The Surrealism of Neil Young's "On The Beach" Album

"The Drought" & "On The Beach"

Neil Young's "On The Beach" album cover is considered to be one of his most creative and intriguing designs in his vast catalog.

It would seem that many of his album covers have a rather tossed off feel. For example, the "Living With War" cover is literally stenciled letters on a brown paper bag. In contrast, "On The Beach" album is meticulously designed right down to the inside of the album jacket matching the pattern of the inside of the umbrella on the cover.

"On The Beach" -- the final link of Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy -- is considered by many fans to be one of his best and their most favorite of all Neil Young album covers and artwork. Designed by Gary Burden, photographed by Bob Seideman, and graphic lettering by Rick Griffin, the cover is quite enigmatic with a Cadillac car fin jutting from the sand like a crashed rocket being buried by time. A shoeless Neil stares out into the ocean near a forlorn potted palm. A jaunty yellow beach umbrella matches Neil's jacket. The yellow theme is even continued with a Coors beer can on the table. Inside the album, things become even more crpytic with the album's liner notes. Fans have poured over Rusty Kershaw's strange handwritten note for clues and meaning often to no avail. Apparently, the recording sessions' heavy use of Honey Slides took a toll ... possibly to the creative sides' benefit?



But probably the most significant item on the cover is the newspaper's headline "Senator Buckley Calls for Nixon to Resign". (Young and Nixon have had a bitter and strange relationship over the years. From "Ohio" 's lyrics "Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming" to "Campaigner's" lines "Even Richard Nixon has got soul", Neil has never made a secret of his feelings towards U.S. President Richard Nixon.)

Which brings us to the rather fascinating article ON THE BEACH – Dali, Ballard, Neil Young and Cadillac Ranch | THE END OF BEING by James Reich.

The article brings together a series of unlikely events in 1974 between surrealist artist Salvador Dali, author J. G. Ballard, and musician Neil Young.

If you're unfamiliar with the post-nuclear apocalypse vision of Nevil Shute’s 1958 novel On The Beach (filmed by Stanley Kramer in 1959), than the article will help place Young's album in some perspective.

Ballard's followup novel The Drought was released in paperback in 1974 with David Pelham's cover art of the tail end of a yellow Cadillac part-submerged into the desert.

Salvador Dali - "Persistence of Memory"

James Reich analyzes the connections between the surrealism of Dali, Pelham & Griffin:

Uncannily, Pelham’s yellow Cadillac in the sand resurfaces in July 1974 in psychedelic poster artist Rick Griffin’s cover art for Neil Young’s album On The Beach.

Psychedelic art, even in a generalized sense, is indebted to surrealism, and this image makes specific use of its currency. The image and angle of the Cadillac tail in Griffin’s surreal photograph are strikingly close to Pelham’s illustration, and this is also the work that further binds Pelham’s work to Ballard’s fascination with Dali's The Persistence of Memory.

The melting watches and the dead tree of Dali’s 1931 painting are represented by the forlorn angle of a fringed beach umbrella over the disarray of a cocktail table that Young has abandoned to contemplate oblivion at the limit of the beach. The orange flowers printed on the fabric of the beach furniture, their particular shade and shape allude to Dali’s closed watch, swarmed with ants. The windblown newspaper wrapped about the base of the umbrella (headline calling for the resignation of Richard Nixon which would occur the following month) again marks the end of chronology. Dali’s Catalonian cliffs (absent from Pelham’s image for The Drought) are referenced in the indistinct coastline visible on the right of the record sleeve photograph.

Neil Young’s ragged hair replaces the pubic eyelashes of Dali’s abortive creature on the beach. Alienation and holocaust pervade the album from Young’s solitary abandonment during a radio interview in the title track, to the Manson Family allusions and autogeddon of Revolution Blues: “I got the revolution blues, I see bloody fountains, and ten million dune buggies comin’ down the mountains. Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars, but I hate them worse than lepers and I’ll kill them in their cars.”

Check out ON THE BEACH – Dali, Ballard, Neil Young and Cadillac Ranch | THE END OF BEING by James Reich.

Thanks Roel!

Rare "On The Beach" Poster with Neil facing camera

More on Neil Young On The Beach reviews.

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Photos and Interviews of Joel Bernstein & Henry Diltz

Watch Morrison Hotel Gallery on PBS. See more from SUNDAYARTS.

Earlier this year, the gallery exhibition Two Takes On Neil Young by Joel Bernstein & Henry Diltz opened in New York City.

The above video chronicles rock photographers and their works and includes some fascinating interviews of the story behind the photo. There's more to the picture than meets the eye...




Joel Bernstein’s many album covers are commonly listed among the most influential in rock's visual history. His first, at age 18, was Neil’s After the Gold Rush, often cited in Best Album Covers Of All Time lists. As a close friend of Neil’s since then, he has captured some of his most beautiful and intimate moments.

Henry Diltz met Neil when he was in Buffalo Springfield. Henry has visually chronicled Neil’s career over the past 40+ years.

Uncropped photo used for cover of After The Goldrush with Graham Nash in foreground
Photo by Joel Bernstein

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Comment of the Moment: Thanks for Your 15 Years of Support!

Zuma Album Artist James Mazzeo with Sarah C.
(& TW Anniversary Button below her cheek)
Bridge 2011 - International Rust Festival
On The Beach in Santa Cruz, CA
Button Design and Production by Rusties Dee & Tim A.
(details on how to receive a Thrasher's Wheat 15th Anniversary button here)

We would just like to say love & thanks to all who have contributed and written over the past few days.

