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Meet Bernard Shakey: A Look at Neil Young’s Filmography

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By: Rustycat | in: Movies, Music |

Neil Young’s alter-ego Bernard Shakey, released a new CD\DVD on November 14th, called “Live at the Fillmore East”. Shakey Productions is responsible for all of Young’s films, and I think it’s time to have a closer look at Shakey’s illustrious film career.
As a side note, before we begin, Neil calls himself Shakey because he suffers from Epilepsy, which is a disorder of the nervous system, characterized either by mild, episodic loss of attention or sleepiness.

Concerts:

Neil Young
“Rust Never Sleeps”: Recorded on tour in 1978 and later released on DVD in 2002. Neil Young’s legendary two hour concert encompasses Neil’s absolute best and is one of my favorite concert films of all time. The concept of this film was rather strange; The show comprises of roadies (here called “Road Eyes”) decked out like the Jawas from Star Wars and stage announcements from the original Woodstock during set changes. It also includes giant amps and microphones which create a great “Incredible Shrinking Man” effect. A must have for any music fan.
“Heart of Gold”: Released earlier this year, a very special concert film. Here, Bernard Shakey acts as producer aside director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia). While taking a break from feature films, Demme approached Neil to do a concert film that will capture a very unique aspect of Neil’s music.
Watching the DVD makes you appreciate Neil’s music from a more gentle and subtle point of view. This is more of a ‘fans only’ DVD. It doesn’t have the regular Neil Young set, and focuses on some of his later work from “Prairie Wind”. Demme did an amazing job of directing, a true cinematic masterpiece, watch it on DVD.
“Silver & Gold”: Here’s why Neil Young is a living legend (not that all the others aren’t proof enough…). Neil unplugs for a 62 minutes concert of candid, raw, acoustic material from his 2000 album Silver & Gold. Young is the undisputed king of acoustic performances and here you can see it why. It’s been said that the Silver & Gold concert came close to capturing the magic Neil had with his first solo album “After the Goldrush”.
“Red Rocks Live“: The 2000 concert film shows Neil Young on stage with all his friends and relatives in an uncensored rock n’ roll concert. As opposed to all the other shows, “Red Rocks” is a more cool and calm guitar fest. Long solos, great performances and Neil at his best.
“In Berlin“: This 1982 concert naturally captured Young at his transitional stage. It was the 80’s, everyone was using synthesizers and Neil left Reprise Records for a decade. Well, I’m not a big fan of this concert. If you like the “Trans” album you might connect with it. Good thing it’s only 60 minutes long.
“Year of the Horse“:  The documentary\concert film by Jim Jarmusch from the 1997 self titled tour. Jarmusch captures the true relationship between Neil Young and the Crazy Horse. It’s filmed with 8mm and 16mm cameras to capture the true feeling of the concert and cut with archive footage shot in 1976 and 1986. It’s rough, noisy and it’s honest. Really sums up the era.
Just a thought, but maybe it’s because of the music and eras or maybe it’s because Bernard Shakey is such a great filmmaker, but each of these concerts presents Neil Young in a whole different light. Each show has its own unique characteristic and vibe. I honestly couldn’t say one is better than the other; it’s all about which one you connect with the most.
 Feature Films:

Neil Young aka Bernard Shakey
“Human Highway“: Neil, with help from director Dean Stockwell made, the 1982 film, “Human Highway”. The film stars Young in the lead role. The plot is pretty simple: the new owner of a roadside diner stuck in a town built around an always leaking nuclear power plant, plans to torch the place to collect insurance. But strange things follow. Ehh…not the best film in the world…
“Greendale“: This is Neil’s latest film from 2004 telling the tale of the Green family from Greendale. The Greens lead a calm life until Cousin Jed shoots and kills a police officer. You could call this movie a full length video clip for Neil’s concept album – “Greendale”.
 And Now…

Live at the Fillmore East
For this year’s release “Live at the Fillmore East” Shakey launched his ‘Neil Young Performance Series Archive’ which will, hopefully, open a door to all of Neil’s rare performances and still missing albums. The show from 1970 is six songs long, and includes the tracks: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Winterlong, Down By The River, Wonderin’, Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown and Cowgirl In The Sand. It comes in a CD\DVD package, the DVD is actually a collage of photos and the songs play in the background in harmony.

Special thanks to the Rusted Highway community for pointing out some details.


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Posted on November 30, 2006

Comments

One Response to “Meet Bernard Shakey: A Look at Neil Young’s Filmography”

  1. Dee Farnsworth on March 9th, 2007 6:52 am

    How come “Journey Through the Past” is not listed? It wasn’t meant to be anything more than a post impressionistic art film … a slice of life … a taoistic journey … Why won’t the industry let Neil Young just be who he is rather than the hype they print?

    He is an experimental artist, true and pure. Like his contemporaries, he continues to create an impression of life for each generation through music and visuals. These people are living, breathing artists and they continue to be treated like vodoo dolls.

    Like the early impressionists, who were also devoured by the social paraiahs of the timea, his work will be hanging in a museum one day.

    Art for Art Sake!


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