Just days after streaming his new recording "Fork in the Road" on how website, Neil Young has posted a video for his tune in which he pleads he still has hope, that he's not done and not cashing in. "My sales have tanked," he sings in "Fork" but isn't  that the way things go for Neil during Republican administrations since Nixon left office? Could the election of Barack Obama mean there's a greater commercial acceptance of Neil  the way there was during the Clinton administration? "Chrome Dreams II" posted a No. 11 debut, but it had its roots in the Carter years.

There are strange stories and then there are stranger ones, like this one about Bob Dylan wheeling up to a house in Winnipeg where Neil Young lived. Nice to know Bob's that dedicated of a fan.

Neil Young has canceled tonight's concert in Los Angeles at the Forum. He had received word that the IATSE union, Local 33, had planned to picket his show. Young elected to cancel the performance rather than cross what IATSE told his representatives would be a picket line at his show.
In a statement, Young said "I am extremely disappointed  to have to choose between satisfying my
fans or backing my brothers and sisters of the IATSE. I will miss playing in Los Angeles and apologize to my fans for the inconvenience this has caused."
The Forum management says the icket line is illegal.
Marc Little, Chief Operating Officer and general counsel for the Faithful Central Bible Church and Forum Enterprises, responded by saying “I.A.T.S.E. Local 33 has been insensitive to the African-American ownership of the iconic Forum and has systematically exhibited racism against the church's efforts to employ the local community.  We apologize to the fans who were counting on a great evening of music and the employees who were counting on the income.”
Little states that on July 11, 2006, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the Forum was  not violating any labor laws.
Young's Los Angeles date will be rescheduled for sometime in 2009. Ticket holders will be able to get refunds at place of purchase.

  "Sugar Mountain Live At Canterbury House 1968" is the next release to come from Neil Young's archives. Details about the gig and the release, slated for Nov., 25, were released Monday.
Young was five days shy of his 23rd birthday when he launched his solo career  at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Nov. 9 and 10, 1968.   
The  engagement was an experiment to determine if audiences would accept Neil's music in its most elemental form. Album includes songs  written during his Buffalo Springfield tenure as well as  material that would appear on future solo albums.
"Sugar Mountain Live" is not slated for inclusion in "Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963 – 1972)," the 10-disc Blu-ray and DVD package that has been pushed back to early next year.
Track listing after the jump

Post by Matt Kivel

Alright, we get it. Country is cool. Late nights barnstorming, plowing through bottles of Jack Daniels, lamenting broken love affairs, firing a 12-gauge -- it's all well and good, but where is the new angle? Where is the next level of artistic depth that once seemed inevitable when bands like Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks roamed the midwest? David Vandervelde is cut from that same cloth of talented country songsmiths as Tweedy, Louris and Farrar, but he really doesn't stray from the tried and true formula of honky-tonk rave-ups and weep into your Pabst ballads that seems to define nearly every band under the alt-country tag. 

His trio proved to be a nice change of pace for the Echo stage, whose audience was ready for a reprieve after an altercation with the police and a brutal series of hardcore acts. Bass, drums and guitar, simply played with Vandervelde's axe floating high above the mix. They dutifully channelled the hard-rocking power of Southern rock overlords Lynard Skynard and were met with a modest reception from the weary crowd of punks and hardcore addicts. 

There is no doubt that David Vandervelde is good at what he does -- especially the ultra morose ballads, which are quite reminiscent of Secretly Canadian labelmate Jason Molina's work. His high wail cuts clear and warbly, much like Neil Young's more somber vocal inflections ("Old Man" and "Mellow My Mind"). But he's just not adding anything new or exciting to the tested songwriting formulas.

Photo by Nick Befort

Neil Young, who played large theaters on his last tour, will be performing in arena between Oct. 14 and Dec. 15. Once again he will wind up with a New York show, this time at Madison Square Garden. Tour begins in St Paul, Minn.
The band remains the same: Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young.  Death Cab For Cutie will support dates through Nov. 5; Wilco are on the bill from Nov. 29 forward  with the exception of the Dec. 9 Chicago date. Everest, who are on Young's Vapor label,open all the shows. Eric Johnson, who painted during the performances on the last tour, will again bring his brushes and canvases. Floor will be general admission - for 75 bucks - while reserved seats will run $250 to $45.
Tour and on-sale dates after the jump.

