Ronnie Hawkins Is Still Alive And Kickin'
Tuesday January 16, 2007 @ 04:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Ronnie Hawkins

Ronnie Hawkins has been through a lot and seen and done things that he's only too happy to tell you about, but some of the loquacious singer's friends also get to tell some tales about the rockabilly icon in a new DVD titled Still Alive And Kickin'.

Dan Aykroyd narrates the 110-minute film, which won the 2005 Gemini Award for best biography after it aired on CTV. Anne Pick directed the documentary, which will arrive in stores on Jan. 30 via MVD Visual.

The film follows a year in The Hawk's life, from his diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2002 to his miraculous recovery. It features interviews with his wife Wanda Hawkins as well as former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Fashion Television host Jeanne Beker (who once danced as a go-go girl with Hawkins' band) and such musical luminaries as Robbie Robertson, David Foster, Kris Kristofferson, Amy Sky and the late Domenic Troiano.

"If the world had more people like Ronnie Hawkins, we'd do less stupid things to each other, we'd hurt fewer people, we'd have a lot more laughs… I've never met another one like him," says Clinton of the man who played at his 1992 inaugural party.

"If there's a god of rock 'n' roll, I know he looks just like this guy," offers Kristofferson.

The movie also features excerpts of live performances and classic Hawkins hits, including "Bo Diddley/Who Do You Love," "Mary Lou" and "Forty Days."

Hawkins, 72, was born in Huntsville, Arkansas two days after Elvis Presley. He started his musical career south of the border, but moved to Canada in 1958 and has been a fixture here ever since. One of the incarnations of his group The Hawks went on to become The Band, while another became Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band. Foster, Robbie Lane, Burton Cummings, David Clayton Thomas, Beverly D'Angelo and Larry Gowan are among the others who served under Hawkins' tutelage.

Hawkins, who hosted John Lennon and Yoko Ono at his farm near Peterborough, Ontario when they came to Toronto to perform in 1969, received the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for his contributions to the Canadian music business in 1996. He received a star on Canada's Walk Of Fame in 2002 and was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame two years later. Hawkins has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame. If that's not enough, he's done some acting and appeared in such films as Heaven's Gate and Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II.

Here are the songs on Still Alive And Kickin':

• "Forty Days"
• "Blues Stroller"
• "Bo Diddley/Who Do You Love"
• "Bittersweet"
• "Need Your Lovin' (Oh So Bad)"
• "Blue-Eyed Baby"
• "You'll Lose A Good Thing"
• "Low Life Street Blues"
• "Hoochie Coochie"
• "Down In The Alley"
• "Mary Lou"
• "Fly Like A Hawk"
• "Lodi"