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
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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.
EXCLUSIVE GLOBAL RADIO PREMIERE: "Old Man" by Neil Young, "Live At The Cellar Door"
We are very pleased to present the worldwide global radio premiere of "Old Man" by Neil Young from the upcoming release Live At The Cellar Door, 1970.
This exclusive track will be broadcast on our partner's internet radio station on WBKM.org tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 28 at 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 6:00 PM, and 9:00 PM (EST).
Some suggestions for listening to broadcast live. Go to WBKM.org a few minutes before the broadcast/stream begins. In the upper right hand corner (the flower) click to launch. A small plugin applet will load and then launch your media player.
Yesterday, we posted a fan's story on The Day I Met Neil Young by Harold Lepidus after a show with Crazy Horse at Great Woods in 1996.
Here's a comment from another fan -- the delightfully handled ShittyHorse:
Damn, I'd love to meet the man.
Neil's music, career and creative practices/beliefs have meant so much to me for so long, just the one opportunity to meet him would be very meaningful. I'm sure I am preaching the choir here through, right? I could've put a kid through college with the amount of money I've spent over the years on CDs, records, concert tickets, books, DVDs, Blu-Rays, box sets, etc. etc. and I'd gladly do it again (and I'm sure I will... actually, I hope to!).
What bugs me though, is that if you have the right connections in the right business, doesn't matter if you've never even heard a whole album by the man, you can meet him, get an autograph (then probably turn around and sell it on ebay for big bucks) and have a story to tell.
Meanwhile the real fans barely have a shot. The ones who own everything, know every song and could probably sing every word at a second's notice, the ones that have seen him live 10-15-20-30 times and more... The ones to which it would mean so much just for a minute be able shake the dude's hand and say "thank you". Hell, screw the autograph and photo. Just to say thank you for the music, for giving your life for the music for the muse... just so us common folk can have a bit of enjoyment, escape, etc. To say Thank you for making me FEEL so much! I've never, ever been one who has cared about meeting famous musicians/celebrities but Neil is the one exception. Just for that moment... Jesus.
Could I really rationalize this? Not really. I guess it's something about Neil's work that genuinely speaks directly to my soul, that makes me just want to share a moment with him, a few words and say "thank you". I understand Neil owes me nothing and being a big fan and spending money on his work and related things doesn't come with the right to meet the guy. Certainly meeting him isn't a requirement in order to respect the man and love his work. Neil Young isn't looking for me. I know this. It's just something I day-dream about... how cool it would be to meet Neil Young.
I was at this Great Woods show (well, one of them, I went to the second night). I was 16 and it was my very first Neil show. I thought Neil and the Horse were very low key (well, low key for the Horse that is) that night. Now I know he wasn't feeling too well, it makes sense. Neil only said two non-singing words to the audience that night I think... "Crazy Horse" (he may have said a Thank you...not even too sure of that) but it was the greatest show ever to me, until I saw him the next time, a few months later at The Meadows in Hartford, with the lawn closed off. That show was MAGIC! FRANTIC! TOTAL MADNESS! (he even did, "Out Of My Mind"). I left that night totally convinced I just witnessed a complete crazy man in concert. A brilliantly twisted mad-scientist. He wielded sound and electricity like a wizard, painting huge landscape murals onto the air. You could almost see the mountains and long stretching roads. It was life changing! I've since seen Neil every time he's come around, Solo, CSNY, The Horse, Friends and Relatives, The Electric Band, etc. and I'll be seeing him at Carnegie Hall as well. Can't wait!
Anyway, it is unlikely I will ever get the chance to meet the man, who knows? Either way, I will never, ever regret following Neil's career through every phase, buying every album multiple times on different formats and going to all the shows. Neil has already repaid me x100 with his art and commitment to following the music, the muse and keeping it real. I am into many different artists and genres of music and Neil's music and career has always been the most rewarding. He will always be top of the heap for me. In fact, I have a wall of vinyl records and my Neil collection is kept on the top shelf, to the right... so he is always within reach.
