This thread is for stories and tributes about the life of Glenn Frey. It can be things you've found on the web, or your own stories. We're just going to celebrate his life here.
Printable View
This thread is for stories and tributes about the life of Glenn Frey. It can be things you've found on the web, or your own stories. We're just going to celebrate his life here.
First, what the Eagles themselves put on their site:
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of husband, best friend, father, comrade, and Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in New York City on Monday, January 18th, 2016.
Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia.
The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery.
Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community & millions of fans worldwide.
Cindy Frey • Taylor Frey • Deacon Frey • Otis Frey
Don Henley • Joe Walsh • Timothy B. Schmit • Bernie Leadon • Irving Azoff
Then what Don Henley put on his site:
“He was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction. But, the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved.
We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry — and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed. But, Glenn was the one who started it all. He was the spark plug, the man with the plan. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn’t quit. He was funny, bullheaded, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven. He loved his wife and kids more than anything.
We are all in a state of shock, disbelief and profound sorrow. We brought our two-year “History of the Eagles Tour” to a triumphant close at the end of July and now he is gone. I’m not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But, I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life. Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some.”
-Don Henley
Bernie Leadon's reply to Bob Lefsetz's piece:
hey bob-
Nice tribute to Glenn and the band. I am bummed, but very grateful that I got the privilege of participating in the History Of tour for the last two years, and play the music again, with Glenn and Don, Timothy and Joe. And I have stayed in touch with Randy Meisner and Don Felder as well.
There is a song that Glenn wrote before the band started, which he played for us at the very first rehearsal at S.I.R in L.A in late summer 1971, when the original four Eagles first strapped on instruments and played together as a band. The song was "Most of Us Are Sad", which the band recorded on the first album, titled simply "Eagles".
Randy sang the song on the album, and very well indeed. But it was Glenn's song, and when I first heard it, I thought it was a very good and insightful song, as this was a guy saying that, back when guys didn't admit weakness much, or vulnerability. That song was an album cut, never got airplay, and we didn't play it on stage, since we already played several waltzes, and couldn't do more mellow songs in the show. But listen to it now, and it might make you feel better, knowing that we're not the only ones sad today.
One thing I learned over the years about a songwriter expressing very personal feelings, is that it turns out that since all humans feel essentially the same feelings, but that most folks don't know how to express them, that when a songwriter talks about something very personal, it turns out to have universal appeal, because everyone can say "yeah! That's how I feel! He understands me like no one else!" So in a very counterintuitive way, its not the large general statement which has universal appeal, but rather the most intimate and personal which does.
I am very proud of what the band achieved, and grateful for the opportunity to be part of it, both from the first rehearsals and show, to the very last one on July 29 in the Shreveport suburb of Bossier City (with a 38 year gap in the middle.....). At the end of that last show, after the first encore Hotel California, as we were preparing to return to the stage for the last three encores (Take It Easy, Rocky Mt. Way, and Desperado), Glenn gave me a big hug, said "This isn't the end", and another big hug. We hit the stage, took our bows, went out the back to our vehicles, and off into our separate lives again. So I am very grateful today that this was my last interaction with Glenn, and that we did achieve what he said he was aiming for, to "go out on a high note".
None of us could quite hit the same high notes that we could in the 70's (except maybe Henley still can.....), but it was only down about a half step, which is pretty good. Glenn was such a trouper during the History tour, as I fully realize now with my better understanding of the physical challenges he was battling every day out there. Like you said in your commentary, "they hit the stage with no delay". The only delay there ever was on the History tour, was to maybe hold the curtain for 5 or 10 minutes, to allow more of the audience time to get seated. Then we promptly started the show, which lasted 3 and a half hours, every night.
The truth is, as you said, that Glenn was the primary energy behind the Eagles success, as he was relentless. We all had a lot of energy and drive, but Glenn was pushing it and us all the time. So hat's off, Glenn. Job extremely well done. Millions of people have been positively affected, cheered up, supported. May your wife Cindy and your kids take comfort in that realization, and may we all be grateful as we continue to live our lives, accompanied by your soundtrack.
Vaya Con Dios
bernie leadon
Which brings me to what Bob Lefsetz wrote:
He lived the American Dream.
You know, wherein your wits, smarts and pluck, never mind the gleam in your eye, take you from nothing to everything, in this case not only accumulating riches, but influencing the culture.
And there were those who hated him for it.
They lionize Steve Jobs. And Mark Zuckerberg. The techies that changed the world.
But they hate Glenn Frey and his flock of Eagles for being so damn successful, for worming their way into women's hearts. And let me be clear, it's always guys complaining about the Eagles, girls loved them. Because females are not into pecking order, not married to the past, they can embrace that which truly satisfies, casting preconceptions aside.
And the preconception was that you had to be English, with bad teeth and little education, or American and challenging cultural commandments, or else you didn't matter. Gram Parsons might be the father of country rock, but he could never compose a song that penetrated the public consciousness to the point that radio stations could not stop playing it and none of us could ever forget it.
Like "Take It Easy."
That acoustic guitar came out of the speaker in the dashboard and in the summer of '72 all of America felt good. It was a different country back then, divided for sure, but we still believed we were winners, that if we put our minds to it we would come out on top. We were never gonna be here again, so we opened up and took across this great country of ours, lived life to the fullest, with the radio blasting all the while.
And despite the hit single, it was the era of album rock. So upon hearing the mellifluous tune you went out and purchased the Asylum LP and...you played it over and over again. Thirty seven minutes long, the debut had no clunkers, it begged to be heard. Take that modern music.
But the follow-up was a commercial dud. "Desperado" got no traction, not the LP nor the title track. The press had primed us for it, back when "Rolling Stone" was the bible of a generation, but without a hit single "Desperado" faded in an era where music dominated and we couldn't afford to buy all we wanted.
And then "Best Of My Love" went to number one. Credit a deejay, who rejected the two authorized singles in favor of it. Suddenly, the Eagles owned the airwaves.
