Charlie Rose Show Guest Neil Young
Essential viewing.
BUMPED
UPDATE: 7/18/08
From the always unfair and unbalanced Newsbusters (please ignore ignorant comments which follow cherry-picked transcript excerpts).
Neil Young: Singing From the Hope and Change Songbook
By Peter Sasso
In the past rocker Neil Young has been about as consistent with his political opinions as Barack Obama has been on the his relationship with Rev. Wright. The mercurial Young was on the top of his game yesterday during the “Charlie Rose Show”. At one point during the interview Young appeared to regret past remarks that castigated President Bush:
Criticizing the President and doing this and that and talking about things in the first person and getting right in there. It is like I got sucked into it. I was part of the turmoil myself. Which I wasn't happy about, and I am not happy about it now. But it happened.After Young voiced his regret for having been one of President Bush’s most rabid critics he predictably contradicted himself and scolded the chief executive.:
This is not the way it should be. I felt like we were being lied to and things weren't true and we were getting told, sold a bill of goods and even, you know -- we know the story. We have seen the news. We’ve have seen the congressional or the senate subcommittees and the things they have discovered that were wrong, you know, things weren't as they were told to us to be.Following that banal censure of President Bush, Young promptly attacked CNN for doing the exact same thing!:
“I am not CNN, I don't play it over and over.”Actually Neil, you do play it over and over, just check the tape. Neil Young’s history of erratic opinions sounds like a broken record. In 2002 Neil Young recorded a deeply moving and patriotic tune titled “Let’s Roll”. The rocker followed that song up with his vitriolic 2006 album titled “Let Impeach The President”. This year Young again flip-flopped by defending President Bush (see related NewsBusters item [0]). Young switches his political views as often as Madonna changes her wardrobe. With a past marred by flip-flops it seems rather fitting that Neil Young’s joined the Barack Obama bandwagon. The transcript follows:
Charlie Rose: This -- back to the USA Today. Your sense of outrage about the war was already there when you saw this?
Neil Young: Yeah I think it was, I, I, it is sad thing, and I see it like not -- I look at it Charlie like why? Why are we doing this? Why is the human race doing this? And its, you know, I try to step back and see it and, I, you know, in this record I got really involved in the present, which is like turmoil, it’s terrible to be involved in, you know, criticizing the President and doing this and that and talking about things in the first person and getting right in there. It is like I got sucked into it. I was part of the turmoil myself. Which I wasn't happy about, and I am not happy about it now. But it happened.
Rose: When being sucked into the turmoil is being part of the debate.
Young: Being part of living with war. I was sucked into it and I was, I got angry, I was angry about things that were happening and I, this is just not right. This is not the way it should be. I felt like we were being lied to and things weren't true and we were getting told, sold a bill of goods and even, you know -- we know the story. We have seen the news. We’ve have seen the congressional or the senate subcommittees and the things they have discovered that were wrong, you know, things weren't as they were told to us to be. So, but I don't want to harp on that. Where I want to go –
Rose: You have an album?
Young: Yeah, we did the album, I did the album, I said all of what I had to say and now I don't like to do it again. I don't like singing the songs, I did it, I am not CNN, I don't play it over and over.
Rose: I know how you feel about that. I’ve read that. Actually I agree with that.
Video stream of A conversation with Neil Young on Charlie Rose Show is now available.
7/17/08
Neil Young will be the guest on the Charlie Rose Show tonight.
This will be a full one hour interview and promises to be quite interesting.
Here's a sample of some of the questions submitted for Charlie Rose to ask Neil.
(You guys amaze and amuse me!)
by thrasher@PermaLink: 7/19/2008 11:30:00 AM
37 comments
>> Pre-Order on Amazon.com << 
Human Highway
Concert Review of the Moment
This Land is My Land
FREEDOM In A New Year
*Thanks Neil!*
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.thrasherswheat.org/gifs/free-speech.gif)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Neil Young
Pardon My Heart
"We're The Ones 
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This blog 
(... he didn't kill himself either...)
#AaronDidntKillHimself
Neil Young's Moon Songs
Civic Duty Is Not Terrorism
Orwell (and Grandpa) Was Right
What's So Funny About 
37 Comments:
Hello Neil,
Will you be attending the Beijing Olympics? (sarcasm)
http://boycott2008games.blogspot.com/
Thanks for all the great years of music and DATES I had to the concerts! :>) Lot's of great memories.
