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- [Band Member] In case
you just joined us,

we're Magic Music

and we're from
Boulder, Colorado.

We'd like to ask you a question.

Would you buy an album
if we recorded one?

[cheering]

[light guitar music]

♪ I'm trying to break
it easy to you ♪

♪ But there's some
things you should know ♪

♪ About this world
that we're living in ♪

♪ And the people
would make you go ♪

♪ I tend to overlook

♪ People who bring me down

♪ Then I wake up and remember

♪ They're just
looking to be found ♪

♪ Just looking to be found

♪ Just looking to be found

♪ There's just one more
thing I want to say ♪

- Magic Music was a
light in the darkness.

- Magic Music was a phenomenon.

- Anytime they
played for anybody,

they literally could've said,

"Hey everybody, we're
going to get in our car

and we're going to
drive off a cliff

and we want you all
to come with us."

And everybody would
go, "Yes, we're in!"

- I thought for sure that
they would get a contract.

- Every time they got close,
it somehow went wrong.

- Magic Music was the
biggest influence on my life.

- Magic Music was magic.

- It was a time in Boulder and
this was the band in Boulder

that defined that
friendliness and that love.

["Colorado Rockies"]

♪ The time is coming when
we'll have to decide ♪

♪ If we're gonna stay and fight
or gonna take a ride ♪

♪ To the Colorado Rockies
and the great divide ♪

♪ Can't you see it's here

♪ Revolution's here

♪ It's coming near to you

- Unless you were Colorado
during the early 70s,

you never heard of Magic Music.

It formed in 1970
and broke up in 1976

without ever releasing an album.

I was lucky enough to
hear them back then

and I really loved them.

So much so that
even 40 years later

their music was
still in my head.

This is their story
and as it turned out,

a little bit of mine.

♪ My head is spinning
to the ground ♪

♪ And I'm only
waiting to be found ♪

♪ And I'm searching

Even as the 70s
began in Boulder,

the 60s were still going strong.

- Boulder had the
reputation of being

this great hippy
paradise and it was.

- It was a happy collision
of idealism, innocence

and inventiveness.

- I was a renaissance time.

The music scene was bubbling.

- Drugs were free, sex was free.

- Boulder was the place where
you could go to a concert

and somebody would throw
100 joints up in the air.

- It was a politically
motivated town.

We thought, we're going
to change the world.

[light music]

- That's me in 1972.

A student at the University
of Colorado in Boulder.

I chose that school because
I'd read in a book called

The Underground Guide to
the College of Your Choice

that Boulder was the ideal
place to go for sex and drugs.

Which, to be honest,

was pretty much what
I wanted to major in.

Boulder was an exciting
new world for me.

There always seemed
to be something cool

happening on campus.

One day outside
the student union,

I came across a small crowd
gathered around five guys

on the lawn playing
acoustic instruments

and singing beautiful harmonies.

They called themselves
Magic Music.

♪ Don't you try and hold
on to anyone you know ♪

♪ Feel the life

Now, I'd been a
high school hippy,

but these guys were
the real thing.

They talked about living
up in the mountains

in school buses and cabins.

And when they sang, it
really did sound like magic.

[overlapped melody singing]

I was drawn to them,

they were living a life
I'd only dreamed about.

Whenever they played on
campus or around town,

I was there.

♪ Changes flow

[light flute music]

I can't say I really knew them.

I certainly didn't
hang out with them,

although I sure
wish I could have.

I was just one of many fans

and we all thought it
was just a matter of time

before Magic Music made it big.

♪ Her hair it falls
in tangling rings ♪

♪ Her thoughts are
as light as the air ♪

When after a couple of years,

they stopped playing in Boulder.

I imagine they'd gone on to
bigger and better things.

An album deal at the very least,

but no album ever appeared.

After graduation, I moved to
LA and got busy with life.

I found some success
and it was great.

But I'd be lying if I said
I was following a passion.

I started a family.

But when I was up in
the middle of the night

trying to get my kids to sleep,

I found myself
singing to them a song

that was stuck in my head

even though I hadn't
heard it years.

♪ And bring morning in

♪ Bring morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

♪ Little woman

♪ And bring the morning in

Over the years I often wondered

what ever happened
to Magic Music?

Why hadn't they made it?

I wondered what
paths they'd taken

and if they could possibly
be as happy and fulfilled

today as they'd seemed
to be back in the 70s.

I also wondered if
there was any way

I'd ever be able to
hear those songs again,

they way I'd remembered them.

In the spring of 2015, I
decided to stop wondering

and find out.

[joyful flute music]

- I'm Tode, this
is my love, Donnie

and this is our Volkswagen bus.

- Retirement home.
- Our retirement home.

I was playing music
from a little boy.

In 11th grade, I meet a
lot of people who were

getting into rock 'n'
roll and smoking weed.

Politically I was very much down

on the Nixon administration.

I eventually did just avoid
accepting my draft notices

when they came in.

Then they instituted
the lottery system

and I was given a high number

and I didn't have to worry
about the draft anymore.

[upbeat music]

I ended up meeting
a girl at Woodstock.

My picture's in the
Woodstock magazine

with this girl actually.

I got a letter from her saying,

you should come out to Boulder,

I'm living on a commune
that's really cool.

And I was just,

so I hitch hiked from
New York out to Boulder.

Commune was called
the Pygmy Farm

and the first day I was
there a guy gave me a flute.

He said, "Here, you
want this flute?"

And I said, "Well yeah,
I don't really play it."

but he said, "I know,
maybe you'll need it."

Fortunately Lynn Poyer,
Flatbush was there

and I started sitting
down next to him

♪ Smile is changing
from a grin to a frown ♪

♪ All the people round us
trying to keep love down ♪

- Lynn J Poyer,
nickname Flatbush.

[laughing]

Born and raised in Boulder.

I started actually
in junior high,

I had a band called The Showman.

Boy, we were good.

- Lynn was the love of my life.

We meet at Ohio State University

during the Moratorium
against the Vietnam War

on October 15, 1969.

Lynn was coming back
to Boulder, Colorado

and asked me if I would go
back to Colorado with him.

We landed in a farm north
Boulder and it was a commune.

- I meet Tode, the future
flute player for Magic Music

and the two of us
started goofing around
musically together

and we started
writing some things.

- That's when we came up
with the name Magic Music.

This is just magic
the way this happened.

[scat singing]

- [Flatbush] George and I were
playing in the student union

in the middle of the day
and Wilber was also playing.

[light music]

- My name is Will Luckey

and this is my
beautiful wife, Cub.

I grew up on Martha's Vineyard.

Didn't do well in school
until I was a senior.

I got this great deal to
go to Colorado College

and study only music.

I arrived there and the
guy who ran the department

listened to me play
a few songs and said,

"You're never going
to be a musician."

I immediately ran to the draft
board, checked my number,

it was 335 and I got in
my 1952 pick up truck

and I went to Boulder.

All I knew was that I
was going to play music.

I started walking
around the campus

trying to figure out
how to make some money.

And I ran into Lynn and George.

So, I carried my guitar
over and sat down with them

and I started singing with them.

♪ Never in my life

♪ Did I ever

- Lynn was smitten with Will.

It was a really beautiful
love affair of music.

- We were the three first
original characters.

We did some club work
and somewhere in there

we meet Rob Galloway,
nicknamed Poonah,

who was the first bass player.

[light music]

- My name is Rob Galloway

and I acquired the
moniker, Poonah,

back in the early 1970s
in the band Magic Music.

I kind of stumbled
into the band.

I'd just left college
during the Vietnam War

and I was playing weekends
up at this little club

managed by Chuck Morris.

Chuck walks up to me, he says,

"Got this band that want to
audition during your break,

is that okay?"

I said, "Sure."

Well it turns out,
it's Magic Music.

- They came in and said,

"We'd like to do a
show in the back room"

and they played
and they killed me.

I thought they were great.

- These guys looked
like they crawled out

from underneath a rock.

Really long hair and patched
jeans and flannel shirts.

