Graham Nash Visits The 4Fives of PS 58 in Brooklyn (June 19, 09)

On Friday, June 19, guitarist, singer and songwriter extraordinaire, Graham Nash visited a very special class at PS 58 in Brooklyn. Mr. Nash, his lovely and thoughtful wife, Susan, his fascinating friend Billy and his 2 sons, Jackson and Will, took time out of their busy schedules to visit the 4Fives, Brooklyn's first positivity blogging team. Positivity blogging is a new internet trend, where every post, every word, every idea on ones site is positive. With an emphasis on manners and generosity, positivity blogging makes it easy for students to connect with other student bloggers, and the more people happily sharing the things they love and linking together, the greater the strength and flexibility of the network. I could talk forever about the 4Fives and their amazing teacher, Bee Ladd, but for the best information, check out their blog (http://the4five.wordpress.com). For an insightful description of the class, start with this post (http://the4five.wordpress.com/2009/04/).



Mr. Nash and family came to the school to talk with the students, celebrate what they have accomplished and, to the great fortunte of all present, sing 2 songs. The visit was arranged by son Jackson of SuperForest fame. Check out Jackson's amazing blog (http://www.superforest.org/) for more information on Jackson's work.

The Nash family is so incredibly unassuming and generous - they set the bar high for positiveness that other famous people hopefully aspire to. They arrived around noon and mingled with the students from the 4Fives class and the handful of very lucky school personnel in attendance. The students ate their lunch and just enjoyed the casual conversation. Once everyone was full, the students moved to the rug and spent quite awhile asking the very thoughtful questions they had prepared for this occassion. (A few of the questions and answers are included in the video.) Mr. Nash then brought out his guitar and performed Teach Your Children (check out the video for this amazing performance, including the sound of the passing truck). Jackson harmonized on this song with his dad (check out www.superforest.org for Jackson's comments on singing with his dad) to create a beautiful sound.

Co-founded by NYC educator Bee Ladd and Enviro-blogger Jackson Nash, the 4Fives blogging experiment is a pilot program for their education initiative, the SuperForest Seedlings. SuperForest Seedlings is a teaching curriculum for the post-racial, class-blind, internet age. It is a training course in flexible thinking, focused curiousity, and hands-on technology exploration, with a focus on having fun.

Posted by Guest Blogger - MM

Crosby, Stills and Nash - Demos CD Review (1968-1971)

Crosby, Stills & Nash's latest release Demos is a collection of twelve previously unreleased demos that were recorded between 1968 - 1971. The material is split between songs from the first two Crosby, Stills & Nash LPs and the individual band members' solo projects.

Where it gets really interesting is that nine of these demos are solo performances that are likely the 'working demos' that were brought to either CSN or solo band's recording session. These stripped-down demos highlight gems like David Crosby's clear tenor vocals on "Almost Cut My Hair" and "Deja Vu", where Crosby ends the song with some free-form scat vocals. Graham Nash has three songs on this collection from his first solo CD, Songs for Beginners, and these demos give songs like "Sleep Song", "Be Yourself" and "Chicago" an earnest and wistful charm.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are three songs which feature all three members of CSN or various combinations thereof. An acoustic demo of "Marrakesh Express" (where this demo was recorded a few months prior to the first CSN album) is particularly enjoyable, "Music Is Love" is a Crosby/Nash performance that adds Neil Young on guitar and vocals and "Long Time Gone" features David Crosby and Stephen Stills.

While Demos isn't a starting point for new CSN fans, it is pretty much a "must have" for long-time fans.

Crosby, Stills & Nash are out on tour this summer and they are playing a couple shows in the NYC area:

8.7.2009 Borgata Spa & Resort Atlantic City, NJ
8.8.2009 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
8.11.2009 PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ

Links:
Crosby, Stills & Nash's Website

Crosby Stills and Nash Release CD of 1968 - 1971 Demos on June 2nd (Rhino Entertainment)

STREAM: Crosby, Stills & Nash - Demos (Rhino Entertainment)
(Streaming tracks are "Marrakesh Express”, "Almost Cut My Hair” and “Love The One You’re With")

On June 2nd, Rhino is releasing a collection of 12 previously unreleased demos by Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) that were recorded between 1968 and 1971. Many of the performances feature various combinations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and the tracks are a good mix of CSN(&Y) and solo solo songs.

Some of the tracks include:
- "Marrakesh Express" features Crosby, Stills and Nash and was recorded four months before CSN's debut release
- "Music is Love" features Crosby, Nash and Young
- "Almost Cut My Hair" is a solo recording by David Crosby
- "My Love is a Gentle Thing" is a 1968 solo recording by Stephen Stills

Here is the complete track list:

1. "Marrakesh Express"
2. "Almost Cut My Hair"
3. "You Don't Have To Cry"
4. "Déjà Vu"
5. "Sleep Song"
6. "My Love Is A Gentle Thing"
7. "Be Yourself"
8. "Music Is Love"
9. "Singing Call"
10. "Long Time Gone"
11. "Chicago"
12. "Love The One You're With"

Crosby, Stills & Nash are out on tour this summer and here are their June tour dates:
June 03 - St. Louis, MO, Chaifetz Arena
June 04 - Chicago, IL, Charter One Pavilion
June 06 - Detroit, MI, Meadow Brook
June 07 - Toledo, OH, Zoo Amphitheatre
June 09 - Niagara, ON, Fallsview Casino Resort
June 10 - Canandaigua, NY, Constellation, PAC
June 12 - Cooperstown, NY, Doubleday Field
June 13 - Mashantucket, CT, MGM Grand @ Foxwoods
June 14 - Boston, MA, Bank of America Pavilion
June 27 - Glastonbury, England, Glastonbury Festival
June 29 - Cork, Ireland, Marquee

