NEW VIDEO: "Clementine" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Here's the video for "Clementine" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

You may want to catch this one really quick while ti stays up.

At risk of our blogging license, we're posting this video despite the fact that the video is marked as "REJECTED" at the end.

After seeing this, you may understand why Warner's Bros rejected the video.

The archival footage seems to come from a slower, simpler time in Americana when families participated in fun and daring pastimes.

ps - moms, please don't try this at home.

"If you can't cut it, don't pick up the knife..."

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Neil Young & Crazy Horse will Headline VOODOO Festival 2012

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse will headline with Green Day the 2012 Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween weekend.

The festival is Oct. 26-28. The complete lineup for the 14th annual Voodoo Experience, to be unveiled in the coming months, will eventually total around 150 acts.

More info @ VOODOO Music Experience 2012 :: Worship the Music.

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Neil Young Plays Robin Hood Foundation

Neil Young
Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
(Click photo to enlarge)

In a surprise appearance on Monday night, Neil Young performed "Heart of Gold" at a benefit event for the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City .

The event, one of the largest single fundraisers in the U.S., benefits nonprofits providing job training, shelter, meals, education and health care in New York’s five boroughs.

From Scene Last Night: Blankfein, Soros, Neil Young, Rihanna - Bloomberg by Amanda Gordon:

The Robin Hood Foundation put George Soros, Steve Cohen, Lloyd Blankfein, Stanley Tucci and about 3,800 other guests on a virtual train ride last night at its annual gala.

The subway-themed event at Manhattan’s sprawling Javits Center featured gigantic projection screens showing New Yorkers going through the turnstiles and waiting on benches for trains.

The price of admission was $3,000. The total raised last night was $57.4 million, including $13 million pledged on electronic devices to Robin Hood and $19 million pledged on the same devices to a new initiative with the X Prize Foundation, which will offer prizes to find solutions to poverty in New York City and beyond.
...

Neil Young, a surprise performer, came on just as guests dug into grilled cheese and gazpacho. His first song was “Heart of Gold.” After chocolate cake and coffee, Rihanna kicked off with “Only Girl” and kept the crowd bobbing along with “Run This Town” and “Live Your Life.”

More on The Charitable Mr. Neil Young Keeps On Giving & Giving & Giving.

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Tickets for Neil Young @ Red Rocks, CO go On Sale this Friday

According to Livenation.com and Ticketmaster, tickets for Neil Young at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO go on sale this Friday.

Concert dates are Sunday, Aug 5 and Monday, Aug 6.

Crazy Horse is not listed but it is hopefully assumed that they will be there as well. ;)

The Alabama Shakes will open both shows, according to promoter Live Nation’s Twitter account.

The only other announced tour dates are Neil Young & Crazy Horse To Co-headline Outside Lands 2012 Festival.

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Donald "Duck" Dunn: Gone But Not Forgotten

Neil Young and Donald "Duck" Dunn
w/ Booker T & The MG's
Finsbury Park, London - 1993
Photo by Jimmy Newark
(Click photo to enlarge)

Just weeks ago, we featured as our Photo of the Moment: Neil Young and Donald "Duck" Dunn. Donald "Duck" Dunn was on bass with Booker T & The MG's as Neil Young's band at Finsbury Park, London in 1993.

Sadly, Donald "Duck" Dunn has moved on to the great gig in the sky.

Steve Cropper, Dunn's friend and bandmate, announced the bassist's passing on his Facebook page:

"Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live. Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club."

The MGs were the house band for Stax Records, and Dunn can be heard on songs such as Otis Redding's "Respect" and Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'."

Here's the 2 Minute History of Donald "Duck" Dunn with several clips including Neil Young.



In addition to touring with Neil Young in 1993, Booker T & The MG's with Donald "Duck" Dunn is featured on the 2002 Neil Young album ‘Are You Passionate?’.

R.I.P. (Rust in Peace) Duck.
Gone But Not Forgotten

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Comment of the Moment: Some Thoughts on Americana Songs

With two songs from Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse out now ("Oh Susannah" and "Jesus' Chariot" (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain), the opinions are starting to roll in.

From a comment on Some Thoughts on New Video "Oh Susannah" by D. I. Kertis:

Judging from that video footage, Neil is not romanticizing the past here--which, you know, does fit with the whole concept he mentioned about highlighting the similarities between America's problems when these songs were first played and the ones we're facing now. I have to admit that the smoking kid makes me squirm a bit, but it's definitely best not whitewashed over.

