What in the . . . ?

For a mere $120,000 . . .(click here)

The Bob Dylan Show III

August 17, 2010

Desmond vs. Me and Bob Dylan

Deer Valley, Park City, Utah

(And happy anniversary to my lovely, patient, and tolerant wife!)

Another side of Bob Dylan concerts


Set List:

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. This Wheel's on Fire
3. I'll Be your Baby Tonight
4. Things Have Changed
5. Under the Red Sky
6. Honest With Me
7. Tangled Up in Blue
8. Cold Irons Bound
9. Masters of War
10. Highway 61 Revisited
11. Nettie Moore
12. Thunder on the Mountain
13. Ballad of a Thin Man
14. Like a Rolling Stone
15. Jolene
16. All Along the Watchtower

The Dylan concert trip was a hoot!  We arrived at the venue around 7 pm and seemingly had horrible seats, however, this proved very wrong.  The people at this concert were very nice and we could walk up to the stage front several times from our base in the back of the crowd.  The people were so nice, in fact, I observed a woman give an extra ticket to some young men begging to "throw the bums a dime" on the way in.  The lady was in her prime (once upon a time)!  There were no searches and I had to ask somebody to take my ticket, even.  We were able to bring a cooler of beer and wine in with snacks for the kids, as well.  Much better than $5/beer at the other places.  The people were so nice down there that we were able to walk right up to the front to take pictures of the band and Bob.  Those pictures are precious and will be cherished forever.  Lynnet wants me to build a wall so we can display some of them.  Even Bob Dylan seemed to be quite relaxed and laughed frequently with his band members and the crowd.  I have a picture of that.

Bob Chuckles

And we have dozens more!

The night was indeed a special night, my anniversary to Lynnet.  Too bad I couldn't request one of the songs at our wedding, the most beautiful love song ever written:

Wedding Song by Bob Dylan

I love you more than ever, more than time and more than love
I love you more than money and more than the stars above
Love you more than madness, more than waves upon the sea
Love you more than life itself, you mean that much to me

Ever since you walked right in, the circle’s been complete
I’ve said goodbye to haunted rooms and faces in the street
To the courtyard of the jester which is hidden from the sun
I love you more than ever and I haven’t yet begun

You breathed on me and made my life a richer one to live
When I was deep in poverty you taught me how to give
Dried the tears up from my dreams and pulled me from the hole
Quenched my thirst and satisfied the burning in my soul

You gave me babies one, two, three, what is more, you saved my life
Eye for eye and tooth for tooth, your love cuts like a knife
My thoughts of you don’t ever rest, they’d kill me if I lie
I’d sacrifice the world for you and watch my senses die

The tune that is yours and mine to play upon this earth
We’ll play it out the best we know, whatever it is worth
What’s lost is lost, we can’t regain what went down in the flood
But happiness to me is you and I love you more than blood

It’s never been my duty to remake the world at large
Nor is it my intention to sound a battle charge
’Cause I love you more than all of that with a love that doesn’t bend
And if there is eternity I’d love you there again

Oh, can’t you see that you were born to stand by my side
And I was born to be with you, you were born to be my bride
You’re the other half of what I am, you’re the missing piece
And I love you more than ever with that love that doesn’t cease

You turn the tide on me each day and teach my eyes to see
Just bein’ next to you is a natural thing for me
And I could never let you go, no matter what goes on
‘Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone

I'll be your baby tonight!

My chess game for the concert was with Desmond.  With all the distractions and Bob singing "close your eyes, close the door, Adam should resign, he shouldn't play annnyyymoorre" - I just had to after hanging my queen!

I forgot to close the garage door!

In Jackson Hole we attracted some college age spectators, in Boise we had some older gentlemen, and here in Park City, a little boy from Turkey named Kaan.  Funny how little kids are not afraid to ask to play.  So Desmond and Kaan played, however, his mom wanted more of a tutorial.  Des showed him some basic openings and how to avoid some common traps seen in scholastics.  They were so nice, I hope to hear from them again.

Our new Turkish friend!

Play online chess

The fun didn't stop there!  We were staying at the Westgate on a deal that I secured by agreeing to sit in a time share sales pitch.  The saleswoman really made timeshares more understandable compared to the others I have been to.  The Westgate is a nice resort with nice people, nice rooms, and nice facilities at the base of The Canyons ski area.  They even had a giant chess set that was occupied every time we went to the pool area.  We were able squeak a game in.  We spent some time also watching the games that others were playing.  Kids vs. kids, kid vs. dads, kids vs. moms.  But never a Mom vs. Dad game?

Even Pawns must hold a grudge!

We then went to a SLC Real Soccer Game at the new Rio Tinto Stadium.  Unfortunately, I left the board in the car so no soccer chess game.  Good thing I did anyway because it was a very active game with 2 red cards and several yellow cards.  I would have blundered easily.  The Real won 2-1 against a team from Panama.

Real Salt Lake

We had a great time playing chess, watching Bob, swimming, camping, watching soccer, playing other games, hiking around Jackson Hole, Boise, and Park City.  More trips should be like this.

