This Film Should Be Played Loud ... 49 Years of The Last Waltz

What is Shangri-La?
It's a club house where we get together and play. Make records.
  Yeah.           
Kind of better. It's like an office, I guess.It used to be a bordello.
A bordello?
You can tell by the wallpaper.

On November 25, 1976, The Band played what was to be their last show. What they did not know was that, with the help of a handful of very special musical friends and the under the direction of Martin Scorsese, this concert film would become of the greatest concert films every produced. It captured The Band at their summit and put some of our musical greats in a time capsule of musical decadence. While there are musical politics surrounding the making of the film, all should be assured that the music fan only sees what greatness came from that night.

Where else are you going to find Dr. John, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Allen Toussaint, Muddy Waters, Ringo Starr, and Van Morrison performing on one stage. It was an odd era of music as the grandiose behavior and decadence was beginning to wane on many. Bill Graham, concert promoter legend, spearheaded the concert at his venue, Winterland on Thanksgiving Day. Concert goers would enjoy a full dinner before the show.


If you want the full experience, you must watch the film and listen to the recordings. Some of the show's highlights were not included in the final cut. But Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson gave us 11 songs that are a snapshot of an era. The additional songs by the artists are simply the gratuitous adornments to an already glittery affair.

Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, and Bobby Charles

From Levon Helm's passionate performance of The Night they Drove Ole Dixie Down to the classic concert closer, The Weight, each song is its own timeless masterpiece. By this point, The Band had been touring for over fifteen years and the excesses began to break everyone down. But to their credit, they ended at their best. While there were subsequent attempts - this was the quintessential The Band.

A great example of the talent of The Band that was on stage at Winterland on November 25, 1976, can be seen and heard in what is the show's opening song. The band is strong, energetic, and seems like they could go on for a few hours. This was actually their last song of the night - over five hours from when they

first started playing.

Because of technology and social media, we will never, ever have moments like these again. You bought paper tickets, probably did lines of coke off your dinner plate, and then sang for over five hours to some of the greatest musicians to play their craft. There was no simulcast or YouTube of it. Besides Scorsese's vision, this is all we have of this moment in time. Music fans had some dinner and watched an amazing show, not realizing they were a part of something so very special that would still be performed and remembered so vividly forty years later.

Levon Helm and Ringo Star

Fairytales and I Love You

November 22nd still hangs in my heart so heavy - the day Michael's smile faded into obscurity and his legend would be tarnished with the actions of his final years. But still, we grieve, we mourn, and we celebrate the rock god of our adolescence.

It's been 28 years since INXS lost their magnetic north. The band has most recently ended their reign, never coming back from that loss of their lead singer. INXS exists now only in our memories. And what glorious memories they are.

Fancy dinner parties, ballerinas on the Charles Bridge, red desert sunsets, beautiful blondes, brunettes, Mad Max underworlds, and motorcycles in Hong Kong painted the video world of INXS. Live Baby Live gave us the Michael we all know. He enthralled the 74,000 fans in attendance at Wembley, making us sway back and forth like high school lovers when we heard the first notes of Never Tear Us Apart and The Stairs. He was a musician, actor, son, brother, friend, and father. What he gave to us and to his fellow band mates are incredible memories, cemented forever in some of the best times of our lives. 

Again, I must thank my flat mates in Sydney for taking that very hot trek to see Michael's memorial. Who knew how many cemeteries there were in suburban Sydney. It was a nod to my past and the musical memories he gave me. I had to thank the man I crushed on for years. It was hard to think how quickly his bright star could quickly be diminished. In our hearts, he lives on as the charismatic lead singer. In our memories, he is the sad ending of a paparazzi nightmare. In our ears, his voice will be forever golden.     

It's so strange
How my life's changed
I know nothing
About the people that I touched

~Michael Hutchence - Possibilities

Tears Fall Down My Face

Michael Hutchence Memorial - Sydney 2000

28 years ago on November 22nd, the music world lost an enigmatic soul. Michael Kelland Hutchence was more than an 80s pop icon. To his fans, he was a free-spirited artist who helped to change the music and video world. He was a musician, actor, father, husband, brother, and son. And yes, he had his demons, but don't we all? 

Michael will forever be remembered as the sexy bad boy with cinnamon curls and caramelized skin. INXS wasn't a stranger to the Australian pop scene in the early 80's. It really was not until Kick in 1987 that they broke through and became known internationally. But like with any band, it was Michael, the lead singer who got all of the attention. Even today, mention Kirk Pengilly or Andrew Farriss and people will just look at you quizzically. 

From Kylie to Helena to Paula, Michael's exploits were tabloid fodder and paparazzi dollars. Once the star began to fall, everyone wanted to know his next move. His death, shocking and heartbreaking, became even more tragic when Paula Yates also died soon after, leaving their daughter without parents. It is also his death that most will remember. For me, it doesn't matter how he died. He's gone. End of story. 

While I love their earlier albums just as much as Kick, X, or Welcome to Wherever You Are, the X tour and subsequent Live Baby Live at Wembley Stadium in 1991 is when Michael was at the very top of his career. My God, they filled Wembley!  This show and tour was a testament to not just INXS, but to Michael's ability to entertain an entire stadium full of fans. 

His loss was not just felt in the world of his fans but in his music family. The band tried to go on, but the night I saw them in Sydney in 2000 was just not the same. The night I met Bono under the Brooklyn Bridge, which just happened to be November 22nd, we hugged over the memory of Michael. 

But you tore a hole in space
Like a dark star, falls from grace
You burn across the sky
And I would find you wings to fly
And I would catch you
I would catch your fall

 Michael Hutchence and Bono - Fly Away

Jeff Buckley ... Everyone's Lover

Jeff Buckley was best described the one night 11 years ago at the Annual New York City Tribute as everyone's lover. That statement could not be truer. Everyone at Arlene's had their "first time I heard Jeff" story, akin to comparing our first night to a sensuous lover. Everyone knows where they were the first time they heard his angelic voice.


What I loved about the event that Robert Urban once produced each year was that it wasn't just a carbon copy of Grace...it was songs that Jeff performed and loved. Starting off with Zeppelin's Kashmir and The Rain Song, the night continued with incredible artists such as Elijah Black, Tracy Stark, Randy Jones, Jason Morris, Tanya Holt, Marcus Simeone, and Gretchen Reinhagen. We heard Everybody Hear Wants You and Mojo Pin covered by Tara Lynne, some Dylan, some Billie Holiday, and Maya Solovey and guests performed gorgeous renditions of So Real, Lilac Wine, and Lover, You Should Have Come Over.  The biggest surprise was hearing Yard of Blonde Girls, covered beautifully by Mike Linkens. Hearing Hallelujah as a duet was simple something none of us had EVER thought of and it was nothing short of magical and Jeff would have loved it.

Another year goes by, and more are discovering the wonder of Jeff that we have all known and loved for years. His mystery will always draw people to him, his (in)famous father deepens the enigma, and we will always wonder what would have become of Jeff had he lived another circle around the sun.

Happy 59th Jeff. We love and miss you.