Shock! I Didn’t Buy Neil Young’s Archives!

Neil's Archives Vol.1

I know that it sounds incredible but I did not buy the new Neil Young Archives Vol.1 10-DVD box set, though it arrived at Greville Records today. This is despite the glowing review that Barney Hoskyns gave it in The Observer. “It’s a massive multi-media scrapbook that all but demands you sit and pay attention,” he writes.

I currently have an overseas trip to pay off and have been avoiding the calls from American Express, feigning phone problems each time someone tries to talk to me! This box set seems an indulgence that I cannot afford………this month!

At A$350 for the DVD set and $450 for the Blu-Ray edition is seemed a little pricey even for me, though JB Hi Fi is listing the DVD at A$329. (Hoskyns warns not to buy the CD set as it is ‘false economy’). Instead, I think my tactic will be to buy it on Amazon (US$199) and claim that I am, therefore, getting a bargain!It is available for pre-order now.

I am telling people that I am not quite as fanatical as Warwick Brown at Greville or our mate Graham Harrison, both of whom purchased Blu-Ray players especially for the Archives set! This enables me to look like a bargain hunter if I finally fork out the A$256+shipping for the set. I am hoping that the edition they get contains the promised digital download card whereby you can access the tracks online.

It is a little annoying that the Fillmore East, Massey Hall and Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House albums have already been released and you have to buy them again if you get the box set; however, I have read that the DVDs will be available separately at some stage.

I have already shown remarkable restraint in not buying the collector’s edition of Dylan’s last Bootleg series box but I feel myself inexorably drawn to Neil’s set, despite the feeling that I am being manipulated. In his recent book Stuff White People Like did Christian Lander list music box sets? Can I resist the temptation?

Greetings From LA #2

Thursday May 7, 2009

Everyone checks out of the Oxford Downtown Inn & Suites at 11.00am and we say our goodbyes. Tim and I are heading to LA while the others are going on to Nashville. The drive to the aiport is easy. Though the flight is delayed by nearly 50 minutes we still make it in to Los Angeles at 4.57pm. Pat and Guy arrive at 5.35pm to pick us up on their way back from Venice Beach. They are driving a red Kia, not quite a Mustang but probably cheaper to run. It is a bit of an anti-climax but we don’t mind as Guy hands us both a Samuel Adams beer and shoves some chips and snacks towards us.

We are staying at the Motel 6 in Hollywood and the drive through the back streets and via a circuitous route avoiding freeways is interesting. We check in and head off to the Orpheum Theater to see Van Morrison doing Astral Weeks. I have to say he is magnificent and I will write a longer review when I recover from the emotional impact. It is one of  the best concerts I have ever seen. Afterwards, Tim and I buy t-shirts but I do not have enough to buy the limited edition poster which is US$75. I should note that the first person we meet in the lobby is another Australian – Bill – and an Off The Record subscriber!

We hop in the car and drive back to the motel then walk up Sunset Boulevard to have a burger at Mel’s Diner and then visit Graumman’s Chinese Theater with its famous footprints and signatures.

Friday May 8, 2009

This morning I am sitting in the lobby of the Motel 6 in Hollywood, having just done my laundry. It will be nice to have some clean socks and jocks to wear home. Tim is sitting opposite me, having a coffee, wondering if he should have done his laundry. Too late. Now he is wondering if he should start his life all over again.

Actually, he is worried that he has run out of razor blades. He says he is happy he saw Van Morrison, and he is thankful to me for, not so much persuading him to go to see Van but ordering him to do so. He also says that Hollywood should be renamed Lollywood because there is so much eye candy around. It is one of those sorts of trips.

Today, we intend to got for breakfast with Pat and Guy at The Griddle, walk around Hollywood, visit Amoeba Records and then go to the airport to fly home.

Later…. Breakfast was enormous! I will not need to eat for a few days. We all go to American Vintage where Pat buys two pairs of cowboy boots for $85), Guy buys an overcoat for melbourne’s winter for $25 and Tim buys a pair of silly sunglasses for $10. Amazingly, I buy nothing despite the fact that I see a great leather motorcycle jacket for $38.

