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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