Neil Young's new release ""World Record" w/ Crazy Horse is now available for pre-order. Order here (Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link
or YOUR COUNTRY's FLAG. Thank you!!!) ADVERTISEMENT
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.
But hope springs eternal and wee just received this note from NYAS's Scott Sandie that life goes on for BA! Hi,
This is Scott Sandie, your old editor from Broken Arrow. This email is going out to all the old NYAS members who are still in my contact list.
For the past year or so there has been a working party preparing all 134 issues of Broken Arrow magazine for free online release. That project has reached the end of its main stage, and some 8000 magazine pages are now ready for viewing and search. Tom Hambleton has very kindly agreed to host these pages over on Sugar Mountain and has done a really great job in laying it all out in his inimitable fashion.
You will see that can browse and open each issue. You can search on keywords from the index and access pages that way too. Each issue is roughly a 15MB PDF file, so it is a little slow loading up if you have a poor connection. To look at one page, you have to load the entire issue into memory. Tom has also been working hard on making it mobile friendly, so it might work on your phone as well.
So drop by, have a look at the magazines, carry out searches and generally play about in the pages. See what you think. And if you find any glitches please let me or Tom know.
Regards,
Scott Such great news Scott! And many, many thanks Tom on Sugar Mountain for coding and hosting.
On a personal note, we've known Scott & Tom for decades. Both Scott & Tom are a true gentlemen in every sense of the word, ultimate Neil fanatics and they have our undying respect for what they've been able to accomplish.
Broken Arrow Magazine has meant so much to so many, and the end was never easy. But what can you say other than......"Thank You!" Scott Sandie, Tom Hambleton and the incredible Neil Young Appreciation Society & Sugar Mountain | Neil Young Setlists!!!
Sep 26 & 27 @ The Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY (w/ Promise Of The Real)
Sep 30 & Oct 1 @ Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA (Solo)
And -- predictably -- the praises and indignation began. Prices too high. Annoying measures taken to thwart scalping. Neil's support of Democrats. etc.
We do find it sort of perplexing that after all these years -- and hundreds of comments later -- folks are still bitching and moaning about concert tickets. Even after Neil delivers exactly what his fans have been requesting.
I don't begrudge a musician charging whatever he wants.
It's his business, both literally and figuratively. I was simply stating that it was funny/ironic that was praising him for keeping the prices relatively static so many years later and was then faced with an increase hours later. I know Port Chester is a small venue, half the size of the Wang Theater. Perhaps that's why he's charging more. And he's certainly not the only one doing so.
And of course I get that record sales aren't paying the bills (although I don't know that Neil's records have paid the bills since...Harvest Moon? He hasn't been a big seller since Harvest, I suspect, which is purposeful, to some extent. He didn't want to be middle-of-the-road, so he veered into the ditch, to paraphrase the man himself. It does, however, make it difficult for younger fans, at the very least, to come up with the funds. Of course, they can grab a grass seat at an amphitheater, which is affordable. No one sells those for over $100. I was just feeling sticker shock, since it's the most expensive ticket I've ever purchased (and the seats were even more). I remember being a teen, bummed that the balcony seats were all gone and that I would be spending all of my money on the orchestra ticket. I don't regret it now, I didn't regret it then.
BUT I do believe there is more to it than what the market will allow.
Just because you CAN charge a price doesn't mean you have to. I'm a firm believer that an artist gets to choose his/her audience. Neil, so individualistic and idiosyncratic, has nurtured a loyal fanbase that has followed him for decades. At the same time, by charging prices that only the most fervent and/or well-to-do can afford, you may not have the best audience mix. It's an art, not a science, but I've been to almost 1000 concerts in my young life (36) and I've seen what those gold circle front rows give back to the artist. Sometimes they're amazing, often times they aren't.
