Happy birthday, Bob: Unquestionably the biggest name to ever grace the stage at Caffe Lena was Bob Dylan, who played the Saratoga Springs coffeehouse way back in the '60s. Coincidentally, Wednesday just happens to be Dylan's birthday, and the fine folks at Union College have concocted a fitting tribute to the voice of our generation. Union's Dale Metzger has organized a Dylan birthday party complete with songs, spoken word and food. The Wednesday night bash will be hosted by singer-songwriter Michael Eck, and the parade of performers who are slated to pay homage to Dylan includes Bryan Thomas, Bowtie Blotto, Kevin Maul, Mitch Elrod, Steven Clyde Davies, ZimmerBeat, Mitch Frasier, Frank Jaklitsch, Drumsella, Mother Judge, Greg Haymes, A.C. Everson ("Breaking My Art") and probably a few surprise guests as well. Sponsored by the college coffeehouse and rathskellar, the festivities are slated to run from 8:30 till 11 p.m. at the Old Chapel, and admission is free. [Times Union, May 18, 2000.]

FAST FACTS

• Motherjudge broke a string but still nailed this song.

• Bryan performed this song and this song.

• Greg Haymes played a tape of this legendary songwriter talking to him about performing with Bob .

• It was Bob's 59th birthday.

• Bob's birthday is also Dale Metzger's birthday. Dale organized the show.

• Mitch Elrod nailed this song.

• Rob Skane listened to this album every day for a year. It is also Bryan's favorite Dylan album.

• Mike Eck played this song from Dylan's most recent album.

• "Salute her when her birthday comes" is a line from this song, which Mitch Frasier played.

• For the raffle, Martin Benjamin donated a print of this photograph of Dylan performing in Albany in 1980.

• Thomas Christian posted a nice report on the show here.

• This site is really cool.

bryanthomas.com