New Dylan album, North American Tour

If you're a big Bob Dylan fan, as I am, you may want to know that he will release the 35th album of his career, Tempest, Sept. 11. It is interesting to note that The Tempest was the name of the last play Shakespeare ever wrote. Could Dylan, who is now 71 years old and still tours constantly, be hinting at something here?

He will also kick-off a North American tour Oct. 5 in Winnepeg with Mark Knopfler on the bill with him. The first time I heard Knopfler sing was when Dire Straits' Sultans of Swing was initially being played on FM radio and I thought at the time he sound remarkably like Dylan.

There will only be one Texas stop on the tour and that will be (lucky us) Nov. 1 at the Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie. As I recall, the last time Dylan played the area it was right across the street from the Verizon, at the baseball stadium there. Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp shared the bill with him that time. That show happened to fall on my birthday.

Just saying.