Graham Nash tells Variety that his and David Crosby’s, Stephen Stills’ and Neil Young’s disdain for the Donald Trump administration and agenda might be the impetus for the legendary political activist quartet that formed in 1969 to reunite.
Their antipathy toward Trump eclipses their dislike for each other.
In March 2016, Nash said he would never perform with Crosby, who until that point, was a close lifelong friend.
He said Crosby has “ripped the heart” out of CSNY.
In October 2014, Young made the same announcement about Crosby. However, last summer Young said he wouldn’t rule out a reunion after Crosby apologized for statements he made about Young’s girlfriend, actress Darryl Hannah.
Nash, 75, tells Variety, “I believe that the issues that are keeping us apart pale in comparison to the good that we can do if we get out there and start talking about what’s happening …So, I’d be totally up for it even though I’m not talking to David and neither is Neil.”
When discussing Trump, Nash said, “We cannot let this man undermine everything we fought for over the last 30 years, which is what’s happening.”
He and Crosby have, indeed, found that common ground that could reunite them. Last month, Crosby, also 75, told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that Trump is “without question, the worst president we have ever had. ”
In July, Nash resumes his solo tour promoting his latest solo album, the acclaimed “This Path Tonight.” Crosby is currently on a solo tour promoting his solo album that came out late last year, “Lighthouse.” Last week he played the Grove of Anaheim and the Wiltern Theatre in L.A.
The 72-year-old Stills has a couple gigs up the coast next month in Santa Clara and Avila Beach with his other band, The Rides, which also includes hotshot guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd and former Electric Flag keyboardist Barry Goldberg. Then, in July, he’ll tour with Judy Collins, his girlfriend during the late ‘60s and about whom he wrote the CSN classic, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” The Stills-Collins jaunt misses SoCal.
In December, Young, 71, released “Peace Trail,” his 37th studio album, right around the time he canceled his tour of Australia and New Zealand that was set for this month. He has no upcoming concerts scheduled (however, he always plays the annual Farm Aid show late each summer).
POLITICAL FOES NUGENT AND CROSBY GO AT IT
Last Wednesday, right-wing advocate and gonzo rocker Ted Nugent, 68, visited Trump in the White House along with Kid Rock and Sarah Palin. Among other things, they were welcomed into the Oval Office and were photographed smirking it up beneath the official portrait of former first lady Hillary Clinton.
The sight of this inspired Crosby to take to Twitter. Crosby re-tweeted the White House-released photo of Nugent and Trump in the Oval Office with his comment, “This picture says it all … the two most insincere smiles in history. ”
Nugent responded during an interview on WABC Radio in NYC: “David Crosby, he’s kind of a lost soul…His reasoning and his depth of understanding is pretty much gone, so it doesn’t surprise me. I feel quite sad for the guy.”
Crosby then responded, tweeting, “Nugent is a brainless twit. I can out-think him without even trying hard.”
To be continued, maybe.
SPRINGSTEEN’S NEW ANTI-TRUMP SONG
Bruce Springsteen premiered a new anti-Trump protest song on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio station. “That’s What Makes Us Great,” written with his longtime collaborator Joe Grushecky and recorded with Greshecky’s band The Houserockers, includes the line, “Don’t tell me a lie and sell it as a fact.”
Grushecky told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “I had this song. I sent it to him and he liked it…(he) gave it ‘the Bruce treatment.’ (Trump) lost me the moment he started making fun of special needs people. How could a person like that be president of the United States?”
The 67-year-old Springsteen has been a vocal critic of Trump for the past couple years. Shortly before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, he said on comedian Marc Maron’s popular podcast, “I’ve felt disgust before, but never the kind of fear you feel now. It’s as simple as the fear of, ‘is someone simply competent enough to do this particular job? Do they simply have the pure competence to be put in the position of such responsibility?’”
The Boss told the New Yorker last October that he was afraid of Trump’s “lasting effect on the country.”
“That’s What Makes Us Great” can be heard on YouTube.
ALLMAN DENIES HE’S ENTERED HOSPICE
Monday, the rumors began online: Gregg Allman, who recently canceled all his 2017 concerts, had entered a hospice.
After all, the 69-year-old former lead singer for Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Allman Brothers Band that formed in Macon. Georgia, in 1969 and called it a day in 2014, has suffered a laundry list of serious health issues. They included a hepatitis C diagnosis in 2007, a liver transplant in 2010, a possibly life threatening upper respiratory condition and subsequent lung surgery in 2011, and a stint in rehab in 2012 for addiction to prescriptions related to his various medical treatments. In 2015, he dealt with the abnormal heart rhythm, atrial fibrillation.