I sat literally right
in front of them,

plugged in a little amp and
I just would play along.

I would find of follow,

that sound's pretty good.

They say, "Hey, we're going
to got live in school buses in

Eldorado Canyon, you want to
come and be part of the band?"

And it became the four of us.

♪ I take it pretty easy
in Eldorado Canyon ♪

♪ Chopping wood to stay alive

- We were very much
mountain type people

We knew we needed the cities

to help us make
money to survive.

But we weren't terribly
citified people.

♪ When the snow falls
in Eldorado Canyon ♪

- We had to find
somewhere to live

and the only thing we could
come up with was school buses.

You could find school
buses in the junkyards

and in the pound.

- We were just basically
really living the life

and not making a lot of
money but playing a lot.

- We would set up on
CU campus on the lawn

on a decent day and play.

♪ It's love my friends
that I'm talking about ♪

♪ Jesus said it when
he stood on the mount ♪

- [Flatbush] Within 10 minutes

there'd be 20 people
sitting there,

and within half and hour there'd
be 40 people sitting there,

and within an hour there'd
be 100 people sitting there.

- We'd have 300 people
sitting out in front of us

while we played.

That was the greatest thing.

- Then somebody, I
don't remember who,

came up with a great idea,

which was find a great looking
girl and give her a hat.

- They would play music,
I would pass the hat

and we would collect money.

- [Wilbur] Maybe a second one
if you were really cooking.

- I'd go out on the lawn,
pass the hat for the guys

and I became part of the group.

- I should not talk
anymore about all the girls

we talked into leaving college
and moving to the mountains.

But we were pretty good at that.

[light music]

- The first real big
thing that happened was

Wilbur and I, I can
remember quite clearly,

were walking across CU campus

and Wilber grabbed me really
hard by the arm and he said,

"Look, Flatbush, look on
that tree over there."

There's a poster there.

Jesse Colin Young
and the Youngbloods,

at Macky Auditorium,
such and such a date,

which was like three days away.

Opening act, Magic Music.

And we didn't even
know about it.

We had meet the guy who was the
head of the program counsel.

- I think he just
couldn't find us one day

or just assumed if he
printed it, we'd see it.

- We didn't have a telephone,

there was no way anybody
could call us anyway.

- We thought, wow, we
better get our act together.

- It was hard clean to them
up though, they were raw.

With the overalls and flannel
shirts and unkempt hair.

- We showed up with a
school bus, five dogs

and a bunch of people.

- We had clean clothes
for them and a shower.

But it was still in the
overalls and the flannel shirts.

- We were very excited to
do it, we were very nervous.

Very nervous.

- [Poonah] The ballroom
is filled with people.

- [Tode] Twenty-five
hundred people,

something like that
in Macky Auditorium.

- Somebody brought an
illegal substance in

that got us really, really,
say disconnected from reality.

So, we kind of stumble
out there onto the stage,

suddenly people are
poking microphones at us.

Okay, start singing.

And we just started
singing our hearts out.

♪ My head is spinning
to the ground ♪

♪ And I'm only
waiting to be found ♪

♪ And I'm searching
that helpless sound ♪

♪ Oo oo

♪ La la la la la

♪ La la la la la

♪ La la la la la

[cheering]
- Thank you.

- They stand up and give
us a standing ovation.

- So, yeah, that was way cool.

Beautiful.

- That really got our name
out there though quite a bit

and then we were a buzz.

♪ And I feel the
sun surround me ♪

♪ Reflecting off
my window pane ♪

- We believed that if we
played really beautiful music

it would all get
provided for us.

- Somebody would see us and be
interested in trying to help.

- One fella came
up, Kurt Stocker,

was I think an old
friend of Lynn's.

He had been a radio
personality in Nashville

and knew a bunch of people
there and he was a Boulder guy.

- My friend who'd been
in Boulder, he goes,

"Magic Music's
really hot right now,

they just opened for Jesse Colin
Young and The Youngbloods."

He goes, "They're ready."

- Curt says, "I know
guys in Nashville,

let's go to Nashville.

I think we can get
us a contract."

[upbeat banjo music]

So, we all pile in the
VW and the pickup truck,

off we go, the four of us.

♪ Springtime back again

- We're in Tree
Publishing in Nashville

and Larry Henley, who wrote
Wing Beneath Your Wings,

was the guy interviewing us,

talking to us about
a publishing deal.

- Larry liked them a lot.

He goes, "Yeah, it'd
like to sign you guys

but there's one thing."

He goes, "You need
to add a drummer."

- That was just abhorrent to us.

Wait a minute, drums
in our acoustic music?

- Are you kidding?

There's just no way
we're going to do that.

- [Larry] I'm telling you, you
need a drummer on the radio.

- He seemed like
a nice enough guy

until I looked under the desk.

He had these very pointed
shoes on at the time.

They really said something
to me about honesty

for some reason,
I'll never forget it.

I walked out of the
room into the hallway

and I told the guys I couldn't
sign anything with him.

- And they threw
the contracts away,

they threw them in the trash.

That was my best card.

You want to go to Nashville
and sign with an actual

music company and someone
who can actually produce you.

Like, okay, here you go.

Drums?

No way, they're never be
a drummer in Magic Music.

That was when we
kind of parted ways.

- Should've signed that
one, that was a good one.

- We started flirting
with the big time

and the big time was
flirting with us.

♪ They're just
looking to be found ♪

♪ Just looking to be found

- We needed somebody
who's organized

and Cemoto was very organized.

So, we invited him
to be the manager.

- I often don't refer to
myself as the manager.

I refer to myself
as the den mother,

because I just shepherded
these guys around,

make sure we got to
were we needed to go.

- The gig at Denver
Auditorium with Cat Stevens

was classic one.

- We were supposed to be
Cat Stevens opening act

for his tour.

James Taylor and Joni Mitchell
and I think Neil Young

were all sitting backstage.

- This was like, okay,
we're going to kick ass.

♪ The time is coming when
we'll have to decide ♪

♪ If we're gonna stay and
fight or gonna take a ride ♪

♪ Can't you see it's here

♪ Revolution's here

♪ It's coming near to you

- Thank you again.
- Good night.

[cheering]

- We thought it went great.

We got standing ovations.

Of course, we jumped back on
stage and took the ovation.

Which you're not supposed to do.

I believed three times.

So, when we came off,
we thought we'd made it.

Very happy, we're very happy

and we were told that
we're off the tour.

- Those five dates you're
going to do with Cat Stevens,

we'll he's not going to
let you, you're fired.

[laughing]

Please.

That was going to
be our big chance.

- Lesson learned, you know.

You don't do encores.

♪ Mary go and one
in the middle ♪

- Was I bummed and disappointed
they didn't get bigger?

Yes.

Was I shocked and surprised?

- No.

- I don't think anybody
had a business mind.

Lynn, no.

Me, absolutely no
business mind whatsoever.

Mr. T could care less about
it and Poonah in the beginning

probably was our closest we
had to somebody that actually

think logically about business.

- Barry Fey, who was the
big, it was Feyline presents,

he was the big Denver,
Colorado area promoter.

He had gotten wind of us
opening all these acts

and getting all these
standing ovations

and we went and visited him.

He says, "I'm going to
send you to New York

to play for this big agent."

[vibrant upbeat music]

- We flew out and went
to this little club

which was called The Gaslight.

- [Tode] It looked
like we were going

to have some real future there.

- We're staying in
the Chelsea Hotel,

famous rock 'n' roll hotel.

They say, "What kind of
drugs do you guys want?"

and Flatbush and Tode
speak up and they go,

"We want an ounce of hash."

Half a day later, an
ounce of hash shows up.

The we go down and we play.

♪ And bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

♪ Little woman

There are anywhere from two
to four people there a night.

We got a bit spoiled in Boulder.

We were the local heroes,
open for big shows,

standing ovations.

Go to New York, nobody
knows us, nobody's there.

And we are just
higher than a kite.

Mr. Big shows up and I go,

"Psst, guys hey, somebody
important's here,

let's pick it up."

