A few weeks ago when Bob Dylan sent a Face Book Message and said that he was a fan, and that he "liked" my book. I clicked on his name on Face Book and make sure it was really the Bob Dylan. When I arrived in Portland for the book tour, and met with Mary and Greta, when we were standing under K.A.'s Antarctic painting, Mary asked me if I was excited about the book tour, and I said yes! I had the chance to see old friends and new, and hear what they thought about the book, and how it connected with them, and I got surprised. I mentioned how Bob Dylan had sent me a message, and wondered if he had grown up on stories of Amundsen, and Nansen, and of the great polar explorers and if they had inspired him, and helped him create and compose his own course through music and life. I couldn't help but see the strong parallels between him and the polar explorers from the past and in the present. Bob Dylan explored folk, blues, gospel, Irish, English, rock, and other forms of music, and discovered new ways singing his song. and conveying his poetry. He overcame the inertia of established thought, he had the fortitude and resiliency to over come the critics and create and sing what he believed.
There was a song that I was trying to remember and I couldn't so I described it to Mary and Geta. "It's a song about changes, it's not "Blowing in the Wind" it's not "Like a Rolling Stone." There are a couple phrases in the song that kept playing in my head. There's one that you can sink or you can swim, and there's another with a biblical reference: the last will be first. He was talking about social change. I just can't remember the name of it. But I can't forget Dylan. I studied him in college. He was the subject of a history thesis that I wrote at UCSB. I studied him and the impact he and Simon and Garfunkel had on the counter culture of the '60's. But his impact like those of the polar explorers will span the ages. Do you know what that song is?" I asked Mary and Greta? They were remembering his music. The phrases and commenting on his music and impact, and how Dylan is still sharing his work. We just couldn't remember that song.
Mary drove me to Salty's Seafood Grills very near Portland International Airport. We sat outside on the patio over looking the deep blue Columbia River, and watched a tug push a cargo ship up the river, and saw two F-16's fly over head, and heard the thunder of their engines, and marveled at their flight, and just after we were handed menus someone inside the restaurant turned on the music. Dylan's voice came on,
and he sang the song! "The times they are a changing." We smiled and listened to his poetry,
| Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' - youtube.com |
and after talk about how artists, athletes, scientist, explorers and so many other people who succeed draw from same source of inspiration, and share the same methods to achieving what they want to do in life. We talked about our poet friend Ronnie Smith and how he has published his first e book wonderful e book of Antarctic poetry, www.ronniejsmith.com and K.A. Colorado's paintings. www.kacoloradofineart.com
Mary and I watched the river flow, felt the heat of the autumn sun, and the cool breeze off the Columbia. We ate some delicious blackened salmon that must have come from the Columbia River. It tasted more like it had swum from a sweet river than like from the sea. We shared a creamy halibut pesto, ate tang key lime pie, and we talked about how inter connected everything is, and how life is full of wonderful surprises and awe inspiring discoveries.
