Plot: Will Cole is a charismatic 35 year old paper mill laborer who seems to celebrate a life of bad choices. He lives and behaves as if he was still 18, womanizing and drinking and rejecting responsibility because he sees no reason to take life seriously. Surprisingly enough, despite his devil-may-care attitude, he has several important people in his life. He maintains a special relationship with Stan, an old mentor who lives in a nursing home, and Ruth, the only woman he truly cares about. Andrew is his best friend but grows tired of Will's antics, and he is soon to be married and moving on. Will constantly has something up his sleeve but his pranks inevitably bring pain and tragedy to those closest to him, forcing him to reevaluate his life and make some difficult decisions.
Poor quality VHS dub.
Director: Peter Carter
Stars:Gordon Pinsent, Frank Converse and Will Geer
After 45 years of marriage, ageing couple Fiona and Grant are struck with a devastating blow, the looming clouds of Alzheimer’s disease. In a heart-breaking decision, Fiona is moved into a residential facility. But there’s one more shock on the horizon as Fiona starts to transfer her affections to another man, Aubrey, who also is a patient at the nursing home.
A double-Oscar-nominated, beautifully subtle exploration of a devastating disease; Julie Christie (Doctor Zhivago, Darling) turns in a Golden Globe winning performance in this honest, life-affirming story of relationships, love and devotion.
DVD: http://bit.ly/AwayFromHer_DVD
Gordon Pinsent has died, his family said in a statement late Saturday. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
Gordon Pinsent, one of Canada's most prolific and iconic actors, has died. He was 92.
"Gordon
Pinsent's daughters Leah and Beverly, and his son Barry, would like to
announce the passing of their father peacefully in sleep today with his
family at his side," said a note released late Saturday, written on
behalf of Pinsent's family by his son-in-law, actor Peter Keleghan.
"Gordon passionately loved this country and its people, purpose, and culture to his last breath."
The
Grand Falls, N.L., native and Canadian household name had a storied
acting career spanning dozens of films and TV projects over six decades,
including Due South, The Red Green Show, Babar and the Adventures of Badou, The Grand Seduction and The Shipping News.
Focusing on CBC programs alone, one could add The Forest Rangers, Quentin Durgens, M.P., the original Street Legal and Republic of Doyle, among others.
Actors
Gordon Pinsent and Nora McBean are seen on the set for the CBC-TV drama
Bird in a Gilded Cage in 1958. (CBC Still Photo Collection)
1 of 12
In the U.S., where he lived in Los Angeles for six years, it was such TV series and movies as It Takes A Thief, Silence of the North, Young Prosecutors, Banacek, and the feature film The Thomas Crown Affair.
"My
whole career has depended on the happiness that I get when asked to do
something," Pinsent said in a 2010 Toronto Life interview. "Pick up the
phone and say 'yes.' I do that a lot."
Comedian
and actor Mark Critch, a fellow Newfoundlander, said he will miss
Pinsent as a mentor, friend, hero and "giant colossus of Canadian
entertainment."
Actors in Canada are following "on a path that [Pinsent] cut through a forest," Critch said.
Born
on July 12, 1930, Pinsent was the youngest of six children born to
Stephen Pinsent, a paper mill worker and cobbler, and his wife, Flossie.
Pinsent
said he was a shy, awkward child who once suffered from rickets but
found freedom in acting, starting in the 1940s at the age of 17.
In
the early 1950s, Pinsent took a break from acting and joined the
Canadian Army, serving for about four years. But acting was his true
love.
More than 150 roles
Pinsent joined the Stratford Festival in 1962 with roles in Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest and Cyrano de Bergerac, and he returned to Stratford in the mid-'70s as a leading player.
A
companion of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of
Canada, Pinsent also received the Governor General's Performing Arts
Award, the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement in television, and a
star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
He won every major acting prize in the country, including the Genie for best actor in 2001's The Shipping News, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Annie Proulx.
Five years later, Pinsent won best actor Genie and ACTRA awards for his internationally recognized work in Sarah Polley's Away From Her.
WATCH | Pinsent 'was like the Newfoundland Pope,' Mark Critch says:
Gordon Pinsent was the beacon of N.L. arts, says friend and actor Mark Critch
7 hours ago
Duration 9:57
Canadian
acting legend Gordan Pinsent, whose award-winning career spanned six
decades, has died at 92. His friend, fellow actor and comedian Mark
Critch said Pinsent was thoughtful, young-spirited and deeply loved by
his fans and peers.
'Extraordinary' performance
In the 2016 documentary about his life, The River of My Dreams — a film where a reflective, sometimes impish Pinsent speaks in eloquent paragraphs infused with his Newfoundland accent — he
says his wife, the actress Charmion King, suggested he take the role,
which turned out to be the high-water mark for his career.
