Rolling Stone India – July 2019

The Mix

24 | ROLLING STONE | J U LY 2 0 1 9

ROBERT ALTMAN/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

Real-life advice from a guy

who’s seen, done and survived just

about everything

GOT A QUESTION FOR CROZ?

Email [email protected]

CROZ

ASK

I’ve been married for 15 years, and I’m

starting to feel pretty bored. I think the

only way this can work in the long run

is if my wife agrees to an open relation-

ship. How do I broach this topic without

her going insane? Can open marriag-

es work?

—Evan, Raleigh, North Carolina

No. Look, I’m the guy who wrote “Triad.” Believe

me, I tried it every which way. What happens al-

most every time is, we’re imperfect beings and

we get jealous of each other. I know people who

have done it for a number of years. But general-

ly, when a guy wants an open marriage, he just

means he wants permission to scout around and

hit on other girls. You can’t do that. I mean, you

can, but your love is never going to trust you.

My sister refuses to vaccinate her kids.

She’s worried it’ll cause them to be au-

tistic. I’m worried they are going to get

measles or worse. Would I be wrong to

take them to a doctor without her know-

ing? I know a doctor who’ll do it.

—Summer, Portland, Oregon

This is serious business. Vaccinating people does

not cause autism, period. Your sister is pushing

her ignorance and stupidity on her kids, and

that can hurt them very, very badly. Anyone who

tells you otherwise is selling you a load of crap.

I am 60, widowed and childless. I am

looking for ways to put life in my life.

How do I lose that old-and-in-the-way

feeling?

—Elizabeth, Rock Hill, South Carolina

Find something that matters to you. Maybe it’s

a women’s march, helping out at an old-people’s

home, helping homeless people. Half the peo-

ple on the planet need help: food, shelter, cloth-

ing, a loving hand, somebody who gives a shit.

That’s a way to give purpose to your life that is

really good.

N

ear the end of
Cameron Crowe’s
new documentary,
David Crosby: Remember My
Name, the 77-year-old singer
looks directly into the camera

and makes a startling admis-
sion. “I still have friends,” he
says. “But all the guys that I
made music with won’t even
talk to me — all of them. All
of them. One of them hating
my guts could be an accident.
But [Roger] McGuinn, [Gra-
ham] Nash, Neil [Young]
and Stephen [Stills] all really
dislike me, strongly. I don’t
know quite how to undo it.”
It’s one of many devastat-
ingly honest moments in the
film, which traces Crosby’s
life story — from growing
up the son of an Academy
Award-winning cinematog-
rapher, through his days in
the Byrds and Crosby, Stills,
Nash and Young, to the 1982

cocaine bust that sent him to

a Texas jail, up to his current

creative renaissance and

financial struggles. Along the

way, Crosby talks about his

many regrets when it comes

to the way he treated his girl-

friends, his bandmates and

his own body. “The way they

do most documentaries these

days is fucking bullshit,” he

says. “People make documen-

taries that are just shine jobs.

I wanted to be honest.”

The film was directed by

newcomer A.J. Eaton, but

Crowe, who produced it, was

a crucial behind-the-scenes

force. Crosby points out that

they’ve been friends since

Crowe’s days as a teenage

Rolling Stone reporter: “I

knew him when he was the

kid in Almost Famous and

we or Led Zeppelin were the

band,” Crosby says. “Both of

us stuck joints in his mouth

and introduced him to girls,

and that was that.”

They stayed close even as

Crosby’s life took some diffi-

cult turns. “I have seen him

so exhausted or strung out in

the Seventies or Eighties that

I often thought it would be

the last time I’d ever see him,”

Crowe says. “Because we’d

done so many interviews in

the past, we were able to get

past the niceties and get down

to the toughest questions. For

example, his take on the myth

of Laurel Canyon is bracing

and tough — the stuff that

gets said when the tourists

are gone and the cameras get

turned off. Except ours stayed

on.”

McGuinn agreed to a new

interview for the movie, but

Young, Stills and Nash don’t

appear. Instead, we see archi-

val footage of them explaining

CSNY’s bitter breakup and

why they haven’t spoken

to Crosby in years. “Some

of those burned bridges in

Crosby’s life are still fresh and

smoking,” says Crowe. “He

had a lot to say to them, and

it’s all in the movie. I often

thought that this was Crosby’s

version of Neil Young’s own

look back from Harvest Moon,

‘One of These Days.’ ”

Crosby has little hope that

CSNY will ever re-form, but

he hopes this film will help

correct the historical record.

“All these guys I used to work

with are saying I’m just

impossible and unreasonable,”

he says. “They are doing their

level best to paint a picture of

me that is pretty bad.

Hopefully this will paint a

picture that’s more honest. I

just hope they see it.”

In a new documentary

produced by Cameron

Crowe, the singer

opens up about love,

music and regrets

By A NDY GR EENE

David Crosby Looks

Back Without Anger

MOVIES

DAVID CROSBY:

REMEMBER MY NAME

In theaters July 19th

Nash, Crosby

and Young

onstage, 1969