1<\/p>\n
At the end of the event Larry Solters introduced me to three chubby women in the neighborhood of forty.\u00c2\u00a0 They were not dressed in finery, they were not beneficiaries of Georgette Klinger pampering.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather these females were the proprietors of eaglesfans.com.<\/p>\n
Based on Austin, they’d come to L.A. just for this show.<\/p>\n
I didn’t see a ring on the finger of the main proprietor, a sixth grade teacher with pictures of herself and Don Henley on the bulletin board in her room.\u00c2\u00a0 She was married to the man, and his music.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked her what she thought of the show, did he play what she needed to hear.\u00c2\u00a0 She proceeded to rattle off the name of three songs I’D never heard of.\u00c2\u00a0 One of which she said Don had NEVER performed in concert.<\/p>\n
I’d like to tell you this is the future of music.\u00c2\u00a0 But that would be wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the PRESENT!<\/p>\n
Does Jessica Simpson have fans like this?\u00c2\u00a0 Who will be dedicated for DECADES?\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, most of the performers on this show didn’t have fans.<\/p>\n
Shawn Colvin.\u00c2\u00a0 Her debut is my favorite record of the nineties.\u00c2\u00a0 But she’s morphed into some sly mama from the alienated artist she used to be.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s gone under the knife to such an extent that she looks YOUNGER than she did when she debuted.\u00c2\u00a0 But her voice was in fine form.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet the essence of the number she was singing, "The End Of The Innocence", was missing.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s all about the piano.\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce Hornsby’s piano.\u00c2\u00a0 Without this element, the number is an endless dirge.\u00c2\u00a0 Couldn’t they get SOMEBODY to tickle the ivories?<\/p>\n
Keb’ Mo’?\u00c2\u00a0 God, why not bring back the progenitor, Taj Mahal.<\/p>\n
Seal?\u00c2\u00a0 He was the one act that everyone universally agreed was awful.\u00c2\u00a0 Thank god he’s got that model.<\/p>\n
Michael McDonald killed "The Heart Of The Matter".\u00c2\u00a0 All the subtlety and heartache in the number was eviscerated.<\/p>\n
It’s great to see Sam Moore, but "The Long Run" was already a secondary number, and this rendition was fun, but nothing you’d want to hear again.<\/p>\n
The Dixie Chicks nailed "Desperado".\u00c2\u00a0 The only failing being since THEY did it, Don wouldn’t.<\/p>\n
But really, the star of the pre-game festivities was John Mayer.\u00c2\u00a0 Who ripped off some gut-wrenching runs on his Fender.\u00c2\u00a0 He wailed.\u00c2\u00a0 It was like the sixties, well, at least the SEVENTIES, again.\u00c2\u00a0 Why isn’t THIS guy on the radio?\u00c2\u00a0 Why do we have to endure such pap as "Daughters" on the radio, why does the guy have to be a celebrity instead of a MUSICIAN?\u00c2\u00a0 Worst case of imaging in recent memory.<\/p>\n
And then there was Bernie Taupin.\u00c2\u00a0 He looked a bit worse for wear, but this was a star.\u00c2\u00a0 My heart rate elevated a bit.<\/p>\n
And then, finally, Don took the stage.\u00c2\u00a0 In a suit, with a tie.<\/p>\n
I’d like to tell you what he said was riveting, but he was being too nice.\u00c2\u00a0 Until…<\/p>\n
Don’s so fucking dry that at first it wasn’t clear he was telling a joke.\u00c2\u00a0 Saying that Stephen Foster died with thirty eight cents in his pocket, and he was signed to…Columbia.\u00c2\u00a0 Don went label group by label group, even calling Jimmy Iovine out by name.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean how come Jimmy’s so rich and so many artists are so POOR?<\/p>\n
But then Don was done, he was ready to play.<\/p>\n
Oftentimes the honoree doesn’t perform.\u00c2\u00a0 Thank god Don did last night.\u00c2\u00a0 Because he made the evening.<\/p>\n
I’d like to tell you the crowd was enthusiastic, that they were on their feet.\u00c2\u00a0 About as much as I can tell you is people didn’t leave, they didn’t mill around, they sat and watched.<\/p>\n
Which must have been hard for Don, you like a little feedback.<\/p>\n
But he had to wow them, he had to win them over, after all, he’s got a record to sell.<\/p>\n
