Nobody Remembers: Levon Helm
Nobody Remembers
I had seen some great acts on this stage: the screaming of Janis Joplin, the great horns of Chicago, the electrifying guitar of Jimmie Hendricks, and the explosion of Tina Turner, who by the way, made Mick Jagger look like a wet frightened electrified grasshopper in comparison, but I had never been transformed as I was that night, the night I went to see Bob Dylan’s “Band.”
Every summer, many years ago, the University of Southern Illinois put up a big tent, and gave concerts when I was growing up. All the greats came, but there are moments, as every artist will tell you, when the gods aline and the music is transformed into some kind of fairly dust. It doesn’t happen often…maybe only a few times in a musicians life..but when they do, you do NOT forget it. 
I was in the third row, in a crowd of some 10,000, when I saw him…Levon Helm. The name fit them perfect: The Band. They were almost from another time in America, like they had stepped out of some old time Southern plantation…and so different from the rest of the groups by their sheer ordinariness, that you couldn’t help but wonder—How in the world did that wonderful full bodied sound come out of guys who look like your brother, or your mechanic down the street? The fact that they didn’t play the “Star” scene made them all the more attractive.
And I can picture clearly, everyone in the front rows, jumping up and down…to RAG MAMA RAG. I was no exception.
I can’t remember any of my thoughts from yesterday, but I can remember my thoughts at that moment of utter happiness so many years ago. At the time, I was trying to figure out just what WAS it that made this sound so joyous? I decided…as I watched the band reacting to the crowd who were all in sheer ecstasy…the smiles on their faces…that it was the drummer that was the cause. He was the magic genie that pulled that original American sound together.
At that moment I knew..I wanted to be Levon. I had seen every drummer and studied them carefully throughout my life as a drummer: and most are known by the “drum solo.” There was the ungodly drum solo in Inna Godda DaVita…repetitious: There was the impressive “chops” of the drummer from Chicago in “I’m a Man” nice to watch..but like you watch a movie. While Wipe Out was the norm to which drummers judged themselves, it left me bored.
But Levon did no drum solos. He just laid down the most remarkable feeling that JUMPED off that stage and left you jumping in your seats. There was no way he could compete with a Buddy Rich, or a Billy Cobham, or many of the other famous drummers, but there is something cerebrally ecstatic about the simplicity of a steady beat. Levon’s drums talked to your heart in the most simple way. You did not want to leave that sound…your body would fight you ever step of the way. You literally FELT his drums. I can’t explain it. 
The only other drummer that had that unexplainable talent was in my drummer’s mind, Gene Krupa. And Levon could sing…it was twang, and it was to the point, and it was fun.
The song Rag Mama Rag (Listen to video) is a great statement about women. Was he complaining that his mistress was on her period and didn’t want to have sex? Or was she just always bitching about something?
Who cares? It’s one of my favorite songs.
Levon was a great drummer. Right up there with the unappreciated Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts. I tried my best to be like them. Not the show off drummer, but the heart of the band. I realized I could never compete with the great drummers everywhere, but I could do what Levon did. Feel, the music, enhanced the music of the other musicians, and make people dance.
The heart beats strong. And you’d better dance while you can.
I paid the price with hands so big from years of drumming, my son once said I had the hands of an eighty -year- old (I was 29 at the time)and he was right. I can see my veins now punching out like an old prizefighter. Not pretty for any girl…but there you go.
Levon died last week, but …it’s okay. He’s still here. He’s singing to me right now.
Now, enjoy RAG MAMA RAG…and wonder…Who in the world would think to play a tuba in a rock song?
Only The Band. They were one of a kind.
(The Bourbon is 100 proof, it’s you and me and the telephone….!!)
When Stars Are Born…
Nobody Flashes
I don’t usually watch American Idol, or any of the various talent shows on TV…and the last time I listened to opera was when my mother’s favorite singer Luciano Pavarotti sang AVA MARIA right before he died.
And it’s not often that true talent beyond the stars is born…but check this out. These two..ordinary looking Nobodies are going to be filling up our lives with joy for years to come.
Nobody means to follow politics, and I will— but I will ALWAYS share the positive things in life with you! And this night, it’s a glorious song.
ENJOY!
(Thanks to J.R.)
