The Woody Guthrie Center
We started in the Woody Guthrie Center, feeling the two museums were best experienced chronologically. I don't know how Allan waited, being so close to the Bob Dylan Center, but not going. But we had decided we would do the two museums together -- we would normally separate and each move at our pace -- so he had to be patient.
There's a fantastic display of Woody's drawings and paintings, reproduced on metal tiles. Like Joni Mitchell (and to a lesser extent, Dylan), Woody was as much a visual artist as a musical artist. We both noted how many different styles Woody used -- playful cartoons, swathes of colour, line drawings reminiscent of Picasso, using lettering as art. Of course he had no formal training in art of any kind; it just poured out of him.
The current (non-permanent) exhibit was about hip-hop. I'm glad it's there, exposing visitors (especially older folks) to hip-hop as a form of folk music. The blues museum in St. Louis did this, too. But it wasn't much of an exhibit. There was one interesting section on artists taking control of their own music, which has been an issue for Black-created music from the earliest days of the recording industry. Other than that, it was mostly memorabilia.
The Woody Guthrie Center begins with a short documentary narrated by Steve Earle, situating Woody in history, but focusing mainly on his enduring influence. Various artists spoke about how his life and work influenced him, some obvious people, others not as much -- Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, Tom Morello, Springsteen, someone who I think was Boots Riley. It was very well done, and for me, it was very emotional, listening to people articulate what I also feel.
The exhibits are beautifully presented, more thematic than chronological, and very interactive.
The Center's website lists this as the permanent collection:
* 15-minute introductory film to the life of Woody Guthrie and his influences looped throughout the day in the center’s theater
* Woody’s Footsteps interactive timeline wall that follows his travels from Okemah, Oklahoma, to Pampa, Texas, then on to Los Angeles and New York
* The Dust Bowl area where visitors can learn more about the era and its effect on Woody through a Dust Bowl virtual reality experience, view an excerpt from Ken Burn’s documentary, and listen to Woody’s Dust Bowl Ballads
* Woody’s America interactive map that includes information about Woody’s life, music history, as well as Oklahoma, U.S., and world history
* Music Bar for listening to Woody’s recorded songs
* Lyric Journal of Woody’s lyrics according to selected topics
* Lyric Writing Station for composing an original verse to a song and submitting to the database
* Exhibits and videos of artists who continue Woody’s tradition of writing what they see
* The original handwritten lyrics of “This Land is Your Land” and videos of others’ renditions of the song
*Woody’s fiddle, guitar, banjo, and mandolin
The interactive map was fantastic. It's a smart-board map of the United States, dotted with details from Woody's drawings -- a guitar, a man, a train, and so on. You tap on a moving icon to see and hear information about Woody in that part of the country. It's a very clever and engaging piece, emphasizing his travels and the different phases of his life -- Oklahoma, Texas, California, New York.
I overheard staff tell visitors the whole museum takes about an hour to experience, but I think one hour would be a very cursory visit. The staff are awesome -- so friendly and knowledgeable -- and very young and hip. Also, the Center is hiring; there's a full-time archivist position posted. In some alternate reality, Allan would have the credentials to apply, and we'd end up moving to Oklahoma for his dream job.
We spent a couple of hours there, really soaking it in, then went for lunch. The Centers are in Tulsa's Arts District, which is actually the former site of Greenwood, the so-called Black Wall Street, where the infamous pogrom and massacre (not "race riot"!) took place. We don't usually go out for both lunch and dinner, but I wasn't able to plan anything else, and an extra meal out is not going to break the bank. We ate at Chowhouse. Like everywhere we've been so far, the food and the service was great. Even more than in Kansas City, folks speak with a pronounced twang, and everyone says "ma'am". In a non-ironic way.
The Bob Dylan Center
After lunch, it was time for Bob! This museum also begins with a very good film, presented as an immersive experience, with images on all sides of the room, a walk-through of Dylan's life and career. (That is, his career so far. Dylan is still writing his own story.)
The sheer scope and breadth of Dylan's work continually amaze me. I am in awe. I'm willing to bet that most people who enjoy some of Dylan's music actually have no idea how much he's done -- how many different kinds of music he's made, how many different people he has been. Frankly, if it weren't for Allan, I wouldn't know either. Like most fans, I would have stopped listening to Dylan at a certain point in his career, and been totally unaware of anything after that point.
As with any important artist whose work spans many decades, there are going to be clunkers along the way. An artist should always be evolving and trying new things, and not everything is going to work. That is, or should be, a hallmark of any great musician. It doesn't matter to me that I don't love all of Dylan's music. I love enough of it, and for the rest, I'm glad it's there.
Dylan's creative restlessness, his hunger to explore and expand, is almost unparalleled. Joni, too, has that restless creativity, but her movement from one musical place to the next is more studious and controlled, where Dylan's is a flood.
In the museum, there was so much that I had never seen or heard before. The thematic displays in the middle were especially engaging, focusing on specific songs or sounds. In this image, you can see the thematic displays identified by the blue vertical title markers.
Towards the end of the Dylan display, I was flagging. There is only so much information you can take in, plus being on my feet for so long was not pleasant. Many of the exhibit groupings include little seats (worked into the design), and I took advantage of many of them! I benefit from little micro-breaks. Even 30 seconds or one minute of rest will help, so I did that frequently.
We purposely budgeted multiple days for the two centers, knowing when we finally made it here, we would want lots of time. It's wonderful to see Allan enjoy himself so much. I remember feeling (and writing) that during our trip to Egypt. I'm having a great time, but it's even better seeing that he's having such a great time, too.
Our old friend thin-crust pizza, where have you been
Eventually we pulled ourselves away. I was in dire need of a caffeine break. I thought we'd go back to the Airbnb for tea, then come back to town for dinner, but we decided to cut down on driving. Googling, I found a promising-looking cafe in the Cherry Street district, then stupidly spent too much money, caffeine, and sugar on some frothy iced drink, and felt awful. Bah. But we had a good rest, while Allan searched for dinner. (Somehow I keep hearing, "...having to be scrounging your next meeeeallll..."!)
Allan is in charge of finding and choosing dinner every night for the rest of the trip. In KC, we went back to the same barbecue restaurant so I could have the lamb ribs. Allan really didn't want to, but did that for me, so I said for the rest of the trip we would eat anywhere he wanted, every night. Total win-win: I'll enjoy any place he picks out, and I won't have to make decisions.
One thing Allan loves that we can't get at home (and really haven't had much since leaving New York) is thin-crust, wood-fired pizza. It seems this is known as New York-style pizza here. (Everywhere?) We went to East Village Bohemian. Allan had a quattro formaggio, and I had fig-and-goat cheese. Both were very good, and I would have said both were excellent... until the pizza we had the next night.
This is as good a place as any to note that we have been constantly amazed at parking on this trip. Yes, parking. Everywhere we go, in all three cities, parking is free or almost free, and plentiful. It's very strange. Allan keeps thinking the spots are illegal, because how could such convenient parking exist? (Being amazed at parking: is this the final phase in officially being old?)
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