Oh my gosh, I never noticed the handcuffs before. Sharp eyes, Shun. Welcome from me, too!Quote:
Originally Posted by shunlvswx
As to what he and the other guys were doing with those.... one can only speculate. :blush:
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Oh my gosh, I never noticed the handcuffs before. Sharp eyes, Shun. Welcome from me, too!Quote:
Originally Posted by shunlvswx
As to what he and the other guys were doing with those.... one can only speculate. :blush:
Maybe the book he's reading is 50 Shades of Gray. Lol!
JK. I know the time frame in the screen cap predates the book, but I always feel like someone won't get my humor and think I'm an idiot!
That was funny, PM. I think I can see Don reading that back in the 70s, but not today.
I do wonder what Don is reading. Don seems like a guy who loves the classics(and probably had to study that when he was an English major)
I was going through the whole thread these last couple of days. I'm still coming up with what I thought about something.
I for one thought it was always Don's band or Don/Glenn's band(since they were the last original members) and Don was the leader. That kinda explain why Glenn always talked about the band or anything to do with the band. So in other words, even though Don and Glenn are the decision making guys of the group, if Don p*ssed him off, Glenn can still fire him, but I guess Don wouldn't do that. I always wonder back in the 70s why Glenn didn't want to fire Don back then since they were sometimes at each other's throats.
I was also thinking about when Glenn said he was singing less and less by the mid 70s. IMO(and only my opinion), I think Glenn was a little jealous that he was singing lesser and lesser. He might had thought it was good for the band for Don to sing majority of the time, but I think he wasn't happy about that. That what I got from that.
Even though I don't like Glenn (didn't before the documentary) and I'm more a Don H fan, I love his voice too. I love NKIT. I seem to crack up that song when it comes on.
I do want to say this. I really don't like Don with the goatee. It makes him look old since its all white.
I probably be back to say more about the documentary as I continued to read this thread. I think I'm on page 126 right now.
I was just wishing I'd written a "review" of the documentary before doing all the additional research then I remembered I had actually done though for a completely different audience back in June. Anyway, here it is.
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The one that's hooked me this week is a documentary, "The History of the Eagles". It was launched at Sundance in February and has already been broadcast on TV in the US and UK.
In my early teens, I was a big fan of the Eagles, buying the first four albums but by "Hotel California", I'd moved on to other things. Of course, in pre-internet days, being a young UK fan of an american band, my fandom was limited to listening to the records and reading the cover notes. I can't even remember much press coverage - I've a feeling they didn't really break through in the UK until "One of these Nights". So in many respects, I was the perfect audience for this documentary. The music had a comfortable familiarity but I knew almost nothing of the fights and upsets during the making of that music. I'm trying to remember if I even had a crush on a band-member. I know I will have tried because at that age you need to choose your guy but the album covers didn't give me a lot to go on. It was a toss-up between Glenn Frey and Don Henley, probably Glenn because of the long hair and droopy mustache.
Recently, I watched part of Martin Scorsese's documentary on George Harrison and found it interesting, but after an hour or so, I needed a break and haven't got around to seeing the rest. The Beatles were just before my time so I'm lacking that connection. 1960s Liverpool and London were never part of my dreams.
I wasn't sure I would be up to two hours of Eagles, but I got sucked in. The format is current day interviews with band members, friends, managers providing a narrative that leads into and over clips from the 1970s and we learn of an LA music scene which centred on the Troubadour. Of Jackson Browne living in the cellar beneath the apartment shared by Glenn Frey and J D Souther, of how all the original band members at one time played backup to Linda Ronstadt. Apparently, it was well-known that the close harmonies of the music belied the tensions that were always present within the band, but all that was new to me. I was a fairly innocent teenager, so maybe I would have been shocked by the stories of drink, drugs and sex but I suspect it would just have seemed glamorous and certainly less scary than Led Zeppelin, The Who and the like.
The documentary makers agreed to make the documentary on the condition that everyone was honest and they could speak to everyone, so former band members, record producers, record label owners get their say but it felt like most were holding back. Whilst the problems between guitarist Don Felder (he joined for the fourth album) and Glenn Frey are talked about openly, there are only hints of discord between Frey and Henley.