Thanks SH!
Someday, our friend, someday. Good things come to those who wait.
Young appeared with a towel around his neck and a Geronimo T-shirt, looking like he had just gone twelve rounds with Muhammed Ali. His handler announced Young was sick, and would only sign one item per person. I was hoping to get an autograph for the person for whom the original ticket was intended, but this now appeared to be unlikely.
▶ Pearl Jam " Rocking In The Free World " w Nils Lofgren - Phoenix AZ, 11/19/2013 + Thrasher's Wheat Radio Tonight
Here's another Pearl Jam cover of Neil Young's " Rocking In The Free World " this time with Nils Lofgren joining in for final encore on 11/19/2013 in Phoenix, AZ.
Tonight, Saturday, November 23 at 9:00 PM EST, tune in for Thrasher's Wheat Radio's on WBKM.org.
Some Neil tunes, some stories, some news, and who knows what else?
Photo of the Moment: Neil Young, Sean Penn, Huey Lewis, Lars Ulrich
Neil Young, Sean Penn, Huey Lewis, Lars Ulrich + others
Photo via Gavin Martin
(Click photo to enlarge)
The Photo of the Moment is Neil Young, Sean Penn, Huey Lewis, and Lars Ulrich backstage at Marc Benioff's Salesforce Dreamforce Conference Green Day gala concert on Nov 19th at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.
There's something about Sean Penn doing a "Freddie Parrot Face Davis" impression but we have no idea what that's all about.
United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy - 1963
There are many out there who undoubtedly do not fully grasp the true significance of what happened in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963. Nor -- sadly -- wish to.
For to understand the truth of that day 50 years ago, is to understand everything. Literally everything about our generation.
The real truth is out there -- if one dares to confront it. Understandably, we know that most can not handle the truth. It is a sad and horrible truth, but until there is a mass great awakening to these truths, these atrocities will continue.
Not convinced? Here's a 2:00 YouTube showing JFK’s Secret Service protection being waved away from his car, and the perplexed reaction of at least one Special Agent.
Jackie Reaching for JFK's Brains "If Lee Harvey Oswald's shots came from the behind (above left), why are JFK's brains on the rear trunk? (front, right)"
Lyndon Baines Johnson Being Sworn In As President with Jacqueline Kennedy on Air Force #1
King of Hearts
“There is a Secret Society ritual that is ‘the killing of the King.’
The national leader of the people is only a figurehead and has no real power. Power lies behind the scenes within dark secrets. Others pull the strings of the politician puppets. If an upstart, politician puppet makes waves or rocks the boat or doesn’t play ball…..that puppet gets eliminated. It is why Caesar was killed. It is why Kennedy was killed. If you disturb the real power structure, you can be targeted for removal. Such ‘assassinations’ demonstrate to the world who has the real power; it is a bloody statement of who is really in charge; and the truth is our secret rulers control from dark shadows.
(There is a reason the Ace is higher than the King in a deck of cards. The Ace represents the Secret Societies that truly run the show).”
(Excerpt from: WAS JFK KILLED BECAUSE OF ROSWELL? by Doug Yurchey)
Ace of Spades
Had enough? Or do you seek more dots to connect? try this. even tough these are Wikipedia links, they do contain truth nuggets that can lead to additional research and higher consciousness. See the "dot" Project MK-Ultra. See the "dot" Operation Mockingbird. See the "dot" Operation Paperclip. Now connect those dots ... and #HackTruth
Here's an early preview review of Neil Young's upcoming release "Live At The Cellar Door" from Uncut.co.uk by John Mulvey: (Thanks Daniel!)
“I’ve been playing piano seriously for about a year,” he says before “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong”, “and I had it put in my contract that I would only play on a nine foot Steinway grand piano, just for a little eccentricity.” As he’s talking, Young is messing about with the piano strings, an apparently aimless fidgeting that, as he starts talking about getting high, reveals itself to be a kind of theatrically disorienting scene-setting.
