it has been awhile since I read that book. John is a good researcher and a great guy... that is an interesting story....
Gene and Dave are/were friends.. Dave has only recently begun making benders again after all these years...
your thread about the Byrds and Eagles is perfect for this site.... I think anyone who didn't understand how much the Byrds influenced the Eagles would not have to look much farther than the names, right?
I've read Glenn's account of how the name was arrived at... but, I think the Byrds part was pretty dang important!
Some of my bender friends (hard core and I mean HARD CORE Clarence fans) are also humongous Byrds fans.... their general take is that the Byrds were the American Beatles and looking back, I'd probably agree.
There were tons of guys trying to capture that lightning in a jar... and I'm sure Glenn and Don saw how self destructive the Byrds were and the Burritos were and probably thought... hey, if we can avoid the dark holes, we can be huge....
I think they sensed the country fusion thing wasn't really gonna happen and the horror at the initial sales of desperado probably scared them away....
The weirdest mix is Bernie mostly being annoyed with Gram, but then writing a song for him and Glenn and Don and Jackson practically taking his persona and then being rejected by him....
musicians are a strange lot...