Levon Helm in final battle with throat cancer

[tarkus]

 

 

[Sven Golly]

Source? Every source I have says he's on his deathbed, but hasn't yet passed.

[DanS]

RIP Mr. Helm.

Damn it's been quite the week for passings!

My singer & I are even playing a tune at a friend's service tomorrow!

[Dana.]

Source? Every source I have says he's on his deathbed, but hasn't yet passed.

+1

[Tonysounds]

 

 

Premature, though the tears are warranted.

[tarkus]

sorry - was contacted by a friend saying that he passed.

 

prayers to his family

[Dana.]

You should change the title of this thread.

[tarkus]

You should change the title of this thread.

 

done - apologies

[MAJUSCULE]

Very sad. Had the chance to see him with his Family Band last year at the Edmonton Folk Fest. He didn't sing much. When he did, it was beautiful, but you could tell he was hurting. I guess this is just about it.

[Magpel]

It's big news around here, where Levon is a very visible local citizen (as is Garth Hudson, whom I actually jammed with a few weeks ago! Danko lived her too but was always a pretty big mess).

 

But Levon's whole late career renaissance has been a huge musical renaissance for our area. I know a bunch of people whose careers are very much hitched to Levon's and I feel for them, too, losing a friend (everyone adores the dude, btw) but also a really great gig. I have never met Levon. Had my chance several times and passed 'cause I am just not that kind of guy who collects those particular trophies.

 

But anyway, a great musical and community presence. He will be missed in a lot of ways

 

[Adan]

It's sad whenever someone like this passes, but oftentimes, we're talking about someone who hasn't done anything significant in years. Levon just kept going . . .

[David Loving]

So sad. What a great artist and good man.

[mate stubb]

[video:youtube]

[mate stubb]

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HworteKa3o

[Magpel]

It's official now. RIP Levon.

[MAJUSCULE]

RIP.

[Mogut]

is it just me, or does everyone seem to dying lately?

[Tonysounds]

Well, that sucks.

 

May your journey be a calm and peaceful one.

[richwhite9]

It's big news around here, where Levon is a very visible local citizen (as is Garth Hudson, whom I actually jammed with a few weeks ago! Danko lived her too but was always a pretty big mess).

 

But Levon's whole late career renaissance has been a huge musical renaissance for our area. I know a bunch of people whose careers are very much hitched to Levon's and I feel for them, too, losing a friend (everyone adores the dude, btw) but also a really great gig. I have never met Levon. Had my chance several times and passed 'cause I am just not that kind of guy who collects those particular trophies.

 

But anyway, a great musical and community presence. He will be missed in a lot of ways

 

The whole woodstock festival thing borders on parody some years at Bethel Woods (Country Joe's there in 2 weeks!) but it was Levon's commitment to roots music that kept things honest and admirable and frankly something other than pathetic.

[kanker.]

Levon was the nexus that American music passed through. He was, quite simply, essential. RIP Levon

[Magpel]

It's big news around here, where Levon is a very visible local citizen (as is Garth Hudson, whom I actually jammed with a few weeks ago! Danko lived her too but was always a pretty big mess).

 

But Levon's whole late career renaissance has been a huge musical renaissance for our area. I know a bunch of people whose careers are very much hitched to Levon's and I feel for them, too, losing a friend (everyone adores the dude, btw) but also a really great gig. I have never met Levon. Had my chance several times and passed 'cause I am just not that kind of guy who collects those particular trophies.

 

But anyway, a great musical and community presence. He will be missed in a lot of ways

 

The whole woodstock festival thing borders on parody some years at Bethel Woods (Country Joe's there in 2 weeks!) but it was Levon's commitment to roots music that kept things honest and admirable and frankly something other than pathetic.

 

Believe me, as a working non-roots, non-blues player and writer in this roots-fundamentalist region, I know all too well what you are saying. Woodstock (town of, not the concert) can't escape the long shadow of what is the late '60s and everything is measured not in comparison to Dylan and the Band, at the height of their powers, but in connection to it--who knows/knew whom etc. Very difficult premise on which to base a scene. I play in Woodstock frequently, and is is a TOUGH town to stir up anything in.