Your love & support is truly appreciated. We'll be getting out notes and buttons in the coming days so hopefully everyone will have a stocking stuffer. ;)

Here's just one of the notes we received on Thanks for Your 15 Years of Support to Thrasher's Wheat! from Doug S. in Warsaw, N.Y. :

The contribution I just made is small compared to my gratitude.

I first discovered your site when frantically searching for any details on Neil's hospitalization during the Prairie Wind era. I have visited your site most every day since. One of My favorite spiritual sayings is "It takes a little rain and a little sun to make a Rainbow". Never was that more obviously true than when I got Neil's autograph 13 days after My wife's passing. That would have never happened if not for Thrashers Wheat. If not for Thrashers Wheat I wouldn't have gotten to walk down A Kingston Ontario street with Ben Keith and Larry Cragg, or chatted with Rick Rosas outside a grocery store.

And if you believe in coincidence, having a seat next to you at the Tower Theater in Philly. I prefer to believe it is GOD moving anonymously. You gave Me a Thrashers Wheat button, and when I thought I had lost, you gave Me another one. Yes to say that I am grateful to you and Thrashers Wheat is an understatement.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Doug S. Warsaw N.Y.

Thanks Doug! Yes, it was great meeting you @ The Tower in Philly too. What a Neil concert. Solo acoustic with Neil practically playing in our living room?!

Unforgettable.

It really is all about just sharing the Neil love, man.

Blessings. And thanks again for your 15 years of supporting us and what we do.

t & t-ette

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Thanks for Your 15 Years of Support to Thrasher's Wheat!

Logo design by
Geoff Moore - Silver Moon Graphics
(Details on how to receive a Thrasher's Wheat 15th anniversary button below)

As we continue to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Thrasher's Wheat founding in 1996, we just want to say "Thank You" to all of our loyal, dear readers who have so generously supported our endeavors.

So as we celebrate Thrasher's Wheat's 15th anniversary, thanks again everybody for your support.

We've watched our beloved little internet bloggie thing evolve from a small operation to the rather sprawling enterprise portal platform of today. Serving up over 500,000 page views per month during peak periods, we’ve come a long way from the days when we got really excited when we got two comments on a post. The hidden path’s been an exciting one, and we’ve made an impact: we helped answer nearly every imaginable type question on The Archives as well as helped make dreams come true.

Zuma Album Artist James Mazzeo with Sarah C.
(& TW Anniversary Button below her cheek)
Bridge 2011 - International Rust Festival
On The Beach in Santa Cruz, CA
Button Design and Production by Rusties Dee & Tim A.
(details on how to receive a Thrasher's Wheat 15th Anniversary button below)

In response to our semi-irregular begging fund-raising effort we occasionally receive some nice notes from our beloved readership. And -- as we are fond of saying in these tough times -- it is your words which really keep us going with our little Neil Young blog thing.

Words, such as these, by the oh-so delightfully handled ShittyHorse:

Thrasher, what you provide to us Neil Fanatics is truly invaluable.

I visit other "Neil Sites", and Thrasher's Wheat is by far my favorite, not to diminish others, just my personal preference. You've created a strong community here, where Neil fans can talk everything Neil- from news and events to albums, songs, concerts, personal experiences and feelings, band members and other musicians, but most of all you give us a place to gather, to show our numbers, and be with others who truly understand why Neil's music touches us in such a profound and meaningful way.

I think it's safe to say that we all, even the most critical fans, appreciate the hard work and dedication that you and Thrashette put into this site. Times are tough, which is why your site and others like it become more and more important- it provides a much needed escape at times, entertainment, information and always puts a smile on my face. Even Neil Young himself has recognized the importance of Thrasher's Wheat.

You are part of Neil history and, in turn, Rock n' Roll History.

From here on I'd say any definitive book written on Neil's life and career would be lacking if missing a Thrasher's Wheat reference- you've been a liaison between the fans and the man himself. What you do is important and appreciated. Never loose heart.

I've made a large purchase this morning on Amazon through this site, as I always try to do, which I hope helps out. Of course it is a small thing, but if all your readers did this same, one small thing I'm sure it would help out a lot.

Again, thank you for your hard work, and devotion, not only to Neil but also his fans.

Happy Holidays to you and Thrashette!

We truly appreciate our dear readers kind words of support. Always and sincerely.

We’ve helped influence decisions on release formats and availability, we think, through our writing and your activism in response to it. We’ve exposed the hypocrisy of professional music critics and tried to speak out against the madness, fear and greed. All the while trying to find some hope in the future and have a little fun along the way!

Your supportive and kind words during last year's blog meltdown and subsequent reaction truly demonstrated our reader's faith in what we're trying to do here at TW.

We should also mention that our efforts with the Gigs For The Gulf | Facebook and Nobel Peace Prize for Willie Nelson | Facebook keep us pretty busy, as well. We appreciate everyone's support of these efforts as well and in some ways find these efforts to be in some ways even more gratifying than covering just the Neil news.

Lastly, this is a good problem. We are truly lucky to be following such a vibrant artist that we simply can not even keep up with the flood of daily Neil news.



But the basic underpinnings of our financial model haven’t changed: we’re often only one blog post away from pulling the plugs at any given moment.

Partially, this is vastly accelerated by the whole rapid evolution of the internet's real time hyper-social networking culture.


Facebook Interaction Trend Insights
Thrasher's Wheat Never Sleeps | Facebook

Witness our recent trends on Facebook over just the past years as our Facebook feed traffic skyrocketed.

