2009

For this month’s installment of Through The Years – the column in which we prepare a YouTube playlist featuring a video from each year of an artist’s career – we’re focusing on the music of Neil Young.

We start with audio from Motown recording artists The Mynah Birds – a group that featured Neil and Rick “Superfreak” James – and continue with a variety of Young’s greatest hits such as Down By The River, The Loner and Like A Hurricane along with the occasional deep album cut. There are plenty of guests along the way including Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Neil’s train collection and even critics Siskel and Ebert. Take a look…

READ ON for a Neil Young – Through The Years song list…

Jimmy Fallon paid tribute to the Yacht Rock era by welcoming genre legends Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross to Late Night for a rendition of Ride Like The Wind backed by Fallon’s house band, The Roots…

McDonald, Cross & The Roots – Ride Like The Wind

READ ON for a web-exclusive of Cross performing Sailing…

Words: Tim J. Nelson

1:25 p.m. on 8/30/2009 – Columbia, Maryland. A new venue proved to be a positive for this year’s fourth annual Virgin Mobile Festival, this year rebranded as the FreeFest. That’s right, for a modest donation – five bucks per free ticket – a fan of music festivals could buy entry into Sir Richard Branson’s celebration of music, summer, commerce, and, well, fun.

Flying Fun is what you call two skydivers soaring over the lawn crowd at Columbia’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, the iconic host to such past acts as Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, everyone’s eyes searching skyward, lots of shielding of eyes with hands, and oohing and ahhing as the daredevils land on the roof of the outdoor venue. On the roof, Sir Rich greeted them with champagne, opened the bottle, and then proceeded to christen the crowd with the sparkling-wine spray; it was a classy way to start the fest.

The partnership of Virgin, Branson, who is the CEO of Virgin, and independent promoter, Seth Hurwitz, who owns I.M.P., is continuing to prove it is a successful one. For a free show, there wasn’t any clear evidence of skimping, especially on the music talent. A quick overview:

As some christened fans wiped the champagne from their hair, Mates of State launched into their ’80s-inspired pop rock shortly after half-past one. The duo played Goods, ha ha, Fraud in the 80s, among others, and even covered a Tom Waits song, Long Way Home. Their hard-to-not-nod-your-head-to songs, with their up-beat tempo and snappy melodies, were a great warm up for the more-than-ready crowd.

READ ON for more from Tim about the FreeFest…