That's why bands like Pearl Jam make ticket prices the same for the whole venue and allow the fan club to have prime access to those seats. They could raise the prices and I'm sure a lot of the fans would go along with it. I'm hopeful that instituting the mobile ticket system will discourage if not completely eliminate scalpers, thereby getting the tickets into the right people's hands. I was just at a Radiohead show where a bunch of banker types showed up late and talked throughout the show. These people can't get priced out, but the fans that contribute to a show's 'magical' quality can. I think that's at the heart of some people's gripes. Personally, it's Neil's call. The truth is, if he were a younger artist, I wouldn't have bought the tickets (Ween, Jason Isbell, etc).
I just don't know how many more opportunities I'll have to see the man, so if it means driving 7 hours roundtrip to Saratoga Springs..or taking a bus on a work night to Philly...or a train to Port Chester, I'm going to do it. But I feel for people with kids and mortgages and other necessities whose 'fun money' jars isn't big enough to make it happen.
@ dd - thanks for all of the context and background in your comment.
Wow, not bad to see 1,000 concerts in 20 years or so. That's pretty cool. And we weren't busting on you specifically and agree with a lot of what you're saying. These links below echo much of what you and others are saying.
The point is that no matter what Neil does, folks always seem to think they know best what should have been done differently. We'll also add that a couple of these shows will be live streamed which is extremely cool. The west coast streams recently were quite awesome.
Like with everything, there is no one magical solution to the problem.
We would argue that the cheaper GA upfront, more expensive reserved in the back is an innovation that we here @ TW championed for years. See:
just might have to re-visit that "Cough Up The Buck$" video ...
For the Turnstiles
"All the sailors with their seasick mamas
Hear the sirens on the shore,
Singin' songs for pimps with tailors
Who charge ten dollars at the door.
You can really learn a lot that way
It will change you in the middle of the day.
Though your confidence may be shattered,
It doesn't matter.
All the great explorers
Are now in Granite Lake
Under white sheets for the great unveiling
At the big parade.
You can really learn a lot that way
It will change you in the middle of the day.
Though your confidence may be shattered,
It doesn't matter.
All the bushleague batters
Are left to die on the diamond.
In the stands the home crowd scatters
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles."
Even the most ardent supporters of Sleeps With Angels, the 1994 set from Neil Young and Crazy Horse, admit that it is a bleak album. It likely would have been even without the implication that the title cut was influenced by the suicide of Kurt Cobain.
The song has little to do specifically with him, but more about his generation. The rest of the album has no deep ties to the alt-rock cohort, other than to assure that where it seemed they were going, Young and company had already been. This was their way of saying, “We hoped it would have turned out different for you.”
Here’s another word to consider: “exhaustion.”
What does that mean, exactly? Think back to the 1990s. There was a sense in the air – mostly illusory – of a return to basics, of honesty, stripped-down, and legit. People saw in the music of the day a rejection of the big hair, big eye-makeup, big everything that the culture had wrought. Those bands that merged pop hooks with classic rock and punk’s DIY ethic and simplicity were striking a blow against the hair metal heroes passing out in their million dollar swimming pools, very much in the same way that punk’s first wave struck out against the coke-fueled hedonism of disco and the acid-tinged wandering of progressive rock. It seemed that, once again, the voices of youth and dissenters could be heard. Even if the “message” frequently was complete gobbledygook, as a lot of the era’s lyrics were (Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter” is an example of a sound looking for a statement, failing, and going for it anyway), this was a declaration of being.
Full review of the “Sleeps With Angels” album and videos of Neil Young and Crazy Horse on Music Tap by Dw Dunphy.
2011 INTERVIEW: Neil Young Discusses The International Harvesters and "A Treasure" Release
From a nice, expansive interview with Neil Young in 2011, he discusses the International Harvesters band and the archives release, A Treasure.
The video is rather intimate look at the different musicians and Neil's memories of their time together. Neil discusses the late, great Ben Keith on steel and slide guitar and Rufus Thibodeaux on fiddle, along with living legends Spooner Oldham and Hargus “Pig” Robbins on piano, Tim Drummond and Joe Allen on bass, Karl Himmel on drums, Anthony Crawford on guitar, banjo and mandolin among many others. Many of them were already paragons within the country music world and their notoriety has only grown in the years since. “I just love to hear those guys,” Young says. “They’re all country music legends.”
