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Nobody writes songs like Bob Dylan writes songs. Nobody sells women's underwear, either (yes, that's him in an old Victoria's Secret commercial) and nobody hands out tunes ripe for cover treatment like Dylan.

His never-ending tour may have ended, sort of, but he's still on the road cranking out shows that have both aging hippies like himself and, in some cases, their grandkids forking over the Ticketmaster fees to see The Man in person. And here he comes, to our own Nutter Center, where the times haven't changed and the answers are blowin' right in front of your face.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2403 or ldempsey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

14 things you may not know about Bob Dylan

1. In 2000, he won an Oscar for "Things Have Changed" from the movie "Wonder Boys"; reportedly, the Oscar tours with him and sits on an amplifier during concerts.

2. The only song Dylan recorded in 2001 was a Dean Martin cover for "The Sopranos" soundtrack.

3. Dylan had a part in 1973's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," as a drifter named Alias; he also provided the songs — one of them "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

4. In 1966 he broke his neck crashing his Triumph 500 near his Woodstock home.

5. Dylan was born in Duluth, Minn., but grew up in nearby Hibbing.

6. In 1965, he made one of the first promo films, also known as music videos, for the now-oft-copied "Subterranean Homesick Blues," which included a cameo by top American poet Allen Ginsberg.

7. Dylan's 1965-77 marriage to Sara Lowndes inspired some of the finest songs ever written about love and loss ("Sara" and "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" among them). He was also married to Carol Dennis between 1986 and 1992.

8. He has five children: Jesse (born 1966), Anna (1967), Samuel (1968) and Jakob (1969) with Sara Lowndes; and Desiree (1986) with Carol Dennis

9. "Don't Look Back," a documentary that followed Dylan on his 1965 tour of Britain, was one of the first music movies.

10. The name Bob Dylan is not simply a stage name; it's his legal surname, adopted as an homage to Dylan Thomas.

11. In the summer of 1965, Dylan enraged his purist fans by performing with an electric guitar at the Newport Blues Festival. (He hadn't done so since high school.)

12. One of Jimi Hendrix's signature songs, "All Along the Watchtower," was written by Bob Dylan; Dylan acknowledged Hendrix's version to be definitive.

13. Dylan has been given two honorary degrees: a "Doctor of Music" from the University of St. Andrews in 2004, and an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1970.

14. Dylan recently began a career as a DJ, hosting a weekly radio show, "Theme Time Radio Hour," for XM Satellite Radio. He's now in his second season.

Quotes

"It's a misconception that he was ever really political, and even in the midst of the 1960s he wasn't someone who actually took part in protests. He's an artist in the tradition of the Beat writers and Rimbaud, an outsider — one of his quotes is, 'Politics is the instrument of the Devil'.

"But he is a moralist and takes fundamental positions of right and wrong, and takes them very seriously — but that's something from the Bible and the way he was brought up."

— Biographer Howard Sounes, author of "Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan"

"His words have always had an almost Biblical uprightness."

— Bono

"Dylan appeared after Woody (Guthrie), Pete (Seeger) and Joanie (Baez) had conquered our hearts, and he sounded like a cowboy at first but I knew where he got his stuff — it was Woody at first, then it was Jack Kerouac and the stream-of-consciousness poetry which moved him along.

"But when I heard "Blowin' In The Wind" it was the clarion call to the new generation, and we artists were encouraged to be as brave in writing our thoughts in music."

— Donovan

"That snare shot sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind ... I knew that I was listening to the toughest voice that I had ever heard."

— Bruce Springsteen, recalling the first time he heard "Like a Rolling Stone," released in July 1965

"What folk music is ... is based on myths and the Bible and plague and famine and all kinds of things like that which are nothing but mystery and you can see it in all the songs. ... All these songs about roses growing out of people's brains and lovers who are really geese and swans that turn into angels ... and seven years of this and eight years of that and it's all really something that nobody can touch ... (the songs) are not going to die."

— Bob Dylan, 1965

"Dylan's like the Beatles or the Eiffel Tower — he's just there, his presence is so strong that you don't really see him anymore.

"To do what he did in a short burst in the early '60s would have been one thing, but he's kept coming back."

— David Gray

"People can learn everything about me through my songs, if they know where to look."

