Boycotting the Robbie Robertson Book ( A Rant)

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
I am a music nerd. I can tell you backstories of my favorite groups that you've never read before. One that stands out is The Band. Before my time in a sense but I learned to appreciate them early on. Songs that painted pictures and created memorable characters...Virgil Caine, Ophelia, Carmen, Crazy Chester...

They started out as a backup for singer Ronnie Hawkins, later they backed Bob Dylan. Then they became a force of their own with the ironic name. Any accounts you read will tell you the same story. By 1976 Robbie Robertson fancied himself an actor and whatever else. He told the other members he wanted out.

He had also become an addled coke head with his buddy Marty Scorcese. The movie "The Last Waltz" was filmed to benefit Robbie and Marty. The rest of the group were kicked to the curb. Levon Helm was the most scathing voice and also the one who figuratively and literally rose above the ashes.

Robbie has recently published a memoir. Rather than apologizing for forty years ago he carries on his own self-serving feeble story. Rather than " Yup me and Marty were way total coke heads", he tries to point out that the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin made him want to quit touring. What a douchebag.
 

Just a few more thoughts on the subject. I've been reading excerpts from Vanity Fair. It seems like he was too lazy to even write a storyline. Maybe he's just a lousy author but it's as if someone took his interviews from "The Last Waltz" and printed them into a book. You'd expect some kind of apology or reveal and there is just nothing there.

But then again Levon Helm had the last laugh. Robbie failed as an actor and his solo records sold poorly. Levon became a character actor and continued to be a popular musician up until his death. Just plain jealousy there on Robbie's part. I might leaf through the pictures at the book store but not bothering to read it.
 
Yeah he was known as having a huge ego for a long time there. I wouldn't be tempted to read it.
 

Good stuff!! Robbie Robertson is now and always was a PUNK. He burned the other members of The Band out of their fair share of Publushing Rights on songs.

Levon was the driving force behind The Band, no matter what the PUNK tries to portray.

U.V.
 
UncleVinny said:
Good stuff!! Robbie Robertson is now and always was a PUNK. He burned the other members of The Band out of their fair share of Publushing Rights on songs.

Levon was the driving force behind The Band, no matter what the PUNK tries to portray.

U.V.
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Unfortunately you;re addressing the spirit of Fureverywhere, if she's looking down on us..R.I>P
 
Sorry to hear that. Although, I believe fully that when we exit this plane of existence, we absolutely do crossover through the veil to...well I am still not positive as to where the "to" is. With that in mind, Fur is still around.

Thanks for the heads up!!

U.V.
 
Here in Canada Robbie has been roasted for some of his more laughable stories, including that his father was a Jewish mob guy from Montreal, and that his mother was a Mohawk princess. Yes he was born on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford Ontario, but he only started being a " native " in the 90's when it was fashionable to be one. I never saw The Band as a rock band. To me their stuff was country music with a strong element of comedy to it. Trivia bit.....Between leaving Ronnie Hawkins and starting to back Bob Dylan, they cut a couple of 45's as " The Canadian Squires" on a obscure Toronto label. Second trivia bit.......Over the years the line up of the Hawks saw about 15 players come and go, one of whom was a guy who later won a whole shelf of Grammies....David Foster. He didn't last long under Ronnie Hawkin's leadership in Toronto. Foster was unwilling to spend hours practicing after playing a full night at a club, as was Ronnie's standard way of doing things. JImB.
 
The Band had a lot of New Orleans jazz and blues influence. Add to that, some Bo Diddly rhythms, rockabilly, folk music, country blues and host of other spices to make the stew that became their sound.

As far as Robbie's integrity, that was indeed questionable. He became extremely wealthy while the other members struggled. Although he was the writer of most of their songs, the songs would never have even charted without the sound the entire band created. They had three of the greatest voices in rock-and-roll with Rick, Richard, and Levon. Add to that, the virtuosity of all the members who played together as a unit to provide them with their unique sound.

For that reason, Robbie should have shared the royalties with the other members since he never would have been as successful without them. It's like the Beatles. Together they were one of the greatest bands in the world, but after the band broke up, they all had successful solo careers, but nothing compared to what they had when they all played together.
 
I took the book out of the library. I found some of the book interesting, but also felt Robbie sure wanted to blow his own horn. Plus, he didn't seem to feel he wanted to say much from his career after The Band. His story was a disappointment to me, in those ways.

On another, but related, topic: I feel there should be a subsection on Entertainment for Books. I know Web stuff has pulled a lot of people away from full-blown reading, but aren't there still some of us who read books? Anybody else feel this way? (I don't mean to hijack this thread, so maybe I should start a thread on this topic, and book readers could lend support for the idea? Then I could delete this post of mine.)
 
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hollydolly said:
Unfortunately you;re addressing the spirit of Fureverywhere, if she's looking down on us..R.I>P
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Hi Holly, I addressed the several members who had posted on this thread. In the second part of my post (above), I tried to address "readers" who read books. Wondering if the Entertainment section of SF should have a subsection devoted to Books. What do you think about this? Do you think there'd be enough members on SF who read books to warrant a request that such a subsection be added?
 
Old thread revived about an old band.
The Band breakup was contentious. Last performance together, not so much.
"The Last Waltz" show is or was available on Amazon Prime.
Enjoyed it so much I watched it three or four times last year.
These two performances were my favorites of "The Last Waltz".
Greatly enjoyed listening to them again before posting here :cool:


 
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As a music lover, I have found it's best to concentrate on the music, and to put all the drama around it in another box. I either enjoy the music or not, and the meaning of a specific piece of music is personal to me. There are many musicians who have done or said things I don't like or appreciate, but that's their prerogative. If I like the music, that's all there is to it. We don't always know the full story to things.

The last autobiography I read was Chris Frantz from Talking Heads. He never misses a beat when wanting to criticize David Byrne. It got really tiresome.
 

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