Nobody Flashes…Old School Talent
Nobody Flashes
It’s Sunday! I’m taking the day off…but check this out. It’s Little Richard when he was a kid in some old movie…and I had no idea that he was playing so young. Boogie-Woogie bass lines are not easy to do even for an adult. Anyway, Enjoy!
(Thanks to JR)
Obama’s New Theme Song…
Nobody Flashes
We need something to cheer us up, right? I can sincerely tell you that after I heard Obama suggest today that he wants us to promote algae as a new fuel source…and he was SERIOUS…I needed to have a cocktail. This video always makes me laugh. I am at this moment…drinking a glass of wine. I plan to save all the algae I see–collect it in a big box, and send it to Washington.
Here’s a Nobody’s Suggestion for Obama’s theme song. (I’m not so innocent)
If you haven’t seen Craig Ferguson, then your life is sad, and I strongly suggest you hang it up. Whatever you want to hang up. It won’t matter.
ENJOY!
Whitney Houston: WTF?
Nobody Remembers: Whitney Houston
Funny how this stuff happens…whenever there is a big political debate going on, or some fundamental change in our America, some Diva dies. I’m not quite sure what was going on when Michael Jackson went to sleep, but it got Obama’s big fight (was it health care?) off the pages for a good two weeks.
Nobody is starting to see a pattern here.
So, the diva Whitney overdoses in a bathtub RIGHT before the Grammy’s. Won’t that bring in millions of more viewers? Everyone will be tuning in: Looking for her partner in drugs, Bobbie Brown, to cry, and her daughter’s fame as an actress and singer to skyrocket. Her timing was impeccable. It you are going to die..pick the perfect time to make sure you’re immortalized by your peers. 
I wish I could say I was sad about this, but I was never a big fan. While everyone can admire, how much she had to practice to reach the perfections of her own voice, she had the best to learn from. Dionne Warwick was her aunt. Aretha Franklin was her Godmother. If you can’t learn from those two women, you might as well hang it up.
Whitney made a lot of people a lot of money. And millions of us small-town musicians had to try and imitate her..which was no small task. While I have many of her hits and albums, I never bothered to listen to them…I had to ‘sing’ them, so to me it was torture.
I still prefer Dolly Parton’s “I will always love you” to Whitney’s. I cry when I hear Dolly. I…simply study Whitney vocal abilities, but she never evokes any emotion for me. That’s just me. To millions of fans, Whitney was the “GOD” of voice until..
Mariah Carey. It’s must have been a hard blow. There was no way that Whitney could compete with Mariah. She was pushed off her throne by a more competent and God given vocal cord that could amaze everyone.
And Mariah played sexy. It sold.
It wasn’t much after the success of Mariah that Whitney got into Bobby Brown, and became the cocaine Diva. Still the Diva, she told Oprah that Bobby and her laced grass with cocaine, they NEVER did crack. That was beneath her. (Do we laugh here? )
And so..Why should I feel bad about someone like that? How could she do that to her daughter?
Many of us nobodies can’t for the life of us figure out how all these very rich and famous people kill themselves with drugs. Whitney lost her voice doing all those drugs, the once most beautiful voice in the world, was being laughed at. It was downhill for her..and only a matter of time.
Which brings me to Sarah Palin (wait…it’s not what you think.)
I found this picture of her going WTF? She was the favorite at the C-Pac convention. And her expression here is just how I feel about Tony Bennett’s statement. (I love this picture)
Upon hearing about Whitney’s death, Tony Bennett said this:
“First it was Michael Jackson, then Amy Winehouse, now, the magnificent Whitney Houston,” he is quoted as saying in the Hollywood Reporter. “I’d like every person in this room to campaign to legalize drugs.”
“Let’s legalize drugs like they did in Amsterdam,” said Bennett, who battled drug addiction in the late 70s.”No one’s hiding or sneaking around corners to get it. They go to a doctor to get it.”
Right Tony. Let’s legalize all those drugs so that all the doctors can assure us all that all the diva’s and idiotic addicts WON”T kill themselves.
WTF?
Instead of using this as a lesson to our kids to NOT use drugs because obviously they can kill you…we get—
LET”S LEGALIZE DRUGS!
Nobody Thinks that Tony will use this opportunity to push the political agenda to get drugs legalized in the United States because only a drugged nation will sit idly by and let Obama’s plans to further destroy America. What’s Tony getting to push George Soros’s agenda, one conspiracy theorist might ask? 
