"Yonder Stands the Orphan with His Gun..." B. Dylan

Looking for inspiration, the Lovely Carla and I, found ourselves at the Auditorium on the corner of Congress and Michigan Avenues last night. Hell, if you want to be inspired, you must seek it out once in awhile. We went to see the Bob Dylan Show ("All new show! High Grade, Future Perfect") with special guests, Merle Haggard and the Strangers. What a quirky pair of American Originals! Both guys are creaky, old, geezers but man, they are the Coolest Cats walking around on the planet! The show was kind of like a Grand Old Opry extravaganza, both Dylan and Haggard featured great fiddle players (Dylan's was a dazzling young woman) lap steel guitars, tight rythmn sections and great guitar interplay. Haggard joked that the Strangers were the only band in the land that had an ambulance in their entourage ( a couple of them, white-haired, country gentlemen in leisure suits looked like Kiwanis club regulars).

Dylan's set was a revelation. Every time I've seen him he has put on a completely new show, and this was no different. Familiar songs were totally re-arranged. He sang with a strange, off-beat, intensity (his voice is unique, exquisite, no one sings like this guy). Dylan never picked up a guitar, he played piano and harmonica for the full set. Dylan wore a cowboy hat with a kind of country and western uniform, a dark blue suit with gold buttons and red stripes running down the sides of his trousers. Yes, he looked odd, a strange country marionette, but, he was so natural, so in the moment, the oddness did not seem like an act. Or maybe the affectation is so completely integrated in him now, it's just another manifestation of his artistry.

Both these guys have 'it,' and I'm not exactly sure what it is, just a coolness, a presence, a genius, for being able to write songs that resonate, and to sing them and make them live. Life and performance have totally melded for these gentlemen. Life as performance. Exhilarating! And oh, yes, inspiring!