The Band accident in Texas, Robertson urged the Band to retire from touring, and conceived of a massive "farewell concert" known as "The Last Waltz". Following an October 30th appearance on "Saturday Night Live", the event, including turkey dinner for the audience of 5,000, was held on November 25 (Thanksgiving Day) of 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California, and featured a horn section with arrangements by Allen Toussaint and a stellar list of guests, including Canadian artists Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Two of the guests were fundamental to the Band's existence and growth: Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan.
The Last American (novel) made at the time. All of the Persians have farcical names (Nōz-yt-ahl is the name of an historian, for example) and often speak in breathless wonder at what they see. "The Last American" was among a group of anti-Utopian disaster literature which were published in the late 19th century, along with Ignatius Donnelly's "Caesar's Column" and Park Benjamin Jr.'s "The End of New York". Montesquieu's "Persian Letters" may have provided some degree of inspiration. In its own turn, the book seems to have been a rough model for Aldous Huxley's "Ape and Essence". The Last American (novel) The Last American