Levon Helm in 'Final Stages' of Battle With Cancer

rwalker

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Apr 17, 2012, 8:47:35 PM4/17/12

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Levon Helm in 'Final Stages' of Battle With Cancer
'Please send your prayers and love,' reads note on the Band
drummer-singer's website

By Andy Greene
April 17, 2012 3:44 PM ET
A very sad note just appeared on the website for Levon Helm, the
drummer-singer of the Band. "Levon is in the final stages of his
battle with cancer," says the note. "Please send your prayers and love
to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey. Thank you
fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and
celebration...he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room
up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He
did it every time he took the stage."
Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in the late 1990s. He recovered,
but it took him many years to recover his singing voice. This past
Saturday evening Robbie Robertson sent "love and prayers" out to Helm.
Rolling Stone will have more information as it becomes available.

Read more:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/levon-helm-in-final-stages-of-his-battle-with-cancer-20120417#ixzz1sKluE3MO

Len Blanks

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Apr 17, 2012, 9:51:34 PM4/17/12

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Very sad news. He was on the bill for this years Jazz Fest in New Orleans
until yesterday.

--
Len

The trouble with quotes on the Internet is it's difficult to determine
whether or not they are genuine. -- Abraham Lincoln

Dean F.

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Apr 17, 2012, 10:43:21 PM4/17/12

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I'm sorry to hear that.

Michael Black

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Apr 17, 2012, 10:53:16 PM4/17/12

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On Tue, 17 Apr 2012, rwalker wrote:

> Levon Helm in 'Final Stages' of Battle With Cancer
> 'Please send your prayers and love,' reads note on the Band
> drummer-singer's website
>

I guess you're supposed to put "Ripples" on the turntable.

I saw The Band only once, June 21st, 1984, at Canada's Wonderland (yes an
amusement park), a benefit for SEVA. They opened for the Grateful Dead.
Obviously it was after the Band had reunited, minus Robbie Robertson, but
before members started dying. I was in the fourth row, Wavy Gravy came up
the aisle next to me. I seem to recall the Dead did play Ripples, though I
may be confusing that concert with the one at the same venue on July 1st
or so of 1987.

Micahel

Michael Black

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Apr 17, 2012, 11:17:53 PM4/17/12

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Some are now getting old enough that it is an issue.

I remember seeing Joan Baez a few times in the eighties, not because she
was getting old but because I wasn't sure if she'd come to town again, and
after 3 or 4 visits, she didn't until a couple of years ago.

I was sort of thinking of going to see Odetta when she came to town in
early 2009, but that show was cancelled, either because she died or
because she was ill (the illness did lead to her death). I saw her at
least once in a really small venue in the early eighties, but I would
have liked to see her again.

Each year they get older, seemingly out of the period when they were young
and died of drug overdoses or other things that young people die from, and
the next time they come to town could be the last.

It's too late after they are gone to see them again, or to say "thank
you".

Michael

Jim Colegrove

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Apr 18, 2012, 8:57:15 AM4/18/12

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On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:47:35 -0400, rwalker <rwa...@despammed.com>
wrote:

Very sorry to hear. Levon still made some fine records in the last
decade.

Jim Colegrove
www.thecoolgroove.com

InTheNeighborhood

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Apr 18, 2012, 4:13:03 PM4/18/12

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> Read more:http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/levon-helm-in-final-stages-of-...

Very sad news...the importance of The Band, and there startlingly
original rich music, cannot be under-stated.

Nick K.