Happy Birthday Bob!

Bob Dylan and his Band. August 2010.

Bob Dylan's 75th Birthday. A day of celebration - and yes, I celebrate it every year. There is so much one could say about the impact Bob Dylan has had on the world since he first started to play music. As every Bob Dylan concert begins:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the poet laureate of rock 'n' roll. The voice of the promise of the '60s counterculture. The guy who forced folk into bed with rock, who donned makeup in the '70s and disappeared into a haze of substance abuse, who emerged to find Jesus, and who suddenly shifted gears, releasing some of the strongest music of his career beginning in the late '90s. Ladies and gentlemen, Bob Dylan!"

He is not just the "voice of the promise of the '60s counterculture" - he is a voice that represents every generation that has grown up since the '60s. Important to music. Important to American history. Important to the world.

 So many great memories. To list a few:

• Listening to Bob Dylan LPs at home with my father.
• My first Bob Dylan concert in 1991 at San Jose State University - the Counting Crows opened for him.
• Writing my Junior year High School term paper on Bob Dylan and listening to all of his albums chronologically - this is when I fell in love.
• The 1998 concert in San Jose when he toured with Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison.
• The back to back nights in Portland when he toured with Amos Lee and Merle Haggard at University of Portland.
• And the back to back nights in Portland when he toured with John Mellencamp at Edgefield.
• The Atlanta show with Leon Russell at Chastain Park to celebrate my birthday.
• Stacey's first Bob Dylan concert in Portland.

I look forward to more birthdays.

Thanks to Bob Dylan. Happy 75th Birthday!