dylan the fan

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bunnyben
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dylan the fan

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breaki ... 1440c.html

Dylan makes stop at Grosvenor house

Updated: November 10 at 05:04 PM CST

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It’s not every day that you drive home from grocery shopping to find Bob Dylan rubbernecking in front of your house.

But that’s what happened to city employees John Kiernan and Patti Regan, whose Grosvenor Avenue home was the early-1960s domicile of music icon Neil Young.

“It was very neat,” says Kiernan, 53, a landscape architect who claims to have spent about 25 minutes chatting with the greatest singer-songwriter in the history of popular music.

“It’s a wonderful memory.”

Two Sundays ago, the day of Dylan’s MTS Centre concert, Kiernan and Regan arrived home between 4 and 4:30 p.m. to see two scruffy men who had arrived by taxi standing on the sidewalk outside their house.

“Oh, oh, Neil Young fan alert,” said Regan, who has become accustomed to such incidents in the six years they’ve lived in the amalgamated duplex at 1123 Grosvenor.

She went to talk to them while Kiernan lugged in the groceries. After he was finished, he walked out to chat, too.

“They were older than your typical Young fans,” Kiernan recalls thinking.

Nothing clicked until he noticed that one of the men had his black leather pants tucked into expensive-looking cowboy boots. He glanced up and studied the lined, unshaven face topped by a grey tuque and realized he was looking at Dylan.

Kiernan kept his cool, while Regan, a project manager in the city’s permits department, remained oblivious. Dylan, 67, was curious about the house and neighbourhood as they related to Young.

He also made small talk about the weather. Kiernan replied that it was unseasonably mild.

“You’re from Minnesota, so you know what’s usually like,” Kiernan said. “Subtract 10 degrees.”

Dylan laughed.

Kiernan asked if they wanted to see inside the house, and Dylan was eager.

“How long do you have for the tour?” Kiernan asked, meaning the tour of the house.

Dylan replied: “We’re touring for another two weeks.”

They showed him Young’s old bedroom, now painted bright pink and occupied by Kiernan’s 16-year-old daughter.

“So this is where Neil would have listened to his music,” Dylan mused. They took him into the old second-floor kitchen, now a laundry room. “I remember thinking I should have done the laundry before I went out,” Kiernan says.

Kiernan explained the whereabouts of the Earl Grey and Crescentwood community centres, where a teenaged Young and bandmates played their first concerts.

“He was introspective and thoughtful,” Kiernan said. “He had an interest in music beyond himself.”

The encounter lasted more than 20 minutes before they left. Kiernan believes the cab driver did not know who his passengers were.

While Kiernan called him “Bob,” Dylan did not formally acknowledge his identity. He didn’t have to. “This was a guy who doesn’t shake hands or introduce himself.”

As the cab drove off, Kiernan said to Regan: “You were pretty cool talking to a huge celebrity.”

“What celebrity?” Regan asked.

“Bob Dylan.”

“That’s why he looked so familiar!” she exclaimed.

She started screaming to neighbours who were raking their leaves: “Bob Dylan’s in the cab! Bob Dylan’s in the cab!”

Kiernan admits they have no documentary proof of Dylan’s visit, nor did they even get an autograph.

“It seemed cheesy to ask,” he said. “I was embarrassed that we hadn’t bought tickets to the concert.”


that's a nice story
'raging and weeping are left on the early road
now each in his holy hill
the glittering and hurting days are alomst done
then let us compare mythologies
i have learned my elaborate lie
of soaring crosses and poisened thorns'
bunnyben
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by bunnyben »

is wrote:That story is reminiscent of the old, old one about Bob Dylan in London, which goes something like this:

Bob Dylan was in London, attempting to meet his old friend Dave Stewart, out of the Eurythmics. He only had vague directions, and so knocked on a door (probably more out of hope than anything).

"Is Dave in?" asks Bob of the young woman who answered.
"He's not, but come in - he shouldn't be long."

Bob sat at the kitchen table for about an hour, drinking tea probably, and eating biscuits, making chit-chat with the lady of the house (who evidently didn't recognise the Spokesman for a Generation). Some time later, arrived her husband Dave, a plumber. That's right - it was the WRONG HOUSE!! Suffice to say, he DID recognise him, and I expect they had a right laugh.
indeed, it is a good story, one of the legends of dylan!
'raging and weeping are left on the early road
now each in his holy hill
the glittering and hurting days are alomst done
then let us compare mythologies
i have learned my elaborate lie
of soaring crosses and poisened thorns'
alan_cohaul
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by alan_cohaul »

I'm from Winnipeg--that's an interesting story. Neil grew up here, and he's played here occasionally (a couple of times every ten years), but really, it was a place that he grew up and doesn't have overly fond memories of being told that he couldn't play guitar or couldn't sing. Alot of people treated him like a real no-talent. Of course, those people won't admit that now, it's like "oh Neil, you're so great!", but hindsight has a funny and interesting way of glossing over things.

So he packed up in the Pontiac hearse and joined Buffalo Springfield....whom I still say are massively underrated.
sunny
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by sunny »

alan_cohaul wrote:I'm from Winnipeg--that's an interesting story. Neil grew up here, and he's played here occasionally (a couple of times every ten years), but really, it was a place that he grew up and doesn't have overly fond memories of being told that he couldn't play guitar or couldn't sing. Alot of people treated him like a real no-talent. Of course, those people won't admit that now, it's like "oh Neil, you're so great!", but hindsight has a funny and interesting way of glossing over things.

So he packed up in the Pontiac hearse and joined Buffalo Springfield....whom I still say are massively underrated.

