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A must for fans of The Band...


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Hell i was born in 1950, but only saw them once.

 

LouieB

The one time being w/ teh Dylan on the Before the Flood Tour,right?

You dawg.. :lol

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I saw Levon walking down the street in Kingston once.

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The one time being w/ teh Dylan on the Before the Flood Tour,right?

You dawg.. :lol

Yea, I get lots of mileage out of it.... :lol

 

In terms of how long these guys were around, between Big Pink and the Last Waltz was less than a decade. Considering the Before the Flood tour was in 74 and the Last Waltz was 76, they broke up fairly soon after.

 

I only recall hearing about one other performance in Chicago, which a friend of mine did go to. Either way it kind of reflects a line from the Dylan song "Been a long time coming, gonna be a long time gone...." The Band really was a relatively short term band, but then alot of bands are I guess. And considering there were some personality conflicts from early on, I guess we should be happy they recorded as much as they did.

 

LouieB

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The group's history went back nearly as far as the Beatles, to 1958 (just about the time that the formative Beatles gave up skiffle for rock & roll). Ronnie Hawkins, an Arkansas-born rock & roller who aspired to a real career, put together a backing band that year that included his fellow Arkansan Levon Helm (born May 26, 1940), who played drums (as well as credible guitar) and had led his own band, the Jungle Bush Beaters. The new outfit, Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks, was recording by the spring of 1958 and gigged throughout the south and also up in Ontario, Canada, where the money was better than in their native American south. It was the fact of being based in Canada late in 1959, coupled with pianist Willard Jones leaving the lineup, that got Hawkins to start looking at some of the local music talent in Toronto; Hawkins approached a musician named Scott Cushnie about joining the Hawks on keyboards. Cushnie was already playing in a band with Robbie Robertson (born in 1944), however, and would only join Hawkins if he came along.

 

After some resistance from Hawkins, Robertson came into the lineup on bass, replacing a departing Jimmy Evans. More multiple lineup switches took place over the next few years, Robbie Robertson shifting to rhythm guitar behind Fred Carter's (and, briefly, Roy Buchanan's) lead playing. Rick Danko (born December 29, 1942) came in on bass in 1961, followed by Richard Manuel (born April 3, 1944) on piano and backing vocals. Around that same time, Garth Hudson (born August 2, 1937), a classically trained musician who could read music, became the last piece of the initial puzzle as organ player.

 

For four years, from 1959 through 1963, Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks were one of the hottest rock & roll bands working, which was very special in a time when rock & roll had supposedly died. Hawkins himself was practically Toronto's answer to Elvis Presley, and he remained true to the music even as Presley himself softened and broadened his sound. The mix of personalities within the group meshed well, better than they did with Hawkins, who, unbeknownst to him, was soon the odd man out in his own group. As new members Danko, Manuel, and Hudson came aboard -- all Canadian, and replacing Hawkins' fellow southerners -- Hawkins lost control of the group, to some extent, as they began working together more closely.

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Yea, I get lots of mileage out of it.... :lol

 

In terms of how long these guys were around, between Big Pink and the Last Waltz was less than a decade. Considering the Before the Flood tour was in 74 and the Last Waltz was 76, they broke up fairly soon after.

 

I only recall hearing about one other performance in Chicago, which a friend of mine did go to. Either way it kind of reflects a line from the Dylan song "Been a long time coming, gonna be a long time gone...." The Band really was a relatively short term band, but then alot of bands are I guess. And considering there were some personality conflicts from early on, I guess we should be happy they recorded as much as they did.

 

LouieB

I'll take quality over quantity every time.I just get disappointed that I was only 14 when the Band broke up (w/ Robbie in it,that is).Of course,I wasn't listening to them then..it was all about The Zep man :rock

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