The music that came from him, and the emotional generosity that poured forth during that solo I recognized almost immediately as both profound, and as a teachable moment. Artistic expression is always more than notes on the page, fingers on the fretboard, or wind through the reed. I’m not sure how you would go about teaching it, but when you see and hear it up close, you feel it, and as a player, you want to create that yourself.

EN: I understand that completely. I see that you’ve produced quite a few albums. (http://www.andyandrenee.com/albums.php) Which is your best-selling, and which is your personal favorite?

AH: We are about to release our 16th album. It will be called “Fuse32” and right now, it’s my favorite. We’ve worked very hard on it, and over the last 10 albums or so, our relationship with producer and friend Marty Rifkin has deepened, and we’ve come to a place in the studio where great things are possible. Some of that is because we are better musicians. But both Renee and I are deferential in nature, socially, and that can sometimes be a strength in a collaborative setting. But often, it probably keeps you from doing your best work. Over time, with the building of trust, mutual respect, self-confidence, the willingness to try different things, abandon ideas that you were invested in, etc., you can put forth conflicting ideas and hammer out resolutions and know that the relationship outside of music can handle it.

I think our best-selling album is “It Takes A Lot To Laugh” a collection of 14 Bob Dylan songs. Our best-selling album of original material is “The 14th of February”. (I think…Renee?)

RS: Yes, either “It Takes A Lot To Laugh” or "The 14th of February" (which has a Dylan song, "Senor 'Tales Of Yankee Power'," included in the tracklist). Many Miles To Go, a 2011 release, is also a strong seller. It's hard to pick my favorite CD project...They all have different strengths, focuses and memories encapsulated in them. Just like a listener might associate a specific time in their life with a certain record, we have vivid memories from the actual recording sessions that can be triggered when we play a song from a CD or hear the track itself.

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Related Links
CDs and DVDs by Andy and Renee
Andy Hill & Renee Safier Home Page

Duluth Dylan Fest 2019 is coming up fast, May 18-26, 2019. The weeklong festival will include an array of activities including more Dylan artifacts from the Bill Pagel Archives, an art show, music poetry, more music, a trivia night, lecture by Dylanologist David Gaines, author of In Dylan Town, the annual Singer-Songwriter Contest, and more.
Duluth Dylan Fest 2019 Schedule of Events
Joan Osbourne has been touring the country with a setlist of Dylan songs. The Kentucky-born performer will be at Sacred Heart on May 23. Tickets available here at Eventbrite.
May 17 Alan Sparhawk is contributing an evening of music on behalf of the Armory's Music Resource Center program. It's the evening before Duluth Dylan Fest officially kicks off. Consider it a tailgate party before the big week, for a good cause. Purchase tickets here for this AAMC MRC Spring Fundraiser.

If you see us, say hello!

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

Don't Look Back

This past two months have been more than a little interesting for Dylan fans, not only those here in the Northland but from all over the world. One of these is a Mr. David Leaver whom I met five years ago at the Ochre Ghost Gallery where there was an exhibition of Dylan-themed art. Appropriately, my painting "Don't Look Back" was one of the pieces, the title pilfered from D.A. Pennebaker's 1967 Dylan documentary featuring Dylan's 1965 tour of England. Mr. Leaver entered the small space where we were introduced to one another and I learned his was an Englishman who lived for most of his childhood in a small town near Blackburn Lancashire made famous by the Beatles’ "A Day in the Life." It's been a great delight getting to know him better since that first meeting. Here's David Leaver's story.

EN: Can you share a bit about yourself and how you came to be such a dyed-in-the-wool Dylan fan?

David Leaver: My mother died when I was one and my dad when I was 13. My Dad’s last job was as a gravedigger. I lived with foster parents for three years but then lived with my two older brothers after the age of 16. At 18, I went to Oxford University to study Geography. My college was Christ Church, which is Oxford’s grandest college with 13 British Prime Ministers (out of 27 in total from Oxford). ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was written there and its current claim to fame was that much of the early Harry Potter films was shot there. I played for the College soccer team and my teammates included the nephew of a Prime Minister; the son of the Lord Chancellor and a future Field Marshall. Michael Dobbs creator of ‘House of Cards’ was a contemporary. It was certainly a different world to the one I had grown up in.

