0:00

This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening

0:02

to Here's the Thing, and

0:07

I feel that

0:17

got here

0:19

before, that

0:31

I did year

0:33

before, and you

0:36

know, it

0:39

makes me wonder what's

0:44

going on? C

0:56

S N and sometimes why.

0:59

Some combination of David Crosby,

1:01

Stephen Stills and Graham Nash played

1:04

together for fifty years until two

1:06

thousand sixteen, but always

1:09

Crosby. He's the constant

1:11

in some of the greatest songs of

1:13

the twentieth century. His composition,

1:16

harmonizing and non traditional

1:18

guitar tunings helped create

1:21

the sound of the sixties and seventies.

1:23

It's a sound he honed with his first

1:25

big act, The Birds, turning

1:27

counterculture anthems like Dylan's

1:30

Tambourine Man into mainstream

1:32

hits. David Crosby is

1:35

famous too for his addiction to cocaine

1:37

and heroin in the nineteen eighties. It

1:40

almost killed him, but even in his

1:42

darkest moments, Crosby always

1:44

had people pulling him up, even

1:46

some of the biggest stars of the era.

1:49

All Right, I am in the middle of my lowest

1:52

point of being a complete wasteerl

1:54

on hard drugs. Right, it's

1:56

a bit of my phone rings. Yeah,

2:00

who's this. It's Townsend? I

2:03

said, bullshit. He

2:06

says, no, it's Townsend. Listen,

2:10

get off that stuff. Get

2:13

the off that stuff after

2:15

watch the four letter words right now you can

2:17

let it rip. He really your podcasting,

2:19

and so he says, you know, fucking

2:22

get your ship, you gotta. You're

2:25

fucking up, glad, quit

2:27

that ship in my face. Really

2:30

seriously, I was like,

2:32

who the fun my number? I

2:34

still haven't deciphered how this all happened.

2:36

Well, it made him think it would work working

2:39

everybody else had failed. Somebody put

2:42

him up to it. I'm not sure work. No,

2:45

No, what worked was they sent

2:47

me to prison in Texas for a

2:49

year. That worked. So that's

2:51

what That was a turning point for you. Yeah,

2:53

it got me sober, and

2:56

you were largely or you were completely sober since

2:58

then. I was completely sober

3:00

for fourteen and a half years. Uh

3:04

what happened with the prison? What year you

3:07

were? How old? I

3:09

was born in forty and

3:12

I was deeply addicted and

3:15

the only had already tried uh

3:17

in you know rehab places

3:20

moment I think four or five times failed.

3:22

Ah, so the prison did it? You

3:25

know? Junk and free

3:27

base, that's that's a prison you carry around with you.

3:31

You don't get to get out prison.

3:33

You get to get out, and I don't

3:36

regret it a bit. How were you treated by the inmate

3:38

population when you're imprisoned with a kind to you? Did

3:40

they dig you and admire you? A full

3:42

range went all the

3:45

way from uh,

3:47

I like your music man to uh

3:49

hey, rock star? How are you doing now? I

3:51

bet you wish you had some drugs, don't you? Hey?

3:54

Ron? Look over here, rock Star throwing up again?

3:56

Some bit was Texas

4:00

and they didn't give me an aspect. They didn't

4:02

even have a meetings in the prison. And

4:04

not that you had no help at always crawled

4:07

out of there was bitter. It

4:09

was bitter. But I woke up. When

4:12

you get out of prison, what do you do well?

4:14

Like? Like who comes around you? People come to you and

4:16

say let's get back to work? Or what's that like?

4:19

As soon as I woke up, I started writing

4:21

again. I'm a hugely lucky

4:23

human being. Now I have a reason.

4:26

Here's a fact about

4:28

writing and creating and drugs. The

4:30

more drugs I did, the less I wrote.

4:33

And you can plot the two curves and they crossed at a

4:35

certain point, you know, and I just kept

4:37

the more drugs identically stopped

4:39

writing. And then about

4:42

two years went by, and then I woke up in prison

4:44

remember who I was, and started writing again.

4:47

And since then it's been a steady increase

4:50

in a steady increase in quality. So

4:53

I can only draw one conclusion. Now

4:56

this is gonna sound strange, but you come from a

4:58

nice family, were comfy,

5:00

and I got to go to good schools. I had a rich uncle. My

5:03

dad was a cinematographer and a

5:05

very good one. Not a warm

5:07

and fuzzy guy, but technically

5:11

excellent. So yeah,

5:14

I thought I wanted to be an actor. You

5:16

know what's really funny, man, most of the actors

5:19

I don't want to be musicians, And all the musicians

5:21

I know, because no matter

5:23

what you're doing, you can be doing anything, and

5:26

music can be in your left and therefore music will

5:28

always have a more powerful place in the lives of people

5:30

than any film or TV. Any debatable,

5:33

but I think you got a

5:35

lot of evidence on your side there. Music.

5:37

The way I look at it, music

5:40

all art can be

5:42

and usually is a lifting force, just

5:45

as war drags humanity down

5:47

and makes brings out the very worst in US.

5:51

So music and art lift

5:53

they're lifting force. They make things better,

5:56

and so I

5:58

I kind of think, I

6:01

kind of think I'm probably the luckiest guy in the

6:04

world. I think I've got probably one of the best jobs. I tried

6:07

to acting. I'm not really good at it. You

6:09

know, I don't know why you'd want to act. If I could

6:11

do what you do, you could never You couldn't

6:13

get me off stage with a gun. I just would

6:15

play music if I could do what you do. It's

6:18

when I went to go see The Beatles Love.

6:20

I go to Vegas to go to

6:22

see the Circus. So the The Beatles Love, and

6:25

what kits you in the beginning, other than the really

6:27

kind of groovy meshing of the songs and

6:29

the kind of overdubbing they did, was

6:31

the idea of that all of them were born during

6:33

the war. They were all war babies in London.