Canadiandirector Norman Jewison said in the same doc that Pinsent's performance in Away From Her of a man losing his wife (Julie Christie) to Alzheimer's disease was "extraordinary."
"It
was so simple, yet so powerful and so moving," Jewison said of Pinsent.
"And I think a lot of it was because you believed him."
Those types of kudos tickled the modest Pinsent.
"Now
you see, I don't talk that way about myself, so I was pleased — it was
just terrific," he said about similar praise at the time from English
actor Daniel Day-Lewis.
WATCH | Gordon Pinsent speaks about Away From Her 16 years ago:
Gordon Pinsent on 'Away From Her'
16 years ago
Duration 11:19
Venerable Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent talks about the critically acclaimed film Away From Her.
Amid
the plaudits, Pinsent had a tragedy in his personal life as the film
was being released: King, his wife of 45 years, died in January 2007
after a long struggle with emphysema.
"It was something I wasn't
necessarily drawing on except in the general sense of how anyone must
feel at a certain time of life after spending so many years with a
partner," an emotional Pinsent said then.
"It's almost impossible to grasp ... how do you prepare? Where does love go? Where do you go, the leftover?"
King
and Pinsent had one child together, actress Leah Pinsent. He also had
two children from an earlier marriage, Barry and Beverly.
A Renaissance man
Pinsent was also a painter, a writer, a playwright and a director. Two of his Newfoundland-set novels, The Rowdyman andJohn and the Missus, were turned into feature films. Pinsent starred in the former and both directed and acted in the latter.
His memoirs, By the Way, were published in 1994.
Though he struggled with chronic pain in his later years, Pinsent remained prolific, with about 20 acting credits during the 2010s.
At age 80, he went viral on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes by reading 16-year-old Justin Bieber's memoir with mock gravitas.
Pinsent reads Justin Bieber's memoir:
And at 81, he put out an album of his own poetry set to rock music by Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo and Travis Good of The Sadies.
In 2016, he released a short film he wrote and self-funded called Martin's Hagge, about a middle-aged writer burdened by a personified version of anxiety and depression.
He said he kept working because each new project felt like getting away with something he didn't quite deserve.
"I ran fast before they could catch me and say, 'No, no, acting is for silly people!'" he told CBC News in 2010.
WATCH | George Stroumboulopoulos speaks with Pinsent in 2011:
Gordon Pinsent
12 years ago
Duration 15:39
George speaks with Canadian acting great Gordon Pinsent about his life and career in the film and theatre industry.
Canadian
actor R.H. Thomson, who has been almost as prolific as Pinsent, said in
the 2016 documentary that artists have an enormous role in how a
country's "cloth is woven."
"And artists like Gordon
... [have] pulled that thread back and forth, as Canada's loom has made
this cloth of who we are and where we've been and where we're going to,"
he said.
"And that colour of Gordon Pinsent going through and through the tapestry is now inevitably part of any story of Canada for me."
Neil Young, wife actress Daryl Hannah surprise crowd at Victoria old growth rally
Hundreds of people attended a rally for old growth protection where Young performed 2 songs
The Canadian Press ·
Neil
Young made a surprise appearance at a protest calling on the B.C.
government to further protect old-growth forests in the province. (@SierraClubBC/Twitter)
Canadian
music legend Neil Young made a surprise appearance Saturday at an
old-growth logging protest rally at the British Columbia legislature.
Young played acoustic guitar and harmonica, and sang two songs: Comes A Time, which has a chorus about tall trees, and his hit Heart of Gold.
Young,
billed as a "special guest," was not listed as appearing at the event,
where astonished protesters, many dressed as trees and wild animals,
cheered wildly and sang along to Heart of Gold.
"Thank
you Canada," said Young. "You know I'm only here for those trees up
there and it's a beautiful, and it's a precious, sacred thing, these old
trees because they show us the power of nature when we are being
threatened. They show us the past and they show us our future.
"That's
something I hope our Canadian government and business section will
recognize that this has to do with Canada," he said. "It has to do with
the ages, if we are lucky enough to have ages. These trees have lasted
so long they deserve Canada's respect."
Earlier this month, the
B.C. government introduced new approaches to managing timber resources
to protect more old-growth trees from logging.
Premier David Eby said more areas are now being deferred from logging than ever on record.
The
old-growth deferral is a government program in B.C. where old-growth
areas slated for logging are now deferred until a later date or not
logged at all.
I wonder if Young and his wife know why I ran for public office 7 times and sued the Queen in 2015
Trust that our latest PM, BC's latest Premier and their buddy Suzuki certainly do
Mark Sunday
Neil unequivocally loves this country and everything we stand for.
"Oh, this old world keeps spinning round, it's a wonder tall trees ain't layin' down.
There comes a time."
Mark Sunday
Nobody gets the last laugh. They/he/she only gets the last sneer. And they're content with that.
