Yesterday with my tongue in my cheek I poked fun at my aging. I used the story of Bob Dylan to illustrate what it is like to have the younger generation not know who you are – no matter how important or popular you ‘used to be’.When researching Dylan’s life you discover some fascinating things about the man. Perhaps, like the young cop that mistook Bob Dylan for a possible burglar or reprobate, we will never really know who he is or was.
As “Mike” pointed out to me after my last posting… what name did Bob Dylan give the young cop that day? You see he is not Bob Dylan…
On May 24, 1941 he was born in Duluth, Minnesota as Robert Allen Zimmerman. Wow has he ever come from no where to somewhere. (Sorry Duluth – I don’t mean that Duluth is really a ‘No Where’ – that is the easiest way to describe it – and it is a long way from ‘Any Where’.)
Like Duluth’s Web Site says;
“Duluth is a four-season city — as breathtaking in winter white as it is in summer green. Come at a different time of year, and you’ll find an entirely new place to explore. The quiet of our forests and the splendor of the Lake Superior shoreline mesh into a getaway experience that will both relax and rejuvenate you, any time of year.”
And it is among the “Top 10 Outside Towns” in America.
Yes – I know that. I have been there a number of times traveling from Saskatchewan to Ontario – Ontario to Saskatchewan. And as I come from southern Saskatchewan – which I thought was pretty much ‘No Where’ all my growing up years… when I found Duluth I felt I could identify.
Robert Zimmerman wasn’t really from Duluth though – he was just born there. He was raised in Hibbing, Minnesota. Which is a very small city or town depending on the way you look at it and is ‘No Where’ in the eyes of the rest of the world.
Hibbing was not far from Duluth, also being a real ‘No Where’ but amazingly look at the people that Hibbing produced…
Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman), singer-songwriter, and Pulitzer Prize winner (grew up in Hibbing from age 7 to age 18).
Steve Deger, nonfiction author
Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor of Charles Manson
Bruce Carlson, United States Air Force Commander
Carl Wickman, founder and long time CEO of Greyhound Lines
Dick Garmaker, professional basketball player
Chi Chi LaRue, adult film director
Marie Myung-Ok Lee, novelist and essayist
Roger Maris, professional baseball player
Kevin McHale, professional basketball player, former Minnesota Timberwolves Vice President
Bethany McLean, co-author of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Robert Mondavi, American wine entrepreneur.
Mike David Peluso, professional ice hockey player
Rudy Perpich, Minnesota governor
Gary Puckett, musician
Burt Butler, Court Administrator
Jeno Paulucci, founder of Jeno's Pizza and Chun King Foods brands. Hibbing's Paulucci Planetarium, on the Hibbing Community College campus, is named for his family.
Jeff Halper, professor of anthropology, author, lecturer, political activist and co-founder of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
William Calligan, Military hero, of the 3rd Batallion Marine Raiders distinguished during the pacific islands campaign.
Robb Zbacnik, contestant on the hit CBS Reality Television show, Survivor: Thailand. Born in Hibbing.
In Wikipedia the information about Bob Dylan is quite fascinating. Rather trying to encapsulate what is stated, I copy/paste instead.
From Wikipedia…quote…
Origins and musical beginnings
Robert Allen Zimmerman (Hebrew name Shabtai Zisel ben Avraham) was born in St. Mary's Hospital on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised there and in Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range west of Lake Superior. Research by Dylan’s biographers has shown that his paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) to the United States following the anti-Semitic programs of 1905. His mother's grandparents, Benjamin and Lybba Edelstein, were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in the United States in 1902. In his autobiography Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan writes that his paternal grandmother's maiden name was Kyrgyz and her family originated from Istanbul.
Dylan’s parents, Abram Zimmerman and Beatrice "Beatty" Stone, were part of the area's small but close-knit Jewish community. Robert Zimmerman lived in Duluth until age six, when his father was stricken with polio and the family returned to his mother's home town, Hibbing, where Zimmerman spent the rest of his childhood. Robert Zimmerman spent much of his youth listening to the radio—first to blues and country stations broadcasting from Shreveport, Louisiana and, later, to early rock and roll. He formed several bands in high school: The Shadow Blasters was short lived, but his next, The Golden Chords, lasted longer and played covers of popular songs. Their performance of Danny and the Juniors' "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay" at their high school talent show was so loud that the principal cut the microphone off. In 1959 he saw Buddy Holly in the Winter Dance Party tour and later recalled how he made eye contact with him. In his 1959 school yearbook, Robert Zimmerman listed as his ambition "To join Little Richard". The same year, using the name Elston Gunnn, he performed two dates with Bobby Vee, playing piano and providing handclaps.
Zimmerman moved to Minneapolis in September 1959 and enrolled at the University of Minnesota. His early focus on rock and roll gave way to an interest in American folk music. In 1985 Dylan explained the attraction that folk music had exerted on him: "The thing about rock'n'roll is that for me anyway it wasn't enough ... There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms ... but the songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings." He soon began to perform at the 10 O'clock Scholar, a coffee house a few blocks from campus, and became actively involved in the local Dinkytown folk music circuit.
During his Dinkytown days, Zimmerman began introducing himself as "Bob Dylan". In a 2004 interview, Dylan explained: "You're born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free." In his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan acknowledged that he was familiar with the poetry of Dylan Thomas.
End quote..
What an amazing story behind this amazing man – Bob Dylan. Who would have known what would happen from an 18 year old that lived those years in ‘No Where’.
As I have been thinking of Bob Dylan and the story that came out of New Jersey with the young cop that has become an icon of “knowing nothing about an old world”… I have thought a lot about my own ‘No Where’ roots.
I was born in a small nursing home in Ceylon, Saskatchewan – which makes Duluth, Minnesota look like New York City and Hibbing like Toronto, Ontario. From my birth place I was taken home to a little farm place near Keydive, Saskatchewan – that no longer exists. It died and disappeared entirely.
In fact hundreds of us came from these small settings and very humble beginnings to eventually become what we are today.
No I am not comparing myself to Dylan – other than in the era and age department. My songs are in the shower and “Blowin in the Wind” We both came from very humble roots and through some difficult times. But we never stayed there.
As I read over the posting on Wikipedia I am amazed at the powerful influence one man has had on so many. But then many from our generation had that opportunity to impact our next generation in very unusual ways.
Hey Bob Dylan – Robert Allen Zimmerman – I appreciate you more than ever. From One Old Guy to another – you Rock Bro… You Rock!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan
http://www.visitduluth.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibbing,_Minnesota
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