What I've Learned: Neil Young, Tom Petty, Gene Simmons
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Posts: 1,201
"What I've Learned: Neil Young
Legend, 60, Woodside, California
A best moment in music? Sometimes when I'm playing my guitar, I get to a point where it gets very cold and icy inside me. It's very refreshing. Every breath is like you're at the North Pole. Your head starts to freeze. Your inhalations are big-more air than you ever thought there is starts pouring in. There's something magical about it. Sometimes when it happens, you wonder if you're gonna be okay. Can you handle it?
Yes, there was something good that came out of having polio as a kid. Walking.
The sound of a harmonica hits you directly. There's no language barrier.
The wisest person I ever met had to be my companion in the hospital. I was recovering from complications after an operation to remove an aneurism in my brain. She was about eighty-five years old and maybe five feet tall. An old black lady from South Carolina. This young nurse wasn't really in touch with what she was doing, and the old lady would tell her how to do what she needed to do without telling her. She never talked down to her, just gave examples. I felt that this old woman must be deeply religious, but there was nothing forceful about her. I woke up one morning at a quarter to six and looked out the window. Fog was on the bridge outside the room, and I said, "Well, that's just beautiful." And she said: "Yes, it is." She turned toward me with this eighty-five-year-old face that didn't have a line on it, no strain, nothing, and she said: "So the master's not taking you. It's not your turn."
Courage is a mindless thing. People say, "Wow! How could you do that?" And you say, "How could I not do that?"
It's like having two eyes. You either look through one eye or you look through the other. Or you look through both of them. Sex is sex. Love is love. Love and sex is clear vision.
There's something peaceful about boxing. If you beat the hell out of a bag or go against a competitor, you and your reflexes will be so at one that you won't have time to think about anything else. You have to be totally yourself to box.
When I was six, I really didn't know what God was. But I did know about Sunday school. I was reading a lot about God, but I was bored. I couldn't wait to get out of Sunday school. God was secondary to the whole thing. But as time went by, I got more and more angry, to the point where I didn't like religion. Hate is a strong word. But I just kept getting angrier and angrier . . . until finally I wasn't angry anymore. I was just peaceful, because I thought: This is not fruitful for me. I rejected the whole thing and found peace in paganism. Jesus didn't go to church. I went way back before Jesus. Back to the forest, to the wheat fields, to the river, to the ocean. I go where the wind is. That's my church.
Epilepsy taught me that we're not in control of ourselves.
Most people think it's the other way around: that time is going faster and we're doing less. But really time seems to be going faster because we're cramming so much into it.
Our education system basically strives for normal -- which is too bad. Sometimes the exceptional is classified as abnormal and pushed aside.
One thing that has come out of having children with cerebral palsy is strength. At first it made me very angry. I was almost looking for a fight. I was always looking for someone to criticize my son in my presence. I would envision different scenarios in which I would become violent reacting to people's reactions to my children -- especially to my severely handicapped child. Eventually, he taught me that was not necessary. Just by being himself. By being a gift to us. He showed us how to have faith and belief and inner strength and to never give up. I look around and see people hurting themselves for no reason. Drinking too much. Taking drugs. Beating themselves up in some psychological way. That really bothers me, knowing that these people got everything they needed to succeed. All they have to do is believe in themselves and in the gifts they're wasting. And yet there are all these other people on the planet who have none of the gifts that are apparent. The gifts are all locked up inside, yet their spirits are so strong that they just keep on going. And I think: This person who has this spirit, why can't he have some of the outward gifts?
Maybe this is a little too thoughtful, but we're all just passengers in a way.
The best is approaching. I have everything -- well, not everything, but a lot of things that I've accumulated through my life experiences. It's easier to communicate through music than it ever has been before. It's easier to play. It's easier to sing. It's easier to write. Nothing is forced.
