Minnesota's  first royal son.  Any claims are frivolous.

Yeah but did you hear him at the Grammy's??

Rabble rabble.

He played the Saint Paul Saints stadium in the late 99's.  I wasn't into the opening act, so why not show up when things got going? I'd hear it fine from the street anyway.  As I'm walking toward third base past security, they're looking at me as I nod, smile and keep going. In the bleachers near left field wasn't a bad spot. I looked to my right and there's this big security guy talking to a cute girl. It was the writing on the wall again.  I hop over the rail and start toward the stage, bracing for a tackle that never comes. I nudge my way through the crowd, some guy jabs me in the ribs, so I stop and look up. Bob is gazing right at me. What if he saw the whole thing, and Albert Goldman shakes me down at the end of the night?  The band is really on.

Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Feb '05: Knock on door of random home with Bob Fest lawn sign saying 'war is not the answer.' I figure if they're the only ones in the whole town to publicly denounce the war, at least walk up in person and thank them. An older lady answers the door. I ask about the sign, if it's a Bob thing. She tells me about Bob Fest, then reveals she actually went to high school with Dylan. She remembered the talent show performance. The next evening Bob gives a rare television interview where he just kind of sits there. 
 
I didn't really 'turn on' to Dylan until I was 21, when I suddenly realized he was cool. One day in high school a friend told me he was related to him, his mom was Jewish and they'd all been to weddings and stuff. In those days I'd barely heard of him, he was still some dude from the 1960s. The local ties seemed endless. A retired preacher I knew was also from Hibbing and remembered the whole family, the hardware store was still clear in his mind.  All these places and people really had been.  

I ordered the new album from the Fetus in Mpls. and went to pick it up the morning it was released, this day became known as "September eleven." We were being attacked but I went to get the album anyway. That's what Bob would've wanted.  When I met some of the KRG folks who knew Bob when he was a teen on Cedar Avenue, I wanted to ask about back in the day, but I knew better. You can't go back. 

Where it concerns wandering mistrals,  Bobby loaned me a sense of the small world, one of a kind, all togetherness, all for one and one for allness of the thing. The duality of man, and the power of people like small Jewish kids from northern Minnesota to change their world.  I may not like the man, but I love his music. If you see him say hello, and may dogs run free.

Here's the thing. We went from "Louie Louie," Chuck Berry and the rot-gut doo-wop of the late 1950s to "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Blech. Bob saved us from that.

Bob Dylan Way runs past three businesses/buildings owned by a couple guys who helped drive the process to create "Bob Dylan Way." And it runs to the old Armory, which some hope to turn into an arts center; Dylan famously saw Buddy Holly, et. el., play there. I'm guessing that may be why Bob Dylan Way covers Michigan Street, Superior St., and London Road.