And fuck everybody else.\u00c2\u00a0 Great music, rock music, doesn’t need the crowd to make it work.\u00c2\u00a0 It needs the musician, the artist, and the listener.<\/p>\n
I am that listener.\u00c2\u00a0 Last night Don Henley ELATED ME!<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
One of the great pastimes of fandom is figuring out what the act is going to play.\u00c2\u00a0 As Don was strapping on his Telecaster, I told Felice to get ready for "The Boys Of Summer".\u00c2\u00a0 And then we heard the drummer play that percussion figure.<\/p>\n
Nobody on the road Can’t you just see it?\u00c2\u00a0 That black and white video with the convertible running up PCH?\u00c2\u00a0 This is one of the few songs where the video matched, ENHANCED, the number.<\/p>\n The reason Don Henley is so fucking great is because the three necessary elements are covered.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a great tune, he’s got a phenomenal voice, and he’s SAYING SOMETHING, the lyrics MEAN something!<\/p>\n He was the only artist without the lyrics on the TelePrompter.\u00c2\u00a0 There was no TV screen for Don to cheat from, nor me.\u00c2\u00a0 But I knew every word.<\/p>\n Yesterday I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.\u00c2\u00a0 A little voice inside my head said I can never forget what happened back then.\u00c2\u00a0 When music was the most important medium in the world, when you had to listen to the record to know what was going on with not only the world, but yourself.<\/p>\n "Boys Of Summer" was a genius in his element.<\/p>\n But then came "Wasted Time".<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n Lisa gave me shit half an hour before, for e-mailing during the lame performances.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d like to say they were offensive, sacrilegious, but they were just lame.<\/p>\n Maybe some of this material is just uncoverable.<\/p>\n Or maybe they just couldn’t do it justice.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe you needed the writer to impart the full emotion.<\/p>\n You never thought you’d be alone Relationships, they’re the only story that matters.<\/p>\n Get together with your old buddies, and they don’t want to talk about the money they’ve made, the places they’ve been, oh maybe they cover that territory at first, but then the conversation always goes deeper, to love.<\/p>\n You play your whole life, and you still never know if you get it right.\u00c2\u00a0 You just can’t get it perfect, it’s like golf.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s the key, no arguing?\u00c2\u00a0 Or great sex?\u00c2\u00a0 Or finishing each other’s sentences?\u00c2\u00a0 And how old do you have to get before you realize it’s not important how good they look to the outside world, but how you feel in bed lying next to them?<\/p>\n After every breakup I play "Wasted Time".\u00c2\u00a0 There’s never been another song written on the same topic, never mind a better one.<\/p>\n Maybe that’s because it’s our generation’s story.\u00c2\u00a0 Of feeling we deserve the best.\u00c2\u00a0 And finding out that maybe we’ve passed up something good, or are never going to get what we desire.<\/p>\n You don’t want to die alone.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t want to BE alone.\u00c2\u00a0 Without someone to share it with, it’s really not worth much, it doesn’t feel good.<\/p>\n And in a good relationship, you’re your best self.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re more than you’ve ever been before.<\/p>\n But in a bad one…<\/p>\n And the hours go by like minutes At what age can you no longer endure breakups, at what age is the pain too much to bear, to the point where you decide to fly solo.<\/p>\n For all the world-beaters in the news, there are baby boomers locked in apartments, licking their wounds.\u00c2\u00a0 Worrying not only about how come love never worked out for them, but life.<\/p>\n But what we’re truly hoping for is that this journey…it wasn’t wasted time.<\/p>\n So you can get on with your search, baby Although happily married, Don sang "Wasted Time" like someone in the wake of a disconnection.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a torch singer of years gone by, but singing a much more modern song.<\/p>\n And when he was done, he got a standing ovation.\u00c2\u00a0 The audience may have been sitting, but deep inside they were feeling it, Don reached them.