Wordless Wednesday: Steampunk Style

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The Dylan Effect Panel Discussion Is Rewarding and Insightful

It's Dylan week here in Duluth, an annual celebration of all things Bob that takes place in the North Country where he was born and raised. The banner over Duluth's activities is called Dylan Fest and in Hibbing it is Dylan Days. So much is happening that by week's end we'll all be dazed.

Last night's event in Duluth was billed as The Dylan Effect. The event took place at Tycoons Alehouse and Eatery in the old City Hall Chambers, beginning at 7:00 p.m. and finishing about 8:30 p.m. Following the discussion, Jim Hall, longtime musician and featured performer of Duluth and Hibbing Dylan Festivals for the past five years, played Dylan songs and at 10 PM, Dirty Horse continued the music with its rendition of Dylan and original tunes. I had to bail after John Hall completed his first set upstairs while we dismantled the room.

Essentially, the Dylan Effect was a panel discussion moderated by Karen Sunderman, producer and host of The Playlist, a local PBS show that covers the local arts scene among other things. The panel was comprised of  • John Bushey, longtime host of Highway 61 Revisited, educator, historian and professional magician • Don Dass, poet and preservationist, and one of the people responsible for the establishment of Bob Dylan Way • Susan Phillips • Nelson French • Tim Nelson, musician, local music promoter, and business owner, producer of the three Duluth Does Dylan CDs • David Everett artist and educator • and myself, Ed Newman. Behind the scenes manifold thanks are due to Zane Bail who helped put this all together.

Sunderman began by asking each panelist to briefly identify themselves and then say something about Dylan's influence on them personally. The answers varied but I was especially touched by David Everett's experience. Most of us in the room remembered Dylan's heart infection in the late nineties in which there was a concern that he might die. At the time 19-year-old Everett nearly despaired because he might never have the chance to hear Dylan live. Dylan survived and the very next year came to Duluth to do a concert, a richly rewarding experience for the young artist.

The second question, which we dove into with more vigor now that the dicussion was flowing, had to do with Dylan's influence on the broader culture. The way she worded the question was especially interesting. In what ways to do we see Dylan's fingerprints on the culture around us, locally, nationally and globally? Nelson French noted that everything Dylan does has been newsworthy almost his entire life. "Bob has always been in the news." He also mentioned that he has created a legacy, in the full meaning of the word.

In his own initial remarks John Bushey, host of Highway 61 Revisited, mentioned how he was impressed that Dylan had the courage to not be pigeon-holed.

Musician Tim Nelson described the way Dylan, even in all his permutations, carries something of the "Duluth sound" in him. "I hear it in Dylan....ecclectic... organic."

When I have more time I will elaborate on my own thoughts on this part of the discussion but my first notion, which I shared, was that Dylan's pervasive influence is far beyond what we see and hence we don't always see his fingerprints. It's much like the fashion industry. Insiders know that what appears on the Paris "Runway" will filter down over the next year into the chic styles and hip colors of boutique fashion down to the mass-produced styles and colors that fill clothing racks all across the continent. Dylan has been a seminal creative force in this same manner.

In preparation for the panel discussion we had been asked to assemble three words that we felt summed up who Dylan was, if such things are possible. One set was Bard, Passion, and Nature. David Everett said, "Pioneer, Dynamic, Fearless." (If you are reading this you will notice my blog here resides at PioneerProductions.blogspot.com, so I inwardly smiled at this word selection.) Tim Nelson's three words were, "Individual, Philosophical, Sassy....  in a devil-may-care kind of way. John Bushey used the word Multi-Dimensional, which also was assented to by all. There were many other good sets of word to which I added my own three and then a fourth:  Catalyst (someone else said this), Reservoir, Touchstone and Justice.

The discussion included questions from the audience and insights from there as well. While on his recent trip to China there were some critics who said he should have been more vocal about the oppression of artists and done more protest songs. John Bushey forcefully pointed out that Dylan opened his concerts there with the song "Change My Way of Thinking," and he urged all of us to really listen to the lyrics of that song. It very pointedly speaks to today's situation there.

All in all, I only wish my notes could do a better job of conveying here the richness of the dialogue that was shared. It was a very special time.

All pictures and paintings on this blog are my own unless otherwise indicated. Click images to enlarge.

Trivia Contest Tests Mettle of Even the Most Die-Hard Dylan Fans

As you know, this is Dylan Fest week in Duluth and since it is not getting the media coverage it deserves I will be picking up the slack here for the next few days. Mr. Dylan turns 71 this Thursday, and it's a week long series of event both here in Duluth where he was born and in Hibbing where he grew up and came of age.