When my doctor discovered the aneurism in my brain, he said I'd had it for about a hundred years. He told me I'd had it for such a long time that I shouldn't worry about it … but that we'd have to get rid of it immediately. Yeah, that's Zen medicine. He's very wise. I trusted him completely. All the people who took care of me were absolutely the best at what they do -- even though there was a complication, a complication that has a one-in-twenty-seven-hundred chance of happening in my type of operation. They go into your brain through an artery in your thigh. Later, when I was out of the hospital, my leg exploded. I was out on the street and it just popped. My shoe was full of blood. I was in some serious trouble. I was about fifty yards from the hotel and I just made it. The ambulance came about ten minutes later. I don't know if I need to go into this. I don't know if the event is important. But the result was. That's what led me to that lady. The wisest person I've ever met.
What I've Learned: Tom Petty
Rock star, 56, Malibu, California
I don't think I've learned anything that I didn't already know. I just didn't recognize it at first.
When I met Elvis, we didn't really have a conversation. I was introduced by my uncle, and he sort of grunted my way. What stays with me is the whole scene. I had never seen a real mob scene before. I was really young and impressionable. Elvis really did look -- he looked sort of not real, as if he were glowing. He was astounding, even spiritual. It was like a procession in church: a line of white Cadillacs and mohair suits and pompadours so black, they were blue.
The energy of the crowd is insane. Twenty thousand people. It's the biggest jolt of adrenaline. It's very hard to explain. You know the old story about the woman lifting the car off her kid? It's in that realm. You can actually hurt yourself and not know it.
If you're phony, they will feel it in the farthest row of the arena. You have to really care. And you have to make yourself care time and time again.
I remember John Lennon saying, "Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock?" You've got to keep that in perspective. At the end of the day, they're just phonograph records.
Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success.
I feel sorry for kids these days. They get so much homework. Remember the days when we put a belt around our two books and carried them home? Now they're dragging a suitcase. They have school all day, then homework from six until eleven. There's no time left to be creative. The hardest part for me is when my thirteen-year-old is complaining about the workload. I agree with him. I'm supposed to be responsible and support the teacher. But it's like, "You're right, son. This is (crap)."
If we're born in God's image, then God knows how we can (screw) up. And he knows that you really didn't mean it.
I like to be an optimist, but I like to be a realist, too.
The war in Iraq is shameful. Whether you're pro or con Bush, you've got to admit: The guy lied. And he continues to do so. I can't understand why he's just not run out on a rail. To send somebody's kids off and have them killed for no good reason -- he's going to have his day in hell for that. I wouldn't want that karma.
When you kill somebody's little sister with a missile, he's going to hate you forever. And the next generation will hate you even more.
The great thing about the Wilburys was that none of us had to take the heat by ourselves. I was just a member of the band. Nobody felt like he was above anybody else. We had such a good time.
There used to be this real sense of community integrity in rock. It has really eroded. Everyone seems to be on their own now.
When my record company rejected Full Moon Fever, I was hurt so bad. I was pretty far along in my career at that point. I'd never had anything rejected; I'd never really even had a comment. So when that happened, it was really just a board to the forehead. But then finally I picked myself up. I said, "I'm not buying this, there's nothing wrong, I really like this record." And then I waited awhile, until the top regime at the record company changed. And I came back and I played them the same record, and they were overjoyed. It turned out to be a huge hit.
"Free Fallin'" is a very good song. Maybe it would be one of my favorites if it hadn't become this huge anthem. But I'm grateful that people like it.
I guess if I were this age and nothing had gone right, it would really be bad.
What I've learned about marriage: You need to have each other's back; you have to be a kind of team going through life. That's beautiful -- to have that kind of friendship. You're going to need it when you get old.
Rock 'n' roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the roll and called it rock, which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It's just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it's sort of become like professional wrestling. The fans know it's phony, but they don't care.
I couldn't exist nowadays. I could never have built a career like I've had if I were just starting out now. Radio doesn't take a chance on anything anymore; they've streamlined the playlists to the lowest common denominator. It's really kind of silly that they think people would rather hear "Stairway to Heaven" one more time than a new song.
As you're coming up, you're recognized song for song or album for album. What's changed these days is that the man who approaches me on the street is more or less thanking me for a body of work -- the soundtrack to his life, as a lot of them say. And that's a wonderful feeling.
It's all an artist can ask."
good stuff!...... now for some neat contrast.... we move on to this asshole.....
