▶ "Like a Hurricane" - Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Live at Farm Aid 2012

"Like a Hurricane" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse @ Farm Aid, Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA 9/22/12.

here's a look back at last year's Farm Aid 2012 Concert Wrapup as we look forward to next week's Farm Aid.

"Like A Hurricane"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Farm Aid 2012 Concert - 9/22/12
Photo by Steve Babineau @sportsactionimages.com
(Click photo to enlarge)

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Photo of the Moment: "He loves her so, She loves him so. She does what she has to"

Pegi Young & The Survivors w/ Neil Young
Johnny D's - Boston, MA - 9/11/13
Photo by Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff
(Click photo to enlarge)
A wonderful photo from the recent Pegi Young & The Survivors concert in Boston, MA from review on Boston.com by Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein. (Thanks Mr Henry!)

Does this look like the face of a proud husband or what? We must say this has to be one of the biggest grins we've ever seen from Neil onstage. He doesn't even look at Poncho like that during "F'n Up". ;)

"He loves her so
She loves him so.
She does what she has to"

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NEW SONG: Pegi Young & The Survivors w/ Neil Young

Pegi Young & The Survivors w/ Neil Young
Johnny D's - Boston, MA - 9/11/13
Photo by Steve Babineau - Sports Action Photography

Last night, Pegi Young & The Survivors performed at Johnny D's in Boston, MA along with a special guest -- Neil Young.

Neil Young joined Pegi Young & The Survivors band and debuted a new song we'll call "Further Down The Road". A pretty jammy tune if we say so.

Johnny D's in Boston, MA
Photo by Randi Millman

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When Neil Young Speaks Truth To Power, The World Listens - #WT1sWBW4

Neil Young: Tar Sands Site "Looks Like Hiroshima" | Democracy Now! @ 8:15  As we reported yesterday, Neil Young's Tar Sands Oil comments have gone gone viral provoking both widespread applause and condemnation.

And much to our amazement, our exclusive video coverage that we posted to YouTube has been picked up by numerous websites and telecasts. The footage has appeared in headline news on Democracy Now! and the Canadian national news on CTV News, among others.

CTV News Channel: Young faces backlash | CTV NewsIf nothing else, Neil Young's comments and the furious reaction indicate that he has struck both a nerve and a chord. Neil has spoken truth to power and they are not happy. Many are clearly threatened by Young's comments, otherwise they would have been ignored similar to what many others such as First Nation People's who have been decrying such injustices for decades and centuries.

Canadian Radio Station Bans Neil Young, Sponsors Bonfires of Flannel Shirts & Patched Jeans: http://t.co/b3oBJX22GC

— WFMU (@WFMU) September 12, 2013

But really. What impact does all of this coverage have?

Certainly Neil Young has invigorated the debate on energy production and its impact on the environment. Hopefully, some have come away from all of this with a new found appreciation of the complexity of the matter and how we as a society produce and consume energy. And that seems like a good thing of which we're glad to be part of.

A comment by Dan1 partially captures what this episode entails in terms of casting Neil Young as a villain rather than a seeker of a better way forward:

IMHO I think you're wrong about Neil's motivations.

It's one thing to disagree with his political, environmental, and scientific views. I for one agree that the 'global warming coalition' has opportunistically managed to shift the debate so much that most people accept as fact the hypothesis that human activity with respect to carbon will ruin the planet. And I also agree that the trade-off between a cleaner environment vs. eliminating people's livelihoods is a complex one.

I do feel infuriated when I see Al Gore for example build a $500m fortune and live a Hollywood lifestyle from his global warming exploits ... That said, I think you tagging Neil as trying to profit from his views could not be more off base ... I see Neil's MO as being willing to say what he feels irrespective of pissing off fans ("ain't singing for Pepsi ..") he's totally not commercial that way at all ... he says what he feels, sings what he feels, expresses what he feels in whatever medium he sees fit ... those expressions are artistic at their core, and are pure, which is why it resonates so deeply with people ... LWW was not done to advance his commercial status, trust me, if its not 110% obvious ... LWW is called a career killer move, I'm sure Elliot was bemoaning that artistic decision ...

so in summary, if you stick to the issues and argue the facts in a mature and respectful way thats cool ... the personal attacks seem childish and frankly embolden the (incorrect) arguments of the left suggest if you don't believe global warming is a certainty you're somehow less educated or intellectually inferior to those who have a more 'enlightened' perspective. I don't think your personal attacks calling Neil a hypocrite deserve a response other than to say the Lincoln Volt project with all its expenditure and time invested by Neil along with the publicity about clean energy (note LV doesn't use ethanol) represents a substantial investment in walking the walk ... its hard to find many (or any) other celebrities who are willing to dedicate themselves so sincerely toward a cause they believe in ...

