Thank You for Supporting Musicares (& Thrasher's Wheat, too!)

MusiCares

As we celebrate the 15th anniversary of Thrasher's Wheat founding in 1996, we just want to say "Thank You" to all of our loyal, dear readers who have supported the MusiCares organization.

Musicares proceeds from the Musicares Neil Young Tribute BluRay/DVD go to support struggling musicians in need of financial and medical assistance. We really can't imagine a more worthy cause for a music lover to support.


MusicCares Tribute to Neil Young [Blu-ray]
(Click to Zoom Cover)

Pre-order on Amazon.com to receive on the May 31, 2011 release date. (Just a reminder, purchases thru Amazon help support Thrasher's Wheat. Thank you for supporting both Musicares & TW!)

So as we celebrate Thrasher's Wheat's 15th anniversary, thanks again everybody for your support.

We've watched our beloved little internet bloggie thing evolve from a small operation to the rather sprawling enterprise portal platform of today. Serving up over 500,000 page views per month during peak periods, we’ve come a long way from the days when we got really excited when we got two comments on a post. The hidden path’s been an exciting one, and we’ve made an impact: we helped answer nearly every imaginable type question on The Archives as well as helped make dreams come true.

We’ve helped influence decisions on release formats and availability, we think, through our writing and your activism in response to it. We’ve exposed the hypocrisy of professional music critics and tried to speak out against the madness, fear and greed. All the while trying to find some hope in the future and have a little fun along the way!

Your supportive and kind words during last summer's blog meltdown and subsequent reaction truly demonstrated our reader's faith in what we're trying to do here at TW.

We should also mention that our efforts with the Gigs For The Gulf | Facebook and Nobel Peace Prize for Willie Nelson | Facebook have a lot do with our inability to keep up any longer. We appreciate everyone's support of these efforts as well and in some ways find these efforts to be in some ways even more gratifying than covering just the Neil news.

Lastly, this is a good problem. We are truly lucky to be following such a vibrant artist that we simply can not even keep up with the flood of daily Neil news.



But the basic underpinnings of our financial model haven’t changed: we’re often only one blog post away from pulling the plugs at any given moment.

And that simply cannot happen. Operating a paradigm-shifting independent blogger enterprise out of our pocketbook and a few generous supporters doesn’t do the blog the justice, quite frankly. It’s no way to run a music fan blog. There must be a better way.

Those of you who read Thrasher's Wheat and enjoy, count on, contribute to, and recognize the impact of this blog are now advised: Please Help. And you’re an integral part of that change.

Aren’t you?

We need you to join us in this venture: Support the blog, engage with us, make your repeated participation formal. Find a level that suits you and slip into it.

We need your financial support, at least at the most basic level of a $5 per year.

At less two cents a day, it’s less than your daily newspaper, cable television, subscription package or internet service. Less than a 6-pack of decent beer, even?! And you very well know the high quality of independent blogging, informed opinion, thoughtful commentary, bizarre comments and warped humor you get here for that minimal contribution. Is there any other blog you read anywhere that provides you this much fun?

Donations are the only model we can see as we look ahead on the media landscape that faces us. Without a corporate sell-out (that would limit our independence) and without a mega patron (ahem... who would likely impose opinions and views while probably also staking out No-Go areas of speech) we simply cannot continue onwards toward the New Media Paradigm we’ve become. In addition to this blog, we also have Twitter and Facebook stream feeds, as well as an email list all requiring daily maintenance.

So TW competes in the area of blogging and opinion, providing knowledge-based and life-expert commentary, against hybrid journalism operations with deep enough pockets to actually pay their editors a salary (Rolling Stone Online).

As the people-powered, irreverent blog that Thrasher's Wheat is, we can only remain this way with your help. Your support will let us continue to do what Thrasher's Wheat tries to do as well as possible. Won’t you please donate now?

Walk with us.

Support us now, please. It’s really easy, almost painless. Your support matters: it’s the only way we can see our way into the future.

Which we plan to continue, with your help. Today. Now. C'mon just 5 bucks. Thank you!

