Levon Helm 1940-2012

The drummer-singer with the Band died yesterday.

This from 1969:

Shame about that Historic Films across the screen, but somehow it fits the timeless old sepia-tinted Americana feel that defined The Band. 

Or there's this, more recently, from the 2007 Dirt Farmer album: a back-to-his-roots kind of thing for the man who grew up in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, but spent much of his career up in Canada, and famously played with Dylan in Woodstock on The Basement Tapes. 

Obituaries at the NYT, Rolling Stone.

Comments

[Dom]

The flutist for Men at Work died recently too. I guess we didn't hear much from him, but I always like "Down Under", and the flute especially. (And of course Australia still heads my list of places I want to bike through).

[Recruiting Animal]

I liked The Band but The Last Waltz sure seemed over-rated to me. There were much better performance films. The Buddy Holly Story was not a documentary but had fantastic performances. Woodstock was better than Waltz. So was Stop Making Sense with The Talking Heads.