Last night was the second annual Bob Dylan Trivia Contest at Carmody's Irish Pub downtown. It's a seriously fun venue and from what I've been told they have trivia contests every single week here. One of the bartenders has lungs o' leather and can really project, which is quite the task in a noisy pub. The crowd gathers, gets a bit rummy and in a most orderly and punctual fashion the competition convenes, pens and paper provided so you can write your answers as you go. And no, you do not have to be a Dylan fan to play. They do 51 other themes throughout the year and you're always welcome. They have prizes, too.

When I arrived at nine, a pair of musicians called Cowboy Angel Blue were playing some really nice Dylan songs. If you ever see their names on a docket, it'll be worth your while to check in. They're from up near Virginia, Mn, about an hour North.

At shortly after nine the contest was called to order. John Bushey, host of KUMD's Highway 61 Revisited, assembled the questions again this year. And they were hard uns. Bushey said last year the questions were too easy and nearly everyone got them all correct, so he bore down and stymied us with some pretty obscure material.

This is a multiple choice quiz, so you can still get a few right even if you don't know the answer. Here are a few sample questions:

6. What year did the "Never Ending Tour" begin?
a. 1986
b. 1988
c. 1990
d. 1994

7. Which musician spent the most time touring with Bob Dylan?
a. Levon Helm
b. G. E. Smith
c. Tony Garnier
d. Charlie Sexton

I kicked myself afterward because I should have known it was Tony. He's a great bass player and been with Bob a long time. You can see him in Masked and Anonymous (the story of Jack Fate) and he was here in Duluth in 1998 at the DECC and in '99 with Paul Simon.

Well, some questions were a biut easier, like this one:
11. Dylan mentioned seeing Buddy Holly at the Duluth National Guard Armory when accepting a Grammy award for this album:
a. Planet Waves
b. Modern Times
c. Love and Theft
d. Time Out Of Mind

Other questions into some really obscure regions.
13. When asked in an interview if he could go back in time to see any event what was Bob Dylan's response?

The answer, my friends, was not blowing in the wind. I did not know that he would have liked to have been there to see Houdini escape from a box in the East River in NY.

What fraternity house did he live in while at the U of MN? The song "Forever Young" was written for whom? Which early Dylan song was John Lennon of the Beatles first attracted to?

Well, you get the picture. It was fun and I hope they do it again next year. And this week I hope you can make it to a few of the other events happening here in the Northland as we celebrate Bob's 71st. Details here at BobDylandWay.com

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Have a great week. Wish you were here.

Shakespeare and Dylan Birds of a Feather

Friday evening's Scarlet Rivera concert with Gene Lafond and the Wild Unknown provided a great kick-off for this week's Dylan Fest events. When it came time for an encore, the group did us one better, returning the following night to rock the house at Tycoon's Saturday evening.

During the pre-event mixer last night I had the privilege of finally meeting some of the many people whose names I'd become familiar with but who had no faces... till now. I am referring here to the board of directors for the Armory Arts and Music Center. What a dedicated bunch. The excitement surrounding recent events including purchase of the property next door only serves to cement their resolve that the facility will be preserved.

Being around Dylan people, and by that I mean people who have been long time fans and thought deeply about Dylan's songs and importance, you almost inevitably glean new insights to add to your catalog of understandings. Such was the case last night.

A favorite song among many long-time Dylan listeners is Desolation Row, the capstone on Dylan's remarkable Highway 61 Revisited. The opening line of this song is a familiar one, "They're selling postcards of the hanging..." I have listened to it a hundred, if not five hundred, times. It is shocking to realize that people actually did sell postcards of lynchings. And last night, while upstairs at Tycoons, I learned some new information about the lynching that took place here in 1919, a dark blot in Northland history.

Backstory: I have been aware for many years of the terrible event that took place here. I have even written about it on my blog a few times, as in this moment when I was touched by Billy Holiday's rendition of Strange Fruit Until last night I never realized the the jailhouse was not eight blocks away at Sixth Avenue West, where the county jail had been most of my years in this town. The jail, where these three black men were scraped from was just one block from where they were put to death without trial. Duluth's jail, and Prohibition era speakeasy, was right there in Tycoon's for a time, and then in the building next door.

While getting to know various people, listening and talking, we got to the topic of how many different phrases and songs and lines from songs are so much a part of our culture now but that many of the masses are unaware that their origins come from Dylan songs. One gentleman noted that for the longest time he'd never read any Shakespeare, but when he finally did his first reaction was that his plays were full of cliches... until he realized what an astonishing number of sayings originated with this brilliant man, and before him they weren't cliches at all.

