In the days and weeks after I saw the midnight ramble, I thought that id sit down and put down some of my memories of it - in the blog. In procrastination its today a dirge.
Theres a lovely little digression in the last Waltz, where they talk of going up and playing with Sonny Boy Williamson, drinking Corn Liquor. So armed with what I could find in New York City I hopped on a train to the Hudson Valley.
My mate Shyam found me at the station, and after a Coffee and a bite, off we drove towards Woodstock, New York
Woodstock's a pretty town. Once you are past the 50 meters thats built for tourists and features the toke shop and tie die tshirts its not touristy at all. Shyam had found us a nice little bed and breakfast complete with a brook running by it and all that.
Its not the sort of show that you buy tickets to on ticketmaster.com...You call them and they have your names at the door - easy. In fact when my friend Shyam,who called to book, asked for an email confirmation the lady nicely responded "Why? don't you trust me?".
The Ramble itself is is a concert, but not like were used to. Levon Helm's Barn is a working studio. We go in to the little room before the entrance, where people have brought in cake and cookies laid on the table to share. Grab a bite say hello. The Barn itself had two levels, and probably had a total of 150 people in it. Nobody is more than a 100 feet from the stage. we found place right next to the mixing console, up on teh first floor, with a great view - 30 feet away from the action.
The evening itself started with a Band called Dawes. Id never heard of them, but they played a couple of songs in a nice rousing thumping way. You could see how they had drawn from The Band itself - tossing around vocals around the band. They played 3 songs, and then said they'd like to bring on a guest. And thats when my jaw dropped for the first time - "We'd like to call Jackson Browne onstage". He made a wry comment about "this is also a cover version" and loped easily into "Take it Easy".
After a 45 minute set, they Band took a break - and Barbara, the MC introduced "Jimmy Vivino". I had never heard of him either. Hesaid something about there being so many good guitar players in the house so he'd decided to play Piano instead. And soulfully played an old Band song. Very nice - at this point, he brought on his band - a simple Bass and drums ensemble, and played another old band song - the lovely "we can talk about it" Very nice so far. Jimmy took the mike after that and said "this is a tough gig, so I asked God for help, He was busy so he sent me someone as good as God, and in fact he even looks like God" - And that's when my jaw dropped for the second time. Garth Hudson, white bearded, wizened old and hunched. The rest of the set, all Band covers, was an exercise in pinching myself that this was real - I had come thinking Id see Levon Helm and the odd guest. The band hadnt come on et and Id already seen Jackson Browne, and Garth Hudson playing Stage Fright had to be the absolute pinnacle - I was sure that this couldnt get any better.
We went down during the break and came back up - and the Levon Helm Band was just setting up. And thats when my jaw dropped a third time. Settling in over at the Piano diagonally opposite me - not 20 yards away - Ray Bans, and a unbuttoned shirt over a black T short - looking very much the grumpy Uncle from your childhood whose cigarettes smelt a bit weird, and though he was prickly you suspected was cool - was Donald Fagen.
Centre stage was this tall guitarist with a long coat - flanked by two lady singers - one of whom we recognized as Levons daughter Amy. Levon himself came out with a big grin - and settled behind the drum kit. Even today - looking at so many photographs and videos - amazing is the warmth of his smile.
And the Band kicked off, and the tall guitarist - who I later identified as Larry Campbell came up to the mike and started singing "if your memory serves you well" - his voice, easy languid phrasing were so smooth that at that point it hit us that that this show hadnt hit its pinnacle - it was going higher.
Over the next few hours we heard Donald Fagen cover a grateful dead song "Shakedown street" (imagine that!!!), Theresa Campbell do a rousing version of an obscure favourite of mine called "Keep Your lamps trimmed and burning", Levon sang just one song - Ophelia, played Mandolin on a couple, Fagen sang another "Black Friday" and towards the end they brought Jackson Browne back "Like the rest of you, the only time I sung this song is in the car" to lead vocals on "Cripple Creek" and "It takes a lot to laugh"... both beauties. Finally at about 12.45... a good 5 hours after the music started it was over.
Shyam and I couldn't believe what we had witnessed. We still cant. I was so excited that I called Sahana and my old buddy Arjun - "I dont believe this but I just saw Donald Fagen live".
Driving back to the B&B and several times over the next day Shyam and I excitedly made plans to come back to the Ramble at the earliest next opportunity. That's not to be ....
