Nissan has a new sports car; did you hear? If not, you must be ignoring the ads, the billboards and –in some big cities – the rock music. To celebrate the unveiling of the Z, Nissan is sponsoring the ZTour, a super secret venture where time, location and band information are released just hours before the show.

In Dallas, Nissan’s Z marketers found an incredible time to show off the new hot seat in sports cars: the Texas-OU weekend. Less than a day from game time, Big Red and Burnt Orange fans are swarming Dallas; mere miles from the Cotton Bowl, Dallas’ West End is already shivering in anticipation for The Game. Nissan, through luck or design –or a bit of both—brought together these elements for a magical evening.

The parking lot (Dallas’ version of an empty field), is divided into three parts: the Texas Memorabilia stand; two Zs at the entrance, one black and one blue, complete with Nissan security and bleachers; and, oh, yeah, far off in the back is the stage where diehard Wallflower fans are packing in. Everyone else drools over The Car.

“That’s my ride, man. Just needs some 24s, some screens—that car is bad!”

Car fans, football fans, music fans, journalists (seems like every news station from Austin to Oklahoma City is here) and policemen are all looking around, like the night unfolding is one to watch carefully, and remember, lest anything miss their eye. Will it be trouble or a great night?

For blocks, maybe miles, every corner is covered in balloons, t-shirts, and hot dogs as the rival fans set up camp. The regulars find their holes in the wall to watch tourists pass by. People play football in the parking lot to pass the time.

Then silence hits the scene. A band in black takes the stage, shadows to the audience as the setting sun behind the men blinds every eye. “Ohmygod! This is so cool!”

From the first note, the crowd is hooked, drawn in by thundering drums and rolling melodies. The Wallflowers, fronted by Jakob Dylan, have stolen the evening before it ever got started.

We may be standing in a parking lot, but the music beckons us out onto the road. The Voice—Bob’s husky influence reborn—is the driver. The bass guitar pulls down the top. The percussion runs the engine. The keyboard, the guitars, the whole package moves us off the lot like a car bought before the papers are drawn. We are driving in our brand new Zs, blasting the Wallflowers with nothing in our sights but a road that stretches for miles, until it fades into the sunset.

Football? What football? Let’s ride.


“It’s good to be back in Texas,” Dylan graces the audience. The sun in our eyes shines from the compliment. “Thank you. That’s a nice parking lot you got here.”

Dylan is more striking in person than magazine pics let on. A few girls up front pick up the cue and shout, “Take off your sunglasses!” Dylan flashes them a smile. Good enough, I think.

The band is playing from a flatbed trailer. I’m waiting, we all are, for them to pull away—like in a music video. We can flow behind in our Zs, driving slow while a camera pans from Dylan’s face to a wide angle of the road to show us, too. We don’t mind being extras in this dream. The Wallflowers are our medium, singing the song of the open road, translating the message for our nomadic hearts to hear.

Folk; Indie; Funk. Blues; Jazz; Ramblers. The new songs are harder, grittier, like kicking into overdrive and heading up a hill. ‘I’ve got everything I need.’

These are new frontier folksingers. Getting lost in the tight music and storyline lyrics is like spending an evening with a good friend back from traveling the highways and byways of America, drinking free refills of coffee in a nameless café.

Subtle wit comes through, but maybe it’s the night, or maybe it’s a coincidence of meaning and timing. ‘I wish I’d find peace of mind and stay.’

I’m running out of paper; I’m running out of film. I don’t care. I ran 3 red lights to get here, and now the open road is calling, ‘We can be heroes, just for one day.’ I will follow 6 guys in black on a musical trip through America, in my brand new black Z convertible. (Thank you, Nissan, for sponsoring this dream.) Now where are my sunglasses? I have a show to enjoy.