Abruptly, the discordance stops and a beautiful version of “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” emerges, with all its elegiac power intact. One of the great pleasures of “Live At The Cellar Door” is the way it illustrates how malleable Young’s songs can be. “Cinnamon Girl”, for instance, is hardly diminished by that lunging riff being replaced by a quasi-baroque flurry of notes. Listen out, especially, for a powerful moment when Young sings “Loves to dance/Loves to…” and allows himself to be overwhelmed as his playing suddenly shifts from tenderness to a new bluesy intensity. “That’s the first time I ever did that one on the piano,” he notes at the death, and I’m not sure he’s done it again many times since.
Best of all is the version of “Expecting To Fly”. The take on “Sugar Mountain - Live at Canterbury House 1968” shows how Young’s ornate studio confection could be potently reconfigured in a solo context. This piano study, though, is even better; crashing, plangent notes juxtaposed, with disingenuous artlessness, up against the fragility of his voice. Here, too, there’s an intimation of what is to come next, in 1971, as “Expecting To Fly”’s evolves to contain hints of “A Man Needs A Maid”. As is the case so often, it shows Young working over his past to find a lead to pursue into the future.
Also, Uncut will be releasing a Neil Young edition of the Ultimate Music Guide.
At 68, Young remains more restless, unpredictable and hyper-productive than any other artist of a comparable age and reputation. Since 2000, The Rolling Stones have released one new album, while Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney have managed five each. Bruce Springsteen has produced six; Tom Waits, four; Leonard Cohen and David Bowie three apiece. In that time, Young has come up with an autobiography, seven personally-curated archive releases, five films, an environmentally-friendly car and a new audio format, plus the small matter of ten new albums.
It is an eccentric, if not always magnanimously received, body of work that tells the tale of an artist driven to spontaneous creation, whim, rough-hewn experiments and rapid emotional responses that pay little heed to the expectations of his paymasters and, sometimes, his fans.
As we sometimes joke, "That Neil -- such a slacker."
This photo, shot by my friend Lzbth Corinthians from the side of the stage during the song Day In The Life, captured one of the truly epic moments in the live concert career of Neil Young.
Day in the Life is one of the Beatles most famous songs, and Neil & His Electric Band covered it regularly throughout tours in 2008 & 2009. The band truly did the song justice, always a show-stopping moment.....
......and then all hell broke loose in Hyde Park when one of the giant legends of Rock, Paul McCartney, the former Beatle, decided to (randomly??) saunter on stage and join Neil & Co. The video is posted here, and you can see Paul run on-stage at 2:45: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6SSR3YY-rc (I *think* Lzbth's great shot was snapped right around the 3-min, 24-sec mark in the video - btw, why do i care?! doh!).
I've always wondered if Paul just randomly joined Neil onstage or if this was a planned moment. Regardless, it's simply outrageous! A Beatle on his home turf, London, treating the fans to a masterpiece. Neil, meanwhile, is an absolute madman throughout, howling to the Rock Gods, completely lost in the moment of.......music.
So ridiculously perfect words don't do it justice. On that note, I'll stop talking.
Thanks Lzbth & Bernie!
More on commentary on the day Paul walked onstage and surprised Neil at Hyde Park, London, UK - June 27, 2009. Here's a comment by insidetherain who said...
I was there!! This was such an incredible night...
Neil really enjoyed the crowd, the crowd adored him, singing along to clearly the most mainstream songs for this festival crowd but Neil knew it ("here's another one for ya" - he said before playing Old Man, after Heart of Gold). The crowd were all NY maniacs. From my POV, seeing this was so wonderful, as being a young NY fan I rarely bump into other young fans but there were a whole variety of people loving Neil tonight.