Pat and Guy then drop us at Amoeba Records and we say our goodbyes as they head off to Las Vegas for some more fun. Pat is driving around like a local. He has done a lot of groundwork here and found a great location and some excellent stores.

Amoeba is enormous and tempting but I am restrained. I buy Woody Allen’s Zelig and a couple of Johnny Otis CDs. We return to the motel where I sit and nap while Tim goes for a walk.

The shuttle arrives at 5.00pm and less than an hour later we are at LAX. Tim is off on Qantas and I am on United via Sydney. He is not happy that he has to negotiate check in by himself but I tell him he will be fine. I hope he gets on the right flight. I am worried that he might end up in Melbourne, Florida.

Now it is 15 minutes to boarding and I must go. I am looking forward to being home.  Until I talk to you from homebase, I hope you have a great weekend.

Leaving New Orleans

Monday May 4, 2009

Almost everyone is making their way out of New Orleans. Brett is staying one more night. Otto and Virginia are going to San Francisco. John and Marion are going to Canada. Pat and Guy are going to LA. Sarah is off to Vegas. Phil B, Phil O and Ken are heading home.

Tim, Rob, Richard, Ken, Lise and myself are taking a road trip. We leave in two cars and immediately get separated on Rampart Street. We regroup then head off down the I-10. Our destination is the Cabins On The Bayou and we make it around 3.00pm.

I go to a laundromat a little out of town and do my washing. Obviously, not a lot of white folks here need to do this because I am the only one here.I have been directed here by some cajun guys at the laundry in town and now I wonder if they think it is a practical joke. Maybe the locals think I am just down on my luck.

This evening we all go to Mulate’s for dinner, music and to watch a cajun band. We buy beer at the gas station on the way back and end our night in the lounge at the Cabins.

Tuesday May 5, 2009

We drive into Lafayette, have a walk around, then go to Antler’s for lunch. CC Adcock and his friend Matt Wilkinson (who directed The Promised Land) meet us. CC is amazed that I almost cannot finish the smothered, stuffed pork chop. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he asks. ‘Have you got cancer or soemthing?’

We leave around 2.00pm but get lost. I suddenly realise that I am heading west not east and have to make a beeline back into town. This takes up a halfd an hour on what is to be the longest day’s drive of the entrire trip. We have decide to go to Natchez and across the Natchez Trace Parkway to Jackson and then upo the I-55. This is to add hours to our day. The Parkway is magnificent but slow at 50mph. We stop at one of the historic sites. I seem to get reinvigorated. Tim is keeping me awake with a succession of really bad puns. We talk about everyone we know and dissect them minutely. No one is spared, including ourselves, who it should be said turn out to be the biggest losers of the lot!. It helps pass the time.

Later, when we stop outside Jackson for coffee, Richard points out the storm on the horizon and the lightning show. An hour or so out from Oxford we run slap bang into the storm and I can feel the guys in the car behind cursing me. I am amazed that I have been able to stay awake all this time but the thought of running off the road during a storm is quite an incentive to pay attention. We arrive in Oxfotd at 11.00pm, just in time to check in and rush to the City Grocery for some stiff drinks. As we leave we meet the chef and waiter for Bourre, a local restaurant owned by the chap who runs City Grocery. They recommend we visit them for dinner the next night.

Wednesday May 6, 2009

This is the most relaxing day of the trip. We all walk around town, then Ken, Lise, Tim and I have lunch at the Ajax Diner. The meatloaf is still as good as ever. tim has the pot roast but as soon as it arrives decides, as he usually does, that he should have had something else.

Later in the day, I spend some time producing my segment for the program this week. Then we go back to the City Grocery for a pre-dinner drink. Then we go to Bourre wher I have the best Pasta Jambalaya I have ever had. Tim orders something else and regrets it but I am not swapping.

Jazz Fest – The Second Weekend

The final days of the Fest.

It’s nearly getting to the point where all the days are running into each other and we are doing so much that it is hard to recall exactly what happened and when. Jazz Fest is nearly at an end and with one day to go I have that familiar feeling of exhaustion and exhilaration.