♪ Bring the morning down

♪ Pretty

You know, I don't know
if it was the drugs

or being spoiled or what,

but we just didn't pick it up.

We got back and
the criticism was,

they didn't put on a show.

Well duh, we didn't.

[somber music]

- We ended up going back
and moving in Allenspark

which is just far enough
away that nobody went there.

- We actually had roofs
over our heads, real roofs.

We were a little
closer to the earth,

a little closer
to the mountains,

a little closer
to mother nature.

- By the time we
got into Allenspark,

there was a tension brewing
in the band at that point.

[somber music]

- Lynn started being a
bit of a prima donna.

We'd do an outdoor
gig on the campus,

"Oh, it's too cold,
I can't play."

That kind of thing.

Finally, we were playing
at the Hummingbird Cafe

and it was a blizzard,
dead of winter.

- People had driven all
the way up from Boulder

to hear him play.

He played one or
two songs and said,

"It's just not working."

And got up and walked away.

- I was pissed.

I walked back in the
dressing room and I said,

"That is the last time
you're ever going to do that

to me on a stage, I quit."

[somber music]

- Poonah left, we really
didn't know what to do.

- We were then a band
with no bass player

and I knew Das and
I thought why not.

[upbeat music]

- I'm Das, that's an old
nickname from Magic Music.

Bill Makepeace and
my wife Mary Jane.

- Das is a guy who I
meet on Martha's Vineyard

when we were very
young, probably 16

and we started playing
music together.

- I didn't make friends easily.

I was very, very quite.

I was somewhat introverted.

Music was just something
that really settled me down,

made sense, I
could make friends.

Will came out to Colorado,
he was going to go to school

and he was just saying,

"You got to come,
you got to come,

you won't believe what's
going on out here."

So I did.

I found him down
there with the buses

and I didn't know
who's bus was who's.

The only person I knew was Will.

I banged on one of these
things and the door flew open.

There was Flatbush, Lynn Poyer.

One smile from Flatbush did it.

My life changed right
there, right then.

You are now free,
you can be free.

♪ Wherever I go

♪ I can be whatever
I want to be ♪

And I ended up in Magic
Music, I found I had friends.

♪ La la la la

♪ La la

♪ La la la la

♪ I came into this world
with a dream in my pocket ♪

♪ That all men were happy with
their view of themselves ♪

- One of the reason I
probably didn't feel really

motivated to just dedicating
my life to Magic Music is

they couldn't get it together.

♪ It's not a game
that we're playing ♪

♪ That you win or you lose it

- With Jack Vickers, who
saw us here in Colorado

and just got to talking
to us, you know.

He goes, "Would you
be willing to go to LA

and try and nail
down a contract?"

And we said, "Okay."

[upbeat music]

It certainly seemed
like everything was
going to change here

real quickly and life would
be a whole different situation

for us with a real
record contract.

- [Das] They took us
in to Capitol Records.

Old Will wouldn't put shoes on.

- I just wouldn't do it,

so they weren't into
having our meeting

because I wouldn't
put the shoes on.

[laughing]

You know.

The heart of the band,
I'm the idiot in the band.

- We had interest
from Elektra Records,

big interest from
Elektra Records.

- This was typical of the
music business back then.

Offered them a contract.

Basically it was the classic
Credence Clearwater contract

which says, "We own you and
everything you're going to do

for the rest of your
life, here, sign here."

- Flatbush would not bend.

He didn't want to be produced.

He wasn't going to let
anybody tell him how to do it.

The professional people

didn't want to work
with that attitude.

- So, we went back to Boulder.

Back to our life, back
to the school buses.

- When we came back from LA,

Bush got a little
depressed I think.

- We weren't making any headway.

- Lynn wanted to be a star.

He really saw himself as a star.

- He would feel so down
and so, just miserable.

I couldn't shake it out of him.

Finally I snapped and I
said I can't do it anymore.

- We were supposed
to go back to LA

and nail down that contract,
get that one right song

because they just didn't think
we had written a hit song yet

and that's when both Tode
and Will came to me and said,

"You know, we really don't
want to go back to LA."

- I said, I gotta tell you that
I can't play music with you.

- I sat there and said,
"Flatbush, he's right."

We're fighting each other
now, it's not working right.

- You're not going to go for it?

You're not going to
go get this contract

we've worked so hard.

No, we're not going to do it.

I said, "Well, then there's
nothing more I can do, I quit."

- We wanted him to quit,
we didn't want to fire him.

Just sit down and
write hit songs

is not really how it's
supposed to happen.

You don't contrive the stuff.

Not Magic Music anyway.

[light music]

- I remember when
Flatbush left the band.

For the fans, it felt a bit
like when your parents break up.

You know there's some
bad feelings going on

but nobody goes into details.

Transition was
pretty smooth though,

because even before
Flatbush left,

Spoons had been around
playing with the band.

♪ Hey candy dancers

- My name's Chris,
also Spoons Daniels

and this is Olivia, also known
as Speedy or Dibby Dibs and -

- I'm Jennifer.

- Born in Minnesota.

My dad was a civilian
aid to the Army

and I was the hippy radical kid,

so there was a clash there.

I was really a part of the
anti-Vietnam War kind of thing.

- I met Chris before I
met Flatbush and Tode

when we were like 18.

- There's a photograph
of the day I met him

at this thing called
Woodstock West.

It was an anti-war rally.

So, after Woodstock West,
Will and I stayed in touch

and eventually he wound up
in Boulder with Magic Music

and one way or another
I wound up in Boulder

and had heard that
he was up there,

and he said, "Come on up."

- He came up to our
house in Allenspark.

He didn't have a place
to crash or anything

and he kind of stayed
in our living room

and he was really
kind of down and out.

- I remember the first day.

Flatbush was sitting
in a chair like this

and Will was sitting
there and Tode.

And I said, "Jesus, this is
the chance to go the distance.

This is going to
go all the way."

- He went out in the kitchen
and he got a couple of spoons

out of the sink and started
playing spoons on his knee.

[spoons clacking]

- I spent the whole
summer with him.

I was living in his school bus.

Met my first girlfriend
that Tode eventually took.

Which was fine.

You know, it was like,
ah, you know, whatever.

But went down the university,

rode down to the
university that summer.

♪ Going down to the university

♪ Got to find me
some lovely ladies ♪

There's pictures of us on
the campus with Flatbush

and me playing banjo
and Das playing bass.

The next thing that happened
was I was just playing

in Magic Music with
Will and the guys.

- We started realized we had
to do something about Lynn,

Spoons was there and he
wanted to play with us.

- Lynn had a darker
outlook than I had.

I probably had too bright
of an outlook, who knows.

But Spoons had the outlook
that I wanted to be around.

♪ Come on this is
Colorado, not New York ♪

♪ La la la la la la
♪ La la la la la la

- I guess what I consider
the classic Magic Music sound

came together when they added
Spoons and this one other guy

who was probably the coolest
looking one of them all.

[light percussion music]

- We were actually adamant
about not having a drummer

until we met CW and CW wasn't
a drummer, he was a tabla guy.

[light percussion music]

- I remember CW with
braids playing tablas

with like Indian garb on
and fringe leather jackets.

- Started calling him CW because
it was short for cobwebs.

We had smoked some
real chemical stuff

and I told him, I said,

"If you keep smoking this,

you've going to have
cobwebs in your head."

We didn't even
know he could sing.

♪ I just want to be
like the animals ♪

He had a voice like an angel.

♪ I just want to live
close to the ground ♪

♪ I just want to be
like the Indians ♪

♪ See my maker roll around me

- I have a high voice
and I can do high parts

but I couldn't get
where CW could get.

♪ Self on the ground

- His high parts in our
music, I really miss them.

- [Male] One, two, three.

[lively music]

- I was the manager, road
manager, booking agent.

I did just about everything.

When the band broke
up and reformed,

Willy asked me if I'd be
willing to find him some gigs.

We lived in Allenspark
and then from there

we went to Southern Colorado
in Pagosa Springs area.