Part Two of the documentary covers the careers of the band members after the breakup and then getting back together in 1994. It's not as enthralling as Part One but still watchable.
One disturbing aspect of the format is the shock of moving from footage of these young, attractive men in their twenties to seeing the same men in their sixties. It's an unwelcome reminder of how long it has been.
Thanks, UTW. Your review was very entertaining to read and I enjoyed your perspective. Since, I've kind of been a fan of the band throughout their entire careers, I guess I hadn't thought about the shock value for someone who hasn't watched as the band has aged. I have noticed this in other bands though so I can imagine it to some extent. However, suffice it to say, comparatively speaking, the guys in this band have aged extremely well, IMHO. :thumbsup:
Interesting, UTW. Thanks for sharing that.
Shun, I am a huge Glenn fan, but I agree that it was apparent to those familiar with the band's history that certain things were left out. For all their insistence on freedom to tell the true story, Gibney and Ellwood still glossed over some issues that had a significant impact on the band. One of the overarching themes of the documentary was the united front of Glenn and Don; they were presented as such throughout. No cracks in that alliance got airtime, other than a few throwaway sentences.
Plus, we know for a fact Don Henley requested some changes after previewing the movie. We can speculate about what he wanted removed, but it shows there was indeed some editorial input from the band members.
I agree, Soda, that issues that had existed between Glenn and Don (and probably still tend to come up between them) were given short shrift. To Ellwood and Gibney's credit, though, Glenn and Don were downplaying that in interviews in the early 80's. Still, it was an issue, both artistically and personally, and more should have been said about it. Perhaps between the two of them, forgiveness really happened and they really have put it behind them and don't see it as an issue. More importantly, while it existed and was an issue, perhaps it wasn't as big of an issue as media and fans made it out to be, and in all honesty, they made it out to be huge at the time. I think Glenn, at least, wanted the documentary to highlight that it was far more than the issues between the two of them.
Speaking of Ellwood, I think someone already mentioned it. What ends up in the final product and how it's portrayed says a lot about a director. How things are 'shot' to begin with says a lot as well. Given all that, it seems to me that she really really likes JD.
I have a funny story about me finding the Eagles. It was the HFO special that I heard of the Eagles. So I found out the names of the guys and I saw their were two Dons. I was thinking in my mind. Which one was Don Henley and which was Don Felder. I kidded you not. I didn't know which Don was who. I also was thinking which one I knew from his solo career. Luckily I know who's who now, but back when I first discover the Eagles I didn't know which one was Don Henley and which one was Don Feldder. LOL
Thanks for the welcome everyone. I hope I don't step on anyone's toes.
I can understand why the played down the discord. Considering that the Henley/Frey Partnership survived for 9 years in the first run and a further 18 years at the time of filming there's obviously a lot that works and it would be a pity if that got overshadowed.
At least a few hints were allowed to remain and the way Glenn and Don H closed ranks is quite telling. It seems that whatever was going on between them, they were always ready to stand together against any challengers and that continues in the documentary.
The use of Glenn and Don H as the primary narrators was clever too. Instead of asking us to trust a disembodied narrator, we understand that these are the principal players telling us their story and we should be slightly suspicious. As they are both articulate with pleasant speaking voices and can tell good anecdotes, the results are entertaining.
I wonder if the filmmakers intended viewers to take a dislike to Glenn Frey. Having him re-enact confrontations directly to camera was a slightly uncomfortable experience. He's speaking to me rather than an interviewer and I'm not used to people being quite so blunt or swearing at me. Was the staging deliberate? I was more fascinated than repelled, but I've read a lot of online comments that suggest that some people found it very off-putting.
I'm watching the documentary on DVD right now and I just noticed something. Its funny you will find or noticed something different every time you watch it.
You know the press conference the guys had about a tour in Europe for the HFO tour at the beginning of Part 2, I noticed Don was wearing a wedding ring. Here's the thing. When they were about to show the clip for that press conference, the year 1994 popped up on the screen. That press conference couldn't had happened in 1994 since Don got married 1995. I don't know when Don got married in 1995, but this press conference happened after he got married since he was still single in 1994.