I like Neil Young in all his guises — rocker, folker, confused and angry patriot, confused and angry protestor, dad, and just all around Jeremiah railing at the everything — but now that he’s become a media critic as well, I think we all have to start watching our backs. As reported in the Chicago Tribune this morning, Young lambasted the paper for a story it did on Farm Aid last week that cast aspersions on how funds from the annual benefit were distributed.

“We are not purely raising money for farmers,” he fumed at a press conference before the concert, “that’s a small part of what we do… The people at the Chicago Tribune should be held responsible for this piece of crap.”

Here the protean artist sometimes known as Shakey invoked one of his own Crazy Horse songs:

Saw it on the tube
Bought it on the phone
Now you’re home alone
It’s a piece of crap

Hey, he’s not only describing just about everything you ever bought for yourself or your kids, he’s talking about your newspaper too. Neil’s ability to be all things to all people includes the role of consumer advocate and small wonder. Seeing him in concert in Pittsburg of all places a few years ago I was struck by the range of the songs he performed — the sweet, open-hearted “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” the Homeric “I’m the Ocean” — and the motley crew he performed them for: bankers, bikers, Deadheads, regular dads with their kids. You’ve got to love a guy who can be caught screaming at the traffic one day and doing fundraisers for his kid’s school the next. At least I do.