somewhat interesting coincidence behind the story here. So last Monday I called my friend at Hear Again, a pretty decent record store in downtown Gainesville, and asked if he had any copies of The Band's Self-Titled album, or "Moondog Matinee," being that as of the previous 2 weeks, all I could listen to was The Band. At work, during sleep, in class, driving, even playing video games and reading, I was (and even more so now) constantly listening to The Band. So on last Thursday (3 days later) I'm driving up to Suwannee County to see the annual Wanee Festival, which is headlined by the Allmann Bros Band. The last time I went to Wanee, was in 2008, the only time Allmann Bros did NOT play at the fest, due to Greg Allmann starting his hepatitis treatment cycle, and I got there right after Levon Helm (the drummer/singer of The Band) finished his set. I was disappointed, but he came out later during the slot Allmann bros were supposed to play for a song or two, which was amazing.
Anyway, so I stop by Gainesville on Thursday to say hey to my friend and pick up a copy of the self-titled album on vinyl ("moondog" is currently out of print, for those wondering). And while we're talking, the owner of the shop asks me "are you buyin this because of Levon?" and I said, "well, i mean, i guess...he is THE man in The Band, definitely my favorite..." "well, you know he died today, right?"
That moment, my stomach dropped and chills went up my spine. It set a very strange tone for a very strange weekend of festival music, camping, and canoes. While I was there, I stopped by a vendor tent selling cds and such, and the last piece of merchandise that was related to The Band that they had left was a copy of the "The Last Waltz: Special Edition" dvd for 20 bucks.
For those of you who have not seen it, or are not familiar with The Band, change that immediately. Watch this movie ASAP, and watch it loud as fuuuuu...