Bob, Not Bob
As Jack Erdie made unclear in his introduction, our "Tribute to Bob," was not just a palindrome but a concealment. Most of us really don't care about Bob Dylan anyway. Robert Wagner, however, is a good friend and a great proponent of music that sticks between your ears and leaves blossoms in your chakras.

Jack started things out with "Every Unmarked Road," Eve Goodman followed with "Mother of Three." Thick and fast they came, Jay Hitt, Peter King, Frank Bienkowski, Sue Gartland . . . the songs had possessed and then lost the aura of their putative owner and became the songs of the singer and our songs, but there was always a bit of Robert coming to greet us at the beginning of a verse or a bit of guitar. Annette Dietz, project instigator, recited her own poetry and had a few others recite theirs. Sam Flesher wrote a song for the occasion. Howard Davidson played Dylan's "Oxford Town." But even the non-Robert stuff had a Robert gloss. The beauty of Robert's songs is that they give us room to be ourselves, we may not be as acerbic as him, we may not be as motivated as him, but his himness makes our usness. Dave Wells' "Happy Father's Day," provided another layer of irony to one of the songs with the most negative capability that I've ever heard. Jon Ritz emphasized the Robert's melodic flows, and Jack Knight's "Cocaine Don't Care" exposed Robert's punk roots. Two of us provided pianistic relief: Heather Kropf reminded us that "Child of a Realist" should be on all of our lips; Rosa showed us the kind of chops that reminded us why she sang for a professional all-black gospel choir (I have no idea how she did that, but if by African-American you mean Italian-American, too, or someone with ivory skin, I guess that works).

Drawing by Liz Perry.