Chapter 2 - In which Neil takes an interest in Moe's photograph.
Summary: In Chapter 1 we learned how Moe the Sleaze managed to take a pretty cool close-up photograph of Neil Young at the Somerset H.O.R.D.E. Festival.
Fast forward to December, 1997. One evening as I sat reading my email, I found something unexpected. I had a message from a woman (I'll call her "Mary" for the sake of privacy) who lived just across the Mississippi River from me. Mary had stumbled upon my web page and decided to introduce herself. Besides being almost neighbors, we also had something else in common: She was a huge Neil fan. Mary went on to explain that not only was she a fan, but that she had met Neil several times. Of course this piqued my curiosity. It turns out that Mary works for a company that manufactures communication devices for the handicapped. Part of her job entails working with the Bridge School which was founded by Neil and his wife, Pegi.. After exchanging a few emails, I half-jokingly asked her if she would be able to get Neil's autograph for me. She replied, "No problem!".
A few weeks later, I received another email from Mary. She told me that she was about to go on the road again and would be spending some time at the Bridge School. If I had something I wanted autographed, I should bring it over and she would take care of it. I tried to think of something unique I could have Neil sign and settled on the close-up photo I had taken at Somerset last summer. So I went out and had a couple of 8x10 prints made.
I took the negative into the photo shop along with a small "reference" print. The person behind the counter looked at the print and said, "Is that Neil Young! Cool!". A few days later when I went to pick up the enlargements, the counter-person (a different one) said, "Is that you! Cool!".
Once I had the prints, I took them over to Mary's house. This was the first time we met face-to-face. She invited me in and took me into her home office. The walls were covered with Neil memorabilia. A couple of the pictures were of her and Neil. She told me that she has been back-stage at several of the Bridge Concerts and she was also backstage at the Somerset H.O.R.D.E show.
I gave her the prints and explained that one was for her and the other was for her to try to get Neil to autograph for me. She said that there was no "try" about it. She would pass it on to a friend who works closely with Pegi and Neil at the Bridge School and that she would see that it was signed.
As I left, she warned me that she would be on the road for a couple of months so I shouldn't expect to hear from her too soon.
A few weeks later I was once again reading through my email and found something unusual... an email from a "bridgeschool.org" address. Hmmmm. The message was from Mary's friend. She was writing to tell me that she had gotten Neil to autograph the photo for me and oh, by the way, Neil really liked the photo and may be interested in buying the rights to it.
Whooooah!!! Settle down, Moe!
Of course I immediately supplied my name, address, phone number, etc. The woman from the Bridge School assured me that she would pass on the info to the "appropriate people".
Fast forward once again to March, 1998. Arriving home from work one day, I found a message on my answering machine from Mary. She was back in town and would like to get together so she could return my autographed photo. A day or two later we got together. There it was: my photo, now covered with "To Chuck - Neil Young" in that familiar Neil scrawl. As she handed it to me she said "Pegi personally handed the photo back to me and said that Neil REALLY liked it and is interested in buying the rights to it!" My first thoughts were, "I better get home and keep everybody off the phone. Neil could be calling at any moment!"
Go to Chapter 3 - In which Moe the Sleaze sells out.
