The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD!

--Disclaimer at the beginning of this week's film

I always find it sad when a musician I admire dies.  Over the last 25 years of so, a few of them died that had such an impact on my appreciation of music that I found it really sad--George Harrison, Jimmy Buffett, Charlie Watts, Danny Federici, Clarence Clemons, and Bill Withers come to mind.  The death of the Monkees' Davey Jones caught me off guard, mainly because I had actually met the man in 1994.  He gave me his autograph (twice), shook my hand, and told me to "Take it easy."

This week, I experienced a new level of celebrity loss.  Garth Hudson, multi-instrumentalist for The Band, died this past Tuesday at the age of 87.  By and large, this was more "sad" than it was "really sad."  I'd never met him or anything.  I've always liked and admired The Band, but I wasn't as geeky about them as I was The Stones or The Beatles.  But then I realized that he was the last surviving member.  Suddenly, there's a band--not just A band, but THE Band--of which I've been a fan for three decades, and none of them are alive anymore.  I mean, I realize this was bound to happen at some point--passage of time and all that.  As is usually the case when this happens, I find myself prompted to listen to some of their music.  Personally, I'll take any excuse to listen to "Chest Fever"--Hudson's organ intro on that one kicks all kinds of ass.  But I was also glad it finally gave me the kick in my own ass that I needed to re-visit this week's film... something I had been meaning to do for a couple of years now.

I remember in my retail music days, my colleagues and I would sit around and discuss what we thought were the best... albums or songs by a particular artist, films starring a particular actor, or whatever pop culture thing we felt like discussing in the moment.  As I've said in the past, we were kind of like the guys in High Fidelity only under a corporate banner.  One day, someone brought up concert films.  As a group, we seemed to be split on what the best one was:  Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads (which, I have to confess, sadly, I've never seen--although not for lack of desire) or this week's film, which I still contend is the best (although, since that conversation, I have seen D.A. Pennebaker's Monterey Pop, which should have gotten more love from the group).

I sat down and watched it again last night for the first time in a number of  years.  Concert films are like westerns to me--I like them, but I have to be in the right mood for them.  I have some concert films that came with CDs I've purchased that I've still never watched just because I haven't been in the mood for it.  I feel like Garth Hudson's death kind of forced me to do it.  Regardless of why I watched it, I'm glad I did.

In 1976, The Band decided to dis-Band.  They'd been together as a group for 16 years starting out as the Hawks--the back-up band for Ronnie Hawkins.  In the mid-1960s, Bob Dylan chose them to be his backing band, they became known officially as "The Band" and recorded some absolute classic music of their own.  To celebrate this legacy, they performed a final concert at the Winterland Ballroom, in San Francisco, Thanksgiving of 1976.  Many friends stopped by to help celebrate and perform alongside them.  The concert was filmed by the great Martin Scorsese who also filmed interviews with the Band members as well as a few "studio" performances that were cut into the concert footage.  As I always say, if nothing else, it's nice to see a Scorsese film without a body count.

So this week, in honour of Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm, I recommend this document of their last performance, The Last Waltz,  released in 1978, featuring appearances by Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Staple Singers, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, and Neil Young.  After all this time, I still think it's the greatest concert film ever made.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and Happy Burns Night!

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!  Slàinte Mhath!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

 

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Album of the Week!

Hey, there!  Hope everyone had a good holiday season.  Every year, just before the holidays, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts awards a special honor to five (usually) people who have made a special contribution to the arts.  Over the years, the Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Robert DeNiro, Harry Belafonte, Paul Newman, Dave Brubeck, Alvin Ailey, Johnny Cash, LL Cool J, Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Georg Solti, Stephen Sondheim, and Queen Latifah... just to name a (very) few.  Around the holidays, CBS broadcasts the big ceremony and I look forward to it every year.  Part of me enjoys geeking out over the artists I like, but I also like learning about those I'm not too familiar with--usually one a year, usually a dancer or an opera singer.

This year was special in that I was actually familiar with--and a fan of--all the honorees.  This year, the Honor was given to Bonnie Raitt, Francis Ford Coppola, Arturo Sandoval, The Grateful Dead, and Harlem's famed Apollo Theater--marking the first time the Honor was given to a non-human.  I kind of wanted to focus on one of those (human) artists because I thought something got left out that has fascinated me for more than twenty years. 

Arturo Sandoval grew up in Communist Cuba where he learned to play many instruments, but ended up focusing primarily on the trumpet.  He took classical lessons for three years at the Cuban National School of Arts, where he became part of Cuba's all-star national band.  He became one of the most beloved trumpet players, not just in Cuba but worldwide.  He toured all over in the 1980s, particularly with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie, who became his lifelong friend.  In 1989, Gillespie invited Sandoval to join the United Nations Orchestra.  While touring with them in Greece, Sandoval--accompanied by Gillespie--visited the American Embassy in Athens, where Gillespie helped him defect from Cuba to the States, eventually becoming an American citizen in 1998.  In the years since, he's performed with more notable orchestras and groups than I can list here, and the Kennedy Center Honor is only the latest of many awards and accolades he's received during that time.  Most notably, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for the score to a television movie about his life titled For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story starring Andy Garcia as Sandoval.

Like most people, when I think of Arturo Sandoval, I think of the trumpet.  It's hard not to equate the two.  So imagine my surprise to discover some years back that he had released an album of piano music.  I had no clue he played the piano.  (As I write this, I'm quite pleased to discover he plays timbales as well--I'll have to see what I can dig up on that.)  At the time I discovered this little tidbit, I was kind of pleasantly taken aback.  It was like finding out that Al Hirt could play the harpsichord. *  It's a delightful discovery that makes me like him even more.

But I think the fact that he can play something other than the trumpet has been overlooked over time.  I don't remember it being mentioned during the Kennedy Center Honors broadcast.  So to make up for that, this week, I present the incomparable Arturo Sandoval with his 2002 album My Passion For the Piano, on which he not only plays amazing piano, but composed half of the album's songs.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and Happy Burns Night!

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!  Slàinte Mhath!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

* He didn't... as far as I know.