I don't always agree with all of Neil's political views but I admire his integrity a lot.

Thanks Dan and everyone else who has participated here at TW in a mostly civil debate.

It doesn't have to be an Angry World because Yes, There's Definitely A Hole in The Sky. So just "Light a Candle" and take a chance on love.

peace

"We're The Ones We've Been Waiting For"/#WT1sWBWO

Be the wheat!

"We're The Ones We've Been Waiting For"

#WT1sWBW4

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O Canada! Neil Young's Tar Sands Oil Comments Go Viral

Canadian Tar Sands Oil Field
Near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
(Click photo to enlarge)
Yesterday, we had the distinct pleasure and honor to listen to Neil Young eloquently speak of the evils of Canadian Tar Sands oil extraction and the wonders of clean, renewable fuels.

During Young's remarks, he said: “The fact is, Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima. Fort McMurray is a wasteland."

The comments have sparked a fair amount of outrage and support.

Hiroshima, Japan 1945
(Click photo to enlarge)
350.org's Bill McKibben got it right from the environmental side:

Heart of green: Canada's Neil Young calls tarsands a lethal wasteland (and he's right) http://t.co/sFGyJb9cG7

— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) September 10, 2013

Keep on rockin' in the [fossil] free world. - Neil Young, on the Alberta Tar Sands http://t.co/m9b9fOprX2 #nokxl

— Keith Stewart (@climatekeith) September 10, 2013

Sad that media only cares when Neil Young comments on the disaster that is the tar sands + not when Indigenous people who live there speak

— Erin Tomkins (@tom_e_kins) September 10, 2013

But across Canada, Young's comments have not been well received.

The video coverage that we posted on Thrasher's Wheat yesterday has been picked up by numerous publications and gone "viral". (Or at least what we consider viral for our little blog.)

'Fort McMurray is a wasteland': Neil Young slams oil patch, Keystone plans - The Globe and Mail
For us, many of the negative comments come across as unhinged rants without basis of fact or reason. Just pure raw emotion of wounded pride and failure to see what the world clearly sees: That indeed the Canadian Tar Sands Oil Fields do look truly like devastated landscapes. Take a look for yourself if you disagree.

Well, I hope @neilyoung will remember, an Alberta man don't need him around anyhow. http://t.co/SHKSE3QwtD

— John R. Bolton (@johnrbolton1) September 10, 2013

Interested to see what the knee-jerk patriot, petrol-booster, FN-hating, Molson-swilling Tar Sand apologists have to say about Neil Young.

— Lee Reed (@freeleereed) September 10, 2013

http://t.co/1BS5G8nbsf Neil can say what he wants about Fort Mac, but Hiroshima is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen #notawasteland

— William Loewen (@wjloewen) September 11, 2013

Many of the negative comments seem to entirely misinterpret the quote. When people refer to "Hiroshima" in this context they are referring to 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped. Not how Hiroshima was before and not how it looks now. He used a symbolic metaphor, people. Similarly, Young is referring to the outskirts of Fort McMurray and not downtown.

Melissa Blake, the mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said she takes no issue with people who have environmental interests, but Mr. Young’s comments are “blatantly false” and she wished there was “more rationality” to his statements, The Globe and Mail’s Kelly Cryderman reports.

"When people say it's a wasteland, it really and truly isn't," Ms. Blake said. "When it comes to the community of Fort McMurray, you're overwhelmed frankly by the beauty of it. You've got an incredible boreal environment that's all around you. You proceed further north into the oil sands and inevitably, there's mining operations that will draw your attention because they take up large chunks of land."