Of course Glenn would tell us they were called "Eagles," and was unhappy that everyone appended the "the," but he and the rest of the band were thrilled with the attention and the dough. They were rock stars. Raising funds for political candidates and partaking of the goodies that accompany the success. It's one thing to be rich and famous, it's another thing for it to be based on your creativity, your art. These are the people we exalt. The Eagles were at the pinnacle, especially with the following year's "One Of These Nights," they were a stadium act, the biggest band in the land.
And the hatred ensued.
But unlike today's wimpy musicians, the Eagles barked back, owned their talent and success. Funny how we give Kanye a pass, despite not having made memorable music for years, but we excoriate the SoCal band that was bigger than the rest.
But no one was prepared for "Hotel California." When you dropped the needle on the record you heard a sound foreign to the catalog. The guitars screamed and if they were big before, the Eagles were now America's band.
It was "Life In The Fast Lane." A term every baby boomer knows and said for decades, when they snorted coke, when they did what they should not do. The Eagles blasted open the highway and then we drove right down it.
And now Glenn Frey is gone.
I felt he would make it. It had been weeks, he'd made it through the dreaded holiday period, but then he passed.
And America was shocked.
The press didn't know how to react. Because they had to be cool, they couldn't attest to what data tells us, that the Eagles are the biggest American band in history.
Their "Greatest Hits" jockeys with "Thriller" for number one. And unlike so many albums of the past, it still sells. It's not in the rearview mirror. The strange thing about the Eagles is they never went away. They inspired the country pickers and they still own the bars and the radio. That's what you get what you're that damn good.
And there's no one better.
I know, I know, you'll cite artists breaking convention, your favorite player, but the truth is writing catchy songs with meaning and singing them with exquisite harmonies is damn hard to do, it's just that the Eagles made it look easy. Hell, half of Nashville walks in their footsteps, but no one's done it nearly as well, and so many of those stars don't even write their own material.
But the Eagles did. With help from J.D., Jackson and Jack Tempchin. But they weren't guns for hire, but members of the club, a roaming group of musicians who owned the hearts and minds of America throughout the seventies, and didn't let go thereafter.
So you're either sad or you're not.
But if you are...
67 is way too young. And although Don Henley had more solo success, it was Glenn's band. He started it, he guided it. And every group needs a driving force.
So it's the end of an era. And it's a great loss. You'll never be able to see the Eagles again. But if you did...
The sun would be setting behind the stage.
And at the appointed time, with no wait, they would take the stage and Glenn would say...
They were the Eagles from Southern California.
And the guitars would strum, the bass would pluck, the drums would pound and as the sound washed over you you'd become your best self.
America runs on California. That's where the innovation begins, where you go to test limits, where there's no ceiling on either creativity or success.
And people hate California the same way they hate the Eagles.
But what they really want to do is get on board.
And we all got on board with the Eagles. Even those who say they do not care. They only wish they were standing on that corner in Winslow, Arizona, with a girl checking them out.
In a flatbed Ford, made in Detroit. Where Glenn Frey emanated from.
But he remembered his roots.
And built upon them.
Want to be successful?
Need it. Study. Make friends. Seize opportunities.
And take no shit as you ascend into the stratosphere.
That's what Glenn Frey did.
You cannot make a big enough deal about his death. Because what once was is now gone. Doesn't mean we can't create something new, but so far we haven't minted stars as big as those from the seventies, never mind create music as memorable.
Glenn Frey was here for the long run. He got stuck in the Hotel California and he wasn't eager to get out. But we all meet our demise, his as a result of side effects from arthritis drugs, he just didn't want the pain.
None of us want the pain. We're self-medicating every day.
But years ago the music was enough. We just turned on the stereo and a smile crossed our face.
Glenn Frey took us there.
Now we don't know where to go.
I saved a lot of links, but its on my computer at home. If nobody else has posted it by the time I get home, I will post it then.
Here's an article from Vince Gill about Glenn. I also found an old picture of Vince and Glenn at a golf game in 1991. Garth Brooks was even in the picture.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...#ixzz3xigHNgWD
ETA: I edited my post to have the article here. Their are pictures with this article.
Quote:
Vince Gill says that Glenn Frey was a "world-class guitar player." AP (2) The Eagles' guitar sound may be best identified with the ferocious "Hotel California" fretwork of Joe Walsh and Don Felder, but Glenn Frey's playing was also key to the group's output. Vince Gill, himself an ace guitarist who has turned in solos for artists as varied as Alice Cooper and the Doobie Brothers, says Frey the musician was underrated.
"He was a world-class guitar player. For a long time, Don Felder and Joe were front and center taking the lead role, but I don’t think a lot of people realize that all that soulful guitar playing was Glenn," Gill tells Rolling Stone Country of Frey, who died Monday at age 67.
Gill recorded the band's "I Can't Tell You Why" for the 1993 Eagles tribute album Common Thread, choosing to add saxophone, a hallmark of Frey's Eighties solo work, to his version. "I don't know why I chose to put sax on it — it'd have been fun to play those slippery guitar parts that Glenn played. That's a very restrained solo in 'I Can't Tell You Why,'" he says.
Although the Eagles were most known for a laid-back brand of California country-rock, Gill says they were just as much a soul and rock & roll band. Thanks in part to Frey, who was raised in Detroit.
"Most people hear him sing 'Lyin' Eyes' or 'New Kid in Town,' but he was a Detroit boy. He knew what soul music was," says Gill. "He knew what rock & roll really was, probably more than anybody else in that band until Joe Walsh comes along. You have to have a leader, and he was a great one."
Gill first met Frey and the Eagles during the group's Long Run Tour, and became fast friends with the singer-guitarist, playing golf together, using Frey's Lakers tickets and, in 2007, introducing the band when they performed on the CMA Awards.
"They said, 'We'll play, but we want Vince to introduce us.' So I've been connected to them for 35-plus years," he says. "I think that's one of the most important bands ever, just from the legacy of the songs."
Gill is just one of many country artists who have paid their respects to Frey. Travis Tritt, who covered "Take It Easy" for Common Thread and helped reunite the band for the song's video, told Rolling Stone Country that Frey's work ethic was unmatched.
