Eddie Vedder Covers "Long May You Run" at Massey Hall Toronto-2008-08-13 on YouTube

Eddie Vedder Covers Neil Young's "Long May You Run" at Massey Hall Toronto-2008-08-13 on YouTube

More on Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam and Neil Young collaborations over the years.

---

Comment of the Moment: Miles Davis and Neil Young

Recently, we linked over to a great analysis of the musical complexities and similarities of Miles Davis and Neil Young.

The Comment of the Moment is by Mr Henry:

Thanks for highlighting this article. Lots of good comparing and contrasting can be done when it comes to Miles and Neil. I especially enjoy the observation that both are not true virtuosos with their instruments in the traditional sense, and how their awareness of this becomes one of the key factors to their enduring genius and artistry.

I saw Miles Davis many times from 1973 to the late 80's. His mid 70's band with Pete Cosey was an absolute monster...they were a couple decades or more ahead of their time. Their set at Newport in 1975 was completely staggering...and most of the audience was looking bored or confused! This was one of the last shows before Miles took a five year vacation. When he returned, I was at the club show where he stepped off the stage into the audience and played a solo for Cicely Tyson.

Fortunately there is an amazing abundance of recordings that we can now enjoy again and for the first time. And with the passage of a few decades, we can see that all of the work is worthy and interesting, but there are certain periods that still have a total immediacy to their work. In this way, Miles and Neil are artists of a true and similar nature.

Thanks Mr. Henry!

More on Miles Davis and Neil Young.

---

Ohio Revisited: Neil Young 40 Years Later

Thrasher's Wheat highlighted on Neil Young's
"LIVING WITH WAR TODAY" website

"When OHIO was written 40 years ago it was a thing done on instinct.

I felt moved to do it and I'm glad I had Crosby Stills and Nash there with me. 40 years later I feel the same way. It was all just too real and that hasn't changed. To those who knew the 4 and survived to see today, I say peace and love be with you."
- Neil Young

For the 40th anniversary of the Kent State tragedy, Neil Young has made a statement on his "LIVING WITH WAR TODAY" website on the song "Ohio" he recorded with Crosby, Stills, & Nash that went on to become an anthem to a generation.

The LIVING WITH WAR TODAY website also reprints a letter by the mother of slain student Jeffrey Miller -- one of the four dead in Ohio. If you have not read her heart wrenching letter yet, we urge you to do so.

Also, the LWW page highlight's Thrasher's Wheat post on the anniversary. So that's kinda cool although this is one of the saddest things we've ever blogged...

And we've received quite a few comments over the years on "Ohio". Here's a comment on 40 Years Since 4 Dead in Ohio: Kent State Massacre Remembered by Greg M.:

It’s an honor to share this space with all of the posters here, especially Mrs. Holstein, whose measured response is truly inspirational. Encouraging too, because of the obvious lessons learned. The Kent State shootings have always been a personal embarrassment for me, because at the time I absolutely fell into the “they probably deserved it” camp, and its companion sentiment, “had they not been protesting when they weren’t supposed to be, nothing would have happened.” I was about 11 at the time, the product of a very conservative community, and would not hear “Ohio” for years to come. We were so sheltered at the time, that it took a new friend and his mother, transplants from another state, for me to hear my first anti-Vietnam sentiments from someone I actually knew. Even my fellow Nixon loving friends laughed at my thick headedness on the subject. But then Watergate hit, and everything I had ever believed in became subject to doubt, bringing me face to face with my ignorance. “Ohio” cemented things for me still further.

For me now it’s a matter of awareness. I had my views relative to my exposure at the time, protesters came to their views based on their exposure to a newer, revolutionary awareness. And then there were those who were caught in between, who were getting there gradually, but needed one more push to cross over. This is one of the more crucial effects of Kent State, and to a lesser extent “Ohio”. The event shocked a lot of people into finally accepting what they had already begun to suspect on their own- that things were spiraling out of control, and that there simply wasn’t enough righteous basis to the war to counter the suspicion. I attended a lecture a while back describing the social significance of Neil’s songs, and “Ohio” received a lot of attention. I’ll never forget the ravaged expression on the face of a Vietnam war vet there, who described his emotions when he first heard the song in country. Already in a state of agitation when confronted with his own involvement in the war, he very nearly lost his faith in America on the spot, and described to just what extent the songs images haunted him for years to come.

