‘News / Article’ Articles

More Pono naysayers

Neil Young’s music service has no chance, says Troy Wolverton, technology columnist  the Mercury News in San Jose, Calif.

“Oh Po-No…”

His article appeared in The Columbia Dispatch and he writes that: “Pono would have consumers step back in time. They would have to carry around separate phones and music players again. And they would pay $400 for that music device — which, in an increasingly connected world, is resolutely disconnected. The only way to get music on it is by transferring it from a computer over a USB cable.”

“You can’t buy a song when you’re away from your computer and you can’t stream it to the device. The company’s not even working on a smartphone application that might be able to offer Pono customers some connectivity or instant gratification.

“Because the PonoPlayer isn’t connected, it can’t access to your entire music collection or the universe of available music. Instead, it can only play what’s stored on it, which, if the songs are all in the high-resolution format it’s promoting, is only about 800 songs.”

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2014/03/24/neil-youngs-music-service-has-no-chance.html

Tags: Kickstarter, pono, Ponomusic
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How Neil affected the sound of grunge

A thoughtful piece by Mike Mineo for Concertour.org – somewhat of an analysis of Neil Young’s musical journey down the path to grunge.

“On a purely superficial level, his plaid shirts and unkempt hair made it all the more comprehensible. Like many grunge heroes, he seemed to always dress like it was autumn.”

The writer points to Cinnamon Girl as the launching pad:

Mineo writes: “While some argue that Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain rightly deserves the label, glimpses of Young’s influence on grunge is heard as early as the late ‘60s, when Cobain was learning how to walk. 1969’s “Cinnamon Girl” is one surefire predecessor. Its twangy distortion rides over the tender nonchalance of dual vocals, and a booming bass descends ominously at each verse’s end. Young’s vocals are more sweeping and melancholic than grunge staples here, and the vocals are more up-front as opposed to grunge’s traditionalized tendency of pushing vocals toward the back.”

The writer says there are plenty of Young tracks throughout the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s that show glimpses of what was to come in early ‘90s grunge. His 1979 album, Rust Never Sleeps, is one of the greatest examples. The genius of “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” is never to be understated, as its crunchy guitars and Young’s gripping guitar solos went on to influence a legion of grunge artists.

Read more: http://concerttour.org/neil-young-affected-sound-grunge-movement.php#ixzz2wmqb75tU

Get grungy with Neil this Sunday.

Tags: Cinnamon Girl, Godfather of Grunge, grunge, Nirvana
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Buffy Sainte-Marie on Tar Sands: ‘You’ve Got to Take This Seriously’

Folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie is on Neil Young’s side when it comes to the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.

In an interview in Indian Country  Sainte-Marie tells writer David Ball:

“Almost a year ago I went to Fort McMurray (Alberta) and I was just devastated  with what’s going on there. Just devastated. I just told everybody I could:  ‘You’ve got to take this seriously.’ Even since I was there, other people have  really stepped forward in their own ways, Neil Young in particular. He’s caught  a lot of criticism because he didn’t involve me, Susan Aglukark or other Native  people. Neil came to the induction ceremony in Nashville, at the Musicians Hall  of Fame, and I told him I’d seen some of the criticism and not to listen to it  at all! Because it’s so important, it has to be everybody doing whatever they  can, whenever they can, and being effective at whatever level they can be. You  reach people your way, I do it my way and Neil does it his way. But people have  to see it.”

“Good for Neil for stepping up,” she said.

Sainte-Marie lives in Hawaii, maybe she is Neil and Poncho’s  neighbor.

Tags: Alberta oil sands, Buffy Sainte-Marie, First Nations, Tar Sands
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Palestinian students write Neil an open letter

Posted at CounterPunch, the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel and University Teachers’ Association post an open letter to Neil Young, asking him not to perform his scheduled concert in Israel Hayarkon Park, Tel Aviv on July 17.

Dear Neil,

We are Palestinian students and youth from the besieged Gaza Strip; we write to you now on a night engulfed by huge explosions ripping through our houses and neighborhoods again, more common than the thunder and hard rain also filling the night air.

And now we hear you plan on playing your inspiring music to a packed house in Hayarkon Park, Tel Aviv, a park built on the ruins of the Palestinian village Al Mirr, a land and people, destroyed and buried amidst unspeakable violence, but not forgotten. The residents of that Palestinian village and hundreds of other villages forcibly emptied by the nascent Israeli army, were either killed or denied return, denied the chance to even visit or commemorate the lives they once had. ⁽¹⁾

While the world turns its back, we hope that you don’t turn yours, that you heed the call of over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli regime until it abides by international law and stops denying us the right to live as any other human beings would expect. Just as you didn’t perform in Apartheid South Africa, just as you stood up against racism in the US South, just as you have so admirably supported indigenous rights in Canada against the drilling for Tar Sands, we ask you to support indigenous, displaced people wherever they may be, including we Palestinians. The words of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association in their recent move to boycott the Israeli regime echo the struggle for indigenous rights in America.

Read the rest of the letter here:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/20/open-letter-from-gaza-to-neil-young/

Tags: activism, Israel, Tel Aviv
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David Crosby talks health, solo album and Neil Young

David Crosby mentions Neil Young in an interview posted on AccessAtlanta.com.

Melissa Ruggieri writes of Crosby: “There’s  a different kind of love for the erstwhile Neil Young, who is currently  working on another album and book as well as helping develop Pono, a  high-resolution digital music download service and music player set to  debut in October. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that CSNY is  extinct. Or maybe it is. No one is ever quite sure, it seems.”

“It’s  difficult to know. He already told us once that he was going to (be  back with us) and changed his mind, and now he’s making noises that he  wants to do it again,” Crosby said. “God bless Neil. I love him and I  love working with him because he so completely wants to push the edge,  but he’s a very mercurial guy. I can’t count on him, but I do love to  play with him.”

Read more at: http://www.accessatlanta.com/weblogs/atlanta-music-scene/2014/mar/19/david-crosby-talks-health-solo-album-and-neil-youn/

This one is for Wolle.

Tags: CSN&Y, David Crosby, pono, Ponomusic
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