On the eve of my 35th wedding anniversary I thought I would post some early Bobby, as my wife loves the early years and doesn't share quite so much my passion for the entire oeuvre of His Bobness and these postings over on the Dylan Pages are largely for her.

It has a sad resonance also, for this week I learned of the passing of an old friend, John Northcote, of whom it is fair to say he was as big a fan of the music we all share as anybody I have ever had the good fortune to meet and an old friend. First friends when he ran 'Sunshine Records' shop in Oxford and a good friend to my brother Steve, John went on to great things with the Academy Music Group that did such fantastic things with what seems like most of our really great music venues across the land, including some of everyone's favourite venues, the Zodiac in Oxford for us locals, to his days at Break For The Border in the early ‘90s, to AMG with John at the helm of the 'Border Line' in Charing Cross, arguably London’s hippest live music venue, to the legendary Shepherd’s Bush Empire and the world-famous Brixton Academy.

If ever we wanted to hear something new we knew we could rely on John to introduce us to something from his days at Sunshine Records shop, where he turned me onto all sorts of music from around the globe, he introduced me to Louisiana Cajun & Zydeco classics like Clifton Chenier and thus to Professor Longhair, to 'new' country stars like Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett and John Prine - still stalwarts of my listening habits today. He and his first wife Heather were responsible for my never forgetting Dylan and his importance was always a default position when spending many a weekend with them in Oxfordshire. In between the Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Bob Marley, Grateful Dead et al. His knowledge was peerless, taste discerning and information encyclopaedic
It is many happy memories from happier times I chose to recall at this sad time and our thoughts go out to his ex-wife Heather, son & daughter, Kian and Kirsten, my old school pal, his brother 'Bill' and sister Jan, as well as as his current wife and family too, whom sadly it was never my pleasure to meet or get to know. To all the extended family and friends these Dylan bootlegs postings are for him.
His obituary over at AMG says it all very well and I am proud to have known such a gentle soul and muso par excellence bar none.
John Northcote - Obituary AMG