Inspiration always hits when you’re busy doing something else.\u00c2\u00a0 When you’re not paying attention.\u00c2\u00a0 When you need an excuse to divert you from the tedium.<\/p>\n
I’m busy packing for my trip to Vail.\u00c2\u00a0 At least I’m ATTEMPTING to pack for my trip to Vail.\u00c2\u00a0 And, while I’m running around my house, trying to get my shit together, I’m letting my Top 200 Most Played tracks in my iTunes library play at random.<\/p>\n
I’m hearing the most AMAZING things.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter Gabriel’s "I Have The Touch".\u00c2\u00a0 Stories’ "What Comes After".\u00c2\u00a0 The Silencers’ "Answer Me".\u00c2\u00a0 But what stopped me in my tracks, what made me put fingers to keyboard, was Crosby-Nash’s "Lay Me Down".<\/p>\n
Thirty five years ago, Crosby, Stills & Nash were the biggest act in the land.\u00c2\u00a0 Loved by musos as well as the casual listener.\u00c2\u00a0 It was because of the SOUND!\u00c2\u00a0 It soothed us, it opened doors in our mind, it INSPIRED us.<\/p>\n
The sound this act made is no longer hip.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not on Top Forty.\u00c2\u00a0 Although Led Zeppelin has been revived, and the Doors too, CSN has been fading into the woodwork.<\/p>\n
But two years ago, Crosby and Nash got together to cut a track with the essence of their heyday.\u00c2\u00a0 And seemingly nobody heard it.<\/p>\n
That’s the crime of today’s music business.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no room for what isn’t obvious, for what isn’t hyped.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what we’re hoping is changing.\u00c2\u00a0 That there’s room for the different, the CREAM to rise to the top.<\/p>\n
I heard "Lay Me Down" on XM.\u00c2\u00a0 But, two years ago, not even a couple of million people had subscriptions.\u00c2\u00a0 And there are over a hundred channels.\u00c2\u00a0 And Mike Marrone has a playlist of 5,000 plus songs in his Loft library.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, you only need to hear "Lay Me Down" once to be infected.\u00c2\u00a0 But how many people HEARD IT?<\/p>\n
There’s something I hate about the summer.\u00c2\u00a0 In that it’s not winter.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m finally back into the skiing groove.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve finally got my equipment right.\u00c2\u00a0 And now the season is ending.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want to wait MONTHS to be able to act on the inspiration and hit the slopes.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, I’ll be able to go to Mammoth til the 4th of July, but what about those endless months thereafter, til November?\u00c2\u00a0 Life’s an endlessly spinning cycle, that becomes overwhelming the older you get, and then you hear a song and everything is right in the world.<\/p>\n
Driving to go hiking two years ago in the warm months, I heard "Lay Me Down" for the first time.\u00c2\u00a0 Hearing it now makes me believe that the summer will be okay.\u00c2\u00a0 That I’ll cope.<\/p>\n
I want you to hear it.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the way the music world works, you can’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t it amazing that the labels are trying to sell you all this shit, but you can’t hear it?\u00c2\u00a0 They want you to PAY first.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s RIDICULOUS!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not the seventies anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 With a plethora of FM stations playing a broad swath of material, EVERYTHING good.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, something can be truly great and most people are never exposed to it.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s a TRAGEDY!\u00c2\u00a0 Because music is the grease that makes life work.<\/p>\n
You should be able to hear anything I write about, anything a friend tells you about, INSTANTLY!\u00c2\u00a0 Not for free, you should be paying for this service.\u00c2\u00a0 Ten or fewer dollars a month.\u00c2\u00a0 And then music would be healthy.\u00c2\u00a0 The power would be wrested from the traditional gatekeepers, the heyday would return, music would rule.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t it funny that those in charge don’t want this?<\/p>\n
Still, you can hear a 47 second snippet of "Lay Me Down" on Crosby-Nash’s Website.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll miss the exquisite guitar work, but you’ll get the idea.<\/p>\n