The LA Weekly Blog has a write-up about the 25th anniversary of Neil Young’s once banned video: “This Note’s for You.”
Those were the days…..
The city is preparing for Young’s upcoming Dolby Shows.
Chaz Kangas writes: “This Saturday night, Neil Young plays the first of four shows at the Dolby Theatre. Over a half-century into his career, Young still packs ’em in. But while his contemporaries have mellowed with age, Young’s never lost his grit. He even had a video banned by MTV at the height of the channel’s popularity.
“It’s been 25 years since Young’s This Note’s For You album reintroduced him to an entire generation. While the album’s known for its bluesy horns section, it’s Young’s potent shot at corporate-sponsored pop music that landed him in MTV’s crosshairs.”
Here’s the video:
The article continues: “Opening with a send-up of Eric Clapton’s then-current Michelob commercial, the song begins by blatantly name-dropping “Ain’t singing for Pepsi / Ain’t singing for Coke,” while the Julien Temple-directed clip mocks spokemusicians Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston as well as Budweiser and Calvin Klein Obsession commercials. It holds up as a funny satire, except back at MTV, nobody was laughing.
“According to a Los Angeles Times article from when the ban first happened, MTV had two major objections with the clip. First, the video’s “use of likenesses of Michael Jackson and Spuds MacKenzie could leave [MTV] open to trademark infringement charges”; second, “the channel refuses to air clips that depict – or contain lyrics – that refer to specific commercial products.” This is why mid-’90s rap videos blurred Fubu and Karl Kani logos just as much as they blurred sex and violence.”
Neil Young’s music system baby “Pono” is now Live on Kickstarter, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform. The company’s mission is to help bring creative projects to life.
Righteous! (what Pono means in Hawaiian).
Woah! Check out the who’s-who of famous musicians talking up Pono in this video:
According to Kickstarter the project will only be funded if at least $800,000 is pledged by . The counter is clicking away. As of 8 p.m. on March 11 close to $700,000 has been raised by 2,133 investors who bought in. Minimum pledge was $1.
There are gifts for pledging. $5 pledgers get love and thanks! It goes up from there with T-shirts, posters, discounts on the Pono player, and artist series signatures Ponos from the likes of Willie Nelson,, Beck, CSN&Y, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, Pearl Jam and More.
Cost of the system is $399.
According to Neil: The record companies set their own digital music prices, label by label. High-resolution digital albums at PonoMusic.com are expected to cost between $14.99 -$24.99, and there may be exceptions. For this price you get the best quality digital music available anywhere, you own these albums forever – they don’t live only in the cloud, but also on your computer and backup disc, and you can play them anytime you wish on your PonoPlayer or other compatible devices.
We will also be offering many of your favorite individual songs. We’ll let you know the pricing soon.
About the shape:
“This triangular shape also has additional benefits: it can be held upright for one-hand operation or it can sit flat on your desktop or home stereo system. The display automatically rotates depending on the orientation of the device. But the best thing about this shape is that we were able to include the best sounding audio components with absolutely no compromises. The PonoPlayer will certainly be recognizable on your desk as the unique product it is – the world’s best sounding portable digital music player.”
It’s enough to make your head spin.
March 11, 2014 – (Santa Monica, CA.) – PonoMusic, a revolutionary movement conceived and founded by Neil Young with a mission to restore the soul of music, announced today that it is officially moving out of the R&D phase and is “open for business” with the launch of its Kickstarter campaign for thePonoPlayer.
Good news for record-spinners and collectors of Neil Young on Vinyl.
After considerable delay, “Time Fades Away,” Neil Young‘s live album from 1973, will finally be re-released. The record has been kept out-of-print for years by Young, who called it “a total joke” and “the worst record I ever made” in 1987, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.
The record will only be available on vinyl as part of Record Store Day on April 19.
It will be sold as part of a box set including “On the Beach,” “Tonight’s the Night” and “Zuma.” Production of the 180-gram vinyl set will be limited to 3,500 copies.
A message from Neil, along with his address to the press before the Calgary show, specifically to the editor of the Calgary Herald. Jan. 19, 2014
Thanks to my friends in the First Nations.
Thanks to my crew, Thanks to all of the Canadians who supported our efforts to enable justice and truth for the First Nations living in Canada.
Our journey across the great expanse of Canada reveal…ed the beauty of the people and the land once again and brought back the old feelings of home.
To the leaders of Canada I say keep our word. Live up to the truth. Honour the treaties. To the foreign and domestic oil companies in our north, I say clean up your mess.
Stop complaining.
Talk to our First Nations and come to agreements to allow what you plan to do on their land, as it is represented in the treaties our forefathers reached with our First Nations.
Here’s a little short and sweet. The link here is to a cut-down version of a film produced by Lawrence Carota through the NFB (National Film Board of Canada). It speaks to many of the issues under discussion here. It’s not easy to digest but it is right on the money:
Crude Sacrifice
I keep looking for indie films that shed a good light on the tar pit. Something produced by someone other that CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) or the Big Oil companies directly. So far it’s been very hard to find anything from independent sources. And the stuff produced by CAPP and Big Oil reminds me too much of the crap the tobacco industry spin machine flooded onto the marketplace when they were trying to convince us that smoking was a good thing.
Crude Sacrifice is the title of the film.
Onward The Passenger
More videos about this subect:
To the Last Drop: Canada’s Dirty Oil Sands
Residents of one Canadian town are engaged in a David and Goliath-style battle over the dirtiest oil project ever known.
– Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61X4IQqnmd0
Once pristine wilderness, Alberta is now a world of poisoned water, polluted air, and rare cancer. VICE travels to the oil sands of Canada to investigate the impact of digging for this previously unobtainable oil.
“\"It\'s not really a memoir, at least not in the traditional sense. It\'s not chronological and it covers a lot of areas - from the past to the present day, so it\'s like a diary. But it is a memoir, and part of it\'s a projection and a fantasy. It\'s a hippie dream really (laughs). I really enjoy writing. My father was a writer, so I\'ve always known about authors and writing, and now it\'s my time to do it.\"” by --ny on Waging Heavy Peace
Neil Young on Tour
Sugar Mountain setlists
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.
The LA Weekly Blog has a write-up about the 25th anniversary of Neil Young’s once banned video: “This Note’s for You.”
Thanks to my friends in the First Nations.
memphish on 
Albert Stromann on 
liza on 
Baz on 
