Those that praise Robbie robertson

[strumminsix]

I'm sure Jerry was an asshole at times too, Hell, aren't we all?

No. I'm an asshole all the time

[tcsned]

It's a bummer that bands disintegrate with in-fighting and hard feelings when they made some truly beautiful music together. They all did some good solo work, the band that toured as The Band after Robertson was a great band. They were all much better as a group. Robbie wrote some great songs for Rick and Levon's voices. The Stones and Beatles wrote all their tunes as Jagger/Richards and Lennon/McCartney though they all didn't pen every song together - seemed like an acknowledgment that tunes are a collaboration of all the parts and that writing a guitar hook in some ways is as important to a song as the lyrics and chords (Satisfaction for example). Robertson might be a jackass but none of us were there and present in the dynamics of that group and all the band members have opinions about who did what and to whom but we'll never really know for sure what happened. I've heard gossip about my band about shit that went down and it is so far from how I remember it and it supposedly came from one of my bandmates. We did a lot of partying back in those days, but I am sure shit didn't happen that way. But, reality is all perspective so it might just be my perspective that I see and other folks might have a different take. We had no where near the pressure, success, money, etc that The Band did so I'm sure that shit was amplified 100x. My point is, we'll never know for sure, but we can enjoy the great music they made before it all fell apart.

I've got a acquaintance who was Muddy Waters' guitar player in the Last Waltz, played with him for 7-8 years. Apparently Robertson wanted Muddy out of the show and Levon put his foot down and made sure he played and paid to get members of his band in too. He learned all that years later but always spoke very highly of Levon. Muddy had a heavy presence in that film and I am really glad Levon fought for him. Bob Margolin is the guy standing next to Muddy in the film, Pinetop Perkins, Muddy's piano player was also there but there was no camera on that side of the stage. We all owe Muddy Waters a lot for being a pioneer of electric blues and shaping rock and roll - he could easily be considered the King of Rock-n-Roll as much as Elvis IMHO. Bob Margolin lived here in Blacksburg for a few years back in the 80s and I got to play with him a handful of times - once he let me play his '57 Strat that he used with Muddy and in that movie, George Harrison and Eric Clapton also played that guitar on a Muddy tour of Europe. It was like holding museum piece, something I'll always remember.

The show was great for my "6 degrees of separation" to everyone in the music business

[TI4-1009]

I like his new CD, he and Clapton are a treat to listen to. A couple of the songs relate to The Band days and breakup.

[Charlie]

I really like Robbie Robertson's playing but when I listen to those old Band albums like Big Pink, well if ever a bunch of songs should qualify as group efforts, that should be them. To my ear it's the varied instrumentation the arrangements and the singing that makes them. I dunno. I guess the guys in the band with the business acumen seem to be the ones that end up with the money. The ones who aren't so savy and just want to play often don't end up with that much at all, even in well known bands.

[Dwarf Rat]

My experience with certain individuals is that you will get clawed, kicked, and beaten down while they fight their way to the top.