Dear Rusted Ones,

Okay, here is my report from my first IRF/BSB ... If you are looking for
serious information, best just play it safe and hit delete now and just move
on down your inbox ... This is purely personal and anecdotal, really.

As you know, this was my second BSB but first IRF. I went to BSB two years
ago, before I discovered Rust, and sat alone all day and night, wondering
now and then if I was the only person in the world crazy enough to have just
travelled across an entire country in order to see Him perform live, again
(hah!).

Anyway. THIS time I arrived Thursday and met up with fellow Rusties and
friends Sara and Heidi (part of the Nashville Team) . . . We got our rental
car and headed down to Half Moon Bay and checked into The Bandit Motel and
then walked about, thrilled at all the Greendale sites . . . : ) On Thursday
night, we remained only a Rustie Trio, having gone early to The Mountain
House to pay homage, we sat for a drink (or two) at the fire and never left.
Never made it to Alice's, though that was our intention. Whoopsie. When I
was faster I was always behind. Tick tock, the clock on the wall. I have
to say it was truly a Californian experience (no offense, Native
Californians) as we sat at the fire at The Mountain House and were joined by
a young woman who plopped down in an empty fireplace seat with a sigh as her
dog barked outside. She explained that the dog was deaf, and proceeded to
tell us her life story (okay, I asked) as she signed (truly) to her dog out
the window to "shush." We ended up giving her, and her dog, a ride home,
since they had walked and by the time we left it was quite dark. Just one
of Neil's neighbors, what can I say.

We turned up at OPL right as The Show was about to begin, and had a great
time. Met many friends I'd never seen, like our current ROTM Johnny The
Song Dog Yuma and George from Austria and Sheila Lookout Mama and Nan and
Anita and Tim from the Twin Cities and The Famous Jims, McQuaid and Dickie.
: ) Made a wonderful new friend in Kyle Seagraves, the handsome, charming
and funny (Jill, tell him I said that) son of Rusties Jill and Don. Saw
many old friends too, like Mike Lost Dog and Mike Good 2CU and Bill Tired
Eyes and Harry O and Jen and Jill and Marilyn and Mary and Deb and Meleya
and Linda and her sister Suzanne, and The Famous Kathys (Bliss, Harris and
Popple).

The jam was impressive, I hate to single any one out, because everyone was
wonderful, but because it is impossible for me to keep my mouth shut I do
have to say a couple of things ... Like watching Bugs made my hair stand on
end he sounded so much like Neil, truly, and also watching the likes of (I
hope I have these names right) Bugs, TJ, Bill and Keith made me glad I
didn't bring my guitar, because I might have gone right out to the street
and jumped up and down on it in order to smash it into teeny tiny pieces.
Don't be afraid, you can keep reading, I'm okay now. And my hat goes off to
my friend Meleya, who was one of the few CHICKS up there (hanging my head in
shame for not doing so myself, actually, now), and to Harry O, whom I know
has only been playing guitar as long as I have yet was brave enough to take
the stage (and did great). Also have to point out that I absolutely loved
the debut of Kurt's "Speakin' Out," it is important to perform one's handle,
; ), and it was a beautiful rendition, Kurt, had quite a bit of the Neil
spook thing goin' on. Okay, I better stop there before I get sappy. Too
late? Oh, just wait, I haven't even BEGUN. There's still Neil to talk
about, remember?

So the next morning when we finally got it together we met up with several
of our Rustie friends from OPL at breakfast next door to The Bandit Motel,
like one big happy family. : ) And then we each went off to do our own
thing until meeting up in the evening at The Campground. We went hiking,
there are so many beautiful Redwood preserves out there, we were hiking
vaguely near where we thought Sacred Ground might be, you know what I mean,
and listening for ... I don't know what. Something. What Neil hears,
maybe. It was ... magical, being there, in a way. And even mystical, maybe.
That area of the world truly feels enchanted. But maybe that's just me.
You know, because it is ALL hallowed ground to me, because it's where HE
lives. You know? You know.

Anyway. Things started to move pretty fast after that. Once at the
Campground there is more great live music and dinner and more friends ... I
got to meet The Other Karen and her two beautiful daughters, and Ian Left
For Dead Rosen for the first time. I got to see some old friends once
again, like Paul Tomita and Toni. And to see Lisa Honeyslide and her
INCREDIBLE Neil-O-Lanterns, ohmygod. You can't believe how awesome these
are if you haven't seen them. I mean, I am the biggest psycho fan there is
and these even spooked me out, they looked so, well, LIKE NEIL, and they
were all lit up and glowing, it almost looked we should really be doing some
kind of ritualistic dance around them and singing His most obscure and
unreleased lyrics or something.

Anyway, we weren't staying at the Campground, so after the electric jam
ended we headed out, so I can't tell you what happened there after that.
And I only went to the show on Saturday, but saw very few Rusties there . .
. . . I tend to be glued to my seat no matter how long the show, but I could
not even find folks in the RustRow or at The Totem Pole when I finally
figured out where to look for folks. I was with Sara and Heidi and we did
see Aussie Karen and Jim Dickie and Johnny Song Dog and Harry O and Jen and
Kevin Chong and ... Oh okay, I guess I saw some folks. But I was kind of
... preoccupied, you know how that is when you know Neil is about to come on
stage, has left the stage, and will come back on stage again? Even it's six
hours later, I am reluctant to leave. Pyschotic. I told you. ANYWAY, it
was so DIFFERENT for me this year to be among friends and to see many
familiar faces in the crowd ... What a great feeling.

The show. Well, details have been posted here, so I won't tell you all the
gory details of what I thought, but I will say a couple of things. One, I
started crying when Neil was facing the Bridge School kids and bouncing
around and strumming and singing "I am a child." Oh. My. God. And it
appeared that Neil was wearing an old hat of his dad's, it was a kind of
fedora looking hat, the kind an old-fashioned reporter would wear, with a
press pass tucked in the band. (He had the press pass too.) Oh my again.
And, I was happy to see Neil looking supremely cool and well, Neil-like, and
out of the Prairie Wind get up, personally. This Old Guitar was
predictable, of course, since EmmyLou was there. But Comes a Time with Pegi
and EmmyLou? I think he could have come up with something a little more
original. We heard CAT during every show of the mini-benefit-tour last
year. And he has SO MANY SONGS. Why the same ones over and over. But ...
That being said, I am in tears and on the edge of my seat NO MATTER WHAT He
is singing, I don't care what he does, I love every second. Just want to
make that clear. Heh. And when he came out to do CG with LL, it was one of
the Neil performance highlights of MY LIFE, I love that song, it was the
first Neil song I fell in love with so long ago, and I had never seen him
perform it live. (!) Now I have. : )

As for CSNY. I saw them two years ago at BSB and I thought they were
fantastic. They were not fantastic this time around imho. I thought they
were pretty ... Bad. At least on Saturday. When they started, and Stephen
opened his mouth to sing, Neil jerked his head to the right to look at him.
I mean, Neil had to know how Stephen sounds now, but there you have it, I
thought Neil looked ... Shocked would not be too strong a word. Neil
started singing louder, which was weird since he usually kind of hangs off
the vocals for a lot of the CSNY songs, you know? It was ... Odd sounding
to have Neil's voice so prominently in the mix when it wasn't one of his
songs, I don't know. There were some great moments, like it is always fun
to see Stills and Neil play face to face and jam . . . That is thrilling,
still. And Ohio rocked and Guinivere (sp?) was as beautiful and ethereal as
it was so many decades ago, with just Graham and David. But overall, I
thought they were off, way off. And David looked bored out of his mind (he
looked great physically though, I have to say). Graham still looks and
sounds great, but he looked like he was just ... trying too hard to make
them sound like they once had. And Stills, what is wrong with his voice?
And he is so fat. He used to be so good looking. And Our Man Neil looked
like the affable dad (granddad?) just trying to have everyone get along and
have a good time. Very weird, since is not exactly the role Neil has ever
played in that group. Saddest of all, Graham kept making comments like
"thanks for staying," which was clearly meant to be a kind of joke, given
how old they are, but I mean, seriously, of course everyone is going to
stay, they are a supergroup, a legend. But in the end, of course, I thought
the comments that were supposed to be sort of funny and self-deprecating
were just ...Ironically sad, since they looked so ... Well, not great. But
Neil had a funny comment when they paused for a few minutes and were tuning
and he said "We USED to tune for like 20 minutes, this is nothing," and
everyone laughed.

Anyway, in general, I liked the show, there were some great moments. And it
is always thrilling to be there when Neil takes the stage in any way shape
or form. And it especially thrilling to see him hanging in the wings,
grooving to other people's music. And so proud of and in love with his
wife. Sigh.

In other Neil and Pyschotic-Fan-Karen news, whoops, I mean Neil and
Acclaimed-Music-Writer-Karen news, I see that my Neil in Nashville story
continues to chug along, it is like the Little Engine That Could (Neil
content), it was just published online by "Big O" magazine, thanks for
pointing that out on the list, whoever did that, I didn't know they had
decided to finally publish it. Here's the link in case you want to see it
again, heh.

http://www.bigomagazine.com/features05/KBSneilyoung.html

And the story will be appearing in a special Holiday Gift Guide that will be
in EIGHT local Connecticut papers at the end of November, so now I am a
syndicated columnist, heehee. One of the papers will be my little town's
local blab sheet, pretty much ensures I won't be elected PTA president now,
oh well. The article will be accompanied by a sidebar with a suggestion
that folks buy "Prairie Wind" as a Christmas gift, so now I am even hawking
the guys records, I think I should be on his payroll by now, don't you.

And so, what else. Well, watch The Late Show with Conan O'Brien this week,
if you can stay up that late, Neil is going to be on FOUR NIGHTS in a row,
beginning tomorrow, Tuesday. I will find a way to be in the audience at
least one of the nights ... Look for me, I will be the one sobbing and
saying "Ohmygod I love him s-s-s-ooo much ... "

loveandaffection, karen