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

'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young
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(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

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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.)

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