The last Waltz had everything going for it--an A-list director, a great band, Bill Graham, Winterland, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, the great Neil Diamond who everyone understands why he was there , Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John and Van Morrison in a sequined suit doing stage kicks. Also, the Staples Singers and Emmylou Harris on some weird soundstage with the Band as they break out of their typical instrumental assignments. Gram Parsons couldn't make it because he was dead.
My sort of point is that a lot of the guest list is weird. They just loaded the thing with star turns for other acts. But it really does keep the momentum going. It occurs to me that Robbie Robertson was at once unselfish yet incredibly opportunistic.
Mini-equipment thread moment: I was out and about and forgot my $125 earbuds, and didn't have my apple earbuds which I don't like anyway for slippage reasons. So I went into Walgreens and bought a pair of Sony noise isolating earbuds for $21.99 with iPhone mic, and these things do not suck at all. MDR-EX15AP. Listening to The Smiths Peel Session EP. Edit: And now a Zeppelin boot from 5/22/72. So then I was walking around the shopping district in San Francisco, and there's a new Sennheiser store on Post Street. Like a moth to a porch light, I have to go in there. Let's just say I sort of got lucky fixing my earbud jones at the drug store, 'cuz I easily could have dropped a hundred bucks at least. Strangely, they had none of their wired home headphones in there, just earbuds, Bluetooth headphones, and then speaker phones for business settings, and enthusiast stuff like earbuds that are actually stereo recording equipment that you could take to a show and probably use to make a decent boot.
Having read both Robbie and Levon’s account of the Last Waltz, it’s clear that there were a lot of politics around the show and who played. I tend to be #TeamLevon. Robbie came off as a sanctimonious blowhard in his book. YMMV. It’s worth reading both accounts for comparison reasons though.
I still haven't read Robbie's book and I've had it for a year, anyway. I saw him speak in Marin and I thought he came off well.
Listening to the Summit Studios show from this DVD. I'm not in the mood for quadraphonic right now, so it's just stereo. Splendid sound and playing.
I think the bad sides of both those guys are wholly incompatible. I think Robertson isn't wholly adverse to running a not necessarily illegal scam here and there (e.g., the Basement Tapes as originally released were a total fiction, and that fiction did a lot to elevate the Band and Robertson). Meanwhile, I think Levon saw himself as a victim, and he holds a grudge like no one's business. Listening to the third disc (demos/outtakes) from the Being There 5CD set.
For sure. I’d certainly agree that Levon seemed easily slighted and didn’t let things go. But I read Robbie’s book and really hated it. That’s a bold choice of words, but I can’t think of another rock and roll books that I’ve read and disliked, let alone hated. Of course, the truth is somewhere in between, but I got the impression Danko was probably aligned more with Levon when it came to business dealings. Garth would never say anything publicly, but that’s a bio I’d love to read.
I haven't read it yet. I hope I don't hate it. (I basically hated, or at least really didn't like, Kreutzman's book, but I bought that one signed, too.) I went to a talk where you could buy a signed copy, and he was entertaining, just based on his "touring with Dylan in '66" stories. I mainly bought it because he signed it, and also I think he's an awesome songwriter.
He can tell a story, that’s for sure. It seems like a lot of those Band songs were more collaborative than the credits suggest. I didn’t mind Billy’s book. It wasn’t great, but it was at least entertaining in places and I liked how he didn’t pull punches, even if I didn’t always agree with him.
I don't hate Billy at all, but it took me almost a year to get through the book. I didn't like the way it was written. It was like having the most boring guy with not a lot to say trying to tell one of the most interesting stories in rock.