My guess is that many who discover Dylan for the first time also realize that he's been influencing them all along, without them knowing it.What follows is a blog entry I wrote a few years ago with regard to Dylan's tip-o'-the-hat to Shakespeare.

TELL OL' BILL

It just keeps getting better. I'm referring here to the Dylan catalog. It's not the prodigious quantity, but the remarkable quality of work that keeps fans coming back for more.

When Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 was released last year, my first reaction was, "Oh no, do I have a buy yet another Dylan album already?" Then the word started to get around, some cuts were played on KUMD's Dylan Hour, and a friend said it was a must have. Turns out he was right. After a year I still can't stop listening to the songs on this rich double CD, which is primarily alternative takes and unreleased material from 1989 to present.

The unreleased songs here like "Red River Shore", "Born In Time" and "Marchin' to the City" would have been enough for the foundation of a great album, but shuffle in all these fabulous alternate versions of songs like "Most Of The Time" and "Dignity" and it's just golden.

This weekend the song "Tell Ol' Bill" has been pulsing through my mind. The tune is haunting. The poetry mysterious and suitably subtle and evocative. So I wished to share it here this morning.

Last night I found myself agreeing with Foley Jones who begins his review of this song with the statement, "I’ve been shocked by the lack of attention paid so far to Tell Ol’ Bill."

The simplicity of its imagery and the extent to which it has been realised is what makes the song ‘major’. Just how many times can one man go to the same well and come back with something so full and fresh? Here we’re on archetypal first principles, more symbolism than imagery: the river, the high hill, tranquil lakes and streams, the ground, the wood. How much is he conscious of the possibility of reading ‘River of Life’ into the opening line, do you suppose? The sheer number of times that you get to ask that fundamental question about his ditties is evidence in itself to make the question redundant. That’s what he’s on about alright.

The song has a lot of the core mannerisms of Dylan’s recent work: the country swing, the stolen title, the references to Shakespeare, the preoccupation with death, and the wry fortitude with which that prospect is met.

Tell Ol’ Bill

The river whispers in my ear
I've hardly a penny to my name
The heavens have never seemed so near
All of my body glows with flame

The tempest struggles in the air
And to myself alone I sing
It could sink me then and there
I can hear the echoes ring

I tried to find one smiling face
To drive the shadow from my head
I'm stranded in this nameless place
Lying restless in a heavy bed

Tell me straight out if you will
Why must you torture me within?
Why must you come down off of your high hill?
Throw my fate to the clouds and wind

Far away in a silent land
Secret thoughts are hard to bear
Remember me, you'll understand
Emotions we can never share

You trampled on me as you passed
Left the coldest kiss upon my brow
All of my doubts and fears have gone at last
I've nothing more to tell you now

I walk by tranquil lakes and streams
As each new season's dawn awaits
I lay awake at night with troubled dreams
The enemy is at the gate

Beneath the thunder blasted trees
The words are ringin' off your tongue
The ground is hard in times like these
Stars are cold, the night is young

The rocks are bleak, the trees are bare
Iron clouds go floating by
Snowflakes fallin' in my hair
Beneath the gray and stormy sky

The evenin' sun is sinkin' low
The woods are dark, the town isn't new
They'll drag you down, they'll run the show
Ain't no telling what they'll do

Tell ol' Bill when he comes home
Anything is worth a try
Tell him that I'm not alone
That the hour has come to do or die

All the world I would defy
Let me make it plain as day
I look at you now and I sigh
How could it be any other way?

Credits: Bob Dylan, songwriter

Special Rider Music, publisher

Check out Foley Jones' complete commentary on this great song.
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Scarlet and Geno: Concert Kicks Off 2012 Dylan Fest and Helps Promote Good Cause

It's been said that Steve Jobs had a reality-bending personality that many called a Reality Distortion Field. If you were within his sphere you were somehow under the his influence, almost forced against your will to see things through his eyes, and he always saw things like a visionary, not based on the evidence but on the possibilities woven from golden strands of dream.

Well, somehow that's the feeling I get from my recent association with Nelson French, newest board member for the Armory Arts and Music Center. There are many others on the board who have been carrying the dream forward with its ultimate aim of preserving this historical building and turning it into a landmark. The obstacles have been great, and it there will be many more hurdles to leap, but when you listen to Nelson it's already a done deal. It's no pipe dream. His passion has a practical side that turns skeptics to believers, and I am one of them. The restored Armory Arts and Music Center will be a significant contribution to this city whose "native son" has given so much to the world stage at large.

