Bent News #43: Farewell to David Crosby, and a ton of stuff to tell you!

The Imbalanced History of Rock and Roll

This week's Bent News, #43 includes:

-The full story on the passing of David Crosby! (see Jimmy Webb tribute below)

-Neil Young to play Willie Nelson's 90th birthday jam!

-John Lennon "Lost Weekend" documentary due in April!

-The lowdown on Rivals Sons!

-Ian Hunter announces new album, Defiance! due in April!

-Yes gather forces and sell back catalogue to Atlantic Records!

-Doors members sell rights for charity and more!

JIMMY WEBB on DAVD CROSBY:

Croz, as he was known to his friends, was a gregarious, mischievous, sensitive guy who you could have a legitimate conversation with. I remember the first time I saw him up close: He had driven his black Mercedes Benz 450 SEL out into the desert to go sailplaning with me. He got out of the big sedan in a cloud of dust and strode toward me like a giant, a big grin plastered across his face. I knew in that instant that he was absolutely stone-not-afraid to ride in a glider or anything else you might think of. Conditions were lousy that day so I paid for an extra long tow, up to 10,000 feet because I knew rightly enough that we wouldn’t be airborne for very long. I muddled around and kept us up for around 40 minutes or so, and the whole time he was like a child with a new toy. He was inquisitive about every detail of the mechanisms on board and did not get airsick - unlike some others I could mention! We landed safely in the late afternoon after a bond had been formed up about 5000 feet as we waved to hikers on the side of Mount Baden-Powell.

At the time I knew of him from my friend Art Garfunkel, who had used him profusely on backgrounds for the Watermark album, which Art and I cut with Barry Beckett in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. From listening to his lilting concert tenor on Artie’s rough mixes, I resolved that if I could get him to do it, I would have him sing some backgrounds on some of my stuff.

Endearingly, he came at first call and brought Graham Nash along with him. Most recently, he and Graham sang backgrounds on my song, “If These Walls Could Speak”, from my Fred Mollin-produced Still Within The Sound Of My Voice (2013). It’s possible that this will turn out to be the last recording the two made together.

He was there for me at Alice Tully Hall (NYC) the night a plethora of names showed up for my live concert birthday party. In short, whenever I asked him, he was there. If I have one regret in my life at this moment, it’s that I didn’t make time to get on the sailboat with him when I was asked during a rather busy trip to California. But he wouldn’t want me to look back with any regret about anything. He was just that kind of cool, easy-going, sweet guy.

His was a gigantic star, it shines still there somewhere above the Southern Cross, this sailor, prophet, humanitarian, intellectual, and songwriter. Oh, and lest I forget, father as well.

It’s natural to feel a little emptiness when a friend passes but in this case I am aching and grieving for a whole magic, scintillating era of unsurpassed music, a time of beauty and elegance in musical art. In my mind he stands for all of that. The political conscience applied to the art of communicating with the masses.

I was at David Geffen’s house the afternoon Graham and Croz showed up with a little number called “Four Dead in Ohio”. When I heard it, they were angry and it resonated off the walls of the house in a way that made me think: this is a song that will change things.

Godspeed, David. You left the world a better place than you found it.

Love, Jimmy

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