I just finished reading This Wheel’s on Fire, which is the biography of Levon Helm, the drummer for The Band. It is a good book, but not worth reading unless you like The Band or that era of music. Since I read so you don’t have to, here are the 10 most interesting tidbits from the book.
(1) During live performances, guitarist Robbie Robertson would sing into a turned off microphone. Robertson was not a strong singer, but pretended to sing backup for appearances. A planned live record was scrapped when Robertson mic was accidently left on during recording.
(2) Robertson comes off as a bit of an egomaniac who screwed his bandmates out of money and broke up The Band prematurely due to his desire to work in the movies.
(3) Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel all sang lead vocals on various songs. But all the members of The Band consider Manuel to be the true lead singer, and he is revered as one of the best rock vocalists to have ever lived.
(4) Organ player Garth Hudson was the only member of The Band who could read sheet music and is credited with giving The Band its orchestral sound. He was also a complete weirdo.
(5) Despite points 4 and 5, Manuel and Hudson get little screen time in The Last Waltz. Not coincidentally, the movie was edited by director Martin Scorcesce and Robertson jointly. After the movie was filmed the two broke up with their respective wives and moved into together, spending cocaine filled days editing the movie in blacked out rooms.
(6) A cocaine booger was hanging from Neil Young’s noise as he sings Helpless during The Last Waltz. It was digitially edited out of the film.
(7) Eric Clapton disbanded Cream after hearing The Band’s first album, Music from the Big Pank. He was so blown away by the album that he had a musical breakdown and decided to change direction.
(8) The Band played as a backup band for eight years for Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan before making their first real album. They were renowned as the best live band in the country during that time. They were the backing band during the tours where Dylan went electric.
(9) The Band was entirely non-political, and seemed to have few interests beyond playing music. And women and drugs.
(10) Neil Diamond was invited to play at the Last Waltz by Robbie Robertson over the objections of other band members. According to Helm, his set put people to sleep and other guests wondered rudely why he was there.
