Tribute to Larry "L.A." Johnson in Rolling Stone Magazine

Neil Young Loses Longtime Creative Partner
Larry "L.A." Johnson helped create Rust Never Sleeps; Archives box set
Rolling Stone Magazine - March 4, 2010

There is a tribute to Larry "L.A." Johnson in the most recent issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. "L.A." passed away last month leaving a huge void in the Shakey Pictures team while creating a lasting legacy to Neil Young fans with his definitive film director work on Rust Never Sleeps, amongst many other works over the past 40 years.

From Rolling Stone by Andy Greene:

"Larry was a huge influence on me," says Young. "There's a huge void in the universe where he used to be."

Johnson co-created Young's experimental early movies, most notably Rust Never Sleeps. "Now everybody talks about music and film like it was always together," says Young. "But it wasn't together in the way we did it back then."

From the Nineties on, Johnson co-produced Young's albums and was the chief architect of the interactive Archives box set. "Larry spearheaded the whole thing," says Young.

On January 21st, Young had just landed in L.A. to rehearse for his performance on the final Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien when he got word that Johnson had died. "It was very intense, very emotional," Young. "When I sang `Long May You Run' the next day, I knew if I started thinking about Larry I wouldn't have been able to make it through.

Larry "L.A." Johnson and Neil Young
On the Set of Greendale film (2003)

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