Dylan Plays, They Score
By DOUGLAS WOLK
Published: March 26, 2006
When Bob Dylan begins his spring tour in Reno on Saturday, several thousand fans will be rooting for him to play one or another song. They won't be at the show. And they may not even like the song. But they are competitors in the Dylan Pool (pool.dylantree.com), an online game that awards points to players who correctly predict the lineup of the mercurial singer's concerts.
Arthur Louie, a 28-year-old software developer in Vancouver, British Columbia, organized the game in 2001 as an excuse to experiment with database programming. "It seemed like a natural way to merge my interest in computers and my love of Dylan," he said recently by phone. He got several hundred fans to sign up for the first round. By the most recent Dylan tour, in Europe last fall, more than 2,000 people were competing.
Before a Dylan tour begins, a player picks a group of songs, each worth up to 18 points per performance, depending on how much Mr. Dylan has favored it recently. He has recorded or performed more than 400 tunes, including covers, and he keeps many in his repertory. Over the course of his 31-date fall tour, for instance, he played more than 80 different songs. On that tour, "All Along the Watchtower" would have been worth an easy 1 point per show: he played the tune every night.
The smartest pick would have been the 15-point rarity "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)," which Mr. Dylan played six times, for a total of 90 points. The game isn't exactly a betting pool: no money is involved and prizes are only incidental. Instead, as Mr. Louie had hoped when he started the site, the Dylan Pool has evolved into a community, with get-togethers at concerts and humming discussion boards.
Even Dylanologists who have carefully studied song-frequency statistics don't necessarily do well in the pool, though. Success is a matter of anticipating one famously contrary man's whims.
Might Mr. Dylan alter his set lists just to mess with the pool? "You know, I wouldn't put it past him," Mr. Louie said, even though there is no evidence that his idol is tuning in. "He's a pretty sneaky guy."
― chillaxing damsel on box art (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 30 March 2006 23:21 (twenty years ago)
He has recorded or performed more than 400 tunes, including coversthis seems way low to me.
when I saw him last summer the highlight was definitely "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again", but he played that a lot on that tour.
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Thursday, 30 March 2006 23:38 (twenty years ago)
my brackets:
Song Group 1: Chimes of Freedom (11 points)
Song Group 2: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (14 points)
Song Group 3: To Ramona (10 points)
Song Group 4: Mr. Tambourine Man (7 points)
Song Group 5: Love Sick (10 points)
Song Group 6: Love Minus Zero/No Limit (7 points)
Song Group 7: Shelter from the Storm (12 points)
Song Group 8: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (14 points)
Song Group 9: She Belongs to Me (14 points)
Song Group 10: Standing in the Doorway (15 points)
Song Group 11: Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) (8 points)
Song Group 12: Seeing the Real You at Last (15 points)
Song Group 13: Masters of War (6 points)
Song Group 14: Make You Feel My Love (11 points)
Song Group 15: Simple Twist of Fate (16 points)
Song Group 16: Tryin' to Get to Heaven (10 points)
Song Group 17: Folsom Prison Blues (16 points)
Song Group 18: Ring Them Bells (16 points)
Song Group 19: It Ain't Me, Babe (10 points)
Song Group 20: Maggie's Farm (2 points)
Song Group 21: Tangled Up in Blue (12 points)
Song Group 22: Isis (18 points)
Album Group 1: Bringing It All Back Home (1 point per song)
Album Group 2: Blood on the Tracks (4 points per song)
Album Group 3: The Basement Tapes (4 points per song)
really really hoping i can score tix to that dylan/haggard show soon
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 31 March 2006 00:10 (twenty years ago)