Today I finished a three-part "Neil Young Immersion Experience", flipping the last page of his autobiographical Waging Heavy Peace.
The first part of the NYIE was a multi-media four-Friday edutainment event hosted by music historian John Einerson in McNally Robinson Bookseller's Community Classroom. It came complete with a "Harvest Moon" dinner accompanied by a local musician. That was a year ago and led to NYIE parts 2 & 3 -- the concert and book.
Let me be clear - while I like Neil Young's music, I'm not any kind of groupie or fanboy. The NYIE was just something different, interesting and connected for my wife and I to experience together. While attending the class, we decided it would be fun to see Young live on his upcoming Winnipeg tour date. After the class and concert, I guess Santa cataloged me as a NY guy and left the book in my stocking.
So what did I take from all this? It can be summed up with a quote from page 484 of his book (yes, anything Young does is intense so of course the book is 500 pages).
"I've always been told that what I am doing is right. Maybe it isn't. Maybe just some of it is. I need to dig deep and discover some things along the way. How do I avoid being short with those I love and respect? How do I try to make people feel good about what they are doing for and with me? How can I respect others' tastes while retaining my own? This is the knowledge I'm searching for. I can remember so many times in my life when I have hurt others and hurt myself. I really need to find a way to change those patterns for good."
You see, what I admire most about Neil Young is his dogged determination. Right from his earliest years playing in Winnipeg, he had nothing but bloody-minded focus on his goals. Here, he formed a band, practiced constantly, attended school rarely, performed everywhere, and cut a record. In no time, finding the local scene confining, he split for Toronto. There he struggled but met strategic people, including Stephen Stills and soon followed their path to L.A. From there, his rise was meteoric with Buffalo Springfield then Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. In 1970 at age 25, he wrote Ohio which became an anthem of the anti-war movement and perhaps a generation.
Along the way, many were left behind including a Winnipeg bandmate whose mother forbade him to hit the road with the band. Left behind like all of us who take the safe, predictable road every day long after we leave the nest. Ironically, Young yearns to undo the damage from his early days; the damage most of us are too afraid to risk in the first place.
Fascinating.
The first part of the NYIE was a multi-media four-Friday edutainment event hosted by music historian John Einerson in McNally Robinson Bookseller's Community Classroom. It came complete with a "Harvest Moon" dinner accompanied by a local musician. That was a year ago and led to NYIE parts 2 & 3 -- the concert and book.
Let me be clear - while I like Neil Young's music, I'm not any kind of groupie or fanboy. The NYIE was just something different, interesting and connected for my wife and I to experience together. While attending the class, we decided it would be fun to see Young live on his upcoming Winnipeg tour date. After the class and concert, I guess Santa cataloged me as a NY guy and left the book in my stocking.
So what did I take from all this? It can be summed up with a quote from page 484 of his book (yes, anything Young does is intense so of course the book is 500 pages).
"I've always been told that what I am doing is right. Maybe it isn't. Maybe just some of it is. I need to dig deep and discover some things along the way. How do I avoid being short with those I love and respect? How do I try to make people feel good about what they are doing for and with me? How can I respect others' tastes while retaining my own? This is the knowledge I'm searching for. I can remember so many times in my life when I have hurt others and hurt myself. I really need to find a way to change those patterns for good."
You see, what I admire most about Neil Young is his dogged determination. Right from his earliest years playing in Winnipeg, he had nothing but bloody-minded focus on his goals. Here, he formed a band, practiced constantly, attended school rarely, performed everywhere, and cut a record. In no time, finding the local scene confining, he split for Toronto. There he struggled but met strategic people, including Stephen Stills and soon followed their path to L.A. From there, his rise was meteoric with Buffalo Springfield then Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. In 1970 at age 25, he wrote Ohio which became an anthem of the anti-war movement and perhaps a generation.
Along the way, many were left behind including a Winnipeg bandmate whose mother forbade him to hit the road with the band. Left behind like all of us who take the safe, predictable road every day long after we leave the nest. Ironically, Young yearns to undo the damage from his early days; the damage most of us are too afraid to risk in the first place.
Fascinating.
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