Rolling Stone - USA (2019-07)

The Mix

24 | Rolling Stone | July 2019

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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 relationship.

How do I broach this topic without her

going insane? Can open marriages work?

—Evan, Raleigh, North Carolina

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

Believe me, I tried it every which way. What

happens almost every time is, we’re imper-

fect beings and we get jealous of each other.

I know people who have done it for a num-

ber of years. But generally, 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 sell-

ing 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 peo-

ple. Half the people on the planet need help:

food, shelter, clothing, a loving hand, some-

body who gives a shit. That’s a way to give

purpose to your life that is really good.

N

EAR THE END of Cam-
eron Crowe’s new
documentary, David
Crosby: Remember My Name,
the 77-year-old singer looks
directly into the camera and

makes a startling admission.
“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, [Graham]
Nash, Neil [Young] and Ste-
phen [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

girlfriends, his bandmates

and his own body. “The way

they do most documenta-

ries these days is fucking

bullshit,” he says. “People

make documentaries 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 inter-

views 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

archival footage of them ex-

plaining CSNY’s bitter break-

up 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 unreason-

able,” 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 ANDY GREENE

David Crosby Looks

Back Without Anger

MOVIES

DAVID CROSBY:

REMEMBER MY NAME

In theaters July 19th

Nash, Crosby

and Young

onstage, 1969