Free Republic

Yeah, that’s right: all this for a damn flag. In the mistaken belief that denying history is the same as making it go away, the Confederate Flag was laid to rest yesterday by a coalition of States’ Rights deniers and 21st Century Orwellians.In a breath-taking act of self-censorship the South Carolina Assembly voted to refrain from exercising their freedom of expression and banished the flag from the capital. Forgetting, or ignoring, the actual history of the Civil War in favor of a version that makes it all about slavery is all very au courant. And it’s a cute trick: by denying...

  April 19, 2012 Levon Helm May 26, 1940 ~ April 19, 2012 Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul. Click here to unsubscribe from future mailings.

Levon Helm carried "The Weight" for The Band, and for the Woodstock generation. The musician died Thursday, two days after his family announced he was losing a fight to cancer. He was 71. "Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon," his family said in a statement. "He was surrounded by family, friends and bandmates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul." Among those final bedside visitors was longtime Band cohort, and frequent sparring partner, Robbie Robertson. Just last weekend, Robertson wished his ailing mate well at last weekend's 2012 Rock Hall induction...

Dear Friends, Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey. Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration... he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage... We appreciate all the love and support and concern. From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy

"Legend" is a term that often gets thrown around in an alarmingly casual manner. If anyone deserves that title, though, it's Levon Helm. As a drummer, he first backed Bob Dylan and then anchored the Band through several of the musical peaks of the '60s and '70s. And as a singer, in the Band and later, he's simply one of a kind. The man's voice alone, weathered and craggy even in his youth, ought to be declared some kind of national treasure. So you can imagine how pleased the Music Mix is to be the only place where you can...