Comrades From The North
At the time of writing this particular editorial we find ourselves melting in the grip of a prolonged heat wave. Now temperatures of 35C may be a mere bagatelle to many of our readers who enjoy such a climate frequently but, to your humble authors, this is almost too hot to handle. It will probably be raining tomorrow!By the time you read these words you will no doubt be spinning a copy of the new Dylan album, Modern Times, for the umpteenth time and who would blame you. It has been kept well under wraps but the drip-drip of pre-release publicity made all of our eyes water so let's hope the hype is well-founded. No doubt..no doubt. We hope that you have had a chance to catch up with some or all of the XM radio shows which have revealed what we already knew about Dylan - that he has a vast musical knowledge, understands this heritage and still has the gift of charm and wit wrapped up in a quirky little package. He reminds us in these shows that the past is a partially undiscovered country from which he continues to draw enormous inspiration and succour.
It is timely to remind readers of two very important anniversaries which will be upon us in the coming Autumn which The Bridge will seek to mark in an appropriate way. Although it feels like it was only yesterday, it is ten years in October since the very sad and untimely death of our friend and colleague John Bauldie. Without John's work, energy, enthusiasm and forthright, truthful, but witty writing we would be much poorer. We are much poorer in his absence. In November, it will be 25 years since John embarked upon his voyage and produced the very first Telegraph. Few Dylan fans of more recent vintage will be able to comprehend just how far off the publicity radar Dylan was then and how hard it was to find even snippets of information let alone reliable data on "rare" recordings, opinions and other assorted facts. Through the Telegraph, John and other pioneers who worked with him, changed all of that forever and the Telegraph still stands proud as the premier Dylan journal. And now there is a whole army of Bobcats out there.
We would hope to include some personal reminiscences from readers, particularly from the early days, about John and the Telegraph in the next issue so please do help us and send in your favourite story. And that is about that for now - take care, see you next time.
May you climb on every rung ..........
Mike and John