Mark Sunday
Content Deactivated
"I must say I don't believe these negative comments are representative of most Canadians who love thi..."
Bogie Waters
Reply to Mark Sunday
I so agree
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Mark Sunday
I must say this has turned into quite a circus since I first commented
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply toBogie Waters
Hmmm It appears that I answered another ghost Yet your comments always remain
Why is that Oh Ye with a name that I don't believe is for real?
Mark Wynn
I love how Neil takes on Canadian forestry and oil
companies given how he has lived in California for the past 50 years and
swore allegiance to the US as part of becoming an American citizen. Why
not take on American companies given they still drill for oil just off
the coast of California?
Norm Jones
Reply toMark Wynn
He does protest in the USA as well.
Norm Jones
Reply toMark Wynn
He became a US citizen 3 years ago because he wanted a
say in the politics where he lives. He is still a Canadian citizen.
David Amos
Reply to Norm Jones
Hmmm
John Smith
Reply toMark Wynn
He does
Bogie Waters
Reply toMark Wynn
Climate change knows no borders so your point is invalid.
Landers Haughten
Reply toMark Wynn
Canada is easy pickins'
Quincy D. Williamson
Reply toMark Wynn
Your right Mark, why even try at all?
David Amos
Methinks some folks must recall the circus when
Neil Young and Daryl Hannah and then I went up to Fort McMurray 10
years ago N'esy Pas?
Ben Brown
Reply to David Amos
Protesting the industry that has done more to reduce
carbon emissions than any other industry or individual in the per capita
category
Private jet crowd of celebrities, included
David Amos
Reply to Ben Brown
Surely you jest
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ben Brown
Who is your hero Gore or Suzuki?
Ricky Wendel
Reply to David Amos
Nope. He doesn’t. PLUS, I bet he believes in Sky Wizards and hates science.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ricky Wendel
Trust that when I went up North I upset the apple cart far better than Young and his new wife did
Ben Brown
Reply to David Amos
My name isn’t surely and I’m jest getting started
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ben Brown
They call me the Court Jester because have sued more lawyers than anyone in history
Erik Bosma
Reply to David Amos
Sorry, but that honour went to Donnie Trump Jr.
David Amos
Reply to Erik Bosma
Nope Check my work
Ed Chrysler
Content Deactivated
Roger Scarisbrick
Reply to Ed Chrysler
I tried to answer you but all I came up with was a "blank"
Ed Chrysler
Content Deactivated
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ed Chrysler
I love the redactions
Ed Chrysler
Reply to David Amos
Well, don't be afraid to hit that like button. Helps the cause.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ed Chrysler Consider it already done but turnabout is fairplay eh?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ed Chrysler Damn it was gone before I could save it
SicPapi
He is just as American as Alanis Morissette
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to SicPapi
Am I a Yankee just because I married one and Fathered some?
Sam Carson
Reply to SicPapi
I wasn't aware he gave up his Canadian citizenship.
SicPapi
Reply to David Amos
You are a Yankee when you become an American Citizen.
There are many Canadians who Live and Work in the US Via Work Visa's ,
Permanent Residency. Most excuses are to Vote. If You Love Canada then
why? Twain is Canadian , Bieber they didn't need to Pledge and swear an
oath. How many Americans knew Alex Trebek RIP was a Canadian as well.
William Shatner is over 90 and Still has not become an American Citizen.
David Amos
Reply to SicPapi
Nor did I and even ran for public office several times while not being allowed to vote
Ben Brown
Content Deactivated
Guess where David Suzuki’s sewage goes from his island home…
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ben Brown
Do tell Kind Sir
Ben Brown
Reply to David Amos
It isn’t called Blackwater Bay for no reason
Pete North
Reply to David Amos the whales swim in it
John Kristich
Reply to Pete North
Shamu
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Pete North
Does Suzuki and his kin?
Roger Scarisbrick
Reply to Ben Brown
Where is Blackwater Bay?
Bogie Waters
A lot of comments knocking Young when all that
needs to be said is: Thanks Neil for help with drawing attention to this
issue and thanks for the tunes and the volunteer performance.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Bogie Waters
Are you still flagging me?
Ed Chrysler
Content Deactivated
Reply to Bogie Waters
He was part of a group that wanted me sent to a ████████ camp?
Maybe he can stop ████████ signaling long enough to
apologize and admit he and all in his were wrong and unscientific..
David Amos
Reply to Bogie Waters
Asked and answered EH?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ed Chrysler
I saved this one
Pete North Did he sent his private jet across the Atlantic again to pick up his favourite hat to preform?
Bogie Waters
Reply to Pete North When did that happen and can you post something to prove it?
Pete North
Reply toBogie Waters its well documented. Google can be your friend
Bogie Waters
Reply to Pete North I use bing.
