"How I Came to Know Neil Young's Old Black Guitar" by Larry Cragg

Neil Young's Guitars: Old Black & Old Gold
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An interesting article on Neil Young Archives "How I Came to Know Old Black" by Larry Cragg, Neil's longtime guitar tech.

My name is Larry Cragg. I toured with Neil for 35 years, taking care of his guitars, amps and keyboards. Over the years I got to play banjo, baritone sax, keys, 12 string, pedal steel, broom and percussion, and was a photographer and actor.


It all started in 1972 when I got a phone call from Randy Smith, my partner at Prune Music in Mill Valley, California, where he worked on amps and I worked on guitars. Randy was out on the road with Neil, trying to eliminate ground loops from a wall of tweed amps (lots of them). He called because Neil couldn’t get Old Black in tune, and asked if I had any suggestions. I told him how to straighten the bent tune-o-matic bridge and adjust the intonation. Randy had been going down to Neil’s Ranch near Woodside, California to work on Neil’s amplifiers. He started taking me with him so I could work on the guitars.

Full article and lots of detailed photos on Neil Young Archives..

If you're into how Neil Young gets his sound, check these links:

Neil Young Interview on Guitar Equipment - Guitar Player Magazine, 3/1992

Interview with Neil Young - Guitar Magazine (France), 4/1992

Neil Young's Amps & Whizzer - Interview with Neil's Guitar Tech Larry Cragg in Guitar Player Magazine, 3/1992

Larry Cragg Interview - Jimmy McDonough's "Shakey" Biography excerpt

Larry Cragg: The Welder - Interview in ToneQuest Report Magazine

Giant MagnaTone dwarfs Larry Cragg, Guitar Tech
New York City - Dec. 16, 2008
Photo by Paul D. 

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Neil Young's Ukraine Benefit Concert Canceled + Comment of the Moment

via  Neil Young Archives
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Per official Neil Young Archives,  Neil Young's planned benefit concert in Ukraine has been canceled. (yes, "canceled" with one "l".)

Neil Young's statement:

"Our concert in Ukraine is cancelled. 

We had a good venue, close to a shelter, but the changing situation on the ground was too much. I could not in good conscience take my crew and instruments into that area. My apologies to all. Ukraine is a great country with a good leader. 

Slava  Ukraini. [Glory to Ukraine]"

The Ukraine  benefit concert was planned to kickoff the Love Earth Tour of Europe this summer, and provoked some rather heated discussions here on Thrasher's Wheat upon announcement earlier this month and after his wife Daryl Hannah declared "SLAVA UKRAINE" while presenting an Oscar at the Academy Awards Ceremony on March 2, 2025.

The announcement of the Ukraine Benefit Concert cancelation was met by Neil Young fans with the  usual spectrum of responses.  In response to the applause and ridicule over the news, here is our Comment of the Moment from Dionys:

"Fool's errand"? I beg to differ.

Although my country enjoyed relative safety for the last 80 years, thanks to American friends, all the wars during this time affected us in Central Europe (such as in former Yugoslavia, Near East, now in the Ukraine with 1.2 million refugees in Germany alone, not to speak of Poland with her additional millions of Ukrainians seeking protection there). There is a lot of coming and going in Munich and Upper Bavaria (more than a 100 000 refugees), soldiers on temporary leave, families travelling back and forth. It's true that there is no place in Ukraine that appears to be absolutely safe. But that's true for the nightly streets of (insert American city) or under-staffed American air traffic safety of late.

Is it that Americans never had a war close by or even in their country since 1865 that they tend to overlook that even in war-torn countries people have to work, eat, sleep and desperately try to keep up some normality under these conditions? They go to concerts, watch movies and play football. And they would go and attend a Neil Young concert, just like American combattants not too far from the frontlines did enjoy shows by almost every major artists of their time, everywhere in the world where Americans fought for good or bad reasons.

I do understand and respect that Neil Young and his management walked a away from their idea but also believe that there could have been "show formats" with fairly safe perspectives and conditions. Maybe that would have required "to keep the trap shut", go for it and talk about it later? Lwiw, the next large town in Ukraine is about 1000 kilometres from München, a long day's drive and a distance that some Neil Young fans easily would travel to a Neil Young show. 

Gauging risks from any American territory being more than 7000 kilometres away is very difficult and reminds me of my mom being very concerned about hurricane Katrina hitting the South while my family and I were in Minnesota.

Many thanks Dionys for continuing to bring us a different perspective on EARTH events. And -- maybe just as importantly -- thanks for listening to diffferent perspectives on theother side of the pond.