You're from Winnipeg?! What's it like? I might be going there at some point to do some work.
'Come and rock and roll me over, Let's get this damn job over.'
bunnyben
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by bunnyben »

alan_cohaul wrote:I'm from Winnipeg--that's an interesting story. Neil grew up here, and he's played here occasionally (a couple of times every ten years), but really, it was a place that he grew up and doesn't have overly fond memories of being told that he couldn't play guitar or couldn't sing. Alot of people treated him like a real no-talent. Of course, those people won't admit that now, it's like "oh Neil, you're so great!", but hindsight has a funny and interesting way of glossing over things.

So he packed up in the Pontiac hearse and joined Buffalo Springfield....whom I still say are massively underrated.
i was listening to a documentry by the bbc about dylan's concert in manchester when he was called judas. mark radcliffe was interviewing people who had booed or walked out and then he would ask 'have you listened to the cd?' and they would go 'oh yes' 'thoughts' 'it's amazing! mind blowing!' and these fools had walked out and called him a traitor...
'raging and weeping are left on the early road
now each in his holy hill
the glittering and hurting days are alomst done
then let us compare mythologies
i have learned my elaborate lie
of soaring crosses and poisened thorns'
alan_cohaul
Known user
Posts: 370
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:52 am

Re: dylan the fan

Post by alan_cohaul »

bunnyben wrote:
alan_cohaul wrote:I'm from Winnipeg--that's an interesting story. Neil grew up here, and he's played here occasionally (a couple of times every ten years), but really, it was a place that he grew up and doesn't have overly fond memories of being told that he couldn't play guitar or couldn't sing. Alot of people treated him like a real no-talent. Of course, those people won't admit that now, it's like "oh Neil, you're so great!", but hindsight has a funny and interesting way of glossing over things.

So he packed up in the Pontiac hearse and joined Buffalo Springfield....whom I still say are massively underrated.
i was listening to a documentry by the bbc about dylan's concert in manchester when he was called judas. mark radcliffe was interviewing people who had booed or walked out and then he would ask 'have you listened to the cd?' and they would go 'oh yes' 'thoughts' 'it's amazing! mind blowing!' and these fools had walked out and called him a traitor...
Yeah....there's alot of people that are revisionists. It goes to show you what fame and fortune does.....people don't see things of any worth until someone else does. It's shitty, but that's why alot of great bands stay less known, because most people are herd mentality and great music usually is more individualistic, it caters to individual souls or feelings, rather than aiming for or pleasing the widest variety of people.

Sunny, yeah i'm from here. It's not the world's most exciting place, but it's cheap to live here and it's easy to get around, as there's not alot of traffic jams. I think we're at in between 630,000-650,000 people, so it's a big small town or a small big town. It's quite uneventful most of the time, but that's probably why it's so cheap to live here and why there's a more stable population of people raising families and not moving around. The winters are a killer, though. It was like, minus 40 here yesterday. The roads are a skating rink too, ha ha. And the mosquitoes are a real bitch in the summer. Be thankful if you ask, "what is a mosquito?", heh.

Neil's house is a 10-15 minute drive from my place. In theory, it's a real special place to us because he grew up here. In practicality, he had to move away to California (he's lived there ever since, I believe), so for us to really claim him too much would be a bit silly. But still, it's cool that he got his first guitar and wrote his first songs and was in his first bands here. I like his dedication to doing it his way--he's not into playing second fiddle, which is why he never really put CSNY on that much of a priority, and Buffalo Springfield had the Stills/ Young axis mainly battling it out for the leadership role, which is why they never lasted that long.
ThiefofFire
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by ThiefofFire »

Bob Dylan confirms the story and talks about the visit a little bit in the latest Rolling Stone
bunnyben
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by bunnyben »

when can you get the new rs in uk? can't find it anywhere
'raging and weeping are left on the early road
now each in his holy hill
the glittering and hurting days are alomst done
then let us compare mythologies
i have learned my elaborate lie
of soaring crosses and poisened thorns'
runcible
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Location: Yorkshire, England

Re: dylan the fan

Post by runcible »

Borders always has it.
bunnyben
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by bunnyben »

runcible wrote:Borders always has it.
the one they have have the kings of leon on the front, i'm gussing that's the last issue. i guess there's a time lag between uk and us publication dates?
'raging and weeping are left on the early road
now each in his holy hill
the glittering and hurting days are alomst done
then let us compare mythologies
i have learned my elaborate lie
of soaring crosses and poisened thorns'
ThiefofFire
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Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:11 am

Re: dylan the fan

Post by ThiefofFire »

It's in the one after that with Bob on the cover... it could be online too, I haven't checked, but it's a great story. He also says he'd like to work with Paul McCartney!
bunnyben
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Re: dylan the fan

Post by bunnyben »

ThiefofFire wrote:It's in the one after that with Bob on the cover... it could be online too, I haven't checked, but it's a great story. He also says he'd like to work with Paul McCartney!
cheers, will keep looking. looks like he's scraping the barrel now :wink:
'raging and weeping are left on the early road
now each in his holy hill
the glittering and hurting days are alomst done
then let us compare mythologies
i have learned my elaborate lie
of soaring crosses and poisened thorns'
ThiefofFire
Known user
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:11 am

Re: dylan the fan

Post by ThiefofFire »

Ha ha, well personally I do like the new album (and I loved Paul at Coachella) so I can't exactly agree... what was funnier than the McCartney thing was another recent interview where his first reply to a question about favorite songwriters was "Buffett, I guess"
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