And the Paul McCartney guest spot... Neil did a phenomenal version of "Rockin' in the Free World" that carried on and on and made the crowd go absolutely insane, then closed the show. Then they all returned for the encore, but Neil walked off to the other side of the stage, hidden in the right hanger, but we could see he was talking to someone and I had the feeling it was Paul - looked like his head shape (strange wording there) and the way he was flailing his arms around. Then "A Day in the Life" began... and I think it was into the second verse, that Paul came on stage and I swear, this whole rush ran across the audience, and every second was golden! Neil and Paul were goofing around on stage too, Paul gave Neil a great hug, they baby-ed around on the xylophone, Neil thrashed on Old Black with some assistance from Paul... but Paul always pointing to Neil, to message somehow that "this is the legend, this is the true legend."
Crazy, crazy moment. Never forget! I recorded the whole thing so hopefully will upload it soon!
Another in a series of messages posted by Neil Young on his official website titled "Cars and CO2 for a While":
Cars and CO2 for a While
With another deadly climate disaster in the Philippines taking 10,000 lives the world is sure to be more aware of Climate Change. It's a slow awareness, creeping into daily life. The more awareness that human activity causes climate change, the more people start to wonder what they can do to help stop it.
Cars are not the only cause of CO2 rising in our planet's atmosphere and causing global warming. Cars are just one of the big contributors. We have been talking about cars and CO2 for a while now, building an electric car that drove across North America without using any gasoline and sharing how ultra low CO2 emissions can be possible even with a big car. We demonstrated that there is a real alternative to fossil fuels in daily personal transportation, a clear way that negates the need for gasoline. In our journey across North America we saved the weight of our car (over 6300 LBS) in CO2 compared to what would have been emitted if we had used gasoline. When we arrived in Washington, I spoke to the National Farmers Union about bio-fuels and what CO2 is doing to our planet. Recently at SEMA in Las Vegas I spoke about the replacement of fossil fuels in daily driving with the Bio Electric Transportation model.
I hope we start to bring CO2 back down to earth, back in balance, where it belongs.
Neil Young November 12th 2013 California
We applaud Neil for his stand, commitment and passion for action. As we blogged last week, ultimately, we're all on the front lines of Climate Change. Check over on Neil Young's official website for Next Steps in Climate Change actions.
David Crosby: “There’s a reason for CSNY being as good as it is.
The main one that comes to mind is the fact of having each other’s material to juxtapose our tunes with. It makes everything much stronger. A Neil Young song sounds better after a David Crosby song than it does after another Neil Young song. Technically it works, emotionally it works, and in terms of balancing each other it’s a hugely more workable thing. Neil, on his own, has a great deal of trouble externalizing and coming out to an audience. He’ll tend to just get rigid and go inside himself. Stephen too. That’s not my way, obviously.
The stage is my backyard. I’m completely unintimidated by it. I love it. I can talk to eight million people without even getting a frog in my throat. But then again, I can’t play guitar like Stephen or Neil.”
...
If everything follows according to the schedule, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young will begin work this month on their first studio album since Déjà Vu. Tentatively titled Human Highway, the album will be preceded by a greatest hits package to be called So Far. Crosby is particularly fascinated by the fact that Neil young withdrew “Human Highway,” at one time the title track of the LP he wound up calling On The Beach, from his own record so that it could grace the CSNY reunion album.
“That was a very strange thing for him to do,” he says, shaking his head. “Neil is a very self-orientated man. He seldom acts against his own self-interest. And yet he did take that song, and a few others ["Tonight's The Night" and "New Mama"], and gave them to the group. It was a very, very heavy thing for him to do. It blew my mind. He’s got a lot of songs, but those are gems. I thought that was an enormous sign of everything we were looking for in each other.
Affection, respect . . . partnership. That’s what it’s all about.
That’s what we’re all about. I honestly believe we’re not gonna lose our way this time around.”
Fascinating how much and how little has changed in 40 years.
So what do you think? Do you think Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young will tour together in 2014?
