One Of These Days

I’ve met a hero or two, but never an icon. Today I interviewed two of each.

Our call time was 11:50 at The Spur, an old saloon at 350 Main Street. Joah and I showed up at 11:15. The saloon was locked up and empty. I was wound like a top. I felt like I feel before a marathon: short of breath, a little nausious. I called our contacts. No answer. Finally, at 11:45, they called. “We had a loaction change. We’re at Zoom at 360 Main.” Josh and I ran down the street, camera, light kit, and tripod in hand.

I had a full page of carefully thought out notes, questions on the making of “Prairie Wind,” the film, “Heart of Gold,” lyrical passages I found salient, and even one on whether politics is responding to these troubling times. Neil Young and Jonathan Demme were already on hand speaking with Entertainment Weekly. We set up, sat down, I poured over my notes and took a series of deep breaths.

When Neil and Jonathan approached, I looked them in the eye, and shook their hands slowly, patiently, and confidently –just like mom taught me). I don’t know what I said first, but I know that Neil laughed. His eyes sparkled. And I thought to myself, ‘We’re going to be fine.’

Twelve minutes later, it was over. Josh told me I “knocked it out of the park.” Alyssa told me it was a “time stand still moment.”

I’m not sure. I just know that it felt right. It felt paced, and patient. It felt substantive.

I asked Neil about his lyric, “If you follow every dream / You might get lost.”

“Neil,” I said, “You’re a man I’ve looked to to help me find mine, so that lyric is such a curious almost reversal for me to hear you tell me, “Hey, caution, beware…”

And he said, “You might just be ready. Go anyway. You might crash. And it might not be something everybody else thought was great. But if you follow, it’s gonna be at least fulfilling to you.

Afterwards, I paced down Main Street trying to catch my breath. The sky was bluer, the air was clearer, and the temperature was warmer than it had been all week. And I began to understand what he meant.

It’s allright to get lost. That’s where you find out who you really are.