Michael League, Becca Stevens, David Crosby, Michelle Willis (photo Tina Vozick)
Tina and I saw David Crosby and friends at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY, earlier tonight. A short ride from our home, but we don't get to Port Chester too often. Last time was when we had dinner with Aleksandar Bogdanic and his wife in Maya, before they returned to Bosnia. Aleksandar was a visiting scholar studying with me at Fordham University and concluding his visit in May. We had a great time that evening. Make that two for two for Port Chester: Tina and I had a great time tonight.
Crosby has had a fabled career. He first found success as part of The Byrds, a West Coast folk-rock group in the mid-1960s that had a huge hit with Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man". Crosby went on to an even more important role in Crosby, Stills, and Nash - later Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - which arguably was the second best supergroup that ever existed (the first would be The Traveling Wilburys some two decades later), and had enormous political impact ("Ohio") as well as cultural and artistic influence.
Like some aging superstars (see my review of Dylan's concert last month), Crosby mostly sang songs that we (Tina and I) didn't know. Like all aging superstars, Crosby was backed by an outstanding band, playing and singing (Michael League, Becca Stevens, Michelle Willis). See my reviews of Elton John's, Joan Baez's, Paul Simon's, and Paul McCartney's concerts earlier this year for their superb back-up bands. Regarding the songs we didn't know, there were some gems in tonight's Crosby concert. My favorite was "Janet," a song about "jealousy," as introduced by Michelle Willis, who wrote it and sang lead.
David Crosby and Michelle Willis (photo Tina Vozick)
Crosby was in fine voice for harmony, and clear, strong, and sweet when he needed to be for lead. His repartee with the audience was excellent - in contrast to the taciturn Dylan, though that's part of Dylan's charm - and I especially enjoyed Crosby's account of how he introduced Ravi Shankar and Indian music to George Harrison. I was also glad to hear him mention that some of his songs are "science fiction" - music to my ears, since my new album for Old Bear records (to be released in 2019) is just that, my science fiction songs (see the song at the top of this blog page for a rough mix example).
But Crosby and friends brought the house down with their last number, "Ohio". I'd wager there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The parallels to Trump, who regularly demonizes people and groups not in his favor, to Nixon, who called students protesting the Vietnam War "bums" are impossible to avoid. In Nixon's case, it created the climate in which the Kent State massacre of students occurred in 1970 - the subject of "Ohio". Let us hope that Trump, who was criticized often and aptly by Crosby tonight, is out of office before anything like Kent State happens.
"Ohio" is an ever-necessary, sobering reminder of what can happen, even in a democracy. But there was also a lot of beauty in Crosby's concert tonight. I wholeheartedly recommend it - or the successor concert, because this was end of this tour - for both the politics and the beauty.
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