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Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Don spoke for around three and a half hours! So this will take some time to get down.
Don started by welcoming us all. He had a cup of coffee with him and said he didn’t feel awake yet, as he’d been up to about 4am eating BBQ and birthday cake with his son. He joked about people thinking he’d been up all night partying with Joe, but no, they didn’t do that, they’re all old. He said he was glad to be there, and that the night before had been pretty exciting, and he was glad his voice showed up. He said he was very happy that his friends were there, Stevie, Patti, Timothy, and Joe. He said that Stevie will be celebrating 70 next May and he planned to be there in some form or fashion to help her celebrate, and he wasn’t sure what Timothy and Joe were planning to do.
He mentioned that Paul McCartney was playing in nearby Shreveport, LA the night before, so he was flattered that people showed up for his birthday bash. He said if he’d had the night off, he’d have gone down there himself. He said that Paul had sent along birthday greetings, and said that both Paul and Ringo were his musical heroes, and he at least partially learned to play drums by playing along to Beatles songs.
He mentioned it was just a Q&A, no singing, because he couldn’t, he’d used it all up on stage the night before, and that he’d given it everything he had. Of course there was a lot of applause for that, because he definitely had.
He said he got off tour ten days ago or so and his voice had been shot, and so he went to a voice coach who looked at his throat and listened to him and said, “I can’t help you now.” So he talked to a different one via Facetime and he was able to help, but he thought that sleeping for two days before the show was what really helped. He said that rest was important for singing, but he is a nocturnal animal who stays up late on the internet, answering emails, doing business, just making sure everything’s OK, that someone needs to stay up and watch.
First question: Could he talk about the preservation efforts regarding Caddo Lake? He started by giving some background info for Caddo Lake for those not from around Texas, which prompted him to ask who in the room was out of state. Nearly the entire room raised their hands, which seemed to surprise him, and the look on his face was rather comical. People then shouted out where they were from, mostly people from out of the US. There were folks from Japan, Norway, England, Scotland (so Don mentioned his mother’s ancestors came from SW Scotland). Then he started talking about Caddo Lake. It’s on the border of LA and TX, but the watershed comes from TX. The only (semi)natural lake in TX. It was a series of natural lakes at one time. Once oil was discovered, they wanted to build oil platforms over water, and they needed to get out to the platforms without going through mud. So they built a small dam at one end to fill it. Caddo Lake was the place where they first learned to drill for oil over water, and Howard Hughes was instrumental in making that happen. There are more species of fish than any other lake in TX. There are several endangered species and has bald eagles, alligator snapping turtles, and an ancient prehistoric fish called ‘paddlefish’, which his outfit is in the process of replenishing. It was declared a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Treaty not too many years ago. It is 2700 acres of wetland. There are Cypress trees that are over 400 years old, and it’s a great place to fish. He encouraged people to go there, you can kayak, canoe, go fishing. You can get a fishing guide. There are cabins for rent. He caught his first fish there in 1957 with his dad.
2nd question: A lady from Cambridge, England. She mentioned a lot of artists are doing tours where they sing an album start to finish, and she wondered if he was considering doing the same for the 30th anniversary of End Of The Innocence. He seemed surprised it had been 30 years, and laughed said he was glad that we kept track of these things (implying that he doesn’t). He said he was sure he’d be back in the UK either as a solo artist or with the Eagles. He said the UK was one of their favorite places to play. Last year was the 40th anniversary of Hotel California album, and they are getting out a 40th anniversary edition of it soon. It will include some live tracks from the 1976/77 tour. He explained he’s been doing the mixes of it remotely with a guy in Austin. He said he has a lot of things going on and mentioned the show in LA. He said he didn’t feel he’d had a good night, but it seemed the audience didn’t notice. He said that Deacon Frey did a wonderful job, and so did Vince Gill.
3rd question: A lady from Connecticut. She scratched an item off her bucketlist over the weekend (seeing Don live), and wondered if he had a bucket list, and if so, what was on it, and what has already been scratched off? He said there were several things scratched off. He wants to travel more with his children. He’s been gone a lot and missed a few things. He tries to be home for the really important things, but when he’s gone he’s gone, when he’s home he’s home. He would like to show them the world while it still exists. He talked about a huge cornfield that his dad had, and that it was a magical place for him (I think that only people who have been in a cornfield, especially as a kid, can really understand what he was talking about here). A place to hide, a place to dream, a place to lay on your back and look at the sky and clouds. This kind of thing, dream time, is missing today. He wants to do more of that kind of thing with his kids. He wants to fish more with them. He wants to travel more. He’s been to a lot of places, has seen a lot of places from the inside of a hotel room or airport. You see the roads between the airport, room, and venue. He doesn’t go out much on tour, even to restaurants as he can’t talk over loud restaurants without tearing his voice up. He wants to see the places he’s traveled to, but hasn’t really seen. He would like to eat his way through Italy. He’d like to go to the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, Iceland. He’d like to spend more time in Great Britian tracing his family’s roots. He wants to live a really long time so he has time to do all these things. It’s important to him to do these things with his kids. He has a really long list of things he wants to do, and parachuting is not on it.
4th question: A lady from Georgia. She said that the song The End of the Innocence has really meant a lot to her over the course of her life, and she wondered if there was one song or lines of a song that he’s written that still really touches him. He said TEOTI has taken on a whole new meaning since the November election. The Heart of the Matter still resonates because we always need forgiveness from somebody. He enjoys singing The Last Resort. On Cass County, the song with Merle Haggard, The Cost of Living, moves him and especially because he was honored to have sung with Merle. He said he was moved by the concert Saturday night, it was a special occasion, some nights it’s just a job. It depends on how drunk the audience is and how many cellphone cameras with the white lights that make him feel like a deer being hunted. There are still songs and concerts that move him.
5th question: A man from New York City. Said Don’s lyrics often have a clever turn of phrase. His favorite is from If Dirt Were Dollars, “She just looks at me uncomprehendingly, like cows at a passing train.” He wanted to know if Don made it up or if it was an old Texas saying. The look on Don’s face was comical. Don replied that it was neither. He said he paraphrased it from a British saying, he thinks. He said no one ever talks about that song. He said that sometimes you say something to someone and you can tell they didn’t understand a word you said, so it was a great image. He said he likes the cartoon by Gary Larson where cows are standing in a field talking to each other and one yells ‘car’, then they get back down on all four legs and pretend to eat grass, then the car goes by and they all stand back up again.