- Sloth took the
beans in the bag

and went out into the world
to find us a place to live

and found us a place
to live 500 miles away.

- It was 20 miles down
what was the Old Dump Road

along this beautiful
river, the San Juan river,

it's just gorgeous.

♪ Morning when it's cold
and I've got an aching ♪

- We decided we wanted to
be back to the land hippies.

To grow the food,
to live that dream.

- Everybody talks about the 60s,

but we perfected it in the 70s.

We were free to be
whatever we wanted to be

and do whatever we wanted to do.

- Magic Music removed
itself the way modern folks

set down the cell
phone and turn it off

and try and just get
a way from things.

- The farm was great,
we were all together

and we were doing
what we were doing

and it was really
a family situation.

[upbeat music]

- This was Das's house

Das has a nice bed and
a wood stove in here

and a kitchen table.

This is the main cabin, the
focal point for everyone

and no matter where
you were on the ranch,

you could hear Wilbur
just in here practicing.

It was the greatest
backdrop to living up here

was hearing the music being
played in the background.

♪ Now I'm just a rambling

♪ And I've got
very little to do ♪

♪ And I'm turning
down tomorrow ♪

- From 1973 to 1975
we had a great run.

Sloth got us into
colleges and festivals

all around the Midwest.

We got in those school buses
and played sold out crowds

from Flagstaff to Scottsdale

to Minneapolis to Crested Butte.

That's pretty remarkable.

[light music]

- We lived,
inexpensively, let's say.

- We had no money,
I mean, no money,

so Sloth booked us and
he booked us in the bars.

♪ She goes winging
their way home ♪

♪ They seem to be so free

♪ I wish that I could go along

♪ The feelings inside me

We used to only play
where people would listen.

- We started realizing that if
we were going to play clubs,

we couldn't just
sit there and sing.

You had to get
people up and dance.

- [Male] One, two, three, four.

♪ Way downtown, fooling around

♪ Took me to the jail

- They'd actually honed
some bluegrass songs.

This is where Spoons
introduced the banjo

and CW played the washboard.

- We were a damn
good Bluegrass band.

[fast paced banjo music]

- We did the Telluride
Bluegrass Festivals,

the second and third one.

Those were very, very
great moments for us.

- It was that point, we'd
really started to lean towards

the jam band stuff.

We were Colorado's
first jam band.

[fast paced bluegrass music]

That's where we get the offer,

the record deal
from Flying Fish.

We went in the studio and cut
the 124 track, set of tunes.

[fast paced bluegrass music]

Which was straight down
the Bluegrass pike.

I think for everybody
in the band,

there was a feeling of do
we want to go this way?

I'm not sure everybody did.

- We didn't really accept
the Flying Fish offer.

Flying Fish wasn't Capital
and we were lowing our bar.

I think it was, it was
probably another mistake.

- The Flying Fish
thing would've happened

if we'd of put more energy
into it and finished,

we didn't finish
recording the record

because of us breaking
up in the middle of it.

[light music]

- [Male] So then,
we find ourselves

having to believe
in a lot lately.

It's all about those better days

that are just around the corner.

- Those last year and
a half, two years were

a little more stressful

because they weren't doing
what they wanted to do

and it felt like they
were beating their heads

against a brick wall.

- The perception
that it was all happy

and we got out of the bus
and played great music

and got back in the bus
and made love, smoked dope.

That wasn't really the scene.

- We were doing a
lot of, I don't know,

cheesy road gigs that
we're getting tired of.

[crowd chattering]
♪ But there's better days

♪ Coming your way

- There's a little bit
of an exhaustion there.

We need to get to the
next level and we're not.

Why aren't we doing it?

We tried six ways from Friday.

- There were kids involved,
there were families involved.

- [Tode] Spoons was
raising a child.

His little son Cedar was
toilet trained on a bus

on the road.

- [Will] CW had a woman
and a baby and he was done.

I had a woman and a
baby and I was done.

- We had a two year old
and another baby coming.

We wanted a family
unit and a family home.

- The pressure of being
an uneducated 24 year old

with no real employment skills
was starting to wain on us.

- You reach about 26 and
suddenly all these crazy dreams

you have when you're 20.

What was the business plan?

What a great question.

- There was no real plan.

We just really did just
want to play music.

[light music]

- It finally came to
a head that summer.

Think our last gig
was August 16th.

- It was time for it to end.

It was a funny
sort of a feeling.

- It was something
that had to happen.

- I think all of us
were sad to let it go,

but we were also knew that
we weren't letting it go.

This is a gem, this is
something precious, beautiful

and it's going to come back.

We don't know how, but
it's going to come back.

♪ Feel the light and
let you change it slow ♪

- [Tode] When Magic Music
broke up, we scattered.

- After the whole thing with
the Magic Music breakup,

I went my own way and
they went their own way.

- There was a lot of sadness,
there was a lot of anger.

There was jealousy.

- [Spoons] Lynn went on
and formed a band called

Begger's Opera with a
fella named Scott Roche.

- The times they were
a changing for sure.

Things were getting louder
and a little more rockist.

People weren't listening,

that used to really
frustrate Flatbush,

so we sort of
quietly drifted away.

- I was kind of done with
him being out late, drinking.

I left in 78.

That was the last time Lynn
and I were actually a couple.

- He became very disappointed
and jaded by the world.

♪ Even when I'm thinking

- Did he have underlying
depression or mental illness,

probably.

- Look back now, you can
see very positive signs

of mantic depression in the man.

- And then he moved
up to Central City,

kind of gave up on music.

And kept drinking, kept
drinking, kept drinking.

- He became a real hermit.

- When I first met him,
he was more of an artist.

He was constantly drawing,
pen and ink, pastels.

He left music for artwork.

♪ And all the time that's gone

- When the band parted ways,

I joined forces with a
fella named Tom Sayers

and we formed a band
called Luckey Sayers.

We actually tried to
make a disco song.

[light disco music]

I was well fitted to that.

I was like, oh please.

That of course dissolved

and I moved back to
Martha's Vineyard.

♪ There comes a day in
each man's own time ♪

Around 85, I became
disheartened with pushing hard

at the music industry
and I was broke

and I couldn't do anything,

so I started to single
houses and I had an accident.

Fell about 35 feet.

Broke up my hand and
arm, shoulder, ribs

and changed my
vocation back to music

because I wasn't doing what
I was supposed to be doing.

I went to school
and got a degree.

I majored in Piano.

Then I got out of there
and started figuring out

what was I going to do.

So, I started teaching
privately in my studio.

♪ And greet it with a grin

♪ And bring the morning in

This is basically the
beach I grew up on.

I wrote Bring the Morning
Down right on that dune

right over there.

♪ And bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

I think all I did
was look out across

Vineyard sound out here.

The morning comes up,

but it felt to me like
the sun was coming down

and I was singing to the ocean.

♪ Bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

I don't regret one second on it.

It all unfolded just fine.

♪ And greet it with a grin

Life went it's way.

♪ And bring the morning in

[light flute music]

- Shit.

I ended up in Birmingham by
marrying a girl from Birmingham

while I was living in Boulder.

Not having a college
degree and not necessarily

having anything other than
a bunch of band experience,

I'll tell you, when
you go tell somebody

you're applying for a job

and you've been in a band
for the last seven years,

you might was well tell
them you're in prison.

For the past 13 years,
I've been a courier.

I deliver computer
parts out of my car.

Drive all over the south.

Through the years, especially
surviving in the world

of music and variable
income levels.

Yeah, we did some
entrepreneurial work

in the import/export business.

I would FedEx him packages
every couple of months.

And he would FedEx me money
and it was a really nice

back and forth thing
for a number of years.

Then one day the FedEx
package didn't show up.

And these other people did.

But nothing ever came of it.

It's still not past the
statute of limitations so.

- Don't use FedEx.

It's never a good
idea to use FedEx.

So, I quit doing that.

[laughing]

[chattering]

My son and his three
kids live in Birmingham

and my daughter and
her child live there.

I'd like to stay in
Birmingham and be around them.

Every time I tried to do music
projects having a family,

it was just never going to work.

