Pre-Eagles History

[FWIW]

Until recently, I always assumed that the 4 original members of the Eagles played together at Disneyland. When I saw the April 2013 interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqYnztvtV7o) of the Eagles at The Connaught Hotel in London, it sounds like a different bass player was with Glenn, Don and Bernie at Disneyland. Glenn talked about adding Bernie for the Grad Nite dates at Disneyland and then replacing the bass player with Randy Meisner for a show in Los Altos.

The location of that early Los Altos gig is very close to my home. I just moved here about 20 years too late! I turned up an article (http://www.losaltosonline.com/special-sections2/sections/food-a-wine/47861-amber-india-to-move) from the local paper that gives a brief mention of the musical history of Chuck's Cellar, where it says the band that would go on to become the Eagles played together for the first time. Interestingly, there is no mention of Bernie in the article so I'm not sure if he played with them there.

Does anyone know the name of the original bass player?

[UndertheWire]

Does anyone know the name of the original bass player?
Mike Bowden. If you think the name sounds familiar, it's because he was in Shiloh and is related (cousin?) to Don's friend Richard Bowden.

According to John Einarson (Desperados), John Boylan invited Randy to fill in for Mike Bowden for two nights at Chuck's Cellar to see how he got along with Glenn and Don. Which he did. Then Bernie heard John Boylan was putting together the group, got in touch and auditioned with the other three. He says this was before the Disney gig but around the same time.

[FWIW]

Thanks UtW! The music business is such a small world.

Other than auditions, do you know if the 4 original members played together before Aspen? Seems like Geffen would have wanted to see them perform before signing them, but that's just speculation on my part.

[UndertheWire]

The stories vary from one person to the other which is not surprising as it's hard to get everything in the right order 30-45 years later. Here's an account from a manager at Geffen-Roberts:

David was focused on discovring new artists for the label, and every day paced his office, rolling a loop of scotch tape between his fingers, obsessing that we had to find "the next big thing." Boylan
hired Frey, bassist Randy Meisner and drummer Don Henley to perform in Linda's back up band. One Monday night we all converged on The Troubadour in West Hollywood to catch Rondstadt's performance. In the middle of her set, Linda graciously introduced Frey, Randy, Don and lead guitarist Bernie Leadon, and allowed them to perform a four song set in the middle of her show.

David always said that, when it comes to music, its easy to tell what's great; and its difficult to tell what's not great. What we saw that night was extraordinary. The musical virtuosity and tight harmonies inspired an enthusiastic reaction from Linda's fans; and I personally got goose bumps over my entire body. The next day David, Elliot and I met the quartet in a rehearsal hall in The Valley for what was to be the first rehearsal of the band that would cone to call itself Eagles.

Needless to say, the half dozen songs they had worked up were pretty raw; and there wasn't much attempt at performance. However, their potential greatness shone through and we immediately committed to manage the act and sign them to Asylum Records. As the new manager of an untested band, the first thing I wanted to do was get them out of town for some practical experience. I booked them in a bar called Tulagi's and sent them off to Aspen, Colorado.
There's more at this link:
http://theholodigm.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/hartmanns-law-if-its-not-good-live-dump.html

[NightMistBlue]

Very interesting stuff - thank you, FWIW and UtW. What time frame are we talking about for the Linda show at the Troubadour that featured a four-song set by the proto-Eagles? I'm thinking July 1971 maybe?

[NightMistBlue]

P.S. Apparently, Chuck's Cellar is an Indian restaurant now. This young journalist doesn't seem to be aware of the venue's history and doesn't question why the restaurant has cocktails named Hotel California and Desperado.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2015/10/15/mountain-views-amber-india-shutters-amber-club-opens

From an SF Gate article on rock 'n roll landmarks in the Bay area:

Chuck's Cellar
This long defunct steak and lobster joint was where Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Randy Meisner first met and played together, backing Linda Ronstadt one weekend in 1971, making the club the birthplace of the Eagles.
4926 El Camino Real, Los Altos

[FWIW]

Thanks for the link to John Hartmann's blog, UtW. Great stuff! First hand reports are always best. Geffen's comment "when it comes to music, it's easy to tell what's great" is so true. Clearly the soon-to-be Eagles had "it" right from the get go.

I love the matter of fact references to the names of the cocktails in the restaurant review. At least someone tied the restaurant's location to the Eagles in the comment section.

