Steve Caston who played Neil Young at the Junos at my record release party in January (2013) for Giulietta Masina at The Oscars Crying is now on youtube.
One reviewer of the record wrote it was a song where I mocked Neil Young. Absolutely amazing how many people who suffer from head injuries find employment reviewing music.
Neil Young at The Junos is about liking Neil Young and thinking about the Junos, and how it might feel to be in the crowd when he received an honourary award in 2011.
Actually seeing someone you think of as larger than life in the real world is surreal. I met Don Jonas once when I was in grade 6, long before he was the Winnipeg Blue Bomber model for Tundra Sweaters. (Couldn’t do any better sponsorship-wise Don?)
But let us return to Neil Young at Kelvin High School in the 50s getting punched out (thankfully resulting in Don’t Be Denied) oops no! – I mean let us return to Neil Young at the Junos in the 2011.
Right. So I liked Neil Young a lot growing up. I was 14 when I got After The Gold Rush and I was off to the races getting everything else. Fortunately it was the mid 70s so I caught the next records in real time. The magic of buying America Stars and Bars the moment it was available and racing with David Hershfield to his house, unwrapping it and blasting it in his parents perfect living room on their superb stereo in the fancy part of Winnipeg and the bonus of discovering Emmy Lou Harris through that and Desire by Dylan.
When decade came out, it was 1976, and us teen fans of Neil Young thought how incredible it was that he had been making music FOR TEN YEARS. Astonishing. So in this song (which very soon I will upload a crazy video for) I was trying to give Neil Young my own award for what I like about him which is his relationship with song but also with community and politics. The idea that the Junos gave him an award for history of charity is just weird. As weird as giving any charitable person an award for being a charitable person. Here’s an award for fighting Apartheid Mr. Mandela keep up the fight there may be more medals later.
But I get it, probably it furthers the charities …yada yada. Be that as it may I thought a statue and ceremony missed more important details about him hence this song. Steve Caston lives in Washago (Orillia). His email is steve@loogadis.com. I am still embarrassed that I didn’t get the joke the first time when he helped me pronounce it.
He blogs here. http://stevecaston.ca/index.php/what-s-occurring. This is the link to him playing Neil Young at the Junos.