The unmasking of the narcissistic, conspiracy-spreading baby-boomer rock star
LOS ANGELES — Over two nights in late September, Eric Clapton used his music-industry connections and his decades of classic rock hits to draw thousands of fans to Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.
The occasion was the Crossroads Guitar Festival: a once-every-few-years event for which the English singer and guitarist convenes an all-star cast of players — this one included Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, H.E.R. and ZZ Top, among dozens of others — to raise money for the Crossroads drug treatment center Clapton founded a quarter-century ago on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
For lovers of 1960s rock, the show’s high point may have been back-to-back appearances by Roger McGuinn, with whom Clapton performed the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High,” and Stephen Stills, who joined Clapton for a rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s “Bluebird” — a trio of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers reviving a couple of the tunes that helped define the baby boomer generation.
Yet the Crossroads festival came just days after Clapton’s appearance
