BOB DYLAN: THE ROAD NEVER ENDS, NEITHER DOES THE VAULT

Since the late '80s, Bob Dylan's tour has been referred to as "The Never-Ending Tour," although Bob scoffed at that title in a recent interview (I think with Rolling Stone). But he does tour really frequently, regardless of whether or not he has an album out, which is cool.

As I've mentioned, guitarist Charlie Sexton has just rejoined Dylan's band, he left in 2002. According to Rolling Stone and fan accounts, Dylan's L.A. show last night lasted nearly two hours (which is longer than most Dylan shows that I've seen) and was incredible. The chemistry with Sexton was supposedly great, and the setlist was a cool one: he opened with his Christian-era rocker "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking," played "Shooting Star," one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums (Oh Mercy), My favorite song from the new album Together Through Life (probably my favorite album of the year), "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" as well as "I Feel A Change Comin' On" and "Jolene." The set list also included "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "Cold Irons Bound," "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)," "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again," "High Water (For Charlie Patton)," "Highway 62 Revisited," "Nettie Moore," "Thunder On The Mountain," "Ballad Of A Thin Man," "Like A Rolling Stone" and "All Along The Watchtower." Perfect mix of old and recent, "hits" and "album tracks." Man, I wish I was at that show. But he's playing three nights at the United Palace: I wasn't sure I wanted to pay the money to go, but between this and the great time I had seeing Bob over the summer, I think I'm there!

In other Bob Dylan news, a song called "California," recorded during the Bringing It All Back Home sessions but never released, will see the light of day on the "Vol. 2" soundtrack to the TV show NCIS (apparently the most popular TV drama?). The soundtrack will also have exclusive tracks from John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones and Joss Stone.

Finally, this week, Bob released his first Christmas album, Christmas In The Heart.