Events

[FUN] Bob Dylan’s in the air again and he is sharing breath with Frank Sinatra. Having just released an album of standards, he’s chosen his media outlets carefully giving an exclusive interview to AARP. As MusiCares Person of the Year, he spoke and joked at length regarding his influences during a candid speech in February. He is touring, of course; and recently he played a concert for a solitary fan as part of a Swedish film project exploring lone experience.

What does it mean? Why did he do it? Ravenous dogs of analysis, the fans and the critics chew on scraps from his hand tirelessly. Who is this man?—what with his inconsistencies snuggled in close to bare details? Which facts can lean a bit to un-shadow unknowns?

Did you read in Chronicles, Vol. 1, that he made his own mirrors for his first New York City apartment out of glass, tin foil and mercury? Which Chekhov stories was he referring to in Blood on the Tracks? How elaborate are his orchestrations to throw people off his trail? Is he still trying to woo Mavis Staples? Is he sore about the past? The present? The future? What is he doing in there?

I recall a moment of fandom clarity that occurred on a winter’s eve, but then maybe it was summer, too. It was in the year of Love & Theft or just after. In the haven of Nietzsche’s, Michael Meldrum and the Buffalo Song Project were playing the post-Sinatra songwriter standards. That night, Michael played “All Along the Watchtower” and I remember his voice delivering it like it was new born. In the shared space of the bar, a great song grew larger and discarded its biographical cloak. A cover can be a beautiful and contradictory thing.

It is time again for the annual Bob Dylan Imitator’s Contest, this Thursday, April 9 at Nietzsche’s—started by Michael Meldrum 28 years ago. It is an opportunity for Dylan lovers to converge and conspire, and to honor Michael’s memory. Come and get your cover on. Perform as a fan, a judge, a fool.

Make a mirror.