listened to the live "ramble at the ryman" album last night (i admit to not having listened to his solo recs of the last few years). totally a good time! amazing that post-throat cancer he still pretty much sounds just like levon helm.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:57 (twelve years ago) link
The rambles at his homestead can be pretty refreshing, or so I hear from friends who have attended. Hopefully they'll continue after he's gone.
― dow, Thursday, 19 April 2012 15:09 (twelve years ago) link
Good Band and Levon & the Hawks links over at Tyler's doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com
― dow, Thursday, 19 April 2012 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
some kind of attempt at reconciliation:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/apr/19/robbie-robertson-levon-helm
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Thursday, 19 April 2012 15:14 (twelve years ago) link
oh what the fuck's up, try this http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com
― dow, Thursday, 19 April 2012 15:15 (twelve years ago) link
ah, this is so sad. he is an amazing drummer. really not that many around who sound like him, which is odd considering how often you see the band getting name-dropped.
― sonderangerbot, Thursday, 19 April 2012 15:24 (twelve years ago) link
guess it is official. RIP, Levon.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
man ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
RIPhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZaU3VtMfoM
― Waterloo? Oh, we've sunsetted that. (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
:(RIP
― Jilly Boel and the Eltones (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
RIP a great man and musician
― Mississippi Butt Hurt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
going to have to spin some 'northern lights, southern cross' tonight
― omar little, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
this dude was the most crucial member of the band, at least for me
RIP. I heard that his family read out some of the Facebook and Twitter tributes that came after the news broke a couple of days ago. Nice if true - to spend your last hours hearing how much you were loved and how you'll be missed.
― And I have been called "The Appetite" (DL), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
rip
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:44 (twelve years ago) link
RIP, another one of the greats, guess it's gonna keep being like this, on & on.
― Euler, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:54 (twelve years ago) link
RIP, watched him in "The Right Stuff" last night. A very rare talent.
― Raymond Dubious Davies (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:15 (twelve years ago) link
First memory of him in anything doing anything was actually Coal Miner's Daughter. Great film still -- this 1980 Rolling Stone interview with him is worth a read:
http://theband.hiof.no/articles/coal_miners_daughter.html
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
When a hotel guest complains about the volume, we head for a Mexican joint, where Helm orders the first of several rounds of extra-large Margaritas. As skinny as vermicelli, Helm is clean shaven and his brown hair is boyishly shott. He hardly looks his thirty-nine years, although closer scrutiny reveals the bits of gray hair and the deep lines around his brown eyes, left by years and years on the road. Yet those years and the fame and money they brought have left few other traces. In fact, Helm appears to be the real thing, an honest-to-goodness, down-home country boy. He lights a Merit, pulls on it a few times to make sure it's going and then offers it to me. He opens doors and remembers everyone's name and keeps inviting folks to stop in and see him when they're in Arkansas. Its the kind of invitation you take seriously. Levon Helm is the kind of guy you hoped the Marlboro Man would be.Helm attacks his Margarita, licks his lips and explains, "I met Tommy Lee Jones years ago through a mutual friend, Brad Dourif, a fine actor who is my neighbour up in Woodstock, New York. When the Coal Miner's Daughter deal came up, Tommy Lee apparently threw my name into the hat because there wasn't anyone in Hollywood quite country enough or something. Michael Apted [the directorl saw The Last Waltz [a film about the Band's farewelt coneertl and called me to Nashville to read for the part."Over another round, Helm continues. "I felt like such a fool," he says, embarrassed at the memory "I'm reading the Ted Webb part and Apted is reading the Loretta part and he's calling me daddy and I'm calling him Loretta. Lord!" A month later Helm was back in Nashville, where he hooked up with his old buddy Tommy Lee. Together, they drove to the first location, in Wise, Virginia, and along the way Jones gave Helm a crash course in acting. "Tommy Lee and I split a bottle of Wild Turkey," says Helm, "and he told me what to expect, how to pull it off." Helm breaks into a huge smile. "Tommy Lee is a good ol' boy from Texas, but he went up there to school (Harvard) and read Shakespeare and did a lot off wild stuff that a country boy wouldn't ordinarily do. He told me things like don't look at the camera, don't move too quick, don't talk too fast, do everything at a certain rhythm."Helm settles back in the booth. "See, it gets back to what I was saying. I don't understand it yet but there is a pitch and rhythm that is absolutely parallel in music and acting, and if l have the opportunity to be in a few more of these kinds of projects, l might be able to understand it."