Not so surprisingly, as our Facebook traffic scales up, our TW blog commenting and page views have begun to level off. What this means is that Facebook is able to monetize and profit from TW readers and sell ads directly off of scraped TW content, returning absolutely zero back to us to reinvest in our services.

But pulling the plug on TW simply cannot happen. After all, we've been implored to "Keep on bloggin' til the power goes out."

Operating a paradigm-shifting independent blogger enterprise out of our pocketbook and a few generous supporters doesn’t do the blog the justice, quite frankly. It’s no way to run a music fan blog. There must be a better way.

Those of you who read Thrasher's Wheat and enjoy, count on, contribute to, and recognize the impact of this blog are now advised: Please Help. And you’re an integral part of that change.

Aren’t you?

We need you to join us in this venture: Support the blog, engage with us, make your repeated participation formal. Find a level that suits you and slip into it.

We need your financial support, at least at the most basic level of a $5 per year.

At less two cents a day, it’s less than your daily newspaper, cable television, subscription package or internet service. Less than a 6-pack of decent beer, even?! And you very well know the high quality of independent blogging, informed opinion, thoughtful commentary, bizarre comments and warped humor you get here for that minimal contribution. Is there any other blog you read anywhere that provides you this much fun?

Donations are the only model we can see as we look ahead on the media landscape that faces us. Without a corporate sell-out (that would limit our independence) and without a mega patron (ahem... who would likely impose opinions and views while probably also staking out No-Go areas of speech) we simply cannot continue onwards toward the New Media Paradigm we’ve become. In addition to this blog, we also have Twitter and Facebook stream feeds, as well as an email list all requiring daily maintenance.

So TW competes in the area of blogging and opinion, providing knowledge-based and life-expert commentary, against hybrid journalism operations with deep enough pockets to actually pay their editors a salary (Rolling Stone Online).

As the people-powered, irreverent blog that Thrasher's Wheat is, we can only remain this way with your help. Your support will let us continue to do what Thrasher's Wheat tries to do as well as possible. Won’t you please donate now? (securely, safely, privately)

Walk with us.

Support us now, please. It’s really easy, almost painless. Your support matters: it’s the only way we can see our way into the future.

Which we plan to continue, with your help. Today. Now. C'mon just 5 bucks. Thank you!

(NOTE: All supporters donating at least $20 will receive a free Thrasher's Wheat 15th Anniversary button similar to that pictured above. If you can't donate now, see further below on how to receive a complimentary anniversary button.)

Only your credit card necessary to apply directly & securely. No PayPal account setup necessary. (NOTE: A portion of ALL donations also help The Bridge School, Farm Aid, Musicares, and other worthy causes.)

Sponsored by Nobody:
This Blog's For You!

As you may know by now, each of these types of mega-Neil events like tours, albums, archives, tributes, etc. causes traffic to soar resulting in ever greater bandwidth expenses. And costs continue to rise, just as Neil Young's star shines ever brighter and brighter.

Again, this would all be well and good except that we fund this based on several sources. Primarily -- as many of you may know -- out of our own pocket. This is something we find to be really fun and meaningful and rewarding. We love what we do here in our very, very spare time as we ride into town on the train each morning or back again at night.

The second source of funding is you -- our dear readers. First we tried the Amazon.com route which generates relatively small returns which continue to dwindle. You see, folks just don't buy CDs, books, DVDs, etc. like they used to. Physical media sales are falling off a cliff. And those commission that we do get from Amazon are quite nominal. Think about 2% on a $13 CD. That's about $0.26. We'd need to sell about 100,000 units on this site to make a go of things. ha!


Site Traffic on March 1, 2010
Day Following Neil Young's Olympics Performance

And we've tried selling ads as well. First of all, most of the "ads" over there on the right do not generate revenue. The banner ad across the top generates about $1 for every 10,000 impressions. Again, we would need a lot of traffic to generate anything substantial.

And we tried fund raising with PayPal. This is the preferred method but also the least successful. It seems it's very hard to get folks to drop $5 a year on Thrasher's Wheat -- even if they visit the site daily. It seems so many want everything for free these days. We realize there's a global recession and all but we do think that $5 a year isn't too much to ask.

Believe us we when begin to say how distasteful this whole process is. We hate to whine or beg.

Just to reiterate, we want to say how much we appreciate all of the support we do receive. Your comments and letters are greatly appreciated and keep us going. So if you're writing comments, sending videos and photos, buying off Amazon, making PayPal donations, clicking ads, re-tweeting or sharing on Facebook your help is deeply appreciated.

It is this sharing that really makes what we do here so rewarding and satisfying to be part of our little global Neil village.

With record traffic levels which stressed the Thrasher's Wheat Platform leading to increasing bandwidth fees we either take TW to another level or we struggle to stay afloat.

For loyal, regular supporters of TW, this post is not directed at you whatsoever. For those of you who come here frequently but do not comment, contribute or offer other support, please continue to read.

By going the reader-supported route, there are two ways in which you can support Thrasher's Wheat.

The first option is to make a donation using PayPal. Just click on the link below to make a donation. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can use a credit card to make a donation via the button below (see lower left of PayPal screen).

Only your credit card is necessary to apply directly & securely. No PayPal account setup necessary.

The second option is to do all your Amazon shopping here by clicking through the logo link below. It's also always in the right side bar so any time you buy on Amazon, think about going through Thrashers Wheat first. Thrasher's Wheat will receive a small commission.


