Q: And thankfully, you rolled the cameras while he was up there.

A: Yeah.

Q: I mean, just from a rock and roll standpoint, has Bob Dylan ever looked cooler than when he came out with those ringlets and that hat on and that jacket when he came on for The Last Waltz? I mean, that was the - that was the deal.

A: Yeah, I know. It was almost like a religious experience, just the way that he happened to look in the movie and the way that he performed.

Q: We're talking with Robbie Robertson about the re-issue of The Last Waltz, both the music and the film, which will be coming out on DVD May 7th. The limited theatrical run of the film begins April 5th. But tomorrow night, you have the screening at the Paramount. So do you -- as today, where you kind of winged it being the keynote speaker, are you going to come out before the film and say a few words?

A: I'm going to introduce the film, yeah. I'll say something, just to let the audience know, you know, what's going on there.

Q: You could write a book, Robbie.

A: I know that.

Q: Some have been written, as you know.

A: Some of it we don't want to tell.

Q: Well, we heard a moment ago from The Last Waltz, Up on Cripple Creek. That was Levon Helm on vocals?

A: Yes.

Q: And now we're going to hear The Shape I'm In. And this is Rick --

A: This is Richard Manuel.

Q: Richard Manuel. The late Richard Manuel on vocals. And then we'll come back and talk to the much-alive and thriving Robbie Robertson on 107.1, KGSR. From The Last Waltz, Richard Manuel on the vocals, The Shape I'm In.

SONG: The Shape I'm In

Q: 107.1, KGSR. The late Richard Manuel on vocals. The band from The Last Waltz, The Shape I'm In. "The Last Waltz" is being screened tomorrow night at the Paramount Theater. And Robbie Robertson, who was so central to this, I mean, do you have the title of director with Martin on this or is he --

A: No, I produced it.

Q: Okay. And Robbie is here with us and gave the keynote speech this morning and re-mixed and re-mastered and added all this extra music to the box set. And the film is going to be in the theaters. That's going to be fun. You were talking about, I guess you said, the Ziegfield. Seeing it up there on the big screen --

A: Yeah. The Ziegfield is one of the great old movie palaces. In San Francisco, they're showing it at the Castro, which is, in the whole country, one of the greatest movie palaces there is, too. So it's going to major cities all over the country. That's really nice. And the record comes out, you know, the middle of April. And then the beginning of May, I think May the 7th, the DVD is released. And there's some extra footage on that from "The Last Waltz" that nobody's ever seen before. Scorsese and I, we do commentary on the thing and try to tell people some of the stuff that was going on behind the scenes that nobody knows about.

Q: The Last Waltz, Thanksgiving 1976. This was your farewell. This was your farewell to the road, farewell to "The Band." A band that had played with Bob Dylan, most of the members. A band that has one of the greatest catalogues in rock and roll history, which you just revitalized. I want to get to that. Let's talk about that for a second. All The Band's records, the original records, were re-released over the -- I guess about a year ago. Bonus tracks. Were you involved in that process?

A: Yeah. They got all the original tapes, went back and very carefully re-mastered it and found a bunch of lost tapes that had been missing for years and years. And I thought they were going - you know, I had no hope of ever discovering these again. And these people at Capitol Records, bless their heart, they went out there and they found all these things. So I was involved in just helping them make the choices of what to use on this and in the re-mastering. And they did an excellent job in that.

Q: And what I was getting to beforehand was, The Last Waltz was your farewell. It was saying good-bye to the road and The Band. But then in the early '80s, the other members of the band decided that they wanted to get back out there. And in talking to them, they were saying, well, it was Robbie who really wanted to end it all. You know, we've reconsidered and we kind of want to go back out there. How did you feel about that?

A: Oh, I felt fine with it. You know, I didn't want to stand in the way of them just playing music and the creative process or earning a living, any of that. So you know, they did that with my blessing. I just didn't want to do it anymore.

Q: And you really haven't. Your solo records, you didn't really tour behind in any conventional --

A: I don't -- The Last Waltz, you know, I said, "I'm not going to do this anymore." And I didn't want to just -- I didn't want to lie. So I haven't.

Q: So when we see you like that rare time you were on Saturday Night Live around the time of the Storyville record or if we see you on stage with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's a pretty rare occurrence?

