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Fleeing Hibbing

Posted at 1:10 PM on July 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Why would a newspaper in the U.K. care about the Hibbing High School Class of 1959 reunion last week? Because it was Bob Dylan's class and someone has to document the fact that he didn't show up.

But, man, do we learn a lot about Hibbing 1959 in the Telegraph's story:

THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY
"Some of our classmates have been selling their y
earbooks," says local resident Sharon Kepler, who helped organize the reunion. "If Bob has signed it there are people who are willing to pay quite a bit of money..."

THE SIGN OF LOOSE WOMEN
In that time, things were almost how you see them portrayed in TV shows like Happy Days," says Sharon Kepler. "It was a simpler time. We used to say you could tell if a girl was just a little bit loose if she knotted her scarf on her chin."

HIBBING EST NON GAULUS
"There were a variety of after school clubs," adds Larry Fabbro, a retired auto exhibition professional. "I think Bob was in the Latin club..."

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CLEATS?
"Bob would say, 'Let's go on a mission...'," remembers former classmate and retired US Steel shift manager LeRoy Hoikkala. "And the mission would be to cruise up First Avenue. We'd look at the music store there. Then we'd go to the Carlson shoe repair and get new cleats put in our shoes or jean boots. Then we'd go Stephens' grocery and read about James Dean."

Check out the Class of 1959 Web page. How could you leave a town like that, Bob?

(h/t: Nate Minor)

Comments (2)

Bobby Dylan doesn't care about Minnesota. Why does Minnesota care about him?

Posted by Tyler | July 23, 2009 8:25 PM

The significant portion of his lyrics which refer to minnesota, its landscapes, and its characters, suggest otherwise. He explicitly touts a town in Minnesota as the birthplace of the USA in a conversation with Bono, as documented in his Chronicles Vol. 1 autobiography.

I think he anonymously bought a park for a school once up there too...

Posted by Rudolph | July 24, 2009 8:59 AM