So, I just finished watching the dark, sad and barely bittersweet film documentary "Ain't in it for My Health," the story the last days -- and previous high times -- of Levon Helm, legendary drummer for The Band.
The most remarkable, confounding and absolutely infuriating thing about this film, more so than the clips of The Band at Woodstock, or the whole, legendary ensemble guesting on the Ed Sullivan show, or the private jet with John Lennon on board, or the sad reality that two members died before the age of sixty (Richard Manuel and Rick Danko), more so even than Levon's lingering bitterness toward Robbie Robertson, it is, ultimately that a golden, melodic voice, reduced to a rasping cough taken by cancer, is all that is left to describe what it's really like to get sick in America:
"Yeah well, you know, along with...that's the problem with gettin' sick...uh...you know...first you try and get well and...uh...then you try and keep from going bankrupt."
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