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Don Felder Book

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by joespoolhall, Jan 29, 2016.

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  1. joespoolhall

    joespoolhall VIP Whale

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    I'm taking some vacation this week, but weather is bad so I ended up on the internet way too much for me. At one point I went to youtube to access an Eagles interview. It was interesting as I always enjoy the "Behind The Music" type of thing. Exiting, I saw a couple of Don Felder interviews. After his parting, subsequent lawsuits and book, I kind of got a sour grapes sort of feeling without hearing his side. The first one I watched was with Howard Stern. Not one of my favorite guys, but it was a good interview. The first thing that struck me was how he looked. I've always pictured him as he looked in the Hotel California video. Long hair, beard and flannel shirt dueling with Joe Walsh. In the interview he has short hair, no beard and an almost constant smile. He came off as totally sincere in his answers about both the good and bad. He never came close to ripping Frey and Henley and many responses were very flattering towards them.

    It was interesting to hear that even though he wasn't a founding member, he was brought in as a full partner as opposed to Timothy Schmidt and Joe Walsh who are paid sidemen. Very well paid sidemen, but still sidemen. I later watched a couple of other interviews that were also good. I plan to get his book the next time I order from Amazon. If you're an Eagles fan, I'd definitely recommend watching.

    Good Luck!
    Ric at Joes
     
  2. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Terri and I chatted with Don for a good 45 minutes a few years back during the Kraft Nabisco Championship Pro-Am. We left the party to get some fresh air and Don was just chilling by himself. He was open, friendly, we didn't play the fawning fan bullshit and just had a wonderful, relaxing convo.

    It takes two to tango, but with the many books, the rockumentary and at least some bit of time with one of the protagonists who said nothing untoward about the other two protagonists ... Frey and Felder don't carry the day for me. JMO. Bernie and particularly Randy deserved better, too.
     
  3. mrstealth

    mrstealth VIP Whale

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    Yeah, the impression I got was that He & Glen F. Just didn't get along very well. Don always wanted to play a bigger part in the band, have a song or 2 to call his own in which he could sing and be featured, but for some reason Don H. & Glen F. just wouldn't allow that to happen. It all came to a head during a fundraiser they were doing for a politician in California I believe it was and during the benefit concert you can hear the 2 of them fighting and I believe it was Glen who even said on the microphone "I;m going to kick your ass after this concert". After that the writing was on the wall for him. After that Don & Glen wrote a new contract where they would get more than the rest of the members of the band, and presented it as a "take it or leave it" deal. Kind of a shitty thing to do imo since they all were pretty rich by then and they where generating enough money anyway.

    No doubt he was an excellent musician and deserved better.

    Glen seemed to me to be somewhat of a "control freak" and I know was in a huge lawsuit with producer David Geffen that got really ugly.
     
  4. joespoolhall

    joespoolhall VIP Whale

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    Felder aluded to the contract rewrite in a round about manner. Obviously things change in bands as time moves on. What starts as a democracy morphs into something different as time moves on. You hit the nail on the head as far as spreading the creative wealth. Leadon and then Meisner saw early on which way the wind blew and this influenced their leaving I'm sure. The feud between Felder and Frey is well documented and quite frankly, sad to see. A couple of other suprising facts were that Stephen Stills was in Felder's first band in Florida. Leadon came in when Stills left. About that time Felder worked at a music store giving lessons and one of his students was Tom Petty. The last little tidbit was that he learned slide guitar from Duanne Allman before either hit the bigtime. Pretty interesting stuff.

    Good Luck!
    Ric at Joes
     
  5. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

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    Youthful ideals aside, and allowing for equity in a few songs, the Eagles always consisted of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and some other guys. Some of the other guys accepted that and some didn't.
     
  6. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Paul and John were the Beatles.

    As far as composition, yes, or being the first two guys to say, "Let's jam together." As a musician, Glenn probably was the weakest in the set. Sure, Don (F) wasn't exactly a singing superstar, but Randy had a spot in the band that was unique.
     
  7. Joe Strummer

    Joe Strummer VIP Whale

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    Paid "side men" ?
    Jesus !
    Ask Ron Wood !!!!!!
    Freakin' guy worked 15 years in The Stones before Mick + Keith gave him a share !!!!
    THAT might be THE WORST I've ever heard..........and there are many crappy stories, in POP music !
    *
    *
    One thing with a HOWARD STERN interview..............you KNOW........he's gonna ask ANYTHING !
    Damn the "fluff" interview !
     
  8. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

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    Creatively, there are similarities, since both pairs contributed most but not all of the music. Otherwise, Paul and John is not a fair comparison. Everyone can name all the Beatles, and after a couple hiccups the group's composition did not change. More than half of the general public probably can't name a single member of the Eagles, and members came and went with the exception of the two that formed the heart of the group. Were the Eagles just as good with Timothy as with Randy? I think so. Did they miss Felder's playing? Sure, but he isn't lead singer on anything big and he wasn't in on the group's first fame like Ringo, who completed the product that was the Beatles in more ways than just his odd style of drumming.
     
  9. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    I think you took me just a bit too seriously.

    As for Schmidt, he plays bass, he sings way up there, did a fine job when Poco showed Meisner the door, but his style and voice worked for the Long Run and the long re-runs since, but would not have sufficed on the five albums by which the Eagles are most judged, rated, loved and remembered.

    Speaking of bass, it was Felder who came up with the most recognized bass lick they had.
     
  10. joespoolhall

    joespoolhall VIP Whale

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    I agree with Ken on the analogy which I think was simply just comparing two song writing teams driving the bus. Comparing public knowledge of Beatles names to those of the Eagles is apples and oranges. Both were great, but the Beatles came along at a time that changed the landscape of pop music. To compare them isn't possible as I see it.

    Re Schmidt, I liked him in Poco also, but I think he had the same job description with them as the Eagles, sideman. As Jerry would say, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" Meisner just filled a different slot with both.

    BTW, I first heard Take It Easy at a Joni Mitchell concert in the early 70s. The little known co-writer of the song used it as part of his set opening for her. Mitchell and Browne, not a bad show.

    Good Luck!
    Ric at Joes
     
  11. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    "Love Will Keep Us Alive" and "I Can't Tell You Why" against "Too Many Hands" and "Midnight Flyer," to name two that aren't even commercially obvious?
     
  12. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

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    Now who's being too serious? Okay, I'll grant that authoring the group's sole disco song is not exactly the definition of greatness, but it's still just the two main guys who comprise the heart of the Eagles. Plus, if the tenor can't hit the money note in his big aria, they give him a spear and hire another tenor. The show goes on.
     
  13. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Collaborators vs. a show pony. ;)
     
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