tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. first up tonight, our conversation with a rock legend gramm nash. he is out with a new product of rock photography featuring rare photos of the biggest names in music. it is called "taking aim." also, david the company is here, the latest -- david duchovny is here, with his new series "californication." that is coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better.

>> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is happy to help tavis improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: pleased to welcome our him nash back to the program. the legendary member of crosby, stills, nash, & young is a rock- and-roll hall of famer and has a new book called " taking aim." be forwarded to the text, here

is a recent performance from graham and david crosby. immigration forms big enough to keep me warm as long as you think you can you better watch out, watch out for the man anywhere you are going let me in immigration man ♪ tavis: you and david crosby. word of the street is you could neither confirm nor deny, but that the three of you are back in the studio? >> kind of, yes. we have been rehearsing. we did 66 shows last year in

several countries. it is tough to get in the studio, but we're working on a project, yes. tavis: you think the world right now could use more protest songs, with all that is going on? how what might we be benefited in this era? mediahink the world's learned after vietnam that we cannot put body counts on television while people wrotwere eating their steak dinner. people got upset about it. you saw footage of dead soldiers. ever since vietnam, you have never seen that. you never sought in panama, granada, iraq. you cannot even photograph coffins at, flag draped, coming home. they have learned. but my point is protest songs

have always been there, but the people who run the world's media did not want to hear any of that. they just want us to be sheep, and we're not good at being sheep. we like to speak our minds. tavis: those persons watching and listening right now who are writers themselves, not want to have something to say in their lyrical content about what is happening in the world, not that one should tell anybody what to write, but what kind of things do you think ought to be addressed right now? >> i see tremendous amount of manners nowadays. at opening doors for ladies. all of the things we are taught as a child to be a decent member of society. just on level, i see a lot of anger, hatred,

racism, a society that on the surface looks like -- there was an interesting book called "the twilight of the american culture," where a man at studied each of the major employers -- each of the major empires, and he plotted the reasons why they fell. it was interesting the list of things, destruction of language, the financial pillars of society, destruction of the religious publishers of society, common decency, and common sense. it all seems to be disappearing. tavis: i'm glad you are saying this, because i think we are on the same page, but it is difficult given the patriotism, our nationalism, and this notion disturbs me of american exceptional listen in the world. it is hard for us in the arena,

given the realities, to accept that empires fall, that they fail. sometimes that arrogance gets in the way and we think there is no way the american empire could fall or fail, so i am glad that you have laid out these factors that have cost empires to fail, and we are smack dab in the middle of it. i raise all of that to ask whether or not there is anything we can do to fend off this implosion? >> i think you have to start with yourself. if you try to sort out your own life, live decently as a decent person, then spread that your wife or husband and your family and friends. take care of the area around you. if you see something that is wrong, something your the middle of, pick it up. take care of the area around you. i seem to always come back to if i want to change the world, i have to change myself.

i have to be what i want the world to be. >> perfect segue to the book, because i just said this on a panel i was participating on, a celebrated artists more than anybody else in the world because they have a unique way of connecting us to the humidity -- to humanity at their best, connect us to our humanity. is there a way that photography can help us see, revel in, celebrate our humanity? some of these pictures are powerful. >> i wanted to show in this book, which was started by my friend michael jensen, who suggested i do this, and jason. i wanted to show the energy of rock-and-roll. there are many incredible images that have been taken that are

almost like protest songs. the portrait of the woman holding the slain student at kent state on the cover of "life magazine." there have been incredible photographs taken that move you as much as a song would move you. in this book, i wanted to show every side of the energy of rock-and-roll, from the franticness to complete serenity. tavis: give me the cover of the book. i am always fascinated when i see a book of photographs. i have done one of these myself, and the most difficult part is always trying to figure out what cover shot is going to be. the sec for me this cover shot and why it made the cover -- bisect for made the cover shot and why it made the cover. >> he is always irrelevant --

irreverent. this photograph, he was in a train somewhere, but even in a train, he wanted to be active. the rest of the shot, he had a small amplifier on his bed, and he is rocking and rolling even though he is almost in bed. tavis: when you said you want the book to showcase the energy of rock-and-roll, what energy do you see in this book? >> this is i am doing exactly what i want to do with my life. look at him, he looks slightly arrogant, very comfortable as to where he is. he is a tremendous person. i have tremendous respect for elvis castillo -- costello. tavis: how did you get turned on by photography? >> have been making images

