Happy Thanksgiving and Thanks for Supporting Thrasher's Wheat

It just continues to be a great time to be a Neil Young fan with all that has been going on over the past months. Tours, albums, Archives news, LincVolt, and on and on.

And with what seems to be a never ending stream of Neil news, we've been flooded here at Thrasher's Wheat with great comments, photos, YouTube videos, and review links. So a big thanks to all of you who have contributed material. It's reader contributions that make this all really so much fun and rewarding to be a Neil fan.

So this goes out to everyone to say thanks for supporting Thrasher's Wheat!

We like to think that our little community hooks up with the global Neil Young community. And as our little community continues to grow, we're always facing all sorts of challenges. This summer we had a major technical snafu that brought us down for a few days during the Euro tour which was a real bummer. As many of you know, this is pretty much a one-dude operation along side with the irrepressible Thrashette. I couldn't do this without your support dear.

Earlier this year, TW passed a big milestone -- our 10 millionth page view.



We actually only started tracking this back in 2003 so if you factor in the 1996 - 2003 period we probably hit the milestone sometime ago. But anyways, folks sometimes wonder how much traffic we get so here's some numbers for you. This screen shot was taken in October after traffic fell from the summer tour highs. You can see the average daily visitors by hour, day, week, etc. So it's pretty healthy. But, hey, numbers add up to nothin' right?

Except for the fact that the traffic numbers drive our expenses here at TW. As you know, this a labor of love project that we support with reader contributions to offset bandwidth, storage and hosting fees. When Neil is on the road we hit sustained traffic peaks that put a heavy load on the server causing slow page loads and other problem performance. We hope someday to upgrade our server using reader contributions.

So in the meantime, we'd like to ask you to consider making a donation to Thrasher's Wheat. But before you hit the "Close Window" icon, please consider this. TW is advertising free and wishes to remain so. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is deal with advertising. I don't want to look at them or deal with all the management. And I'm under the impression that readers here don't want to be distracted by silly ads for stuff they probably don't what to buy anyways. I realize this looks like a PBS fund raiser but try and remember the rationale for doing so. Advertisement free programming that is viewer supported. And we are not affiliated with Neil's organization in any way, shape or form contrary to some urban legends.

We really wish we didn't have to make this periodic post at all, of course. As some of you know, we agonized over the Amazon links for years until we were convinced that there was no alternative in order to keep the site up with rising traffic. Like wise, with the PayPal arrangement. We only do this to defray the costs and keep TW chugging along.

We really do enjoying doing this and think this is one of the more exciting phases of Neil's career. It is certainly producing the most news ever given the technology revolutions that have occurred since Neil started his recording career.

So, once again, we would like to request your support in order to continue Thrasher's Wheat and keep the site advertisement free. By going the reader-supported route, there are two ways in which you can support Thrasher's Wheat.

The first option is to make a donation using PayPal. Just click on the link below to make a donation. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can use a credit card to make a donation via the button below (see lower left of PayPal page for credit card details).

The second option is to shop for your CDs, DVDs, books and other merchandise using the Amazon link below. Each time you purchase an item on Amazon by clicking through the logo link below, Thrasher's Wheat will receive a small commission.


(Please note: International orders (non-U.S.A.) do not credit to Thrasher's Wheat unfortunately. Please use PayPal account or credit card to support Thrasher's Wheat.)

Hopefully, this will continue to work to help defray the costs of running Thrasher's Wheat. Any excess funds generated above and beyond operating expenses will be donated to The Bridge School.

Again, thanks to everyone for your support, ideas, and submissions. It is very much appreciated!

So with The Archives due someday, we think there's lots more interesting news to come.

So thanks again for everyone's encouragement and supporting TW! Neil fans are the best.

Lastly, the following is an excerpt of a popular column written by a teacher named John C. Mohawk (1945-2006). It was originally published in Nov. 2003.

When Americans are asked what they have to be thankful for, they produce a list of things related to their individual happiness or well being: good health, friends and family, economic well-being, and strong emotional relationships.

The English at the first Thanksgiving had reason to express gratitude to their God for their collective survival against difficult odds in a new land, and had they even a trace of self-awareness they might have included Squanto on their list.

The Indians of the time had a different custom. They recognized that life, all life on the planet, is a miracle of good fortune, that it is dependent on numerous components which include earth and vegetation and water and sun and moon and in all a complex order of higher powers and that humans, as a species which is aware of this good fortune, has an obligation to express a collective statement of gratitude in joyous celebration of the good gifts of the powers of the universe.

And, Willie Nelson reminds us, before you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal, please give thanks for the farmers without whom it would not be possible. Through a gift to Farm Aid, you can provide farmers the best help with our Farmer Resource Network.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone around the world!

Thrasher & Thrashette

---