Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
Along with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce, Lake Tahoe’s Thanksgiving tradition includee helpings of Jelly Bread. And, by the way, was “The Last Waltz” the best rock and roll movie of all time?
The funky holiday sustenance served special ingredients at The Locals Last Waltz at the Crystal Bay Casino. It was the fifth year Jelly Bread has hosted the show that paid tribute the Band’s final concert 40 years ago on Nov. 25, 1976, in San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. Director Martin Scorsese filmed the performance.
Casino Manager Bill Wood said he started the Crystal Bay Thanksgiving tradition after reading about a similar show in a Denver club, Dulcineas, in 2005 called Last Waltz Revisited
“Ours was a complete rip-off. “Of course, I guess theirs was also since there was only one Last Waltz,” Wood said. “I loved the Band from its beginnings but really appreciated them when I saw the Bob Dylan tour of ’74.
“Speaking of which, 40 years ago I had tickets to The Last Waltz at Winterland but my boss would not give me the day off even though casinos were never busy Thanksgiving Day. He actually was going around looking for volunteers to go home that afternoon, but I had already given away my two floor tickets, which included turkey dinner.
“Now, I suppose you have heard that everyone is doing a tribute. Warren Haynes with Michael McDonald, Don Was and many more are doing The Last Waltz Tribute Tour. We experimented the first couple of years but ever since Jelly Bread has taken over it has improved exponentially. Those guys do a great job and they always have an outstanding lineup of special guests.”
On Saturday night, Jelly Bread was be joined by Bryan Daines and Dave Lockhart from the Dead Winter Carpenters, Mike Quinby of the Portland band Roseland Headhunters, the 45th Street Brass from Seattle and Lake Tahoe artists Emily Ramey, Sam Ravenna, Cheryl Bowers and Jeff Jones.
Jelly Bread and its friends performed 22 songs from “The Last Waltz.”
Groove Session, a progressive funk trio from Southern California, played the Red Room after-party.
Concert review: Crown Room becomes Winterland on a snowy night. LINK
Reliving ‘The Last Waltz,’ and was it the best rock film of all time?
Critics called “The Last Waltz” one of the greatest rock and roll movies of all time. We compiled a list of some others – it goes to 11. Feel free to rank them and to add some of your own.
11 — The Last Waltz (1978) — Final concert by the Canadian-American group the Band held at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day in 1976. Promoter Bill Graham treated 5,000 concertgoers to a turkey dinner before the show, and guest artists included Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield, Neil Young, Emilou Harris, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchel, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, Neil Diamond, Bobby Charles, the Staple Singers and Eric Clapton. Director Martin Scorsese filmed the documentary. Quote: “Bill Graham was next to me shouting, ‘Shoot him! Shoot him! (Bob Dylan),’ ” Scorsese said. “He comes from the same streets as you do. Don’t let him push you around.”
10 — Hard Day’s Night (1964) — British comedy starring, John, Paul, Ringo and George. (Why does George always follow Ringo?) A few days in the lives of the Beatles during the height of Beatlemania. And, hey, this movie inspired the Monkees. Quote: Reporter: “Are you a Mod or a Rocker?” Ringo: “I’m a Mocker.”
9 — Quadrophenia (1979) — British drama based loosely on The Who’s 1973 rock opera of the same name. The band does not appear in the movie. It tells the story of Jimmy, a 1960s Mod in London who scraps with a motorcycle gang dubbed The Rockers. Sting appears as Ace Face, a fellow Mod and hotel bell boy. Quote: “I don’t give a monkey’s arsehole about Mods and Rockers. Underneath, we’re all the same, ‘n’t we?”
8 — Gimme Shelter (1970) — Documentary captured the final weeks of The Rolling Stones’ 1969 U.S. Tour, which ended at a disastrous free concert at the Altamont Speedway between Livermore and Tracy. A film poster told the story: “The music that thrilled the world and the killing that stunned it.” The Hells Angels provided security that day, and a fan lost hisl life to a pool cue. Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin also was decked that day. Quote: “Hey, man, I’d like to mention that (they) just punched (my lead singer) in the face and knocked him out for a bit. I’d like to thank you for that,” Paul Kantner said scornfully.
7 — Pink Floyd — The Wall (1982) — This Brtish film has it all: Live action, psychedelic animation, psychological horror and memorable music. Based on the 1979 album of the same name, it tells the story of rocker Floyd “Pink” Pinkerton, who sinks to insanity after his father’s death. Quote: “If ya don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding! How can ya have any pudding if ya don’t eat ya meat?”
6 — School of Rock (2003) — Dewey Finn (Jack Black) loses his job in a rock and roll band and, desperate for work, lands a job as a substitute teacher at a prep school where he attempts to transform his fifth-grade class into a rock band. Was he smarter than the fifth graders? We don’t think so. Quote: “Rock isn’t about getting an A. The Sex Pistols never won anything.”
5 — La Bamba (1987) — Biography about rock and roller Ritchie Valens, 17, who perished in a 1959 airplane crash along with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper (Stephen Lee). It was remembered as “the day music died.” The movie not only jumpstarted Lou Diamond Phillips’ acting career, it brought attention to “Just Another Band from East L.A., Los Lobos. “The Buddy Holly Story” is another good rock and roll movie, which stars Gary Busey. Quote: “My mom reckons I’m going to be a star. And stars don’t fall from the sky.”
4 — Jail House Rock (1957) — Elvis Presley portrays Vincent Everett, a construction worker who accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl and is sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary. His cellmate, Hunk Houghton, turns him toward music. Once released and on the outside, he finds fame, fortune and the love of his life. It wasn’t easy, though. Quote: Girl: “How dare you think such cheap tactics would work with me!” Vince Everett: “That ain’t tactics, honey. It’s just the beast in me.”
3 — The Blues Brothers (1976) — The movie was the upshot of a “Saturday Night Live” skit by Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi. Ackroyd, who co-wrote the movie, modeled the characters Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues after the Canadian band the Downchild Blues Band. Belushi drew his inspiration from Curtis Salgado, who he saw perform in Eugene, Oregon, during the filming of “Animal House.” Musicians in the movie included Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker and Aretha Franklin. Quote: Elwood: “What kind of music do you usually have here?” Bartender: “Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western.”
2 — High Fidelity (2000) — With his band The Refreshments, Roger Clyne sang, “I was never cool enough to get a job in a record store,” and a few years later in 2000 film John Cusack and Jack Black stared in this hilarious movie. The proprietors of the record store Championship Vinyl made listicles before the term was invented, creating Top 5 lists for everything. They had an encyclopedic musical knowledge and would mock uneducated customers. Quote: “Marie de Salle’s playing. You remember I told you about her. I like her. She’s kind of Sheryl Crow-ish crossed with a post-Partridge Family pre-L.A. Law Susan Dey kind of thing, but, you know, uh, black.”
1 — This Is Spinal Tap (1984) — The phase “Turn it up to 11” came from this 1984 movie, a mockumentary about a pretentious heavy metal band from Britain. Director Rob Reiner and actors Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean ad libbed most of the lines in the movie. Many folks didn’t understand the movie was a satire and thought Spinal Tap was a real band. Although it was not a box office success, it became a popular cult film and was called “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of and is preserved in the National Film Registry. Quote: Nigel Tufnel: “We’ve got Armadillos in our trousers. It’s really quite frightening.”
-Tim Parsons and Randy Hashagen
