Bob Dylan is quite an enigma. You either love him or you hate him.

I love him.

Some can't get past the nasal voice, deteriorated in recent years, to fully appreciate the music and the poetry in the lyrics.

I saw Dylan perform at Centennial Hall and thoroughly enjoyed it. He gave new life to some of the old songs, with new instrumentation and extra-long grooves. He did the classics. "All Along the Watchtower," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "I Want You," among others . His performance at Monday night's show was more spirited than his performances have been on recent tours, and his band really had it together.

The songs were almost all rock 'n' roll though, and I wish he would have done some songs by himself. His guitar work was a little repetitive, and almost every song had a climactic rock 'n' roll ending. I guess I should give him a break. For a guy over 50 years old he is doing pretty good.

And that is exactly what worries me about Dylan.

What Dylan was about at first is akin to what Woody Guthrie was about some years before Dylan. Dylan was a young man who dropped out of college to go out on the road in America, finding life experience and singing about things that mattered. Justice, or t he lack of it, the plight of the poor, common man. He seemed to match Guthrie in ideology.

Dylan's music gave rise to an entire genre of folk-singing, protest rock. His song style was admired by the Beatles, Hendrix and The Byrds just to name a few. So it is no surprise that many within the neo-folk movement were angry at Dylan when he started playing songs on electric guitar, with a complete band.

As I heard one person joking at the end of the concert last night, "So she asked me if I had seen him (Dylan) before and I said 'Yeah I used to tour with him in the 60s', and she asked me 'were you in his band?'" Of course this was funny because at that p oint in his career Dylan did not have a band. It was just him and a guitar, sometimes harmonica.

In my opinion some of his best work came in the electric period, like the albums Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and the later release Desire. I fear that Dylan has voyaged too far from his roots. Although the show was entertaining, it s eemed very formula. A friend of mine said the show was very similar to one she saw a year ago in Phoenix. I am worried that Dylan is just going through the motions. He never addressed the crowd, and despite three encores, he never cracked a smile.

The Who launched to success in the 1960s with "My Generation" a song where they sing "I hope I die before I get old." They did that song on their last reunion tour. They made millions.Mick Jagger was once quoted as saying he hoped he was not doing the sam e thing when he was 50.

Guess what, he is. And he is making more money than ever.

And according to Tucson Citizen Columnist Joseph Garcia, Dylan sold one of his most famous protest songs, "The Times They are a Changin'," to a Canadian bank.

I know that many would object to any mention of an artist selling out, and some would surely say to me, "Wouldn't you take the money?"

"You may say that I'm young, you might say I'm unlearned," to quote Dylan, but no, I wouldn't take the cash. That song means a lot to many people, and for me it stands as an anthem, a protest that rang true in the 60s, and even now.

Perhaps Joe Garcia and I have too romantic an idea about what music is. "It's our own damn sacred fault for believing 'this song means something'," Garcia said.

I think it was $38 well spent (actually I still owe someone money for the third row ticket they were nice enough to buy for me). But I think $38 is a lot of money. How could the common man afford a ticket to his show? What happened to the man who said, "A in't no use talkin' to me, might as well talk to him?"

Might as well, it would sure be cheaper.

---

Daily Wildcat News Opinions Sports PoliceBeat Comics Arts