The Harmonicas Play The Skeleton Keys And The Rain

So. A wee while ago I headed off to The Planetarium in Glasgow's Science Centre to sit in the dark, blindfolded, along with maybe 200 other fellow  nerds enthusiasts, while Blonde On Blonde - sixty years since release - was piped through the sound system. An experience somehow both communal and personal.

Bob's vocals sounded *grrreat*. Wonderfully expressive. I could visualise him at the microphone. Lyrics that had been hiding in plain sight tugged at my sleeve:

"With your silhouette when the sunlight dims / Into your eyes where the moonlight swims"

... tasteful wee understated organ & guitar licks...occasional, sonically isolated ahead-of-the-beat tambourine taps...beautifully musical drum inflections which I supposed I had previously felt, sitting somewhere back there in the mix, but not really heard... 

In the midst of all these revelations - specifically during I Want You and Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - I think I zoned out, entering into a higher consciousness where time, memory and perception were suspended. Either that or I fell asleep. Assuming the latter, Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat came traipsing along to wake me up. If I was snoring my neighbours were polite enough not to tell me.

Before long Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands was waltzing off to sink beyond the horizon. Masterpiece over. Blindfolds off. A ripple of applause. The spell gently broken when an elderly woman turned to me and said, "It's John from pilates". I held arm and returned her smile, "I'm afraid I'm not - your eyes are still adjusting." (I couldn't even point to Pilates on a map.)

Ah, Bob. How shall I compare thee? I simply can't. The things you make me do. See you in Blackpool in November.

In other news - look what we did on our holidays...

New album & tour info here.

A propos of nothing I liked Toy Story 5.

Meanwhile my art continues - one step forward, two steps back. But there's not success like failure - right, Bob?