Full house for Mr. Dylan last night in the venerable Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
in Asheville, where they've patched up most but not all of the water seepage
perpetually coming through.  Ensconced behind that protective wall of piano
and obscured in the dim light, Dylan's iconic ball of hair moved to a strong, 
piano-thumping Watching The River Flow.

Some nice spiraling piano work on You Go Your Way. Caught a new lyric
"you were moving way too slow."  Can't see the artist in dim light, but you 
can project onto that fuzzy shape all the memories of a timeless career.

Multitudes didn't quite land.  False Prophet kicked the show into gear, 
followed by a short trip to center stage for a mute hello.  Man he's thin. 
He did his little stage-shuffle-step as he headed back to his zone behind 
the piano.

Harmonica solo (seated) opened Masterpiece which had a couple of new
lines but wasn't sung with a lot of conviction.  Started to think that yeah 
maybe he's got a cold.  Voice was compromised somehow.

Favorites of the night were the moody new ones, Black Rider, Own 
Version of You - excellent - and Crossing the Rubicon.  Bob has stories to 
tell and he really put himself into these great lyrics.  Rubicon felt so 
personal, so mortal.  "Not gonna get involved in the insignificant details" 
popped up one verse too soon in Own Version of You -- you could feel 
Dylan realize that and hesitate just before he sang it, but I guess there 
wasn't anywhere else to go and so we got it twice.  

Key West was a let-down, drained of mystery by the new version that
jams a conventional melody onto the original flowing rumination.  I don't 
know how the musicians can deliver whatever Bob's got in mind for this 
one cause it's all over the place.  Sounded more like an exploration of 
an idea than a song ready for performance.
 
Made Up My Mind won support from the crowd on "hope the gods go 
easy with me," again that frail brave intimacy from the artist.  His voice 
wasn't quite up to holding those high stretched-out notes on this one.

Jimmy Reed got a revamp - but sorry, I'll take the punch of the earlier 
version. This was toned-down and felt like change for the sake of 
change.  By the way thanks to Mark Thompson for unpacking those l
yrics on the Untold Dylan site-has really brought it to life for me.

Then a straight intro of the band, no local-themed patter.

After a moving and focused Every Grain of Sand, with beautiful piano 
break, the Asheville faithful stood for several minutes applauding in the 
dark, with only a few people moving to beat the traffic.

A poignant visit with the artist who's lit up my whole life.  Thank you, 
Bob Dylan, for making the trip.  

On the 3rd, and last, night of our mini North Carolina Bob Dylan tour my
girlfriend, Jacqueline, and I drove our rental car 2 hours west to
Asheville. Asheville seems like it may be a nice artsy city, but too many
bleeding heart policies allow the homeless, drug users, misfits and
general riff-raff to wonder/live on their streets. Just another liberal
utopian paradise of a city brought to