© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Beacon blog: Crosby, Stills, Nash - step away from the vinyl

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 3, 2009 - The pure sweet harmonies of three men who introduced themselves at Woodstock by saying "this is only our second gig and we're scared s--less" have gotten a bit rugged in the decades since.

And it took a bit to make the leap from the sounds that come from my turntable to what I was hearing. But not too long. The harmonies still happen, just not quite as smoothly. Stephen Stills hasn't lost his touch. Graham Nash is still earnest and the lead showman, but ... was he barefoot? And David Crosby, well, the distinctive voice remains, but animated he is not.

As people called out requests, Nash pointed at that, among them, they have about 900 songs ... "even if 700 of them are Neil's." But still, why cover Buffalo Springfield, the Grateful Dead and others and not sing "Suite Judy Blue Eyes"?

Donna Korando started work in journalism at SIU’s Daily Egyptian in 1968. In between Carbondale and St. Louis Public Radio, she taught high school in Manitowoc, Wis., and worked at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the copy editor and letters editor for the editorial page from 1973-77. As an editorial writer from 1977-87, she covered Illinois and city politics, education, agriculture, family issues and sub-Saharan Africa. When she was editor of the Commentary Page from 1987-2003, the page won several awards from the Association of Opinion Page Editors. From 2003-07, she headed the features copy desk.