the canyon

I want to dress like this, all the time. It's hard to do, though. You need that "effortless" thing that these 70's babes exude.
I'm definitely not effortless.

It makes me want to go to Woodstock

As the child of what may be the biggest Crosby Stills and Nash fan of all time, I was forced by my father to read a book called Hotel California a few years ago. It chronicles "The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends" and was written by Barney Hoskyns. Its largely set in Laurel Canyon, which sounds like an interesting and amazing place to have been in the late sixties and early seventies.

In the canyon things like this would happen: here is Eric Clapton hearing Joni Mitchell for the first time, with David Crosby looking on.

I'm currently re-reading the book, and it has totally reinvigorated my love for late 60's and early 70s singer-songwriters...I don't care if it's cheesy! Suite Judy Blue Eyes is probably going to always make me giggle and I'm probably going to wind up like Emma Thompson in Love Actually and say things like "Joni Mitchell taught your cold English wife how to feel" when I'm older.


Also, this book (or, more fittingly, the photos in this book) has called to my attention the fact that a lot of these people were extremely attractive. See JD Souther, above. He's not overly famous, but from what I gather, he wrote a lot of pretty songs. Look at him! And below, he's wearing the best jacket I've ever seen. Jackson Browne is on right, also looking adorable and Deadwood-esque.

Hoskyns pretty much sums it up - he says (and this isn't an exact quote) that they all looked like "Jesus after a couple of weeks on the coast"*. I guess that's my type.

Here's JD Souther.



*Apart from David Crosby

Woodstock photos from here by Shelley Rusten.