Who's who on the front cover of The Basement Tapes?

Kind of a dumb question, but I'm not really sure who is who in this picture.

1. dunno
2. Levon Helm
3. dunno
4. Rick Danko
5. Richard Manual
6. dunno
7. Robbie Robertson
8. dunno
9. Garth Hudson
10. Robert Zimmerman
11. dunno if I wanna know

 

3 is the photographer, name escapes me now.

Another exercise is to look at the full cover and see what person is illustrating what song! We used to do that in college.

 

Here's the full cover:



Sorry Danny, I came up empty when using The Google.

 

I don't think I'm in the right frame of.... ummmm.... mind for that game.

 

Reid Miles.

 

Yeah me too. That's why I had to post here. I'm sure some of the Dylan/Band experts will have the answers.

 

I'm guessing the lady in the "Mrs. Henry" shirt is supposed to be "Mrs. Henry"?

What do I win??

 

If no ones come up with it yet, I got these snippits from rec.music.dylan.

Neil Young is almost directly behind Richard Manuel, in the hat and shades,
with a beard. He is a little more recognizeable on the inside cover where
he's sitting (looking at the photo) to Rick Danko's left behind David Blue
and the clown. The Eskimo, is a musician named Charlie Chin who was once in
a band called Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys, who opened for The Band
at their first NYC appearance at Fillmore East.

Another thing I found out is that the dwarf selling newspapers on the cover is a guy
named Angelo Rossitto who is also on the cover of Tom Waits' "Swordfishtrombones".
He was an actor but interestingly enough, when times got lean for him he WAS a
newspaper vendor.
Todd Rundgren is the ballarina
Bob Neuwirth is wearing
the red shirt.

 

1. David Blue
6. Neil Young (?)

 

At first I was looking at the belly dancer on the back cover! "No way that's Todd!" Nor what actually looks like a ballerina standing behind the belly dancer.

I assume Todd is Number 11 in Danny's numbered pic, if in fact he is in the picture at all.

 

Aren't a number of these figures painted on the wall?

 

WHAT???

WHAT??????

 

Well, I don't have an album sized picture to view but no one looks like Rundgren or Young to me.

 

#11 looks like Todd Rundgren to me! (After all these years I did not know that was him or that Neil Young was on there as well)

 

#6 looks like Neil Young to me, compare with the pictures of him on the "Tonight's the Night" sleeve. I read somewhere (maybe in "Shakey") that Neil had a safety copy of the Basement Tapes that he would play during his album sessions in the 1970s. Neil's tape was the source of "I'm Not There" on the soundtrack to the film of the same name last year.

 

The album cover was indeed shot by Reid Miles. It was in the boiler room of the Hollywood YMCA at the corner of Schrader and Selma. Reid Miles designed dozens and dozens of the iconic LP covers for Blue Note.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000816379

 

Huh, I didn't know that either. I always assumed it was "the" actual basement. Granted, I figured the picture was obviously taken in the Seventies, but still...

Yet another illusion destroyed by sh.tv.

 

The actual Big Pink basement doesn't look a bit like that. But it's appropriate they used a ringer for the basement, given the amount of overdubbing they did and the amount of ringers (anachronous Band recordings) that appear on the album.

I never knew that was Neil in the back there. Wow. Learn something new every day.

 

I guess that boiler does look a little big for a house that size...

 

Yep, glad this thread was here--cool info. Now I know more neat trivia to bore the living s**t out of my poor wife.

 

wow, you learn something new every day and I 've been playing this one for the past week and thinking "we need a thread about this album"......

Interesting it was Neil's copy of "I'm Not There" making the soundtrack, I did not know this...and its such a wonky stereo mix...i wish they'd mixed this tape to a good mono mix instead....

still, what does this mean for all the other basement tapes locations? Is this why no definative set has really been released yet?

Does Columbia or Dylan not have access to them?

 

I'll buy that the guy behind the smoke (#6) could be Neil Young. I know he and Dylan were hanging out a bit in California at the time. I still don't think the dude in the dress is Todd Rundgren though - although the height is just about right.

 

The same guy who designed the Blue Note covers?

 

I believe so.

 

No way.