Musically, I have only good things to say about the songs I've heard so far from 'Americana', though I'm actually even more interested to hear Neil and the Horse's takes on 'Gallows Pole', 'This Land is Your Land', and 'Tom Dula'. After hearing 'Jesus' Chariot', I suspect 'Clementine' should be interesting as well, and 'God Save the Queen', especially after all the (in my opinion) unwarranted brouhaha about its appearance on the track list.

I've actually gotten to be more and more interested in folk music as time goes on. When I say folk music, I don't just mean the American, either. I think it has a lot to do with the notion of it having been created by people in a pre-mass media age, trying to amuse themselves. So they had to be more creative themselves, because they couldn't just access other people's art and entertainment so easily like we can today.

If you listen to folk songs not just from America but from European history as well, they have their unique conventions and forms, signs that they were originated by every day people, not "artists" in the sense that we often think of them today. My fascination is also partly because this is music of the people: commonly owned art. Many of the songs on 'Americana' we all take for granted the right to perform again and again, to come up with our own variations/evolutions of per the folk process. It is lovely to think there is art and music that a whole community (the whole human community, really) can own and have creative domain over, that we can share and each take our own angle on.

Folk music, at some level, seems to represent such a free spirit of art and creativity, and can be incredibly culturally and historically rich. Because these were often songs written by or from the perspectives of everyday people, they tend still to resonate with the common man even today.

Especially in songs with universally applicable ideals or messages, there is a great potential for music (or art of any kind) to bring people together, bring about sharing, cooperation, potentially sparking even more creativity and art.

Thanks D. I.! Yes, music & art bringing people together is something we need more of right now.

More on Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse and the music videos for the songs ("Oh Susannah" and "Jesus' Chariot" (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain).

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Song Video Premiere: "Jesus' Chariot" (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain) by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Here's the new video of "Jesus' Chariot" from the upcoming Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

From the Liner Notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse:

Jesus’ Chariot (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain)

Written in the 1800s based on an old Negro spiritual, this song refers to the second coming of Jesus and “she” is the chariot Jesus is coming on. Some interpret this as the end of the world. Others have said that “she” refers to union organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones going to promote formation of labor unions in the Appalachian coal mining camps. The Americana arrangement continues the folk process with a new melody, a new title and a combination of lyric sources.

Per Song Premiere: Neil Young Sets 'Americana' On Fire : All Songs Considered Blog : NPR:

This song, as with all the songs on the record, have been paired up with archival footage. This footage is from an early scene in D.W. Griffith's controversial 1915 film Birth of a Nation, in which the Southern Cameron family hosts a farewell ball for soldiers fighting for the Confederacy.

Set for a June 5th release, you can now pre-Order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us here at Thrasher's Wheat.)

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VIDEO: "Mansion On The Hill" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Probably one of our favorite songs on the 1990 Ragged Glory album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse is "Mansion On The Hill".

This is the official video for the song and is a clever mix of performance and concept.

What more could you ask for?

Neil in a white collar preacher's outfit?! Now that is just whacky.



And, the song features a choir, so you if you're leery of the upcoming Americana, you can maybe get a better feel for Neil Young & Crazy Horse music arranged with this concept.

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Is It Really All Just A "Hippie Dream"?

'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young
(Click photo to enlarge)


"Hippie Dream" reads the note stuck in Neil Young's hat on the cover of his upcoming book 'Waging Heavy Peace' and set for release on October 2, 2012.

The photo for the book cover looks to be from the same photography session that put Neil Young On the Cover of the Rolling Stone.


Neil Young
Rolling Stone - January 2006

And this also seems to be the same photo session as was the same used for 2005 NBC's Saturday Night Live.


Neil Young
Saturday Night Live - December 2005

From a comment on BOOK COVER: 'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young by Arthur:

The first thing I notice about the cover is that Neil's eyes are shaded out from the hat brim. He looks like a journalist from the '40's. Makes me think of the image of Lady Justice who's eyes are blindfolded. Probably a metaphor there if you think about it.

The song "Hippie Dream" was pretty much about Crosby, but could be a metaphor again about a generation taking the "High Road" instead of a more balanced "Human Highway".

Bottom line is, Neil is Scott Young's son. And he has a lot of Rassy in him too. But I think he's go a lot more of Scott's DNA in him than anything. Hell, he even LOOKS like Scott these days!

Aside from that, the cover of "Americana" uses mid-'70's images of Crazy Horse and not the current "mature" look of the members. But Neil does that a lot with what he puts out. Hey, it's still Neil. And his career is all one....career.

All we have to do is turn the page when he offers a new chapter.

Thanks Arthur!

More on upcoming book 'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young.

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