David Crosby on Kanye, Congress, and outlasting Bill O'Reilly

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David Crosby on Kanye, Congress, and outlasting Bill O'Reilly
The Man Behind the Stache

by Stratton Lawrence
May 10, 2017

Crosby, Stills & Nash were the sum of their parts, but the man whose name came first was arguably the torchbearer, not just for the band but for the hippie generation's entire folk scene. He dated Joni Mitchell, helped launch Jackson Browne's career, and in his free time, he jammed with Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh under the moniker, David & the Dorks. Crosby received a liver transplant in 1994, and he even did nine months in a Texas pen for drug charges, a true product — and survivor — of the free-loving but hard-living culture he emerged from the heart of.

When Crosby released his first solo album, 1971's If I Could Only Remember My Name, the list of contributors played like a who's who of West Coast musical luminaries, from Santana and Jefferson Airplane to Neil Young, Garcia, and Mitchell. The album's leadoff track, "Music is Love," closes with the lines, "Put on your colors and run come see; Everybody says that music's for free," a verse that's now at odds with his vocal position as a Spotify and music-streaming critic.

Today, with CSN claiming they've wrapped their final tour, Crosby's attention is fully focused on his solo career, amidst a prolific period of late-life songwriting. 2014's Croz kicked off a trio of albums, including 2016's Lighthouse, a stripped-down, ethereal folk record, and the forthcoming Sky Trails, a brassy full-band collection that he's featuring on his current tour. Always the musician/activist, he still subscribes to the idea of the songwriter as the town crier, relaying the state of the world to his audience.

City Paper caught up with Crosby before he hit the road to get the scoop on what motivates him to keep recording and performing at age 75.

Interview transcript follows: http://m.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/david-crosby-on-kanye-congress-and-outlasting-bill-oreilly/Content?oid=8236880

Note - the interviewer is the nephew of a friend of my husband.

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1. Thanks for sharing this.

Great interview. It is so sad to see how all of the arts are being cut off at the knees in relation to being able to make a living. As a writer and painter, I can relate.

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2. For years children's arts programs have been cut to the bone

My niece is an elementary art teacher. If it weren't for members of her small community she would have no materials at all for the kids to use - and she would not have a position, either. Fortunately the parents have fought year after year to keep an art teacher in their school. The ones who are able donate materials so all the children can participate.

This is in a deep red county - where the same people who have to fight the school board to keep an art teacher and who vote year after year to cut taxes which means cuts to education which means cuts to arts programs. They just do not get the connection.

I have no idea if that school system has a music program - I hope they do. I hope they have a music teacher they are willing to back the same way they back my niece!

When I was a kid we had music and art in elementary with no fights over whether or not they should be funded. Of course, in the 1950s and 1960s the schools did not have to pay for useless tests and spend significant hours of the school day preparing for those tests.

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3. This is so very deeply sad.

I live in New York State and am the Chairperson of our local Arts Council. We are currently receiving grant funds from the state and the county under a three year contract that expires in 2019. We grant around $40,000. per year to local community arts programs so that children, young people and adults can have access to arts programs and training. We are very afraid that after our contract is fulfilled, our funding will be on the bubble.
We are seriously stepping up our fund raising game right noe and leaning on our Reps. to fight axing of federal funding for the arts.

The arts are so very important for little brains, especially as a component in elementary education. This is going to be a long hard fight.
Thank your niece for being on the front lines. Courage. Light always wins in the end.

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4. Here there is an active Arts Council, not so much where my niece lives

But at least the parents are supporting them.

I just read an article in the paper here about a program with an artist who prefers fauvism - a style my art teacher in high school never mentioned - has been working with elementary and middle school students. The arts council gave a grant which allowed every student to have paints, paper for drawing and a good sized canvas for the student to create a larger work of art.

It is refreshing to see communities support the arts even if the idiots in DC don't want to!

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5. All for of them dated Joni Mitchell

at one time or another, not just David.