Sponsored by Nobody:
This Blog's For You!

As you may know by now, each of these types of mega-Neil events like tours, albums, archives, tributes, etc. causes traffic to soar resulting in ever greater bandwidth expenses. And costs continue to rise, just as Neil Young's star shines ever brighter and brighter.

Again, this would all be well and good except that we fund this based on several sources. Primarily -- as many of you may know -- out of our own pocket. This is something we find to be really fun and meaningful and rewarding. We love what we do here in our very, very spare time as we ride into town on the train each morning or back again at night.

The second source of funding is you -- our dear readers. First we tried the Amazon.com route which generates relatively small returns which continue to dwindle. You see, folks just don't buy CDs, books, DVDs, etc. like they used to. Physical media sales are falling off a cliff. And those commission that we do get from Amazon are quite nominal. Think about 2% on a $13 CD. That's about $0.26. We'd need to sell about 100,000 units on this site to make a go of things. ha!


Site Traffic on March 1, 2010
Day Following Neil Young's Olympics Performance

And we've tried selling ads as well. First of all, most of the "ads" over there on the right do not generate revenue. The banner ad across the top generates about $1 for every 10,000 impressions. Again, we would need a lot of traffic to generate anything substantial.

And we tried fund raising with PayPal. This is the preferred method but also the least successful. It seems it's very hard to get folks to drop $5 a year on Thrasher's Wheat -- even if they visit the site daily. It seems so many want everything for free these days. We realize there's a global recession and all but we do think that $5 a year isn't too much to ask.

Believe us we when begin to say how distasteful this whole process is. We hate to whine or beg.

Just to reiterate, we want to say how much we appreciate all of the support we do receive. Your comments and letters are greatly appreciated and keep us going. So if you're writing comments, sending videos and photos, buying off Amazon, making PayPal donations, clicking ads, re-tweeting or sharing on Facebook your help is deeply appreciated.

It is this sharing that really makes what we do here so rewarding and satisfying to be part of our little global Neil village.

With record traffic levels which stressed the Thrasher's Wheat Platform leading to increasing bandwidth fees we either take TW to another level or we struggle to stay afloat.

For loyal, regular supporters of TW, this post is not directed at you whatsoever. For those of you who come here frequently but do not comment, contribute or offer other support, please continue to read.

By going the reader-supported route, there are two ways in which you can support Thrasher's Wheat.

The first option is to make a donation using PayPal. Just click on the link below to make a donation. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can use a credit card to make a donation via the button below (see lower left of PayPal screen).

The second option is to do all your Amazon shopping here by clicking through the logo link below. It's also always in the right side bar so any time you buy on Amazon, think about going through Thrashers Wheat first. Thrasher's Wheat will receive a small commission.


United States - Amazon.com

Canada - Amazon.ca

United Kingdom - Amazon.uk

Germany - Amazon.de



(Please note: International Amazon orders (non-U.S.A., non-Canada, non-U.K., non-Germany) do not credit to Thrasher's Wheat unfortunately. Other international readers are asked to please use PayPal account or credit card to support Thrasher's Wheat.)

You have proven that Thrasher's Wheat matters to you, and that you support our mission: to bring free Neil Young knowledge to the planet, free of charge and as free as possible of advertising. You've helped make and keep Thrasher's Wheat available for the whole world. If you find this site helpful as a reference or news source, please help us continue to help all Neil Young fans. Hopefully, this will continue to work to help defray the costs of running Thrasher's Wheat. Any excess funds generated above and beyond operating expenses will be donated to The Bridge School.



Please don't give out of guilt; just give if you place value on what we do and are in a position to donate a little.

We'll also be giving away a Bridge t-shirt to a random TW supporter.

So Why Bother To Support Neil Young News on TW?

Our goal is simple: we create the best Neil Young blog we possibly can, refrain from contaminating it with nasty, evil corporate advertising, and then ask you to donate to us what you think it's worth. So far it seems to be working out sort of. We're not likely to break even on bandwidth and storage expenses (much less donated labor) this way, but that's not our goal.