If we go by history, when Obama decides to cancel the elections, Angelina Jolie will die of a drug overdose. Brad Pitt will be left with all those kids. And it will happen right before the Oscars. And if THAT happens, then I think it’s safe to say, there’s more to this than, WTF. The new phrase will be OMGWAS!
(Oh My God, We Are Screwed!)
WTF Whitney..really.
And Now—A Word From Our Sponsor
Our Sponcer today: It’s SUNDAY! Take a guess!
This video was taken at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival at Denton Farm Park in Denton, NC on May 5, 2011. During the song, a small bird lands on Josh’s guitar while he’s singing, and the man doesn’t miss a note.
Now THAT’s a professional. Not to mention, he pets it, and sings to it, and it’s just the most amazing thing. You’ll be looking around for Walt…Walt Disney.
Oh..it’s about as good as bluegrass can get! This is such a rare moment I can’t help but think of some higher power playing in this somehow. Because the bird…starts chirping!
Enjoy!
The NEXT Superbowl Act….
Nobody Flashes
So, how is the next artist going to beat Madonna’s Superbowl Cleopatra extravagant next year? FIRST: Don’t have any diva’s who want to get attention do nasty things to offend us, and second—
I suggest about 4,000 guitar players hooked up to lighting bolts coming down from the center of the field in Faraday suits!
Wouldn’t that be cool?
Okay, maybe a little too dangerous. …but it would be fun.
We’re All Working Class Heros
Nobody Cares
I grew up with the Beatles. Like most young girls, Paul was my favorite, but the older I get, I find myself admiring John. John was really more of the intellectual…and if stories from history are right, he was the leader from the start. Somewhere after Yoko came into his life, he just let Paul take it over, as we all saw on Let It Be. Not that he could help himself…not many humans on the planet are blessed with that much raw creativity.
Still…this song is haunting. It’s simple…and like every true great piece of art…it evokes real emotion. Like the words or not…to many people on the planet, who get up, go to work, and try to fit in, and yet know, deep inside they are just passing the days because…they have to, feel connected to this song. This is one of my favorite songs by him.
I still love the soothing sound of John’s voice. …even to this day, I thank Tom Edison for giving us the gift of ‘recorded sound.”
A lot of bad things came out of my generation, but the BEATLES…was not one of them. In fact, we were blessed to be witnesses to the genius of John, Paul, George, Ringo, and Martin.
I was GOING to post Dylan’s Master of War next to this…but I just couldn’t spoil John.
Enjoy.
Let’s Face the Music
Nobody Flashes Fred Astaire
Nobody was watching this movie today, and this dance with Fred and Ginger left me breathless. Fred was a genius when it came to innovating. That kind of grace you will NEVER see on Dancing With the Stars.
If you do, call me. Fred and Ginger had what you call: grace. And they danced with “feeling” and that’s what made them artists. You just don’t see that anymore anywhere.
The first video is the modern version done by Robert Palmer…and the bass is killer. He did a great job updating it, and adding the dance scences…but…
Here’s the original: It literally broke my heart: the beauty of this timeless piece of art: the way he is going to kill himself, and she is going to kill herself, and then…well, you have to be a hopeless romantic to miss the days of long ago when women dressed and men dressed and they…held each other close and danced. It fit perfect with much that is going on. Life is tough: Let’s face the music and dance.
Tonight I was in the arms of Fred Astaire….you can be in the arms of Ginger. It only takes a little imagination: Enjoy.
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Nobody Flashes:
An American Classic. I don’t know about you…but the mood is coming…it’s hitting me…can’t help myself…
Tell George W. —I’m going to shop.
Enjoy!
Nobody Flashes “Burn It to the Ground” X-Mas Lights
Nobody Wonders—
What the name of this video is: I think it was called “Burn it to the Ground” but it was right next to, “The Best Way to Annoy Your neighbors!” so…take your pick.
Whatever. I thought it was fun. I’d be rocking in front of his house, with a bottle of something, and lots of candy, and my new funky hat.
Just about this time next week, we will all want to throw darts at Bing Crosby, and his “White Christmas.” because sometimes you can get too much of one thing.
Just thought I’d post something a bit different.
ENJOY!
Do Not Pass Go…Do Not Watch ESPN Football…
Nobody Wins—-
when a President of the United States starts attacking our fine home-grown musicians. It seems Obama could not let well enough alone…Gibson guitar was just the start.
