RIP Garth Hudson

The last remaining member of The Band, Garth Hudson, has passed away at 87.

Here is The Band (sans Robbie and Richard) performing on Late Show with the CBS Orchestra.

The Last Waltz to be Re-Released in Theaters

Martin Scorcese's "The Last Waltz" will be re-released to theaters in November for its 45th anniversary.

Article.

RIP Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson has died at age 80. The last surviving member of The Band is Garth Hudson.

I reviewed Robbie's documentary about himself and The Band here.

The Band on Ed Sullivan

 

A couple things here. I'm glad that videos like this, which I've never been able to see before, are being uploaded and in such high quality. That's exciting. But, man, the acoustics of the Ed Sullivan Theater are terrible. And who shoots a musical performance entirely in close-up? In the words of Jack Packard, "How about you get some wides?"

The Last Dance and The Last Waltz

A few things I've watched recently that might be of interest...

The Last Dance (2020)

If basketball was your thing in the 90s - and especially if you followed Michael Jordan and the Bulls teams of that era - "The Last Dance" is a 10 part documentary from ESPN that follows that team throughout their two three-peat runs. It's extremely well done, interviewing all the people involved now, with the benefit of hindsight and the benefit of so much time elapsing that they can speak freely about what was really going down. The main focus of the series is the last season the Bulls were all together (1997-1998) but in each episode it will flip between the "present" and the "past" so that eventually the entire era will be covered.

The split timeline is a little disorienting but I get it, it allows for more of the "cliffhanger", "let's make them binge watch it" style that keeps you wanting more.

Extremely interesting, highly recommended.

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band (2019)

Apparently there's a "new" documentary about The Band and it flew under my radar until now. This is another Martin Scorcese project and, therefore, focuses a great deal on Robbie Robertson rather than treating the group equally. You might say the documentary is about the entire band but from Robbie's perspective.

After "The Last Waltz", my knee-jerk reaction to Robbie Robertson-centrism is to wince but, after all, the book "This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band" and the documentary "Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm" told other sides of the story so it's only fair to get Robbie's.

A lot of time is spent on the relationship between Robertson and Levon Helm - how they were closer than brothers back in the day but then grew apart, eventually turning into something approaching enemies. This is, again Robbie, telling his side, justifying himself. The problem with Robbie's perspective, though - and this documentary - is that he's struggling to grasp Levon's point of view and then and then arguing against his own vague theories. This makes his arguments seem disingenuous, at best.

Why would you not read Levon's book, or watch his documentary, or read the articles where you can get specific quotes, the thoughts stated by Levon himself and respond to those? We live in the age of the printed word and have lived there for hundreds of years. Let's get Robertson's side, sure, but how much more valuable would the documentary be if it provided an exchange of ideas between Robbie and Levon that neither got in their lifetimes?

As it is, the film leaves the conflict to everyone's imagination. "Oh, there are two sides to history and who can say who is right and who is wrong?, etc." And it will probably stay that way forever. There may be a hint though in the fact that, as long as we're forced into the realm of imagination, we have to wonder why it appears one side is dodging the issue.

In the end, I don't know who's right or wrong or even where the gray area stops. My head tends to think Robertson may be right but my heart is still with Levon and the rest of the band. Overall, a well-made documentary worth watching if you're interested. The music and video footage are amazing.

Dr. John - Such A Night

Thankfulness to the Band and all the fellas.

Moonlight Serenade

I have a very strong sense of "Fall Music" when Fall rolls around. The appearance of Autumn usually means it's time to listen to The Band's Brown Album on loop for days.

But for some reason I want to revisit Summer instead, specifically Moonlight Serenade.

One thing people may not know about Moonlight Serenade is that it has lyrics. Glenn Miller wrote it as an instrumental (of course) but yet it has lyrics. And as far as I know, that's a common thing among Glenn Miller songs (and for all I know, it could be true of most songs of that era). That's always been a mystery to me, why go to the bother of adding lyrics to an instrumental? But recently I found the answer.

