Neil Young & Crazy Horse: "Tonight's The Night" - YouTube

After the little history lesson on Crazy Horse earlier that seemed to rub some the wrong way, here's some good, ol' regular Crazy Horse.

From the 1991 Weld tour, Neil Young & Crazy Horse's "Tonight's The Night".

More on "Tales of the 3rd Best Garage Band in the World": Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

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Neil Young FAQ Diaries: Separating the Wheat from the Rust

Neil Young FAQ:
Everything Left to Know About the Iconic and Mercurial Rocker
by Glen Boyd

As you may recall in our book review of Neil Young FAQ by Glen Boyd, we had a helping hand with some fact checking, proofing, etc.

Well, it turns out that both the author and TW had a couple of massive oversights that quickly became apparent upon publication.

From Neil Young FAQ Diaries: Separating the Wheat from the Rust - Blogcritics Music:

The "Rusties" first began life on the internet as the sort of wildly devoted Neil Young fan group who could quote you the most obscure song from Neil's vast catalog line and verse without batting an eye, and who have seen the man himself in concert—often on multiple continents—more times than folks like you and I change underwear.

No matter.

What is important here, is that these are those same Neil Young fanatics who religiously make their way out to the annual Bridge School benefits every year like clockwork.

They do so not only without apology, but by counting these same annual religious pilgrimages to Mountain View, California as simply another notch on their belts of devotion.

Shortly after the release of my book, Neil Young FAQ last month, the Facebook offshoot of these same Rusties sponsored two wildly successful book signings here in Seattle, which raised nearly $900 for said Bridge School.

Besides the obvious benefits of raising money for a great cause, the signings also brought some much-needed attention to my virgin entry into the rock-book sweepstakes as a newly published author. However, despite this overwhelming support from the Rusties, one gaping hole in the book was brought to my attention by a few fans soon after.

This was my lack of acknowledging this same fan group in the book itself.

The article seeks to atone for this omission as well as another ... Broken Arrow magazine, a quarterly, British-based publication put out by the folks at the Neil Young Appreciation Society.

So sincerest apologies to Rust & NYAS. Now we've yet to mention to Glen the next gap up in a town in North Ontario...the Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum.

Still, the Neil Young FAQ is a valuable resource and hopefully future printings will contain updates.

Sometimes that separating the wheat from the rust isn't as simple as it looks. And you know why. (Hint: more to the picture than meets the eye.)

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Photo of the Moment: Musician Young and Director Demme

Musician Neil Young and Director Jonathan Demme
Photo by Victoria Will/AP
(Click photo to enlarge)

The Photo of the Moment is of Neil Young and Director Jonathan Demme from a film review of Journeys on CSMonitor.com:

A feast for Neil Young lovers and initiates alike. Grade: A-

More on Jonathan Demme and Neil Young collaborations.

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Lukas Nelson Discusses the Influence of Neil Young

An interview with Lukas Nelson, son of Willie Nelson, with the group Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.

In the interview Lukas Nelson discusses the influence of Neil Young. (More on Neil Young's musical influences.)

One would suspect that Lukas Nelson will play Farm Aid 2012.

And maybe someday his dad Willie Nelson will deservedly earn a Nobel Peace Prize for Farm Aid and his work on alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives? Maybe someday smog will turn to stars?

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Crazy Horse: A Noble American History

Crazy Horse
from album art for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

As we have seen and heard over the weeks since the announcement of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana, the album manages to somehow embody the very "Americana-ness" of the subject itself.

And yet, there just is no end to the ever widening disconnect between Americana fans and The American Dream.

So time for a little history lesson.

From Time to Get Crazy: What We Can Learn from Native American Resistance to Colonists' Greed | | AlterNet by Chris Hedges:

There are few resistance figures in American history as noble as Crazy Horse.

