Felder's "Heaven and Hell" Discussion Thread

[UndertheWire]

A couple of days ago, I was listening to a bootleg of the 1980 Long Beach concert and later that day I was looking something up in Felder's book and noticed a couple of discrepencies.

We walked onstage, and he came over while we were plying "The Best of My Love" and said, "F--- you. I'm gonna kick your ass when we get off the stage."

Except "Best of My Love" isn't on the bootleg. Did it get edited out or is his memory at fault? (I suspect it was copied from Marc Eliot's book rather than being a true memory).

Next, when writing about the MTV concert:

This was the first show I'd ever played with the Eagles when it wasn't just the five of us. All of a sudden, because Don and Glenn wanted to bring their own people in from their solo backup bands, we had a whole orchestra behind us, with violins and the works, plus another drummer, two keyboard players, and a saxophone/horn guy, none of which the Eagles had ever had.

And yet, in the Long Beach concert, Glenn introduced not just Joe Vitale who had "been touring with them for the last 11 months" but also a saxophonist.

Sure, they're minor things but when I spot errors in things that I can check, I start to wonder how many errors there are in stories I have no way of validating.

[webvan]

Yep, no BOFM that night it seems : http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/eagles...a-bdb2526.html - odd...

[sodascouts]

A couple of days ago, I was listening to a bootleg of the 1980 Long Beach concert and later that day I was looking something up in Felder's book and noticed a couple of discrepencies.

Except "Best of My Love" isn't on the bootleg. Did it get edited out or is his memory at fault? (I suspect it was copied from Marc Eliot's book rather than being a true memory).

Next, when writing about the MTV concert:

And yet, in the Long Beach concert, Glenn introduced not just Joe Vitale who had "been touring with them for the last 11 months" but also a saxophonist.

Sure, they're minor things but when I spot errors in things that I can check, I start to wonder how many errors there are in stories I have no way of validating.

I think Felder and his co-author's reliance on Marc Eliot's book to "fill in the details" was a big mistake. Eliot has lots of errors, and it damages Felder's credibility when he echoes them.

Of course, there's always the chance he's remembering things incorrectly, too.

I love how precise and detail-oriented you are, UTW!

[SilverMoon]

Glenn Frey on the 1980 Long Beach concert:

For me, it ended in Long Beach, California, at a benefit for Alan Cranston. I felt Don Felder insulted Senator Cranston under his breath and I confronted him with it. So now we're on stage, and Felder looks back at me and says, “Only three more songs till I kick your ass, pal.” And I'm saying, “Great. I can't wait.” We're out there singing 'Best of My Love,' but inside both of us are thinking, ‘As soon as this is over, I'm gonna kill him.’ That was when I knew I had to get out.

http://www.glennfreyonline.com/quotes/eagles.htm

[UndertheWire]

Maybe it's one of those myths that everyone starts to believe.

[sodascouts]

They did several shows in Long Beach... is it possible something happened at another one? It's weird that they both misremembered it.

Or, Glenn misremembered, and Felder was relying on that interview with Glenn to fill in details. Now THAT would be irony, my friends!

[UndertheWire]

The quote from Glenn is from the In their Own Words interview which seems to from the mid-80s. I'm fairly sure Marc Eliot would have read that when he was researching his book. So Glenn may have misremembered (or deliberately changed the detail because it makes a better story) and that version got used by Eliot. Then Don Felder/Wendy Holden used Eliot's book for background. That sounds plausible.

Sorry, I'm such a nit-picker. It's just that when I notice a difference I start to wonder why. What I've learned from this is that neither Felder nor Frey are reliable when recalling details years later. Which is not too surprising given the state they would have been in and the amount of time that has passed.

[webvan]

Makes sense and I'll add that when reading these bios (Felder's but also Bobby Keys' that I'm currently reading) I'm left a bit puzzled by how much of the details they remember, it's almost like watching a movie...obviously that's what the co-authors are hired for

[thelastresort]

Could it also be possible that setlist FM is wrong? Or is the bootleg full and unabridged?

[Freypower]

To be honest, I really don't think it is that important which song it was. The basic facts are right apart from that.