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Editor's Note: It might have started as a 20-seat Rustrow for a single-day Bridge School Benefit show back in the mid-nineties, but by the new millenium it has expanded into a marathon of four days of Neil-related nirvana -- both musically, and communally. Rusties gathering from all over the world to experience music by Neil and his friends and by other musically talented Rusties. And not only for the music, but for the joy of each other's company. In the flesh. To bring life to those email faces and handles.

This is the story of one Rustie's odyssey, as told "Jack Kerouac-style".

Top of this sunny day all! First off a really big THANKS! to Shelia for
getting us the tickets for the RUST ROWS and a great Billy story! and ALL
the rest of the folks that put together this year's Rust Fest, really guys and
girls Thanks!  Here's a bit of the Crazy Moon's RUST ODDESY to this year's
IRF & BSB. I was packed and was ready to hit the road before 9.am on
Thursday. The drive up from the desert was peacefull, just a real easy
drive. Made it to the camp grounds about a little after 4 pm, and was
greeted by the gang from SeaTac, cool to see these Rusties again!! and my
real good friend Mike aka good 2 c u from Tacoma. After setting up my tent
on what was called ON THE BEACH as this camp site was in the sand of the
volley ball courts, the really cool Rusties camped up on the Skyline camp
site, ha! quite a few Rusties ended up camping which was fun. I guess it was
about 6 pm when the people from the camp grounds ended up going over to
Alice's Restaurant which at first i wasn't going to go as i was a bit tired
from the drive up but Mike and Paul T talked me into it, thanks guys! well
the crazy moon's 2 brain cells went blank as i left my wallet in my other
pants, god i felt like a dip shit on that one but Paul who was driving was
cool and covered me a $20.00 spot till we got back to the camp grounds.
Alice's was a neat place to hold the pre IRF dinner, they had pretty good
food and for the bay area the prices were very fair. Other Rusties were all
ready there and more were to come, great to see REACTOR and the Mrs again.
I ended up sitting close to Cosmo and Harryo, two really neat guys! After
everyone paid their dinner tab it was off to OPL! YEA!! cool place, after a
bit of trouble finding the place as at this point it was getting real foggy
out and was hard to see while driving. There was a few Rusties playing for
the crowd of locals as well as Rusties, i thought the local half moon guys
were cool but i sure won't want to get on the bad side of a few that were in
there playing pool. OK i ended up sitting outside and yacking and didn't
really hear the guys play but ended up meeting Randy G a super guy and Jilly
i just luv Jilly! and was talking to them. While at the OPL i noticed the
shop next to it was called Mavericks (Mavericks is a name of a big wave
surfing spot up in Half Moon Bay) so i walked over to find out that it was a
guy named Jeff Clarks dads restaurant and surf shop and i guess they were
moving as the place was closed and alot of the inventory was gone but there
was still about 8 big wave surfboards hanging from the walls, so i thought
that was cool. I don't remember what time we left but right after we left
but after leaving the parking lot we went back to see if Kurt & Lisa and the
others had left yet as Lisa was the driver of the second car in our group,
well they had left and as we pulled the first U turn there was a police
officer watching us so when we did another U turn to get out of the OPL the
officer was right behind us, i know Paul wasn't too pleased with this, ha! but
the guy never pulled us over and we made the drive back to the camp grounds
without any other problems. Part 2 will come in a bit as i still need to
catch up on stuff around here, so stay tune for more on a RUST ODDESY as
it gets really fun. Peace and IRF to all. Crazy Moon

