My friend, Bill, saw Bob Dylan in 1965 in Birmingham England. Most of my friends had seen Bob Dylan in later years and only in the US. So on a rainy night in Minnesota here’s Bill’s short tale from last night.
Monica
Bill’s mom, Monica, worked at the Specialty Bar in Birmingham, England. Monica was originally from Limerick and was a popular server. One night Eric Burdon from the Animals was at the bar and offered Monica free tickets to Bob Dylan’s concert at the Birmingham Town Hall. She took him up on his offer. Monica came home to tell her son that she had free tickets to the Bob “Die-lan” show. Sixteen year old Bill almost passed them up not quite knowing who his mom was talking about. In the end, Bill and Monica went to see Bob Dylan. Monica has passed, but I could tell it was a great memory for Bill.
Bill meets Bob
Our conversation veered off for a while. We were talking about a small show that we did where the producer was so tight with the cash that Bill claimed “..he still had his First Communion money.” After a good laugh about about this past performance I piped up and asked Bill if he ever seen Bob Dylan in concert again. He said he was a foot away from him at one of Bob Dylan’s Minnesota concert’s. Bill was working as a stage hand and needed to remove the back up mike from Dylan’s lapel. Bob gave Bill a shrug, the deed done and Bill met Bob Dylan 39 years later.