The song, then as now, is inspired confirmation driven home in the most unambiguous of all ways, through music, imagery, and above all, the power of words. Those words will never grow stale, no matter how many times they’re repeated, and no matter what era they are applied to. “What if you knew her, and found her dead on the ground?” Has a more chilling question ever been uttered in song form? How about “We’re finally on our own?” Has the truth of this statement ever been more relevant than it is for the world we occupy right now? I won’t get into all the reasons why I think this is so, but sad to say, we’ve lost a lot of steam. Never mind our “elected” officials, there is precious little to protect us from the direction this country is headed. Riot police and SWAT teams crushing anti-WTO demonstrations before they even get started, crushing ear drums with noise weapons, a complicit media branding the protesters as anarchists, or under reporting demonstrator numbers, if they report them at all. Or “restless consumers” captivated by “bread and circuses”.

Thanks Thrasher for the post, and for a reminder that the work is not finished, that we cannot allow the “four dead” to die in vain. Thanks for shining a spotlight on a song and an event that serve very effectively to remind us all once again: “How can you run when you know?”

Greg M (A Friend Of Yours)

Thanks Greg!

So were the lessons of Vietnam learned in "Ohio"?

Well. Last we checked, We're. Still. Living. With. War.

---

Neil Young Tribute for Bridge School - Miami 5/6/10

A Neil Young tribute for Bridge School will be this Thursday, May 6 at the Gibson Showroom in Miami, Florida.

From Miami New Times:

A few years ago, Miami-bred, L.A.-based indie guy Vic Kingsley sat down for a midafternoon meal with Neil Young. It wasn’t a power lunch. It was pure coincidence. “We didn’t talk about music,” Kingsley laughs. “I didn’t wanna seem like a fan so much as someone interested in good conversation.” But Vic is a fan.

Kingsley will host the Neil Young Tribute with his band the Westar which includes local indie-folk rockers Rachel Goodrich, Nil Lara, Jim Camacho, Arboles Libres, Dreaming in Stereo, Ex Norwegian, Jacob Jefferies, Juke, Omine, Bridget Davis, and Sam Friend.

A Tribute Show: Neil Young, at the Gibson Showroom, 180 NE 39 Street. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. $7. gibson.com

Thanks Scott!

---

Happy Cinco de Mayo from Shakey Pictures

Happy Cinco de Mayo from Shakey Pictures!

Watch out for the tequila....

(Note: This is just a replay of an earlier greeting.)

---

40 Years Since 4 Dead in Ohio: Kent State Massacre Remembered

The Four Dead in Ohio

Allison Krause - Age: 19, 110 Yards
William Schroeder - Age: 19, 130 Yards
Jeffrey Miller - Age: 20, 90 Yards
Sandra Scheuer - Age: 20, 130 Yards

On Monday, May 4, 1970 at 12:24 PM, twenty-eight Ohio National Guardsmen began shooting into a crowd of student anti-war protesters at Kent State University. In thirteen seconds, the guardsmen had fired sixty-seven rounds and four students lay dead.

Immediately after the Kent State shooting (sometimes referred to as the "Kent State Massacre"), Neil Young composed the song "Ohio" after looking at photos appearing in Life magazine. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young went to the studio and recorded the song which was released to radio stations shortly after the killings. Soon, the lyrics "Four dead in Ohio" became an anthem to a generation.

In the liner notes of the Decade album, Neil wrote:

"It's still hard to believe I had to write this song. It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning. David Crosby cried after this take."

"What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?"

The four killed and nine wounded were all full-time students.

The song 'Ohio' -- a response to the Kent State University tragedy -- is "the most evocative pop-culture response to a defining moment in American history".


Students and National Guard Clash at Kent State, Ohio

The events of May 4, 1970 have been extensively detailed since that day and there still remain many unresolved inconsistencies surrounding the activities of the Guardsmen and students.


"Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago."

