Neil Young appears tonight, and all week on the Late Show with Conan O'Brian!

[brianel027]

Conan is on a little late for me these days. But I did make the effort to stay up and catch the last two nights. I've always liked Neil, so needless to say I enjoyed the music. And as far as which Neil album is better: well the new one is good, but "Landing On Water" is good too as is "Trans" which I think is the worst selling of all his albums.

I fully expected Neil to not talk about trains, nevermind the new TMCC or the chuff rate problems, and he didn't. He once talked about trains on Jay Leno about 10 years ago or so when "Harvest Moon" came out. the NIck channel did a real nice piece of Neil and his trains many years ago and I think that's the most Neil has talked about his train connection on TV.

Neil's career in an odd way is in the same boat (or train) that Lionel is in. Neil's music doesn't get on the radio anymore say for the same old half dozen songs that the radio stations have always played. Which is why when "Greendale" came out, Neil also did the film and released a second version of the CD. He talked about this in an interview he did on Public Radio. Conan had Neil on for a single night a year or two ago. Conan admits to really liking Neil, so being on for a solid week was also a big commercial for the new album "Prairie Wind". I'm sure Neil knows he has to do some different things to get his new music out there, because most folks when they think of Neil Young think of the same half-dozen songs always played on the radio. When most stores like Wal-Mart have a Neil Young album on sale, more than likely it is the 33 year old "Harvest" album.

Much like the state of Lionel trains in the eyes of the public at large. Most don't realize Lionel still makes trains... many still think Lionel went out of business. The ones that are aware of Lionel either think of them in the past tense of the glory days of the 1950's, or think of them as high priced collectibles or have seen the current catalogs and know they are mostly expensive toys for grownups.

Too bad there isn't a way for Neil to use his good name more to hawk the hobby. We all know Lionel does have a few very decent starter sets currently available. The add-on packages are also a veey good deal and a good idea too. But Neil has never been too keen on hawking his own wares on the talk shows, so it's highly unlikely he'll be hawking the Lionel name too much either. Though there was a lot of buzz when Tom Hanks appeared on Oprah and was promoting the "Polar Express" movie and the "Polar Express" Train Set from Lionel.

[Craignor]

BIgboy,

Yeah, I need to get up at 6:30 these days , so TIVOing Conan and Neil is a real help.

I am looking forward to his performances this week.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Craig, you might just want to leave it to TIVO, sleep is more important. Remember , only "Rust Never Sleeps".[swg]

[Craignor]

Bigboy,

I fell asleep watching tv around 11:30, but my TIVO didnt .

I will watch it tonight.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Well Craig, it sounds like he's going to be on all week, but all he did last night was sing. The music was OK, but his earlier stuff is better. Kind of like the Rolling Stones in that regard. Since he is promoting a new CD (I almost said album), I'd rather doubt the word Lionel will come out of his mouth. We'll just have to keep watching.

[Craignor]

Folks,

Neil has a pretty good album out now, and will be on the Late Show all week. I expect many performances, and some chats. It will be interesting to see if they discuss his interest in Lionel and Toy Trains.

I have set my TIVO to record it all.