longer than had been making music. in my first book, the first portrait in there is of my mother that i took when i was 10 years old. i captured something in my mother. i thought i knew my mother, everyone does, but i saw her in this moment and captured it with the camera. i later realized it was probably my first good photograph. i had captured something in my mother had never seen before. i captured a look in her eye, a moment in her life that was very private and intimate, and i managed -- i had the camera with me at the time, and that was the first photograph. i was 10. tavis: do you love taking photographs for whatever reason, or is it about trying to find that image that you just described? trying to find that moment? >> yes, it is trying to find

that moment. i do it all of my life. i want to be the best person i could be, the best friend, husband, the best father i can be. we never make it of course 100%, but i am trying to be a decent person per it -- a decent person. i have found all my life that have been able to talk about my feelings, talk about what is happening to me, shooting my mouth off, and i have been incredibly lucky. it has been over 50 years for me now, and it shows no sign of slowing down. i continue to keep my camera with me because i'm always waiting for all this press lee to come back. i want to be there with my camera. -- i am waiting for elvis presley to come back. tavis: how have you over the years married the music and photography? >> it is all the same energy to

me. a lot of people say how as a musician take photographs? tavis: some people around the world know you as a photographer, even before they know you as a singer. >> it is the same energy to me. i don't care where i am pointing my soul, or my eyes or my years, i want you there or that moment. i'm not interested in taking photographs that match my couch. i am not interested in taking cadence in balls. i am interested in moments that disappear in a fleeting second. tavis: you have captured a few. this is not just all your work, there are other great photographers in here as well. at the new book from rock-and- roll legend graham nash, "taking aim." thank you for this great piece of work. >> you are welcome. tavis: up next, actor david

duchovny. stay with us. always pleased to welcome david duchovny back to the program. he is back with all new season of his hit showtime series "californication," airing sunday nights at 9:00. here is a scene from the show. >> i called that -- caught that. you should care. i'm bleeding here. i'm feeling a little fat. i don't hope to get in your good graces soon, okay, ever. i am just hoping to talk to you and explain what happened. until then, i will settle for seeing our daughter, why mess dearly -- who i miss dearly. >> what happens if she hate your

guts? tavis: ouch. can you feel the love? -- is aa comedy part it comedy. itavis: it must be nice to have four seasons and this is your biggest opening. >> it has kind of snuck up on us. at the show has grown. such a long time in between seasons that people discover it on the dvd or reruns. tavis: what do you make of it that people to get a chance to grow or build? you are the expert, you don't hit the first three weeks, you get pulled quickly, it here you are in season for and you have your biggest audience to date. >> i think it is more the case in network or the numbers mean so much right away.

what is unfortunate is that most television shows don't know what they are right away. i think we have got better even from the first year. the x-files, we did not know really what we were until the middle of the first year. if we had been canceled, he could cancel before you mature into what is that you could actually be. tavis: if you know what this show is now, it is what? >> wow. i always come back to reject -- cote i guess it harkens back to the adult comedies of the 70's. the movies that i loved like shampoo, harold and maude. comedies that were made for an adult audience instead of comedies that try to reach the entire audience, which is kind of what you have to do today to drive the motor.

we think we're making a comedy for adults. sometimes we are as childish as anybody, but sometimes we think we're making eight sex farce and drama. tavis: is it just me, or am i getting the sense there are more comedies connected to sex for adults now more than ever before? >> i think in terms of features, i think with the work, "the 40-year-old virgin," that sensibility where it is the corner of the realm, speaking of it more than doing it, and then "the hangover." i think that are rated comedy came into its own and the last seven, eight years. tavis: or you prior to this season's e.p. on the show?

