just to be provocative, or taken out of context, Sean Wilentz does a great job putting into context the simmering controversy over Bob Dylan’s sampling of previously existing lyrical and musical material.

And no, for those who still expect it, he did not play any songs by nor acknowledge his relationship to his father. Duh. Why should he?

Then again, he doesn’t need to, because as Dylan matures – he turned 40 last December – he looks remarkably more like his father every day (check out the photos accompanying this review).

But what Jakob Dylan did offer was an intense, if somewhat monochromatic, 90-minute run-through of his more recent roots-rock. He played the entire Women + Country program and most of Seeing Things, and made it all sound of a piece, backed by the ensemble named Three Legs for this tour, but typically working as singer Neko Case’s backup band.

Case, along with Kelly Hogan, were on hand to lend backup vocals, harmonies, and occasional duets, and those were some of the highlights of Dylan’s show.

If not voluble, Dylan is certainly a more genial frontman than his enigmatic father, but he’s learned some lessons well, including how to stand motionless at a microphone to intone his haunting ballads and mid-tempo country-rockers about, well, women and country for the most part.

Click here for complete review…

Presumably what the bureau also had in mind in launching a new website, Come Home Bob Dylan, was garnering a little publicity for the isolated area renowned for its stark beauty and cold winters.

The website includes an online petition calling on Dylan to come home to Hibbing, Minn., as well as sharing pages for photos and video, and links to informational pages on Hibbing and the Iron Range.

In The Heights by Bernard Zalon

Zalon contacted me recently to share one of his newest creations, called In the Heights, which on the surface seems to capture a typical scene out front of 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which some may recognize as the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish outreach movement.

The artist honors me by telling me that while he was working on the piece, he heard me being interviewed on a radio program talking about my book, excerpts of which he had read online. “So I was inspired to add something.  I just finished it, and I think you will appreciate it,” he wrote.

I am immensely humbled by Zalon’s generosity. I can’t think of a better way to have my own work appreciated than by having it somehow inspiring or becoming a part of another’s — especially someone with the talent and vision of Zalon.

If you look closely at the etching, you can see a Dylan-esque figure — perhaps Bob Dylan himself — hanging out among the Hasidim.

Detail from "In the Heights" by Bernard Zalon

I think the arrangement of the song was really beautiful. I loved the spare acoustic trio. Bassist Tony Garnier, who has been with Dylan for two decades, of course drove the song. Who was the pianist? I love the repetitive, circular phrase he came up with – it really put the song in a whole different place, musically – a bit of modern pop with a hint of jazz.

I think Dylan wasn’t unsure of when to play guitar, as some have suggested. If you listen without watching (at the Bob Dylan Examiner) then you can really hear how he consciously chooses when to play. It’s a lot like a jazz trio in that sense. In any case, this has become Dylan’s playing style in general; it’s not much different from how he plays in his own concerts.

As for Dylan’s voice, sure, to anyone who hasn’t heard him since he recorded “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” he probably sounded awful. But to anyone who has been keeping up with him all these years, especially lately, he actually sounded great — he sang more melodiously than usual, he was always on key (Dylan NEVER sings off key), and he sang with particular conviction last night and original phrasing.

I do have one other question though (besides “who was the piano player?”).

Did it seem to you like Dylan was preparing to play a second song when a bunch of security guys swooped to the stage and pretty much led him off before he could start playing?

I just came home from seeing Crazy Heart, and while I loved the movie, it now occurs to me that it really is just a remake of — although some might call it a great improvement upon — Dylan’s Hearts of Fire.

Mostly I’m surprised that in all the voluminous press that Crazy Heart has received, not once has anyone ever mentioned the film’s inspiration, or source, or resemblance, to the earlier movie.

It’s important to note that the music for Crazy Heart was for the most part written and produced by former Bob Dylan sideman/guitarist T-Bone Burnett. And that Jeff Bridges modeled his character after longtime Dylan compadre and fellow actor Kris Kristofferson.

The answer to both questions is not only no – the answer, my friend, is I don’t really want to meet Bob Dylan.

I will explain later, in more detail, why I feel this way. But I just came across a great quotation from Margaret Atwood that almost totally summarizes my feelings:

“Wanting to know an author because you like her work is like wanting to know a duck because you like paté.” – Margaret Atwood

Bookseller Rich Simpson is an old friend and acquaintance – gosh, I’ve known Rich I think since 1985, when he was working at the erstwhile Renzi’s Bookstore on Spring Street. He was a really wonderful and welcoming host, and he snapped the accompanying photo.

Tonight: The Bookloft, in my hometown of Great Barrington, Mass., 7pm.

Water Street Books, 12.3.09