"Crazy Horse" by John Trudell - The Original Video
Here's a little something different, but keeping with a current theme of respecting Mother Earth.
It's a compelling video titled "Crazy Horse" by John Trudell, a spoken word musician/poet.
Trudell dedicates the video:
To those who have gone on before us.
Wounded Knee Massacre December 29, 1890.
Lest we forget
The more people that are touched by the spirit of this video the better. Sharing work is good medicine providing you honour the creator (in both senses).
Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
How do we sell our mother
How do we sell the stars
How do we sell the air
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
Too many people
Standing their ground
Standing the wrong ground
Predators face he possessed a race
Possession a war that doesn't end
Children of god feed on children of earth
Days people don't care for people
These days are the hardest
Material fields material harvest
decoration on chains that binds
Mirrors gold the people lose their minds
Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
Today is now and then
Dream smokes touch the clouds
On a day when death didn't die
Real world time tricks shadows lie
Red white perception deception
Predator tries civilising us
But the tribes will not go without return
Genetic light from the other side
A song from the heart our hearts to give
The wild days the glory days live
Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
How do we sell our mother
How do we sell the stars
How do we sell the air
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
We are the seventh generation
We are the seventh generation
John Trudell spoken word
Quiltman Traditional Vocals
Mark Shark slide guitar and percussion
Ricky Eckstein Keyboards and percussion
Billy Watts Electric guitar
On a more mundane note, we've learned that a "director's cut" of Neil Young's film Human Highway has been under consideration for a possible future release.
But here's why we're posting this now -- there has to be a better way to produce energy. And we need to get on with it.
The 1982 film Human Highway by Neil Young portrays the Earth's last day following a nuclear holocaust. Original movie posters referred to it as a "nuclear comedy" and filming began soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and continued over four years with Young spending $3,000,000 of his own money on production (source).
The film is considered a cult classic somewhat similar to the legendary Journey Through the Past and has been described as "if David Lynch directed "The Wizard of Oz on acid." (If you're lucky, you might find a used copy of Human Highway on Amazon.)
"It's so bad, it's going to be huge" proudly declared the poster .
Neil Young's 1982 comic mess of a feature left many faithful fans baffled and was otherwise unappreciated at the time of its release. But with the benefit of hindsight and shifts in pop culture in the last couple of decades, much of Human Highway now feels warm and funny where it once looked disastrously undisciplined.
DEVO Gets Nuked
The plot revolves around a small gas station-diner in a fictional town next to a nuclear power plant. A choreographed musical dream sequence takes place as the nuclear blast occurs. At the destroyed gas station-diner post nuclear holocaust Booji Boy (DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh) is a lone survivor.
At the nuclear power plant, trash collectors (members of DEVO) reveal that radioactive waste is routinely mishandled and dumped at the nearby town of Linear Valley. They sing a remake of "Worried Man Blues" while loading waste barrels on an old truck. There's a leak at the power plant and "Barrel go boom," as the power plant worker so succinctly puts it. A character's (Otto) recent death is by radiation poisoning.
A noted sequence in the film features the band DEVO (named after "de-evolution") and a bizarre rendition of "Hey, Hey, My, My". In a particularly ironic manner, DEVO covers Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In the Wind" just before Booji Boy says:
I don't know what's going on in the world these days.
It seems that everybody's just got everything turned around.
People don't seem to care about their fellow man. They're all going for that big ice-cream cone in the sky! They haven't figured out what happens when your eyes get bigger then your belly. Like an ostrich who eats his pizza with his head stuck in the sand. If they can't see it, it isn't there.
And you know, it really *does* take a worried man!
I come down from the misty mountain
I got lost on the human highway
Take my head refreshing fountain
Take my eyes from what they've seen.
Take my head and change my mind
How could people get so unkind?
~~Neil Young
At the Farm Aid 2013 press conference, Neil Young made some impassioned comments about climate change and our farmers.
In this clip, Neil Young states that "Farmers are on the front lines of Climate Change."
