Bob Dylan

I am 55 years old and I have seen many of the great performers in my years and this is the first time that I attended a concert by Bob Dylan. I am a big fan of his recorded music but have yet to had the pleasure of seeing him perform live. I must say that I was not all disappointed by his show. I thought that his set was fine and that the musicians especially the drummer and guitarist were really good. Dylans voice was strong and the sound system was crystal clear so that I could all the lyrics. I enjoyed how Dylan switched melodies in many of his older songs so it required a few stanzas before you recognized them. That kept me guessing. I was surprised and wonder why Bob chose to exclusively play the keyboard. I was waiting for him to pick up an acoustic guitar. He did perform a wonderful version of "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol". "Cold Irons Bound" gave me chills. Observing the cross generational crowd of grandparents, parents, college students and even young tweens with their parents was a heartwarming tribute to the career of this American musical icon.The Racanteurs were also great offering some straight forward no holds barred Rock n Roll.
I was appalled at the high price of the souvenir tee shirts. Thirty five dollars was a bit over the top. I noted that there were people selling the same shirts outside of the show for half price. Not sure what was up with that.
Thanks to UMASS Amherst for offering the Mullins Center as a venue for this musical experience. An auspicious beginning to the Holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

MoveOn.org

I have signed up as a volunteer to make phone calls for MoveOn.org encouraging Americans all over the country where close elections are being held to vote for the Democratic, Progessive candidate. As a result I have held conversations with men and women about the election and issues facing this country. People are concerned about the Iraq war and the economy. Many people in Virgina were poor and I remember one woman saying that her utility bill was larger than her mortgage and she wondered which one she would be able to pay. She could not afford to pay both.
Another woman told me that she was 85 and that she had been voting since she was in her twenties. I told her that she was a true Patriot. I could then hear the pride in her voice.

One women told me her son was a soldier in Iraq and she prayed for him and his young wife everyday. She was voting Democratic hoping they would end Americas involvement in the overthere.
It seems that the overwhelmingly amount of people in this country now support a party whose platform promotes a quick end to the war. I wonder if a referendum about the American/British military involvement was held in Iraq it would reach a similar conclusion . My suspicion would be that most of the poplulace would favor our easing ourselves out of their country ASAP.
Even with Sadam in power the life of the average citizen was better off then. The situation is drifting toward total chaos now according to a report by the US military last week .
One person from Illinois told me to move on myself. I will not hold it against him or the rest of his State.
I am going to continue to make these calls until election day Tuesday. This kind of Grass Roots organizational work is going to raise my political conciousness and hopefully create some positive changes in America.