Allman released a statement through his management Monday: “Hey everyone. I just wanted y’all to know that I’m currently at home in Savannah resting on my doctor’s orders. I want to thank you for all the love that you are sending. Looking forward to seeing everyone again. Keep rockin’.”
Entering hospice care is almost always a sign that the end is near and that all is being done to simply keep the patient as comfortable as possible. So, let’s hope the rumor is unfounded.
At press time, that’s the latest. All the best, Gregg.
ELTON HOSPITALIZED, CANCELS VEGAS SHOWS
Elton John was forced to cancel his entire two-month run of performances of his Million Dollar Piano show at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas after what’s been termed, “a rare and potentially deadly bacterial infection” landed him in the intensive care unit at a London hospital for two nights, reports ET Online.
The 70-year-old Rocket Man reportedly became “violently ill” during his flight home from Santiago, Chile, to London, after the final concert of his South American tour. The symptoms were described as similar to a violent flu.
He was also forced to cancel a May 6 show in Bakersfield. He’ll return to the stage on June 3 in Twickenham, England.
He issued a statement thanking fans for their concern and good wishes.
OINGO BOINGO DANCE PARTY SOCAL SHOWS
The Oingo Boingo Dance Party, the official band carrying on the legacy and music officially endorsed by group mastermind and founder Danny Elfman will play a pair of upcoming SoCal shows.
The band plays a Cinco de Mayo gig on May 5 at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, and then they return to their old stomping grounds, the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip, on May 12.
The current group is led by Boingo’s longtime drummer Johnny Vatos and includes former Oingo Boingo band members guitarist Steve Bartek, bassist John Avila, saxman Sam “Sluggo” Phipps, and keyboardists Doug Lacy and Carl Graves.
The quirky rockers are known for a ton of KROQ hits, including “Dead man’s Party,” “Stay,” “Cinderella Undercover,” “Just Another Day,” “Private Life,” “Not My Slave,” “Goodbye, Goodbye” (from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”), the theme song to “Weird Science,” their first biggie “Only a Lad,” and others.
RELEASE OF NEW PRINCE MUSIC HALTED
Just as a new six-track EP of new unreleased Prince songs, “Deliverance,” was to go on sale, the late Purple One’s estate was granted a restraining order by a federal judge in Minneapolis District Court halting all sales, according to ABC News.
The release of the newly-discovered songs Prince recorded between 2006-2008 was planned to coincide with the first anniversary of the performer’s death.
The estate sued Prince’s longtime Paisley Park Studios sound engineer George Ian Boxill, who finished the arrangements of the songs and completed the production and mixed the recordings. The estate also sued Boxill in order to gain control of the songs.
The judge ordered Boxill to turn over all of the recordings, estimated to have a value greater than $75,000, to the estate.
“Deliverance” already had pre-orders estimates in the millions, according to TMZ. All who pre-ordered “Deliverance” on iTunes received an immediate download of one song, TMZ added.
PROCOL HARUM CELEBRATES 50th WITH NEW ALBUM
Respected English art rockers Procol Harum, best known for its classic 1967 single, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” celebrated its 50th anniversary last week with release of its 13th studio album, “Novum.” It’s the band’s first album in 14 years, since “The Well’s On Fire” in 2003.
The 13-song “Novum” is the first album not to feature lyrics by Keith Reid. Up to this point, the 70-year-old Reid had provided the words to every Procol non-instrumental song that group singer-pianist Gary Brooker (sometimes with organist Matthew Fisher) put to music. Even though Reid didn’t play an instrument, he was always listed an official member of the group.
This time around Brooker, current organist Josh Phillips and the band’s longtime lead guitarist Geoff Whitehorn teamed with lyricist Peter Brown. The 76-year-old Brown is best known for his collaboration with Cream and its singer-bassist, the late Jack Bruce.
Brown, who was also a pal of The Beatles, achieve notoriety due to being called out by name in their 1969 single, “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” John Lennon, who wrote the song, also sang: “Peter Brown called to say. You can make it OK. You can get married in Gibraltar near Spain.”
Group leader Brooker and guitarist Robin Trower (who achieved worldwide superstar status as a solo artist in the ‘70s) began in 1964 in Southend-on-Sea at the mouth of the River Thames, 40 miles east of London, as The Paramounts, an R&B outfit. In 1967, they ditched the soul sound, exchanging that for a stately, classical progressive rock sound and changed their name to Procol Harum, Latin for “beyond these things” or “of these far off things.”
Brooker and Procol Harum begin a summer tour on May 6 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The 29-show jaunt runs through Oct. 5 on the island of Malta.
