Neil Young News

May 2004

Fresh Wheat - 5/20/2004

Neil Young As Artist In Residence For the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival
• Neil Young has been named the "Artist In Residence" for the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival according to the Movie City News. As Artist In Residence, Young has selected two films which will screen at the festival: Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man," starring Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer; and George Lucas' "THX-1138," starring Maggie McOmie and Robert Duvall. Also screening at the festival is "Greendale," Young's first foray into film, featuring a cast which includes his wife, Pegi Young, and longtime collaborator, Ben Keith. Young will also participate in an intimate conversation about his cinematic and musical influences on June 22.

  More on the Greendale film, inside the "Making of", and movie reviews.

  Old Princeton Landing 1996 Gigs - Link of the Moment

• The Link of the Moment is the Cardboard Analogue website which chronicles the legendary Neil Young & Crazy Horse gigs from 1996 at Old Princeton Landing in Half Moon Bay, CA. Known as "OPL", the tiny club has a capacity of less than 200 and hosted rehearsals for '96 tour. Fans who made the gigs speak in reverant tones when discussing the OPL gigs and the unforgettable vibe of the town, the club and the locals.

  Check out Thrasher's Wheat's latest Neil Link of the Moment.

  Fresh Wheat - 5/14/2004

  photo of Alexey Butirskiy, Jim Mazzeo and Neil by Gabreal Franklin
  Greendale Artist Jim Mazzeo is "The Bandit"

• Artist Jim Mazzeo has been revealed as the subject of Neil's Greendale song "Bandit" according to a Metroactive newspaper article by Rebecca Patt. The lines: "You're hard to reach, no one can reach you, but I can reach you" apparently refer to Mazzeo's relationship with Young.
  "And he can reach me, 'cause he's like my best friend, and he knows he can," says Mazzeo.

  The article also has info on the upcoming Greendale DVD. Mazzeo is currently working on over 140 pen-and-ink illustrations for the book of Greendale, which will be released in November along with the DVD of the film. In the interview Mazzeo said:

  "In the back, there is a really nice supplement all about me and my artwork and my biography, which is really going to be a feather in my cap when it comes out."

  Jim Mazzeo is well known for the cover art for the album "Zuma", as well as, the Greendale artwork for the album and tour backdrop projections. Mazzeo also says that Neil is making DVDs because the sound quality is superior to CDs. Mazzeo continues:

  "If he can make an album with the newest and best in sound, the DVD-A five-channel sound, and he can be a cameraman too with the DVD visual, then ding-dong--it's time to make a DVD".

  The article continues that the Young and Mazzeo have been friends for over 30 years.

  "They first met in 1966 in Sausalito at a club called the Ark, where Young was visiting with his band Buffalo Springfield and Mazzeo, tinkering with melted gelatin slides and food coloring, was pioneering the psychedelic light show concept for Moby Grape.

  They got to be fast friends a few years later, when Young moved in next to Mazzeo's art commune in Palo Alto called Star Hill Academy for Anything, and in the next few years Mazzeo would move to Young's place and then go on tour with him as the road manager for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's world tour in 1974. The two have been housemates in Malibu, traveled across the country on Route 66, and they once attempted to drive across the Sahara in a 1934 Rolls Royce named Wembley. They never made it farther than Brussels, where the car blew up on them."

  Fascinating stuff.

  Fresh Wheat - 5/4/2004

  

  "Ohio" 34 Years Later

• Thirty four years ago today, on May 4, 1970, a anti-war student demonstration at Kent State University, Ohio left four students dead, one paralyzed, and eight others wounded. The demonstration ended when the National Guard fired into the crowd of students. The shootings ended the lives of four students Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder, and Sandra Scheuer.

  Shortly thereafter, Neil Young wrote what would become an anthem of a generation -- the song "Ohio" in memory of the "Four dead in Ohio".

  More on the Thrasher's Wheat Page of the Moment with lyrics analysis of the Kent State song "Ohio".

  

  Music, Politics & Neil

• From writer Maureen Farrell on BuzzFlash about today's music artists and their politics:
  "In less than a year, for example, Howard Stern went from "Pro-Bush celeb" [FoxNews.com] to anti-Bush activist [HowardStern.com], while the artist formerly known as "Pro-Bush Neil Young" (according to Newsmax, anyway) eventually wondered, "If I keep speaking my mind, will I be deported?"

  "[T]o protect freedom it seems that we're going to have to relinquish some of our freedoms for a short period of time," Young said of the Patriot Act back in Dec. 2001. "But it's temporary, and we can't forget that it's temporary." [NewsMax.com] But by May, 2003, the Canadian icon was singing a different tune. "It's not what we thought we were gonna be doing, a lot of the people's civil rights have been compromised, and we don't know what's going on. . . I'm not very happy with the state of things. Music is being banned, and we have people in control of the radio stations who are the same people in control of the concert halls. They're also tied into the [US] administration and are sponsoring pro-war rallies. It's not good," Young said. [The Guardian]

  "Mr. Young, of course, was referring to the Dixie Chicks' fiasco, when the group was banned from more than fifty radio stations' play lists for saying that they were "ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." (For more, see "Dixie Chicks axed by Clear Channel," Jacksonville Business News Journal, March 18, 2003 [Jacksonville.Bizjournals.com])

  "Luckily for us, today's poets are out there, slugging away. Now if only the nation's journalists would do the same."

  More of Neil Young's comments on today's politics on the interviews page and its impact on music.

See news for April 2004 for more information on Neil Young's Greendale, photos and reviews.

News Archives - Old Fresh Wheat

Thrasher's Blog - The Music That Neil Young Influenced

Suggestions Welcome!

Email comments to "thrasher ATSIGN thrasherswheat DOT org" or leave a comment in the Guestbook. (not required to leave email address.)

Thrasher's Wheat - A Neil Young Archives