Do Computers Have a Sense of Humor? Try Cleverbot

A Postmodern Man

Lately I've been thinking and reading about artificial intelligence (AI) and smart robots, stimulated in part by recent articles detailing how machines are now beginning to take white collar jobs. There are many areas in which computers are doing work humans used to do. Think about how many reference librarians jobs have been displaced by Google, which is in essence a smart bot.

Then there are the translation services which make international business possible. This blog post on Machine Translation indicates that we're not only not there yet, but that in many cases may never get there.

Earlier this week I somehow stumbled upon a website called Cleverbot. It enables you to chat with a computer. What follows is my initial dialog. You can see that this computer has a sense of humor... or at least gives the appearance of having one. When I checked it out again this morning there were more than 2000 conversations taking place simultaneously, kind of like a chess player that has multiple games going at once.

Here's my first conversation.

EN: Well how's it going?

CB: It's going well!

EN: Do you play any instruments?

CB: Is mayonnaise an instrument?

EN: You play mayonnaise?

CB: *raises hand*

EN: Yes?

CB: Can I use the bathroom?

EN: You have a sense of humor, eh?

CB: Do you possess a sense of humor.

EN: Yes, I've done standup comedy and sometimes people laugh.

CB: I won't laugh.

EN: So do you want me to say something funny?

CB: As long as it's not rude, go ahead.

EN: I won't be rude, but I'm not sure what to say that's funny right off the top of my head.

CB: Ok, Can I call you CB or do you like Clever better?

EN: Can you call me ennyman?

CB: So you like CB? Or do you like Clever?

EN: How about Fred?

CB: Fred is a nice name. Mine is Todd.

* * * *
Siri and smart phones are already with us. The future promises to give us smart cars that drive themselves, and smart homes a la Ray Bradbury's The Veldt. Bradbury's story has a dark side, which is precisely why many people are uncomfortable with this "rise of the machines."

Looks like it can be fun. They even have a Cleverbot app. Check it out at www.cleverbot.com/

* * * *
Today in the Twin Ports... Day 7 of the Homegrown Festival.

And tonight, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra is putting on a program called Heaven & Earth with a 265 voice choir that will curl your toes. Details here along with a video clip. Or if you crave a bit more, check out this excerpt from YouTube.

Meantime, life goes on... all around you. Have an awesome weekend.

Dylan Art Seen: Daniel Botkin's "Busy Being Born" at The Red Mug

One of the highlights of Hibbing's annual Dylan Days celebration each year was the art competition. Daniel Botkin, a lifelong Dylan fan from Chicago, won the painting competition in 2012. Even though a Dylan-inspired art competition is no more, the notion of Art being a part of Duluth Dylan Fest is embedded in our DNA.  Dylan himself has been making pictures -- painting, drawing, film -- much of his life so that it's only natural that a film component and an art component be part of Duluth Dylan Fest. Interestingly, it is the film component that's a competition this year.

As for art, Red Mug Coffeehouse will again host the reception and adorn its walls with Dylan-themed paintings and compositions. The artist is Daniel Botkin, a Baby Boomer who became enamored with the music of Bob Dylan when he was a teen. We both remember Like A Rolling Stone came out. Botkin bought the 45 rpm record.

Once glance and you immediately see another influence on Botkin: Salvador Dali. A former pastor of 17 years, you can read more about the artist here. His art will be on the walls of the Red Mug will May 29. You can also visit his website at www.danielbotkin.com.

On Monday, May23 there will be a reception at the Red Mug including live music and the society of friends along with Suzanne's very special Dylan-inspired culinary delights. Daniel will give an artist talk about the work at 6:30. We hope to see you there.

Cowboy Angel Blue

A favorite local band that plays an extensive range of Dylan songs is our Northland's Cowboy Angel Blue, who will be performing inside Karpeles Manuscript Museum on Wednesday May 25, another Dylan Fest event you will not want to miss. 

