august is still the month of many birthdays. today, for example, is my brother chuck's birthday. he is 48.

i'm just back today from a weekend of birthday and sort of birthday celebration. on saturday i drove to normal for a surprise party for niece Rebecca. had a good time eating a lot of stuff and hanging out with becca and tim's little kids - brennan and delaney - two of the wackiest humans on the planet. i got to push 3 year old brennan on the big kids swing because he doesn't know how to pump yet. so i pushed and he talked and never stopped talking all the while i was pushing. can't remember a thing he said.

after that party i drove brother pat and nieces taylor and korie down to petersburg where, last night, best of all possible sisters meg treated me, pat and beth to a BOB DYLAN concert at the illinois state fair. beth's got a new old house not far from the fair grounds, so we ate scrumptious veggie chili and cornbread at her place and walked. state fair = really bad food (which we didn't eat) + really stinky animals + hordes of heavy white people + really good music by bob dylan. our seats were way way up - i am destined to know through experience that bob dylan is about one inch tall. he really is. i've seen him twice. and he is one inch tall. but he has a very loud guitar. his band and fresh work with old tunes were kickass. no oldies show. times they are a changing and masters of war and its all over now baby blue and yes even blowin' in the wind were all brand new. the only clunker was most likely you go yr way and i'll go mine - something got lost in the mix ... no matter ... we had some great musicmaking all night long. a perfectly wonderful evening that had me smiling all over.

the first smile came when the mild-mannered audience became a wild big-hearted roaring beast for bob. i sat back thinking that this was the guy who had helped with so many changes just by writing songs and singing them. somehow in those songs - maybe even in the worst of them - he had gathered up everything we were or wanted or feared ... or most of it ... and sent them sailing out to do whatever songs do to people who don't always even know they need them.

the drive back north today was numbed and numbing. none of my music worked. the road was just one mile after the other. i think i was a little hung over from the concert but i hadn't had a single beer. i had spent some energy and was feeling it today.

tomorrow teachers gather again.

Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Bob Dylan

Bob freed your mind the way Elvis freed your body. He showed us that just because music was innately physical did not mean that it was anti-intellectual. He had the vision and the talent to make a pop record that contained the whole world.

Bruce Springsteen