The Last Waltz | Music and Entertainment |Axisoflogic.com

Editor's Comment: The Band, held their last concert on November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco with a cast of musicians who marked an era that will never be erased from North American history. The songs, singers and songwriters of The Last Waltz certainly do not display all the many beautiful peoples of color and culture in the US and Canada but they do reflect a rich culture that exists today on the continent. It is one demonstration of the mystery of how people arise out of the darkness of colonialism into a different consciousness.

One example of this is the song, The Night They Tore 'Ole Dixie Down, one that that speaks of a civil war that drew so much suffering among brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers all of the same blood ...

"Now, I don't mind chopping wood.
And I don't care if the money's no good.
You take what you need
And you leave the rest
But they should never
Have taken the very best ...
You can't raise a Kane back up
When he's in defeat."

I don't know if it's true but it is said that more "Americans" died in the Civil War than in any of the many wars the US has inflicted on other countries.

The name of the band is ... "The Band." Their final concert in San Francisco, The Last Waltz ... musicians from Levon Helm to Joni Mitchell, tells a story as history should be told. We've selected only a few of the great artists who performed in this brilliant musicscape of poetry, imagery and instrumentation for Axis of Logic this weekend. The Last Waltz...

Les Blough, Editor
Axis of Logic

The Weight - The Staples with The Band

Such A Night - Doctor John

Levon Helm - Up on Cripple Creek (1940 - 2012)

Joni Mitchell ... Coyote

The Night They Tore Ole' Dixie Down - The Band with Levon

The Shape I'm In - Richard Manuel (1943 - 1986)

It Makes No Difference - Rick Danko (1942-1999)

Evangeline - Emmylou Harris

Caravan - Van Morrison

Mystery Train - Paul Butterfield

Ophelia - Levon Helm

Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters

The Weight - The Staples with The Band