The Last Waltz: I Shall Be Released

The Band celebrates the end of their days on tour on November 25, 1976 34 years ago and the singers singing I Shall Be Released is comprised of some of the greatest singers of the era with there being too many greats to mention them all by name.

Their final concert came seven years after Woodstock and four years before the MTV era started in 1980′s. It may be the only time I have seen a concert that featured a tuba player.

My favorite song was Ophelia being sung by Levon Helm in 1976.

The best version of You Don’t Know Me this side of Ray Charles sung by the late Richard Manuel former pianist for The Band in this Tokyo concert in 1983.

Manuel was an alcoholic and drug addict but for a time had given up the addictions but later he had a relapse and started back on the road to cocaine and alcohol and he had taken both shortly before hanging himself on March 4, 1986 in a Quality Inn motel in Winter Park, Florida.

Anyone wondering what it was like in San Francisco in 1976 should see The Last Waltz which was one of the best movies ever made about that era.

Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan: Crossroads

Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan sing Crossroads. Dylan is now 69 and Clapton is 65.

George Strait 1985: A Fire I Can’t Put Out

It doesn’t seem possible that George Strait sang this song 25 years ago. He has had 57 No.1 hits during his career.

Betty Lynn:

Betty Lynn never looked like this on the Andy Griffith Show and amazingly was only in a total of 26 episodes from 1960-1966 portraying the girlfriend of deputy Barney Fife.

I had always thought Betty Lynn playing Thelma Lou on the Andy Griffith Show was in a lot more episodes of the show than she was in.

249 episodes of the show were filmed and she was only seen in 26 of them. When Don Knotts left the show after the 1965 season she was only connected with the show when Don made a special appearance or there was a reunion show.

It is sad that while Don Knotts was earning big money from appearing on his own TV show and in many movies she was mostly a free lance actress guesting on various television shows. She did appear in seven My Three Sons episodes but that was over a five year period.

She was in four episodes of Family Affair in a three year period and later was in five episodes of Matlock starring Andy Griffith.

After leaving Andy Griffith she only acted in 23 episodes total of other shows. Still she liked being on the Andy Griffith Show so much she moved to Mt. Airy, N.C. the boyhood home of Andy Griffith and still lives there today.

Betty Lynn tells about what it is like to live in Mt. Airy, N.C. and how much she loves the city.

After watching her interview it tells me once again not only was the Andy Griffith a great show but had a great cast of actors who excelled at their roles in the show.

This interview tells more about Betty Lynn and how she got the job on the Andy Griffith Show and how Don Knotts was not anything like Barney Fife in public.

It is amazing that the show left the air over 50 years ago and yet is still loved and is being passed on to new generations.