The Levon Helm Band will be performing a concert in the newly refurbished Harry Simon Auditorium at Onteora High School at 7 p.m. Friday, October 22. The show is a benefit for the arts programs at Onteora. The legendary drummer, whose Midnight Ramble shows at his studio have been one of the hottest tickets in the music business for several years now has continued to bring his nine-to-twelve piece band to local venues to raise money for causes in the area. He’ll play for volunteers, for softball leagues, and for school arts programs, a cause dear to his heart.

So, in thinking about how to write a story to preview the show, it seemed like a good idea to get together with Levon and some band members, along with a couple of other musicians, some Onteora grads and talk about…what else? High school…

Participating in the conversation are Levon, guitarist Larry Campbell, guitarist and Onteora grad Jim Weider; Helm’s manager Barbara O’Brien, also an Onteora graduate; Cindy Cashdollar, Dobro and steel player extraordinaire, another Onteora graduate, who is currently on tour with guitarist Steve James, who also participated; this reporter; and John DeGondea, yet another Onteora graduate.

With a little editing, some names left out, and allowing for the conversation to ramble a bit, here’s pretty much what was said…

Larry: Who was valedictorian?...I went to Fordham Prep School (in the Bronx). When I was in the fifth grade in public school, you could apply there and could skip eighth grade and your sophomore year of high school. I’m not Catholic but I had to enroll in Catholic school to be eligible. I managed to get in and did [high school] in three years by the skin of my teeth.

Levon: Yea, that last part’s my story, that part about the skin of your teeth…Went to Marvell High School in Marvell, Arkansas…(someone says like the Marvel Comics) Yeah, that’s what they got a lot of these days, characters like that…I played right guard for the Marvell Mustangs…the coach was Ervin “Whale” Crown…that bastard weighted 350-360 pounds…he’d been an offensive tackle at Southern Mississippi, then he came back to us and he tortured us for the next ten or 15 years…he’d scream ‘you little idiot…get on the end of the bench so I don’t have to look at you…’

Jim: Getting out was good. We had a guy who was a science teacher, wore these rubber shoes with the big treads like suction cups on the bottom, so you could hear him walking down the hall, knew he was coming…he’d throw you against the wall…we had a rowdy class, the Beiseles, Tom Heinline, Tisch…we’d have to talk about what a zygote was and he’d throw you in a corner for laughing. (mentions another teacher) He was very mean, he strangled me right in front of everyone…

Levon: We had a paddle and they’d tell you to bend over and grab your ankles, you’d bend over in them tight jeans and BAM, four or five good ones…

Larry: I went to Catholic school, so I know what that was all about…

Jim: As soon as they’d turn around at the blackboard, 30 spitballs would come flying…

Cindy: My mom’s mom played piano in Harry Simon’s band…he had a big band. They did gigs and shows…I had him for a music teacher…

Jim: Me, too. He was a nice guy.

Barbara: (Who was flag bearer in the Onteora Marching Band, under Simon’s direction) The marching band was 225 people, it was huge. We used to do the Macy’s Parade, played at West Point. I was right up in front.

Cindy: I only lasted a few minutes in the clarinet field

Jim: (Mentions another teacher…) He hated us…

John: I remember the band Holy Moses played in the school…

Larry: I had a vocational counselor at Fordham Prep…this guy told me I was best suited for manual labor and to forget about music. That did more for me being a successful musician than anything else… it was a big (makes a familiar gesture) to him.

Talk gets around to sports versus music.

Levon: The two of ‘em are supposed to work together. They work with the team…you don’t let the other side make noise, you just drown ‘em out with the band. Then you win and you sell more tickets, have more money for the programs…

Steve: I went to High school in Yonkers with Steven Tyler…Was it in the city school system? I don’t think I’d call it a system. But in those days, I was 15 and had just got my first Gibson guitar. I remember going down to the public library in Yonkers, and saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee there…New York, the whole scene was alive in the mid 60s…every year Gene Krupa would come to do a drum workshop and it was also an anti-drug thing…he’d play records of his various performances and then he’d play over them…like this is how it was with drugs and this is how it is now…

Jim: We used to play the high school dances, practice in someone’s garage. We didn’t have any idea what to call the first band, and we were outside one night and I said, hey, I have it…Leaves of Green…then the next band was Sunday…we used to play in Battles of the Bands, everybody had a band, the straights, the jocks, the knuckleheads…

Barbara: Hey, next year, let’s do a dance, yeah…

Everyone likes that idea…

Levon: If we don’t do it, everyone will just fall asleep.

Jim: Inspire those young kids to want to play music. Show them how to play stuff, make it fun get them back into playing music.

Levon: I will say, about my school, we had the best lunch program around…

Brian: We couldn’t wear jeans in my school in 1966…

Larry: We had to wear a jacket and tie, until the last year, when they relaxed the dress code…

Levon: For musicians then, you had to wear a suit and tie. It was a union rule that you can’t smoke or drink on the bandstand. You couldn’t not be into it back then…

We finally went back to a club in Toronto, after we had already played with Dylan and we had suits but they were not matching and the club owner had a hissy fit. He wanted black suits with those thin black ties…y‘know, mohair…

Brian: Louis Armstrong came to play at my school…

Levon: Conway Twitty came to my high school and man could he rock. Later on, he finally started cutting country…

Jim: At Onteora, it was only High School bands..

Cindy: (complains) I have no stories. I wasn’t academic. I was playing a little guitar…if I wanted to hear music I went into Woodstock…but I couldn’t play in front of anybody.

Tickets for the Levon Helm Band at Onteora High School to benefit the arts programs are $100 for VIP seats; $65 general admission; $45 for back of the house seats; and Onteora students can sit anywhere for $20. They are available at levonhelm.com, or by writing to ocsbenefit@yahoo.com, or at the door.

There will also be a silent auction with items including a signed guitar by Levon Helm; Family Photo Session by Woodstock Picture Studio; and a print by artist, Christie Scheele. ++