This is what last night's concert was about, raising awareness and funding for the restoration of a historical building... not just because Bob Dylan was inspired by seeing Buddy Holly perform there, but because there is so much more of our history that has happened here, a heritage worth preserving and building upon. Yes, Bobby Vee and Johnny Cash and Bob Hope and many others performed here. But it was also a staging ground for troops during World War II to learn how to dig foxholes, and a cornerstone of Duluth history.

The concert at UMD's Weber Hall last night opened with Nelson French, decked out in a tux, announcing that they had just purchased the property adjacent to the Armory, which will be useful for parking space once the Arts and Music Center is opened. These practical details are important considerations, and it shows the thoroughness with which the restoration project is being conducted.

Then French introduced a pair of young teens who performed two songs they had written. Teens like these will be inspired by classes at the Music and Arts Center. Ms. Rivera later noted that she would be teaching and sharing with a group of young proteges the following day.

The concert proceeded with the introduction of a young group called Communist Daughter. Contrary to the name, the songs were apolitical and the group appears to be just a talented young team of musicians anchored by attractive Molly Moore. Nelson has been a fan of the group longer than some of them have played together, having first seen them in a small venue in Prescott way back when. Several times the lead singer commented that they had albums and CDs for sale and amusingly noted that "even though our name is Communist Daughter, we're still capitalists. Deep down we all are."

The Indie-Rock group had the good fortune to have two of their songs picked up by the television series Grey's Anatomy. Johnny, the lead vocalist, acknowledged that he used to have an alcohol problem but has now been clean for 18 months. A song about this period, Almost Dead, Almost Clean, had some moving lines like, "Don't remember me; remember the man I wanted to be." A special song he wrote as he was recovering gave It was an admirable set with nice harmonies that put us in the mood for more.

Nelson French returned afterward returned to introduce the featured entertainment. Gene Lafond and the Wild Unknown (Brian Green, Dean Wolfson and Joey Phillips) opened with a song called Violin Lady which he wrote for Scarlet Rivera the day after meeting her. It was a great opening for the concert as she was absent from the stage but then appeared, her violin sweeping gently into the atmosphere there.

Without wasting a moment, the band kicked in as she jacked her other violin into the amp and channeled us all into the Hurricane, undoubtedly one of the most electrifying songs of the Seventies. Scarlet said she was thrilled to be here as our "native son" played such an instrumental role in her life. He's the reason she keeps coming back to our beautiful Northland.

The full set played out this way:
Violin Lady
Hurricane
Love Minus Zero, No Limit
Shot of Love
Most of the Time
Isis  (Brian Green vocals)
One More Cup of Coffee
A violin solo by Scarlet
Black Diamond Bay
You're a Big Girl Now
Romance in Durango
Oh Sister
A song Gene wrote called Susie Christ
The Man in the Long Black Coat
Tangled Up In Blue

For an encore, yes, everyone was on their feet, the band re-emerged along with Communist Daughter to close us out with Watching the River Flow.

All in all a fitting introduction for Dylan Fest 2012. Later this weekend I will post the schedule for this week's events. Can't wait? Google it... Duluth Dylan Fest. And in Hibbing, it's Dylan Days. Join us this week for a special time of music and memories.


Photos here by Ed Newman using a Sony CyberShot. Two professional photographers (Michael K Anderson and Andrew Perfetti) got all the money shots last night of which I will try to share a few later.

Click Images to Enlarge

EdNote: There will be no installment of Uprooted, A Story of Estonia this weekend. Please come back next Saturday for Part VIII.

Steampunk Event at the Depot Satisfies Imaginations and Stirs Hearts

This is my 1968th blog post at Ennyman's Territory. That's more than five years of blogging, which has been quite astonishing for me as I only intended to dabble in it a bit "just to see what blogging was about." Thank you for being a reader.

In 1968 my brothers turned 14, 10 and 8 respectively. Black lights and strobe lights were becoming cool. Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in movie theaters and young people were flocking to see the Beatles' latest flick, an animated film called Yellow Submarine. Man had not yet walked on the moon, but we were getting close. On earth, riots disrupted the Democratic Convention in Chicago that summer. Bobby Kennedy took a bullet while campaigning for the nomination earlier that year. Dr. Martin Luther King also took a bullet, resulting in riots that did tremendous damage to countless U.S. cities, external fires reflecting the internal pain burning in many hearts.

Gasoline was 34 cents a gallon that year, movie tickets were a buck-fifty and the average annual income just under eight thousand dollars. Rent was about $150 a month and the Viet Nam War showed no signs of abating as Hey Jude topped the nation's music charts.

