An e-mail from (a different) Justin regarding Lenny Bruce and other things at the Reading, PA show on August 23rd:

First off, let me say I thoroughly enjoy your site. It truly is a
breath of fresh air… And this truly is an exciting time for us
Dylanologists.

I was at the show in Reading, PA where Bob played “Lenny Bruce.”
According to the Bob Dylan Tour Guide online, he had played that a
whopping 3 times since 2000 before last Wednesday. That said, claiming
that that song was the biggest surprise of the evening doesn’t say a
WHOLE lot.

Before this show on this summer tour, he’d been relatively predictable,
opening with “Maggie’s Farm,” then “The Times…” then ending the show
with the 2 song encore of “LARS” and “Watchtower.” I had seen him the
previous saturday in Frederick, MD as well, so when he came out with
“Cats in the Well” and “You Aint Goin Nowhere,” I thought to myself
“we’re in for a ride tonight.” And we were. He didn’t play one song
from the Maryland performance until the eighth song, “Highway 61,” which
he had invited Jimmy Vaughan on stage for at the Saturday show, and
altogether only played 3 of the same songs in the two sets.

This is just a testament to the remarkable diversity of his setlists.
Surprisingly, the crowd didn’t seem to mind the obscurity of the songs,
while diehards such as myself enjoyed them thoroughly. Actually, right
before Jimmy Vaughan took the stage I heard a “HEY JUSTIN” from behind.
It was two of my favorite professors here at Villanova University…
Both conservative Catholics.

Anyway, I took some short videos I thought you might be interested in
checking out from the show. I genuinely wanted to remember the way he
had changed the songs and Bob was remarkably energetic and enthusiastic
throughout the performance:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=integritous

Thanks indeed for the e-mail and for the link to those clips.

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