Legend, 60, Woodside, California
A best moment in music? Sometimes when I'm playing my guitar, I get to a point where it gets very cold and icy inside me. It's very refreshing. Every breath is like you're at the North Pole. Your head starts to freeze. Your inhalations are big-more air than you ever thought there is starts pouring in. There's something magical about it. Sometimes when it happens, you wonder if you're gonna be okay. Can you handle it?
Yes, there was something good that came out of having polio as a kid. Walking.
The sound of a harmonica hits you directly. There's no language barrier.
The wisest person I ever met had to be my companion in the hospital. I was recovering from complications after an operation to remove an aneurism in my brain. She was about eighty-five years old and maybe five feet tall. An old black lady from South Carolina. This young nurse wasn't really in touch with what she was doing, and the old lady would tell her how to do what she needed to do without telling her. She never talked down to her, just gave examples. I felt that this old woman must be deeply religious, but there was nothing forceful about her. I woke up one morning at a quarter to six and looked out the window. Fog was on the bridge outside the room, and I said, "Well, that's just beautiful." And she said: "Yes, it is." She turned toward me with this eighty-five-year-old face that didn't have a line on it, no strain, nothing, and she said: "So the master's not taking you. It's not your turn."
Courage is a mindless thing. People say, "Wow! How could you do that?" And you say, "How could I not do that?"
It's like having two eyes. You either look through one eye or you look through the other. Or you look through both of them. Sex is sex. Love is love. Love and sex is clear vision.
There's something peaceful about boxing. If you beat the hell out of a bag or go against a competitor, you and your reflexes will be so at one that you won't have time to think about anything else. You have to be totally yourself to box.
When I was six, I really didn't know what God was. But I did know about Sunday school. I was reading a lot about God, but I was bored. I couldn't wait to get out of Sunday school. God was secondary to the whole thing. But as time went by, I got more and more angry, to the point where I didn't like religion. Hate is a strong word. But I just kept getting angrier and angrier . . . until finally I wasn't angry anymore. I was just peaceful, because I thought: This is not fruitful for me. I rejected the whole thing and found peace in paganism. Jesus didn't go to church. I went way back before Jesus. Back to the forest, to the wheat fields, to the river, to the ocean. I go where the wind is. That's my church.
Epilepsy taught me that we're not in control of ourselves.
Most people think it's the other way around: that time is going faster and we're doing less. But really time seems to be going faster because we're cramming so much into it.
Our education system basically strives for normal -- which is too bad. Sometimes the exceptional is classified as abnormal and pushed aside.
One thing that has come out of having children with cerebral palsy is strength. At first it made me very angry. I was almost looking for a fight. I was always looking for someone to criticize my son in my presence. I would envision different scenarios in which I would become violent reacting to people's reactions to my children -- especially to my severely handicapped child. Eventually, he taught me that was not necessary. Just by being himself. By being a gift to us. He showed us how to have faith and belief and inner strength and to never give up. I look around and see people hurting themselves for no reason. Drinking too much. Taking drugs. Beating themselves up in some psychological way. That really bothers me, knowing that these people got everything they needed to succeed. All they have to do is believe in themselves and in the gifts they're wasting. And yet there are all these other people on the planet who have none of the gifts that are apparent. The gifts are all locked up inside, yet their spirits are so strong that they just keep on going. And I think: This person who has this spirit, why can't he have some of the outward gifts?
Maybe this is a little too thoughtful, but we're all just passengers in a way.
The best is approaching. I have everything -- well, not everything, but a lot of things that I've accumulated through my life experiences. It's easier to communicate through music than it ever has been before. It's easier to play. It's easier to sing. It's easier to write. Nothing is forced.
When my doctor discovered the aneurism in my brain, he said I'd had it for about a hundred years. He told me I'd had it for such a long time that I shouldn't worry about it … but that we'd have to get rid of it immediately. Yeah, that's Zen medicine. He's very wise. I trusted him completely. All the people who took care of me were absolutely the best at what they do -- even though there was a complication, a complication that has a one-in-twenty-seven-hundred chance of happening in my type of operation. They go into your brain through an artery in your thigh. Later, when I was out of the hospital, my leg exploded. I was out on the street and it just popped. My shoe was full of blood. I was in some serious trouble. I was about fifty yards from the hotel and I just made it. The ambulance came about ten minutes later. I don't know if I need to go into this. I don't know if the event is important. But the result was. That's what led me to that lady. The wisest person I've ever met.