Neil Young talked with Charlie Rose about composing, marriage to Pegi and the concept of faith. His temple, he says, is the forest.

Neil Young's 10-CD set of never released recordings has a new lease on life.
Long rumored and long delayed, Reprise will release the collection of recordings from 1963-1972 on Blu-ray in the fall.   
Young, an audio fanatic who released his greatest hits on PCM 24/96 and recently assisted in an acoustic revamp of Red Rocks in Colorado, says “It is important for me that the user experience the high resolution music along with the archival visual material."
Through Blu-ray and Java technology, viewers will be able to navigate through Young's music, movies, videos, personal archives, memorabilia, photographs, letters, handwritten manuscripts and more while the high resolution 192/24 audio is playing. Announcement was made at the JavaOne conference in Northern California Tuesday.
"Previously, there was no way to browse archival material on a disc and listen to a song in high resolution at the same time" Young said in a statement. “Previous technology required unacceptable quality compromises. I am glad we waited and got it right.
"And here is something really new, we will be able to add content to already released Blu-ray Disc archive volumes by downloading it, whether it is music, film or vintage recording sessions, recently found photographs, or other archival materials that were located after the release of that volume. Users will be able to download any of these archival materials and they will automatically be assigned to their place in the chronology timeline.”
Java.com will be featuring the work with Neil Young and the archive project in a special Java + Neil Young segment. Java + Neil Young will include links to Young's appearance at JavaOne, as well as links to more information about the upcoming Blu-ray Disc package.

Reaction is mixed from the whopping TWO reviews that have been posted of the theatrical version of Neil Young's "Greendale," which had its world premiere over the weekend in Dallas.
A blog called Kera is big on the band, which features former members of New Bohemians,  but finds the play  thin and loose. A non-committal review from the Dallas Morning News, however, concludes by telling patrons how they will react when the house lights go on:
"Maybe you won't exactly know why, but this bunch will have you leaving the theater rarin' to go and determined to save the planet."
Meanwhile, Young himself continues to dip into his vaults, this time pulling out Crazy Horse sessions from 2000 that were scrapped in favor of recording many of the same tunes with  Booker T. & the MG's for the mostly forgettable "Are You Passionate" album.
Neilyoung.com reports that John Hanlon, the original co-producer with Neil, is mixing all of the so-called "Toast" material that was recorded in the San Francisco studio of that name. Many songs share a bluesy, jazz-tinged vibe; there are three rockers; and others have extensive jams. They are likening it to  "a down-played 'Tonight's the Night,' except these songs deal directly with love and loss, not drugs."
It will be the first "Special Edition" from the Neil Young Archives though there is no release date yet.
Jeremy Deller is the artist who created the graphic.

Watched a bit of "Rust Never Sleeps" over the weekend, marveling at how thin and clean-cut Neil Young looked on that 1978 tour.
It's a distant cry from the latest film from Bernard Shakey - that's Young's film alias - who also directed "Rust": That film was about a performance, "Deja Vu" is about the people attending the performance.
In one of the first reviews since "Deja Vu" closed the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, Variety is calling it "an aud-friendly, activist musical." 
Neil, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash were on hand at Sundance, where Young and Nash sang with Hisle and Stills said he is healthy following cancer surgery.
Neil told told USA Today "The idea of the whole project was just to stimulate debate." He told the Sundance Channel the film is indeed about the audience.

Already an album, a stage show and a film, Neil Young's "Greendale" will now receive a theatrical presentation.
Young's rock opera will receive its theatrical premiere March 29 at the Undermain Theater in Dallas.
The song cycle is a portrait of the changing face of small town America. Performed with a live band and sung by an ensemble cast, "Greendale" explores the lives of three generations of the Green family.
The Undermain production will run March 29 to May 3. Previews begin March 26.
Next up for the "Greendale": The Publication of a graphic novel.

