Harvest

Continuing on with a weeks run of Neil Young material and how certain albums influence me, we roll on with the 1972 classic "Harvest". This album became the crowning point of Young's career up to this point. Changing directions somewhat from the previous "After The Gold Rush" album, Young decided to make a Country Rock record with some local Nashville musicians. The band was dubbed The Stray Gators. The record was a massive hit, spending time atop the Billboard chart as well as producing a number 1 single in 'Heart Of Gold'. Not to mention the album featured the likes of Young's old band mates in CSN, as well as James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. The album today is still as strong as it was when it debut. In fact the popular cartoon Futurama plays off two references of this album. In one episode depicting a folk rock concert, the departing bus shows the heads of Neil as well as fellow Canadian Folk giant Joni Mitchell. In addition at one point Leela quotes a line from 'A Man Needs A Maid'. In the end this seems to be the definitive Neil Young record.

One question I get asked a lot is about my chops. My sideburns have been a part of my identity for the better part of fifteen years now. People seem to be surprised that, one, I can grow them and they looks decent and two like it's something they've never seen. There's reason behind why I have them and I like having some mystery behind them. Many years ago when I found Neil Young, I really didn't know what the guy looked like. By this time we had settled in the desert and for once in my life I had cable TV. Doesn't sound like much, but it was a big deal for us. So one night we were flipping through the channels and Neil Young's Unplugged was on. You remember when artists used to play on MTV, yeah it's a foggy memory. There's an epic story behind that Unplugged too, but alas that's another story. So for those of you who have seen Neil, you realize for the majority of his career he's had long hair and chops. I, wanting a change in my tired old hair style, decided to grow the chops. The hair thing still really hasn't worked out, I'm sad to say. So in the end my chops are simply an homage to Neil Young and my appreciation for his music. So much for the mystery.

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