6th question: A man from Cass County Illinois. He asked how they met Steuart Smith and how they got together, that when he sees him play he can’t take his eyes off watching him play. Don said he is an absolute master, then went back to the fact the man was from Cass County. He mentioned there are nine of them in the US, all named after the senator from Michigan, Louis Cass. Promoted to be Secretary of War. Back to Steuart, he met him at a concert in the early 2000’s, after Felder’s exit. The concert was Shawn Colvin, and he said he was a big Shawn Colvin fan. He said he was very impressed with Steuart’s ability, so he met up with him and mentioned the Eagles and that they needed someone who could play both Bernie’s Bendilick and in Felder’s style, and there weren’t many in the US or even in the world who could do that. Steuart said he liked playing with Shawn. Don told him “Listen, I’m talking about serious employment here.” He had a couple meetings with him, then it was time to take him to meet Glenn. They went to Glenn’s studio in West LA and ran through three or four songs, when finished, Steuart left so that Don and Glenn could discuss it. Once Steuart left, Don asked Glenn what he thought and Glenn replied, “Bingo.” Then, “That’s the guy.” Don then said that Steuart is not the kind of guy who can sit still. If the Eagles or Don aren’t doing anything, he finds side projects to do, that he loves to play. Don said that if they hadn’t found him, he’s not sure they could have continued on.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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Re: Don Henley at American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX - 22 July 2017
Thanks for some of the recap, HB. Aww. A father and son moment. I remembered reading at last year's Runaway Tour that he had to get home and helped Will with his homework and that he was mad at him. LOL
I didn't know it was Don who suggested Steuart to Glenn or found Steuart. I always thought it was the opposite. I can't believe Steuart was about turn down the Eagles. Thank goodness he didn't.
Don is right about Steuart not sitting still. He still plays with his old boss Rodney Crowell when they are not touring.
I don't know when Don started going to the vocal coach after that first meeting, but from what I hear and saw in the videos, he sounded amazing especially on Patty and Stevie's songs he hasn't sung in years.
I can't wait to hear more.
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Re: Don Henley at American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX - 22 July 2017
Moderators - it just dawned on me that maybe I should have created a new thread for the Don Henley Runaway Tour stop in Dallas 07/23/17? :doh:
If one of you get a chance would you be able to do that and then I will continue with the recap tonight. Thank you!!
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Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
I started a new thread for yesterday's event.
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Re: Don Henley at American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX - 22 July 2017
7th question: A lady who did not say where she was from. She asked about his collaborations on Cass County especially regarding lyrics. How does it work? He said that the process is different than it used to be. In the beginning, he and Glenn used to be in a room together sitting across from each other with a couple of acoustic guitars. Then it evolved to working separately, and getting together to show what each had done. Then from there to completely separately and sending each other tapes or CDs. With Steuart, they never work together, they work separately. There is no set way now, via phone or computer, rarely work together in the same room. What he likes now is someone to send or work with him on music, he prefers to work on lyrics on his own, he doesn’t like to share it. Being that he doesn’t like to criticize or reject people’s ideas he said. Songwriting is like acting, a lot of rejection. You need to learn to reject or criticize in a very inoffensive way. He said it was why he and Glenn worked so well together, they could say anything to each other. They could say “that *&%$ stinks” and not have their feelings hurt.
8th question: A man from Littleton, CO. He wanted to know what Don’s favorite song was, and some (most? Could not hear well) of his songs were sad, so who hurt him? Again, there was a priceless look on Don’s face. Don said he thought the best songs were sad songs. He said he didn’t like happy songs. I think. (The lady beside us seemed to think his answers were interactive and commented on nearly everything he said, and sometimes quite loudly, and she was speaking at the same time as this statement). Happy songs are harder to write, you need to be happy at the beginning, happy all through the song, and happy at the end. He prefers the sad songs, you can only hear You Are My Sunshine but so many times, but he can listen to Yesterday by Paul McCartney again and again. We’ve all been hurt at one time or another. Joni Mitchell once said you take all your pain and turn it into art. He said it’s easier to work from tragedy. Not just individuals, but everything on the planet can hurt you. Randy Newman has a new album coming out. Randy, Leonard Cohen, and Paul Simon were ‘it’ when it came to songwriting as far as he was concerned. Randy’s new album is coming out Aug 4 and is titled Dark Matter. He then talked about a blog/interview with Randy about happy songs vs. sad songs.
9th question: A man from Arkansas. He said a lot of Don’s songs spoke to them (he and his wife) and some spoke for them. He said some of Don’s songs had a unique twist or turn of phrase. Examples were TBOS sunglasses/Wayfarers on, in WITW Don talked about the egg and dart. He wondered where they came from. Don explained that Wayfarers were sunglasses, and that Ray Ban should have sponsored his tour, they got a lot of free advertising (he laughed as he said this). When explaining the egg and dart, he mentioned that he’s seen it misquoted so many times, the lyric sites are never right. (Then he went on a tangent about the different lyric sites and their mistakes) But back to ‘Egg and dart’ which is an architectural term. You see them in older houses. It’s a design used for moldings on the ceiling. The egg is a little round thing that’s an egg shape. The darts, or arrows, are on either side. I will add that it’s also called ‘egg and tongue’, and that it dates back to ancient times, so more than ‘old’. Don mentioned the egg means life, the dart means death, so….he just threw that in the song. He said WITW is one of his favorite songs that he’s written, which got much applause (he got a lot of applause on nearly everything, he got more on this.) Someone randomly asked him if he’d play it live, I think, based on his answer. He said it was very hard to do, hard to sing, but that he’d give it a shot. He said he’s often accused of being too serious and too morbid in his songs, but that some of his songs have humor in them. He said Randy Newman talked about that the other day when talking about songs with satire in them, that Don was one of the few who did that, but nobody notices.
10th question: A lady from Cleveland, OH. Wanted to know when he was coming to Cleveland. Rock and Roll city (Hall of Fame and all that). He tried to tell her he was just there, then realized it had been Cincinnati. He said he’d get there.
11th question: A lady from Phoenix, Arizona. Wanted to know if he liked to sing in the shower, and if so, what did he sing? He said he never sings in the shower. Sometimes his kids do, but he does not. The water is too loud (with a laugh).