He led, long after he knew that ultimate defeat was inevitable, the most effective revolt on the plains, wiping out Custer and his men on the Little BigHorn. “Even the most basic outline of his life shows how great he was,” Ian Frazier writes in his book “Great Plains,” “because he remained himself from the moment of his birth to the moment he died; because he knew exactly where he wanted to live, and never left; because he may have surrendered, but he was never defeated in battle; because, although he was killed, even the Army admitted he was never captured; because he was so free that he didn’t know what a jail looked like.” His “dislike of the oncoming civilization was prophetic,” Frazier writes. “He never met the President” and “never rode on a train, slept in a boarding house, ate at a table.” And “unlike many people all over the world, when he met white men he was not diminished by the encounter.”

Crazy Horse was bayoneted to death on Sept. 5, 1877, after being tricked into walking toward the jail at Fort Robinson in Nebraska. The moment he understood the trap he pulled out a knife and fought back. Gen. Phil Sheridan had intended to ship Crazy Horse to the Dry Tortugas, a group of small islands in the Gulf of Mexico, where a U.S. Army garrison ran a prison with cells dug out of the coral. Crazy Horse, even when dying, refused to lie on the white man’s cot. He insisted on being placed on the floor. Armed soldiers stood by until he died. And when he breathed his last, Touch the Clouds, Crazy Horse’s seven-foot-tall Miniconjou friend, pointed to the blanket that covered the chief’s body and said, “This is the lodge of Crazy Horse.” His grieving parents buried Crazy Horse in an undisclosed location. Legend says that his bones turned to rocks and his joints to flint.

His ferocity of spirit remains a guiding light for all who seek lives of defiance.

So how's that Americana Dream working out for you?

Neil Young wearing Geronimo T-shirt - 2004
"Geronimo - My Heroes have always Killed Cowboys"
(Click photo to enlarge)

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Farm Aid 2012 in Hershey, PA on 9/22

UPDATE: See Neil Young News: Farm Aid 2012 Concert Wrapup.

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Farm Aid is coming to Hersheypark Stadium in Pennsylvania on September 22. Ticket pre-sale starts July 10.

Performing this year, Dave Matthews (and Tim Reynolds) with fellow board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young as well as Jack Johnson, ALO, Pegi Young & The Survivors, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.



Details at Farm Aid 2012.

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Stephen Stills Interview: Sounding Out - 1971

A rare vintage interview with Stephen Stills from the 1971 TV program "Sounding Out".

Thought folks would enjoy this as we anticipate the upcoming CSNY 1974 Tour Box Set and celebrate the release of CSN 2012 tour video.

Also, see Stephen Stills: As I Come of Age by Bill DeYoung:

Stills in 1972 began assembling another band, something bigger, more ambitious.

"I basically wanted a partner," he said. "I wanted a running buddy besides Dallas. Somebody that had a sense of songs. Chris Hillman invented the phrase 'the lyric police' and was a tremendous help.

"But I was still on that real powerful, energetic, 'let's go I know what I'm doing' kind of thing. Chris realized it was my band, and it was OK for him." Hillman, another former Byrd, had been one of Buffalo Springfield's staunchest supporters.

Stills dubbed the seven–member aggregate Manassas. "Manassas was, if not the first, the best version of what Nashville rock is now," he said. "We had a steel guitar, and Al Perkins could make spectacular slide guitar soloing on his steel. And Fuzzy Samuels, being from the Third World, added a different thing to the mix. Joe Lala provided me the ability to reach into my real Latin roots."

The Manassas album covered plenty of stylistic ground, with Stills' sandpaper voice and distinctive guitarwork always to the fore.

"Everybody said 'Why are you doing a double album?'," said Stills. "I listen to it now—it overreached a little bit. It didn't quite get there, but it was sure damn close. Live, we were just great."

The two–record album sold nearly one million copies, "which with a double album is quadruple platinum."

The band toured and toured, and had spectacular success in Europe, but Stills clashed frequently with manager Geffen over Manassas' relative failure. "Somehow, it sort of died on the vine," he recalled. "I said, I really would like to have what I'm trying to do focused upon, rather than just being a sort of respite from the mothership, that group.

"We did work a lot, but it was never a big deal, you know? If you're really paying attention you make your entrances a big deal. Which David Geffen was always serious about. It kind of just got sloughed off, so I fired him."

More on the complicated relationship between Stephen Stills and Neil Young.

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