— Bob Dylan

How to go

COLUMBUS

What: Bob Dylan & His Band; also on the bill are Elvis Costello (solo), Amos Lee

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, Columbus

More info: www.schottensteincenter.com

Tickets: $37-67 at all Ticketmaster outlets

CINCINNATI

What: Bob Dylan & His Band with opener Amos Lee

When: 7 p.m. Monday

Where: Taft Theatre, 317 E. Fifth St., Cincinnati

More info: www.taftevents.com

Tickets: SOLD OUT

DAYTON (FAIRBORN)

What: Bob Dylan & His Band with Elvis Costello (solo) and Amos Lee

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Nutter Center, 3640 Col. Glenn Highway

More info: (937) 775-3498 or www.nuttercenter.com

Tickets: $69.50-$29.50, at the Nutter box office and all Ticketmaster outlets

> Learn more about how to go

Timeline — highs and lows

May 24, 1941: Robert Allen Zimmerman is born in Duluth, Minn.

January 1961: Arrives in New York City, plays at a Greenwich Village club as Bob Dylan.

MAY 21, 1961: FREEDOM RIDERS SPARK MONTGOMERY RIOTS

September 1961: Gets a great review in The New York Times.

October 1961: Gets first recording contract, with Columbia.

February 1962: Legally changes his name to Bob Dylan.

August 1962: Writes the first two verses of "Blowin' in the Wind."

OCTOBER 28, 1962: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

July 1963: Plays at Newport Folk Festival to raves.

August 1963: Sings at the same rally at which Martin Luther King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech.

NOVEMBER 22, 1963: JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATED

August 1964: Dylan meets the Beatles, and is said to have introduced them to marijuana.

JULY 28, 1965: U.S. ORDERS TROOPS INTO VIETNAM

July 1965: Plugs in for an electric set at the Newport Folk Festival, makes people mad.

November 1965: Marries Sara Lownds on Long Island.

July 1966: Crashes his Triumph motorcycle near Woodstock, New York, breaks his neck.

APRIL 4, 1968: MARTIN LUTHER KING ASSASSINATED IN MEMPHIS

JULY 20, 1969: MAN LANDS ON THE MOON

August 1969: Attends his 10-year high school reunion in Hibbing, Minnesota.

June 1970: Receives honorary doctorate from Princeton.

SEPTEMBER 6, 1972: ISRAELI ATHLETES KILLED AT MUNICH OLYMPICS

July 1973: Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" released. Dylan has a part.

January 1975: "Blood on the Tracks" is released.

APRIL 30, 1975: THE VIETNAM WAR ENDS

January 1976: "The Last Waltz" is filmed by Martin Scorsese.

January 1977: Sara Dylan files for divorce.

AUGUST 16, 1977: ELVIS PRESLEY DIES

August 1979: "Slow Train Coming," released, revealing Dylan as a born-again Christian.

October 1979: Cancels shows in Texas to perform on "Saturday Night Live."

NOV. 4, 1980: RONALD REAGAN WINS BY A LANDSLIDE

June 1981: Two people die at a Dylan concert in Avignon, France.

March 1982: Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

October 1985: "Biograph," a five-LP retrospective box set, is released to great acclaim.

June 1986: Dylan secretly marries backup singer Carol Dennis; the couple already has a daughter, Desiree, born in January.

January 1988: Dylan is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

October 1988: "Traveling Wilburys Volume 1" released; Dylan has a blast with George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne.

JAN. 17, 1991: OPERATION DESERT STORM

February 1991: Awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.

October 1992: Dylan and Carol Dennis divorce.

NOV. 4, 1992: BILL CLINTON DEFEATS GEORGE BUSH

August 1994: Plays Woodstock II, after having refused to play the original.

OCT. 3, 1995: O.J. SIMPSON FOUND NOT GUILTY

Sept. 18, 1996: Dylan is nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature by a Virginia Military Institute professor. He does not win.

May 1997: Hospitalized with histoplasmosis, a swelling around the heart, he says, "I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon."

December 1997: Wears a tuxedo to receive the Kennedy Center Award.

October 1998: "Live 1966" bootleg released, giving fans a chance to own the famous "Judas!" shout and Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" response.

October 1999: Dylan appears on an episode of "Dharma & Greg."

NOV. 13, 2000: GEORGE W. BUSH ELECTED

January 2001: Wins Golden Globe for "Things Have Changed."

March 2001: Wins an Oscar for "Things Have Changed."

SEPT. 11, 2001: U.S. SITE OF TERRORIST ATTACKS

August 2002: Performs at the Newport festival for the first time since 1965.

June 2004: Receives honorary degree from St. Andrews University in Scotland.

NOVEMBER 2, 2004: GEORGE W. BUSH ELECTED AGAIN

January 2004: Films a Victoria's Secret commercial in Venice.

October 2004: Dylan's memoir, "Chronicles Volume One" published.

September 2005: "No Direction Home," Martin Scorsese's Dylan documentary (1959-1966) airs on PBS stations.

October 16, 2007: Plays Nutter Center show in Fairborn, Ohio.

TIMELINE SOURCE: BBC NEWS

Related: Take a look at some of Bob Dylan's album covers