HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy 2009... in which at least President Obama will take over from President Bush, in which it will become 50 years since the death of Buddy Holly, 40 years since the release of Nashville Skyline, 30 years since Bob got Born Again, 20 years since my daughter Magdalena slept through six Dylan concerts at the Beacon Theatre, New York (before one of which, as we chatted to people outside the stage door, Tony Garnier emerged, saw Magdalena in Sarah's arms and said with a smile, "Well well! - now they even bring their babies for him to bless...") and 10 years since the UK publication of the third and final edition of Song & Dance Man, ie Song & Dance Man III.

In 2009 too, it will be 300 years since Alexander Selkirk was found on Juan Fernandez, off the coast of Chile; 200 years since the USA outlawed participation in the slave trade (ha ha); 150 years since the publication of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin; 100 years since Louis Blériot became the first person to fly across the English Channel (Calais-Dover, 37 mins); and 50 years since Blind Willie McTell died in Milledgeville State Hospital, Georgia.