The list of the year's top longs is down to the final two.
2. Neil Young - “No Hidden Path” (from “Chrome Dreams II,” Reprise) 11 minutes, 31 seconds
Granted, it was Young’s performance of this tune at his Nokia Theater show that was the real eye-opener, but there’s still considerable power packed into the studio version of his finest guitar workout since “Like a Hurricane.” But unlike “Hurricane,” “Cowgirl in the Sand” or “Cortez the Killer,” the vermicular solo on this one winds its way through an assortment of openings, displaying the brashness of youth and a musical cogency that only comes from experience.

Four nights into Neil Young's New York City run at the United Palace and he appears to be sticking to the same basic set list he has used on most of the tour, save for a few surprises each night.
He pulled out his biggest curio Sunday when he performed "The Sultan," a local hit by his Canadian high school band the Squires.
Rather than obscurities, each night has seen an old hit or two make the set list: "Old Man" and "Heart Of Gold" were performed on night one,"Cowgirl In The Sand" and "After The Gold Rush" on night two, and "Don't Let It Bring You Down" on night four. "Cortez the Killer" has cropped up as well.
According to the website Sugar Mountain, Young performed a tune called "Try," a song so obscure it doesn't even appear on one of the most in-depth Young song lists.
Young closes out his run at the United Palace tonight (Tuesday) and Wednesday.

Bob Dylan's recording of "I'm Not There" that appears on the soundtrack to Todd Haynes' film sounds plenty different from the version that appears on "Basement Tapes" bootlegs. Thank Neil Young's fanaticism and pack rat mentality for that.
The newly unearthed version clearly has the Band backing him as opposed to the popular bootleg version, a mostly acoustic reading by Dylan with a bit of rhythmic thumping in the background.
"It's pretty much just a sketch," Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo said in an interview for a piece on the soundtrack. "The lyric is open ended. It's hard to tell if (the words) make any sense."  Sonic Youth recorded a version of the song that runs over the end credits.
Soundtrack producers and Haynes were creating 5.1 mixes of songs and still using a bootleg copy of the tune when the suggestion arose that they find a better copy of the title track.
Joel Bernstein, a rock photographer who has been shooting Dylan and Young since the early '70s, was working with the team as an archivist and he suggested contacting Elliot Mazer. Mazer, who has produced a number of Young's albums, had worked with Dylan's manager in the '60s, Albert Grossman.
After Dylan's period of inactivity following his 1966 motorcycle accident, Grossman began to work on the publishing side for Dylan and started amassing a collection of tapes of songs that were not released over the next several years. Naturally, copies of the tapes were made; the Band's Garth Hudson even brought in a collection for the "I'm Not There" team to sift through.
Mazer, it turns out, had made a copy for his friend Young, who had tucked it away.
Randall Poster says his partner on the soundtrack, Jim Dunbar, "had to be Sam Spade, trying to make all these connections. What helped us get it quick was having the support of the Dylan camp."
What struck recording engineer Greg Calbi, who has worked extensively with Dylan, was the distinctiveness of the version in Young's vault.
"Every engineer who ever got a copy would put their stamp on it," Poster said, relaying Calbi's observation. "It was mutated over the years. We got the raw version."
Coincidentally, Young revisits his unreleased past with "Chrome Dreams II," which was issued last week; the "I'm Not There" soundtrack is released Oct. 30.
 
      

Neil Young opened his "Chrome Dreams II" tour on Thursday at the Velma V. Morrison Center for fhe Performing Arts in  Boise, Idaho. Show is divided into two parts, acoustic and electric, the first set comprising:
From Hank To Hendrix / Ambulance Blues / Sad Movies / A Man Needs A Maid / No One Seems To Know / Harvest / Campaigner / Journey Through The Past / Mellow My Mind / Love Art Blues / Love Is A Rose / Heart Of Gold
Second set:
The Loner / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere / Dirty Old Man / Spirit Road / Bad Fog Of Loneliness / Winterlong / Oh, Lonesome Me / The Believer / No Hidden Path / Cinnamon Girl / Tonight's The Night
Set list coutesy of sugarmtn.org