I was reading sci fi at the time, listening to the Doors and Hendrix and Cream's Sunshine of Your Love. Woodstock hadn't happened yet and my hair was still short, but change was clearly afoot everywhere. But the word Steampunk did not yet exist. Though fantasy was alive and well, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was coming on strong, it would be another dozen years before the word Cyberpunk would appear to describe the futuristic fantasy of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Eventually, the 1880s futurism of Jules Verne would get a new set of hues and Steampunk would emerge... a century after Verne had begun conceiving Captain Corsican, Harry Blount, Captain Nemo and the Nautilus.

Last night at the Train Depot in Duluth the past came alive in an art event like none before it, an evening of Steampunk. We Steampunk art, Steampunk fashion, Steampunk entertainment and, best of all, steam engines surrounded by people in Steampunk garb. What a fun way to see old friends and meet new ones. Special thanks to the Richard Rosvall, our resident Mayor of Steampunk, and all the imaginative people who contributed to this memorable evening of living entertainment.

As we went back in time I became Dr. Jules Langdon Lafon, a chemist and inventor. I told a few stories, but am saving the best for a future collection which I hope can be shared with you some day.

The event was sponsored in part by Dubrue, who provided beer, and Tycoons, who gave us access for an afterparty in the Rathskaller Lounge, a Prohibition-era speakeasy which has been restored and is serving the public once again. Ambience and history made for a good intersection with Steampunk partiers, those live mannequins in a museum-like setting. Loved it.

Meantime, life goes on. And next time, when you hear of a Steampunk assembly near you, don't miss it for the world.
 
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Get Ready for a Night of Steampunk

FIRST: The Announcement 

Tonight 
May 17, 2012 6:30 – 9pm 

Entry & 1 drink ticket: $8 

Members: FREE 

Dress in full costume and get in for $5 

Afterparty at the Rathskeller in Tycoons

The Duluth Art Institute is proud to present A Night of Steampunk. This will be an event featuring a Steampunk fashion show and other Steampunk related visual arts. Steampunk visual art designs have no set guidelines, but tend to synthesize modern styles influenced by science fiction, fantasy, and the Victorian era. This is an interactive visual arts event where spectators are encouraged to not only explore the Steampunk creations by local artists, but also participate in “setting the scene” of this event through dress. Come to the event in full costume and get a discounted entry for $5.00.

We thought there would be no better backdrop for this event than the Depot Train Museum. Sponsored by Dubrue, The Historic Union Depot, with an after party at Tycoons, this will be a night to remember!

My first conscious contact with Steampunk was at last summer’s Friends of Industry event featuring the world premiere of Eric Horn’s Steampunk Chronicle. Only later did I understand that I’d already seen Steampunk in various Hollywood films, but failed to be aware of what it really was as a semi-defined genre.

In her book Writing Steampunk, Beth Daniels is quick to point out that not everyone who enjoys reading Steampunk is interested in living Steampunk. Perhaps it’s a bit like the Trekkies who become characters and go to conventions, as opposed to the Star Trek fans who simply didn't want to miss their show each week. Tonight’s DAI-sponsored event at the Depot offers the role-players and hard-core enthusiasts to dress up without having to wait till Halloween. I mean, who amongst us didn’t look forward to becoming some other character on that last night of October?

At its most basic, Steampunk is a subset of Fantasy. Efforts to put my arms around the genre led to some basic shared premises. The historical period is Victorian/Edwardian, the era of Jules Verne and early H.G. Wells. But there’s a “weird, wild west” version and East Coast Steampunk and  the more people you talk with the less you’ll have a coherent picture, except that one thing is certain, sort of. This is a pre-computer world, a pre-twentieth century science world, pre-organic synthesis…

Another feature of the genre is its fascination with original characters. Marvel Comics meets old-school science, the Industrial Revolution meets a future that by-passes the real directions science and technology advanced.

I’m no authority, but I have been boning up on Steampunk literature and guess what? I already have the beginnings of a story forming in one of the subterranean caverns of my unconscious. It involves a golem, a hero and maybe even a little romantic adventure. Good versus evil, redemption from a futile pursuit... and a wake-up call to save the world. But tonight I will become an Edwardian-era chemist. Join us! I fully expect it to be a night to remember.

* * *

If you like fantasy with a supernatural twist, you might enjoy my first volume of short stories titled Unremembered Histories. They aren’t really Steampunk since they pre-existed my encounter with the genre, but a few of the stories will tickle your imagination in that general vicinity.

Featured eBook of the Day: Unremembered Histories

PHOTOS COURTESY ANDREW PERFETTI 

Click images to enlarge.