"If you look at the entire catalog of all the things that the Eagles did for all those years, not to mention the things that Glenn did in his solo career, it's always just top-notch," he says. "It was an inspiration just to be around him and to listen to the songs that he did both with the Eagles and on solo projects and just know that he was one of the greats of our time."
David Spero's post:
Quote:
Glenn Frey...I could tell stories for days about him. In our business there aren't many that will stand up for you. Glenn was that guy. And his laugh....I remember sitting at the Little Nell in Aspen, having dinner with our wives, and Glenn started laughing. One of those 'he couldn't breathe' laughs. It was infectious. We all laughed, for hours it seemed. That is how I want to remember him. I really can't believe he is gone. It hurts...really really bad. Yes, he left all of us a tremendous discography, shows we will never forget, but I remember him most as a friend. The summer we did the Walsh/Frey could not have been more fun. After most shows Glenn and I would take a walk and he would bitch about this and that, but then we would laugh and then laugh some more. He gave me the title for my book. He said I should call it 'If You're Reading This I Must Be Dead.' And now he is. Goodbye my friend. Rest in peace. I will remember your laugh every day......this is a Henry Diltz photo from the Walsh Frey tour at Nautical in Cleveland. It rained like hell, but the band played on.
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7ddwjnoe.jpg
Here's an article from LA Times. :weep:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...118-story.html
Quote:
Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey dies at 67: chief architect of band's vocal and instrumental blend
Glenn Frey grew up in Detroit, the town best known musically for the catchy R&B music that came out of Motown Records, and the home of hard-charging rock acts such as Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and the MC5.
So when Frey turned up at the celebrated Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood in the late 1960s to audition as a singer and guitarist for rising country-rock singer Linda Ronstadt, her manager wasn’t sure he’d be a good fit.
http://www.trbimg.com/img-569d8632/t...18/400/400x225
“I had pigeonholed him as this punky kid from Detroit who wanted to be a rocker,” John Boylan said Monday. “But he surprised me with the scope of his musical knowledge. The very first rehearsal we had with Linda, we were doing a [Hank Williams] song, ‘Lovesick Blues.’ He knew the country sixth chords that Hank would use — he knew the whole genre already. I figured I would have to teach this guy about ancient country music, but he could have taught me."
Frey went on to become a founding member of the Eagles, one of the most successful bands of all time — a group that will be forever associated with the Southern California country rock sound.
Frey died in New York on Monday from the rheumatoid arthritis he’d struggled with for 15 years as well as acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.
“When they went on tour with me, it was the first time Glenn had ever gone on the road,” Ronstadt recalled Monday. “We didn’t have enough money for everyone to have their own rooms, so the guys had to double up. That’s when Glenn and Don [Henley] started working together. When they said they wanted to form a band of their own, I thought, ‘Hot dog! Yes, you should put a band together.’ The first time I heard them sing ‘Witchy Woman,’ I knew they were going to have hits.”
His death could spell the end of the Eagles, a group whose sound captivated listeners worldwide starting with their first No. 1 hit, “Best of My Love” in 1974, and continuing with such successes as “One of These Nights,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “Take It to the Limit,” “New Kid in Town,” “Heartache Tonight,” “The Long Run,” and one that became a contemporary standard replayed nightly by bar bands around the world, “Hotel California.”
That song explored the darkness they found lurking beneath the bright promises of fame and fortune often dangled in front of musicians, actors and other artists who come to California in pursuit of their dreams.
Frey and band mate Don Henley wrote of the excesses they observed — and famously indulged in themselves — in and around Hollywood:
Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice.
And she said, “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”
Besides reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart in 1977, “Hotel California” was subsequently honored with the Grammy Award for record of the year.
In a statement issued Monday, Henley said Frey “was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction.”
That was a reference to the internal tensions the band was notorious for, and which led the group to disband at the end of the 1970s.
Henley had famously said the Eagles would reunite “when hell freezes over,” a phrase the band good-naturedly adopted when it did indeed get back together in 1992 for a new round of recordings and regular tours that continued into 2015.
“The bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved,” Henley wrote. “We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry — and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed. But, Glenn was the one who started it all.”
Azoff, who has managed the Eagles for most of their long career, said Frey was as astute in business as he was in music.
“He was always telling people, 'When you're in the music business, you've got to have your music right, and you've got to have your business right,’” Azoff said Monday. “He had incredible instincts. He and Henley and I would always plot what was coming next. He wasn't just an incredible writer, singer and musician.
“I don't know of a better family man, or father. He's just gone too soon.”
The Eagles were to have been recognized with a 2015 Kennedy Center Honor in December, but in November the band requested that it be put off until “all four Eagles — Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit — can attend.”
At the time, Frey had a flare-up of intestinal problems he’d struggled with for years, Azoff said, and was hospitalized with plans for surgery. But he developed pneumonia and never was strong enough to undergo that procedure.
In 1986, Frey missed a reunion concert with Henley because of an intestinal disorder. An attempt to reunite the Eagles in 1990 was put off in part because of surgery to remove part of Frey’s intestine. And in 1994, their “Hell Freezes Over” reunion tour was interrupted by Frey’s bout with diverticulitis.
Frey and Henley collaborated on most of the Eagles’ signature songs, hits that came to define a quintessential Southern California pop sound in the 1970s, as distinctive as the Beach Boys’ sunny harmonies had been a decade earlier.
Frey and Henley, originally joined in the Eagles by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, brought the two-, three- and four-part harmonies characteristic of country and bluegrass music to rock, powering them with electric guitars and drums in a tradition that had started with the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Henley credited Frey for being the chief architect of the vocal and instrumental blend that defined the Eagles.
“We gave Glenn a nickname, the Lone Arranger,” Henley wrote in 2003. “He had a vision about how our voices could blend and how to arrange the vocals, and, in many cases, the tracks. He also had a knack for remembering and choosing good songs.”
Glenn Lewis Frey was born Nov. 6, 1948, in Detroit and was inspired by the Beatles to take up the guitar. He played in bar bands in the Motor City as a teenager, and for a time was part of rocker Bob Seger’s band.
But Frey had greater ambitions, and he went to California, drawn by the vibrant rock and country folk scene brewing in the mid- to late 1960s.
