Roberta's Dylan news.

Dylan's new tour, "The Bob Dylan Show" begins tonight in Seattle, and speculation is already running high among fans about what to expect, given that his opening acts are Merle Haggard and Amos Lee, and Dylan reportedly has hired country-western musicians for his band.

More than 500,000 copies of "Chronicles Volume One" have been sold, according to Rolling Stone, Chronicles has been nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, with a winner to be announced on March 18th. The rumors continue that the book may also be a Pulitzer Prize nominee (announcement of nominees on April 4th).

A paperback version of Chronicles is due in October. Simon & Schuster also plans to publish Chronicles: Volume Two, but no one expects to see the manuscript soon. "It'd be wonderful to have it in the next few years," noted Dylan's publisher, David Rosenthal in the RS article. "But we'll get it when we get it."

Martin Scorsese's documentary in Dylan, the unimaginatively named, No Direction Home, is due to air on PBS in September, followed by a DVD release. The three-and-a-half-hour film will draw from ten hours of taped Dylan interviews. The movie will reportedly focus on 1961 through 1966 in Dylan's career. Another spin-out from the documentary will be the Bob Dylan Scrapbook, which will include Dylan lyric sheets and contracts.

And on the music side, A two-CD collection of outtakes and live recordings used in No Direction Home is tentatively set for an August 16th release, under the aegis of Dylan's Bootleg Series.

And Dylan told Rolling Stone in October that he has "a bunch" of new songs written and that he hoped to record them "sometime in the beginning of the year." There have been reports that Dylan will trot out some of the "new songs" on the tour. However, that's unlikely since Dylan has repeatedly said in interviews that he doesn't like bootleg versions of his songs appearing before the "official" release.

Tour dates for "The Bob Dylan Show" include:

3/7: Seattle, Paramount Theater
3/8: Seattle, Paramount Theater
3/9: Seattle, Paramount Theater
3/11: Portland, Chiles Center
3/12: Portland, Chiles Center
3/14: Oakland, Paramount Theater
3/15: Oakland, Paramount Theater
3/16: Oakland, Paramount Theater
3/18: Reno, NV, Reno Hilton
3/19: Las Vegas, Aladdin Theater
3/21: Los Angeles, Pantages Theater
3/22: Los Angeles, Pantages Theater
3/23: Los Angeles, Pantages Theater
3/25: Los Angeles, Pantages Theater
3/26: Los Angeles, Pantages Theater
3/28: Denver, Fillmore Auditorium
3/29: Denver, Fillmore Auditorium
4/1: Chicago, Auditorium Theater
4/2: Chicago, Auditorium Theater
4/3: Chicago, Auditorium Theater
4/5: Chicago, Auditorium Theater
4/6: Chicago, Auditorium Theater
4/8: Milwaukee, WI, Eagles Ballroom
4/9: Milwaukee, WI, Eagles Ballroom
4/11: Mt. Pleasant, MI, Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort
4/12: Detroit, Masonic Temple Theater
4/13: Buffalo, NY, Shea's Performing Arts Center
4/15: Boston, Orpheum Theater
4/16: Boston, Orpheum Theater
4/17: Boston, Orpheum Theater
4/19: Newark, NJ, New Jersey Performing Arts Center
4/20: Verona, NY, Turning Stone Casino and Resort
4/22: Mashantucket, CT, Foxwoods Resort Casino
4/24: Atlantic City, NJ, Borgata Resort Spa and Casino
4/25: New York, Beacon Theater
4/26: New York, Beacon Theater
4/28: New York, Beacon Theater
4/29: New York, Beacon Theater
4/30: New York, Beacon Theater