I love The Band. I was late to dig into them. I didn't fully appreciate them until my mid 20's. The Dylan link, the Americana sound (despite having a couple Canadian members), the tragedy involved with the members, the drugs, the booze. It all contributed to epic music, if not long, healthy lives.
My wife and I have watched The Last Waltz numerous times. It's epic on a number of levels. Neil Diamond! Neil Young! Dylan! Scorcese! My wife has admitted she has (had?) a big crush on Rick Danko. We almost named our dog Danko. He's that cool.
But we never considered naming our dog after Robbie Robertson. His role in that band is more suspect. When the band splintered, almost all members disliked him, probably due to him having most of the songwriting credits. Robbie's vibe can be summed up in the title to a new documentary on The Band that is coming out on February 21. It's called "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band." I haven't investigated enough to figure out why he needs to put his name above the name of his band. Maybe it's because this doc is his baby. Most members are dead, so they won't complain. Only Garth Hudson is still alive, and he's 82.
Regardless of what you think of Robbie, a good doc on The Band is well worth your time. Trailer is below. It hits some theaters on 2/21, and it will hopefully hit a streaming service shortly thereafter.
I take pride in having turned numerous musician friends onto The Band. For some, it takes a bit of time and effort to 'get it'.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge fan of The Last Waltz. I think it's OK, but I'll never tire of their first two albums.
The Band climbs into the top 10 in sound on the ‘ol hifi system. Instruments coming from everywhere across the mantle. Including the Mouth Harp.
ReplyDeleteHoping some Gheorghies get to experience the sound next wknd
The busted Jaguar at 1:37 made me cry a little bit.
ReplyDeletebig parenting afternoon. did major edits on my son's "of mice and men" essay, which was a transition-less, choppy mess and then we went outside and fixed his tennis serve . . . thanks to some tips from zman!
ReplyDeletenow driving him to indoor soccer practice. i have plenty of advice for him on that front too, mainly about playing better defense.
kids: they don't know how to do shit.
I love The Band and want to see the doc. I had the same take as TR -- Robbie Robertson is not beloved by the rest of the band... in fact, Levon Helm made a point to talk about how RR sneakily took songwriting credit and made the lion's share of the money off their songs while Levon argued they were far more group efforts.
ReplyDeleteBut as TR mentions, Levon left us a few years back. Richard Manuel died by his own hand in the 80's. Rick Danko's heart gave out a decade or so later. And Garth Hudson was never the face of the band... being the only member who didn't sing. So it's Robbie's voice you'll hear.
Oh well, it's probably good.
Also, Rootsy is right -- those first two albums are fan-frickin-tastic. I think the second album is just perfect.
ReplyDeleteTotally missed Zman’s car post for me. If I get rich or famous (or both), I’m hiring Z to be my publicist. He’s extremely complimentary of me. Flattery will get you everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI’d also get that car if I was rich. It’s fucking sweet. And he even nailed the color for me. I love pretty much all shades of grey. The only thing he missed on was the Foamposits. I used to own a pair but don’t anymore.
happy 40 years of believing in miracles
ReplyDeleteBloomberg getting scorched in this....
ReplyDeleteI just finished in the kitchen and tuned in to catch the bloomberg bloodbath. Not as entertaining as the evening I spent watching Levon Helm from behind his drum kit in 2010, but spicier than the last debate I watched.
ReplyDeleteBloomie is taking some licks. His canned responses have fallen flat. We’ll see how hard the Bernie-hating liberal media wants to stick it to him.
ReplyDeleteWarren is insufferable.
Greg Robinson has 157 lbs of pot on him!? Too bad he couldn’t beat Nate Newton’s record of 213 lbs.
ReplyDeleteI feel Biden has had a minor stroke in the past year or so.
ReplyDeleteone man's insufferable is another man's badass
ReplyDelete