United States - Amazon.com

Canada - Amazon.ca

United Kingdom - Amazon.uk

Germany - Amazon.de



(Please note: International Amazon orders (non-U.S.A., non-Canada, non-U.K., non-Germany) do not credit to Thrasher's Wheat unfortunately. Other international readers are asked to please use PayPal account or credit card to support Thrasher's Wheat.)

You have proven that Thrasher's Wheat matters to you, and that you support our mission: to bring free Neil Young knowledge to the planet, free of charge and as free as possible of advertising. You've helped make and keep Thrasher's Wheat available for the whole world. If you find this site helpful as a reference or news source, please help us continue to help all Neil Young fans. Hopefully, this will continue to work to help defray the costs of running Thrasher's Wheat. Any excess funds generated above and beyond operating expenses will be donated to The Bridge School.



Please don't give out of guilt; just give if you place value on what we do and are in a position to donate a little.

We'll also be giving away a Bridge t-shirt to a random TW supporter.

So Why Bother To Support Neil Young News on TW?

Our goal is simple: we create the best Neil Young blog we possibly can, refrain from contaminating it with nasty, evil corporate advertising, and then ask you to donate to us what you think it's worth. So far it seems to be working out sort of. We're not likely to break even on bandwidth and storage expenses (much less donated labor) this way, but that's not our goal.

Here at TW we're not just non-commercial. We're anti-commercial. We feel that quality blogs and corporate advertising just cannot co-exist. We also choose to refrain from forcibly extracting money from you by charging subscription fees.

We leave it up to you to decide what our service is worth to you.

Send support now via Visa or Mastercard — or use Paypal — or scroll down for other options.
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Your voluntary support enables us to devote all of our time and energy to making TW the best blog possible - and pays for the bandwidth, equipment and services required to keep the blog online.

The amount of your contribution is up to you - based on your opinion of how much you enjoy TW & what you can afford. A number of reader's have adopted the "one hour's wages per month" formula - some can afford to send even more than that (thanks!), others can afford only $5.

We particularly appreciate automatic monthly, quarterly or annual support payments. The more regular ongoing support we receive in that fashion the less we have to bug you on the blog. Please consider choosing that option of support.

We want to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed so generously over the past few years. We quite literally couldn't do it without you.

And, as always, we understand that contributing money is just not an option for some of you. That's fine. All posts, feeds and services at TW are open to everyone, and we will do everything in our power to keep it that way.

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Send support now via Visa or Mastercard — or use Paypal — or scroll down for other options.
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Safety & Security Concerns:

When sending & receiving your credit card information online we use the standard https protocol that all online commerce sites (Amazon, banks, brokerage houses, etc) use. We do not know -- much less store your credit card number. We have no way to access that data ourselves, even if we wanted to.

We do not ever, under any circumstances, share your email address or any other information about you with any third party - nor do we engage in any kind of email or direct-mail marketing. We will send occasional (2-3 times per year) email to readers, which you can opt out of by unsubscribing.

Other Ways to Help:

Use the Neil Young Amazon Shopping Store :



When shopping for your CDs, DVDs, books and other merchandise (Neil & Non-Neil) use the Amazon link above (it's always in the lower right sidebar, too). Each time you purchase an item on Amazon by clicking through the logo link above, Thrasher's Wheat will receive a small commission.

(Please note: International orders (non-U.S.A., Canada, & UK) do not credit to Thrasher's Wheat unfortunately. Please use PayPal account or credit card to support Thrasher's Wheat.)

Spread the Neil Love:

If you're unable to send any support at this time, we understand. But we'd still like for you to be able to obtain a free 15th Anniversary Thrasher's Wheat button as pictured above. Here's how.

We'll send out free buttons to folks who either LIKE us on Facebook , follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe to our email list. Just send us your name, mailing address, and which communication method you signed up for.

It's that simple.

Just spreading the word about Thrasher's Wheat is a huge help. If you have friends that you think might enjoy TW - please take a moment to drop them a note. Postings about TW on appropriate web forums are also a great way to spread the word. As a matter of fact, we have folks using our Thrasher's Wheat logo on their blogs!

So LIKE us on Facebook , follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe to our email list. (On occasion we pick random folks on the mailing list for little Neil treats. And no spam. We promise.)

Again, thanks everyone for their contributions. But mostly thanks for all the reviews, photos, links, videos, and comments. And your kind and supportive words, especially. We truly enjoy sharing the Neil love around the world. We've been doing this on & off for 18 years on Rust/HH/RH and 15 years on TW and we'd really like to continue -- readers willing.

So by helping us out, you'll also help out to spread the Neil love around the world. And -- maybe in some small way -- it all helps the Bridge School, Farm Aid, Musicares, and the LincVolt project. Because we all want to light a candle, make a difference, be the rain, and be the change.

Be the wheat.
peace and love,

thrasher & thrashette

"Keep on bloggin'
`Til the power goes out
The batteries dead
Twist and shout"
- "Fork In the Road"

ps - it keeps us searchin' for a vista and a muse.

(REMEMBER: All supporters donating at least $20 will receive a free Thrasher's Wheat 15th Anniversary button similar to that pictured above. If you can't donate now, see details in section above on how to receive a complimentary anniversary button.)