6:36

They were and you talk and talk, and the opening

6:38

of the show kind of tips how

6:40

that affected them and how they affected their lives

6:42

and now they viewed their country and so

6:45

forth. You're a war baby, you were born during

6:47

the war. What was life like when

6:49

you were a kid? I remember

6:51

my dad, I remember watching my dad

6:53

at a distance at you

6:55

know where Burbank Airport is used to

6:57

be Douglas Field. I

7:00

remember my dad climbing into the

7:02

belly of a B twenty four and flying

7:04

away to the war. I

7:06

remember watching he was.

7:10

They commissioned directly into what was

7:12

then the Army Air Corps because he had this he

7:14

was already an Academy award running,

7:16

you know, autographers. They

7:19

put him right in the Air Corps and put him in

7:21

this twenty four that didn't that was

7:23

a camera plane, that's all it was. And he

7:25

went all over the world. He went every he

7:28

had every theater reddened there was. It

7:31

was gone for how long? Five years? Well,

7:33

because he wasn't a bombing thing. You know, he had

7:35

to follow up bombers, but he wasn't bombing, so he

7:37

didn't get thirty five and out. He

7:40

he kept calling five years every

7:42

major theater of the war. And

7:45

when he came back, what was he like? You

7:47

wouldn't ever talk about it. So life

7:49

at home when you were a child is with your mother. Yeah

7:52

at first, yeah, and then both of them. But my

7:54

dad just wasn't a real home body

7:57

family guy. He was off working. Yeah,

8:00

and you go to boarding school I did. Yeah, Kate,

8:02

what was that black? What were you like?

8:07

Were you always mischievous? Always?

8:10

And it got me in a shipload of trouble.

8:12

Why do you think, I don't know,

8:14

but it's definitely true. I

8:16

got thrown out of almost every school I was ever in,

8:19

including Kate. What was music

8:21

in your life? Then? Music came early?

8:24

And well, uh, my mom

8:26

sang in choirs. My dad

8:29

liked music. He could play

8:31

a mantle in. My brother played guitar. We used

8:33

to There's an interesting thing when

8:35

when we were growing up in

8:38

the fifties, when TV started to really happen,

8:41

we didn't have a TV, so

8:44

we sang folks songs out of the Fireside

8:46

Book of Folk Songs, and that was

8:48

where it started. Did anybody tell you then

8:50

you could sing that? They say you're a good singer. They did

8:53

notice that I was singing harmony when I was six, and

8:57

huh, what's the first instrument you played?

8:59

Good to are my brother turned me on to guitar when you

9:01

were how old? I guess maybe

9:03

can what's the best time you

9:05

think that. My son is two

9:08

and a half years so it's gonna be three in June. He's

9:10

obsessed with simulating playing

9:12

the guitar. He actually has a band

9:14

with my wife. He calls her Trista,

9:17

and he's Mr Pants. Mr Pants.

9:20

He'll turn to my wife a little, I've got it on video. He'll

9:22

turn to my wife and Trista, what are we gonna play

9:24

now? He's two and a half. Don't

9:26

let him be a musician we wanted to be. It's

9:29

terrible idea. He'll never have a job.

9:31

Actually let him. Do you think that

9:33

if you didn't? But when you say that, do you think if

9:36

you hadn't made it as big as you

9:38

made it, you wouldn't have stuck with it, or you would have

9:40

stayed with it just because you loved it. I would because I

9:42

love it. I love it so much. Like I

9:44

can't tell you I love singing it. I'm

9:46

good at it, but that's not really it. It's

9:49

there's a joy to singing in

9:51

and of itself, and it's

9:54

it's an elevating thing. It's totally

9:57

freaking wonderful. It's very tough for me now,

9:59

man, because really old and getting

10:02

on the road exhausting. Yeah,

10:04

well, I beat the crap out of me. Yeah, because you'd never get

10:06

more than four hours sleep in a row and then

10:08

in the middle of that you had an expansion

10:10

joint and blinking your way again, and

10:13

you know, and you're eating terrible food and restaurants.

10:17

When when did you when you left home? You

10:19

didn't go to college. No, I went one year

10:22

and you went to UH

10:24

City College in Santa Barbara, which is now, oddly

10:27

enough, the highest rated city college

10:29

in the country. It was interesting and good,

10:31

and I had one really good teacher

10:33

hooked me up about some really interesting things

10:35

about semantics and the language. And no,

10:37

you weren't sending music then, No, no,

10:41

not yet. I was. I was bussing

10:44

tables at the local coffeehouse because

10:47

as a bus boy they

10:49

would let me sing harmony with the guy

10:51

who was being paid to sing. And

10:53

what was the first band you were in? Less

10:56

Baxter's Balladeers. Let's

10:58

Baxter band leader. He

11:00

had seen the

11:02

Christie Mittrels, which that

11:05

guy who sparks we had.

11:08

I think he had three of them out their bands like

11:10

that, your all name the same, you know. Just it

11:12

was a commercial operation and was really

11:16

onla but we was put food on the table.

