Thursday, August 13, 2009

We've Got To Get Ourselves Back To The Garden

There are two significant rock milestones occuring this week. Tomorrow, August 14th is David Crosby's 68th birthday. And then August 15th is the 40th anniversary of the music festival to end all music festivals: Woodstock. How do the two connect? Woodstock was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's second-ever live performance and launched the supergroup on an extraordinary career into the 1970s and beyond.

Crosby, a former member of the Byrds, joined up with the Hollies' Graham Nash and former Buffalo Springfield member Stephen Stills to create some of the sweetest harmonies I have ever heard. They were joined by Stills' former Springfield cohort Neil Young on an on-and-off basis. This augmented participation actually began at Woodstock as Young sat out the group's acoustic set and refused to be filmed participating in their electric set. They've come together from time to time over the years. Their most recent outing was in 2006 as all 4 toured to support Young's Living With War CD.

Here's CSNY's performance of Blackbird at Woodstock, minus Y.











16 comments:

  1. Thank you for the info and the video. Really enjoyed that :)

    xoxo

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  2. Yeah CSN! They've still got it too. Amazing their longevity and their singing style. I met them at my radio station years ago, about 20. Graham Nash is the polite nice one. Cannot say the same for STills or Crosby.

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  3. What an interesting post. Thanks. It's good to hear that music again.

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  4. And they played a long, amazing set at Woodstock. Imagine doing your second gig as a band to 500,000 and rock history?

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  5. Great. My brother is 9 years older than me and I grew up with some of these songs. Very meaningful.

    Great blog - any friend of Dylan is a friend of mine.

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  6. david crosby hits 68, who would have guessed that back in '95.

    i remember seeing them in concert in the 70's, it was pretty smokey.

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  7. Marianna: Glad you liked it. Somebody's gotta remember. David Crosby once said if you remember the 60s you weren't there!

    California Girl: Thanks for relaying that. Seems about right.

    Brian Miller: Yeah, me too.

    Willow: Ditto

    Alan Burnett: I've gotta say it's one of the groups that have stayed with me over the years.

    VE: Indeed they did, beginning like at 3am!

    Clever Pup: Glad you like it. Hope you'll drop back.

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  8. Billy Pilgrim: Yeah, Crosby's got more lives than a cat! As for the smoke was that on stage or in the audience?

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  9. Cool bloggo and post! Welcome to Theme Thursday and thanks for the CSN :)

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  10. subtorp77: Thank you, thank you, your welcome ;)

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  11. Wow, this theme was right up this blog's alley, wasn't it?

    Nice one, dufus! :)

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  12. When I get around to warning my kids about drugs and alcohol, I am showing them a before and after of David Crosby.

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  13. Megan: Oh, yes! Thanks.

    Kris: Or the liver he had replaced.

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  14. Hard to believe it's been 40 years. I was just an ankle biter mind you but loved the movie of the film. I saw the photographer of the cuddly couple interviewed the other day, it's such a peaceful iconic shot.

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