European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                On the Road again Crosby stills and Nash kick off tour with new album by Pete Szilagyi Cox news service Gravity always seemed to have a hold on Crosby stills and Nash. During most of the groups 20-year, on and off recording and touring history they always Sang in three part Harmony with no one dominating their music nor their offstage press clips. Then David Crosby wired after years of drug use began to surface in police stories in 1982. The big bust came in Dallas when Crosby was caught with cocaine and a pistol. After a Long court Battle Crosby s conviction was overturned by the Texas supreme court and in 1986 he left a Huntsville ala., state prison a free Man after just a few months. Crosby swore off drugs and alcohol to become yet another celebrity doing Public Battle with the Devil. He still attends alcoholics Anonymous a meetings to help him stay sober and has written of his addiction in an autobiography Long time gone. With his sobriety has come a revival of his relationship with Stephen stills and Graham Nash. Last year they did an acoustic tour. Recently they Cut a new album live it up and they Are about to begin their first major tour since the 70s. Crosby promises that the shows a in which the famous Trio will be backed by five other musicians a Are not going to be 60s Vintage Crosby stills and Nash. They have hired Tony award winning set designer Jules Fisher to design an elaborate stage with numerous set and backdrop changes. In the past Crosby said Quot we be just stood out there with a couple of lights on us and Sang great three part but i think this time our audiences Are going to be really shocked and really  Crosby 48, said he is not bitter about his arrest. Quot i m not trying to say it was fun or anything but i David Crosby left who performed with Stephen stills and Graham Nash at the Wall in Berlin in november says fans will be a really shocked about the trios upcoming tour. Think it saved my life. I had people come up to me after i won the Case in the Texas supreme court and say what a the Deal you did the time and now you won the Appeal Aren t you going to sue them a Quot i said a no in a going to Send them a thank you  i really think i would be dead if i did t get locked up like i  his experiences As an addict or As a sober person have not found their Way into his songs however. Quot it s real hard to write about the drug thing because on one hand you get into poor me lordy me in a Down in this old jail but nobody wants to hear you whine. On the other hand if you say just say no everything will be Hunky Dory a its Mary  sobering up released creative Energy that was imprisoned during Crosby a drug use. Quot in the Early stages of my career i wrote a great Deal then the More drugs i did the less i wrote until it got to be no writing at All. I started writing again two or three months after i went into Huntsville. By the time i got out i had written about 14 songs and screenplay ideas and  Crosby who penned such 70s hits As Dejavu Long time gone guinevere and almost Cut my hair wrote two songs for the new album. He said they Are Quot some of the most sophisticated music in be put  on one of his songs arrows Branford Marsalis plays Soprano saxophone. Quot we used really great players to come up with a very High Quality record and we re thrilled Quot Crosby said. Quot we also think we have hits on it i Hope that a  other players on the album Are Roger Mcguinn Crosby sold pal from the Byrds Bruce Hornsby and Peter Frampton. Music from the album due out in late june will get ample airing during the concert tour. Crosby estimated that More than half the songs in the show will not be Crosby stills and Nash standards. However Quot people would feel cheated if we went and did a show and did no to do old songs a a he said. Quot if you go to a Crosby stills and Nash show and you Don t hear wooden ships you kind of feel  but Crosby said the group did not organize the tour to take advantage of the current fascination about the 60s. Quot we have been a functioning band All along the line so its not As if we were checking out of a geriatric clinic and getting together to lip synch to some old tapes Quot he said. Quot we re pretty Active Guys and pretty current and have been putting out albums steadily and quite successfully. We have actually got a pretty vigorous act going right  dirty word approaching and other warning labels by Charles Memminger Honolulu Star bulletin s o now they Are going to put labels on records tapes and compact discs warning that they contain explicit song lyrics. I m sure teen agers All Over the country Are thankful. Now they won t have to guess which records to buy. All they have to do is look for the ones with the Black and White Square in the lower right hand Corner. That Little warning Label might As Well say Quot buy me dude Quot if teen agers today Are anything like my Peers As a kid. This trend toward putting warning signs and labels on everything is distressing. When Are moral zealots going to realize that warning labels usually have the opposite effect intended when Are Zucchini zealots going to realize that not everyone gives a rip about their health and will drink Beer smoke cigarettes and eat canned luncheon meat whether it is Good for them or not the apparent aim of these caution crusaders is to help everyone live longer happier and healthier lives. The implication is that those who favor warnings Are living so much better and longer than everyone else. But consider this the Earth has been around for millions of years and Humankind for just a tiny fraction of that like 250,000 years. So Why do these nonsmoking non drinking non obscene Lyric listening vegetable eating bean poles act so sanctimonious and Superior just because they might outlive some other Guy by 10 or 15 years in the cosmic car Wash of time 10 years is just a Bubble in the second soap Cycle. Pop. Pop. Pop. Of All the smokers non smokers runners sinners censors carnivores Krishna commies comics psychics seers Bishops bums and Garbanzo bean biters Ever born into this world none has lived More than 100 or 200 Hundred years. And most of them substantially less despite armies of regulators warning them to watch what they eat do say and think. Today it is especially annoying because All of the serious relevant warnings have already been issued like Quot Bridge is out Quot and Quot explosives no smoking within 50  All that is left Are the stupid silly Little warnings like Quot danger cheese has cholesterol that May be bad for you so it is better for you to eat wheat grass and possibly squeeze a few More miserable years out of what will be a hopelessly Boring life if us we warning Label makers have our  you be got to hand it to the warning beanies though. They have managed to create so much guilt for so Many people that hardly anyone can enjoy a Nice baked potato stuffed with sour Cream and butter anymore. Banana split forget it Coffee Beer music no exercise too much exercise Maraschino cherries. You name it we be been warned about it. But there is Justice. There Are two words that really Bug the a caution dirty word approaching a Heck out of these people who would have us sit around All Day doing nothing but eating Well and having Good thoughts Jackie Gleason. Jackie Gleason drank and smoked to excess. He was enormously overweight. He probably never set his Teeth into a piece of Tofu. He stayed out late partying year in and year out. In Short he had a blast. And yet he lived to be More than 70 years old. The Man was an inspiration. People who Are plastering warning labels All Over everything and telling us not to do this or that just can t stand the fact that Gleason probably outlived hundreds of aerobic instructors Lawrence Welk groupies a couple of Popes a zen Buddhist Monk and King of the runners Quot Jim Fixx. I done to know How Jackie Gleason Fel about warning labels. But i suspect he put his Cigar out on a couple of them. Page 16 the stars and stripes monday june 11,1990