Postcard from Neil Young to "Mummy" (Mother Rassy Young)
Parry Sound, Onatario
July 11, 1965
via Neil Young Archives
While exploring around today on the Neil Young Archives' "Song of the Day" -- "(I'm A Man And) I Can't Cry" -- there's quite a bit of fascinating memorabilia associated with the 1965 song. A virtual Neil time capsule with photos, letters, documents, audio and more for early demo of a The Squires song.
Above is an image of the front of a postcard from Neil Young to his mother Rassy Young explaining that "Mort" is dead. "Mort", the 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse, was Neil's first car and transported The Squires band equipment.
"Mort" - 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse
Ken Koblun, Neil Young, Bob Clark.
Fort William, Ontario, April 1965
Photo courtesy of Ken Koblun
via Author Sharry Wilson's Young Neil: The Sugar Mountain Years
More on Neil Young's early years explored by Canadian author Sharry Wilson and Neil Young`s Canadian Years by John Einarson.
For more on NYA Times-Contrarian posts see:
- Neil Young's Note for Song of the Day: "Over And Over" + VIDEO
- Next Neil Young Album? "Songs for Judy" (aka Joel Bernstein Tapes)
- Dear NYA: Why Isn't Ragged Glory Available on Vinyl?
- 34+ minute version of "Like A Hurricane" on NYA Movie Night @ Hearse Theater
- "Campaigner": Neil Young Archives Song of the Day
- Neil Young Calls Out Big Tech ... Yet Again
- Neil Young's Song Of The Day: "Heart of Gold" + 1971 Interview
- Neil Young Remembers "The Innocence": WORDS
- Dear Neil: New Feature "Letters To The Editor" on Neil Young Archives (NYA)
- Neil Young Archives: "Huge drop of unreleased tracks!"
- "Enjoy NYA - Still Free" Says Neil Young
- Membership to Neil Young Archives Opens June 1
- "Muddy Track": Movie Night on Neil Young Archives
- Song of the Day: New Feature on Neil Young Archives
- Neil Young Archives (NYA) Times-Contrarian Launches Debut Issue
- "FREE THE MUSIC": Update on Neil Young Archives (NYA) Times-Contrarian
- "Vinyl is KING" Says Neil Young
- Neil Young Returns To #1 On The Charts!
- Neil Young: Tech Giants Rip Off Artists
Slightly off topic here (but we can do that), the postcard above is an early example of photoshop fakes.
ReplyDeleteIf you click on photo and look at larger image, you can see that this is not 6 different people (3 boys and 3 girls), but just 2 (1 boy and 1 girl).
What was done is that the one girl appears in the same black swimsuit in 2 poses and one colorized red. Note same bathing suit design. The guy is in same swim trunks just photoshopped with 3 different patterns.
Also, note how shadow on center blue trunk guy's right arm doesn't match up with shadows cast on sand.
Just so you know, the fakery has been going on for a very long time, our friends.
Winterlong, it's all illusion...
So, FAKE NEWS? @ NYA? Fo' Shame!
ReplyDelete(Maybe? THAT's why Judy Garland is flippin' Pancho the bird in the artwork/photo)?
akin to the middle finger cacti on the album cover of "Zuma"?
Eitherwhichway, I think it proves Neil has a sense of humor that comes thru in his artwork, music, movies, website, writings, etc....
ForeverYounger - you know, we're really glad you caught this. this note's for you.
ReplyDeleteyou caught us on a bad day w/ Judy flipping the bird comment. http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2018/10/comment-of-moment-songs-for-judy-next.html
actually just another faux news day.
but neil had this illusion/fake stuff all nailed long, long ago.
hey, hey, my, my, there's more to the picture than meets the eye...
always has, always will be.
but we're older now and maybe a little wiser, hopefully.
peace
Way off topic here, but Boz Scaggs covers "On The Beach" on his new album, and it kicks ass. Boz"s voice and blues playing really fits the song nicely, plus what a cool choice for a blues man to cover. I don't know how to link these things, but maybe someone here can. You can YouTube it or something, these things aren't hard to find these days, but by all means check it out.
ReplyDelete@Thrasher - I don't agree that the photo on the postcard is Photoshopped - in fact, since the postcard is from 1965 and Photoshop was not created until 1987 it isn't possible.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are using the word 'Photoshop' as a generic term for photo fakery?
I am not a photo analyst and precise measurements are needed to determine whether or not shadows in photos are faked; to me they look consistent.
But it is clear that the three males are different - they have different hair cuts and their trunks are not of a consistent length relative to the legs. They appear to be different heights but, again, eyeballing photos for that kind of analysis is a mug's game.
I think the two women in the black suits are twins but that is a tough one to establish.
Since it would be easy to get a few people onto a beach and snap a photo and not easy to do elaborate (yet flawed) photo fakery I am not sure what the point would be of creating a fake?
@ Richard -thanks for mentioning. We did come across the cover awhile back but didn't check out. We'll make it a point to give it a listen.
ReplyDelete@ Joel - sure, fair point. We used the term "photoshop" as a generic word for the practice. Like saying "to Google" being the generic for web search.
The concept and practice has been going on since the dawn of photography and is now in such a state of the art that even experts have trouble these days.
In terms of why the trouble for something so innocuous as this image? No telling other than cost & convenience. Getting six folks out on a beach in the cold of a Canadian winter might have been impractical, so this would be a creative studio solution.
Anyways, visual literacy is more critical than ever today. more @
FotoForensics: check photos for signs of editing
Also, see Visual Literacy and Fake News - http://blogs.kentlaw.iit.edu/library/2018/07/visual-literacy-fake-news/
Regardless, the photo was not taken in Parry Sound. The lovely beaches there are tightly ringed by rock outcroppings.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your acute observations Lloyd. If the beach photo had been taken in Parry Sound, Ontario, there would have been a billboard in the background stating “Parry Sound - Home of the great # 4 Bobby Orr (and the place where Mort died in ‘65).
ReplyDelete“Trying to catch an hour on the sun”