The Final Concert Martin Scorsese: THE LAST WALTZ
Thursday began PFS’s free outdoor music/film screening series in Northern Liberties at Piazza at Schmidts:
5/27 – The Last Waltz
6/24 – Almost Famous
7/15 – Shine a Light
8/19 – The Song Remains The Same
9/16 – Stop Making Sense
The heavenly sitting out in the evening weather we all enjoyed the two nights prior, couldn’t last just one more night, instead it threaten big storms and got really cold; which I think deterred a lot of people from coming. I do hope these next screenings will turn into a great party atmosphere. It has all the elements – WMGK is sponsoring the events; their DJ’s get the attendees involved with games, giveaways and trivia questions that you can text the answer to right from your seat.
Great restaurants inside the plaza: Darling’s Diner, a funky 1950’s style diner; Apollinare, an Italian wine bar with pizza and pasta; The Swift Half, a gastropub by the owners of The Good Dog; and P.Y.T. bar and lounge. I had already eaten dinner so I ordered dessert from PYT, Brown Betty Double Fudge Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich, which sounds wonderfully decadent – NOT SO. $6 and at least 600 calories of tastelessness, both the ice cream and the cookie -total disappointment. 1 Tine Rating
The Last Waltz (linked to youtube video) I know there are a lot of people who revere this concert/documentary, who idolize Martin Scorsese and would die to have had a chance to be at The Band’s last concert featuring legendary performers: Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood and Neil Young. But this music doc really didn’t hold my attention. I read the movie was criticized for focusing too much on guitarist Robbie Robertson, thoughts?
With the exception of Joni Mitchell who sung a song I wasn’t that familiar with, these aren’t my favorite musicians. But I wore my Rock Angel t-shirt which I bought during my obsession with the 3rd Bret Michaels Rock of Love (VH1 Reality Show) – the one on the bus. I loved that trashy show to my core! Yay, for Bret Michaels not only surviving his health ordeal but still thriving!
The other reason I didn’t really watch The Last Waltz is because I was being not so subtly picked up by “The Ecuadorian” this guy had won one of the WMGK ticket givaways and was wearing a The Band concert t-shirt, so I asked to take a picture of him for T&T. He then invited me to sit with him to watch the film, only we didn’t really watch the film. He first started telling me about all the concerts he’s been to since coming to the US in the early 90’s, he has seen just about every performer in the film, but also the likes of Lionel Richie, The Four Tops, Mariah Carey and so many more.
Next he began singing along with the film, only changing the lyrics or making double entendres where ever and whenever possible. Then because I was cold he proceeded to put his arms around me to “warm me up”, while telling me about his experience learning Japanese massage techniques, giving me a sampling on my bare legs. Actually, it did feel pretty good. I should have stopped him when he started teaching me phrases in Spanish for things I can’t say on this blog, as I try to keep it PG-13, but I’ll just say one phrase was Leche de something that had to do with climbing a tall mountain and tasting milk.
I did get a kick out of him when he told me he considers himself a South American mixture of Dustin Hoffman, Joe Pecsci, Robert Deniro and another short, not very attractive actor that’s does well with the ladies, but I can’t think of who he said right now. The hardest thing to resist was his very clear talk of seizing the moment, living for today, partaking of pleasure whenever possible. Since leaving my job, it’s been my dominant intent to enjoy life more, take more chances, see where things lead, be less fearful. It’s a holiday weekend, one I was supposed to spend with my boyfriend at a bed and breakfast in the Chesapeake before he totally bailed on me. I got a new hair cut, pedicure and had everything waxed that needs to be waxed….
But I said no, nice meeting you Ecuadorian, but I’m still no good at the hook up.
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,’script’,’//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js’,’ga’);
ga(‘create’, ‘UA-10500917-2’, ‘auto’);
ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);
(Reel & Dine): Philly Film, Food & Events Blog
2 Comments
K3304
I saw this movie at Piazza at Schmidt's in Philadelphia June 2010. I also partied with Levon & Rick on South Street in Philadelphia at a club called Stars 1983
ezradams
I was at the Philadelphia Film Society screening. Weather was an issue and turnout wasn't too good, but the movie still rocked. My first time at the venue….I'll be back!