Top of the evening all! Here's part 2 of my RUST ODDESY. After getting
back from the OPL a lot of folks ended up back at the camp fire and i forget
who was playing the guitar but everyone was singing or just having a groovin
time, i'm guessing somewhere around 2 a.m. i couldn't keep awake so i was
off to na na land , ah the thoughts of the night were spinning around in my
head as slumber set in. My amigo's that were down "on the beach " camp site
were More Barn Brad, good to see Brad again and next to him in the other
tent was Ded r/r who by the way in such a sweet person and made my stay fun,
you rock Deb! The next tent to the left of Deb was Jules, Jules you're a cool
bloke! i think i even woke the poor guy up to meet him, ha! this guy is a
class act! more on Jules later. had a good time talking with Arnold about
surfing and such, he was camped just down from me as well as Scott who
was riding with Arnold. i had a good time talking to Scott as the young lad
is cool to talk to, and to the rest of the cast from "on the beach" it was fun!
Somewhere around 12 pm the campers split to the Cat club in Santa Cruz
for lunch but i ended up staying and getting in a few ZZZ 's before the IRF
and i'm glad i did as i needed all my engery to get thought the night. It's now
IRF time and to meet all my friends and on to making new ones. Tim who set
up the stage area with the help of few others, Tim does this from what i
have been told every year so far my hat is off to ya Tim! Third Bowl played
with the help of special guests throughout the evening with my favorite
being Keith Haman, this young lad just f*&k'in rocked! he was all over the
place playing just like Neil, god Keith has the Neil moves down, just
awesome Keith!! On some of this story the time that it happen the events are
out of place time wise but in the haze they did happen. Dinner was pretty
good, i have to say that wass some mighty fine corn on the cob they served,
some time around or right after dinner the camping area right below where the
IRF was there was a group from some college and it was a girl ask guy thing
and and everyone was dressed up all western and they were dirty dancin' i
have to admit i though i was going to a porno film as them cow girls were
for a lack of better words they sure were riding the pony and they all were
just really cute also, it was funny to see all the rusties men go over and
watch, but they turned out to be right nice folks and i took a cotton to
liking them, even had one of the guys from the other party come up to me and
say howz it going bro, this guy was studying to be a lawyer but his day job
was a police officer i'm guessing as he looked like a cop, i'm not saying
the cops were spying on us he was just one of many of the guys down below
who were studying to be lawyers and alot of cops study to become lawyers, he
just came up when he heard the live band playing Neil tunes which was cool
and everyone that came up from down below was made to feel welcome, WAY
TO GO RUSTIES!! My friend the young lad Scott ended up going down to try
and meet some of them cowgirls and was told how all them girls had dates, ha!
too funny Scott. A bit later it was the raffle time and being the carpetbagger
i am i did really good! here's a big thanks to all who sent in all this booty
that i won, I  ended up winning 2 scarfs thats More Barn Brad donated a cool
More Barn one and a Piece of Crap one + i also won a poster flat for Silver
& Gold  plus i ended up winning one of the top goodies a very cool crazy
horse night lite, that was real nice of ya who ever donated it, thanks! My
good friend Mike aka good 2 c u won the top goodie, the More Barn mirror, to
cool my friend, but i would watch out Brad as i know that Mike doesn't want
to give it back for next year, ha! but what a great honnor for a Rustie to
have for a year way to go Mike.So many people at the fest so much fun, some
were around 2 a.m ??? i knew it was time to crawl off to bed before i ended
up pass out from lack of sleep ; )  in the dirt, things that night ended up
being a bit bleary but what a night! i guess alot of the others ended up
staying awake till around 5 a.m. Thats it for now more on Saturdays
adventures tomorrow. Peace & IRF Doug aka crazy moon

Top of this sunny day! here's part 3 on the IRF & BSB. To add a few things
about the IRF on Friday night. I was hanging up at the camp site at skyline
and i heard that Jules was going to do lead singing on Tonights the Night ,
so leaving the haze of skyline i'm watching Jules getting into singing TTN,
Jules really is good, kinda has the moves of mick jagger, by then a few
people joined in as back up singer's and with the haze in me i found myself
at the mike with a few other souls doing back up for Jules. ah geez after a

