What's up with dissing Don Henley?

Don is arrogant and not as talented as He would think, imo...

 

So, in summary, I can tell my wife he's got a huge ego, he's arrogant, and a major a-hole. Have I got that right?

BTW, WXPN is a very liberal station, so the politics wouldn't have factored in.

 

Actually I think Mikey nailed it here (and he did not side with or against any talkshow's host)
because I have heard Henley criticized for his lefty politics a lot.
You can lean that way and radio shows will leave you alone but as soon as you
stand for something (for example, Chrissie Hynde and vegetarianism) they verbally
cut you to pieces. FoxNews loved kicking Paul McCartney in the head for vegetarianism
and landmine charities both. It's commonplace.

You don't have to agree or disagree with the news when you report it here,
it's just the facts.

 

Reminds me of the time Babs Streisand called up NBC in NY
to order them to turn down the sound of the commercials that played
during the premiere broadcast of 'Yentl'.

Yes, a story so insane that no one could make it up: it's perfectly true. (laughing)

 

You are correct sir.

 

Considering your location is listed as "Central United States", I'll give you a pass. But you should know that "Mr. Conservation" got sucked in when he got involved with all that Walden Woods stuff. The whole "scandal" was cooked up by the rich, rich snobs of Concord, Massachusetts (where Walden Woods is located) who wanted to stop a low income housing project from being built. The feds forced them to allow it, so these rich folk called in Henley, crying "Save Walden Woods".

The low income housing project was going to slightly cut into about 18 acres of the 150 acres around Walden Pond.

Henley pulled his weight and got the project developers to sell the land under huge pressure from the conservation lobby.

The whole time this was going in, there was a trailer park across the street from the entrance. Next to the trailer park was a landfill (since closed). You could smell garbage as you drove by Walden Woods.

There's a little history here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/15/milestone_for_walden_woods

Interesting quote of note:
"The group still has not managed to complete the second prong of its mission: finding another site for the affordable condos that its preservation effort shut out of Walden Woods. Henley had pledged to use some of the project's proceeds to buy land for affordable housing outside Walden Woods. That still hasn't happened, despite attempts by the project and the Trust for Public Land to orchestrate a land swap. (When Henley got involved, state housing officials warned him that some local opposition to development in Walden Woods might actually stem from a desire to keep low-income housing out of Concord.)"

FWIW, I lost a lost of respect for Henley because of the Walden Woods stuff.

 

I know it's true, but I just don't want this thread to get political enough for the gorts to close it.

 

BTW, here is a bit about the organization Henley is associated with that I mentioned earlier. Local reports said that Ron Silver is based in Colorado. I mistakenly said it was the center. The center is based in Tucson, AZ.

 

Oh yeah, I happen to like the Eagles, and like Don Henley's solo stuff too. I think they are a smokin' band and have excellent chops.

 

It has nothing to do with politics for me. I don't hate his guts, but I sense that he thinks a little too highly of himself. Pretentiousness is not kindly accepted by rock fans, because its supposed to be a music of the people as opposed to music for the people.

 

Don't tell Gene Simmons, Dave lee Roth, or Ted Nugent that!

 

I think it's because The Eagles are the cheesiest, most overrated band ever - and so obviously in it for the money only.

They're not country, not rock... just blah. Ugh.

To quote Jeffrey Lebowski, "I hate the ****in' Eagles, man".

Jeff

 

Don't forget totell Her that Felder hates him...

 

I am not familiar with Don Henley's solo work. I'm a moderate fan of Eagles and I think Don's contributions to the band are considerable. A lot of great music has been created by @$$hΦLΣ$ and I don't want to miss out on it.

 

Good point. This is also how I feel about Michael Jackson. Any crime but messing with kids. I just can't deal.

 

Who cares? Henley probably doesn't.

 

Felder's book doesn't go that far back but comes in when he first became involved with them. Take It To the Limit on the other hand covers their entire career and Henley co-operated with the author throughout most of the writing process but turned against the book just before it was to go to press.

 

I totally get that clause. That is a WORKPLACE not a hang out zone. This is where he prepares for work, his job. Even working at club level before I start a gig I don't want to be annoyed, people don't think of it as your work zone unfortunatly. The cancellation clause is there just to make sure the request for a clear backstage carried out.

Even still Don Henely is a ****ing ******e haha !

 

I'm actually from Massachusetts so I know what went down.

 

How sad if Don Henley wrapped himself in a flag of environmentalism so the wealthy there wouldn't have to deal with common folks.

I don't know if his motivation was true to his ideals or not. If not, I'm disappointed but he's always seemed sincere about his environmentalism and tried to stay true to his artistry.

Either way, I still enjoy his music. I don't know that I like him personally but i still love his music.

 

I was living in Concord Massachusetts at the time, so I lived what went down.

 

I've heard many unfavorable things about Don Henley's character over the years, including how he blabbed to the press about Stevie Nicks aborting his child. Who knows what is fact or what is made up but since their are so many stories out there there probably is an underlying truth concerning his character. I equate it to public figures, entertainers and athletes-I know there are arrogant, intolerable jerks and miserable human beings out there, but I pay to hear their music or watch them perform and that's what matters to me.

