The Day Bob Dylan Came to Mifflin Street

It was mid summer, I think 1969. A sign went up in front of the Mifflin Street Co-op announcing that Bob Dylan was coming on Saturday. He would play in the empty lot, gloriously renamed People's Park, in the middle of the 400 block of West Mifflin Street. I think it was next to 436.

Around noon an enthusiastic, though modestly skeptical, crowd began to gather in front of the Co-op. Jim Rowen, yes that Jim Rowen, The Political Environment,  and Susan McGovern hiked down the block to join the growing throng.

An hour later those with a clear few down Bassett Street spied a speeding Cadillac approaching. As the car neared Mifflin Street, the rear window on the passenger's side rolled down and for a moment a hand waved to the crowd and the car sped off to West Washington.

The crowd faded under the hot Madison afternoon sun.

I read Rowen's column and trust his judgment.

Comments

[That Jim Rowen]

We wuz snookered and happy to be part of someone's prank.

[Mike Heider]

He was good at that. I was at a concert in Milwaukee, at the Oriental Theatre, with a hot date and second row seats. 1964. He came out,did two songs, said the sound system sucked, and walked off. Oh, had I saved the ticket stubs. Because about 300,000 people now claim to have been there.

[James Rowen]

On the other hand, he performed not too long ago at the ancient Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, danced on stage with a woman from the audience, and actually spoke, saying "Milwaukee...I had a girl friend from Milwaukee...she gave me the brush-off."

So you takes the good w/the bad and move on, like a rolling stone, eh?

[Stu Levitan]

The full joke: "I had a girl friend from Milwaukee once. SHE WAS AN ARTIST. She gave me the brush-off."

Alternate: "I had a girl friend from .... once. She was a tennis player. Love meant nothing to her."

In 1989, at the Dane County Coliseum, when a thunder storm knocked the power out, the greatest and most important writer in English since Shakespeare ... played the cowbell for ten minutes.