The Troubadour was a focal point of that musical community, and it is where Frey met Ronstadt through mutual friend and musician J.D. Souther.
Frey and Souther formed a folk-based band called Longbranch Pennywhistle that began to make a name for itself, and for a time they shared an apartment in Echo Park, living above yet another soon-to-be-prominent singer-songwriter: Jackson Browne.
Frey said it was Browne who taught him the discipline needed to become a first-rate writer.
“He had his piano and guitars down there,” Frey wrote in the liner notes for the Eagles’ 2003 compilation album “The Very Best of the Eagles.” “I didn’t really know how to sit down and work on a song until I heard him playing underneath us in the basement.
“I had never really witnessed that sort of focus — someone being that fastidious — and it gave me a different idea about how to write songs; that maybe it wasn’t all just going to be a flood of inspiration. That’s when I first heard ‘Take It Easy,’” a song Frey helped Browne finish and which became the Eagles’ first national hit, in 1972.
While becoming one of the most successful acts in pop music, the Eagles also had detractors who criticized the band’s often ultra-polished sound as soulless and excessively calculated.
But fans continued to lap up the band’s recordings and concert tickets. The group’s 1976 compilation album, “Eagles/Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975,” is the second-biggest-selling album of all time, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the trade organization that bestows gold and platinum records.
It has alternated over the years at No. 1 and 2 with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which holds the top spot with certified sales of more than 30 million copies, to more than 29 million for the Eagles’ album.
During the band’s hiatus in the 1980s, Frey released three solo albums and ultimately logged 13 singles that made the Billboard Hot 100. Two of those peaked at No. 2: “The Heat Is On” (featured in the Eddie Murphy comedy “Beverly Hills Cop”) and “You Belong to the City.”
He also mapped out a second career as an actor, appearing in “Miami Vice” and other TV shows and starring in the short-lived 1993 series “South of Sunset.”
But it was with the Eagles that his reputation largely rested. After the group reunited in 1994, its tours generated bigger business at the box office than the group had in the 1970s, in large part because of the dramatic increase in the price of concert tickets over the decades.
The band commissioned a “History of the Eagles” documentary that aired on Showtime in 2013, and it recounted the light and the dark aspects of the group’s track record, including Frey and Henley’s decision to fire guitarist Don Felder, who had composed the signature guitar parts that help define “Hotel California.”
The documentary set the stage for a “History of the Eagles” concert tour that surveyed the group’s four decades of music-making and ranked No. 8 among the highest-grossing tours of the year worldwide, raking in $86.5 million in 2014, according to the concert industry-tracking magazine Pollstar.
As part of that tour, the Eagles played six sold-out shows at the newly renovated Forum in Inglewood at the outset of 2014.
Whether the Eagles could continue without Frey was a question no one was prepared to address Monday.
“I haven’t even given it a thought,” Azoff said. “It’s of no importance right now.”
Frey is survived by his wife, Cindy, and their children Taylor, Deacon and Otis.
“There will be a major memorial, and it will be in L.A.,” Azoff said. “The only thing the family and guys in the band ask is that we want to plan it right.”
randy.lewis@latimes.com
From Billboard.com
"Other artists expressing their appreciation for synchs included Joe Walsh. Three days after Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey’s passing, Walsh was on hand to co-present the award for best use of music by a brand. Talking to Billboard before the ceremony, he declined to comment on Frey’s death. “I haven’t said anything because there are no words,” he said."
Cameron Crowe's Rolling Stone article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/fe...-king-20160121
Quote:
It was 1972, and "Take It Easy" was on the charts. The Eagles came to San Diego, where I was working for a local underground paper. I grabbed my photographer buddy Gary from school and made a plan. We were going to sneak backstage and grab an interview with this new group. I loved their harmonies, and the confident style that charged their first hit.
Glenn Frey introduced the band: "We're the Eagles, from southern California." They were explosive, right off the top, opening with their a cappella rendition of "Seven Bridges Road." Then, this new band, filled with piss and vinegar, launched immediately into their hit. There was nothing "laid back" about them. No "saving the hit for last." They were a lean-and-mean American group, strong on vocals and stronger on attitude.
Gary and I talked our way backstage with ease and found the band's road manager, who threw us all into a small dressing room where drummer-singer Don Henley, bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon took us through the story of the band. Every other sentence began with "And then Glenn..." Glenn Frey was the only guy not in the room.
After about a half hour, the door whipped open and Frey walked in. He had a Detroit swagger, a memorable drawl and patter like a baseball player who'd just been called up to the majors. He was part musician, part tactician and part stand-up comic.
It was immediately obvious that Glenn had his eye on the*big picture. He'd studied other bands, how they broke up or went creatively dry. He had a plan laid out. He even used that first interview to promote his friends — Jackson Browne, John David Souther and songwriter Jack Tempchin. His laugh and demeanor were infectious. Immediately, you wanted to be in his club.
At the end of the interview, I asked the band to pose together. The photo is one of my favorites. It captures one of their earliest, happiest, freest moments. A band that would later brawl memorably was giddy and happy that night, arms wrapped around each other. The look on Glenn's face is priceless: This is my band, and we're on our way.
Glenn and I exchanged phone numbers, and he stayed in touch. He brought me in early on the making of the Eagles' second album, Desperado. As I'd begun to do more and more work as a correspondent for Rolling Stone, he began to complain to me about the magazine calling the band "soft" or "laid-back," along with much of the East Coast literati. The Eagles, in my*time around them, were many things, but "laid-back" was not one of them.
brother. It was easy to share your personal stuff with Glenn. He'd help you plot out the answers to your problems like a seasoned coach. He once laid out the psychology of getting and maintaining a buzz at a party. ("Two beers back to back, then one every hour and 15 minutes. ... You'll be loquacious, and all the girls will talk with you.")
I found that I went to him often for gender-specific advice that would have stumped or even horrified my sister. When I once told him about a girl I was in love with from afar, a girl I was sure I needed to impress with a better "act," Frey reacted hugely. "No!" he said with a pirate's smile. "You don't need an act — all you need is to be you." He leaned in close. "If she can't smell your qualifications, move on."
