25 January, 2025

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

 


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