The immortal Levon Helm

[garp]

Today, the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress announced its 2019 inductees. Somehow, I'm not surprised that two of the films involve prominent appearances by Levon Helm:

• "The Last Waltz" (1978) – as himself; directed by Martin Scorsese
• "Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980) – as Ted Webb (Loretta Lynn's dad); directed by Michael Apted

I tend to think that if he was still with us, Levon would say: "F that 'Waltz' crap. But, well, I wasn't half bad in that Sissy Spacek flick." He also had numerous other appearance on celluloid over the years.

Rest in peace, Levon.

 

[fhm555]

Today, the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress announced its 2019 inductees. Somehow, I'm not surprised that two of the films involve prominent appearances by Levon Helm:

• "The Last Waltz" (1978) – as himself; directed by Martin Scorsese
• "Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980) – as Ted Webb (Loretta Lynn's dad); directed by Michael Apted

I tend to think that if he was still with us, Levon would say: "F that 'Waltz' crap. But, well, I wasn't half bad in that Sissy Spacek flick." He also had numerous other appearance on celluloid over the years.

Rest in peace, Levon.

I saw an interview with Levon after he did Coal Miners Daughter. He said Tommy Lee Jones told him acting was just real life done more slowly, that he should just cut the speed of his movements and pace of his speech and everything else would take care of itself. He said it took a couple tries but he finally found his rhythm and didn’t have any problem doing the movie after that.
After seeing the interview i thought imagine that, Levon Helm the tasteful human metronome finding the proper tempo for acting with no trouble at all.

 

[bobba66]

I love the Last Waltz. Re-watch it every couple years.

 

[the harp unstrung]

This is Great need!

Immortal indeed!

Cheers!!

 

[cdef]

I love the Last Waltz. Re-watch it every couple years.

These are documentary recordings of the main "Last Waltz" concert, just as it went down -
no edits, no overdubs, apparently shot with Winterland's house equipment:

Part 1:


Part 2 (blocked, regrettably):


Part 3:

 

[garp]

The PBS Newshour recently did a nice interview with John Sebastian (of The Lovin' Spoonful fame) about Levon's barn. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of shows at the barn before Levon's passing – it's truly a magical performance/recording space.

 

[Ostie]

Levon was an American (and Canadian) treasure.

 

[Michedelic]

Also on PBS was “Ramble at the Ryman”...

 

[Michedelic]

He guested on this poignant Los Lobos track about a challenged child...

 

[Guild B301]

When “The Last Waltz“ first was in theaters, I had to get my parents to drive me to the nearest big city 30 miles away to see it. I liked it so much, that I talked them into doing that four weekends in a row. When it came back around to a $1 theater on its second run, I got my older cousin who already had a driver’s license to take me. At that time, going to those movies took a lot of my savings away, which I was saving for musical equipment. Still, I believe they (The Band) helped me, by setting very high standard, that have ever since, tried to emulate. Gotta Love Levon.