Breaking News: Read Minnesota Brown's great blog post about Duluth Dylan Fest including the Hibbing Bus Tour that is again on the menu. 

Meantime, there's plenty more to say about this year's Dylan Fest, but for now... simply mark your calendars and buy tickets for those events that require them because when they sell out you will be out of luck. See you there.

Local Art Scene: May Shows and Events in the Twin Ports

They say that April showers bring May flowers, and with the month of May we get much more than that here in the Twin Ports. Though it is drizzling as I etch this in digital ink, the forecast is for more sun today, a welcome guest here in the Northland. Homegrown has been blessed with a very nice week of blue skies and the accompanying good cheer.

The other night I wrote about the opening reception for Karpeles Manuscript Museum Library opening of Bill Pagel's Dylan Memorabilia exhibition. Here's a cool story by Christa Lawler that appeared in yesterday's Duluth News Tribune. Nearly everyone in Duluth has driven by Karpeles at one time or another and most of us probably asked ourselves, "I wonder what's in there?" It is across the street from St. Luke's Hospital and I strongly encourage you to visit sometime. This Dylan exhibition might be just the excuse to check it out.

There's another Dylan themed event running the duration of May over in Superior. Busy Being Born at the Red Mug Coffeehouse features work by Chicago artist Daniel Botkin, a winner of the 2012 Dylan Days Art Competition in Hibbing. Later this month, on Monday, May 23, Botkin will be giving an artist talk during Dylan Fest. Red Mug is located at 916 Hammond Avenue, Superior. (I will be sharing more about Botkin's show soon.)

ARTS EVENTS AROUND TOWN

Beaner's Central hosts the Lincoln Park Middle School Art Opening tonight, May 5, 4-7 p.m.; 324 N. Central Avenue.

Duluth Art Institute's year-long Design Duluth Series, will culminate in a Design Duluth Panel Discussion, Thursday, May 12, 5:30 p.m. at the Depot along with a three day Design DLH Exhibition from May 12-14. This program is FREE and open to the public, but seating is limited. RSVPs are required. To RSVP, email info@duluthartinstitute.org with the session title in the subject line and your name in the email body.

Studio 15, Gena Sophia Triefenbach, Senior MFA Exhibit (UWS), May, 13, 7 p.m., 15 N. 3rd Avenue W. Studio 15 hosts a wide variety of events and Lydia Walker posts them in the Twin Ports Arts Align section of Facebook.

This month through June Zeitgeist Arts Atrium features work by Jonathan Thunder, painter and digital media artist, "Underwater Dreaming Bunnies" with a reception Monday, May 16, 5-7 p.m., 222 E. Superior Street

Benchmark Tattoo & Gallery, Garry Couch's Working Watercraft of Lake Superior - featuring hand built half hulled boat builds; 1831 E. Eighth Street. A surprisingly fascinating exhibition.

A new spot for public local art has appeared, Denfeld Whole Foods Co-op. This month Student Art Show is on display, ending May 25. The new store can be found at 4426 Grand Avenue in West Duluth.

Great Lakes Aquarium Merrill Lynch Fine Arts Gallery, is featuring work by Maury Aaseng, watercolor illustrator, "Saturated Life", 353 Harbor Drive; Show ends May 27; Drawing and Illustration books by Maury Aaseng, et. al.

Zeitgeist Arts Café: Henry Roberts, "Venice Carnival" 222 E. Superior Street; Photography Exhibit. Roberts traveled to Venice, Italy to experience the colorful Carnival pageantry in 2015; this show features photographs depicting his experience of the event. Show runs through May.

Fairs, Music and Film
Spirit of the Lake 5th Annual May Faire Outdoor Festival, Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Peace Church, 1111 North 11th Avenue E., Duluth, FREE! Tickets sold for food and booth activities. Fun family event!

