Storyteller
 

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There is nothing more enjoyable to me than a good story told well. Here's Robbie Robertson retelling a true story of when Bob Dylan asked him and Levon Helms (and eventually the whole band) to join him on tour. It encapsulates how creative energy overcomes everything.

https://youtu.be/wXtow6a4E-k
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That was great Jim. And I'm always a sucker for footage of Dylan from 65/66. Though something about the reverence for these rock'n'roll/showbiz war stories does always remind me a bit of the cab driver from Spinal Tap. My dad used to bang on about Sinatra like this guy and it did my head in ha.

https://youtu.be/ZJxS_1LzUKw

Haven't seen Robertson since "The Last Waltz." Yikes. The guy who wrote "The Weight" really put some on.

Thanks, Jim. Like Mark, I have an interest in the period, and I always find Robbie interesting.

Tim, it looks to me like you had a joke you wanted to make rather than anything of much interest to say. I'd call it a cheap shot even if I wasn't a fan (and hadn't always thought JRR in fact particularly handsome). Seriously, we're going to call writers fat now? Man's appearance changes in 40 years between 33 and 73?! Total shocker.

He seems very comfortable with himself, so he doesn't need you to defend him. But when the difference is that apparent it's difficult not to notice. No biography of Orson Welles would fail to mention his weight.

What Simon said.
Come on. Dumb post. No body likes that kind of shit no matter their comfort levels or personal body size criteria.

Robbie has certainly taken some ribbing from his former bandmates and he probably would have laughed at the joke himself. But I doubt that he ever used the word "shit" on a poetry forum.

In this wonderful performance of The Weight, he looks a bit like Bill Barr, which is a crueler thing to say than to point out his weight gain. But have a listen. Very good stuff.

Another fine cover is this one by Gillian Welsh and Old Crow Medicine Show.

Awesome! And searching on "song around the world" and "playing for change" leads to similarly great versions of lots other songs. There's something about seeing/hearing people making music together from across the globe. Thanks for introducing me to these, RogerBob.

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What struck me most about the story RR tells (and the reason why I posted this) was how he eventually hones in on how, as artists, they confronted what is most difficult about being an artist. Public opinion (it is also something I think happens here more than we are aware). He articulates how critical it is for the artist to overcome the outside interference that doesn’t help and will likely stifle creative expression. Public opinion often gets in the way of artistic expression.

Beginning at 4:55, here is what he says about that moment when the epiphany arrives:

“...And I said to the other guys in the Hawks, and I said to Bob, ‘They’re [the audience] wrong. The world is wrong. This [the music they were making] is really good’ And at that point, things turned. We started playing, like, in-your-face. Louder. Harder. Bolder. Kind of just like preaching our sermon of music. And people were, like, ‘What’s wrong with these guys? Why do they keep on insisting on doing this?’ And there was this back-and-forth thing going on. And somewhere inside you have to believe in what you’re doing. And we actually thought that what we were doinbg was really good, and everybody was wrong. And in time, the world came around. And we didn’t change a note.”

That’s brilliant storytelling.
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