Brent and I went to see Neil Young, Heart of Gold today. I really had to stifle the tears now and then. And then got mad at myself for not letting it all out in the movie theater. I�m just weird about crying in public. Must be some residual Catholic shit.

So Neil Young had a brain aneurysm and had surgery wherein they put little biodegradable springs in his brain that encourage scar tissue to form which them contains the aneurysm. That�s how his organist/piano player put it, anyway. So the Tuesday before he went in for surgery he started recording his new album, �Prairie Wind.� It�s all about remembering and mortality. And it�s beautiful. It sounds golden, amber waves of grain abound. Emmylou Harris said it was as if his life flashed before his eyes and then he had to make this music.

Most of the film is a concert in Nashville. It is really intense at times, feeling like you are onstage with them. That whole group of people onstage are so into it too � it�s incredibly powerful. The harmonies themselves could move you to tears. There was just so much gratitude in it.

And it�s so rare that a group of musicians basically playing with a singer/songwriter make magic and are genuinely moved by what they are playing. Or I suppose it�s rarely on television, because people would rather buy/see shit that makes them feel plugged in, man, plugged into the money world, the promise of flat stomachs, the easy way, Britney Inc. So the demand dictates, and stupid automaton bands are created and dispersed with the rapidity and artistic value of a jellybean factory.

Rarely does music make me cry. It has to be something really special. Like OK Computer or �Hallelujah� or Barber�s Adagio for Strings or �Where Is My Mind.� But this was right up there. It makes you believe in God. More residual Catholic shit, you say? Perhaps.

It�s so rare that an artist is humble enough to let in the inspirado and then put it out there. It seems like a delicate balance, where human being really has to have his or her heart in the right place in order to make something that actually sounds like the hand of God holding the hand of man, or woman.