A: Yeah, I don't come out there too often.

Q: Sadly, over the years, Rick Danko from The Band, Richard Manuel, they've both passed. And your relationship with Levon has seemed contentious, at least from what we read in the press. The Band is one of the greatest experiences of rock and roll. How do you keep it positive in your heart with all the bitter-sweetness that's followed?

A: Well, you know, it's tremendously saddening and tragic, you know, to lose Richard and Rick, for sure. And as far as Levon or Garth, you know, these are -- you know, we grew up together. These are my brothers. And I love them dearly. I don't have any of these problems, you know. I think the world of them. I just don't want to necessarily work together, you know, like we were. And I've worked with Garth over the years, you know, on solo projects I was doing, film things. The same thing with Rick and with Richard. So on my part, there's no bitterness. There's no nothing. You know, it's all fine with me.

Q: It is so great to hear this music anew, because I told you when I listened to The Last Waltz, I was thinking, are these the same versions of these song, because of the way you've re-mixed it, I'm hearing things that I've never heard before.

A: That was the idea. That was the idea, to just bring you that much closer to the music. And you know, what we can do now in the technology is just -- you can. You can listen to this and hear things that were just never audible before. And this was one of these things, too, that I really felt like, this has to be done absolutely the best it can, once and for all. For the movie, for the record, for the DVD, for all of that. You know, it is a very special piece of music history. And I just wanted to be so respectful of that and get it right.

Q: Well, it is definitive. And I want to remind everyone, April 5th -- do you know some of the cities on April 5th when the limited theatrical run begins?

A: I think that the cities are like -- it opens in San Francisco on, I think, the 5th. But the New York premier is on the April the 10th. And then it opens in Los Angeles on the 12th. And I believe also in Boston and Chicago and Philly and San Diego and Seattle and DC.

Q: And Austin gets theirs tomorrow night.

A: Yes, sir.

Q: Any other plans for you? SXSW is going on. You got that keynote speech out of the way. You have the premier tomorrow night. But do you have any other SXSW plans?

A: I have a lot of other SXSW plans. Well, tonight, there's a secret show tonight of a Dreamworks group that -- you know, that I signed, called East Mountain South. They're playing at the Clay Pit tonight at 1:00. Then they're doing an ASCAP showcase on Saturday at 5:00. This group, this music just gives you chills. It is Americana. And seeing what happened with Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, with the Grammys and everything, you think, that's really good that something like this could be acknowledged in the climate of the way music is these days. Very special to see that happen. This is not Bluegrass music. But it is of that kind of soul of Americana that is so special. And I'm really proud to be a part of this. So they're playing tonight and on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to that.

Q: And are you doing any kind of panels or any of that stuff or you're pretty much --

A: I'm doing a panel tomorrow with Ben Fong-Torres, the renowned Rolling Stone writer from years ago. He's also portrayed in "Almost Famous", which is a true thing. So I'm doing a panel tomorrow with him on "The Last Waltz". And I'm doing a lot of other press things while I'm here, because this is literally, the launching of this whole Last Waltz experience. And for the idea that a lot of younger people that have never experienced that can - to now be able to share that with them is pretty great.

Q: Well, I must thank you, not only for being here today, but I don't know what it's like for you to know that in our hearts and consciousness the music and the words that you put together with The Band and after that, you know, it's just -- it's part of our everyday being for a lot of us. It's part of who we are and how we see the world.

A: Oh, that's lovely. I appreciate that.

Q: Thanks, Robbie. Thanks for coming by.

A: Thank you.

Q: And we're going to leave everyone with one of your best, the song called It Makes No Difference.

A: Thanks.

Q: And I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you where that line came about about the stampeding cattle that rattle the wall. Where did that come from?

A: That's just an imagination run amuck. I don't know.

Q: Let's run with it. We heard Levon sing, we heard Mr. Manuel sing. And this is a Rick Danko vocal, right?

A: Right.

Q: Robbie Robertson, thank you.

A: Thank you.

Q: The band, 107.1, KGSR, from The Last Waltz. See the screening tomorrow night at the Paramount Theater.

SONG: It Makes No Difference

(End of interview.)