[tinnitus]

Already teaching myself to play rock/blues guitar by then, I was 16 or 17 when Witchy Woman hit heavy rotation on AM radio, and deservedly so! That was strong stuff. IMHO, the next half-century propelled the Eagles along a sine wave veering sharply between brilliant and boring.

Music aside, Henley’s projected persona has always struck me as something steeped in almost prissy hubris.

I can’t speculate on the Henley/Frey feud with Don Felder (reported 2024 net worth $60 million). It’s just sad to see them part ways as DF was, and remains, a very talented and fluid guitar-slinger.

Saw yet another "last chance" kind of televised Eagles reunion tour not too long ago (with Frey’s kid at center-stage, not unlike Dhani Harrison in his dad’s tribute show). Of far greater interest to me (or so I was hoping) were the contributions of ace musicians Joe Walsh (an Eagle since 1975) and Vince Gill, a more recent hired gun. Both godlike in their own rights, or so I hoped. But no.

I suppose Joe owes his fans their (commercially successful) favorites. But I don’t care if I ever hear him regurgitate Rocky Mountain Way, Life’s Been Good or the upbeat dance-mix version of Walk Away again. 95% of his other material is far superior.

Even worse was Vince Gill’s offering prefaced by his asking “Anybody like hillbilly music?” What followed was a generic bar band I, IV, V that I could do with a handful of Craigslist players after 2 rehearsals. Vince is sooo much better than that.

Maybe I’m jaundiced, but it seemed that they were simply allowed by Herr Henley (up on his throne behind them) to trot out some monochromatically generic offerings in a feeble nod to what they can do without him. As the controlling entity, was DH afraid to let a couple of stud musicians off the leash for a few minutes and potentially upstage his safe-as-mother's-milk, cookie-cutter Eagles show? Meh.

Seeing recent claims that “the Don” relies on piped-in recorded vocals simply does not surprise me. Whatever he used to offer that was fun and impulsive seems to have turned into a precisely choreographed de facto residency, whether in Vegas or not.