Groovy man..

As my devoted readers will probably already know, I am pretty much a devoted fan of Bob Dylan, owning most of what he has officially released on audio, plus a large chunk of unauthorised stuff as well. I recently scored on vinyl an album called last thoughts on Henry Mancini, which is an album of cover songs that Dylan has sung over the years. The recording quality is crap, but the album is unique in that it was only ever released via the fan club by a company called Spliff Records, so you figure it out.

Anyway, I scored a copy of this particular DVD, which is basically an interview with this guy.. Mickey Jones. He was the drummer on Bob Dylan's world tour in 1966. This was a very controversial tour for Dylan as it was when he upset a lot of fans by deciding to go electric. The first half of the show was traditional Dylan, the second half was electric backed by a band called "The Hawks", consisting of Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson and Mickey Jones, who replaced Levon Helm on drums. The mostly hostile reaction in the revues only ever referred to them as "The Band", so eventually the name stuck.

The penny finally started to drop, when Mickey started talking about what he did after the tour Seems he signed on for a ten year stint with these guys.. Yep, he went on to drum with Kenny Rogers & the First Edition. This is about where the wheels started to turn & the cogs grind round. You see, long ago in a galaxy far away, (Gisborne actually) I got to see these guys play live, backed by none other than these guys.

Yep, you got it... Bulldogs Allstar Goodtime Band. It was a great concert, with a very intimate atmosphere. That humid that even Kenny Rogers remarked on how hot it was. This happened of all places in the gymnasium at Gisborne High School, so there was no need for big screen monitors like there is nowadays. You could damn near reach out & touch them all. It was a wonderful evening.

Anyway, this DVD. It had a lot less music in it than I envisaged, but the personal touch & perspective on an event that changed modern music is wonderful. Even more special for me is the memory of a fantastic concert where i saw this guy play live. You can't buy memories like that....