The Last Waltz: "I see my light come shining......"

"Right through the lightening and the thunder, to the dark side of the moon
To that distant falling angel, that descended much too soon
Come dry your eyes"

I know, it makes little sense reading it but it made great sense in 1978 when Neil Diamond sang in on stage with The 
Band. Can't say why, but I can say yes. It made sense then.

In this time of seclusion, lockdown, quarantine, isolation, whatever you want to call it, we are all finding solace in different ways. Walking, cooking, sleeping, reading, watching. Tonight I rambled around the TV and found "The Last Waltz." Yes, I have seen it before, more than once. But no, never has it resonated like it has tonight. Is it because I needed music from forty years ago or is it because I needed the heart and soul of The Band and their final goodbye concert? Fuck who knows and fuck who cares. For right now, it is just perfect.

Right now there is Neil Diamond in his tinted glasses, his red shirt and blue coat, his totally non-The Band persona, playing his guitar and singing his song and pursing his lips in his Neil Diamond way and yet here are the rock legends playing along with him! That alone is worth the time to watch this movie of musicians playing for each other and with each other and loving every minute of it.

Then there is Neil Young, and how young he was then. "Blue, blue window behind the stars ..... leaves us helpless, helpless." Muddy Waters, deep voiced and mesmerizing, Joni Mitchell, buck teeth and hollow cheeks and amazing guitar work and lyrics. Such respect for her from the band. Eric Clapton, and the boys in the band pretty much dancing with their guitars keeping up with him on his "On Up the Road" and loving every minute of that string challenge. Van "The Man" Morrison, Bob Dylan with his white hat singing "Forever Young" and then bouncing to a different chord and slamming into a totally different song, "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down." Great guitar work out of all of them.

And finally, all of them on the stage, more of them that we saw individually, with Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Ringo Starr, Paul Butterfield and so many others. Finishing it up with "I Shall Be Released" led by Dylan but every single one of those singers was in that moment, just sending out a voice that even now, 42 years later, that sounds as vibrant, as pure and as spun through with life and manic joy as anything I have heard since.

Gotta thank the players and Martin Scorsese. And cocaine, from what I read, but then, it was that time. It's just nice that we can see these musicians do their thing, and do it well. And I fucking enjoyed the hell out of it.


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Robbie Roberston, Levon Helms, Ronnie Hawkins, Lawrence Ferlingetti, VanMorrison,