Say what you will about Neil Young, he is a man who puts his music where his heart is ... nearly always.

More on Love Earth Tour of Europe Kickoff in UKRAINE.

"SLAVA UKRAINE"Daryl Hannah - Academy Awards Ceremony, March 2, 2025image via Neil Young Archives(see Daryl Hannah declaring "SLAVA UKRAINE" while presenting an Oscar )
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FOR THE TURNSTILES: Neil Young Plans to End Platinum Tickets ... On Future Tours

"Lost World Tour"via Neil Young Archives (Click photo to enlarge)

Ah, yes, For The Turnstiles, Cough Up The Buck$, Watch Out For The Greedy Hand ... yet again.

Or ... trending hashtag #SwiftedAgainBreakupTicketMasterLiveNationMonopoly.

Neil Young plans to end sales of "Platinum Tickets" on his future tours, per a statement on Neil Young Archives.

This summer's LOVE EARTH tour tickets were offered by TicketMaster with a “Platinum” option in order to thwart scalpers. From Neil's statement:

“My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could. 

They have tried to protect me and the fans from scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits..

Ticketmaster’s high priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right. Very soon, Platinum tickets will no longer be available for my shows.

I have decided to let the people work this out. 

Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market.”

OK, "buy aggressively" should work pretty well against sophisticated, deep pocketed scalpers. Not.

Cough Up The Buck$ Crew
HarryO, Volume Drinkers: Brand New Guy, Paul D.
Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY - 12/15/2008

(See Expecting To See Neil Young: For The Turnstiles, Cough Up The Buck$, Watch Out For The Greedy Hand)

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Asteroid NeilYoung (#366487): Between Mars and Jupiter

Asteroid  NeilYoung (#366487):  Between Mars and Jupiter
image via Rusted Moon (Click photo to enlarge)

In the "You Don't See This Everyday" Department ... or more colloquilly ... "So you think you're a big Neil fan, eh?!", here's some news that an asteroid has been officially named after Neil Young.

Per  Rusted Moon, the official announcement came in the WGSBN Bulletin Volume 5, #1 of January 13, 2025, when the minor planet previously known as #366487, is now officially "Neilyoung" – 23 years after its discovery.

From  Rusted Moon:

The celestial body was discovered by German amateur astronomer Maik Meyer, not through a telescope, but more than 23 years ago while reviewing archival data from the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) project at California's Palomar Observatory. Meyer, who as an amateur at the time still had the right to discover from archival data, thus also secured the right to name it. The minor planet had previously been given a provisional number, "2002 NM57," after further observations had determined the object's orbit with great certainty.

According to the guidelines of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the discoverer has the right to propose a name within ten years of the numbering. Maik Meyer submitted his proposal for the final naming at the end of 2024. As a longtime fan of Neil Young, naming the star after the musician was a matter close to the heart of the Saxony native. "Neil's music has accompanied me from my youth to this day—I'll soon be 55—and so the decision was a natural one," Meyer explains to Rusted-Moon.

More details on  Rusted Moon.

animation via Rusted Moon

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PHOTOS: Paul McCartney and Neil Young - Desert Trip Festival 2016

Paul McCartney and Neil Young Desert Trip Festival - 2016
photo via 

stella

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Here are some rare photos of Paul McCartney and Neil Young at  Desert Trip Festival in 2016.

Paul McCartney and Neil Young Desert Trip Festival - 2016
photo via 

stella

 | X (Click photo to enlarge)

And as we had presciently speculated, yes, we did indeed get the Paul and Neil mashup we all hoped for that weekend. Maybe not exactly as expected (we thought Paul would walk onto Neil's set for "A Day In The Life"), but even beyond our wildest speculations.

After Neil joined Paul for "A Day In The Life" they went straight into John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance" followed by a rare "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?". Are we lucky and blessed or what?!

More on:

• Concert Review of the Moment:  Desert Trip Festival - Neil Young + POTR + Paul McCartney, October 8, 2016
• FLASHBACK: About That Time Paul McCartney Showed Up At A Neil Young Concert
• Desert Trip Festival: Neil Young + Promise of the...
• Paul McCartney encore w/ Neil Young on "A Day in the Life" at Hyde Park, London, England Hard Rock Calling 2009 Festival: 6/27/09
• Paul McCartney and Neil Young 

Paul McCartney and Neil Young

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
Bridge School Benefit Concert - October 23, 2004
Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
Photo by Kim Komenich of San Francisco Chronicle(see  Paul McCartney and Neil Young collaborations)

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