MUSICARES, the Grammy charitable organization that provides an array of services to musicians in all stages of their careers, including financial, medical and personal matters, celebrated it's 20th anniversary Friday night honoring NEIL YOUNG as their Person of the Year. Over the years this Friday night event has honored some of music industries biggest stars, including TONY BENNETT, ARETHA FRANKLIN, ELTON JOHN, BONO, STING, PHIL COLLINS, STEVIE WONDER, BILLY JOEL, JAMES TAYLOR and NEIL DIAMOND.
 Five past winners, including JOHN, TAYLOR, BENNETT, BRIAN WILSON and DAVID CROSBY were on hand to honor NEIL YOUNG on Friday night.
"Each year the Grammys get bigger and bigger, and this is a great night because we are helping people that are down on their luck...It's better than getting. It's better to give. This is my favorite night of the Grammys. I've won 15 Grammys but this is my favorite because we're helping people that need help," 83 years young TONY BENNETT told us.
CROSBY was there with fellow bandmates STEVEN STILLS and GRAHAM NASH, who of course played with NEIL in the '60's and '70's as CROSBY, STILLS, NASH and YOUNG.
It was not NEIL'S first gig. That was with the SQUIRES in Winnipeg, Canada in 1963. He then joined forces with STEVEN STILLS, RICHIE FURAY, BRUCE PALMER and DEWEY MARTIN as BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Their classic "For What It's Worth" is the penultimate revolutionary anthem.
Next came CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG whose second gig was an appearance at Woodstock. The rest is history.
NEIL went on to achieve individual acclaim, and financial success with his solo releases AFTER THE GOLD RUISH and HARVEST in the early '70's. But he has continued to push the envelope, in both music with his own releases, and the bands he has developed on his label. One such bad, EVEREST, was on hand on this night, performing "Revolution Blues."
 It's funny, how many NEIL YOUNG songs you really know. Did you know NEIL wrote "Lotta Love", the 1979 hit by NICOLETTE LARSON. On this night JASON MRAZ and SHAWN COLVIN sang it. Or did you know, YOUNG has an Oscar nomination for the theme song "Philadelphia" from the film of the same name.
It's also funny how well NEIL performs his own songs; and, how difficult they are to perform by others. JACKSON BROWNE, ELVIS COSTELLO, DAVE MATTHEWS, JAMES TAYLOR, NORAH JONES and JOSH GROBAN, all accomplished singers, struggled to recreate the NEIL YOUNG sound. Few of the tribute performances lived up to the YOUNG versions. In fact, they left you yearning for NEIL to take the stage and sing them himself, but that did not happen.
 Nevertheless, there were some superb performances and some once in a lifetime collaborations. ELTON JOHN and LADY GAGA did a pretty good "dueling pianos" for Grammy night on Sunday, but Friday night ELTON teamed up with legend, LEON RUSELL, looking more like ZZ TOP, for a dueling piano version of "Helpless."
The RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS did a rousing version of "A Man Needs a Maid." OZOMATLI, a local band, did an urban interpretation of "Mr. Soul." STEVEN STILLS and CHERYL CROW strained to achieve harmony in "Long May You Run." JOHN MELLENCAMP rock and rolled "Down By the River." CROSBY, STILLS & NASH hit the harmonics of "Human Highway", sounding good as ever. WILCO came off most like NEIL and BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD on "Broken Arrow." But it was JOHN FOGHERTY and KEITH URBAN who blew the roof off the Convention Center with the NEIL YOUNG signature , "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World."
It was a treat that could only be topped, had NEIL taken the stage and redid each of the songs himself. Instead, the 64 year-old YOUNG promised the audience he was working on an album.
No doubt one that only he could do justice.
On the red carpet before the show, JAMES TAYLOR paid high tribute to NEIL YOUNG.
"The fact that NEIL YOUNG, who never does anything for promotional purposes-he only does things that he thinks are important or fun. He's like everyone's moral barometer. If you're wondering whether it's a question of render unto Caesar or render unto God, the question is always what would NEIL YOUNG do. The fact that NEIL YOUNG is here tonight is evidence of the good work that MUSICARES does."
TAYLOR went on to emphasize the point, even if in an unlikely scenario.
"NEIL knows, as well as I do, that if could be just a year or two away that we'll need to come knocking on MUSICARES door for a handout ourselves."
For information on MUSICARES, go to: http://www2.grammy.com/musicares/
By the way-NEIL YOUNG received his first ever Grammy Award Sunday, for "Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963-1972). All in all, not a bad weekend.
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