11:18

My brother and I were in that. And then I

11:21

ran into Roger mcgwinn and Gean Clark

11:23

and where a tutor

11:26

a bar at the tributary and

11:28

they were singing and it was good and

11:30

the songs were you know, James

11:34

pretty good writer. And so

11:36

when those two have they had an act called

11:38

they have an act. We're just playing. They were just in

11:40

the bar. You know. Roger has been a musician

11:42

for a while and successful and played

11:45

with other bands, Lime Letters, Jad Mitchell Three,

11:47

a bunch of different people, so he

11:49

knew what he was doing, and he knew

11:51

that Jean was chalented and that this

11:53

stuff had value because it sounded a lot like Beatles

11:55

songs. And so I started

11:58

singing harmony to him. They said, what's your name? And

12:01

uh, that worked

12:03

out really well. It was a

12:05

good band, simple good. Roger's

12:08

extremely good, had taken

12:10

Bob Dylan songs and turning them into pop

12:12

records. And you covered Tambourine Man. Yeah,

12:15

that was our first hit. Well, what did you learn about

12:17

bands in your first band? What that experience

12:19

thought? I learned that

12:22

that I had a lot to learn. I

12:24

was just a young punk and I really

12:27

had no idea how to actually work

12:29

with the people and accomplished

12:32

the aim that I wanted to. I had

12:34

an experience early on when I was young. My

12:36

mom took me to see a symphony orchestra in a

12:38

park free show there in that

12:40

way, and they tuned up and they got ready,

12:42

and then he started the piece and

12:44

it was this huge, beautiful

12:47

wave that hit me. I didn't know anything

12:49

was like that, you know, symphony orchestra, hugely

12:52

powerful thing, and it freaked

12:54

me out. And the thing I've

12:57

realized, even as a kid, the power came

12:59

from they were roll doing me together. I

13:01

can't believe you just said that. It's the truth,

13:04

and it really and it penetrated. So I've

13:06

always wanted to be in a band always.

13:08

I love cooperative effort. Competitive

13:11

effort winds up at war, cooperative

13:13

effort winds up. I'm watching

13:16

Tom Petty's band playing a benefit and offriend

13:18

was with me. I turned him and I said, do you see

13:20

what I'm seeing? My friend said

13:22

what? And I said, they're all doing the same

13:25

thing. At the same time, I

13:28

said, they're all in service to and feeding.

13:30

You know, in my business, not everybody's doing the same

13:32

thing that they're kind of doing their own thing, kind of jerking off

13:35

in the corner there. You know Patty's band was doing

13:37

the same thing. Yeah, it was really really, very very

13:39

cool. Do you find in a band does

13:41

somebody always need to be in charge? Does somebody

13:43

need to be the boss? It can go both ways.

13:45

And the Birds, Roger was definitely

13:48

the leader of the band, and that worked well.

13:50

Yeah, he knew a lot more than we did, and

13:52

he's also an extremely talented guy

13:55

and a good singer, and so it

13:57

wouldn't you know, I challenged it at

14:00

every turn, but he was the leader of the

14:02

band uh c s And why none

14:04

of us was willing to admit anybody else

14:07

was the leader were it was

14:09

and probably still is

14:11

one of the most competitive situations in the

14:13

history uh and not.

14:17

He goes really just that simple.

14:20

And in spite of all the

14:22

incredible success you've had, I

14:24

mean, who's when you think of people, when you

14:26

think of men harmonizing

14:28

in a group, the first people that come

14:30

to mind of the three of you, Why do you think

14:32

that that didn't bring them any comforts? I

14:35

don't think that's what they went in for, and

14:38

I don't think they realized exactly

14:40

how good it was. We did really

14:42

like each other when we started, and

14:44

we were thrilled, you know, by

14:47

each other's songs. So you leave the Birds

14:49

and and and and Stills leaves Buffalo Springfield

14:52

and they bring you with them Springfield

14:54

throw fell apart left, which is

14:56

kind of his m o uh.

15:00

Stephen was very appealing guitar player

15:02

and singer. I mean, it's really good. Remember

15:04

how well he played acoustic guitar back down beautiful,

15:06

pretty stunning, And so I

15:08

started hanging out with him, and then Cass

15:11

introduced me to the ground. But when Nash leaves

15:13

the Hollies, the Hollies are doing very well, aren't

15:16

they very successful? Why does he leave the Hollies?

15:18

I told him you did? I went

15:20

to work, I went to London. I told me she quit?

15:23

And how did you do that? We could quit? Why?

15:26

Because he could join us. He

15:28

was at a very crux point with the Hollies. They

15:30

wanted to do an album of Dylan

15:33

covers. Now, there are bands that should

15:35

do Dylan covers and there are bands that should

15:37

not do Dyl covers. That

15:40

was one of the bands that should not do Dealing

15:42

covers. And they were ignoring his songs.

15:45

He had already written A Lady at the Island, and

15:48

they didn't get it beautiful

15:51

song. He had already been right between the eyes.

15:53

They didn't get it. He he

15:55

was already outgrowing them.

15:58

So I walked in and said, hmmm, this

16:00

is pretty ordinary.

16:04

And I was funnier than they were, and I

16:06

knew more than they did, and I did it on purpose, and

16:08

they'll probably never forgive me. But it

16:11

made a great sound, we the three of us, when we heard

16:13

each other saying it was, it was spectacular.

16:16

But bands get together

16:18

and you're in love with each other and fall wonderful and exciting,

16:20

and then it devolves,

16:24

and forty years later it's

16:26

turned on. A small machine will play your heads and you don't

16:28

even like each other. You

16:31

don't ride the same bus, you do not

16:33

hang out, and you are competing with

16:35

the other guys. So it's easier to

16:37

do the touring and get on stage

16:40

and get that on and get that of it than it is to be. You

16:42

don't go into a studio anymore because that's more intimate that

16:44

died quicker. Yeah, the money

16:47

is still good on the road in a band like that, you

16:49

know uh that you you want to

16:51

stay there. It means big crowds, big places,

16:53

big deal. You can continue, But it

16:56

got to pomer is no fun? Is it about when

16:58

it starts to crack, when it starts to ship? Is

17:00

it because of songwriting? No one's getting that

17:03

too. Wants to see

17:05

my songs. I want my songs on that album. Who's

17:08

the decider? Did you guys acquiesced to producers?

