[dar-list] No Dar From Neil Young

[Jim Murphy]

A best moment in music? Sometimes when I'm playing my guitar, I get to a
point where it gets very cold and icy inside me. It's very refreshing. Every
breath is like you're at the North Pole. Your head starts to freeze. Your
inhalations are big-more air than you ever thought there is starts pouring
in. There's something magical about it. Sometimes when it happens, you
wonder if you're gonna be okay. Can you handle it?  

Yes, there was something good that came out of having polio as a kid.
Walking. 

The sound of a harmonica hits you directly. There's no language barrier. 

The wisest person I ever met had to be my companion in the hospital. I was
recovering from complications after an operation to remove an aneurism in my
brain. She was about eighty-five years old and maybe five feet tall. An old
black lady from South Carolina. This young nurse wasn't really in touch with
what she was doing, and the old lady would tell her how to do what she
needed to do without telling her. She never talked down to her, just gave
examples. I felt that this old woman must be deeply religious, but there was
nothing forceful about her. I woke up one morning at a quarter to six and
looked out the window. Fog was on the bridge outside the room, and I said,
"Well, that's just beautiful." And she said: "Yes, it is." She turned toward
me with this eighty-five-year-old face that didn't have a line on it, no
strain, nothing, and she said: "So the master's not taking you. It's not
your turn." 

Courage is a mindless thing. People say, "Wow! How could you do that?" And
you say, "How could I not do that?" 

It's like having two eyes. You either look through one eye or you look
through the other. Or you look through both of them. Sex is sex. Love is
love. Love and sex is clear vision. 

There's something peaceful about boxing. If you beat the hell out of a bag
or go against a competitor, you and your reflexes will be so at one that you
won't have time to think about anything else. You have to be totally
yourself to box. 

When I was six, I really didn't know what God was. But I did know about
Sunday school. I was reading a lot about God, but I was bored. I couldn't
wait to get out of Sunday school. God was secondary to the whole thing. But
as time went by, I got more and more angry, to the point where I didn't like
religion. Hate is a strong word. But I just kept getting angrier and angrier
. . . until finally I wasn't angry anymore. I was just peaceful, because I
thought: This is not fruitful for me. I rejected the whole thing and found
peace in paganism. Jesus didn't go to church. I went way back before Jesus.
Back to the forest, to the wheat fields, to the river, to the ocean. I go
where the wind is. That's my church. 

Epilepsy taught me that we're not in control of ourselves. 

Most people think it's the other way around: that time is going faster and
we're doing less. But really time seems to be going faster because we're
cramming so much into it. 

Our education system basically strives for normal -- which is too bad.
Sometimes the exceptional is classified as abnormal and pushed aside. 

One thing that has come out of having children with cerebral palsy is
strength. At first it made me very angry. I was almost looking for a fight.
I was always looking for someone to criticize my son in my presence. I would
envision different scenarios in which I would become violent reacting to
people's reactions to my children -- especially to my severely handicapped
child. Eventually, he taught me that was not necessary. Just by being
himself. By being a gift to us. He showed us how to have faith and belief
and inner strength and to never give up. I look around and see people
hurting themselves for no reason. Drinking too much. Taking drugs. Beating
themselves up in some psychological way. That really bothers me, knowing
that these people got everything they needed to succeed. All they have to do
is believe in themselves and in the gifts they're wasting. And yet there are
all these other people on the planet who have none of the gifts that are
apparent. The gifts are all locked up inside, yet their spirits are so
strong that they just keep on going. And I think: This person who has this
spirit, why can't he have some of the outward gifts? 

Maybe this is a little too thoughtful, but we're all just passengers in a
way. 

The best is approaching. I have everything -- well, not everything, but a
lot of things that I've accumulated through my life experiences. It's easier
to communicate through music than it ever has been before. It's easier to
play. It's easier to sing. It's easier to write. Nothing is forced. 

When my doctor discovered the aneurism in my brain, he said I'd had it for
about a hundred years. He told me I'd had it for such a long time that I
shouldn't worry about it . but that we'd have to get rid of it immediately.
Yeah, that's Zen medicine. He's very wise. I trusted him completely. All the
people who took care of me were absolutely the best at what they do -- even
though there was a complication, a complication that has a
one-in-twenty-seven-hundred chance of happening in my type of operation.
They go into your brain through an artery in your thigh. Later, when I was
out of the hospital, my leg exploded. I was out on the street and it just
popped. My shoe was full of blood. I was in some serious trouble. I was
about fifty yards from the hotel and I just made it. The ambulance came
about ten minutes later. I don't know if I need to go into this. I don't
know if the event is important. But the result was. That's what led me to
that lady. The wisest person I've ever met. 


-----Original Message-----
From: dar-list-bounces+jmphlbat=comcast.net at folkserv.net
[mailto:dar-list-bounces+jmphlbat=comcast.net at folkserv.net] On Behalf Of
Deana
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2007 10:17 PM
To: dar-list at folkserv.net
Subject: [dar-list] Patty Griffin

Happy birthday Patty.
I just must add that Patty was incredible at the Wiltern in Los Angeles this
week. I only wish she could have played longer....it was so worth the late
night on a school night. Burgundy Shoes gave me the chills (it was just the
right nostalgia and emotion), and her bass/cello player is so beautiful with
a
beautiful voice. Her Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute was equally moving (to
tears) and she rocked out with the rest of the band too!! See her on her
current tour if you can--and listen to Children Running Through.
Oh, and lastly fellow music fans, Neil Young live at Massey Hall 1971 is
such
a treat! His voice is so young and clear and it's so great to look back to
his
beginnings. How lucky we are to live in a world with music.
I look forward to Dar in New Jersey in May--finally I'm going to go east to
hear her. I hope you all weathered the storm this week.
Deana


"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter
and
those who matter don't mind."
--Dr. Seuss
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