"YOU WHO ARE ON THE ROAD" and BEYOND THE PARTY

'BECAUSE THE PAST IS JUST GOODBYE'

   The CSNY lyrics have been playing in my head the last few days. Life's trail has delivered us to another side. 

      "And you of tender years 

     can't know the fears that your elders grew by.

     And so please help them with your youth,

     They seek the truth before they can die."

     There was a time and it doesn't seem so long ago when we stood on one side of that time scape, but now the view has changed.

THE MENTOR REACHES A MAJORITY

   The door opened on these musings when my long time pal, one time colleague and mentor began plans for his 75th birthday.

    Bruce Taylor, aka The Catalyst of the blogosphere, is one of the old guard and he has friends of the same ilk.

     These old boys were once hell bent for leather newsmen.

We were of the generation that worked hard in the pursuit of the evening's news, because it was a good thing to do. Family time, meals, days off, hostile weather or surroundings, distances, dangers and the like were of less concern than getting the story and getting it told. I guess we sensed a kind of entitlement because of the importance of what we were about and so we'd push it. 

     At the party our mentor, second from the left, reminded us of the old adage, "it's better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission." We lived that way. There was no place off limits, no question unaskable, no speed limit or big shot so important as to stand between us and the job-a job we believed was being done for the public's good and right to know.

    We were of a generation of smoke filled news rooms or edit bays, with colleagues that worked, played and drank hard. Sometimes too hard! But that was then.

        I'm happy to see my old pal living the genteel life of a retiree, enjoying the beauty of his surroundings. But it launches ponderings about where is it all going and so quickly. Once we were on the edge, now we are on the sideline.

  I hope he'll tell me someday what thoughts were behind this expression as he beheld his 75th. This is one of the all time great deadline kings, raconteurs and madmen! So if he is 75, is it time for us to grow up?        Naw!

  Thanks to Judy and Gail for preparing such a wonderful feast and two days of party. It was good to connect with a couple of other older boys as well.  

   So as I ponder the complexities and mystery of the calendar and passing equinoxes I offer a series of shots, as a kind of advice for Old Taylor, cat lover that he is. Maybe we should all do a little more of this.

   

     So in the meantime, you of a certain age,

    "teach your children what you believe in

     Make a world we can live in…"

    "…and feed them on your dreams

    the one they picked, the one they'll know by…"

    See you down the trail. 

    

   

    

A FAN'S SNAP COLLECTION-CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH

CSN AT VINA ROBLES

   Some evenings you never forget. From the moment David Crosby rated the new Amphitheatre a good venue and barefoot Graham Nash invoked the private joke when he said hello to "Paso Robles, or however the fuck you pronounce it," the magic was loose beneath the wine country stars.

   The two set evening was a chain of performance highs, virtuosity and fervid appreciation.

   There were plenty of CSN classics-Carry On, Questions, Military Madness, Southern Cross, Just a Song, Delta, Don't Want Lies, Cathedral, Deja Vu and more.  Our House became an audience participation moment.
   Stephen Stills reached back to his Buffalo Springfield days and rendered a greatly muscled up version of For What It's Worth. He remains a preeminent rock guitarist.
  

  There was some great new work as well.  Crosby said he was terrified as he sang his new What Makes It So.  

   Graham Nash unveiled his powerful new and complexly rich Myself At Last, only his second performance of the multi-layered anthem written with band guitarist Shane Fontayne.  
   Another emotional high point was Cathedral, preceded by the back story emanating from a youthful journey to Stonehenge and Winchester Cathedral, taking LSD, wandering into a cemetery, feeling a tingling in his leg to notice he was standing on the grave of a young soldier who had died on Nash's birth date in 1799. 

    Crosby and Nash took moments to talk politics and peace and as Crosby said a "piece of my mind."
    Nash led the highly charged Burning the Buddha which he wrote with keyboardist James Raymond, pictured below. 

 It was inspired by the self immolation of 128 Buddhist priests in the last year, their action in protest to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.  

 Raymond is a Paso Robles native and is the son of David Crosby.  The political charge remained high as they transitioned from Burning the Buddha to Almost Cut My Hair Today.

   Nash dedicated a song to couples in the audience who appreciated the touching  refrain "here for you." 

      Touching also was Back Home, a tribute to Levon Helm of The Band.

 There was a controlled hysteria when they asked to audience to stand and sing along with Love The One Your With.

   Other players in the band, who Nash said was the best they've had, are Stevie DiStanislao on drums, Kevin McCormic on bass, Todd Caldwell on Organ along with Fontayne on guitar and Raymond on keyboard.

    I've never heard CSN sound so good.  Many others were saying the same thing.  Masters, at the top of their game.

A night to remember.

    See you down the trail.