Maurice wrote, some days back (I've been on vacation):
>Robbie Robertson [none of his post-Band stuff, but see esp. playing on"The Last Waltz" esp. B. Dylan's 5 songs at end!];He does love those pinch harmonics too much, though. His playing on the first two Band records is great, however. BTW, having watched the DVD recently, I find myself wondering why Robertson got all the attention (and the acting offers) when Rick Danko was a lot better looking in the film.
Part of the answer may be that The Last Waltz, as event and movie, was largely of Robbie's making. As recounted in Levon Helm's memoir, "This Wheel's on Fire," Robbie was the one who wanted to stop touring, who was afraid that the road would be the death of them - even though his remarks in the film made it seem like the sentiment was shared by everyone in the band. (Ironically, Richard Manuel eventually killed himself while the Band - sans Robertson - were touring, though given his self-destructive streak, this might have happened even if they ceased going on the road.) As a result, the rest of the Band were not entirely cooperative with the film-making process; Levon was particularly bitter. (Levon writes about how when it looked like the show would run overlong, someone came to him and said they were thinking of dropping Muddy Waters. Levon replied that if they dropped Muddy Waters - rather than Neil Diamond! - he would just take Muddy, hop on a plane, and they'd hold their own Last Waltz elsewhere.) Robbie and Martin Scorcese were then beginning their friendship as well. The upshot of all of this was that Robbie got a lot more screen time than the rest of the Band. Of course, Robbie's also a good raconteur, and was better than the rest of them at the self-mythologizing that seemed to appeal to Scorcese during the interviews.
(I don't know if I'd agree that Rick was better-looking in the film, though; time to get that DVD and check, I think!)
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