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Update on LincVolt Progress: Balance Work

An update on LincVolt progress from LincVolt Gazette (via Under The Hood):

Lincvolt is at the alignment shop being balanced over the weekend and will return Monday for a couple more days of work before getting on a carrier and going south to AVL in Orange county. After Thanksgiving, Bruce Falls at AVL will install the High Voltage system and test it on the AVL Dyno between Christmas and New Year’s day. When Lincvolt returns to Brizio Street Rods it will only be for a short time. During that time the car will be made ready to paint at Camilleri Body Works in Sacramento. Paint and chrome will be done there, and then Lincvolt will be ready to re-install the new High Voltage system for the last time, either at Brizio or AVL, depending on AVL’s decision.

We are getting closer to the goal. Seeing Lincvolt roll out of Brizio’s shop last week, a full year after thermal runaway, is a testimony to the enduring energy behind this project. Better and stronger than ever before, Lincvolt will soon be ready to take to the highways of North America. We will all be there with the car on the journey with live streams from across the country on Lincvolt.com

We will keep you posted!

The Lincvolt team thanks you for your support. Hold on, its going to be good!

Thanks k!

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#OccupyWallStreet 2011 and Kent State Ohio 1970: Is This Really Deja Vu?

University of California-Davis police officer firing pepper spray at students as they sat peacefully in protest
November 18, 2011

Once again, this blog has been subjected to abusive ridicule for stating our opinion on a controversial subject.

In early 2011, we compared the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt to the Madison, Wisconsin statehouse occupation only to be disparaged as "incredibly moronic" and "absolutely dumbfounding" among other choice phrases.

30,000 Protesters in Madison, Wisconsin Capitol - Feb 17, 2011

Revolution in Tahrir Square
Cairo, Egypt - February 1, 2011

Later, we went into the disparity in treatment between whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning and the treason of Colonel Oliver North. Again, a volley of derision in comments.


Oliver North & Bradley Manning

Which brings us to this moment and the #OccupyWallStreet Movement.


Liberty Plaza - New York City
November 15, 2011

After peaceful, non-violent Occupy Wall Street citizens were cleared under orders of New York City Mayor Bloomberg from Liberty Plaza - effectively suspending Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Press - we blogged Tin Soldiers & Mayor Bloomberg Coming on what seemed to us to be obvious parallels to Kent State.

Surprisingly -- or maybe not so surprisingly -- not all saw it that way.

In a followup blog post Occupy: From 1970 to 2011 we attempted to clearly point out the similarities:

• Mass student unrest due to unpopular government actions
• disproportionate use of force on peaceful, non-violent citizens by a heavily para-militarized domestic police force
• unequal application of the rule of the law between underclass and elite
• a huge trust gap between electorate and elected officials
  
• suspension of key articles in the Bill of Rights: Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Press
• the use of propaganda and provocateurs to discredit the people's movements

Occupy Everywhere
November 17, 2011
Day of Direct Action

Students and National Guard
Kent State Ohio 1970

Terry Norman - FBI informant/provocateur
70 Seconds Before Kent State Shootings
May 4, 1970 @ 12:24 PM
The Truth About The Kent State Massacre

Which brings us to #OccupyWallStreet 2011 and Kent State Ohio 1970: Is This Really Deja Vu all over again?

Long time journalist Greg Mitchell at The Nation agrees:

"12:20 - UC-Davis chancellor, who makes over $400,000 a year, getting bombarded with protest mail and calls after the notorious pepper-spraying incident (see TWO videos below). The cop has been IDed also. Now, no one was killed, though some injured, in this case, but it does make me recall what happened after Kent State -- when I helped organize a complete campus shutdown at my college -- just one of hundreds where that happened. Can't say same thing will happen now but UC-Davis incident just latest in string of such. In fact, demonstration there was called to protest brutality at Berkeley!"

Four Separate Angles Showing The Truth of What Really Happened at UC-Davis

And today's controversial opinion UC Davis pepper-spraying raises questions about role of police | The Washington Post by Philip Kennicott:

It looks as though he’s spraying weeds in the garden or coating the oven with caustic cleanser.

It’s not just the casual, dispassionate manner in which the University of California at Davis police officer pepper-sprays a line of passive students sitting on the ground. It’s the way the can becomes merely a tool, an implement that diminishes the humanity of the students and widens a terrifying gulf between the police and the people whom they are entrusted to protect.

The clip probably will be the defining imagery of the Occupy movement, rivaling in symbolic power, if not in actual violence, images from the Kent State shootings more than 40 years ago.

The police officer emerges from the margins of the scene, walks in front of a line of students on the ground with arms interlaced, and brandishes the can briefly in a gesture that feels both bored and theatrical, like someone on a low-budget television commercial displaying a miracle product or a magician holding the flowers he is about make disappear. He then proceeds to spray a thick stream of orange liquid into their faces. The crowd surrounding the students erupts in cries of “shame, shame,” questioning the police about whom they are protecting.

The spraying is slow and deliberate, one face after another, down the line. It is the multiple victims that makes it so chilling, recalling the mechanization of violence during the 20th century. Pepper spray, of course, isn’t meant to be lethal, and it was deployed during an effort to enforce university policy rather than a state-sanctioned campaign of violence. But the apparent absence of empathy from the police officer, applying a toxic chemical to humans as if they were garden pests, is shocking. Even more so because it is a university police officer.

Even if it is determined that the police followed proper procedures, the video might have lasting power for outrage, tapping into growing concerns not that police are abusing standard policies, but that our policies might need to be revised. Indeed, the disjunction between how the UC-Davis police read this video (they see an officer doing his job) and how many others read this video (they see a man in a uniform causing great and unnecessary pain to unresisting students) indicates that we have reached a kind of intellectual impasse about what kind of police we want and what limits should be placed on their power.

