By Trevor “T.R.” Hosier
As the song says, “I’ve been to Hollywood I’ve been to Redwood, I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold”. While these lyrics are actually true for this writer, it was my recent visit to Redwood City California (the land of Neil Young) that proved most worthy of print.
Trevor and William Mitchell
In brief, the museum has long hoped to secure one of Neil’s guitars for display. Having recently seen some of Neil’s property up for auction in support of his Lincvolt project, timing seemed right to make contact. Following correspondence with William Mitchell of
Shakey Pictures, a special arrangement was made with Neil to acquire his vintage 1970’s Texan acoustic. The piece was extensively played by Neil, used to write the classic song “Natural Beauty”, and accompanied him on his tour bus. Neil also saw fit to sign this wonderful guitar for the Youngtown Museum and in writing designated it “Natural Beauty”. Neil also donated and signed a Blue Ray edition of his Archives Vol. 1 for the museum.
In keeping with the occasion, it only seemed fitting that we pick up these historic pieces in person and so my wife and I set off for Redwood City. The five day adventure that followed can only be described as amazing. Although Neil was not available this time around due to various commitments, our hosts, Larry L.A. Johnson and Will Mitchell of Neil’s company “Shakey Pictures” were available to us throughout the week. Let me tell you, if it’s true we are judged by the company we keep, these two guys are doing Neil proud. Knowledgeable, dedicated, and passionate Neil insiders, Larry and Will are truly outstanding talents themselves and made our visit even better than expected.
Trevor, Larry L.A. Johnson and Lincvolt
An exclusive tour of Neil’s warehouse archives proved to be mind blowing! A secret location, I was half expecting to have a black hood placed over our head’s prior to visiting the site, (I’m sworn to secrecy) imagine a huge warehouse filled with everything Neil Young… stage back-drops and props from decades of touring, vintage cars, motorcycles (got to sit on one), and even a Hearse that I figured was “Mort 3”. There was more…paintings from the Chrome Dreams tour, Rust Never Sleeps costumes, tour gear, instruments, promotional items, original documents including Scott Young’s personal scrap book lovingly put together with newspaper clippings and articles about his son and so much more….. I thought, this must be Neil Young heaven man! Next stop, Lincvolt garage. If you’re not familiar with Neil’s Lincvolt project you had better Google it.
Johnathan Goodwin Trevor and Brenda Hosier and of course Lincvolt
Simply an awesome project, we met up with “Johnny Magic” himself… Johnathan Goodwin is the wizard mechanic/technician working on Lincvolt as immortalized in the song by the same name from Neil’s Fork in The Road CD. Lincvolt itself, the vintage Lincoln convertible, has been modified and morphed into an environmentally friendly super car… still a work in progress. My wife and I were gifted two Lincvolt crew jackets and scored some terrific pictures with the car, Johnathan, and L.A. Johnson… what a day. If all this wasn’t enough, our host behind the scene was unable to use his San Jose hockey tickets that week. In his place, my wife Brenda and I along with Larry J. attended the game.
Hey hey what more can we say? A wonderful week, gracious hosts, and lots of fun. Our sincere thanks to Neil Young, Larry Johnson, and Will Mitchell who made it happen. Now, we invite you to come see Neil’s guitar…”Natural Beauty” at the Youngtown Museum.
