BEEB BOB MADNESS

The Desolation Row Newsletter reported the other day that we're going to get a large number of BBC programmes around Bob's 70th birthday  -  indeed a "Bob Dylan season". These were the details (apparently from Wicked Messenger Man Ian Woodward):

DYLAN AT 70
Nashville Cats – The Making Of Blonde On Blonde

Monday 16 May

10.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Ahead of Bob Dylan's 70th birthday on 24 May, Bill Nighy presents the first documentary in BBC Radio 2's Dylan season, telling the definitive story of the recording of his classic album Blonde On Blonde...This is regarded as Dylan's most creatively intense period, and he recalled the album as being: "the closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind ... it's that thin wild mercury sound." Nashville Cats features newly sourced interviews with musicians Al Kooper and Charlie McCoy, producer Bob Johnston and photographer Jerry Schatzberg. Presenter/Bill Nighy, Producer/Henry Lopez Real for the BBC

DYLAN AT 70
Afternoon Reading – Ballads Of Thin Men Ep 1/3

Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 May

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

Bob Dylan is 70 on 24 May 2011. The three stories in Ballads Of Thin Men have been commissioned specially to mark the occasion... Dig Yourself, by Nick Walker, The Night Ride, by Simone Felice, and People Carry Roses, by Toby Litt. Producer Jeremy Osborne for Sweet Talk Productions

Thursday 19 May

11.00pm-midnight BBC RADIO 2

As BBC Radio 2 celebrates Bob Dylan's 70th birthday, the cream of the British folk scene re-interpret songs from his iconic album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Mark Radcliffe guides listeners through a collection of specially recorded songs that illustrate Dylan's great writing skills and the inventiveness and creativity of British folk artists. The guest list includes Martin Carthy, Seth Lakeman, Ralph McTell, Cara Dillon, Billy Bragg [of course...], Martin Simpson and winner of the Horizon Award at the 2011 Radio 2 Folk Awards, Ewan McLennan. The songs from this hugely influential album are performed in its original order and feature a series of stunning new versions. Presenter/Mark Radcliffe, Producer/John Leonard for Smooth Operations

On 24 May at 10 pm there will be a programme called "Bob's Ballad Bases". Presented by Julie Fowlis, it will examine the British and Irish folksong roots of much of Dylan’s songwriting and performance, from Pretty Peggy-O on his first album onwards, to show the melodic, thematic and structural roots of much of his work. Producer Rab Noakes.

And Radio 4 has commissioned an Archive Hour programme on Dylan.

But actually there's even more than that. There's a live 45-minute round-table discussion on May 24th, starting at 1.15pm on BBC Radio Scotland. Called 'Slow Train Coming: Dylan's Gospel Years Revisited' it features Sid Griffin, me and Howard Sounes, and is produced by Caitlin Smith. Also currently in preparation is a new Dylan timeline going up on May 24, if not earlier, on BBC News Online. And I've been interviewed for a BBC Radio 3 programme on The Music of the King James Bible, which includes a section on Dylan and goes out on May 28th at 12.15 pm, produced by Peter Everett.

Any more?