The Wake

The story of Bob Dylan is as mythological a tale as any ever told. No iconic figure has loomed larger in the cultural conscience over the last forty-five years. How could any single tale or any body of work claim such longevity? The new Weisman Art exhibit does its best to piece together the puzzle while paying due tribute to Minnesota’s favorite son.

The exhibit kicked off on the night of February the 2nd via a preview party featuring several area musicians. “Spider,” John Koerner, and Tony “Little Sun” Glover, Dylan’s contemporaries on the Dinkytown folk scene, were the first to perform. The duo is as true a testament as can possibly be paid to those times of old. They sat on a makeshift stage, howlin’ and stompin’ their way through a much appreciated set.

The next act was a confusing selection. A rap group from Hibbing, Minnesota, named, The Big Ticket, took the stage a half hour later. They must have been the only musical act going in Hibbing as I can think of little other explanation. I spoke with them before they took the stage, where they announced their distain for the powers that be. “We always have to clean our shit up for places like this,” claimed one of the two MC’s. Their short performance was a comical series of frantic pacing, pumping fists, botched lines, aborted freestyles, and un-memorized lyrics. Next, Haley Bonar played a characteristically captivating set, offering the crowd a true display of impassioned music. She started with favorites like “Hawaii,” and “Am I Allowed.” She also played a new song, “Queen of Everything,” and a cover of Dylan’s, “He Was a Friend of Mine.”

The exhibit itself begins with pictures and artifacts from Dylan’s youth. There were photos and paintings of the sparse, desolate landscape of his hometown, old yearbooks Dylan signed and old writing assignments from the quiet, seen but not heard, student. There was a bit of verse Dylan had written about his town. It talked about high school football and being able to see clear across mainstreet. The final line was about escaping these doldrums, “I ran away from it when I was 10, 12, 13, 15, 15 1/2, 17 an’ 18. I been caught an’ brought back all but once.” There were other lyrics painted on the wall as well. There’s an interesting effect to reading the handwritten lyrics of my favorite songs - it allowed the words to hit closer to home.

There’s a large section dedicated to the next phase in his life. Dylan was in Minneapolis from the summer of 59’, right before his freshman year at the U of M, to fall of 60’, right before he took off for New York City. It was an exciting moment frozen in time and captured to perfection. The folk history is rich, often cited for its importance in the Bohemian movement that soon followed. A listening station and an accompanying chair allow visitors to sit back and enjoy a bit of priceless nostalgia. Titled, “Minnesota Party Tape,” it is a recording of Dylan at a Dinkytown apartment, playing and laughing with friends. Nearby are copies of the Little Sandy Review, a folk magazine produced by pioneer rock critics, Paul Nelson and John Pankake. They taught Dylan a great deal about folk and were the first publication to announce that Dylan was using a pseudonym. I talked with John Koerner, Dylan’s first friend in Minneapolis, about this memorable point in history. On the topic of Dylan’s flattering words about him in the autobiographical Chronicals, Koerner said, “Well I told him, either you’re making it up or I just can’t remember as well.” When I brought up the passed around story of Dylan stealing some of Paul Nelson’s albums, Koerner said, “Well I wouldn’t doubt it.” “Dylan was just one of many goofballs hangin’ around together,” Koerner laughed. He came across one of the guitars in a display case and he pondered who the rightful owner truly was. “Well I was lookin’ at it, and I started thinking, ‘Hey, that looks awful familiar. Looks a lot like one I used to have.’ ”

From there, the exhibit moves on to Greenwich Village, Dylan’s post U of M headquarters. A diagram marks the area Dylan played, with a picture and paragraph revealing its particular importance. There are photographs and authentic posters from his earliest of shows, and an audio recording of Dylan’s debut concert at Carnegie Hall. On display is Dylan’s evolution to writing topically, as his idol Woody Guthrie often did. This was accompanied by a video and a few readings illustrating his immeasurable effect on both the counterculture and Civil Rights Movement, and his service as a bridge between the two.

Seven listening booths, each holding a different Dylan album, provide explanations and insight. Several areas focused on the trend of artists covering Dylan to great commercial success. Newspaper clippings were dispersed among the displays. One spoke of the supposed rivalry between Dylan and England’s heralded folk musician, Donovan, and another about the Beatles’ first encounter with the legendary Minnesotan. They’ve got paintings from Dylan’s reclusive, post motorcycle crash days in up-state New York. And the video booths could captivate you for hours.

The Dylan documentary, “Don’t Look Back,” filmed by D.A. Pennebaker, is often referred to as the basis for all Rock Docs to follow. The scene of Dylan’s verbal spar with an English science student, writing for a school paper, will make you laugh and appreciate the mystery of Dylan. Even at his most vibrant, arguing unguarded for several minutes, you are still left wondering where his thoughts and intentions truly lie. They’ve also got footage from the unreleased, “Eat the Document,” also filmed with Pennebaker.

So when you’re out ‘Blowin’ In the Wind,’ ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,’ ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’ but to the Weisman for some ‘Shelter from the Storm,’ you’ll discover how, ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’ was realized, and how ‘Bob Dylan’s Blues’ were fought, and it won’t cost you a dime.