12th question: A man from Boston. He said he appreciated Don’s involvement with Walden Woods and asked about how he got involved. Don gave a good, lengthy reply. He said it’s been 27 years. He talked about an early appreciation for nature, then an old teacher that got him on the path to reading. Then a class in college where he may or may not have read Emerson. Then later in life (not much later), when his dad got ill, he left college in 1968 to help his mother take care of his dad. He said he and his mom were members of a Southern Baptist church, and he wasn’t getting what he needed there. It was a lot of hellfire and brimstone. It didn’t help with his dad, so he turned to the philosophers, including Thoreau. ( VA - As an aside, while you would seldom, if ever, hear about hellfire and brimstone in a Lutheran church, I often wonder how often my little church fails its members in such a way.) He talked about relearning an appreciation for nature while at home, and it sometimes included the use of ‘substances’, and jokingly said it would make a tree to be a great tree. Don really got amused reflecting back on his and his friends’ experiences with a substance and enjoying the woods around Linden. One time during a trek thru the woods one of his friends (I forgot what Don said his name was) stopped, pointed to a tree and then exclaimed ‘now that is a tree’. Fast forward to 1980, he was in LA in the kitchen with CNN on the tv and he hears the name Walden Woods, said up to then he hadn’t realized it was a real place. He always thought of it as some mystical, magical place. So he called the guy and offered to help out. A couple of months later, he went to walk through it (crunching thru the snow the whole time with the wrong type of shoes on) and realized that the Woods really needed to be saved and this guy was not going to be able to do it. Don went to Senator Ted Kennedy’s office since he knew him to ask for assistance. Senator Kennedy’s legislative aide for many years Kathi Anderson told Don that he would need to start a non profit foundation and raise millions in order to save Walden Woods. Ms. Anderson also told Don that she would be willing to quit working for Sen. Kennedy and run the organization for Don. She did not think Sen. Kennedy would have a problem with her doing this since his mother used to take him and his brothers there to swim. In fact Sen. Kennedy learned to swim in Walden Pond so it had a special place in his heart. And today Ms Anderson is still running it. He talked about what all they’ve done, and mentioned they still need money so to feel free to donate.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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Re: Don Henley at American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX - 22 July 2017
Thanks, Houston Baby, this is great! :thumbsup: (too bad about the "interactive" lady).
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
HB - OMG - This is wonderful ! Keep going with the story. Thank You.
Did he discuss Glenn or tell any funny stories about their times together? Hope I'm not jumping the gun. I know last year from the Fast Lane post he had a very difficult time and could barely talk about Glenn.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Thank you so much for typing all this out!
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Thank you everyone! This is a joint effort between VA and I and she gets a lot of the credit as she is doing the majority of the work. But you can blame the spelling and grammar errors on me. I am just trying to get this online as fast as I can.
So excuse the errors and hopefully our fearless leader, Soda and other educators here are not grading me. ;)
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
You and Verna both get A+! :)
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
NKIT - In my opinion, he did talk more easily about Glenn though it looked like the emotions were still right there below the surface. In the above story about songwriting, he looked a little reflective/wistful when he spoke of first writing with Glenn. Or at least that is how it looked to me - like he enjoyed remembering how he and Glenn could be totally honest with each other.
And again to me, he was beaming and once looked like he was on the verge of tears when he talked about Deacon and what a fine job he did in LA and how proud his dad would have been of him. The emotion was clearly showing then.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Thanks HB so much for all of the posts!!! :D
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Houston Baby
6th question: A man from Cass County Illinois.
Was he really from Cass County, in Illinois? If so that is extremely, extremely close to where I live and I'm honestly surprised someone from this area made the trek and had the ability to go. I'm not trying to sound bad, but seriously. That's awesome. The Cass County I'm thinking of is a very remote, redneck area and most people wouldn't go to something like this. It has to be a different place. lol
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
HB......thank you..sounds like Don's responses were detailed and honest. What a special night
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
WalshFan88
Was he really from Cass County, in Illinois? If so that is extremely, extremely close to where I live and I'm honestly surprised someone from this area made the trek and had the ability to go. I'm not trying to sound bad, but seriously. That's awesome. The Cass County I'm thinking of is a very remote, redneck area and most people wouldn't go to something like this. It has to be a different place. lol
He said he was Austin. 😊 And that is how we all received a history & geography lesson from Don regarding the Cass counties of the US.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Houston Baby
He said he was Austin. 😊 And that is how we all received a history & geography lesson from Don regarding the Cass counties of the US.
Wow! I'd be curious which town in Cass County....
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
HB - Thanks for posting the Q&A here...no small feat considering the amount of questions that were asked during the session!
It was an incredible experience at both the concert itself and the Q&A. We had seats in the third row, slightly right of center at both the concert and the Q&A. I am glad they allowed a few photos to be taken.
I didn't ask any questions but during the photo session my fiance told him that he inspired me to propose during the concert. (near the end of Desperado.) He congratulated us. I told him that "I had to let somebody love me before it was too late!", which made him laugh. :laugh:
He did seem to really enjoy himself at the concert (as he said he did because his voice was well rested and he could relax more and not be as concerned with hitting the right notes.
It was great to see him so at ease and happily answering questions - a more relaxed Don Henley than sometimes his reputation garners!
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
I totally agree LTEF! At the concert, Don seemed to be so excited & happy and then at the Q&A, he seemed much more relaxed than last year. Plus he was smiling lots more. He seemed to be having a great time!
And congratulations on the upcoming nuptials! You should have shared that story at the Q&A. Everyone would have loved it!
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Did Don say or even Runaway Tour if they will do more with Don? I know he said he would like to do more when he said that last year. IF I didn't have my 20th class reunion next year(we're going a cruise), I would save just in case Don decided to do it again next year. I think he will since he seems to enjoy and more comfortable at these things. 3 hours with Don and then a picture with him after, it is worth the money. Is the picture session included in that 3 hours or a separate time.
IMO Don should do a birthday concert every year. LOL
As I watched the videos from this weekend, Don sounded great.
Congrats to you and your finacee, longtimeeaglesfan
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Question 13: A lady from Las Vegas. She asked why they quit performing songs from the album LROOE after the tour for that album. Don went through the songs they did sing on tour, with the help of many in the audience, and he said that BBF was hard to sing. He said it was a good question and he didn’t have a definitive answer except that they decided there were other songs that people wanted to hear. He said that it was how things worked, that people wanted to hear songs from a certain time period in their life, that they wanted to hear things from the past. He said that after every concert they would gauge the reaction from the audience, judging from the amount of applause, etc. Then he said that sometimes they rebel and decide to play a song they want to play anyway. He said that at the end they had honed it down to a greatest hits sort of thing, but that going forward, with the changes in the band they’ll dig down and do some of those other songs, because they really should. Everyone seemed to agree. He mentioned that radio is to blame for some of it, that they will not play newer songs which doesn’t let people get accustomed to the new stuff like they did the old stuff. He reminded us that Cass County didn’t get played hardly at all on radio, and it was because he was over 40. He said he could do a whole sermon about corporate radio but he wouldn’t. He said that it used to be that local radio stations could play what they wanted, but now their playlists are handed down to them from the corporate conglomerate. He said some writers like Leonard Cohen got better as they got older, but instead of playing that music, we get treated to plastic bubblegum crap. Radio was programmed to the young not people his/our age. So though he wasn’t going to give the whole sermon he gave us the Reader’s Digest condensed version of radio nowadays.