Here at TW we're not just non-commercial. We're anti-commercial. We feel that quality blogs and corporate advertising just cannot co-exist. We also choose to refrain from forcibly extracting money from you by charging subscription fees.

We leave it up to you to decide what our service is worth to you.

Send support now via Visa or Mastercard — or use Paypal — or scroll down for other options.
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Your voluntary support enables us to devote all of our time and energy to making TW the best blog possible - and pays for the bandwidth, equipment and services required to keep the blog online.

The amount of your contribution is up to you - based on your opinion of how much you enjoy TW & what you can afford. A number of reader's have adopted the "one hour's wages per month" formula - some can afford to send even more than that (thanks!), others can afford only $5.

We particularly appreciate automatic monthly, quarterly or annual support payments. The more regular ongoing support we receive in that fashion the less we have to bug you on the blog. Please consider choosing that option of support.

We want to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed so generously over the past few years. We quite literally couldn't do it without you.

And, as always, we understand that contributing money is just not an option for some of you. That's fine. All posts, feeds and services at TW are open to everyone, and we will do everything in our power to keep it that way.

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Send support now via Visa or Mastercard — or use Paypal — or scroll down for other options.
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Safety & Security Concerns:

When sending & receiving your credit card information online we use the standard https protocol that all online commerce sites (Amazon, banks, brokerage houses, etc) use. We do not know -- much less store your credit card number. We have no way to access that data ourselves, even if we wanted to.

We do not ever, under any circumstances, share your email address or any other information about you with any third party - nor do we engage in any kind of email or direct-mail marketing. We will send occasional (2-3 times per year) email to readers, which you can opt out of by unsubscribing.

Other Ways to Help:

Use the Neil Young Amazon Shopping Store :



When shopping for your CDs, DVDs, books and other merchandise (Neil & Non-Neil) use the Amazon link above (it's always in the lower right sidebar, too). Each time you purchase an item on Amazon by clicking through the logo link above, Thrasher's Wheat will receive a small commission.

(Please note: International orders (non-U.S.A., Canada, & UK) do not credit to Thrasher's Wheat unfortunately. Please use PayPal account or credit card to support Thrasher's Wheat.)

Spread the Neil Love:

Spreading the word about Thrasher's Wheat is also a huge help. If you have friends that you think might enjoy TW - please take a moment to drop them a note. Postings about TW on appropriate web forums are also a great way to spread the word. As a matter of fact, we have folks using our Thrasher's Wheat logo on their blogs!

So LIKE us on Facebook , follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe to our email list. (On occasion we pick random folks on the mailing list for little Neil treats. And no spam. We promise.)

Again, thanks everyone for their contributions. But mostly thanks for all the reviews, photos, links, videos, and comments. And your kind and supportive words, especially. We truly enjoy sharing the Neil love around the world. We've been doing this on & off for 18 years on Rust/HH/RH and 15 years on TW and we'd really like to continue -- readers willing.

So by helping us out, you'll also help out to spread the Neil love around the world. And -- maybe in some small way -- it all helps the Bridge School, Farm Aid, Musicares, and the LincVolt project. Because we all want to light a candle, make a difference, be the rain, and be the change.

Be the wheat.
peace and love,

thrasher & thrashette

"Keep on bloggin'
`Til the power goes out
The batteries dead
Twist and shout"
- "Fork In the Road"

ps - it keeps us searchin' for a vista and a muse.

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Randomly Blogged: A Treasure Preview Track, New Official Website, Buffalo Springfield in Red Rocks

A Treasure
Neil Young & The International Harvesters

The lead track off of Neil Young & The International Harvesters' upcoming release A Treasure "Amber Jean" is now being previewed on Rolling Stone Music.

"Amber Jean" is from the Nashville Now TV program on 9/20/84 and was written by Neil for his new baby girl Amber Jean.

Pre-Order A Treasure by Neil Young &The International Harvesters on Amazon.com.

(Thanks! You'll Help Support Thrasher's Wheat.)

