Prior to and since Levon's death, I have been to several Midnight Rambles. I was actually at the very last one that Levon took part in, with Los Lobos as his guests. Every Ramble I attended was well worth the cost and the nearly two-hour drive up there. The Barn holds about 200 people, all of them just so happy to be in this incredible venue, listening to amazing music. Last night was no exception, despite the painful absence of Levon in the flesh. But, as everyone knows, his spirit is there.
"The Weight" is the name of last night's band. They played, almost exclusively, the music of The Band. (Brian Mitchell, keyboard player extraordinaire, could not resist throwing in a little Mardi Gras music, much to everyone's delight.) All five of the members of The Weight have played at one time or another with The Band or with The Levon Helm Band.
I was fortunate to have seen The Band a few times when all five of them were alive. The first time was at the Watkins Glen music festival in 1973, along with The Allman Brothers and The Grateful Dead. And then in 1974, I saw The Band and Bob Dylan together a couple of times. It was the first time I'd seen Bob Dylan, and I thought I was in the same house with god, even if it was Madison Square Garden. Good times. I also saw Rick Danko a couple of times, most notably three months before he died. And I've lost count of how many times I've seen Levon.
So to be at Levon's Barn, so full of history and sound and a shared love of music, is to fall in love. Add to this that it was the third Ramble I have attended with my son. (At a previous Ramble, Levon bestowed his drumsticks on Sam after the show.) There are 42 years between Sam and me, but our love of this music transcends age. At Levon's Barn, we are just two kids getting lost in some of the best music ever made.
I've been a friend of Terry's for, . . . can I count my high school years as a student in several of her classes? Well, I'm 53 so it's been a long time. After years of cajoling Terry got me to join her at one of the Rambles. Yes I purchased one of those expensive tickets and took that long ride up to Levon's barn in Woodstock, NY. I live in Philadelphia, 5 hours away. It was a haul Levon died 2 weeks after the performance which lent a bitter sweet note to the evening. I had never seen him perform live before but his music, the Band's music, was the backdrop to a good stretch of my childhood. What a gem of a night. What a gift Terry gave me. While we couldn't know he would die so soon, there was the sense that he wasn't well. The music seemed to have a joyful urgency to it. He beamed like a little boy. Have I have seen a musician look so happy doing what he does?
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