At the Band’s much celebrated farewell concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976, they served the audience of 5,000 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco a turkey dinner. The concert itself has been preserved and thoroughly discussed/scrutinized thanks to Martin Scorsese’s documentary.
However. Considering the social norm that it is rude to arrive at a holiday dinner, it’s fair to ask what, if anything, the special guests brought to the feast? Here is a possible list of that table full of side dishes lost forever to rock and roll history:
- From Neil Diamond: Sweeeeeeeet Caroline Po…ta…toes. Marshmallows never tasted so good. So good. So good.
- From Neil Young: Cinnamon Girl Baked Carrots
- From Eric Clapton: Slow Hand’s Slow Roasted Creamed Corn.
- From Van Morrison: Black Eyed Girl Peas with Bacon and Pork
- From Muddy Waters: Champagne and Reefer
- From Ronnie Wood: (to the chagrin of Neil Young) Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
- From Ringo Starr: Something (Hard to be sure the exact contents: a casserole-ish glob in aluminum foil with some kind of meat?)
- From Joni Mitchell: Coyote Corn (with extra dill pickles, to the chagrin of Neil Young)
- From Bob Dylan: Buckets of water. Many will say it was rain, but what if there was a custodian’s closet and drinking fountain right near the banquet hall entrance and that closet was missing a bucket? Just because he has the Nobel Prize doesn’t mean he always brings something to a dinner, does it?
- From the Band: “Put The Load On Me” Loaded Baked Potatoes.
I mean, they didn’t just eat turkey, right?