I saw BOB DYLAN last night at THE PALACE OF AUBURN HILLS and, although I’ll spare you the faux review I will make some DEEPLY FASCINATING observations:

Although our seats were crappy and we ran out of gas on the way home (Thanks to JEANNE, Ms. "We could make it to CHICAGO on what I have left in the tank" – but that’s O.K., doll, it only made the evening more memorable!) It’s always fantastic to see a living legend like BOB. I was telling my son that someday he’ll boast about seeing DYLAN the way I boast about seeing BOB MARLEY and JOE STRUMMER.

They show a lot of MUHAMMAD ALI fights late night on ESPN CLASSIC and they hypnotize me they same way BOB does. There’s a definite genius affinity between these two 60’s icons – if you watch ALI, what he does is not really boxing in the way everybody else does it, it’s just him. It’s the same way with DYLAN – they’re not really songs like other people’s, and the performance isn’t really a rock show – it’s just BOB.

We were on the floor, and since a basketball arena tries to have as flat a surface as possible, there was no theater-like rise to help visibility. The stage was too low and there was no JUMBOTRON, so being about 3/4 of the way back I had to crane to see a thumb sized BOB leaning over his organ. Bummer.

Organ! Yes, I’ve seen BOB a couple of times and he sort of played piano once on one song, this time he stayed on the keyboards throughout, playing wacky AL KOOPER circa "Like a Rolling Stone" chords. The effect was pretty neat actually, with the eerie carnival overtones BOB so loves – besides as usual BOB’s instrumentals were pretty far down in the mix.

I thought the sound was very good, maybe an advantage of being on the floor. The band was crackerjack and BOB’s voice was rough but ready. Of course he’s got so much great material and the new stuff stands up to the old, though I got my first frisson of the evening when he did my all time favorite DYLAN tune "Visions of Johanna."

And when I’d get discouraged about being unable to see I’d think about standing on that floor (covered with plywood of course), in the same place that two groups of world champions, like ISIAH THOMAS, JOE DUMARS, BEN WALLACE, RASHEED WALLACE, etc. and their noble enemies like MICHAEL JORDAN, MAGIC JOHNSON or LEBRON JAMES did their thing and get a kick. Not to mention the ladies of the WNBA CHAMPION DETROIT SHOCK, of course.

I’m seeing THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY perform "The Tempest" on Sunday and VAN MORRISON on Tuesday, so I’m being deluged by genius – just as you have been in reading this UBU post. I know you’ve all been waiting impatiently for part four of "Bethany," and I hope to put that up tomorrow – but remember here at RADIO FREE UBU, quality is JOKE #1!