17:11

No? We Uh, we always

17:13

produced our records and uh and are

17:15

we had what we call the reality rule. You come

17:17

into the room, you know, just

17:20

us, nobody else and seeing

17:22

each other's song, and they either liked

17:24

it they didn't and uh, if

17:26

they liked it, you know, then we start figured

17:29

out how to sing it. And these

17:31

are hugely talented guys. Man, they

17:33

came with a lot of stuff. So before it was the four of

17:35

you, the three of you was basically pretty good.

17:38

Yeah, it was okay. You know. Uh.

17:40

Neil's nickname is sometimes it's

17:43

CSN sometimes why you

17:46

know, uh, and when it would be

17:48

c S and why it was a lot bigger that.

17:50

You've got to know that that's the reason

17:52

to see us and has always Neil's decision.

17:55

Because if there's twenty thousand people in the stadium, Neill

17:58

put ten of them there. That's

18:00

the truth. And so he's

18:03

he's the one that's that's said,

18:06

that's it's done. He doesn't want to do that anymore.

18:08

And I don't think he needs to to see

18:11

so I don't think you'll ever see it again when you say

18:13

he's sometimes and he comes and goes. Is that

18:15

his nature in all things? He just has to tough time committing

18:17

to anything. No, he's on

18:19

his own path and

18:21

he does not relinquish that

18:24

ever under any circumstances.

18:28

And uh, he does not

18:30

want to be dependent on anybody else and

18:32

probably doesn't want to explain the money.

18:35

I don't know. I've never asked him, but I

18:38

know he I think you

18:40

know I had to come to this decision. It's a very hard decision,

18:43

man, This is a very hard time for us. I

18:45

don't know if you know this, but streaming pretty much

18:47

destroyed our earning

18:50

power. It took half, at least

18:52

half of our earning power away from us

18:54

because they folks, they don't pay us

18:56

for records anymore. And that's

18:58

really sad. Huh. They

19:01

got that deal passes and they it's

19:03

sort of as if you worked your job and

19:05

they paid you a nickel for every two weeks. It's

19:08

the proportion is drastically tiny.

19:11

So with Neil

19:13

gone and CSN

19:17

still earning, but really frozen

19:20

in place and really

19:22

unpleasant I mean incidents

19:24

that I will not tell you about, but violently

19:29

bad, carefully chosen

19:31

more h

20:01

David Crosby is having a renaissance,

20:03

three solo albums over the past four

20:06

years. We hear about his new

20:08

burst of creativity and why

20:10

he thinks Stills and Nash are still

20:12

out there playing the hits when

20:14

we come back. I'm

20:17

Alec Baldwin and you're listening to

20:19

Here's the Thing

20:36

such a time

20:41

before. That's

20:59

Crosby with Stills A Nash.

21:01

We've heard about the band's disintegration,

21:04

but not what made it great? What

21:06

was the best time? Every time?

21:09

Every time? For years at the beginning,

21:12

every time we'd go on stage, we would just kill it.

21:14

We could sing together. Nash is a fantastic

21:16

HERMONI singer. He absolutely

21:19

hates my guts. That's not fun

21:21

to work. But why do you think

21:23

that's that's the case. I

21:26

could tell you, but it would be personal. Stuff would be

21:28

better. It would be better if he told you, yeah,

21:31

because you know, uh

21:34

he said, he said, he said some unfortunate

21:36

stuff happened in his life someone which is

21:38

his fault, some of which isn't uh

21:41

and and he blames me for it. And

21:44

he mostly blames me because I shot my mouth off

21:46

about Neil's girlfriend and piste

21:48

off Neil, which ended to us, and that's

21:51

my fault, and

21:53

it's it was so innocent,

21:55

you know, I've finished an interview

21:58

like this and we shut the tape off and

22:00

I was walking down and he said, what do you think it's needle

22:03

few girlfriend? Man I said, oh, I think she's

22:05

a predator bamn

22:07

on the net immediately. Wow.

22:10

And Niel says, okay,

22:13

that's it, no more and

22:16

uh, I went on stern and he

22:18

said, wow, do you feel man? I said, I. I

22:20

didn't have any right to do that. It was I shot

22:23

my mouth off, and he's pissed

22:25

at me, and so I want to apologize

22:27

to him and to morrow. I want to apologize,

22:29

sir. I'm not really in a position

22:32

to judge other people. I'm the one who wound up

22:34

in prison. Yeah, but

22:37

you know, mist these

22:39

days, everybody's just waiting to pound you never you

22:41

never, you never, uh you know, there's

22:44

no forgetting. I mean, everybody knows the story

22:46

I guess I was fighting for custody of my daughter and

22:48

I have to go to court and spend

22:51

dollars just to get my kid on the phone. You

22:53

know, they're going to coach the child how to answer the phone. She

22:55

was like eleven, and so

22:58

I leave this message on my order his voicemails

23:00

screaming at my daughter on the phone. I go go nuts

23:03

because I've gone through all these stages of that.

23:05

Now what I did. I had this great

23:07

therapist say this to me. Once he goes, you realize

23:10

that none of what you suffered, no matter what

23:12

you felt was unfair, he said,

23:14

you realize that none of that would have

23:16

happened if you hadn't left the message. If

23:20

you hadn't left the message, none of this would have happened, regardless

23:23

of what you think about them leaking it to the press. But the

23:25

point once that gets out there on the internet,

23:27

if you go online and you read

23:30

my Twitter feed or you go see any

23:32

of my social media, there's not a day goes

23:34

by, not one that someone

23:36

doesn't throw that in my face. They send me a message

23:38

with that, they'll show me a YouTube tape with

23:41

a LinkedIn, so there's no forgetting anymore.

23:43

No, And it's the people that were up against your

23:45

are are very very good at

23:48

at assaulting any vulnerability

23:50

they see in the people who criticize them. And we

23:52

do criticize them, both you and I do, because

23:55

they are doing a rotten job with this

23:57

country. Uh. But

24:00

his supporters, um

24:03

the level of vitriol against people

24:05

like you that that have a

24:07

conscience and that loved this country,

24:10

and that really loved the constitution and really

24:12

loved the idea of a

24:15

democracy which we no longer have.