Pete North
Reply toBogie Waters bing it
George Lange Reply to Pete North
He took the bus
Ben Brown
Reply to George Lange Bwahaha
David Amos
Reply to Ditto
Rod Wood
There's not much old growth left!
David Amos
Reply to Rod Wood
I am still alive
Murray Brown Neil married Daryl Hannah... When did that happen?
Bogie Waters
Reply to Murray Brown Years ago
.
Bogie Waters
Reply to Murray Brown 2018
Brian V LeBlanc
Reply to Murray Brown 2018
Janet Maxwell
Reply to Murray Brown His first wife Pegi seemed sweet...she died a few years ago...
David Amos
Reply to Janet Maxwell
True
Rick Grimes
Reply to Murray Brown
He's 87 y/o. She be 72. Only 15 years age diff. Meh. Wish them happiness as they fizzle.
Jean Meyer
I wish I had been there...
David Amos
Reply to Jean Meyer
Me Too
Ross Munro
So a rich man has no voice and a poor man has nothing left to say and I am supposed to believe, just leave the working man alone and let him get paid? By who?
barbara moxam
Reply to Ross Munro
So much bitterness and Sour felling
David Amos
Reply to barbara moxam Honestly earned
Marcel Ethier
Content Deactivated
watch your wording, phrasing and choice of words. freedom of speach. just watch what u say.
A Wade
Reply to Marcel Ethier
Speling counts for something too....
Bogie Waters
Reply to A Wade I think English might be Marcel's second language/ Everything is spelled correctly. He just decided to use a short form for "you" and we understood what he was saying so, no problem.
William Atkinson
Reply to Marcel Ethier
Speach tastes better than regular speech...
David Amos
Reply to Marcel Ethier
Amen to that
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to A Wade
Methinks you understand the circus N'esy Pas?
James Brown
He lost me, when advocated against free speech, and right to informed consent
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to James Brown
As Crosby said Young is all about Young
Ben Brown
Content Deactivated Reply to David Amos
BD Morgan
Reply toBen Brown
A fine example of why Young left Spotify.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply toBen Brown Wow One has to be fast to even get to read the replies before they go "Poof"
Mark Richardson
Reply toBD Morgan He didn’t leave for very long lol, he’s back because he’s just a phoney
Ben Brown
Reply toBD Morgan Calling that ineffective experimental jab a vaccine is misinformation isn’t why he left.
Rogan never said that.
It has been a terrible display of political engineering being promoted with that experimental near miss, mandates and all
BD Morgan
Reply to Mark Richardson No, Young never went back to Spotify. Some tracks with him on which he doesn't control is still there but any music he controls is off Spotify.
BD Morgan
Reply toBen Brown It was your example of misinformation not mine.
Ben Brown
Content Deactivated
Reply toBD Morgan
BD Morgan
Reply toBen Brown Not sure what you are talking about?
BD Morgan
Reply toBen Brown I take you are implying Young injected heroin. Fact checking is one good method to avoid spreading misinformation.
James Brown
Reply toBD Morgan Each to their own, free speech, and the right to informed consent, are fundamental human rights.
BD Morgan
Reply to James Brown Knowingly spreading harmful misinformation for profit. Young objected.
Ross Mills
Why do we need the term 'wife actress' before Hannah? Is this trending or something.
Ben Brown
Content Deactivated Reply to Ross Mills
Shouldn’t that be
‘Former’ actress?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Ben Brown Perhaps she will make a comeback film of Mermaid and her top half will be a fish next time
Rick Grimes
Reply to Ross Mills
More correct would be, activist cisg end er female wom bed partner "actor". We must be respectful to all feels.
Marcel Ethier
lets stop selling and shipping it out of Canada only to be sent back as a good from china. or Americas crappy twizzlers 2x4's that home depot gets from oregan
Ben Brown
Reply to Marcel Ethier
When I needed clear fir ‘select’ grade, the only supplier was from Washington state.
None could be purchased from a Canadian supply dealer.
The fir arrived, and had ‘Canada’ stamped as its COO
True story
Lynette Browne
Reply to Marcel Ethier
You are correct. It would be nice if we kept the logs harvested here in B.C., and milled them into value-added product rather than shipping the majority of logs out-of-country. Pre-pandemic, the research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives showed that roughly an average of 6.5 million cubic metres of raw logs were shipped out of B.C. in each of the previous four years prior to the study, an unprecedented number for such a timespan. Based on employment data compiled by BC Stats, they estimated that conservatively if those logs had been processed in B.C. instead, another 3,650 people could have been working locally to produce value-added products like lumber, pulp and paper, etc.
sally rohde
Reply to Ben Brown So SAD! Having to order your "Fir" from Washington & arriving to you stamped "CANADA".
Says a lot about our forestry/manufacturing/government defectiveness & malfunctioning guidelines to support CANADIAN Resources & Economy.