Ultimately, we're all on the front lines of Climate Change and farmers are the canary in the coal mine.
We realize that many support these comments about farmers and climate change. Others do not.
And for those who do not believe that climate change is a reality, before commenting, please consider this. Super Typhoon Haiyan which just hit the Philippines was one of the strongest storms ever in modern history -- on the planet. Last year, we had Super Storm Sandy.
Super Typhoon Haiyan
How many more devastating super storms do we have to have to convince you climate change is a reality?
Happy Birthday Neil Young!!! Long May You Continue To Run
Pegi Young & The Survivors w/ Neil Young
Johnny D's - Boston, MA - 9/11/13
Photo by Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff
(Click photo to enlarge)
Neil Young is 68 years young today. So Happy Birthday Neil!!!
2013 has been another amazing year for Neil.
Audience sings Neil Young Happy Birthday at end of Vancouver concert, 11/11/2012. Band gives Neil birthday scarf gift.
So. Looking for somewhere to go and celebrate Neil's birthday? Check Neil birthday events around the world on our Facebook | Thrasher's Wheat page.
In honor of Neil's birthday, WBKM.org will be hosting a celebration tonight. It's WBKM's birthday, as well, so if you're in Burlington, VT area, check it out.
So Happy Birthday Neil!
Long may you run. It's all just a magical ride. enjoy.
namaste
TONIGHT: Thrasher's Wheat Radio - Neil Young's Birthday Celebration Begins!
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
London - June 17, 2013
Photo by paulcarless
(Click photo to enlarge)
Tonight, Saturday, at 9:00 PM EST, Thrasher's Wheat Radio will be on http://wbkm.org/.
Neil Young's Birthday Celebration Begins!
Tune in.
UPDATE: Here is the downloadable podcast for this week's Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour. [To download, right click on link, save target as, pick destination folder: the podcast will download. Select your preferred MP3 audio player and play file.]
▶ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - From the Beginning
"If I had ever been here before on another time around the wheel
I would probably know just how to deal
With all of you."
Here's a series of videos compiled on Rusted Television's - YouTube channel: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - From the Beginning.
With rumors swirling about tours, box sets, videos, and who knows what else, here's a chance to catch the band of brothers in all of their highs and lows over the decades and decades.
132 videos, 22 hours, hundreds of songs. Something to keep you busy this weekend. :)
VIDEO: The Carpenters - "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing"
OK, it's wacky Friday, so excuse us.
Here's a very trippy, retro cover of the Buffalo Springfield's "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" by The Carpenters.
The Carpenters were siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter who were big on soft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary genres way back in the 1970s.
Karen Carpenter died tragically at the age of 32 of eating disorders.
In Coleman's The Carpenters: The Untold Story, Richard stressed repeatedly how much he disliked the A&M executives for making their image "squeaky-clean", and the critics for criticising them for their image rather than their music.
I got upset when this whole "squeaky clean" thing was tagged on to us. I never thought about standing for anything! They (the critics) took Close to You and said: "Aha, you see that number one? THAT's for the people who believe in apple pie! THAT's for people who believe in the American flag! THAT's for the average middle-American person and his station wagon! The Carpenters stand for that, and I'm taking them to my bosom!" And boom, we got tagged with that label.
Legacy
A critical re-evaluation of Carpenters occurred during the 1990s and 2000s with the making of several documentaries produced in the United States, Japan, and Great Britain, like Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters (United States), The Sayonara (Japan), and Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story (Great Britain). It's been said that Karen's signature vocals helped spur more contralto singers into pop music such as Anne Murray, Rita Coolidge, and Melissa Manchester. In 1990, the alternative rock band Sonic Youth recorded "Tunic (Song for Karen)", which depicted Karen saying goodbye to relatives as she got to play the drums again and meet her new "friends", Dennis Wilson, Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin.[64] Despite contentions that their sound was "too soft" to fall under the definition of rock and roll, major campaigns and petitions exist toward inducting Carpenters in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[65]
"I don't know what's going to happen with my summer," he says. "It will either by CSN or, and I hesitate to even say it, but the Bridge School Benefit went well the other week, so possibly CSNY. But that's a complete unknown quantity until I hear something from Neil."
