Saturday Night at Levon's

Monday April 2 7:30 PM

As most of you know I'm a big music fan. Always have some tune in my head. Right now I'm hearing Positively Fourth Street by Dylan, thinking about Claude Julien and Lou Lamoriello. I take vacation time around the Jazz Fest and try to book time off whenever I see an artist I admire booked into a small club in New York or Boston. Live music is an addiction of mine (along with caffeine and potato chips) that can be costly but healthy. It often provides me the same spiritual lift that many people get through organized religion. This past weekend I visited the church of Levon.

Levon Helm is one of the founding members of The Band. A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who still lives close to where the group created such great music in the late 60's and early 70s. Music From Big Pink is one of the seminal albums of the 60s ("It changed my life" said Eric Clapton), and it actually still exists. The house where The Band lived is located in Saugerties near Woodstock, New York. It was painted pink. Apparently still is. Most people hear Woodstock and think of the music festival in 1969. But the festival was actually held about 35 miles away in Bethel. Woodstock already had a long history of attracting artists, musicians and writers long before Bob Dylan and The Band moved in. While Robbie Robertson and the late Richard Manuel eventually moved away, Garth Hudson, the late Rick Danko and Helm all stayed.

Today Levon lives about a five minute drive from the center of town. I was among a group of about 150 music fans who got to hang out in his home on saturday night as part of his continuing Midnight Ramble sessions. I'd call it heaven. Once you arrive on his property in the woods, friends and neighboors outfitted with "Helmland Security" t-shirts hand you your tickets and direct you to a parking spot. And it's nothing but good vibes for the rest of the night.

I first read about the Midnight Ramble in the Sunday New York Times about a year ago. It sounded almost too good to be true. Levon Helm is creating a lasting impression of the power of live music (in an era that relies so heavily on packaging and all that is phony) similar to what he grew up experiencing in sheds and open fields and front porches in his home state of Arkansas; not to mention the old medicine shows that used to roll into his and other southern towns. Throw in fans from across the world who show up for this event, many bringing food and drinks for all to share, and you have an evening that is simply unforgettable.
I urge you to make a pilgrimmage.

http://www.levonhelm.com/midnight_ramble.htm

Got a chance to walk around the town for a couple of hours prior to the show. There's certainly no shortage of "Woodstock Nation" memorabilia (almost expected to find some of the bad brown acid from the festival freeze dried and on sale, along with a Jimi Hendrix plastic cast) but what struck me was how many burned out casualties seemed to be walking around, most looking just like the Dennis Hopper character in Apocalypse Now. Bill Lee suggested that they've all been pickled.

That's not to say it's not a neat spot. It's located in the Catskill Mountains. Beautiful and peaceful. A refreshing way to wind up a weekend after spending a couple of enjoyable but frenzied nights in Manhatten including a night at The Chelsea Hotel following a concert by The Allman Brothers.

More details to follow. Enjoy the matzoh.

Favorite Jewish musicians:

1. Bob Dylan (Zimmerman)
2. Elvis Presley (Original family name was Pressler): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley
3. Lou Reed
4. Warren Zevon (father was Jewish gangster)
5. Leonard Cohen
6. Joey Ramone
7. Dan Bern
8. Paul Simon
9. Steve Wynn
10. Kinky Friedman
11. Ramblin' Jack Elliott (Adnopoz)
12. Mike Bloomfield
13. Al Jolson
14. Lucy Kaplansky
15. Jackie Wilson (converted)