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Neil Young Nation: A Quest, an Obsession (and a True Story)
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Product Description：
Neil Young will turn 60 in 2005. Kevin Chong will turn 30. To celebrate these two milestones, Chong sets off on a road trip in search of his boyhood hero. Crisscrossing the continent, he visits Winnipeg, where Young formed his first band; Toronto, where Young was a Yorkville folkie; Los Angeles, where he became a star with Buffalo Springfield; and other noteworthy stops before ending up in Seattle, where he finally sees Neil Young on stage. Along the way he spars with rabid Neil fans, talks to people who knew Young as a kid, and puzzles over Young’s strange, sometimes contradictory pronouncements on such topics as digital music, the environment, AIDS, and Ronald Reagan. More than just an entertaining account of Chong’s journey, Neil Young Nation is a celebration of rock and roll, contrarianism, the allure of the road, being cool, and aging gracefully. Amazon.com Review：
While some may be forgiven for assuming that Neil Young Nation is yet another in a crowd of Neil Young biographies, this is neither among those officially sanctioned (Shakey, Don't Be Denied) nor an unauthorized facts-be-damned waste of paper. Never having met with or spoken to the man whose name forms the title (and not wanting to, for fear his role model might be a jerk on such an occasion), Kevin Chong has written a Neil Young book that is less a biography than a memoir: upon turning 29, after spending three years creating a manuscript (for a different book) that no publisher wanted, Chong decided to stop writing fiction, and looked to Neil Young--a man who has succeeded on his own terms--for inspiration on what to do next.
Chong hatched a plan to take a road trip with three friends (Geoff, Dave, and Mark), retracing the journey Young made in early 1966, when he left Canada behind to meet up with Stephen Stills in Los Angeles, where they found immediate fame with their new band Buffalo Springfield. Along the way, Chong interviewed people who had known Young at the early stages of his musical career: former band members, classmates, girlfriends, and others. While well-referenced, what makes the book most rewarding is the dry, self-deprecating humor shared by the author and his traveling companions: "It often seemed to me that Dave and Mark lived in a parallel universe where pretty female strangers, when asked for directions, offered their services as tour guides. On certain levels, I hate them." Equally refreshing is Chong's unwillingness to gloss over some of his hero's questionable attitudes and behaviour regarding relationships and politics, pointing out many contradictions throughout his career but never letting them interfere with his respect for the music and the man. --Eric Wilson |
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