What's up with dissing Don Henley?

Henry the Horse · Feb 7, 2009

Bruceanthony said: ↑

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

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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.
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It is a very good book.

Galaga King · Feb 7, 2009

czeskleba said: ↑

I wonder what Robert Christgau thinks of Don Henley?
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He gives fairly good reviews to Henley's solo albums, but rates the greatest-hits album a bomb. Makes no sense.

http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Don+Henley

Enjoyem Steve · Feb 7, 2009

Don's a legend in his own mind.

peteham · Feb 7, 2009

All this talk of Don got me to listen to "On The Border". His vocal on "You Never Cry Like A Lover" is sublime. Gifted dude.

kwadguy · Feb 7, 2009

I have known multiple people who've dealt professionally with the Eagles over the years. Not one of them has anything particularly nice to say about Henley or Frey. They talk about these guys in the same way they talk about Paul Simon (to name another famous musician not well loved by those who have to deal with him).

Master Shake · Feb 7, 2009

Grant said: ↑

Yup, that was the story! And, yes, I think you hit it on the head. But, you do realize that the word "leftist" is used by right-wing extremists to make them sound worse than they really are.

But, the thing about the three teenage prostitutes also made news.

You know what? he's HUMAN! He, like all of us, has done things they may not have been proud of.
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.....and you do realize the phrase "right wing extremist" is used by leftists to make them sound worse than they are?

Pot, meet Kettle.

Master Shake · Feb 7, 2009

Grant said: ↑

Don't tell Gene Simmons, Dave lee Roth, or Ted Nugent that!
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But they do not subscribe to "Do as I say, not as I do." as Mr. Henley seems to do.

Are they pretensious, yes. Hypocritical, no. Henley's problem is he does not live up to his own high standards. I can stand much but hypocrasy is a particularly ugly sin.

I say this owning every Eagles album and every Don Henley solo album. I will likely continue to listen. I do not care for him as a person but I am not hiring him as a spiritual guide either.

He is a talented hypocrite, a very talented one but if I could spend 5 minutes with Joe Walsh or 5 hours with Henley, that would be a no-brainer. Besides, Joe Walsh certainly does not take himself too seriously.

I used to think Mojo Nixon was an **** for not liking Henley.

Now, I realize that Mojo pretty much has it figured out.

At one tme I would have killed to have met him. Now, I would avoid him.

KeithH · Feb 7, 2009

Sorry guys, but I think we need to close this thread. Let's just say that it hasn't really been focused on music.

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What's up with dissing Don Henley?

Henry the Horse Active Member

Galaga King "Drive where the cops ain't"

Enjoyem Steve New Member

peteham Senior Member

kwadguy Senior Member

Master Shake Forum Resident

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KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

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What's up with dissing Don Henley?

Henry the Horse Active Member

Galaga King "Drive where the cops ain't"

Enjoyem Steve New Member

peteham Senior Member

kwadguy Senior Member

Master Shake Forum Resident

Master Shake Forum Resident

KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

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