Anyone see Neil on Letterman last night? I fell asleep and when the comedian came on and woke up only when he was signing off.
What he have to say?
I couldn't imagine Neil saying anything worth staying up for that he hasn't already said in a song or in his recent film. I think this interview is more for Charlie's benefit than it is for Neils.
If the NY interview doesn't make it on tonight, just keep looking for it. The interview has been taped and will appear eventually. I've been watching Charlie Rose off and on for years, and any info given out as to who's going to appear when is VERY unreliable. Rose likes to be topical. If something important happens on a given day he'll dump his scheduled show in a heartbeat for whatever topical thing pops up.
To: At 7/17/2008 12:14:00 PM, Anonymous
" I couldn't imagine Neil saying anything" blah blah blah
Um, maybe stay up past your bed time and watch the show BEFORE bloviating about it. Sheesh!
Oh c'mon now ...the question was what we missed on Letterman. Does anyone ever miss anything watching that show? So who's bloviating whom here?
The whole idea of some guy who's pretty impressed with his celebrity interviewing somebody like Neil Young for what ... 10 minutes?
Now who's being pretentious?
TIVO, baby!!
About the conversation ... it's a full moon and he is oozing with hope for a future. And helping by looking for solutions because he can. Maybe I'll sleep better at nights knowing old Neil's got things under control. Or at least he's got people looking at things a little bit different than what they have in the past.
6 minutes till he's on here
Wow that was so fascinating! No Neil fan should miss that!
Here. Put this powertrain in your car and smoke it! (He is still so fricken funny and relevent!)
Sometimes the answer is so obvious and so easy. Certainly easy enough for people like Neil who are open to new ideas and have a different way of looking for solutions.
He's the man!!!
Neil's idea: No fuel stops, self sufficient motor that can plug into the home and fuel it's energy needs and sell the rest back to the grid.
Reverse the flow of energy from power plant to house, to house to power plant.
His theory is this will end the need for War. I wish! Man is too greedy and power hungry for that.
here's a link to an explanation of his work:
http://newenergynews.blogspot.com/2008/06/neil-young-rocking-electric-car.html
Thanks Tom for that link. I've been waiting for the technology that replaces the big wheelchair accessible vans. It doesn't seem fair that all we have in the form of options is 9 miles to gallon. Can't go anywhere with that kind of gas mileage now can we?
Hugs!
Elisabeth's Mom
My wife and I watched Neil on Charlie Rose last night with great interest. My wife is the majority owner and on the board of an electrical utility in Wisconsin and she has been looking to do something creative and cutting edge with it. The utility transmits but no longer generates (i.e. it buys from other utilities). She was really impressed with some of Neil's ideas of using cars as a method of generation and then plugging them into the grid (this, by the way, is not a new idea nor is it new to her). But, Neil fired her up. This morning, she is getting in touch with some of her contacts at the University of Wisconsin to try to find a way to use her utility as a laboratory test case for this. What's really cool is that because this is an ag area, there is lots of unconventional biofuel options available (things like using poop from the local poultry company to generate methane to run turbines). My wife has lots of long-time contacts in the energy field (her deceased father had a lot to do with the development of the Dept. of Energy and FERC).
Question for all of you out there who may know how Neil "operates" - do you think it would be worthwhile for her to contact Neil and see how the utility might work with some of his ideas? He struck my wife as a guy who could cut throught the bullshit and actually try something but she is concerned that he is too much of a "Loner" to work with her on something like this.
Your thoughts?
I beleive Neil said in the interview that he'll "talk to anybody" on this topic, that "he's open". So, why not?
I Tivo'd the interview and am really looking forward to it. But I also think the whole point of Neil doing these interviews is to generate a critical mass of people working on "Linc-Volt" type project(s). During the Letterman interview he said it's not about him-it's about getting a team together. So, yeah, contact him, what the hell?!
"Nothing ventured nothing gained."
"Nothing to fear but fear"
"He who hesitates is lost"
"Strike while the Iron is hot"
etc etc
Just don't ask for an autograph! :>) LOL
Was I the only one who detected a subtle dig at Dylan in his compliment ary anecdote about Like a Rolling Stone and the repeated implication that one can lose one's gift?
Is it me or does Neil look younger since Prairie Wind/Freedom of Speech era? He seems so rejuvinated.
Letterman is on YuTube Now. Kind regards from germany to all..
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=u_vzNH0nkX4
Here's the Charlie Rose interview:
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/7/17/1/a-conversation-with-neil-young
Hey Neil, or (who's ever reading this for him)...
