Happy b'day to the late Odetta!

We unfortunately lost her this year & the wonderful folk artist would have turned 78 today.

Happy New Year!

Happy b'day Tom Hamilton!

The Aerosmith bassist turns 57 today.

Happy b'day Jeff Lynne!

Jeff turns 61 today.

Beatles tidbits.

On this day in '70, Paul McCartney sues his bandmembers to disband & in '74 the band is legally disbanded.

Happy b'day Paul Stookey!

Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary turns 71 today.

Delaney Bramlett will be missed.

The great rock composer / musician just left us on 12/27/08 (born '39). He worked w/ many classic rock 'n roll greats & will be sorely missed.

Remembering Tim Hardin today....

The If I Were A Carpenter composer/singer lost his life @ age 39 in '80.

Happy b'day Rick Danko!

Crazy Chester would have turned 65 today.

Happy b'day Cate brothers!

Ernie & Earl turn 66 today.

Happy b'day Noel Redding!

The Hendrix Experience guitarist would have been 63 yesterday. He left us over 5-yrs ago.

The Band '76 live tunes.

Check out The Crackers MySpace page for live tunes from The Band's July 18, 1976 Lenox, MA performance. The live tunes included, are Don't Do It, Forbidden Fruit, Ophelia & It Makes No Difference. Very cool!

http://www.myspace.com/thecrackerstheband

Merry Christmas!

Happy b'day Jorma Kaukonen!

The American blues rocker turns 67-yrs old today.

Happy b'day Ron Bushy!

The Iron Butterfly drummer & co-founder turns 63-yrs old today.

Happy b'day Tim Hardin!

The American folk musician & composer would have turned 67-yrs old today. He left us almost 28-yrs ago.

Happy b'day Frank Zappa!

The eccentric rocker would have turned 68 today. He left us 15-yrs ago.

Happy belated b'day Phil Ochs!

Thanks to Carol Caffin, we've been reminded that the late & amazing folk musician Phil Ochs would have been 68-yrs old today. He unfortunately passed away in '76.

Happy b'day Chris Robinson!

The Black Crowes frontman turns 39 today. We recently saw him @ a Levon Helm Midnight Ramble.

Happy b'day Keith Richards!

The freespirited Rolling Stones guitarist turns 65 today.

Happy b'day Paul Butterfield!

The great blues rocker would have been 66-yrs old today. He left us 21-yrs ago.

Happy b'day Frank Sinatra!

Old Blue Eyes would have turned 93 today. He passed away May '98.

Remembering Sam Cooke today....

It was 44-yrs ago today the great Sam Cooke was slain @ 33. Another amazing talent whose life was cut short.

A nice email from frmr Bob Dylan touring drummer Mickey Jones.

You may know Mickey from the Tim Allen sitcom Home Improvement, other television shows or movies, or as we best know him from his '66 Dylan tour home movies while joining the members of The Band (pre-The Band sans Levon Helm). We recently wrote to him & he kindly responded.

Hey Mike,

Great to hear from you and thank for all your kind words. You really made my day.

Billy Bob is one of my best friends. We have done several films together.

Take care brother and God Bless!

Mickey Jones

Thank you, Mickey! You rock!

http://www.mickeyjones.com

Our blog is now linked on Carol Caffin's Rick Danko "Sip the Wine" blog.

Thanks for the link Carol! Always an amazing Rick Danko source.

http://sipthewine.blogspot.com/

Also remembering the great Otis Redding.

The great American soul artist died in '67 from a plane crash.

Remembering Rick Danko today.....

It was nine-years ago today that the great The Band (as well as solo artist & other projects) bassist, co-lead singer, co-song writer & genuinely great guy passed away. We wish we could have met him, but fortunately we have many valuable sources who did know & love him, for us to learn from. May he rest in peace & our thoughts & prayers are w/ his family, friends & associates.

We love this photo of him as it depicts many sides of Rick that we have learned. Take a good look into his eyes - genuine, approachable, mischevious, creative.......those who knew him could certainly extend the list.

Happy b'day Gregg Allman!

Gregg turns 61-yrs old today. We love the Allman Bros. Band & would loved to have witnessed the early '70s Watkins Glen, NY festival that included the Allmans, The Band & the Dead.

Happy b'day Sammy Davis, Jr!

Sammy would have turned 83-yrs old today. The Band record its self-titled brown album in Sammy's frmr Malibu, CA home.

Happy b'day Jim Morrison!

The Lizard King would have turned 65-yrs old today. Too soon gone.

Wembley Stadium '74 poster/plaque memorabilia for sale on eBay.