So, my daughter was
16, I stayed home

and took care of everything.

One night she said,
"I'm going out."

I said, "Well, so am I."

I went out and got
started playing again.

I've been playing in bands in
Birmingham ever since then.

[light flute music]

- So, after Magic Music I kicked
around Boulder for a while.

What do I do know kind of thing.

I went to play with Navarro.

It was another
heartfelt, original band,

playing all original music.

Then Dan Fogelberg lived
here the neighborhood

and used to come
and sit in with us.

He brought Carole King by
one time to see us play

and she loved us.

Make a long story short, we
became her "side by side band".

Recorded a few albums with
her and toured with her.

The fame part of it
was really difficult.

People started treated
you differently.

Everybody's suddenly
your best friend.

Everybody knows your business,

but also equally
tough was the reentry.

When that all ended
you came back to being

a normal person again.

You're just another
guy playing gigs

at the local coffee shop.

So, I got into carpentry.

My passion right now is to
live simply and comfortably

at the same time.

And to enable other people
to do the same thing.

I've designed a lot of octagonal
shaped cabins and houses.

They're called Solargons.

They're very
thermally efficient.

This is my tiny house back here.

It's 119.2 square feet.

A nice cozy little loft you
can sit up in and sleep in,

which I do every night.

- Been a bass
player for 50 years,

but I wasn't active for
all those years, obviously.

Professionally
speaking as jobs go,

I had no particular direction.

There was a small
publishing company

I was involved with for a while.

I had a bicycle repair
for quite a long time.

My friend, Andy Bennet,
pulled me out of moth balls

and said, "You need to come

and play with us
in our basement."

And I started playing again.

This was after about 12 years

of not taking instruments
out of the case.

♪ Oh but I still think of you

♪ In my quiet moments

We lived in Mexico
most of the time.

Mary Jane and I started sailing.

We'd cruise down, we'd
anchor for a while,

we'd stay for like a month.

Finally, it just became home.

[scat singing]

There's a sweetheart
of a music scene there

with great players.

We have found lots
of friends there

and we're having a ball.

We're having a great time.

♪ Tell me what you want

♪ Help me out here

♪ She says, jump, jump, jump
♪ What do we do

♪ And I said, high, high, high

♪ Looking good
♪ Jump, jump, jump

♪ When I say baby

♪ High, high, high

♪ Looking good

♪ Jump on baby

♪ I wish I could fly

- I was the nut ball
that just kept doing it.

When Magic Music broke
up I went back to school.

I got my music degree
because I didn't understand

any of what I was playing.

I came back to Colorado.

I used my name Spoons and
started a band called Spoons.

We put out a record and
we had some success.

From that, we got Chris
Daniels and the Kings.

♪ Oh, it was Saturday
night on Bill Street ♪

♪ Old man singing the blues

- Magic Music's
biggest question was

did we have a hit song?

That's what makes a band.

Chris Daniels and the Kings,

When You're Cool the
Sun Shines All the Time.

That put us on the map.

We signed with Provogue
records in 1990.

We did 21 tours of Europe

because we had a couple
of number one records.

♪ When you're cool

♪ The sun shines all the time

I didn't smoke as much pot
as the rest of the guys.

It was really cocaine that
was the fast trigger for me.

My family has a long history
of that kind of tendency.

I activated every
gene in my pool

going, oh, this stuff is good.

It was pretty clear.

I was either going to
have a career or I wasn't.

I went into my first meeting,

and that was 30
some odd years ago,

so I've been clean
and sober ever since.

♪ But there's better days

♪ Coming your way

I always knew the music
didn't have a retirement plan.

So, in 1990, I started working
to get my master's degree

so I could teach music business.

I've been a professor at the
University now for 15 years.

The Kings just put
out our 16th album

and I got inducted in the
Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

So that was kind of cool.

♪ As I stand on the hillside

- We lost track with CW.

Apparently he got a little
sideways with some folks,

I don't know much about it.

- I was not there.

- Yeah, I wasn't there.

- I have no way of knowing.

- I couldn't comment on
it because I don't know.

- I think it had to do with,
can't quote me on this,

but drug dealing.

- It was some bad blood I
believe between CW and Sloth.

- CW and I had a falling out,

which I'd rather
not really go in to.

He disappeared.

He went off to California with
a sitar player named Zeke.

- There were heavily
into cocaine back then.

- Falling out occurred
and everybody disappeared.

- Made it so CW couldn't
come back to Boulder

and to this day, as far as
I know, he hasn't been back.

- One thing that's remarkable
is how so many people who were

involved with Magic Music
managed to stay connected.

Sloth, their third manager is
really the keeper of the flame

in that sense.

Every few years he has a
Magic Music family reunion

which he calls Copperstock.

- I had liver failure and
it was looking pretty dire.

I decided that we should
have a reunion party

so everybody could
see each other

before one of us knocked off.

[light music]

So, that was the
first Copperstock.

- Lynn didn't want to do it.

At first he was kind of,
the resentment was there,

but the more he thought
about it, he did.

♪ And I feel the
sun surround me ♪

- We were extremely happy
that Flatbush showed up.

It really made the
reunion a true reunion.

- We had virtually
almost everyone

who ever played in that band.

We had myself, Chris,
Daniel, Wilber, Tode.

We had Rob Galloway,
Bill Makepeace, Das.

We did not have
Kevin Milburn, CW.

- We all converged and
we remembered the music.

Which was pretty astonishing.

♪ And bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

♪ Little woman

♪ And greet it with a grin

♪ And bring the morning in

- I couldn't believe
how he had aged.

I mean, none of us are
spring chickens but,

it was just like, wow, he
turned into an old man.

- He had lost his upper teeth.

He had a big mustache
so you didn't see it.

He was not the man he was.

- He'd always abused his
body one way or another

and he was drinking
really, really heavily.

- I don't think anybody
could've brought him back

from his course
once he chose it.

God knows we all tried.

- Up until the reunion Lynn
didn't really have anything

to do with those guys anymore.

- Of course we're older now

and he's still over
in Central City.

Then I started going
and seeing him often.

We did a lot of playing
together, we did some recording.

None of it's really very
good but we were doing it.

♪ When the rock turns a rising

♪ And the rising is black

♪ Keep your faith
in your friends ♪

♪ Then watch your back

- It was when he started
to get sick, we actually,

Spoons and I together, me
and Das together, me alone,

we would go up and visit
Lynn as he was deteriorating.

- He got worse and worse
over a handful of years

and finally passed
away, he died.

- The last couple
of times I saw him,

I wasn't prepared
for how bad he was.

- He was kind of done with it.

Done with music, done with
artwork, done with life.

He just wanted to go.

♪ Come lay your
head in my arms ♪

- Eventually we all
reach the stage in life

when the people around us who
are getting sick and dying

are no longer our parents
and our grandparents,

they're our friends,
people we grew up with.

When that starts happening,

I think you start to look at
life a little differently.

What is it that we want to do,

that there's still time to do.

- 2010, I was diagnosed
with acute myeloid leukemia.

I got a bone marrow transplant
from my sister Jane.

So, I'm about four and a
half years into it now.

Knock on wood, I got
a little more time.

- He marched a very hard trail
and came out the other side

and we were there as
much as we could all be.

- Thank you, thank you.
- Thank you, yeah.

- When I came home
from the hospital

we did a reunion
out on the vineyard

and I think the guys
were sort of thinking,

well let's get
Spoons for one more

just in case this
thing doesn't take.

Will was there and Tode.

- We had Das and Tim
Goodman who's a dear friend

from my early years
on Martha's Vineyard.

- Will and I were 16 years old

and will was the
first guy amongst us

who started writing
his own songs.

- Tim wanted to play
with us way back then

but it just didn't work out.

- Will and Chris and
myself never lost touch.

If someone had a health issues

or somebody had this or that,
was like, you were there.

- We got together
after Spoons became ill

and Timmy jumped right in

and helped up pull
it all together.

