Levon Helm

you're going to waste that liquor? no, not dead.

http://www.bluescruiseny.com/photogallery/archives/wk3/levon200.jpg

he's 64.

uh, what about him?

everything!

Levon, Levon likes his money
He makes a lot they say
Spend his days counting
In a garage by the motorway

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon

Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly

And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus
Leaving Levon far behind
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Levon, Levon slowly dies

has anyone read his book?

Instead of waiting until he does die, I'll say now that he's a wonderful drummer, a truly authentic vocalist, a man who loves music and what it can do for one's life, and the best representative from Arkansas that a state could have.

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/jawbone_issue_5_97/photo_p6.jpg

L.I.P., Levon

My friend, M.L.

Bitter, baby, bitter. He's definitely not a member of the Robbie Robertson fan club. And while I wish him the best health-wise, and enjoy his keening vocals, IMO he's a crap drummer. Part of the reason that Live in 1966 Dylan thing is so exciting is because studio cat Bobby Gregg is behind the kit instead of Levon.

I've read Levon's book--have an autographed copy, even. It's worth reading just because you get a sense of how they developed outside the normal channels of '60s rock. They earned what I think is their smugness (seen to great effect in "Last Waltz," which is a good film and which actually makes me like Joni Mitchell's "Coyote"). OK, they did indeed see Sonny Boy Williamson spit blood into a cup--but they come across like they're the fucking torchbearers of the "real thing" and it's kind of awful, actually. Robertson's the one who comes across like a total asshole in that film.

Also, they didn't make too much good stuff after 1969--I like parts of "Northern Cross" and their take on "Third Man Theme" is nice. Parts of the Toussaint-arranged live album is good. What a waste, though--they could outplay anyone on their best days and they opted for settling into that Americana crap, they never really advanced at all. And honestly, "Big Pink" doesn't sound the same to me any more, something wrong there. "Great" but now I get a bad feeling from that music, which might be the point.

"Richard had the ability to go (points finger upward) 'eeeee!''
"Garth, dressing it up"

Eric Clapton talking about Richard Manuel saying something like "The guy had this amazing energy, this amazing negative energy, so you would feel yourself drawn to him, even if he were cringing in the corner of the room."

Rick Danko:
I think what happened to him was that once he got the monkey off his back, he started overeating as a way of compensating and put a lot of strain on his heart.

To me there was something visually very striking about the way Rick played bass. Did anybody else flap their elbow as much as he did?

"Makes No Difference"!

fill at 2:14-2:16 is just sweet as fuck if you love the Band, which I do:

i love levon

is that from Festival Express?

another check in the "rock dudes who use traditional grip" column

Shooter cameo - A+++++++

such a great drummer.

fuck he rules.

that fill is fabulous, propelling him into the chorus, the sticks literally jumping with his excitement about joining voices with his brothers.

By the busload, hundreds of friends and fans of Levon Helm traveled to his home Thursday to say goodbye to the influential singer and drummer for The Band, who died of cancer last week.

The public memorial was held at the Woodstock barn where Helm held his Saturday night Midnight Ramble concerts in New York's Hudson Valley. His closed casket was surrounded by flowers and flanked by his drum kit and a piano.

Friends, neighbors and fans filed silently past the coffin, which was on the second floor of the barn and set against a backdrop of a family photo slideshow. Nearby, family members greeted visitors.

http://www.stripers247.com/phpBB2/images/smilies/icon_salute2.gif

Arkansas flags to fly at half-staff for Levon Helm

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has ordered that flags fly at half-staff on Friday to honor Arkansas native Levon Helm, who died last week.

Helm, who grew up in Turkey Scratch, attained worldwide fame as a member of The Band. He died last week after battling throat cancer.

The governor issued a proclamation honoring Helm. Beebe called Helm "an enormously talented performer and gifted musician whose Arkansas roots can be heard and felt in his voice and in his music."

Helm is widely known for songs he sang with The Band, including "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek."

A public memorial was held Thursday in Woodstock, N.Y., where Helm lived until his death.