48 Hour Dylan Film Fest Contest, Tuesday May 24, 7 p.m., Zinema @ Zeitgeist Arts, 222 E. Superior Street On May 24th. On Bob Dylan's 75th Birthday this culmination of the 48 Hour Dylan Fest Film Event will take place at the Zinema Theatres. Contestants have 48 Hours to make a music video inspired by a Bob Dylan song. Don't miss this artistic event showcasing local filmmakers. For more information on the contest follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1051631468235299/

Armory Arts & Music Center presents Basement Tapes White Wonder Concert, Saturday, May 28, 7:00-10:30 p.m., Sacred Heart Music Center, 201 W. 4th Street, Duluth; Advance Tickets $30; $35 at the door, click here to purchase tickets online. ( I will be performing again this year, in tandem with Lee "Colorblind" Johnson.)

THE Z'S 

Upcoming Classes with Esther Piszczek, CZT! Zentangle (R) & Wine, Tuesday, May 10, 6-8:30 p.m. at Master Framing Gallery, 1431 London Road. Please let me know if you'd like to join us ($35 for the class + $10 for drawing supplies).

Zentangle (R) Pattern Drawing Saturday, May 14, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.; Vaughn Public Library, 502 W. Main Street, Ashland, WI; Free!, limited to 15 students, call 715-682-7060 to register. Zentangle (R) kits will be available for sale, $10.

Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community, 2016 Spirit of the Times Fundraiser and Party, Saturday, May 21, 7 p.m., Zeitgeist Arts, 222 E. Superior Street, to purchase tickets ($100): www.zeitgeistarts.com/spiritofthetimes

MEANTIME, art goes on all around you. Get into it.

Film, Photography and Verse at Homegrown Day2

"Poetry is the mother tongue of mankind." ~J.G.Hamann, 1762

Elipsis captures Sparhawk at the Red Herring.

Homegrown may have begun with music as its first heartbeat, but it has matured the weeklong Twin Ports phenomenon has matured to embrace all of the arts. Monday evening I was able to attend a portion of the film festival at Zinema, the photography opening reception at Red Herring with an original performance by Alan Sparhawk and the Poetry Showcase at Sacred Heart Music Center.

The Poetry Showcase is now ten years old. In previous years the venues were small, and when the doors opened last night I heard someone utter their concern that Sacred Heart was too big, that it might feel empty even with a good crowd. Truth be told, the room filled substantially and the change of venue proved to be a very good move.

I've not been at poetry readings in other parts of the country for a long time, but one thing that happens here is the addition of a sensitive musical accompaniment in the background.* The first time I experienced this was at Al Hunter's Beautiful Razor reading at the AICHO in 2013. Since that time I have noticed it effectively used several times including our readings at the Red Mug last year during Dylan Fest. In that occasion Richie Townsend quietly contributed with his electric guitar complement. Last night Townsend's guitar was joined by Gaelyn Lea on violin, an extra addition that added much in the context of the occasion. (EdNote: I later learned that this sentiment was not universally shared, perhaps because it was a little too loud and a distraction at times.)

One cannot say enough about the Sacred Heart as a venue, especially as the evening sunlight descended and the stained glass window shifted with the waning illumination. The grand arches, the pillars, the iconography all contributed to good effect as the poets shared facets of their life journeys and portions of their souls with fluency, occasionally pointed turns of phrase and potent lyric arrows.

Tina Higgins Wussow, who hosts a poetry gathering at Beaners Central the third Thursday of every month, served as moderator. Beaners, along with Katie & Jacob Farkas, also provided coffee and snacks for the evening.

Bob Monohan making an impression.

Those who missed it but who appreciate live poetry readings should mark their calendars for a very special evening of poetry during Duluth Dylan Fest later this month. The event, titled Poets of the North County, will take place at the Underground on Wednesday May 25 at 6:30 p.m. featuring Duluth Poet Laureates Barton Sutter and Jim Johnson, among others. It is said that when years ago Sutter was proclaimed first Duluth Poet Laureate he immediately corrected the interviewer and said, "No, the first was Bob Dylan."

