6/18/03 Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD "Gimme Some Lovin" is a monster tonight. Steve just nails it. I pull out my new song "Self Defense". Hunter wrote the words and Bob added a wonderful chorus to it. Playing a new song for the first time is always exciting. I think we play "Greatest Story Ever Told" better than we have ever played it. Remember "Froggie Went a Courtin'"? This was going through my mind when we laid down the basic track back in 1970. (My grandfather used to sing this to me as he put me to sleep... I always think of him when we play this song). Then Bob came in and played guitar over the percussion track. Steve Stills then added bass, and it appeared on my first solo album, Rolling Thunder. A sweet "Fennario" and then a "Cosmic Charlie" encore. Great night filled with chills and spills. Senator Barbara Boxer and James Billington, Librarian of Congress, were our guests backstage tonight. Mickey and Dr. James Billington Also, Jonathan Adelstein, one of five on the Federal Communications Commission. Jonathan was the man who first convinced Bob, Jerry and I to go to the Senate to testify about the threat to the world's rainforests. Since his appointment to the FCC, he has been fighting the good fight against the evil ones who want to monopolize the world's media. Of course, Barbara Boxer is a friend from the old days and one of the last true liberals. She fights every day for the environment, health care for everyone, and for basic human rights. It's a tough time for her now in Washington, so I know it was great for her to get away and enjoy the music. Today she took Caryl, Reya and Phil's kids Grahame and Brian on a tour of the Capitol and for a visit to the Senate. I think it means a lot to the kids to see democracy in action. J. Adelstien, Dr. Billington, Mickey, Sen. Boxer, Peggy Bulger, Joe Wilson and Marjorie Billington. The Librarian, who I think I've spoken of before in this journal, is a great Russian scholar who loves Russian bells, as do I. We have a wonderful time together and I love it when he comes to the shows. Tonight he came with his wife Marjorie, and they really enjoyed it. At one point he was actually up and dancing next to a very beautiful FBI agent who was also on stage. I'm not sure how she came to be there, but seeing them dancing side by side was definitely a highlight of the backstage scene. The agent, a deadhead from way back, introduced herself with a picture of me wearing my FBI shirt. Showing me her badge and I.D., she informed me that it was a bootleg. I thought she would cuff me, but no, she gave me a real authorized shirt from the Bureau. Lucky me. Apparently, my recent habit of wearing an FBI shirt (which keeps ending up on the top of my shirt pile) has some wondering. Alas, I think my days as an agent are over. I'm getting too old for that stuff. What a pity, I could have done so much good as an informant, a mole for the bureau. Maybe in my next life. Many of the sound preservation warriors were in attendance as well tonight. Peggy Bulger, director of the American Folklife Center, Atesh Sonneborn, Assistant Director of Smithsonian Folkways Records, and of course Joe Wilson. Atesh and Mickey It was also particularly great to see Karen (aka KM) Kostyal, who co-wrote Songcatchers with me. She is a brilliant researcher, wordsmith, and master of order. Without her the book would surely be 10,000 pages and unpublished. I call her 42. I am 41. We never call each other by our given names. Once while staying at a hotel in Santa Cruz on a working weekend, I knocked on her door. She was in room 42; I was in room 41. Hey, 42, lets ride, this is 41. It stuck. It's always exciting in Washington, because of the people, and because it's the attic-a storeroom of some of the greatest collections of information and art on the planet.