Jeanne Heacox 's story After buying my ticket online to the Pittsburgh CSNY concert a couple months ago, I was perusing a sewing website and noticed a material with tan and brown giraffes on a black background. Stephen Stills popped into my head.  The Still Small Voice said, "Stephen would like that." I bought five yards of it without knowing why. As the show neared I decided to sew SS a camp style shirt, the kind with the front buttons and notched collar. In numerous photos I've seen Stephen wear this type of shirt. "What does a man on the road need," I pondered. "A clean shirt!" So I set about selecting a pattern from my huge backlog, and just the right buttons from my late Dad's uniform shirts, in dark tan. Knowing SS likes brown, I wanted as much brown as possible, as most of the shirt is black. Dave Zimmer kindly counseled me on who to give the homemade gift to, ensuring its being received by the proper party. I did not see this person and asked Mark, the pony tailed roadie, to please give it to the guitar master. "It's not music, is it?" he asked. Mark said he would give it to Stills' "man." Satisfied by Mark's positive energy, I passed the gift bag through a security man to Mark. As the arena began to fill up, Lee Shorers Pat and Fran Orr joined me to ask how the transfer had gone. We were chatting as a young man approached us.  Ian asked if I was the person who had given SS the shirt, and had I made it?  "Yes," I think I replied. "Stephen loved the shirt.... How did you know about the giraffes?," asked the road manager. I explained about the thread on the Lee Shore about the giraffes and the cover of Stills' first album.  Ian went on at some length that his boss would wear the shirt, if not that night, at some time in the future. Stephen lamented he had no black jeans to match my creation, but my conversant told him blue jeans were fine. I was gratified, but not really surprised. The road manager asked if the shirt was rayon or silk, explaining SS doesn't like silk. "Rayon," I answered.  "That's good," Ian replied. Then Ian shocked the three of us by mentioning he would return with backstage passes! Moments later he returned with the treasured passes. I watched the lights come up on stage. To my elation, Stephen Arthur Stills wore the rayon shirt I sewed for him in my little kitchen!! And he kept it on for the whole show! I don't think I really heard the first two songs, I was in an ecstatic state! The only bad part was I had been told by Mellon Arena not to bring a camera. So, I have no commemorative photo! After the marvelous show, already excellently reviewed by Mark Georg, the Orrs and I were ushered in along with the "meet and greeters" to the shabby waiting area. Soon Ian appeared and whisked us down the hall to Stephen's dressing room. I entered alone and there stood Stephen Stills. Ian introduced me as the "lady who sewed the shirt." I extended my hand and SS shook it. "Thanks for the shirt, it was cute as a button," said The Man. Then he gave me a surprisingly long explanation about his wife, Kristin, who as mentioned in the show is taller than her husband. "I call her 'Giraffe' and she calls me 'Bear, and we call each other 'Bear,'" SS confided. Waving his hands about as I've seen him do on TV shows, Stills tied my shirt in with the reason for the large wooden giraffe featured on the stage. I listened intently as Stephen said he would like the top shirt button to be one inch higher on the shirt as he motioned to his throat. "And two inches shorter," he added. "Can you make me another shirt of the same fabric?" asked SS, "I'll pay you." Shocked at the earnestness of his request, I said it wasn't necessary. "You're a good sport," he said. As SS was already in the brown overcoat he's seen photographed in previously, I left, asking for a hug-granted-and for him please to include a picture of himself on his future CD. "I think you're cute," I remember saying, all the time wondering why I chose such a trite word. At my utterance Mr. Stills shrugged as if to say he didn't think himself attractive.  I was ushered out and Ian gave me an address to send the new shirt. I realized now why I was told to buy five yards of the same fabric, when two and a half was adequate for one shirt. Fran Orr was right. Dreams do come true. Stephen Stills spoke to me as a peer and was as polite an individual as I've ever met. He really listened to my comments and related to me as a human being, which to me is what his music is all about. I am not the fan of an egocentric rock star, but a warm person willing to listen to my comments, no matter how trivial they were. God bless you, Stephen Stills! Yes, I did get to tell him that, too. I am now a much better person for this amazing experience.  Love to you all, Jeanne Heacox photo by Steve Kalinsky in Pittsburgh 2002©