Watching Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz, you can feel its significance, both as an historic moment in rock music history — it captured The Band’s last hurrah on Thanksgiving Day, 1976 — and as a revolutionary concert documentary; it's generally considered one of the finest ever made.
In many ways, Have Gun Will Travel’s tribute to The Last Waltz (spurred by Brokenmold Entertainment’s Reel Deal film-and-music series at Crowbar last November) carried just as much weight, making history on a local-scene level and proving far more than a mere meta endeavor.
Some of the parallels between the two are obvious. Both concert events were treated with a sense of reverence by the musicians, the concertgoers, and the filmmakers; both featured a fine rock band joined by a rotating roster of impressive guests, not to mention an abundance of mutual love and respect amidst both slow-burning and fiery performances; both shared a sense of triumph and relief at the concert's bittersweet conclusion with the final notes of “Don’t Do It,” and both left participants abuzz with satisfaction.
Ryan Seybold and John Joeb of BoomBap Productions captured it all on film, on a shoestring budget and with a mere two weeks of preparation. “It’s difficult for me, because from a creative and technical standpoint, it’s not my best work,” says Seybold. “If we had a bigger budget, we could have really unleashed the hounds on it — but it was a special night and I think we did it justice.”
Despite its DIY production qualities, Have Gun, Will Travel and Friends Perform The Last Waltz is a clear stylistic homage to Scorsese, and it also manages to convey the euphoric energy of the occasion. Interview segments interspersed with concert footage give you a sense of the anticipation and excitement leading up to the performance, and the afterglow once it was over. No one involved did this for money or exposure — it was a labor of love, and a perfect paradigm of musicians working together harmoniously to achieve a musical goal while paying homage to something that impacted each one in some way.
“It was goosebump city the whole night; it was hard to enjoy that show as a fan, from a 2-and-a-half-inch LCD screen on the back of my camera,” Seybold laughs, describing the chain of events that started with Brokenmold primary Phil Benito asking if Seybold could film the event and ending with its acceptance into the Gasparilla International Film Festival. Seybold and Joeb have been exhaustively working on the final edit ever since.
And the buzz has yet to wear off.
“I’m a concert kid, and that was magic onstage,” Seybold recalls. “I feel like, kind of the keeper of the Holy Grail, not having leaked it or shown it to anybody.”
It’ll definitely reap some fresh thrill fuel when Have Gun, Will Travel and Friends Perform The Last Waltz is presented as part of GIFF next Thursday at the venue that hosted the original event: Crowbar.
“It’s a really special memento and I hope everyone enjoys it.”
GIFF and Reel Deal Series present Have Gun, Will Travel and Friends Perform The Last Waltz on Thurs., March 31 (9 p.m. doors), at Crowbar in Ybor City. Tickets are $8 advance (purchase HERE) and $10 dos. More info on the full slate of films screening at the GIFF website. Check the film trailer below.
This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2016.