bit i was thinking what the hell was i doing up there, ha! oh god at least
it was in front of friends that i made a ass of myself, but it sure was fun
doing it, ha! other cool happenings in away was that and i hope i remeber
his name right, Pat, who had his dog with him, i have dogs and i aways carry
dog cookies with me and i had some in my jacket that night, i ended up
giving her a few of the cookies and petted her , well it seem everywhere i
went Pats dog was following me and wanting more cookies, i think i ended up
meeting Pat about 5 times that night, ha! people were teasing him that she
wasn't his dog any more, ha!. Now on to Saturdays events, awoke a bit later
than i like but ahead of most. i made some coffee and all who walked by was
welcome to a cup, after a bit more and more Rusties started to crawl out
their tents and most everyone ended up back at the fire pit up in skyline,
it did feel good to get to sit next to a warm fire and drink a hot cup of
coffee as it was friggin cold in the A.M. everyone was in good spirits as
thoughts of this year BSB was being talked about. Somewhere around noon
everyone headed out to the Shoreline, i rode with Paul T who again was more
than cool to drive me and a few others to and from the Shoreline on both
days. With Lisa in the lead car we made it to Shoreline with no problems,
after parking in E 3  in the upper parking lot it was off to stand in line
and be searched by security, i held out my bag that i had and showed them it
was just food and some soda still sealed and muchies, they really never went
though anything the guy said thanks for having everything ready and let me
in no metal detectors but they did have a guy with one but the crowd kinda
of overtook him and alot of people weren't searched, i didn't have anything
to hide so i wasn't too worried. After getting in it was off to the totempole
to meet up with the other rusties, it was really neat with Jim Kelly who has
been a good email friend for a few years, Ivan cool to see ya! said hi to
Reactor and the Mrs, Mrs Reactor is so sweet and it was nice to meet her,
wow the totempole area is packed with Rusties, there had to be over 50
Rusties there, people were walking by and staring at us and i guess
wondering what fan club we were in as everyone was in good spirits. The
group photo was fun and can't wait to see it. Great seat for Saturdays show,
Mike and me were seated in section 204 maybe 15 rows back , really good
seats! thanks Shelia! I thought the show was great , where was a few acts
that i didn't take a cotton to but that was fine , no matter what i thought
of their act it was cool that they took the time & money to help Neil and
the kids, and the show really is for the kids so hey why should i think bad
vibes about a group, its just cool that they were there. Highlites were
Billy Idol!! i never have seen Billy before and really enjoyed his set, god
it felt good to rock! AWHOOOOOO!!!!  i thought he had the crowd going the
most that night, just imho a real crowd pleaser. Neils set was very moving
to me and from everyone around me i think they would have agree with my
statement, i didn't see anyone not like his set that was setting next to me,
i like mideast vacation, always have since i heard it, OK Neils set was a bit
short but thats a sign of a good host and thats to put the other acts in
front of his and if someone was get more play time than Neil thats the way
it would be and should be. The sing along would have worked a bit better if
some one would have come out and said what was going to happen, at that
time and point alot of folks were feeling good and had no idea what was
happening, but the sing along idea was good, they just didn't know how to
pull it off i was kinda of suprise at that point that the show was over, but
what the hey  Neils set was great. I thought it was a very moving set and it
showed as Neil seem a bit more moved by the moment. Anywho love the show,
best one? why rate them as there all for a good cause and to put rating or
dissin any artist would be real petty on my part. Ah i leave and walk back
and find the car and its just a few minutes and the rest of the gang shows up
so after a little wait its off to the camp grounds. Back on skyline's camp
fire someone had a tape of Neils set so i stayed awake for that and then it
was off to the land of ZZZ's this was somewhere near 2.30 a.m. or so. oh a
few other things i thought the deluxe crazy horse sound fitted in with the
mood of the music and made the Neil & CH set that much better. More of the
RUST ODDESY pt 4 later

