WOODSTOCK - Musician Levon Helm, who was a member of The Band, recently received some unwanted attention - and he's not taking things lying down. The cancer survivor and Woodstock resident is suing the ad agency behind a Cingular commercial that uses his song "The Weight," a counter-culture tune penned in 1968, as the backdrop for a Cingular cell phone commercial that began airing about two years ago. Helm is taking action, with his Goshen-based lawyer Michael Pinksy filing papers in the state Supreme Court in order to get some money from the commercial, confirmed his manager Barbara O'Brien, who declined further comment on the issue.
Calls to Pinksy were not returned. The tune has been featured in such diverse movies as the 1998 Robin Williams flick "Patch Adams" the 2000 drama "Girl Interrupted," and, more recently, the Owen Wilson slapstick comedy, "Starsky and Hutch," as well as numerous other films. Helm is known locally for his popular Midnight Ramble sessions, where Helm and his musician friends perform intimate jam sessions in his home a few weekends a month.
Tickets are $200 a pop in 2007. Helm sang and played drums and mandolin for The Band, which lived and recorded locally in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably at a West Saugerties house that came to be known as Big Pink. The group, which sometimes recorded with Bob Dylan, is also known for its song, "Up On Cripple Creek" and for its farewell concert, "The Last Waltz.
" No stranger to the courtroom, Helm has filed for bankruptcy twice to avoid foreclosure on his Plochmann Lane home. He first filed for bankruptcy in January 2002 and again in May 2004 to avoid having his 17.92-acre property put up for auction.
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