This article (http://www.dailycamera.com/entertainment/ci_29403317/glenn-frey-and-eagles-storied-part-boulders-music) from the Daily Camera puts the Eagles in Aspen in Oct-Nov, 1971 so I'd guess the show at the Troubadour was in the Aug-Sept timeframe. Would be great to see clips from those early shows in Aspen or Boulder!

[NightMistBlue]

Geffen didn't know music though he must have had some other "sense" of greatness. Or maybe he just listened to Jackson Browne's recommendations of whom to sign.

[shunlvswx]

Thanks for the link to John Hartmann's blog, UtW. Great stuff! First hand reports are always best. Geffen's comment "when it comes to music, it's easy to tell what's great" is so true. Clearly the soon-to-be Eagles had "it" right from the get go.

I love the matter of fact references to the names of the cocktails in the restaurant review. At least someone tied the restaurant's location to the Eagles in the comment section.

This article (http://www.dailycamera.com/entertainment/ci_29403317/glenn-frey-and-eagles-storied-part-boulders-music) from the Daily Camera puts the Eagles in Aspen in Oct-Nov, 1971 so I'd guess the show at the Troubadour was in the Aug-Sept timeframe. Would be great to see clips from those early shows in Aspen or Boulder!

I think they should a clip of the guys playing at that club in Aspen in HOTE. The one where they are singing Tryin' and Get You the Mood.

[NightMistBlue]

This article (http://www.dailycamera.com/entertainment/ci_29403317/glenn-frey-and-eagles-storied-part-boulders-music) from the Daily Camera puts the Eagles in Aspen in Oct-Nov, 1971 so I'd guess the show at the Troubadour was in the Aug-Sept timeframe. Would be great to see clips from those early shows in Aspen or Boulder!

Hey, thank you for that great article. How cool is it that the college student who booked the Eagles in Boulder is now "CEO of Denver-based AEG Live Rocky Mountains, Morris is one of the biggest concert promoters in the western U.S."

[FWIW]

And who knows what would have happened if Morris didn't cancel his vacation and keep his club open!

I followed the link in the Daily Camera article to Dave Plati's (associate athletic director at CU) blog. The Tulagi bartender/manager remembers when the Eagles played there. "The heat went out one night – Bernie Leadon was playing his banjos with gloves on." That's gotta be tough!

[NightMistBlue]

The bartender's story is so cool I want to share it:

“The Eagles played Tulagi (and the Gallery in Aspen) because David Geffen didn't want anyone to see them in L.A. until the act was perfect. So they woodshedded in Colorado. Chuck told the agent that it was Christmas break, that the students were gone and the town was dead, but the band came anyway, mostly to audition for producer Glyn Johns ("Who's Next" and tens of other classic rock albums). The heat went out one night – Bernie Leadon was playing his banjos with gloves on. I will always remember Glenn Frey and Don Henley sitting at the bar (we were only serving 3.2 beer) sharing a pitcher and talking about how they were going to be the biggest band in the world. I was stunned at their confidence verging on cockiness, given that they had just played to a room of 50 people. But sure enough, nine months later, "Take It Easy" was on the charts and they were playing the Denver Coliseum.”

[Brooke]

Too cool!

[NightMistBlue]

Randy gave this interview to Record Collector magazine some years ago - if anyone knows the date, please share - that indicates the group spent some time in a rehearsal space owned by Rick Nelson working on their vocal harmonies after being seen by Glyn Johns in Boulder. It sounds like Glyn came to see them again in L.A., where he then agreed to produce them. But that's not as dramatically pleasing as the "But wait!" story told in HOTE, where the boys break out in song at the last minute as Glyn is striding out the door of Tulagi's. :)

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d128/Shenandoah07/Randy_1_zpsh8uzomb8.jpg

[UndertheWire]

It sounds like Glyn came to see them again in L.A., where he then agreed to produce them. But that's not as dramatically pleasing as the "But wait!" story told in HOTE, where the boys break out in song at the last minute as Glyn is striding out the door of Tulagi's. :)
In HotE, Glyn Johns said he went to listen to them again in rehearsal in LA and still didn't like them until they played that song, with the harmonies.
In his book, Glyn Johns tells the same story and says the song was "Most of Us Are Sad" (there's another interview where he describes it as one of Randy's songs but that's an understandable error given that Randy sings lead).

[AlreadyGone95]

That's one cool story! The guys sure knew that they were going places!