Also, the Comment of the Moment (which inspired this post) is from Jim McKelvey
Yeah, listen to what Neil Young says about playing in the Grey Riders band here and specifically at 8:51 on this video...
"I couldn't go anywhere where he couldn't go farther," Neil Young talking about Hargus.
Really hope that the "archives" project that Neil Young is doing will start to include live shows like Bruce Springsteen is doing. Over this weekend Bruce announced a show from 1999 that got me to thinking wouldn't it be amazing to get some of the '99 solo shows that Neil did. Maybe he could do a matrix mix of the soundboards with some of those amazing Schoeps mic'd audience recordings that surfaced back in the Yahoo Rust era? Seems like the archives website is positioned perfectly to give us 16 to 24 bit live recordings from pretty much his entire career. Now, I think there is something fishy about no live Buffalo Springfield recordings given all the times they played for Bill Graham who was clearly a recording nut and he clearly liked the Springfield, too. That is plain weird but here is an example of what Neil could do based on what Bruce is doing...
The show I want the most, however, is that three day stand at the Canterbury House in "A Squared" pretty much on/within the "very moment" that Neil Young became a star after the debut of CSNY live that included Woodstock, just a month before recording "Country Girl" for Deja Vu and the live debut of some of the "After The Goldrush" songs already penned or covered. Both of his bands, Crazy Horse and CSNY, were getting the recognition that the Springfield didn't get beyond the hit single on their debut tours just months before the Canterbury House recordings. A lot of the introductions to the songs from the 1969 Canterbury House are already up on the Archives under the "video" heading as I've stated before.
Those three days of Canterbury House recordings (please release all three!) I would like to request be followed by releasing complete shows that included Hargus "Pig" Robbins just before the very first Farm Aid. There is a little bit of Hargus on "The Treasure" but not enough since it didn't include the "Old Man" or the stunning "Down By The River" that band did. Now, as I've mentioned before that show at Meadowbrook Music Theater, that included Nicolette Larson opening and later joining the Harvesters/Grey Riders I might add, was the one that I got to talk for a good bit with Neil. We talked about "Neil & Me" and then the next day he arranged an interview with Willie Nelson for three hours the following week. That story with Willie about the first Farm Aid got my co-byline on a front page story in the Detroit Free Press. My parents got to see me go from a paperboy with 90 dailies and 130 Sunday papers to a writer published on the front page and I have Neil Young to thank for that.
The song "Campaigner" teken from shows from 1976 would be a nice thing to offer as a download on the Neilyoungarchives pages, too. 1976 was a very good year!
Hey Jim, thanks for the drop by. Great clip and reminder on Grey Riders Hargus "Pig" Robbins. Also, warm memories of the late Ben Keith by Neil remembering him so fondly.
Yes, Bruce and Bob have done a lot on their concerts and rarities releases. And do agree that we should really start to see Neil flood NYA once the paywall setup is in place.
Could be part of the setup w/ some stealth gigs like back earlier this year w/ CH & POTR? Maybe announce subscription service, stream some live gigs, and then the HUGE track drop. MOAD (Mother of all DROPS)
9-11, "Imagine", + 17 Years On: Lennon, Young and Why Heros Are Still So Hard To Find
It was -- without a shred of doubt whatsoever -- Neil Young's finest hour... ever.
On September 21, 2001, just days after the 9-11 terror attack on the United States, Neil Young performed John Lennon's "Imagine" on the worldwide broadcast musical benefit telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes". Simulcast live from London, New York and Los Angeles on the four major TV networks, international networks and globally streaming via the Internet, the program was seen by an estimated 89 million viewers and netted roughly $230 million in donations.
