Monsanto: “Many of us at Monsanto have been and are fans of Neil Young. Unfortunately, for some of us, his current album may fail to reflect our strong beliefs in what we do every day to help make agriculture more sustainable. We recognize there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do – and unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.”
The agrochemical company Monsanto has fired back at Neil Young for his album ‘The Monsanto Years.’
“The farmer knows he’s got to grow what he can sell, Monsanto, Monsanto / So he signs a deal for GMOs that makes life hell with Monsanto, Monsanto,” Young sings on the title track. “Every year he buys the patented seeds / Poison-ready they’re what the corporation needs, Monsanto.”
An article in Rolling Stone states: The Monsanto Years (which comes out on June 29th) also takes on Starbucks for their use of GMOs. “Starbucks has not taken a position on the issue of GMO labeling,” the company said. “As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution.”
Chevron refused to comment on Young’s lyrics, though Walmart did bite. “As you might have seen recently, Walmart raised its lowest starting wage to $9 an hour,” they told Billboard. “We’re proud of the opportunity we provide people to build a career and have a chance at a better life.”
Neil Young and Promise of the Real kick off their North American summer tour July 5th at the Marcus Ampitheater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
When Donald Trump strode on to the stage at Trump Tower on Tuesday to announce that he would enter the Republican race for president, a rock and roll anthem blared: Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” reported Mother Jones On June 16.
David Corn writes: “It was an odd choice, given that the 1989 song seemed to slam a Republican administration for not giving a damn about the poor. And Young has taken exception to Trump’s appropriation of his tune.”
A statement issued to Mother Jones for Young by his longtime manager Elliot Roberts suggests Young was not pleased by Trump’s use of the song:
Donald Trump’s use of “Rockin’ in the Free World” was not authorized. Mr. Young is a longtime supporter of Bernie Sanders.
Source: <a href="http://m try this site.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/neil-young-donald-trump-bernie-sanders” target=”_blank”>http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/neil-young-donald-trump-bernie-sanders
An article printed in New York Post on June 14 by Owen Paterson, says Neil Young and Green Peace are working to starve the world’s poor.
Paterson is the Conservative Member of Parliament for North Shropshire. He was UK secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs from 2012 to 2014.
Paterson writes: “The aging songwriter is following the lead of activists who claim that GMOs are harmful to health, farmers and the environment. This is tragically wrong. In reality, GMOs can save millions of lives. It’s the environmentalists who are doing real harm.”
He gives the example of Golden Rice, a miracle grain enhanced with Vitamin A-producing beta-carotene, and say the rice could save many lives in third world countries.
“But the ongoing opposition of anti-GMO activist groups and their lavish scare campaign with its combined global war chest estimated to exceed $500 million a year have kept Golden Rice off the global market,” he writes.
Paterson said instead of bashing companies that are trying to save lives, Young ought to use his star power to convince the NGO community to do the right thing and support giving the developing world the GMO tools it needs to feed its growing, and tragically malnourished, populations.
Neil Young has postponed his July 3 concert at Rexall Place, without explanation, according to the Edmonton Journal.
The 69-year-old singer issued a statement on Monday noting, “I am sad to say that I must postpone the July 3 Honour the Treaties concert at Edmonton’s Rexall Place in support of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations legal defence. The Honour The Treaties Tour will be rescheduled and new dates will be announced in the very near future.”
No further explanation was given by Young or his label, Warner Music.
Young has been a vocal supporter of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations’s fight against oilsands development in Alberta, and has staged similar benefit concerts across Canada, including in Calgary. Blue Rodeo was set to open for the veteran rocker.
Honour the Treaties is, according to their site, “an organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of Indigenous communities through art and advocacy. We do that by funding collaborations between Native artists and Native advocacy groups so that their messages can reach a wider audience.”
According to LiveNation, tickets purchased online and by telephone will be automatically refunded. Tickets purchased in-person t will be refunded at point of purchase.
Here’s a mini-documentary on Neil Young’s new album The Monsanto Years – a behind-the-scenes trailer shedding some light on the album and how the collaboration came about.
Lukas and Micah Nelson are members of the Promise of the Real are longtime Young fans, as you will find out when you view the video, and their band name was even inspired by a line from the On the Beach song “Walk On.”
What I am trying to figure out, is it “The Promise of the Real” or “Promise of the Real,” because then it doesn’t need a “the” in front of it.
In a series of interviews, they explain the collaborative process, plus just hanging out and jamming.
One thing they confirm is Young’s unpredictably. You just can’t rehearse too much. Wrecks the spontaneity.
The Monsanto Years is due out on June 29 through Reprise.
Tom Hambleton provides BNB with setlists, thankfully. His website is the most comprehensive searchable archives on the Internets about anything Neil Young related setlists. Goto Sugar Mountain.
memphish on 
Albert Stromann on 
liza on 
Baz on 
