Croz

Like a few million other kids of the 60s and 70s, David Crosby had been on my radar since I was a teenager. I was a Byrds and CSN fan from the start and they were a big part of the soundtrack of my youth. I even had a CSNY poster in my room.

David's first solo album, "If I Could Only Remember My Name" has always been one of my top five favorite records. It's all in there - joy, sorrow, love, anger, celebration, and heartache. The musicianship is superb and I still say it's the best album the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane never made. Just the way the acoustic guitars are recorded is worth the price of admission. If you've never heard it, I recommend a dark room with a candle and headphones.

Sometime around 1990, I ended up with a copy of his autobiography "Long Time Gone". I had been dragging bottom for years and had several more to go before I found sobriety. I remember reading it drunk, late at night after everyone was asleep, and thinking/hoping that if he could put his life back together maybe I could too. There were several musicians in the early 90's whose recovery stories were a big influence on me and his might've been the biggest.

Fast forward to 1994. I'm a little over a year sober and I get a call to go out as a lighting tech on a short CSN acoustic tour, and of course I jump at the chance.

We were a few days into the tour when one morning I was walking through the hotel lobby and noticed David sitting in the restaurant. I went against roadie protocol and walked over and introduced myself and began telling him what an influence his book had been on my sobriety. He interrupted me and asked if I'd eaten, then invited me to sit down and order some food. We sat and talked for about an hour over breakfast and I got to thank him for sharing his story. He was more than kind and very self-effacing. He knew how to laugh at himself. The next day I asked if he would be willing to sign my AA Big Book. He hesitated for a second, then laughed and said, "As if I have any anonymity anyway" and signed it, "to David H. from David C. "Stay With it".

Over the years, in not-so-obvious ways, he was always on the periphery of my career and I enjoyed watching him turn into everyone's lovable curmudgeon uncle. Those "David Crosby Answers Your Questions" video clips from Rolling Stone are brilliant and hilarious.

I believe we're all connected and there's a thread that runs through us. I also wonder if maybe sometimes we're used by that thread to strike a chord in someone's life; to have a profound positive influence on them and never even know we played a part in it.

I can't say I knew him, but David Crosby played a bigger part in my life than he knew and I'll always be grateful for him.

I stayed with it.

Music is love...