Post Script: the rules said no cameras or phone cams - but i found a slideshow of snaps on the levon helm site
My mate Shyam found me at the station, and after a Coffee and a bite, off we drove towards Woodstock, New York
Woodstock's a pretty town. Once you are past the 50 meters thats built for tourists and features the toke shop and tie die tshirts its not touristy at all. Shyam had found us a nice little bed and breakfast complete with a brook running by it and all that.
Its not the sort of show that you buy tickets to on ticketmaster.com...You call them and they have your names at the door - easy. In fact when my friend Shyam,who called to book, asked for an email confirmation the lady nicely responded "Why? don't you trust me?".
The Ramble itself is is a concert, but not like were used to. Levon Helm's Barn is a working studio. We go in to the little room before the entrance, where people have brought in cake and cookies laid on the table to share. Grab a bite say hello. The Barn itself had two levels, and probably had a total of 150 people in it. Nobody is more than a 100 feet from the stage. we found place right next to the mixing console, up on teh first floor, with a great view - 30 feet away from the action.
The evening itself started with a Band called Dawes. Id never heard of them, but they played a couple of songs in a nice rousing thumping way. You could see how they had drawn from The Band itself - tossing around vocals around the band. They played 3 songs, and then said they'd like to bring on a guest. And thats when my jaw dropped for the first time - "We'd like to call Jackson Browne onstage". He made a wry comment about "this is also a cover version" and loped easily into "Take it Easy".
After a 45 minute set, they Band took a break - and Barbara, the MC introduced "Jimmy Vivino". I had never heard of him either. Hesaid something about there being so many good guitar players in the house so he'd decided to play Piano instead. And soulfully played an old Band song. Very nice - at this point, he brought on his band - a simple Bass and drums ensemble, and played another old band song - the lovely "we can talk about it" Very nice so far. Jimmy took the mike after that and said "this is a tough gig, so I asked God for help, He was busy so he sent me someone as good as God, and in fact he even looks like God" - And that's when my jaw dropped for the second time. Garth Hudson, white bearded, wizened old and hunched. The rest of the set, all Band covers, was an exercise in pinching myself that this was real - I had come thinking Id see Levon Helm and the odd guest. The band hadnt come on et and Id already seen Jackson Browne, and Garth Hudson playing Stage Fright had to be the absolute pinnacle - I was sure that this couldnt get any better.
We went down during the break and came back up - and the Levon Helm Band was just setting up. And thats when my jaw dropped a third time. Settling in over at the Piano diagonally opposite me - not 20 yards away - Ray Bans, and a unbuttoned shirt over a black T short - looking very much the grumpy Uncle from your childhood whose cigarettes smelt a bit weird, and though he was prickly you suspected was cool - was Donald Fagen.
Centre stage was this tall guitarist with a long coat - flanked by two lady singers - one of whom we recognized as Levons daughter Amy. Levon himself came out with a big grin - and settled behind the drum kit. Even today - looking at so many photographs and videos - amazing is the warmth of his smile.
And the Band kicked off, and the tall guitarist - who I later identified as Larry Campbell came up to the mike and started singing "if your memory serves you well" - his voice, easy languid phrasing were so smooth that at that point it hit us that that this show hadnt hit its pinnacle - it was going higher.
Over the next few hours we heard Donald Fagen cover a grateful dead song "Shakedown street" (imagine that!!!), Theresa Campbell do a rousing version of an obscure favourite of mine called "Keep Your lamps trimmed and burning", Levon sang just one song - Ophelia, played Mandolin on a couple, Fagen sang another "Black Friday" and towards the end they brought Jackson Browne back "Like the rest of you, the only time I sung this song is in the car" to lead vocals on "Cripple Creek" and "It takes a lot to laugh"... both beauties. Finally at about 12.45... a good 5 hours after the music started it was over.
Shyam and I couldn't believe what we had witnessed. We still cant. I was so excited that I called Sahana and my old buddy Arjun - "I dont believe this but I just saw Donald Fagen live".
Driving back to the B&B and several times over the next day Shyam and I excitedly made plans to come back to the Ramble at the earliest next opportunity. That's not to be ....
Post Script: the rules said no cameras or phone cams - but i found a slideshow of snaps on the levon helm site
I was also at this Ramble! Truly one of the best experiences of my life. Levon will surely be missed--I can only hope that his friends and family will still continue to get together and let the Rambles live on! Here is my blog post about the night: http://katieharb.blogspot.com/2011/12/levon-helms-midnight-ramble.html.
ReplyDelete