24:18

Uh, they're very very

24:20

hot to assault you. They want that. The

24:22

level of vitriol is indicative

24:26

it's gone up, and

24:28

I think they're getting uncomfortable

24:31

because he flux up every day

24:33

every day. But you've been political for a long

24:35

time, having always I mean I

24:37

read online where you were doing riffs

24:39

on stage. I don't know if it was Monterey or where were

24:41

you. Risks about JFK's assassination.

24:44

I said it was an assassination. I said, the

24:46

warring reports a lot, and it is.

24:49

It's absolutely not true. Uh.

24:53

But being an activist is

24:55

kind of like you know, I had heroes Man

24:58

Seeker as a hero of mine, Joan bys

25:00

the hero of mine. These are people who actually

25:02

put their lives on the line. You know, Harry

25:05

Belafani, he walked

25:07

from someone in Montgomery, arm in arm.

25:10

It was rifles and the bushes. Plenty of people wanted

25:12

to go. I

25:15

did a documentary about music and activism,

25:17

and he's one of my heroes because he was very

25:20

brave. I wrote a book

25:22

about it. That's why we made the documentary. Working

25:25

on a new book now and get him. Jeff Benedict

25:27

started out about politics, but I think it's going

25:29

to be about the whole United States of

25:31

America and democracy and

25:34

what happened. What do you think it's gonna happen?

25:37

It's fascinating, man. I don't think we know. Okay,

25:40

okay, we

25:42

didn't protect our democracy well enough. What's

25:46

gonna happen? I

25:48

really don't know. I'm very encouraged by these

25:50

kids. I was very

25:53

hugely encouraged. Got to keep them active,

25:55

don't let that fire die out. It's

25:58

not gonna and we don't. We're not in

26:00

charge of them. They are gonna

26:03

do that, and they are pissed.

26:06

Understand they're being handed a

26:09

world that's in deep danger ecologically

26:13

and a broken democracy. I

26:16

don't think they don't know it. They're pissed. My

26:18

son is Piste. He's

26:20

getting handed the short end of the stick, and he knows

26:23

that he's too smart not to know it. They're

26:26

not going to go away. These kids

26:28

are going to see some change.

26:31

And all the politicians things always been this way,

26:33

and it's all he canna be this way. Were close

26:35

to the nozzle, we can get the goodies. We're gonna

26:37

run things. Uh. The

26:40

Women's March, the women of

26:42

the United States of America may save the United

26:44

States of America. We need more of

26:46

them in Congress. Maybe Stormy Daniels

26:48

is going to save the country. Yeah. I

26:51

thought it was interesting that you saw

26:53

everybody attack David Kid,

26:55

that was the leader of the Florida

26:57

movement, becomes this lightning rod for all these

27:00

right wingers, especially Hannity, who

27:02

I've always been, you know, just just throttled

27:04

Hannity whenever I can, because he just

27:07

because he drives me insane, because because first of all, he has no

27:09

talent none. I mean, as much as

27:11

I detest o'riley's

27:14

positions and as much as I'm sickened by

27:16

the things that O'Riley did, at

27:18

least O'Riley, as a broadcaster had some

27:20

talent I had. I had a showdown

27:22

with the with the o'relly. He was

27:24

using my song long time Going, and I found out, what do

27:27

you doing? He came out to a show CSN

27:29

show at out on Long Island, What's your

27:31

name? And at that place was Beachy Jones

27:33

Beach. He came out there and he was very

27:35

you know how he is peacock. You know, he's like very

27:38

full of himself. H O'Riley,

27:42

Nice to meet you. And I said, Mr O'Riley,

27:45

stop using my song. And he said what I

27:48

said, I didn't give you permission.

27:51

If you use my song anymore, I'm going to see you. He

27:54

said, why don't you come on my show and talk

27:56

about it. I said, my

27:58

son talking about I said, you bully. You

28:01

just interrupted me three words in I'm not gonna come.

28:05

You discussed me and he stopped.

28:07

But I don't like him at all. I don't like any of

28:09

them because they're they don't really

28:11

even believe what they're ranting about.

28:14

They're ranting because it makes them money.

28:17

That's how they pay out. But you know, multimillion

28:19

dollar settlements. But but but handed the attacks

28:21

this guy and a lot of people. He's

28:24

a good kid. That's why they attacked me. Because

28:26

he's effective, because it's working.

28:28

He's believable. These people have they they

28:30

assassinate characters of leadership.

28:32

They have a leadership assassination

28:35

program. Yeah, anybody on the other side is gonna

28:38

was gonna get an attraction and get anything done. They try to

28:40

kill him, They try to kill him. They don't like it.

28:42

And now I'm I'm tiny, I'm not really worth

28:45

coming after, but they do come after me. I'll give you a

28:47

birdec example, I shot my mouth off yesterday

28:49

whenever was his hotel?

28:52

I said, burn, baby, burn, stupid

28:55

and then a guy dies. Fifty

28:58

emails you are heartless,

29:00

worthless son of a bit. Somebody

29:03

died and you loved it. I

29:05

don't love. Yeah,

29:07

I don't want to be sometimes I

29:10

don't want any fifty

29:13

like raging. I'm gonna kill you, you

29:15

low cheesy motherfucker. You can't

29:18

communicate in the media at

29:20

all the way you thought you could have wanted

29:22

to carefully.

29:24

Yeah, Because the place I go where

29:26

I can speak as long as I want to, and I'm

29:28

completely uncensored, and I'm welcome

29:31

and nobody's is Howard Stern. I

29:33

Whenever I want to talk about something,

29:35

I want to talk about an issue, and something's bothering

29:38

me, I go on, Howard. It's the best.