What I've Learned: Tom Petty
Rock star, 56, Malibu, California
I don't think I've learned anything that I didn't already know. I just didn't recognize it at first.
When I met Elvis, we didn't really have a conversation. I was introduced by my uncle, and he sort of grunted my way. What stays with me is the whole scene. I had never seen a real mob scene before. I was really young and impressionable. Elvis really did look -- he looked sort of not real, as if he were glowing. He was astounding, even spiritual. It was like a procession in church: a line of white Cadillacs and mohair suits and pompadours so black, they were blue.
The energy of the crowd is insane. Twenty thousand people. It's the biggest jolt of adrenaline. It's very hard to explain. You know the old story about the woman lifting the car off her kid? It's in that realm. You can actually hurt yourself and not know it.
If you're phony, they will feel it in the farthest row of the arena. You have to really care. And you have to make yourself care time and time again.
I remember John Lennon saying, "Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock?" You've got to keep that in perspective. At the end of the day, they're just phonograph records.
Do something you really like, and hopefully it pays the rent. As far as I'm concerned, that's success.
I feel sorry for kids these days. They get so much homework. Remember the days when we put a belt around our two books and carried them home? Now they're dragging a suitcase. They have school all day, then homework from six until eleven. There's no time left to be creative. The hardest part for me is when my thirteen-year-old is complaining about the workload. I agree with him. I'm supposed to be responsible and support the teacher. But it's like, "You're right, son. This is (crap)."
If we're born in God's image, then God knows how we can (screw) up. And he knows that you really didn't mean it.
I like to be an optimist, but I like to be a realist, too.
The war in Iraq is shameful. Whether you're pro or con Bush, you've got to admit: The guy lied. And he continues to do so. I can't understand why he's just not run out on a rail. To send somebody's kids off and have them killed for no good reason -- he's going to have his day in hell for that. I wouldn't want that karma.
When you kill somebody's little sister with a missile, he's going to hate you forever. And the next generation will hate you even more.
The great thing about the Wilburys was that none of us had to take the heat by ourselves. I was just a member of the band. Nobody felt like he was above anybody else. We had such a good time.
There used to be this real sense of community integrity in rock. It has really eroded. Everyone seems to be on their own now.
When my record company rejected Full Moon Fever, I was hurt so bad. I was pretty far along in my career at that point. I'd never had anything rejected; I'd never really even had a comment. So when that happened, it was really just a board to the forehead. But then finally I picked myself up. I said, "I'm not buying this, there's nothing wrong, I really like this record." And then I waited awhile, until the top regime at the record company changed. And I came back and I played them the same record, and they were overjoyed. It turned out to be a huge hit.
"Free Fallin'" is a very good song. Maybe it would be one of my favorites if it hadn't become this huge anthem. But I'm grateful that people like it.
I guess if I were this age and nothing had gone right, it would really be bad.
What I've learned about marriage: You need to have each other's back; you have to be a kind of team going through life. That's beautiful -- to have that kind of friendship. You're going to need it when you get old.
Rock 'n' roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the roll and called it rock, which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It's just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it's sort of become like professional wrestling. The fans know it's phony, but they don't care.
I couldn't exist nowadays. I could never have built a career like I've had if I were just starting out now. Radio doesn't take a chance on anything anymore; they've streamlined the playlists to the lowest common denominator. It's really kind of silly that they think people would rather hear "Stairway to Heaven" one more time than a new song.
As you're coming up, you're recognized song for song or album for album. What's changed these days is that the man who approaches me on the street is more or less thanking me for a body of work -- the soundtrack to his life, as a lot of them say. And that's a wonderful feeling.
It's all an artist can ask."
good stuff!...... now for some neat contrast.... we move on to this asshole.....
09/04/05 - Calgary, AB
08/02/07 - LOLLA!!!
08/02/07 - LOLLA!!!
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Comments
Rock star, 52, New York
You can't argue with facts and figures. Either people want it, in which case they pay for it, or it's two guys sitting around at the Plaza having a discussion, which means nothing. I mean, Titanic. I wasn't crazy about the movie. But you know what? I'm gonna shut up, because the people have spoken. End of story!
