Neil Young's 65th Birthday Present: Archives Avoid Fire Damage

Looks like Neil Young received his 65th birthday present three days early when almost all of his archival material stored in a San Carlos, CA, warehouse escaped serious damage from a fire that apparently started in Young's transformed Lincvolt electronic car. Young's representatives said the warehouse contained a lot of archival material including film, guitars and recordings -- and his transformed Lincvolt electronic car. Reports are more than 85% of everything housed in the warehouse escaped damage, with most of the damage centered in the car. Here's Young's statement, issued Nov. 10, two days before his 65th birthday:

"My wife Pegi and I would like to thank the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Dept for doing such an exemplary job at our recent warehouse fire. A lot of archival items were threatened and the fire department did a first class job protecting them. We are lucky to have these professionals in our area. We are thankful that no one was hurt in the fire. Rest assured that we have the very best fire rescue and protection in San Carlos and Belmont.Lincvolt was severely damaged in the fire. We are still investigating the exact cause although it appears to be an operator error that occurred in an untested part of the charging system.We do know that the car has been operating perfectly for almost 2 thousand miles and the system in question would not be in use while driving the car. We are investigating the components involved with plug-in charging.It is interesting to note that all of the components except the battery systems in Lincvolt are made in the USA. The only components we could not get domestically were the batteries and battery associated systems. We are still looking for a domestic source.There is a computer in Lincvolt. It may function like a 'black box.' It may be useful for gathering data. We will be removing it today and sending it to Lincvolt team member Perrone Robotics. While this is a setback for us we are planning ways to continue. We will begin cleaning and inspecting Lincvolt today."

In celebration today's entry offers three cuts from Young's groundbreaking Time Fades Away LP -- the first live release to include only new material. The LP has not be released on CD...

And on a related topic, consider this a Markowski for Young in the Straight Lines Music Poll for "greatest guitarist in the history of rock," though Hendrix should be a write-in too...