I was just wondering if you/ Neil remembers Lance Sterling, with
the gorgeous gypsy wagon and leather workship in Penngrove, from the
Pleasure Faire?
I once came by with him to visit in Topanga--I was a 19 year old playboy
centerfold/bunny with
a baby--but too afraid to come inside and meet you/Neil! I thought he/you
were a crazy maniac!
What Ever Happened to Lance??? He had a friend Bob ? , with Norweigan
trowler in Sausalito,
always lots of you guys sailing with him ~ About the time I think it was
David C's wife died.
I'm attaching a file, something I wrote about TREES & the SOURCE.
I thought Neil might enjoy it, after seeing the FRIKEN GREAT interview with
Charlie Rose---since he/you seems to have a connection with a
the BIG MAJESTIC FOREST ...this is very cool stuff --- I took a LOT of time
with this. I'm an artist, not a self promoter, just being alive,
in Honaunau Hawaii -- living precarious life of a painter/artist
and GREEN biobags.us QUEEN!
Oracles & Plantspeak attached, by Karla Sachi
Not published, just shared w/friends.
I have almost every piece of Neil's music on my computer, I play it when I
paint, I
love it...I love it-- I also love Joni Mitchell, CSN&Y, Dylan but mostly
Neil.
(http://youtube.com/watch?v=UQE-MUznuTM)
My protest video.
With Blessings to you for all you have done, and still do,
that inspires, and makes me cry, also to family, dogs, and forest logs.
PS It might sound silly, but I still get autograph hounds selling on Ebay,
& also know when it is or ain't sincere...
_Sachi Art Farm_
Mr. Young
I seen you on Charley Rose last night I don’t watch TV but I finally called it quits for the day and was forcing myself to go to bed when I turned on TV and there you were, I have always enjoyed your music and words, so i watched, words come to me sometimes too, I just haven’t been able to harness that gift, but that’s another story and not why I am writing today On Mr. Rose show you had said you would listen to anyone about new energy, I am a single dad who raised my daughter by myself since she was 1 1/2 , Yes it was hard at first, I changed more diapers that first week then I had the first 1 ½ years of her young life, she is now starting her 4th year at Humboldt University in Arcata CA, I was just up there helping her move into her first apartment by herself, as I was there I was passing the word to think outside the box, and I was telling my idea to anyone who would listen, in hopes that a student would run with the idea, My Idea is very simple, as we use the constantmovement and draw power from running rivers, why not tap on to human made Rivers as in Highways / freeways trains planes, if we can figure out how to draw the energy that is being created by the millions of cars on our roads, for example, let’s take the golden gate bridge, if we could harness the energy of all those speeding cars, that one structure might be able to create 5% ~ 10% of what the hover dam power plant creates, I could see every town that a freeway is going through start tapping into this new energy, I can see are electric bills shrink, Ok now let’s take it one more step, technology is here or very close, if we are able to create energy that way then we should be able to charge our electric cars as they are driving on the freeway, final results a car that is fully self efficient, you would never need to stop to charge again, Well there you go this is a new idea even to me, only a few months old as my brain processes these ideas more will come, but it would go a lot faster with the right educated men and woman, Sincerely
Larry Spickelmier
909 273-4868
bylajs@yahoo.com
Well said here. Finally somebody got it right about the Neils and what he's all about recently:
“It’s about war; it’s not about either one of them,” he said. “In our sound-bite society, ‘Let’s Impeach the President’ and the political side of it seems to be the side that the press focused on the most. But that’s an offshoot of the real story, which is the tragedy of war, and the families, and how it affects people.”
taken from Ben Sisario's article today in NYTimes 7/18/08
Hello to whom ever I am emailing hope its to whom I think.saw you on Charlie rose last night.it surprised me when at tca meet in York pa that you were walking around and that you had bought Lionel trains now yet another,the energy problem has caught your attention, mine too. What I was wondering if you might help me? 17+years ago I invented a heating system that used 50% less energy than its counterpart.it is highly adaptable to existing heating systems both commercial and residential.here is the problem like Edison I don't want to stop and make light bulbs the rest of my life and in your interview with Charlie rose you said they pick up the phone when you call.for the past year I have been emailing so called interested parties no! replies.I would like to give this idea to you see if you can get it out there.I have interested investors but it to me seems foolish and risky to there money patents are expensive and take a long time and there is a good possibility its been done just lost or tide up in some legal problem I am not a good business man nor care to be,energy and making it affordable to the masses is my goal in life. If you ever get close to Harrisburg Pa and could spare 30 min ill give you the physics lesson and maybe you can get it to the people who will get it out there its not hard to understand nor is its components new under the sun,its just how these components are assembled to produce this greater outcome. sincerely Thomas L Hamaker 717 652 6492
"It's a gift Charlie, its a gift."
