The day Bob Dylan didn't arrive on Mifflin Street (July 4, 1969)

There are lots of names listed in my 1969 engagement calendar, but Bob Dylan isn't one of them. I'm pretty sure I wasn't hanging around the Mifflin Street Coop on the 4th of July, but I can't tell you where I was that day -- and I won't tell you who I was with, either.

In any case, this post is about Bob Dylan and features guest appearances by Patrick McGilligan, Paul Soglin, and Jim Hougan -- all of whom subsequently went on to make names for themselves in various fields of endeavor.

The genesis for this post was a status report question Soglin posed on Facebook a couple of weeks ago: "Paul is wondering where the photo can be found of the sign announcing that Bob Dylan is coming to the Mifflin Street Co-op ... or was it John Lennon?" Some discussion ensued, but the question was never answered...at least on Facebook.

The reason it's being answered now is twofold: (1) I spend a lot of time in libraries doing research and sometimes I wander off task, diverted by some tidbit that grabs my attention while I'm wending my way through reels of microfilm; and (2) while Himself doesn't complain about all the time I spend at the library, he has been known to bemoan the fact that it keeps me from blogging.

Last week, I happened across a newspaper report about the day Bob Dylan did not land on Mifflin Street in a helicopter and made a copy, since I thought it might make an interesting blog post. Then, I looked at some other page images on that same reel of microfilm and discovered the one you see at the beginning of this post, the one announcing that Patrick McGilligan, a recent Madison Central High School graduate, would be playing the flighty bridegroom in a production of "An Italian Straw Hat. I made a copy of this page, too. Then I forgot about both of them.

This evening, to make Himself happy without resorting to sorting his socks or feeding him chocolate, I decided to write a blog post: nothing too complicated, nothing requiring an immense about of research. That's when I remembered Bob Dylan and Mifflin Street. Short and sweet, and lots of names that may draw visitors to my blog. Perfect. So without further blather, here's The Capital Times story about Bob Dylan's non-appearance, written by reporter Jim Hougan:

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Where are they now and what are they doing?

Soglin was elected Madison's mayor in 1973; these days you can find him on Facebook, or read more about him on his blog. After receiving an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship in 1972, Hougan had some exciting adventures; he's written more than a couple of books and you can read more about him on his website. McGilligan doesn't have a blog or a website and he doesn't seem to be on Facebook, either; he's written lots of books, and you can read a bit more about him HERE.