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n He didn’t sing ARE YOU WITH ME SO FAR??<\/p>\n We were with our artists back then.\u00c2\u00a0 We were all in it together.\u00c2\u00a0 Figuring it out.<\/p>\n The idealism of the sixties gave way to the disillusionment of the seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 And then, as the baby boomers started moving up the economic food chain, they rewarded themselves with drugs, with cocaine.\u00c2\u00a0 They started living life in the fast lane.<\/p>\n That’s when you know you’ve made it, when a line from your song becomes common currency.<\/p>\n I mean they’re rocking, and when Don sang:<\/p>\n He said, call the doctor, I think I’m gonna crash I was singing along at the top of my lungs, it was like watching your favorite movie, I was removed from everyday life, I was in the moment, I was in ECSTASY!<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair When I was in the first year of law school, I lived to play my records.\u00c2\u00a0 As soon as I got an apartment, I purchased the stereo of my dreams.\u00c2\u00a0 And two or three times a week I’d go to Westwood to buy albums.\u00c2\u00a0 It was there, just before Christmas ’76, right before finals, that I purchased "Hotel California".<\/p>\n They were only playing "New Kid In Town" on the radio, there was no P2P back then, no leaked numbers.\u00c2\u00a0 When I dropped the needle on the title cut, the FIRST cut, I was positively STUNNED!<\/p>\n It was not at a party, I was all alone in my ground floor apartment on the day of release.<\/p>\n I’d purchased the debut because of "Take It Easy".\u00c2\u00a0 I’d stayed with the band.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what you did back then.\u00c2\u00a0 They were not superstars, really not until "One Of These Nights", from over a year before.<\/p>\n I was into Joe Walsh from the very first James Gang album.\u00c2\u00a0 I was primed for "Hotel California".<\/p>\n I didn’t expect it to be this good, I didn’t expect it to be a quantum LEAP from what had come before.<\/p>\n I’m here in the Hotel California.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m not leaving.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about the weather, but the FREEDOM!\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody cares what school I went to, or even if I WENT to school.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s so into his own trip that I can travel unnoticed.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a bizarre land of possibilities.\u00c2\u00a0 What came before is irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 You can write your own scenario.<\/p>\n 6<\/p>\n Don Henley is one of the most hated stars in music.<\/p>\n Now they don’t hate people with no success, they’re irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s only when you move up the ladder that people seem to care.<\/p>\n Does Don deserve the contempt?<\/p>\n Interesting question.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s notoriously sullen.\u00c2\u00a0 And a perfectionist.\u00c2\u00a0 And evidence of his thin skin is everywhere.<\/p>\n But what does that have to do with his music?<\/p>\n There’s a reason the Eagles own the best selling album of all time.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t like it, if you think Don Henley must die, WHO CARES?<\/p>\n I don’t agree with everything Don says.\u00c2\u00a0 Why doesn’t he stop defending Wal-Mart’s green initiatives and say that’s the only place where he can reach his customers?\u00c2\u00a0 Comment on the sad state of the music business as opposed to shining up the community killers from Arkansas?<\/p>\n But at least Don went on record.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost nobody else will go on record.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re afraid of alienating someone.<\/p>\n If this were a reasonable fear, wouldn’t Don’s career be OVER by now?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really think everyone who listens to his music is a Democrat?<\/p>\n No, this is a great melting pot of a country.\u00c2\u00a0 Fraught with contradictions.\u00c2\u00a0 No one has the answers, but artists try to define the issues.<\/p>\n Don isn’t on "Oprah" with relationship solutions.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s singing in ""Wasted Time" that he’s FLUMMOXED!<\/p>\n He’s not saying to stop doing cocaine, just pointing out a bad story.