Unfortunately, Marion has been struck down with the ‘flu. Not the swine flu that is getting all the publicity but the normal, run oif the mill virulent cold flu. John took her to the hospital and to get some antibiotics and it cost around US$1300. This is why we have travel insurance. Illnesses in other tour members seem to be self-inflicted.

Thursday April 30. 2009

I arrived in time to see Theresa Andersson at the Gentilly Stage and she sems much more confident than in the past. Then we wandered over to the Grandstand to watch an interview with Emmylou Harris, who was as gracious and interesting as one would expect. Ken was there and the fact that he asked her a question about Buddy Miller (who is fine) gave me the nerve. ‘A comment and a question,’ I said. ‘I was in Joshua Tree last week and went to the Gram site, where a lot of Australians (and I am one in case you couldn’t guess), Europeans and Japanese go.’ ‘And Americans,’ shouted one person. ‘One tourist thought it was the Alan Parsons site – and wouldn’t music history have been different. It is amazing how he is still revered. Now, the question. Malcolm Burn said that when Daniel lanois produced an album by anyone he was really making a Daniel Lanois album. How do you feel about that?’

‘That’s what I wanted,’ she replied and went on to explain how she wanted lanois to put his magic on here album.

‘Thanks for one of the greatest albums of all time,’ I concluded. ‘There’s another one of my publicists,’ she said with a laugh.

In retrospect, I hope I didn’t offend any Americans in the audience by implying that they were not interested in Parsons legacy. It was a thrill to talk directly to Emmylou, having only ever done a phone interview with her in the past.

The subdudes put on their usual polished shop with people in the group who had not seen them before being knocked out. Then it was time for Emmylou, also at Gentilly, in what was a wonderful hour or so.

This evening we went to see the New Orleans premiere of  The Promised Land, a film about Lil’ Band O’ Gold. at the Canal Place Cinemas. A great film that really captures the spirit of the band. Then it was off to Chickie Wah Wah to see the band itself. Ken said that it was one of the greatest nights of his life. Then again he also said that the film was the greatest music film he had ever seen!

It was indeed a great night. The gig finished around 2.00am, some of us went back to Fahy’s while the other went to Frenchman Street to check out some bars that Pat had found.

Friday May 1, 2009

The one act I wanted to see today, Doc Watson, turned out to be one of the festival highlights so far. At 86 Doc is still playing superbly and his repertoire was kind of like a history of country music. I didn’t go to see Bonnie Raitt because the crowd was too big but watched Patty Griffin on the Fais Do Do instead and even caught some of Julian Marley at Congo Square.

Somehow, I completely forgot Tony Bennett was on but enjoyed John Scofield doing the Piety Street tunes with Jon Cleary, George Porter Jr and Rickky Fataar. Tim reported that The Tonester (as the local paper called him) was brilliant. This is the problem with Jazz Fest – you cannot see everything!

I had a few minutes back at the hotel and listened to Off The Record and heard a bit of Tracee’s Neil Young interview. It sounded excellent and much as I would have liked to have heard it all I had to dash.

My gig of the evening was Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen at The Parish and, as usual, they put in a splendid show. Terrence Higgins from the Dirty Dozen was the fill-in drummer for the evening and did a monster job. I have to assume that he was born in New Orleans because there is something unique about the drummers that some from this city.

The post-gig meeting place, Fahy’s Irish Pub, opposite our hotel was again lively and I managed to get away some time after 1.30am. Others were not so lucky.

Saturday May 2, 2009

This morning I was up early to attend the Sync Up Conference put on by the Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Peter Noble, from Byron’s Bluesfest, was on the panel about international festivals. I made some good contacts for the future. Note to self: You must get a business card. Afterwards I shared oysters at Felix’s with Peter and Keith Welch of the Music Network.