For many, Young's performance was emotionally wrenching and heart felt. Surrounded by burning candles, performing on a grand piano and accompanied by a small orchestra of violins, Young's rendition of Lennon's "Imagine" spoke to many of us who were suffering from the terrible tragedies in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Notably, Young changed the lyrics from "imagine no possessions, to "I wonder if *I* can". (thanks Marilyn) Those in the studio that night, reported that Young appeared to be on the verge of tears upon completing the song. Pulse Magazine wrote that Young's performance of "Imagine" on the Benefit telecast was "one of those moments you never forget." One Neil Young fan put it this way: "It's such a heartfelt moment, so universal. It doesn't pander, just touches on a deep, timeless level. I love the facial expressions, and subtle emphasis that Neil gives during the last verse and refrain." (Thanks Greg "AFOY") From an interview (Pulse Magazine, April 2002) with Neil Young in which he was asked about "Imagine" and the night of "A Tribute to Heroes":
Neil Young: Well, first of all, I guess it was the night before that we first practiced it. So we ran through it about 10 times, until finally it started to gel and we knew what we were doing. We used the original charts from the original record, and did everything we could to do justice to the original version--we weren't trying to do anything other than that.
Just trying to make it like John Lennon, basically. It was just such a great song for the moment. Pegi, my wife, got an email from a friend of hers after the 11th with the words to "Imagine" on it. And it was at the same time as I was trying to figure out what to play, because we only had two-and-a-half, three days' notice to do the show. And that seemed to be a good sign to me. So we went ahead and got the lyrics, the ones I couldn't remember, and I just learned it, practiced it, and when we did it that night everything just came together. And obviously, those are the nuts and bolts, but the real emotional part ... Well, it's just so obvious why it was the way it was.
That's one of the things about being a musician or a singer or a songwriter--when these things come up, it's a chance to do your job, to do what you do and have it really be what it's supposed to be.
Eddie Vedder with Neil Young and Mike McCready perform "Long Road" on the worldwide broadcast musical benefit telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes". Young's next response to 9-11 came as he was writing "Let's Roll" for the Are You Passionate? (title references Jimi Hendrix's 1967 album "Are You Experienced?") album. The song tells the story of a passenger's (Todd Beamer) heroics on a hijacked Flight 93 (which crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers stormed the cockpit. Young reportedly made a donation to the Todd M. Beamer Foundation. From an interview (Pulse Magazine, April 2002) with Neil Young in which he was asked about the song "Let's Roll":
Neil Young: Obviously, watching the whole thing unfold on television, I'm doing what everybody else is doing. Then I heard the wife of one of the passengers --Lisa Beamer--talking about the phone call that her husband made to the operator, and the operator relaying that he said "Let's roll." And she was talking about how he always used to say that with the kids when they'd go out and do something, that it's what he said a lot when he had a job to do.
And it's just so poignant, and there's no more of a legendary, heroic act than what those people did.
With no promise of martyrdom, no promise of any reward anywhere for this, other than just knowing that you did the right thing. And not even having a chance to think about it or plan it or do anything--just a gut reaction that was heroic and ultimately cost them all their lives. What more can you say? It was just so obvious that somebody had to write something or do something. I think it's a legendary story that's gonna go down through the ages--it'll never be forgotten. So I was very surprised that I didn't hear any songs. And I'm thinking, "I can hear this song in my head, nobody else has written it when I thought everybody was gonna write it." So I just wrote it. I couldn't stop it anymore.
The events of 9-11 continued to haunt Young through the following decade. With 2003's Greendale , Neil sounds the alarm that something had gone terribly wrong on a number of fronts. 2006's Living With War was a direct confrontation of the need for a call to action. And, 2009's Fork in the Road -- the 3rd installment of the post 9/11 trilogy -- reveals Neil coming to grips with the fact that first you recognize a problem, then you call out the need to address it, and finally you do something about it. You can make a difference if you try really hard, if you will...
