Printed from
www.orilliapacket.com web site Friday, April 13, 2007 Orillia Packet & Times
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Dylan rumours flying
Colin McKim and Teviah Moro
Friday, April 13, 2007 - 09:00
Local News - Rumours that legendary troubadour Bob Dylan might drift into the Mariposa Folk Festival this summer are blowin’ in the wind.
“It doesn’t hurt having the rumours going around,” said Chris Mockler, the festival’s executive director. “Who knows?”
The 65-year-old Dylan is scheduled to play Casino Rama on the nights of July 7 and 8, the same weekend Mariposa takes place at Tudhope Park with such names as Don McLean, Hawksley Workman, Susan Aglukark and the Good Brothers.
The high priest of folk music, Dylan has never officially played at the 46-year-old folk festival.
“He was always too expensive,” said Mike Hill, the festival’s artistic director.
However, in 1972, when the festival was staged in Toronto, Dylan showed up as a spectator.
One story has him playing an impromptu jam with Gordon Lightfoot on a picnic table, said Mockler.
“Apparently, he showed up looking for Leon Redbone, of all people.”
Another story has Ken Whitley snubbing Dylan when he asked to join the Canadian performer on stage.
In any case, the times they are a changin’, and Dylan would be more than welcome to perform if he stopped by Mariposa today, said Mockler: “He’s got an open invitation.”
If Lightfoot ends up headlining a concert this year — that’s another rumour buzzing down the endless wire — Dylan might drop by for old time’s sake.
“Gord and Bob are buddies,” said Mockler, adding just having Dylan in the area should be a boost. “It will bring a lot of folkies into the neighbourhood.”
People coming to hear Dylan at night could be tempted to spend some daylight hours, or the entire next day, at Mariposa, said Mockler.
For the price of a single Dylan ticket, a fan could purchase a weekend pass for the folk festival, said Hill.
“We’re the better deal.”
Mockler said the festival is thinking about putting signs along the Highway 12 bypass to catch the eyes of people heading to the Dylan concert.
The signs could play on Dylan lyrics while pitching the festival, such as: “If you’re not going to Mariposa — You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”
Dylan’s Saturday and Sunday night performances are expected to sell out more than 10,000 tickets, said Casino Rama spokesperson Jenna Hunter.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” she said, noting the casino saw an opportunity and took it by lining up Dylan. “He’s one of the megastars who was on the wish list.”
Casino Rama didn’t deliberately book the shows on the same weekend as Mariposa, she said.
“Booking is done by an agency in Nashville, with the final approval of the casino,” Hunter said, adding the Rama Mnjikaning First Nation is very supportive of local events.
The Dylan shows should draw a wide-ranging demographic, from 20 to 50 years and up, mostly from the Greater Toronto Area, as is the case with many casino acts, she said.
Dylan is bound by an exclusivity contract that won’t allow him to do any paid performances during a certain time period and in a specified geographic area, Hunter noted.
But, if he wants to drop by Tudhope Park, walk the grounds and pop on stage for an impromptu gratis performance, that’s entirely up to him, she added.
“It’s not anything the casino would have anything to do with.”
Tickets for Dylan, $80 and $100 plus tax and service charges, go on sale Tuesday, but holders of the casino’s Player’s Passport Card can get them starting Sunday.