Question 14: A lady from Richmond, VA. She said she’d read an interview in RS with him where he said he’d been under a lot of pressure to release a song before it was finished, and she wondered what songs he’d felt were unfinished and if there were any songs he’d like to finish now. He didn’t know the year the interview was published, so he didn’t know what song she may have been referring to, but he laughed and said that many would tell us that he could work on a song for a millennium and never consider it finished. He said sometimes a song finished itself and other times it didn’t and you’d need to bluster your way through to get it done. He said that sometimes he’s written a song where he wrote the ending first, and some where he wrote the middle first. He said that not all songs on an album are equal. Some are filler, but that they always tried to make each song the best it could be. (VA -I wish I could have told him that it shows).
Question 15: A lady from San Francisco. She said she loved his duets, and she didn’t think there’s been another artist that has mastered the duets like he has. She mentioned Trisha Yearwood and Axl Rose, which got a good laugh from him as he mentioned the big leap between the two, and she said that was her point. She wondered if at the time of recording, he’d known any of them would be hits. He said you never knew for sure what would be a hit. He said it had been pretty obvious to him that Walkaway Joe with Trisha would be a hit. Leather and Lace had been a ‘maybe’. He said that often duets are done to give a song more clout, a bigger chance of being a hit. He talked about he and Dolly singing When I Stop Dreaming, and how she had asked for the key to be changed, it was too high for her. Don politely told her that everything had already been done in that key so Dolly told him that she guessed she would ‘need to rare back and get it’. He said she did it in about 2 or 3 takes and then was gone. We looked around and wondered what just happened. He also talked about Merle and how he was not happy with doing so many takes. He said Merle came to his studio in Dallas with his whole entourage, and Merle told him he really liked the song (The Cost of Living) and Don said that was good because he wrote it with Merle in mind. Merle then asked him – ‘Don, what’s happened to the music’ (today’s music) and Don told him he felt we’d gotten too far from the land, too far from the church, and Merle agreed with him. So it was all good until he made Merle do 18 takes. He said finally Merle stormed into the control room asking ‘is this a f’n joke’ and Don said ‘no sir’, he (Don) felt he was back to calling him ‘sir’. He told Merle he was trying to find a particular sound, something about a baritone, I missed it as the lady next to me was talking. Whatever Don told him, Merle’s response was that he believed Don was looking for a younger man. Don said Stan elbowed him and said, “That’s a great song title.” So they wrote it down. He said he was very honored and privileged to have sung with Merle, that Merle, George Jones, and Ray Charles were three of his favorite singers. Then he added Trisha Yearwood.
Question 16: A man from Orlando. He wondered how long we could look forward to seeing Don perform, that if he wanted to at 80, there’d be a room full of people who would come and listen. Don replied that Leonard Cohen was close to 80 when he stopped. He said he looks at Mick Jagger, if only he could get that thin. He said that Keith Richards was a miracle. Then he got more serious and said there were two factors involved. One is their physical health. It may look easy up there, but it’s not, it’s athletics, especially playing the drums and singing at the same time. He said he works out before performing, stretches, riding a bike, all very different than the 70’s. He doesn’t drink on tour because alcohol swells the vocal cords, and he’d rather sing well than drink, although God knows sometimes he wants to. The second factor is if the people want to still come and hear them (they’ll find out in these next few gigs). As long as those two things hold out, we can count on a few more concerts.
He said the thing at Dodger stadium a few days ago wasn’t their best work. They were a little nervous. There were technical things that went wrong. He felt he had to say that Deacon Frey, Glenn’s son, he was so proud of him. He was cool as a cucumber. He’s 24 years old, and has never played in front of an audience more than 100 – 150 people. Then he was in Dodger stadium, with 50,000 people, and he just killed it. He said that Vince Gill is one of the best singers and guitarists on the planet. He said he and Joe had a bad show, but the new guys did just fine. He said they had some new crew members and were ironing out some things. He said there will be a few more shows. There will be one in Seattle “at some point”, and one in Atlanta, and then they’ll see. It’s an experiment and they’ll see how it turns out. If the reviews from the LA show are any indication, things are looking pretty good. He said he won’t say it’s not strange up there without Glenn, because it is. He said that looking at Deacon from behind on stage, he swears his hair looks exactly like Glenn’s, it’s like looking at Glenn when he was that age. He said it was heartwarming and creepy at the same time, but it was a wonderful thing. At this point, Don, to me, seemed very emotional.
All of this is only an hour and twenty minutes into it!
More to come…
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
He didn't say anything about another Runaway tour stop this time Shun. However he seemed to be having a great time! So hopefully.....
And the photo session is after the 3 1/2 hours of Q&A so that is another hour or so of looking at Don. :grin:
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
You're putting so much work into this... I can't thank you enough!
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Houston Baby
He didn't say anything about another Runaway tour stop this time Shun. However he seemed to be having a great time! So hopefully.....
And the photo session is after the 3 1/2 hours of Q&A so that is another hour or so of looking at Don. :grin:
SO basically 4 1/2 hours with Don. I would had been in heaven.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
OMG HB - This is fantastic - thank you so much. My gosh you both took incredible notes ! I would have loved to have been there !
Am I wrong or does this cost about $2,500 including air fare, hotel and concert-event ? A lot of money for me but I know Don will only be doing this for so long.
TY again guys ! :bow:
NOTE - Wow - I just realized my 300th post !
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
shunlvswx
SO basically 4 1/2 hours with Don. I would had been in heaven.
AND I got to put my arm around him & rest my hand on his back. His arm was on my shoulder!:grin:
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Houston Baby
AND I got to put my arm around him & rest my hand on his back. His arm was on my shoulder!:grin:
An already memorable event sealed with a ... an arm ... gotta love it good for you HB, so cool! :cheers:
And thank you so much for the Q&A recap, awesome! :bow:
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Houston Baby
AND I got to put my arm around him & rest my hand on his back. His arm was on my shoulder!:grin:
And you're still breathing? :rofl: In the words of Don to Timothy. Were you puking? LOL That's a lot of putting arms around people for an hour.
Are we going to see your picture with Don soon?
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
HB!!!!!! :woah: This is all so wonderful! Thank you so much for all of this! And Va, too!
What a terrible thing, to sit and listen and look at Don for 3-4 hours! :wink: Awesome! Can't wait to 'hear' the rest and see your pictures!
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
New Kid In Town
OMG HB - This is fantastic - thank you so much. My gosh you both took incredible notes ! I would have loved to have been there !
Am I wrong or does this cost about $2,500 including air fare, hotel and concert-event ? A lot of money for me but I know Don will only be doing this for so long.
TY again guys ! :bow:
NOTE - Wow - I just realized my 300th post !
CONGRATULATIONS ON 300 NKIT!!
