Dylan Plays Camden Yards

Every now and then, I'll have a weird dream. Most of the time, they stem from something that has being weighing heavy on my mind. Other times, the various sleep medications play tricks on my nocturnal mind. But this time, I can't really figure it out. For instance, Thursday night I had this dream where I was watching a baseball game at Camden Yards. This, in itself, isn't so surprising. I watch a lot of Oriole games and I had just finished watching them come from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Detroit Tigers. So, the baseball emotions were running pretty high when I headed to bed.

But what made this particular dream so peculiar is that my seat was near one of the concession stands. If you've ever been to Camden Yards, or almost any stadium for that matter, you know that the concession stands are inside the arena and usually out of view of the snack stands. Anyway, I'm sitting there staring at the concession stand when I notice that Bob Dylan is serving beer. Instead of his usual sport-coat and skinny tie, he is wearing the same attire as the other "regular" stadium workers. After I processed the image, I'm thought, "How cool is this? I think I'm gonna go down and order a beer from Bob Dylan!"

If Bob Dylan is working a stadium concession stand, you would naturally expect a bit of crowd to form. But there were only a handful of people milling around and they didn't seem to be paying any particular attention to the pop icon. Then, Bob spontaneously broke out an acoustic guitar and started playing "Like A Rolling Stone". Now, to be honest, I'm not a huge Dylan fan, but I thought it was pretty bad-ass that he was giving an impromptu concert from the beer stand. Still, the most peculiar thing was that no one else really seemed to notice. People continued their random conversations as the wiry-haired guy behind the counter belted out:

Once upon a time you dressed so fine.
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you.....

He finished up his song and then casually went back to pouring beer. He nonchalantly handed cups of overpriced Coors Light to various O's fans. They seemed to have no clue that their humble server was actually one of the most renowned songwriters of our generation.

I decided to make my way to the beer stand. I exchanged some trivial banter with Mr. Dylan as he poured me a cup of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. He handed it to me and said, "Good choice." It was like I was in the middle of a Super Bowl commercial. But nonetheless, I was impressed that Bob Dylan shared my taste in good quality beer.

I grabbed a cardboard coaster off the counter and asked Bob Dylan to sign it for me. He looked at me like I was crazy and then said, "Ok, if you insist." While shaking his head, he signed the coaster and handed it back to me. Then he asked if there was anything else that he could do for me. I replied, "No, I'm good now. Thank you, sir."

Scratching my head, I walked back to my seat. And Bob Dylan poured a beer for the next customer.....

kw