Drugs, movies and fights: what we learned from Robbie Robertson’s new memoir

Like the deceased Robbie Robertson told the Rolling Stone in February 2023, the guitarist and composer of The Band was finally completing one of two planned sequels to his 2016 memoir, Testimony. The second book, according to him, would narrate his life and work immediately after the last show and film of the The Band, The Last Rock Concert (1978). “I’m immersed in it,” he said of the project at the time. “Now I can focus more on moving forward with it.”

Six months later, Robertson passed away unexpectedly, but the book he was working on, Insomniais being prepared for publication on November 11th. As promised, the autobiography focuses on the years 1977 to 1980, when Robertson became a close friend and roommate of the director Martin Scorsesemore inserted in the Hollywood community and less close to his former bandmates The Band. The book narrates an intense journey of drugs, chance encounters and many movie sessions, often accompanied by pasta or good food. Here are some things we learned along the way, including some math that Robertson apparently wanted to get it right.

Living up to the legend of the time, Robertson and Scorsese had their moments of pure adrenaline

While the two worked on finishing The Last Rock Concertdirected by Scorsesethe wife of Robertson, Dominiqueasked him to leave his home and family: “She said that her needs were being overshadowed by my work and my fame.” Robertson ended up moving to his house Scorsese in Malibu, getting a room of their own, and the two newly single men became involved in both excesses and filmmaking.

Robertson writes about the time he had to make a drug delivery in the middle of a movie session with Francis Ford Coppola to buy a few grams of cocaine from a drug dealer who “took off his shirt and pants so as not to get the powder on his hands.” (When he returned, Coppola I was furious because Robertson hadn’t kept an eye on the mixture, which seems to have inspired a scene in The Good Companions.) One day, the assistant Scorsese panicked after taking too many heavy sleeping pills, which made his mouth clog. Picking up a 20 dollar bill, Robertson he made the assistant snort three lines of cocaine — which ended up solving the problem. As Robertson remember saying to Scorsese: “Medicine is medicine.”

In your own memories, This Wheel’s on FireLevon Helm was candid about his distaste for The Last Rock Concert, and here, Robertson makes a belated criticism of Helm on the same subject

When filming was being completed, Robertson states that helm wasn’t very interested in filming the additional scenes in the studio with the Staple Singers and Emmylou Harrisand that he preferred to keep the extra money. “My God”, I thought, “he doesn’t understand any of this”, he writes Robertson. He also states that helm was dissatisfied with the interview scenes with Richard Manuelwhich was already practically guaranteed, but everyone else didn’t care. As Robertson writes at the beginning of the book: “I was tired of Levonwhich was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.”

Most musicians filmed for The Last Rock Concert was satisfied with the result, with the exception of two (and not just Helm)

Second Insomnia, van morrison was the first to give permission to use his images (and his stage kicks), followed by Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Dr John and others. But Neil Diamondperhaps the least likely artist on that stage, despite having just worked with Robertson in your album Beautiful Noise“I was worried about one of the camera angles, where I thought his profile wasn’t flattering,” he says Robertson. (In the end, color correction solved the problem.)

Second Robertson, Bob Dylan initially hesitated to include her performance of “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” with the The Bandfearing it would conflict with the imminent release of his own film, Renaldo and Clara. In the book, the brother of Dylan, Davidtells the Robertson on Bob: “He’s right to be concerned. I don’t know what he’s trying to do as a filmmaker.” At the end, Dylan He ended up agreeing, although his concerns proved valid: Renaldo and Clara was massacred by critics and quickly went out of print, but The Last Rock Concert remains a classic of the genre.

Buddy Holly biopic aside, Gary Busey would have been a good rock star

Robertson met and started dating the hard-partying actor (and occasional drummer) when the two starred in the ill-fated film The Circus of Death (1980). Upon arriving at a hotel room in New York during this period with Robertson, Busey discovered “two extra small single beds” in his room and was furious. Calling the hotel manager, Busey he shouted, in true destructive rock fashion: “I’m going to start throwing the TV and beds out the window!” Management complied with his request and he was given a new room.

When Helm ridiculed Robertson by calling him “Mr. Hollywood” in his own book, he wasn’t kidding.

The book Insomnia delights in showing how much Robertson dedicated himself to the world of cinema in Los Angeles. Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty make special appearances, with Nicholson visiting the house of Scorsese and Robertson and saying: “I liked the structure you have here. Big speakers for music, a cave for watching movies and charming women.” Robertson interacts frequently with a Robert De Niro typically laconic during filming Raging Bull (1980). The book also delves into the personal life of Robertsonchronicling his affairs with several actresses, including Jennifer O’NeillCanadian actress Geneviève Bujold and the French actress Carole Bouquet. This last case, at times, seems less like an autobiography of Robertson and another water-and-sugar romance: “She pushed me and punched my bare chest with the side of her fist… Her face was flushed as tears flowed.”

Scorsese and Liza Minnelli were a tempestuous couple

After working together on the film musical New York, New Yorkthe director and the actress-singer started dating. As I passed their hotel room in New York, Robertson found the room “somewhat untidy”, with the assistant Scorsese picking up a fallen lamp and cleaning “a stain on the carpet”. According to the book, the couple had argued loudly, and Scorsese would have thrown a glass of red wine towards Minnelliwhich shattered into a chandelier. The couple took the situation as a joke, and Robertson went about his business: “I called room service and ordered a selection of sweets and more red wine,” he writes, a combination that, according to him and Scorsesethey called it “the diet of champions”.

Robertson felt guilty when Scorsese almost died from an overdose

In 1978, Scorsese He was rushed to a hospital after his body, already very weakened, could not resist. “Maybe the rock and roll lifestyle I had introduced into my life Marty was to blame for his suffering,” he writes. Robertsonadding that the experience helped him straighten out. “I finally understood: I had to stop.”

Robertson had an unforgivable falling out with the band

Insomnia reveals moments when the musicians, now geographically divided between the east and west coasts of the USA, almost came together, but never came to fruition. Robertson write about Manuel (who would commit suicide in 1986) having missed an important recording session and, later, having told Robertson that he had a gun, insinuating that he could use it against himself. Robertson writes fondly about the time when he, Manuel and Garth Hudson got together to record a version of “At Last” for the soundtrack of Raging Bullbut it was a fleeting meeting.

Thanks to his Hollywood connections, Robertson says that he once called helm to tell you that the director Michael Apted was interested in hiring him to play the father of Loretta Lynn in a biopic. helmhe writes Robertsonrefused the proposal, and Robertson He realized that he no longer had much in common with his former musical companion. “I knew that Levon was an extraordinary musician, but he was limited in his vision and ambitions, happy to go around and around playing music on the same old circuit,” he writes. Robertsonin a scathing way. After connection, Robertson says: “I wanted new challenges, new searches, new blood, new paths. There would be no separation, no harsh words, no goodbyes. The Band It would simply disappear, in the twilight, naturally.” But, as was later proven, in conflicting reports such as those presented here, the The Band it did not fall apart silently that night.

• francis ford coppola

• Insomnia

• Joni Mitchell

• levon helm

• Martin Scorcsese

• Robbie Robertson

• Testimony

• The band

• van morrison