Positively Main Street: Dylan doing time in the boys’ refor- though in no way derivative. For Bob Dylan’s Minnesota matory at Red Wing (chronicled in those of you too young to remember By Toby Thompson the song The Walls of Red Wing), N.J., the idea was that the writer though there is no evidence that that became an active character in his or University of Minnesota; 2008 ever happened -- another fiction her own writing; hence, not straight, $15.95 (one thinks of the kid in the film I’m objective journalism. Then Dr. 215 pages Not There, who makes up his per- Hunter Thompson took this to the sonal legend on the fly). Bob was a baroque extreme of Gonzo Reviewed by Ken McCullough rebel primarily in his fantasies -- like Journalism. Most of us around at most of us then, we aspired to the time were influenced in one way Here’s Positively Main Street Brando but in actuality were closer or another by New Journalism and (henceforth referred to as PMS) in a to Pat Boone, our adolescences out its permutations. nutshell -- in 1968, of Leave it to Beaver and Now, at this point, I must intro- Toby Thompson, age Ozzie and Harriet, as duce my own New Journalistic tack 24, Dylan aficionado opposed to Blackboard by admitting that I was in Hibbing from Day One, makes Jungle. As Thompson this May to support and hang out some connections in points out, Echo WAS a with Toby Thompson, my old Hibbing by phone rebel, from the wrong side friend, who was the keynote speaker and decides to go up of the tracks, and facilitated at Dylan Days, on the occasion of there (from Bob’s “bad boy” impulses. the republication of PMS. Toby had Washington, DC) to If you go to Dylan Days shown up at the “Highway 61 look around and inter- in Hibbing, celebrated in Revisited: Dylan’s Road from view as many people late May on the weekend Minnesota to the World” sympo- close to Dylan as will closest to Bob’s birthday, sium the year before in Minneapolis, give him an audience. you will experience rem- although he didn’t see much point in What came out of this nants of Bob’s life and to a attending, as his book had been out foray initially was a large extent the atmosphere of print for so long. When various series of pieces in The Village Voice in of PMS. You can tour Hibbing High other authors were stationed at tables 1969, that attracted a great deal of School (an amazing structure, worth to signs copies of their work, Toby attention. The first edition of PMS the trip in itself), the open pit iron was adrift in the room; nevertheless, was published in 1971 and the book ore mine, the site of Old Hibbing, 28 people lined up with their well- went out of print in ’77. In a world the house Bob grew up in, the Dylan thumbed, 30-year old copies for him of reprises, PMS certainly deserves a Collection in the public library, and to sign. Thus, his belief that PMS reprint. Read it with hindsight -- the even walk around the exterior of still had a life was confirmed. And tone and persona are decidedly in Echo’s house and outbuildings. what press more appropriate than tune with the late ‘60s, when This past May I was in Hibbing the University of Minnesota Press. I Thompson made his two pilgrimages for my first Dylan Days. I’d been take some credit for bullying him to Hibbing and Minneapolis. there twice before, just passing into attending that symposium. There are lots of good things through. It was a grand experience -- I met Toby at the University of about PMS: the style is lively and Hibbingites take it seriously and Delaware in 1962 when he was a articulate, even 30 years after the approach the occasion with generos- freshman, I, a sophomore. We fact. A whiff of retro, but not dated - ity to Bob and to his fans. One of attended our first Dylan concert - part of why it is such a compelling Bob’s mentors, B.J. Rolfzen, his high together in Philadelphia in ’63, and document. The chapters probably school English teacher, is still there, later the Rolling Thunder tour in most interesting to Dylan fans are retired, though he’s had a stroke and DC in ‘77. And I was a frequent Thompson’s meeting with Dylan’s gets around on a specially rigged-up guest in his parents’ home in Cabin mother Beatty and his two encoun- scooter. Rolfzen’s self-published John, Maryland, later, his apartment ters with Echo Helstrom, Bob’s 11th memoir, The Spring of My Life ($16, in NYC, and his house in Montana grade girlfriend and probable subject available from Howard Street and we have hiked Montana on of Girl from the North Country and Booksellers, Hibbing), is a gem -- the many occasions. I was Montana several other songs. writing is solid, but the story and its point man for his second book, So Thompson goes to Hibbing to telling are exemplary -- about grow- Saloon. He has been a constant in my investigate Dylan’s roots. What he ing up poor in rural Minnesota dur- life. I consider him a close and dear discovers, in part, is Bob’s life typical ing the Depression. Leroy Hoikkala, friend. of a middle class townie in the the drummer with Bob’s high school For me, personally, the long inter- Amerika of the ‘50s (hence the group The Golden Chords, and fel- view reprinted from the British mag- morph on Positively 4th Street to low Harley rider shows up, too. This azine The Bridge, as an appendix to Positively Main Street). Bob was not year Ramblin’ Jack Elliott was a guest PMS, adds a great deal to the book. the person he came to invent -- the of