I'd give everything to have come from a place called Turkey Scratch.

you could move there, give your kids the opportunity you never had

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/15245252.jpg

Small town.

also for some reason i always find it way more impressive when awesome drummers can sing at the same time than when ppl that play other instruments sing at the same time, though i guess i don't know why i think that's different

― Mississippi Butt Hurt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 5:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it totally is imo, just because you use so much more of your body and especially upper body playing a drum set than most other instruments, also requires i think a little more breath control or consciousness of moving around or away from the mic.

― some former lust object you've shamefully forgotten (some dude), Wednesday, April 18, 2012 2:11 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also really notable imo is the ease & joy with which he pulls this off, so elastic & graceful

listening to cbc the sunday edition at midnight last sunday in a cottage, michael enright gave a brief eulogy to helm & played "the hold." one of my earliest musical memories is of my father playing that song, & i have so many wonderful moments & memories of hearing it since, i almost burst into tears right there

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/12-9.jpg

I think Ai Lien scoped you taking that shot today, pp. She wondered what you were up to.

She didn't catch me walking on the grass, did she?

Could've been windier.

http://distilleryimage8.instagram.com/fe8e00da908d11e1a39b1231381b7ba1_7.jpg

Remembrance from Donald Fagen

LEVON HELM: 1940 - 2012

During the last few years, whenever possible, I've played in the rhythm section of Levon Helm's band at his house/blues-joint up in Woodstock, N.Y. I was literally grandfathered in: Levon's daughter Amy, who has two boys herself, is also daughter to my wife, Libby. Amy, a terrific singer, has been central to the Midnight Ramble since it's inception.

On those Saturday nights, I had a great sightline over to Levon, straight across the top of the Steinway. When he was into his groove, with that left shoulder pulled down, wailing into the boom mic on his right, I couldn't take my eyes off him. I couldn't figure out how he could keep that thuddy, cycling pulse so even, making every fill and roll, and yet sing so well at the same time. He made all those machines - the sticks, the skins, the pedals, the cymbals, even the microphone - into living extensions of his own body. Without ever sounding mechanical, he always put the downbeat in that sweet spot. Locking in with Levon was the easiest gig I've ever had.

Towards the end, before each show, he was trying everything possible - inhalers. steam and whatever - to get his damaged larynx loose enough to sing a few tunes so as not to disappoint the folks. The fact is, when he walked out on stage and sat down at the kit, his percussive excellence and iconic presence were more than enough to satisfy most all the paying customers. His family, his old bandmates Robbie and Garth, the Ramble band and crew and several generations of fans around the world - we're all missing him.

god it's beautiful to have a wordsmith like fagen describe helm so perfectly

otm

still bummed that he's really gone

They should hire Fagen and Becker to write negative obituaries.

save it for another thread josh

that's a really nice piece.

I couldn't figure out how he could keep that thuddy, cycling pulse so even, making every fill and roll, and yet sing so well at the same time. He made all those machines - the sticks, the skins, the pedals, the cymbals, even the microphone - into living extensions of his own body. Without ever sounding mechanical, he always put the downbeat in that sweet spot. Locking in with Levon was the easiest gig I've ever had.

gets at some of the stuff i was trying to express upthread

yeah was listening to rock of ages over the weekend, and it was clear how much the band followed levon's lead, like they could just bounce around helm's drums. even danko, who is the other part of the rhythm section, had enormous freedom.

Which link is better for the xpost Levon & the Hawks set? File Factory's freebie keeps being fully in use--"try again"--and that skeeball thing, h'm-m-m.

i did it through filefactory, which, yeah is a pain in the ass. i would put it up on mediafire, but i've been kicked off of there.

Remembrance from Donald Fagen

Rock of Ages
Lost Wages
Rock of Ages
Lost Wages

Tyler, anybody, have you tried http://bbchron.blogspot.com Levon & Friends 70tn Birthday Jubilee?

haven't! looks pretty good though.

James, would love to hear some kind of Steely Band mash-up, esp from the early prime of both.

save it for another thread josh

Ha, I meant to cast no aspirations on the beautiful tribute to Levon he wrote. I just think, incidental to Levon, that those guys would write hilariously mean obituaries.

