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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.
As we announced moments ago on Thrashers Wheat Radio on WBKM.org, a campaign has been launched to Induct Neil Young & Crazy Horse into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
From the About Section: Neil Young has termed his association with Crazy Horse “the essence of my musical life. This is the core, the smoldering thing I come back to over and over again....If I had never done anything else, the Crazy Horse stuff would just stand on its own.”
Thanks to all for supporting the effort! And thanks to Hounds That Howell (Campaign Manager), Shaka Geoff (Silver Moon Graphics), Eric & Tony @ wbkm.org, Chris M. (inspiration & encouragement), Arkansas Girls, Roel @ Rust Radio and rusties everywhere around the world! And especially thanks to Ralph, Billy, Poncho & Neil! Long live The Horse!
That was back in the 80's and it's unclear whether that rank has gone up or down since then. Irregardless, it hardly matters to Neil Young and Crazy Horse where they rate.
Jack Nitzsche , Neil Young's producer/arranger on the masterpiece "Broken Arrow", has stated that Crazy Horse was the American equivalent of The Rolling Stones. IMHO, Crazy Horse is to Neil Young what The Band was to Bob Dylan. As perfect a complement as tequila and salt.
In tribute to Crazy Horse, the "3rd Best Garage Band in the World", here's a look back at some highlights:
No Joke, Tune In This Weekend For A Semi-Big Announcement
"Pink Moon"
In the past, we've amused ourselves with some April Fool's Day jokes -- often at the expense of Neil Young, his management, crews and bands. (BTW, here's a few of our favorites from the past here, here and here.)
But not this year. No joking around. On the eve of the annual "Pink Moon", Thrasher's Wheat will be making an exclusive, semi-big announcement.
So what is a Pink Moon? When a full moon that appears in April is called the Pink Moon. This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. The Pink Moon of April is sometimes referred to by names associated with other signs of full spring. In other cultures, this full moon is sometimes call the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.
And there you have it.
So tune in to Thrasher's Wheat Radio on Wbkm Dot Org this Saturday, April 4 at 9:00PM ET to hear all the details.
Neil Young is a 2 time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recipient as a solo artist (1995) and with the band Buffalo Springfield (1997). Young's induction of Tome Waits marks at least his *sixth* time as an inductor of a Hall of Famer:
In March 1999, Neil Young inducted former Beatle Paul McCartney into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. During Neil's induction speech he said:
"The first song I learned to play was a Beatles song -- "Give Me Money, That's What I Want". Paul McCartney is one of the greatest songwriters ever. He'll be remembered hundreds of years from now."
Neil Young inducts Paul McCartney Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions 1999
After Neil handed Paul the Hall of Fame statue, Paul commented: "Thank you all. I love Neil!"
On January 12, 1995, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder inducted Neil Young into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his induction speech, Eddie Vedder said (from Five Horizons):
"He's taught us a lot as a band about dignity and commitment and playing in the moment and when I hear, you know, the speeches and inducting Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa, I get, uh, I'm just really glad he's still here. And I'm gonna (audience applauds; Eddie rolls his eyes, smiles and clutches his hand to his heart)... yeah!!
And I think I'm gonna have to say that I don't know if there's been another artist that has been inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame to commemorate a career that is still as vital as he is today. Some of his best songs were on his last record."
Neil Young being inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie Vedder at Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, NY on January 12, 1995 - Part 1
Part 2 - Neil Young's induction acceptance speech at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
On Mar 14, 2005, the Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Neil Young. From a RollingStone.com report, Young said that he and Crazy Horse mined the Pretenders debut album for ideas in the early Eighties.
"They went through all the heartache that rock & roll is built on. They lost two key members and they never gave up."
Neil joined the Pretenders on the song "My City Was Gone".
Neil Young: "Thank You, it’s a great honor to be here. I enjoy your company every time I come here. See you people all the time. It’s great! I’m running for office.
"No, really, I’m very happy and very honored to be here to talk a little about The Pretenders, who had a great influence on myself and my band, Crazy Horse. Yeah, well, when we couldn’t figure out what to do, we’d just put on those records and listen to them, and go ‘Ok, they got a....what’s she look like? This was 1980 or something, anyway they had a huge impression on me. I obviously didn’t look at my...I don’t have any notes."