Jimmy McDonough writes in the Neil Young Biography "Shakey" about the song "Ohio": "In ten lines, Young captured the fear, frustration and anger felt by the youth across the country and set it to a lumbering D-modal death march that hammered home the dread." (Listen to clip of "Ohio")


"Tin Soldiers" & President Nixon

Crosby once said that Young calling Nixon's name out in the lyrics was 'the bravest thing I ever heard.' Crosby noted that at the time, it seemed like those who stood up to Nixon, like those at Kent State, were shot. Neil Young did not seemed scared at all.



When asked about releasing the song "Ohio", Graham Nash responded:

"Four young men and women had their lives taken from them while lawfully protesting this outrageous government action. We are going back to keep awareness alive in the minds of all students, not only in America, but worldwide…to be vigilant and ready to stand and be counted… and to make sure that the powers of the politicians do not take precedent over the right of lawful protest."

A video collage of still images commemorating the 36th Anniversary of the killing of four college students by National Guardsman at Kent State in 1970

Start and end sequence of a 1 hr documentary special by Germany's WDR TV. Coverage originating from major U.S. networks. TV Teams of NBC, ABC and CBS had been present.

YouTube Video - In 1970, in response to Nixon's widening of the Vietnam War into Cambodia, students throughout the US protested. Nixon sent the National Guard to restore order to the Kent State campus. The resulting consequences changed the course of the war.

Student Video Project of Kent State Massacre May 4, 1970.

"Ohio" music video.

From DownWithTyranny! on why students don't protest today JD said...

Concerning contemporary civil disobedience:

The youth do protest today. In the beginning of the Iraq War, there were some huge protests. My dad marched with me on Washington and told me it reminded him of May Day. In the late nineties, there were some pretty significant anti-globalization protests. There are tons of small - but often effective - protests in the environmental movement, and a huge, annual protest at the School of the Americas. When I was in college, there was a wave of succesful living wage campaigns on college campuses, including mine.

But I would suggest two reasons we don't protest as often - or as big - as our parents: First, I'd imagine we're more cynical than the boomers were.

Second, the mainstream media these days ensures that even the most succesful protests get little air-time. It always vastly underestimates the numbers, and brands the entire event by focusing entirely on the most extremist, least sympathetic factions. In college, I saw this happen in every large-scale protest in which I ever participated. This lack of coverage contributed to the perception that we don't protest, which perhaps ultimately became a self-fulfilling prophesy. Given the futility of our protests, I for one stopped protesting in the old-fashioned way and started blogging.

Maybe we just weren't doing it right, but civil disobedience, like democracy, doesn't work without a functioning press.

Of course, I'd be open to suggestions from the veterans of the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam movement. But, to no baby boomer in particular, I have to ask, why aren't you on the streets again? Or are you?

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

From the film "Dominoes" — http://dominoesmovie.com "Ohio" (antiwar anthem) - Neil Young / CSNY singing Vietnam War protest music with vintage Nixon clips.


Graphic by Geoff Moore, Silver Moon

And. We're. Still. Living. With. War.

Some letters on the subject...

---

Neil Young's 'Ohio': "the most evocative pop-culture response to a defining moment in American history"

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Minneapolis, MN 1970
"They were about to walk out on stage and were spending a moment warming up."
Photo by Henry Diltz

Next week marks the 40th Anniversary of the tragedy of the Kent State Massacre.

And. We're. Still. Living. With. War.

Immediately after the Kent State shooting on May 4, 1970, Neil Young composed the song "Ohio" after looking at photos appearing in Life magazine and then taking a walk in the woods. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young went to the studio and recorded the song which was released to radio stations shortly after the killings.

A rather significant article in today's The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer "Neil Young's 'Ohio' evokes strong images of May 4, 1970 shootings at Kent State" by Mark Dawidziak:

It was more than just another protest song.

Ohio was a cry of anguish, penned by Neil Young after seeing pictures taken at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.

But 40 years after members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on college students, Young's "Ohio" remains the most evocative pop-culture response to a defining moment in American history.

"This is an event that now is in every history book," said Carole A. Barbato, a Kent State University professor of communication studies who team-teaches a course on May 4. "Wherever you live, even though your environment obviously shapes how you perceive things, you're probably as aware of the shootings at Kent State as those of us in Northeast Ohio. And even though this still would be in the history books, the pop culture certainly does perpetuate that. "Ohio" was entering the pop-culture consciousness within three weeks of the shootings.