Helm attacks his Margarita, licks his lips and explains, "I met Tommy Lee Jones years ago through a mutual friend, Brad Dourif, a fine actor who is my neighbour up in Woodstock, New York. When the Coal Miner's Daughter deal came up, Tommy Lee apparently threw my name into the hat because there wasn't anyone in Hollywood quite country enough or something. Michael Apted [the directorl saw The Last Waltz [a film about the Band's farewelt coneertl and called me to Nashville to read for the part."
Over another round, Helm continues. "I felt like such a fool," he says, embarrassed at the memory "I'm reading the Ted Webb part and Apted is reading the Loretta part and he's calling me daddy and I'm calling him Loretta. Lord!" A month later Helm was back in Nashville, where he hooked up with his old buddy Tommy Lee. Together, they drove to the first location, in Wise, Virginia, and along the way Jones gave Helm a crash course in acting. "Tommy Lee and I split a bottle of Wild Turkey," says Helm, "and he told me what to expect, how to pull it off." Helm breaks into a huge smile. "Tommy Lee is a good ol' boy from Texas, but he went up there to school (Harvard) and read Shakespeare and did a lot off wild stuff that a country boy wouldn't ordinarily do. He told me things like don't look at the camera, don't move too quick, don't talk too fast, do everything at a certain rhythm."
Helm settles back in the booth. "See, it gets back to what I was saying. I don't understand it yet but there is a pitch and rhythm that is absolutely parallel in music and acting, and if l have the opportunity to be in a few more of these kinds of projects, l might be able to understand it."
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
dunno if i've ever been this sad about the death of someone i don't know
― caulk the wagon and float it, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
He still shudders when he remembers his death scene. "Nobody wants to get into a coffin, but l didn't want to get marked as superstitious. So I asked Michael Apted to get in and show me exactly how he wanted me to lay." Helm laughs. "I figured he could kind of warm it up for me. lf he had the nerve, I had the nerve."As the mourners sang "Amazing Grace," Helm suddenly came to life. "I figured that it was my funeral, and I wanted that song sung the way I wanted: the traditional, old-fashioned way. I just got up, with my gone-for-good makeup on, and we worked it out, sang it a few times, then I got back in the coffin."
As the mourners sang "Amazing Grace," Helm suddenly came to life. "I figured that it was my funeral, and I wanted that song sung the way I wanted: the traditional, old-fashioned way. I just got up, with my gone-for-good makeup on, and we worked it out, sang it a few times, then I got back in the coffin."
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:23 (twelve years ago) link
And gotta say -- love the look on his face there:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/18/arts/20120418HELM-slide-HZID/20120418HELM-slide-HZID-popup.jpg
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
Think that might've been the same article where he said Robertson (who had already been in Carny, I guess) told him to think of acting like hitting a note. This was just sent out by Vanguard, label for most if not all of his recent albumshttp://gallery.mailchimp.com/1dff6e90b856dc06c872242fe/images/HELMdirtfarmer_6__1.jpg
― dow, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
So sad, can hardly listen to 'The night they drove old Dixie down' without getting a bit emotional, such a towering performance.
― fun loving and xtremely tolrant (Billy Dods), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:37 (twelve years ago) link
today i feel very much the way i did a couple years ago when Richie Hayward, the drummer of Little Feat, passed away. those guys are both total champs of their particular styles of playing and had amazing-sounding drum tracks.
― lathe darkman (some dude), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:49 (twelve years ago) link
I've got the same kind of feelings as when Alex Chilton died. From the same area as my family, around my dad's age. Enough passing degrees to feel just the slightest connection.
