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An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
"Piece Of Crap" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Official Video)
In honor of all that is totally dysfunctional in our modern, civilized little world, here's the official video for "Piece Of Crap" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
"As consumers realize that certain goods are crap, the demand for the goods will drop, resulting in lower prices. At these low prices, it will be more indicative of the crappiness of the good, and consumers will tend to steer clear, unless it is their only option. Also, firms have return policies, so that consumers can exchange crap products."
"Cortez The Killer" Concert Video - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Casa de Campo, Madrid, 25/4/87
Since folks seem to be enjoying the Crazy Horse video cuts lately, here's another one.
"Cortez The Killer" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Casa de Campo, Madrid on April 25, 1987. Not as long as the 22 minute 2001 version posted the other day, but a respectably "short" 13 minute searing version. Compare and contrast the evolution over the years.
A pretty happening video, audience shot in front, with some interesting, intense guitar work by Neil on Ol Black.
Neil Trivia du jour... “Cortez The Killer”, was banned in Spain because it offended General Franco’s regime. In Spain, Hernando Cortez (or Hernán Cortés) is considered a national hero as the conquistador who conquered Mexico's Aztec Empire for Spain.
So what's up with the song "Cortez The Killer"? Well, the time shifting from past, present and future is pretty mind-bending, despite what some historical purists might think about the song's accuracy. From the article American Educator - Cultural Literacy Rocks by Matthew Davis, who has some quibbles with Young's lyrical/historical record:
"The romanticizing of the Aztecs begins in the opening lines, when Young claims that all of these native peoples were beautiful and healthy, a condition which has probably never prevailed in any civilization at any time.
Young also glides over the subject of human sacrifice. It is true that the Aztecs "offered life in sacrifice / So that others could go on." They believed that such sacrifices would appease the gods. But the lives they sacrificed were human lives: sacrificial victims were tied to an altar, whereupon their chests were sliced open and their still-beating hearts offered to "the angry gods." By avoiding the fact that the Aztecs killed human beings and emphasizing the unselfish motives behind these sacrifices, Young puts a cheerful face on a terrible practice and presents a one-sided view of the Aztecs.
"Hate was just a legend, / And war was never known," is more of the same kind of romanticizing, all too common today. The residents of pre-Columbian Mexico were well acquainted with hate and war. In fact, the Aztecs stand out in the annals of history as an exceptionally belligerent civilization: In order to keep their altars supplied with a steady diet of sacrificial victims, the Aztec emperors kept up a perpetual war with neighboring peoples.
It would be more accurate to say that "peace was never known."
In an interview in Mojo Magazine in 1995, Neil Young is asked about Cortez The Killer and where he gets his information:
YOUNG:" It was a combination of imagination and knowledge. What Cortez represented to me is the explorer with two sides, one benevolent, the other utterly ruthless I mean, look at Columbus! Everyone now knows he was less than great and he wasn't even there first (laughs). It always makes me question all these other so-called 'icons' (smiles). "
During a show in Manassas, VA on August 13, 1996, Neil said that he'd written Cortez in high school while suffering "Montezuma's Revenge". Incidentally, we attended the Manassas '96 concert & it was awesome. Now that said, he may have just been joking around when he made the comment.
RS: The story goes that when you guys cut "Cortez the Killer," the board went down and you lost the entire last verse. Is that true?
Frank "Poncho" Sampedro: Yeah. True. Check it out.
What David Briggs did …We didn't know the power went out. In the room we were playing we had power, but where he was recording, in the control room, they lost power. When they got power back up and running, David ran the tape back and listened to right where he lost us and kept listening to us playing, and then he punched and started the tape back in right in time with where we where. [Laughs]
So that verse is gone.
So will the missing verse of "Cortez the Killer" ever be re-stored? Or has it been lost forever to the ages? [Cries]
And Young's reaction to hearing the loss of the recorded verse? "I never liked that verse anyway", and it has never been performed live (source).
As we continue the journey through the past, present and future, we're often drawn into songs like "Big Time" from Neil Young and Crazy Horse's 1996 album Broken Arrow.
So here's the official music video which we haven't seen in quite awhile.
"Autobiographical, "Big Time" calls upon the spirit of the past and twists it to now.
In the first verse Young simply unwinds his own beginnings.
'Gonna leave the pain behind, Gonna leave the fools in line, Gonna take the magic potion. Gettin' in an old black car, Gonna take a ride so far, To the land of suntan lotion. Gonna take it state by state, Until I hit the golden gate, Get my feet wet in the ocean.'
The devout will recognise the setting and the story, but for those who don't ... In 1965, Young recorded an acoustic demo for Elektra Records featuring early versions of Sugar Mountain and Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing but wasn't offered a contract by the label. Returning to Toronto, Young played the same Yorkville district coffeehouse circuit as fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell before he joined The Mynah Birds, a Toronto-based band led by singer Ricky James Matthews (later to be known as Rick James who would go on to have several smash dance hits, in particular Super Freak, a song which would later heavily influence Prince).
So there you go... from Neil to Joni Mitchell to The Mynah Birds & Rick James, to Buffalo Springfield to Crazy Horse to Prince.
As we said, the journey through the past, present and future continues. Over and Over.
The campaign for a Nobel Peace Prize for Willie Nelson's Farm Aid work and other causes continues. Thus far, over 25,000 have supported the effort by liking Willie Nelson for a Nobel Peace Prize page on Facebook.
With this year's Farm Aid 2012 in Hershey, PA coming up, we thought it was a good idea to remind folks of the remarkable lifetime achievements of the founder of Farm Aid, Willie Nelson.
Willie Nelson's efforts for Farm Aid, his work on alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives deserve a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. (Full details of Nelson's career and commitment to humanitarian efforts are here.)
Willie Nelson has been helping family farmers for over 25 years and has raised awareness of healthy foods while raising funds for the cause.
Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid Board of Directors in 2001. Farm Aid has raised more than $37 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Farm Aid is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land.
John Mellencamp is campaigning to get Willie Nelson a Nobel Peace Prize. The interview took place on SIRIUS XM Willie's Place at Farm Aid 25 in Milwaukee, Wisc.
Tonight, Saturday, Sept 1 at 9:00 PM EST, (in about 15 minutes) the Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour will begin streaming on WBKM.org.
Feedback will be back and we'll ride the rusty human highway to bring you the best Neil Young news and reviews, rumors and musings....plus rare and unreleased tracks that will help keep you rockin' in the free world.
Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour is presented and produced each week by WBKM.org in the heart of Burlington, Vermont.
Some suggestions for listening. Go to WBKM.org a few minutes before the broadcast/stream begins. In the upper right hand corner (the flower) click to launch. A small plugin applet will load and then launch your media player.
Apple MAC listeners - Use the Tune In Radio app in iTunes store.
If you have technical problems, either email wbkm@comcast.net or comment below.
We would definitely like your feedback on the program. Drop us a comment.
>> Pre-Order on Amazon.com << 
Human Highway
Concert Review of the Moment
This Land is My Land
FREEDOM In A New Year
*Thanks Neil!*
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being Neil Young
Pardon My Heart
"We're The Ones 
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Neil Young's Moon Songs
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Orwell (and Grandpa) Was Right
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