 

Bethel's a different place and a different thing. Levon was a total Woodstock homer. The bordering city of Kingston gave him a distinguished citizen award just last year, and his revitalization was based not on Bethel Woods, but on the Midnight Ramble, a Bi-monthly big ticket concert in Levon's own studio where about a hundred people would get to see a house band that included Levon and Larry Campbell, etc., and special guests like Donald Fagen and Elvis Costello, etc. It was from the Ramble that all the Dirt Farmer stuff came.

 

 

[Magpel]

And a thought just occurred--it is sadly funny, or indicative of something crass, that a kind of roots fundamentalist roots culture arose around the Band, because they were anything but purists. On those first two albums, they sound like a chamber pop group masquerading as a roots rock band. Honestly, the "Brown Album" owes as much to Aaron Copeland as it does to Woody Guthrie--I mean, "Jawbone" with its half dozen meter changes? I think that song even quotes Copeland.

 

If you didn't know, it is Richard Manual, not Levon, playing drums on Jawbone. Kinda shows. But what a song! I love Richard Manual!

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaajXl_6IOU

 

[EscapeRocks]

"I just need to find a place where I can lay my head.."

 

Well, Levon, lay your head and rest. You transcended generations.

You kept American roots music relevant. Thank you for your lifelong contributions to the arts via music, spoken word, and film.

 

 

 

Having spent much of my formative teen and young adult years traveling through and within the following part of the country, the scene I post from Easy Rider, has always been my favorite, made that much more powerful by The Band and Levon's voice. I've seen many sunsets and sunrises there.

Levon will always be part of that for me.

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkmbLoaORU

[Dave Ferris]

I've posted this before here about how between the years of approximately '72-'76 I was a huge Band fanatic. The group out of St. Louis/Illinois I was in at the time covered a ton of their tunes.

 

Basically they were my second "Beatles". I saw them with Dylan in Denver but never saw them on their own.

 

This is classic Levon sharing the lead here from probably my favorite Band album. Cahoots unfortunately never got the acclaim of Big Pink, Brown album or Stage Fright.

[video:youtube]

 

RIP sir..

 

 

 

[musicbysterling]

Truly sad. Besides his musical genius, I really loved his haunting acting roles in Shooter, Coal Miner's Daughter, the Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and In the Electric Mist. He was impeccably cast in these movies.

[richwhite9]

But Levon's whole late career renaissance has been a huge musical renaissance for our area......... Bethel's a different place and a different thing.

 

Levon was a total Woodstock homer.

 

 

Many people I know claim they made a Midnight Ramble. I must be the only guy in NW CT that never made one

 

I live closer, or as close, to Woodstock as Bethel is. The origins of that 70 mile misnomer is a piece of historical lore now.

 

Woodstock's 40th. Can't wait for the 50th

 

http://www.woodstock40thmovie.com/index.html

 

 

[Steve Nathan]

We knew it was coming, but it is no less sad. He and The Band was an enormous influence for me. I was "the kid" in a band with Stan Szelest, who had long played with Levon in "The Hawks". Stan taught me so much in my formative years, and was the first to introduce me to him. Adding his name to my credit list years later was one of my proudest achievements.

[Dave Ferris]

The sound on this is "youtube weird" but it was the only one I could find. I'd always dug Levon's vocal on this. "Moondog Matinee" was a little less known then their other records but had some great covers on it. Garth played some smokin' piano here too.

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTmg5lg8U9w&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLE0887BA15A7BD1D9

 

Imo, one of their coolest grooves, while he's singing no less ! The Band funkin' out !

(sorry for the ad)

[video:youtube]

[Dave Ferris]

One thing I always found almost comical in listening to The Band, was LH and Danko's groove often sounded like they tripped and were falling down a flight of steps at times-almost Monk-like.

 

Even on the straight- ahead RnR groove on Promised Land you hear these little quirks in the drums and the groove. Nobody else could ever get that same effect like Levon and Danko.

 

King Harvest is another one, man that's great. Someone posted this here before I remember. The bass and drums aren't mixed as up front as the Brown album.

 

[video:youtube]

[Joe Muscara]

I was really moved by the AP obit in my local paper. It also mentioned that Robbie went to see him.