The Bob Dylan Show

August 15, 2010:  Darwin vs. Me and Bob Dylan

Boise Concert

Darwin is age 5 and only got these pointers from me:
1.  "I think there is a better move" (when he was going to develop his white bishop on move 4).
2.  "I think there is a better spot for your queen"  (he was going to move it to e3 on move 10).
3.  I provided his strategy to win.  "promote one of these pawns"
4.  He needed help seeing checkmate.
I think I like his thinking!

Play chess online

Boise Set List:

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)

Just Like a Woman

Rollin' and Tumblin'

Tryin' to Get to Heaven

High Water (for Charlie Patton)

Forgetful Heart

The Levee's Gonna Break

Blind Willie McTell

Highway 61 Revisited

Workingman's Blues #2

Thunder on the Mountain

Ballad of a Thin Man

Like a Rollin' Stone

Penitentiary Smoke Stacks

What a fabulous night.  The venue was an old Penitentiary that was converted into a pseudo-garden with old buildings and pieces of the guard wall still in place.  We sat in the grass in a section that had a large maze built out of the jail's bricks and had a  great view of the stage.  As Darwin and I played our game and listened to Bob, the sun sank and ignited the horizon with brilliant orange fading to a soft pink.  The half moon rose over the stage and during the last song a shooting star fell just as Bob hissed "how does it feel?"  Oh wow!

Like A Rolling Stone

August 14, 2010:  Dylan vs. Me and Bob Dylan

Jackson Hole

Play chess online

Jackson Hole Setlist:

Leopard-Skin Pill-box Hat

To Ramona

Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

Just Like a Woman

Rollin' and Tumblin'

I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

Ballad of Hollis Brown

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

Cold Irons Bound

When the Deal Goes Down

Highway 61 Revisited

Spirit On the Water

Thunder On the Mountain

Ballad of A Thin Man

Like a Rolling Stone

Jolene

All Along the Watchtower

A pre-concert chess game

My Painting (A woman from Florida wanted to buy it)

See, I really did paint it!

Darwin's Art Work - "Stacked Rock-pieces"

They are Bison (not Buffalo) or Tatanka

As we rolled into Jackson after a beautiful day of hiking, sight-seeing, frolicking, and producing art, we were all excited for the first of three Dylan concerts.  On the way to the concert, we saw a badger, pronghorn, bison, and several birds of prey.  After purchasing the requisite lattes, we arrived in the venue and sat down for a pleasant evening with Mr. Bob Dylan.  I think the cold kept the crowd rather docile and the people around us were really nice.  We really enjoyed this concert and returned to our Gros Ventre campground site.

If I could only get to play chess with Bob Dylan . . .a dream would be ful-filled!

More Summer Fun!

Mount Heyburn on the south side of Redfish Lake

Darwin gets in on the action
Now we are heading to the Teton's for a Bob Dylan concert in Jackson Hole, then on to Boise for another at the Boise Botanical Gardens, and then off to another in Park City.  My goal is to play a recorded game at each venue.  See you soon!

Chesstoons

Compliments of a friend.  You can see a more comprehensive selection of cartoons at The Chessnut on the gallery page.

Join Chess Club Video

As I get ready for school to start, I thought I would make a "join chess club" video for our school.  Chess is cool, chess is hip.

Great day for a chess adventure!

I guess we need to try the roller-coaster thing next?

"That scorpian on my shoulder!"

Here is a great company with some great people that work them.  Anyone traveling on the Salmon River near Stanley should try Dave out.  They make great lunches and provide a fun and safe trip for the whole family (including 5 year olds!).

The River Company, 

PO. Box 250

Stanley, Idaho, 83278

208-774-2581

1-800-398-0346

“Never resign. There's always a chance your opponent may drop dead before he mates you.”

Al Horowitz

The 2010 ICA President's Cup July 31-Aug 1

Twin Falls ID

Nicholas Brown of Boise wins Prez Cup.  Outrated but not outplayed as 2.0/3 earns the Cup.  Paul Edvalson wins small blitz event 6.5/8

Final Four

• Nicholas Ross Brown      2.0/3
• Hugh S Myers            1.5/3
• Barry D Eacker           1.5/3
• Tom R Booth              1.0/3

Blitz

• Paul F Edvalson         6.5/8
• Fred Bartell               4.5/8
• Glen Buckendorf           1.0/8

results are a courtesy of Idaho Chess Union.


My performance was horrid with only one draw in the qualifying rounds (G/29).  I arrived late for the first round, unbathed, unfed, and not looking forward to playing and I ran out of time. My second game produced a blunder with less than 2 minutes remaining on my clock, I still ran out of time.  In the third game, I listfully played Katie Patterson and gave up lot's of material for a true loss.  After some lunch and a refreshing latte, I played Kevin Patterson to a true draw and lost my final round to Kurt Douglas after wrecking him.  Of course, time pressure crushed me and I made some mistakes in my under 30 seconds of play which caused me to lose on time again.  Blah!  I guess I need to play more blitz or to play in longer game controls only.