Michael Gray comes to Swindon Arts Centre (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Michael Gray comes to Swindon Arts Centre

MICHAEL Gray, author of Song and Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan, which in 2000 was nominated by poet laureate Andrew Motion as one of the three best books of that year, is coming to Swindon Arts Centre, today, (Thursday) to talk about the book and its subject.

Bob Dylan was, and is a hugely influential figure who has been making multi-layered music, fusing the poetry of traditional folk ballads with the power of electric instruments, for four decades.

He draws on everything from blues lyric poetry, via nursery rhyme to prolific use of the King James Bible.

Now turned 60, his career has oscillated between periods of enormous international popularity and times when he has been dismissed as a 1960s man.

Throughout all this he has refused to become "showbiz" and has repeatedly drawn in new generations of listeners.

Michael Gray spent most of the 1990s working his 994 page edition of Song and Dance Man which was finally published in December 1999, sold out in April 2000 and was reprinted twice that year.

Now Michael has taken to the road, both here and in the USA, touring campuses, literary festivals and holding signing sessions.

His talks have proved a popular mix of wit, erudition, loud music and unexpected pleasures, and include rare video footage.

At Bath Literary Festival demand for tickets forced a move to a large venue and this show has proved a success time after time.

"It's all been written in the book," sang Bob Dylan. Now it really has. Tickets from the box office on 01793 614837.

The show begins at 7.30pm.