It's a perfect message for all the world and all peoples. It is pro-spiritualism...beyond religious confinements. Freedom = love, truth and beauty. A vision of an ultimate utopian idea of where we should be striving for.
I remember watching this live then and it blew me away-the fact that Neil wanted to contribute by performing and instead of using the platform to play one of his own compositions he played Imagine- perhaps the MOST appropriate of songs for the occasion, at a time when we were being inundated with little American flag stickers and cries of bloodshed in the name of patriotism. Not to open a can of worms but in the weeks and months following 9-11 it seemed even the most staunch of Doves became blood thirsty Hawks (myself included). We were pissed man- and with good reason. This was a terrible tragedy for the people, but I believe our sorrow, anger and confusion was taken advantage of (my opinion). Imagine receiving radio air-play did not go along with the required post-911 mindset, but I think this performance was a simple gesture reminding us to not lose sight of that idyllic promised land that is always within reach- if we want it.
In conclusion, we leave you with the words Neil Young fan Greg "AFOY": "Call me a "dreamer", but I have faith that the truth of this song will come to pass, not through the efforts of any wolf in sheep's clothing secular or non-secular world organization, but by the earth itself, by Life protecting Itself, and by Creation being true to It's eternal promise. Another conversation, I know, but that's my faith. In the meantime, songs and performances like this, and the fact that "I'm not the only one", help to sustain me."
Thanks Greg "AFOY". It all gives new meaning to "open up the tired eyes..."
In a recent interview, Neil Young says that "I’ve trained my audience. They know. I won’t go out unless I have something to do that I believe in doing and that I want to play and new songs I want to play that I think are relevant. That’s why I go out. If I don’t have any new song to play in front of people, they don’t see me very often."
Music Connection: Any specific releases we should look forward to from the Archives?
Neil Young: I know the Alchemy album is gonna blow people’s minds, and I think Crazy Horse’s early days will. There’s an album called Garage, which is another Crazy Horse album, and a movie called Rusted which is a complete Crazy Horse concert like Rust Never Sleeps that’s never been shown. It was shown one night in the ‘80s. So we have all that stuff, and it’s interesting. Plus there’s at least two or three times as much stuff as that that I haven’t mentioned. There’s a lot of movies. There’s Muddy Track. There’s the Homegrown album, which is like the Stray Gators, who did Harvest with me. That’s another album I did and never put it out. I went and did something else.
MC: Is there any factor in particular that leads you to work with Crazy Horse or Promise of the Real?
Young: They’re both great. It’s really the material; the band I’m playing with will affect the material I write when I’m with that band. I’m only writing because of what’s in my head, so I don’t know who I’m going to play with. But they’re both great bands. Each one has its advantage over the other. It’s a very good situation to be in, and it’s a temporary situation ‘cause nothing’s gonna last forever. But I don’t want to wear it out, either.
MC: Speaking of bands, CSNY seems over and done with––or is it?
Young: I don’t know. I’d rather see Willie (Nelson), Bob (Dylan) and Neil, myself. That’s what I would want. I think that would be fantastic––but it’s just a dream of something I wouldn’t mind doing, there’s nothing going on. I just look at things I would like to do and things I don’t want to do, so I try to find the things I do want to do. I don’t like to go into a big barn with my name on it anymore. I don’t want to do that. It seems like I’ve done that to a point where there’s something that just stops me. But I do like playing music, and I like playing with people that I love.
>> Pre-Order on Amazon.com << 
Human Highway
Concert Review of the Moment
This Land is My Land
FREEDOM In A New Year
*Thanks Neil!*
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.thrasherswheat.org/gifs/free-speech.gif)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Neil Young
Pardon My Heart
"We're The Ones 
Thanks for Supporting Thrasher's Wheat!
This blog 
(... he didn't kill himself either...)
#AaronDidntKillHimself
Neil Young's Moon Songs
Civic Duty Is Not Terrorism
Orwell (and Grandpa) Was Right
What's So Funny About 
