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Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Tribute to Larry "LA" Johnson | Lincvolt EP 5 | Neil Young Archives

Tribute to Larry "LA" Johnson | Lincvolt EP 5 | Neil Young Archives

A nice tribute to Larry "LA" Johnson at the conclusion of Lincvolt Episode #5 on  Neil Young Archives.

"L.A." passed away in 2010 leaving a huge void in the Shakey Pictures team while creating a lasting legacy to Neil Young fans with his definitive film director work on Rust Never Sleeps, amongst many other works over the past 40 years. (Also, see Larry "L.A." Johnson: 1947 - 2010 which has many warm, fond memories of L.A. in the comments section.)

 

Larry "LA" Johnson  & Will Mitchell

To say that the loss of L.A. was a terrible blow to Shakey Pictures and the Neil Young community is a vast understatement. "L.A."'s contributions to the Neil Young canon are immeasurable and are missed tremendously.

Neil Young said in a statement in 2010:

"He never lost the eye and ear of an original artist, one unafraid to listen to himself first. Even more, he also kept his playful spirit and sense of humor, the things that sparked his heart for a lifetime spent doing what he loved best: listening to music and making movies."


Johnson was one of the original East Coast guerrilla documentary filmmakers in the 1960's. He worked on the legendary "Woodstock" film of the 1969 festival and was nominated for an Academy Award in the sound category.

larry-la-johnson.jpg
Larry "L.A." Johnson: 1947 - 2010
(see memories of Larry "L.A." Johnson)


It was at Woodstock where L.A. and Neil Young first met. Johnson went on to film CSNY at the Fillmore East in 1970 and produce Neil Young’s film Journey Through the Past.


elliot-roberts-la-johnson-sxsw-0309.jpg
L.A. Johnson and Elliot Roberts
SXSW Panel, Austin, Texas - 2009
(note Neil Young Archives Vol. #1 on table, right)



Johnson also filmed Young’s concert film, Rust Never Sleeps, and was also producer of Young’s feature film Human Highway. He directed Young’s 1986 Cow Palace concert "Live From a Rusted-Out Garage" for Pay Per View -- arguably the "single greatest video document of Neil Young and Crazy Horse."

 

la-johnson-neil-young-greendale.jpg
Larry "L.A." Johnson and Neil Young
On the Set of Greendale film (2003)
(see The Making of "Greendale")



Also, see Larry "L.A." Johnson: 1947 - 2010 which has many warm, fond memories of L.A. in the comments section.

Also, see:
neil-young-conan-2010.jpg
Neil Young's Tribute to L.A. - "Long May You Run"
Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien
(see Big -- Yet Sad -- Neil Young Day: "Hope For Haiti", Final Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien and "Long May You Run" for L.A.)
Screen Grab by Patricia 

4 comments:

  1. Clearly a wonderful person and a great loss. He was definitely one of the more important people in the NY universe.

    Peace 🙏

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Almost Famous 20th Anniversary is up for order. That's a whole lot of cash to get your hands on the beautiful acoustic Cortez that's only available in the deluxe editions....

    https://shop.udiscovermusic.com/collections/almost-famous-20th-anniversary

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Greyrider - wow you're right! That is beyond ridiculous...surely that acoustic 'Cortez' version (forget where/when it's from - early 90's?) will find its way to the internet & be available to acquire without shelling out close to $200

    Almost Famous was a fun film but like all Cameron Crowe films, it doesn't age well (in my opinion)...Singles...Vanilla Sky...Crowe's films tend to seem cheesy to me I can't explain it...

    but he sure had a front row seat to some vintage rock and roll at a young age - understatement !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs was really great though...

    ReplyDelete

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