honor. You see Thompson not as the callow, one who grew up in Gallup, New As Thompson tells us, he was self-deprecating youth characterized Mexico, for example. My friends influenced by New Journalism, espe- here in Minnesota still talk about cially Tom Wolfe. This is evident, Continued, next page Continued from previous page. ment to PMS. And if you were alive and deserves a permanent and and conscious at the time, you’ll dig prominent place in the pantheon of in PMS, but as a mature, thoughtful reliving those days through Dylanology because it nails down so musicologist and peer of Dylan. Thompson’s experience. The many facets of Robert Allen Over the years I’ve read Thompson’s “Postgush” (afterword) written by Zimmerman before he became our work in such magazines as the New Richard Goldstein (Toby’s editor at enigmatic hero, Bob Dylan. But Yorker, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Big Sky, Bantam’s US Quarterly for a story more than that, it’s a book about US, Outside, etc. many of the pieces in about the second trip to Minnesota), when we were innocent and draft form. His understanding of is lively and insightful. The Bridge believed. The writing is as sharp and music and American culture and interview brings a sweeping, intelli- entertaining now as it was then, and appreciation of Dylan run as deep as gent perspective to all that’s tran- the energy of the book will put a the Mariana Trench. As to my own spired since. strong wind back in your sails, and a allegiance to Dylan’s work, I can say On page 165, Thompson says, as smile of affirmation on your face. that, as a poet myself, I’ve learned he is leaving Hibbing, that he is The book doesn’t intend to be more from him than any other con- going down to Iowa City for some prophetic, but it certainly does res- temporary poet -- make that my top R&R. He was, in fact, coming to onate with everything we know now ten favorite contemporary poets. visit me, in my poet’s garret. Upon all these years later. As Thompson indicates in the arrival he told me enthusiastically interview, as a teenager in DC he was about his interviews, showed me Ken McCullough lives with his wife a guitar student of both Charlie Byrd photos of Dylan’s house, of Echo, and younger son in Winona, where he and Bill Harris. During our college and the main street of Hibbing, but, is an administrator at Saint Mary’s days Toby became my music mentor, frankly, I didn’t get it. I was off in my University. His most recent books are introducing me to performers such own self-absorbed world, and didn’t Walking Backwards (poetry), Left as Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, even consider journalism real writing Hand (fiction), and Crossing Three John Hammond, and Dave Von -- being precise and getting it right Wildernesses (memoir), co-written Ronk. I tagged along to hear the likes were outside the realm of tragedy, with Pol Pot survivor U Sam Oeur. of Charlie Byrd and Mose Allison at self-destruction and romance. Over McCullough is also involved in The Byrd’s Showboat Lounge in DC and the years I have widened my param- Hawk’s Well Literary Center, through ate steamed pig’s feet at Harris’s club eters considerably. The Book Shelf, in Winona. • The Pig Foot in northeast DC, After the Voice pieces came out, where other musicians stopped in Dylan’s response (which Thompson Reprinted from The Tapestry frequently to jam with Harris. uses as an epigraph for PMS) was magazine, Vol. VII, No. 9. Together, we heard Segovia play on “That boy…this fellow, Toby…has September, 2008. two occasions and John Williams’ got some lessons to learn.” I can tell American debut (at age 16) in Town you as someone who knows Toby Hall, NYC. Thompson like a twin brother, that Toby sang and played at various he’s been receptive to these many les- coffee houses in those days, and sons, learned from them and articu- while his voice wasn’t any better than lated his findings always stunningly, Dylan’s, he could play anything Bob, with wit and acute perception. The or Charlie Byrd, or Bill Harris or Voice series and the first edition of John Williams could play. Maybe PMS elicited controversy, as does that’s why he didn’t pursue it -- it anything in print with cojones, as came too easily. does most anything regarding Bob. This past spring my wife and I This second edition has stirred up its stayed with Toby and his sweetheart share. Several people claim that Belinda in Georgetown. Toby and I Thompson was naïve about many took a five-hour walk through DC things -- well, he admits that, and and he pointed out landmarks, many that’s half the point anyway. Others of them related to African-American have said that Thompson “used” music and culture, now subsumed by Echo Helstrom, as did Bob. In fact, gentrification. He knows these maps, Echo still corresponds with Toby as both visible and subliminal. We’d she does with Bob. taken many similar walks over the If you cruise the Internet, it is years. Toby remains an excellent obvious that Dylan has a huge teacher and guide, if the pupil is world-wide fan base that thrives on attentive. His knowledge is precise speculation, partly because Bob has and complete and I will be forever remained so elusive, despite the pub- indebted to him for sharing his lication of Chronicles and his radio knowledge and friendship. show. Toby Thompson’s Positively Yes, there’s definitely a retro ele- Main Street stands the test of time