Chapter 1 - In which Moe the Sleaze buys a camera, fests with rusties, and photographs Neil Young.
In July of 1997, my wife, Lori, decided that she needed a new camera for our up-coming family vacation. So we went out and bought one of those 35mm auto-everything cameras. Fifteen or twenty years ago I was heavily into wild-life photography as a hobby. At that time I turned up my nose at cameras like this. REAL photographers not only adjusted everything by hand, they also had to carry around a back-pack full of lenses of every possible length and filters of every possible color. As a result of lugging all of this gear around, I got completely burned-out of photography, and never wanted to take another photo in my life!
So it a really an odd, spur-of-the-moment kind of thing that as I walked out of the house that August 1st morning for a day of rust festing and Neil listening, I picked up my wife's new camera and stuffed it into my bag. "What, the heck!", I said, "Maybe Neil will show up at the workshop stage and I'll get a chance to take some photos."
That was the day of the Somerset, WI H.O.R.D.E. Festival. It was a magical day. I started out by driving down to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to pick up fellow rustie Kurt "Safeway Cart" Braun who flew in from Winnipeg. We then drove up to Stillwater for the pre-concert rust fest. The fest broke up in time to head over to River's Edge at Somerset in time to catch Neil in case he made an appearance at the workshop stage.
Once at River's Edge, we rusties gathered at the third stage with high hopes. It looked promising as Larry Cragg climbed on stage to begin setting up. Larry even blessed us by singing that well known song that he wrote about me and Mr. Chuck ("Chuck one, two... Chuck one, two..."). Pretty soon we were all surprised to see Billy Talbot climb up onto stage with his guitar slung over his shoulder. As Billy treated us to a warm set of acoustic tunes my wife's camera came out of the bag. Click, Click, Click. Soon Billy was finished and disappeared.
Larry continued to occupy the stage so we were all still hopeful that Neil would show. But as the minutes ticked by, getting closer to the time the opening act was scheduled to hit the main stage, our spirits began to sag. But wait! Who's that frumpy looking guy in the dark glasses ducking into the back of the tent?! Is it?? Yes!!!
Neil took the stage, apologized for sleeping in late, and played us a short, sweet set, including "Give Me Strength" which he reportedly had not played since 1936 or something. All the while he's playing, I'm snapping pictures. All the while I'm snapping pictures, I'm thinking, "I wonder how this camera works! Damn, I wish I had listened closer while that salesman described all the features!"
After Neil's set, I figured I had already gotten my money's worth and would have been happy to go home. But no, I stuck around for Neil's evening set with Crazy Horse.
The day after Somerset, I left with my family on our vacation; the one we had bought the camera for. We spent a week circumnavigating Lake Superior. Once we got back home, the first order of business was to get the film in for developing. Two days later, I got back them back. There amongst the photos of my daughter scampering on the beach, were my Somerset photos of Billy and Neil. Most of them turned out OK. But there was one close-up of Neil that looked pretty cool.
Go to Chapter 2 - In which Neil takes an interest in Moe's photograph.
Chuck King - cXking@minn.net - (remove the X to email)
Last updated on May 30, 1999.
