More on people I admire

After I posted my regards to Kurt Vonnegut, I realized that you may not have seen my previous posting about my inspirations. The reason is that I posted it on my short-lived political blog, "Left Over Right". I deleted the blog after just a few weeks because the only readers I seemed to attract were ignorant rednecks that preferred to reiterate the script from FoxNews rather than intelligently discuss the issues I presented. Anyway, here is my post about Neil Young: I am sitting here watching Neil Young on The Daily Show. Just seeing him up and about makes me feel good. He is just cracking me up. So, why am I writing a blog on this web site about Neil Young? What does he have to do with Politics? For me, a great deal. I share a little bit about myself with you her. I am the youngest of nine kids. Although I wasn't born until 1963, all five of my older brothers all became draft age during the Vietnam War. So my family was very attuned to what was going on in Southeast Asia. Every night, we watched the Evening News with Walter Cronkite and got to see the names of the soldiers that were killed in action that day. One of the ways to ease the tension during that time was to listen to music. My third oldest brother really liked "The Buffalo Springfield" and then Neil Young. I vividly remember listen to Neil's albums. "Everyone Knows this is Nowhere" came out in 1969. I asked my brother to play it over and over. Within a week, I knew all the words to "Cowgirl in the Sand". That song was the reason I learned to use a stereo. My brother got so sick of playing it for me, he taught me how to take the album out by the side, place it on the turntable, clean it with the brush and gently place the needle on the vinyl. Ever since then, I have been listening to Neil. Listening to Neil had a huge impact on my life. The words he sings, the structure of both the music and the lyrics and the tremor of his voice that speak directly to me. His songs made sense to me when I was six and they still make sense to me now. From the country sounds of "Heart of Gold" to the grunge of "Rockin' in the Free World" to the weird trance music of "Transformer Man", they make sense to me. The effect is much greater than the sum of the parts. Neil's songs are about more than music, they are about more than political statement, they are about a philosophy of life. There are other artists that have touched me in very similar way, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Henry Bohnam, Kurt Cobain, Vincent Van Gogh, Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck. Some of them are still doing it, some unfortunately passed before their time. All of these individuals made and continue to make positive impacts on the world. They have left important messages that we should all heed. Luckily for us, by using the permanent media available to them we can review their work over and over to remind us of the message. Technorati Tags: Fiction, Online Book, Chapter, rebeleyeball, Paul Gavin IceRocket Tags: Fiction, Blook, Chapter, rebeleyeball More stories from Paul Gavin. Info on novels Paul Gavin's Storefront. Copyright (c) 2006 Paul Gavin. All rights reserved.