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Thread: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.

  1. #31
    Stuck on the Border buffyfan145's Avatar
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    Default Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.

    Thanks again HB for all the posts!!!

    And congrats on 300 NKIT!!!
    ~*Amanda*~
    "So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key."

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    Default 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.

  3. #33
    Stuck on the Border Houston Baby's Avatar
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    Default 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.......
    Last edited by Houston Baby; 07-26-2017 at 09:44 AM.

  4. #34
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    Default 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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    Default 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?

  6. #36
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    Default 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.

  7. #37
    Stuck on the Border Houston Baby's Avatar
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    Default Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.

    Quote Originally Posted by UndertheWire View Post
    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.

  8. #38
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    Default Re: Don Henley Runaway Tour in Dallas, TX - July 23, 2017.

    Quote Originally Posted by groupie2686 View Post
    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.

  9. #39
    Stuck on the Border shunlvswx's Avatar
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    Default 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.

    Brothers for life. RIP Glenn

    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

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    Default 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......

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