Friday, August 27, 2004

Bob Dylan, The Cove, and Me

Red state. Blue state. CNN. Fox. We are a divided nation. Happily, I think I speak for pretty much all of America when I note how wrong the recent Victoria’s Secret’s ad was that featured a winged angel prancing around in her underwear while Bob Dylan looks on with a wink and gleam in his eye. I got the first part of the ad; the second left me reeling. What the hell was Bob doing there? Granted, the Dylan song that accompanied the ad, “Love Sick,” is really good. But the visual. That was bad. Bob has not aged like a fine wine. In fact, he looks creepier than just about anyone else on the planet.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that when I heard that good ‘ole Bob and Willie Nelson were coming to town....well, I hesitated a bit, and then plunked down my cash. I’ve seen Dylan before and like all of us, he’s good some nights, and on others he’s been out to lunch. I was curious as to which Dylan would show up. As for Willie, well, I’ve never followed him that much, but I dig his braids, and his enthusiasm for cannabis is touching. So off I went with some friends to the Cove to witness the music, the weirdness, and all that fell between. I was also heartened by the rationale Bob gave for this dual concert. He said: “What we aim to do with this tour is hit the ball out of the park, touch all the bases and get home safely.” What an all-American guy, the Bobster has become!

Willie came out first and gave a bluesy show filled with his classics. It didn’t strike me as a terribly inspired show, but given that he’s gotta be pushing 80....I guess the most charitable thing you can say about him is that he looks timeless. But I was at the Cove to see my man Bob. My concerns about him melted away about a minute into the set. Dylan’s voice may be shot to hell, but brother did he deliver, and boy oh boy, does he have a great back up band. They pushed him in ways that I think even surprised Dylan, a man who has seen it all. They pumped out one blistering version of a song after another. Dylan had chosen a great set too, combining his many classics with newer stuff and which I’m real fan of. And he wears a cowboy hat in a way that makes our Texan President look just plain silly.

The audience was pretty darn amazing too. It was filled with grandmas and newborns, hippies and bikers, and all that fall between. Kids and adults were wearing Willie Nelson headbands with the requisite braids. In other words, there was no generation gap here. Yes, I saw a bit too much mass-marketed tye-dye for my tastes, but that’s me. This was unlike any rock and roll show I’ve ever attended. There were John Kerry signs, UAW t-shirts, and lots of people in khaki. What surprised me most was the number of people who seemed to be following Bob around the country this summer. But by the second song, “God Knows,” I knew why. This was not some nostalgia act. Dylan was rock’in for all his worth.

Now If you weren’t there, don’t despair. I suggest you get some Dylan pronto and crank it up. And if you haven’t listened to Dylan since you were attending a peace rally or were trying to think of something cosmic, take a listen to his more recent stuff. His last two albums, “Time Out of Mind” (where the song “Love Sick” appears) and “Love and Theft” are just fantastic. Yes, he’s got a voice that only a mother could love, but these albums merit listening over and over. I would even argue that the last songs on these two albums, “Highlands” and “Sugar Baby,” are as haunting as anything he has ever done. One of the real joys here is that this music shows his indebtedness to musical roots that drift back at least a hundred years. And given that Bob looks about a hundred, well, that only seems fair.

Oh, the evening ended in a weirdly, nice way. As we were making our way back to the car, I noticed that the guy in front of us was from my beloved New Jersey. We exchanged greetings and raves about the show. He told me that he was simply following Bob around the country and recording his shows. He then gave me a couple of live shows on CD. Perhaps, just perhaps, the ‘60s and their better spirits can be seen in this little moment.

Broadcast by Jonathan Nashel on August 27, 2004
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