Comment of the Moment: Richie Furay's Friends & Faith

Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Neil Young
Buffalo Springfield at the Santa Barbara Bowl on June 7, 2011
Eleanor Stills Photography | © Eleanor Stills 2011

The recent reunion tour of Buffalo Springfield has really struck a deep chord with many old -- and new -- music fans.

When witnessing the reunion ourselves, one of the most amazing things about it -- besides that it happened at all -- was that not only did it work, it worked wonderfully well.

Rolling Stone editor David Fricke said:

"Reuniting is no big deal anymore, everyone does it.

The remarkable thing about Springfield is they sounded as great as they did. There was a connection there that clearly had not been broken."

Which brings us to this rather provocative Comment of the Moment on Buffalo Springfield's Richie Furay Looks Back & Forward by BIGCHIEF:

There should be a separate category in the 'R&R Hall Of Fame' for musicians who's marriages have survived throughout the duration of their musical career. They would most certainly be few in number.

For Richie Furay, his example is a perfect testimony of a man who had his priorities in order.

Putting all of ones hopes in the business of Rock-N-Roll and the people associated within it has been the downfall of many who didn't have a back up plan in the event of failure. What happened in the life and career of Richie Furay may have resulted in a less than favorable outcome had being a successful Rock Star been his only option. Having been a founding member of 'The American Rolling Stones' could only have had implications of super-stardom on a young mans ego, only to have the dream implode before its full potential was realized.

Attempts to duplicate the short lived success he experienced with the Buffalo Springfield, either as a solo artist or as a member of various groups,failed to deliver the level of success that Stephen and Neil eventually had enjoyed as solo artists. Never the less, he continued forward with moderate success rather than succumbing to the ranks of obscurity as Dewey Martin and Bruce Palmer had.

As it became obvious to Richie that it might be a while before the Springfield re-grouped, he resorted to plan B. It was then that Richie began to prioritize and came into the knowledge of the truth that each of us have certain callings and gifts in this life and while it may be a noble dream for some, not everyone who has aspirations of becoming a 'RockStar' will have that become a reality in their life.

This is the part that may be a tad too 'religious' for some. For others, it is the ONLY reason that Richie Furay's life has 'all of a sudden' become like a fairy tale come true. As a man who put God before his own aspirations and dreams and decided long ago to make being a RockStar a hobby rather than a full time job, he now finds himself in the center of his dreams, although awake, living out the RockStar fantasy as he always dreamed it could be, while his marriage and integrity is still yet intact. It says in the Bible, the manual for life that Richie faithfully lives by, that "if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that all things will be added unto you"!

Richie Furay is an inspiration to me.

When Neil said "Now I ain't sayin who was right or wrong", when asked recently about the drama that imploded the band some 40 yrs ago, richie said that he can't even remember any such drama other than to say that it makes more interesting press to add some infighting to the mix. While that may be a little naive to dismiss any notion of conflict, it's just not in Richies nature to point fingers, especially now.

This Buffalo Springfield reunion is Richie Furay's dream coming to pass.

It is his reward for living a life with a balanced sense of priorities. It's bigger than the sum of the characters involved. So big that Neil and Stephen have taken time out of their 'big' careers to become sidemen in a band with Richie at the center.

How big is that?

Thanks BIGCHIEF! A lot to ponder here.

Some of have taken issue with BIGCHIEF's comment (see here).

It's hard to argue that the reunion tour of Buffalo Springfield after 42 tours is a musical miracle that we're all blessed to be part of. Truly blessed.

Now to what one attributes this fortuitous alignment of the moon and the stars is a whole another matter. You gotta have faith, one might say.

Now we ain't sayin who was right or wrong -- BIGCHIEF or Anonymous. Because, to know is not to know.

But we will say this. If someone pours their heart into making what they feel is a valid point and you have an issue with that, fine. But do not go and tear it down with a tossed off putdown. Please provide us with your reasoning and logic commensurate to the crafting of the original post. You owe it to the original commenter. And to Richie. And The Buff. And their fans.


Coexist, dude.

namaste

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