HEAVY RAIN ON HIGHWAY 301

I left Statesboro yesterday morning to drive up to Athens GA. The rain was phenomenal for the first part  -  just when I had to run across the carpark from the lobby of the Baymont Hotel to my rented car about 70 yards away. Less than a minute, and under an umbrella, yet my shoes, socks, feet, and the lower part of my jeans and coat were absolutely drenched, and three hours' driving in the warm car still had me arriving in Athens with the coat distinctly damp. Just got to the horrible Athens Holiday Inn in time to turn around and get collected by Hugh Ruppersburg to do the soundcheck for my Bob Dylan & the Poetry of the Blues talk at the University of Georgia. Big place. Been before. Big audience, mostly students but also at least one couple in their 80s, I was told afterwards. It seemed to go down well. Good sound system, and a good large screen.

One of the people who came to the Dylan Discussion Event in Statesboro the previous evening, and who introduced himself afterwards, was Jack Sherman, long an LA-based studio sessionman who now lives in Savannah GA. He has worked with Barry Goldberg, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Hiatt, Gerry Goffin and others, and played in the studio with Dylan at the time of Knocked Out Loaded. He's on 'They Killed Him' and the 'Freedom For The Stallion' outtakes. It was good to meet him.