Imagine my surprise to get a request to talk about Dylan over National Public Radio. It happened in early May when Cary Burkett, a producer at WITF 89.5 FM, the NPR affiliate in Harrisburg, Pa., contacted me.Seems Cary had come across my online review of Dylan’s “Modern Times” and wanted to interview me about Dylan’s latest attack of popularity. I was only too happy to oblige, as long as Cary mentioned my book, “Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories,” and named this blog.

I didn’t hear from him for weeks. I thought I’d been too pushy. I didn’t know what to do, because e-mail protocol is prickly.

Finally, Cary e-mailed me to discuss the telephone interview. He said he’d taken early vacation and apologized for not having gotten back to me. We did the interview. Here’s the clip:

This is where Cary Burkett works: www.witf.org

Here’s the link to my review of Dylan’s latest, from Blogcritics: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/10/140056.php

It’s June 9 and I’m hanging out with my friend, Tom Lash, a rock bassist turned technology entrepreneur. We’re going to the House of Blues to hear Fountains of Wayne, a great pop band mounting a rare tour behind Traffic and Weather, perhaps their best album. It’s a cool, clear evening, and downtown Cleveland is buzzing. At this point, the Cavs have only lost one game to the Spurs in their first NBA Finals appearance, and the mood seems upbeat. Lots of people are out, and the city, all torn up for months for multiple highway and construction projects, seems full of potential. And just to show that it ain’t dead yet as a rock ‘n’ roll town, Ian Hunter (who has had something positive to say about Cleveland) is playing at the Beachland Ballroom, the region’s most authentic joint. Fountains of Wayne or Ian Hunter? Tough choice. But you have to make one.

Before the show, we eat at House of Blues. The food’s pretty good; Tom had catfish nuggets, I had voodoo shrimp. The drinks were fine, the service more than adequate, the atmosphere comfortably funky and unexpectedly idiosyncratic.

The show was very good: about an hour an 15 minutes of rock ‘n’ roll, featuring tunes old (“Mexican Wine” and that smash, “Stacy’s Mom”) and new, like “Someone To Love” (the first T&W single), the funny, pulp fiction “Strapped for Cash” and my favorite, that homage to Department of Motor Vehicles hotties, “Yolanda Hayes.” The Wayne boys didn’t say much; Chris Collingwood, the stringbean, geekily charismatic lead singer, drank O’Doul’s like he was wearing a badge, and the occasional backup singers added the requisite cheesiness. Too bad Collingwood’s voice was a little thin; sounded like he was fighting a cold. But the tunes were great: smartass, witty, sociologically acute, they suggested there’s plenty of life left in what used to be known as power pop.

The scene was cool, too. Not only did Tom and I run into several friends, we discovered that R. Scott Krauss, the great, original drummer for Pere Ubu, Cleveland’s legendary underground band, is working in the House of Blues store, and liking it. Nice to see downtown types have a downtown to enjoy. One can only hope the city begins to leverage the House of Blues vibe.

Helen Marketti, a freelance writer from Sandusky who works full time at Head Start there, has written an article about me and “Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories.” It’s in the June issue of Lifestyles, a free monthly magazine that circulates around the Sandusky area. Check it out at www.lifestyles2000.net, then go to the June issue (it’s on page 5.)

Some backstory is in order: Seems Helen was in Lyndhurst several months ago and came across my book at the Joseph-Beth bookstore in Legacy Village. Intrepid reporter and rock ‘n’ roll fan that she is, she bought the book and tracked me down. Of course I agreed to an interview with her. What’s even cooler is that we met at an Indians game and again, at a rock hall event in early May where I signed hundreds of CRRMs for new members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Nice to have fans. Nice to be one, too. Thanks, Helen.