You can ask anyone. I’m not a big bucket list person. In fact, I don’t have one at all unless you consider the list I keep untidily in my brain of every music act I want to see. In the past few years, I’ve been losing a lot of opportunities. I’ll never see the Eagles with Glen Frey. Never see Fleetwood Mac with Christine McVie. And now, I’ll never see Crosby, Stills and Nash.
In the late 70s and early 80s, a DC rock station used to play Suite Judy Blue Eyes on its publicity features. Instantly recognizable because of Stephen Stills guitar, the song is also brilliant for the very thing that made Crosby, Stills, and Nash brilliant: those harmonizing vocals that can never be replicated. And those vocals are very much thanks to David Crosby who died on January 18.
Crosby was controversial for many reasons. His drug use that escalated after the death of his beloved girlfriend. His often blatant, sometimes derogatory, opinion regarding other musical acts and public figures he deemed distasteful. As the New York Times posted, he was on Twitter even up until the day before his death. He always had an opinion he was willing to share, often with quips and good humor.
But it’s the music he’ll be remembered for. And what music it is.
And, my favorite Crosby, Stills, and Nash song:
RIP David Crosby. (1941-2023)
I think music is a lifting force, I think love is the lifting force in the human condition. I think you see someone loving on their child, and it moves you, and you can’t help it. It rings a bell inside of us that elevates us as human beings, and I treasure that. I think it’s one of the few great things about human beings.
David Crosby
January has been a tough month in the music world. 😔 I’m still in shock over Jeff Beck (he was high on the bucket list but it didn’t happen) and then Lisa Marie Presley died at the young age of 54! And now, David Crosby…😢 My husband and I were fortunate enough to have seen Crosby, Stills and Nash in concert in 2010, opening for Tom Petty, no less! (And they performed “Almost Cut My Hair”, a personal favourite.) Another icon gone too soon. If there is such a thing as heaven, they must have one helluva band! Thank you for this tribute. Love the Crosby quote! 💖
I was fortunate enough to see Jeff Beck. He opened for Santana back a billion year ago at Wolf Trap in Virginia. What a guitar night!
I ache for Lisa Marie. Anyone who thinks celebrity is easy, she is an example that it’s not. So much loss and sadness.
Lucky you! I would have loved to have see Tom Petty and CSN. Wow! What a night that must have been.