"I don’t know what to say. This is one of the greatest Rock and Roll bands that ever lived. They went through all the heartache that rock 'n' roll was built on. They lost two key members, and they never gave up, they kept going, nothing would stop them. Chrissie, she’s a rock 'n' roll woman. She’s got it in her heart. She’s gonna be rocking till she drops, and I love her. I’m very proud just to know her.
And it’s my pleasure and distinct honor to induct The Pretenders into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."
Chrissie Hynde: "The things I’ll do for a handsome man. I know that The Pretenders have looked like a tribute band for the last 20 years. And actually they are a tribute band. And we’re paying tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, without whom we wouldn’t be here. And on the other hand, without us, they might have been here, but that’s the way it works in rock 'n' roll."
After the ceremony, Hynde was asked: "What was it like playing with Neil?"
"Fucking great!", replied Chrissie.
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock
August 18, 1969
On January 15, 1992, Neil Young inducted Jimi Hendrix into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his induction speech for Jimi, Neil said:
Young: Guitar -- you can play it or transcend it. Jimi showed me that. He was at one with his instrument. I just looked at it, heard it, and felt it and wanted to do it.
Hendrix threw a Molotov cocktail onto rock & roll."
Neil Young inducts Jimi Hendrix Experience into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during 1992 ceremony.
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, if so, than you would know that Neil's album title "Are You Passionate?" is a tribute to Jimi.
Jimi Hendrix Experience performs at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions 1992
Later that night, Young would pay tribute to Hendrix's guitar legacy by performing "Purple Haze" with Keith Richards.
Led Zeppelin and Neil Young - "When The Levee's Gonna Break" @ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on January 13, 1995
A bit of history was made on the evening that Neil Young was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on January 13, 1995. After the induction ceremony, Young joined Led Zeppelin onstage for an all out guitar showdown with Jimmy Page. Performing a 10 minute "When The Levee's Gonna Break", Page and Young traded licks in what turned out to be a remarkable moment in TV rock. Even jaded guitar masters were slack jawed.
Robert Plant segues into the Buffalo Springfield classic "For What It's Worth" at one point (6:35). Not to be outdone, Robert Plant picked up a guitar and began to jam with the guitar greats and seemed to be having the time of his life hopping and twirling about.
Towards the end at about 7:30, after seemingly endless jamming and soloing between the two guitar legends, a clearly exhausted Jimmy Page drops his hands from his guitar as if to concede defeat by Young. At the conclusion of the song, Page and Plant hugged Young as they left the stage. Just before the camera cuts, one can see Page patting Neil's amplifier as if to say, "You've got a hell of a sound from your equipment."
Later in 1995, Neil Young wrote the song "Downtown" (on the "Mirror Ball" album) about that historic night in New York City. From the lyrics "Downtown":
Jimi's playin' in the back room
Led Zeppelin on stage
There's a mirror ball twirlin'
And a note from Page
Like a water-washed diamond
In a river of sin
Goin' down like a whirlpool
When you get sucked in
Downtown
Let's go downtown
In Jimmy McDonough's biography of Neil Young "Shakey", Neil said of Page's work: "I'm a hack compared to him. He can really play." No word yet on what Robert Plant and Jimmy Page thought of the night.
Led Zeppelin & Neil Young at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1995
Neil Young & Crazy Horse w Pearl Jam - Fuckin' Up - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - 1995
Everly Brothers Inducted into R&R HoF by Neil Young - 1988
"Rust Guitar"
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland, Ohio
We made it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland earlier this summer and finally got to see the famous "Rust Guitar". Quite a beauty. It literally drips rust particles. Too cool.
"Rust Guitar" with Ohio License Plate
Neil Young's display contains Neil's fringed jacket and The Buffalo Springfield nameplate. Also, a telegram that he received from Paul and Linda McCartney in 1979. It read:
Neil,
Linda and I have been listening to Live Rust over and over, side four kicks ass.
