**** i drafted this long ago, but it was too sappy to send - but now thinking it should be sent, sappy or not****
ok, time for the long, meandering email [and i just read this outrageous thing, and will not be offended at all by any of you deleting this right now - in fact my respect for you will skyrocket]... walking in to the Canterbury Arms on Friday I immediately ran into Ian and Steve, and instantly felt welcome and comfortable on the other side of the Atlantic... my original plan was to seek out Paul or Jules or others I might have met before, latch on to them until I felt comfortable, but that was unnecessary... Ian and Steve were both fantastic and I enjoyed their company at various times over the weekend, and quickly realized Ian was Ian Blackpark (to me anyway, altho you probably all know him as Ian Campbell!!!), and one of the main organizers of the event - thanks so much Ian, it was an overwhelming success!!... met Nick, my email buddy that I knew was staying at the same hotel, and I couldnt have had a better companion to share those 2:00 a.m. trips back to the hotel, along with Trish, whom i met later... it was a pleasure meeting both of you and sharing my first upper double decker bus ride and (altho I might be the only one) I even enjoyed sharing the unplanned walk on the bridge over the Thames (yes locals, we missed our bus stop!!! by two stops!)... did connect with old friends Paul and Jules... always good to see them... I think Jules and I share a common connection in that Deb (rustie extraordinaire, and getting BA 100 so maybe she will join NYAS??!!) and Randy (no longer a rustie?? say it aint so!!) played an early role in our meeting other rusties / NYAS members... So for some strange reason I feel especially close to Jules, a fine lad of 14 (or maybe a few more years)... thoroughly enjoyed your music too, young friend... incredible passion in his music is evident when Jules performs!!... Paul, you clearly deserve the biggest thanks and all your efforts are deeply appreciated... I was concerned taking a trip across the pond to merely go to a bar and hang with a few people was not the brightest move I ever made, but the entire weekend was a full fledged first class event, and I am thrilled with my decision, and you are largely responsible for that... however, I am holding Paul responsible for everyone that I wanted to meet but didnt, because Paul repeatedly said words that my ears heard very nicely as "Lou, can you videotape a bit?... I mean whenever you are ready", but my brain processed as, "hey, stupid U.S. dude, you think we asked you over here to chat with us fine Europeans?... quit bugging us and grab your camera, we need different angles, audience shots, ACTION!!!"... btw, when did Paul sing?... who was I talking to?.... damn!!!... seriously, Paul, thanks so much, but if I express my gratitude to you adequately this post will be even more ridiculously long, so thats it for you my friend... had a great walk and dinner with Ian, Steve, Nick and Jules, and its wonderful to get away from the crowd and get to know some people on a more personal level... I couldnt have picked better dinner companions... altho our collective math skills were a bit weak??
saw my friends (and one of my original email buddies) Brigitte from France, along with Jean Paul and Francois (at least I hope I have those names right, as I know your faces so well, but dont know that we have yet been introduced in a formal sense!!), and of course Andrew... and Andrew made sure my return baggage was full of music!!... cds, dvds... thanks so much Andrew... always a riot to hang out with you (and someday you must explain to me why Brigitte hangs out with you??)... have shared a bridge or two with this group from France plus Andrew, but was happy to have a longer one on one talk with Jean Paul on Saturday... met Mark Henry Moon Goodwin and can truly say that both of them are exceptional people (or one person, whoever he is)... he (or they) had two name tags, and if I had the weekend to do over again, I think I would have tried to steal Henry Moon, Scott Sandie, Johnny Rogan and other name tags... oh well... and Mark and his band mates were wonderful performers... met Andrew's friend Wanda and had a memorable, and enjoyable, chat with her...
Even tho I had seen Joost and Guy two weeks earlier, it was a thrill to see them again ... Joost is deservedly one of the most highly respected rusties and NYAS members and Guy drinks beer... and then has a beer... then takes care of Jules before having a beer... at least thats how it looked to me... did anyone else notice that the more beer Guy drank the goofier Jules became?... Guy's son (not Jules, the other one) was the coolest looking dude at the party, some of which was because he was wearing the bridge school hat that I brought, and that hat never looked so good - wanted to get him on video, but he moves around too quickly!!... met FrankB, and it was cool to be able to personally thank the man behind Perfect Echo and sharer of so much music...
met Pete Long, and admittedly along with Scott, of those I had not met but wanted to meet, Pete was at the top of my list... Pete has been so kind over the years in assisting me with concert poster questions... and it was a pleasure to meet him and thank him personally, and most of all just to shoot the breeze!!... so happy to have finally met you Pete, and hope so much we run into each other again, without the computers in the way... met Alexander from Germany, what fun he is!!... a lot of people do not realize he is a member of Don't Spook the Horse, but if my video ever comes out, you will all know its true!!... from my angle, he must have been a member!!!... met Mike Salmons, another off and on email friend, and, like so many others, a genuinely enjoyable person in person!!... met David Gore and his wife Jenny... altho with all the Davids, i didnt realize it was Mr. Gore for awhile!!... David, I think i was supposed to send you something, but I forget what it is!!... Although I was never any good at it, I did manage to pick someone up Saturday and convince them to come back to my hotel room... unfortunately, as nice a guy as you are David, you frankly were not my first choice... if there were 30 women at the party, then you were probably my 52nd choice... but all in all, it was fun to spend some time with another from the US... oh, and ladies, I admit asking David to stay on the floor, but I will try to be more open minded if one of you needs a hotel room to share someday??... David, you did leave a pullover sweater in my room, and given I dont need it in Florida, it will be returned upon request - next time please forget something i can use... Bry, it was an honor to meet someone with such an NYAS history... and altho i am not going to get into it here, your act of generosity toward me after the auction is greatly appreciated!!... met Stu Calder, another name that pops up in "Neil fan" history quite often it seems...
good thing i didnt win an Oscar, I would have to end this thing!!... had the good fortune to talk to Eugene Sunday... the king of the quizzes... man, glad i walked in Saturday while that was going on and could just join a team!!... Eugene, it was great to see your smiling face after the conversation you had with your wife on the phone (and cant wait to see you in San Francisco next year!!)... and my quiz team - some mentioned above, but some i dont think I was ever introduced to!!... or forgot names, and apologize for that... damn... I know on Sunday was able to have a good one on one talk with one of you (after interrupting your reading of the paper)... was hoping to meet Johnny Rogan, mainly to chat a bit, and maybe get a signature on my new copy of Sixty to Zero, but that was not to be, so can look forward to that in the future hopefully... was hoping to chat with others of you that I know a bit via email, and I probably did, and didnt realize it!!... to anyone I inadvertenly left out of this thesis, and all that I didnt meet, please know that simply looking around the room (with and without the video camera) and seeing so many happy smiling faces was the best part of the weekend... well, maybe not the best part, but a genuinely really good part!!... thanks to all of you...
Ty and Ayesha, what tremendous performers!!... enjoyed helping carry out equipment Sunday, as it was about the only chance I had to talk to both of you, albeit briefly... and thanks for Jules guitar string, but somewhere along the way, it got lost... oh well...
Scott, thanks again... I must tell you your so called friends had incredibly creative ideas in their encouragement of me to harass you mercilessly... but i cant bring myself to do it... will meet you somewhere... Lou, proud to be NYAS member 5501... and still mad at member 5500...
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