Don Felder in the Press/Blogs/etc.

[Jonny Come Lately]

By the way, although this is off-topic, I want to make another thing clear...I have often said that (IMO) Glenn "kills" Felder in Too Many Hands guitarwise. I have never meant to bash Felder with that. It's more the opposite. What I've meant is that Glenn is really great in that song, because he plays even better than Felder.

I should probably have responded to this earlier, but I have listening closely to the guitar work on Too Many Hands recently and I'm convinced you're right about this. One of the lead guitars sounds quite similar to the leads on One Of These Nights (I'm guessing it's a Gibson Les Paul), which strongly suggests it's Don F, and Glenn is most likely playing Old Black. To me, the most memorable solo parts have the Old Black. I'm definitely not saying that Don F's playing isn't good (quite the opposite!), but I think Glenn's playing on that song is brilliant, especially his licks on the outro.

[UndertheWire]

Here's another interview that's similar to the one I linked to a couple of weeks ago but with more detail.

http://concertblogger.com/2016/11/in...-still-flying/

[Delilah]

Interesting interview, UtW, thanks. He sounds like he keeps busy. With his bass player being a trained opera singer, it's no wonder he's the one who sings TITTL. I noticed the blogger wrote this:

With the song “Hotel California”, ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder is responsible for one of the most recognizable rock riffs of all time.

[NightMistBlue]

This is an article from much earlier this year (February), but I don't think it's been posted here before - at least I couldn't find it. Anyhoo, is this underlined part true?

Plans for a tell-all Felder autobiography led to yet another suit, as Frey and Henley attempted to stop its publication. The memoir was ultimately delayed for a couple of years, arriving in 2009 as Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles. In it, he derisively refers to Frey and Henley as “the Gods.”

Read More: 15 Years Ago: The Eagles Fire Don Felder | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/the-e...ckback=tsmclip

P.S. Actually, Felder's book was published in 2008 in the U.S. and 2007 in the U.K., unless Wikipedia is wrong.

[Funk 50]

I remember somebody, in conversation with Henley, commenting that Don had forced Felder to edit sections of his book. Henley replied firmly that it wasn't him, it was the law of the land or words to that effect.

It was farcical that the Felder's book was required to be amended before getting a US release while it was freely available to all and sundry from the UK.

[NightMistBlue]

Hmmm, interesting. Do you know if/how the UK and US versions of the book differ?

[Delilah]

Don gives ABC News a short interview about making the Hotel California album. He gives credit to all the members.

"I thought it was an unbelievably magical combination of five guys -- writing, musicianship, the ability in the studio from the experience we had all had in the years we had spent making records," Felder said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...ry?id=44059053

[Delilah]

An interview Don had with Team Rock in issue 186 ("The Eagles, Divorce, Poverty and Pudding") that was re-published recently. It looks to originally be from May 2014. I searched the thread from that time period and didn't find it, and frankly, it was depressing so I stopped searching. The Team Rock linked articles tend to disappear anyway, so I'm quoting a lot of it. I thought this was interesting:

What do you think is the secret of success?

I think it’s 50 per cent hard work and 50 per cent luck. What has surprised me, though, is that when I started in the business, to be a recording artist was all auditory. Then MTV came along and it became visual. I just finished watching the Superbowl with Beyoncé, and she has this unbelievable wardrobe, dancers, fireworks coming out of guitars… For all I know she could have been lip-syncing, and probably was. Two weeks after that I saw History Of The Eagles, and it’s five guys walking out in ripped jeans, football jerseys, long hair, no make-up, no visual presentation whatsoever. But we all locked down, and the quality of the music was what sold that band.

The Eagles sold more than 150 million records. Do you remember how it feels to be broke?

I grew up in destitute poverty. I really grew up with nothing. My dad was a mechanic, and would work 14 hours a day and come home covered in grease. He saved every nickel he could, because he went through the Great Depression as a child, and wound up laying bricks, on his hands and knees. He would earn 10 cents a day – that would buy one loaf of bread. He never forgot that sense of starvation and desperation. And that was somewhat pounded into me. So I’ve never been foolish with money.

Do you believe in God?

Absolutely. But I don’t think that has much to do with this article.

Where do you stand politically?

I’m not a party-based person. I vote for the candidate I think will do the best job, and I don’t care if he’s an independent, Democrat, Republican… We just need somebody to reach across both aisles of this log-jam in Washington. Where do I stand on gun law? I don’t believe that, politically, there will ever be a ban on guns in this country. There’s so many strong gun lobbies, manufacturers, people who have an interest in that whole industry. It’s like trying to ban cars.

What would you have as your final meal?

Well I know what the dessert would be: icky-sticky pudding. A famous stage actor named Howard Keel introduced me to it and shared the recipe. That would probably be the end-all and be-all for my taste delight here on this planet.

What inscription would you have on your tombstone?

Jeez, what a morbid interview. Well, I don’t intend to have a tombstone. It’s a waste of the environment, and it’s usually some sort of homage to yourself. Usually the people that have the largest, most narcissistic personality disorder erect the largest vault or shrine to themselves.

http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-11-...ty-and-pudding

[NightMistBlue]

So many interesting, surprising points in that interview! Mostly, it's striking to me that he doesn't mention talent in the equation for success, only hard work and luck.

Now I'm gonna google icky-sticky pudding.

[chaim]

- Do you believe in God?

- Absolutely. But I don’t think that has much to do with this article.