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Graham Nash fuels DNC star power of 'etown'

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 26, 2008 at 9:11 p.m.

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It's weird going to political conventions, Graham Nash says, and "it'll get even weirder" before it's over. He's in town to see history being made, to promote etown, to lunch with Rep. Diana DeGette and to try to make his voice heard on the important issues.

We caught up with Nash for an exclusive interview before Tuesday night's sold out etown radio show taping (also starring James Taylor, David Crosby and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello) at the Temple Buell Theatre.

He sat for a few quick questions:

Why are you here this week?

"It's a combination of wanting to support etown and wanting to support the social and environmental issues they support. Why this week? It was just incredibly symbolic that the DNC was going to be here this week. That Barack is going to speak. I want a breath of fresh air. I want to be able to breathe. I haven't been able to breathe for the past eight years. I'd like to take a deep breath. What better place to do it than Denver?"

Some of your songs have remained timeless, as relevant today as when they were written.

"It's interesting. . . . Part of the art of songwriting is making it relative in another 20 years, 40 years, 50 years."

What else do you have going on this week besides this etown concert?

"Using music to spread democracy is a wonderful idea. . . . I've got a lot of things planned. . . . I want to go to the two-tiered tent outside the Pepsi Center and sing and play for those people. . . . I'm certainly looking forward to seeing Barack speak on Thursday. It's going to be history. I'm very curious as to what happens."

Smile for the camera

There was a lot of star power at the etown show, and even those in the audience might get some celeb cred out of it. Sort of.

Director Barry Levinson (Diner, Wag the Dog, Rain Man) was there with a film crew as part of a documentary he's working on about the relationship between rock singers, music and politics.

Signs on all the doors warned that by entering the theater you give your consent to be filmed.

Levinson is working closely with Nash and Crosby - no surprise, given that their commitment to protest music goes back to their earliest work. No working title nor estimated release date is available as yet.