Only missing the sex

One thing I've done a good job of during this portion of summer break is doing a LOT of reading. That includes the epic biography of Neil Young called Shakey. This sucker was 738 pages of rock and roll history all surrounding the strange and always changing world of Neil Young.

Now I'm not a huge Neil Young fan or anything but I thought this would be a good book to read. He's a very intriguing character and mesmerizing enough to help me through the long read. By the end, I wondered how the book might have continued. The story essentially wraps up in 1998, presumably because that's when the book was published. But Young has continued to write and record in the ensuing decade. Not sure I'm asking for a sequel but it would be interesting to read. The thing is filled with all the drugs and rock and roll you could imagine, only leaving out one leg of the stool in the cliched world of music.

The author is a guy named Jimmy McDonough, who apparently has a reputation for these long biographies. I'll tell you another thing the guy has, that's a long lensed view of rock and roll. He is constantly displaying this knowledge as he discusses influences on Young and other artists. But, at times, he comes off sounding like an old fogey, lamenting the end of rock and roll - while he doesn't give an exact date, I would guess he thinks rock essentially ended around 1978 or so. That's a little distracting.

But Young's life is a crazy one. He's a lot more than Heart of Gold and Rockin' in the Free World. His story is one of being in the right place at the right time in a lot of ways. His love for music blossomed right as the world opened up to rock and roll and his experiences led him right into the heart of hippiedom. From there, Young would make many interesting, bizarre and sometimes career-threatening transformations into different types of music and different types of characters. One aside you would never guess is that Young has become the sole owner of Lionel, the toy train manufacturer. How unusual!

The book does a good job of avoiding the hero-worship that often comes with these types of tomes and really gives a great insight into Young's mind through interviews with the artist himself and exhaustive research on those around him. It's well written and sparked in me a keen interest in tracking down some of Young's music. If you're a music lover, you'll find the book interesting, even if you aren't a huge Neil Young fan.

Next up on the reading list is Moby Dick for the lit class I'm taking this fall. Talk about a change of pace!

Song lyric of the day: "Old King sure meant a lot to me / But that hound dog is history" Neil Young

Until next time.

Ace