Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young & Clams

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young & Clams (CSNYC) are a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills, and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, they are called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). They were later joined by Italian-American non-musician Tony Clams, after Nash lost an elaborate shell game that Clams engineered in order to earn his way into the band, and the name was changed again. Tony Clams insisted on the bands name containing two ampersands, despite it being grammatically incorrect and to the disdain of the other members of the group. They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies, often tumultuous interpersonal relationships, political activism, and lasting influence on American music and culture.

This little known iteration of the band would go on to perform two and a half shows together before Clams left the group over a dispute over age of consent laws. Reports vary regarding the details of the dispute, which have been a point of contention among fans, detractors, and even other members of the group. Graham Nash, on an episode of Hollywood Squares, would claim that Clams incorrectly believed the age of consent to be under the age of eighteen, while David Crosby and Stephen Stills, on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, would claim that Clams incorrectly believed the age to be well above eighteen, although even they did not agree; Stills recalls Clams claiming the age was thirty-six while Crosby recalls Clams claiming seventy-five. Neil Young, on his deathbed, said of the incident. "... [Clams] would just makeup a different number every time we asked him. I think he just genuinely didn't know and was embarrassed". These would be Neil Young's last words. To this day, Tony Clams's understanding of age of consent is still unclear, despite the song he released on the topic, "Am I Close?", which would go on to claim the #210 spot on Billboard's Top 100 list. It would be the only song Clams released as a solo artist.