Levon Helm

guess it is official. RIP, Levon.

man ...

RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZaU3VtMfoM

:(
RIP

RIP a great man and musician

going to have to spin some 'northern lights, southern cross' tonight

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.

rip

RIP, another one of the greats, guess it's gonna keep being like this, on & on.

RIP, watched him in "The Right Stuff" last night. A very rare talent.

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

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."

dunno if i've ever been this sad about the death of someone i don't know

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."

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

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 albums
http://gallery.mailchimp.com/1dff6e90b856dc06c872242fe/images/HELMdirtfarmer_6__1.jpg

So sad, can hardly listen to 'The night they drove old Dixie down' without getting a bit emotional, such a towering performance.

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.

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.

http://theithacapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Levon3-430x496.jpg

:)

still kicking up dust

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/trotsky/sheet_mfbp_tb_2.jpg

Looking at me from my living room:

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/538771_10150749592763718_738343717_9456547_534071940_n.jpg

awesome. is that a Jon Langford piece?

this one is beautiful:

http://consumerist.com/images/resources/2007/03/levonhelm.jpg

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg684/scaled.php?server=684&filename=70858276.png&res=landing

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/landy_vision_01-2003/p16.jpg

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.

Portrait not portion, sorry.

will now and forever rep for his cameo in 'Shooter'

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.

Man, I just heard about this. :(

http://images3.cinema.de/imedia/4349/2364349,1ebr0NNurHg7pyGaqTGvKFi1mYu8tK50F3X2zZsiWwAMnyqutUC3PCnSXCINeTLqa2V7iGzso9he3qrK0GLUUA==.jpg

"How come you don't sing more songs about oatmeal?"

Josh -- you have info on that whole Band series? Internet search reveals nothing

It's a big cross with all their pictures. Dunno how to link besides posting another pic to Facebook, but I can try ...

awesome all caps thing from garth hudson
LEVON 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.

xpost Not to steal Garth's thunder, but you can see the whole thing here:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6942686409_c36a915659.jpg

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

lol it might be faint praise coming from buddy rich. but still!
and that is an awesome band portrait! i want it.

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

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...

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.

Manuel played drums on "Rag..." cause Levon was playing mandolin.

ha, yeah, as noted in that mcguinn/sebastian thread, manuel is a pretty funky lil drummer himself.

wondering if dylan will do anything for levon tonight, looks like he's playing a show in brazil.

Manuel played drums on "Rag..." cause Levon was playing mandolin.

― Raymond Dubious Davies (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, April 19, 2012 5:42 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damn! didn't know that!

God, this is so sad. RIP Levon.

This interview is from February. He seemed so happy and full of energy! This is such a shock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVey5eGRZqk

aw man, RIP

Manuel played drums on "Rag..." cause Levon was playing mandolin.

It's also Richard on "Ain't No More Cane," one of my 2 or 3 favorite Band songs.

Think I've seen mentions of shows where Manuel and Helm doubled up on drums--?