"It was the quickest and best reaction to Kent State, with Neil Young acting as 50 percent songwriter and 50 percent journalist," said David Bianculli, a pop-culture historian who teaches at Rowan University and regularly contributes to NPR's "Fresh Air."

"I'll tell you what that song meant," said Bianculli, author of the recently published "Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." "After the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, you felt kind of helpless as a young person. It seemed that when someone had your voice, that voice was silenced, usually by violence.

"Then you have Kent State, and college kids are actually fired upon. And when you just might start to be thinking, you don't dare have a voice or there is no voice, from the radio comes this voice of solidarity and outrage. It wasn't just a pop song."

...
"After 1970, that doesn't happen again. It didn't need to happen again, mostly because it didn't need to happen there. And that's what Neil Young's song spoke to."

Thanks Ken D.



More on Neil Young composed song "Ohio" performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY).

Timeline of Events Leading up to May 4, 1970:

4 Days in May: Ohio, May 1, 1970

4 Days in May: Ohio, May 2, 1970

4 Days in May: Ohio, May 3, 1970

4 Dead In Ohio: May 4, 1970

UPDATE: From Montreal Gazette: Next Chapter: The boomer generation and beyond by Michael Shenker:

It was an image that would mark my generation. It came to symbolize the deep and sometimes ugly chasm in America during the Vietnam War, and for one side of the divide, it came to symbolize all that was wrong with the country. Kent State was the rallying cry. Neil Young could have written the caption for that picture – “This summer I hear the drumming. Four dead in Ohio” – when he penned the words to “Ohio” just weeks later. Kent State and Vietnam, Nixon and Agnew. And Trudeau.

Thanks to him, Americans of draft age had another option besides going to war or going to jail.

---

Comment of the Moment: Tonight’s the Night

Photo by Robert Ellis

The Comment of the Moment is on the epitome of ditch... Tonight’s the Night.

From BigChief:

Ah, the 'dark side'!

Everybody has one, and Neil certainly exposed his during the recording of this little gem. This wasn't something that one could even attempt to sit down and write without having to have experienced or at least observed what was going down in the sub-culture during that time period.

Written, recorded, and performed shortly after the deaths of both Danny Whitten and Bruce Berry, who by the way,was the brother of Jan Berry of 'Jan & Dean' fame, who was living out his own period of 'darkness' after his tragic car accident had ended his own illustrious career and ultimately his life.

While most of his peers at that time were still trying to ride out the wave of peace and love, Neil was one of the very few who were keenly aware of the consequences brought forth as a result of the 'Hippie Dream'. The short lived Utopia that was induced upon the youth, post 'summer of love', as a result of the seemingly innocent widespread consumption of marijuana and psychedelics led way to rampant abuse of far less innocent drugs such as Heroin, Cocaine, and the element of crime that ensued (Tired Eyes).

The soldiers returning home from the war certainly didn't get the 'heros welcome' that our returning soldiers enjoy today. So much had changed in the short time they were gone that most of them were overwhelmed with 'culture shock' upon returning (Lookout Joe).

As the great visionary that he is, Neil captured the essence of societies ill's and created a masterpiece of a recording depicting the ups and downs of the drug culture at that time, along with some contrasting tunes offering hope and redemption (Mellow My Mind, New Mama). This record stands alone, even among the other two 'Ditch' siblings, nothing else that Neil has done before or since can compare. This is one of those things that just happen, a moment in time captured like a photograph.

Of all of his records, this defines what would eventually become synonymous with Neil Young, the irony that the only constant with Neil is change. This record has all of the trademark elements of a Neil Young record, however, it would probably be a poor choice to play for someone during an attempt to gain a convert, especially on a sunny afternoon at the beach. Rather, around 2am after the ones who 'can't hang' have gone and those who remain have grown weary of whatever it was that had been playing, turn down the lights and crank this one up ... thats how it was meant to be heard!