― pplains, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:52 (twelve years ago) link
http://theithacapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Levon3-430x496.jpg
:)
still kicking up dust
― Mississippi Butt Hurt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:13 (twelve years ago) link
http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/trotsky/sheet_mfbp_tb_2.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:17 (twelve years ago) link
Looking at me from my living room:
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/538771_10150749592763718_738343717_9456547_534071940_n.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:21 (twelve years ago) link
awesome. is that a Jon Langford piece?
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:26 (twelve years ago) link
this one is beautiful:
http://consumerist.com/images/resources/2007/03/levonhelm.jpg
― Mississippi Butt Hurt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:26 (twelve years ago) link
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg684/scaled.php?server=684&filename=70858276.png&res=landing
― pplains, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/landy_vision_01-2003/p16.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:31 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, it's part of a larger portion of the Band I bought from Jon a few years ago with a tax rebate. I told him it was my patriotic duty. I mentioned to him that Levon looked very angry, and he joked that he had a lot to be angry about.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
Portrait not portion, sorry.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:45 (twelve years ago) link
will now and forever rep for his cameo in 'Shooter'
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:54 (twelve years ago) link
don't know if he really pursued it, but seems like he could have had more of an acting career -- really a natural screen presence in coal miner's daughter.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:01 (twelve years ago) link
Man, I just heard about this. :(
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:01 (twelve years ago) link
http://images3.cinema.de/imedia/4349/2364349,1ebr0NNurHg7pyGaqTGvKFi1mYu8tK50F3X2zZsiWwAMnyqutUC3PCnSXCINeTLqa2V7iGzso9he3qrK0GLUUA==.jpg
"How come you don't sing more songs about oatmeal?"
― pplains, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
Josh -- you have info on that whole Band series? Internet search reveals nothing
― Grimy Little Pimp (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:30 (twelve years ago) link
It's a big cross with all their pictures. Dunno how to link besides posting another pic to Facebook, but I can try ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:33 (twelve years ago) link
awesome all caps thing from garth hudsonLEVON HELM LEFT US TODAY AT 1:30 PM, THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012. I AM TERRIBLY SAD. THANK YOU FOR 50 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP AND MUSIC. MEMORIES THAT LIVE ON WITH US. NO MORE SORROWS, NO MORE TROUBLES, NO MORE PAIN. HE WENT PEACEFULLY TO THAT BEAUTIFUL MARVELOUS WONDERFUL PLACE. HE WAS BUDDY RICH'S FAVORITE ROCK DRUMMER ... AND MY FRIEND. LEVON, I'M PROUD OF YOU.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:33 (twelve years ago) link
xpost Not to steal Garth's thunder, but you can see the whole thing here:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6942686409_c36a915659.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:34 (twelve years ago) link
HE WAS BUDDY RICH'S FAVORITE ROCK DRUMMER
high praise! and buddy doesn't strike me as a guy that gives out a lot of compliments
― Mississippi Butt Hurt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:34 (twelve years ago) link
lol it might be faint praise coming from buddy rich. but still! and that is an awesome band portrait! i want it.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
haha you mean "rock drummer" as faint praise?
listening to "rag momma rag"...the fills during the "we could be relaxing in our sleeping bag"...goddamn
― Mississippi Butt Hurt (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:37 (twelve years ago) link
I'm sure Rich actually meant it as honest praise! He was absolutely down on anyone who couldn't vary it up or didn't know that it wasn't simply about pounding away -- Helm in contrast knew exactly that, and compared to a lot of rock drummers, well, there you go...
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:38 (twelve years ago) link
maybe! just thought that being budy rich's "favorite rock drummer" probably means you're like his 1000th favorite drummer. like being glenn gould's favorite honky tonk pianist. whatever, it is great, would love to hear the story behind it. listening now to some dylan/band 74 stuff. even though he's not like an arena rock style drummer, levon could still fill up a big room.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
Manuel played drums on "Rag..." cause Levon was playing mandolin.
― Raymond Dubious Davies (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:42 (twelve years ago) link
ha, yeah, as noted in that mcguinn/sebastian thread, manuel is a pretty funky lil drummer himself.
― tylerw, Thursday, 19 April 2012 22:49 (twelve years ago) link