Life

Program explores Dylan's visit with Sandburg in 1964

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 29, 2019

FLAT ROCK — Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site will offer two special programs during the park’s anniversary week in October.

Authorized on Oct. 17, 1968, the park celebrates 51 years this fall. On Tuesday, Oct. 15, The Gathering Dark will present the music program “Dylan at Connemara" from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the park amphitheater. The program explores the 1964 meeting between Carl Sandburg and Bob Dylan. Through song, story and “wild speculation” it presents possible answers regarding what happened the day Bob Dylan arrived in Flat Rock and knocked on Carl Sandburg’s door.

The show features the songs of Bob Dylan, as well as selections from Carl Sandburg’s American Songbag and canon of poetry. The work of Dylan and Sandburg are woven into the story of their meeting in a show that provides perspective on how that event fits into the context of American cultural history. The program is presented by The Gathering Dark, a songwriting duo which includes Josh Dunkin, who hails from Tennessee by way of Chicago, and Steven DuRose, from Ohio by way of Los Angeles.

A community reading of Carl Sandburg’s Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection, “The Complete Poems,” will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 19, at the amphitheater. “The Complete Poems” is a collection of Sandburg’s poetry published from 1916 to 1950. The book won a Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1951. The community is invited to read 5-minute segments of the collection for the audience. Sign up to read at nps.gov/carl/planyourvisit/tcp.htm.

The programs are free and open to the public.