One perspective that we don't entirely agree with -- but is sincere in approach -- is this essay on Fort Mac Philosopher: When Neil Young & Daryl Hannah Came to Town:

The other bit of Neil's message I take some umbrage with is his anti-Keystone XL stance. It seems a tad hypocritical to use the guns of government to cut people off from energy they want and force them to use OPEC conflict oil. Nobody is cutting Neil off from all the energy he's using and forcing him to burn bitumen, why would he do that to people who can't afford other sources of energy or who don't want to use bloody OPEC oil? In the same vein I don't want government pointing guns at land owners to force Keystone through their land. I just wish people would learn how to peacefully negotiate without constantly appealing to government to pull out guns on their behalf.

So Neil if you're reading this Keep on Rockin In The Free World! I dig your message of clean energy and I can't wait for affordable cleaner energy, one day if we extract enough oil and generate enough wealth like you we will be able to create a cleaner world and even be able to extend the lives of our sons and daughters and move on to a better energy source. If you would've looked a bit closer at the people in this community developing this resource you'd have found people of kindred spirit, we are concerned about the environment and about the health of those that live around the oil sands...this is where our children live. We want to leave this world a better place like you do and we have the energy to do just that. I challenge you to find a community of oil producers anywhere else in this world that more closely aligns with your values of stewardship and respect for this Earth and it's people. Not only do we not stone people to death, we don't even use plastic grocery bags.

Ducks are just one victim of Tar Sands
A comment by jackie:

I see a whole bunch of people who are afraid to see the alternatives that we can begin to utilize that does not destroy the environment or has very little impact.

The fact is between all the oils spills that have happened recently that have destroyed our water, which impacts all life and the tar sands, uranium mining and proposed dumping. We can live without oil but we cannot live without water, plant life and animals,insects, everything is connected and is vital for all life.

Stop believing the government and these big corporations care anything about life or about you, or Canada. If they did they would not have found every way they can to silence those who are the experts and I'm not talking about those that are "paid".

Stop being afraid and start realizing that we have the ability to provide energy, that we can reduce the demand for oil and we can do it now, get up and demand change for the protection of all life in Canada.

“Neil Young is speaking for all of us fighting to stop the Keystone XL,” Jane Kleeb, Executive Director of Bold Nebraska, a coalition of landowners and others opposed to the $5.3-billion Keystone XL pipeline, told the Globe and Mail.  “When you see the pollution already caused by the reckless expansion of tar sands, you only have one choice and that is to act.”

Neil Young's Lincvolt - Repowering the American Dream
From Neil Young's Lincvolt - Repowering the American Dream - Blog:

In Canada, where the dirtiest oil on the planet is extracted from the Alberta Tar sands at an immeasurable human cost to the First Nations people, and disease statistics reflect 30% increase in some fatal diseases, there is no freedom to choose an alternative to gasoline at the pump.

This is un-Canadian.

As a proud Canadian, I cannot let this go by without a fight. Canadians deserve Freedom to Choose the Fuel they use. Canadians should have a fuel choice at the pump that considers Future Generations. Canadians should have the freedom to express themselves through the choices they make, not have those choices made for them by a government that is too close to industry and over concerned with money and petro dollar value. We do not have to be spoon fed by the Big Oil Companies. Stand with me for Future Generations and Bring Light to the conditions In Canada as we move forward on this mission.

Get the full story on Neil Young's Lincvolt - Repowering the American Dream - Blog

“@MikeHudema: @NeilYoung, Canadian rock icon, weighs in on the #tarsands debate: http://t.co/t2iAFU06ub #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/eEY7eEQ2If”

— global-consciousness (@conscious4now) September 10, 2013

Once again. it seems that the The Inconvenient Truth of Greendale really upsets some folks.

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Neil Young @ Press Conference for National Farmers Union

Neil Young, Senator Harry Reid & Senator Debbie Stabenow
Photos by Hounds That Howl
(Click photo to enlarge)

Neil Young participated in a press conference today on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

The press conference highlighted the importance of passing a five-year, comprehensive farm bill this year; and how the Renewable Fuel Standard creates jobs, reduces greenhouse gasses, and reduces our dependence on foreign oil.

