NEW YORK CITY, Carnegie Hall - Eighteen months since his near fatal motorcycle accident Bob Dylan performed in public for the first time last night as part of a tribute to the late Woody Guthrie. Dylan apparently suggested yesterday's event as a means to raise awareness and funds for the fight against Huntington's chorea and for the establishment of a Guthrie library. Guthrie, one of Dylan's biggest influences, succumbed to the debilitating disease this past October. Dylan's performance was part of two consecutive shows that featured other artists including Pete Seeger, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton and Judy Collins.

Dylan hooked up with long time backing musicians now collectively known as The Band. Featuring Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel, the group first made Dylan's acquaintance in the Greenwich coffeehouses in 1965. Impressed by the quintets musical prowess and diversity, Dylan used them as back up for his 1965-66 world tour, and were part of his infamous electrified show at Forest Hills in August of '65, when the folk crowd took exception and booed in response to Dylan's new direction. The Band has just wrapped up work on their own debut album, tentatively titled " Music From Big Pink" and is scheduled to be released in August of this year. Wearing a dark gray suit and a scraggy beard and moustache, Dylan appeared somewhat frail and tired as he and The Band worked their way through three of Guthrie's best works, "I A'int Got No Home", "Dear Mrs.Roosevelt" and "The Grand Coulee Dam". Dylan and The Band then joined an all star ensemble of musicians for a stirring double finale on "This Train Is Bound For Glory" and "This Land Is Your Land".

On July 29th of last year, Dylan was riding his Triumph motorcycle to a nearby repair shop when he lost control and crashed, suffering serious injuries including a concussion, massive bruising, lacerations of the face and scalp and several broken neck vertebrae. His recovery come retirement led to persistent and often times ludicrous rumors that he was recovering from a drug overdose, was grossly disfigured, crippled, and even that he was dead.

In a recent interview he addressed for the first time his accident and his brush with death. "The back wheel locked, I think. I lost control, swerving from left to right. Next thing I know I was someplace in Middletown, I think-with my face cut up so bad I got some scars and my neck busted up pretty good. I saw my whole life pass in front of me…the fact that I made it through what I did is pretty miraculous."

The accident came on the heels of his remarkable double album "Blonde On Blonde", which earned him his third straight gold album. Dylan's recently released album of new material, "John Wesley Harding", is a return to basics for Dylan, who some say wanted a return to his more straightforward beginnings. It too is doing well and is on it's way up the charts and perhaps may be his fifth consecutive gold album, his fourth gold achieved shortly after the release of his greatest hits package in March of last year. Although frail at yesterday's performance, his voice cracking and somewhat weak in spots, Dylan is certainly alive and well. Judging from his latest work, Bob Dylan still has a lot to say.