Page 5 of 5 FirstFirst 12345
Results 101 to 111 of 111

Thread: Levon Helm

  1. #101
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    I saw the news about today being the ninth anniversary of Levon Helm's passing, and rather than start a thread about him, thought I'd bump up one. This is it - lots of wonderful stuff in here. What a great musician and person, to have inspired so many, so much, and so often.

    I love this video from an appearance on Letterman's show in 1983. I'm not sure why he has his F4 with him all through the interview - no why Dave never asks him - but that is a LOT of screen time for our beloved instrument. The story about having to reschedule because his truck caught on fire on the way in ... Wow! He's awfully reluctant to tell it, but Dave gets it out of him. And a bunch of other good stuff.

    He does a bang-up job on "Rag Mama Rag" at around the 8:00 mark. Enjoy! He was the one and only.

    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  2. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to journeybear For This Useful Post:


  3. #102

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    I just finished Levon's biography by Sandra B. Tooze. It is a wonderful book about a wonderful man.

  4. #103
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Ms
    Posts
    398

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    I posted a tutorial here to Rag Mama Rag and Levon doing it also some months back and it slipped thru the cracks

  5. #104

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Lovely man. His autobiography is well worth reading.
    Ellis A5 Tradition, Red Diamond F5, Duff F5, D35, Gliga violin.
    http://www.michaelromkey.com
    http://www.bucktownrevue.com

  6. #105
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Quote Originally Posted by CBFrench View Post
    I posted a tutorial here to Rag Mama Rag and Levon doing it also some months back and it slipped thru the cracks
    Please find it and post the link here, where more eyes are likely to see it.

    "Rag Mama Rag" is one of those songs that truly affected me, beyond just liking it tremendously. As I said in Post #21 before he left us and again in Post #54 afterward, it was one of the first times I'd heard mandolin in a rock song, an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience. I'll reprise Post #54 for ease of reading, because I don't know what else to add to it. Except bless him for having been here and having done what he did, and us for having been fortunate enough to experience what we could of what he had to offer, and did.

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    I knew that Levon was going but I didn't want to believe it. And I knew that when he went words would fail me. So I will repeat what I posted to his facebook page, with a little bit more, which, if I had known his wife was going to read to him, I would have included.

    So sad to hear of Levon passing. But so glad for all he had given to so many people for so long. And as a mandolinist, I can't adequately express my thanks for all his playing did for me. One of the first times I heard mandolin in a rock song was on "Rag Mama Rag" (THE first was Ry Cooder playing on The Rolling Stones' version of "Love In Vain" - I think), and it hipped me to a way the instrument could be played that I had not known before.

    It was a great honor for my band to open for The Band many years later (the reunited version), and an everlasting honor, privilege, and delight to meet Levon, however briefly, in the green room before the show. We were just a local jug band from CT, opening for a great, renowned, much beloved band, but they were all so kind, gracious, and friendly. (Garth Hudson, the quiet one on stage, kind of monopolized the conversation, but I didn't care however he rambled, it was so very cool meeting them.) Levon seemed quite untouched by all the fame and accolades that had been heaped upon him over the years - just a down to earth guy, who loved playing music.

    That is what I remember most about him from this experience - how just plain folks he was. And as I've listened to the way he played mandolin since then, I was struck by one thing more than anything else. He may not have been a virtuoso, he may not have been able to play rings around a whole lot of other players, but he found how to make his instrument his voice, to get it to express himself through it. And that is one of the key aspects of being a good player - true self-expression by reducing as much as possible the gap between what one thinks and what one plays. He was just as much a just plain folks player as person.

    The world is a better place to live in for him having been in it. My heart goes out to him and to those who love him and whom he has loved.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  7. #106
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Ms
    Posts
    398

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Please find it and post the link here, where more eyes are likely to see it.
    Here it is and a great tune to know and play... https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...0-Rag-Mama-Rag

  8. The following members say thank you to CBFrench for this post:


  9. #107
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Holy mother of pearl! I wonder if, during the last nine years, anyone has noticed this, and mentioned it, and I never picked up on it. Or is it just me and my inscrutable mind?

    I was fixing dinner, with tunes running through my head, as they often do. I've got a jukebox in my brain, I swear, and it's pretty darned good and accurate, most of the time. Well, the needle dropped on "Rag Mama Rag," quite naturally. The song got to where he was going to go to the railroad track and let the train scratch his back. What time was that train due? The 4:19. What day is this? Why, 4/19, of course! I had to double check, and sure enough. Of all number combinations to choose.

    OMG! Is that prophetic, or what? It does indeed seem the train did just what he said, didn't it? It was just punctuated differently. That is wild!
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  10. #108
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Ms
    Posts
    398

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Holy mother of pearl! I wonder if, during the last nine years, anyone has noticed this, and mentioned it, and I never picked up on it. Or is it just me and my inscrutable mind?

    I was fixing dinner, with tunes running through my head, as they often do. I've got a jukebox in my brain, I swear, and it's pretty darned good and accurate, most of the time. Well, the needle dropped on "Rag Mama Rag," quite naturally. The song got to where he was going to go to the railroad track and let the train scratch his back. What time was that train due? The 4:19. What day is this? Why, 4/19, of course! I had to double check, and sure enough. Of all number combinations to choose.

    OMG! Is that prophetic, or what? It does indeed seem the train did just what he said, didn't it? It was just punctuated differently. That is wild!
    and on the first chord doing a chop using 4250 chord (whatever that is ha E7?) then down a half-step to 314x (one lick) back to 4250 is a cool little intro move going into fiddle lick
    Last edited by CBFrench; Apr-19-2021 at 10:03pm.

  11. #109
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Statement from Bob Dylan upon Levon Helm's passing:

    He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I'm going to miss him, as I'm sure a whole lot of others will too.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  12. #110
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    South of Cleburne, North of Hillsboro, Texas
    Posts
    5,089

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Thanks for bumping this!

    Here's another more recent thread of interest to Levon fans https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...779-Levon-Helm

    Check out my post #15 ... it has a newly published clip of an interview by Happy Traum of Levon and Larry Campbell from 2009, following the release of Electric Dirt
    WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
    ----------------------------------
    "Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN

    ----------------------------------
    HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
    Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
    The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
    - Advice For Mandolin Beginners
    - YouTube Stuff

  13. The following members say thank you to Mark Gunter for this post:


  14. #111
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Levon Helm

    Ten years (yesterday) since Levon Helm's passing, and the memory of that still grieves me, but not as much as the memory of his life and music gladdens me. His music, and all of The Band's music, gave me so much joy, comfort, and enlightenment, while they were active and current, and still do, ever since. By an odd coincidence, I see that Levon's birthdate is the same date as when my dear friend and mentor Patrick Sky passed, coming up to a year ago now. Now there is a circle being completed.

    Fare thee well, Levon. Gone but not forgotten. Indeed, always remembered.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  15. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to journeybear For This Useful Post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •