Dear Rust,

OK. So. Was I with my husband on my birthday? No. My children? No. My
boyfriend? No. Well .. maybe. I mean .. sort of. Hey, it could hap...OK,
Karen back to the point. Was I with Neil Young? YES!

I got into the David Letterman show last night, which was really only right
when you think about it because it WAS my birthday after all. I sat in a
single seat in the third (maybe it was fourth) row. OHMYGOD! I was so
excited (as you can all well imagine I know which is what is so GREAT about
telling you guys stuff like this!)

Before the show began, once we were all in our seats, the audience
warmer-uppers and Dave Letterman and everyone kept saying NEIL YOUNG IS HERE
TONIGHT ... And then they would say ... More softly ... And Jerry Lee Lewis
too. Heh. That was pretty funny. And thrilling! Every time they said
NEIL YOUNG IS HERE TONIGHT! I got chills. I was right THERE, right UP
FRONT! How lucky. And on my birthday! I knew it was gonna be good. Then
they said "If any one of you yells out a guest's name when he appears, for
example if you yell out NEIL YOUNG!, a security guard will eject you from
your seat." >>> !!! I thought that was kinda harsh. But I did certainly
appreciate the warning. I promptly reached into my purse and got out the
duct tape for my mouth, because you know, sometimes it just pops out!
NEEEEEEEIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLL!

So there I sat, my mouth covered in duct tape. (Did you see me on tv? That
would maybe be pretty easy to spot.)

I know a lot of you have seen the show, and it has been talked about on
Rust, so I won't rehash all the details, but I will tell you a couple of my
personal observations ...

1. PHONING IT IN? Someone said Neil was just phoning it in at FarmAid. I
think it was me. I was worried. Worried that maybe Neil had reached that
point in his life when he was always gonna do that now, ya know? Just kick
back and phone it in. Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh! No! I didn't want that. You don't
either. I know you. So you know I make a habit of worrying about people I
love, and Neil is on the short list there. So I was worried. WELL. I'm
not worried anymore! Neil was NOT phoning this one in people, NEIL YOUNG
was in the house! Present and accounted for! Fully present! He was all
there, fully engaged, very Neil-serious. The sing and scowl. The legs
flopping all over the place, the body moving so much it looked like he might
fall right out of the chair. Oooooh yeah, there he is, that's the man. The
MAN. THAT is the Neil Young I know and love! (Have I mentioned that I love
him, you guys?)

~NEIL YOUNG NEVER PHONES IT IN TWICE IN ONE WEEK~ t-shirts should be issued.

2. NEIL IS A SUPREMELY COOL HUMAN BEING. He looked so freaking cool,
wearing his shades, clearly just trying to be one of the boys in the band.
He was very happy, laughing and smiling when he was not scowling and singing
and ripping up Ol' Black and looking intense. INTENSE.

3. THE HOUSE BAND was clearly THRILLED to have Neil and Jerry Lee there.
Neil especially though. They played Down By the River twice during
commercial breaks for the audience, and very well I might add (just music,
no singing), but I noticed no one around me seemed like they were beyond
thrilled that DBTR was being played, weren't there any other Rusties in the
audience??? I was grinning like a fool. (Behind the duct tape.) You can
actually hear some of DBTR on the actual show when they come back from a
commercial break: Listen! They played it when the band came out to set up
and Neil gave them the nod, little smile, very very cute, he looked touched.

4. THE SONG was the song they play together on Jerry Lees new album, I
didn't know it but something about Baby you don't have to go...Neil sings
along with JLL and also by himself, he sounded GREAT, so very bluesy, very
very very intense, moving, cool, oooh la la lalalala. But when it was over,
and they went to commercial, the band (the house band) started playing a JLL
song, I think it was Shake, baby Shake, that one, and Neil (first)
immediately jumps in and starts playing, smiles and nods over at the House
Band and plays along with them. They look like they are going to explode
they are so psyched! Jerry Lee joins in, and Keltner ... Then Neil gives
the lead guitarist of the House Band the nod, like "you go, man, go ahead"
and the guy's eyes open wide and he looks like a deer in the headlights but
he is a very talented player and he rips out an awesome lead and then Neil
gives the smirk and raises an eyebrow nods at him with a kind of face that
looked like he was saying Hey, Dude, Impressive (the guy looked like he
could just die right then and it would all be good, can you fucking imagine
that), and then NEIL rips out a lead and everyone in the house band just
starts kind of chuckling, like, oh yeah, that's Neil Young alright, and Neil
is grinning and rocking and rolling around in the chair, every now and then
leaning into the mike to say Shake, Baby, Shake, and smiling ... OHMYGOD.
Then the tv people are like COUNTDOWN, ON AIR, etc., and they grind it to a
halt, you can see a little bit of it on the actual show, I can't remember if
it's when they started or stopped, but you can get the feel.

And then it was over. David Letterman did go over and shake hands, but
just before that he did make a comment about how if he had to choose between
listening to the earlier Dog Trainer guest or these guys he would choose
these guys every time and Neil (very quickly) shouts back "Hey, thanks!"
... Heh.

Anyway. That's my very loooong story. (Sorry about that, you know how I
get.) No hugs or anything, Neil left the stage without talking to anyone,
and without even so much as a glance at the audience (I was waiting ...) ...
It was very clear that he was trying to be just one of the boys in the band,
not steal the spotlight. He kept motioning to Jerry Lee when people
applauded, as if to say, you know, Hey, he's the man, not me. Very gracious
and very charming and well, he is just IT. You know? He is.

So. I'm not worried anymore. Neil didn't just phone this one in. The
goosebumps, my friends, were back.

: )

loveandaffection, inlovewithneilyoungalloveragain, karen