At 2:46 PM -0400 4/11/02, Jerry Notaro wrote: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> The last time I saw Richard was in the Castro in SF and he told >>me, "you'd better go see Joni in The Last Waltz come Thursday, >>'cause it's the last time they're showing the new restored print on >>the big screen with re-mastered sound." I laughed and said "you >>must be kidding, it just started showing and already they're >>quitting? I'd better get to The City, who knows when again it >>might come around?" :-) >> >> So, I'm going to the 9:30 p.m. show tonight at the Castro theater >>in S.F. (there's a 7:00 show, too). Any Bay Area jmdlers want to >>meet up at some dark cafe before or after the show? > >We better get a review! I remember seeing it in 1979 thinking it was >the best Rock and Roll movie ever filmed. Then again, I liked >everything back in those stoney days....... > >Jerry
I guess this is a NJC post. Is it? I guessed so. Anyway.... Ah... Julius better write a review. It was stoney times for us last night, as we watched one of the greatest concerts ever filmed. I could go to the website of The Last Waltz, and read each song and comment on each performance, but...I had an epiphany of an experience watching it last night. And so ...wasn't thinking "remember this! for the review!". Instead I remember glowing shining moments, that will always be branded into my mind. I found it odd, that... we never see Bill Graham at all during the film. There is a shot of Joni backstage, a silhouette profile, during Neil Young's song "Helpless", with her singing harmony from backstage, that is breathtaking. Her rendition of "Coyote", her facial expressions, the voice and ...omygod! the necklace/choker she wore, with a silver hawk, with its wings spread as the 'centerpiece' was magnificent, as well as other jewelry. Paul Butterfield's "Train" is amazing. Van Morrison: wow. He once was that young, and thin (!). Bob Dylan's performance at the end is breathtaking, and adorable, if I can use that word for him. I even loved Neil Diamond. EmmyLou was SO young too! and so fabulous. The finale with everyone onstage singing "Forever Young" was a pure goosebump experience. Neil Young's face, his ear-to-ear smile, with one arm around Joni, and ...watching Dylan, is priceless. Mostly though, I was in awe of the musicianship of all The Band members, and sadly only a few still alive, who survived. Robbie Robertson's comments at the end, about the wear and tear of 16 years on the road and ...just surviving that, are incredible. Robbie is so articulate and says the most during the interviews. There: a mini-review. Richard, sitting in some dark cafi-corner of his house in San Francisco ------- The sound in that theater will knock your socks off, Julius. Try to sit dead center. It's an amazing print.