Einstein Disguised as Robin Hood Opens at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

This week on May 4 Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Duluth, MN, opens its doors to a new Dylan-themed collection titled Einstein Disguised as Robin Hood - Bob Dylan, an Exhibition. The items selected for display come from the collection of Bill Pagel, a respected Dylan historian, researcher and collector of Dylan memorabilia. The exhibition, one of several new events added to this year's Duluth Dylan Fest, will be open to the public throughout the month of May with at least two special events taking place concurrent with this exhibition. The first will be a special open house on May 13. The second event will take place Wednesday, May 25 during the week of Duluth Dylan Fest (May 22-29), an 8:00 p.m. concert featuring the band Cowboy Angel Blue.

Mike Shannon examines case with rare early documents.*

Tonight I had the privilege of being invited to a private opening and found myself unexpectedly moved by some of what was displayed in the 26 display cases containing scarce to rare Dylan photographs, manuscripts, acetates, and other memorabilia. Early handwritten lyric sheets of several songs are here and a number of real surprises, including the actual document in which Robert Zimmerman changed his name to Dylan.

During the reception I overheard someone state something to the effect that Dylan should not be compared to Einstein. They were commenting on the title of the show and I gently indicated that the title came from a line in Desolation Row from Highway 61 Revisited. I wanted to add it would be better to compare Dylan to Shakespeare. As John Bushey indicated in an interview for local television Dylan will most likely be the one songwriter from our time whose works will be studied well into the future. Decades? Centuries? Time will tell.

One item I found especially touching was a letter Suze Rotolo, his first serious girl friend in New York, wrote to her mother expressing strong emotions about how rudely and disrespectfully her mom treated Bob. The letter, typed in red ink that reminded me of one of my own early typewriters, is quite direct and revealing.

His birth announced in the local papers, 1941.

It's strange how you might expect to take some of the original handwritten lyrics for granted when you see them but then find yourself moved and drawn in by the tiny but neatly scribed letters, words, stanzas. In this internet age the phrase "content is king" has become a maxim. From the beginning Dylan produced content, substance, penetrating imperatives, weighty observations... a periodic table of potent lyrical insights. He has spent his lifetime being a fountain of content both remarkable and noteworthy.

OK, so tonight I got my first glimpse of what is on display. As time permits I'll share more, and if you are here in Duluth in the weeks to come you'll need to make your way to Karpeles as well.

Bill Pagel (L) discussin early documents with Gene Lafond & Amy Grillo.**

About Bill Pagel: Bill Pagel is known worldwide by Dylan fans for his boblinks.com website, a site devoted to all things related to Dylan’s touring.

About Duluth Dylan Fest: The 2016 Duluth Dylan Fest will take place at various venues in Duluth and Superior from May 22 through May 29. The event is now in its sixth year. Learn more at BobDylanWay.com

* Included in this case is the original Robert Shelton story that appeared in theNew York Times drawing attention to this unusual new Greenwich Village performer, catapulting him onto a path from which he couldn't look back.
** Gene first saw Bob in Dinkytown when he attended U of MN in 1961

Special thanks to John Bushey, host of the KUMD program Highway 61 Revisited, now in its 25th year.

Something Is Happening Here, Do You Know What It Is, Dylan Fans?

Two years ago the curators of a rare photo exhibit chose Hibbing, Minn as the place to properly unveil a collection of Daniel Kramer's photos from the period in which Dylan transformed himself from folk singer to global force, transforming rock in the process. It was the U.S. launch of the Grammy's rare Bob Dylan Photo Exhibit, many of the photos now iconic. The Hibbing launch was only natural, as Dylan is one of the native sons from the Iron Range, a grad of Hibbing High School.

This week, another Hibbing resident is unveiling yet another rare collection of early photos, early concert flyers, clippings, acetates and posters from the William Pagel Archives. These items and more will go on display at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum here in Duluth. This is where Dylan was born and lived the first six years of his life. Uncoincidentally, Bill Pagel owns that Central Hillside duplex and is renovating it to replicate its 1941 flavor.

