Interesting Neil Young interview on Fresh Air yesterday. I'll take him electric, preferably with Crazy Horse, over acoustic any day.

It Takes a Nation of Millions... is astonishing, probably one of my "Desert Island Discs". Took a while for me to get into, but once it clicked it was mind blowing. Unbelievably dense. I'm tempted to advocate its status as Greatest Production Ever. The Bomb Squad (Chuck, Hank & Keith Shocklee, Bill Stephney, Eric Sadler) are the real stars. "Louder Than a Bomb", "Rebel Without a Pause" and "Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos" are favorites, although, the whole thing is great. Adore the back to back clips of Malcolm X ("It is time for us to do whatever is necessary to defend ourselves") and George Clinton ("Ain't nuthin' but a party, y'all!"); who says agitprop can't be fun?

Thanks, Misha. Spent yesterday afternoon listening to Robert Smigel's Fresh Air appearances (working hard the whole time, of course...) -- see the new tag. Had tears rolling down my cheeks, laughed hard enough to aggravate my asthma, but it was so worth it. For his most recent appearance search "Triumph". That's the one in which he parodied Bill O'Reilly's Fresh Air appearance.

Speaking of N.E.R.D.: Pharell Comes Alive! (but the Black Eyed Peas were better)

I'm tempted to advocate its status as Greatest Production Ever.

In close competition with Paul's Boutique for the best of last 20 years, I'd say.

I'll take him electric, preferably with Crazy Horse, over acoustic any day.

Saw NY & CH on the Year of the Horse tour. Long, interminable feedback-drenched codas on every song. Bored me out of my skull. Now the Rust Never Sleeps tour - solo acoustic at the start, then Crazy Horse. That was one to remember. My left ear's never been the same.

My favorite Neil, though, is on bootlegs of solo acoustic shows from '89 ( Freedom material), '92-'93 (not the Unplugged thing though) and one from the early 70's

Saw NY & CH on the Year of the Horse tour. Long, interminable feedback-drenched codas on every song. Bored me out of my skull. Now the Rust Never Sleeps tour - solo acoustic at the start, then Crazy Horse.

How I would have loved to seen him on the RNS tour. Sigh.

I have a great bootleg of NY and Crazy Horse from Farm Aid VII in 94. And a solo one I just got from a television concert on the BBC in 71.

And I've said here before that I thought the Greendale tour from last summer was fan-freaking-tastic. It was the first time I had ever cried at a concert - uhm from the goodness of the music that is. (Song that induced tears was "Bandit.")

Also hayden - I found a copy of a Knife in the Water four-track single yesterday - Crossposs Bells - I remembered them from you mentioning seeing them at SXSW and from your 2003 mix. Like them a lot.

off to catch up while praying that the 678 new messages in Bureau is not people adding stuff to the FAQ

off to catch up while praying that the 678 new messages in Bureau is not people adding stuff to the FAQ

Heh.

Heh.

(worth repeating)

Oh -- Hayden -- thanks for the NMH CDs. I haven't listened to them yet, though.

Oh, yeah, cdbaby sale. Thanks for reminding me, Michele.

Whee! The new Modest Mouse single was just played on the OC. Worlds colliding! Favoritest things overlapping.

Oh, Tina reminds me that the O.C. ended I think two episodes ago with the entirety of a Nada Surf cover of "If You Leave." Hearing Matthew Caws's voice through my computer was definitely bizarre, but totally cool when I realized they were getting a whole song on the O.C.

Tangent -- I saw Matthew perform solo with local mini-legend Lianne Smith (hi, msbelle!) at a Park Slope wine store whose owner Lianne is friends with. They had a goofy unrehearsed charm together, and it was so nice to see Lianne perform live again (she didn't play out at all last year). Then Matthew did solo acoustic versions of "Blizzard of '77" and "Inside of Love" -- after the first one, a guy right behind me in the crowd asked him the name of his band, then asked him to say it louder, then to say it even louder again. I thought it was a friend who was trying to talk the band up (and all you Death Cab and Shins fans should *definitely* give Let Go a listen), but it turned out to be someone who was really, really confused by the name. Matthew handled it well -- "we didn't THINK we were gonna last more than three weeks, or we might've come up with a better name!" -- but when I realized it wasn't a plant but a confused person, I felt embarrassed on his behalf, and not only pimped the record to the confused guy but spelled the band's name out for him.