Tony Wood rang me and offered to pick me up and drive me to Jazz Fest with Rosalinde and Marcus. The line of people waiting to buy a ticket was the longest I had seen since Dave Matthews set the record of 168,000 in 2001. Today, Bon Jovi and Kings Of Leon are playing. I certainly have to question the addition of the former act to the Jazz Fest line-up. It was reported that Bon Jovi are being paid a million dollars to play!

Inside it was awful. Long queues for every food stall. masses of people milling around. This is definitely the second biggest crowd I have ever seen here.

Today I have a simple plan. See Aaron Neville and then  take refuge in the Jazz Tent to see Irvin Mayfield and, later, the tribute to the 50th anniversary of Kind Of Blue, with Jimmy Cobb’s So What Band. I managed to get a spot near the Gospel Tent and could not believe how good the sound was, how good the band was (with Charles Neville on sax) and how good Aaron still sounded.He started with ‘Stand By Me’ (the Ben E King classic) and tears welled up. I avoided the uncontrollable sobs that once overtook a friend in this tent but the Gospel Tent is dangerously emotional. Had Aaron asked, I am sure I would have repented. After about half an hour and a burgeoning crowd I had to leave. I am glad they are recording it and will make sure I get a copy.

Mayfield was dynamic, while the Miles tribute was beautiful. I pass on trying to see John Mayall and manage to survive the day without too much effort.

This evening I want to see Zachary Richard at The Parish or the subdudes at Southport Hall. I decide to see both. I wil watch Zack’s first set and catch a taxi to see the dudes second set. My plan is thwarted. No taxi driver wants to take a lone passenger when they could get 4 or 5 people and charge them more. In the end I am happy to watch the whole of Richard’s performance, and I have not seen him for years so it is great to have him back here.

We all meet back at Fahy’s and compare notes and have a nightcap, which for me now consists of one Bloody Mary, as the staff at this pub make the best in town (or so they tell me).

Sunday May 3, 2009

The final day of the Fest. I am, as Ken would say, ‘rooted’. It might sound strange but I am looking forward to the end of the day. I have two enormous blisters on the heel of my right foot but I think it is the late nights that are doing me in. Plus, I have hardly had any time to do the blog. Frankly, I am having way too much fun.

Tony drops Marcus off at the hotel and then takes Rosalinde out to Jazz Fest where she is playing tambourine with Cedric Burnside and Lightning Malcolm. Young Marcus is going to spend the day in my room and use the pool and other hotel facilities. I encourage him not to trash the room and not to use the spa near the pool (which the other night was set on boiling point).

I need to see Allen Toussaint on the main stage first because I am interviewing him straight after the gig. As usual he is brilliant. before performing ‘Yes We Can’ he adds a verse: ‘We are America/ And the best thing about being America/Is that we are America today.’ Later, he explains it to me. He is a lovely, gracious man to talk to – a real gentleman in the true sense of the word.

I am torn between Neil Young and Los Lobos and manage to catch 30 minutes or so of the former and the whole set by the latter. I reckon Neil’s set starts off better than the Melbourne or Sydney shows I saw earlier this year but the wind at the Fairgrounds takes the sound away and I move on. Los Lobos are one of the musical highlights of the entire festival. They have their own unique sound and a wonderful set list.

There is only one way to finish Jazz Fest and that is with The Neville Brothers, back last year after a couple of years absence. Maybe not as compelling as the Aaron Neville solo set but great nonetheless. On the bus back to Rampart everyone has  feelings of satisfaction and exhaustion.

Tonight, the whole group goes out to the new Rock ‘n’ Bowl to see Sonny Landreth and Tab Benoit. The new location is certainy up market and being on the ground flood the place does not shake any more and make you feel as though the floor will collapse at any moment. Pat, Tim and I eat at the College Inn just next door – a welcome new feature of the Bowl’s location.

The Bowl’s owner Joe, eccentric as ever, tells a long rambling story about Beau Jocque and Boozoo Chavis and the zydeco ’shootouts’ they used to have – I think I was at at least one of those. The story ends bizarrely with a bowling challenge in which Boozoo, having lost some fingers on one hand, has to bowl for the championship. Strange but apparently true. At least he didn’t sing the national anthem this year.

