As a nod to how well the latest Robert Zimmerman record is doing, here he is performing on The Johnny Cash show (that’s right! ran on ABC from ‘69-’71). It’s that ‘Nashville Skyline’ voice he’s singing in. The entire song is rather ironic and deep, about romantic relationships, but also a metaphor to the enduring power of a bard who ‘threw it all away’ and has been able to ‘bring it all back home’ several times. Volume of the clip is low, so turn up now-

The entire thing is weird on several levels: imagine what the average Dylan fan looked like in ‘69 and Bob himself appears relatively conservative. He was a few years past his ‘gone electric’ ’sacrelidge’ against the folkies, recently having turned out a rather straight up country record - always mixing it up and refusing stasis for the sake of fandom. Johnny himself presenting more enigmas: a man with a history of dope and delinquency putting forward the face of ‘wholesome country host’. In all, an interesting era on many levels for a variety of reasons. They were actually friends behind the scenes, and according to the recent Scorsese doc, Bob was really touched when The Man in Black preserved a country music tradition by giving his guitar to the younger songwriter - a symbolic and literal ‘passing of the torch’.

So another Dragoncon has come and gone. Once again I went down to get some pics and sneak around, past pesky hotel security, to take pictures without paying for a pass, and if you’d seen the line to get passes, you wouldn’t judge me on this, unless, I guess - you were in that line. Besides, manunderstress and I bought t-shirts from one of the vendors in the main hall. To any who may not understand the appeal of this event, I found the following film (sorry about the music in advance):

You can see some pics through the Flickr badge below (column right), and in the future, a compilation of some of my ‘05/’06 fav shots. One of these years I plan to go down there for the full ride, get a room, party righteously, investigate the ubiquitous rumors of ‘Klingon Orgies’ which seem to circulate yearly. But let us never forget the words of the great ComicBook Guy (M. Lisner?), “Cheeseburgers and loneliness are a dangerous mix.”

(ed. note- sorry that video above was yanked, but the following illustrates the same point 6/8/07)

Are there any other Yo La Tengo fans reading this? I love ‘em, and was psyched to find this ‘video’ for ‘Sugarcube’ on the ol’ YouTube. I bookmarked it but didn’t get around to watching it for a while. Little did I know….

It’s got your buddy and ATL regular, David Cross (don’t miss the link to his open letter to ‘Larry the Cable Guy’ at the bottom), a lol Rush jab, not much of the actual tune, but a laugh riot experience. I don’t know if this aired on Mr. Show or what…