The UC-Davis video might open up a broader conversation about the proper role of the police, especially during an era in which it appears that protest against the established order may be more frequent and widespread. This new era of protest, if it continues to develop, will play out on the Internet, with rapidly uploaded videos providing not just evidence of what happens, but evidence from numerous perspectives, as each encounter is recorded by dozens of onlookers and participants.

Finally, as Glenn Greenwald blogs so forcefully:

Despite all the rights of free speech and assembly flamboyantly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the reality is that punishing the exercise of those rights with police force and state violence has been the reflexive response in America for quite some time. As Franke-Ruta put it, “America has a very long history of protests that meet with excessive or violent response, most vividly recorded in the second half of the 20th century.”

The intent and effect of such abuse is that it renders those guaranteed freedoms meaningless.

If a population becomes bullied or intimidated out of exercising rights offered on paper, those rights effectively cease to exist. Every time the citizenry watches peaceful protesters getting pepper-sprayed — or hears that an Occupy protester suffered brain damage and almost died after being shot in the skull with a rubber bullet — many become increasingly fearful of participating in this citizen movement, and also become fearful in general of exercising their rights in a way that is bothersome or threatening to those in power. That’s a natural response, and it’s exactly what the climate of fear imposed by all abusive police state actions is intended to achieve: to coerce citizens to “decide” on their own to be passive and compliant — to refrain from exercising their rights — out of fear of what will happen if they don’t.

The genius of this approach is how insidious its effects are: because the rights continue to be offered on paper, the citizenry continues to believe it is free.

They believe that they are free to do everything they choose to do, because they have been “persuaded” — through fear and intimidation — to passively accept the status quo. As Rosa Luxemburg so perfectly put it: “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” Someone who sits at home and never protests or effectively challenges power factions will not realize that their rights of speech and assembly have been effectively eroded because they never seek to exercise those rights; it’s only when we see steadfast, courageous resistance from the likes of these UC-Davis students is this erosion of rights manifest.

Pervasive police abuses and intimidation tactics applied to peaceful protesters — pepper-spray, assault rifles, tasers, tear gas and the rest — not only harm their victims but also the relationship of the citizenry to the government and the set of core political rights.

Implanting fear of authorities in the heart of the citizenry is a far more effective means of tyranny than overtly denying rights. That’s exactly what incidents like this are intended to achieve.

Overzealous prosecution of those who engage in peaceful political protest (which we’ve seen more and more of over the last several years) as well as rampant secrecy and the sprawling Surveillance State are the close cousins of excessive police force in both intent and effect: they are all about deterring meaningful challenges to those in power through the exercise of basic rights.

Rights are so much more effectively destroyed by bullying a citizenry out of wanting to exercise them than any other means.

Graham Nash & David Crosby
#OccupyWallStreet in NYC
“Military Madness is Killing Our Country"
Nov 8, 2011
Photo by Sandi Bachom
Either you are a rebel or a slave.

Freedom ... For What It's Worth and FREEDOM In A New Year.

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
~~Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

So, how's that freedom thing working out for you in a new year?

Compassion is Revolution
A Day 1 99%'er @ Occupy Wall St.

There’s something happening here.
What it is ain’t exactly clear.

we have all been here before,
we have all been here before,
we have all been here before

peace

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Also, freedom, music and occupations:

• Neil Young Ohio Lyric Analysis
• Crosby & Nash: Live at Occupy Wall Street
• The Truth About The Kent State Massacre
• Tin Soldiers & Mayor Bloomberg Coming
• Occupy: From 1970 to 2011
• American Dream: How could something so good, go bad, so fast?
• American Dream: From 1988 To 2011
• The Answer is Blowin' in the Wind My Friends
• Ohio and Freedom

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UPDATE:
via Kent State Truth Tribunal

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Neil Young’s Top 10 Greatest Guitar Tracks

    

Neil Young - 1978

 

Well, after the feedback from the posting on the Top 10 Neil Young Love Songs, why not Neil Young’s Top 10 Greatest Guitar Tracks?


#3 - “Cortez the Killer” - Rusted Out Garage Tour, 1986

From Gibson Guitar Tracks by Michael Leonard:

Apologies already, as this Top 10 might not include your favorite Neil Young song. But what to do? Over six decades, Neil Young has recorded so much music, he cannot be distilled into a small cup. Great songwriter, activist, conceptualist, rocker, balladeer, maverick guitarist, awful/inspired singer? You take your pick. Young, who turned 66 last week, is certainly one thing. He is unique.

His guitar playing is not “technical,” and he certainly won’t throw in a tricky mixolydian (EDITOR: wtf?!) lick when blazing passion fits the bill. Neil Young plays guitar from the heart. These 10 tracks might not be his “best” songs, but their guitars either sob with sadness or roar with aggression.

If you want to hear Neil Young play guitar, we humbly suggest you start here.

And who can argue with any of these tracks selected like #3 - “Cortez the Killer”?

Just as Young would never claim to be world’s best singer, he would neither argue to be the world’s most subtle guitarist. But “Cortez the Killer,” from 1975’s album Zuma, is an axe epic. This mantric guitar centerpiece (it has reached 14 minutes live) could only have been played by Neil Young. Three chords (again in DADGBD), droning melodies, stinging solos, harmonics, much Bigsby wobbling… in a druggy big nutshell, this is a 101 in how to play guitar like Neil Young. “Cortez the Killer” takes on extra weight when played live: the version on 1991’s live album Weld is super-heavy. “Cortez the Killer” manages to be mournful yet angry, beautiful yet bitter.

