Neil's Golden Heart

Given the opportunity to see a really good Neil Young concert for seven bucks , I simply couldn't pass it up. Actually, it wasn't really a concert, it was Johnathan Demme's new film, Heart of Gold. Still, it felt like a concert to me. I found myself wanting to clap and whistle after every song, and then I'd stop myself... "oh yeah, I'm in a movie theatre." After awhile I even forgot that I was hearing this music through the faded sound system of an old neighborhood cinema. All of the music touched me deeply.

In August 2005, Neil Young and friends (including a choir, string ensemble and horn section) performed for two consecutive nights at Nashville's legendary Ryman Auditorium. This came on the heels of Neil's brush with death due to a brain aneurysm and the completion of his grammy-nominated album, Prairie Wind. He was inspired and his band was sharp as a tack. In addition to that, Neil had the brilliant sense to make sure that this very special moment was captured by one of the finest cinematographers around. I own a DVD copy of Demme's last concert film, Stop Making Sense, by The Talking Heads. I've watched it dozens of times and its still good. In this new film, the combination of epic musical performance and stunning filmmaking left me feeling very satisfied.

During the opening set, Neil's new material from Prairie Wind was revealed to me in a deeper way. I liked all of it. The second set brought an excellent mix of material from Harvest, Harvest Moon and Comes A Time. For the first time ever, I got to see Neil play his legendary banjo-guitar on Old King. The display of several vintage Martin and Gibson guitars left my mouth watering. The performance of Old Man was the best I've ever heard that song, in no small part due to the story that Neil told prior to the song that revealed to all of us who the old man really was. Neil's storytelling and dry wit was in top form throughout the show.

Most of the critics are falling over themselves in praise of this film and of Young himself. Perhaps Neil's illness revealed his mortality, and a lot of people woke up to the fact that "Shakey" is still here, making great music just like he has for the past 40 years. This is no surprise to those of us who have been paying closer attention. Oh sure, I've had to indulge Neil his creative whims, but he always comes back to knock me on my tail one more time. Upon leaving the theatre, my friend Willy echoed the voice of another in saying, "Neil's a genius." Agreed. To me, Neil is like an old friend. I'm just glad I get to share the planet with him. He has influenced my own musical creativity in countless ways. When I got home, the first thing I did was grab my guitar and lower the "E" string to a "D", dropped D tuning, with the echoes of Neil's beautiful solo encore tune, The Old Laughing Lady, still ringing in my ears.

Please take my advice. Please take my advice. Everyone who reads this blog should go and see this film. You'll dig it. And a few of my friends that read this blog (you know who you are) would be making a huge mistake by not seeing this film on the big screen during its limited run. Are we clear? By the way, it's in Portland for two more days.

I'm Through With Paul

I've been a Portland Trail Blazer fan since the beginning of the franchise in 1971. I have stuck with my team through thick and thin for all those years. It has mostly been a fun ride, but recent years have tested my patience. Up until now, I've considered the fact that our owner was the 7th richest man in the world to be a considerable asset. When it came time to come up with the goods to land a Scottie Pippen, Paul could handle it, no problem. But as of last Friday, I'm through with Paul Allen, and look forward to the day the Blazers are through with him too. Better known as the "Accidental Zillionare", Allen has made one bad business decision after another in regards to the Blazers. He has the financial assets to solve all of his own problems, but he has chosen to come begging to the city of Portland for financial assistance. All of this due to his own poor management. I could go on and on about my disappointment, but a couple of other Oregonian journalists have done a better job than I could. Check out these stories by Steve Duin and John Canzano, and I think you'll end up agreeing with me. It's time for Paul to go. Hey, I hear the Sonics are in trouble up in Seattle. That would be a perfect fit. See ya, Paul.

The Jihad of Competitive Athletics

Holy Mohammad! There's just so much anger in the world of radical Islam these days. Everywhere I turn, I hear cries of "blasphemy". They're burning down embassies because of cartoons in European newspapers. They rant and scream death to the American Great Satan at the drop of a hat. They want to remove Israel from the map as we know it. These guys are just way too wound up! They need another outlet for all of their angst.

When is the last time you went out into the streets with a huge crowd and hollered and yelled for the destruction of your enemy? Well for me, the last time I did that was when I went to an OSU football game last November at Reser Stadium. I yelled, screamed, cheered and went through a huge range of emotions. I got mad at the refs, those bastards. I laughed. I cried. And when it was over, I felt better for it, even though we lost to the Stanford Cardinal. In fact, on a smaller scale, I repeat that same emotional mantra whenever I watch the Portland Trail Blazers play on TV. It keeps me going. I feel better about the world around me. I look forward to my next "outlet".

I've begun thinking for awhile now that there's something in this Western cultural tradition that might make sense for the foreign policy of the United States. I'm serious too. What if Condolezza Rice began immediately establishing amateur and professional sports teams all over the place in Afghanistan and Iraq? I mean what do they have to root for now? Weightlifters? Greco-Roman Wrestlers? Crappy Olympic squads? When our troops arrived a few years ago, they were using the Kabul soccer stadium for beheadings! These people need a team to root for! They need to wear the colors. They need cool logos on their drab clothing. They need to get their testosterone-fueled rage release over the next big game between Falujah and Baghdad. They can march in the streets about it. They can build a giant bonfire and burn the enemy flag! It doesn't really matter what sport it is, but it should involve at least some level of violence. Rugby would be really great in that part of the world. American football would be excellent as well. We might have to start with soccer and work up from there. Maybe there is some new cross-breed sport that would really get the crowd lathered up. Maybe it involves camels and big sticks.