My mother had a horrific life. At 14, she was in the Nazi concentration camps. Her sense about life now is, every day above ground is a good day. Just make yourself happy and don't hurt yourself. Make yourself happy.
Kiss is the number-one American band in gold-record sales. In the world, only the Beatles and the Stones are ahead of us. Every other band should be wiping my ass. The line forms over there to the left.
Prostitute yourself. As far as I'm concerned, that's even braver than waiting for the public to catch on.
I want more guys like Kurt Cobain and Jerry Garcia to become dried-up drug addicts and kill themselves. I totally defend all these rock stars' right to become heroin addicts and die. I want them all to die and get out of my way.
Up until the Asians started doing better in math, the Jews were the geniuses of the world! Einstein and almost every Nobel prize-forget about it, they're Jews! And that's because we don't play basketball. We study.
Anybody who picks up a guitar and tells you that there's some inner message that they're trying to convey … it's nonsense. They're not being honest. The reason they're doing this is they wanna get lots of chicks and they don't want to work for a living.
There's no message! Kiss is a Fourth of July fireworks show with a backbeat.
People say, "I want to get laid a lot and make lots of money." That's not the right order.
Dress British, think Yiddish.
A whore, in my estimation, has more credibility than a wife, and I'll tell you why. A wife is supposed to marry you for love. A whore is not there for love, she's there to service you. Now, the difference between them is a whore, before she does her work, will tell you exactly what it is. She'll tell you, "Blow job? This'll cost you seventy-five dollars. This is not love, and after I'm done I never want to see you again." Full disclosure is what they call it in court. A wife will tell you sh**. A wife will tell you nothing. She's about to marry you. If you get divorced, she's going to take 50 percent of your gross pretax dollars and try to get more. Now, before you get married, if you dare bring up the notion, "By the way, let's just be completely honest with each other, what happens if we break up?" she will cry and tell you, "That's so unromantic." You know who's more credible? The whore.
"You can't buy love with money." Only a poor person says that.
Just because I'm Jack Nicholson in the insane asylum doesn't mean I'm one of them. It's just where I live. You know, it's … I'm Gene Simmons, and all the others are pretenders to the throne. I love that phrase. I'm gonna love reading that back.
If you're building a house, or doing anything, time is what you've got. Well, there's effort, but you need time. The more time you put into something, the better stuff you can make. So, what I do is, I work seven days a week. I don't take vacations. Never have, actually. So I can put in more time. And I'm sober. I don't sleep all that much, but when I do, it's sound.
When you go into a restaurant and you ask a chef to make you a spinach soufflé, do you really care whether he personally likes spinach soufflés? No! It's his job to make you the best spinach soufflé you've ever had, whether he likes it or not. I'd like to think I'm a chef. I'm gonna make you the best goddamn spinach soufflé you ever had, you'll pay me for it, and I'll be happy you did.
You shall not covet thy neighbor's wife? Well, how about if she goddamn covets me? What do you think about that?
I think Christians are wrong. They're wrong because you're not judged by your actions, you're judged by your beliefs, which is to say that if you're Hitler and right before you die, you say, "Jesus, I'm sorry," you get a better chance of going to heaven than the millions of people you killed.
The Koran is actually a beautiful book. Some of it has some good ideas. But practically speaking, these guys are out of their minds.
You gotta hang on to life. You can let them drag you kicking and screaming off this earth, or you can sit with your colostomy bag and watch CNN. This old bastard who married Anna Nicole Smith? I get it. What are you gonna do, hang out with Grandma? Biology says you shouldn't. Biology says, "Get a young one."
I think I know it all, relatively speaking.
My mother used to say this to me when I was a kid: "I'd throw myself in front of a truck for you." Over and over again. I didn't know what the hell she was talking about. "What do you mean, you want to throw . . . you'll die." I say that to my kids now.
My last meal? A Double Whopper and a Linzer tart.
08/02/07 - LOLLA!!!
08/02/07 - LOLLA!!!
Tom Petty's and Neil Young's speak well.
...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.
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right on tom!