29:40

These are the nighttime shows. Some of them are

29:42

my friends. I like them. They have their purpose promotionally,

29:45

six minutes on the couch and out. They have their

29:47

function in the in the promotional world. But Howard,

29:49

it's a completely different thing. I have a good

29:52

conversation, and he's a kind guy. He's

29:55

a really interesting thing. You know what happened

29:57

with Howard. He grew up. He

30:00

ard it be out being you know, hey, I'm gonna

30:02

have strippers on my radio shop, all right?

30:06

Not so shit. And then he

30:08

kept encountering stuff and learning stuff,

30:10

and you watch him he matured. Eventually

30:12

they realize Letterman and

30:15

Howard in their own way, they realized they're

30:17

enough them just sitting

30:19

there talking to is enough. You don't need any more of this crap

30:22

looking. Howard learned a lot and became

30:24

smarter and became much He's a serious,

30:27

a serious guy to talk to. Now. I

30:29

I feel the same way you do. I felt completely

30:31

free to say pretty much

30:33

anything. I honestly felt you

30:36

say the thing about the fire at Trump's

30:38

building. But but don't we all

30:41

get pushed to the point where I mean,

30:43

there's things I almost hit send on Twitter

30:45

that you wouldn't believe, right right

30:47

in line with what you said about burdens. We

30:50

get pushed to that point. Yeah, well they

30:52

make us mad exactly. You love this place.

30:55

You believed in this democracy all your life. You

30:57

think it's a great idea. We got taught it. We're going

30:59

to ruin everything, and well they're ruining it,

31:01

you know, And that's really bad. Uh,

31:04

And yes, I get pissed and everyone swhile I

31:06

want to make a mistake. I'm made

31:10

a mistake that maybe there was one in one

31:12

too. You're supposed to smile. It was a

31:14

joke. But why why was it a

31:16

joke? Because I made mistakes

31:19

every day.

31:21

I'm sorry? Okay, can I get him now? I'm

31:24

just so earnest right now? Ye are I'm a little

31:26

too earnest. I

31:28

want to ask you about your son. His name

31:30

is Raymond, James, Raymond James

31:32

Raymond, and you were um

31:34

separated. You didn't see him for while he got reunited.

31:37

Yeah, his mom put him up for adoption, and

31:39

when he was just about to have his

31:42

first child. His parents

31:44

said, well, you know, I shouldn't know what the genetic Sorry, should

31:46

find out who your dad is. So he tracked and he

31:48

found it and he said, no, no way. Oh

31:50

he didn't know how old was he

31:52

at that point. Uh, probably almost

31:54

thirty, So he didn't know you were his father.

31:57

No, No, he

31:59

did a one full thing, Alecky.

32:01

Normally those meetups go very badly. You know

32:03

that somebody brings too much baggage.

32:06

How come you left me and mom? We weren't good

32:08

enough for you? Uh,

32:10

it's usually bitter. It's

32:12

usually a better pill. Well, he came and he gave

32:14

me a clean slate. He

32:17

gave me a chance to earn my way into his life,

32:20

which was one of the kindest things anybody's

32:22

ever done to me. And he and I became

32:25

very close and we write extremely

32:28

well. Because he's a better musician than I am.

32:31

Anybody tells you it's not genetic, haven't

32:34

come talk. That's interesting, Yeah, that's interesting.

32:36

He's a wonderful musician, much

32:38

better musician than I am. In a really good writer.

32:40

You still have your band together, CPR, Well,

32:43

that's that band has evolved now

32:45

into the sky Trail space. I

32:48

am in two bands, The Lighthouse Band this when I'm working with

32:50

down John right now. It's an acoustic band, mostly

32:53

vocalst You here recording, Yeah, we're here recording

32:55

right now. We're making our second record. My other

32:57

band, sky Trails Band, that's CPO

33:00

are me and Jeff pe Bar and my

33:02

son James Raymond and this

33:04

jazz bass player from Estonia

33:07

named my Agen Young,

33:10

really nice brilliant bass player.

33:12

And then Michelle Willis again

33:14

because she's a stunning singer. She's

33:17

an amazing singer. But

33:19

yeah, these two bands are the results

33:21

of being getting out of CSM and

33:24

uh. And it was a very tough decision because

33:26

the streaming was taken away half our money.

33:29

The other half was live

33:31

performance with CSN and I couldn't

33:33

do it anymore. And so I quit.

33:37

And are you just as happy

33:39

or do you miss? I'm so happy man? And

33:42

n at all? Really,

33:44

these people are much better writers and much

33:46

better singers than those guys are. Now. These

33:49

people still love it, they love

33:51

making music. They're not doing it for a paycheck,

33:53

They're doing it because they do. You think the other two are really just

33:55

doing it for a paycheck at this point. Yeah, yeah,

33:58

I think that's the only thing they're doing. Are they gonna do? Do

34:00

Do you think they're gonna follow you and form another

34:02

band and keep going there? You know they're working.

34:04

Stills was working with Judy Collins has

34:06

been a friend forever, and uh and Nash

34:09

had been not working. Were there people that

34:11

you wanted to play with? Like, was there a dream of

34:13

somebody you wanted to play with? You and get to play with? Who'd

34:15

you want to play with? Rony?

34:20

Really? And why didn't you? She

34:24

was my old lady. I

34:27

produced her first record. She's

34:29

arguably the finest

34:32

singer songwriter of our times.

