In the ’60s, Robbie Robertson’s rock ’n’ roll band was The Band. In the ’70s, he disbanded The Band. Now in the 2020s, his documentary is “Once Were Brothers.”
“I’m 76 years old and just had my busiest year. I scored ‘The Irishman’ for Martin Scorsese.
“I started at 13. Toronto. A theater guy wanted a rock band to play before his movie went on. A couple of us were juiced. We played our hearts out. We were learning. We knew nothing. I was scared, probably lousy, but so busy trying to remember the arrangements I didn’t know the difference.
“I’m from Canada. Half-Indian, half-Jewish. My father, Jewish. My mother, Native American. From Six Nations reservation. Six tribes. A woman, Ava Hill, my friend, was our chief. I go there and do things for the young people. I teach them to speak up. Do what makes them proud.
“That’s how music came into my life. These people were all about singing, dancing. Early years on the reservation, a time with relatives, is where I learned music. And storytelling.
“I have a great memory. My autobiography, a best seller, pulled no punches. Hardest thing I ever did. You tell a story. Certain things you can do, certain you can’t. I was honest. I tried to have grace. I don’t think I hurt anyone … but no guarantees. You can be soulful — it just depends on what kind of soulful.
“Now I’m just happy to have a breather. I’m scoring so many movies that I rarely get a weekend off. I tried working with a machine, but can’t. I need pen and paper.
“I usually don’t like these musical documentaries. I wasn’t expecting to do this one … but … it’s very moving and emotional.”
Not the first time we’ve heard this ‘Story’
After weeks of fine-tuning, even East Siders will jam Broadway Theatre’s opening of “West Side Story.”
Commanding the front mezzanine will be the musical’s original Maria, Carol Lawrence, age 87. Remembering her 1957 Winter Garden opening down the block:
“After the finale, lights went out, curtain came up, we looked at the audience, and they looked at us … pure silence. Then, as if Jerome Robbins himself directed them, they stood screaming, cheering, stomping their feet. Leonard Bernstein hugged me. We wept.”
Social circle
Vacuuming up Burpy Sanders’ rear end makes voters believe de Blasio’s front end wants to be chief of staff. And who else might comprise BS’s cabinet?
Secretary of the treasury, AOC. Because she handled tips as a bartender. Secretary of state, the Squad’s open mouth Rep. Ilhan Omar. Attorney general could be whichever lawyer’s released first. Agriculture, Spitting Bull Elizabeth Warren.
Secretary of the interior, like way back inside — Buttigieg. Exterior? Shifty Schiff because he’s an ass. Posterior? Nadler. And inferior? Pelousy.
Odds & ends
James Patterson’s latest Little, Brown best seller is “Lost.” If you love crime stories, mystery books, do not let this get lost. It’s a thriller … Dame Helen Mirren: “My nickname Popper came from when I was a baby. I was a loud crier, always waking people up. They’d say, ‘There she goes, popping off again.’ ”
Garment District joke: Elderly lady, weary after 12 hours hand-sewing appliques onto a designer coat, trudges home. A flasher then jumps in front of her, opens his raincoat and exposes himself. Looking a moment she says, “You call that a lining?”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.