My Runaway package included the hotel, concert, Q&A, photo with Don and an autographed DH photo, autographed Cass County cd, lanyard, Runaway bag and an after party that included drinks & food and I believe it was $1895.00. You can buy a cheaper package that does not include the hotel for I believe @ $1400.00.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
shunlvswx
And you're still breathing? :rofl: In the words of Don to Timothy. Were you puking? LOL That's a lot of putting arms around people for an hour.
Are we going to see your picture with Don soon?
They said they should be ready in @ 5 days. Depends on how I look :rofl:
I guess I could crop me out so you could see Don. Then again I know most of you would only have eyes on Don anyways. ;)
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Thanks again HB for all the posts!!! :D
And congrats on 300 NKIT!!! :D
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Thanks. I have enjoyed my time here and wish I had discovered this site earlier. :grin:
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Question #23: A lady from Dallas, TX. She said she was at the Classic West in LA and didn’t hear anything that sounded wrong referring to the previous statement of Don’s that a few things went wrong in LA and she asked what kind of things go wrong. Don replied good, that was the idea for the crowd to not hear what goes wrong. One of the problems in LA was the in-ear monitors weren’t mixed correctly. He said they had two new guys, one on each side of the stage, one mixes half of the stage, the other mixes the other half. They were getting some weird noises and couldn’t hear or understand the music/words. He mentioned that it had also happened the night before at the birthday concert with too much keyboard in the mix for Timothy. There’s also equipment changes that don’t go right. For him, he and Scott use different snare drums, and they prefer different placement of some things like the high hat. He said it’s a very precise thing especially for drummers, that even a difference of an eighth of an inch in equipment placement can make a difference in being able to play. He said that the night before (birthday concert), he had to play Scott’s drum kit and it was miserable for him. He then went back to the mixes in the ear pieces and said how if it’s wrong it can really affect them such as harmony vocals too loud or not loud enough. Don then laughed and said if Joe’s guitar accidentally gets in his mix, it can blow his brains out.
Question #24: A man from Amarillo, TX. He had two questions. One, does Don change the key of any of his songs to preserve his voice. Two, was there a song other than HC that is the most misunderstood song. Don said songwriting is like poetry, you try to leave some ambiguity so that people can “glue” their own experiences to that song. Like End of the Innocence can mean so many things to different people. Break up of a family, politics, etc. So he’s reluctant to give his interpretation of a song, so that it doesn’t interfere with how others see it. He said it was why he never liked videos. Some doozies of interpretations include Desperado being about the Symbionese Liberation Army (Patty Hearst). He said they have files of mail from people who are seriously unbalanced, and each of them have gotten threats but they have security to handle that. He couldn’t really think of one that was widely misinterpreted, so he did talk about HC. He mentioned the preacher in Oklahoma who thought the woman in the photo represented Satan, and they represented Satanism. He said this topped all the misinterpretations. He then explained that they had invited all kinds of people to the HC photo shoot. One of the people was a mulatto girl who must have been a model as she was so beautiful. She was the one who went up to the balcony railing and leaned over the railing. Don demonstrated how she spread her arms out. I am trying to remember if he said her name while he was talking about her, I think he did. The way he talked I interrupted it as they did not even realize she was up there till later. Then he talked about the hotel in Mexico that is selling their t-shirts, and playing their music in the lobby. Said none of them have ever been to the hotel there. They are suing them, and the hotel is in the process of ‘caving’. He said they will probably settle and make some kind of licensing arrangement. Then he mentioned the tribute bands, which would be fine if they were actual tributes, but they’re not he said. At this time he admitted he was trying to stall for time so he could think of another song that’s been misinterpreted. He asked the crowd for help, and he eventually settled on The Garden of Allah. He said on the corner of Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights/Laurel Canyon, back in the old days, there was a hotel there. A Spanish style hotel that was named Garden of Allah. It was a favorite gathering spot of movie stars, and they had some really wild parties there. He thinks it was still there when he got to LA in 1970. Now it’s a McDonalds which Soda and Dreamer - I believe it was the McDonald’s that we went to a couple of times last year (the one with the narrow curvy drive-thru). That’s where he got the name, and it was the basis of the song. He said he didn’t realize it was going to pi$$ off all his Jewish friends, it hadn’t been his intent. He said then the song turned into something else entirely. As he wrote it, the OJ Simpson trial was going on. There was also a Russian writer who wrote a book called 'The Master and Margarita'. He said it was a fascinating book, and it was about a visit from the Devil to Washington, DC. [Here VA goes off on a tangent of her own…'the author is Mikhail Bulgakov. The book is in Russian, and other authors have translated both censored and uncensored copies. The book is actually about the Devil visiting the Soviet Union, not the US, so I have to wonder at his mistake (or what version he read, since I assume he didn’t read it in Russian). Perhaps not a mistake at all, just a statement given everything in the news. It is said that the Rolling Stone’s Sympathy For The Devil was inspired by this book, and other popular songs as well that I cannot remember'.] Either way, it was an influence on the song, and with the Simpson trial, it was a movie in his head. Don said there is a video of the song, probably on YouTube, because everything’s on YouTube (roll of eyes). He talked about Kirk Douglas being gracious enough to be in the video.
He never answered the question about changing keys… We know the answer is ‘yes’.
Question #25: A lady who said where she’s from, but I didn’t hear it. Any unreleased material for an upcoming solo album? Nope. He very nearly made that a two-syllable word, lol. Then after realizing she was asking about material for an album (as opposed to songs he doesn’t plan to release), he did say he had a few. One called Human Condition. He wants to build an album around it and he recorded it a few years ago.
Before that question, the Runaway staff said it was the last question. Once he answered this question, Don said he’d take a ‘couple more’ questions. At this point he had been answering questions for two hours, and he went on for another 90 minutes. He says why later…
Question #26: A lady from McAllen, TX. She asked about his relationship with Stan Lynch. At times, he had a really hard time hearing people’s questions, and I can understand why. It wasn’t a good quality microphone and sometimes people sounded like they were talking with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. But we digress. Don said that Stan was supposed to be there with him, but he ‘flaked out’ on him, then said that no, he was really in Florida with family things to do. He reminded us all that Stan was the original drummer for Tom Petty, and has been one of Don’s best friends for a very long time. He was at the concert the night before. Don said he’s a funny guy, and sometimes his one-liners make it into songs. An example is ‘a man with a briefcase can steal more money than a man with a gun’. He’s sure they’ll work together more in the future, he’s a very extraordinary guy.
Question #27: A lady from Norway. She asked what his life would be like if he hadn’t become a musician. He replied he didn’t know the answer, probably a school teacher. He said he never had a Plan B, it was this or nothing. So he talked about how Richard and him (who was there in the audience) hooked up with Kenny Rogers. Then he talked about Kenny wrapping up his career at a farewell concert in Nashville this fall and Don hoped to get there and sing with him. Don said he feels very fortunate for all that has happened in the last 45 years.