♪ Everything is closing

♪ And everyone is free

♪ Nothing I can call mine

♪ Because everything

- It sounded terrible
but it didn't matter

because it was the songs
and it was us doing it

and we had a blast.

- Tim just fits right in.

I mean, knows all the music

and he knows these guys so well.

- God, I forgot that part, Will.

- Tim said something like,

maybe we should put it
together and make a record.

- These tunes have
yet to be recorded,

what should we do about that?

- I recorded 16 basic
tracks and got Rob on some

and got Das on some.

Which turned into
Timmy basically saying,

"I really want to produce this."

- We were different guys that
hadn't been in the studio

together so it was going
to be a little bit of

putting the pieces of
the puzzle together.

I knew how to do that.

- One thing that I
understand about Tim

is as a record producer
you make choices.

And they're not fun.

- Timmy did what
everybody always did.

Took both of the bass
players totally for granted

and pissed them both off.

- I was on Martha's Vineyard
working on and off with Tim

for, quite frankly, 14 weeks.

About eight months later I
read in a magazine article

that somebody had put on
Facebook that there was another

bassist that had come in and
rerecorded over everything.

That was the first I
had heard of anything.

Unfortunately that's why I
separate myself from the band,

musically especially
at this point in time.

- I know that Das was
seriously hurt and offended

when his parts were dropped.

I wrote Chris an email, I said,

"By any chance are my
tracks still on the record?"

He goes, "No."

I was like whatever you guys
want to do, I don't care.

I stopped caring 40 years ago.

- Tim really took control of
how this was going to happen.

He brought in some
brilliant people.

I mean, wow level of players.

- The studio musicians we have
playing with us on the album

are great but they're still
not the heart of the band

we had before.

♪ Rolling down the highways
in the springtime ♪

♪ Looking at a mountain
I'd like to be ♪

♪ Listen to the trees
they sure do sing fine ♪

♪ I really wish they'd
teach their song to me ♪

♪ Gonna find a girl
I'd like to marry ♪

♪ Find a little place
to settle down ♪

♪ When I'm by myself
it's kind of scary ♪

♪ Anytime you can
please come around ♪

♪ La la la la la

- Its sounds incredible.

We're 45 years later
and you couldn't play

the same way you did
when you were 20.

- It's not 1971, it's 2013.

What can we bring to this
music that's honest and true

because this is who we are now.

- It's modernized but to me
some of the heart's missing.

- Nobody I know thinks it
sounds like Magic Music.

[lively music]

- I thought it was terrific

that they'd finally
made an album.

And it was great to hear the
2013 versions of those songs.

But honestly, I was
still looking for 1971

and the sound that had
moved me so much back then.

So, I asked the original
members of the band

to meet me in Colorado.

[light music]

I hadn't been back to
Boulder in over 40 years.

Like all of us, it had changed.

- [Poonah] Boulder today is
a parody of it's former self.

♪ People who bring me down

- I think in some ways it's
become like every other town.

It's Wendy's and
Starbucks everywhere.

There was a place here
which is now a Goodwill

which used to be
called The Coast.

There's another place just
on the other side over here

which was The Dark Horse.

And all of these were
kinds of various clubs

with Shannon's
and Peggy's Hi-Lo.

♪ Just looking to be found

All the different venues
that we started to play.

- The last 40 years
has been a challenge

for those of us who really
try to keep the ideas alive.

- Boulder's gotten
incredibly more expensive.

It's gotten corporate.

There are people
with real money here.

- Basically, a lot of
the creative people

had to migrate out of town

because they got priced
out of the place.

As a friend of mine said,

"Hey, this is not
your Boulder anymore."

Sad but true.

[light music]

- I think it's been 45 years.

- [Tode] It's been
since the spring of 71.

- Spring of 71.

We used to drive up
this little road.

You felt like you were going
into a very secure place.

- [Spoons] Where
you guys down here?

- No, no up further.

- [Wilbur] Poonah, how are you?

- I'm doing well.
- It's great to see you.

- [Poohan] Great to see
you, how've you been?

Tode.

- [Sloth] Looks a
little different, huh?

- Yeah it does, the
trees are bigger.

- Flatbush dyna
truck was like right

in that open area right there.

- [Tode] I think your
bus was right here.

- [Wilbur] I think you're right.

- It was brutal, it was rough.

That winter was tough.

- we had wood
stoves in the buses

and in the morning we'd wake up

and it's be cold because
the fire went out

and the ceiling would've
collected all the breath

and it would condense
and snow on your face

while you're waking up.

- Very romantic.

♪ You know I take
it pretty easy ♪

♪ In Eldorado Canyon

♪ Chopping wood to stay alive

♪ When the snow falls
in Eldorado Canyon ♪

♪ Well I'm, I'm so
glad to be alive ♪

- Visiting Eldorado
Canyon, just amazing.

Places that, you know, now
that I'm a little older,

looking back I really should've

appreciated a lot
more at the time.

- God, we should've
been fishing.

You know?

I didn't have a fishing rod.

♪ The days just come in

- I got chocked up and
I was really surprised

that there was that
much emotionally loading

still in my psyche
over those times.

Even now.

[thunder clasping]

- Bush!
- Flatbush!

- Bush!

[lively flute music]

- [Tode] Bill Bishop was
a benefactor of the arts.

He had two art galleries
and he had this place.

It was an art gallery
and an antique shop.

He offered to let us stay here
for free through the winter.

- [Spoons] This
was the laboratory.

We'd sit out here and
create these sounds.

[light music]

♪ Look down the meadow

♪ And there's people laughing

♪ I see I've come to a change

- He wanted the publishing
rights to Colorado Rockies

and I think The Morning Song.

We said, well that's not
what we're here to do.

We want our publishing rights

and we don't want to do all
the stuff that you want to put,

you know, over produce
it and everything

and he put his
white cowboy boots

up on the desk and he said,

"Well boys, you better
just go on then."

[laughing]

- Of course, if you'd
handed him the publishing,

you would've gotten a
huge percentage of money.

- Oh God, we would've
screwed that up.

Good Lord, could you
imagine us with money.

- We would've gotten in
some kind of big trouble

somewhere along the line.

We didn't have a lot of respect
for those record people.

- They were the enemy.

You were negotiating with the
devil as far as I can see.

We showed them.

That's right, here we are.

- We did all that so
that we could be here now

because if we had done that
then we wouldn't be here now.

[upbeat music]

- [Spoons] Where mostly we
played was just down here in

front of Helm's Hall because
we could run an extension cord

out of a window for
the bass guitar.

This place would be covered
with absolutely gorgeous women

and crazy looking dudes.

- [Male] One, two, three.

♪ I'm going down
to the university ♪

♪ Got to find me
some lovely ladies ♪

♪ One to wash my back

♪ And other to patch my pants

♪ One who's hands
are soft and fair ♪

♪ To pull all these
snarls from my hair ♪

- What hair?

- [Wilbur] It was wonderful
to sit there and do it

and feel the energy of kind
of being in that exact spot.

♪ Give me an hour
and a lady or two ♪

♪ And I'll come out
smelling sweet as new ♪

♪ Whoa, whoa it's true

♪ Tode play one

[lively harmonica music]

- All of us ladies
loved to dance to them.

Felt very free.

- In those days we had
those wonderful skirts

and we'd twirl, we were
twirlers, you know.

- One, two, three and four.

[clapping]

["Bring the Morning Down"]

♪ Bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

♪ Little woman

♪ And greet it with a grin

♪ And bring the morning in

- My longest, best,
closest friends are

the family that we are
seeing this weekend.

- This is my family.

I'm closer to these
people than I am

to most of my real family.

[light music]

- [Julie] Even
though we've all gone

lots of different
places in the world,

we still have this spiritual
connection for each other.

♪ Bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

♪ Little woman

♪ And greet it with a grin

♪ And bring the morning in

♪ Bring the morning in

♪ Bring the morning in

[laughing]
[cheering]

- [Lee] I loved hearing
Magic Music on campus again

after all these years.

But it still wasn't quite
the way I remembered it.

- [Male] Kevin
Milburn on the congas.