More on A Treasure: New Neil Young Album Coming and Release Details on A Treasure: New Neil Young Album Coming June 14.

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Official Neil Young Website

The official Neil Young Website neilyoung.com has a new look and feel. Out with the retro Shakey's Garage and in with an Archives Box navigation.

Also, see Message from Neil regarding High Resolution Audio:

The spirituality and soul of music is truly found when the sound engulfs you and that is just what 2012 will bring. It is a physical thing, a relief that you feel when you finally hear music the way artists and producers did when they created it in the studio. The sound engulfs you and your senses open up allowing you to truly feel the deep emotion in the music of some of our finest artists. From Frank Sinatra to the Black Keys, the feeling is there. This is what recording companies were born to give you and in 2012 they will deliver.

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Two Buffalo Springfield dates at Red Rocks, Colorado for September seem to be confirmed at this point but an additional stop in Telluride has been nixed due to local town opposition to the concert.

In a rather unbelievable story on local politics in the
Telluride Daily Planet a tense faceoff at the Town Council meeting ended up vetoing the Buffalo Springfield date on Sept. 9.

Scroll down for some interesting reaction comments to the Town Council vote to veto Buffalo Springfield coming to Telluride. Boy, we wouldn't want to be running for mayor in that town after this....

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Some Thoughts on Rollin' Down Neil Young's Twisted Road

Herco Flex 50 Guitar Pic
Played by Neil Young on "Cortez The Killer"
Hippodrome, Baltimore, MD, April 28, 2011
Photo by Thrashette

Midway through Neil Young's otherworldly and majestically sublime rendition of "Cortez The Killer" on the second night at Hippodrome in Baltimore (April 28), his guitar pic went flying off of Old Black (his trusty Les Paul guitar) and bounced towards the edge of the stage -- literally inches from us. The pic would lie there until after the concert ended when we could gently pluck it from behind a stage monitor and stash it in our pocket.

The next day we would just sort of rub the pic between our fingers as we reminisced about how just hours earlier it had been used to shred ... on "Cortez The Killer" ... on Ol Black ... solo .. only several feet before our very ears and eyes.

And -- believe it or not -- the evening's memories got even better.



A week or so ago, we were very fortunate to be able to see our 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th shows of Neil Young's Twisted Road tour -- both nights at the Hippodrome in Baltimore (April 27 & 28, 2011) and both nights at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA (April 30 & May 1, 2011). (Last year, we caught the Boston, Washington and Milwaukee concerts.)



Much has been made of the static setlist of the Twisted Road tour. Some have even gone so far as to derisively call it the "Straight Road Tour" for its predictable and seemingly unchallenging setlist. (All of which is so deja vu like those who know the price of everything and the value of nothing...)

And here's where we beg to differ with those critics who fail to see the curves and forks on the Twisted Road.

Maybe it does take more than a single concert to experience the totality of what Neil has created on this tour in order to appreciate the concert's contradictory simplicity and complexity. Their brilliantly uplifting impact yet starkly somber darkness. Their subdued plugged-in electric songs ("Down By The River") and howling feedback laden acoustic songs ("Rumblin').

But here's our bottom line takeaway -- which is not unique (echoed in thread linked above). The Twisted Road is not some concert with a bunch of random songs. It's a cohesive story set to music.

It's an opera. A play. Performance art.

"I feel your love. I feel your strong love. I feel the patience of unconditional love."

Every small detail of the concerts seem to have been intricately planned and executed:

• staging in small, older theaters with pristine acoustics
• instruments arranged just so on stage
• props used to create an intimate living room like feel
• lighting design which shifts and shimmers like stain glassed windows of a cathedral.

Neil Young
Boston, MA - April 20, 2011
Photo by Steve Babineau/Sports Action Photography

“When I sing about love and war,
I don’t really know what I’m saying
I’ve been in love and I’ve seen a lot of war
Seen a lot of people praying.
They pray to Allah and they pray to the Lord
And mostly they pray about love and war."

And -- of course -- the songs themselves.

