Neil Young, the ranch, and sex

"Neil Young, meanwhile, was happy to be out of Los Angeles. Even Topanga hadn't been remote enough for him. "You never knew what was gonna be happening when you went home," he told Jimmy McDonough. Broken Arrow, his secluded ranch, made Young happier: "I like the country better," he said. "Somebody's comin' at ya, you can see 'em."
--from the book, Hotel California

Dang, I knew it and here's one more reason I liked Neil Young the best, out of CSNY, out of all that California/hippie stuff. I used to give that reason for wanting a boat: that when you're out in the middle of the ocean you can see them comin'. That's how I feel about the desert now. All that wide-open spaces gives you a good warning.

Hotel California is a lot of gossip. Think hippie/music People Magazine on cocaine. But it's a fun read, and if even half of this shit is true you can see why we are where we are today. The music industry has always been about money and greed, forget about peace and love. The artists were exploited to the max, but they all buried their collective snouts into each others' coke and crouches and in essence got what they deserved. David Bowie, Lou Reed, and the rise of punk makes so much sense after reading about these bunch of pampered navel gazers.

Okay, still, there were some really good songs. I didn't say they weren't talented. But it was a money-making machine, no different from Nashville or the New York music scene was. That's why I say good music is never made where there's money. Right now it's not NY or LA or Nashville or even Austin. A couple of friends are sitting on their front porch somewhere, maybe in Montana or North Carolina or Canada or somewhere, just having fun.

The joke goes like this about just about everything; you can just exchange the subject for whatever you feel like it, but: Music is like sex--first you do it by yourself, then with your friends, then for money.

It's that second part that makes it all worth it.

After the Gold Rush

I'm reading Hotel California right now, the history of all that that went down in Laurel Canyon back in the late sixties and early seventies...kind of a rambling read...

But as I read it, I have more and more respect for Neil Young...there was so much talent there, but so much meanness and just hurtful behavior...he had the good sense to get the hell out and hole up in Topanga, which is also a fantastic name for a guitar.

And also, you can see how the music industry got to be what it is today, and why people are rebelling against it and doing their own thing.

Anyway, here's Neil doing one of the greatest songs of that time period, and one of my all-time favorites.

Thank you, boys (said in my best, Lawrence Welk, Svedish voice)...