Alan Hanchard
No matter their intention, these celebrity protesters are just a gimmick in my opinion.
Bogie Waters
Reply to Alan Hanchard
What if they are celebrities who also have
concerns about climate change. Neil is too successful, rich
and also old
to want to work a gimmick. What would be his angle?
David Amos
Reply to Alan Hanchard
Ditto
David Amos
Reply to Bogie Waters
Greed
Diva Allison Decatte
Reply to Bogie Waters
Wants to be relevant?...
Bogie Waters
Reply to Diva Allison Decatte
Neil has been relevant for 50 yrs. so no.
Bogie Waters
Reply to David Amos
He has all the money he could ever need so no.
Bogie Waters
Reply to Bogie Waters
So, nobody can give a reasonable response to my question. Neil is sincere about climate change.
Kate Ferguson
Reply to Alan Hanchard
Got you here, and commenting. Perhaps reading other opinions. I hope you've taken the time to do so.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Bogie Waters
Grow up and get a real name then perhaps folks may take you seriously
Robin Wheel
Reply to Bogie Waters
It is easy to be sincere when one has everything but a purpose.
Bogie Waters
Reply to Robin Wheel
oh my, put more thought into life than that
Robin Wheel
Reply to Bogie Waters
Some of us do more than think about life…we live it, including the ups and the downs, in the real world.
Bogie Waters
Reply to Robin Wheel
That's my life right there. But Neil is famous, rich, a
great songwriter and performer and he is also sincere about climate
change. They are mutually exclusive. He's the real deal.
David Amos
Reply to Robin Wheel
"Some of us do more than think about life"
Check my work
Scott McGregor
Reply to David Amos
Greed? Do you think this was a high paying gig or something?
Andy House
Reply to Robin Wheel
Oh my we are given to pretentious
self-satisfaction, aren't we. You really don't consider the life of a
professional musician, the 50 year career, to be "living in the real
world"? How unreal of you.
Dev Raleigh
Reply to Robin Wheel
Unless we’re six feet under we’re all living
it. Thinking can go along with it, since we did inherit big brains from
our primate ancestors.
Norm Jones
Reply to Alan Hanchard
If he was a gimmick he would have had his name
used to bring in more protesters instead of just being billed as a
special guest. He has been protesting these things his entire life, what
is so wrong with caring about the environment?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Scott McGregor
Ask the sheople who are promoting him today and deleting my comments
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Norm Jones
Ask the sheople who are promoting him today and deleting my comments
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Bogie Waters
Ask the sheople who are promoting him today and deleting my comments
Diva Allison Decatte
Content Deactivated
" Surprised our PM didn't stagger in and give us some rendition of Candles in the wind...he is in Tofino... "
Newt Watney
Reply to Diva Allison Decatte
Has nothing too do with our PM.
Obsessed much?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Diva Allison Decatte
My Father's RCAF aircraft crashed in Tofino in WWIIHe was the sole surviour out of 9 aircrew
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to David Amos
Hmmm it appears that I answered ghost
David Amos
Why is it that I am not surprised?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
I bet David Crosby's ghost is getting quite a chuckle about now
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Methinks some folks must recall the circus when Neil
Young and Daryl Hannah and then I went up to Fort McMurray 10 years ago
N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to David Amos
Trust that I easily proved that the former leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada is big talking whimp just like the song and dance dude is
A
couple weeks ago I wanted to let my family and friends know what was
going on in my life and I tweeted that I was going to be filming with
Neil Young and Daryl Hannah in Fort McMurray. I was not prepared for the
reaction. My phone was immediately blowing up with media requests to
find out what was going on. Reaction from people commenting on social
media in the community ranged from concern to rage over how Fort
McMcMurray would be portrayed by these people who have a clear
environmental agenda.
A
couple weeks ago I wanted to let my family and friends know what was
going on in my life and I tweeted that I was going to be filming with
Neil Young and Daryl Hannah in Fort McMurray. I was not prepared for the
reaction. My phone was immediately blowing up with media requests to
find out what was going on. Reaction from people commenting on social
media in the community ranged from concern to rage over how Fort
McMurray would be portrayed by these people who have a clear
environmental agenda.
I
refrained from commenting in the media ahead of time because I wasn't
sure how much publicity they wanted and I didn't want to ruin my chances
of working with these people. I agreed to an interview with Wallis
Snowden at Mix 103.7 after filming was over and she presented a fair and
brief synopsis of our interview to the listeners. I'd like to offer my
readers a more detailed account of what transpired.
Background
I
was contacted a few weeks ago by Neil's production company Shakey
Pictures and asked if I would be available to shoot some aerial footage
from a helicopter for Neil's documentary. I've done this kind of work in
the past and was recommended by the helicopter company. The details of
the project were not all that clear, the only thing I knew for sure was
that the documentary was about Neil's 1959 Lincoln Continental
convertible that he had a team of specialists convert into a cellulosic
ethanol burning hybrid dubbed The Lincvolt.
