A New Home in the Sun

Hello subscribers. After much thought, I have transitioned Only Castles Burning off Substack and on to a new platform called Ghost. This was an ethical decision based on various statements and actions that Substack has taken in the last year surrounding their notions of free speech.

To be clear, I am for free speech. However, I am not for platforming of dangerous voices that advocate for violence towards minorities and marginalized groups. Unfortunately Substack has taken a very libertarian view of their moderation policies and refused to address the fascist and racist publications profiting from their platform. And to be transparently political, the latest official Substack praise for Elon Musk is a bridge too far. This is a man who bought a social media platform for the sole purpose of turning it into a propaganda engine for the worst voices in America today. His actions within the federal government are destructive and have already resulted in tragedy and hurt.

By contrast, Ghost is an open source, carbon neutral, non-profit foundation with a robust Code of Conduct that I feel good about. For the time being, this is my writing home. I hope you'll stick with me. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time, for any reason. This newsletter will continue to be free forever, will not send spam, will not solicit or advertise anything, and won't overload you with multiple posts a week in the pursuit of numbers.

One thing that will change a bit is a widening of content to include other music than Neil Young. While I will continue to cover Neil with reviews and essays, I've exhausted his catalog to date and that was the main goal of this endeavor. I've already started with the Giant Undertow idea of talking about musicians that Neil has influenced in some way. That series will continue. Occasionally I'll write about completely unrelated music as well. Talk to you soon. And thanks!