Simply put, songs about love and songs about war. 17 songs, 7 new or unreleased or rare and 10 classics. Instruments performed on included 2 acoustic guitars (standard Martin and a modified pickup), harmonica, 3 keyboards (upright, grand, and pump organ) and 2 electrics (Gretsch White Falcon and Ol Black). To witness how easily each musical instrument is transitioned in the setlist is remarkable.

Some have complained about the brevity of the 90 minute set. For anyone else who might try and cover this much material using this many instruments they most likely would stretch it out to 2 hours with tuning and banter, etc. During these shows, there was zero wasted moments from the time the lights went down and until they came back up.



This was watching a master craftsman at his peak. In command of his material, tools, and audience.

Neil Young
Boston, MA - April 20, 2011
Photo by Steve Babineau/Sports Action Photography

Neil only spoke once each night between songs -- just before "Leia". Otherwise, the songs did all the talking. As Mr Henry described so beautifully in his Boston review:

The set structure is in five groups, each one with three songs that tell a story separately and together, along with a bridge song connecting and reinforcing the segments and an encore that combines them all together in a final farewell and hope-to-see-you-soon moment of sorrow and joy.

Out of the Blue, Tell Me Why and Helpless deal with the great sadness and mystery of life. Trying to make sense of what can often seem senseless. Keeping your candle burning bright even when it would be easier to just give up.

You Never Call, Peaceful Valley Boulevard and Love and War are like siblings to the first three songs, visiting the same thoughts and feelings after many years of the beauty and wonder of living in this world.

Down By the River, Hitchhiker and Ohio brought everyone back home, with Neil exploring the twists and turns of his music and art.

Sign of Love is the bridge portion, where Neil takes a rest and a deep breath to think about all of the best things in life. It sounds old and new at the same time, with echoes of Cinnamon Girl all grown up.

Neil's chamber music for the 21st century.

For many, last year's Twisted Road tour was an exceptional experience. We saw folks writing in review comments after the concerts that they were "amazing", "epic", "brilliant", "primal", and "unforgettable".

Some longtime fans even went as far to say that the concerts were "one of the truly great shows that I have seen, definitely one of the best from Neil Young and maybe, just possibly the best one yet."

Some were even left literally "in tears" by the experience.



A comment by Kimball on the concerts summed it up this way:

I have no doubt that we're witnessing a tour that will stand up completely in 3 or 4 decades time.

The source of the 2010-11 tour's sadness was rooted in Neil's loss of his long time associate LA Johnson (1947-2010). The tour's 2nd leg conclusion was bracketed by the loss of long time musical friend Ben Keith. 2010 was a very bad year for Neil and those surrounding him.

Neil seemed to be bearing a very heavy load and he dealt with his grief by paying tribute to L.A. in the new song "You Never Call" (with a mention of his son Ben) as heartbreaking -- yet humorous -- a song he has written in years.

"You Never Call" really encapsulates the mood and tone of the concerts. The ghost of L.A. fills the room and seems to hover over the stage. One can only imagine how hard it must be to sing a song about a dear friend -- who you have known and worked with nearly your entire professional life -- suddenly dies taking your son to a hockey game.

"And I know Ben is with you
'Cause you take him everywhere
He brain-to-brained me
He told me you are still there."

The grief and despair is palpable in the concert's air with its subdued delivery of song selections' lyrics of death, dying, killing, drugs, unfaithfulness, heartbreak and loss.



In our review of the 2010 tour legs -- Expecting to See Neil Young (or Man Without A Net) -- we evoked an image of "Man On A Wire", a documentary film of a trapeze artist who walks a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in New York City in 1974. And somehow that image reminded us of Neil Young up there.



Up on the stage. Alone. Without a net. Trying to stay balanced between the two twin towers. One side acoustic. The other electric. Sometimes leaning left, sometimes to the right. A tension of whether he might slip. And fall.

Which way to go?

It was a nearly perfect balancing act between love and war. Electric and acoustic. Hey Hey My My. My My Hey Hey. Into the blue. Out of the black.