>> no, i have been, and i have not fired myself yet. direct one per year because i cannot. more than that. i would love to do more. i love it and i love the actors had to work with on the show. it is one of my glories of getting to do the show is getting to direct it. tavis: because you don't have time to prepare for it because you are starting at, you get better as an actor every season because you do it every day. if you don't have time to direct, how the get better at that part? >> i don't know how anybody gets better at anything aside from doing it. think whatw, i happens for me, i hope, is that to get better as a director. unfortunately, there is a long time between the times i get to do it, but i think there

sedimentation that happens, almost, where you are learning things even though you don't know you are learning, and the next time you were on the set, the question that used to just bamboozle you are now obvious answers and it happens that way. not to say that things cannot go horrendously wrong, because they do sometimes, but -- tavis: i was teasing you. >> you were teasing me. tavis: i found it impossible, it did not make sense to me. that was your first time on the stage? not first time on broadway, the first time on the stage? ever. tavis: how the get to this point and never be on stage? >> i am just an impostor. i feel like i came to acting late, 26, 27, and it was

imperative by make a living right away. i started in television and film. in high school and college, i was an athlete. i never did theater. it is just never happened. i never had the time, and now i am living in new york and it has opened up that way, but i guess the other stage experience, the only public stage experience i had was i played one of the bad guy in the christmas pageant when i was 10. ofavis: what did you make the experience? >> it was fascinating. tavis: fascinating is a fascinating word. >> mostly because of audience. obviously, i did not know what an audience is in that sense, and they're part of the play. i had heard that, but i did not know what it meant. but it came to mean was out it

can be very funny, but it is also very dark. there are different ways that can go on different nights. sometimes the audience laughs right away and you get the feeling, though, that is the show they want. they want a comedy. sometimes they don't. neither play is better, the comedy or that not so funny one, they're both different and powerful. i found that to be a fascinating give-and-take between boss, unconscious almost. we are all in the room together, doing something together, you are part of it, too, and we're destroying to put on a show. tavis: -- but we are just want to put on a show. the wrongerybody has feeling about this. there is no audience here. what is your choice now that you

have done both, being on the set doing lines, or being in front of a live audience, and the moment? >> it is just so different, i would not choose. i feel like i have spent almost 20 years learning my craft as a film actor, a television actor, and that love to be able to utilize those skills that i have paid dearly for. i have failed and you fail and learn and fail and learn, so i'm excited to do that. like myly feel apprenticeship is over and get to do that. in terms of the audience, i did not die. i was terrified the first time. tavis: all these years? >> not even that, but this particular play, it begins with a 15-minute monologue, just me facing the audience, and it ends with a 15-minute monologue. of all the things i could have

picked -- well, it picked me, but the first time i was sitting there before the first preview of stage thinking, you are about to walk out on stage and do this 15-minute thing. i did know if i'm going to remember. i don't know what is going to happen, and that is terrifying. i found that to be one of my worst habits as a stage actor is i would come off from doing a monologue and if it's not go well -- and if it did not go well, i would find myself in the next scene thinking about it. acting, it is a philosophical and emotional maturity that you get to to just let it go. there were nights where i would think the whole play thinking about the first monologue. and it is ridiculous because nobody -- is always knew. they don't think it was terrible. tavis: i empathize because i feel that way every other question on this show. >> well, your half kidding.

tavis: sometimes i think, why did i ask that question? >> all you are going off his instinct, at this time the conversation or any live performance, that is what you have. sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss. sometimes the missed is better. tavis: you hope they are at least. in all the times i have talked with you, i have never asked, duchovny? >> it is russian. it means the spiritual. i am told that it means spiritual and all those languages. the word itself means spiritual. it is my father's name, obviously. he took the "h" out, but he

never did it legally. when my parents divorced, my mother put the "h" back in. i spent the first 11 years of my life spelling it without the "h ", and then after 11 i put it back in. my brother never did, and my sister -- so that is the name. as names that could mean things, i prefer spiritual to a lot of other things. tavis: i was going to ask you thought that fit. >> i don't know if it fits. i just -- tavis: you prefer it? >> let's say it fits, in a general sense. i would hope that my concerns are in that area, and not just

in the physical world. tavis: the fourth season of "californication" is on the air on showtime starring david duchovny, with or without the "h". i have to work on the pronunciation next time. >> sorry if i spit on you. tavis: that is okay. next time i will have that down. for next it -- for now, thanks, david. that is our show for tonight. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time on the king holiday i with clarence jones and steve wonder. that is next time. we will see you then. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help

with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--