TO BE CONTINUED.......
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Thank you for these detailed reports. I'm enjoying reading them. What happened to questions 17 to 23?
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
These reports are great! Keep 'em coming! Someone said on facebook that Henley said they were releasing the full 1977 DC concert on DVD, is this true?
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Good grief - I am so sorry! I have been putting this on my computer, copying and pasting and I just skipped this section.
Here it is.......
Question 17: Lady from San Antonio. She said that if they are doing future dates, somewhere in the center of the US, rather than the coasts, would be nice. Jokingly he said there was nothing in the center of the US. Then he asked about Chicago. She suggested Texas. He ended up saying they’d be around.
Question 18: Same lady as #17. She asked what the strangest or weirdest place he’d ever done a concert, referencing playing Dodger Stadium one night and right after doing a backyard concert. He replied that the backyard concert was for Walden Woods and Oceana, so that was OK. He said there’ve been a few. A soccer field in a Middle Eastern country (Qatar), there was a dust storm. Two hours before the show, you couldn’t see anything. He said dust had to be cleaned off all the equipment and everything, but the show did go on. Moscow and Iceland were interesting. He said that back in 2000/2001, they played in Northern Ireland the day they dissolved the Northern Irish government. He said they played the grounds of Stormont Castle, which was very nice. He said Singapore and South Korea were interesting, and he doubted he’d want to play in South Korea again, given the North Korea situation. Sweden, Japan, Australia, New Zealand. He said that New Zealand was the place to go when the $#!@ hits the fan, it’s all mountains, water, and way out of the way. It should be safe.
Question 19: A guy who didn’t say where he was from. He wondered who Don would have dinner with, living or deceased, if he could. Don said it was a big list. He thought about it awhile, then said he’d like to have dinner with one of his ancestors, Alexander Mac’Something’. I’m so sorry I can’t remember his last name, need to research that. He was a Presbyterian minister in Newark, NJ. He got a degree from Princeton and an honorary degree from Yale. He was the minister for George Washington’s troops. This ancestor said the blessing before Washington crossed the Delaware river, he was part of that group that you see in the painting of Washington standing on the boat. He’d like to ask him what that was like. He’d like to have dinner with John Lennon. He’s the only Beatle Don had never met. He thought about a third and then said that Christ is always on the list. He’d like to meet Chopin and tell him how awesome his stuff is. He also mentioned Einstein.
Question 20: A man from Concord, NH. He said he loved Waiting Tables off the new album. His question was how the setlists were constructed. He wanted to know how he decided what new cuts or deep cuts, like Talking To The Moon, to play against the songs everyone wants to hear. He said you have to play the hits, but he liked to throw in a few album cuts. He referenced Clint Eastwood’s theory about movies, two for them and one for me. So he likes to throw in things like Talking To The Moon, which he said he only does in Texas as it’s about his growing up there and lonesome little towns. He said Waiting Tables was also influenced by his home town, and he’s always had a soft spot for waitresses because it’s a thankless job. He said that when he throws in songs that he wants to hear, the audience gets really quiet, and he doesn’t get much applause, but sometimes he does it anyway. He said they look at the setlist every night before a show, and that it can depend on where they are and how his voice is doing. He said it’s a tricky situation, thinking about how many fast songs, how many slow songs, how many of each before you do the other. It also depends on what keys the songs are in. There’s a lot of things to consider to make sure the show is balanced and has flow. He said sometimes he throws things in on the spur of the moment. His band can play anything and he said that as he gets older he’ll probably do it more. He said if he’d be honest, it gets boring playing the same songs every night for 45 years. He knows the songs are important to people, part of the fabric of their lives, but he hears these songs in his sleep (laughter). He said again that he will mix it up more in the future, and mentioned WITW, which got applause. He said with the Eagles, it’s a different story, you know what you’re gonna get. He can do what he wants in his solo shows, in the Eagles it’s a compromise.
Question 21: A lady who was originally from Australia, I didn’t catch where she lives now other than it’s in the US. She’s a journalist of some sort. She first mentioned all the things she wasn’t going to ask him about (songwriting, preparing for a concert, favorite covers), then asked how he felt emotionally when he was singing. How he feels when he gets past all the technical things and can just sing. He asked her if she was addressing the songs he doesn’t normally sing, or the ones he sings every night. Since the microphone had been taken away, I didn’t hear her response, but it was along the lines of how he feels emotionally while he’s singing anything, I think. He said it depends on how his voice is doing. He mentioned that the night before, he had a really good night, and of course we all agreed. He again mentioned how important sleep is. He said he doesn’t sleep well, and so then he struggles, and so during a show, he’s busy struggling in his head, he has to concentrate on that. He said it’s either a struggle or a joy. He said his voice gets better by the time they get to HC, so he may take a page from Stevie’s book and warm up for three hours before a show, but it sounded like a lot of work to him. He said that when it’s a song he’s sung for 45 years, there’s acting involved. You have to go out and sing it like it’s the first time. He said that a lot of the voice problems are due to age, the wear and tear of it. He said he’s started going to a voice coach, and was told all this time he’s been singing wrong. They are trying to teach him to sing correctly, and they promised him it wouldn’t change the tone of his voice. He said that voice coaches can’t seem to agree on where you sing from, the diaphragm or higher up.
I’ve not mentioned it, but usually as he wrapped up each answer, he would look to the person who asked the question and ask in some way if he answered their question. He did here as well, and the lady reiterated she wanted to know how he felt emotionally when he sang. He again said he rarely loses himself in a song, he’s too busy thinking about technicalities. He said he did the night before because everything was working, and he didn’t need to worry about it. He said there were a few times the night before he did feel emotional. He said he was overcome with gratitude a few times (being up there at that age, his friends being there, his great band, all the people who came to see him), but it was only because his voice was working. He said that singing is biological and emotional, it needs to be a balance between the two.
Question 22: A lady from North Carolina. She said her happy place has always been TBOS. She’d gone through a terrible divorce, and then her mother passed away, and even when crying, she’d sing it at the top of her lungs, and after a while she’d feel her heart smile. Even now, if she has a bad day, her current husband will greet her with a glass of wine and have the song on. She wondered what song did that for him. His answer? “Silence.” Then he told her that what she just said about what the song meant to her is why he still does what he does. Then he said that what she’d just said was MORE important to him than the gold records, the Grammy’s, the awards. He mentioned reading old fan letters and those things mean more to him than anything else. Then he answered her question, said it was usually the Beatles. Aretha Franklin. Randy Newman. He said he wrote TBOS at Zuma Beach along the Pacific Coast Highway, that PCH has been really good to him, and when he wrote it, he was feeling nostalgic.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
UndertheWire
Thank you for these detailed reports. I'm enjoying reading them. What happened to questions 17 to 23?