[lively conga music]

- When we started this movie,

I wasn't thinking
anything other than

I want to do this, I want
to hear the music again.

And it's like pieces of
the puzzle are falling in.

It became clear to me last night

that last piece of
the puzzle was CW.

And I really want to
get him into this.

I wanted to know how you
guys felt about that.

- Well, CW left some
serious wreckage.

- If he could make a mends
with some of the people

that were damaged in his
wreckage it would be great.

- As far as sitting and
playing and music with us,

I don't see a problem with that.

- Not a problem.

- But it's more the community.

I think what I would vote
for is a neutral place.

- Yes, someplace.

- That's what I was
going to suggest.

- I think if we find a neutral -

- It couldn't be at
Sloth's house for instance.

- No and you notice I
did not bring this up

when Sloth was around.

- For some reason, I've been
able to kind of dance around

that and have a communication
channel open with him.

So, I'm more than
glad to reach out

and put you in touch with
him and make that happen.

- That's great.

I mean, it's like it's now
become my mission in life

to recreate that iconic
photo of Magic Music.

Actually, I wanted
more than a picture.

I just didn't know if
it would be possible.

- CW.

Spoons in the sink.

God, it's wonderful
to hear you voice.

It's the same voice
that I remember.

Well, I'll tell you a little
bit about this project.

["Cedar Sigh"]]

♪ As I stand on the hillside

♪ See the river glide

♪ Through the trees

♪ Well I can hear a long cry

- [Lee] Knock, knock.

CW?

- Hi, are you Lee?
- I'm Lee.

- Pleasure to meet you.

- You've actually meet me before
but you wouldn't remember.

- I wouldn't remember.
- No.

- I lost touch with everybody.

I mean, I wasn't talking
to anybody in Boulder.

I just let that completely
go away and cool off.

I left owing some money.

It always scared
me that, you know,

somebody might come
knocking on my door

someday or something.

I was involved with
some people that are,

like, dealing drugs
and stuff right.

I'm involved in that.

Rumors start flying
that there's going to be

a big sting coming down and
I don't want to get into

a whole lot of
details or anything,

but I'm pretty paranoid
about this whole thing.

There was this guy named
Ron, he kept bugging me,

why don't you come join my band.

I just said, "Okay."

Threw my drums in the back
of his van and away we went.

[light music]

There was a rumor that Zeke
and I had pulled some scam

where we had burglarized
Kent Somer's house.

That ludicrous.

I was already gone.

Zeke and I were
roommates in an apartment

and when I joined that country
rock, southern rock band,

I left him living
in that apartment,

so I don't know what he did.

I left owing
thousands of dollars,

not 10s or 100s of
thousands of dollars.

Felt terrible about that.

I wish I could go back
and make it all good,

but it's been hand to mouth
this whole time, you know.

Trying to make ends meet.

I always figured like
I did with Magic Music.

I'm going to get a big break,
something's going to happen.

I was on the road with a band
working all these little bars

on the California
side of Lake Tahoe.

That got me in the door
with the big casinos.

♪ I don't believe it's true

For six years, I got full
time work every week,

we're booked a year in advance.

When the technology changed,

instead of having the back
up bands be the locals,

they brought tracks
prerecorded in Hollywood.

We went from about 200 paying
stages in this area of Nevada,

Reno, Tahoe, Carson.

Now there's about 20.

I've been moving from
sales job to sales job.

Right now I'm just leaving AT&T
to work in the call center.

This is my daughter Mary.

We got hit so hard here
with the economic crunch

that it's just not even funny.

We've been really close to
losing the house a couple times

and still are and don't have
the money to pick up and leave.

I didn't plan on the downfalls,
the pitfalls of alcohol

and infidelity and
drugs and all that.

I often thought that I was
pretty much above all that stuff

too I guess but I wasn't.

I wasn't.

I will always say that I regret
that we didn't put something

on vinyl and that we
didn't make that stab.

We didn't do it.

And I wish we had.

- [Lee] If you could go back
to Boulder, would you want to?

- Yeah.

- Well, let me tell you what
I'm trying to accomplish here.

I'd like to bring you back
to Boulder at some point

and give you guys
some time to rehearse

and I'd like to see you do a
show, the original members.

What I want to do is
have Sloth call you.

How would you feel about that?

- I don't know.

- [Lee] You want
to think about it?

- I don't know what
there is to think about.

But, you know, if he
says he wants to talk,

that's fine with me.

[phone ringing]

Hey, it's Kevin.

Sloth?

My brother.

[light music]

- [Sloth] There's
so much to tell you

and so much that has gone on

and it'll be great to
see you and just sit down

and start hashing over
all the old prime.

- That would be fun.

- [Sloth] Your voice
is irreplaceable.

The thing that's missing most
on all of those tunes is you.

♪ I can hear my father singing

♪ His song

♪ It's a special
song for every day ♪

- I really appreciate you
man, thank you so much.

- [Sloth] Good talking to you.

- [laughing] Thank
you, very healing.

Very healing.

- I thought it was just time
to let bygones be bygones.

[exhales]

- Finally all the pieces
were on the table,

but how'd they'd fit together
or even if they'd fit together

was anybody's guess.

[upbeat music]

- We're heading to pick up CW.

This'll be the first time
that they play together

and I know everybody's
looking forward to it.

- I'm so glad that
they worked this out.

We're going to have
him back in the fold.

- My expectation would be

that we would simply
sit down and play.

And it will kind
of fall together.

- I'm really excited about it,

especially to sing with CW.

- I think he'll be
a real addition.

I bet he's probably
enthusiastic as all can get out.

[light music]

- Hey, buddy.

- [Sloth] Long time, huh?

♪ This morning

- You're still you.

- You're still you.

♪ That is such a
good thing to do ♪

♪ Any day

♪ Last night

♪ Stories you to tell

♪ And they made
me dream so well ♪

♪ I woke with tears in my eyes

- Oh my God.
- Oh my God.

- Oh my God!
[laughing]

♪ Oh you are a friend to me

♪ It's a good day let
us let it be that way ♪

♪ Oh you are a friend to me

♪ It's a good day let
us let it be that way ♪

- God, I'm glad you're here.

- Oh, me too.

- [Spoons] Alright, you
want to try Cedar Sigh?

We haven't mapped that one yet.

- Sure.
- Yeah.

["Cedar Sigh"]

♪ As I stand on the hillside

♪ I can see the river glide

♪ Down through the trees

- Blown away in the
first five measures.

You know, he sounds so good.

- Personality's still
all wrapped up there.

It's perfect in every way.

- It's absolutely wonderful
and the vocal harmonies,

it's the old goosebumps there.

♪ I just want to be
like the animals ♪

♪ I want to live
close to the ground ♪

♪ I just want to be
like the Indians ♪

- To see what going
on with everybody

and how much they appreciate
me being here and stuff,

really means a lot to me.

After all these years
I kind of thought,

nobody really cares about CW.

♪ Myself all around

- The real Magic Music
is back together.

[scat singing]

- KGNU, it's 10:15, I'm
Meredith Carson and I am in the

Cabaret Studio with the
members of Magic Music.

They are in concert on Sunday

at the Boulder Theater at seven.

Tode, get us started off.

- Well, we came to Boulder
here to do a reunion concert.

I came from Alabama,

Will Luckey came from
Martha's Vineyard,

Spoons of course
lives in Denver,

Kevin Milburn came all the
way from Carson City, Nevada,

Rob Galloway's here in Boulder.

- So, how's it going
to go on Sunday night?

Have you all made up any
new songs for this concert?

- I think the task for us was
to see if we could get the

brain cells to fire
on the ones we knew.

- So, get in the way back
machine and join these guys

for the first concert
they've done in 40 years.

[light music]

[Fleur] Hey guys.

- Hey, what, what?
- Whoa!

- Front page, baby.

- Magic Music is back.
- We hit the big time.

- Seriously.
- Magic is back.

- [Sloth] Let's see
what's in here, man.

Man, look at that, right in
the middle of the magazine.

- Look at us.

- First time we ever
been in the newspapers.