[NightMistBlue]

In HotE, Glyn Johns said he went to listen to them again in rehearsal in LA and still didn't like them until they played that song, with the harmonies.
In his book, Glyn Johns tells the same story and says the song was "Most of Us Are Sad" (there's another interview where he describes it as one of Randy's songs but that's an understandable error given that Randy sings lead).

Thank you so much, UtW - it was my own misunderstanding then. Still a good story.

[FWIW]

Thanks for posting the Randy interview, NMB. And thanks for the clarification UtW.

This must be the $6/hr rehearsal hall the guys rented from Bud. That story was part of the HotE show. I was kind of surprised that Glyn was willing to see the band multiple times (being unimpressed at least twice) before agreeing to produce them. I'd think someone of his stature would move on more quickly. I wonder if that was Geffen's influence?

[Funk 50]

It's pretty remarkable that Most Of Us Are Sad, the song that finally won over Glyn Johns, has never, to my knowledge, been performed live by the band. It's not a stand out track on the LP but it must be, at least, pretty good live.

I spent some time, a while ago, looking up very early Poco shows. They were always well regarded live. The track mentioned as the Poco show highlight was Randy's performance of Anyway Bye Bye.

Both songs are gentle ballads, written by the band leader but feature Randy on lead vocal.

In hindsight, Randy comes across as a subordinate character within the Eagles but moment he felt he was mistreated in Poco, he left.

[UndertheWire]

I read Glyn Johns' book and he admitted to sometimes being a bit hasty in his judgements. He initially dismissed Eagles and Joan Armitrading but changed his mind and considers the first album from each to be amongst his greatest achievements. He was also reluctant to work with Eric Clapton but eventually they built a good relationship.

With the Eagles, Johns said that once he started working with them he realised they were a lot better musically than he had originally thought.

[NightMistBlue]

I spent some time, a while ago, looking up very early Poco shows. They were always well regarded live. The track mentioned as the Poco show highlight was Randy's performance of Anyway Bye Bye.


Funk, were you successful in finding early Poco shows (when Randy was still in the band)? I remember you mentioning in the Randy discography thread you were looking.

[FWIW]

I'm not too surprised that Johns was swayed by a song with Randy as lead. His voice is just so pure.

This article (http://web.archive.org/web/20020214232432/http://members.aol.com/egles76/BAM80.htm) promoting Randy's One More Song album has a reference to the 1969 Poco show at the Troubadour with Randy singing Anyway Bye Bye. It also has some good tidbits on the Eagles start. One in particular caught my eye:

That's when John Boylan entered the picture. He was producing both Rick Nelson and Linda Ronstadt, and one day in 1970, Ronstadt's bass player mysteriously fell ill. Meisner was asked to sit in at a show at Chuck's Cellar in Los Altos. "I still don't know if that was planned or not," Meisner says.


Regardless, this gig brought Randy together with Ronstadt's guitarist, Glenn Frey, and her drummer, Don Henley. Frey, according to Meisner, remembered hitching a ride on Sunset Boulevard from Randy during the Poco days. Meisner still doesn't remember the incident, but he'll never forget this gig.
"Ronstadt hated my bass playing," Randy recalls. "She gave me some looks that could kill. It may not have worked out with her, but it sure got The Eagles together."
I didn't know Ronstadt was not a Randy fan. Fortunately Glenn and Don liked him!

[Funk 50]

Funk, were you successful in finding early Poco shows (when Randy was still in the band)? I remember you mentioning in the Randy discography thread you were looking.

The earliest video I found was pre Schmit but after Meisner had left.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqmJESFg7tA

It's hard to believe that there isn't a scrap of footage of early Poco with Randy in the band but I haven't found any.

Here's a great archive of live Poco information; http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/deliverin/poco68-69.htm

[NightMistBlue]

Good detective work, FWIW! John Boylan also got Randy his gig with Rick Nelson's band.
Ronstadt thought Randy's bass playing was "too busy" but she liked his singing.

There should be one of those blue historical plaques on the site of Chuck's Cellar, definitely.

[LuvTim]

The earliest video I found was pre Schmit but after Meisner had left.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqmJESFg7tA

It's hard to believe that there isn't a scrap of footage of early Poco with Randy in the band but I haven't found any.

Here's a great archive of live Poco information; http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/deliverin/poco68-69.htm

Hey, F50, I've got this Newport video on my Poco video collection and the whole time I thought that was Randy playing bass. Thanks for the new info.