Frey was a big character, and as I began to write fiction, I often plucked liberally from things he'd told me. The above quote I gave to Mike Damone in*Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Glenn valued camaraderie, which was apparent whenever he was around crew and friends or in a recording session. Glenn and Don would coach the vocal takes like seasoned pros, giving sharp directions, as well as nicknames and athletic truisms worthy of John Wooden. Along with longtime friend and manager Irving Azoff, Glenn was also careful about keeping his band above financial water. He'd read too many biographies about genius musicians who were now broke. Early in the band's history, he took me aside. "I don't want to be super-rich; I don't need the big money," he once said. "I just want 1 million to spend on a house and a life, and 1 million to put in the bank and live off the interest. And then I got a life."
Six months later, before playing a sold-out show in Oakland, he casually told me the good news. "Cameron, remember what I told you about the $2 million?" I nodded. "Got it. Now all I gotta do is make a buncha records that I would buy myself!"
The sound of those records made for scores of hits, changed the way concerts and the music business would be conducted in*modern times, and also redefined what we now know as country music. None of this was by accident. Glenn was the playmaker. His and Henley's deep knowledge of sounds, of R&B and soul, country and pure rock, warmed up three different generations. Their success never even flagged during the decade-plus hiatus they took starting in 1980.
Their 2013 documentary,*History of the Eagles, told the whole warts-and-all story. And in it, you see the Frey that his friends knew. Funny. Tough. Cynical. A ruleskeeper. Along the way, these scrappy carpetbaggers from Texas and Detroit wrote about Los Angeles with a clarity and wit that few have matched, in novels, music or movies. Critically, the East Coast critical intelligentsia continued to slight them, and sometimes even mock them.
Frey gave up trying to please them long ago. The Beach Boys had the far more media-attractive tale of Brian Wilson and a troubled young genius' mythology of pain. The Eagles had Glenn and Don, an avalanche of public acceptance, fewer scandals and a cleareyed adult's view of the same California. They were, frankly, a winning team. Some never forgave them for their success. But that success, as Frey would explain to you, was always part of the plan. "You can be in the gutter talking about all your missed opportunities," he said, "or you can be successful, and pull the other guy out of the gutter."
Frey made success look like a ballgame anybody could suit up and play with him. Within a half hour, he'd have given you a nickname. Because I made him laugh with an imitation of James Brown's MC ("Ladies and gentlemen, it is star time tonight. ..."), I was "Get Down Clown." And Glenn, who along with Henley made a regular habit of charming the ladies with gallant good manners, was "the Teen King." Because of his ability with charting Eagles harmonies, he was also "the Lone Arranger," and once, because he'd collected a small garbage bin filled with weed in his backyard, he was "Roach." Don Felder, his guitarist, was "Fingers." The other band members had a psychedelic ever-changing collection of nicknames that each had deep and swirling meanings. I forgot most of 'em, but Glenn never did.
When I later moved in with Glenn and Henley for a couple of weeks*while they were writing the*One of These Nights*album, we talked about life and love and music for days on end. I watched as they incorporated their nighttime adventures into daytime classics. They worked meticulously on songs like "Lyin' Eyes" and "One of These Nights," often spending hours on a single word.
And at one point, Glenn took me aside. We had the very conversation that appears in Almost Famous, when William is guided to leave some stuff off the record. Frey eventually capitulated. "Everything's on the record," he said. And then the famous Glenn smile. "Just make us look cool."
In Jerry Maguire, Glenn played Dennis Wilburn, the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. I had auditioned several other actors for the part. Somehow they all had a problem harassing and beating down Tom Cruise's character, who was then at his low point. Many were intimidated delivering soul-crushing lines to such a superstar. Glenn came in and had more fun harassing Cruise than a kid at summer camp. "It's just sports to me," he said.
His turnaround at the end of the film was far sweeter for the vigor he put into the performance. He was an excellent actor with generous people skills, friends with the entire crew. For all those who worked with him, from the beginning to the end, he was the team captain who you could call late at night. Glenn was also never far from the Teen King, awash with the enthusiasm and wickedly fun humor of his youth.
After the enormous critical and commercial victory of the band's masterpiece, Hotel California, Glenn also became a family man. He approached that role with the same verve of the kid who first got in a car and drove from Michigan to Laurel Canyon, spotted David Crosby on his first day and never looked back.
For fans of Frey feeling the pain now, I have a simple suggestion. Enjoy a long-neck Budweiser, and put on some soul music. Something with great vocals, like Johnnie Taylor's "I've Been Born Again." Or a song that Glenn was so intent on playing for me that he drove back and forth on Sunset Boulevard, again and again, just to listen and study: Eddie Hinton's "Get Off in It."
A last image. Working on our show Roadies, I was set on hiring Glenn to play the band's skilled but flighty manager, Preston. The word that came back was upsetting. Frey was in tough shape, hospitalized but fighting. I tried not to worry too much. Glenn Frey is, and always was, built for the fourth-quarter win. I last saw him over the summer, and I told him I wanted him to act again. He was enthusiastic. "I got an idea for a TV show," he said. "Kauai Five-0.*I'm Hawaii's toughest cop, and I live in*Kauai. And in the off-season ..." There was that pirate smile again. "... I get to be in the Eagles. It's a good life, right?"
My heart breaks when I saw what Joe said about Glenn. He is soo right. What can you say.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...awards-winners
ETA: I just saw the other post about this.Quote:
Other artists expressing their appreciation for synchs included Joe Walsh. Three days after Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey’s passing, Walsh was on hand to co-present the award for best use of music by a brand. Talking to Billboard before the ceremony, he declined to comment on Frey’s death. “I haven’t said anything because there are no words,” he said.
Randy's statement to the Daily News:
Late Eagles legend Glenn Frey spent his final weeks battling pneumonia in a New York hospital, his former band mate Randy Meisner told the Daily News Tuesday.
Still, Frey's death at 67 on Monday came as a "complete shock" to Meisner, he said in an exclusive phone interview.
"I heard he wasn't feeling well, but I didn't think it was that serious. Then we heard he got pneumonia," Meisner said.
