In one of the city’s longest-running popular-music traditions, about three dozen Bob Dylan songs will be interpreted by Rochester musicians at Friday’s 31st annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash at Lovin’ Cup Bistro & Brews.
Host band HuNu? opens the 8 p.m. set on May 25 with the only non-Dylan song of the night. “A Different Bob” is a composition by the late Chuck Cuminale, the originator of the event with his band, The Colorblind James Experience.
From there on, it’s all Dylan, all night, in honor of the Nobel Prize laureate’s 77th birthday. The host band of Don Christiano, Rita Coulter, Jim Schwarz, Jason R. Titus, Mike Wittik and drummer Jim McAvaney – the only musician to play all 31 Dylan tributes – will do a handful of songs. Everyone else gets one shot at the stage, ranging from the guitar brilliance of Kinloch Nelson on “Maggie’s Farm” to the boisterous blues belting of Buzzo Bruno.
Also expected to perform are Bob Bunce, Jed Curran, Ray Paul, Lisa Winter, Todd Krasz and Jennifer Fish-Krasz of Kraszman & Fishwife, Bob Jordan, The Brothers Blue, Stan Merrill, The Dan Eaton Band, Steve Piper with Jill Gussow and Mark Brady, Kerry Regan, Sarah Long Hendershot, JoAnn Vaccaro, Cora Treoir Duncan, Charlie Newcomb, Spencer Christiano, Frank Boehm, Brian Lindsay, Jeff Spevak, Madeleine McQueen, Jack Jones, Rick McRae, Jesse Mac, Paul Vincent Nunes, The Bradley Brothers and Brian Williams.
Lovin’ Cup is at 300 Park Point Dr., Henrietta, off Jefferson Avenue, near the Rochester Institute of Technology. Admission is $10.
Jeff Spevak is a Rochester-based writer. His web site is jeffspevak.com.