The
production company explained that this was a documentary a few years in
the making and production had stalled after the film's producer, a
long-time friend of Neil's named Larry Johnson, passed away suddenly in
2010. The documentary centers around The Lincvolt from its inception and
development to Neil's travels with it across North America promoting
the idea that we can be more conscious consumers of energy while still
being bad-ass (my words). Filming was originally supposed to take place
on Thursday August 28th but Neil stopped and visited his friend Daryl
Hannah on the way here and she wanted to join him so they pushed the
shoot back a couple days.
I
was obviously concerned that this production was going to present an
unfair portrait of my community so I wanted to make sure that I was able
to provide them with options that presented a more balanced view of the
community and the industry. To that end I had well know community
cheerleader Theresa Wells and environmentally conscious oil sands
development advocate Ken Chapman on standby to be available for
interviews if I was able to convince the production team to hear their
stories. I also arranged with Joey Hundert the CEO of Sustainival, the
world's first green carnival, to accommodate Neil and the production
crew should I be able to convince them to film at this carnival powered
by used cooking oil. In the end there, while they were polite and
curious about this picture of Fort McMurray, it wasn't on the production
agenda.
Impressions
Meeting
the production crew at the Chateau Nova I found them all to be friendly
and professional people. Ken Chapman happened by and Neil chatted with
us around his and Daryl's cars for quite some time. Neil seemed
genuinely surprised and impressed with some of the green initiatives
happening in the community. He seemed to know little about the oil sands
industry, he'd never heard of SAGD for example. His understanding
seemed to be that bitumen is mined by digging giant open pits, using
tonnes of water, and creating giant tailings ponds. He was unaware of
the advances that have been made.
The
first song I ever practiced, perfected and played live at Paddy
McSwiggins with my garage band was Rockin' In The Free World so I may be
a tad biased here but I really liked Neil. Neil introduced me to his
34-year-old son who his wheel chair bound with severe Cerebral Palsy and
told me about how he had been given a life expectancy of 16 years. Neil
explained how lucky he felt to have been blessed with the resources
needed to keep him alive this long and I admired his resolve to keep his
son by his side determined to give him the opportunity to experience
life to the fullest.
Daryl
was a very nice lady, ever since the movie Splash I've thought so. I
got the sense that she wasn't all that interested in the hearing a
counter narrative or anything that might create cognitive dissonance in
her judgement on the oil sands. She asked me about how scary it was
shooting film out of a helicopter and asked if I was an adrenaline
junkie. While the rest of us were chatting about the community and the
oil sands industry she was more interested in picking sweet grass and
posting her stickers around. She gave me an encouraging hug after
filming and told me I did a great job, which was nice but nobody had
actually seen my footage yet. That moment pretty much encapsulated my
sense of her, a lady with a huge heart who makes judgements with little
information.
The
thing I admire most about Neil and Daryl is the fact that they are
trying really hard to make a difference in this world. Daryl has been
arrested for standing up for what she believes in. She is diligent about
practicing what she preaches and lives off the grid generating her own
energy from wind and solar and growing her own food. Not many
environmentally active starlets have her integrity in this regard.
What Was Filmed
The
production company chartered the chopper for a couple hours and asked me
to get a list of shots. Mostly I shot the two cars driving around the
highway by Syncrude and Suncor. They were essentially interested in
shots of Mordor (my words) juxtaposed behind these beautiful cars. They
also wanted shots of tailings ponds and industrial plants. We lucked out
with a dramatic sky that had a dark rain cloud roll in over top of
Syncrude while the nearby boreal forest was bathed in sunlight and blue
sky, David Suzuki himself couldn't have asked Gaia for a better shot.
The pilot and I also took the liberty of shooting some beautiful river
valley, wetland and boreal forest shots while we had free time.
I
was told that the previous day was spent with a First Nations Chief
getting his story and they were planning on spending the next day with a
First Nations Chief as well. The only other thing on their agenda was
an interview with Dr. O'Connor in Edmonton to presumably talk about the
ill health of First Nations people because of the industry upstream.
What
we didn't shoot was as informative about the narrative as what we did
shoot. We did not film any reclaimed land. We didn't film any new
extraction operations using greener technology. We didn't film any
industry experts. We didn't film Neil's diesel burning bus that his crew
rode in. We didn't film the environmentally conscious community active
in Fort McMurray. That stuff wasn't on the agenda.
