Dylan at RIT

I remember being a young kid and having little tantrums every time my dad put Bob Dylan on in the car. There was no escape in the car! At home, we could go to a different room or make him put his headphones on. In the car, we were stuck.

My dad was persistent. He knew we’d appreciate Dylan. He was right! I think we finally started to get into him when he enticed us with a challenge: “Listen to this whole song and see if you can figure out the story.” He put in “Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts.”

I was hooked on Blood on the Tracks after that, and it wasn’t long after that I was hooked on the rest of his music. In fact, I learned to play guitar with two simple things: a quick lesson in learning to read chord diagrams, and a Bob Dylan songbook. “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” was the first full song I ever learned (G, D, C!).

I’ve seen Dylan in concert 4 times (all great shows), and this Tuesday, my dad and I will be meeting at RIT for my 5th (dad’s seen him a few more times than I, of course). Elvis Costello is playing as well, so I’ll finally get some exposure to a name I’ve heard a thousand times but whose music I’m quite unfamiliar with. RIT is a great concert venue (saw Alison Kraus and Union Station a couple years ago), so I’m really looking forward to it.