Many of us have seen video footage of The Band's '74 Wembley Stadium performance & here is a way to own a piece of it. It comes @ a hefty $1+K price, but for some endearing fan, it may be worth it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CSN-Y-MITCHELL-THE-BAND-74-COMMEMORATIVE-METAL PLAQUE_W0QQitemZ250335533217QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Music_Music_Memorabilia_LE?hash=item250335533217&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Tribute band "The Band" to play Rick Danko b'day celebration.

Checkout The Band tribute band The Band @ the Woodstock, NY Colony Cafe Dec. 27th beginning @ 8:30 PM. The performance is a celebration of Rick's birthday. Prior to his death, Rick frequented the Cafe as an artist. The flame still burns!

http://www.thethebandband.com/

Pearl Harbor remembered.

It was 67-yrs ago today Pearl Harbor was attacked. We are friends w/ a gentleman nicknamed "Skins" in NH who was on the repair ship "Vestal" that was tied outboard to one of the most heavily damaged ships "Arizona" that fateful day. This late '80s man is more active than many much younger folks & we remember he & his fellow comrades.

Happy b'day, Tom Waits!

Tom turns 59 today.

Rick Danko's Grammy.

Rick's niece, Danielle, has posted pics of Rick's recent Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=98702263&albumID=2360884&imageID=37148681#a=2360884&i=37148671

Joan Baez & Emmylou Harris receive Grammy nominations.

Two of our favorite artists, Joan Baez & Emmylou Harris, have both been nominated for a Grammy for their '08 albums in the category of Best Contemporary Folk / Americana Album. We own both wonderful albums. Baez's is Day After Tomorrow & Harris' is All I Intended To Be. We are looking forward to one day seeing Harris live. We saw Baez in March & loved the performance.

The Band's very last live performance together.

From Jan Hoiberg's "The Band" website:

Rick Danko played The Roxy in LA on the 1st March 1978. It was called "The Picnic in LA" and it was a Rick Danko band show, part of the tour. Because it was in LA, Levon, Richard and Garth sat in and Robbie came on stage for a couple of numbers. The photos below documents the event, which was the last time the original quintet played together. The other musicians seen in the photos are guitarist Michael DeTemple and sax player Jerry Peterson.

Photos by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Checkout Jan's site for the rest of these photos he has posted.

http://theband.hiof.no/

R. I. P. folk legend Odetta.

Odetta passed away yesterday @ the age of 77 from heart disease while @ Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Odetta influenced folk greats, such as Bob Dylan & Joan Baez.

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=342111&GT1=28102

Todd Rundgren photo.

Thanks goes out to our Michigan friend Bob Andrews who sent us this recent pic of his brother sharing a cab w/ Todd Rundgren in Chicago. Love the vodka bottle Todd's holding.

The owners of "Big Pink" now have their own website.

Click this link to learn more about the current owners of the West Saugerties, NY Bob Dylan & The Band landmark. They provide viewers w/ pics & insight about themselves. You can rent the basement for recording & their is a guest house that may be rented.

http://bigpinkbasement.com/Big_Pink_Home/Welcome.html

Happy b'day, Little Sammy Davis, Jr.!

We hope the big man gets well soon.

The Last Waltz....32-yrs old.

It was 32-yrs ago that the famed concert was held in San Fran's Winterland.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all have much to be thankful for. Have a safe & enjoyable holiday!

Amy Helm's "Bye Bye Love."

From our good friend from Bob Andrews of Michigan:


Hi you guys,
I've been listening to Bye Bye My Love now for quite a while and went to attempt to locate the lyrics and found, well . . . nothing - the internet has ever heard of it.

It has found it's way into many a Ramble - unfortunately not the one I attended - 100

I first heard it here
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18214414
. . . and it goes like this

Bye Bye My Love - NPR - Midnight Ramble

Thanks much, Bob! We heard Amy perform this beautiful song the last Ramble we attended & it was amazing. There is a wonderful live version of it on Levon's latest release from MerleFest.

Congrats to Ronnie "The Hawk" Hawkins!

The Hawk was just inducted into the the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame. Very well deserved to a very talented man who brought together our favorite band - The Band.

Bob Dylan plays "This Wheel's On Fire" live.

Last night's Dylan fans @ his Montreal show witnessed him performing This Wheel's On Fire, a tune he's very well noted for co-creating/writing w/ The Band's amazing bassist & co-lead singer & song writer Rick Danko.

New "Visons of Dylan" Myspace page.

