Here's a really, really great video on Richard Manuel (and oh yeah, The Band).

@bdp24 -

"The debut Paul Butterfield Blues Band album was the first "real" Blues music I heard."

We must be close in age because my friends and I had a similar experience. I was a nascent guitarist who was totally bowled over by Mike Bloomfield’s skill. His sound and approach was widely admired and emulated. Early electric Jerry Garcia owes a debt to Bloomfield. The "thin wild mercury" sound of Bob Dylan wouldn’t have existed without Bloomfield (and Robbie Robertson). And of course, Bloomfield was someone else whose life was cut short because of drug abuse.

In the late 1970’s, The Lone Star Cafe, in NYC hosted Richard, Rick and Paul on a fairly regular rotation. Along with Dr. John, you could see "roots" music for a $10 ticket and two beers.

@wharfy: I turn 75 in June. Damn, where’d the time go?! In three years I’ll be the age my Pa was when he croaked. Colon cancer. But I never smoked, drank only moderately, ate sensibly, and got plenty of exercise hauling band equipment in and out of vans, up and down stairs, etc.

Did you get to see Bloomfield in The Electric Flag live? Fan-f*cking-tastic! Buddy Miles made Keith Moon look like a wimp.

@bdp24 

You're still a young man! Cleanish living and you definitely got your exercise. Now, the gym has replaced working-man-full-body-workouts. Doing pretty well, myself, at 72. 

Saw The Flag at Cafe Au Go Go in Winter, 1968. Rumors were Hendrix was jamming with them, and would play with them during this run. Didn't happen. But, they did play together a few months later at the Fillmore East.

The Flag had chops! round this time, after Bloomfield quit/was fired, Super Session was released. Stephen Stills, Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and members of The Flag. I still play that one.

Later was Bloomfield/Kooper at the Fillmore, with the classic "Hey Jude/Mr. Fantasy" pairing. 

@wharfy: A former fellow band member friend of mine is a week younger then I (we met the first day of 7th grade in September of 1962, and played our first show together at the Jr. High Talent Show in the spring of ’64. A year later we were both playing in separate bands), and he’s still out on the road, currently playing bass in the band that’s opening for and then backing Nick Lowe in his live shows (he and they are also the band on Nick’s latest album). But he no longer has to do the manual labour.

Funny, I watched The Last Waltz just last week...out of the blue.  I have it on DVD and had to wake my DVD player up to watch it which it didn't like at first but then settled in and played flawlessly- just like The Band :)