34:34

I think probably pretty definitely

34:36

the best writer, even better than Paul

34:39

or either one of the Paul's or Randy,

34:41

or even better

34:43

than than James Taylor, who was one of my

34:45

real heroes in life and and most

34:48

people will come down to it's her, Bob, and

34:50

she's so much better musician than Bob's

34:54

was a great poet. She's a great poet

34:56

and a great musician. Stunning

34:58

singer, which is all over now because

35:00

she got, she got had a

35:02

really bad thing happened to her. Um

35:06

Dylan, But I worked with him. What

35:08

was that like? Was it everything you hope they

35:10

would be? Bob is such

35:12

a piece of work man.

35:15

I went in and he says, Hi,

35:18

how you doing? And uh? And he

35:20

kissed my wife's hand. She's never washed

35:23

it since um. And

35:25

he says, come on, let's go do it. And

35:27

I said, Bobby, I haven't heard the song yet. Oh

35:31

come on. Because he loves to get you out

35:34

on the edge. He wants that edge stuff.

35:36

He wants it. So

35:38

I said, Bob, you got to sing me this song. So

35:42

he says, okay, He sings me this song.

35:45

See okay, Now let's go to it. So we

35:47

go in the other room and he does

35:49

it completely different. He's

35:53

such, he's really

35:55

he's a piece of work, trust me. And

35:57

and I love him and I'm I

36:00

I get along great with him because I don't butter

36:02

his toast. You know. I think

36:05

that's that's comfortable for him

36:07

people I'd love to work with. Its still a bunch, man,

36:10

but I think the younger people still have

36:12

a lot of joy in it. You know, it's still really

36:14

exciting for him. That produces

36:16

a different quality of music. Unquestionably,

36:34

we had Beard back hold

36:37

to All God

36:44

here in the night. That's

36:48

a signal from young

36:51

good. That's answering

36:57

something here exactly

37:09

when we returned some of the truly great

37:11

questions you all submitted for this

37:13

legend of rock and roll and a few

37:16

of the less than great ones. I'm

37:20

Alec Baldwin and you're listening to

37:22

Here's the thing, she shall be

37:25

free.

37:43

She turns bo gates down

37:48

this slope to the heart.

37:57

We have some questions that were posed

38:00

by people on our hears I think Twitter side.

38:02

Yeah, we we you know, we went on on our Twitter

38:04

page and we asked people and it really worked

38:06

like a charm. We were kind of amazed how many people are. We're

38:09

gonna bring me the questions, bring those

38:11

in here. But

38:13

uh is that you, Adam?

38:16

I want to pick us a couple of these that

38:18

I really really liked. One of them is from

38:20

a woman named Barbara Fisher, and

38:22

she says one of my all time favorite

38:25

albums of yours is

38:27

Thousand Roads. Did you have any

38:29

thoughts of what inspired you to write

38:31

these songs, especially Hero? Was this a generalization?

38:35

Was it a commendation on someone specific

38:37

that inspired you? I wish

38:39

it were actually Hero.

38:42

I'm not really sure what I

38:44

was talking about. What happened

38:47

is I was working on that set of words and Phil

38:49

Collins heard him, and uh,

38:52

and he wrote the music and we

38:55

as the closest I came to you ever having a hit? Really,

38:58

uh uh? I

39:01

never have hits because I write the weird Ship. I'm

39:03

not really sure what I was talking about. I wish

39:05

I could give you a clear and concise answer

39:08

what I was trying to say, but I'm not sure.

39:11

Bill Vora Nikos,

39:13

and Bill, if I mangled your name, I apologize,

39:16

Bill Vora Nikos. I

39:18

think this is a funny question. Who was a

39:20

rival artist or band during

39:22

the sixties or seventies that you couldn't

39:25

stand or thoughts sucked other

39:27

than Jim Morrison? Do

39:31

you think Jim Morrison sucked? Yeah? Absolutely?

39:33

Really poser? Really you

39:36

thought he was not a good singer, not a good singer? No? What?

39:38

No? Why do you? Oh my god, I don't think he's a

39:40

good singer. And when you say that, who is a good

39:42

singer? Do you? Yeah? I

39:44

mean other than the three of you? Who's a good singer? James

39:48

Taylor? Wow,

39:50

brilliant singer. He's just more honest,

39:53

more straightforward. What what what? What? What much more talented.

39:56

Wow, you know Morrison was a poser.

39:59

Anybody that wants up having a waiver their dick in the audience,

40:01

you know, it's like they're pretty desperate. He was

40:03

opposer. Trust me, I that

40:07

band was no good. They never

40:09

swung ever, they

40:11

didn't have a bass player. He played

40:13

terrible bass on a keyboard, really

40:15

badly, and it was awful.

40:18

I don't like him. I never there were bands

40:20

earlier than that that I didn't like. Paul over here and

40:22

the readers, I mean, come on, I set the bar

40:24

pretty high. The people that I liked were Jimmy

40:27

Hendrix and Janis Joplin and Cass Elliott

40:29

and Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. That's

40:33

those are your basic box set of the greatest.

40:35

Those are all my friends, and they are all people that I

40:37

think are really talented. No, I didn't like the

40:39

Doors worse at all. Well,

40:42

we have a woman here the question. I'm I'm

40:44

motivated by you because it was so blunt

40:46

about Morrison. I'm so blunt

40:48

about this question. Her name is Renee

40:50

Champagne. Now that's

40:53

that's a that's a cool name, Renee Champagne. But the question

40:55

is a terrible question. She says, what

40:57

is the most memorable moment of your

41:00

we are so far and why that's a terrible question

41:02

question. And you get those two your

41:05

favorite and we try to explain to

41:07

him. And when you get into the good stuff, it's all

41:09

apples and orange its. There isn't a best. Clapton

41:12

wasn't better than Hendrix. Hendrick wasn't better

41:14

than Clapton. I got another one here that I really really

41:16

liked. John Packer is his name, our

41:19

our contributor here from Twitter, John Packers

41:21

said. Hugh Masskela described how

41:23

you helped him move out of addiction

41:25

and how that transformed his life. How

41:28

did he find you? Cass

41:30

Elliott, the same person introduced me to to Graham

41:33

and one of my best friends in the world, A

41:36

truly wonderful woman. Yeah, she

41:38

introduced me to Hugh and he and I and she used

41:40

to hang out to get her a lot. Hughie

41:43

was very talented guy. He played on Rock

41:45

and Roll Star. That's his trumpet on Rock

41:47

and Roll Star. I don't want you to answer these

41:49

questions, but I just want to read them to you because they're so interesting

41:51

to me. Jeffrey Paris says, if

41:53

you had six fingers instead of four, what

41:56

will be here from your guitar? Jeffrey Parrish

41:58

used to be the captain on my boat?