One of my courses at university was ‘The Economic Geography of Eastern Canada’, which gave some insights into the Great Lakes.

After University, I travelled working on a kibbutz in the winter of 1971-2; a cartographer in Dubai 1972-3; soccer coach University of Liberia 1973-4. I married a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia and went to live in Chicago 1975–6. I worked as a store manager for Woolworth's, which meant I could watch the Cubs on my days off. One cold winter had me going back to England. In England I worked for P+G on brands such as Ivory Snow and had a further 15 years in marketing with various companies.

In 1992, I switched careers and became a University lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, one of the UK’s largest with 36,000 students. I teach Brand Management, and Sports Branding. Both involve thinking about how brands and organizations use emotion and social media to connect with consumers and fans. My children now live in the USA: one in Seattle and the other in Kansas City. I visit them regularly.

Becoming a Dylan Fan

My earliest musical interest was Buddy Holly and then The Beatles, Stones and Kinks. Dylan was slightly peripheral and it was cover versions from Peter Paul and Mary, The Byrds and even Sonny and Cher that got me interested in him. The trilogy Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde was the real start. I particularly liked ‘Sad eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ and on vinyl you could play it on repeat as it was side 4 of Blonde. I liked how he described things and his unusual phrasing.

EN: How many times have you seen Dylan live?

DL: Dylan played the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1969. Unfortunately, the week before I had gone travelling in Europe for the summer so missed my first real opportunity to see him. I have seen him 7 times. My most memorable were 1984 in the open air at Newcastle. Santana was on the bill and Mick Taylor (ex-Rolling Stones) on lead. Beautiful balmy summer evening and some of it is on Real Live. My other favourite was in Kansas City. When he sang "He made it to Kansas City, Twelfth Street and Vine" from "High Water (For Charley Patton)" the crowd went nuts.

Visiting the Northlands

EN: You visited us here in Duluth and went to Hibbing's Dylan Days a few years ago. What did you enjoy most about that trip?

DL: I have been to Hibbing four times and Duluth once. As a Geographer, I was always fascinated by ‘place’, which can be characterised as a ‘meaningful location’. I was just curious about how place might have influenced Dylan as he does reference place in many of his songs. I am also interested in the notion of Dérive. For me this means ‘wandering about’ trying to get a sense of what makes a particular place. In Hibbing it is easy to do this as it is relatively contained and has such contrasts as the High School, the mines, and is the birthplace of Greyhound. For a small town it has a lot going on; but the locals seem so matter of fact about it, all which adds to the charm. Meeting Mr Rolfzen, Bob’s English teacher was fantastic; having afternoon tea in Bob’s boyhood home (thanks Greg French) were a couple of standouts. And of course the Dylan Days stalwarts: Linda Stroback-Hocking and Bob Hocking, and Aaron Brown. In Duluth it was nice to see his first home (and what a great job Bill Pagel has done with the restoration) has done there; and being taken to the Armory to stand on the stage Buddy Holly stood on (thanks to Zane Bail).

The Nobel Prize

Avignon, France, 1981

EN: Were you surprised by Dylan's being honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature?

DL: I was surprised but I think it is deserved. The book setting out his lyrics shows his range and Chronicles is a delight. I am sure a lot of dynamite has been used in Hibbing’s mines, too.

EN: Do you have a favorite period in Dylan's career or favorite album? I realize this is difficult as he has produced so much great material.

DL: At present I really enjoy the Bootleg Series. Slightly rough and ragged. But the real treasures are on YouTube looking at his stuff from the 1990s and early 2000s. Of all of them, a version of Hard Rain backed by a full orchestra is my favourite. Passion and a mature reflectiveness. (Embedded below.)

