Legends

One year I decided I wanted to see the Grateful Dead. I still remember asking my dad if he might want to go, unfortunately it was the same year the lead singer Jerry Garcia passed away.

I grew up listening to my mom's Janice Joplin tape, and if I could go back in time would choose to see her live. I presently live in Janice's neighborhood and the closest I will ever get to hear her is the production 'Love Janice,' I went to see this summer. Today when I have a chance to see a legend I take it.

To see Bob Dylan onstage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a testament to what makes a legend.

My best friend from ninth grade came to the city for the show. We picked up where we left off. Showed him a little bar down the street introduced him to the bar owner that tells the best neighborhood stories, and his dirty martinis aren't bad either. We walked up the hill to eat at a nearby winebar then waited for the train.

It is something out of a book I have read or maybe will write, 'emerging from the train to the civic center crossing the street to the venue, that if walls could speak has housed some of the most amazing musicians and shows.' It is a place with warmth, that is spacious yet intimate. We stood through the general admission show, laughed over all the second hand smoke and when I finally knew a song, I sang along...

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
by Bob Dylan

Fortunately I wouldn't know.