Former member Trower, 72, who left Procol in 1971 for a solo career that far eclipsed his old band’s success, kicked off his latest American tour on Wednesday in St. Paul. The tour includes several area dates, including on May 13 at the Boulder Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, May 14 at the Fox Theater in Bakersfield, May 17 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, May 19 at the San Diego House of Blues, May 20 at the Doheny Blues Festival in Dana Point, and May 21 at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A.
RINGO AND PHARRELL AUCTION THEMSELVES FOR CHARITIES
Want to have lunch with Ringo Starr? The Beatle will treat one lucky fan to is 77th birthday brunch on July 7 in Los Angeles. Make a minimum $10 contribution to Ringo’s favorite charity, the David Lynch Foundation (www.omaze.com) to be entered in the contest.
The winner will be flown to L.A. and put up in a four-star hotel. Then he or she will join VIP guests in front of the iconic Capitol Records building in Hollywood at Ringo’s annual birthday “peace and love”-a-thon at noon. The winner will then “hang out with Ringo and his friends at his star-studded birthday brunch.”
The foundation was founded by the noted film director in 2005 to help spread Transcendental Meditation.
Ringo and his All-Starr Band that includes Todd Rundgren, Santana and Journey’s singer-organist Gregg Rolie, Toto’s lead guitarist Steve Lukather, Mr. Mister’s bassist-singer Richard Page, David Lee Roth’s drummer Gregg Bissonette, and percussionist-sax playing musical director Warren Ham, will tour for the sixth consecutive year this fall. The 26-date tour kicks off with an eight-night stand, Oct. 13-28, at the 4,600-seat AXIS theater at Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Pharrell Williams, whose single, “Happy,” hit No. 1 in two dozen countries around the globe in 2013, played the Humane Society of the United States’ To The Rescue Gala fundraising dinner last Saturday on the Paramount Pictures lot in L.A.
Five attendees paid $25,000 each for the privilege of joining him onstage and performed as his backup singers when he sang “Happy” that closed his three-song set.
The event brought in a record $1.4 million towards the Humane Society’s efforts to stop farm animal abuse.
McCARTNEY ADDS NEW SUMMER U.S. TOUR SWING
Paul McCartney is on tour in Japan this week. Tuesday, he returned to Tokyo’s 14,471-seat Budokan, the sight in 1966 of one of The Beatles most famous concerts, where he opened his 31-song set with “A Hard Day’s Night” and included a couple gems he hasn’t played in a while, Wing’s “Junior’s Farm” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.” “Man” was the song he and John Lennon wrote in the fall of 1963 for Ringo Starr to sing and that they also gave to The Rolling Stones a couple weeks later, taking it to No. 12 in Britain.
He’s sticking around the Japanese capitol, playing a trio of sold out gigs at the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He was going to be off the road for a while, until announcing on Tuesday a new 14-date summer leg of his ongoing One on One Tour.
This added jaunt kicks off July 5, by which time McCartney will have turned a still-youthful 75, in Miami at the 20,000-seat American Airlines Arena.
He and the same four-piece backup band (drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., keyboardist Paul Wix Wickens and guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray) he’s used since 2002, will wrap the jaunt on Oct. 1 at the 22,000-seat Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, but not before playing NYC’s 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2005.
Alas, he has no tour stops anywhere near southern California, or the Southwestern United States, for that matter.
OBIT: SOUL SINGER GOODING, SR.
Soul singer Cuba Gooding, Sr., father of the Oscar winning actor and frontman for R&B vocal trio The Main Ingredient was found dead at age 72 in his silver Jaguar on Ventura Blvd., in Woodland Hills on April 20. TMZe said that law enforcement on the scene found empty alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia in his car, and that a drug overdose was suspected. At press time, the exact cause of death had not been released.
The Main Ingredient formed in Harlem in 1964 and Gooding joined in 1971 after the unexpected death from leukemia of original lead singer Don McPherson. His first single with the trio, “Everybody Plays the Fool,” in 1972, became their biggest hit.
The 45 hit No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop singles chart and No. 2 on its R&B chart. It also reached No. 6 in Canada. It sold more than one million copies and was certified a gold record.
They scored big again in 1974 when “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely” made the Top 10 on the Hot 100 and the R&B chart.
In 1974 and 1975, they racked up other R&B hits “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend” by English jazz-rock keyboard pioneer Brian Auger, “Rolling Down the Mountainside” and “Shame on the World.”
Gooding left The Main Ingredient for a solo career, first with Motown Records, but his records failed to chart. In 1983, he scored an international hit with his remake of “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend.”
Steve Smith writes a new Classic Pop, Rock and Country Music News column every week. It can be read in its entirety on www.presstelegram.com. Like, recommend or share the column on Facebook. Contact him by email at Classicpopmusicnews@gmail.com.