 

I saw him on I think it was 60 Minutes. Looked to be angry that he had to be there. And when Frey spoke, he looked like he had no interest whatsoever in being there or in what frey had to say. I bought his solo albums at a used CD store and after listening to them I learned that I eaither really like his songs, or really don't care for them. I took the tracks I liked and burned them on one CDR and took them back to the used CD shop. And as someone else mentioned, I'm not into social commentary in my music. I want to relax and enjoy the music, not be lectured by it.

 

I don't think Rusty makes comments about Henley any more. He did make some at shows several years ago. Cracks about their bass player would eventually be an Eagle and insinuating that The Eagles rook what they did and made a commercial killing on it. I know some fans complained to him about it and I don't think he has commented on Henley since then. On the flip side of DH, I have heard that he has contributed financially to former Poco drummer George Grantham who suffered a stroke and has been unable to work since. Timothy B. Schmit did also.

 

Found this Article concerning Don Felders Book

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...04-27_eagle_don_felder_has_landed.html?page=0


Eagle Don Felder has landed

Saturday, April 26th 2008, 4:00 AM


Page 1 of 2)

The way ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder talks about his tell-all book addressing his former band mates, you'd think it contained nary an ounce of controversy.

In measured tones, Felder says he merely wanted his tome to give the reader "a guided tour of the American dream," "a great sense of who I am" and "insight into life in the fast lane."

Settling scores over being fired from a band whose leaders spent years berating his talents, humiliating him and cutting his share of the group's profits had little to do with it.

"I wasn't out to hang people's heads for the whole community to see," Felder insists. "That wasn't the point of the book. The point was to tell my story."

True enough, Felder's book acknowledges early, and often, it's been a lucky and handsomely rewarded life that he has led. But the book, "Heaven and Hell," also shows that life for Felder came to hold far more of the latter than the former. According to the guitarist, he increasingly became the butt of nasty put-downs, double crosses and the endless belittling consequences of other people's vanity.

"Heaven and Hell" provides a loathsome, if juicy, portrait of band leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey, whom Felder paints as sadistic, self-involved, exploitive and endlessly greedy.

The pair haven't taken it lying down. They filed a lawsuit against Felder to keep the book from ever seeing the light of a Barnes & Noble.

They nearly succeeded. "Heaven and Hell" was to be published by Hyperion in 2006, but that company backed out. Felder says the legal settlement he finally reached with Henley and Frey last May prevents him from talking about why the book came to be scuttled by Hyperion or how it eventually got published in the U.K. last November, and next month here in the U.S. (by Wiley).

Current members of the Eagles were contacted for comment but did not respond.

All Felder will say about the tussle over his book is that, in the end, "you can't prevent someone from telling the truth."

Likewise, in conversation Felder can't help but talk about some of the more negative aspects of his story, despite his frequent assertions that he's "not bitter" (six, in half an hour).

"The more successful the band became, in my opinion, the more it became focused on money, the more of a business relationship it became and the less of a friendship," he says.

In the book, Felder talks about the band as a two-tier system, with Henley and Frey operating as "the Gods" (a term he alleges even manager Irv Azoff used about them behind their backs). The other group members were treated like hired help.

(Page 2 of 2)

The slights weren't just social but financial. When Felder joined the band in 1974, he says there was an agreement that all members would share profits equally. When the band reunited in '94, all that changed and Henley/Frey got a far bigger slice of the pie, according to the guitarist.

The other second-tier members (like Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit) never complained about the situation. Felder's increasing challenges to the change led to his expulsion (suits and countersuits followed).

Some observers might say that Henley and Frey clearly deserved more of the pie - they're the band's obvious star writers and singers. But Felder counters that the switch in pay policy violated the original agreement.

One wonders if Felder ever came to regret playing the band's squeaky wheel. After all, had he not, he would still be drawing a mighty check from the group's tours and blockbuster new album.

"It was time for me to be David and face Goliath," he says. "I had my one little rock to hurl, to try to do what was fair for everyone."

Besides, Felder had enough money by that point. And he'd obviously had enough of the band leaders personally. Felder portrays Frey as a particularly nasty piece of work.

According to the author, Frey called sideman David Sanborn "Flipper" (in reference to his withered hand), publicly labeled Randy Meisner a"p-y" and got their PR man fired for buying soft-pack, rather than hard-pack, boxes of Marlboros.

Felder blames part of this behavior on Frey's alleged drug use at the time. "It was an emotional problem that should have been addressed in therapy, not with more cocaine," Felder writes.

Felder will admit some "regret" over what he calls "the loss of a family," after his firing in 2001.

"All the guys - from the band to the management to the crew - completely severed contact," he says. "I've been unable, and they've been unwilling, to open up any lines of communication."

Even so, Felder rejects any description of himself as a disgruntled ex-employee. "I'm a happy ex-employee of the Eagles," he says. "To tell you the truth, I'm engaged to be married next year. I don't have to worry about money. I can play where and when I want. I don't carry any ill will."

But thankfully, for those of us who like a good read, he left plenty of it in his book.