David Crosby and Graham Nash opened a fall tour Sunday night in North Carolina while Neil Young is preparing for a tour that begins Oct. 18 in Boise, Idaho. Stephen Stills spent the month of July on the road.
In 1974, the members of rock's finest supergroup were at the peak of their powers. On Sept. 8, 1974, at Roosevelt Raceway, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played:
Love The One You're With / Wooden Ships / Immigration Man / Helpless / Military Madness / Johnny's Garden / Walk On / Almost Cut My Hair / Teach Your Children /. Only Love Can Break Your Heart / The Lee Shore / Time After Time / Southbound Train / Another Sleep Song / Our House / Hawaiian Sunrise / Long May You Run / Ambulance Blues / Old Man / Change Partners / Myth Of Sysiphus / You Can't Catch Me>Word Game / Suite:Judy Blue Eyes / Deja Vu / First Things First / Don't Be Denied / Black Queen / Revolution Blues / Pushed It Over The End / Pre Road Downs / Carry On / Sugar Mountain / Ohio 

Neil Young's "Chrome Dreams II" tour will go to 16 major markets and a venue in between New Haven and Hartford, Conn., starting Oct. 18. Neil's L.A. show will be at the Nokia on Oct. 30.
Young's touring band will feature the musicians on the album:  Ben Keith, Ralph Molina and Rick Rosas. he may add a backup singer.
Neil's wife Pegi will be the opening act.

10-18 Boise, Idaho - Morrison Center
10-20 Spokane, Wash. - INB Performing Arts Center
10-22 Portland, Oregon - Keller Theater
10-23 Seattle, WA - WaMu Center
10-27 Mountain View, Calif - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Bridge School benefit)
10-28 Mountain View, Calif - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Bridge School benefit)
10-30 Los Angeles - Nokia Theatre
11-05 Denver - Wells Fargo Theatre
11-08 Minneapolis - Northrop Auditorium
11-10 Detroit - Fox Theatre
11-12 Chicago - Chicago Theatre
11-13 Chicago - Chicago Theatre
11-15 Washington, D.C. - Constitution Hall
11-18 St. Louis - Fox Theatre
11-26 Toronto - Massey Hall
11-27 Toronto - Massey Hall
12-02 Boston - Orpheum Theatre
12-03 Boston - Orpheum Theatre
12-05 Wallingford, Conn. - Chevrolet Theatre
12-09 Philadelphia - Tower Theatre
12-12 New York, NY - United Palace
12-13 New York, NY - United Palace

Metallica, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Waits, John Mayer and Regina Spektor have all signed on for Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit on Oct. 27 and 28.
Tickets  go on sale Sunday through www.livenation.com.

Neil Young's manager Elliot Roberts took Neil's "Chrome Dreams II" Warner Bros' headquarters in England and France where the response was enthusiastic according to Young's website.
Apparently, their enjoyment means Young may very well head across the pond to do a press tour along the Seine and the Thames.
Seeing as how this album was generated by an archival search that reminded him he had never finished the first "Chrome Dreams," Young is now prepared to add one of his earliest live recordings to his Neil Young Archive series. Young has dug up tapes made at the Riverboat, a Toronto coffee house he played soon after the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Young and his Reprise are looking at an early 2008 release date.
Young also plans to use tracks from "The Riverboat" as bonus material for different incarnations of "Chrome Dreams II" being offered at different retailers. The Archive series has seen two releases of concerts from 1971, an electric set in New York and an acoustic show in Toronto.   

On his website, Neil Young reports that last week he took his latest recording, "Chrome Dreams II,"  to label execs in Burbank and let them hear it.
The site reports: Continuing a tradition that goes back to 1969, Neil Young played his latest recording for Reprise yesterday. The recording was played for about 100 people in Burbank. Produced by "The Volume Dealers," NY and Niko Bolas, the recording runs 60+ minutes and includes two giant songs that time in at 18:30 and 13:00, respectively.
      Drawing from three songs written previously, and 7 new songs, the latest Neil Young is a very diverse recording. A release date is unknown at this time. The title is Chrome Dreams II.
      Chrome Dreams is a legendary NY album from 1977 that had originally been scheduled for release but was shelved. The original cover for Chrome Dreams was created by Neil's long-time producer and friend, the late David Briggs. Unfortunately, all original documentation and art for this album was lost in a fire that destroyed Neil's Malibu home in early 1978.
Here's a story about the original, which includes tunes that appeared on "American Stars 'n' Bars" and "Rust never Sleeps."