The MORE BARN! ShirtAfter working with the artist and a printer, Brad single-handedly took orders from the entire Rust world -- not once, but twice -- and shipped the shirts out to everyone in time for the 1996 US Tour. At the Raleigh show, Lookout Mama presented to Neil his own MORE BARN! shirt, and shirts for his family. Subsequently, via Lookout Management, Brad has passed shirts on to the members of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Also, another Rusty has presented one to guitar-legend Steve Cropper of Booker T & The MGs. While taking orders for the shirts, Brad asked folks to pitch in a few extra bucks to donate to the Bridge School. Rusties responded enthusiastically (as usual). Here's Brad's story of the delivery of that donation, during the 1996 Bridge Benefit Concert. Long time coming on this one ... and I really have enjoyed reading all of the reviews about the Bridge shows ... so I really don't have much to add. I loved all of the performances ... and truly believe that a benefit like this really brings out the best in all of these special people. A very moving evening for me ... and I would love to attend every Bridge show that I can. I would like to thank Fields of Green (aka, M. Mariko Yamashita) for her help in securing a couple of seats for me. It just would not have been as special an evening had we ended up in the lawn. I am foreveer grateful! It was a pleasure meeting all of the Rusties I did meet: Jim Patilla, DevonT, Calistar, Fountainebleu, Rich Hand, Eric Leighten, BGunn, Barb Hardaway... and friends and others I can't grab out of my mind right now...(after reading so many reviews by people...if I have any regrets at all...I wish I could have met all of the Rusties in attendence on Saturday... I guess that just calls for the need to actually have some type of International Rust gathering sometime ... somewhere! Maybe in the year 2000...as it would take a hell of a lot of planning ... but it is ... Doable!) Sorry I didn't meet all of you...as I really would have liked to! I would also like to give a special silent thanks to you who helped out in securing a guest pass for me so that I could bring our BARN! donation backstage. I had really hoped to shake Neil's hand... but I guess it wasn't meant to be... So here's my story: I tried to do my best... So we fly down to CA...spend Friday driving around, finding the school...Skyline Blvd...The Mountain House...Alice's restaurant...picked up some Orange n' Cream soda at King's Mountain Country Store on Skyline... and just took a drive... it was pretty rainy out... so it was a Misty Mountain.... Head down to Big Sur for a quick view...then up Hwy 1 to head to OPL ... arriving in time to meet Jim Patilla (briefly) ... see the place ... take a few photos & head back to Mtn View to eat & retire... Sat... we head to the Sports Page to meet fellow Rusties... Jim Patilla, Rich Hand, Devon T, Bob Gunn, Eric Leighten, Calistar, Barb Hardaway ... Wally, and a few others, friends & family... It's around 5:00... so we head to Shoreline... just down the street ... TRAFFIC! Finally get into the parking lot... head to the show... WILL CALL... works out ok... and we have some backstage Guest Passes!!!!! It's about 5:45, so we grab a few shirts and start asking the gatekeepers where to go after the show for the reception ... no one knows??? After the 3rd or 4th person, we are told that we can go back there RIGHT NOW!!!! It's now about 10 minutes until showtime and we find the backstage gate area ... and head in... We get there and my girlfriend, Kumi, heads to the restroom, while I am hanging out. It's kind of a hustle and bustle now with many people coming and going ... and a couple of kids right there in their wheelchairs & all. Pretty moving.... And then I recognize one of the kids looks like Ben... Sure enough... there's BEN! I turn around, bam... It's PEGI!!! I say, " Pegi Young?!" and she looks at me, smiles and says "I gotta ..." and I say, "Wait!!!!! I'm from Rust and I..." she says "I really..." I say, "I have a donation for The Bridge School from our Group...." I assertively shake her hand ( and I'm not an assertive kinda' guy!) and put my envelope in her hand at the same time. And she says, "You guys are great! I really have to be out there 5 minutes ago..." and then she says to a friend of hers, in a leopard skin coat "Can you hold this...?" And she hands her my envelope... And off they go... She just slipped away... I'd say that all of that action took place in 3-5 seconds... But I reacted to what ended up to be my only chance... Kumi comes out of the restroom & I tell her it's all over! I gave Pegi our donation and I barely remember what happened! She couldn't believe it! I just wish we would have known what these guest passes were for before we got there (ie, before the show) You arrive 1-2 hours before & attend this function ... and then again after the show too, if you want. Timing & communication is everything ... but this "just happened", luckily!!! I almost wouldn't say I "met" Pegi, as I never had the chance to introduce myself, mention MORE BARN!, or anything. It was just a wham-bam kinda' thing. I just hope to God that the envelope (which was not sealed, as I planned on showing Neil the check) got to the right people -- and that Pegi & Neil get to read the letter I enclosed with the check, explaining the MORE BARN! project, the extra donations received, etc... So it goes... We get to our seats as Pegi is being the MC. Aas I take my seat and whip out my binoculars, I notice Pegi's friend standing on the side of the stage -- in her leopard skin coat -- holding my envelope in her hand. I guess that's a good thing... I got a little rush out of it... The show was better than any review one could write! Afterward we said "WTF" and went backstage again .... hung out till' about 1:30 ... waiting for people to slowly leave. So we're hanging out, and there are people coming and going. Ben is there for a few minutes ... and there's a large wooden crate with some Lionel Train stuff in it ... and a couple of guys farting around. So I drop a MORE BARN! card into the crate... hang out... and wait... Wait some more... Most people are gone... It's getting late...and out comes Eddie Vedder. He has a bottle of wine under his arm, and a 100mm cigarette in his mouth. He's immediately surrounded by many younger fans. He mills around for a few ... and then takes off... I ask another guy about Neil & The Horse. He says everyone's gone already... With a 45 minute drive home to his own bed, I can't say I blame him! Back to the last car in the parking lot... The hotel... Morning... The airport... The plane... We get seated right next to a homeless-type guy who smells like one of the doorwells down on Burnside St in Portland -- soooooo baaaadddd we almost puke! We're talking very, very rancid never-bathed-type of bummy character that you wonder how he got on the flight (which was 100% full!) We can't believe it! It is too much for words... Sympathy only goes so far... We turn the airvent-blowers all his way. Order coffee just to smell the aroma, when needed. I'm sniffing my brand new Sharpie Pen (that I was going to use to get an autograph). I'm shoving Breathsaver mints up my nostrils But I'm still flying for 90 minutes in a pile of stale shit! We land... get off... go home... go to sleep... get up... go to work... And wonder what the hell just happened during the last 48 hours... And on we go... The total BARN! Project donation came to $2115.00 & I'd like to thank all of you again for all of your support during this project! You really helped make a lot of work very rewarding and satisfying! I hope that our donation makes it to the right people at The Bridge School, and I will keep you all posted if/when I hear anything from them! Take care everyone! Enjoy the current Tour! & Thanks again for making this easier than it could have been!
My best,
Hello again folks! Here are copies of the letters I included with our donation. I hope they cut/paste here ok. Note that, in the letter, I used the actual MORE BARN! font (that's on the shirts). I also had a Broken Arrow at the very bottom of the page... small and subtle... I hope to God I kept all of your additional donation info straight in my records, and that I didn't offend anyone by overlooking you somehow! I tried my best to keep everything straight, and I had to cut off my listing of names somewhere... But I thought that the top 9 or 10 donations should be mentioned... So that's what I did! Again, I tried to do my best... Here are the letters that accompanied our BARN! donation. October 14, 1996This second letter was included simply because it was how I felt approaching The Gorge show (as I was to have made our initial donation there, but that didn't work out at the time...): September 14, 1996That's it!
Have a good day!
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