\u00c2\u00a0 Make your own decision.<\/p>\n We’re the boys of summer.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re the ones on the beach.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s our life.\u00c2\u00a0 But oftentimes it’s too scary to take the reins, too depressing to play and ultimately find out we lose.<\/p>\n The record business used to be one of winners.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s comprised of losers looking for a way to survive.<\/p>\n I don’t know how it plays out.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know the future model.<\/p>\n But I do know this, artistry, music, will survive.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got nothing to do with stealing songs and everything to do with inspiration.\u00c2\u00a0 Needing to express oneself, in an unfettered, uncalculated fashion.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why rap eclipsed rock, it was more HONEST!<\/p>\n But now mainstream rap has become dishonest too.\u00c2\u00a0 The public has tuned out.\u00c2\u00a0 People don’t want to be sold, they too want to be inspired, by artists, by MUSIC, they can believe in.<\/p>\n That’s what Woodstock provided.\u00c2\u00a0 When done right, even Bonnaroo and Coachella.\u00c2\u00a0 Music doesn’t live at awards shows, but at the turnstile, where the public shows up, for another hit.<\/p>\n Just about everybody at the MusiCares dinner last night has seen it all.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d rather hang with their buds than be inspired by music.\u00c2\u00a0 Their game is different.<\/p>\n But for the fans, the music is the ONLY thing.\u00c2\u00a0 That gets them through boring jobs and failed relationships.\u00c2\u00a0 They COUNT on music, oftentimes it’s their only ray of hope.<\/p>\n We are letting these people down.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re not about what’s in the grooves so much as the penumbra, the marketing, the ringtone, the endorsement, the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas when you get the music right, money rains down forevermore.<\/p>\n The Eagles preceded MTV.\u00c2\u00a0 The business landscape back then was quaint compared to today.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine Best Buy in the seventies, never mind massive TV exposure.\u00c2\u00a0 The Eagles would have sold 30 million in TWO YEARS!<\/p>\n But I don’t need to be a fantabulist.\u00c2\u00a0 All I know is great music survives.<\/p>\n I don’t know what the Grammy organization is really for.\u00c2\u00a0 A charity for indigent, down on their luck musicians, is a good thing.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you knew Neil Portnow’s salary, you’d blanch, you’d wonder if this is truly an altruistic organization.<\/p>\n But I’ll say one thing, needing to honor SOMEBODY to raise dough, and Don Henley needing to keep up his profile having a new Eagles album in the works, I was privileged to experience artistic excellence, up close and personal, only a couple of dozen feet from the stage.<\/p>\n There’s nothing like the power of live music.\u00c2\u00a0 You feel it in your head and heart, as well as your genitalia.\u00c2\u00a0 It stimulates you, it makes you feel alive.<\/p>\n I felt fully alive listening to Don Henley run through four of his hits.\u00c2\u00a0 I marveled at his ability to sing them.\u00c2\u00a0 I got in touch with how much his work affected me.\u00c2\u00a0 I got the complete package.\u00c2\u00a0 And for that, I am grateful.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 At the end of the event Larry Solters introduced me to three chubby women in the neighborhood of forty.\u00c2\u00a0 They were not dressed in finery, 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Nobody on the beach<\/em><\/p>\n
This far down the line
And I know what’s been on your mind
You’re afraid it’s all been wasted time<\/em><\/p>\n
And the shadows come to stay
So you take a little something to
Make them go away
And I could have done so many things, baby
If I could only stop my mind
From wondering what I left behind
And from worrying ’bout this wasted time<\/em><\/p>\n
And I can get on with mine
And maybe someday we will find
That it wasn’t really wasted time<\/em><\/p>\n
The doctor say he’s coming but you gotta pay in cash<\/em><\/p>\n
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air<\/em><\/p>\n