Lotta Love,
Paul
Inductee Tom Waits and Neil Young perform onstage at the 26th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at The Waldorf=Astoria on March 14, 2011 in New York City
Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Tom Waits and Neil Young performed "Get Behind The Mule".
Immediately after the performance, Elton John noted: “If Jackson Pollack could sing, he’d sound like Tom Waits.”
"After a 15-minute intermission Young inducted Waits. 'I didn't bring my teleprompter or my notes and I don't have any real thoughts,' Young joked. 'I will say that this next man is indescribable and I'm here to describe him. In the scope of things this man is a great singer, actor, magician, spirit guide, changeling and performer for you.'
Neil Young's Induction Speech for Tom Waits into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
In the "Now For Something Completely Different" Department, there's a new book out titled Rust: The Longest War by Jonathan Waldman covering one of our favorite topics.
Among the many existential questions such as whether it is better to burn out or fade away, we ponder whether in fact rust never sleeps. As we learn, rust may never sleep, but can hibernate.
Jonathan Waldman writes: “Rust is ubiquitous. It seizes up weapons, manhandles mufflers, destroys highway guardrails, and spreads like a cancer in concrete. Rust, represents the disordering of the modern and yet a rust-free world would be a world without metal.”
Rusted controls are shown on a unused dock at the newly reopened Enterprise Products Beaumont Marine Terminal Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, in Vidor, Texas. (David J. Phillip/AP)
“Rust: The Longest War,” Waldman’s first book, is as obsessive as it is informative. Waldman, an environmental journalist, loves a fancy turn of phrase and can be overly discursive at times, yet he takes us deep into places and situations that are too often ignored or unknown. He makes metal — especially iron — seem as willful and self-defeating in its chemical reactions as a flighty teenager hopped up on hormones. And he makes oxygen resemble a mayhem-minded criminal waiting in the wings to destroy all your modes of transportation and tarnish your lovely silver service while it’s at it.
As Waldman’s thorough case histories show, rust can be a “ruthless enemy.” First up is the Statue of Liberty, which, because its builders didn’t fully understand the intentions of its original designers, got to a point in the 1980s where its torch was at “definite risk of structural failure,” and a third of its framing rivets were “loose, damaged, or missing.” Our national symbol of freedom had to spend years in a cage of scaffolding before the problems could be set right.
Another chapter, in which Waldman sneaks into Ball Corporation’s “Can School,” highlights just how much of a chemist you have to be to make sure the inner coatings of metallic cans don’t poison or spoil the taste of the food or beverages they contain.
Waldman’s sweeping survey encompasses the development of stainless steel, the underutilized promise of galvanization, the challenge of keeping oil pipelines corrosion-free and much more. In the book’s lengthiest chapter, he tracks the progress of a “smart pig” — a 16-foot-long 10,000-pound robot, equipped with 112 magnetic sensors — down the 800-mile length of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System as it looks for any kind of anomaly (dents, corrosion, weld misalignments) that could produce a leak.
"Rust: The Longest War" by Jonathan Waldman (Simon & Schuster) Waldman revels in technical vocabulary, piling up lists of “surfactants,” “extenders,” “thixotropic agents” and other mystery ingredients. He’s also drawn to offbeat personalities — rust photographer Alyssha Eve Csük, Pentagon “rust ambassador” Dan Dunmire, stainless-steel crusader Harry Brearley — who enliven his narrative.
The book could use an index and, especially for its chapters on rust history, a bibliography. Some of Waldman's quirks (including keeping constant tabs on who has a mustache) are distracting. But for the most part, he provides an energetic take on a scourge that gnaws at the fabric of the industrial world, and he even closes with suggestions on ways to combat it.
More existential questions relating to Neil Young -- among other vital topics -- on last night's Thrasher's Wheat Radio on WBKM.org.
Podcast of last night's Thrasher's Wheat Radio on WBKM.org is now ready for download and your listening pleasure.
TONIGHT: Thrasher's Wheat Radio on Wbkm Dot Org -- Tune in ... at 9:00PM ET. Neil Young tunes, conversation, context and...
Posted by Thrasher's Wheat on Saturday, March 28, 2015
Led Zeppelin & Neil Young at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1995
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*Thanks Neil!*
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