On our flight home from London, my wife spent the entire grueling trip glued to her airline-issued headset, listening to "Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio” on XM Radio (as rebroadcast by United Airlines). Aside from the moments when she was pestered by the lunatic seated to her right (no, not me) she sat there smiling and amazed by the eclectic array of songs Dylan hand selects for his shows. Mind you, just a few weeks before, we were at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, marveling over the Bob Dylan exhibit and gained insight into his life as one of music’s greatest artists and influential figures.

So, I bought my wife an XM Radio for our anniversary and are taping the Labor Day Weekend Dylan-a-thon in which XM is rebroadcasting all of Dylan’s previous shows. They are 30 minute programs in which Dylan selects a theme “Jail,” “Friends,” “The Weather,” etc.. and then spins off songs related to that theme. He provides narrative between songs with the sort of insight that reminds one of a sports lunatic who rattles off the starting lineup for the 1969 Cubs (Kesssinger, Beckett, Santo, etc..). Dylan will go from The Spaniels to Stevie Wonder to Pop Staples all without skipping a beat and explaining how it all fits together.

I have gone on record (on this blog, I think) wondering who on earth and why on earth someone would buy satellite radio. Sure, Dylan could accomplish the same programming effort via a Podcast, but that’s a story for another day. We have XM Radio, and (thanks to Dylan) are hooked.

And, speaking of Dylan, his latest “album” “Modern Times” is on heavy airplay rotation in our house. Mike recommended “Time out of Mind” and “Love and Theft” to complement this latest release. Thanks to eBay, they are in our collection. And, we're fixin' to see him on his Fall 2006 Tour...somewhere. We currently have our sights set on Nov. 18th at The Spectrum!