Our friend from across the pond, Mary Wogan (Ireland), has extended her wonderful Bob Dylan-based blog Visions of Dylan to a Myspace page. Check it out. She's a Band fan as well. It's fair to say she's pretty cool.

www.myspace.com/visionsofdylan

Congrats to Ollabelle's Glenn Patscha!

Glenn & his wife welcomed a baby boy Nov. 13th.

Congrats to Ollabelle's Fiona McBain & Tony Leone!

We wish the two of them well as they recently took another step in the relationship by getting married.

RIP Mitch Mitchell.

Happy b'day, Sandy Helm!

Happy birthday to Levon's beautiful half, Sandy!

www.levonhelm.com

"Woodstock...Can't Get There From Here"

We recently viewed & enjoyed Portland, Me's David "The Director" McDonald's dvd 2006 documentary Woodstock....Can't Get There From Here. This is David's first attempt @ making such a film & does a wonderful job for not even being schooled in the film industry.

In the doc, he covers 100 years of history, from the Maverick Festivals to the '60s & current day. David is the film's host narrative voice & supplements its contents w/ great music.Checkout this interesting doc to learn more about Woodstock, beyond the '69 Festival.

http://www.myspace.com/davidthedirector

http://www.woodstockthemovie.com

Get out & vote, America!

Get well soon Little Sammy Davis.

Little Sammy Davis, a Levon Helm cohort, suffered a stroke this past Saturday & we wish him a full recovery. He's a little man w/ a big heart. He had the fortunate chance to meet him @ the Aug 23rd Midnight Ramble.

Tom Petty's b'day today.

Happy birthday to Tom Petty who turns 58.

Paul LaRaia, Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble photographer.

The wonderful crystal clear photographs displayed on http://www.levonhelm.com/ from his Midnight Rambles are the work of none other Paul La Raia.

http://www.paullaraia.com/

Pre-order Billy Bob Thornton & the Boxmasters' Christmas Cheer album.

Stores are taking preorders for the not-for-your-children Billy Bob Thornton & the Boxmasters Christmas Cheer album. When we spoke w/ Boxmasters guitarist Mike Butler after the Aug. 23rd Midnight Ramble, he confirmed it is not a family Christmas album. Why are we not surprised when it comes to Billy Bob? Stores such as Barnes & Noble are selling this product. We cannot wait for its release.

The Band '74 original poster for auction.

This original September 8, '74 poster is being auctioned of on eBay w/ a starting price of $89.00+.

http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-BAND-RICHARD-MANUEL-LEVON-HELM-RICK-DANKO-1974_W0QQitemZ220292724685QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220292724685&_trkparms=72%3A1418%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ebayphotohosting

Goodbye to the young Band fan, Bryson McCabe.

Below is a link to the guestbook memorial for 16-yr old Bryson McCabe, who passed away this past Thursday. Bryson was a big The Band fan & assisted Rick Danko's niece, Danielle, w/ her Rick Danko Myspace page. May he rest in peace.

http://www.legacy.com/CAN/GB/GuestBookSaveEntry.aspx?PersonId=118690105

New Myspace-related artists links.

Please check out our updated artists links, especially in The Band & Bob Dylan links, for various Myspace pages. Often times artist's Myspace pages are updated sooner than their actual websites & sometimes the artists monitor their own Myspace pages & respond directly to your messages sent to them.

Jay Collins & the Kings County Band autographed album.

Oregon-native Jay Collins & his Kings County Band album The Songbird & The Pigeon is a wonderful album (autographed by Jay) filled w/ his talented & gruffy jazz / blues voice & horn playing. Jay married Levon Helm's daughter Amy, recently had a child (Levon) & performs w/ Levon & @ least four other bands - Allman Bros., The Chris Bergson Band, The Organiks & The Jay Collins Band. Both Levon & Amy assist Jay w/ this album, which was recorded in Levon's barn & @ Audiopaint in NYC. Jay is also featured in Alexis P. Suter's Live @ the Midnight Ramble album / dvd combo.

www.jaycollinsband.com/

R.I.P. Kingston Trio's Nick Reynolds.

Reynolds (75), one of the Trio's founding members that paved the way in the folk scene for the likes of Bob Dylan & Joan Baez, has recently passed away.

www.kingstontrio.com/html/home.htm

Happy b'day Theresa Campbell!

Happy birthday to the beautiful woman w/ a beautiful voice, Theresa Campbell!

Levon Helm Dirt Farmer autographed / framed cd.

Recently had this amazing album w/ limited edition autographs by Levon & Amy Helm & Larry & Theresa Campbell framed.