Sadly, Neil Young's LincVolt vehicle was not on display at the event due "security concerns". :(

Neil Young's introduction by Sen. Reid was humorous. Sen. Reid, noted his disappointment that Neil didn’t bring his guitar. So he briefly played Neil’s song "Beautiful Bluebird" (from Old Ways) over the sound system by putting his phone close to the microphone. But then Sen. Reid couldn't figure out how to turn off the sound so he just put his phone in his pocket to silence it.

Neil Young spoke on ethanol fuels, his recent roadtrip with LincVolt and their visit to Alberta, Canada and the Tar Sands fields.



Referring to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, Neil Young said that oil sands production has transformed part of Canada into a “wasteland” that “looks like Hiroshima.”

“I am against the Keystone pipeline in a big way.

“The fact is, Fort McMurray [Alberta] looks like Hiroshima. Fort McMurray is a wasteland. The indians up there and the native peoples are dying.

People are sick. People are dying of cancer because of this. All of the First Nations peoples up there are threatened by this. Their food supply is wasted, their treaties are no good. They have the right to live on the land, like they always did, but there’s no land left that they can live on. All the animals are dying.”

“Ethanol and other biofuels and cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel are the answer.

“But we also have to be careful how we grow it. We have to be as sustainable as can be and be regenerative and let the land breathe.”

Neil Young, Senator Harry Reid & Roger Johnson, NFU President

While depaerting, Young was asked about war with Syria:

“Let’s not have any bombs, you know. Let’s just stop the bombs.”

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FLASHBACK: The Actual Honest to God Reunion of Crosby Stills & Nash

"The Actual Honest to God Reunion of Crosby Stills & Nash"
Rolling Stone by Cameron Crowe - June 2, 1977
(Click photo to enlarge)
With the reunion of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young now confirmed for the 2013 27th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert, we've been getting a bit nostalgic lately.

Here is a Rolling Stone interview from June 2, 1977 The Actual Honest to God Reunion of Crosby Stills & Nash by Cameron Crowe. (Via 4waysite. Thanks!) Lots of interesting comments.

And here's the obligatory Neil content:

They [CSN] assume that Neil Young knows exactly what they’re up to in Miami, using two months of studio time that Young himself wanted to book. But there has been no communication. He is spoken of in friendly but distant terms. Young views CSNY as an occasional marker in his own career, but CSNY comes first for the others. “I love singing with those guys,” he said in 1975, “but CSNY tends to get too big. Too many people attach too much importance to them. I enjoy being able to visit, but I want to avoid people thinking, ‘Oh, there’s Neil Young from CSNY.’”

“At this point,” Crosby says, “I don’t know how to deal with my relationship to Neil at all. The last time the four of us were together, the psychic balance in the room, the level of trust, love or friendship was like”…Crosby whistles…”real strange.”

That was last May, and the room was the very same Criteria Sound Studios. Recording sessions by the Stills-Young Band had reached an impasse. Young called Crosby to see about giving CSNY another shot. Crosby and Nash, close to finishing their own album, Whistling down the Wire, in Los Angeles, flew to Miami Beach. It was a disastrous move. Besides a lack of material and some disagreement over the approach, there were rapidly approaching deadlines. A summer-long Stills-Young Band tour was scheduled to begin in June, and Crosby and Nash were already late delivering their own album. They finally had to rush back to L.A. to wrap it up, leaving Stills and Young to work on the CSNY album until they returned. Instead, the album reverted to a Stills-Young project. Crosby and Nash were not invited back to Florida, and their vocals were wiped off the tracks to make room for others.

Crosby was livid at the time. “I have nothing but contempt for those two,” he said then. “I refuse to be on call for them any longer.” Now, he can rationalize the incident: “Everything was wrong. I wish to fuck, man, that I had not felt so long an enmity for those cats over that.”

In the end, the Stills-Young tour fell apart after a month. Crosby and Nash played throughout the summer, and the incredible irony occurred: the two harmony singers, the leftover pieces of the old group, outsold the Stills-Young album (Long May You Run).

Ahhh. Those were the days. So much water under and over the bridge. What a saga.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - ~2000

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