We return for one last drink at Fahy’s. My night ends at 2.30am when I finally switch off the light.

The Daze Between

Monday April 27, 2009

This afternoon we all met at noon and had lunch at the hotel bistro and then went on a river cruise down the Mississippi. We saw the best of the city (The French Quarter) and the less attractive industrial areas. From my obseervations, the city seems to have come back to something approaching normality. You can see that there is more traffic in the streets of the Ninth Ward.

In the evening most of the group headed off to the basketball at the stadium near the Superdome. I go shopping at the Louisiana Music Factory for more New Orleans material. My suitcase is starting to look small. I hear a little of the Piano Night at the House of Blues through the side door but decide to do some work and have another early night (two in a row is a record).

Tuesday April 28, 2009

This morning Ken, Lise and I picked up our Harleys at Eaglerider on Canal. Ken opted for the Road King I took the Heritage Softail Classic. When we arrive we have no plan. I thought we could go up to Lafayette to have lunch with CC Adcock but he is stil in town. The gent doing the rental suggests Biloxi and we decide to do that and Abita Springs.

A quick ride up and down the street gets us used to the running boards and gear lever, the seating position and and the controls. At 10.00am we follow directions to the I-90 and are soon heading out of town towards the Gulf Coast, somewhere I have never been before.

I have to say that the Harleys look and sound great. They are a classic machine and no other manufacturer has been able to successfully copy the design (though some have come close). The bikes come with inbuilt charisma and credibility. Having said that, riding a Harley  is a bit like sitting on a tractor – very agricultural. Instruments are sparse. There is no tachometer – as someone once said to me, they rev so slowly they do not need a tacho they need a lamp post counter. The gears clunk into place on the massive engine and it shakes a lot until you get moving a bit quicker and put it into sixth gear, which is effectively an overdrive. Out on the highway it is smooth and effortless.

As we ride out through the suburbs it is apparent that people have come back and it is certainly busier than last year. Soon we are heading near the caost and past holiday shacks on stilts. There is not too much evidence left here of Katrina.

It is nice to take a minor road and not an interstate; the traffic is not heavy and we can relax. We reach Biloxi after a run along the beach road with sand drifting onto the road. The Hard Rock Casino looms and Ken says we should stop there for lunch, which we do. Imagine a massive Hard Rock Cafe and you have the general idea. We join the Players Club, get a card and get the buffet for half price – US$6.94 each. Ken discovers some Chinese food and we load up.

The run into New Orleans is across The Causeway – 29 miles across the middle of Lake Ponchartrain. We take in terms to lead and at times ride side by side, just like in Easy Rider. It is a great experience.

We arrive back at the hotel at around 7.00pm, park the bikes, freshen up and head off to the Ponderosa Stomp at The House Of Blues. Somehow I manage to mix up times and miss Otis Clay – the one act Pierre Baroni told me to catch. (I hide from him). I do see James ‘Blood’ Ulmer, Texas Johnny Brown, Dale Hawkins with James Burton, The Remains and a fantastic hour from Howard Tate.

Wednesday April 28, 2009

It’s a relaxing day today. A late start after the Stomp. I go to the conference at The Cabildo on Jackson Square and attend the session with Peter Guralnick interviewing Dan Penn and Rick Hall (from Fame and Muscle Shoals). A fascinating hour of discussion.

Afterwards, I meet Tim near the Music Factory and we go to the Canal Place Cinemas to buy tickets to The Promised Land tomorrow night. Then we sit and record some comentary for Off The Record which I spend the next few hours recording, encoding and sending.

I decide to get to The Ponderosa Stomp around 10.30pm and grab a pizza on the corner nearby. Dan Penn and Bobby Emmons give a history lesson in Southern Soul. Wanda Jackson is as dynamic as she was a couple of years ago when she was in Australia. Cyril Jordan and Roy Loney are reunited as a quasi-Flamin’ Groovies with A-Bones and put in a great hour that reminds us how under-rated the Groovies were. I am too tired to stay and catch ? & The Mysterians, although I know they will be great. Pierre Baronni, I am sure will berate me for missing them.