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young played their first gig since 2006 at the Bridge School Benefit in late October. Did Young bring up the possibility of a tour at any point? "No," says Crosby. "He was, as usual, concentrating on the music. But you know Neil, he's got his antennas up. He is paying attention. He may not look like it, but he is. The shows felt really good, so that bodes well. We have no idea though. I stress that. I repeat that. We have no idea."
The quartet performed Neil Young's new song "A Singer Without a Song" as well as at the new Stephen Stills composition "Don't Want Lies" at the show. "It made me really happy," says Crosby. "I love Neil's new song. I thought it was beautiful. Graham [Nash] has a new song he wrote with my son James called "Burning for the Buddha" that's so much fun to do onstage. There's life in this. A person's work is the window into their soul. If you see new work, quality work, coming out of us, then we are not dead."
One might think that Neil Young will have to determine whether or not he wants to do a CSNY tour next year sometime within the next few months so organizers have time to book it. "That's sensible and logical," says Crosby. "But that doesn't always apply with Neil. It would be nice to know sometime soon, but I can't torture myself about it . . . I would dearly love for it to happen, but it's not up to me. I'm not in charge. I do think there is more music to be made, really good music. I love it when it's just the four of us onstage with acoustic guitars, a piano and a pump organ. That's because it becomes all about the songs. It really strips it all down."
2014 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tour? 1974 tour box set?
In the parlance of our times -- it's all so complicated.
LIVE STREAM TODAY: Neil Young's Green Performance Keynote @ SEMA, Las Vegas
Neil Young will be in Las Vegas to give the Green Performance Keynote on the topic of "Repowering the American Dream."
Young's LincVolt is built "to inspire a generation by creating a clean automobile propulsion technology that serves the needs of the 21st century and delivers performance that is a reflection of the driver's spirit."
The keynote speech will be today, Thursday, November 7, starting at 11 a.m. (Vegas time) and you'll be able to stream it by watching the video above.
Q I had the chance to see you perform as part of CSNY at last month's Bridge benefit. How did it feel to get the whole gang back together again?
A My partners amaze me constantly. That was the first time we'd sung together in about eight years -- since 2006. It's always a pleasure to play with Neil, of course.
Q CSN, of course, has remained active during that time period. Is there an adjustment period that occurs once Young enters the picture? Or is it immediately like old times once all four men unite onstage?
A It's pretty second-nature. We only rehearsed for two or three hours a day -- and we only rehearsed for two days. So it wasn't like we had to slave to get back to that sound. That happens pretty naturally, fortunately.
I don’t think about it and I’d rather not be conscious of it because otherwise it’s unnatural and false and I’m just another poser, even though I can get called out as being demanding. Sometimes I get frustrated and say, “Will you please do what I ask?” I can get a little cross. But to quote [golfer] Arnold Palmer, “I refuse not to be nice.” The older I get, the more dedicated I am to that. If I do have a flash of temper, there’s something that set it off and I always feel horrible about it later.
Buffalo Springfield were my Beatles. What were they to you?
Well, not that of course. We never made any money. I had a Ferrari, a cabin in Topanga and I managed to get my little sister into Stanford.
Neil Young's next release will be Live At The Cellar Door, 1970.
Live At The Cellar Door was recorded in Washington D.C. during a six-show stand between November 30th and December 2nd, 1970. This will be release 2.5 in the Archives Performance Series and released on on December 10th.
The loss of the hugely influential Lou Reed has inspired any number of tributes since with certainly more to come.
So with held breath this Sunday, one wondered not if -- but who - would step forward to pay homage to Mr. Street Hassle himself. The tribute task fell to My Morning Jacket's Jim James, who covered the Velvet Underground’s “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” along with Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, and more.