Moonlight Serenade has lyrics for Ella Fitzgerald.

Late Night - Levon Isn't Here

The classic segment of the Late Show with David Letterman where Levon Helm, drummer for The Band, didn't show up.

The Last Episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Friday was the last episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Watch it here.

Total Number of Episodes: 969.
Last Guest: Andy Samberg.
Last Musical Guest: Arguably Buckwheat Zydeco.
Last Guest Performance: The Muppets.

The last episode has a strange feel to it - the timing is off and Jimmy doesn't have any "punch" in the jokes because he's constantly verging on becoming "emotional". But the weight of the moment justifies it.

Speaking of "the weight"... the last segments of the "last shows" are part of TV history and lore. Jack Paar's "Come on, Lika... we're going home", Johnny Carson on the stool, etc.

In terms of "Late Night", when Letterman left Late Night, the last segment, he sat behind the desk and spoke to the audience. Conan's last segment on Late Night was the similar. Jimmy's bucked the trend (perhaps partly because he wouldn't be able to get through it without becoming a weeping mess). Instead of a speech, he performs The Band's "The Weight" with the Muppets and does it in a loving recreation of the version that appears in the movie "The Last Waltz".



"The Last Waltz" is a concert movie that covers The Band's last concert. The parallels with the situation of Jimmy's last show are obvious. Jimmy plays drums and plays on an identical set to Levon Helm's drum set in that movie. Jimmy grew up in upstate New York, not far from Levon's adopted home. I love that they got all the little touches right. The lighting is the same, the colors are the same, the recreation is so complete they even mimic Scorceses style of rotating around the musicians in tracking shots. Compare. I obviously love it. It's a great way to say goodbye.

The first episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon airs February 17th 2014.
Late Night with Seth Meyers starts February 24th 2014.

Levon Helm

The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

The Band - The Weight

The Band - All La Glory

New Press Photo

Sure, we don't want this to become a Radiohead Fan Blog but, uhhhhh....

So anyway a new press photo of the band was released! Desperate for hints and clues as to the new album as we are, this counts as major news (for now).

Here it is:

[Note: The photo contains 3 invisible ponies.]

Now THAT is a sweet photo. Judging by it, I'd say the new album is going to sound like The Band's self-titled album. Yaaaaay! Or perhaps Neil Young's Harvest album. Yaaaayy! Or maybe it'll be like "The Wild Wild West" soundtrack. Oh, BOOOO! Or maybe My Morning Jacket's new album that isn't released yet. Cool? I guess maybe this has become an entire genre of band photo. But still it's good.

My Morning Webcast

My Morning Jacket will be doing a webcast for the Late Show on Tuesday, October 12th at 8 PM. From the Late Show website: "The Kentucky rockers will be performing songs from their most recent CD, 'Evil Urges,' along with their greatest hits, live from the Ed Sullivan Theater."

"Songs" plural and "greatest hits" plural? Sounds like a mini concert. Awesome. Keep in mind this is a webcast and is therefore online. My Morning Jacket will be on Tuesday's episode of the Late Show however you'll only see one song (with a slight, slight outside chance of two songs).

Link.

As mentioned above My Morning Jacket are promoting their new album which I've not heard but I'll definitely check it out. I'm liking their new band photo (above) influenced by The Band much?

Not that I'm complaining.

BLOG BONUS:

This Week In Late Show History - This week in 1991, Richard Simmons offers Dave a check for $25,000 to appear in his video, "Devil with the Blue Dress On"; Dave accepts the check but refuses the invite. Later in the show he signs the check over to guest Kathryn Harrold."

Merry Christmas

First, a message from the President:

The Band - Christmas Must Be Tonight

A Charlie Brown Christmas (The Ruined Version)

[Broken Video Link Removed]

A Patrick Swayze Christmas (A Christmas Carol based on the movie "Roadhouse")

Darlene Love & The CBS Orchestra - "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

[I wanted to avoid repetition but it is unavoidable.]

Merry Christmas.