I obviously got off track here. I added it and corrected the numbering.
Thank you UTW! I would have felt bad leaving 17 to 22 off as #22 answer was very special.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
groupie2686
These reports are great! Keep 'em coming! Someone said on facebook that Henley said they were releasing the full 1977 DC concert on DVD, is this true?
I don't remember hearing that G2686 but I will look thru my notes. I remember he said they would have some live cuts on the HC reissue.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
I like the fact that Don is going to a voice coach. If it helps to make his voice get better as he gets older and keeps him on the road longer, I'm all for it.
I sing in the choir and I was always told to sing from my diaphragm. So I guess it just depends on that coach.
Don never answered that question about changing the key in his songs. He only answered the second half. Well we know he has dropped the key on his songs. lol
Thanks for much, HB. I know you probably got a few questions to post. I'm enjoying reading them.
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Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.
Question #28: A lady who did not say where she was from. She wanted to know since Will (Don’s son) had played on Cass County if he was going to choose to be a musician as his career. Don replied he didn’t know. On one hand, he didn’t want him to live in his shadow. On the other hand, Don said Will is a very good musician. Don continued - Unfortunately, the music business is not the same. You don’t get paid for songs really, it’s fractions of cents. It’s very difficult to make money at it. In addition, when Don was growing up, there were places to play, Elks Lodge, frat parties, etc, and now there isn’t. Will’s not sure he wants to be in the business. He told Will that if he wants to do it for fun and joy, that was fine. It was why he got into it. And to get the girls… (BIG smile) He’s not pushing him to do it for a career. Perhaps he’d join Deacon and carry on that legacy, but he wouldn’t want them to be locked into playing their fathers’ songs but perhaps they could write some of their own to go with the legacy songs, that would work. He wants him to have a creative career and not just be a ‘jukebox’. He’s just graduated from high school, and he’s taking a ‘gap’ year. They’ll travel around some and see the world. Don said that if he wants to be a musician, that was fine with him, and he’d give him a lot of advice. Though he won’t listen. (laughter)
Question #29: A lady from Los Angeles. She wanted to know more about the History documentary and his participation in it. Don said that Irving had been wanting them to do it for a long time. They were very reluctant to do it. Irving kept pushing and they finally agreed. They told him they needed to have control of it, and it couldn’t be another sex, drugs, and rock and roll documentary because that had already been done. He said he needed to credit Glenn for finding Alex Gibney, that he wanted a real documentarian. Glenn watched lots of documentaries and did plenty of research. Glenn had told Don that he thought Gibney was the guy but that Gibney wasn’t necessarily keen to do it. Gibney wanted to meet with them and determine if they had a story worth telling. Gibney’s stipulation was that if he tells the story, the guys needed to be forthcoming, and it had to be the truth. Don said they agreed, but stipulated that there were some things they didn’t want in it, for example, their kids and families. He said their kids were nobody’s business. Don continued they didn’t ask to be born to famous parents, they just showed up (it sounded more amusing than it reads). They also stipulated that they got ‘final cut’. It took two years to do it, interviews, editing. Don said he thought it was very well done. He said they did leave some things out, but it had enough controversy in it to make it interesting. He said a lot of people have seen it, and it was certainly good for business. Then he again credited Glenn for finding Alex Gibney.
Question #30: A guy from London, right up the street from Olympic Studios (where the first two albums were recorded). He said he’d always been curious how two albums that so closely identified with a West Coast sound came to be recorded in London. Don named the famous bands that had recorded there. Don asked him if it had been torn down yet, the man said it was currently a cinema and would soon be a studio of some sort. Don said they recorded there because it was Glyn Johns’ favorite studio, he didn’t want to record in LA. The band’s management wanted them out of LA and its distractions, and it was cheaper to record in London. He said that during recording of the first album, there was a coal strike there, and power kept going out. They get partway into a take and everything would slow down, then shut down. So they got diesel-powered generators. He said they were put in an apartment on the edge of London, i.e. boondocks, and they spent most of their time trying to find Mexican food, which was impossible. He said they had some shipped over, then grinned and said it was probably Velveeta (a reference back to his story before playing Sunset Grill the night before).
Don then said they did the first two albums there and part of the third before they got homesick and decided they were going back home to record. The man who asked the question had a deep, loud voice, so he didn’t need the mic to tell Don that Glyn said they got sick of him. Don said that Glyn and Glenn butted heads over various things, recording techniques, etc. He then said ‘we’ wanted more control, and Glyn was a control freak. He said that he still considers Glyn a friend of his and a brilliant engineer. But they wanted to start recording with a different technique. And they really were homesick. He told the story of recording Desperado with the London Philharmonic, saying the way it was set up, the conductor (who wasn’t really a conductor) was in front, then the band, then Don on drums, then the orchestra behind him. So he could hear the orchestra comments. They’d brought chessboards and set them up, and between takes he’d hear “I don’t feel like a desperado. Your move.” (in Don’s British accent - so funny) He said it’s one reason the vocal on Desperado is a little shaky, and since Glyn was trying to save money, he wouldn’t allow more than five or six takes. He said Desperado was one album he regretted not being able to do better, and that he does do better sometimes live. (I wanted to shout out that he always does it better live, sometimes so well it makes me cry.) He said they recorded the whole album in two weeks, then it was around two years for the next one.
Question #31: A man from Kansas City. He told a story that would lead to a question. He said they went to the Runaway event last year and as they drove down to Dallas, they stopped in Edmund OK at the Holiday Inn Express to get a room. A lady and a guy behind the counter, and they asked where they were headed. He told them they were going to see Don Henley and she said she didn’t know who he is. So the guy said he was part of the Eagles and she said she didn’t know who they were either. So he turned to the guy, figuring it was Oklahoma, he’s gotta know, so he asked if he knew the Eagles and the guy said he didn’t really follow sports. Don laughed at this. So then he said it went back to the story Don told last year about the mission trip, he thought it was to Costa Rica (Don clarified later it was Honduras), where the guy came out of the hut with the CD and he asked if Don could tell the story again. So Don did, but he started with the ‘sports’ thing. He said he used to tell people or others would mention he was with the Eagles, and they’d say, ‘he seems awfully small to be a football player’. Then he said the story the man was speaking to was the question of whether there was anywhere on the planet he could go that hadn’t heard of the Eagles, and everyone agreed that apparently Edmund OK was it, so maybe he’d vacation there, he was sure there was a lot to do there.