A Word for American fans of Dylan

EN: Is there anything you would like to say to American Dylan fans from England?

I met briefly LeRoy Hoikkala who played drums with Golden Chords with Bob in the 1950s. At 14 he told LeRoy, "Believe in yourself and never give up." A good way to go about things.

* * * *

Tomorrow Patti Smith is slated to read Mr. Dylan's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. As part of the ceremony she will also sing A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, one of the great songs from a Dylan's abundant catalog. Here's one of the most powerful performances of that powerful song that will continue to echo down the corridors of time in ways we cannot yet fathom.

TOMORROW there is a gathering in Hibbing to celebrate tomorrow's event. The Hibbing Dylan Project is inviting friends and fans to the Nobel Prize Reception Celebration at the Historic Androy Hotel in Hibbing. The party begins at 5:00 p.m. Details here on Facebook. Will I see you there?

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

When the Levee Breaks and Modern Times

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.
~ Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie

As you drive across the Midwest from Chicago to Minneapolis-St. Paul on Interstate 94, there's a place with some eye-catching rock formations in the midst of endless miles of rolling hills. Wisconsin is cheese country, so this singular deviation from trees and pastureland was memorable the first time I saw it. Due to the spectacular features of the glacially formed gorges there, a healthy tourist business emerged with resorts, indoor water parks and a wide assortment of entertainment diversions.

This area, including nearby Lake Delton, came to be known as the Wisconsin Dells, The Dells for short. The nearby town of Lake Delton only has about 2500 citizens, but the 20 or so resorts about the lake boast 10 times that many occupants, and the Dells region as a tourist destination brings in as many as five million tourists a year, turning a modestly remote scenic wonder into an estimated billion dollar cash machine. The lake itself was man made in 1927, the same year as the Great Mississippi Flood that spawned the blues lament “When the Levee Breaks” cited above and made famous by Led Zeppelin on their fourth album in 1971.

A few years ago, after a very wet spring, it rained 12 inches in one day, and to the shock of all... 400 feet of levee did break. At 2 a.m. Lake Delton spilled out into the Wisconsin River and was no more. One Lake Delton resident said it was like watching a bathtub drain out. With the tourist season kicking into high gear, the 20 resorts on the perimeter of the lake would experience severe repercussions. A CNN story on the event stated, “When the water of Lake Delton ripped through the highway and drained into the Wisconsin River this week, so did the lifeline for much of the surrounding community.”

As I reflected on this event, it brought to mind Dylan's revamped version of the song, "The Levee's Gonna Break", which he recorded in 2006, more than four decades after another song about hard rain. His Modern Times rendition is upbeat and bouncy and doesn't convey any of the seriousness of Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, or the Led Zeppelin rendition that was a true cover, Zeppelin-style, of course.
"Oh cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do no good."

If it keep on rainin' the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin' the levee gonna break
Everybody saying this is a day only the Lord could make

On Modern Times, Dylan's first album to become a #1 in the U.S. since Desire, and first to debut at #1 the first week of its release, this song quickly takes a sideways turn away from the notion of sorrow and loss. Or does it? If you follow it through the theme is there, but in a most unusual filament of storyline. You can read the lyrics at bobdylan.com.

Dylan enjoyed the song enough to perform it 70 times in concert up till last summer in Pori, Finland. It's a great album, the third in a row produced by Jack Frost.

To circle back to the beginning, it is unlikely anyone had a clue that Lake Delton could empty itself out like that. But that's what makes it so devastating. Everything is all peaches and cream, all the while being clueless that the end is near. Once the foundations have crumbled t's not a matter of if, but when as regards the collapse of the edifice.

As Woody Allen once said, "I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens." I half feel that way about the Apocalypse.

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Now that it's May we're counting down to yet another week of Dylan festivities leading up to Bob's 74th birthday. Consider yourself invited.

For tickets to the May 23 Acoustic Salute to the Music of Bob Dylan, click here.