By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR Scene Writer on Apr 19, 2012, at 3:29 PM Updated on 4/19 at 3:29 PM
BARRELHOUSE BEAT
Tulsa's BOK Center arena was highlighted in the May issue of industry trade publication ' Venues Today ' as a leader in ...
Blake Shelton , the Oklahoma-born country music superstar and host of TV talent show 'The Voice,' will host a benefit concert ...
Country duo Thompson Square rocked the heart of Oklahoma Thursday night with a tour stop at Cain's Ballroom that was ...
Two music icons died this week. Today it was singer and drummer Levon Helm, who lost his cancer battle today at age 71.
Helm lead The Band with hits including “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” He fused rock, blues, gospel and folk elements. His bandmates — Canadians Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel — were musical virtuosos who returned to the roots of American music in the late 1960s as other rockers veered into psychedelia, heavy metal and jams.
The Band also famously backed Bob Dylan on his sensational and controversial "electric tours" of 1965-66 and collaborated with him on the legendary “Basement Tapes,” which produced “I Shall Be Released,” “Tears of Rage” and other favorites.
Without Robertson, The Band reunited in the 1980s but never approached its early success. Manuel hanged himself in a Winter Park, Fla., hotel room in 1986. Danko died in his home near Woodstock in 1999, a day after his 56th birthday.
While Helm’s diagnosis with cancer in the late 1990s reduced his voice to something close to a whisper, it did not end his musical career. Beset by debt, in 2004 he began a series of free-wheeling late night shows in his barn in Woodstock that were patterned after medicine shows from his youth. Any night of the bi-weekly "Midnight Rambles" could feature Gillian Welch, Elvis Costello or his daughter Amy on vocals and violin.
He recorded “Dirt Farmer” in 2007, which was followed by “Electric Dirt” in 2009. Both albums won Grammys. He won another this year for “Ramble at the Ryman.”
Yesterday, Dick Clark died at age 81 after a massive heart attack.
For more than half a century, Clark sold America on a kit bag of rowdy trouble and seductive pleasures during his stint as host of "American Bandstand" -- and beyond. From those lurid “Great Balls of Fire” goosed by Jerry Lee Lewis and the hip, grinding come-ons to do “The Twist” evoked by Chubby Checker, to the coded drug-’n’-revolution messages he let fly on national TV from the Jefferson Airplane, and the totally tarty aura of Madonna that became America’s obsession.
-- By The Associated Press
Levon Helm:
Dick Clark & American Bandstand:
Only active print or digital subscribers of the Tulsa World are allowed to post comments on stories posted to Tulsaworld.com. After you fill out the form below and click submit, your comment will be published instantly online along with your screen name.
By clicking "Submit" you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