And your favorite Neil Young Greatest Guitar Tracks?

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Top 10 Neil Young Love Songs

Pegi and Neil @ Bridge 2011
Photo Gallery by Jay Blakesberg Photography

A nice little feature on the "Top 10 Neil Young Love Songs" on Ultimate Classic Rock by Matt Wardlaw:

Neil Young love songs at their best — and they're usually pretty great — reveal his particular talent for using words to illustrate the many different emotional sides of a romantic relationship. From heartbreak to happiness, Young has captured the familiar romantic plotlines and quandaries with his music. As he celebrates his 66th birthday today, here's a look at the Top 10 Neil Young Love Songs:

So guess what Neil love song is #1?? The answer might not surprise you. ;)

And our favorite Neil Young love song at the moment? "Love In Mind" from the unreleased (on CD) "Time Fades Away".

You can leave a comment on your favorite if you'd like.

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Eddie Vedder w/ Neil Young & Mike McCready: "Long Road" on 9/11 Tribute - YouTube

Eddie Vedder with Neil Young and Mike McCready perform "Long Road" on the worldwide broadcast musical benefit telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes".



Earlier on the night of September 21, 2001, just days after the 9-11 terror attack on the United States, Neil Young performed John Lennon's "Imagine".

More on those unforgettable days on "Imagine", Nine - One - One, Ten Years On: Lennon, Young and Heros Are So Hard To Find.

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Artist Shepard Fairey Occupies HOPE

"Mr. President we HOPE you are on our side."

Before blowing this off as total anti-Obama propaganda, closely read the inscription on the poster and know the backstory.

Artist Shepard Fairey, who designed the Obama "HOPE" poster, the cover for Bridge School Concerts 25th Anniversary Edition , the Henry Diltz' Neil Young print and more, has a new #Occupy Wall St. poster.

In an interview with Shepard Fairey | Global Grind, he says "I’ve subverted my most well-known image which I think is a strong gesture."

This image represents my support for the Occupy movement, a grassroots movement spawned to stand up against corruption, imbalance of power, and failure of our democracy to represent and help average Americans. On the other hand, as flawed as the system is, I see Obama as a potential ally of the Occupy movement if the energy of the movement is perceived as constructive, not destructive.

Cover Art Design by Shepard Fairey
Bridge School Concerts 25th Anniversary Edition


Photography by Henry Diltz
Neil Young and his White Falcon guitar at Balboa Stadium, San Diego, 1969
Neil Young Print by Shepard Fairey

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Pegi Young And The Survivors: "Flatline Mama" on Conan

Pegi Young And The Survivors Perform "Flatline Mama" on Conan O'Brien.

Lots of familiar faces in The Survivors band ... Spooner, Larry & Rick.

Anyone know who the backup singers are?

From earlier news, here's an interview with Pegi Young | AspenTimes.com by Maria Younghans:

There's nothing tentative about the way the album kicks off: the opening track, “Flatline Mama,” is a sassy, funny, rollicking song about a man who wants his woman sedate: “No booze, no pills, no THC/ ‘Cause he wants peace and serenity/ She's a flatline mama,” Young sings in a tune that combines country swing and '60s girl group backing vocals. She moves smoothly into rootsy r&b mode on “Trouble in a Bottle,” and has no trouble slipping into a more meditative space for “No Heart Beat Sounds.” Young does a lovely country-ish version of “I Don't Want to Talk About It,” written by the late Danny Whitten, Neil's bandmate from Crazy Horse. She shows off her confidence on “Gonna Walk Away,” a song about boldly setting off on her own.

Young has a stated attraction for darker material, and that is emphatic on “Bracing for Impact.” But she knows how to lighten the mood: “Daddy Married Satan” might be about severe family strife, but the beat bounces along, and Young sings in a feathery tone.

• • • •

Growing up in San Mateo, Calif., Young was magnetically drawn to what was happening a few miles up the peninsula. “I made my way to San Francisco as soon as possible, in 1968, just after the Summer of Love,” Young, who turns 59 on Dec. 1. She didn't want to simply see Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service perform — though she does recall that, at the Avalon Ballroom, you could wait till 1 a.m., then pay a dollar and still catch the headline act — she wanted to add her own music to the scene.

“I did some street busking, sang with friends in the living room — that's that time,” she said. “People just did that, and I wanted to be in that scene.”

Young never got far as a performer, but she kept writing — lyrics that she often set to music, even if she had no outlet for performing them. “It was just the immediate moment of writing, expressing myself. That's what I had always done,” she said.

In the '70s, while working as a bartender, Pegi met Neil Young, and the two married. (On Dec. 2, they intend to celebrate a momentous anniversary — 33 and a third years together.) In 1978, the couple had a son, Ben, who was diagnosed early with a severe case of cerebral palsy. Any dreams Pegi had of becoming a performing musician were put on hold, as she devoted herself to motherhood and, in 1986, establishing the Bridge School, which is funded in part by an annual concert, headlined by Neil, that has also featured the Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder and Nine Inch Nails. (Pegi did, however, have a hand in music history, serving as the inspiration for songs on her husband's great 1992 album “Harvest Moon.” The opening track, “Unknown Legend,” is a straightforward tribute: “She used to work in a diner/ Never saw woman look finer/ I used to order just to watch her float across the floor.”)

