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Tuesday, October 02, 2012

CONTEST: Win "Waging Heavy Peace" Book by Neil Young

'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young
(Click to preview pages)
(To win a free copy, see contest details below)

Thanks to the folks at Blue Rider Press, we have five (5) copies of Neil Young's new book "Waging Heavy Peace" to give away in a contest (see contest details below).

In the meantime, here's a comment by Old Black on the book:
I would like to see some discussions on "Waging Heavy Peace" - has anyone (but me) read it? Any comments on Neil with regard to his appearance on Letterman, Psychedelic Pill, et al., should be made in the context of what I think is a very amazing and revealing (or at least, confirming) book.

First, "Waging Heavy Peace" is very well written. This is an incredibly intelligent man with dry (Canadian) wit and an ability to turn a phrase. Should we have expected anything else? He wrote the whole thing straight (no more weed, not even a beer) and he often marvels at his state of mind in this condition as well as worry (he really is worried) that his creative song-writing muse will not visit unless he has burned one. He notes that all (nearly all?) of his songs have been written while high.

He is struggling with loss and the process of losing and it is quite poignant. He continues to miss Briggs, as well as Larry Johnson – his two great collaborators, cheerleaders, and truth tellers in the media he works mostly in – recording and film. Over and over again, he goes back to these two losses. He misses his friend Ben Keith a lot, too. But mostly, he misses his earlier days – the quality of the music (especially the sonic quality), the immediacy of creating, the LP album as an art form, the great studios, and is relevance in the music of the day. He sees it all going, like the passing of the cars he loves (and collects). Pono (which was PureTone before they found out that had already been trademarked) is, in part, his way of trying to resurrect, preserve, and/or protect the sonic quality of music (especially as it relates to his music but it’s not about him). He sees it all slipping away.

But mostly, one gets the sense that even as he looks forward, he is aware that the end is approaching. Time might be running out. As he puts it, he is all about closure now – wrapping up all of the loose ends before it’s too late. And because he has so many projects (Pono, Archives, Lincvolt, his many unfinished car restorations a Rockets retrospective) he feels pulled between finishing those to the highest quality (he often quotes Briggs “Go big or go home” and LA Johnson about the need for quality) and creating new things. I was so taken by how much he wants and needs Crazy Horse, which seems at odds with the fact that he didn’t play with them for almost a decade. He is beginning the consolidation of his affairs – his properties and the financial well-being of his family.

And there is a lot of regret; regret at not be a nicer person, regret at the need to follow his muse to the exclusion of his friendships, and regret at the pain he has caused people. His discussions about Danny Whitten are quite moving. Whitten originally sang the high harmony on Cinnamon Girl but Neil took him off and overdubbed himself, even though he admits Danny sang it much better. And Danny’s death haunts him. He also seems to regret some of the ways he has treated his fans, too. As he notes, he is most alive on-stage in front of an audience with the music echoing through a hall and the fans really into it as much as he is. Nothing seems to piss him off more than pseudo fans in the orchestra pit on cell phones telling their rich friends how cool they are because they got the best tickets in the house from a scalper.

If you haven’t read this book yet, please do yourself a favor and rectify the situation.
Thanks Old Black! We're still working our way through WHP but find we're learning something new every chapter.

While we didn't read this in the book, the title refers to Neil's battle against the iPod and low quality MP3 sound. Someone (maybe Jobs?) said it seemed like Neil was declaring war on Apple to which Neil responded, "No, I'm waging heavy peace."

Incidentally, Waging Heavy Peace is now the #16, #18, #19 best selling book on Amazon.com


CONTEST: Win a free copy of "Waging Heavy Peace" book by Neil Young

Thanks to the publisher Blue Rider Press, we are pleased to be able to announce that we have five (5) copies to give away in a contest.

To enter the contest for a free copy of "Waging Heavy Peace" by Neil Young , follow these steps:

#1) Subscribe (or if already subscribed, go to Step #2) to one of our blogfeed channels either via Facebook (LIKE us), Twitter (FOLLOW us) and/or subscribe to our email list.

2) Then just email us (thrasher@thrasherswheat.org) with your name, postal mailing address, and which blogfeed channel you signed up for (Facebook, Twitter, email list options noted above in Step #1). *Be sure to identify your complete Facebook ID, Twitter handle, or email address.*

Entries must be emailed with SUBJECT line (exactly): Contest - Waging Heavy Peace

Include name, postal mailing address with *country*.

Deadline: October 19, 2012

We'll then randomly select Thrasher's Wheat readers as winners. Publisher Blue Rider Press and Thrasher's Wheat have agreed that winners will be selected from the entire planet Earth including Canada, Europe, and countries other than the U.S.A. (CLARIFICATION: That last rule was not intended to mean that USA entries are ineligible. USA entries are eligible.)

Labels: , , ,


11 Comments:

At 10/02/2012 07:51:00 AM, Blogger asg said...

500 pages ? NOT enough...

 
At 10/02/2012 10:02:00 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

My copy won't ship until Journeys is ready to ship, Amazon.

 
At 10/02/2012 12:14:00 PM, Blogger Hussa said...

Sorry Dean.

 
At 10/02/2012 01:11:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am loving the book.
I find it is very personal and intimate, more so than I though it would be.
I love that it is based in the present and flashes back to the past, often just as little asides.
I'm very interested in his struggles to write a song since stopping pot in January 2011, and I'm waiting for the point in the book where his first song appears. A few chapters ago he ended a chapter with "is that a song? I gotta go." (or something like that).

I've never read anything that made me feel this close to uncle Neil before. Except his songs of course.

Read on
Syscrusher

 
At 10/02/2012 04:33:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a great review Old Black. Thanks.

 
At 10/02/2012 04:45:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also wanted to note how this album titled "Psychedelic Pill" is probably his only entirely sober album.
Psychedelic indeed.

Syscrusher

 
At 10/02/2012 06:06:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

On Guardian online:
We've got a Neil Young bonanza on Friday, when we'll be bringing you an exclusive extract from his autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, and a rare interview with the man himself. To get in the mood, we head to Rock's Backpages for this 1975 interview from NME

 
At 10/03/2012 04:13:00 PM, Blogger Zak Claxton said...

I picked up "WHP" on Sunday night and put it down Monday night, complete. I really, really enjoyed it, from my perspective as a knowledgeable NY fan. I'm not sure how I would have felt if not for years of gathering info on the guy, having read Jimmy McDonnough's Shakey, and so on. But reading those words in Neil's voice -- which rings clear throughout the book -- was fantastic. I'd recommend it to anyone... especially a Thrasher's Wheat reader!

 
At 10/07/2012 05:40:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just finished it and I must say that Neil has lots of loose ends he wants tied up. Neil if you are reading this, I want you to know that the water has never tasted better, the coffee's never been hotter, and the friendships past are always present. Thanks for a great read.

 
At 10/19/2012 01:45:00 PM, Blogger Roger said...

Anon (the one above me):

"...the water has never tasted better, the coffee's never been hotter, and the friendships past are always present."

I'm listening to the audiobook of this (read by Keith Carradine with his own slightly hippy-dippy voice) and that sums up the nostalgic and incredible positive tone and optimism for a full life well-lived and enjoyed, a career he's proud of and knows he was lucky to shape on his own terms.

He's almost desperate to get all the things he wants done but also respects and honors what's already done.
R

 
At 10/20/2012 10:15:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Old Black! Neil and you are truly AMAZING!!

 

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