Well he's always had his critics, but I was THRILLED when I heard he received this well deserved award. They bandy the word 'genius' about, but I believe he truly is a musical genius. And as influential as he's gotten, he has maintained a sort of humility about his creative process- saying the songs just come through him.

I remember being a teenager and listening to all this teenybopper stuff about icicles and popsicles, and crying over it being my party, and it all sounded like iceskating muzak- about things that had nothing to do with my life, or life in general. One day this sound comes out of the radio that made my hair stand on end. It was Bob, singing (crying?) about things that were REAL in life, and real to me, (and apparently to an entire generation). A perverse fairy tale in the aftermath of Eisenhower 's age of conformity ..ah, once upon a time.

It was a searing music of blistering raw emotion, but somehow it was a comfort to me-to know that I was not alone in how I saw the world. (and growing up in suburban candyland, I sure felt like a lone soul). Sorry to sound a bit worshipful, but I never would have sung, written, made a picture or known what a creative high is-if it hadn't been for the man from Minnesota.

The riverhead for all who followed him. Congrats Bob.