Hey, it's just about time for HIM to take a look at MY life.

I'm a lot like he was...

Thanks, Jack. One of THE all-time greats! Keep playin' & walkin' on, Shakey!

And there's also this:

The Bridge School
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_School_Benefit

"Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you."

My favorite Neil Young song:
"Helpless." My second favorite Neil Young song: "Unknown Legend."
Cinnamon Girl's in the mix too.

I almost forgot some great trivia:
Neil Young's song "Unknown Legend" is on the "Harvest Moon" album. At least one track of that album was recorded live at Civic Auditorium, Portland, Oregon.

He is a survivor, that's for sure. Long may he run.

One of my favorite live music experiences was seeing Neil Young play with Pearl Jam outdoors at Portland Meadows late summer 1993. What a great show!

He doesn't look a day over 70.

One other interesting piece of background: In the early days in Canada he was in a band with Rick James.

"Ohio."

"Like a Hurricane" and "Cortez the Killer" are the two Neil songs I've probably listened to the most.

"Welfare Mothers", "Rockin' in the Free World" and "F*!#In' Up", plus his version of "On Braodway" from Freedom is awesome.

"He doesn't look a day over 70."
Posted by none
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LOL!!!

He makes Mick Jagger look like 45 yrs old. At least Mick can still perform. How sad to see Neil so pathetic.

Are you kidding? Mick Jagger hasn't written a decent song in 25 years, and was a complete flop as a solo act. Neil, on the other hand, is still a serious creative force. They'll be singing "Harvest Moon" (1992) a hundred years from now. He still performs just fine, and a lot more frequently than the Stones.

JMH, Neil singing Powderfinger as the sun set and the wind stirred is my favorite concert memory. Yes, a truly fine show.

Glad you keep of these things, Jack. After seeing this post earlier today, I've got some Neil on the stereo in his honor.

Yeah, Harry, it's true Mick is in good shape physically (and the Stones are a favorite of mine), but creatively speaking, few rival Mr. Young. And one thing in particular I've always admired about him is that he he's always striving for a new sound, even if it's not successful. My second or third concert ever was seeing him on the Trans tour in 1983 or so. It was a solo show where he was screaming into a microphone that was played through a synthesizer one minute and then playing Old Man, the next. The next time I saw him was with the International Harvesters where he opened with Are You Ready For The Country. After that, I don't think he played another "hit" to the chagrin of my buddy who was truly pissed. After that though I saw him with Crazy Horse. Everybody's Rockin' isn't my favorite, but it's a world apart from Freedom and Harvest Moon, which are amazing. So many artists try and mimic the formula of their past successes and Neil Young doesn't.

Happy Birthday, Neil.

As far as favorites, have to say: Powderfinger, Natural Beauty, Cowgirl In the Sand and Long May You Run.

No one has ever summed up the breadth of mankind better than the span suggested between "Cortez the Killer" and "A Man Needs A Maid".

Here's a glorious little series of events:
1. Neil Young meets Stephen Stills in Canada, wants to work with him. Stephen goes to L.A.
2. In early 1966, Neil joins the Mynah Birds, a band that falls apart when lead singer Rick James is arrested for draft dodging.
3. Neil heads for L.A. with bassist Bruce Palmer to search for Stephen Stills.
"Roughly a week later, discouraged at having been unable to locate Stills and ready to depart for San Francisco, they were stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles when Stills, Furay and Friedman, sitting in their white van, recognized Young’s black 1953 Pontiac hearse, which happened to be passing by in the opposite direction. After an illegal u-turn by Furay, some shouting, hand-waving, and much excitement, the four musicians realized that they were united in their determination to put together a band."

The band was Buffalo Springfield and by November of 1966, Stephen Stills was writing, "For What It's Worth."

...a glorious little series of events...

Imagine how this story sounds to the facebook generation, Bill?

Great stuff being shared here in celebration!* Hey, remember Neil did a memorable benefit show in the pouring rain in the Spring of 1995 in downtown Portland along the Willamette during the Enola Hill timber sale injunction. Any of you at that one?

One of my favorites to add to this list of superlative songs by Neil is "See The Sky About To Rain" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6cWwcjRHNE

And as performed live (solo on piano) at Massey Hall, 1971:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9yjfmzsj173

BONUS:

For The Turnstiles -- Live@Bospop Festival, Weert NL, 2008 (electric!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWBlL9myZAU

* An aside -- Hey you ignoramuses ridiculing Neil's appearance: Let's see how you'd look after a lifetime of polio, epilepsy and diabetes, with a brain aneurysm at age 60 to top it off, along with having two children with cerebral palsy, extended episodes of excessive chemical substance use, and having several good friends o.d. Chances are you wouldn't have made it half as long or half as far, much less given the world anything like the widespread joy and universal humanity expressed by Neil and shared with us through his artistic gifts. You probably got bullet holes in your mirrors.

I'm sure they'll have their own sacred history like the first time Eminem and Dr. Dre hooked up.
My prediction is that the history of these times won't be in books. It'll be a series of text messages.
I bet the song, "For What It's Worth" is familiar to a lot of them. In fact I can prove it's still relevant. Remember Spike Lee's movie "He Got Game" starring Ray Allen and Denzel Washington?
Public Enemy samples "For What It's Worth" for the title song, "He Got Game." Check it out. Stephen Stills does a cameo in the video.

I guess I'm comfortable citing ancient history because I still follow developments in music. Music, sports, and comedy. Those are my favorite topics.

He's only 64?!?!?! Dude -- you're a poster child for "Just say no"...

There's an entertaining -- if brief -- discussion with Nash and Crosby in Barry Levinson's documentary "Poliwood" (now playing on Showtime) about a scene from Young's film "CSNY: Deja Vu", where the audience in Atlanta boos and leaves the auditorium when they play "Let's Impeach the President". Crosby says to Levinson: "Who'd they think they were coming to see?"

Barry Levinson's "Wag the Dog" is on my list of greatest movies ever made. Long may he run.

Hey you ignoramuses ridiculing Neil's appearance [...]

I joked above about Neil's age, but let me clarify that he is solidly in my top 5 favorite artists and his music has meant more than I can put in words. I love the man.

JMH - One of MY favorite live music experiences was ALSO seeing Neil Young play with Pearl Jam outdoors at Portland Meadows late summer 1993.

1. Pete Droge
2. Blind Melon
3. Pearl Jam
4. Neil with Booker T. & MG's
Encore: Neil w/Pearl Jam

Probably the greatest show I've ever seen. Right up there with Acoustic Neil at the Civic, when they recorded the song for Harvest Moon!

As for the concert at Waterfront Park - yes - Pouring rain, and Neil says "great weather for trees."