A Wish For Harvest Moon

As we sift through our inbox here at Thrasher's Wheat, it sometimes is hard to keep up with all of our correspondence.

But then every once in awhile we come across a letter that just stops us in our tracks and forces us to think about what we're doing here at TW.

Here's one such letter from Steve in Brisbane, Australia:

Hi,

First of all thanks for reading this. I don’t know if my efforts will be in vain but I have to give it a try.

Several months ago, my girlfriend’s father, Peter, was given only a few months to live, on the day I bought my tickets to Neil Young’s concert in Brisbane, Australia on the 21st January 2009. My girlfriend and I had hoped that he would be able to come to the concert with us.

In early September I spoke with him about our appreciation for Neil Young’s music. I told him how I love Rust Never Sleeps, he said how much he loved Harvest etc etc He was an enormous music fan. One of his favourite things was music trivia. Only a couple of weeks later, his health had descended quite rapidly, due to cancer. The night before he died, as he lay gravely ill, my girlfriend and I put Harvest on the CD player in the hospital room and listened to the album, start to finish. We sang along to the music and shared a special moment.

As we left the hospital that night, I turned the car on and the next song to come on the stereo, randomly, was Harvest Moon. My girlfriend mentioned how much her father loved that song, especially for the fact that Linda Ronstadt sang the backing vocals (another favourite). We resolved to take a CD into the hospital the following day and play that album for him also.

The next morning, we arrived quite early, my girlfriend had a strange feeling about what was going to happen that day. After about half an hour, we decided to put the CD on. We both sat there thinking the same thing, although we didn’t know it at the time. We were desperately hoping that my girlfriend’s mother would arrive in time to hear the fourth track on that album, Harvest Moon. We kinda didn’t want to pause it or anything, we sorta had a feeling it might work out.

Anyway, about 30 seconds into Harvest Moon, she walked in with her other daughter, the whole family was there. We both felt pretty happy about that. My girlfriend’s aunt, who was there also but didn’t know about the song, said she could feel something special happening.

A couple of hour later, he died. Harvest Moon was the last album he ever heard.

Later in the week, after the funeral, at which, Harvest Moon was played. My girlfriend was ‘Googling’ the meaning of ‘Harvest Moon.’ She was unaware that it referred to the full moon in September and the equinox that happens twice a year, where the moon’s axis crosses the equator and that it refers to the official start of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere etc. This year, the Harvest Moon, or vernal equinox occurred at 1144am on the 22nd September.

Her father took his last breath at 1130am on the 22nd September 2008.

Basically, I would love to get this message to Neil Young and his band. It would mean a lot to my girlfriend, Danielle and her sister, Shannon, who I am going to the concert with, to hear that song performed live. I realise Neil must get a million song requests for every concert but I can only try can’t I?

Thanks for reading this. Feel free to cut and paste this and forward it on to any Neil Young forum or fan site. Hopefully, Neil may end up seeing it and even better, he might end up playing the song in Brisbane on the 21st of January. If you do, Neil, I’d be eternally grateful.

Thank you.

Steve

Steve, so sorry about your loss. Hopefully, your wish comes true later this month in Brisbane.

Thanks for sharing and enjoy the show.

Editorial by Neil Young: Perfect Storm for Innovation Gathers in Washington

Another editorial by Neil Young is out titled Perfect Storm for Innovation Gathers in Washington:

"A Perfect storm for innovation is gathering in Washington. With the government's recent financial assistance to GM and Chrysler, the Big 3 now have until the end of March to make the case that shows how they will survive. Survival is not enough though.

America now has a chance to lead the world in power and fuel efficiency. The Big three will still be looking for help at the end of March. As the major shareholder, the US government would have an opportunity to DEMAND the type of cars that will lead the world toward saving the planet for future generations.

If the Big three cannot agree to make only cars that are fuel efficient enough to get at least 50 MPG by 2011, 75 MPG by 2013 and 100 MPG by 2015, then they should go into bankruptcy and fend for themselves like all the other businesses that are having trouble. The truth is this can be done and innovators know the way to do it."

As usual, lots of supportive comments follow the editorial on Huffington Post. For example, Center-of-the-Bird comments:

Neil gets it, he always has and he hasn't sold out as so many rockers have, I'm talking to you Eric Clapton! ;)

No matter how you view Neil, you must agree he has remained consistent and his latest venture "Lincvolt", is no exception. Neil has always had a fondness for big land yachts and his point that even these monsters can be made much more fuel efficient is an important one. Yes, most of us would rather drive a smaller less expensive vehicle but business often doesn't have that option at least not yet. We need solutions for large and small vehicles, one size does not fit all.

And hey, political ranters, stop trying to fix the blame, do as Neil is doing and fix the problem!

More on previous editorials by Neil Young: How To Save A Major Automobile Company and editorial reaction to the
LincVolt project.

Happy Neil Year!!!

Berlin - February 2008

Hope everyone had a nice holiday and a happy new year.

After another exhausting year as a Neil Young fan (poor us), maybe we'll get some relief in 2009? Not.

Brand New Guy emailed us to predict some possible and probable Neil Young activity for '09:

1 Go on Australia/NZ tour
2 Finish mixing songs already recorded for possible release (as "Linc Volt: the soundtrack"?)
3 Release Toast?
4 Release Archives?
5 Continue Linc Volt project
6 Finish Linc Volt movie
7 Release Jonathan Demme's "Trunk Show"?
8 Tour Europe in the summer, including Glastonbury?
9 Do Farm Aid
10 Do the Bridge School shows

So that's for starters. And your predictions for Neil in '09?