Top of the evening all, Here's part 4  of my RUST ODDSEY...  Sunday
morning was COLD!!! so after making some coffee up at the skyline campsite
area, someone already had the fire going i made a small pot of coffee then
the big pot , Rusties drink alot of coffee in the morning, ha!  If i'm not
mistaken this was the morning that Cosmo made breakfast for anyone who
wanted to eat, Cosmo has to have to have the neatest cooking stuff to go
camping, shit the guy had what could be consisered a small kitchen  to cook
with, Cosmo i think ended up cooking close to a hour and a half to get
everyones order done. rumour has it that we should open a restuarant called
the COSMO's &  CRAZY MOON'S HOUSE OF DELIGHT, FINE EATING, HA!
Two thumbs up for Cosmo for all the work in feeding that bunch of hungry
Rusties! Rusties sure do eat eh! Cosmo, ha! Made sure Deb r/r got her coffee,
after she has her coffee she's the nicest person to know, luv ya deb!  I'm
guessing we left about 11.00 a.m to get to Shoreline, Lisa was in the lead and
Paul was driving again,  arriving at Shoreline  back up in the upper parking
lot somewhere??? after we all got down to the line to get in no one remembered
were we parked,  10 Rusties and not a one knew were we parked, ha!  again
security was tight i guess? but i didn't really get check again, just
presented them my food bag and jacket and they didn't check them, kinda of
looked into them and said thanks and let me pass, cool. Back at the
totempole again and again alot of Rusties , aright! say hi to Jarad and see
Ivan a hey to Reactor, Mike C is there  as well as Jim Kelly, i see and say
hi to nobody, see Pauline again, shes another sweet lady, i ended up
talking to Kathy dance dance dance, shes so cute as soon as the music starts
she starts to dance, a Rustie who's handle fits, ha! Kathy i really had fun
talking with ya!  The group photo was fun, nothing like having over 50
Rusties sitting still for any amount of time, WHAT A GREAT GROUP!!!!. 
Sundays seat is real good and i end up sitting next to dangergirl and her
husband, great folks! thanks for putting up with me.  I forgot yesterday to
say anything really on the Bridge School Kids so here's some things i really
liked. Eddie V, loves them kids and he really shows it, he had that little
girl really happy by saying how much he admired her and how she was goin to
Berkeley (i hope i have that right) i really like Eddie, he's cool!  It
seemed like all the kids were having a blast and the parents seemed to be
really enjoying themselves. All the reports are true as soon as Neil started
to play with Dave M the totempole was like a goast town , all of a sudden no
one there, ha!  Wow loved Billy Idol again, and again the place ROCKED!!!
Still thought Neils set was great!  Imagine seem to work better this time? i
still think it was a good try that needed a bit more help. The show was over
and from what i over heard everyone thought it was great, heard more than a
few folks say how moving it was. Left the Shoreline and headed off to the
parking lot to try and find the cars, ahhh! shit i'm friggin going  nuts
can't find the cars i'm fringin lost, ha!, agggghhhhh!!!!  but finnally i
see them and i'm the first person there, whew!  nothing like thinking you're
not finding your ride home, LOL's  Back at the camp ground everyone went up
to the Skyline fire pit and was signing songs and just grovin , sure was a
mellow  place to be, Chuck the fireman was in charge of the fire and i ended
up sitting next to my friend Deb and Jilly was next to her as we were
sitting at that time on the rock wall and below us was me mate Jules. Jules
was cool, at one point Jilly had this really sweet tasting drink so after
passing it to me i took a hit and passed it down to Jules, Jules took a
drink and passed it back up to me, so feeling a bit frisky i told Jules hey
mate i'll go ya drink to drink with ya, he just looked up at me and shooked
his head no, LOL's  Jules you're too cool!  it seemed liked everyone stayed
awake longer this last night but the good times and vibes just seem to last,
a real warm glow could be seen on all the Rusties that night. well i made it
off to ZZZ land at what time i don't know. BTW on the sing alongs Laurie was
really the only one who could remember all the words to most of the Neil
songs. Part 5 and the last one! i can hear the clapping now, ha!  peace & <3
crazy moon

Top of this bright and sunny day! Well here's the last part of my RUST
ODDESY. Boy it was cold that monday morning so i'm off to the skyline camp
site to sit and have a cup of coffee and get myself really for the trip back
to the desert :(  packing up was real easy, the tent went down pretty easy
and after getting everything in the truck  i went back up to the fire pit to
say my goodbys. Talked to Peter aka hard to handle from Germany, super guy
Peter is! he even gave me a CD he made called american rose, great pick of
songs my friend! i love mein kleiner gruner kaktus, don't know what the
words mean but it seems like a funny song. I say goodby to me mate Jules,
hope to see ya at next years IRF & BSB, good to meet ya Jules! i see Deb r/r
and give her a hung, luv ya Deb! hell there was hugging going on by
everyone. A real big special thanks to Kurt & Lisa for all that they do for
the campers, these two people are beyond words they ROCK!! to all my friends
from the NW i say thanks for a blast! Mike you're the best my friend! Paul
thanks for driving as i would have gotten myself lost if i was to do the
driving, Cosmo we have to look into opening a restaurant,  with your cooking
and me getting the coffee we'll make a mint, ha! Harryo & Bill you guys were
great! Arnold & Scott see ya in the future,  Kathy kept on danc'in, John &
Di good luck in Mex and to everyone else that was there, oh and a big
special thanks to the pretty young lady from france that was singing next to
me on TTN at the jam, you're sweet! Well i wanted to leave by 9 am but by
the time i left it was more around 11 am. The trip home was easy but i did
get one scare though, i stopped at a in-out burger about 2 pm and after
eating i sat inside my truck to roll another 1 or 2 for the road, ha! after
i'm done i look up and in the far outside of the parking lot there's a
sheriff  : 0 oh f*&k , ha! but all was cool as he didn't give me a second
look when i left, YA!!!! Made it home about 6 pm  and was stoked to find
out that one of my inside cats Salem was home from the vet, before i left we
had to take her in to the vet as she wasn't eating and just laying around
and i think but don't know for sure but i think she ate a spider and that was
the cause but it didn't look good for her, but what ever shes home and i was
stoked!!! well thats it for my RUST ODDESY, see everyone next year or
before!

Doug aka crazy moon

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