HAT FACT...
A straw boater is a stiff straw hat with a flat top, a brim, and traditionally decorated with Petersham ribbon. The ribbons once signified allegiance to a particular educational institution or sailing club.
Legend has it that these hats were brought to the USA by Italian immigrants and named 'boaters' because they were worn by Venetian gondoliers. However, they were also popular in England as summer headgear, especially for rowing and punting activities, from the late 19th Century onwards.
Bob's hat in 1990 had a dark navy and red trim. It is more likely to be an authentic early style boater with no significance to the ribbon colours.
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19900705
Internationales Congress Centrum
Berlin, Germany
5 July 1990
http://www.bjorner.com/DSN11210%20-%201990%20Summer%20Festival%20Tour%20of%20Europe.htm#DSN11260
The hat is a genuine ushanka this time - with the earflaps tied up and a badge on the brim. An interesting choice of headgear to wear in Berlin during the year the wall came down.
This hat made other appearances. Here it is in use at the Beacon Theatre, New York , 15 October 1990.
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HAT FACT...
In 1991 an 'interview' with Bob Dylan was published in The Telegraph (issue 42). It was supposedly conducted by journalist and translator Eduardo Bueno in Budapest on 12 June 1991.
The interview was a fake. Bueno had compiled a selection of previous Bob Dylan responses from other interviews.
One extract from the 'interview' was about hats:
EB: On your 50th birthday, an English newspaper, The Independent, asked a lot of people what they'd give you as a birthday present. Mick Jagger said, After what I saw on the Grammys, a new hat and some good songs.
BD: Well, a new hat I've already got. It's here. It's called a Borsalino. I bought it in Milan, five days ago, for $75. New songs? Well, I don't think he's ever written a song like Masters of War. But to do my show, I don't need to be moving from here and there. But I love Mick, I always did.
Read the entire story and 'interview' here.
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HAT FACT...
Dave Stewart directed the video for 'Blood In My Eyes'. It was filmed at Camden Lock Market, London, on July 21st 1993 and featured Bob Dylan walking around, juggling, talking to passers-by and signing autographs.
On Dave Stewart's website, he displays the result with the following caption:
“Below is a video I directed with Bob Dylan using 8mm one morn in London. I hired a top hat. It was our only prop!”
It is hoped that Bob Dylan's appearance that day, while exciting enough for passers-by, did not cause the 'Menace to Society' that the first appearance of a top hat in London instigated 196 years earlier:
"According to The American Hatter, London haberdasher John Hetherington nearly caused a riot when he wore the first top hat into the Strand on Jan. 15, 1797:
An excited throng gathered about the owner and the crowd soon increased to such a dangerous extent that the authorities had to interfere. The next morning the daring haberdasher was brought before the Lord Mayor charged with ‘walking down a public highway wearing upon his head a tall structure having a shining lustre calculated to alarm the people.’
Witnesses testified that “women had fainted, that children had gone into hysterics and that one lad sustained a broken arm through the violence of the mob.” Hetherington asserted his right to dress as he chose, but the Lord Mayor fined him $5,000."
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