42:01

Is somebody you know? You

42:03

know he's one of my best friends. If you have

42:05

six fingers on your hand rather than four, what will be here

42:07

from your guitar? Clapped it? Is

42:10

he somebody you admire? Hell? Yes, But

42:13

more than his musicianship, I

42:16

admire his courage. What

42:19

happened to him would have

42:21

put me back on top, and

42:23

he didn't go. He

42:26

stayed sober in

42:29

the face of that. My

42:31

god, man, that's courage.

42:34

He's a very brave guy. And you know,

42:36

most people just have never really looked at it and thought

42:38

about what it must have taken from him.

42:40

But I admire his courage as much

42:42

as I admire his guitar playing. And I think he's

42:45

an even better singer than he's a guitar player. Three

42:47

last questions. Gloria Bernstein, who's a friend

42:49

of mine? Gloria Bernstein wants to know what's your

42:51

favorite movie of your dad's.

42:55

But the one they got the Academy Award for is

42:57

also a stunner. It's called Tab

43:00

and it was a black and White Silent

43:03

Movie. It's that far back.

43:06

You ever visited him on the set? Oh? Yeah,

43:09

yeah, yeah, I wanted

43:11

to do your job. Man's I'm

43:13

So Glass worked out

43:15

well from all of us society.

43:18

It's not easy, man, for every

43:20

part in in film and

43:22

TV, there's a thousand people

43:25

trying. One last question from me, what

43:27

are five albums you could never do without? Jonny's

43:30

Blue Asia,

43:33

Steely Dan, my favorite band, Uh

43:37

sad that he died. No,

43:40

I'm friends with Donald and Though and

43:42

I gotta give two to Steely Dan, Gaucho,

43:47

Uh Peppers, Starry

43:50

Pepper loved it. A classical

43:52

piece called Theme from

43:54

Thomas Talas. Pretty fun. Williams,

43:58

you know about I'm the I'm the announcer

44:00

for the New York Philharmonic here on public radio.

44:03

I love that. How is your health

44:05

and what recommendations do you have to people, especially

44:07

people in your business, to take better care of their

44:09

health. I think a lot about that now what I might have done,

44:12

I think you don't. My health has always been

44:14

a very serious issue. I

44:16

had hepatitis. See, I had to have a liver transplant.

44:19

I spent seventy two days in the hospital at U

44:21

C. L a before they saved my life. Oh

44:24

is it really pretty pretty

44:26

terrible? I've been a diabetic for thirty

44:30

years. At least my

44:32

doctor, who is a crusty old guy

44:35

at u c l A named Gary

44:37

get Nick, you

44:39

got to do better with his diabetes. Okay,

44:42

Gary, thank you? How do I do that? He said? Eat

44:44

less food? I said, oh, Gary,

44:46

you thinks it's so simple. Oh wow,

44:49

you cleared it right up for me. You were so kind

44:51

you ask eat

44:53

less food. I mean it,

44:57

you're eating too much? Turns

44:59

up. He is right. There's

45:01

a delay period between when you're actually

45:03

full and when you feel full. It's about twenty minutes,

45:06

and you keep eating because it tastes good. So

45:08

what I do is I order a bigler meal. I

45:10

don't order sugar, but I order a pretty regular

45:13

meal, and then I eat half of it. And

45:16

I went from forty one seventy seven, and

45:18

I've been here for two years. Do

45:20

you campaign for people for candidates ever anymore?

45:23

I'm very reticent about

45:25

it because they turn on you. I've

45:27

been campaigning for a friend of mine named Dana

45:30

Steele down in Texas.

45:32

She's running from home for you. Now you live where sent

45:36

by Santa Barbara. I've been campaigning

45:38

for Dana because she's a friend and I know she's

45:40

an honorable person and she wants She's

45:42

running for Congress in the thirty six district

45:45

in Texas, and I think she might

45:47

win, even though she's an uphill battle. Yeah,

45:49

I do. Sometimes if I know the character

45:52

of the person, I'd

45:54

love it to man. You

45:56

know I love this country.

45:58

Man, I'm not giving up. I'm not going to roll

46:00

around and put my pause in here. I Am going to keep fighting

46:02

until I am dead. The inexhaustible

46:05

creative engine that is David

46:07

Crosby. He actually worked

46:10

in film. Recently, he and

46:12

his son James wrote a song for

46:14

the documentary Little Pink House, about

46:16

the human story behind the Supreme

46:18

Court's Keylo decision, where

46:21

a town bulldozed a woman's little

46:23

pink house to make room for commercial

46:25

development. They put in a movie and

46:27

they're trying to see if they can qualify

46:30

as for an Academy Award. Were trying to course. I'm

46:32

putting next to my dad, David Crosby.

46:35

He chose the music for today's program

46:38

and there's both joy and pain

46:40

in it. This is Alec Baldwin

46:42

and you're listening to. Here's the thing. Seven

46:56

weeks now sick

47:09

we shifts all the

47:11

water. Very free,

47:15

easy easy, you

47:17

know the way it's supposed

47:19

to be. Simper

47:23

on the shoreline as

47:26

be talking about, very

47:29

free and easy