‘Pono’ Articles
Written by Shar on 22 March 2015
Neil Young has been a vocal critic of the sound of digital music, mostly recently while hawking his new Pono player.
This did not sit well with the late Steve Jobs, according to an article that appeared at Fast Company.
In the book Becoming Steve Jobs by Fast Company executive Rick Tetzeli and longtime technology reporter Brent Schlender, it’s revealed that Neil Young tried to quash the beef over the digital sound Jobs created through Apple, ipods and iTunes, Young offers Steve Jobs a set of remastered vinyl editions of every album in his catalog.
It was an “[attempt] to smoke the peace pipe,” writes Schlender. “I knew that Steve enjoyed listening to records on vinyl from time to time, so I agreed to call him to see if he’d like to get the LPs. Steve answered the phone on the second ring, and I explained what I was calling about. We had talked about Neil’s criticisms a year or so before, and I thought this might soften his grudge.”
Fat chance.
“Fuck Neil Young,” he snapped, “and fuck his records. You keep them.” End of conversation.
Funny some things begin spontaneously and end spontaneously.
Read more at: http://www.fastcompany.com/3043685/this-is-what-happened-when-neil-young-tried-to-make-peace-with-steve-jobs
Tags: Apple, ipod, itunes, pono, ponoplayer, Steve Jobs, vinyl
Posted in News / Article, Pono | 4 Comments »
Written by Shar on 21 March 2015
Photo: Pooneh Ghana/NME
Wearing what has become his uniform of the day, Neil Young made a surprise appearance on Friday, March 19 at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
The singer-songwriter attended a special screening of his 1982 movie Human Highway at the Paramount Theatre and participated in a Q&A session after the film.
According to
NME News, Young is quoted as saying about the film: “It has a life of it’s own. It refuses to die – we tried to kill it a couple of times,” said Young of the surreal movie, which was shown in a newly re-cut and re-mastered format. “It was never satisfying to look at, because I knew there was more than what we were seeing… I always wanted to make it what it could be.”
He wore a black hat, black leather jacket over a baggy black T-shirt, black pants, and what looks like a Native American medicine bag around his neck.
Of the band Devo, which appeared in the movie, Young said:
“They’re geniuses – they had something that was totally unique,” said Young yesterday. “When I met them I freaked out.”
Speaking about his work outside of music, he commented: “You’ve got to do other things, because just music is not enough.” He added that the new version of the movie, which includes previously unseen footage, will be touring film festivals throughout the year, before getting a DVD release. “I like people to look at it in the theatre – I like people to look at it with other people. I’m not a fan of the solitary art. I like to hear people react.”
Tags: Devo, Human Highway, SXSW
Posted in Movie Info, News / Article, Pono | Comments Off on Young does Q & A at SXSW
Written by Shar on 09 January 2015
Rolling Stone’s Andy Green wrote that Neil Young is planning a new album with Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah Nelson.
He writes in Rolling Stone:
“Neil Young sat down with Rolling Stone Executive Editor Nathan Brackett at the International Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 7 to discuss the long-awaited rollout of his Pono music player, but he also shared details of his next LP.
“I’m working on another album now that I’m going to do be doing with Willie Nelson’s sons,” he said, jokingly suggesting he would title it The Monsanto Years after the agriculture company he’s been railing against for years. “It’s an upbeat review of the situation.”
Young was less sure about his other future plans. “I don’t know much about the future,” he said. “I want to [focus on Pono] and I want to continue playing music. Those two things should keep me pretty busy. I have some film editing and things to do on the side. I’ll probably be writing some more books. I want to keep doing what I do. I’d like to continue doing it for a long time.”
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-recording-new-album-with-willie-nelsons-sons-20150108#ixzz3OKa0E7kc
Tags: CES 2015, Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, pono, Ponomusic, rolling stone, Willie Nelson
Posted in Activism, Album Info, Interviews, News / Article, Pono | Comments Off on Neil Young Recording New Album With Willie Nelson’s Sons
Written by Shar on 17 December 2014
2002 Lincoln Continental concept pictured.
“And Lincoln is still the best thing built by Ford.”
Canadian singer & songwriter Neil Young has indirectly confirmed Lincoln will resurrect the Continental moniker for the 2016 model year, according to Worldcarfans.com.
The website states:
“A couple of years ago Neil Young founded a company called Pono Music which specializes in providing a high-quality audio music download service and now in an interview with CNBC he announced the service will be implemented in the 2016 Lincoln Continental which will benefit from Harman speakers. The artist went on to specify they have already reached an agreement with Tesla and their cars will implement the system once Pono’s music store will be up and running.
“The 2016 Lincoln Continental will probably act as a direct replacement of the MKS full-size luxury sedan which is now entering its final model year after being facelifted for 2013MY. The new model will likely be introduced towards the end of 2015 and is expected to be based on the Ford Taurus.”
The website sourced CNBC. Watch the video of the interview with Neil here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102084076
Check out: http://www.worldcarfans.com/114121786038/neil-young-announces-lincoln-continental-coming-back-for
Tags: Lincoln Continental, pono, Ponomusic
Posted in News / Article, Pono | 1 Comment »
Written by Shar on 30 November 2014
Aaany day now. Picture: Getty Images
Pono backers are getting email updates which are growing longer by the week addressing their many and varied concerns. Reading the latest, you have to feel sorry for whoever’s on damage control at Pono, according to an article in Business Insider, Australia.
As the headline of the article states: “Neil Young Is In The Middle Of A Crash Course Lesson On How Hard It Is To Keep Kickstarter Backers Happy.”
Under Productions & Shipments Update, there’s the ominous:
“Unfortunately much of what we experienced is par for the course for a consumer electronics startup. In fact, many of the top Kickstarter projects that have come before us experienced much greater challenges and significantly longer delays in the shipment of their rewards.”
From their Kickstarter page alone, Pono has 15,147 players to ship. They seem to be doing okay with that, having manufactured a tick over 12,000, with the rest on schedule for December 8 completion. But around 11,500 of those were pledged to be in backers’ hands sometime in October. That hasn’t happened.
The list of postponements goes on and on….
Read more at: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/neil-young-is-in-the-middle-of-a-crash-course-lesson-on-how-hard-it-is-to-keep-kickstarter-backers-happy-2014-11
Tags: pono, Ponomusic
Posted in News / Article, Pono | Comments Off on Pono damage control