As to being the “definitive arbiter” on the subject, well, I simply have never claimed to be, so I don;t know why you state that. In fact, I’ve gone back over time and edited my articles in order to fall more in line, as it regards facts that have arisen over the years that have changed my perception of events.

For instance, I remember that it was thought at the time of the RRHOF induction that Robertson had strong-armed the masters of ceremony into not letting Helm appear. That does not seem to have been the case. I have changed my wording since I first wrote down that information, but must reiterate that I have read newspaper articles that state that a reason given behind Levon not appearing were terms that Robbie wanted for a “reunion” to occur that Helm refused to meet. I can not give you time and date on when or where I read this. Only that I did research this, and found information to that regards in a pdf retrieved from Google News.

Regarding “passing on innuendo” and “prov[ing] the points”, again I do not have a source right in front of me for every line I wrote four years ago, but the largest leaps I have ever done was to draw what seemed logical conclusions based on what others have said or written. But I have not set out to prove points: I am not a scholar, a reporter, or a biographer. And I was even less so when I first wrote the words in this piece.

If you think I did a lousy job of writing, that’s your opinion and you are welcome to it. But I’ve already stated what I think about people who feel they know my intentions from reading the first piece of mine they come across, or figure it’s okay to call me an idiot because, hey, it’s the internet, and internet people don’t have feelings! We’re all just a bunch of trolls, right?

Well….no.

I understand that people take their musical heroes and influences seriously, and it’s not nice to see the concept of the heroic poked holes in, but the point of this series was not to “fan the flames”. It was to point out that even if music could be argued as an amoral act, that it is created by artists who should be looked at (and often are not) as moral individuals, and that perhaps their behavior in their everyday lives may affect their wrong, and the quality of it. I have specifically focused on people who, in my personal opinion, have for the most part only had one really great album in their (solo) careers, and by mentioning some of the general incidents and behaviors in their lives that have led them to garner “problematic” reputations, to posit whether their outside the studio behavior has affected the quality of their work in the studio.

Again, I knew this series would be controversial when I started it, and I have started and stopped it a number of times because of personal attacks on me by fans of the artists. While calling me an “idiot” is far from the worst thing I’ve been referred to, I still do not think it is fair.

Okay, that’s all I want to say about this. Carry on.

Anyway, lousy article.  Fan the flames, idiot.

#2 – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – can anyone really believe that the only american in the group had nothing to do with the lyrics in this song?  This is levon’s best, in my opinion, and the only person credited to this song is robbie.  Sorry, not buying it.

#3- a guest posted that ” Robbie was handling the business obligations … Robertson seemed canny enough not to get too
embroiled in the drug culture or the typical excesses for a band in
their position. He kept a clear head for business when it mattered and
the others didn’t.”

sorry, but I’m pretty sure ‘the last waltz’ and all robbie’s major egotism was a direct result of the mass amounts of cocaine he was snorting over the years, and with martin scorcese while they edited the film.  Maybe he didn’t drink as much as the others, or maybe the cocaine counteracted the alcohol, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one who did it (did any musician from that era make it through without trying cocaine a few times?  Even joni mitchell did it, you can tell she’s high on coke in the last waltz)  but robbie was definitely not the sober one of the group.  I don’t think any of them were ever truly sober.  And cocaine is notorious for turning people into cold-hearted, egotistical, back-stabbing assholes.

That being said, while I do believe that robbie robertson took songwriting credits for more than his share of the work, that doesn’t mean he’s responsible for manuel’s death, or that levon was.  And it doesn’t mean that he didn’t write the majority of the band’s material (we all know there are many great song writers who can’t sing for shit, hell, look at dylan himself).  I just think that some of those guys had a lot more to do with the writing of specific songs than they got credit for.

In my opinion it’s not about ‘taking sides’ or who was more of an asshole to who, or who took more drugs, or who handled the responsibilities of the band.  If you listen to the music of The Band while all five were active members, the songs don’t match the writing credits.
 

The only person in The Band who really seemed to have an issue with all this is Helm. I have met Levon Helm and was fortunate enough to jam with him. I can say he was a gentleman, funny and very giving and patient with all my “fan” questions (and he played HUGE grooves!). He is a great guy.

It is only my opinion, but I think his hurt is clouding his recall…Robertson may well be an asshole, but not a thief.