Bob Dylan was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras the month before Bobby Fischer came to town in 1964. Too bad Fischer didn’t make it for Mardi Gras. Probably would’ve done him some good.

From joeb’s remembrance at TALLY HO!:

Here is one quote from Bob standing on the corner outside of La Casa de los Marinos on that Mardi Gras afternoon. A girl told him “You sure do have long hair”. Bob replied, “Yes I am going to let my hair grow down to the street and write my poems from the tops of these buildings”.

…Dylan was trying to get the black man who ran the place to let us in. Dylan kept saying “Why man Why Not?” The guy told us to go on before the cops came and locked us all up. The black guy said to Dylan, “Son go on home. Somewhere your mother is on her knees praying for you”. And Dylan shot back,”I don’t have a mother and if I did she wouldn’t be praying for me”. I remember some guy joining us as we were over on Dauphine St. We tried to go in Cosimo’s bar with a black guy but they would not let us in. I was amazed to recognize the bartender as a former Air Force pilot I had known when I was in the Air National Guard two years before. He said, “Joe, don’t bring that guy in here”. It was after that that we tried to go down to Baby Green’s but they would not let us in either. Somewhere along the way on Burgundy St. we had picked up another young man who ran and jumped up on top of a car and walked over it from front to back.

About the Author

Derek Bridges

Derek Bridges lives in New Orleans, trading in words and pictures. A carpetbagger of long standing, he grew up in the top right corner of IL and later went to college in the middle cornfield part. He has also lived in MS and FL, for educational purposes only, and was diasporized for a time in TX.

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