The story goes…….20 years ago, or so (he wasn’t sure how long ago it was) he went with some friends from LA to Honduras at the request of an organization called Care. They wanted them to see the conditions there. He described the trip from the airport, they were in trucks, and they went into the jungle, and they went up this mountainside. The road was very narrow, only room for one car, and it was mud. On one side it was a drop off, he didn’t know how many feet, but you would have died if you’d gone over. He said it seemed like they were on this road for three or four hours. They got to the top where there was a state forest kind of a place, where the mountain had flattened off. He said there was a leader, a woman, who’d gathered up people from the cities below, where it was pretty violent, and taken them up there to live in a commune kind of a place. They had no electricity and no regular plumbing. They lived in little lean-to’s, very primitive. They were there about 15 or 20 minutes when one of the young men went into a hut and came out with a somewhat small boombox with a cassette in it. He went up to Don and pointed at the boombox and said, “You”. Don said, “What?” So the guy took the cassette out and it was HC. So he’d thought to himself there was no place he could go where they’d not heard of the Eagles. He said they were very sweet people, and they ended up doing some things for them.
Question #32: A lady from Illinois. She mentioned that in OOTN, right before he sings “one that really screams”, he does a little inhale. In HC, he does a grunt after “Mercedes bends”. She asked him to talk about how those two things came about. He said they’re just little ad libs that you do in the studio, spontaneous little things. He said she should listen to a Stevie Wonder record, he does all kinds of stuff. They’re part of the musical process, and the producer decides to keep it or take it out. They weren’t premeditated. Some were joy, some were trying to emulate James Brown or something.
Question #33: A man from Alabama. He said he’d read recently that Don was thinking of doing a solo album, and he was wondering if he really was. Don said he thinks about it all the time. Then the guy said he wanted to invite him to record to one of the great places to record, Muscle Shoals. Don said he went there in 1971 with Glenn. Glenn went to cut a few tracks there, and they did with the original Muscle Shoals band, so he’s quite familiar with the place, and maybe he will get down there. He said he believes that all the musicians there now are the sons of the guys who used to play there. The guy who asked the question said some of the originals are still there. Don went on to say he may get another album out. He still has three kids to get through college, and he has this other band thing happening, he’d like to get a couple more out before he ‘fades away’, but it just depends on what else is happening. He reminded us that it would never get out on radio anyway, so it would just be a personal love project, that maybe the people in the room might like it.
Question #34: A guy from Minneapolis. He asked two questions, the first was wondering when Don really started drumming and singing at the same time. The second was that the night before, Don looked so in his element drumming, it was a highlight of the show, and could he talk about that? Don was surprised at the latter since the drum playing was one of the technical gaffes he mentioned earlier. He ended up having to play on Scott’s kit and he was miserable. He reminded us what he’d said earlier about the drums and the placement of them being important. He went on to say that he got started playing in Richard’s (Bowden) living room, again gesturing at Richard since he was there. He thought it was 1963, and Richard agreed. Don then introduced him and talked about playing music at Richard’s house, and how they could play whenever they wanted in their living room and Richard’s mom would feed them. He said he would also play at his own house but out at the end of the porch and play along with Beatles records.
Question #35: A guy from New Haven, CT: He said he and his wife just had a baby boy, and when they can’t get him to sleep, they play Don’s music, and Eagles’, and he’s out like a light. Don said he wished it would do that for him. The guy also mentioned Taking You Home, so Don explained he wrote that song about his children, his firstborn. He said he put his children to sleep with Kenny Loggins music. Then the man asked his question. He mentioned Don’s great covers of other artists, particularly the Tears for Fears cover that had been amazing the night before, then asked if Don had any favorite covers of his songs. Don smiled and said a definitive ‘no’. He said there were a couple who came close, but he couldn’t think of one at the moment. People in the audience started shouting out covers, and Don said “Well, of course, Linda Ronstadt’s version of Desperado, and Kenny Rogers did a pretty nice job on it, too.”
Question #36: A lady from Ontario, Canada. She wondered if Thoreau’s passage in The Village was a precursor to Dirty Laundry. He said that television news was the precursor to Dirty Laundry. When the news became gossip and theater is when DL came about, and it’s only gotten worse. He said it was an interesting analogy (The Village / Dirty Laundry). He said he’d have to go back and look at that.
Before the next question, he said he’d get to everyone sooner or later.
Question #37: A guy apparently from Florida. He started out saying David Geffen said to say ‘hi’. Don laughed and said ‘sure he did.’ He talked about sinkholes and alligators. The guy said there was a public perception of Don, five years ago he’d have never imagined that Don would do this (a Q&A). Don said that five years ago he wouldn’t have. The guy said in the past it seemed like Don was the one without much to say, and now his public persona, at least, is much different. Does he see himself as having changed? Don grinned and was quiet a long time. I do want to say it was all handled with smiles and laughter from everyone. Finally, Don said he thinks he’s been misunderstood, and there was more laughter. He said when they first started out, he thinks he was an angry young man. He said fame is a scary thing, it scared the hell out of all of them, and they didn’t know how to handle it. They were very defensive and very insecure. He doesn’t like the spotlight, and he still doesn’t like the whole celebrity ‘thing’, which he feels is tacky and disgusting. It was something none of them wanted any part of. He said that back then, usually when he opened his mouth, he would make a smart-ass remark. Don continued - He was talking back to the press, which is always a mistake, because they always win, it’s their paper. After a while you get older and you get used to ‘wearing it’. He’s much more comfortable in his own skin now. He’s gotten used to the territory that comes with being famous. He doesn’t worry about it now. He goes to the supermarket and pushes the cart around. They write about it in the local magazine, “We saw him at Whole Foods, he was pushing the cart around.” He said everyone’s gotta eat, and he likes pushing the cart around, it was therapeutic. He goes late at night and wears a baseball cap. He said there in Dallas, it’s not like Hollywood. In Dallas, people are very polite, and they don’t rush up to you screaming, yelling, and jumping. Some do, but mostly they don’t. He went back to talking about the past, and how it was to be thrust into a public spotlight when so young. Criticized, analyzed, and you have to develop a skin. He said it’s worse now (for younger people). Every show on TV is about judgment. It’s always a contest and someone is always better than someone else. Back to themselves, he said they had their arguments with Rolling Stone and the New York Times , and once you’ve been trashed by the New York Times, you can pretty much handle everything. He said he changed a lot when he had kids, because if you can raise three kids, you can handle pretty much everything else after that. He said he’s gotten comfortable that it is what it is, and bad reviews don’t bother him much anymore. He said there was a saying that old buildings, old politicians, and old madams all get respect if they stick around long enough. He said he still shuns fame except when he wants to raise money for charity, and that’s when he finds it most useful. Otherwise, it’s a pain in the @$$. He said he’s grown up some, he’s mellowed some.
TO BE CONTINUED......