After the 1994 appearance at the Academy Awards, Pegi joined up with a group of women in her neighborhood to start a singing group. “I had a teepee set up in the backyard, and we'd really practice singing,” she said. “Nancy Hall would bring in music; we'd work out parts — it wasn't just an excuse for the girls to get together.” The group, which numbered around eight, would sing the Everly Brothers, the Beatles, the Mamas & the Papas — “anything with beautiful harmonies,” Young said.

The group, dubbed the Mountainettes, played a few local gigs, once opening for Buck Owens. The group — or at least, four of the singers, Pegi included — were good enough to get hired to be backing singers for a major artist: Neil Young used the Mountainettes on his 2003 “rock novel” “Greendale.” The Mountainettes were also featured on the “Greendale” tour, which made a stop at the 2003 Jazz Aspen Labor Day Festival in Snowmass Village. Pegi has since become a regular on her husband's albums, appearing on 2009's “Fork in the Road,” 2007's “Chrome Dreams II” and 2005's “Prairie Wind.”

Neil has returned the favor, playing some harmonica and guitar, and adding vocals, to “Bracing for Impact.” But Pegi tends to keep Neil at something of a distance from her own songwriting.

“He hears what I'm playing and I hear what he's playing,” she said. “But we write really differently. We write what comes from our own inner selves.”

Pegi is, though, a fan of Neil's, and finds his singular approach to music and career inspirational.

“His ability, his drive almost, to keep changing and let whatever can come in come in, has been a huge influence on me. I don't know what it is about him — he's on the cutting edge of things; he's prescient,” she said. “It's about just making music that's fulfilling for yourself, for you to feel good about, that's true to you, honest — that's all you can do. That's the best lesson I've gotten from all these years, as he goes through different things.”

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Jimmy Fallon: Secrets Behind Dylan & Young Impressions

From Jimmy Fallon shares the secrets behind his Bob Dylan, Neil Young impressions on Leno - Pop2it - Zap2it:

Jimmy Fallon has impersonated Neil Young on numerous occasions covering the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song, among others.

Last night, Fallon shared the secrets of those impressions with Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show."

Fallon explains that -- aside from their distinct voices, obviously -- the trick is in the harmonica. Where Dylan just blows without abandon into the instrument, Young takes a more discerning approach with a tune and everything.

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Occupy: From 1970 to 2011

Occupy Everywhere
November 17, 2011
Day of Direct Action

Today was another truly incredible day for the ordinary people.

Announced as a day of "Direct Action", the event took on a far larger significance after the illegal and unconstitutional assaults carried out by tin soldiers & Mayor Bloomberg against peaceful, non-violent Occupy Wall Street citizens where Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Press were suspended.

As reported by Salon‘s Justin Elliott:

A military style raid on peaceful protesters camped out in the shadow of Wall Street, ordered by a cold ruthless billionaire who bought his way into the mayor’s office.

Is it any wonder how we got here? We have all been here before.



Our discussions earlier this week comparing the 1970 Kent State Massacre to the military-police assault in New York provoked a furious reaction in our comments. Here's a typical comment from our friend Anonymous:

The most stupid thing I'v read on this site and have seen many.Lets bring up ohio a few more times this month.Anything Neil stands for he does..anything Neil hates he hates..think for yourself

Twenty-eight Ohio National Guardsmen fired sixty-seven rounds in thirteen seconds, leaving four students dead
Kent State University, Ohio
May 4, 1970

And while tragically four students were left dead at Kent State, fortunately thus far, no one has been killed during Occupy.

But here are the parallels we would like to point out for those who might miss them between events in 1970 and 2011.

• Student unrest due to unpopular government actions
• disproportionate use of force on peaceful, non-violent citizens by a para-militarized domestic police force
• unequal application of the rule of the law between underclass and elite
• a huge trust gap between electorate and elected officials
  
• suspension of key articles in the Bill of Rights: Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Press
• the use of propaganda and provocateurs to discredit people's movements

Liberty Plaza - New York City
November 15, 2011

Let us just say that we did not come to title our earlier post "Tin Soldiers & Mayor Bloomberg Coming" lightly.

Neil Young -- and his friends Crosby, Stills & Nash -- called out Nixon for crimes & violating the Bill of Rights in "Ohio". Like wise, we're naming names too.

We have chronicled the struggle towards for freedom and justice closely over the past year as truly remarkable as the historic events have unfolded leading to the global occupy revolution.

And we'll say this.

Simply as a mere blogger, we are outraged and will not let this aggression stand.

For example, on Tuesday:

• An NYPD inspector took a press badge from an NBC4 reporter.
• police were not letting press through to Occupy Wall Street protesters and reporters were all blocked from viewing the raid.
• The air space over Zuccotti Park was closed to all news helicopters.
• Journalists were shoved around for being present.
• Reporters and photographers were thrown to the ground.
• AP reporter Karen Matthews and AP photographer Set Wenig were arrested.
• New York Daily News Matthew Lysiak was arrested.
• Jared Malsin, a reporter for the Local East Village, was arrested, even though he showed his press credentials.
• NPR freelancer Julie Walker was arrested.

Crushing what free press we have left is one of the final steps towards fascism.

beware.


Neil Young - Rumblin' (Official Music Video)
"I feel a rumblin' in her ground
I feel a rumblin'
I feel a rumblin' in her ground
I feel a rumblin'
When will I learn how to listen?
When will I learn how to feel?"

Either you are a rebel or a slave.

Freedom ... For What It's Worth and FREEDOM In A New Year.

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
~~Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

peace

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