A friend in Kingston writes:
Also see http://fooooo.com/w/ce051061b5833c6557c2348b33df1b76which is very local. The cornfield scenes were shot about half a mile from where I used to live, and the band scenes were shot in our spookiest bar, Snyder's, which is kind of a haunted house that sells Bud Lite. Levon was our most prominent local citizen--sure wish tickets to his Rambles hadn't cost $100 a pop, so that I never could go to one (L had bigtime medical bills)

Even Poldark was a fan: http://robin-ellis.net/2012/04/20/one-of-my-heroes-has-died/

Dunno how to search for a thread on the Band, but this just announced:

Garth Hudson presents a Canadian Tribute to the Band

*Garth Hudson produced and plays keyboards on all tracks along with the following artists:

1. Danny Brooks & The Rockin’ Revelators - Forbidden Fruit

2. Mary Margaret O’Hara - Out of the Blue

3. Peter Katz & The Curious - Acadian Driftwood

4. Neil Young & Sadies - This Wheel’s on Fire

5. Suzie McNeil - Ain’t Got No Home

6. Cowboy Junkies - Clothes Line Saga

7. Kevin Hearn & Thin Buckly - You Ain’t Going Nowhere

8. Bruce Cockburn & Blue Rodeo - Sleeping

9. The Road Hammers - Yazoo Street Scandal

10. Raine Maida - The Moon Struck One

11. The Sadies - The Shape I’m In

12. Chantal Kreviazuk - Tears of Rage

13. I Loved Your Too Much – Hawksley Workman

14. Great Big Sea - Knockin’ Lost John

15. Blue Rodeo - King Harvest

16. The Trews - Move to Japan

17. Garth Hudson - Genetic Method (Anew)

18. Ian Thornley & Bruce Cockburn - Chest Fever

damn no Chadvril?

pretty sure this already exists? at least i heard the neil young/sadies contribution at least a year ago. it's great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luShSj0JGT8

sounds great, maybe they'll do "levon"
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/elton-john-mumford-sons-to-honor-levon-helm-at-grammys-20130206

Dpcumentary, released in 2010, but much more extensive screenings coming up, also DVD--enticingly described here: Levon steppin' lively no matter whut:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/levon-helms-last-years-captured-in-aint-in-it-for-my-health-20130415
Screen dates, trailer and other goodies here:
http://www.kinolorber.com/film.php?id=1235

Ain't In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm

So is it worth seeing?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/aint-in-it-for-my-health-movie-review/2013/05/22/a52e471c-c164-11e2-bfdb-3886a561c1ff_story.html

“Ain’t in It for My Health,” an affectionate documentary by Jacob Hatley, examines Helm’s face and voice up close, at several points following its subject into the doctor’s office, where we’re literally shown Helm’s ravaged vocal cords, via a camera at the end of a flexible tube down the singer’s throat.

...

Don’t look for any new or deep psychological insights from Helm about his relationships with the members of his old group.

Feel like I must have already seen that footage at a Butthole Surfers gig.

As much as I love Levon Helm, that's more than I wanna know. I mean, I don't really wanna see Keith Moon's liver, either.

Wife is tremendous Levin fanatic. Is this worth a 90 minute detour on our way home from a wedding out of state?

err, 'Levon,' obvs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fusKcZjj7dg

Iirc, Mercury Rev is actually from or was based around Woodstock, right? I think I heard that they would see Garth and Levon at the grocery store, and just one day asked them if they wanted to sit in.

Yeah they have a whole upstate NY thing - formed in Buffalo, Dave Fridmanns studio is in Cassadaga NY, Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper were in the Catskills when working on Deserters Songs, not sure where but close enough to connect with those guys

https://richardsmanuel.tumblr.com/post/121183926169

aw man <3

I was going to add ^get out your handkerchiefs

There are some videos on Libby Titus's instagram of his other stepfather, Donald Fagen, setting in with him, the kid I mean.

Okay, I just read Ezra Titus's obituary. Really get out your handkerchiefs for that if you choose to click.

I guess you can read the same thing here if that goes away: http://theband.hiof.no/updates_2009.html

Is there a clear winner among the Helm solo albums?

I usually hear fans say his last two are his best. Just a heads up, his voice won't be what it once was, but considering that he wasn't sure if he would ever sing again, it's kind of miraculous by that standard.

RIP Libby Titus

Made me think of this again: https://www.tumblr.com/richardsmanuel/121183926169