At least for a good reason.

- [Sloth] And as usual,

Das looking at us
like we're all crazy.

- I talked to Das
and interviewed Das

and he was extremely
gracious and cooperative.

But he was also extremely
ambivalent about

whether he wanted to
participate in the concert.

- Where I left it with him was,

hey I will work up all the tunes

if you get a wild hair

and you want to show up on
the last day, the door's open.

Who knows, he might surprise
us, he might show up.

- [Das] Hello?

- Das, it's Lee Aronsohn.

You can guess why I'm calling.

I mean, I'm going to take
one final shot at you.

CW came in.

I got to tell you, man, it
was lovely to hear him again.

- [Das] Oh, very good.

- You know, we're
having a great time here

and everybody feels
like it's a crime

that you're not part of it.

- [Das] Well, thank
you for the sentiment

and I wish it was
just as easy as that.

The band and I, we've been
through a lot together.

Every time I end up on
the short end of the stick

and I just, I'm just done.

Enough's enough.

Tell those guys, break a leg.

- [Lee] Alright,
I will pass it on.

- [Das] Best of
luck and stay safe.

- Thank you man, you too.

- [Das] Okay, bye bye.

[exhales]

- It's a shame, you
know, it's a shame.

He should be there.

[light music]

[lively music]

- [Poonah] Our
expectations as you know,

we were thinking, what, 200
people if we were lucky.

And the place sold out.

- Sold out?
- Sold out.

- Sold out.

- No pressure, most people
haven't seen us in 40 years

and really want to see us.

No pressure.

- How much time we got?
- Five minutes.

- Alright, thanks Grady.

So, let's send this show
to all that ain't here.

- Yes, sir.

- All that is here.
- Yes, sir.

- And all that got us here
in one way or to alive.

Just amazing.

[cheering]

- [Lee] Ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome back to Boulder,

playing together for the
first time in 40 years,

the original Magic Music.

["Bright Sun Bright Rain"]

[cheering]

[scat singing]

♪ And I feel the
sun surround me ♪

♪ Reflecting off
my window pane ♪

♪ Now at last my
love has found me ♪

♪ Bright sun

♪ Bright rain

- This band has been my dream
since I was 20 years old.

It just blows my mind.

I'm 65 years old and I'm up
here playing to same people

I was playing to in 1970.

[upbeat flute music]

[cheering]

- There was so much
energy in that room.

You think, do you like
it and then they explode.

It's like, okay, they like it.

♪ The days are
bright and clear ♪

♪ I do believe it's so

♪ My time is near and I can
hear a way for me to go ♪

♪ And bring the morning down

♪ Pretty mama

♪ Yea draw it all around

♪ Little woman

♪ And greet it with a grin

♪ And bring the morning in

♪ Bring the morning in

♪ Bring the morning in

♪ I know it could start
with the words to a song ♪

♪ People in the country
just got to get along ♪

♪ People in the country
just got to get it on ♪

[lively music]

We always thought, we'll
be something different,

we won't have drums.

Well, drums are really cool.

[cheering]

♪ As I stand on the hillside

♪ I can see the river glide

♪ Down through the trees

- CW singing his
song, Cedar Sigh.

I haven't heard that
since those days.

And so that was
a nostalgic rush.

It was just beautiful,
what a song.

♪ I know it's calling me

♪ He says answer me

♪ Be my friend

♪ So I lift my heart
and I raise my voice ♪

♪ And I sing a
song back to him ♪

♪ I just want to be
like the animals ♪

♪ I want to live
close to the ground ♪

♪ And I just want to
be like the Indians ♪

♪ See my maker all around me

♪ See my family all around

[light music]

♪ I just want to be
like the Indians ♪

♪ See my maker all around me

♪ See his family all around

♪ Even

♪ See myself all around

♪ Oh yeah

- Kevin Milburn.
- Thanks, y'all.

It felt fantastic.

I didn't expect to be
appreciated as much as I am.

How can I go back
to my former life.

It's like.

♪ Now there's better
days coming my way ♪

♪ I can hear them as clear

- This gift that you
get that is music,

close your eyes and
you're 18 years old.

It's a freaking time machine.

♪ Winter time will take me

♪ It might shape
and remake me ♪

♪ It's going to be
a whole lot better ♪

♪ When the spring arrives

[cheering]

- So, my old friend
Flatbush and I

started this little
venture in 1970.

Flatbush isn't with us anymore,

he's tuning guitars up in
heaven, we're pretty sure.

But he wrote this song
and it was really kind of

our hallmark.

This was one of his best
song ever I thought.

["Colorado Rockies"]

♪ I'll try to break
it easy to you ♪

♪ But there's some
things you should know ♪

♪ About this world
that we're living in ♪

♪ And the people
who'd make you go ♪

♪ I tend to get upset

♪ At people who try
to bring me down ♪

♪ But then I wake
up and remember ♪

♪ They're just
looking to be found ♪

♪ Just looking to be found

- Something on my bucket list

was to do a reunion concert
at the Boulder Theater

with Magic Music in
front of an audience

of all our oldest friends.

♪ I got to say before
I walk on back home ♪

My relationship with
the band had changed

and I'm very sad for that.

However, I think that I
still made the right decision

to not come.

♪ If they don't leave
this planet alone ♪

Knowing that it occurred,
that it got accomplished,

I get some satisfaction
from that, I really do.

The band deserved it.

The music deserved it.

It's the music in our lives
and it's so important.

- [Spoons] Here we go.

♪ Our smile is changing
from a grin to a frown ♪

♪ All the people round us
trying to keep love down ♪

♪ All I want to do is
try and make this sound ♪

♪ Let you know it's real

♪ Help you try and
feel inside you ♪

♪ It's love my friends
that I'm talking about ♪

♪ Jesus said when he
stood on the mount ♪

♪ All day long brothers there's
no one that's left out ♪

♪ Why can't you see

♪ What you're doing to me

♪ Yeah

♪ You know I listen to
you preach on Sunday ♪

♪ Love and brotherhood oh man

♪ Then you go back
out on Monday ♪

♪ To get the most
out of who you can ♪

♪ The time is coming when
we'll have to decide ♪

♪ If we're going to stay and
fight or gonna take a ride ♪

♪ To the Colorado Rockies
and the great divide ♪

♪ Can't you see it's here

♪ Revolution's here

♪ It's coming here to you

[cheering]

Thank you all so much
for being here tonight.

[light music]
[chattering]

- [Lee] Did they take
the right paths in life?

Did I?

Who knows, but I'll
always be grateful

that all our paths brought
up back to Boulder.

♪ Everything is closing
and everyone is free ♪

♪ There's nothing I can call
mine cause everything is fee ♪

- CW and I, we went right back
to being close buddies again.

Old friendships can be
revived pretty quickly

if you just forget
about the crap.

♪ There's nothing
I can call my ♪

- I can't perform with the band,

but there's still a friendly
thing going on somewhere.

When you get to our age, there's
nothing like old friends.

You can't get the again,
they're already there.

- [Spoons] Sing it
with us everybody.

♪ Everything is closing
and everyone is free ♪

♪ There's nothing I call mine
cause everything is fee ♪

♪ Don't you try to hold
on to anyone you know ♪

♪ Feel the light within you

♪ And let's you
change this flow ♪

[lively music]

♪ Springtime back again

♪ Going to find
me a lady friend ♪

♪ Springtime time lady friend

♪ Going to carry me home

♪ Sunshine feels so

♪ Sunshine feels so bright

♪ Rainy day won't you go away

♪ And let me play today

♪ Hey hey

♪ La la la la la la la

[cheering]

♪ Where are we now

♪ Where is the best

♪ The band came and went

♪ But old friendships last

♪ With heart of the matter

♪ The question somehow

♪ Is calling old soldiers

♪ Where are we now

♪ One's on the mountain

♪ One's on the shore

♪ One's chasing down a dream

♪ Just like before

♪ One gone a sailing
out on the sea ♪

♪ So listen

♪ Dreams

♪ Dreams belong to you and me