Felder's "Heaven and Hell" Discussion Thread

[UndertheWire]

Thanks for the link. Bernie sounds so together and able to view it all objectively, much the same as in the documentary. I'm sure he's doing fine on the current tour as he can treat it like being in the military and told when and where to report for duty.

[MaryCalifornia]

Thanks, SM - good finding. So, Bernie answered my question - he and Felder didn't speak for a decade after he left the band, even with their long history and the fact that Bernie brought him in. That's too bad. Maybe after that decade they reconnected. I like the part about, "Well, if I'm leaving, I might as well as give the job to Don."

It makes you realize how intense those four years '71 - '75 were for the guys - such a short period of time in the big picture, but so much happening, so much pressure (and this was before HC!). It's clear Bernie was trying to/planning on leaving even earlier than '75. Interesting that he think's Meisner's departure was less "well thought out" - Bernie must have been thinking A LOT about his own departure!!

[UndertheWire]

Twenty-eight-year-old Bernie Leadon... admits to twice leaving and rejoining the Eagles.

From an interview in September 1975, so not long before he left for the third and final time.
http://www.theuncool.com/journalism/rs196-the-eagles/

[UndertheWire]

I found this when looking for something else. Chris Hillman was talking about autobiographies, including Graham Nash's and Linda Ronstadt's. Then there was this (the bolder line is the interviewer, the rest is Hillman):

Here's the one book that was a mistake. Don Felder's. Did you read that one?
No, I did not.
Well, Don Felder wrote this book when he left the Eagles -- it was apparently a mutual situation -- it was very negative thing, slamming everybody, and I read it. I don't know why I read it. Somebody loaned it to me. I heard it had a hard time even being published because Irving Azoff, the Eagles' manager, put the kabosh on it. After I read it, I didn't have any sympathy for him. I thought, what are you, a knot-head? He's a guitar player -- I shouldn't be gossiping -- but he got all upset at Don and Glenn reorganizing the Eagles. Well, they were the songwriters and the singers. So you're the guitar player. So here's this poor guy -- and he's probably a good guy, but I don't know him -- but the Eagles are out working, and he's not. So now I feel bad for him. You don't write those kind of things slamming other people. It will harm you the rest of your life. How can you pass judgement on other people? Like I said, I didn't know the man. I think he's a really good musician, and it's not for me to judge him either. It's not for any of us to judge others. We all make mistakes. It's the same story, Lee. You get together in the band, you go after the gold ring. It's working great. You get the success and it starts to splinter. Drugs come along ... usually the women and the wives leave. Dah de dah de dah. And you end up flat broke. So either you find a religious outlet and are saved, or whatever. But it seems like that is the story I would avoid. I don't go there. I would rather talk about all this great music and why I had the passion I did at 18 years old. I was just talking to Herb about this. Good God, we didn't even think about getting paid. To be able to play was the thing, and if you got a little extra money, that was a treat. In those days, you just wanted to play. You're 17 or 18 years old, you're up in L.A. and you're in those small clubs and that was what it was all about.

http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com...interview-pt-1

[sodascouts]

Interesting to see it from another musician's perspective. Hillman worked with Bernie so he would have probably heard another side of the story that might not quite have matched up with the book.

[chaim]

Interesting comments from Hillman. I agree with him on some points, but I think he went a bit far calling the book a "mistake". Don wanted to say things and he said them, and only he can call it a mistake later if he feels so. I may not like a lot of the things that are said in an autobiography, but it is an autobiography (which means one person's version of a story), so I'm in no position to say that it was a mistake.

[UndertheWire]

I think Hillman said it was a mistake because he thinks it harmed Felder. He may be talking from a Christian/spiritual stance - you reap what you sow etc.

You're right in that it's only Felder who can decide if the catharthic and financial benefits of publishing the book outweigh the harm it may have done to his personal relationships.

[webvan]

Not sure the book changed much to the "situation" since no one from the Eagles was talking to him anymore anyway at least according to what's in it and since it was not blocked it was certainly true. The "mistake" was rather that he played hardball with Frey and Henley starting in 1994 and didn't have much (as a "guitarist" mentioned by Hillman) to back up/enforce the old Eagles agreement.

In hindsight, yes, I'm sure life would have been easier for him had he found a way to live with the "new deal" in 1994 as he would still likely be touring the world with the them. A better deal for us fans too, for the tours of course, but that 2007 album would also have been more memorable too!

[UndertheWire]

The difference is that the legal proceedings are now locked away from sight and over time might get forgotten or forgiven whereas the book is out there for anyone to read.

[webvan]

Which I think is a good thing since it can serve as a reference and explain how things came down. Now if that book had been the cause of the current situation then, yes, it would have been a "mistake". In comparison, at one point it looked like some of Keith Richards' petty comments (I won't dignify them by mentioning them here) in his autobiography could cause the demise of the Stones, now that would have been sad.