. • ,s• litittneleittil.61M110101 WALTZING INTO THE FUTURE New releases introduce a new generation to an ageless rock extravaganza. MARTIN NATCHEZ 2980 W. 12 Mile Rd • Downtown Berkley 248.544.MUSE Bangkok Sala Cafe THAI CUISINE Buy One Lunch or Dinner & Get a Second for 50% OFF One per customer • Expires 12/31/02 27903 Orchard Lake Rd. (NW corner of 12 Mile) Farmington Hills (248) 553-4220 Open 7 days a week Mon-Sat 11 am - 10 pm Sunday 4 pm - 9:30 pm Bar Mitzvah • Bat Mitzvah •Anniversaries •Showers • Weddings Hours: Mon-Thurs 10 am-11 pm Sat 4-11 pm • Sun 4-9 pm 5/10 2002 98 2411-853-7344 20116 Crooks • Rochester Special to the Jewish News I n November 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected to the White House, the United Nations General Assembly had passed an infamous resolution that equated Zionism with racism, and a Thanksgiving Day con- cert was being planned with all the trimmings of a bicen- tennial bash. When it was over, the feast of food and music had been immortalized in a movie called The Last Waltz, which doc- umented the final stage appearance by The Band at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Performances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Eric Clapton and spe- cial guests were recorded, filmed and frozen in time. The spectacular's 25th anniversary is being remembered with a newly restored the- atrical print and a newly expanded, deluxe Warner Bros./Rhino four-CD boxed set. This week's release of MGM's Special Edition DVD also offers vibrant 5:1 surround sound, remixed by The Band's well-known lead guitarist, Robbie Robertson. Born Jaime Robbie Klegerman in Toronto, Robertson was the son of a Jewish father, although the musician only recalls that his dad was a professional gam- bler who was killed while changing a tire on a Canadian expressway. Later, Robertson's mother, a Mohawk Indian from the Six Nations Reservation near Lake Erie, remarried and changed her son's surname. In his teens, Robertson joined Canadian rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins' backup band, the Hawks. Within a year of splitting from Hawkins, Robertson, drum- mer Levon Helm, bass player Rick Danko and keyboardists Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson were backing and recording with Bob Dylan. The Hawks, in fact, were the storming band behind Dylan's infamous transition into folk rock. And in 1967, they all took up residence in a pink house in West Saugerties, N.Y., where reels of "base- ment tapes" and the group's Music From Big Pink LP — officially using the moniker "The Band" — were eventu- ally recorded. Released in 1968, Music From Big Pink featured memo- rable cuts such as "The Weight" and "Chest Fever." More success followed on 1969's second, self-titled LP, which included "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and scored a Top 10 gold album. The Band would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, honored for its Americana style of music. But in 1976, Robertson was becoming haunted with premonitions of dying.and unilaterally pulled the plug on more touring. "It was almost like a boxer who's gone too many rounds, and you get to think that, at some point, this is dangerous and not healthy. That's the way I felt back then," Robertson recalled in an inter- Clockwise from top left: Bob Dylan as he appeared in "The Last Waltz," considered one of the most important concert films ever made. Robbie Robertson, guitarist and principal songwriter for The Band, is the son of a Jewish father and native American mother. Shown here in "The Last Waltz," he spearheaded its 25th anniversary celebration. Joni Mitchell and Neil Young perform in "The Last Waltz."