Links:
Crosby, Stills & Nash's Website

Graham Nash - "Reflections" CD Boxset Review (Rhino Entertainment)

STREAM: Graham Nash - Selected Tracks from Reflections

With the 'death' of the LP, most record companies seem to have forgotten the importance of the album cover art, lyrics that can be read without a magnifying glass and innovative packaging. Rhino obviously hasn't forgotten this as the packaging alone on Graham Nash's 3-CD retrospective is impressive. Reflections is designed to look like a weathered and well-loved book and this book folds open to reveal the three CDs nestled in full color art. The discs are accompanied by a 150-page book of photos and Graham's notes about each track.

The sixty-four tracks on this set follows Graham's career chronologically from The Hollies to Crosby, Stills and Nash (and C,S,N&Y) to Graham's solo recordings and his work with David Crosby. This is an impressive collection and die-hard Graham Nash fan who already own Graham's prior releases will likely want to pick up this box set as thirty-two of the sixty-four tracks are previously unreleased. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Graham said “I went through 44 versions of the set before I settled on this one...It was painful for me because I’m not for introspection or resting on my laurels. A lot of the musical soundtrack to my life is on this box set.”

While most of the unreleased tracks are alternate mixes or unreleased versions of familiar songs, one of the highlights of this box set is six previously unreleased songs. One of these songs includes an unreleased Crosby, Stills & Nash song from 1984 called "Lonely Man". Some of the other highlights include a new mix of "Cathedral" (originally on the 1977 "CSN" LP) and a solo version of the little heard "Right Between the Eyes" (originally on the 1971 live LP "4 Way Street").

This isn't just a greatest hits collection as all of Graham's work is given equal attention. Disc One serves as a "greatest hits" collection with songs from the original CSN(&Y) lineup and Graham's first two solo discs. Disc Two takes the listener through the Crosby/Nash partnership, various CSN reunions (and "almost" reunions - check out the track notes for "Mutiny") and tracks from Graham's two solo discs from the 80's, Earth & Sky and Innocent Eyes. The third disc brings the listener to the present and covers the more recent CSN work along with Graham's 2004 outing with with David Crosby. There are a number of unreleased Nash tunes on this last disc and the disc closes with the poignant "In Your Name". For this last song, Graham writes in the track notes "[t]he killing of human beings by other human beings in the name of their respective "God" has always seemed most unholy to me...this song is a small prayer."

Links:
Graham Nash

Graham Nash - Songs for Beginners CD/DVD Review (Rhino Reissue)

In general, I approach reissues with a healthy degree of skepticism as I have watched Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss' catalogs get reissued numerous times over the last few years.

I'm impressed with Rhino's reissue of Graham Nash's 1971 solo debut, Songs for Beginners, as there is a noticeable and significant sonic improvement to the sound quality. This two disc set includes a new stereo mix in Advanced Resolution (48k/24 bit) and DVD of the entire album in Advanced Resolution 5.1.

Included on the DVD is an interview with Graham where he discusses his photography and how he uses it to captures his vision of the world at a particular time and place. It is a fascinating interview as Graham comes across as an every-day person with none of the typical rock star bravado. There is also a set of Graham's photos on the DVD and the audio portion of the DVD uses some of these photos as a backdrop to each song.

At first, I started to grumble as there were no bonus tracks with the reissue but, on second listen, I think the disc is such a solid body of work that and bonus tracks could potentially take away from the simplicity and the power of the disc. The disc starts and ends with the political tunes, "Military Madness" and "Chicago/We Can Change the World", which seem just as relevant today as they were in 1971. There are also a number of tunes about the breakup of Nash's relationship with Joni Mitchell. After listening too many mopey emo-bands cary on about breakups, it is refreshing to hear Graham's dignified and hopeful introspection on life, love and loss.

There is an all-star cast playing with Graham on this disc which include David Crosby, Jerry Garcia, and Neil Young (who plays under the name Joe Yankee).

If you are a CSN or Crosby/Nash fan, this disc is well worth picking up. For long-time Graham Nash fans, the sound quality on this disc is THAT much improved that it is probably worth replacing a previously purchased copy of Songs for Beginners.

Currently Graham is touring the East Coast with David Crosby in support of the duo's 2004 double-disc effort "Crosby-Nash" (which was released in 2006 as a single disc entitled "Highlights"). Graham has written a couple of new tunes "Lost Bird" and "In Your Name" which he is supposed to be premiering on the current tour.

Here are the upcoming tour dates for the NY/NJ area:

October 11th, Shea Center for the Performing Arts, Wayne, NJ

October 13th, State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ

October 14th, The Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury, Westbury, NY

October 16th, Performing Arts Ctr at Purchase College, Purchase, NY

Graham is also supposed to be finishing up a 65-song career-retrospective box set, Reflection, which is due out in February. According to Billboard.com, Nash said that the upcoming box set "starts in 1964 and ends in 2004. So it's the Hollies to the last record that David (Crosby) and I put out. And everything is in there. It's me solo, me with Crosby, me with Neil (Young), me with Stephen (Stills) and Neil, and me with Stephen, Neil and David."

Among the material included in the box set will be unreleased tracks, as well as different versions or mixes of previously released songs.

Links:
Graham Nash's Website
Crosby/Nash's Website