Levon Helm 1940 - 2012
Mark Lavon “Levon” Helm who died today was a talented multi-instrumentalists but will always be remembered as drummer and founder member of The Band. I stumbled across The Band in the mid 80’s when I caught Martin Scorsese’s concert documentary The Last Waltz (1978) on TV. The clip below is from that film and is probably their most famous song “The Weight,” its certainly my favourite
Also an actor, Helm made notable appearances in the Loretta Lynn Biography, Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) and the epic story of the birth of the space program, The Right Stuff (1983). His last appearance was in the Tommy Lee Jones (who was also in Coal Miner’s Daughter) film In the Electric Mist (2009). 
His passing was announced earlier today on his twitter account:
Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be... fb.me/ZYl7vXFO
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Levon Helm (@LevonHelmRamble) April 19, 2012
Had the chance to see Levon at Floyd Fest a couple summers ago and he was amazing – he had the audience held captive for his entire set. He’s an American icon.