On February 18, 2010, Lou Reed paid tribute to Neil Young at a concert for the Vancouver Olympics Tribute. Coming on stage in leather, Reed played a heavy electric rap version of “Helpless”.
REPORT: Silverlake Conservatory of Music Benefit Concert - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young
Neil Young
Paramour Mansion, Silverlake, CA
Photo by Gary Leonard
(Click photo to enlarge)
Neil Young joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers to benefit Silverlake Conservatory of Music on Wednesday. Silverlake Conservatory of Music is a non-profit organization founded by Flea. The school is presently in its 13th year and offers private music lessons at a reasonable cost and grants scholarships to children in need, providing free lessons and instruments, serving over 700 students.
"Neil is the kind of guy that's just always shown up for everybody and for himself," Flea told Rolling Stone before the show. "He's always been willing to take risks and to be willing even to fail. From the rock musicians from the Sixties, he's kind of the only one that's still relevant to kids.He was open to punk rock when it happened, he was open to electronic music when it happened. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan."
At one point, as Young tuned his guitar he joked, "If I have to tune myself, we're all in trouble." But there was nothing but beauty, including a Phil Ochs cover, after which he said, "There were a lot of great songwriters back then. People liked to listen to words." Among his own songs, using only piano, guitar and harmonica at various points, the highlights included "Comes a Time," a sweet rendition of "Harvest Moon" and the closing "Heart of Gold."
With the show coming just three days after Young's annual Bridge School benefit in Mountain View, California, Flea talked about their shared passion for education. "The Bridge School obviously is an incredibly beautiful thing," he said. "People get challenges in life. Neil had a kid with cerebral palsy, and instead of thinking, ‘Oh, how am I gonna deal with this?' he's like, 'OK, this is a great opportunity to learn about something and do everything I can to help . . . ' I'll play the Bridge School benefit anytime."
“We are so honored and grateful for Neil Young to come down and help out,” Flea told the attendees. “We are lifelong fans.” The band honored Young with a rousing interpretation of his track “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.”
Young took the stage shortly after, although seemed to expect that he would appear later in the night. “I wish I could say I was dessert but I think I might be the main course,” Young said as he sat down at his piano. The singer played nine songs, ranging from “Someday” to Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind” to “Comes a Time.” It seems expected for musicians to pay tribute to Reed this week, but Young merely responded to audience calls for Reed’s music with the sentiment, “We all want more Lou Reed.”
The musician didn’t just offer the expected hits during his 35-minute performance. Young covered Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain,” noting “I think I remember this one,” and performed two songs off 1992’s Harvest Moon, the title track and “War of Man.” Young seemed pleased to be performing in what essentially amounted to a backyard of the historic mansion. He joked to the rapt audience, many of whom left their tables to sit close to the stage, “Well, you’re pretty quiet eaters. That’s how I judge my audience -- by their eating volume.”
Young closed his performance with “Heart of Gold,” thanking Red Hot Chili Peppers for always supporting his own event and always giving whatever they could. “If you like me, give money to the Conservatory and I’ll be happy,” Young said. “I’m not selling any of my instruments though.”
Young, 67, served up a half-hour-plus solo acoustic set Wednesday that included several of his own cornerstone numbers as well as versions of songs by fellow folk-rockers Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot and Phil Ochs.
The presence of one of rock's most respected veterans at the benefit, which started in 2003 at the tiny Edendale Grill with a small-scale performance by Tracy Chapman, signaled its growth from a grass-roots affair among the L.A. alt-rock community into a widely supported event.
Young, dressed in a dark fedora and motorcycle boots, stomped and prowled the stage with his guitar and harmonica for most of his set. He also hunched over a battered upright piano for a couple of numbers on the temporary stage, which was erected on the grounds of the hilltop estate owned since 1998 by philanthropist Dana Hollister.
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