A comment by setlistthief :

The trilogy of “You Never Call,” “Peaceful Valley,” and “Love and War” is among the most powerful imagery and singing about loss and death I’ve ever heard from Neil. And unlike TTN, this imagery is fueled by cold stark reality, not tequila and dope.

Neil’s reached an age where the finality of death is informing his work in ways it never has before. Indeed, though he’s been surrounded by death and loss his whole life, it is somehow different now. To watch and hear a man struggling with that so eloquently is extraordinary. A privilege.

And for those of us who aren’t far behind, it will help us navigate that Twisted Road.

So while the Twisted Road Tour may not compare with TTN or TFA or Greendale tours in terms of shattering audience expectations, it has certainly caught many off guard as summed up on the official concert t-shirt "I said solo...they said acoustic".


"I said solo...they said acoustic" T-Shirt
Photo by Simpson!

So here's just one of the many reactions to the tour from Kimball:

It's like this, he's workin' like a mad man to get to the place where the music can come through him, to us. Simple as that, and if you don't see that when you go to the shows on this leg of the Le Noise tour, I think you're missing the keystone that makes the whole presentation glow, quiver, tremble, flash and erupt.

Neil Young
Boston, MA - April 20, 2011
Photo by Steve Babineau/Sports Action Photography

Before we wrap up, we have a final thought on these static setlists that some find not worth the bother catching a second time around. Not to be too over dramatic, but would you go back the Louvre again and see Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" again? Or see yet another version of Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"? Or watch Picasso paint "Guernica" day after day?

But maybe sometimes things just don't sink in the first time around...


Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, NY, April 24 & 25, 2011
Photo by Brian Harkin

As a bit of an aside, one of the little highlights is watching Neil have conversations with "Woody", the wooden Indian stage prop bathed in golden light, each night. It's pretty funny and one can only imagine what Neil is saying... and what Woody is saying back...

Neil Young - Massey Hall - May 11, 2011
Photo by Ed B.

Lastly, as we mentioned up top, the best was still yet to come on the second night in Baltimore. Following "Cortez", Neil goes straight into "Cinnamon Girl". At this point, we're completely lost in the zone -- totally enveloped in the sonics where every fiber in your being is locked into the music and you're oblivious to the world around you.

At about the one-third point of "Cinnamon Girl", when Neil sings "Your baby loves to dance, dance, dance - yeah, yeah, yeah", the entire crowd leaps to their feet in unison. Just as this happened, Neil came to the edge of the stage directly in front of us. As if on telepathic cue, we flashed Neil the peace sign 3 times on the "yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus. Our peace signs were literally inches from Ol Black's pickups.

He looked down at us -- giving us a somewhat bemused grin with a little twinkle and nod -- and then strolled off to the stage wings while whamming away on Ol Black to bring the folks in the balconies to their feet.

Now that was a very cool mental vignette snapshot which is firmly etched into our little memory banks forever in time...

"Who'll be the one to lead this world?
Who'll be the beacon in the night?
Who'll be the one to lead the nations?
And protect gods creations?"

Neil Young
Massey Hall - May 11, 2011
Photo by Greg Abramowitz



walk with us down that twisted road...

thrasher & thrashette

ps - and thanks to opener Bert Jansch for often putting up with a lot of disrespect, because we believe in you too.

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Great to see everyone on the road... Dee & Tim "Makes You Think About Livin'", Mark "Powderfinger" & Tish, Karen "L&A", Keith "Spin the Black Circle", Sara, Dennis from France, Roel & Roos from Netherlands, Bill "Tired Eyes", Frankie Z., Rick @ Orpheus, Brian "Keys Left Hangin'", Kevin "Union Man", Ed T., Bruce A., Hal P., Stacy B., Carla, Doug from Warsaw, and everyone else along the road!

For more, see Expecting to See Neil Young (or Man Without A Net) and Does The Twisted Road Tour Compare With TTN or TFA Tours?.

Also, see more Neil Young's "Twisted Road" 2010 Concert Tour Reviews and 2011 Solo Neil Young Spring U.S. Tour leg reviews.

Also, A Look Back Down Neil Young's Very Twisted Road.

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