From Greg M (A Friend Of Yours):

So much to be said about a one of a kind record. I think some of the earliest terms applied (exorcism, wake) still make the most sense to me. The balls it took to release this!, even given the fact that it took time and the reassurance of a peer review listening party to get it past a stalled state. I'm no exhaustive source on the history of recorded music, but how many other records could there be that expose the artist in just this way- harrowing, drunk, off key, shredded vocal chords, just this side of despairing? Sure, TFA had already trashed Harvest, but this is quintessential Neil- the unvarnished truth of the record itself, and the damn the torpedoes release.

The moment that still sticks out for me among my countless TTN moments, is a cold winter night back in school, returning to my apartment from a listless party, lighting one up and sitting down on the floor in front of the speakers, with just some dim lamp light behind me. The opening piano notes and the opening line- made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "Speaking Out" propelling the whole thing forward, the rough rockers, the impossibly quiet moments, and maybe my favorite Neil line of them all: "Well tell me more, tell me more, tell me more. I mean was he a heavy doper or was he just a loser? He was a friend of yours." The artless phrasing of “loser” and "yours", as in don't pretend with me, let's just tell the truth. After all, at its core, isn't this the spirit of the album in a nut shell? Pretty close to the truth, if not "the" truth, at least for me. But the album means so many things on so many levels, we are all in Neil’s debt that he put it out.

Oh, and count me in as preferring a Briggs version first before any TFA re-release, albeit that without TFA, there might never have been a TTN in any form (might not have been). Also, could someone correct me if I'm wrong, I thought I had read that the complete Briggs recording was somehow lost, and does not exist, or can't be reconstructed, or something along those lines. Do I have that wrong? I hope so.

In the spirit of "Tired Eyes", Greg M (A Friend Of Yours)

Thanks Big Chief & Greg M.!

More on the epitome of ditch... Tonight’s the Night.

---

7th Anniversary of Shock & Awe and "Mission Accomplished"

Today, it will be 7 years since the days of "Shock & Awe" and "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

And. We're. Still. Living. With. War.

From Huffington Post - At 7th Anniversary of 'Photo Op': Mission Still NOT Accomplished by Greg Mitchell, the former editor of Editor & Publisher (the newspaper for newspaper editors) and author of "So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq.":

Saturday marks the 7th anniversary of Mission Accomplished Day, or as it might better be known, Mission Accomplished (NOT) Day. Coming on a weekend, there will be even fewer mentions of this in the national media than last year, and Keith Olbermann, whose show does not air on Saturdays, will not be around to update the usual close to his telecast when he marks exactly how many days since Bush declared victory.

In my favorite antiwar song of this war, "Shock and Awe," Neil Young moaned:
"Back in the days of Mission Accomplished
our chief was landing on the deck
The sun was setting
behind a golden photo op."

But as Neil added elsewhere: "History is a cruel judge of overconfidence."

More on why we're still living with war.


Neil Young / Shock & Awe by ivaxavi

---

A Happy Tale of Tickets for Neil Young

Much gnashing of teeth of late concerning obtaining tickets to Neil Young in concert on upcoming tour.

Here's a comment from SONY on what its all about to be a Neil Young fan:

And for the record, now that I have reached my destination of acquiring tickets to the Buffalo show, I am reminded that the REAL vibe of being a Neil Young fan is the sharing of ideals among true followers of similar ilk one can find.

After much searching on Craigslist and other outlets, my search for seats has been fulfilled locally by a fellow Wheatie who was only interested in transferring his extra tickets to a 'true fan' and not to some sclalper for the almighty dollar. My brother in Neil recouped the cost and fees of his excess purchase and delivered 2 seats to the same section and row in which I saw the Continental tour in 2007. And in process, I made a new friend of common ground, interests and perspective.

Just because it's over for you don't mean it's over for me!

Thanks Sony! Enjoy the show.

---

“Heart of Gold”: Tribute to Neil Young for Haiti Reborn

On April 9, 2010, The Someday Lounge and Bitclone presented “Heart of Gold,” an all-star gathering of Portland, Oregon roots-inspired bands paying tribute to Neil Young and the enduring spirit of the Haitian people. All door proceeds from the one-night concert went to Haiti Reborn, a social-justice group currently involved in earthquake relief.

Here's Hearts of Oak performing Neil Young's "Don't Cry no Tears" on
YouTube - wetcoastproductions's Channel.

Thanks Nate in Portland!

---