-Neil Young
Wow...I was on vacation for a week and (besides from the 600 some NY songs on my iPod) thought I was having Neil withdrawal...not being able to access Thrasher's Wheat or any other website without a computer...
But the other night...as I was flicking through channels in my hotel room at Virginia Beach...I saw Neil and jumped outta my covers with excitement! The interview on Charlie Rose was so great! I loved how Neil talked about his aneurism and told the story about how the song "When God Made Me" was conceived. I read about that but it was something to actually hear it from Neil himself...the fall outside and him collapsing in the hotel.
I loved the whole interview and was so glad I got to see this on vacation...except for maybe the first 10 minutes...which...thanks to the internet...I can watch now!
The best interview with Neil I've ever seen, and I've witnessed plenty.
Neil was lucid,open and revelatory. Those who have criticized him for
being aloof and disconnected should heed his call for unity. He is
a "uniter", not a partisan.
Our "leaders" should be so passionate.
May "THE SPIRIT" continue to guide him...
Embedded road sensors that produce electricity as cars drive over them.
http://www.thermocoax.us/vibra.htm
http://www.azonano.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=1969
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6767161.html
It was a good interview - and Charlie is a good interviewer. But, I gotta tell you, I didn't really learn very much that was new. Neil was very open - to a point. He came on the show for two reasons - to give some pre-release publicity for Deja Vu and to talk about his current passion - energy for transportation. Now, that's something really great to be passionate about, but I just want to point out that he went on Charlie Rose not to be magnanamous and revealing but to shed light on his current projects.
Charlie tried to get Neil to talk a bit more about his music and Neil didn't say anything we haven't already heard. For example, the discussion about crying after writing Families - well, he talks about that in the clips of recording the song. And the photo inspiration - heard that before. Following his muse when it taps him on the shoulder to write a song - not new. The bleed-out after the stents - not new. The old black lady providing spiritual insight - not new (although the Brooklyn Bridge and morning commuters was a little more info).
Neil, for all his comfort and affibility, was not going to talk much about how he writes songs nor about his recording processes. He wasn't going to analyze his songs. I'm not sure what any of that might reveal (perhaps nothing) but all I know is that after the interview, I wasn't any more enlighted about Neil Young than I was before hand. (Except perhaps that his daughter was in college somewhere in Ohio and had a boyfriend).
For once - just one time - I would like to hear him really dig into the thing that is so central about Neil - his music and how he makes it. We just never get there, do we?
Hey Neil:
Lithium (as in lithium battery) is not in the same ballpark of scarcity issues as hydrocarbons. Don't poo-poo the need to store electricity - it's the biggest single technical problem with regard to electrical transportation.
I would like to see him get behind nuclear a little more. Wouldn't it be a refreshing counter to the idiots like Jackson Brown to recongize that nuclear waste, while highly toxic, can be managed in monitored retreivable storage until we get the technology to dispose of it in space or reprocess. What is worse, a lifetime's worth of nuclear waste that is the size of a can of coffee per person or the tons of CO2 and CH4 we send up into the atmosphere?
At 7/21/2008 11:52:00 AM, Anonymous said...
"For once - just one time - I would like to hear him really dig into the thing that is so central about Neil - his music and how he makes it. We just never get there, do we?"
Neil's music is what is central to us about him but he's so much more. Any band/musician can put out an album every other year and tour and be great but with Neil you get Neil - the whole package -for better or worse. He's complex and it makes me laugh when these neocons try to paint him as some burned out hippie. Spend an hour and watch that interview, you'll know that he's no burnout.
Rock
rockster8845@yahoo.com
This comment has been removed by the author.
It's amazing to me how some of the bloggers here can read so much into a comment while completely missing the pith of other comments! He wasn't regretting what he said about Bush he was just saying there are better ways to do it. For those of you too young to remember - Neil has been dissing presidents since his Buffalo Springfield days and certainly "Ohio" still ranks as his best critique ever of a sitting president!
Neil is on track since he isn't so far set in his ways that he can't change...we all could take a lesson from that. Thanks for all the great art Neil.
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