Spring

Backyard tulips.

Neil Young -- Massey Hall 1971

Today saw the release of another show in the Archives series. This concert from January 19, 1971 at Massey Hall in Toronto has a DVD that I watched in its entirety. It's a thrill to see solo Neil, with plaid shirt and long hippie hair, at the zenith of his songwriting and performing skills.

The audience does not recognize classics like "Old Man" since Harvest had not been released. So we get unadorned versions like "There's a World" and a sneak preview of "See the Sky About to Rain" from 1974's On the Beach. Even "A Man Needs a Maid" is somewhat embryonic lyrically, with "a man is afraid" instead of "a man needs a maid" in the first chorus.

Maybe it's because I've been a Neil Young fan for decades that I can't even feign objectivity about material like this. I'm completely blown away and find it hard to see how any music fan could miss the genius at work here. It doesn't matter the footage is primitive and sporadic because every morsel is a gift and a wonderful journey through the past.

See what it brings,
Could be good things
In the air for you.

Patti Smith

On getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight.

Op-Ed Contributor, New York Times
Ain’t It Strange?

By PATTI SMITH
Published: March 12, 2007

ON a cold morning in 1955, walking to Sunday school, I was drawn to the voice of Little Richard wailing “Tutti Frutti” from the interior of a local boy’s makeshift clubhouse. So powerful was the connection that I let go of my mother’s hand.

Rock ’n’ roll. It drew me from my path to a sea of possibilities. It sheltered and shattered me, from the end of childhood through a painful adolescence. I had my first altercation with my father when the Rolling Stones made their debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Rock ’n’ roll was mine to defend. It strengthened my hand and gave me a sense of tribe as I boarded a bus from South Jersey to freedom in 1967.

Rock ’n’ roll, at that time, was a fusion of intimacies. Repression bloomed into rapture like raging weeds shooting through cracks in the cement. Our music provided a sense of communal activism. Our artists provoked our ascension into awareness as we ran amok in a frenzied state of grace.

My late husband, Fred Sonic Smith, then of Detroit’s MC5, was a part of the brotherhood instrumental in forging a revolution: seeking to save the world with love and the electric guitar. He created aural autonomy yet did not have the constitution to survive all the complexities of existence.

Before he died, in the winter of 1994, he counseled me to continue working. He believed that one day I would be recognized for my efforts and though I protested, he quietly asked me to accept what was bestowed — gracefully — in his name.

Today I will join R.E.M., the Ronettes, Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the eve of this event I asked myself many questions. Should an artist working within the revolutionary landscape of rock accept laurels from an institution? Should laurels be offered? Am I a worthy recipient?

I have wrestled with these questions and my conscience leads me back to Fred and those like him — the maverick souls who may never be afforded such honors. Thus in his name I will accept with gratitude. Fred Sonic Smith was of the people, and I am none but him: one who has loved rock ’n’ roll and crawled from the ranks to the stage, to salute history and plant seeds for the erratic magic landscape of the new guard.

Because its members will be the guardians of our cultural voice. The Internet is their CBGB. Their territory is global. They will dictate how they want to create and disseminate their work. They will, in time, make breathless changes in our political process. They have the technology to unite and create a new party, to be vigilant in their choice of candidates, unfettered by corporate pressure. Their potential power to form and reform is unprecedented.

Human history abounds with idealistic movements that rise, then fall in disarray. The children of light. The journey to the East. The summer of love. The season of grunge. But just as we seem to repeat our follies, we also abide.

Rock ’n’ roll drew me from my mother’s hand and led me to experience. In the end it was my neighbors who put everything in perspective. An approving nod from the old Italian woman who sells me pasta. A high five from the postman. An embrace from the notary and his wife. And a shout from the sanitation man driving down my street: “Hey, Patti, Hall of Fame. One for us.”

I just smiled, and I noticed I was proud. One for the neighborhood. My parents. My band. One for Fred. And anybody else who wants to come along.

Patti Smith is a poet and performer.

Sunlight through cobwebs

Breach

Breach captures the inscrutability of what makes spies do what they do. Robert Hanssen obviously had "issues" but Chris Cooper's portrayal is appropriately understated. NPR had a wonderful interview with the real life Eric O'Neill. Well done.

Neil Young

Massey Hall is coming out. Check out this video.
Archives are coming in 2007 also. Make sure you watch the trailer. I can't wait for the 2 DVD's along with the 8 CD's. Money is no object. This will be something to own, enjoy, study and worship.