Final Thoughts
All
living things consume energy and pollute. Nature is as cruel as it is
beautiful. Bacteria and viruses pollute this Earth and for the majority
of our history have mercilessly put us in an early grave. Burning wood
has improved our lives dramatically by allowing us to ingest more energy
at less cost by cooking food and it keeps us warm. Our ability to find
and harness energy has caused human life to flourish. Each energy source
we innovate is not without it's detriments. Nearly 2 million people die
prematurely each year in developing countries from inhaling cooking
smoke, what they wouldn't give for the comparatively clean energy of
coal generated electricity.
People
in developing countries generally care very little about the
environmental standards we care about, they are too busy trying to
survive to worry about their carbon footprint or how many blooms their
community gets. The good news is that the richer a country gets the more
environmentally conscious it tends to get and the cleaner and more
efficient its energy tends to become. This investment in clean
technology requires wealth, and wealth requires energy abundance.
Neil Young
himself proves this point in a number of ways. He is able to fight off
the polluting secretions invading his sons lungs that would otherwise
kill him if not for a fortuitous chain of events starting with the
industrial revolution and all the wealth that it brought to the world
that allowed a man enough free time to pursue a thing called rock
stardom and afford round the clock care for his boy extending his life.
His wealth also allowed him to pay a team of engineers and specialists
to retrofit a classic car into a technological green marvel. His wealth
allows him to pay for the energy expenditure to get cellulosic ethanol
shipped from the one plant in the US that makes it to wherever his
Lincvolt is. His wealth allows him to traverse the world with his
entourage spreading the gospel of green. His wealth affords a helicopter
to fly around and film him and that is okay. I promise you I do not
mean this facetiously; getting to the cutting edge of cleaner technology
creates a lot of pollution...always has. That's why I don't consider it
hypocritical of Neil to preach clean energy while creating a bunch of
pollution and why I'd like him to grant the rest of us the same
consideration. We are conscientious adults with the same goals he has.
Hiroshima Seems Nice
One
has to wonder about claims of genocide and holocaust that are thrown
about so cavalierly by those with a mission to bring down the oil sands,
I wonder what survivors of actual genocide must think. Neil recently
stated that Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima (I wonder if he meant
Nuked Hiroshima or beautiful reclaimed Hiroshima today) and that Natives
are sick and dying because of the oil sands activities. These are
serious claims that paint a pretty bleak picture and seem to lack any
evidence. One would simply have to look at life expectancy rates before
and after the oil sands started developing in this region. Are we to
believe that the First Nations people in this region have increased
mortality and morbidity rates because of the oil sands development, that
over a billion dollars worth of First Nation business per year has
caused declining health? Seems to me that is backwards. We could also
compare life expectancy in First Nation communities around the oil sands
region to those of First Nations people in other less Hiroshima looking
parts of Canada.
The
other bit of Neil's message I take some umbrage with is his
anti-Keystone XL stance. It seems a tad hypocritical to use the guns of
government to cut people off from energy they want and force them to use
OPEC conflict oil. Nobody is cutting Neil off from all the energy he's
using and forcing him to burn bitumen, why would he do that to people
who can't afford other sources of energy or who don't want to use bloody
OPEC oil? In the same vein I don't want government pointing guns at
land owners to force Keystone through their land. I just wish people
would learn how to peacefully negotiate without constantly appealing to
government to pull out guns on their behalf.
So
Neil if you're reading this Keep on Rockin In The Free World! I dig
your message of clean energy and I can't wait for affordable cleaner
energy, one day if we extract enough oil and generate enough wealth like
you we will be able to create a cleaner world and even be able to
extend the lives of our sons and daughters and move on to a better
energy source. If you would've looked a bit closer at the people in this
community developing this resource you'd have found people of kindred
spirit, we are concerned about the environment and about the health of
those that live around the oil sands...this is where our children live.
We want to leave this world a better place like you do and we have the
energy to do just that. I challenge you to find a community of oil
producers anywhere else in this world that more closely aligns with your
values of stewardship and respect for this Earth and it's people. Not
only do we not stone people to death, we don't even use plastic grocery
bags.
"He only thinks about Neil, period," Crosby said. "That's the only person he'll consider. Ever!"
A rep for Young did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, but there's long been no love lost between the two.
Back in 2014, Crosby famously called Young's then-girlfriend and now-wife Daryl Hannah "a purely poisonous predator" — a comment that led Young to announce that CSNY would "never tour again, ever."
"Neil has got a genuine beef," Crosby told The Guardian. "I did
say something bad about his girlfriend [Daryl Hannah]. I said I thought
she was a predator. Okay, he can be mad at me. That's all right."
Politics also come into play. "I'm a very liberal guy and a modern
thinker in terms of politics. Neil doesn't really do politics," Crosby
said. "He does Neil."
getty
Young isn't the only artist Crosby has fallen out with. He and Graham Nash — also of CSNY — are not on speaking terms either.
"Graham just changed from the guy I thought was my best friend to being a
guy that is definitely my enemy, so I don't see any future there at
all," Crosby said.
