Really, there’s a whole lot of Bob Dylan-related odds and more than a few ends lurking around right now.

Firstly, that inseparable pair Simon and Schuster have announced that the Bob Dylan-authored book “Forever Young” will be released on September 23rd of this year, marketed as an inspirational book for children. It is illustrated by one Paul Rogers (this one?) and will run to 40 pages. It’s a little hard to tell whether it will be simply the illustrated lyrics of that song, or whether there will be any additional content. About 8 years ago, of-course, “Man Gave Names to All the Animals“, illustrated by Scott Menchin, was published by Harcourt. (Maybe one day we’ll have the complete lyrics to Under the Red Sky published as a childrens’ book. )

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Daniel Radosh in the NY Times (thanks to Ron for the link) describes himself as “a secular Jew who always took it for granted that Christian rock stinks.” Of-course he is the author of the new tome, “Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture.” The piece in the Times is his playlist of “great Christian rock songs,” and it is mostly eye-opening reading for this Christian, at any rate. He picks one Bob Dylan song in his list: Every Grain of Sand.

There are some fine songs on “Slow Train Coming” and “Saved” — he was still Bob Dylan, after all — but he seemed to have suddenly become afraid of poetry. Only on the last album of the trilogy that marked his “Christian” career did Dylan loosen his grip on the reins and produce this complex testament of faith that stands with the best of his work. Of course, Dylan’s catalog — before and since his born again period — is replete with songs that reflect at least a fascination with Christian theology. If you count these, there is probably no greater Christian rock song — and few greater rock songs, period — than “Shelter From the Storm,” which uses explicit Gospel imagery to paint a harrowing portrait of sinful man separated from God and in search of redemption.

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The unconventional Bob Dylan biopic, “I’m Not There,” directed by Todd Haynes, will be coming to DVD in May. Among the extra features described in the press release are “9 deleted scenes with optional commentary” and a “gag reel”; the latter being something that will contribute well to the whole enterprise, if you ask me.

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The project of putting music to previously unreleased Hank Williams lyrics, which is understood based on previous stories to be helmed by Bob Dylan, will apparently result in a release in time “for the holiday season,” according to this story from the Hollywood Insider. The story also tells us that Norah Jones was one of those invited by Bob to add a melody to one of Hank’s pieces. At a March 31st gig in New York, Jones sung her rendition of Hank’s words.

We can’t recall whether Jones had a name for the Williams-inspired song, but it went something like this: “Night after night I’ve cried over you/Hoping someday you’ll be true/You took my heart, tore it apart.. How many times have you broken my heart.” It was definitely enough to whet our appetites for the rest of this project.

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This last has nothing whatever to do with Bob Dylan, but it was linked on the Dylan news site Expecting Rain today, so I guess it must have some significance for us. It is the story that “Bruce Springsteen endorses Obama for president.”

Springsteen sez:

“He [Barack Obama] speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that’s interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where ‘…nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.’”

Well, thanks for letting us know, Bruce. For a minute there we might have thought your songs represented something deeper than the ideology of one extremely left-liberal politician. It’s awfully kind of you to correct the record regarding your records.

Unbelievable.

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