Stephen Stills became a rock star when he was twenty-two and wrote \u201cFor What It\u2019s Worth,\u201d a political anthem of the era and a song graced with several exceptional lines such as \u201cParanoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep,\u201d and as a prodigy and friend of many stars he probably couldn\u2019t relate to one of his mature fans still struggling to break through in another creative endeavor, writing, and opting not to \u201crun with the jet set\u201d \u2013 from another song \u2013 and sit closer than financially prudent. Instead, I was high on the furthest hill overlooking the amphitheater in Bakersfield and not positioned to correct him when he told the only-fair-sized audience, \u201cThe last time I was in Bakersfield in 1967 with the Buffalo Springfield, they said, \u2018Get those damn hippies out of here.\u2019 They\u2019re much nicer here now.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tFrom a better seat I might have called, \u201cHey, Stephen, I saw you with Crosby, Stills, and Nash at the fairgrounds here in the 1990s.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tThat\u2019s a minor point and Stills remains a fine raconteur. This time he brought another companion, his musical contemporary and former girlfriend Judy Collins, who still offers an angelic voice. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for fifty years, first as lovers, then as friends,\u201d she said. \u201cWell, we had to start somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tOther than a limited number of classics from the musical firmament, I don\u2019t know the titles of songs I hear. Instead I remember melodies and key phrases recalling joy or sadness and where I was when hearing the songs. Tonight the first phrases I jotted were later plugged into Google to reveal the title \u201cQuestions,\u201d the \u201cquestions of a thousand dreams\u2026 come on lover, talk to me.\u201d Talk to him, Judy, talk to him when he needs you, in the late 1960s. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019re still friends because we married other people,\u201d Judy said. \u201cActually, Stephen married several other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSomeone like my wife, who began the concert by listening to phone messages, must\u2019ve aggravated Stills, who had instructed the staff to warn concertgoers not to use any electronic devices. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cA few years ago I got together with an old friend,\u201d Stills said. \u201cWe went to a diner and talked for a while and then I realized I didn\u2019t have the guy\u2019s full attention. His hands were under the table. So I bought a pint of ale and poured it into a glass. Then I reached under the table, grabbed his cell phone, and dropped it in the ale. \u2018You can get a new phone, but you can never get your hour back,\u2019 I told him.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tEven in his late twenties, Stills had some gravel in his voice, and he\u2019s got more now but it doesn\u2019t detract much from his soulful singing. He next sang \u201cI won\u2019t back down,\u201d the title, I learned, of a Tom Petty song. \u201cI stand my ground,\u201d Stills promised, and he always has, on and off stage, lamenting the war in Vietnam and other conflicts this country has since elected to fight. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cStephen and I agree that Leonard Cohen was the smartest person we knew because he died the morning of the (2016) election,\u201d Judy Collins said.<\/p>\n
\tShortly thereafter her voice touched heaven in Joni Mitchell\u2019s classic \u201cLife\u2019s Illusions\u201d about \u201cice cream castles in the sky\u2026 up and down and still somehow\u2026 It\u2019s love\u2019s illusions I recall.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tSoon Stills delivered \u201cFor What It\u2019s Worth,\u201d forever moving, and \u201cBlue Bird,\u201d a title I remembered since this bird \u201csits in a lofty place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFor an encore Stills crooned \u201cSuite: Judy Blue Eyes,\u201d his love song to Judy Collins, who adored the work but rejected his efforts at reconciliation, and he lamented, \u201cIt\u2019s getting to the point where I\u2019m no fun anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tGreat stuff. But half the seats were vacant, and Stills said, \u201cBring your friends. We won\u2019t bite.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tThere\u2019s another point. He enjoys playing with friends like Judy Collins and David Crosby and Graham Nash, but to bring in larger crowds he\u2019s got to be a solo star, the visionary of Buffalo Springfield, the dynamic leader of the two Stephen Stills albums and the double Manassas record that resounded on college campuses and stoked concert audiences. I know. I attended three shows from the early 1970s. He riveted folks in the Berkeley Community Theater when he played \u201cGo Back Home.\u201d One woman squealed so loud Stills quipped, \u201cSounds like she just had an orgasm.\u201d He probably doesn\u2019t play that classic, and many others, when he has to share the stage with Collins or Crosby and Nash. I admire them. But a dynamic star needs to lead his own band. Not Stephen Stills and the blanks. Just Stephen Stills, band included. At age seventy-three he may not want that load. Okay. But a show containing nothing but his best work, uninterrupted by costars, could still rock a full house.<\/p>\n