"I knew he had some problems with his stomach, but I figured he'd be OK and get out of the hospital and do his thing again," he said.
"All day yesterday, I was like a zombie. He was the last person I expected to go first. He was such an energetic guy," Meisner said.
"This is very sad for me," he said. "I'm sad we couldn't take it to the limit one more time."
Frey battled colitis most of his life and took a turn for the worse in November, his good friend Bob Seger told the Detroit Free Press.
The Eagles singer and songwriter was placed in a medically induced coma during his treatment at Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan, he said.
"First he caught one set of pneumonia, then he caught a very virulent set of pneumonia," Seger told the newspaper.
"They were trying like hell to keep him alive. He'd been at Columbia University Medical Center since November," Seger said.
The band's longtime manager Irving Azoff "pulled every ace out of the hole — he had the eight best specialists working on Glenn. About a month ago, they had to throw up their hands," Seger said.
Meisner, 69, recalled meeting Frey at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and naming their iconic band after seeing an eagle fly overhead while hanging out and meditating in the desert in the early 1970s.
"Glenn, with his playing and his personality, he was one special person. He was the frontman on stage. He was a good talker and really good with people. I was more shy, staying in the background," Meisner said.
When Meisner suffered his own medical scare in 2013 and 2014, his Eagles bandmates helped him out financially, he said.
"I aspirated some food into my throat and choked," he said. "I was in a coma for a little while, too. They paid for everything, me being in the hospital."
As the oldest in the band, Meisner thought he might be the first to go —not Frey.
"He was so energetic and full of life. He has his children, I was so happy for him. It's really sad," he said.
Meisner said he'd been looking forward to traveling to the Kennedy Center Honors that was postponed last month because of Frey's health.
"I was looking forward to this one. I was going to go to the Kennedy awards and was thinking, 'Man this could be the last time we'll all be together.' Now that really hurts my heart that we couldn't be together one more time," Meisner told The News.
A statement on the band’s website Monday said "The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery."
The official cause of death was listed as complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.
Azoff reportedly told The Wrap that Frey's health problems were due in part to his medications for his inflammatory disorder.
"The colitis and pneumonia were side effects from all the meds," Azoff said. "He died from complications of ulcer and colitis after being treated with drugs for his rheumatoid arthritis which he had for over 15 years.”
Azoff declined to specify the medication in question but said Frey suffered from joint pain that attacked his knees and hands.
"I couldn't believe he went to so quick," Meisner said. "When I heard yesterday, I started crying for a long time. You're like brothers in a band like that. Sometimes we got in arguments, but it was like a marriage, we all loved each other. I sure will miss the guy. He was really fun."
Graham Nash talks about David Bowie and Glenn Frey.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/co...wie-glenn-frey
Not a whole lot about Glenn, but:
Quote:
On his beautiful new album, This Path Tonight, due April 15, dual Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Graham Nash, who is enshrined with both Crosby, Stills and Nash and the Hollies, opens up on his own mortality.
So when Nash presented This Path Tonight*at L.A.'s landmark Village studios, where he recorded the recorded the album, it took on even more poignancy given the recent two deaths of two of his fellow musical icons, David Bowie and Glenn Frey.
Before he played the album Wednesday night (Jan. 20) for a gathering of friends, family and industry-ites, Nash sat down with Billboard for an extensive conversation. During that time the 74-year-old Nash reflected on his experiences over the years with both Bowie and Frey and the thing that makes him saddest about the loss of the two greats.
Nash reflected on his more personal relationship with Frey, who he knew for years. "Glenn I've known since the late '60s, early '70s because he was growing up in Laurel Canyon, making music the same that we all were at the time and I hung with him several times in the journey of the Eagles," he said. "And we actually lived on the same island in the Hawaiian chain for 30 years so I did see him occasionally."
What upsets me is what songs were almost finished in Glenn's mind that we'll never hear because he hasn't demoed them or presented them to make a record of them or maybe he hasn't even sung them to his old lady or his family," Nash wonders. "It was the same when*John [Lennon]died, it was the same when*George [Harrison]died, what songs were in their head at that moment that we'll never hear."
I think that we all agree about the music that we'll never get to hear.
I'm afraid the Lefsetz article, which treated Glenn as a symbol rather than a man, and over-emphasised the alleged 'hatred' of the band, did nothing for me at all.
The Cameron Crowe story is my favourite as it is so vivid. I wanted more.
Looking at my saved links...
Wade Biery, who several board members met when he was playing in Glenn's band.
http://www.stillmusic.com/?p=1880
Bob Seger:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/artic...MENT/160119510
Alison Ellwood:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...piece-20160119
I was going to quote just parts of it but then the context was lost.
Quote:
Glenn Frey's interviews in the unvarnished 2013 History of the Eagles documentary can best be described as delightfully unrepentant. Over the course of the candid two-part film, currently streaming on Netflix, Frey, who died Monday at 67, pulls no punches when discussing the band's formation, its lineup changes and especially his fractured relationship with guitarist Don Felder.
Alison Ellwood, who directed the film and sat with Frey during his series of interviews in 2012, says his outspoken commentary inspired the other band members to open up.
"Glenn was the leader of the band in getting stuff done. He was the doer. He understood when we agreed to do [the film] that it had to be honest, that we're not making a fluff piece. He said, 'I don't want a fluff piece,'" Ellwood tells Rolling Stone. "His willingness to be completely honest, warts and all, made a huge difference in the film and set a precedent for the others. Joe Walsh, after seeing a first cut of the film, asked to be re-interviewed, because he realized how open Glenn was being."
Ellwood cites Frey's recollection of listening to Jackson Browne compose "Doctor My Eyes" as her favorite moment of the documentary. Frey lived above Browne at the time and was tortured by the songwriter's incessant fiddling with the 1972 single. In the end, he learns the trick to composing: "elbow grease," Frey calls it in the film.
"Glenn not only had the knowledge, the wisdom, the insight and the soul to understand that, he actually implemented that," Ellwood says. "A lot of the myth of rock & roll is that it's seat of your pants. . .but these guys worked hard. And Glenn had a vision."