While it appeared that Nash previously looked after Crosby, the songwriter told The Guardian
that wasn't the case. "He gave the impression of looking after me, but
apparently that was all just trying to keep the money coming," Crosby
said. "But there you go."
"We haven't talked for a couple of years," Crosby said. "And I'm not
going to talk to him. I don't want to talk to him. I'm not happy with
him at all. To me, that's all ancient history, man."
Stephen Stills is the only band member Crosby still talks to, he told The Guardian. He even praised the Buffalo Springfield musician as the best songwriter in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
"He's the best guitar player, the best singer and the best writer," Crosby said. "I really admire Stephen tremendously."
Crosby doesn't shy away from his role in some of these fallen relationships, calling himself "an a------."
As for CSNY — or Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN), who the supergroup was
before Young joined in 1969 — don't expect a reunion anytime soon. CSN
last toured in 2015, while CSNY's final concert was in 2013. And despite
their sublime harmonies, the relationships are still too fractured.
Asked if there's been any reconciliation, Crosby said, "No, and I don't
expect there to be — the petty-assed bulls--- that goes on between us as
people."
David Crosby and Melissa Etheridge.Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Elsewhere in his interview with The Guardian, Crosby opened up about his son Beckett, who died of an opioid overdose in May 2020 at the age of 21.
"I miss him a lot," Crosby said. "It hurts. Believe me, it hurt."
On Beckett's descent into addiction, Crosby explained, "He was a
skateboarder and he'd had a couple of crashes and he got some
painkillers. They got him strung out on that, then he ran into somebody
who had really strong stuff and he overdosed and died. And that's … how
it normally goes."
Beckett and his sister Bailey, 24, share Crosby's DNA, but were raised by Melissa Etheridge and her then-partner Julie Cypher. In 2000, Etheridge famously revealed that Crosby was their sperm donor.
"I love them both," Crosby told The Guardian of his kids. "He and Bailey visited here often."
In February, Etheridge opened up about the loss to PEOPLE. "It's a
nightmare so many families go through," she said of her late son's drug
addiction. "It just eats away at good people."
Etheridge said she felt "helpless" as she watched Beckett struggle with addiction for years.
"When you have a loved one who is battling opioid addiction, it's
horrific. You don't know what to do. You want to help them, but
ultimately they have to help themselves," she said. "It's a journey for
anyone around the loved one. You realize the only way to help them is to
take care of yourself. You can't do anything for them; you can't make
them be sober."
Neil Young, wife actress Daryl Hannah surprise crowd at Victoria old growth rally
Hundreds of people attended a rally for old growth protection where Young performed 2 songs
The Canadian Press ·
Rock
legend Neil Young performs during a rally against the destruction of
old growth forests on the front lawn of the legislature in Victoria,
B.C., on Saturday. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)
Canadian
music legend Neil Young made a surprise appearance Saturday at an
old-growth logging protest rally at the British Columbia legislature.
Young played acoustic guitar and harmonica, and sang two songs: Comes A Time, which has a chorus about tall trees, and his hit Heart of Gold.
Young,
billed as a "special guest," was not listed as appearing at the event,
where astonished protesters, many dressed as trees and wild animals,
cheered wildly and sang along to Heart of Gold.
"Thank
you Canada," said Young. "You know I'm only here for those trees up
there and it's a beautiful, and it's a precious, sacred thing, these old
trees because they show us the power of nature when we are being
threatened. They show us the past and they show us our future."
Conservationist David Suzuki greeted Young during the rally. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)
"That's
something I hope our Canadian government and business section will
recognize that this has to do with Canada," he said. "It has to do with
the ages, if we are lucky enough to have ages. These trees have lasted
so long they deserve Canada's respect."
Earlier this month, the
B.C. government introduced new approaches to managing timber resources
to protect more old-growth trees from logging.
Premier David Eby said more areas are now being deferred from logging than ever on record.
The
old-growth deferral is a government program in B.C. where old-growth
areas slated for logging are now deferred until a later date or not
logged at all.
The
logging deferral of old-growth forests is now at 2.1 million hectares,
up from last spring's report of 1.7 million hectares, Eby said.
Young was introduced by his wife, actress Daryl Hannah, who said the cold weather was giving her a bit of brain freeze.
Actors
Gordon Pinsent and Nora McBean are seen on the set for the CBC-TV drama
Bird in a Gilded Cage in 1958. (CBC Still Photo Collection)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/David-Crosby-and-Neil-Young-16ef509102f14733af9c1658c4e42359.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(522x0:524x2):format(webp)/Crosby-Stills-Nash-and-Young-8f507bb8f9db47bc996bc75cfc975a2a.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/David-Crosby-Melissa-Etheridge-c41efa6b54494dd9a0fd7be482321950.jpg)
Conservationist David Suzuki greeted Young during the rally. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)
83 Comments