Now, since Hank Williams Jr. made a funny comment comparing President Obama playing golf with Speaker Beohner to Hitler playing with Netenyahu, the liberals couldn’t take it. Hank lost his contract to ESPN.
The message? You do not criticize the President in the United States of America without repercussions. At least the one named Obama.
Hank went and walked out and took all his rowdy friends with him, and that included this nobody.
I suppose the next theme song will be— “Isn’t HE LOVELY..Isn’t he wonderful? Life is O000baaaaamaaaaaa…We just need four year mor’…” by Stevie Wonder.
Where’s “the bear” when you need him?
I’m hanging out at Hank’s house…with his daddy’s gun. ESPN can get Paul McCartney to sing “Live and Let Die” for all I care. I won’t be watching.
Starbucks: The New Fannie and Freddie On Cappachino
Nobody Knows
—that I watched the movie, the “Little Fockers” last night, and did not laugh once. But, I made up for it after I watched Mr. Christopher Christwell sing his song on YouTube about having to serve people at Starbucks.
I’m not even looking at it, and I’m still laughing.
Frankly, I think they paid this guy to do this, because Chris is not near as insulting to me, as the fact that Starbucks is asking it’s customers to ‘donate’ five dollars to put into a “loan” fund to give out to poor people who cannot get loans for houses anymore because Fannie and Freddie broke the world, and got caught.
When I first read it, I thought: Oh…how nice..the man that helped break Americans with overpriced coffee has decided to help out the people, the small business man, who cannot get a loan from any of the banks that got big bailout money. They were SUPPOSE to give it to the struggling American, but…they gave it to the big foreign banks.
Chris would say: they gave it to the rich fat lady wanting more whipped cream in her frapachino mocha.
This from Prison Plant–
The group running the scheme is funded by the very same big banks who received trillions in bailout funds that are still deliberately withholding loans from struggling Americans in order to make money
off the interest on deposits held with the Federal Reserve. What the corporate press is loath to report is the fact that the OFN, while posing as a philanthropic financial refuge for poor Americans, is little more than a Wall Street front organization. It is bankrolled by the likes of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley.
Starbucks also once offered free coffee to those who offered to pledge their allegiance to Obama’s creepy ‘national civilian security force’ proposal back in January 2009. And if my memory serves me well, it was Bill Clinton who lobbied (and won) high-playing wages for the coffee pickers in Columbia, who pick the coffee beans for Starbucks. Some of those guys, make more money than a Starbucks manager, and it’s also one of the reasons that Starbucks coffee is so high.
But I digress. I don’t drink coffee. The democrats are going to get the “people’s money any way they can.” Even if they have to pretend it’s for charity.
Fannie Starbucks.
Chris put into words, what every single “service” worker in the United States feels when they get home from work every single day. People can be downright rude.
And Nobody Knows it better: America is a “service” economy, and I’m glad they fired Christopher. Now he can go on to better things.
Like, maybe writing scripts for Ben Stiller.
Motowning the White House
Nobody Reports another “Black” party at the White House, with a few token whites let in for good measure. Joe Biden came dressed to honor his black roots, and the fact that he has shown, much to his credit, no semblance of a negro dialect, is worth mentioning.About
I am a nobody. If the different classes of America were color-coded, I would be in the yucky brown, one rung up from the bottom. I grew up in Naples, Florida and live near the Mississippi River now with my husband and two dogs. I am part of the slowly disappearing middle-class. I was a musician most of my life: drummer/singer/keyboards—but I retired before the plastic surgery flu hit. I have no degrees, which could be a good thing…depending on how you view our educational system. I do have three patents…but that really doesn’t make me a somebody. The one thing that is constant in my life is my OPINIONS, which i have more than perhaps even Carl Sagan could have imagined…mostly political. (yes…my ancestors were crabby buggers)
Hopefully other nobody’s will put their opinions on my site. But, if you happen to be a somebody, you’re more than welcomed to help out.
It’s my Nobody Opinion that Nobody’s Perfect, and Nobody Cares, that Nobody Knows why Nobody Wins, and when that happens, Nobody Wonders, why Nobody Flashes, why Nobody’s Fooled, but then Nobody remembers that Nobody ALWAYS Reports the truth.
You can email me at joyanna_adams@yahoo.com
Joyanna Adams
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