The Resurrection of Neil Young

Monday, Sep. 26, 2005 By JOSH TYRANGIEL
GIVING A HAND: The veteran rocker turned out for Farm Aid last week
RICK DIAMOND / WIRE IMAGE
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DID YOU FEEL AT ALL CURSED THAT TWO OF YOUR CHILDREN WERE BORN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY?

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Yeah. It took time to get used to the fact that it wasn't just one, but two. Eventually Pegi [his wife of 27 years] and I just came to the understanding that we had been chosen, and this is one of the things we're doing with our life, turning this situation into something positive for all kinds of kids. One of the things we've done with the Bridge School [the Hillsborough, Calif., school the Youngs founded in 1986] is to make a place where nonverbal, physically challenged kids can communicate through technology and alternative methods of communication.

TELL ME ABOUT SOME OF THE DEVICES YOU HAVE INVENTED TO ENHANCE YOUR COMMUNICATION WITH BEN.

When he was a kid, we got into electric trains, and at first I hooked him up so he could turn the trains on and off. Then I developed a command-and-control system so the train could hear Ben send directions. Now he can really control the whole thing--and, of course, he wants to make it go as fast as possible and cause wrecks. When he was young, he used to laugh his butt off every time he derailed the train because I had to put it back on. We've also developed interfaces so he can use his computer and do things that are part of daily life.

DO YOU HOLD PATENTS ON THIS STUFF?

Yeah, I got patents on the model-railroad controls. I'm a part owner in Lionel [the electric-train company], and we just developed a whole new system, and I worked on that too. It's meditation for me. It's such a relief to escape musicmaking and the pressure of music, to release it all in algorithms and theory of operations.

IS IT TRUE THAT THE SUM OF YOUR MUSIC EDUCATION IS TWO GUITAR LESSONS?

One. Maybe two. I either quit after the first one and didn't go back for the second one, or I went to the second one and that was enough. I don't think the guitar lesson hurt me--I just realized I didn't need it. I figured out what to do with a guitar pretty quick on my own.

ONE OF YOUR FIRST BANDS WAS CALLED THE MYNAH BIRDS, AND THE SINGER WAS NONE OTHER THAN THE LATE RICK JAMES. WHAT ON EARTH DID THAT SOUND LIKE?

The Mynah Birds were one of the best rock bands I ever played with. We were like a Stones knock-off, but we had original material too. I played an electric 12-string. We were funky. There was no way around it. But we were young and making a lot of mistakes. We signed with Motown--we went over there, and Rick got busted for dodging the draft. So the group kind of fell apart. And Rick was a real soulful guy, but there were drugs and all sorts of crazy stuff. I met him again years later, and we hung out a bit. He was pretty heavily into some dark stuff, but there was still a connection. We talked about making a record together, and he said how cool it would be, how we'd blow people's minds.

WHEN DID YOU KICK DRUGS?

I never really was a big drug addict. I always could stop. But I'm completely done with it now. I don't even smoke anything. That's more because I had the aneurysm and I have high blood pressure, plus I don't really need it. I'm as high as you need to be.