It could begin with the youngsters getting enrolled into "little leagues" as soon as possible. At the same time, professional teams should be established in every major city. I think the buzz would begin to spread, and pretty soon new divisions would begin popping up in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and, one can only hope, in Iran as well. It would take a few years, but I predict that we'd begin to see fewer and fewer "Death to the West" mob scenes. And with that, I'm guessing we'd begin seeing fewer suicide bombers as well. I mean why blow yourself up when you could be the star Striker for the Basra Boomers and still get all the chicks (think 40 virgins) after the game.

I think our Western society is no less violent and full-of-righteous-rage than our counterparts in the Middle East. We just have football, baseball, basketball, hockey and much. much more to help us deal with it. Think about it. When we defeated the Japanese at the end of World War II, what did we do within a few years? We started setting up baseball leagues! And look at Japan now. They don't want to fight with anyone. They're no longer hell-bent on world domination. They get the "sports thing". Maybe in addition to establishing democratic political systems across the Middle East, the United States and Europe should be spreading the emotional freedom, sheer joy, and personal discipline that comes in the form of competitive athletics. It just might work.

Watch Out For The Vandals

I know a few Idaho Vandal fans, and they have been suffering at the bottom of the college football world for a long time. I can sympathize with them, since my Oregon State Beavers suffered so many consecutive losing seasons in the recent past. But the times they are a changin'. The University of Idaho announced today that they have hired Dennis Erickson as their new head football coach. He coached there many years ago as a young rising star. Since then, he has won everywhere he has coached in college football. There's no doubt about it. He will also win at Idaho... and then he'll be gone with the wind. But in the meantime, it will be good times in Moscow. Wanna bet?

Guess who's worried. The Boise State Broncos. They just lost head coach Dan Hawkins to the University of Colorado, and now the Vandals are poised to steal all of their recruits. The football winds in Idaho are blowing north.

Like He Said

Kevin Hench at Fox Sports has a pretty good summary of the Super Bowl officiating. Are these guys from the Pac-10?

I Thought The Hawks Would Win

I don't follow the Seahawks as fervently as I do the Oregon State Beavers, the Portland Trailblazers or the Seattle Mariners, but they are my pro football team of choice. I started following them when I lived in Spokane back in the 1980's. Its been fun to see them finally rise to the top. They've earned it. They have a great team and a great coach, not to mention the richest owner in sports. I thought that this team would beat the Pittsburgh Steelers today. I still can't quite get my brain around how they lost. I'm not depressed or anything... it was a fun game to watch.

Let me give some credit to Pittsburgh for a second. They delivered on two excellent touchdown plays in the second half. Willie Parker's 75-yard run and the trick pass from Randle-El to Hines Ward were things of beauty. They didn't make many mistakes. Really just the one big interception pass to Kelly Herndon. But that's enough of that.

Seattle quickly dispelled the myth that Pittsburgh's defense was too much for them. The Steelers vaunted "D" were on their heels the entire first half. Just when it seemed like the Seahawks were about to score, something would go wrong. Usually a dumb penalty, or a dropped pass or a surprisingly poor call by the ref. How the first half ended with the Steelers up 7-3, I'll never quite figure out. I thought Seattle totally out-played them. Pittsburgh's offense never looked that great... except for the previously mentioned 2 big plays in the second half.

Its always the little things that count. Did Roethlisberger really score a touchdown on that 3-down late in the second quarter? I don't think so... he was just short. Should have been a field goal on that drive at best. Seattle's Darrell Jackson caught a touchdown pass in the first quarter, but it was called back because of a very slow and late flag because of a "push off". You have got to be kidding me. "I don't think I touched him" Jackson said. "I was very surprised when I got the call." Other bad calls took their toll over the course of the game. The chop block call on Hasselbeck. The invisible holding call on Sean Locklear that negated the successful pass to Jeramy Stevens on the Pittsburgh two-yard line. All of these little things ended up pushing Pittsburgh into the driver's seat.

Eventually the Seahawks were in too deep of a hole. Hasselbeck's woefully thrown interception pass to Ike Taylor pretty much put an end to things. That was so unlike the usually reliable Hawks QB. By that point, the Steelers cruised to an easy finish. In the end, the Seahawks were not good enough to overcome all of their mistakes and the terrible calls.

Don't get me wrong. I really do like the Steelers. I like a lot of their players and I like their blue-collar culture. I like Jerome Bettis. I really like Troy Polamalu, who played his high-school football in Douglas, Oregon. I'm happy for them. They really did beat some great teams to win this title. They took care of business today in a way that Seattle simply could not.

I expect to see the Seahawks right back in the hunt next year. I hope they are able to hang on to Shawn Alexander and a few other key free agents during the off-season.

So who's my player-of-the game?

Referee Bill Leavy... and Mike Holmgren agrees with me.