It was a vision for both the band's albums and Ellwood's film. She says that when her team approached Frey with audio of his infamous onstage blowup with Felder in 1980 — in which Frey threatens to kick the guitarist's ass — he offered no hesitation in using it in the documentary.
"We told Glenn we had it, and he said, 'Go for it, man,'" Ellwood says. "He was brave."
Yes, those are better. And I've been annoyed at the Guardian but they did have this:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/mus...les-spark-plug
Speaking of recognition for solo work, here is a nice article about The One You Love:
http://somethingelsereviews.com/2016...-one-you-love/
That's a great article and very true of Glenn's talents. If I might add, the first time I heard "The One You Love" it struck me how much it reminded me of "I Can't Tell You Why" in mood and in style. I think that goes to show how much Glenn really shaped the finished version of Timothy's song.
Cameron Crowe's piece is absolutely great, he's definitely put some time and thought into it and it's so personal as well, which makes it even better. I think I agree with FP in finding that Lefestz's piece doesn't quite hit the mark. I agree it overemphasises the 'haters', but I don't think the analysis of this hits the mark either (to me, admittedly as a non-American, I suspect the East Coast/West Coast rivalry was/is probably more significant than the factors he does mention). However, the article did prompt a lovely comment from Bernie, so I can't complain.
I have listened to a few Eagles songs but not a full album just yet I'll probably play at least one tomorrow, leaning towards the debut album right now. Most Of Us Are Sad actually came into my head today actually before I'd even read Bernie's comment, so I think I'll listen to it again for sure.
I have to admit I was listening to some non-Eagles music on the train this evening and there were a few songs that rather got to me. I was listening to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here album (which as you may know is a huge personal favourite of mine) and I was moved by Shine On You Crazy Diamond and the title track more than usual. It's worse though when you're not expecting it - I was listening to a bit of R.E.M. and I was reminded of Glenn when I heard Man On The Moon ('See you in heaven if you make the list') and Find The River ('Watch the road and memorise this life that passed before my eyes'). Those lines caught me off guard and I was pretty closing to welling up.
Yesterday I heard a live versiojn of Sultans Of Swing & it got me going. Why Sultans? Glenn was one & he was totally committed to the music. Then I heard Telstar & Let It Grow by Clapton, and all those melancholy chords hit me very hard. And then I heard Drive-in Saturday. And I froze up again.
You can now vote for his best song here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-song-20160122
Dr Brian May pays tribute to David & Glenn,
I will never hear Starman the same way again. I apply it to both of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=P...&v=6h0uPmtPoVY
I always thought Brian has a beautiful voice. I can't watch the video of him and Luciano Pavarotti singing Too Much Love Can Kill You.
Thank you Brian for that tribute. He knows what the guys are going through right now when it comes to losing a bandmate. He, Roger and John lost Freddie almost 25 years ago.
More from Joe, in reply to Bob Lefsetz:
Hi Bob-
Thought I'd check in -
First, Thanks to everyone who has posted on your Glenn thread. Very comforting in a very awkward and sad time.
I haven't done any media- period. It's not that I can't find the words, it's that there are no words. I've tried and all I have is a blank page. That's how I feel. That's how we all feel, Maybe later, I'll have something, but not right now.
So, Thank You for your kind and intelligent overview, and Thanks to everybody who also checked in.
I keep coming back to one of Glenn's favorite ways to sum things up:
"Ladies and Gentlemen........
Elvis has left the building"
Joe Walsh
Thank you for posting the Bob Lefsetz thread. It made me cry. Joe Walsh's comment is touching.
I'm glad to hear something from Joe. My heart breaks for him. When I read the Elvis quote I lost it!
I feel like Joe. I'm a pretty good writer if I do say so myself, but when I try to express the sense of loss I feel now that Glenn is gone, I find all my words are inadequate.
I'll never adore any male musician the way I adore Glenn Frey, and now that he's gone, I'm lost for words.
I haven't been able to come up with words either, especially not for what he means to me. I've been a hardcore fan for less than a year, but I've became enthralled by Glenn. The only thing that I have been able to do is the little tribute that I posted very early on in the other thread:
You first had a peaceful easy feeling and took it easy in 1972.
You were an outlaw man in 1973.
You sang about another tequila sunrise in 1973.
You became already gone in 1974.
You paid your respects to James Dean in 1974.
You told us that we can't hide our lyin' eyes in 1975.
You were a new kid in town in 1977.
You had a heartache tonight in 1979.
You sang about the one you love in 1982.
You went to Partytown in 1982.
You had the smuggler's blues in 1984.
You sang about being an allnighter in 1984.
The heat was on for you in 1985.
You belonged to the city in 1985.
You were livin' right in 1988.
You sang about true love in 1988.
You went to flip city for the Ghostbusters 2 movie in 1989.
You sang about the long hot summer in LA in 1992.
You were on a river of dreams in 1992.
You got over it 1994.*
You wanted to be called on in 1995.
You didn't want there to be anymore cloudy days in 2004(or 2007)
You wondered how long in 2007.
You told your daughter (and us) that we aren't alone in 2007.
You dreamed that there was no more war in 2007.
You got your kicks on route 66 in 2012.
You told us about the history of your band in 2013.
Now, in 2016, you belong to the ages.
RIP to Eagles founder, guitarist, and vocalist Glenn Frey, Nov. 6th, 1948- Jan. 18th, 2016. Thank you for doing those things for us! Your music will live on!
*- he didn't sing lead, but it fits.
Very nice, AG!
Soda, I'm sorry you're hurting so much. Sending cyber hugs your way (and to all the Borderers and fans who are hurting)!
I liked Joe's small, silent tribute. It says so much. I look forward to hearing what he has say when he's ready. I bet it will be interesting!
I imagine that TBS must feel like Joe. There really are no words.
I also liked Bernie's tribute. Very well said.
I thought Don F's was a little over the top, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt under the circumstances.
I'm not surprised that Don H's tribute was eloquent and heartfelt. Glenn has been such a huge part of his life for all these years, I can't even imagine the loss that he feels right now.
