Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks had a circuit than went from Arkansas to Ontario Canada. It was up in Canada that he picked up Robertson, Danko, Manual and Hudson: Helm being the only US born member of The Band. Hawkins told his young band that he couldn't pay them much but that they would get all the pussy they could handle. Levon said that he got the clap so frequently in those early that he carried syringes of penicillin with him. BTW Levon hated the The Last Waltz film. Scorsese was infatuated with Robertson and much of the film keys in on him. It was Roberson's decision to stop touring. Also, much of the music on the film was over-dubbed which Levon greatly objected to (and would not participate in) as he felt it wasn't an honest representation of their last concert. Reportedly Robertson flubbed a number of songs including the leads to "It Makes No Difference." Levon said that Garth Hudson was The Band's best musician and Richard Manual was the best singer.