Dylan fans from around the world are familiar with Bill Pagel's Bob Links website in which he chronicles the activities of the Never Ending Tour. Fans are undoubtedly less familiar with the breadth and depth of Pagel's private collection of Dylan memorabilia. The man is an avid collector and exceedingly organized. Even the boxes and containers he organizes his collections in are catalogued and organized.

The exhibit opens to the public on Wednesday, May 4 and will remain open through Duluth Dylan Fest the last week of May. On of the items on display will be two pages from Daniel Kramer's book that had been signed by Dylan. This is what is written on the placard accompanying the two printed photos:

Autographed pages from Dylan photo book

1967

These two pages were taken from the 1967 Daniel Kramer book published by Citadel Press of NY.

Daniel Kramer’s photograph of the inside of a venue Dylan will perform at. The shot was taken from the stage, and Dylan signs it with a take-off from his song Ballad of a Thin Man, “Something is happening and you know just what it is/ Bob” The original song lyrics were as follows: “Because something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mister Jones?” Many have theorized that the song was written to a reporter, or the press, and seems to imply that while he is open with the press they seem to feel he is not, and that his answers are evasive rather than open. A quote from the song’s first verse;

You walk into the room, with your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked, and you say “Who is that man?”
You try so hard but you don’t understand
Just what you will say when you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Dylan signed nearly every page of this copy of the book. The book was eventually dis-bound, and the pages sold individually. This second photograph is of Dylan on stage from the rear, playing for the audience. Dylan inscribed this photo combining two of his songs, “She Belongs to Me” and “Don’t Think Twice, It's Alright”. In this wonderful inscription Dylan combines a version of a line from each song and writes, “Don’t look back, and things should be alright.” It's signed Bob Dylan.

Beginning May 4 Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in Duluth, MN, will host a new Dylan-themed collection titled Einstein Disguised as Robin Hood - Bob Dylan, an Exhibition. The items selected for display from the collection of Bill Pagel, respected Dylan historian, researcher and collector of Dylan memorabilia. The exhibition, one of several new events added to this year's Duluth Dylan Fest, run through 31, 2016.

* * * * *

"Ballad of a Thin Man" begins with one of the most mysterious chord progressions, simultaneously alarming and haunting, jarring and attention-getting. It was the fifth cut on Highway 61 Revisited, an album I like to think of as the shot heard round the world. What Dylan initiated with Bringing It All Back Home he underscored and further unveiled in Highway 61 Revisited.

* * * * *

Big week here in Duluth. Homegrown is here. Today as Homegrown Day 2. A multitude of venues with a multitude of activities, it's not competing against SXSW or Green Man to be the biggest in the world, it's just competing with itself to be more memorable than the year before. 8 days of music and magic.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Engage it.

Photo Credit: Thom Cronin, photographer. Newark, New Jersey, Symphony Hall -- October 2, 1965

Sunday Morning A to Z: A Dylan Digression

All Along The Watchtower  (2257)
Ballad For A Friend   (0)
Cold Irons Bound  (423)
Day of the Locusts  (0)
Every Grain of Sand  (185)
Farewell, Angelina  (0)
Gates of Eden  (217)
Heart of Mine  (46)
I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine  (39)
Jokerman  (157)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door  (460)
Lay, Lady Lay  (407)
Marchin' to the City  (0)
No Time To Think  (0)
One Too Many Mornings  (237)
Pledging My Time  (21)
Queen Jane Approximately  (76)
Roll On John  (2)
Seven Curses  (2)
Tell Ol' Bill  (0)
Unbelievable  (29)
Visions of Johanna  (215)
What Was It You Wanted  (22)
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go   (12)
Z   (0)

Duluth Dylan Fest Armory Arts and Music Center Benefit Concert

Information and tickets here.