Joe Vitale:
(See more via the link http://www.cantonrep.com/article/201...MENT/160129916 )Quote:
“Glenn is such an icon,” Vitale said. “He was one of the founding members and an amazing ideas guy. Anytime we were recording or rehearsing or doing gigs or putting set lists together, if we were stumbling, we’d always go, ‘Ask Glenn,’ because he always had the answer. He was really smart. He was smart in life and a smart showman.”
I have a fond and humorous memory of Glenn I'd like to share. It happened during a show in Indianapolis back in March of 2009. If you would like to read my entire review, it's right here.
https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/...ead.php?t=1557
This was the second of 5 Eagles shows I was lucky enough to attend, and these were the best seats Hubby and I had of all 5 shows - 2nd row center, right in front of Glenn. Soda was there, too, sitting a few seats down from us in front of Joe.
Before the show started, a man with a laminated Eagles badge around his neck came strolling past the front row explaining the Eagles sitting/standing policy. He said that we should stay seated during the slower songs so that we wouldn't block the rest of the crowd's view, but on the faster songs we should look behind us and if most of the crowd was on their feet, then we could stand, too. There has been much discussion about this policy here since then.
Anyway, the show started and although 'the policy' made it confusing at times, the Eagles were putting on a great show. Arriving after the show started was a couple who sat right in front of us, and they seemed to be joining another couple who were already seated front and center. At her first opportunity, the woman who had arrived late and her friend stood up and started dancing. "Uh-oh", I thought to myself, "She wasn't here to hear 'the policy' ".
Sure enough, here came 'the policy' man right up to them, his hands in a praying position, pleading with them to sit down. Remember, the one woman hadn't heard the instructions before the show and although both women tentatively sat down, you could tell the one woman was flabbergasted. No sooner had the 'policy man' left, the two women stood up again and began to dance and move to the music. And here he came again, pleading and motioning for them to please sit down.
That was enough for the woman who had arrived late. She abruptly left, leaving the other three in her party looking after her. Heck, I was missing part of the show because of the drama ensuing right in front of me! The rest of the first half was without incident (except for not knowing when it was okay to stand), and the Eagles were putting on a great show, although I did take note that Glenn kept his eyes closed a lot, whether he was singing, talking, or just playing. I kept thinking, "Glenn! Open your eyes, man! Look at all of these people here who love you!"
When the second half of the show started the woman returned to her front row center seat, still angry as ever and quite a bit drunker. She stayed seated, glaring up at the stage and suddenly, her two hands raised high in the air, she gave the band a double flip-off, and just held it there. Glenn, finally noticing this angry woman right in front of him, looked at her and gave her one of these looks :shrug:, as if saying, "What did we do???!!!" He had no idea why she was angry. It was a comical sight, to say the least.
This is the memory I have of Glenn, and I'm so glad it's a funny one.
Here is what Henry Diltz said about Glenn. (It's on his Facebook page if anyone wants to know)
Quote:
Glenn Frey was one of the good guys. He was whip-smart and funny as all get-out. I spent time with him in the desert, backstage and in planes, boats & automobiles. Capt'n Longneck they called him for awhile and he influenced our beer drinking habits.
There's a reason some people's talent rises to the top of the heap. It's because their energy was able to reflect on life around them and represent it in a unique and joyful way. That was Glenn's ability and he shared it with us. He's gone home now and left us with his songs & our memories. Take it Easy, he taught us. There are so many cool people on the other side that it'll be a pleasure to get there.
In the comments on Henry Diltz's Facebook page, someone has posted their own story of Capt'n Longneck.
The first time I saw Glenn Frey "in the flesh" was at my first Eagles concert in Sacramento in November 2005. I was sitting in the fourth row with Perfect Little Sister (or eaglesaddict as she was known at the time). I thought the Eagles were about to retire. Glenn had spoken of "ending it in California." Little did I know I had ten years of adventures ahead of me, most of them starring Glenn Frey.
He didn't know me from Adam at that point. He didn't know that I had been working on a fansite for him for months which had just opened on his birthday a few weeks prior, or the amount of time I had devoted to him. I was just another fan. And just like every other fan there that night, I got a fantastic show.
One thing I remember about that show is how he took care of business for Timothy when some jerk started being disruptive during "Love Will Keep Us Alive." The guy had stood and was making a lot of noise, obviously drunk. Glenn gave that guy the kind of look that could scorch you down to a pile of smoking shoes. That guy shut up and sat down.
As we left, Dreamer suggested to me that we go see him play Pebble Beach in a couple month's time. She wasn't able to come that year after all, but PLS and I went and oh my gosh, he was so sweet to us. There's a whole thread dedicated to that, a thread that's almost ten years old now, but it changed my life. It was just the beginning.
Soda, I went back and read the Pebble Beach threads the other day and could not stop smiling. That must have been the coolest experience ever, and Glenn seemed so sweet. So jealous!
"Put together a screwdriver for your uncle Glenn"... love it. :laugh:
James Dolan talks about Glenn in this People Magazine article:
http://www.people.com/article/james-...ers-glenn-frey
I've gotta agree. Those Pebble Beach threads are great! They show that Glenn did care about his fans and was appreciative of them.
Thanks for the link. I'm going to go ahead and C&P what he said here, because I'm afraid in a year's time or whatever, all these links will be gone.
Dolan said:
"He was the leader of the Eagles, and he had a standard and a work ethic that he imparted – and he had willing participants in the rest of the band – but he was not satisfied until it reached a very, very high level," Dolan told PEOPLE after performing. "He was insatiable in his appetite in the pursuit of reaching that sound and you could hear it in every show they did."
Dolan is honoring his late friend by displaying that same level of determination. "I talk to our guys and say, 'We cannot practice enough, we can get better at this, you think it's good now but we can get better.' That really is Glenn and his epitaph."
Dolan was lucky enough to open for the band many times, but nothing can compare to the first time he took the stage with the Eagles.
"The first time? Scary as hell, there was nobody there," he recalls. "I just remember being scared, thinking, 'Can I really do this?' When we did the sound check, I was like, 'We're way too high and there are way too many seats out there,'" Dolan laughed. "But you know, we went out and did it."